The Loki Variation

by James Riley, Sabrina

Posted by Sanjeev at 12:22 AM

  Chapter 16.

  Hud was sitting on the red bin, and Derek was standing, hand on his chin while Sasha spoke.

  “They don’t like the light.” She was saying. “We need to have some kind of high-powered light that can be run off of a battery, since the electricity is gone.”

  It was silent for a moment. Both men seemed hopeful and skeptical at the same time.

  “When I used the flashlight on the one last night, it was like it blinded him. What if we had a bigger brighter light, one that would stop them before they even got to the door?” She wasn’t an electrician, but she knew that there had to be some way to rig a bright light to run off of batteries. The electricity in the control house had not been working; none of them was sure when it actually stopped or why. But they couldn’t just plug in a spot light.

  “We could use headlights.” Derek suggested. “Wire them right to a car battery for a temporary light.”

  Hud looked impressed.

  “Do you know how to do that? Can you make one today?” Sasha asked, excited.

  “I could make a lot today.” Derek answered. He was already thinking about the parking lot nearby, and was trying to come up with the most efficient way to get several of the lights ready before night. If he could get one of the cars driving, he could just stack a bunch of batteries in the car, get the biggest headlight he could find, and they would have a pretty good renewable light source.

  While Derek was coming up with his plan, Sasha was already on to her next idea. Hud was the only one paying full attention at this point, so she addressed him.

  “Hud, how many people live, or, I mean, lived, on this base?” She asked.

  “The website said about 30,000.” He answered, not understanding the significance of the question yet.

  “Could 30,000 people have all been killed or changed? Or vanished? This place is like a ghost town. I know a lot of people were, but there has to be other survivors. This is a base, a place full of fighters, we can’t be the only ones left.” She pleaded.

  “Yeah, maybe, but if they are hiding, how are we supposed to find them?” Hud asked, suspicious of Sasha’s optimism.

  Sasha was quiet for a moment. She was making sure that she worded her next sentence correctly, so that Hud would be interested.

  “We need some kind of scouting vehicle. I mean, we have basically any vehicle we want at our disposal, here. We need to get one that we can equip with the right weapons and tools to find and rescue other survivors.”

  Hud did seem interested in the idea. He mulled it over for a second, and then looked at her.

  “I can get one of the bases’ all terrain vehicles. We call them Maulers. They are armored training vehicles. They have room for 10 people, and storage in the back for any weapons or medical supplies. What do we do if we find survivors? We can’t move them here.”

  “No, but we will figure out what to do if and when it happens.” She said, quickly. “There is strength in numbers.”

  Derek had remained quiet, deep in his own thoughts. He opened his mouth to ask what tools they had that he could use to get the headlights out, but he realized Sasha and Hud were deep in conversation and his mouth closed.

  Sasha seemed ecstatic about the idea of a vehicle that she and Derek could use to roam the base safely, looking for survivors. She was gleefully talking about there being strength in numbers, and sounded unbelievably hopeful that they would find rescue somewhere on the base. Apparently his ability to wire a set of headlights straight to a car battery were secondary to Hud having access to an armored vehicle perfect for their plan to find survivors. He waited until their conversation ended, not hearing a word of it, and when they looked ready to start on the plans, without a word, he left the shelter and headed for the parking lot visible from the substation.

  Sasha was hopeful, but she had come across as more optimistic than she had wanted. She was devoted to Nora, and anything that would keep her and Nora safe were something she was willing to work for. Hud was very useful here, he knew the area and the inner workings of the Naval base, and keeping him interested in ensuring their survival was tantamount. He had become so engaged in the scouting missions she had proposed that she feared she had gone overboard with her reciprocal enthusiasm. When she had said her final piece, he had almost burst with renewed energy, and was ready to leave, right now, to locate a Mauler and prepare it for their mission.

