Bolt was moving fast but as he was distracted Dozer swept the minigun barrels around in front of the speedster. Bullets chewed up the sidewalk in his path. Hemmed in, Bolt darted backward. His heart was now hammering just as hard as his feet and he was starting to breathe heavily, his enhanced metabolism unable to keep up the pace forever. He dived behind a nearby van, abandoned by the side of the road. The van had more surface area to shield him from sight but offered little real protection. Holes drilled through the vehicle from one end to the other. Bolt hit the ground, muscles vibrating, and covered his head. Dozer swept the minigun from side to side again, Taka staying close behind him, and it tore ribbons out of the van’s sides with a noise like an industrial drill screaming on metal.
0:26… 0:25...
Meanwhile, back in the office building, DFN scrabbled to her feet and brought her rifle around. The creature stalking her was a fully grown lioness, three times DFN’s weight with wicked claws extended from its paws. Another two sets of yellow eyes glittered in the hallway behind the first, two more lionesses. Like the baboons, they were covered in a red rash that looked like inflamed burn scars and had been mutated by radiation and bioweapons. A limp fifth leg dangled useless off the lead lioness’ side, surrounded by red boils. DFN glanced the other way down the hall and saw another lion, the pack’s alpha male, blocking her way to the stairs. The lions must have been released from somewhere inside or below the building by the Slayerz producers, just like the baboons. Not only was DFN separated from her partner and running out of time, she was about to become lunch.
“Fuck this!” DFN said.
Shouldering her rifle, DFN squeezed off a shot. It was rushed and the small calibre round tore a bloody furrow across the five-legged lioness’ shoulder. It snarled but the crack of the rifle caused it and the other two lionesses to reel back for a moment.
The male lion lunged at DFN from behind, its roar reverberating through the hallway. The lion was a quarter tonne of muscle, half its face eaten away by red rash like the lead lioness, its golden mane streaked with red. One monstrous paw scythed around and hit the wall as DFN leapt clear. She kept moving, darting into the nearest office and slapping the door closed. The weak paneling of the door would slow the lions down for about half a second.
0:23… 0:22…
The office was only one story above the street. Its floor-to-ceiling windows were riddled with bullet holes but intact, glass shards littering the floor. Still moving on instinct, DFN grabbed a rolling chair from behind the office’s desk. DFN got low behind the chair and, seeing no other option, she barrelled across the office with it like a battering ram. Unhesitatingly, DFN slammed into one of the weakened windows while being shielded by the chair. The window burst into sections separated by bullet holes. Behind DFN, the office door split in two and the alpha lion exploded through it, roaring and clawing at the air. DFN and the chair were already falling through the collapsing glass.
0:18… 0:17...
DFN sprawled in midair, plummeting from the window to the sidewalk below. She landed on top of the office chair, cushioning her arms and face but jarring her hip on the seat and feeling her knee crack on the ground. DFN bounced and rolled, crying out in pain.
As soon as she came to a stop, DFN started to push herself upright. A quick glance back at the broken window she’d just come through confirmed at least the lions weren’t crazy enough to follow her. The screen on her arm was under twenty seconds and still counting down. Noise from Dozer’s minigun filled the street from about a block away.
0:16… 0:15…
Bolt crawled around his quickly disappearing van as Dozer’s bullets shredded the vehicle from end to end. He was clutching his two weak stun blasters. Taka had emerged from behind Dozer to join in. He lifted his AKM and fired in short bursts, blowing apart what was left of the van’s windshield and side mirrors. With his superhuman reaction times, Bolt could get a clear shot at Taka now but he’d be exposing himself to Dozer’s gunfire.
0:14… 0:13…
DFN crawled to her feet, her gloves and sections of her clothing torn and bloodied. Her right leg dragged behind her as she stumbled toward the source of all the noise. She could see Dozer’s huge shape and Taka half-hidden behind him.
0:12… 0:11...
