by JT Sawyer
“Easy, kid. We’re not going to hurt you.” He got a hold of the boy’s arms and pinned them down, then sat on his chest. “It’s OK, we’re with the Navy. We’re gonna get you out of here.”
“Let me go. I don’t want to die like the others.” The boy’s pale face was a contrast to the furious look in his eyes. Ivins felt like he was trying to restrain a python as the boy continued to thrash until his little arms were spent.
Ivins heard Murphy come up behind. “Looks like he made a hole in the drywall leading into the other room. It’s all blocked with mattresses but it sounds like someone else is inside.”
“That’s my mom. She’s sick.” The boy began squirming again, trying to break free of Ivins’ grip.
“Relax, kid, and I’ll let you up.” The boy slumped back, catching his breath. “Let’s take a look at her—maybe we can help.”
“She got bit by one of those things three days ago when she went out to look for food.”
Ivins glanced up at Murphy, both men exchanging surprised looks.
“You sure it was three days ago?” said Murphy.
“Yeah, it was right after everyone started getting real sick and started hiding.” He sat up on his elbows. “Please, let me go. I won’t hit you anymore.”
Ivins gave him a slight grin. He could still see the fire in the boy’s eyes, and wasn’t sure if he was being honest, but knew he was tough as hell to have survived this long. Ivins stood up, offering the boy his hand. Besides looking malnourished, he appeared to be around ten years old, with shaggy brown hair.
“I’m Tom—Tom Ivins. What’s your name, kid?”
“Chris Gates.” The boy looked beyond Ivins at the other heavily armed SEALs standing near the stairwell. Chris gulped, staring up at Ivins. “Are there more of you?”
“Just a few,” said Murphy.
“It’s not going to be enough,” Chris said with a whisper as he led them back into the other room. “They’ll know you’re here. They can tell when there’s people nearby.”
Ivins got a chill hearing the boy utter something borne from experiences no child should ever have to witness. He watched Chris deftly crawl through a jagged hole at the base of the wall. Ivins swept his rifle muzzle inside the entrance, turning on his flashlight. The other room was filled with piles of clothing and desk chairs. He watched Chris weave through a small trail that led to the corner, where there were two parallel stacks of mattresses, with several going across the top. A blanket hung down in front of the entrance to a makeshift fort, and Ivins could hear heavy breathing coming from the other side.
He scanned the floor for any signs of parasites or indications the woman was infected, then crawled through the tight entrance.
Chris pulled back the blanket to reveal a woman in her mid-thirties, whose gaunt face was pallid. She coughed, then tried to sit up, but the effort proved too daunting and she collapsed back onto the floor.
“I made this fort to keep us warm at night and to prevent any sound from getting out so the monsters wouldn’t find us,” said Chris.
Ivins patted him on the shoulder. “Good job, buddy. You’re a smart kid.” He moved closer, resting his rifle on the ground so the flashlight illuminated the woman’s wounded leg. She was barely conscious and her breathing was heavy. Ivins introduced himself then lifted up the flimsy gauze wrapping with his gloved fingers to examine the leg. He saw a fist-sized chunk of flesh missing, with jagged teeth marks around the edges. Ivins scanned the raw pulp, which had pockets of pus but no parasites. He could see red streaks spreading out from the wound up her leg, and knew she had a bad bacterial infection that needed to be treated immediately.
“You said your mom was bit three days ago? You sure it was that long ago?”
The woman gasped, her eyes fluttering. “Yes, I had just come from getting supplies when a creature tackled me by the park.” She took a deep breath, as if she had just run up a hill. “I killed it with a hammer, but not before it did this to me. The worms didn’t seem too interested in me, and fell off my leg as I walked. I waited for two hours before returning to my son, thinking I was going to become one of those things, but nothing ever happened.”
How the fuck did she not turn? Ivins looked over his shoulder at Murphy, whose head was visible in the drywall opening. “Get our coordinates to the helo and tell them we’re going to need an extract from the roof of this building in ten minutes.”
