The Survival Chronicles (Book 7): Hard Mercy

by Nally, Fergal F.

  “The queen’s using Rose’s hands on that control desk. Did you see her? Rose is in that fixed chair, the alpha’s standing over her. She’s manipulating Rose’s hands—” Barnes said, his hands clenched.

  The image disappeared then returned again.

  “There, on top of the screen there’s a label… it’s the launch room,” Jade’s voice came from behind.

  They stared at the image again.

  Christ—

  “Her hands, the alpha has tied her own hands to Rose’s hands,” Mercy said. “They’re using Rose’s body and biometrics… it makes sense. They’re all dead… that desk, those controls, it needs a flesh and blood, live human to input the launch code. The queen took Rose for herself but Mitchell’s now taken control of the queen for… his missile launch. We’ve got to get in there and stop this, we’ve not got enough time, we have to do something now—”

  The right turn back at the T-junction, the machinery sound was louder back there. Computer servers need cooing. Maybe we’re close—

  Mercy faced the others. “There’s only room for one at a time in these corridors. I saw three doors into the launch room on that screen, we won’t know which one we’ll enter through. I’ll go first.” Mercy paused then looked at Barnes, “No, Jade, you go first and blast the five alphas with your SMG. Don’t worry about head shots, just stagger them, aim centre mass. Barnes you go for the head shots with your rifle. Annalise, are you good with that thing?” Mercy pointed at Annalise’s shotgun.

  Annalise chambered a slug round and nodded, “Good enough—”

  Mercy grunted, “Right, well, I don’t like the look of that DARPA robot in the corner. Most of its body seems armored. See if you can send a slug round into its head… judging from the robots we encountered in Annapolis all their sensory input is through there. Try and knock it out—”

  Flynn stepped forwards, “Yeah and hello? What about me and Tawny?”

  Mercy shook her head, “There’ll be a lot of shooting in there, a good chance of catching a stray round, and there’s not that much room. Me, Barnes, Jade and Annalise will be in there. You and Tawny need to watch our six. Once the shit hits the fan more of those tropes or DARPA bots might show up behind us. Your job is to watch our back and keep the corridor clear—”

  Tawny nodded. She pulled a stick of gum out from her shirt pocket. She put the gum in her mouth and started chewing.

  “Makes sense,” Flynn said.

  “We ain’t got no frags, so make every bullet count,” Tawny said to Flynn.

  “We ain’t got no frags, so make every bullet count… that’s good, I like that. If we get out of this alive I want a T-shirt with that printed on it,” Flynn replied.

  Mercy led the way back to the T-junction. She took the right turn and followed the long dimly-lit corridor to another room at the end. The door was open, two vertical columns were just visible. A few steps led up to a raised dais, the room was lit by ceiling strip lights.

  That’s it, I recognise it from the CCTV—

  Mercy beckoned Jade forwards. “OK Jade, you’re up first, remember focus your SMG on the pack, centre mass shots, stagger them. Leave the queen to me. Barnes has got your back. Annalise’s job is to knock out that DARPA bot. You got it?”

  Jade checked her MP5 submachine gun, “Sure… I’m good—”

  “You can do this—” Mercy whispered.

  Jade climbed the steps, her submachine gun at the ready.

  The girl’s got guts—

  Jade reached the top step and opened up on full automatic, hosing the five alphas in the middle of the room. Mercy followed close behind, running towards the alpha queen and Rose in the far corner. Gunfire filled the room behind Mercy, her eyes fell on a second DARPA robot hidden in the near corner. She swore.

  A second robot… for fuck’s sake. Focus on the queen. One of the others will see it—

  Mercy blocked out the noise, all her attention was on the alpha queen. The queen grabbed Rose and spun around to face Mercy. Mercy aimed her silenced HK45 at the queen.

  It’s using Rose as a shield. Shit, I don’t want to hit Rose… I can’t see its head—

  Mercy lowered her pistol and fired at the queen’s leg. Her round slammed into the queen’s left calf, making the alpha stagger forwards. The queen pushed off with its good leg, throwing itself forwards. It sliced through the wrist bonds with its long nails. Mercy crouched low, tripping the alpha queen. Rose sprawled to the floor like a rag doll. Mercy turned and fired, emptying her magazine in the queen’s direction. One round punched through the queen’s jaw and into its spine, another round shattered the top of its skull, pulverizing the brain matter beneath. The alpha queen collapsed to the floor, unmoving.