  Derek had stayed quiet. She had noticed, but was sure that his mind was working behind the expressionless face, as he had seemed to do earlier. She was more concerned with repelling the monsters threatening her and Nora and the guys than she was actually finding survivors, but she knew that admitting that was basically the equivalent of telling Hud that Derek was more useful, and Hud was not the type to take such insinuations well. When Derek suddenly jumped up and left the shelter, with Ripley following him dutifully, Sasha had to do everything in her power to keep from following him. She was well aware that she was going to have to cater to Hud’s ego today, and his plan was to find a Mauler. She helped Nora clothe herself in something more suited for the outing, and spoke to Nora in hushed tones, trying to convince her that they were going to find help.

  Solemnly walking out of the shelter door following Hud and holding Nora’s hand, she was as tentative as she felt Nora was. Hud pulled the shelter door closed behind them, and they went through the gate, Hud several steps in front of the girls. He was stepping purposefully. He had been trained for missions, Sasha thought, let’s see him in action.

  Derek had made it to the parking lot. He didn’t mean to look back, but when he did, he saw Sasha and Nora following Hud out of the gate and going the opposite direction. He gritted his teeth, and forced himself to look away, but not before Sasha had turned her head towards him. His eyes immediately went to the ground, and he compelled his body to turn around and let him focus on the several cars in the parking lot.

  He tested the door handles on several of them. The first one that opened was an import coupe, and he reached beside the driver’s seat to pull the trunk release. In the trunk, he found exactly what he was hoping for, an emergency automotive toolkit. He began breaking windows with a socket wrench, popping hoods, and removing batteries.

  Chapter 17.

  Hud was jogging in the direction opposite of where Sasha had just seen Derek, and she had to remind him to slow down to accommodate her and Nora. He begrudgingly slowed, although he never looked back, as he led them far across the base, into an area that seemed to Sasha like something she would have seen in any modern war movie.

  Warehouses, fields, great stretches of concrete, and more impressively, a row of dark gray helicopters were a few of the things that reminded her of the films, and she was becoming uncomfortable dragging the little girl through such intimidating war machines. They hadn’t even reached the bay yet, which is the only part of the base she was familiar with. Last time she had seen it, several mind-bogglingly large warships had been docked, and she was filled with a sense of pride and fear at the accomplishments of the military. She stayed as close as she could manage to Hud, with Nora in tow.

  He led them through a maze of concrete walls and large open spaces until they came out on a wide road. To Sasha’s horror, the ground was littered with bodies, so many that the eye had a hard time seeing a spot of road amidst the carcasses and the occasional cargo vehicle, left in the middle of the street, doors opened haphazardly.

  Nora froze. Her resistance was surprisingly strong; Sasha would have had trouble budging the girl using sheer force. She instead whispered into the girl’s ear, and helping Nora cover her own eyes, began to weave a fantastical story. Hud was stepping on whatever was in his way, easily crossing the wide space, but that was not something Sasha was prepared to do, and she guided Nora with her words.

  “Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a Beautiful Princess named Nora. Nora was on a quest, one that would lead her to true love and happiness. However,
the Evil Queen Stepmother was so jealous of the beautiful Nora, that she used her evil magic to put all kinds of traps on the road for Princess Nora! Princess Nora was brave and incredibly smart, and the first obstacle she came to was simple to defeat!” Nora kept her eyes closed, but followed Sasha’s lead.

  “It was nothing but a giant mousetrap!” Sasha dramatically cried. She jumped over the first body, and Nora followed. “The Beautiful Princess Nora had no problem jumping over it!”

  Sasha scanned the area for the easiest path. She led the girl off at an angle to Hud, who was standing, impatiently, at the far end of the expanse. The only area Sasha could think about using was where several large pieces of broken plywood were laying across the already decomposing bodies of fallen victims.

  “The Beautiful Princess Nora came to a wide river, so huge that it had torn the bridge down! What was Princess Nora to do?” She enthusiastically questioned.

  Nora’s breathing calmed, and she began to move before Sasha could take a step before her. Sasha began to walk backwards, holding both of Nora’s hands, and led her carefully over the small pieces of wood covering the sea of carcasses below it.

