Dead Mech (15 page)

“Ever going to?”

“Yep. When we are both ready.”

Mathew thought for a second, Rachel looked
up at him, he smiled down at her.

“Okay. Take your time.”

“Thank you.”

***

Doctor Themopolous tossed the latex gloves
in the incinerator.

“So Doc, what’s the story?” Capreze
asked.

Turning, Doctor Themopolous stared straight
at the Commander. She did not look well. Commander Caprese waited
patiently.

“Memory.”

“Come again?”

“The dead mechs are using the zombie brains
for memory. They are like an undead hard drive for the mech’s
AI.”

“So what does that mean tactically?” Bisby
asked, having just entered the room.

Capreze ignored the interruption, wanting to
know the answer as well.

“With their processing speed, the dead mechs
are as intelligent, if not more, than humans.”

“Fucking great,” Bisby groaned.

***

“Take your seats, please,” Capreze ordered.
“Jethro is joining us today since he may have some insights.”

Jethro gave an exaggerated wave to everyone
seated. Capreze rolled his eyes.

“First order of business is to watch some of
the vid from Bisby’s encounter with Red Legs yesterday.” Capreze
tapped at his tablet and the room went dark as a large vid screen
filled with the grainy vid feed from the battle.

“I want you to watch the deader. Watch how
it moves. Don’t over-analyze things. I want your gut feelings on
this.”

The staff sat in silence as they
watched.

***

“So, what do you think?” Capreze asked the
room.

Those seated looked around at each other,
hoping someone had an answer. Dr. Themopolous cleared her
throat.

“I think the dead mechs are learning. They
are becoming sentient.”

Most in the room gasped.

“You have to be joking, Doc,” Jethro
growled.

“No, I’m not, Mechanic,” she stated flatly.
“I believe that because of the Reaper chip, the dead mechs are
using the complexities of the human brain to do something in death
we couldn’t do in life.”

“And what is that, Doctor?” Rachel
asked.

“They have created self-replicating AI. They
live.”

***

June awoke suddenly and scrambled out from
under the blankets she wrapped about her and got to her feet,
turning to look at the small, dingy room she was in. There was no
furniture, only the pile of blankets and a bucket in the
corner.

Bits and pieces of memory came to her and
from the bruises and cuts on her naked body and the intense pain
radiating everywhere, she knew the day before hadn’t been a dream,
it had been a waking nightmare.

The door to the room rattled and then opened
and the Boss entered. “Morning, Sunshine. Hungry?”

***

“Okay, everyone settle down,” Capreze said.
The room hushed. “As important as this is, it isn’t the most
pressing thing we have to deal with today.” Capreze paused. “I
received word that two med techs and a team of UDC security will be
arriving at 1700 hours by train.”

All eyes fell on Themopolous.

“Med techs?” Harlow asked. “For Steve?”

“They don’t send security for a wounded
cook,” Bisby sniped.

“No, they don’t,” Capreze continued. “The
techs are supposed to inoculate the base. But the Doctor and I have
found that to be a rouse. We cannot let them succeed.”

***

June grabbed for the blankets, wrapping them
around her exposed skin.

“Now, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” the
Boss said, holding his hands up, palms out. “No need for a pretty
thing like you to get all worked up.”

“Where am I?” June asked, eyes darting from
the Boss to the door.

“No need to even try,” the Boss grinned.
“Hey Chunks?”

“Yes, Boss?” Chunks responded, just outside
the door.

“Nothin’. Just making a point.” The Boss’s
grin widened, showing sharp teeth filed to points. “Now before
Chunks brings in breakfast, how about you tell me your name
darlin’?”

***

“Quiet down, people,” Capreze commanded. The
alarmed voices of the base staff ceased. “As much as I would like
sentient deaders and forced inoculations to be all of our worries,
they aren’t. Mathew?”

“Thank you, sir,” Mathew cleared his throat.
“I followed some Ranchers out to Timson’s Bluff. Looks like they’ve
set up camp there.”

“So?” Bisby asked impatiently.

“They were loading zombie herds onto UDC
transports.”

“What the fuck?” Harlow exclaimed.
“Why?”

“That seems to be the question of the
morning, Pilot Harlow,” Capreze commented. “But we now need to
prioritize threats. The train is first. I need suggestions.”