  Got you, bitch—

  Movement. A blur.

  Mercy swung to the DARPA robot in the near corner. Its head lifted, a row of green LED lights flickered on the side of its head.

  Shit—

  Mercy lifted her pistol and squeezed the trigger. Her gun clicked on empty.

  Oh, come on—

  The robot brought its right arm up, its wrist flipped back revealing a narrow tube. A red glow came from a filament at the end of the tube. Recognition flooded through Mercy.

  Flamethrower—

  A tongue of flame flashed across the ceiling from behind. Two shotgun blasts rocked the room. A burst of rifle fire slammed into the DARPA robot from over Mercy’s shoulder pitching the robot back into the wall.

  Do it—

  Mercy rolled across the floor slamming into the robot’s legs, she ejected the empty magazine from her pistol. She reloaded and fired up twice. Her .45 ACP rounds entered the robot’s head behind its armor, shredding its visual array and destroying the inner core. Sparks flew from under its facial plates, its legs buckled, and it crashed to the floor.

  Did I just do that—?

  A burst of rounds followed by a scream.

  Mercy turned to look across the room. Jade was on the floor, an alpha straddling her. Jade was pushing against the alpha’s chest as it tried to savage her face and neck.

  Get up—

  Mercy pushed herself to her knees and aimed.

  I could hit Jade—

  The alpha raised its head for a split second, its shoulders tensing for the strike. Mercy squeezed her trigger.

  Please—

  Mercy’s round slammed into the alpha’s neck shattering its spine. Barnes’s silhouette appeared on the far side of the room, his rifle raised. Mercy registered his muzzle flash and blinked. The alpha’s head disappeared in an explosion of gore and bone. The gunfire stopped. Mercy’s ears rang. She pulled herself up and crossed the room to Jade. Barnes picked his way through tangled alpha corpses and knelt beside Annalise. Mercy glanced up from Jade.

  Annalise too? No, goddammit—

  Mercy’s eyes went to Rose who was slumped on the ground, her back against the rear wall.

  “Rose—?” Mercy jumped up then staggered.

  Dizzy, ringing, hold on… It’s OK. I just got up too quick—

  Mercy’s vertigo settled and she lurched over to Rose.

  She’s still breathing—

  “Rose? Rose? It’s Mercy, are you OK? Hey, it’s me Rose, you’re gonna be fine. Here, let me check you out—” Mercy said, keeping her voice level.

  She’s out of it, they’ve given her something to make her compliant. Shit, I hope she comes around—

  Mercy checked Rose for bites and other injuries.

  Nothing, thank Christ—

  Mercy placed Rose on her side then put her rolled up jacket under Rose’s head.

  She’s flushed, her lips are cracked, her eyes are sunken. She needs water—

  Mercy sat down beside Rose, she looked across the room. Relief washed over her. Flynn was helping Jade.

  He’s OK—

  Jade stirred beneath the remains of the dead alpha. Flynn bent down and lifted the bloody corpse away. Jade’s face and hair was covered in gore. He helped Jade to a
sitting position. “Jade, are you OK? Did it bite you? Here, let me take a look—” Flynn did a visual inspection of Jade’s arms and neck. “Wait, we’ll wash some of this crap off.” He took his canteen and poured water over Jade’s exposed skin. “No, you’re good, there’s no bites, check your legs. Here, take this, take a drink, I need to see to Mercy.”

  Jade took the canteen and began examining her legs. Barnes was still bent over Annalise. Mercy frowned.

  Flynn crossed the room and knelt beside Mercy, his eyes flicking to the downed DARPA robot. “You capped that one just in time,” he said, wrinkling his nose, “I can smell the fuel from here.” He looked at Mercy then at Rose, “How is she?”

  Mercy snapped out of her daze, her ears were still ringing.

  “She’s alive, they’ve drugged her. They were using her to operate the control panel,” Mercy’s eyes met Flynn’s. “Shit, we need to check it out. What if there’s a launch been initiated—?”

  “I’m on it,” Flynn said, jumping to his feet. He rushed over to the control panel and examined the screen.

