Dead Mech (22 page)

***

Rachel pulled the ATV in front of the
funeral pyre, slung her carbine and hopped out. Harlow did the same
immediately grabbing one end of a body bag as Rachel grabbed the
other. They respectfully placed it and the others on the pyre,
stacking one upon the other, the sunrise reflecting off the
plastic.

“Should we say some words?” Rachel
asked.

“You can if you-” Harlow stopped, staring at
the bags.

“Baby Girl?” Capreze’s voice called over the
com.

“Yeah, Papa Bear?” Rachel responded while
watching Harlow un-sling her carbine as the top bag wobbled and
fell to the ground.

***

“Commander?” Jethro called.

“Not now Jethro, we’ve got a situation on
our hands.”

“Sir, I’m picking up transports right on the
heels of the waste storm.”

“Fuck. Are you sure?’

“Well the info is sketchy because of the
storm, but I’m pretty sure we are looking at between ten and
fifteen transports.”

“I’ll be right there.” Capreze sighed.
“Doctor?”

“Yes, Commander?”

“I need you on the com with Rachel and
Harlow. I’ve got a bigger priority right now.”

“Um, okay.”

“Just tell them how to kill those things and
then get their asses back here.”

“Yes, sir. I’m on it.”

***

“Sounds like it’s passed,” Rebecca said.
“Should be able to go up soon.”

June coughed against the dust swirling about
in the earthen room. Her head was killing her and her body ached
from abuse and fatigue. “Is there anything to eat?” June asked,
regretting the question as soon as it came out of her mouth.

“There is, but you won’t like it,” Olivia
answered. She pulled a pouch from her skirt pocket and took out
three short, fat strips of jerky. She took one for herself, handed
one to Rebecca and offered the third to June.

“I... I can’t.”

***

Harlow and Rachel watched as the body bags
writhed and flexed, their contents trying to escape.

“Those won’t hold long,” Harlow said, taking
aim.

“Hey, Base? What’s the order?” Rachel
called.

“Rachel? Themopolous here. Listen, shooting
them in the head won’t permanently kill them.”

“Since fucking when?” Harlow interrupted.
“My reality is based on a head shot being a kill shot.”

“They have been altered. I think severing
the head will kill them permanently. Or burning them
completely.”

“So stick with the plan then?” Harlow asked
sarcastically.

“Yes.”

Rachel grabbed the fuel can from the ATV and
began to pour.

***

“Alright, this is how we do this,” Jay said,
loading and packing weapons while the Rookie and Masters held off
the bottlenecked zombie horde at the front door. “We take as much
gear as we can. You two go first and I’ll hold them off with the
flame thrower. I’ll follow as soon as you are clear.”

“Wrong,” the Rookie shouted back. “There are
two mechs and I can’t drive either of them. The two of you are more
important than me. I’ll hold them off with the flame thrower.”

“Either plan works for me!” Masters yelled
as he reloaded.

***

Harlow surveyed the landscape as Rachel
poured the fuel onto the shuddering body bags. “Not a single deader
heading our way.”

“Storm’s coming,” Rachel responded tossing
the can aside and pulling a lighter from her pocket. “They aren’t
smart, but they know enough to take cover from a waste storm.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Rachel lit a starter and tossed it,
instantly igniting the fuel soaked body bags. The plastic of the
bags began to melt and fuse to the zombies, freeing them from their
confinement.

“Okay, maybe we should have thought that
through,” Harlow said.

“No shit,” Rachel responded.

***

Capreze stared at the screen. “I’m not
seeing them.”

“Just watch…,” Jethro grunted, closing his
eyes, his face tightening in pain.

“Jethro? You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just the excruciating head
pain, that’s all.” He adjusted the focus on the vid screen, trying
to filter through the storm’s interference. “See those blips? Those
are transports. The red ones are UDC for sure. I don’t know what
the green ones are.”

“How long?”

“Storm hits in a few hours, transports are
maybe another couple hours behind that.”

Capreze patted Jethro on the shoulder. “Good
catch. Keep me posted.”

“Will do, Commander.”

***

“Ready to do this thing?” Jay called
out.

