“What do you think happened to all the people here?” Puar asked just trying to break the tension.
“Reapers,” Brix said plainly. “What else could it possibly be?”
“Roamers,” Kay added.
“What-ers?” Puar asked.
“Roamers,” Kay repeated. “It was the name Brawl gave them.”
“What are they?” Brix asked.
“People –or at least they were people at one time,” Kay explained. “It’s how I…” tears welled up in her eyes, but she stifled it immediately. “… I lost my mom. She was injured by a Reaper and… she changed.”
“‘Changed?’” Puar repeated skeptically. “How?”
“She wasn’t there, you know? Like she was dead in the eyes, but alive and walking. She tried to bite me and eventually… I was… forced to kill her to save my brothers.”
Puar felt terrible for her. As if she hadn’t suffered enough already as an Agent, now she’s lost her parents… and her mind.
“I’m sorry,” was all Puar could muster.
“Let’s get on this mission, huh?” Kay immediately changed the subject.
They dragged the hoverpads back to the Bucket and Puar and Kay crawled under to get the broken ones off while Brix stood up on the top of the ship providing cover.
“So what caused her to change?” Puar asked.
“I told you,” Kay said, clearly annoyed that they were going over this again. “A Reaper injured her.”
“Yeah, but, Khai and Dah were also injured by Reapers and they didn’t turn.”
“I don’t know, Puar,” Kay said exasperated. “Maybe it has to do with the mutation. Come to think of it, the one that attacked my mom was a light pink color.”
“Can you hand that gripper?” Puar asked. Kay handed it to him. “I suppose that could be the case. But that still—”
“Puar!” Brix cut him off. “We have incoming! A large group of people headed our way.”
“Survivors?” Pual asked.
“Well, yeah,” Brix said, clearly unaware of the conversation Puar and Kay were having. “What else would they be?”
“Can you get a closer look?” Kay asked.
“Is there something with more range than my gun’s view finder on the ship?”
“Your specs have a zoom feature!” Kay snapped. “Use it!”
“Really?” Brix fiddled with his specs and they zoomed in, giving him a ten times magnification. “What the fuck?”
“That’s not good,” Puar whispered to Kay.
“No,” Kay said grimly. “No, it’s not.”
Chapter Eight
Khai couldn’t believe his eyes! There must have been thousands of them. A macabre group of rotting flesh that still had the ability to stand and walk! The one directly in front of him was missing his lower jaw, but when it caught sight of Khai, it started making gurgling sounds and reaching for him! Its innards were exposed in multiple places. By all rights this man should have been dead!
“By the Founders!” Khai gasped pulling his gun. “Don’t come another step closer!” The man didn’t respond, just kept staggering closer. “I’m warning you! Don’t—”
Brawl put a bullet in its head and it fell dead to the ground.
“What the hell?” Khai growled.
“Do you really think these things will listen?” Brawl snapped back. “I suggest we run!”
They turned to run and realized that another group had flanked them from the north. They hadn’t been there a few minutes ago, Khai thought.
Brawl quickly ran for a store front all the while firing his gun into one of the crowds. The others followed suit and saw Brawl make an abrupt turn toward another building. That building was a bank. Khai knew exactly what he was thinking at that moment. Banks were Secure!
Brawl tried the door and, to his surprise, it opened immediately. He swung the door open and waved the others in. Just as the flanking group of Roamers reached the door, he pulled it shut and stuck a sign post into the handles to keep it from being pulled open. They stood there for a few moments catching their breath and staring in astonishment. The monster at the window was missing an arm at mid bicep, strands of meat hung from the stump. The other arm was missing the hand at the wrist, but that didn’t stop it from pounding on the glass and hissing at them. It used to be a girl no older than seventeen years and she was just one of thousands of Roamers trying to claw their way in. Through the infrared specs he could see that their body temperatures ranged from fifty to seventy degrees.
