by M. Lorrox
Steve shakes his head and slumps against the tree. “What? You’re seriously going to leave me here?”
Li Chen walks to his bike and grabs his helmet. “Don’t be so dramatic. Just head back to your place and pack a bag. I have a feeling Lorenzo could use some more of our help... Assuming he can afford it.” He swings his leg over his bike and starts it up. “Call me when you’re packed and ready to go.”
“Dude, wait!”
Li Chen stands the bike up, lifts the kickstand, and takes off.
Steve groans and lets his head drop backward against the tree, only to be reminded by the rough bark that he was scalped and that the top of his head is a giant, bloody wound. He winces as he peels a piece of bark covered with lichen off his raw head.
He looks back in the direction of the hospital—to the large, motionless building hosting hundreds of sick and injured people. That kid I stabbed…and Madeline. He looks over to the bikes; his and Madeline’s remain. How could Li Chen just fucking leave us? He left BOTH of us… He shakes his head. “Li Chen, you’re an asshole, and I’m done with you.”
He summons his strength and pushes himself away from the tree. For a moment, he keeps his arm stretched out to the tree, in case he falls, but he’s able to stand on his own. He lurches his way back up the hill toward the hospital. Madeline better be alright... I hope they let me see her before they lock me up.
Another Hellfire missile blasts away from the Black Hawk helicopter that Major Stephanie Dubois and her team are using to track down the signal jammers. In less than a second, it reaches the target: another nondescript minivan parked next to a lamp-post that has its windows painted black, vibrates, and has an electronic panel mounted underneath. Inside the van, the Marx generator spits out oodles of electromagnetic interference, an electric generator wrapped in sound-absorbing rock-wool insulation runs to power it, and ten gallons of gasoline wait to be used up by the electric generator.
When the missile hits, the explosion lights the sky.
Stephanie turns her face away from the blast so that it doesn’t interfere with her night vision. She looks down and watches her scanner. She nods when the readout refreshes. “Looks like we’re left with only one more of these big berthas, and then just smaller devices putting out pockets of local interference. We’re on the home stretch, guys!”
General Campbell claps his hands when a technician from the Pentagon Field Command Center runs out to tell him that radio communications are coming back online. “Finally some good news.” It’s time to go mobile, and the battalions of leathernecks from Quantico should be here any minute. “Send a runner to the unit commanders at the three breaches in the outer wall. Actually, you do it. Tell them to go back to radio. We need to withdraw as many soldiers as we can and deploy into DC. We’ve got to get to those survivors.”
The soldier shrugs. “What about the zombies inside the Pentagon? We can’t leave the breaches unguarded.”
“True. Tell them that too, and hurry up!”
“Yes, sir!” He runs off.
General Campbell thinks about the next steps as he hears the Chinook flying overhead. He looks up and watches it pass. Somebody must know who dispatched that old bird. Alright, we need to open an access point through the LAZoRS, resupply the marines Riley deployed in DC… Riley’s engineers can wait on their evac… Organize police and rescue to receive survivors, and—
“General!”
He turns to find another radio operator saluting him. “Yes? At ease.”
“Sir, we’re back in touch with the LAZoRS Group Leaders. Remember the Apache’s report about seeing mechs inside quarantine? Apparently, the president sent them in along with some marines.”
“…Mechs?”
“I think it’s short for mecha, and if I remember my anime, it means robots operated by people, sir.”
General Campbell scratches his chin. “I didn’t know we had those... Are they kicking ass?”
“Uh, yes, sir.”
“Good, see if they’re on radio. If not, grab a bird and fly them field radios.”
“Sir?”
“Do I need to tell you to hurry? Go, son, go!”
“Yes, sir!”
Where was I...? Oh, right. He clears his throat, then he busts into the command tent. “Listen up! We’ve got survivors in DC, and we’re going to get them out. I want a mobile command set up and a convoy ready to roll in ten minutes. Set up a supply chain with our reinforcements. Transition this site into a recovery and refugee area. Leave what we don’t need, but bring a lot of ammo.” He smiles and raises an eyebrow. “I hear there’s lots of hungry zombies in town. Let’s introduce some lead into their diets.”
