Dead Mech (59 page)

“No, she’s busy. Plus any painkillers will
dull my brain. I don’t think we want me getting loopy when we’re
all sitting on a few kilotons of nuclear material.”

***

“Jethro, how much longer before we’re
armed?” Capreze asked.

“Just give me another minute, sir,” Jethro
replied. “Like I just told the Rookie, these deaders are super
fucking pissed. They’re the crazy ones, the deep wasters. I don’t
know how they’ve survived this long out there, but you’re going to
need every bit of firepower you can.”

“I understand. I just don’t like the idea of
the Rookie out there alone right now. He doesn’t seem stable.”

“I can assure you, sir, that the Rookie’s
brain wave activity shows not only stability but calm. The kid’s
ready to kick ass.”

***

“Okay, I’m heading to the hangar to try to
get Rachel’s mech operational in case we need it,” Jay said,
stepping away from the control console and placing a hand on
Jethro’s unresponsive shoulder. “Call me on the com if you start to
feel weird.”

“Start? I’m
way
past weird!” Jethro
laughed.

“You know what I mean dumbass,” Jay said,
walking to the door. “I mean it, the second you even think you may
be losing control you call me.”

“Will do Dad.”

“Fuck you, dip shit.”

Jay stepped from the room leaving Jethro’s
body alone, but his mind everywhere.

***

“Here they come!” the Rookie shouted.
“Fucking Hell! Look at ‘em!”

Over the East ridge 13 dead mechs charged.
Many of them missing arms, cables hanging loose, struts bent at
strange angles, their metal pitted with rust and deep gouges from
God knows what. They shoved and raged at each other as they
jockeyed for position, each trying to be the first to get at the
meat.

“I’ve seen some fucked up deaders before,
but these things are monsters!” the Rookie exclaimed.

The stronghold’s gun turrets opened fire.
“Well, let’s shred these monsters!” Jethro yelled.

“Fuck yeah!” the Rookie responded.

***

Themopolous dashed from cot to cot, blanket
to blanket, desperate to stabilize as many of the wounded as
possible. She left bloody gauze and shouted orders in her wake.

The large caliber gunfire from the
stronghold’s turrets made her and everyone else in the staging area
jump. Railer children cried and clung tight to their parents and
siblings. Themopolous shook off her startled shock and kept
moving.

A hand reached out and gently, but firmly
took her arm.

“Where do you need me?” June said. “I know
Harlow has always been your go to assistant, but I’m ready to
help.”

***

Intense, ravenous, hunger driven rage pushed
the dead mechs towards the stronghold. As the Rookie stepped away
from the entrance they stopped their in fighting and focused their
attention on him. The weaker ones fell back as those more battle
ready lunged forward, many directly into the oncoming turret fire.
Chunks of metal and plastic were ripped from their 50-ton
exoskeletons, exposing their infrastructure and vital systems.

The Rookie watched as Jethro systematically
dismantled every single oncoming deader in a matter of seconds.

“Jeezus fuck,” the Rookie exclaimed. “The
Outsider could have torn us all apart at any time, huh?”

***

“Wow, that was fun!” Jethro shouted.

Capreze and Shiner/Mathew stepped from the
stronghold and took up positions on either side of the Rookie.

“Holy mother of God,” Mathew said
quietly.

“That is quite impressive,” Shiner
added.

“Knowing what you two are capable of, I’ll
take that as a huge compliment there Shiner,” Jethro said.

“It was meant as one,” Shiner replied.

“You know we can handle this, right?”
Capreze said. “I need to know you’re focusing on the
mainframe.”

“Got it covered, Commander. I can be at
several places at once. I’m running six levels of diagnostics as we
speak.”

***

June left the Boiler child to rest with a
group of other children while she helped Themopolous. She smiled at
him as she walked away and he waved weakly.

The Doctor looked from June to the child and
back. “What are you thinking, Pilot?”

June turned her attention to Themopolous.
“About what?”

“The boy. He has no family here. You’ve
taken him from the only existence he’s known. Are you going to
raise him yourself?”

June’s brow furrowed. “I hadn’t really
thought about that. My main concern was getting him out of the
Boiler village. That’s all I cared about.”

***

“Commander?” Bisby called over the com.
“Lieutenant Murphy has her team assembled and is planning on doing
a security sweep of the stronghold. Just to confirm we actually are
alone.”

