Dead Mech (58 page)

***

“There is a transport approaching,” Stomper
stated.

“Yeah, so fucking what?” Masters replied,
not bothering to glance up and out into the wasteland. “Maybe it
will run over me.”

“It is a familiar one,” Stomper said. “I
recognize the transport’s signature.”

“Good for you,” Masters responded. “I’ll be
sure to get you a gold star at some point.” Masters clapped his
hands together exaggeratingly, the metal of his pistol slapping
against his palm. “Yay for Stomper! He so smart!”

The giant mech stopped. “You have become
aggressive and mean. I do not know if I want to go with you.”

***

“T MINUS TWO MINUTES UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“We aren’t going to make it,” Themopolous
cried as Sol and Kafar held Jethro upright while she prepped the
back of his head for the Reaper chip insertion.

“Bullshit!” Jay scolded, holding up the
Reaper chip he had just removed from Johnson’s corpse. “We will
make it! Here!” Jay handed the chip over to Specialist Grendetti
who carefully cleaned and prepped it before handing it to
Themopolous.

“T MINUS ONE MINUTE UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“Can someone turn that off!” Themopolous
yelled, hands shaking as she took the Reaper chip.

“No, sorry,” Sol apologized.

***

“T MINUS THIRTY SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION” The voice echoed across the battlefield.

“Jay?!? Jay, what’s your status? JAY!”
Capreze shouted over the com. “Jay, come in Goddammit!”

“T MINUS TWENTY-FIVE SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“Shiner says there’s a change in the
stronghold’s mainframe AI,” Mathew said, lifting a dead mech up
over his head and slamming it into the ground.

“T MINUS TWENTY SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

Shiner/Mathew jumped up and down on the
deader until it stopped struggling. “Yeah, stay down you fucking
bitch!”

“T MINUS FIFTEEN SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“Hey, Commander?”

“Yes, Mathew?”

“Thanks for everything.”

***

“T MINUS TEN SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“No pressure, Doc,” Jay said nervously. “All
the time in the world.”

Themopolous ignored him and focused on the
last suture. “There! Done!”

Sol and Kafar eased Jethro back and Jay
started the cerebral integration process again.

“T MINUS FIVE SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“Okay Jethro, don’t fail us buddy. You can
do this,” Jay whispered.

“T MINUS FOUR SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“Come on you techie pain in the ass,” Bisby
said.

“T MINUS THREE SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“Please work, please work,” Themopolous
repeated.

“T MINUS TWO SECONDS UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION

***

“T MINUS ONE SECOND UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

Capreze closed his eyes, said a quick prayer
and waited for the blast that he would never even feel.

Nothing.

“Um, sir? Are we dead?” Mathew asked.

“No, pilot, we aren’t,” Capreze
responded.

The stronghold’s gun turrets whirred to
life, targeting the dead mechs left on the battlefield. Large
caliber rounds flew threw the air, shearing metal from deader
frames, obliterating their cockpits.

“What the fuck?!?” Capreze cried.

“Howdy everyone!” Jethro’s voice echoed from
the stronghold. “How’s it going? Miss me?”

“MOTHER FUCKING YEAH!” Mathew yelled.
“Welcome back you son of a bitch!”

***

“Don’t cheer me yet,” Jethro said. “I’ve got
some bad news.”

Capreze sighed. “Of course you do.”

“Now that I’m master of the wasteland, Lord
of the stronghold, I have access to some really, really cool
tech.”

“Get on with it, Jethro,” Capreze ordered
impatiently. “What is the bad news?”

“We’ve got another 38 dead mechs coming from
all sides,” Jethro announced apologetically. “First few will be
here in ten minutes.”

“Of course they will,” Capreze said. “Have
any good news?”

“Funny you should ask. If you get your mech
butts inside I can reload your armaments in eight minutes.”

***

“How’s he holding up?” Jay asked, crowding
next Themopolous as the doctor checked Jethro’s life support
equipment.

Themopolous elbowed Jay away. “Do you mind,
Mr. Rind? A little space, please.”

“Sorry, Doc,” Jay apologized. “So?”

“I’m fine Jay,” Jethro’s voice boomed.

“And really fucking loud,” Bisby
shouted.

“Sorry about that. This better?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect, mechanic,” Jay said
glaring at Bisby.