The First National Mech Brigade, under command of Master Sergeant Vega, moves underneath tall trees along the wide paths of the National Mall. Kevin rests in Lynxie-Lou’s cab while Rosie literally mows zombies into pieces. Tiny Tim takes long strides while its long arms sweep side to side into—and through—zombies in its path. Corporal Jenkins, who took over piloting The Edward, has channeled his Armored Core 2 player’s spirit. He uses both The Edward’s arms as its creators intended—to rip zombies into shreds independently and efficiently while rolling and twisting as need be.
Kevin steals another peek at The Edward when a splash of flesh is expelled from its X blade. He wipes a fake tear away. “I’m so proud.”
Rosie smiles, then she rams forward and cuts the heads off six zombies.
Vega is almost out of ammo. I wish I could radio for a resupply... I wonder if they’re still down. He reaches to grab his radio, but then he remembers he left it because it wasn’t working and because Felipe had one. He pats on Tiny Tim’s metal frame. “Hey Felipe, try the radio again, will ya?”
Felipe swipes a zombie out of the way, impaling it on the tip of one of Tiny Tim’s sickle-like arms. The zombie doesn’t die immediately. It is instead infuriated that it’s immobilized and lifted off the ground by an object that stabbed through its stomach. Felipe ignores it and pulls one of his own arms off a control and clicks a couple buttons and switches. “I’ve got it on. Seems like there’s less interference, but none of my team is talking.”
“Scan the channels, see if you can reach the military, or police, or anyone. We could use a resupply, and your man—Kevin, right?—should get to a hospital.”
As Felipe fumbles at the radio controls through his biohazard suit, a pair of zombies comes running toward Tiny Tim. Vega takes aim -Brrrittt!- -Brrrittt!-
“...coming in through the Memorial Bridge. Over.”
Felipe stops scanning through the channels and hits his transmitter. “Hello? Anybody there? This is an emergency transmission by the First National Mech Brigade… Over.”
“What was that? Who is this? Over.”
Major General Hecate is clearing the Virginia section of the Orange and Silver Lines by herself. Ghost and her Green Berets helped clear the Rosslyn station while Coach and his squad continued east into DC.
Hecate initially hopes that she will encounter fewer zombies in the tunnels heading west, but she’s surprised by the many zombies she meets and de-fleshes with her urumi. She’s building up quite a body count as she clears the first two stations past Rosslyn, but without any soldiers to pick off the zombies that are out of her range, her progress is slow. Hecate isn’t surprised when she hears a familiar voice shout from behind her.
“Hey! Major General! I’m baaaacckk!” Ghost runs up and snaps into the standard, knight’s attention stance.
“Good to see you. At ease. What happened to your squad?”
“They decided to help with some local rescue efforts, but I know my strengths.” She leans toward Hecate and stage whispers, “It’s killing, not rescuing.”
“As time passes and the world changes around us, we too must change, else we shall fall along the wayside of improvement and advancement.”
“That’s deep. Is that a quote from someone?”
Hecate nods. “I can always remember words of
philosophy and wisdom, just not the name attached to the face that said them.”
Ghost shrugs. “Fair enough. So, as far as continuing on, I could stay behind you and mop up, or I could ditch my glow sticks and run on ahead.” She bounces with excitement. “Get my Ghost on. Would you mind?”
“By all means, lead the way.”
“Yaassss!”
Hecate mops up for Ghost. She only uses one urumi, and she steps carefully over the zombies Ghost drops. Hecate hears a sound from around a curve, and she’s about to lash out with her thin steel blades when she hears Ghost’s voice.
“Well, isn’t that weird?”
“Shit! I almost flayed you.”
“No, you didn’t. Do you see that light?” Deep in a tunnel off to the side, a green light shines in the darkness.
“What is that, a maintenance area?”
“How should I know, but we’ve been in tunnels for hours. Have you seen anything like that light?”