Raising the rifle to her shoulder, DFN plugged it into her artificial eye and measured the shot carefully. There was still enough distance between her and Bolt that the kill switch kept counting down. In spite of her injuries, DFN waited and squeezed carefully as Dozer’s fat head filled her scope.
0:10…
The bullet carved a tunnel through the air, leaving DFN’s barrel with a loud pop and sizzling down the street. It was only one bullet compared to the scores of rounds filling the road but this one was headed in Dozer’s direction instead of blazing out of his minigun. It socked Dozer in the side of the skull and his head whiplashed sideways.
0:09…
The minigun suddenly stopped as Dozer’s finger left the trigger. Dozer stumbled sideways as if he’d been punched but stayed standing. Blood trickled down the side of the huge man’s head and swirled into his ear. DFN’s low powered bullet had cut into the side of Dozer’s head but failed to penetrate the surgically implanted armoured mesh beneath his skin.
0:08…
Dozer turned to glare in DFN’s direction. Time ticked down on DFN and Bolt’s screens. As Dozer’s minigun let out an easing whine, hot barrels still spinning, Bolt reacted instantly. Shooting to his feet, Bolt circled around the shot-up van.
0:07…
Dozer had been distracted but Taka was unloading into the far side of Bolt’s cover. Gold chains bounced up and down on his chest with the recoil of his weapon. Bolt practically ignored his gunfire, the AKM’s rate of fire piddling to the speedster compared to Dozer’s minigun.
0:06…
Staying in motion, Bolt raised and fired both of his stun blasters almost simultaneously. Both lances of blue light hit Taka and the former child soldier was thrown backward, hitting the ground unconscious.
0:05...
Dozer wheeled around, the giant panicked by his partner’s collapse. While he was distracted, Bolt shot off back down the street in the direction where he’d started.
0:04…
DFN had started moving again, limping painfully in Bolt’s direction. He closed the distance between them in a yellow blur and pulled up in front of her. Flashing red in their final few seconds, numbers on both their screens finally stopped and disappeared. An awkward grin split Bolt’s bearded face. He gestured vaguely at DFN’s broken and bloodied appearance as if slightly embarrassed.
“See there and back I told you I could make it in time.” Bolt said.
A growl started in the back of DFN’s throat. It was cut off, however, by an animal roar from the building DFN had just fought her way through. The pack of mutated lions had made their way down from the first floor and were exiting the shattered entryway. The alpha male with the rash-covered face and stringy mane was in the lead.
“Okay that’s new time to go!” Bolt said.
Bolt slung his arm around DFN’s shoulders. The sniper’s right leg was badly injured and she couldn’t run on it so he helped to lift her up. Together, they hauled ass towards the nearest alleyway.
Chapter Fifteen
“Mom! This zoo is boring! I’m bored! This zoo sucks! You suck!” A young boy screams.
The child turns and hurls a souvenir cup into the nearest pen. Breaking open, the cup splatters soda across the leathery hide of an enormous stegosaurus. The giant lizard wheels around with a confused grunt. The boy’s mother shrugs helplessly.
“Are you tired of the same old, boring zoos? With the same old, boring animals? Finally, there’s a destination for one-of-a-kind animals and experiences you won’t find anywhere else!”
The boy and his mother, as well as his father and slightly older sister, stare in awe as they step through a massive arch. Exhibitions and holographic signs leap out
at them from all directions.
“The first of its kind, Malignant Meadows Bio-Zoo is filled with bioengineered creations and mutated flora and fauna from the wastelands of the African Bio-Wars. Like these genetically engineered giant war-elephants! See if you can spot the chameleon gene-spliced attack dogs! Watch a swarm of rabid meerkats strip an entire cow down to bare bones in under a minute! But make sure you keep a safe distance between you and our dangerously irradiated giraffes!”
A zookeeper in a bulky, lead-lined suit feeds branches to a small herd of faintly glowing giraffes. Tumours and excess limbs hang heavily off the creatures. In the background, a two-headed giraffe battles itself, separate heads swinging their necks into one another from where they split at the shoulders.