Ivins heard a squelch in his ear-mic from the SEAL outside the building. “We’ve got Tangos inbound on all four sides of the field near our Whiskey. I think the whole West Coast just found out where we’re at.”
Ivins shouted back at Murphy, “Get us out of here.” Then he leaned forward to help the nearly limp woman sit up, all of her energy depleted from talking. He looked up at Chris. “What’s your mom’s name?”
“Amber.”
“Well, Chris, you and your mom, Amber, are going to go on a little ride with us, but first we need to get you both upstairs.” He heard Murphy finishing up the conversation with the Blackhawk pilots, then he saw the operator smashing out more of the drywall with his boot. Ivins looked around at the room they were in with the arrangement of mattresses. “You and your mom were clever to set up a fort like this to dampen the sound so the creatures wouldn’t find you. Good job, buddy.”
Ivins patted Chris on the arm. “Now, I need you to grab your mom’s other side and help me lift her up a little.” They moved the tottering woman towards the escape hole. A second later, he heard a grenade go off on the first floor. The frenzied chatter in his earpiece indicated the fight was on, and he hoped the Blackhawk wasn’t delayed.
Handing the woman to Murphy, he helped slide her through the opening. They were joined in the hallway by the rest of the team as spent brass began piling up in the lower hallway. Ivins put Amber over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry as he, Murphy, and Chris moved up the narrow stairwell leading to the roof. The cacophony of gunfire below them echoed off the walls amidst the screams of dozens of creatures being shredded by a hail of 5.56 rounds.
Exiting onto the roof, he felt the welcome hand of sunlight on his face. He pivoted slowly in a circle, trying to home in on the nearby thumping of rotor blades, then realized there wasn’t a helicopter in sight. The noise was coming from below, as thousands of creatures pounded their fists on the building, trying to gain access to the roof.
He knelt down, lowering Amber against a ventilation shaft, then unslung his AR. Ivins heard another grenade blast in the hallway below, and knew that chokepoint had probably just been sealed. Moving closer to the edge, he peered down and saw the creatures climbing on top of a dumpster near the back wall. At first, they appeared disoriented again, as if some computer chip in their head was skewed, then they resumed their focused assault. What’s going on with them?
Some began wildly leaping upward, trying to catch the lip of the roof, and Ivins knew it wouldn’t be long before they succeeded. He fired into the heads of the more agile creatures, who were getting close, then heard the rest of his team spread out onto the building after barring the entrance door shut with a steel bar.
There was now a tidal wave of drones slamming against the dormitory from all four sides. A cloud of dust and grass from their frenzied feet was swirling up into the air, and their shrill voices joined together to form a high-pitched whistle that was deafening. Ivins continued sniping the occasional drone that got too close to reaching the top. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement in the parking lot, then paused in shock as he watched nearly fifty paras shoving a flatbed tow truck over the curb and onto the lawn. The crowd below parted as the others propelled the vehicle towards the side of the dormitory. Then they moved in unison to the rear and upended the rig, heaving the back upwards until it slammed against the building below the gutters.
“Shit—all eyes to the east,” yelled Ivins as dozens of drones began bounding up the truck chassis like some medieval castle assault he’d seen in the movies. His mind was reeling f
rom the intelligence behind such an undertaking, and he forced himself to focus on shooting the nearest creatures.
Ivins began unloading his weapon, firing off one burst after another into the steady stream of creatures flowing onto the vehicle-ladder. Two creatures escaped the haze of gunfire and leapt onto the roof, making a mad dash for Chris. Ivins fired off a succession of rounds, killing the first beast within inches of the boy and his mother. The second creature made an immediate ninety-degree turn and bolted directly for Murphy, coming up behind him. Ivins shot it in the right temple, but the resulting blood loss sprayed a mist of worms onto Murphy’s neck. The operator spun around, furiously wiping his gloves along the gray goop coating his collar. Ivins ran over, brushing his gloves along the man’s thick neck, pulling off a two-inch-long parasite that had almost wriggled into Murphy’s ear.
