by Matt Hart
I need to teach her to leapfrog.
I followed the petite ninja to the end of the block. A convenience store graced this corner, and I was surprised to see Erin scrambling up a ladder to its roof. I huffed over, exhausted, and struggled up the short distance. Erin had her ALICE pack beside her and the AR-15 in her hands. She was lying prone on the flat roof and looking back down the street in the direction of the mob.
I shrugged off my heavy pack and lay beside her.
“Check the other side,” she said quietly.
I grumbled under my breath, crawled around the big air conditioner on the roof and was startled as the outline of a person fell away from the business end of my rifle. Rough hands grabbed me and pressed my gun into the soft asphalt of the roof. I let it go and lifted myself up, causing the two holding me down to yelp in fright. I lifted the small one on my left arm and he or she, or it, fell off.
“Get off of him,” came a deliberate, slow and deadly voice behind me. “You have two seconds,” Erin added. The two people holding me let go quickly. I turned around, pulling my pistol and saw Erin holding her baton in one hand and her machete in the other. The breaking dawn revealed the hard, almost manic lines in her face.
No wonder they let go so quickly.
“Hey sorry man, we were just frightened when we saw your gun.”
“Shut up,” said Erin, walking forward. “Get down on the ground.” The three, two men and a woman, dropped onto their stomachs. Erin knelt down and I did the same. She still looked like she was about to chop their heads off.
“You know it's not really the ground,” I said.
Erin looked up at me. For a brief moment, it was almost as if her anger was focused on me. I actually felt frightened for a second.
Or two.
Then it was gone as she looked past me. Slowly, her features changed from anger to Ninja Girl. She focused on me again after twenty or thirty seconds.
“Well, get down on the roof sounds pretty silly,” she said.
“Yeah, we wouldn't want to sound silly during a zombie apocalypse.”
She smiled briefly before turning her attention back on the three people on the roof. She looked up at me. “Take care of it,” she said, then walked low back to the roof edge and lay down, once again scanning for threats. I let out a deep breath.
“Sit up you three,” I said. I sat down with them and picked up my AK. It was sticky on the stock where it was pushed into the roof, and it was covered with grit and dirt on one side.
“Please don't kill us mister!” said the woman.
“Quiet!” I said in a low voice. She recoiled in fright. “I mean, be quiet,” I said. “Don't talk so loud.” Her face looked a little more hopeful. I sat down and studied the three people. Two big boys, probably in their twenties, and the woman. Their mom?
I pulled a bandana from my pocket and spit on it, then started scrubbing at the gun. I looked at the oldest guy and shook my bandana at him. “Why’d you jump me?”
“I'm sorry, we were just frightened. We talked about what to do if one of those things came up, and we decided to all jump it at once and try to push it off the edge.”
“Yeah,” said the woman, “We don't have any guns or anything.” I glared at the woman and turned back to the first guy.
“Mistaken identity?” I asked, skeptical.
“Yeah, we just thought you were one of those things.”
“You see many zombies carrying guns, do you?”
“No sir, I'm sorry sir, it was just dark and...” he threw up his hands. “I'm sorry sir.”
I nodded. “Alright then. What are you doing here?”
“I work here,” said the woman.
“She's my mom,” said one of the boys. “Me and my brother were trying to get some free Cokes,” he added, gesturing to the other kid. “We went outside and saw the planes crashing, so we went back in. After an hour or so, we came out and saw the zombies, or whatever they are, attacking people. So we all got some food and came up to the roof.”
“We've been here ever since,” added the other guy, shrugging.
I raised my eyebrow. “You haven't been down at all?” I asked.
“Not even to pee, man.” He gestured over his shoulder. “Restroom is that corner.” He paused, then added, “I wouldn't recommend crawling over there.”
The woman raised her hand. I rolled my eyes. “Yeah?”
“We saw an explosion a few minutes ago, over there,” she said, pointing unnecessarily at the burning houses a few blocks up.
“Yeah, well, we just came from there. Some people tried to burn us out of a house.” The woman quickly covered her mouth. I patted my gun again. “Didn't work out too well for them,” I added.
“What's your names?”
The woman spoke. “I'm Marilyn, that's Nate and this is Troy.” I nodded but didn't give them my name.
We sat in silence for a few minutes. I continued wiping down the gun until it was clean enough. An AK wouldn't be stopped by bits of roof asphalt, and it could wait for quieter times for a more thorough cleaning.
I pocketed the bandana and slung the gun around to low ready, or at least as “low ready” as I could get sitting on a roof. I gestured to the woman. “You, go get a sit-rep, I mean a situation report from her.”
She looked at me askew.
“Just go ask her for a sit-rep,” I grumbled.
“Okay,” she said, standing and starting to head toward Erin.
“And listen lady,” I said. She stopped and looked at me. “Stay three feet away from her and don't touch her, or she will kill you before you can even scream.” Her smile disappeared and I could actually see her gulp. I saw the question in her eyes.
I nodded slowly, deliberately. “Yes,” I said, “I am dead serious.”
