The other three Spetsnaz laughed.
The Captain slung his machine gun around his neck. This was the Nightmare Man.
38.
Anton was handcuffed to the frame of a car. Terrified, he shrank from the zombie who was also cuffed to the car, snapping and biting to reach him, restrained so it was just out of reach.
The Bear called out, “Anton! I’m coming to get you.”
Anton was gagged, but his eyes were wide. He was trying to say something as The Bear ran towards him.
The zombie tried to reach The Bear now. He regarded it without fear.
“Crazy bastard,” he said, and stabbed it in the head. It stopped moving and fell limp, held up by the handcuffs keeping it attached to the car.
The Bear ripped Anton’s gag out of his mouth, “Anton, I’m glad to see you –”
“The zombie! We have to get away!”
The Bear looked back at the zombie, and in a moment, he saw two things. First, he saw the zombie was wearing an explosive vest. Second, he saw on the level above the Nightmare Man, holding a detonator.
The Bear’s eyes widened. “You fucking crazy bas –”
The zombie exploded, enveloping The Bear in flame and throwing him on fire thirty metres through the air. He smashed through a wall, part of the roof falling in on him. The floor above leaned in precariously, causing a safe to slide across the floor and down through the newly created hole and land on The Bear’s head with a metallic clunk.
The Bear was still.
Anton was still alive, having been largely shielded from the blast by his uncle.
The Nightmare Man was with him in a moment, holding his knife in front of Anton’s face.
“Thanks,” said Kirill. “That’s one less bastard to worry about. Now I just need to kill that son of a bitch Karl, and put a stop to the New Mafia. Don’t worry. I’ll make this quick.”
He raised the knife. Anton cried out, certain the Nightmare Man meant to kill him.
Then The Bear’s men were there, aiming guns at Kirill.
In one movement the Nightmare Man cut through the supporting structure that Anton was attached to. Sparks flew. Kirill grabbed Anton and moved away from the men with guns.
“Let him go!” one of the men called out.
Kirill was holding Anton as a human shield. “You have no business here, comrade. Get away or I will give your man back to you in pieces.”
The men were muddled and confused, unsure how to respond. Before they could gather their wits, Kirill had run out the room with Anton. He closed the door behind them and blocked it with a vending machine, effectively barring the door to Anton’s dismay, The Bear’s men now following close behind.
Kirill shoved him up the stairs, pushing him towards the second floor.
Anton was terrified, but for once, he was more angry than scared. “You motherfucker! You killed my uncle! I hope they send you straight back to that little cell!”
The Nightmare Man paused on the stairs. He still had his knife in his hand. He used it to indicate the way forward.
Anton kept climbing. When they reach the second level, they could watch the battle between the New Mafia and the city of the dead from a hole in the floor. It seemed like a thousand zombies were swarming the building with the New Mafia fighting them, using guns or else close-combat weapons, ranging from swords to one man fending off the zombies by swinging a statue at them, holding the life-sized figure by the feet. The statue broke and the man wielding it picked up a poker machine instead and swung that at the approaching zombies.
“The zombi are everywhere now,” said Kirill appraising the battlefield, “and that’s scary.”
Anton was shaking with fear and anger. “What do you mean? Are you scared of them?”
Kirill laughed without humor. “I’m always scared.”
Anton was sure the Nightmare Man was making of fun of him, but he was still curious. “You? Afraid? But you were a Captain in Spetsnaz. You’re one of the most dangerous men in the world.”
“I’m the biggest fucking coward you’ve ever met in your life, kid. Trust me. Everything scares me. I’m frightened of my own shadow. But I embrace my fear. I hold it close. I welcome it. Fear is like a jealous wife: if you scorn her, try to deny her, then she becomes your worst enemy. But if you accept her and hold her close to you, then she becomes your best friend. That’s all I do. I admit that I’m frightened, then I embrace my fear. And then the fear makes me stronger.”
Anton regarded him for long moments.
“Thank you.”
The Nightmare Man turned from the battle scene to face him for a second but said nothing. The battle raged on.
Then Kirill pointed the way forward with his knife and they continued down the corridor. They were heading towards the foyer of the Tank Academy. They were at a bar, bottles of alcohol everywhere.
They could see the foyer from where they were, and in particular, Kirill saw the KGB agent, Karl.
Kirill turned to Anton. “Stay here. If things get dangerous, I suggest you run away or hide. There are a lot of high-caliber people around right now.”
Anton nodded grimly.
Kirill paused for a split second as he was leaving. Then he handed Anton his knife. “This may help protect you if you need it.”
The Nightmare Man smiled faintly and then left him at the bar, marching towards the foyer, ready to kill Karl.
39.
Masha was in the passenger seat of the sports car. The Rose Maniac was driving. They sped down a muddy road, the car bumping over holes, the occasional zombie getting in the way and being knocked into the air like a bowling pin.
“We’re going to kill this man,” said the Rose Maniac. She gripped the steering wheel lightly with her red leather gloves.
“Yes, he caused it all,” said Masha, checking the enormous rifle. “I want him to suffer. I’ll shoot his legs off and feed him to the zombies.”