“What?” Bisby asked innocently.

“How do you feel, Jethro?” the Doctor
asked.

“Oh, Doc, you won’t believe what I’m plugged
into!” Jethro exclaimed. “The medical knowledge alone will blow you
away!”

“Um, so are we safe?” Specialist Grendetti
asked.

***

Stomper stood still, refusing to take
another step.

“What? So you’re just going to stand there
forever and pout? Move!” Masters ordered continuing to walk further
into the wasteland.

“No,” Stomper responded. “You are not the
nice Masters. You are not the Masters that loves the Harlow. And I
am going to tell her so when she gets here.”

Masters stopped. “What did you just say?” he
asked, his voice low and menacing.

Stomper pointed towards the transport that
was skidding to a halt in front of them. Masters watched as the
ramp lowered and a gore smeared Harlow exited.

***

The Rookie ripped off the dead mech’s
cockpit and snatched the squirming, raging zombie pilot out,
bringing the zombie up close to his own cockpit as he squeezed the
deader into a pulp.

“Rookie! Regroup in the stronghold’s staging
area! Right now!” Capreze ordered over the com.

The Rookie grinned as the gore squished
through his mech’s giant fist.

“Rookie! Do you fucking hear me?”

Capreze marched his mech directly in front
of the Rookie’s. “We are on a schedule here! Get your ass
inside!”

The Rookie slowly turned his attention to
focus on the Commander. “I’m good right here.”

***

“I need help with Rachel!” Mathew
called.

Capreze backed his mech away, but kept eye
contact with the Rookie. “I’ll deal with you in a minute!”

“You unlocked this beast, Commander,” the
Rookie said. “Don’t get mad at me because it ain’t so easy to put
back in its cage.”

Capreze stalked off and turned his attention
to his daughter’s mech. “Sweet Jeezus Baby Girl…”

“I can’t get out to check on her!” Mathew
cried.

“Doctor!” Capreze yelled over the com. “If
Jethro can spare you I need you out here now! Rachel’s down!”

Capreze un-strapped and descended his
mech.

***

Masters watched the deader skin clad Harlow
step from the transport. He lifted his pistol, hoping he had the
strength to do what needed to be done, to kill his undead love.

“Are you fucking shitting me, Pilot?” Harlow
said. “You once told me I could be covered in pus and open sores
and I’d still be fuckable. Are you taking that back?”

Masters blinked several times. “Stomper, did
you hear that?”

“I have been trying to tell you,” Stomper
replied. “The Harlow is alive.”

Masters dropped his side arm and fell to his
knees, his body racked with sobs.

***

Harlow knelt by Masters and lifted his chin.
“Are you Mitch Mother Fucking Masters or are you Mitch Cry Baby
Masters?”

Masters broke into a smile and hugged Harlow
fiercely, attacking her face with kisses. “Fuck, you taste awful!”
he cried, spitting into the wasteland dirt.

“I don’t smell so hot, either,” Harlow
smiled helping Masters to his feet.

“Fuck if I care!” he responded kissing her
passionately. “Stomper, turn around. Mommy and Daddy are gonna get
nasty!”

“But, the others?” Stomper asked.

Harlow eyed Masters carefully. “What’d I
miss?”

Master sighed. “I kinda freaked out and
bailed.”

“YOU WHAT?!?”

“Mech coming in! Clear a path!” Capreze
shouted at the Railers setting up triage stations within the
staging area. “Where do you want me Jethro?”

“Follow the flashing red line to the re-load
positions on the wall. Just park it, I’ll do the rest,” Jethro’s
voice answered. “We’ve got incoming in less than five minutes so
you might as well stay in your cockpit.”

“Damn, I gotta piss,” Capreze
complained.

“Don’t even fucking start with that,” Mathew
said as Shiner reloaded all of his weapons systems across the
staging area from Capreze.

“Sorry,” Capreze apologized. “Hey, Doc?
How’s my girl?”

***

Themopolous shouted orders to the Railer
medics as she rushed from one wounded person to another.

“Your daughter is still unconscious,
Commander,” Themopolous said. “Just like last minute and the minute
before that.”

“Sorry, I was just hoping, well, you know,”
the Commander said.

“Yes, sir, I do know. She’s stable. Weak,
but stable and that’s better than most of the people I need to
focus on now. So, can you let me do my job, please?”

