Escape From Metro City

by Mandel, Richard

  "Is she all right?" Cy asked anxiously.

  "No, but she's out of it for now, and that's a good thing," Mercy said as she first arranged the splints around her leg. "Hold these, please. Thank you." She then reached for a roll of surgical wrap and began to wind it around both the splints and Lisa's left leg, so her broken knee would be held in place. "If she weren't, she'd be screaming her head off from the pain, and I don't have anything strong enough to give her for it."

  "I guess you're right," Cy said. He fell silent while Mercy finished wrapping Lisa’s leg and promptly started on her broken arm. Again, as before, Cy held the splints in place while Mercy secured them with surgical wrap. A thought crossed his mind, and he decided to voice it. "You saw how that thing went straight for Lisa?" he asked.

  "I saw," Mercy answered. There was a bitter edge to her voice. "That means Pandora knows about her." She sighed. "I'll bet they've got someone inserted at the quarantine line, maybe even with your General Ryan, and that's how they found out."

  "Mercy, I don't think General Ryan would betray us like that."

  "He probably didn't," Mercy interrupted, "if he's half the man you say he is. There are other ways of finding out. They could have somebody friendly to them on his staff, for example. Or they could have their man planted as a particularly nosy reporter. There's all kinds of ways they could have found out."

  "Possibly," Cy conceded.

  "Okay, I'm done here," Mercy said, abruptly changing the subject. "You'll have to help me with her side." She moved up somewhat and placed the makeshift splints at specific locations on Lisa's heavily bandaged side. Cy could not help but notice the amount of blood that had soaked through the bandages in places. "Don't worry," Mercy said, as if reading his mind. "It's congealed. I got her bandaged up just in time, but she lost a lot of blood before I did." She fixed the splints in place with surgical tape while Cy continued to hold them. "Lift her up a bit for me please, so I can get this wrap under her, but carefully. Work your hand under her upper back ... there you go. Okay, just enough so you can catch this as I slide it under to you ... there. Now again ... there. And again ... there." This went on until Mercy had firmly wrapped Lisa's side splints in place. "Okay you can let her down now. Gently ... gently ... there. Good. You would have made a good male nurse, Cy," Mercy finished, trying to smile as she did.

  Cy gave Mercy a look. "How bad is she, Mercy? Honest truth."

  Mercy bit her lip. "Honest truth. Bad, Cy. Really bad. Her left arm is broken and I had to reset her shoulder on that side before you got here. It was dislocated. Her left knee is more than broken. It's shattered. She'll never walk again without total knee replacement surgery at the least, and even then I'm not sure. She's got two broken ribs, maybe three, and that's why we had to be so careful in lifting her. She's also lost her left eye, as you saw earlier, and a lot of blood from all of those glass and metal cuts when that thing threw her into that truck. She would have had a lot more but for that armor vest. That's also what saved her from being killed outright. If she hadn't been wearing it, then her chest might have been crushed or she could have a broken back, or both. It absorbed and sluffed off the worst of the impact. She's also got indeterminate internal injuries, but I'm hoping they're not too serious. At least she's not coughing up blood. Not yet." Both her face and her voice lost all emotion with her next words. "Cy, she lost too much blood from her arm before I could get to her. She's going to die unless we can get her somewhere that's got the stuff I need to give her a proper transfusion. That also needs to be a place where I can properly care for her like she needs, and there's only one place within reach where I can do that." With that, she made a point of looking away from him and towards the side road that led to the Pandora complex.

  Cy's eyes followed Mercy's, and he furrowed his brow once they too settled on the side road. "That thing wanted us to go in there, Mercy, otherwise it wouldn't have set up this barricade the way it did." He waved to the stacked and positioned vehicles behind them to emphasize his words. "That's its lair, you know? It probably knows that place like the back of its hand, and there wouldn't have been anywhere in there we could have hid from it."

  "Maybe that's true, but whatever its plans were changed the minute you hit and wounded it," Mercy replied immediately. "Didn't you notice it didn't go back there?"

