They were photos. She’d seen things like this before. They’d been taken before the Cataclysm most likely. as no one had the technology to do these anymore, not as far as she knew, that is.
Nyx ran her fingers over the images of smiling faces in a world that looked very different to the one she knew. She could see green plants, grass, and trees in some of them. She spotted one with a man and woman standing in what must be some kind of town or city. They were next to some sort of monument, and as she looked at it, a memory of this place flashed in her mind. Memories that she’d forgotten she’d ever had. She’d seen this place before. She also had an image of a blonde haired woman there with her, smiling down at her.
It didn’t look exactly like this photo in her memory, though, as she had been born after the Cataclysm, but she felt confident she’d seen this place before, and she’d been with her mother, too.
She pulled the photo off the wall and gazed down at it in awe. She had so few memories of her parents. Only half-remembered images and vague feelings, really, but when she looked at that monument, she could almost see her mother as clear as day in her mind's eye.
She suddenly had an intense need to go there. To see this place again. Would she remember anything else if she were there? Would she remember her mother even more? Her father, too, maybe? She had to go there.
Jumping up from the bed, she strode out of the room and through the door, back outside, and started to make her way back to the garage. She knew what she had to do now. She knew her purpose. She needed to find her mother. She needed to know if she were still alive.
She’d settle for more memories of her at this point, in fact.
Finding her way back into the tunnels, she moved quickly until she stepped through into the garage to find Nero, Cryptus, and Runt still there. Nero looked around as she stepped into the room and moved quickly over to her.
‘There you are. I was beginning to worry about you.’
‘I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Nero, look. Look at this, look. You see this? You see that monument? I’ve been there. I remember it. I’ve been there with my mother. I know I have.’
‘Okay, yeah, I see it. Sure. That’s great, I’m happy for you,’ Nero said with a smile.
‘No, you don’t understand. I need to go there. I need to visit this place. If there’s even a slim chance of finding my mother or rekindling some more memories of her, I have to go here. I have to find this place.’
‘Oh, right, sure. Yeah, we can do that. Don’t worry,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Do you know where it is?’
Nyx opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. ‘Uh, no, I don’t,’ she said, a feeling of sadness and loss starting to fall over her. ‘Do you?’
Nero shook his head, pressing his lips together in a thin smile. ‘Sorry, no, I don’t, I’m afraid.’
‘Shit,’ she cursed.
‘Cryptus might know,’ Nero said.
A feeling of hope pulled the sense of loss from her as she looked up. ‘Yes, he might,’ she said and looked over at him. ‘Let’s ask him.’
She walked over with Nero close behind her. ‘Cryptus, have a look at this,’ she said as she approached him, holding out the photo.
Cryptus turned to her. ‘Hmm?’ he said, his tone questioning, looking at her.
Nyx hesitated in surprise for a moment upon seeing the man without his hood and mask on — his scars clearly evident. So, that’s why he wore a mask, she thought as she stepped in the rest of the way to him.
‘Here, look at this picture. Look at that background. Do you know where this is?’
‘Let’s have a look,’ he said and took the photo that Nyx offered to him. He peered at it. ‘Oh, yes, that’s the Lux monument. It was always a bit controversial, that one. No one really knew what it was for, officially, at least. But there were those who said it commemorated someone of importance, someone who saved the planet from some kind of threat. But anyway, yes, I know it. It’s in Midway City.’
‘Midway…’ Nyx said in wonder. She’d heard of it before from Rex and other travellers through the Watchtower, so it couldn’t be too far away. ‘Do you know where it is?’
Cryptus smiled. ‘I do, actually, yes, and if you help me on this mission to the ravine north of here, I’ll be happy to direct you,’ he said.
Nyx looked up at him for a moment. Had he sensed her reluctance to help him earlier? Had he sensed her distrust? Maybe. This favour would give him some leverage over her, though. Did she mind, she thought, but then shrugged. No, she didn’t mind. She was asking a favour, and all he wanted was a favour in return, something she really already owed to him.
