by Brad Knight
General Xin didn't answer. Instead he just kept watching.
One of the jets flew over then screamed past the Jiangshi. Captain Long watched a bomb fall straight towards him and his ship. He took a deep drag from his Cuban cigar. The earthy tasting smoke rolled down his throat. When he exhaled it had very subtle hints of citrus. It was good.
There were many terrible ways to die in the post outbreak world. The most unfortunate ones get kidnapped, tortured, and even raped by raiders or other twisted groups of survivors. Another bad end would be getting eaten alive or shredded by infected. A lack of hygiene and doctors made disease a real problem. Or you could get shot. To Captain Long, getting blown up, an instantaneous death, seemed like a good deal. Plus the struggle to survive would finally be over.
General Xin watched as the bomb hit the deck of the Jiangshi. That time he felt the heat from the gigantic ball of flame. It was blown into his face by a sizable blast wave.
Once they got over the initial surprise of the bomb blast, General Xin, Dr. Ivanova and those fortunate enough to be heading towards the shore, were subject to the sounds of burning men. They also watched as other sailors jumped into the Gulf of Carpentaria. Some of them were on fire. Others just didn't want to be aboard when another bomb hit.
Sure enough, another bomb fell on the Jiangshi. The second one hit the tower on the deck. A third hit the back end. Those were enough to sink the vessel.
They're going to come for us next. Unless… “Kill any lights!” yelled General Xin. He realized there was a good chance that none of the planes saw them. Before setting out from the Jiangshi, each boat was instructed only to use as much light as absolutely necessary. A cloudless sky and a full moon made it possible to navigate with none.
The Jiangshi began to sink into the Gulf. Some of the sailors who abandoned ship were able to survive the bombing. That didn't mean they were safe. Not in the post outbreak world.
Those who jumped overboard weren't in the water long before they noticed pairs of red eyes under the black waters. All sorts of things went through their heads. Most feared that sharks were going to eat them before making it to shore. They were wrong.
Infected saltwater crocodiles snuck up on the swimming sailors. Camouflaged by the reflected fires of the sinking battleship and dark night time waters, it wasn't hard for the creatures. At first the men and women were silently picked off one by one. When the remaining Jiangshi survivors realized what was happening they screamed and pleaded for help from Xin and his supply boats. Help wasn't coming.
General Xin saw the sheer amount of red eyes that converged on the area around the sinking Jiangshi. There was no saving them. It might have been a little cold hearted, but his and the other boats needed to keep moving. Once the crocodiles were done with the sailors in the water, they'd probably come after them. And unlike sharks, crocs had no problem coming ashore.
“Can this move any faster?” General Xin asked the man at the wheel of his boat. It wasn't a question asked out of cowardice. He knew that if he and his men didn't hurry they'd face the same fate as the Jiangshi crew.
The man at the wheel of Xin's boat pushed the engine to its limit. He put so much stress on it that smoke started to bellow out. Still, he didn't let up.
The bottom of General Xin's boat scraped against the sand and stone of the beach. Within seconds he jumped out. His usually immaculate shoes and uniform got soaked as he walked through nearly knee high water. He grabbed a rope from inside the vessel and took it onto dry land.
After tying the rope to the nearest tree, he rushed back to help unload the supplies. The more they could unload before the infected crocodiles came, the better. Other Phoenix members got out of their boats and did the same, following his lead.
We are making it to Borroloola. I do not care what it takes. Or how many lives it will cost. The Phoenix always rises. General Xin coordinated the unloading of the boats. He made it very clear they needed to hurry. Death shaped in the form of a thousand plus pounds of scaly muscle was almost done eating, and hungry for more.
Getting the supplies off the boat was cumbersome. It was made even harder by the lack of light. Since they could still hear the planes overhead, they had no choice but to keep it dark.
Not one to be lazy, General Xin helped unload supplies also. The good news was that they were packed in water tight buoyant containers. The bad news? There was a whole lot of them.