  "I couldn't help but notice," Cy shot back. "It took off down the highway and made me miss my last shot, streaming blood from that stump of an arm and squealing like a ... like a ... oh my God."

  "What?"

  "I know where it's going," Cy said with alarm, as he scrambled for Lisa's pack.

  "What are you doing?" Mercy asked.

  "I need Lisa's grenades. I'm out," Cy answered, as he began to rummage through the pack.

  "You're out? So if that thing had attacked again, then ..."

  "Yeah." Cy was fishing the grenades out of Lisa's pack as quickly as he could find them. "And when it comes back, and you can bet it will, it ain't coming to socialize."

  "So where'd it go?"

  "Back to town. It's heading for what's left of my convoy. It wants the heavy weapons we had with us."

  "Heavy weapons?!" Now Mercy's eyes went wide with alarm.

  Raul, who was listening in even though he was standing guard, also looked shocked. "Is coming back? What kind of heavy weapons you bring with you, senor?!"

  "Oh, the usual," Cy said, as he finished pulling out the last of Lisa's grenades from the pack. He immediately brought his China Lake around and began to reload it with the grenades as fast as he could. "Lots of grenades along with several single-shot grenade launchers, a lot of M-16s and a fair number of heavier M-60s, and a few M2 50-caliber heavy machine guns mounted on some of the APCs and Humvees." He finished loading the fourth and last grenade and quickly hung the other two on his gear harness. He also reached over and scooped up Lisa's AK-47 along with the side pouch in which she kept its preloaded ammo clips, and then put on the pouch while he gave Mercy a worried look. "If that thing comes back with any of that, our goose is going to be cooked." He immediately came to his feet. "Raul, stay here and guard them. I don't think either Mr. Super Nazi or the zombies will be back for a while, but I'd like to play it safe all the same."

  Raul gave him a look. "Where do you go, senor?"

  Cy made sure both his China Lake and shotgun stayed slung back over his shoulder, and then he pulled Lisa's AK up in front of him as he spoke. "I remember seeing some abandoned vehicles down the highway before we made that last turn and wound up here. I'm going down there to see if any of them still have the keys in them." He now looked at Mercy. "We need something to move Lisa into wherever we're headed inside the Pandora complex."

  "The main research lab building," Mercy immediately answered. "Everything I need is in there." She gave Cy an anxious look. "What are you going to do if the ubermensch didn't head to town like you think it did?"

  Cy shot her a grim look. "I'm gonna pray," he said. With that he turned on his heel and took off in a slow, loping combat run, the AK held before him in a combat carry as he headed southward down the highway towards the curve.

  Raul watched the Army corporal go. "¡Ay carumba!" he said softly.

  "Come again?" Mercy asked.

  Raul turned to look at her. She was tending Lisa again, wiping the blood from what parts of her face weren't covered by bandages with a cloth. "Is like some nightmare version of Dia de Muertos, you know, only for real."

  "What's that?"

  Raul gave a nervous laugh. "Is what we call Day of the Dead. Is a holiday where we remember family and friends who have died. Our Halloween, if you like, but we celebrate it two days later. There is story that sometimes the dead rise on Dia de Muertos to revisit with everyone one last time. Only ..." and with that his voice faltered.

  "Only what?" Mercy prompted.

  Raul shivered. "Only I not know I would really meet the dead when I come over border this time. If I know, I stay back in Guadalajara with my mother and father a
nd sister. If I ever escape and get back, I stay there this time."

  Mercy gave a nervous laugh. "I don't blame you. I'd probably do the same too." She now leaned back on her haunches and looked at him. "So why did you come north, Raul?"

  Raul shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, the usual. More money, better jobs, places to work where few questions are asked so long as you do good job. I work hard, send most money home to family, keep only enough to live here." He gave a little laugh. "Is a living, as you gringos say. Only this time I get caught."

  "How?"

  "INS came through on random sweep, checking papers. I no have any, so they pick me up. MCPD hold me until they make arrangements to deport me. That was when I met Joe. Nice guy for gringo cop." He shook his head. "So sad he die and turn zombie."

  "Yeah," Mercy said quietly. "So sad."