The Rose Maniac said nothing. The lights of the car cast a powerful cold beam upon the road, blinding. There were two rocket launchers on the hood of the car, operated by a joystick near the gear stick. A stray zombie was walking beside the road, lit up in a wash of white light. The Rose Maniac swerved the car slightly to destroy the zombie. It went under the car with a bump and did not move again.
“What were you before all this?” asked the Rose Maniac.
Masha looked out the window and answered, “I was in IT. I helped put in a lot of the infrastructure for this region. Bringing internet to people. Putting in speed cameras on the roads. My team was behind all that. I loved that job. And then the apocalypse happened. The end of the world, as far as we know. Or maybe it’s just here, and life is going on like normal everywhere else. It’s hard to imagine what a normal life is now. And what about you? What were you doing before the meteorites fell?”
The Rose Maniac changed gears. “I was in the Mafia, before the meteorites.”
“Really? They recruited me because I’ve always been good with a gun. Why did you join the Mafia?”
“I didn’t have much choice. I had a psycho for a brother. Seriously. He was the only relative I had, so when I ran away from him, I guess I felt I needed someone to protect me. The Mafia was the answer. They’re my family now. It seems like they always have been. I love my new brothers and sisters, I really do.”
“Yes, I feel the same way. The world is hell now. All we’ve got is each other. I don’t know why this thing happened, why the zombies came, but they are reality now. This is how our world is. We’ve got to do everything possible to hold onto each other. I think of the New Mafia as my family as well. I kill for them, and if necessary, I will die for them.”
They passed a tenement block with candle light in a window. A person was watching them but quickly retreated. The Tank Academy was not far now.
Masha turned to face the Rose Maniac. “Thank you for helping me back there. I thought I had a good position on the roof of that shop, but then that alarm went off and starti
ng attracting zombies from everywhere. I’m a good shot, but I couldn’t have killed all of them. Thank you for saving me.”
“Anytime.” The Rose Maniac gave Masha’s hand a squeeze. “You’re my best friend. I wouldn’t leave you.”
Masha held up the rifle and looked through the scope to study the Tank Academy building. Then she calmly fed a shell into the breech of the gun.
“He’s there, right in the foyer. I’m going to end this now. Keep the car steady.” Her words were calm, almost conversational. The Rose Maniac did not respond, only kept driving the car back home.
40.
Karl arrived at the foyer. His bodyguard Misha walked beside him.
“We have an advantage over Kirill,” said Karl. Misha only listened obediently. He gave the appearance of a man who was physically powerful but slow-witted; however, when his master commanded him to do something, he was very effective. Now he walked in silence and listened to Karl speak.
“You see, everyone hates Kirill. He messed up badly by attacking the Mafia, of all people.” Karl gestured with his hands. “They are more against him than they are against us. He let those damned ghouls into this place. If I could speak to their leader, maybe we could combine our resources.”
“I think I could arrange that.”
Karl turned around. The Dentist was there.
Karl smiled. “I would appreciate the help!”
She smiled obediently.
“Anything for you.”
Karl seemed jubilant. “This really is a crazy situation, isn’t it? All these dead people returning to life again. You know, I have put a lot of bad people in the ground. Wicked, wicked people. It’s funny to think they could be walking around again. I wonder if any of them think of me, if there’s some part of their brain that remembers, that is looking for the man who reduced them to that state. What a day that would be if we were to meet again.”
The Dentist said, “I would give anything to learn every single thing you could teach me, sir. So that I could put wicked people into the ground, too.”
Karl slowly turned to face her. His eyes were wild. Then he laughed. “It really is a shit world, wouldn’t you say? So many bad people everywhere. So much work to be done to correct that situation.”
“They’re everywhere, sir.”
“You know, that doesn’t even matter. I know there’s one good person in this world, one person who’s not like everyone else, and that’s my sister.”
“I’m sure she’s a wonderful person, sir.”
“She is. I haven’t seen her for years, but the last time I saw her, she was in Kurgan, which isn’t very far from here. It’s a small town, not very interesting. But that’s where I come from.”
“Hold it right there,” said the leader of the New Mafia. He had a gun pointed at Karl’s head. The KGB officer’s smile froze. Slowly, his hands came up. Misha went for a gun, but Andre growled at him, causing him to rethink his intentions.
“I’m actually really glad you’re here!” said Karl.
“Really? I wouldn’t be, if I was you.”
“I just wanted to talk with you about working with you.”
Andre pressed the gun into Karl’s neck. He gripped the trigger hard, milimetres away from ending Karl’s life.
“This is not a negotiation.”
“Everything in life is a negotiation, my friend. I want to kill the Nightmare Man just as much as you do. More, probably. I really think we can help each other.”
Andre grabbed Karl’s lapel, pulling him tighter against the gun. Now Karl’s smile was gone, fear in his eyes.
The Dentist said, “We can use him, boss. I believe him when he says he wants the Nightmare Man dead.”
“You understand who he is, don’t you? Men like him have no friends. He would torture his own mother if the state told him to. That’s just the way he is.”
“Guilty as charged!” Karl still had his hands up, only now they took on a quality of mock guilt, as though he had been caught eating a cookie before dinner.
