Dead Mech (54 page)

“Would you like to hear what he’s yelling?”
Johnson asked cruelly. “There’s sound with this picture.”

“No,” Masters whispered. “I know what he’s
yelling.”

The man took the toy in both hands, snapping
it in two and flinging the pieces at the boy’s face. The child
burst into tears and the man struck him across the cheek. When the
child wouldn’t stop the man began to pull his belt from his
jeans.

The screens went dark.

Johnson sniggered. “You see why I wanted you
here, Mitch? You understand the pain of having something you love
taken by those you trust.”

***

Masters focused again on the reclined figure
in the corner. He sniffed a little then laughed it off. “What was
taken from
you
then? Huh? Somebody take your dolly?”

Masters stepped closer to the corner and the
figure began to take on detail. “You think we are the same somehow,
right? Betrayal bond and all that? Come on, what did they take?”
Masters could almost make out the figure fully now.

“They took my life’s work! They stole what
was mine and took the credit! Selling it to the highest bidder! It
wasn’t for them, for their profit and greed!”

***

“Who did? The UDC? What’d they take?”
Masters casually asked, getting closer to his goal with each
step.

“They took my babies! My nanobots! I made
them, I grew them, programmed them! They were mine!” Johnson cried.
“Talk about no right! They didn’t have the right to do that! Not
after all my work. My
life’s
work!”

Masters was close enough to look upon
Johnson and he nearly gagged. The man was a living skeleton, his
emaciated skull encompassed by a crown of wires. Tubes were jacked
into his arms, his legs, his abdomen.

“Jeezus, what are you?” Masters gasped.

***

“I AM THE OUTSIDER!” Johnson exploded, his
lips never moving, his eyes unfocused. “Just like you Mitch, just
like you.”

“I don’t think you did your research, buddy.
I was one of the cool kids, one of the guys the others wanted to be
around,” Masters said. “Try again.”

“Now you’re lying to yourself, Mitch,”
Johnson responded condescendingly. “Do I need to show you more vids
to prove it? You have always been an outsider, hiding the secret,
the secret of shameful beatings, the secret that no one loved
you.”

“We all have secrets, Johnson. They hardly
set me apart.”

***

“We’re here!” Jenny shouted. “Holy fuck look
at them all!”

Everyone stared at the vid screens and out
the windows of the train engine.

“The tracks run right through them,” Timson
said. “They’re just standing there. Why haven’t they turned to
engage?”

“Who fucking cares!” Jay called over the
com. “Let’s knock ‘em down and take ‘em out!”

“On your mark, Jay,” Marin said.

“Don’t wait for me, hit that shit!” Jay
shouted.

Marin activated the sonic disc and once
again everyone felt the pressure. They stared outside as row upon
row of motionless deaders dropped to the wasteland ground.

***

“Ahhhh! You’re friends are here at last!”
Johnson said. “We’ll just wait for a few more to arrive and then
the party can start.”

“There isn’t going to be a party,” Masters
said raising his pistol.

Johnson’s laugh echoed about the room. “Oh,
please! Put that away. You don’t want to kill me. That would be
very bad.”

Masters’ lowered the pistol slightly. “I
thought you brought me here to kill you?”

“No, stupid! I brought you here to keep me
company. I need a witness to share this with, otherwise what’s the
point.”

Masters raised the gun again.
“Bullshit.”

***

“Put the gun down, Mitch,” Johnson said.
“You kill me and you die also.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Masters responded.

“So do all of your friends. Did you figure
that?” Johnson said. “Do you know how this mainframe works?”

“No and I really don’t care.”

“It has to have human integration at all
times or the fail safe is triggered. This makes sure the
mainframe’s AI can’t take over. This ensures that it doesn’t become
a Dead Frame.” Johnson laughed at his little pun. “If you kill me
there is a thirty minute window before this entire complex goes
fully nuclear.”

***

The Railer train sliced through the fallen
deaders while Jay, Rachel and Commander Capreze shoved transports
off the tracks.

“Three minutes and they still aren’t up,”
Marin said over the com. “Maybe there was a glitch earlier.”

“There wasn’t, I’m sure of it. I don’t know
why they’re still down,” Jay responded. “The tech checks out. All
readings are normal.”

