by J. Thorn
But the day was about to get more complicated. You see, whilst we had been down in that tunnel, sniffing around and hauling stuff back up to the truck, we hadn't realised how much the noise was travelling. That tunnel that lead out into the depot echoed like crazy, and the depot itself acted like an amplifier to that noise, and we had drawn the attention of some things that had recently awoken from their slumber.
They'd taken their time getting to us of course, but by the time we stepped out of the tunnel and up into the bright sunlight that was flooding through the hole in the roof of the depot, they had started to converge on the place, and then the first of them fell through the hole in the ceiling and hit the floor with a crunch.
We both ducked for cover and levelled our weapons on it, but the Shambler didn't get up. That forty foot drop was enough to smash the thing's skull open. Of course, that was just the beginning. The first few that dropped did just the same, bang on that hard concrete ground and then nothing, but then after a dozen or more had fallen there was a cushion for the rest to land on, and my god did they start pouring through that hole.
"We got to move," I hissed.
But the hole was between us and our exit to the truck.
"Go," replied Bailey as he leapt over the pile of rubble that we were standing behind. I followed, and we both moved as fast as we could around the outside of the depot, all the time firing shot after shot at the flood of Shamblers falling down into a pile in the middle. There were dozens of them and with seconds of hitting the ground they were up and stumbling towards us. Even the ones that broke their legs falling from the hole were doing their utmost to crawl along the ground.
One by one they fell under the barrage of Shredder blasts, falling to the ground or exploding into pieces where they stood, but there were too many of them. I knew that if we didn't move faster and get the hell out of there, they would overwhelm us.
"Bailey, run!" I shouted. "Too many of them, get out!"
He didn't need telling twice. We both barrelled across that train depot as fast as we could, leaping over fallen down racking and bits of masonry as we went.
We were nearly at the steps when Bailey fell.
He hadn't seen the broken chair on the other side of a fallen stack of shelving. I saw it just before he leapt, but I wasn't quick enough to warn him.
I heard the crack of a bone breaking and could only watch as he stumbled forward and fell to the ground.
I ran around the shelving and grabbed him by the shoulder, trying to help him up, but his leg was so badly broken that he couldn't even get himself off the floor. I could see the pain in his eyes as he fought to stop himself from screaming.
"Go!" he shouted, "Get out of here."
I looked behind me to the stairs and then back towards the mass of Shamblers that were slowly stumbling their way towards us. No way was I leaving him there.
"Don't be so damn stupid," I shouted, but I knew our situation was desperate. I wasn't going to be able to lift him. He was just too big.
"You got to go. I won't make it. There's too many of them and I can't move fast enough."
"Shut up you damn fool."
I picked up his gun from the floor next to him and shoved it in my belt.
"Start crawling buddy. I can hold them back."
He started crawling towards the steps, but it was slow. His leg was so badly damaged that it must have broken the skin, because there was blood trailing along the floor behind him.
One foot at a time, we took those stairs, him crawling up them with every bit of strength he had left, and me firing those shotguns at anything that came within twenty feet of us.
By the time Bailey managed to get to the top of the stairs and start crawling across the foyer towards the truck, I was on my knees, swapping guns every second or so and firing into the wall of Shamblers that now filled the stairway. Each time I blasted the shot gun into them, several of them fell to the floor, tripping over the ones behind them. It was enough to keep them slowed down, but I knew that they would eventually get through.
Every few seconds I glanced behind me towards Bailey, checking how far he had got across the floor, and then back to the Shamblers to unload more shots.
Finally, just when the wall of walking plague was just five feet away from me, hands reaching out to grab me, I heard the hiss of the truck doors. I span round, grabbed the shotgun that was on the floor recharging, and ran as fast as I could across the foyer.
Bailey was lying on the floor a dozen feet away from the open doors, unconscious. He had made it all that way and then passed out.
I threw my guns into the truck and grabbed hold of him under the arms, screaming at the top of my voice as I heaved with every bit of strength I had. He was too damn heavy, but I was just able to move him a few feet. I heaved again, trying to ignore the crowd that was stumbling across the foyer towards me. I knew that I had only seconds to get him into the truck or we would both be Shambler food, but they were getting too close, and I knew I wasn't going to make it.
I hadn't even thought of it, and I was pulling with all my strength, whilst desperately trying to figure out how to get us out of there, but there it was poking out from behind one of the truck doors.
Bailey's chain gun.
I leapt the few steps to the truck, leaving my friend on the ground, and grabbed that monstrosity of a weapon. I had never even lifted it before, and only knew how to release the trigger because I had seen Bailey do it when we shot up the massive mutant creature that had been chained up outside.
I hauled it over to where Bailey was lying, threw the strap over my shoulder, flipped the release, and let it fly.