‘Sure, why not, let’s do this. When do we leave?’
Chapter 7
Nero
Edging along the bottom of the ravine, Nero guided his charger slowly through the rocks and boulders that littered the narrow base of this huge crack in the ground. It had taken a full days driving to get into the start of the ravine and to eventually find a place that they could spend the night before continuing onwards into the depths of the canyon.
The going was slow down here, but there seemed to be a fairly well-worn path that threaded through the base of the valley. If this was some kind of mecca for the undead, then it was probably two decades worth of them walking down here that had carved this path through the ravine. They’d been driving along it for hours now, getting ever deeper as they continued on. Cryptus was looking excited, though, sitting on top of the buggy behind Nero’s car. Nyx sat beside him, as ever, one foot up on her seat watching the world go by. She’d jammed the photo she’d found into one of the vents on the dash of the car, and she seemed to spend much of her time staring at it, lost in thought.
Nero had noticed something of a change in Nyx after she found that photo. She seemed more focused and determined and now often spoke about ideas she had about finding her mother.
Of course, there was no guarantee that they would find anything at all in the city, and that this might be some kind of dead end, but he understood that Nyx needed to try. She needed to do this, and Nero would be with her every step of the way. Her mission was his mission as far as he was concerned.
Emerging from behind the next rock, they crested the top of a long slope down, further into the ravine that was dotted more sparsely with boulders. At the bottom, it looked like the gorge branched off to the left, creating a much broader open area.
Nero noticed it right away. There was something down there, some kind of boat or submarine or something embedded into the wall of the ravine where it branched, and around it, staggering about aimlessly, were over a dozen undead, maybe over twenty. They were all just wandering about around whatever craft it was that Nero could see, while three or four winged-mutants with bat-like wings made from skin and bone circled around above these undead.
‘Well, looks like we found the place,’ Nero muttered. Nyx looked up at him, and then out of the window.
‘Shit on a stick,’ she said. ‘I’d say so.’
‘And I’ll bet there’s more inside whatever that is stuck in that wall down there.’
‘You know there will be. Are you sure you want to do this?’ she asked.
‘I owe him, Nyx. He saved my life back at the Watchtower when he had no reason to and freed you in the process. We owe him a debt of honour.’
‘I know, you’re right,’ Nyx said.
‘Plus, we’ll know what the first steps are to finding your parents,’ he said.
‘I know. And I am grateful to him, but a part of me still does not fully trust him,’ she said.
‘You don’t have to. We just have to kick some zombie ass for him. Think you can do that?’
‘Hell yeah,’ she said with a smile.
‘Atta girl,’ he said. ‘What do you think? Can we take these guys?’
Nyx looked down at the horde of undead. A look of fierce determination spread over her face while the corners of her mouth curled up into a slight smile. ‘Sure can.’
; Nero grinned to himself, feeling better now it sounded like he had his Nyx back. Leaning out of the car, Nero looked back at Cryptus. ‘Let us go down there and take a bunch of them out before you follow us, okay?’
‘You’re the boss,’ Cryptus said.
Nero slapped the outside of his car door in acknowledgement before facing front again and accelerating down the slope. The engine revved hard, roaring as Nyx reached up, unlocked and then flung open the roof hatch. Withdrawing her sword from its holder on the inside of the door, she climbed to her feet.
‘Bring them alongside for me will ya,’ she called to him.
‘You got it,’ he yelled back as he neared the first of them. ‘Bat-her-up.’
Nyx swung her sword and destroyed the head of the first and closest zombie with a whoop of excitement.
Nero aimed his car to try and take out as many of them as he could, and a second later, he smashed into the first, second, third, and then the rest of these undead creatures. Their bodies crashed into the metal bars on the front of the car, their skulls hitting the hood of the vehicle and splitting open like melons. Some of them went under the car, others went over, forcing Nyx to dodge these flailing bodies as she carved through them with her blade as well.