  "Is good thing Lisa no can turn if she die, right?"

  Mercy's brow furrowed and she gave Raul a stare. "She's not going to die, Raul," she insisted. "Not if I can help it. Not if we get her to the Pandora lab in time."

  "Si." Raul nodded, and then turned to look back down the highway.

  Mercy looked at Raul for a bit. "Hey," she said, "want me to take a look at that leg?"

  Raul shook his head. "I okay for now. You look when Senor Rappalo get back."

  "Sure."

  There was another pause, and then Raul spoke again. "Senor Rappalo, he gone long time now."

  "Yeah," Mercy said quietly. "He gone long time."

  The Pandora medical researcher who could also play nurse again leaned over the prostrate and unconscious form of the young half-Cherokee female stock car racer before her. Lisa's breathing had become shallow, and what of her skin was visible given her many bandages had turned very pale. Mercy gently picked up Lisa's right hand and held it in both of her own. It was cold and clammy to the touch. "Hang in there, Lisa," she said quietly. "Don't die on us. I know you've got an incredible will to live, young lady. I've seen it. Give Cy the time he needs to get us some wheels so we can get you to that lab and some proper care. Hang in there, okay? Don't die, Lisa. Please. Don't die."

  About a quarter-mile away, high in the branches of a tall pine tree on one side of the highway, the large raven that had followed the survivors from Metro City was roosting and surveying the scene below. It saw the short but burly Mexican standing guard over the Asian-looking female tending the fallen half-Indian woman, ready to take on anything and everything that might come their way. It turned its head the other way and saw quite a distance away and around the turn in the highway a black U.S. Army corporal, going from one abandoned vehicle to another, searching for any that were drivable and still had the keys in it. It turned its head back to the first scene, to the barricade across the highway by the Pandora complex side road, and its eyes were drawn to the young half-Indian woman lying prone on the pavement. She was a pretty thing, or had been before that man-made monster messed her up and left her on the verge of death. Such a sweet soul. Such a sweet, delicious soul ... and it was almost time. It wouldn't hurt to hasten things a bit, as it had done with the dying white man back in town. He had been merely filler, to round out the corners, but this was a sweet, juicy, tender soul, one that would make a meal all in itself. Yes, it wouldn't hurt to hurry things a bit. The raven flapped its wings once on its high perch, and then opened its beak to give the cry that would start the process of swallowing that sweet little soul.

  Even as the raven's beak opened, there was an abrupt loud clap of thunder that boomed and rumbled across the sky. A wind out of nowhere shook the trees. The raven promptly closed its beak, fighting to keep its perch. Down on the ground, all three of the humans still on their feet looked up at the sky in amazement from their respective locations. They could not see the raven and that was a good thing, because saying its feathers were ruffled would have been putting it mildly. It flapped its wings again, as if gathering itself, and then opened its beak again to cry. Once again there was an immediate and loud clap of thunder and an invisible wind shook the trees. The raven almost fell off of its perch this time, as that wind from nowhere buffeted it and the echoes from the thunder continued to rumble for several seconds. This time the humans below looked amazed, but the raven no longer paid them any mind. It had found its footing and resumed its perch on the branch it had claimed for its roost. Its head was cocked slightly, as if listening to the rumbling above. There were words in those sounds only it could hear and understand. When it was done listening it snapped its head up in sudden defiance, and then slowly lowered it in an almost reverent bow, as if reluctantly acquiescing to some unheard command. It remained in that pose for a few seconds, and then with a whirring of wings its head popped back up and it took to the sky.

  Cy had just found a beat-up old orange Datsun pickup with the keys still in it and gas in the tank when he heard a sudden flapping of bird wings. He turned his head in time to see a large raven suddenly shoot from the upper branches of a distant tall pine tree as if it were in some kind of hurry. He saw it sail up and into the murky sky above, and suddenly it was gone. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. Nothing was there save rolling black clouds. He took in a deep breath, let it out again, and then shook his head. "Just a bird," he muttered, as he got into the driver's seat of the Datsun and fired up the motor.