  “Princess Nora knew that by following the logs across the river, she could make it to the other side and continue on her journey to find true love. The Evil Queen Stepmother was going to have to be smarter than this if she wanted to defeat Princess Nora!” Sasha narrated as she helped Nora step off the last plank of wood. They were now halfway across, but there was no clear path through the bodies, and the stench was staring to overwhelm even her own nostrils.

  She let go of one of Nora’s hands and led her along, parallel to the edge of the road.

  “Princess Nora had reached the Swamp of Stinky Despair, the most disgusting, smelly, depressing place in the Kingdom. Evil Queen Stepmother had sent her minions, the Tortoises of Torture, to stop the Princess from finding happiness. However, the Princess was far too brave and far too fast for the Tortoises of Torture. Wherever they tried to block her, she just leaped over them in no time.”

  Sasha helped Nora to jump over the tortoises, which in reality were bloated bodies, each one in an impossible position, and Sasha was fighting tears and ignoring the bile gathering in her mouth as Nora hopped over the last body and they only had a few feet to go until the bodies began to clear.

  “The Beautiful Princess Nora had reached the land that the Evil Queen Stepmother had turned into Icy Cold Winter Land, and it was freezing cold!” Sasha could almost see Nora shivering as she continued. “The only way the Beautiful Princess Nora could make it across the frozen land is if she had help! Luckily, her kindness led her to befriend the lonely, feared Yeti, the beast that guarded the land, and he promised to help her across the Icy Cold Winter land.” Sasha wrapped both arms around Nora, lifting her feet off the ground, but not clearing more than a few inches. That was enough, though, to keep Nora’s feet from scraping across the putrid bodies that were near her feet, and Sasha was able to drag Nora all the way to the clearer side of the road.

  Once Sasha had reached the side on which Hud was waiting for them, he began to move again. Not once did he acknowledge the fact that a young girl was in their midst or that it was a good idea for Sasha to use whatever she could come up with to keep the girl from becoming frozen with fright. He crossed another road and came to a parking area that was covered by a thin canvas tent.

  “Maulers.” He announced, spreading his arm like a game show hostess.

  Sasha tried to look impressed. Before her were at least ten dark gray, angular vehicles with six tires. They looked like a cross between a tank and a minivan. She tried to refuse to pass judgment, and was truly impressed when Hud went to the driver door of the nearest one and started punching in a pass code in the driver door’s handle. The vehicle came to life, lights activating and all of the doors unlocking. Sasha pushed Nora into the front passenger seat first, and then stepped in after her.

  Hud started the vehicle, apparently it needed no key. The engine roared to life, reminding Sasha of the sound of a school bus engine, and Hud pulled the Mauler out of its row.

  Looking around the Mauler’s interior, Sasha realized this was actually the ideal vehicle for its intended use in helping them find survivors. She made a mental note of the fact that it was also an ideal vehicle to use if they had to escape the base.

  The driver and passenger seats were both individual seats, but Sasha and Nora both easily fit into the passenger seat together. Behind the front seats was a row of bench seating that could probably seat 3 grown men. Further back, there were 2 bench seats, lining the wall instead of running perpendicular, and wide enough to accommodate 2 men each. The spaces under the benches were empty, but had detachable netting to hold anything stored under them secure. The ceiling and walls were sporadically covered in squares of elastic cargo netting, big enough to store small weapons and other supplies. They were empty now as well. Beyond that, the Mauler had an open space of a few feet before it ended with a set of double doors that opened like the back of a semi-trailer. The empty space had a storable, pull down seat that was folded up to the wall at the moment, and a pull down cargo net that was rolled up and attached to the ceiling. She could see that the Mauler could easily hold as much as the bed of a medium sized pickup truck, and could keep it all secure under extreme conditions.

  It didn’t move very quickly, it seemed heavy and sluggish. Hud pulled it onto the street, and through the thick bulletproof glass, Sasha watched him roll over several dead people. She was disgusted at his lack of respect for the dead, but also surprised at the smoothness in which the Mauler rode over the bodies. It had felt like she was going over a mountain in her own car, this one barely joggled.