Nero worked the handbrake on the car, and as he reached the middle of the group, put the vehicle into a slide before powering through it, causing the backend of the charger to slide out sideways and hit more of them. Some of the corpses went under the spinning rear tyres and were ground into a fine red paste as the car spun around and Nyx swung her sword. With one hand on the steering wheel, Nero pulled his shotgun with the other. Taking aim, he fired, putting an ugly hole into the skull of one of the zombies, dropping it to the floor before racking the grip, adjusting his aim and taking out another one with an almighty boom from the gun.
With a large chunk of the zombies down and the moment of breathing room that their attack had provided, Nero brought the car to a halt and climbed out.
Nyx leapt over the windscreen onto the hood, taking up a position with her feet spread wide and her sword crunching into another of the undead. A gust of wind caught her coat, billowing it out behind her making her look like some kind of avenging Valkyrie. Tearing his attention away from her, Nero faced the approaching zombies and racked the foregrip on his shotgun before aiming and blowing away the head of another one. Nero aimed and fired, again and again, taking down several more of them before drawing his dagger as the remaining few undead got a little too close. Nero swung his shotgun like a bat, crushing skulls while slamming his blade into the heads of the ones that got a bit too close.
Nero spun around at hearing another one behind him in time to see the side of its head explode as Cryptus’ buggy rolled in with Cryptus himself firing his revolver from his elevated position.
A screech from above made Nero look up to see one of the winged mutants swooping in towards Nyx who had not seen it. Taking aim, knowing he only had a couple of shells left in the gun, Nero fired once, catching the thing in the wing, causing it to spiral out of the sky. Nyx looked up after dispatching her latest undead opponent and spotted another mutant heading right for her, but she was ready this time and swung her blade up, hitting it across its body and sending it into the dirt.
Cryptus fired at one, too. He was something of a crack shot, it seemed. Either that or he was lucky. Whichever it was, he caught one of the flying mutants in its head, killing it immediately.
Hearing a whoosh of air close by, Nero turned to see one of these winged creatures drop to the floor beside him and screech, bearing its teeth.
Nero raised his gun and squeezed the trigger only for it to click once. Empty.
‘Shit,’ Nero cursed, realising he’d miscounted as the mutant sprang forward, the clawed fingers half way up its wings reaching for him as the thing howled once more.
It crashed into Nero, knocking him back and down. Nero went with it, grabbing the thing’s wings and let the momentum take him, getting a foot up and under the things body as it roared. Drool went everywhere, but Nero ignored it and kicked out with his foot, launching the thing into the air. Its light, aerodynamic body carried it higher than he’d expected.
‘Nyx!’ Nero yelled.
He didn’t need to alert her, she’d already seen what was coming and swung her sword in a wide arc from her position atop the car. Her sword cut a huge gash into the body and neck of the mutant and sent it rolling away through the dirt. Nero got up and looked around him. Apart from one or two stragglers that were much further away, the main bulk of the undead and mutants were now lying lifeless or grievously injured on the ravine floor. Nero pulled another two shells from his pockets and loaded them into his shotgun as he walked over to the mutant Nyx had just gored. It lay struggling on the ground, its thick red blood soaking into the dusty sand as it screeched its defiance at him.
Nero racked the grip on the gun and aimed with one hand.
Boom. The mutant dropped dead.
Looking back, Nyx dropped off the hood of the car as Cryptus and Runt stepped forward to look at the curious structure that was embedded in the ravine wall.
Cryptus was grinning like a madman, wringing his hands together. Nero walked over to the group.
‘So, is this it? Is that what you were looking for?’
‘Yes. Yes, it is. Finally, I’ve found it.’
Nero looked up at the strange construct. It was metal and was buried deep in the earth and dirt. Parts of it stuck out of the ground like enormous spikes. It was very heavily damaged and corroded, with twisted metal struts poking out of it here and there, and cabling hanging from the structure.