“Don’t miss the Abomination feeding time! And make sure you visit our petting zoo of what was once man!”
Horrifying, grey humanoids, hunched and covered in loose, leathery skin, scrabble across a hay-strewn patch of dirt. They mash their eyeless faces against the wire mesh above one small opening. Thick tongues loll out of huge, grinning mouths. Dessicated and vestigial-looking arms batter against the fence. The family’s young girl holds her cupped hands, full of feed, up to the opening. Chomping and snuffling, the petting zoo creatures hungrily bury their faces in her palms, licking at her fingers and wrists.
“It tickles!” She giggles.
“Malignant Meadows Bio-Zoo, a park sixty-five million crimes against humanity in the making.”
Belching smoke, the church was in ruins and nothing stirred after the last of the rubble had toppled over. There were no fireworks or celebrations but the threat was gone. Having dropped the quad-barrel missile launcher, Digger lifted his UMP45 even though the last magazine was empty. They might have been scared off after snapping out of the thing in the church’s mind control but Digger didn’t know where the other two teams in that section were. They wouldn’t know the gun was empty. Digger and Homer needed to get to the weapon drop to find some more ammunition.
“Drop is past the church, close to the wall, mate.” Digger said, “We’d better get to it first. We might be heroes of the hour taking out whatever the fuck that thing was but we run into another team without any ammo and we’re going to get wasted. You’ve still got that last injector of magic juice, I suppose, and I got my knife. Keep your hand on it just in case.”
The massive, grey wall of the arena formed a slightly curved barrier against the pale blue of the desert sky. Most streamers of dust from the earlier fusion explosion, far outside the arena walls, had faded away. The weapon drop was in a brick building that looked like an old daycare centre. Digger was wary as they approached. Whether it was a game or just a supply drop, the area would have its defences. Compared to the thing in the church it couldn’t be that bad, but Digger only had a knife. Before they got any closer, Digger stopped in the middle of the road and held up his hand.
“Wait, what’s that noise?” Digger said.
A high-pitched, powerful whine grew slowly. When he’d first noticed it, Digger had thought it was coming from their camera drones but it was steadily getting louder and louder. Homer gestured toward the wall. The camera drones circled around to face the wall as well, as if just as curious about what was going to happen as the humans.
A crooked arch glowed on the face of the wall as if something was lighting it up from inside. Concrete began to melt into slag. Getting louder, the whine became more and more piercing until suddenly the barrier exploded. A gap the size of a single-car garage was blown right through it. Pieces of rubble sprayed and a cloud of hot, grey dust filled the air. The explosion rolled across the arena. Digger beat the dust back, choking, but he didn’t want to leave. Taking Homer with him, he retreated to the corner of a nearby building for cover.
Figures moved through the smoke and dust, under the archway that still glowed white-hot around the edges. About a dozen of them, soldiers, wearing body armour that Digger could see was a pure white colour as the dust cleared. Their weapons bristled as they moved toward Digger and Homer. Most of them were wearing narrow white helmets with black facemasks, completely covering every inch of skin. They all carried compact assault rifles and other weapons clipped to their waists. Hard-shelled packs, probably full of ammunition and supplies, were fastened to their backs. Moving behind the soldiers were three ‘pack mule’ droids. The size of small ponies, the droids moved on four spidery limbs with rounded footpads, carrying extra ammo and weapons. One mule for every four soldiers. The twelve moved like a professional squad, fanning out and covering one another, wary of Digger and Homer’s drones and of their surroundings.
“What is this all about then?” Digger said.