It took almost half an hour to get everything onto the beach. From there they had to drag them further inland. As long as they got them far enough from the water, that would be satisfactory.
General Xin took one last look back. Almost on cue, a dozen or so pairs of red glowing eyes poked up above the surface of the water. For the first time he could remember, he wished that he would have heard screeches. The silent creep of the crocodiles was so much worse.
“Get to higher ground! Now!” ordered Xin. He took out his sidearm and backed away from the creatures. That's when he noticed that not everyone was out of the water.
A lower level member of Phoenix, who manged to survive Shanghai, struggled to unhook a container that didn't look quite the same as the others. Not only was it a different color (red instead of gray), it was packed differently. Unlike the other containers it was strapped onto the boat.
“Leave it!” shouted General Xin. He was able to restrain himself from shooting the first of the infected crocodiles who crawled up out of the water. His men and women just got done dragging heavy boxes through the sand. They weren't ready for a fight, and not all of them were even aware that the creatures were coming for them. If he started shooting there would have been panic.
“Use your knife!” yelled Dr. Ivanova. It was the first time Xin heard the doc since they left the Jiangshi.
General Xin took his eyes off the infected crocodiles for a second to give Dr. Ivanova a sideways glance. “Forget it! Run!”
The Phoenix member still in the water decided to do as his General said and completely let go of the red container. He tried to run to the dry sand but found the wet version below his feet hampered his speed. In the end, he wasn't fast enough.
An infected croc lunged up out of the water. It grabbed the fleeing Phoenix member by the top of his thigh. There was no helping him at that point. Still, he was technically under General Xin's command.
“Fire!” General Xin shot the poor bastard who was in the clutches of one of the creature's maw. Better just to put him out of his misery before the infected saltwater crocodile went into a death roll.
The rest of the men and women on the beach turned and opened fire on the crocodiles as soon as they heard their General let off a few rounds. With as much firepower as they brought with them, they figured they'd be able to handle the infected pretty handily. But the crocs already came with thick scaly hides that turned to body armor under the influence of the nanite virus. Bullets had little effect.
“Hold your fire and fall back!” ordered General Xin. He released the magazine from his pistol and let it drop to the sand. After reloading he turned away from the infected crocodiles and started climbing the slight incline up off the beach.
Most of General Xin's men followed him. Those that didn't or couldn't became dessert for the infected crocs. Though they couldn't see them, the survivors heard their comrades being eaten. It was disturbing to say the least.
Motivated by a desire not to meet the same fate as those still on the beach, the remains of Phoenix followed their General further into dry land. There was no other viable option.
Upon reaching the apex of the small hill that separated the beach from the more stable drier lands, General Xin quickly scanned his surroundings. He knew what was needed was some shelter. And if he didn't find some, he and his men were screwed. Eventually the infected crocodiles (or something worse) would catch them and pick them off.
That will have to do. General Xin spotted what looked to be a hut. It was hard to see what condition it was in through the curtain of the night.
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“This way!” General Xin rushed towards the structure. His men followed, constantly looking behind themselves in order to spot any undead crocodiles that followed. Sure enough, just as their General predicted, sets of red glowing eyes started to emerge over the hill's horizon.
The front door of the hut was closed. Not willing to let a padlock stop him, Xin took the butt of his gun and started whacking away at it. After about ten hits, the lock broke off. Not as young as he once was, all that exertion winded him, but there was no time to catch his breath.
Xin made sure that all his remaining men and women got in the medium sized one room hut. Before retreating inside himself he took a look to see how close the infected crocs were. Most of them were up the hill and heading straight for him.
“Everyone to the center of the room! Press your backs together! Prepare to defend yourself!” General Xin barked out orders as he joined his men and women. “Bar the door!”
In a burst of ingenuity that is often only found in life or death situations, the Phoenix members managed to tie the door closed with some rope. It wasn't as good as a lock or an actual metal or wooden bar, but that didn't matter. All that did was that it kept the door closed.