Dah was staring out at the street when he heard a sweeping sound from behind him. Just as he turned, a Roamer lunged from behind the teller line directly onto Dah. He fell back toppling over a desk with a yelp. Immediately, Khai jumped into action grabbing the thing by the back of the neck and pulling it off of Dah.
It was a young man still in good shape, compared to the horrors outside. A bite mark could be seen on his lower arm. It looked infected with graying around the edges and the veins leading from the wound were a darker color than normal as if the infection was spreading from the bite wound. Khai held the Roamer up off its feet by the neck as it kicked and swung at him.
Brawl came up behind Khai. “I recommend you not let it bite you,” he said pointing at the wound.
Khai nodded and snapped the thing’s neck. Though the body stopped squirming, the head continued to bite. Khai frowned at the thing, this wasn’t possible! In all his years he’d seen a lot of crazy things, but nothing like this! He dropped it to the floor and put a bullet in the side of its head. That seemed to do the trick.
“Thanks,” Dah said, getting to his feet.
“Don’t mention it,” Khai said, regarding the Roamer one time with disgust before looking back out into the throng of hungry Roamers.
“So what’s our next step, oh great leader?” Brawl asked sarcastically.
Khai moved so fast, Brawl had no time to react. He grabbed Brawl the collar of his shirt and hefted up, pinning him to the wall. “You son of a bitch! You knew about these things and didn’t bother to tell us?”
“You didn’t ask,” Brawl said nonchalantly.
“At no point you thought it might be helpful to let us know there were dead people walking about trying to eat us?”
“Would you have believed me if I did?” Brawl asked, an angry spark igniting in his eyes.
Khai paused for a moment. Would he have believed him? It was, after all, a farfetched story. He had to answer honestly. “Probably not.”
“Well,” Brawl said indignantly. “How’s about you put me down before I break your arm.”
Khai gave him a doubtful look and then Brawl flexed his prosthetic hand and Khai realized that he could do it easily. Khai dropped him to his feet and turned away looking out at the groaning dead while Brawl haughtily straightened his shirt.
“My question still stands,” Brawl pressed. “What do we do now?”
“This building seems fairly secure,” Khai said, looking around. “At least this bank is. We could try to make it to the roof. With any luck, Kay and Puar could have the Bucket running and pick us up.”
Suddenly Khai’s radio crackled to life. “Ahoy there!” a voice said. “Looks like you’ve gotten yourselves into quite the predicament?”
“Who is this?” Khai asked.
“Who is this?” the voice asked.
“This is General Khai’Xander Khail.”
“The Khai’Xander Khail?”
“In the flesh! What’s your name?”
“I’m Captain Wortharr Police Chief and acting mayor of Jewel.”
“Well, Captain Wortharr, can you tell me what happened here?”
“Two weeks ago, a hunter caught himself a Reaper outside the walls. He brought it in to catalogue it and see to any rewards that might be out there for a live one. It had pinkish skin unlike any Reaper we’d seen on the net’vyyd. I was there overseeing the whole thing when it broke free of its restraints. It injured several people and we were forced to pu
t it down.
“We thought it was over, but the injured peoples’ health deteriorated at an alarming rate. We had an epidemic on our hands before we even knew what was going on! Those original casualties turned into those things outside your window. They were on most of us before we could react. Several were bitten, some were devoured. Then those ones turned, even the devoured ones. They just crawled after us with their guts hanging out the back.
“Within a week’s time, most of the city was infected or dead. The Port Authority Office was overrun, same with the town hall. We had no way to call out for help. Three days later, the power went out and we were stranded. We’ve stayed up on the roof tops for the last two weeks. We are running out of food and fresh water. None of us dare to leave the rooftops and risk ending up like the others.”
What a fucking coward, Khai thought.
“You haven’t ventured out at all?” Khai asked, amazed. “What about other survivors?”
“What other survivors?” he asked. “They’re all dead or undead. What else can I say?”
“You can’t possibly tell me there aren’t other pockets of survivors!” Khai insisted.
“I didn’t say that, did I? There were other survivors, but…” Wortharr paused for a long time as if looking for the words, “they’re gone now.”