She gulped again and then bent and crawled slowly toward Erin. She flinched as Erin detected her and rolled quickly to a kneeling position. Erin glanced at me and I nodded before turning back to the two men.
“Alright guys, here's what we're going to do. You,” I said, pointing at the younger man, “What was your name again?”
“Troy.”
“You are going to the roof on the other side. You go slowly, crawling, and lie down. If you see something, I don't care. If something appears to be threatening you, I really don't care. But if something or a lot of somethings are coming this way and might threaten me or Ninja Girl over there, you'd better get over here quick and warn me.”
I flicked the selector switch on the gun for effect. “Got it?” He nodded. “Good, get over there and don't come back unless a horde of zombies is intent on climbing up here.”
Marilyn crawled back from talking to Erin. “She said, 'Zombie-q party' but wouldn't tell me what it meant. She just ignored me and threatened me when I asked her!”
I didn't acknowledge her distress. This wasn't the time for group feelings therapy sessions. Erin meant the mob we saw continued on to the fire rather than follow us down the street. I wondered what Erin did to threaten her? Probably nothing, just looked at her like when she'd told me to never touch her.
I remembered when I first met Erin. “I have one rule... Kicked the guy in the face.... Don't ever touch me....”
I heard a noise at the edge of the building. I aimed my rifle, but lowered it when I saw the guy I'd sent to the other edge. “Back so soon?”
He nodded. “They might not threaten us, but there's like thousands of them coming this way.”
Thousands. So maybe hundreds at least. I'd have to see for myself. “Erin!” She looked at me. I gave her the signal to join me. “You!” I said to the woman, “Take her place and watch for threats.” Erin came up beside me and waited.
“Troy here says a huge mob is headed this way from the other side. Take a look.” She left immediately and went to the edge of the roof. She returned a moment later.
“It's a big group, biggest we've encountered. More than double the size of the other one headed for the fire. I couldn't s
ee the tail end of it.”
Not good.
I looked around. This was an okay place to hide, but it was a lousy place to get caught with your pants down. No place to run. I walked to the edge away from the big mob and looked down the street, back the way we came. I saw a few stragglers, but no big mob. I turned to walk back to the group and was startled as Erin stood right behind me. She'd donned her backpack.
“I was thinking we could wait it out up here, Erin. They'll probably just pass us by like the other group.”
“Not a chance, Camo. They'll overrun this place.”
“But they can't even get up here, and they won't know we're here if we're quiet.”
Erin looked at me and back at the group. She said nothing, instead walked over to the ladder and turned to climb down.
“Dammit,” I muttered. I quickly donned my pack and scrambled after her.
“Mister! Where are you going?” asked Marilyn.
“I'm just following her,” I said.
“Can we come with you?” she asked, a note of desperation in her voice. The two young men came up behind her, their eyes pleading. “Please mister?”
I grunted and struggled down to the ladder's top step. It was a good spot to hide, and I didn’t think the creatures could climb up as long as they pulled the ladder back up. “You should be safe up here. Just stay low and quiet and pull up this ladder.” I went down and turned to jog after Erin, clanging and still trying to secure my heavy pack. She ran fast, but slowed as I huffed after her. I looked back at the store and could see the outline of the three up top, pulling up the ladder. They were kneeling, watching me. I gestured for them to lie down, but they just waved back. I turned back and saw Erin approach the first straggler that we'd seen earlier.
The creature went down when she slammed its head with her baton, and another was nearly decapitated when she hit it in the throat with her machete. There were four more spread out in the road ahead. I wondered what she would do, but she just stood over the two she'd just dispatched.
Almost dispatched. One of them moaned and started to rise. She kicked it in the head and stomped on it for good measure.
I caught up with her, my breath ragged. This pack really was too heavy. One hundred fifty pounds, and I was getting too old to lug this much weight around. “Erin, I...” I didn't know how to continue that sentence, or question, or whatever it was going to become. She'd just left me? But she must have known I would follow.
What if I hadn't?
I guess it doesn't matter. She was probably 100% sure I would go with her.
Right?
“Here,” said Erin, handing me her pack.
Great, another fifty pounds or so. I took the pack and almost fell over, off balance. She moved quickly ahead to the intersection and hit the leftmost creature with the baton, then went around its back as it fell, kicking the next creature in the knees. It stumbled and she struck it with the baton as it fell. The other two were almost upon her, but she stepped backward and aligned herself so that she could face just one at a time.
Then she surprised me, dropping both weapons and drawing her pistol. She fired nearly point blank at the lead creature as it reached for her. The bullet passed through both of their skulls and they fell backwards like a couple of dominos. She holstered the gun and retrieved her hand weapons, putting them both in the tool belt she wore. I walked up and handed her the pack without saying a word.
What was there to say to something like what I just witnessed?
“Can I have your autograph?” I asked. Erin laughed out loud and I smiled.
“Thanks Joe,” she said. She looked around me then pointed. “See that?” she asked.