“Sounds like a fine idea,” Capreze
responded.

“I’m going with. Jethro’ll be systematically
unlocking sections as we approach and, well, that little shit can
take some getting used to. I didn’t want to leave them stranded
while he babbles on about being a digital God.”

Capreze smiled. “That’s a good plan, Biz.
Plus, you’ll be able to tell if Jethro starts acting funny. I’m
still not comfortable with his integration.”

***

“Need this?” Marin asked, handing Jay the
span-hammer he was reaching for.

“Thanks,” Jay responded, taking the tool.
“You want to help?”

“Figured I would,” Marin said, grabbing a
massive torque wrench as she eyed three fist sized bolts on
Rachel’s mech’s left ankle. She let out a loud whistle and three
Railers ran up, tools in hand. “I brought some back up.”

Jay studied the Railers suspiciously. “They
know how to-?”

“Yep,” Marin cut him off.

“Well, what about-?”

“That too, Jay.”

“I bet they don’t-.”

“Yes, they do,” Marin laughed.

Marin motioned and the three set to
work.

***

“Five more heading at us!” Jethro
announced.

“You gonna let us take them on or are you…?”
Mathew trailed off as ten RPGs screamed past the three mechs,
heading straight at the attacking deaders coming from the West this
time. “Guess that answers that.”

Each rocket hit its mark, crippling the
deaders instantly.

“See? I didn’t fully take them out,” Jethro
laughed. “I left you folks the kill shots.”

“Thanks,” the Rookie grumbled.

“Stand down mechanic,” Capreze ordered. “Let
us handle combat, you stick with tech.”

“But, sir, I’m way more capable…”

“We’ll call you if we need you, Jethro.”

***

“This is the mess,” Murphy said to Bisby as
they approached the large sealed doors. “I’m pretty sure it was
dinner time when Johnson took everyone out, so this may not be
pretty.”

“What’s waiting for us, Jethro?” Bisby asked
aloud.

“The Lieutenant’s right. It isn’t pretty.
You’re looking at several hundred corpses on the other side of the
doors,” Jethro responded. “Hmmmm, weird…”

“What?” Bisby asked.

“Well, they’re actually corpses. Dead. Not
undead. Not re-animated. Truly fucking dead. Hold on.”

Bisby and the Special Ops team waited for a
moment.

“Jethro?” Bisby said.

“Just sit tight Biz. Something’s
strange.”

***

“What is that?” Jethro processed to himself,
while instantaneously analyzing the air samples from the stronghold
mess hall. “That’s new.”

In less than ten seconds he had the analysis
results. “Holy shit! Hey Biz?”

“Yeah, Jethro? Whatcha got for us?” Bisby
rolled his eyes at the Special Ops team.

“Listen, I’m evacuating the air from the
mess, but you all should probably suit up before going in there.
There is some type of new neurotoxin floating about. That’s what
Johnson used to kill these folks.”

“Why aren’t they zombies?” Grendetti
asked.

“Not sure. I think it kills the virus
also.”

***

“Enviro suits are this way,” Lieutenant
Murphy said to Bisby. “Jethro, is the way clear to the suit
lockers?”

“Yes, Lieutenant. All hatches are unlocked
and there is nothing out of the ordinary in your path,” Jethro
replied. “You are all set.”

“Thank you.” The Special Ops team set off
down the hall away from the mess with Bisby following behind.

The wounded pilot soon was short of breath
and leaned against the wall for support.

“You’re pushing it Biz,” Jethro said.

“I’m fine,” Bisby grumbled.

“No, you’re not,” Jethro said. “You’re pulse
is through the roof.”

“Fuck you Jethro.”

***

“Whoa, where did that partition come from?”
Jethro mused as he found a separate part of the mainframe his
consciousness hadn’t penetrated yet. “Aren’t you some fancy
schmancy code.”

The former mechanic inspected the partition
from all angles before setting about accessing it. “Now, this won’t
hurt a bit, I promise.”

Jethro gasped mentally and his physical body
actually shook in the integration chair. “You’ve got to be kidding
me.”

He pushed a little harder and further
immersed himself within the partitioned area.

“Unauthorized access. Admittance denied,” an
automated voice rang in his head.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Jethro responded.