“Of course,” Capreze replied. “Let me know
if-”

“You’ll be the first to hear if her
condition changes.”

“I’m second, Doc,” Mathew insisted.

***

The Rookie stood his mech outside the
stronghold, foregoing the weapons system reload. He flexed the
mech’s fingers over and over, the itch for battle making him
jumpy.

“Hey kid?” Jay’s voice called over the com.
“How you holding up?”

“Doin’ fine, Jay,” the Rookie answered.

“Uh-huh,” Jay said. “The Commander says
you’ve got a little attitude.”

“Just got my fight face on.”

“Right. How about you take that face off?
The Commander wants
you
out there fighting, not the
Razor.”

“Is there a difference anymore?” the Rookie
asked.

“There is,” Jay responded. “You know it and
I know it.”

***

Capreze watched Shiner/Mathew from across
the staging area. He knew that mech and not just from the vid feed
of the mini-mechs days ago. Something in his sub-conscious itched
at the sight of the former deader.

“How old are you Shiner?” Capreze asked.

The mech didn’t respond.

“He’s running some major diagnostics right
now, sir,” Mathew said. “But, from what I can tell he is old, the
first dead mech.”

Capreze narrowed his eyes. “The first?”

“Yep. But most of that info is damaged, so I
can only access fragments. Why?”

“Just like to know who I’m fighting next
to.”

***

“You’ve taken a shine to the Rookie, haven’t
you?” Jethro asked as Jay tapped at the mainframe’s control
console, double checking system stability, looking for any hidden
problems with Jethro’s cerebral integration.

“Don’t worry, Jethro,” Jay laughed. “You’re
still my number one pain in the ass.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about that,” Jethro
laughed also. “Ego has pretty much flown out the window now that
I’m a digital God.”

“Huh-uh! Don’t even start with the God talk.
I’ll unplug your ass in five seconds.”

“Yeah, but I wish you could experience this!
It’s every mechanics’ dream! I
am
the tech!”

***

“We have everyone accounted for, Commander,”
Lieutenant Murphy reported. “All Railers are inside the
stronghold.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Capreze said from
his mech. “I appreciate that. I know technically you don’t have to
listen to a word I say.”

“You’re the ranking officer now, sir,”
Murphy said. “The chain of command is important.”

“I commend your attitude, Murphy. Most
people would throw the chain away when the world goes to Hell.”

“It’s when the world goes to Hell that we
need that chain more than ever, sir.”

“Very true, Lieutenant.”

“Anything else, sir?”

“No, Lieutenant. Just keep your folks
ready.”

***

“How far off are the deaders?” Jay asked
Jethro.

“Two minutes and they’ll start coming over
the ridges,” Jethro answered.

“And you’re sure there’s nothing you can do
to stop them?”

“Nope,” Jethro replied. “Johnson’s death
fried the communications relay. It must have been specifically
calibrated to his brain waves. I’m trying to rebuild it, but
there’s so much in here it’s hard to focus.”

Jay looked over at Jethro’s still body.
“Don’t start going all schizo.”

“Not a problem.”

“What about the remaining inoculated
zombies?”

“Running free across the wasteland for
now.”

“How many?”

“A few hundred thousand.”

“Jeezus.”

***

The stronghold’s gun turrets came to life,
all turning their attention on the East ridge.

“They here?” the Rookie asked Jethro.

“The first wave is,” Jethro answered.
“You’ve got 13 coming from the East.”

The Rookie walked his mech away from the
stronghold entrance. He bounced up and down a bit, getting himself
ready. “I’ve got whatever gets past you.”

“Roger that,” Jethro acknowledged. “Just be
careful. These guys have come further than the last. We’re talking
deep waste here. I can already tell most of them are beyond berserk
with hunger. Looks like they’ve even been fighting amongst
themselves.”

***

“Well, you’re looking good,” Jay said. “How
are you feeling? Any pain?”

“Yeah, but it’s almost like it’s not part of
me,” Jethro responded. “I mean, I know my body has had its ass
kicked, but it’s separate somehow. Does that make sense?”

“Disassociation,” Jay replied. “Your mind
can now compartmentalize anything. It’s stuffing your discomfort
away in some sub-system to deal with later. You want me to get the
Doc?”