The apparent leader of the white-suited figures was a hulking woman, and the most heavily armed soldier Digger had ever seen. Unlike most of the others, instead of wearing a face-covering mask she only had a white, flat-topped combat helmet. In her right hand, the woman was carrying a compact P90 assault rifle. A pair of mismatched handguns were holstered under her arms, one pistol and one oversized revolver with a red stripe down the back of its hilt. An enormous machete was sheathed at her left hip, pouches, grenades and ammo surrounded her belt, and hanging around her chest was a bazooka-like weapon. It was folded up at the small of her back, the size of a duffel bag but made of dark metal, apparently too important to trust to one of the pack mules. Something was scrawled in bright yellow on the weapon’s casing, in large spiky letters, but Digger was too far away to read it. The woman’s left arm was a cybernetic prosthesis, military grade. The pale grey plates of armour that formed her arm, interlocking over thick, black cables of artificial muscle, didn’t match with the white of her armour. It made the soldier look a bit like a droid with one arm replaced on the basis that it was close enough to the original design. Her eyes fixed on Digger, steely, with a face like an action figure.
“You-, you’re Layla bloody Jackson! Southpaw! One of the contestants from last season’s Slayerz!” Digger yelled, “You escaped, faked your death at the end of the show and took off! What the bloody hell are you doing here?”
The only other member of the new arrivals wearing a helmet instead of a mask was a man head and shoulders shorter than Layla Jackson. He wasn’t carrying as much in the way of weapons. The man wore a pistol on his hip, and other pouches, but seemed more concerned with his recording equipment. He wore a high-tech, red and green set of glasses. A gun-like device on his shoulder with a shiny lens instead of a muzzle swivelled along with his head movements. Digger had seen similar equipment used by journalists in combat zones. It was only through association with Laya that Digger realised the man was the contestant known as Thao Seong, her partner from the previous season. He was Korean, with the same build, but his face had clearly been surgically changed.
“And you’re, Thao Seong, her partner, the one who was falsely accused or whatever.” Digger said.
“Actually the real name is Tommy Nguyen, and yeah, this is what I actually look like.” Thao / Tommy said, “After my memories came back and we escaped from last season’s game I had my face put back the way it was meant to look, before they’d changed it.”
Layla Jackson suddenly raised her compact P90 and fired. In spite of the nickname ‘Southpaw’, Layla fired right-handed but her mechanical left hand braced the gun so there was no recoil. Digger and Homer both jumped at the two chattering bursts. Bullets chewed through the twin camera drones following the contestants and knocked them out of the air, falling to pieces.
“We’re here to save your asses, so come with us if you want to live.” Layla said.
Two thin, pale scars ran down the right side of Layla’s face, one bisecting her eyebrow and the other carved across her cheek. They were souvenirs from last season of Slayerz, when one of the other contestants had sliced open her face. Other scars cut down the left side of her throat where it met her shoulder, and the thick web of scar tissue around her mechanical prosthesis.
“Hang on a second, how
do we know this is for real?” Digger said, “Last season they introduced the Ringers, new contestants that came in late in the game. It was the first time they’d done that. And they had that former winner, Church Harper, that was a first too! How do I know this isn’t some bullshit new part of the game?”
“We’re here on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of People.” Layla said, “You remember two seasons ago they tried to break in and stop the game from happening? And a bunch of them got killed? This time they decided to send some professionals instead. Yes, me and Tommy competed in last year’s game and we’ve been on the run ever since. They figured we had the firsthand knowledge to lead a team of mercenaries into the heart of this year’s arena. We came through this part of the wall because the updates told us this section had the biggest concentration of contestants. Now, there’s a couple of options here but first thing, medic?”
One of the faceless mercenaries stepped around Layla. She was the only one with a bright red cross on each arm of her white armour, but was still armed. Printed letters on her armour, on the left side of her chest, read ‘MILLER’. Names were on the breasts of all the soldiers, the only thing that distinguished them from each other apart from their different builds with those helmets on. The medic ran a glowing paddle over the metal sleeve on Digger’s arm. Homer presented his own bracelet at the end of his skinny arm like a child, and she did the same for him. The device beeped.
“That should do it.” Miller said, “They don’t have any control over you anymore, the producers that is. Your kill switches have been disabled. Your screens will still receive updates, maps and the list of other contestants, but they can’t remotely trigger your injections, and if one of you dies the other won’t receive a lethal dose of those chemicals they use. They’re totally harmless.”
Kill Switch: Final Season Page 18