Nero eyed it curiously as it looked like nothing he’d ever seen before.
‘How long has this been here?’ Nero asked.
‘I don’t know. A long time, since way before the Cataclysm.’
‘So, it’s been under the sea?’
‘That’s right. Isn’t it wonderful? I can’t believe I found it again.’
‘Again?’ Nero asked.
Cryptus turned and looked at him. Had he meant to say that? Was that a slip of the tongue?
‘Sorry, yes,’ Cryptus said. ‘I first found this before the Cataclysm and before the zombie apocalypse. I was part of the dive team that first found it, but we didn’t get chance to do a proper survey before the undead rose from their graves. I’ve been hunting it for a while now, realising that with the seas gone, I could just walk inside it.’
Nero looked back up at it. The mystery surrounding this thing only seemed to deepen. ‘What is it? Where is it from?’
‘Honestly, I don’t know,’ Cryptus said. ‘I’m not even convinced it’s of this world…’
Chapter 8
Nero
‘It’s… alien?’ Nero asked.
‘I don’t know, maybe, maybe not. Could be a government thing, I suppose. I don’t know, but I want to find out,’ Cryptus said, turning to Nyx and himself. ‘Time to go in, I think.’
Nero took a breath and looked around them. The few remaining undead were a good distance away but heading towards them, they wouldn’t get to them for a while, though, so he wasn’t worried about them at all. Nero looked over at Nyx and gestured towards the strange craft.
Nyx shrugged. ‘Sure, why not; we’ve come this far,’ she said.
‘Would you care to lead the way?’ Cryptus asked.
Nero looked over at him. ‘A little worried at what we might find in there?’
Cryptus smiled. ‘The thought had crossed my mind.’
Beside him, Nyx sighed loudly and started to walk forward. Nero watched her for a second. She turned and looked back as she walked.
‘Come on, then, what are you waiting for?’ she asked.
Nero grinned. ‘That’s my girl,’ he muttered as he started to follow her. Cryptus followed behind him with Runt.
Moving forward, they walked under the overhanging struts at metal towards a dark, cave-like entrance with metal panelling leading up to i
t. Nyx walked up those panels before him, her sword resting on her shoulder as she went. Nero reloaded his gun as he walked, sliding the shells into the shotgun until it was full and racked the foregrip to get it ready.
Moving up the ramp, Nero moved up beside Nyx as they reached the corridor. Everything was metallic here, with grating on the floor and panels on the walls that looked like they were out of a sci-fi film or something.
They pushed hanging cables out of their way, stepping over debris and holes in the superstructure of the craft as they moved deeper. It was dark in here, but as the shadows enveloped them, Nero’s eyes started to adjust, and he was able to make out shapes as he went.
‘This is more than a little creepy,’ Nyx whispered to him.
‘It certainly is,’ Nero said as they reached a branch in the corridor. The right-hand hallway was very dark, but if they kept on going forward, the passage curved around out of sight where a faint glow seemed to be coming from. Pausing to take in both options, Nero looked back at Cryptus.
‘Darkness or weird creepy glow?’ he asked.
Cryptus thought about it for a moment, looking in both directions. ‘Glow, I think,’ he said.
‘I knew you’d say that,’ Nero said as he focused his attention forward once more. ‘Okay, let’s see what’s waiting for us, shall we?’
‘Mmm hmm,’ Nyx mumbled.
Moving on, the glow grew as they walked ahead until, as they moved around a curve, the corridor stopped and opened up into a large room. Nero stepped up to the end of the hallway. The room was maybe thirty meters deep and twenty wide, with different levels of deck plates and consoles around the edges of the room as well as free-standing stations and machinery as well. The large machines hanging from the ceiling or rising from the floor obscured portions of the room while deep shadows suggested alcoves or further corridors that were too dark to see inside of. The glow came from a good number of these consoles and machines that still seemed to have some sort of power, which was quite incredible.
Wasteland Road Knights Trilogy Page 21