Oh my god, was that the best feeling I have had in a long time. The first of the Shamblers was already half-way across the foyer, and they were stumbling up those stairs in the hundreds. Where the hell they had all come from I don't know, but the second that chain gun let fly it was like harvesting crops. Those Shamblers just fell to pieces and splattered all over the place.
A minute later and I had cleared the foyer, and then I concentrated fire on the stairs. That thing was so damn heavy I had to kneel down.
I was there for about an hour before the things stopped crawling towards me. Mashed up Shambler bodies were piled up so high that there nearly wasn't any room up the stairs for them to get through. They had piled up almost to the ceiling.
I collapsed on the floor next to Bailey and got my breath back.
Now if Bailey had been like any normal man, he would have been dead by the time I got him into the truck. But of course I knew that he was just like me. All I had to do was get him safely into the truck, lock us in, and wait.
So that's what I did.
Here we are. Feels good to be out of that tunnel doesn't it? Let's take a break for a few minutes. You know there are only a few people that know what you do now, son...Bailey, your mother, Aben, of course the Resistance and now you. This place is not something that everybody should know about and you need to remember that before you go telling all your friends about it. It's important you know it's here and it's going to become even more important in the future, but you have to understand that this is has been a secret for a long time.
Bailey took a whole week to recover. I wasn't expecting it to take so long, and I have to admit that I was worried a few times. I had presumed that it would be as quick as my own experience, but of course he was even more gravely wounded than I was. He'd lost a lot of blood you see, and the blood is what heals. Of course even if he had bled almost completely dry, he would still have healed up, just a whole lot slower. I have this idea that the nanites and antibodies in our blood reproduce themselves and that if you only have a few left it takes a lot longer for them to build up and multiply enough to fix you.
Whilst he was unconscious I did my best to set his leg straight, so that at least it wouldn't end up bent up as it healed. I thought many times, whilst I waited in the truck, about pressing that button on the gadget that Joshua had given me, but I
was nervous about doing it, and I needed Bailey up and walking again just so that I could face it. Stupid really, I would imagine that Joshua could have given him something to speed up the process, but also I knew that Bailey was a very proud man. I knew he would want to face Joshua standing on his feet.
I was asleep when he woke up, and when I awoke he was already up and about, cooking himself something to eat. He was as ravenous as I had been the day I had woken up on the bunk in Joshua's place.
We never did talk about what had happened, and we didn't talk much at all that day until finally, when it was nearly dark he broke the silence.
"Did you set off the beacon yet?"
"What beacon?"
"The gadget that Joshua gave you...it's a beacon that alerts him when he is needed."
"Oh, no, not yet."
"Well are you going to?"
I'd thought about it a lot whilst Bailey had been recovering. I'd been waiting a long time to press that button, but now that time had come I had a strange reluctance to do it. Fortunately I had a good enough reason to postpone my meeting with Joshua.
"I don't think so. Not yet. I made a promise to Aben that I would go back and tell him what I found here. If I call Joshua now, I might not get the chance."
Bailey nodded.
"Good choice. Let's get going then."
We fired up the truck and were about to leave when I thought about all the Shambler bodies that were going to be left to rot.
"What about all the mess? Shouldn't we clean up first?"
Bailey pointed out of the cab.
"I don't think that we are going to need to."
I looked at where he was pointing and I didn't see it at first, but then I saw movement and spotted the Maw peering out from the doorway across the road.
"Where he is there will be more, lots more. They never travel alone, always in a pack, and their packs are huge."
"What will they do? Will they eat the Shamblers?"
"Oh yes, that's what the Maw do best. I noticed them this morning. I reckon they smelled the Shamblers and came hunting for them. Of course, they don't even have to kill them this time. We just left them a free banquet."
The thought made me shudder.
I'd never seen a Maw since the day Joshua had shown me the one that had been twisted by the Horde, but as we drove out of the centre of the city I saw hundreds of them moving through the ruins. I mean hundreds. Just like Bailey had said, they had probably been nearby and smelt the blood, or even smelt the Shamblers when they woke up. I had expected them all to look the same, but they weren't. The Maw come in all shapes and sizes and some don't even look like the same species. Some of them are huge, black furred things with a face full of teeth that would make you shudder. Others are more like smooth furred cats with just a few fangs and long, lithe bodies built for fast speed rather than power. I've seen some strange creatures in this world, but nothing compares to the awesome sight of a pack of Maw.
Come on son, I've got something else to show you. It's in the truck that I brought along with me. It needs setting up in the depot, where there is plenty of space.
You know it was a relief when we finally got back to Balesoul and I sat down with old Aben and told him all about what we had found. He pondered over the log book and the note that I had brought with me, and his face lit up like he had found something to live for. I almost think that he felt the same way I had done when I had stepped through the door to this world.
A new reason to believe in something.
"So that's why they stayed," he said, nodding to himself. "To make sure that a million people would be hidden away."