  Mercy joined him seconds later. “There, that must be coordinates and… what’s that? Wind speed and—”

  “There,” Flynn jabbed his finger at the top right corner of the screen. “Abort, it says abort—”

  “Go on, press it,” Mercy said, her fingers gripping the console.

  Flynn jabbed the flashing icon at the top of the screen.

  “Nothing, try again,” Mercy said, desperation in her voice. “Wait—” Mercy looked back at Rose. “It’s her, we need Rose’s hand, it’s programmed to recognise her biometrics. Come on help me get her over here—”

  Flynn and Mercy carried Rose over to the launch console and pressed her fingers on the flashing abort icon on the screen. The screen changed colour, a new message appeared in green: LAUNCH SEQUENCE ABORTED. CURRENT INSTRUCTIONS DELETED. SYSTEM DEFAULTED TO FAILSAFE MODE. LAUNCH SYSTEM IN LOCKDOWN.

  Mercy hugged Rose’s inert body, “We did it Rose… you did it. You shut down this piece of shit—”

  Mercy’s legs buckled and she slumped against the console. Flynn reached out to her, concern on his face, “Hey, stay with me babe. Are you OK?”

  Mercy nodded, “Yeah, just post-fight jitters.”

  Flynn held onto Rose, “Rose ain’t going nowhere until she sleeps this off, whatever it is—”

  Barnes crossed the room and took in the situation. “Nice work,” Barnes jerked his head at the downed robot in the corner, “I thought that fucker had us there. Annalise nailed the other one with a slug round to its head but one of the alphas knocked her to the ground. She’s unconscious, we can’t move her. We’re gonna have to secure this room and hunker down, give her some time. You can never tell with head injuries, hopefully she’ll come around… maybe it’s just a concussion—”

  “What if she doesn’t come around?” Flynn asked.

  Barnes looked at Mercy, “We ain’t got no medical facilities here, she could have anything from a fractured skull to internal bleeding. We’ll just have to wait—”

  Mercy nodded, “Agreed, Rose too. She needs to sleep this drug off. We’ll make them comfortable and secure the room in case there’s any more hostiles. How’s Tawny?”

  Barnes grunted, “She’s OK, you were right Flynn and Tawny took care of a couple of alphas creeping up on our six. She’s keeping watch back in the corridor—”

  Barnes handed Mercy his water bottle, “Here, use this for Rose. I saw a leaking pipe back in the first room we checked. I’m pretty sure it was water, we can refill our canteens on the way out—”

  Mercy looked at Rose, “I’ll stay with Rose. Flynn can you watch over Annalise, and keep an eye on Jade, she looks a bit shaken? Barnes, can you buddy up with Tawny? She’s solid but I want no one alone while we’re down here—”

  Barnes nodded his agreement and moved off. Flynn helped Mercy to place Rose on the floor. Flynn embraced Mercy, burying his face in her hair. Mercy threw her arms around him.

  “I know,” Mercy said. “I know, I know, I know—”

  “We can’t think about this stuff, we just have to ride the wave and not let it drag us under—”

  “I know,” Mercy repeated.

  Riptide. Ride the wave of chaos—

  Chapter 27

  Oscar Mike

  “Water,” Rose said, stretching her hand out to Mercy three hours later.

  Mercy sat up. “Rose, you’re back. Here, drink,” she handed Rose her water bottle.

  Rose took a tentative sip then gulped the water down. It trickled down her chin as she drained the bottle. She came up for air and slumped back against the wall. “Is it… over? Are they gone?”

  Mercy nodded, “Yes Rose, they’re dead. They’re gone. You made it. Me, Flynn, Tawny and Barnes are here. We’ve got two new friends; Jade and Annalise. It’s all good. Once you’re feeling better we can think about getting out of here.”

  Rose closed her eyes. “They’re gone,” she whispered. Her breathing deepened and she fell asleep.

  An hour later Annalise stirred. She was disorientated, her memory of the attack was blurred but she could walk unaided.

  Barnes crossed the room to Mercy, “OK, I think we need to move out now, this is as good as it’s gonna get.”

  “Agreed, let’s get everyone up and ready to bail,” Mercy said. She turned to wake Rose.

  They left the missile launch room and retraced their steps down the long corridor, Mercy in the lead. Movement caught Mercy’s eye in the doorway at the end.