Hecate shakes her head. “Nope. Hurry and clear it though, will you?”
Ghost slinks into the side tunnel. Hecate can only see her block the green light—otherwise, Ghost is invisible to her.
“Uhhh, you better come see this.”
Hecate makes her way over.
Ghost stands in front of a storage container with a worm gear attached to the top of an open door. Green light glows from a small electronics box next to an antenna that extends off the side. Inside the container, there’s a moan.
Ghost clicks on a red LED light attached to her wrist, and she aims the light into the container. “There’s a really messed-up zombie in there. It looks like it was eaten on. It doesn’t have any limbs.”
Hecate sticks her head in, and without thinking, she takes a breath. The smell is putrid, and she immediately draws her head out and gags.
“Yeah, it smells like shit in there. Literally… The Z’s clothes look really old and tattered. I don’t think this is a newly awakened zombie—I mean, like the ones that just turned today. So, what’s it doing here? Like this?”
“I don’t know, but if I had to bet, I’d say this was part of the attack.” Hecate flicks her wrist, sending the dozen blades of her urumi slicing through the zombie. It dies, and Hecate withdraws her weapon while looking at the device next to the antenna. She pats her utility belt’s pouches until she finds a multitool. “Give me some light. I want to see if I can take the control part off.”
Ghost raises her arm up to aim the red LED light attached to her wrist, then she smiles. “You know, this reminds me of that time when you and I, and Coach, and some other knights, broke into that fortress in World War Two. Remember that?”
“Uh, remind me again?”
Classic Hecate. “We broke into the basement of a German stronghold from a dark tunnel, like this one, and after we found the Enigma’s key-tables, rotors, and wiring diagram, we were discovered. You and Coach stayed behind to hold off the enemy, while the rest of us retreated. Coach said they tortured you both for a week before you could catch them off guard and escape. Ring any bells?”
“Oh yeah, that sucked.” That must be how I know him. And I thought I used to date him or something.
“Think you two will ever rekindle the old flame?” C’mon, take the bait...
Hecate almost drops her multitool. Goddamn it. “Uh, we’ll see.”
Hehehe. You’re too easy, Miss Hecate.
“Alright, got it. Let’s clear through to the next station and then check in with the elders. Maybe someone can make sense of this device.”
Danny flies the Chinook toward the beltway without a copilot, and his nerves are close to shot. First, pinnacling solo on a roof for civilians and children to board taxed him, then each of three near misses of rocket propelled grenades almost killed him. As his heart rate settles, he starts to pick up some radio chatter. He yells back into the cabin, “Colonel! You better get up here!”
Jambavan helps Charlie to the cockpit and sets him in the seat beside Danny.
Danny glances at him out the corner of his eye, then he does a doubletake. “Holy shit, man, are you alright?”
Charlie shakes his head. Drying blood is caked all over his face, except where his tears cleared a path. His hair is matted, a gash from his forehead to his cheek drips blood, and there are dozens of rips in his uniform, exposing bite marks and lacerations beneath. The skin on both his hands is raw and seeps blood, and he reaches one hand toward the cyclic. “Need help on the stick? Sorry, I’ve been distracted.”
“I’m managing for now, but if I had to guess, those Longbows are gonna want to say hello.”
Charlie swallows. “They didn’t earlier, just keep flying.”
Danny frowns. “We were flying in to the quarantined zone, not out.”
Charlie sighs. “Jambavan, hand me that helmet. Actually, just put it on me.”
Jambavan carefully places it on Charlie’s bleeding head. He removes his hands just as a message comes in.
“This is Sergeant Jacobs of the 101st Airborne to the unidentified Chinook. Zom-Air protocols are in effect. Hold position and identify yourself. Over.”
Charlie winces as he raises his hand to push the button to transmit. “This is Colonel Costanza, acting under special authority of General Campbell. We have casualties. Heading toward INOVA Fairfax Hospital. Over.”
“Hold position while I check with command, I believe your destination is outside our patrol zone. Over.”