***

The Rookie kicked the terminated dead mech
with his own mech’s foot.

“Leave it, Rookie,” Capreze said. “We don’t
know what armaments the thing may still have and whether or not
they’re stable.”

“Well, why don’t we blast them and set them
off?” the Rookie asked.

“Because we may need to do that when the
other deaders get here,” Mathew said.

“My scans indicate that all dead mechs have
long been out of any type of ammunition,” Shiner added.

“See,” the Rookie said.

“It’s a learning lesson, Rookie,” Capreze
said. “Jethro? When’s the next wave?”

Silence.

“Jethro?” Capreze asked again.

***

Bisby watched the Special Ops team clomp
past him in their clunky enviro suits. “You guys go ahead,” he
said, waving them on. “I’ll catch up in a bit.”

Specialist Sol gave him a thumbs up and
Bisby could see the grin through the face plate. “No hurries,
Pilot. Take a load off. You’ve earned it.”

The team stepped to the stronghold mess
doors and waited. “Any time you’re ready, Jethro. We’re all suited
up,” the Lieutenant said.

The doors remained closed. Bisby got to his
feet and walked over to the team. “Hey Jethro! Open the fucking
doors.”

Silence.

***

Proximity alarms echoed about the
Commander’s cockpit. “Jethro?!? Where the fuck are you?!? We have
incoming and I need numbers now!” Capreze waited but there was no
response. “Jay? Come in.”

“What’s up Commander?” Jay answered over the
com.

“I’ve lost contact with Jethro and we have
hostiles on the way!”

“I’m on it!” Jay replied.

The Rookie turned his mech 360 degrees. “I
don’t see anything, sir.”

“I don’t have a visual, either,” Mathew
agreed. “Shiner?”

“There are many readings,” Shiner responded.
“Ten from the East, nine from the West.”

“Well Rookie, time to go to work!” Mathew
shouted.

***

“You got this?” Jay asked Marin as he
clambered down from Rachel’s mech.

“Yeah, go!” she yelled.

Jay sprinted from the staging area and down
the long concrete hall leading to the mainframe. When he reached
the door he found it was locked tight. Pulling a screwdriver from
his belt he pried the door control panel off. He took a quick
glance at the wiring and laughed.

“That’s the best security they could come up
with?”

With two wire snips and a twist he hot wired
the door open and dashed inside. Random images flashed across the
mainframe vid screens.

***

“What happened?” Timson hollered up to Marin
from the bottom of Rachel’s mech.

“Don’t know!” she responded. “Something’s
wrong with Jethro.”

“That’s not good!”

“No, it’s not!”

“Jenny!” Timson turned, looking for his
daughter.

“What?” she yelled, busy wrapping her left
hand with gauze, covering a nasty burn.

“Jethro’s down, which means the guns are
down!” Timson shouted. “Come on!”

Jenny sighed then started barking orders at
any Railer that wasn’t wounded or tending to the wounded.

A group of eight, including Jenny met Timson
at the stronghold entrance. They all nodded to each other then
raced to the train.

***

Capreze watched the Railers run across the
battlefield towards their train. “Timson! What the Hell are you
doing?”

“Picking up the slack! With your man Jethro
down you’ll need our guns again!”

Even though he didn’t like putting Timson
and his people back in harms way, he couldn’t argue with the man.
“Thanks. But, listen, if it gets too crazy I want you and your
folks to get your asses back inside!”

“I think we can agree on that,
Commander!”

“Sir!” Mathew shouted. “They’re here!”

Capreze blanched as he watched the dead
mechs surge over the ridges, surrounding them all.

***

Grendetti and Kafar each pushed their weight
against the crowbar they wedged into the mess hall doors. Grunting
under the strain they fell back, unsuccessful.

“Shit! That door isn’t going anywhere!”
Specialist Kafar huffed. “Where’s your tech guy?”

Bisby shook his head. “I don’t have a
fucking clue. Jethro? Jethro!”

“Biz? It’s Jay. I need you in the mainframe
room.”

“What the hell is wrong with Jethro?”

“I don’t know. Just get your ass here. I
need your eyes on something,” Jay barked.

“Okay, calm down.” Bisby nodded to the
Special Ops team and hurried away on still shaky legs.