“I got ’em all, I think,” yelled Ivins above the din of gunfire.
Murphy’s eyes seemed to fill his entire face. “Fucking hell. You think you did, or you did for sure?”
Ivins didn’t have time to answer. He swung around and dropped to one knee as another para dove in his direction. He shot it from underneath as he rolled away from the clawing fingers aimed at his face. The creature’s head shattered open from the close-range shot and it dropped a few feet from Ivins. He got up and saw another tangle of drones moving another vehicle from the parking lot to the right.
A second later, a strafing blur of bullets from above shredded their bodies as the Blackhawks arrived from the rear of the building. Ivins resumed focusing all of his efforts towards the wave of creatures moving up the truck leaning against the dorm. The rest of his team had gathered in a half-arc, spraying rounds into the assaulters. Once he caught sight of the Blackhawk beginning to descend, he yelled for Murphy’s help, then trotted over to Chris, who was huddled over his mother’s body, both of them locked in an embrace. He pried the boy’s grip free, then thrust him towards Murphy, who hoisted him up to Reisner inside the cabin.
Ivins picked up Amber and stayed in a low-crouch as he trotted to the helicopter, then raised her up into the outstretched hands of Nash and Pacelle. He heard the mini-gun in the helicopters sending another burst into the crowd. The stream of hot brass landing on the drones below caused them to scatter temporarily as Ivins shouted for the rest of his men to get inside the chopper. He and Murphy provided cover fire as each man retreated, then they leapt inside the Blackhawk. The pilot quickly swung it hard to the left, arcing over the bloody lawn below and speeding away to the south.
Ivins collapsed back onto the bench, his rifle muzzle still smoking as he looked out at the enraged menace below, whose eyes were fixed on them as they headed towards the coast.
He glanced over at Reisner, then at Selene. “You get what you came for?”
Selene gave a hearty nod then leaned over Amber and examined her wound. “This looks pretty infected.”
Ivins removed his sweaty gloves. “And you’re gonna love this, Doc—that’s from a bite she got three days ago.”
Selene’s face went rigid, her eyebrows scrunching together. “It’s a miracle she’s still alive.” Selene reached into her medical kit and removed a syringe and a vial of penicillin. After she had given the woman the injection, she connected an IV bag of saline to get her hydrated, then covered her with an emergency blanket.
Ivins glanced over at Amber and Chris, then looked around the cabin at all of his men, knowing how things might have turned out differently if the helicopters hadn’t arrived when they did. He slumped back on the bench, shuddering out a deep breath. Guess this wasn’t such a bad day after all. He leaned forward and patted Chris on the shoulder, giving the boy a smile. “You did well to keep you and your mom alive for so long. You’re an incredible young man—don’t ever forget it.”
Ivins looked out at the sun illuminating the rocky coastline and burning off the fog, thinking the heavens seemed brighter than he’d seen them in a long time.
Chapter 30
East Los Angeles
The alpha female was sitting on the cold ground in a new tunnel system a half-mile from the charred quarters of its former feeding chamber. It glanced down at the crisp flesh on its right leg and felt a sting of pain as raw muscle oozed a gray fluid. The small band of fleeing humans had wounded it enough that rest was required for a few hours. Fortunately, its last feeding had engorged it and allowed for the increase in worms that were now a hive of movement, repairing the capillary bed in the badly burned tissue. The severity of the burn would have killed it in its previous life as a frail woman, but now it was being quickly restored as dead skin sloughed off with each surge from the writhing mass. The grotesque noise of the parasites eating through the damaged cells made the room seem like it was situated beside a creek, as the gurgling increased with each new overlay of restored membrane.
If it hadn’t been pre-occupied with draining the precious clear fluid from its last victim, it would have sensed the attack upon its drones from the fleeing captives and been able to send reinforcements, but it had discovered its first weakness: feeding meant it was vulnerable and unable to see through its brood’s eyes. We must protect against the Others harming us again.