“I understand who he is,” said The Dentist.
“And why do you think there is any benefit to letting him live? The safest thing to do is to kill him.”
The Dentist paused before answering, “That’s true, but he has specialist information on the Nightmare Man. He may be able to help us catch him, or at least understand his tactics.”
Karl grinned at The Dentist. “Hey, thanks!”
“How do you intend to catch the Nightmare Man?” Andre asked Karl. “He has proved to be somewhat problematic up until now.”
“Well, for a start, your men have to stop attacking my guys. We should all be working together to stop him. Right now, we’re divided; not only do we need to defend ourselves against the ghouls, but we also have a vicious killer running around who could strike anybody at any time.”
“Is that the only insight you have? Stop killing each other?”
“I can tell you that right now we are playing into his strategy. He wants to see us distracted and divided, fighting a war on two fronts. He is meaning to frighten and demoralise us. The zombies are very good for that. You have one added advantage to doing business with me – Kirill hates me. He will willingly come out of hiding to try and kill me. You may as well use that to your advantage.”
“I see,” said Andre “And what’re your intentions towards this guy? What are you going to do if you catch him?”
Karl’s eyes lit up. “I am supposed to return him to his prison cell. I am supposed to hand him over unharmed.”
Andre smiled. “I’m guessing that’s not going to happen.”
“No way on this earth. He has done too much damage since he got out. Killed way too many people. He is an enemy of the state. And that’s where I come in. To punish someone who has harmed Russian citizens.”
Andre asked, “Will you kill him?”
“We have an expression in the KGB, ‘If we visit you, we won’t kill you, but when we’re done with you, you won’t want to be alive.’”
“I like that. Sounds like the bastard will get what’s coming to him. Okay, I’m going to lower my weapon now. Any bullshit, any hint of trying to harm my people, and I will just kill you. I won’t talk with you a second time. Do you understand what I have said?”
“Got it,” said Karl. Slowly, the gun was taken away from his face.
“You stay up here on the first floor where you are nice and visible,” said Andre. “I’m going to the ground floor. As soon as Kirill approaches you, I will be there to ambush him.”
Karl grinned. “Good plan!”
“Okay. Olga, are you going to be okay here?”
“I’m fine, thanks, boss,” said The Dentist.
“Stay safe. Our entire fucking dream is in danger now. All of us … are in danger now.”
He left them behind, going to the staircase. The lights were out so he held a thin torch into the gloom. Fleet of foot, he descended the staircase making almost no noise. Halfway down, he almost ran into two his people, a man and a woman.
“How are you doing?”
“Not bad, we’re just getting some more ammunition for the guys fighting at the walls. The anti-aircraft guns are helping a lot; without them, we probably would have been overrun by now. We can do a good job of keeping the zombi out, but they will get the better of us, sooner rather than later.”
“Keep up the good work,” said Andre. “We’re almost through this. Once we kill the Nightmare Man, our lives will get a lot easier. The bastard must have some kind of remote detonator; he can make zombies explode when he pushes a button.”
“We found a trap before that must have been set by him. It almost took my head off, but we were able to shoot it down so it wouldn’t hurt any of our people. Be careful, boss, we’ve never been up against a guy like this before.”
“You know it. If I don’t see you again, then I want you to know it’s been an honour to live by your side.”
The three Mafia people embraced. Then the
two Mafia soldiers went up the staircase and Andre continued to the ground floor. He could see areas where his people were fighting to keep the monsters out, attacking them with swords through ruptures in the concrete walls, or shooting them when groups of zombies got through. His people were more organised now, the initial shock of the exploding zombies having worn off somewhat.
Andre kept to the walls, scanning the huge room.
“How am I going to find you, you son of a bitch?” Andre asked out loud.
“Looking for somebody?”
Andre turned. It was the Nightmare Man.
“You motherfucker,” said Andre. “So now I’ve found you.”
Andre checked that his silver AK 47 was loaded and working. It was.
“Why did you do this? Why attack my people?”
Kirill was standing in front of a kitchen, no more than thirty metres away. He appeared to be unarmed, but Andre would not take any chances.
Kirill said, “You shot at me first. You injured a good friend of mine. I probably could have let that go, but when I found out you were killing the other survivors in the city, I had to do something. I cannot allow you to kill Russian citizens.” Here, Kirill smiled warmly. “After all, I’m just a concerned citizen, doing his best for society.”
“We’ve met before, Kirill, although I can see in your face that you don’t recognise me. It’s incredible that now you have brought this upon my people.”
“The world is an amazing place,” said Kirill.
Andre’s face remained calm. He moved the gun up quickly, firing the machine gun, but it only tore up the wall behind Kirill who ducked and fled through the kitchen door, bullets smashing into the concrete around him, narrowly avoiding murdering him. The kitchen door swung closed.
Andre held the gun trained at the door.
“Did I hit you, you bastard? I can’t see how you would have escaped that.”
Andre quickly reached into his pocket and took out a fresh clip for the AK 47. He ejected the old magazine and put that in his pocket on the other side. He checked to make sure the gun was working.
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