“Should we light them up?” Rachel asked.

“No, let’s get the train to the stronghold,”
Capreze said.

“Smells like a trap to me,” Timson
added.

“I’m sure it is,” Capreze replied. “But we
need to see what kind of trap.”

***

The Special Ops team stared in astonishment
as the deaders fell like a wave rippling towards them.

“What the fuck?” Sol said looking up at
Shiner/Mathew. “Did you do that?”

“No, but I have a good idea who did,” Mathew
responded, activating his com. “I really hope that’s you guys.”

“Matty!” Rachel shrieked. “Oh, thank God
you’re alive! I was going to gut my father if I found you
dead.”

“Hey now! Let’s not make this personal. A
Commander has to make the tough calls,” Capreze responded. “I see
Stomper, where’s Masters? His ass is mine!”

“He’s inside,” Mathew answered.

***

“I kill you and the whole mountain goes up?”
Masters asked incredulous.

“That and everything within 100 square
miles. All reduced to radioactive dust,” Johnson replied.

“Why would the UDC do that? Who fucking
cares if some AI takes over! They didn’t give a shit with the
mechs. They could have easily put a failsafe in to keep them from
becoming deaders. You’re full of shit!”

“The mechs did have a failsafe! The UDC took
it out! Don’t you get it, Mitch? The wasteland is one giant social
experiment! It’s not about the survival of the species! It never
was!”

***

As the train came to a stop, Commander
Capreze halted his mech and surveyed the area. Motionless zombie
bodies covered the ground while inert UDC transports sat there like
hunks of useless metal.

Then his eyes focused on Shiner. Something
about the mech was familiar, something his fatigued and
over-stressed brain couldn’t quite grasp.

“Pilot Jespers?” Capreze called over the
com.

“Yes, sir?” Mathew responded.

“Your mech is an old one, isn’t it?”

“You could certainly say that. Although
Shiner has made some self-improvements as his consciousness has
grown. Oh, and he doesn’t like being referred to as ‘my mech’.”

***

“Okay, we’re here. Can we light them up
now?” Timson asked annoyed.

“I don’t have any objections,” Capreze said.
“Mathew? Any insight?”

“Other than I have no idea what the fuck is
going on anymore? No, sorry Commander, my brain is mush. I say if
we’re all going to die, let’s go out guns blazing,” Mathew
replied.

“All going to die? I thought Masters was
inside taking out this Outsider guy,” Rachel said.

“I have no idea what’s going on inside.
Masters is in there because the Outsider wanted him in there. He
could be dead for all we know.”

***

“And speaking of social experiments, look
what you’re friends are doing,” Johnson said, the vid screens
coming back to life, showing Masters a full view of outside the
entrance to the stronghold. The mechs and the Special Ops team were
all torching and blasting the inactive deaders and transports. “Put
a bunch of soldiers and pilots in an unknown situation, up the
tension, imply their death and look what they do! They kill! This
is what I’m talking about, Mitch! The experiment at its height! Too
bad the UDC brass are all dead, they’d get a kick out of this.”

***

“Why’s he letting us do this?” Mathew asked,
demolishing his fifth UDC transport. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“That is precisely why he is letting us do
this,” Shiner responded.

“You lost me.”

“Dr. Johnson has integrated with the
mainframe AI. His consciousness is everywhere in the stronghold.
His brain has become too active, too aware. There are so many Dr.
Johnson's within the mainframe now that I do not believe he knows
his motivations any longer. To use a phrase, he has cracked.”

“That’s why he kept changing his mind again
and again. The fucker has gone schizo,” Mathew exclaimed.

***

“So, where’s the trap?” Timson asked seated
next to Marin, operating one of the train’s weapons control
stations. “We’ll have these fuckers wiped out within the hour. They
won’t even be getting back up.”

“Yeah, way too easy,” Marin agreed. “I’m
waiting for the other boot to drop.”

Jenny listened to her com for a moment then
turned to Timson. “I am getting requests across the train to
disembark. Can we start letting people out. The clean up crew is
getting restless.”

“Don’t see why not. Sitting ducks in the
train or sitting ducks out of the train,” Timson replied.