***

“I asked you a question, darlin’,” the Boss
said, his grin not meeting his eyes. “Around here, I ask, you
answer. There ain’t any way around that.” He stepped closer to
June, backing her against the wall. “Unless you want to be the next
meal.”

June remained quiet, her body shaking from
cold and fear inside her blankets.

“You sure you don’t want to answer? Alright
then.”

Lightning quick the Boss lashed out,
slapping June across the face. He yanked the blankets from her and
punched her in the stomach. June doubled over.

“I can do this all day, sweetheart.”

***

“So, it’s not a retrovirus?” Mathew
asked.

“No,” Themopolous answered. “The UDC is
injecting nanotech into every person under its authority.”

“Why?” Rachel asked.

“We don’t know,” Capreze said. “But every
instinct in my body tells me it isn’t for the ‘greater good’.”

“So, we don’t let them inject us,” Bisby
stated. “Seems pretty fucking easy.”

“This is the UDC we are talking about, not
some city/state PD. How do we stop them without being marked
traitors?” Harlow exclaimed. “Let alone keep them from opening fire
as soon as we try to stop them.”

“I have an idea,” Rachel said.

***

“Rachel!” June screamed, shit streaming down
her legs after the sixth stomach punch caused her bowels to loose.
“Rachel…Capreze.”

“Capreze? You must be the Commander’s brat.”
The Boss stepped back, his eyes twinkling with malevolence.
“Chunks!”

“Yes, Boss?” Chunks called from outside the
room.

“Get me a harness,” the Boss smirked. “I’m
gonna show everyone my fancy new breeder.”

In seconds, Chunks came into the room
carrying a bundle of leather and metal. The Boss put out a hand and
Chunks placed the bundle into his outstretched palm. “Thank you,
Chunks. Now, Rachel, I advise you hold perfectly still.”

***

“You think this will work?” Mathew asked,
handing Rachel another pitcher of water. Rachel took the water and
poured it into the brewer.

“It’s going to have to,” Rachel responded,
closing the brewer lid and turning the machine on. In seconds the
water began to gurgle through the system and the smell of coffee
filled the kitchen.

Themopolous entered the kitchen, three vials
in her hands. “Remember, the coffee has to be cooled to room
temperature or the heat will break down the sedative.”

“No problem, Doc. I’ll have coffee brewed,
cooled and slowly re-heated before the train gets here.”

***

The Boss led June through the village by a
leash attached to a neck collar which was in turn attached to
straps that were buckled below her breasts, across her mid-section
and down around her thighs. The Boss smiled and waved,
acknowledging those that greeted him.

June wanted to shut her eyes and pretend
like nothing was happening, but she was warned she’d lose her
eyelids if she didn’t keep them open and hold her head up high.

From what she could see of the village, the
worst slums of the city/states were luxury compared to the squalor
around her.

***

Commander Capreze waited as Jethro pulled
the ATV back into the hangar. “Everything’s set, sir. If that
doesn’t jam them then we’re screwed.”

“I don’t want ‘ifs’ Jethro. I want
certainty,” the Commander said.

“Sir, the UDC gave us all this,” Jethro
responded, spreading his arms wide. “But they didn’t give us Jay
Rind’s brain. Trust me his tech beats their tech any day.”

“I hope so or we will all be lined up in
front of a UDC firing squad.” Capreze gazed out the hangar to the
train platform. “I guess were as ready as we’re going to be.”

***

“Ladies,” the Boss greeted a small group of
women, dressed in a dirty patchwork of clothing, gathered about a
massive cook pot. “This is Rachel.” The women stared.

The Boss gave a strong tug on the leash,
pulling June closer to the group. She fought to keep from gagging
over the smell emanating from the cook pot. “Rachel will be joining
our family. I need to make sure she doesn’t attract any unwanted
visitors our way. When you are done, let Chunks know. He’ll carry
her back.”

The Boss handed June’s leash to one of the
women and strode away.

***

“Excuse me, Bisby? Can I have a quick word?”
Dr. Themopolous called down the hallway.

Bisby stopped, but didn’t turn to look at
her.

“Whatcha need, Doc?”

“I need to ask a few questions, if you don’t
mind.”