“How many are with you?” Khai asked, suspiciously. Something didn’t feel right. “Maybe we can help.”
“There’s a few of us here, myself, my wife, my son, two others. Did you come on a ship? How did you get here?”
“A mutated Reaper caught us by surprise and damaged our ship. We were forced to land here.”
“Then you’re in the same boat we are.”
“Not necessarily,” Khai counted. “The rest of my team is back at the port making repairs.”
“Then your team is dead already.”
“All we found at the port was blood and signs of a struggle,” Khai countered, pointing at Dah to call his team. Dah began chattering in the back ground. A few tense minutes later, Dah dreadfully shook his head and mouthed no response.
“Your team didn’t answer, did they?”
Aside from the concern he felt for his team, he was growing more and more suspicious every minute. “So what’s you plan, Wortharr?”
“Sit it out and wait. These things will eventually starve, I would imagine,” he said. “And when that happens, I’ll make a run for the port and commandeer one of the many ships docked there.”
“I thought you were running out of supplies,” Khai countered.
“We are,” he responded. “But I can make it last. Though if you have room on your ship, you could save us, right?”
“Of course,” Khai knew he had him. “Show yourself and we’ll come to you.”
“Look up and to the southwest.” Khai approached the window and looked. He saw a flashing light reflecting off a small mirror coming from the top of building kitty-corner from his location. “Do you see me?”
“I do,” Khai responded.
“Good!”
Another flash of light triggered Khai’s reflex package and he literally dodged the high-caliber bullet that punched a fist-sized hole into the clear steel window of the bank.
“What the fuck!”
“This is MY city! MINE!” Wortharr screamed.
Khai got to his feet, grumbling all the while. Then he saw the look on Brawl’s face. “Uh, I reckon we get moving!”
Khai turned and saw a rocket headed straight for them.
“Move!” Khai shouted, as he and the others dived for cover behind the teller line.
The force of the explosion shook the building and ceiling tiles began to fall on them. Their glass barrier was gone, but so were a majority of the Roamers that had been trying to get in. Khai risked a look over the counter and hundreds more begin climbing over the bodies of the others.
Instantly, Khai started looking for an emergency exit. In the back, through the break room, by the vault was such a door. “Come on!” Khai called to them. He swung open the door straight into an alley full of Roamers.
Shit! To his left, at eye level, was a fire escape. He kicked one square in the chest sending it flying back into a large group. With one hand he pulled the ladder down while he put bullets into the heads of the nearest mobile Roamers. Then he quickly climbed the ladder, changed out magazines and provided cover for Dah and Brawl. Once on the second landing, out of reach of any Roamers, Khai took a breath and evaluated the situation. That’s when he realized that Dah was hurt. A piece of window had dug in deep just below his shoulder blade. Bright red blood was showing up on his lips with each breath.
“Dah!” he shouted, dropping to one knee.
“Don’t worry about me,” Dah said stubbornly. “I’ll be fine. Let’s just get to the roof and get that bastard!
The rest of the way would be an easy climb with steep, metal grating stairs that switched back and forth all the way up. They were on the fourth landing when Brawl, pulling Dah up the stairs while Khai was pushing, lost his grip on Dah’s arm and toppled backward over the railing. He reached out and grabbed hold of the railing with his bionic hand. The rail held just long enough for relief to cross his face briefly before snapping and sending him plummeting to the alley amongst several hungry Roamers.
“Damn!” Khai growled through a clenched jaw.
Without hesitation, he eased Dah down, sprinted up the last three steps, grabbed the knife from his boot and leapt off into the swarm. He came down on three of them, padding his landing and crushing them. As he whirled around the dazed Brawl, heads rolled and blood splattered.
“Brawl!” Khai yelled, pinning a Roamer with his foot up against a wall while driving his knife deep into the eye socket of another. “Snap out of it! I can’t do this forever!”