It was a long journey there and back, and Bailey insisted that we stop off at a few places along the way to do a bit of trading. We had so much valuable junk from the depot that he just couldn't wait to make some profit out of it. It was a month before we finally pulled up outside that building again.
Just as Bailey had predicted, the foyer, the stairs, and the entire depot was completely clear of bodies. The Maw hadn't left a thing. I wondered if we would see them, if they were still around, but Bailey said they were nomadic and that they would be long gone now.
So many years had gone by since seeing Joshua that it felt strange standing in that city centre and pressing that button for the first time. I don't know what I was expecting to happen, but nothing happening was not it. For a moment the gadget hummed and a light on the top lit up, but that was it. No door opened up in the middle of the air, and Joshua didn't just appear.
Nothing.
I looked over at Bailey.
"What now?"
"Now we wait."
We waited for a whole day. Somehow I had got it into my head that I just had to press the button and Joshua would appear, right in front of me, but of course that wasn't the way of things. It was a beacon to tell him I was ready, but I had no idea how long that message would take to get to him. For all I knew he wasn't even on the same planet, or maybe not even the same universe.
When he did arrive, I was sitting on the ground outside the truck, cooking up a rodent that Bailey had caught that had somehow managed to survive the Maw passing through.
I didn't even notice him appear.
"So what have you got for me then Joe?"
I almost jumped out of my skin, but I like to kid myself that I kept my dignity.
"Good to see you too Joshua," I said.
I started right from the beginning, explaining how I had met Bailey, and how we travelled around until we finally found out about Rove. I told him all the tales that I had picked up from people like Aben, including the one about the General and the final stand in this city. Then we took him down the tunnel and showed him the log entries. He stood at that bunker door just like we had a month before. He didn't say anything for a long time, just stood there, staring at it and looking at the log. Then he did something that I wasn't expecting. He walked over to the door, pressed a spot on it that we hadn't noticed, and a panel popped open. He took another one of his gadgets out of a pouch and pressed a button on that. For a moment or so there was a hissing noise, not like when air escapes out of a tyre, this was some kind of static hiss.
"The bunker was sealed for two hundred and thirty five years, not two hundred," he said. "That means it will open roughly forty years from now."
"How do you know all that?"
"Because we were here a long time ago."
I was shocked.
"You mean you knew about this place?"
"Yes, well, no, not exactly. I knew that the Resistance had built bunkers on various worlds over the centuries, and that this world was a possible candidate, but I didn't know for definite."
"So how did they know that the bunker was there? How did the General, or whatever his name was, know how to open it in the first place?"
"Because he was a member of the Resistance."
"He was what?"
"He was one of us. You have to remember that we have been fighting this war against the Horde for millennia. This invasion only happened two hundred years ago. We have bunkers like this one built on many worlds, a lot of them without the knowledge of the native people. The General, as you call him, was an Outrider, just like you and Bailey. He was stationed on this planet to watch out for signs of an invasion. We've got people on countless planets, watching out for movements of the Horde and any signs of where they will strike next. It's the only way we have any chance of keeping track of them. He would have known back then that the bunker was here, and he must have somehow gained command of the forces that remained. Amazing. He actually managed to herd a million of the natives to a bunker and stop the Horde from slaughtering them."
"So, this is what you wanted me to find then? This is good enough?"
"No. I sent you here to find out what had happened to the Outrider. Looking for the details of the last battle was just something to get you looking. Of course, this is far more important than any of that. We're talking about millions of people. Millions
of people. If the Resistance was to recruit them, we would have a force to be reckoned with. We might even be able to rebuild a home world."
"So I've done my job then?"
"Yes, you have indeed and much more."
I stood there just taking in the air for a few minutes. For the last fifteen years I'd had a purpose, and now that was gone I wasn't sure what to do next.
That didn't last very long.
"I have another job for you Joe, if you are interested?"
I smiled at that, wondering what strange world he was going to drag me off to next.
"Do I get paid for this one?"
"Same payment."
"Nothing then."
"Absolutely."
"Go on, what do you have for me now?"
"I want you to stay here on this world and become its watcher. We can't open that bunker. Nothing will. That's how they were built. Not even the people on the inside can open it. So someone has to be here when the door does open. I want that to be you."
"You want me to stick around here in this dead city for forty years? You're joking?"
"No, I'm not joking, though I don't mean you have to stay right here. In fact that would be the worst thing you could do. You and Bailey already know this world, at least you know it better than any other Resistance. Start a life here, maybe settle down somewhere. We need someone here to watch over the bunker, but that doesn't mean you have to stay in this city. Nothing is going to harm the people in that bunker, but soon the Resistance will need to start a huge operation here to clean up the city and make ready for that door to open. That means we will need someone here to initialise the opening of a portal when the time comes. In the mean time you could set about helping the towns and the people on the surface."