Charlie grits his teeth. “Listen to me goddamn it, you can follow us all the way to the hospital for all I care, but we ARE NOT going to hold position. If you fire on us, you’ll be firing on fifty VIP government personnel, children, and wounded members of the U.S. military. People are dying, and we are not stopping. Over.”
“…Roger. Will escort you to the hospital while awaiting clearance. Over.”
Charlie drops his hand to his side. “Cross your fingers.”
Danny swallows. “That’s all you’ve got? You’re bluffing?”
“Campbell owes me…sorta. I hope he’ll play along.”
They fly over the beltway, and just beyond it is the hospital. Danny steers toward it as a voice comes over the radio again.
“Colonel Costanza, you’ve been cleared to leave the restricted zone. General Campbell has ordered…to assist you in any way we can. The hospital will be expecting you. What are your orders? Over.”
Charlie radios back, “Thanks, hold on. Over.”
Danny laughs. “Man, it must be nice having friends in high places.”
Charlie smiles at him. “Most are in low places, but I make an exception every once in a while. Thanks for your help tonight, buddy.”
“It ain’t over yet. Say, think that Apache will do us a favor?”
Charlie squints at Danny. “What do you have in mind?”
A smile explodes across Danny’s face, but then he shakes it away. “Never mind, we’ve got wounded, and they probably can’t fire ordnance without authorization... Especially not near a hospital.”
Charlie closes his eyes and shakes his head. “Thanks for your focus, and no, I’m sure they won’t fire anything off…near a hospital.” He pushes the transmitter’s button. “Sergeant Jacobs, we’re all set here. Return to your previous duty. Over.”
“Wilco. Out.”
Danny sighs. “Maybe next time... Now can you help with the cyclic? We’ve gotta set down.”
Charlie reaches out and grabs it. “At your command, sir.”
“Look for a good landing spot. The roof pad is too small for this beast, and I ain’t got another pinnacle in me.” Sweat drips off his face, but he doesn’t dare wipe it away.
Charlie identifies a place on the hospital’s lawn, and he helps Danny land. By the time the rotors spin down and the rear gate opens, a dozen hospital staff with stretchers are waiting to receive the injured. Some of the Smithsonian employees have minor injuries—sprained ankles, a broken arm, some cuts and bruises, but nothing life threatening. They’re triage
d through the ER.
Most of the vampires are also in decent shape. Tommy is rushed to receive treatment for his burns, and some adult vampires with already healing injures are escorted to the “Quarantine Wing” to await x-rays or other diagnostic tests.
Charlie, however, is put on a stretcher, and Jambavan insists on pushing him.
As Charlie is wheeled into the hospital, Katlyn walks alongside him with Minnie in her arms. Minnie starts to cry, and Katlyn pats her back. “Your daddy will be alright darling, don’t be sad.”
“I’m not sad for daddy—I’m sad for Mr. Skip. He’s still on the roof. He’s probably scared.”
Katlyn steals a glance at Charlie. He closes his eyes, and a tear plummets down his temple, dragging flakes of dried blood with it. Katlyn pats Minnie’s back again. “Mr. Skip is a strong man. I’m sure he’s fine. Let’s get your daddy inside and fixed up.”
When Charlie is brought into the wing with all the vampires, Sadie is there waiting. She scoops Minnie out of Katlyn’s arms and kisses her daughter on the cheek. Sadie notices Katlyn is crying, but instead of saying anything to her, she moves alongside Charlie. Whoa, he looks terrible. “You going to be alright, my love?”
He nods. “Lot of pain. Need Health Tonic, real bad. Got one?”
She shakes her head. “Sorry... You did it. You brought them back.”
“It wasn’t easy, and we lost…people. Korina, another vampire, and…” He glances at the back of Minnie’s messy, golden hair. “Y el padre de June.”
Sadie’s mouth quakes open while her eyes flutter shut. When she reopens her eyes, she sees Charlie choking back sobs. “I… I am so sorry, my dear.” She sighs as she rubs Minnie’s back. “There is some good news here though. She woke up.”