Brawl shakily got to his feet and looked around. Clarity came to him immediately and he scrambled for the ladder again. Once on the first landing, he pulled his machine gun and started picking Roamers off with headshots all around Khai, all the while watching the ticker on his specs. As Roamers fell around him, Khai took a lunging step and caught the ladder. Hundreds of Roamers, drawn by the gunfire, poured into the alley as Khai scrambled up the ladder to relative safety. Together, they climbed one more flight clear of the Roamers’ reach and collapsed, gasping for breath.
“You… came back… for me,” Brawl said between gasps for air.
“You’re… welcome,” Khai offered.
“But why?”
“I never… leave someone… behind, if I can… help it,” Khai answered, then paused to catch his breath before continuing. “I wasn’t putting anyone else’s life in danger but my own by coming after you.”
“You didn’t even hesitate,” Brawl added, still surprised.
“Any hesitation would’ve gotten you killed,” Khai said. “Not on my watch! Now let’s get going. I got some major payback coming for Wortharr!”
“Ditto!”
On the way up, they helped Dah to his feet and climbed the rest of the way. From there, they could see the top of Wortharr’s building. They would have to cross the street to get to him. Khai looked around for anything that could be used. Several blocks the other direction was a hospital that had a pedestrian walk over the street connecting the two buildings together.
Dah wasn’t going to be able to make the trek, so Khai propped him up against the duct work with his gun to protect himself and they set off to get Wortharr.
“What the hell is that?” Brix gasped, looking at the half-decayed body walking his way. By all right this person should have been dead. It-her-whatever was dragging its intestines between its legs as it staggered forward. The lower jaw was completely exposed along with the most of the skull up the right side of the face where its eye should have been.
“Roamers,” Kay said. “People turned after being attacked by a Reaper.”
“But, they’re people,” Brix insisted.
“Maybe at one time,” Kay said sadly, “but not
anymore.”
“Can you take them down?” Puar asked Brix.
“Not from this range,” Brix said.
“Then I suggest we get a closer look,” Kay said with a smirk.
They locked down the Bucket and moved quickly and quietly in the shadows of the buildings to get a better view of the monsters approaching them from the city. Fifty yards out, Kay leapt up to a fire escape ladder and scaled it quickly.
“What for my signal, then attack,” Kay’s voice came over their radios. “Puar, you first. Shell them until they’re in range and then open up on them, Brix.”
“What about you?” Brix asked.
“Ah, you’re sweet, Brix,” Kay chirped. “Don’t you worry about me, I’ll be fine.”
“Roger that,” Brix said, cocking his gun and readying himself.
There was a long pause, then, “Puar, get ’em!”
Puar started launching grenades that landed in their ranks and detonated, sending wriggling body parts in all directions. No sooner did the fire die down when Kay ordered Brix to open fire, reminding him to hit them in the head. As Brix opened up with his dual magazine Seryys Combat Full-Auto 23-2:30-.75 Special, mowing them down, Kay dropped down into the middle of it dancing through the crowd, removing heads, dodging bullets and feeling like her old self—which both comforted and concerned her.
In the midst of her combat, she vaguely remembered Dah’s voice coming over her radio, but she was so engrossed in her combat frenzy that she scarcely even registered the call. As far as Puar and Brix were concerned, they had their hands full with the throng of undead bearing down on them. They came in such waves that once Brix ran out of ammo, he didn’t have the time necessary to reload. He simply slung his gun and went hand-to-hand with them. A machete was his weapon of choice.
Once the others stopped firing, Kay was free to really turn on the frenzy. Brix and Puar watched her with slack jaws as she was a whirlwind of glinting metal and flying body parts. Though the others definitely had their hands full, she was taking on the brunt of the action. The kill ratio was barely six to one and as the bodies started piling up, the ratio increased as the Roamers had to literally crawl over their fallen comrades to get to Brix and Puar. By that point, Dah’s call had come and gone and it was a distant memory. By the end of the last wave of Roamers the combatants were tired, blood-soaked and completely lacking anything that would even be remotely considered an appetite, and would probably never want to eat anything resembling red meat again.
The Seryys Chronicles: Steel Alliance Page 12