It was pitch black inside. At first all General Xin and the Phoenix members heard was each others' breathing. Then came the first bang on the outside walls.
Hashed together with pieces of corrugated metal and plywood, the hut wasn't terribly sturdy. Whoever built it must have only been concerned with keeping wind and rain out, not re-animated corpses.
The infected crocodiles slammed their heads, bodies and tails against the walls of the hut. Little pieces of the structure fell off and landed in the sandy dirt. Time was running out.
“Wait until they break through!” commanded General Xin. He pointed his pistol at the walls, tracking the latest banging noise.
The first scaly snout pushed through a wooden board near one of the corners of the hut. Several of the Phoenix members shot at it. Sound had no where to go inside the small enclosed structure. Instead of being released out into open air, it ricocheted from wall to wall. It didn't take long before no one inside could hear a damn thing.
Another infected crocodile burst through one of the walls. The creature managed to snag a foot. With a quickness not expected of a thousand pound reptile, it dragged the foot's owner to the wall, colliding with it. After a struggle the Phoenix member managed to get free but not before losing a leg. He didn't have to suffer long.
Soon after forcefully getting his leg amputated, the Phoenix member's veins and the blood flowing through them turned black. He screeched. Seconds later he got a bullet to his head and two to his chest from his comrades.
General Xin couldn't help but notice how rapidly the nanite virus took over. If he and any of his remaining team got infected, they would have only seconds before turning. It was valuable but distressing information.
More and more of the nanite crocodiles barged their way through the bottom of the hut's walls. General Xin's group tried its best to repel them. They managed to stay alive for the most part. Each one of them knew that sooner or later they'd be overrun. All they could pray for was a miracle.
Just as it looked like the hut off the beaches of the Gulf of Carpentaria was about to become a buffet, a loud explosion got everyone and everything's attention. From the flash of light in the sky it was clear that something in the air was just taken out.
I know that sound. Those are thirty millimeter automatic canons. General Xin lowered his pistol. The tables had been turned. No longer interested in meat, the infected retreated. That miracle that his group prayed for actually came true.
“General!?” Xin heard a voice speaking Cantonese over a loud speaker or some kind of PA system. “General, are you in there?”
One of Xin's men cut the ropes barring the door and the General went outside. Half of the nanite crocodiles that were attacking just moments before were dead. They had bullet holes as big as grapefruits in their hides. Black blood stained the sand and grass. It looked more like an oil spill than anything else.
Hovering above him, General Xin saw a helicopter. It was Chinese. On the side, near one of the lights was a red circle with an orange flaming bird curled up inside. The chopper was from the Phoenix organization.
Chapter 7
: Galatea Air
There wasn't a name for what was locked up in the hull of the refitted 787. Once, what seemed like a lifetime ago (in many ways it was), all three of the prisoners had names, they had families, friends, lives. Galatea stole not only all that from them, but they also took their humanity. There would be a reckoning, sooner rather than later.
“How far out are we?” asked Sebastian Monticello, the CEO of Galatea Systems. He reclined in one of the leather seats his predecessor, Ted Gorman, outfitted the 787 with.
“Fifteen minutes? The pilot said we were already making our descent,” answered Denise, his assistant and lover.
“Good.” Sebastian got up. “Very good.”
“Sir, the seat belt light is still on. Perhaps it would be best if...”
“I'm just getting myself a drink. It's what, ten feet away? I think I'll be alright.” Sebastian calmly strolled over to the bar.
“Mr. Monticello?” Isaac was the third person in the room and completed a triangle of trust. He and Denise were the only two Sebastian confided in. The CEO gave them their marching orders and they saw that they were carried out by the rest of the company.
“Hm, what's that Issac?” The CEO dropped two ice cubes into his drink.
“I suggest that I lead the team. What do you think?”