“Ready,” the Rookie and Masters
responded.

The Rookie lifted the flame thrower and gave
a quick blast towards the front door as Masters kicked out against
the cage door. The door didn’t budge.

“Shit!” Masters yelled.

“Move!” Jay took aim with his shotgun and
fired off four rounds, one to the lock and three to the hinges. The
door tumbled to the ground and Masters and Jay opened fire, leaping
from the cage. “Come on!”

The Rookie laid down a steady stream of
fire, giving them a few more seconds then followed.

***

Mathew awoke to the sounds of a hundred
rotted fingernails scratching at the metal of his mech as dozens of
zombies clambered past his war machine and into the safety of the
cracked cliff face. He held his breath as the last few passed over
him and into the darkness behind.

Okay, don’t see that everyday
, he
thought. He checked his sensors and watched the zombie readings
disappear further into the cliff. Looking up from his instruments
he stared out into the wasteland. Directly into the Hell that was
one of the largest waste storms he’d ever seen.

“Oh, shit…”

***

Themopolous watched in horror as the part of
the brain she cut away was quickly repaired and replaced. She had
the foresight enough to secure Crowley’s body and was glad she did
so as the once dead undead Sergeant Major began to thrash and
convulse as it’s brain became active again.

“That was faster this time,” Themopolous
muttered.

“Hey Doc?” Rachel called over the com. “Will
a head shot stop them at all?”

“Yes,” Themopolous responded. “But not for
long. Drop them and burn them quickly.”

“Gotcha,” Harlow chimed in.

Themopolous heard gunfire before the pilots
switched off the com.

***

“Holy fuck! Didn’t we already put those guys
down!” Masters yelled as several of the former fight patrons, those
still intact enough, began to get up and pursue the three men.

“What the fuck?!?” The Rookie bellowed,
setting several aflame. “That ain’t fucking good!”

“Come on!” Jay screamed, as he was able to
shove bodies out of the way, freeing the back door enough so they
could close it behind them. “We don’t have time to count bodies!
Let’s go!”

There was a large groan and a crack as the
press of zombies at the front entrance became too great.

***

“Alright, Mechanic, the Commander wants you
set up in the transport,” Bisby said, entering the control
room.

“Hold on, I’m making progress on the source
of that signal,” Jethro responded, fingers rapidly tapping at his
tablets.

“No time. Capreze wants it done now. We are
going to need to bug out as soon as the storm allows. You can work
in the transport until we bail.”

Jethro rolled back from the console. “Fine.
I need those three tablets and that interface box.”

“What the fuck’s an interface box?”

“For the mini-mechs.”

“I thought you lost those,” Bisby
chuckled.

“Fuck you.”

***

Shiner knew the waste storm was almost on
it, and could do quite a bit of damage, but the dead mech pushed
on, following the live mech’s trail. As the zombie pilot inside
itself deteriorated, Shiner also knew it was going to need help.
The living pilot might be able to provide that help.

With the storm bearing down, Shiner finally
got a lock on the living mech. Satisfied the mech wasn’t going
anywhere until the storm passed, Shiner set to work securing itself
some protection from the storm.

Shiner punched both fists into the earth and
began to dig.

***

“Whoa, don’t catch your ass on fire!” Rachel
cautioned as Harlow dumped the rest of the fuel on the now still
deaders.

“Don’t worry about me, Rache. I can take the
heat.”

Rachel laughed, climbing into the ATV.
Harlow tossed the empty fuel cans into the back of the ATV and
jumped in as well. The two pilots watched the bodies’ burn, flesh
melting and melding with the body bags. One zombie began to stir
and Harlow readied her carbine, but the thing was still in seconds
as its skull burst from the heat and its brain boiled into
nothing.

***

Mathew braced himself as the storm front
smashed into the cliff. Even tucked away, surrounded by rock, the
force of the storm made his mech shudder. He double, triple and
quadruple checked his environmental controls, satisfying himself he
wouldn’t die by choking on wasteland dust and dirt.