Bisby didn’t move. “What about?”

“Well, mainly about Stanislaw. How he died,
why he died.”

Bisby stiffened noticeably on top of his
already rigid frame.

“Nothing to say Doc.”

“Please?”

Bisby turned and looked square at the
doctor. To her credit, she didn’t flinch. Bisby watched her for a
moment, sighed and strode passed her as she held her office door
open.

***

Two of the women conferred while June, naked
and trussed up, waited and watched. Just beyond the women and cook
pot stood an animal pen. June craned her neck for a better look and
gasped.

“Are those children?” she asked, horrified.
In the pen, she could clearly see several deformed children of
varying ages, playing and sleeping in their own filth.

“Them’s ain’t children. Them’s breed feed,”
one woman said quietly.

“Breed feed?” June asked, sure she didn’t
want to know the answer.

“Hush!” a large woman shouted, pulling a
long sharp knife from behind her back. “Hold her tight!”

***

Capreze entered the infirmary as Harlow
checked Steve’s vital signs. “How’s he doing?”

“He’s stable,” she answered.

“Can we move him quickly if needed?”

“Doc did great work and I have equipment and
supplies all set in the transport.”

“What if we can’t take the transport? Will
he survive a ride in a mech?”

Harlow sighed. “I don’t know, sir. But from
what Themopolous has said, I don’t think so. If his sutures
rupture…”

“I understand, pilot.”

“Sir?”

“Yes, Harlow?”

“Have we gotten word to Masters, Jay and the
Rookie?”

“We can’t risk it, communications are sure
to be monitored.”

***

The massive walls and heavily gunned turrets
of Foggy Bottom came into sight just as the mechs crested a low
hill.

“Wow, hasn’t changed much,” the Rookie
whispered.

“You been here before?” Jay asked
disengaging the motor drive and taking manual control of the
salvage mech.

“Yeah…when I was a kid.”

“So, when was that? Last month?” Jay
joked.

The Rookie didn’t respond, his eyes fixed on
the approaching city/state. Jay glanced down at the Rookie’s hands,
fists clenching and unclenching.

“You looking for a fight?”

“Huh? What? Oh, sorry. Bad memories.”

“Well, we’ll see if we can fix that.”

***

“What are you doing?!? Let me go!” June
screamed as the women threw her face down onto a table. June’s face
was forced into a hole in the table and her head was strapped down
tight. “What the fuck are you doing?!?”

The large woman kneeled down and put her
face up close to June’s. The stench of BO and rotting teeth was
overpowering.

“You’ll want to be still and shut up or this
will go badly for you,” the woman sneered then nodded. “Start
cuttin’.”

June felt excruciating pain as a blade
sliced into the base of her skull.

***

“You’re wasting my time, Doc,” Bisby growled
from his seat in front of Themopolous’ desk.

“I’ll be brief,” Themopolous responded. “Did
Stanislaw engage the dead mech or did the dead mech engage
Stanislaw?”

“What’s the difference?”

“Quite a bit, actually.”

Bisby glared. “The deader
attacked
Stanislaw.”

“I guess what I’m trying to say is, did it
find you or did you find it?”

“We found it. It was hiding below and when
Stan was in range the thing came up and…” Bisby choked on his
words. He shook his head and stood up. “Are we done?”

“Yes, Biz. Thank you.”

***

Capreze activated the open com. “Alright
folks the train will be here in two hours. I expect each and
everyone of you to do your part. I know we have all sworn loyalty
to the UDC and with good reason, but something has changed and our
ultimate duty is to the safety and survival of mankind, not some
generals holed up in a mountain fortress.”

Capreze paused and took a deep breath as the
base waited for him to continue.

“If any of you want out, now is the time to
speak up. Otherwise, I wish us all good luck.”

***

Jay’s com crackled to life. “Attention
approaching mechs. This is Defense Tower Alpha. Welcome to Foggy
Bottom. Please power down weapons systems and follow the security
ATV to transport entrance.”

“Will do Defense Tower Alpha. That you
Scoggins?”

“Hey Jay! Long time no com! You bring me
anything?”

“Sure as shit did, my man. What time ya
off?

“2200. Swing by my place later. Hey
Jay?”