  Hud began to explain to Sasha, without bring prompted, that this area is where he had been the previous night when the breakout had occurred on the base. He had no idea she had already heard the story when she had been pretending to sleep last night, so she just let him continue.

  “Me and Epps were right over there,” he said, nodding towards the area they had just crossed, covered in bodies. “We were almost done loading one of the trucks, and then one guy went crazy. In just a few minutes, the whole place went crazy. I don’t even know if anyone else made it out; when I started running I never looked back.”

  Sasha remained quiet. There was nothing she could say. He recounted the things he had told Derek, about how he had found the little control house, about how he had thought about a virus, and about how he didn’t think it was a terrorist attack. He left off the part about zombie movies, and Sasha was not surprised.

  “I don’t know of any viruses that work that way, but I never say that anything is impossible.” Sasha offered.

  Hud shrugged. “Yeah, I’m no doctor, but whatever is happening to all these people isn’t because of a full moon.” He said sardonically.

  “Well, we just have to be really careful. Those things can’t come near us.” She said, feeling her arm automatically tighten around Nora. “Where are we going?”

  Hud almost looked giddy again, controlling his face so as not to smile hugely.

  “Getting guns.”

  Chapter 18.

  Derek was sweating under the midday sun. If he tried, he could almost imagine that he was back at home, working on his truck on a weekend. He could almost forget that he was pulling these batteries out to use as a defense against people, monsters who would no doubt kill him, and anyone, if given the chance. He could almost forget that there were only three other people in the entire world that he knew were alive, and that they seemed to be alone, in a very deadly landscape with a very meager plan. Almost, but not quite. Ripley was laying on her side in the sun, tongue lolling, chest heaving with pants.

  He had gathered 6 car batteries, they were lined up in the shade of the first car he had stolen from. He had just pulled out the large headlight from a pickup truck, cutting the wire feeding into it instead of unplugging it, and leaving a few feet hanging from it. He was hopin
g to find a vehicle with keys in it, because it was a bit of a distance back to the shelter, and he would have to make several trips with heavy car batteries.

  He wiped his hands on his shirt, then scanned the parking lot, squinting in the bright sunlight. None of the cars in this part of the parking lot had keys in them, but there was another smaller parking lot for another building that was facing away from him, and he could see the shadows of at least 2 cars parked there.

  “Ripley.” He called, and she jumped up to follow him.

  As they were walking past the shattered glass door of the building, Derek had the urge to glance inside. He drew in a breath when he saw the colorful walls, just inside, painted with children’s characters. The sign spread across the front of the building, over the door, announced that he was looking into the Mayport Children’s Development Center. Derek was morbidly drawn to the door. It was a daycare, nothing out of the ordinary, Derek and everyone else had driven past countless daycares, never giving them a second thought. But it seemed so out of place in regards to the situation he was in now. Ripley was watching him, waiting for his direction, and when he stepped towards the door, she did too.

  He stepped just inside the glass door, and instantly regretted it. Dried blood speckled the tiled floor, and everything in the cheerfully decorated front area was in disarray. He could smell decay. Ripley’s nose was raised, nostrils pulsing as she gathered every scent she could. Derek turned to leave, trying to force his mind on something else when something glinted in the corner of the room. It was a set of keys that was just a little further into the room than he wanted to go. The front counter was blocking most of the room, but going for the keys would give him an unobstructed view, and the speckled blood on the floor seemed to be a foreshadowing. He focused intently on the keys, taking one, two steps, now halfway across. As he watched his own hand reach down for the keys, he felt his eyes disobeying his wishes as they turned to look behind the counter. He tried to brace himself, but didn’t have time. As they came to rest on the first object they fell on behind the counter, he realized it was just a stool. There was no dead body, no crouching, leering monster waiting to leap on him. He exhaled and spun around with the keys in his hand. Ripley was where he had left her, looking down a dark hallway that he assumed led to classrooms.