He laughed to himself as his sensors picked
up several zombies scrambling around his mech, despite the storm,
drawn to the irresistible lure of fresh meat. They didn’t stay long
as three of their number were brought down by debris. The waste
storm had already switched gears from swirling dust to flying
rock.

***

Capreze flicked through the geo-grid,
debating which route and destination would be his people’s best
chance of survival. Gauging the direction of the storm and what lay
behind it, Capreze could only come to one conclusion: follow the
rail further into the waste.

“Son of a bitch,” Capreze muttered.

“Commander?” Bisby asked.

“What? Oh, hey Biz. Jethro set?”

“Yes, sir and Harlow and Rache just pulled
into the hangar,” Bisby answered, eyeing the Commander carefully.
“Any idea where we’re headed yet?”

“Yeah, but no one’s going to like it.”
Capreze turned the tablet and Bisby took a look.

“Ahhh, man…”

***

Masters tossed the last of their grenades
into the fight room as the front door bottleneck finally broke and
the zombies poured in. The Rookie sent a final stream of fire into
the room then tossed the flame thrower after, hoping to add fuel to
the fire.

Jay yanked on the back door, almost getting
it closed before the grenades went off. The concussion from the
explosion slammed the door fully closed, knocking all three men off
their feet.

Masters’ ears rang and he felt blood trickle
down the back of his neck as got back up. “We gotta move!”

***

“You want the good news or the bad news
first?” Themopolous asked as she entered Capreze’s office. The
Commander and Bisby looked up from their route plotting.

“Good,” Capreze said.

“The nanotech is localized in the brain
only. None seems present in the rest of the body.”

“Okay. And the bad?”

“They get faster each time they repair the
brain.”

“Which means what?” Bisby asked.

“Which means any inoculated zombie can
eventually rebuild
while
taking damage.”

“Invincible zombies? Great…,” Bisby
growled.

“Not quite. Fire will work. And decapitation
should put them down, also.”

“I can work with that,” Bisby grinned.

***

“Down that? Are you fucking kidding?”
Masters hollered, staring at the small hole in the floor of one of
the holding pens. “We’ll never fit!”

The Rookie flipped his shotgun around and
began hammering at the hole, sending chunks of concrete flying in
all directions. The opening slowly widened with every impact.

The sound of wrenching metal echoed from
above as the deaders breached the door into the holding area.

“Shut up and cover us!” Jay yelled, flipping
his own shotgun around and joining the Rookie.

“This is going to suck,” Masters complained,
taking a knee, auto-carbine at the ready.

***

Mathew took one last look at the waste storm
then wrapped his mech’s arms and legs tighter together to increase
the protection against the flying debris. He knew this was going to
be a bad one and hoped he’d make it through. Hearing the intensity
of the crashes and feeling the shudders as fragments of the
wasteland were flung against his mech, Mathew’s hope began to
wane.

“Hey baby,” he began to dictate. “In case I
don’t make it through this shit, I want to say a few things…”

Outside, the waste storm enveloped the land,
plunging everything into darkness.

***

Rebecca shoved against the cellar hatch with
all her weight. Finally, it gave way and she was able to squeeze
through.

“Hang on,” she called from above. “Let me
clear away some of this shit.”

“How bad is it?” Olivia asked.

“It’s not a total rebuild, but it ain’t
good.”

Olivia cursed. “I’m too old for this shit.”
She glanced over at June, who was staring at the piece of jerky in
her hand. “Girl, you have to eat. Whether you agree with our way of
life or not doesn’t change the fact that if you don’t eat, you
die.”

***

Gunshots rang out, making Masters duck.
“Shit! I really fucking preferred it when deaders didn’t know how
to use guns!”

“Fucking understatement of the century! Now
quit whining and get in the mother fucking hole!” Jay yelled.

Masters fired off several shots and turned
to look back at Jay and the Rookie’s handy work. “Ahhh, this is
really gonna suck!”

“Shut the fuck up you big baby!” Jay barked.
“Now. Get. In. The. Hole!”

“You two first!” the Rookie hollered, taking
Masters’ place and pushing him towards the open sewer hole. “I’ll
hold them off! I’ll be right behind you!”

***

June climbed from the cellar. “My God…”