  Chapter 10

  A Change of Plans

  "Bring him in here!" General Ryan bellowed.

  "Yes, sir!" said the soldier at the back of the tent, smartly saluting as he did. He then turned on his heel and quickly departed through the flaps of the field headquarters tent. When he returned a few minutes later, he came with two burly MPs who were escorting Carlton Dahl. The stern looks on their faces and the furious one of Ryan's was counterpointed by Dahl's own apparent benevolent calm. The Pandora representative was literally planted in place before the army general by the two MPs, who stood there glaring at him while he looked blandly back.

  "What the hell just happened, Mr. Dahl?!" Ryan snarled.

  "Looks like you lost a helicopter," Dahl replied quietly. He now gave the Army general a questioning look so obsequious that it bordered on the edge of being surly. "Didn't you know?"

  "Of course I know!" Ryan roared. "HOW in the HELL did THAT happen?!"

  "How should I know?" Dahl replied calmly. "This is your show, not mine. I'm here only to advise and to keep Pandora updated on the—"

  "That was a Pandora ubermensch which took out my gunship and killed everyone aboard!" Ryan bellowed. "What was it doing in there, and how the hell did it escape confinement?! It was my understanding that your Metro City complex was for viral research and development ONLY!! That thing shouldn't have been there AT ALL!!!"

  "So it was," Dahl said, forcing a thin smile. He had the look of a man who was patiently dealing with an unruly child. "General Ryan, I'm not responsible for what other branches of Pandora may be doing or might have done, nor can I know what they do unless they tell me. I'm a liaison man. I can but inform and advise, once I have the necessary facts."

  "Then you had better start informing, mister, and damn pronto," Ryan barked. "You have all of the goddamn facts you need. Now start talking, because both you and Pandora are in enough hot water already."

  Dahl's thin smile somehow managed to become even thinner. "Don't forget, General. If you choose to ignore common sense and inform the public about us and our research, you will also be informing them about the unlawful actions of your own superiors as well." He laughed softly. "Now you really don't want to spill the beans on them, as they might say, do you?"

  "I don't give a fuck what I spill," Ryan barked, "so long as it isn't any more of my people's blood than necessary. What just happened shouldn't have happened at all, and wouldn't have unless Pandora is up to something on their own." He now leaned in close to the Pandora representative. "Well? Are they, Mr. Dahl?"

  Dahl paused before responding. He maintained his thin smile as he did. "If they were, do you think they would tell me?"

 
Ryan paused at that. He looked at Dahl for a long time. Dahl matched his gaze eye for eye, and the two stood there staring at each other for almost a full minute. It was General Ryan who broke eye contact, as he turned to address one of the MPs beside Dahl. "Sergeant, this man is under arrest."

  "On what charge?" Dahl asked blandly.

  "Accessory in a conspiracy to commit murder, for starters," Ryan said. He now allowed himself the slightest of smiles. "I can think of plenty more."

  Dahl's smile now became one of bemusement. "You can't do this. I have rights—"

  "You've got nothing," Ryan shot back, angrily waving a hand. "Don't forget. This is a military quarantine zone under martial law. We are the law here, not the civilian government, and right now you and your people at Pandora are in a fine pickle as far as we're concerned." He again addressed the MP. "Now get him out of here."

  "Yes, sir."

  Dahl said nothing more as the MPs escorted him away and through the tent flap. He maintained the air of an innocent man to whom a great wrong has been done, even as he left General Ryan's presence. The general looked for a while at the tent flap after Dahl's departure, then added with a snort, "Little prick."

  "Sir?" his aide asked. He had been standing quietly off to one side until now, while the exchange between Ryan and Dahl took place.

  "Nothing," Ryan said. He took a deep breath, let it back out, then looked at his aide. "Get on the blower and call up the people who are bringing in that special equipment I requested. Tell them I need it here yesterday, given what's happened."

  "Yes, sir," the aide replied, heading for the tent flap.

  Another Army soldier popped in before the aide could leave. He was a fresh-faced young man wearing second lieutenant's bars, and he looked excited. "General Ryan, sir?"

  "Yes?" The general turned to look at him.