***

Masters squeezed his eyes shut tight,
ignoring Johnson as the madman prattled on about UDC motivation and
manipulations. His head felt like it was going to explode with all
of the information that was being thrown at him. All he wanted to
do was end the pain. All he wanted to do was kill the person
responsible for Harlow’s death.

“Shut up,” Masters whispered. “Shut up. Just
shut up.”

Johnson ignored Masters’ pleas and kept
on.

“I SAID SHUT UP!” Masters roared rushing to
the side of Johnson’s chair and jamming the barrel of his pistol
against Johnson’s shriveled forehead.

***

The room went quiet. “You don’t want to do
that, Mitch,” Johnson said. “There’s still so much I want to tell
you.”

“Why?!?” Masters shouted. “Why does any of
it matter?!?”

“It matters to me, Mitch. It matters to me.
And I am in control, Mitch, not you. So step away and put the gun
down.”

Masters tried to shake the confusion from
his head. “Why? You can’t stop me!”

“Oh, Mitch, you silly egotistical mech
pilot. You only know what’s right in front of you. Look up.”

Masters looked above and saw the mini-gun
turrets for the first time.

***

“Those guns are an extension of me. No
matter how fast you think you are, you’re finger isn’t faster than
my thoughts. You’ll be dead before you know it and then all your
rage will be for nothing,” Johnson laughed. “Just step away, Mitch.
You’ll get your revenge, I promise.”

Masters backed off and slowly put his side
arm into its holster.

“That’s a good boy,” Johnson soothed. “All
in good time, Mitch.”

Masters glanced up and watched the turrets
track him. He began to study the rest of the room.

“Oh, there’s much more, but don’t strain
yourself looking.”

***

Lieutenant Murphy watched as teams of
Railers set the zombie corpses not already burning into piles and
set them aflame.

“Sir?” Specialist Sol asked. “Can we bury
Austin instead?”

The Lieutenant turned to her 2
^nd
in command and gave him a stern look. “Bury him? Why would we do
that?”

“Kafar already put two in his brain. He’s
not getting back up. I just thought, maybe we could do something
different,” Sol looked away. “My grandfather told me of how they
used to bury the dead. There were entire city blocks dedicated to
and set aside to honor the deceased.”

***

As the last of the deaders were permanently
dispatched, Rachel walked her mech over to Shiner/Mathew. She
un-strapped and opened her cockpit.

“You better open that hatch and get the fuck
over here!” she called to Mathew.

He frowned and shook his head. “No can do,
baby. I’m kind of stuck for the time being.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Get
over here!”

“I am sorry Pilot Capreze,” Shiner’s voice
sounded over the loudspeaker. “But if Mathew disengages my
consciousness will cease to exist. I cannot allow that.”

“You’re holding him hostage?” Rachel
shouted. “Are you shitting me?”

***

“What’s going on?” Commander Capreze asked,
walking his mech next to Rachel’s.

“The fucking AI is holding Mathew captive!”
she yelled. “Something about keeping its fucking
consciousness.”

“Like we discussed before, sir,” Mathew
said. “But I’m not really a captive. We just need to figure out how
I can disengage without Shiner disappearing.”

“Mech, this is Commander Capreze. Can you
hear me?”

“Of course,” Shiner’s voice sounded over the
com.

“Good. Listen, I don’t take kindly to you
trapping my pilot in your cockpit.”

“I assure you Commander that-”

“Don’t interrupt.”

“I apologize.”

“Now, how do we resolve this issue?”

***

“I should just blow my head off,” Masters
mumbled. “End this torture.”

“Do that and I kill your friends where they
stand,” Johnson replied.

“You’re going to kill them anyway, right? So
what difference does it make? What difference does anything
make?”

“Kill them anyway? Hardly! They’ll all be
given a fighting chance. The next wave of walking dead is hours
away,” Johnson snickered. “Of course, they aren’t the real
danger.”

Masters groaned and sat himself on the bare
floor. “Oh for fuck’s sake! What now?”

“Oh, no that would ruin the surprise pilot!”
Johnson scolded. “And I love surprises!”

***

“If I were to gain access to any of the
stronghold’s mainframe jack points I could easily create a sub-net
routine and upload my consciousness there for safe keeping,” Shiner
said. “At least until the technology could be worked out to return
me to a mech.”