  Something’s up ahead. Shit, we can’t go back, we’re committed—

  Mercy ran towards the door. A familiar figure stepped into the corridor.

  Shit, a flamethrower robot. Nail it before it gets me—

  Mercy ran towards the DARPA hunter killer robot, her HK45 raised.

  No time to aim. Just fire, get its sensory array on the top—

  Red laser light erupted from the robot’s turret, scanning the corridor and Mercy. Her rounds hit the robot’s armoured panels, raising sparks. Mercy counted her rounds, her trigger finger a blur.

  Five, six, seven—

  A panel opened in the thing’s chest and a dripping tube appeared.

  Eight, nine, ten—

  Her tenth round struck the narrow laser slot in the robot’s sensory array, smashing its delicate optical network. Sparks and smoke erupted from the robot’s turret. It slumped to the floor, the smell of gasoline heavy in the air.

  Shit, if it catches fire. Don’t think, just move—

  Mercy turned to the others behind, “Quick, climb past it—”

  Mercy reloaded and held her breath as everyone clambered over the destroyed robot. A minute later they were all through. They passed the security room and made it down the next corridor to the first room they had encountered.

  “Here,” Barnes pointed at the dripping ceiling pipe. He held out a hand and let some of the liquid fall onto his skin. He tasted it and nodded, “It’s water… we should stop and rehydrate then move on—”

  Mercy looked at Rose, “Yeah, makes sense.”

  Tawny collected everyone’s water bottles. Flynn and Jade watched over Rose and Annalise. Mercy caught Barnes’s eye and stepped over to talk to him. Without warning a figure lurched out from behind a cabinet and threw itself at Barnes.

  Oh—

  Mercy dived forwards and extended her gun hand over Barnes’s shoulder. A mottled blue trope face appeared beside Barnes’s neck, its mouth gaping. Mercy thrust her HK45 into the trope’s mouth and squeezed the trigger. Its head flew back as the bullet tore through its throat and brain stem. The gunshot reverberated through the room.

  Barnes dropped to the floor, his hand covering his ear. Mercy stood over the trope and shot it a second time through the forehead.

  Should’ve taken you out the first time I saw you, you bastard—

  Barnes knelt on the floor, his eyes closed.

  Mercy dropped down beside him, “Christ Ba
rnes, I’m sorry, that thing almost had you.” She touched his shoulder.

  “It’s OK. I’m OK. I can’t hear you though, my left ear’s dead. It’ll come back, give me an hour or so. Thanks for nailing that fucker… it’s my fault for not seeing the bastard—” Barnes said, his voice raised.

  Mercy nodded and held a finger to her lips. She leant into his good ear and spoke, “Copy that Barnes. Just keep your voice down—”

  Barnes stood up. He dragged the dead trope into a corner and covered it with a bloodstained sheet from one of the gurneys. They rested for an hour and rehydrated using water collected from the dripping pipe. Rose and Annalise continued to improve. Mercy checked her watch; 7:37 pm.

  Jesus, we’ve been down here most of the day, it’ll be getting dark outside. We’ve got to get back to Sledge and the horses—

  Mercy spoke to the others, “OK guys, I think we should move. It’ll be getting dark outside. I don’t want to stay any longer down here than we have to. Is everyone good to go?”

  Flynn looked at Tawny and Barnes, “Yeah, let’s get out of here—”

  Jade patted Annalise on the shoulder, “We’re good—”

  Rose stood up and racked the slide on the pistol Jade had given her, “What are we waiting for people?”

  Barnes tapped his ear and gave Mercy the thumbs up, “It’s mostly just ringing now, the hearing’s coming back. I’m good—”

  Mercy slung her rifle over her shoulder and pointed to Annalise, “Annalise, I reckon it’d be good to have silenced weapons up front. You handy with that crossbow?”

  Annalise flashed a smile, “You could say that—”

  Mercy checked her silenced pistol, “You’re with me Annalise. I want Barnes watching our six. Everyone else, just try and keep it quiet—”

  Mercy led the way up the spiral staircase to the open hatch on the surface. The light was fading fast outside. Mercy stopped short of the hatch and crouched low, listening. Fresh air cooled her skin. The aroma of pine trees and grass wafted down the shaft. Mercy took a deep breath, closing her eyes.