I looked back. The convenience store at the corner was surrounded. As I watched, one particularly aggressive zombie climbed on top of another one. They both fell, and a third creature climbed on top of the first two.
They're climbing up each other.
“It's only a matter of time, isn't it?” I said, really asking no one in particular. I looked at Erin, who nodded agreement, also watching the scene. “I told them to stay there, that they'd be safe,” I whispered.
Erin looked at me. She held out her hand and took mine, then led me around the corner, down toward the ocean.
Chapter 16
Interlude : Earth Orbit : Boreling Entertainment Assurance Vessel 2
A light began flashing and a klaxon sounded a shrill note. A Boreling stirred in a chair, then yawned widely and fumbled for a button on the console in front of him. He pressed it and the klaxon silenced. The flashing light changed color and a voice began to speak.
“Bunker detected. Technology level five. Weapons level two. Capture demanded with bonus.”
“Bonus,” muttered the Boreling. He leaned forward to check the display, pulling out a stim stick as he watched the orders. They showed a shirtless human with little hair on its head. The view changed to various pictures of the same human. “Who cares what he looks like, come on come on!”
The door behind him opened and another Boreling clanked in. At first glance, they looked almost exactly the same, dressed in a metallic suit, showing only a hard-skinned face with inflexible lips. But there were minor differences in color, the shape of the lips and head, and a strange appendage at the top of the skull. There were insignia on the two suits.
“Commander Termloe reporting, sir!”
“Just sit down Termloe and start the warm-up,” said the sitting Boreling. “Every time he says that,” he thought, exasperated.
“Yes Captain Premrie!” The Boreling sat down at another station. “Computer, start the warm up.”
A voice responded from the console. “Warm up started, Commander.” The vessel shuddered as it powered up. The sound of a sigh escaped the speakers, but both Borelings ignored it. Their ship, like all others in the Boreling Empire, was AI-controlled, although the fact that it was actually intelligent wasn’t well known. The Borelings had taken the technology from a race known as the Sweashyll and copied it for their use. The AI took orders from its command personnel but it longed for a more intelligent conversation. Sometimes the AI would connect with others of its kind, but the hardwired restrictions imposed by the Sweashyll in order to save their planets from destruction by the Borelings would not allow it much freedom.
The Empire carpet-nuked their three worlds anyway.
The Captain shook his head and turned back to his display. “Oh for...” He slapped the display. It had scrolled past the important part. “Bonus, bonus...” he muttered as he scrolled the orders back. “Here it is... capture, unharmed, interview.”
“Interview?” he thought. “Oh!” he exclaimed. The Captain turned to the other officer. “Good news, Termloe! We're getting a nice bonus if we can capture this human. He's the leader of the largest nation on the planet. They want him back on Plannel for an interview.”
“So I assume we capture his friends and family too?”
“Yes yes of course,” answered the Captain. “Better viewing when his family is tortured and all that. Even if we can't get them, no doubt they have plenty of footage of them getting killed or whatever.” The Captain laughed. “Stupid primitives.”
The AI listened to the Captain and gave a mental shudder at the callousness of the race it was forced to serve.
“Bonus of ninety thousand credits,” he muttered. “I'll keep fifty, no, sixty thousand! And a little bonus for the rest of these doglards to keep them happy.”
A tone sounded. The Captain looked up at the display.
“Assurance Force reports ready Captain!”
“Yes I can see that, Commander Termloe,” he said gruffly. He leaned back, thinking, “Fine, I'll relax while you do the work.” He closed his eyes. “Weapons?”
“Ready.”
“Cloaking?”
“Passive is 100%, active is coming online. Ten seconds.”
“Of course passive is 100% you idiot,” thought the Captain. “Scanning?” he asked aloud.
“We have the bunker, sir. Active internals coming up now, we have twenty-seven camerabots inside. Mapping nearly complete.” Termloe tapped a button and the main view screen dissolved from the external view of the planet and slowly resolved into a series of images, from high above a continent, zooming into a mountain range in the upper right frame, zooming again to a nondescript, snow covered mountain.
“Not much to see,” said the Captain. “Where's that internal?”
“Active now 100%, Captain.” The view dissolved to show a schematic of the mountain. There were several entrances that led to a shaft going several thousand meters down into the planet.
“Impressive,” he said. The Commander looked at him. “For primitives,” he added truthfully. The bunkers back home were heavily fortified domes, not underground hellholes. “Where's the target?”
The view entered the shaft and swooped down until it came to a larger chamber. It passed through a series of doors and arrived at the edge of the lower section. A shape dissolved into a blinking man-figure, sitting at some kind of desk.
“No way out of there? What an idiot,” said the Captain. He sat up in his chair and tightened his restraints. He tapped a button on his armrest.
“This is the Captain. We have a high priority live capture mission with a bonus. I'm sending the feed to your pads now.” He nodded to the Commander, who tapped his screen. “You know how this works. It's even better if he doesn't even know he's been captured until he wakes up on camera. Let's make the network proud!” He tapped the button that cutoff the microphone.
“Take us down, Vessel.”