“No, I want to keep you with me, with us. Mack Ericsson is a very dangerous man. He proved as much back in the States. We'll let the canon fodder take down that so called Haven. They'll capture the anomaly and bring him back. There's no reason for you to risk your life needlessly. Besides. I sent one of the Alphas with the strike team. If the men fail, it won't. And it needs to come back to get it's serum.” Sebastian was very confident in his plan.
Down in cells, the leader of the Alphas, an alpha Alpha if you will, examined its cage. Through eyes that were formed and evolved by machines, it saw bars made of a new magnesium alloy. It was the strongest metal known by man.
The leader of the Alphas didn't just see metal bars though. At least not how humans saw them. It was able to break them down into the elements that they consisted of, and it liked what it saw.
Free, cage. The Alpha leader was able to put together the most basic of thoughts and words, but it learned more and got better everyday. Plus it had the ability to wireless communicate with the other two Alphas in the cages next to him and even the one heading with a Galatea strike team towards Haven. It's message was clear to all of them.
“Again, with respect, Sebastian, I don't know if that was a great idea.” Issac was not comfortable about sending out a relatively new and undeniably dangerous creature out with a team of his men. There wasn't enough information on how the Alphas would interact with human handlers. He'd never admit it but he was afraid that those men sent to find Mack would never come back. Though he was a bastard, he wasn't crazy. Their impending deaths already weighed heavy on his barely existent conscience.
“You're right, it wasn't a great idea. It's an amazing idea. Think about it.” Sebastian sat back down at the short table with his right hand woman and left hand man. “I'm not Gorman. I'm not nuts. I wouldn't send your men out with a monster without good reason.”
Issac gave Sebastian a look that said: “What reason?”
“It's a field test. But a controlled one. We've taken every precaution in order to make sure the Alphas stay in line. Trust me.” Sebastian had the utmost confidence in the decision to let an Alpha tag along with the strike team.
“Wasn't that what Shanghai was?”
“They were out on their own in Shanghai. From that operation we learned that they were able to coordinate, control and command other infecte
d. Now we need to know if they can work side by side with the uninfected. Dr. Michaels left us an amazing gift,” said Sebastian.
The reason why the “gift” was left was due to the fact that the mad scientist of the Los Angeles facility was murdered under the new CEO's orders. All of those loyal to Ted Gorman and his ways of thinking were taken out within days of the regime change.
Sebastian waved his hand over a console on the table. Four projectors placed on the walls turned on and brought up a holographic computer screen. Those same cameras tracked his hand movements, making a mouse and keyboard out of thin air.
“The Alphas,” said Sebastian as he brought up a bunch of digital documents and pictures pertaining to the Alpha Program. “Our late not so great Mr. Gorman had a dream to improve upon humanity. He wanted to make them faster, stronger and immune from all disease and cancers. In his twisted mind he believed that if he killed enough people, the remaining ones could receive the finished nanite virus and rebuild humanity, better then before.
“So in secret Mr. Crazy Pants decided to keep testing the virus on prisoners in his little lab in Vegas. And wouldn't you know it, he succeeded. After kidnapping Mack Ericsson...” Sebastian swiped his hand and brought up another file. It contained a picture and detailed history of Mack. “He infected Ericsson with a perfected version of the nanite virus. That's after he infected himself. Then, as if that wasn't enough, he let his Viking pet get away, and later got killed by him.
“Our former boss's death would have been funny, even poetic, if it wasn't for what was lost in the process. Gorman's body burned, taking the secrets of his perfected virus with him. Now we need to find this guy if we have any hope of finishing the work his majesty started,” explained Sebastian. He pointed at the picture of Mack.
“But I digress. The failures of Ted Gorman paved the way for the success of Dr. Michaels. After successfully creating a strain of nanites that could follow orders, the next step was taken. Creating a completely artificial life form. Well... I don''t really get he specifics. Why not let the man himself explain it?” Sebastian waved his hand again.