Its mind, which at first seemed driven by primitive instincts days ago, was now forming into its full capacity. A voice, both familiar and monstrous inside it, was coalescing into a single cohesive structure. It was driven by a force it now recognized as its own instead of a recurring echo of its former self, reverberating off the conflicted chambers of its being. At times, it heard the far-off voices of others like it, but couldn’t isolate the sounds or know if it was being spoken to or shouting back at the others. It was a different chatter than the lowly drones that surrounded her and looked to her for guidance. These other voices were like hers—commanding and unyielding.
It craned its head up to the right as it became distracted by something far off. Its eyes were focused and narrowed, but not on its surroundings. Psychically, it was perceiving through another creature’s eyes in a city elsewhere. This extension of its senses had occurred before since it had emerged as leader. Each time, it had felt the pain associated with the loss of its brood, including the mysterious death of thousands in a wooded setting somewhere distant—a fireball of searing heat next to a small building, followed by the screams of its subordinates before they fell silent.
Now, it felt a similar pain. It paused for a moment, realizing this was a far different feeling than that associated with its gruesome leg wound. This was a sense of loss—of anguish on a monumental scale as more of its drones were extinguished, their psychic cries fusing as one then disappearing altogether. The beast had seen the collective images of a burning vehicle and Others shooting from the top of a building, while others were in a grassy field, removing something from the ground. Then the vision was suddenly severed, the shrill voices ending. The creature slowly crumpled it shoulders forward, lowering its head while its bony fingers clawed at the pavement. The Others have done this to us.
If it hadn’t been so wounded, it would have been able to direct its drones. It realized its brood was too spread out to protect. It needed to draw them in closer to the location around its new lair. The drones and intermediaries seemed to need little human food to sustain themselves, and there were still enough desperate survivors hiding in the city to sustain them. But the others like her, their voices spread in distant lands, required daily feedings of the clear fluid from particular victims. It didn’t understand why, but its cravings created an agonizing throbbing in the base of its neck, followed by utter pleasure once the need was fulfilled.
Its senses partially returned to its immediate surroundings as it felt the last of its damaged skin peel off and flake to the ground. The creature stood up, balancing again on both of its bare feet and striding forward with certainty. Its senses bristled as its voice reached out, alerting the minds of a million others in the outlying city to join her. We must protect ourselves from the Others. They are coming. The
y are coming.
Chapter 31
Nanjing Bunker
Han was back inside his office beside the command center, poring over some notes when a knock on the door pierced through his thoughts. He heard General Vehm asking for permission to speak with him. He thought it an unusual request, given that Han was a lieutenant, but he knew it was a formal act of courtesy connected with the fear that Vehm had for his father.
Han opened the door and nodded, motioning for the general to come inside.
“How may I be of assistance, sir?”
Vehm had always seemed more like an uncle to him than his commanding officer, and the man had clearly looked out for him during his early years in the military, more so than his aloof father ever had.
“There are some pressing matters we need to discuss.” He looked over his shoulder, making sure the door was closed. “Your father is planning to lure a large cluster of creatures to the western edge of Beijing, where there is an encampment of survivors. He wants to record and study their assault methods, using the women and children there as test subjects.”
Han’s face became taut and his facial muscles twitched. “What? I haven’t heard anything about this.”
“He just held a briefing with his senior advisors to discuss the details. He was not open to debate.”
Han thrust himself out of his chair and paced back and forth. “This is madness.”
“He is beyond reason and is going to plunge this country further into the dark ages if something isn’t done. I am one of many officers who see the destructive path he will lead us down if something is not done.”
Han stopped in his tracks, abruptly turning his head towards Vehm. “General—what did you come here for? To ask for my approval in moving against my own father?”
Vehm got up and gripped Han’s arm. “I don’t think you know how many he’s already killed for the sake of his scientific studies. He has probably kept that from you, but what he is planning is genocide within our own borders.”