by SD Tanner
Leaning on the mattress, she placed the tips of her fingers together and centered herself. Talking to a near corpse was difficult enough, but she had to persuade Cassie that something was true when it wasn’t.
“We’ve decided it’s time to use the Doomsday Machine. We’ve always had one and it’s been kept a secret, but the alien has won so we’re going to destroy the planet.” Touching Cassie’s arm again and trying to sound sincere, she said, “I’m sorry, but your brother, Ben, will die too.”
Cassie stirred on the bed, and moving her head slowly from side to side, she muttered, “Jarhead.”
“What’s a jarhead?”
When Cassie didn’t reply, she continued with her lie. “The Doomsday Machine is in Alaska, buried under the ice. Do you know where Alaska is?”
Their lie had been carefully crafted to send the critters as far away as possible. It had to be somewhere that was attached to their continent and where there wouldn’t be many people. The critters could waste a lot of time digging their way across Alaska looking for something that didn’t exist.
“Jarhead,” Cassie replied, now sounding sure of herself.
“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
To her surprise, Cassie’s mouth turned upward. “Jarhead.”
“Pay attention, Cassie. I need you to think about Alaska and the Doomsday Machine. It’s very important that you know about it.”
Cassie didn’t reply and she could only hope her message had been received. Walking out of the room, she found Bill waiting for her. “What happened? Did she respond?”
“Not really. She just kept saying the word jarhead.” Placing her hand against his chest, she looked up at him. “I don’t think she got the message. Maybe we should try again later.”
Frowning down at her, Bill gently pushed her aside and walked into Cassie’s room. Leaning over her, he said, “A Jarhead is a Marine. Why are you saying that? Who’s the Marine?”
Standing at the end of the bed, she was surprised when Cassie opened her eyes and looked directly at Bill. “Colonel.”
“Did she just call you Colonel? Why would she say that? She’s never even met you.”
Straightening, Bill looked across at her. “I don’t know, but Jarhead is slang for a Marine.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN: Too late for sorry (Ally)
Donna was tugging at her arm and screaming, “We’ve gotta go.”
Wrenching her arm away, she launched herself in the direction of their trucks. She and Donna had been assigned to Hood’s battle team, but instead of leading them, he seemed to have disappeared from the grid. Around ten or more vehicles filled with armed survivors had been following them towards the nest, when a swarm of critters had appeared on the horizon and swooped down. What had followed had been chaotic and she, Donna and Mark had become separated from the main fight.
Mark ran after her, grabbing her by a strap on the back of her gear. “C’mon, we’ve gotta get into the nest or we’ve wasted their lives.”
Part of her wanted to fight the critters she could see, but Mark was right. The fight happening only a few hundred yards away was distracting the critters from the nest, so this might be their only chance to get inside of it. Huffing in frustration, she turned and joined Donna. The three of them sprinted towards the pyramid structure nestled in what she assumed was probably once a small park. Critters were running past them, clearly intent on joining the battle, and the gunfire behind her was sparking on the multiple screens showing through her visor.
“It’s smaller than the others,” Donna puffed.
“Why do you think that is?” Mark asked.
She heard Amber’s reply through her headset. “The one in Pueblo Pintado is by far the biggest, but we still don’t know why.”
“What’s happening to the others?” She asked. “Where’s Hood? This is supposed to be his show.”
Amber seemed to hesitate and then she replied confidently, “Don’t worry about the others. Your mission is to get inside of that nest.”
“But what’s happening?”
“I don’t know. Another shadow is leading them and I’m leading you.”
Clearly, Amber was not going to let them become distracted by whatever was happening to the rest of their battle team. She could only assume it wasn’t going well, but there was nothing she could do to help them. Leon had trained her to stay focused when she needed to and she emptied her mind of everything other than the pyramid ahead of her. Judging by its muddy appearance, it had been formed from the dirt and rocks dug out from the tunnels and chambers beneath it. The earth was piled high and tightly packed, with roughly circular holes about three feet wide starting at the base and ending at its uneven top. Clawed limbs were appearing at the edge of many of the holes as critters hauled themselves onto its angled walls then skittered to the flat ground below.
Donna reached the foot of the pyramid. “We don’t have the bomb.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Mark replied. “I’ve got grenades. Fire off enough of them and that’ll kill pretty much anything.”
“I dunno about that, they’re pretty tough.”
Mark pushed Donna through a hole at the base of the pyramid before reaching his hand out to her. As he hauled her into the hole, he replied, “It’ll have to do.”
Donna had already disappeared, sliding along the shiny goo, swearing as she went. Following Donna with her feet first, Mark’s boots were butting against her head as he slid along behind her. The hole ended about fifteen feet above the floor of a chamber, and squealing as she became airborne, she finally landed heavily onto the goo-covered floor. All around her were green blobs, anxiously making their way out of the chamber through the holes that led to the surface.
Climbing to her feet, she asked, “Now what do we do?”
Donna was expertly gliding her feet across the floor. “Look for the next hole.”
“What? We’re just gonna fall down holes until we get to the bottom?”
“How else did you think we were gonna get down there?”
She hadn’t thought about it, but supposed there was no way down other than to fall from one hole to the next. Copying Donna by sliding her feet across the floor, she felt her boot disappear into a hole and her body followed it, banging her helmet against the edge as she slipped through the gap. Unprepared to land, she slammed into the floor below and a critter ran across her body. Grabbing at its departing clawed leg, she missed and it scuttled out of her reach.
Donna landed next to her and nimbly jumped to her feet with her weapon ready to fire. Critters were on either side of them and she rolled onto her feet, covering the other end of the corridor. Just as they’d opened fire, Mark tumbled through the hole, almost throwing her back onto the ground.
“Shit! Watch yourself!”
While he fired down the corridor, Mark replied sharply, “No, you watch it. Get outta the way when you land.” Pushing her with his free hand, he ordered sternly, “Find the next hole.”
Shrugging his hand away from her, she bent low to avoid his gunfire while sweeping her feet across the floor. The military types got on her nerves. Endlessly bossy and always right, she was fed up with being hit on all of the time. Tank had been following her around and trying to flirt with her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, but losing her memory and sight had made her feel uncomfortable around people.
Her boot slipped again, and trying to control her fall, she put out her arm to avoid the edge. This time she didn’t bang her helmet, but she still landed gracelessly, rolling sharply to get out of Donna’s way as she followed her into the next level. If she had to fall down every level without warning, she was going to be a mass of bruises by the time she reached the bottom.
Climbing to her feet, she grumbled, “There’s gotta be a better way than this.”
Donna was already firing down the corridor at the wall of critters headed their way. “Stop whining and look for the next exit.”
Joining them again, Mark was
firing down the other side of the tunnel. Finding no nearby hole, she extended further from his cover until something snatched her through the wall. A critter had wrapped several clawed limbs around her shoulders and lower back. Caught in a struggle to free herself, Mark’s head appeared through the goo and his arms followed. Pushing her head aside, he fired into the face of the critter, making it collapse to the floor and then used his body to drive her deeper into the tunnel.
“Go! Go! Go!”
Sliding forward, she found herself on point again looking for the next hole. Donna appeared on her visor screen and now the three of them were slipping and sliding along the corridor.
“I can’t find a hole.”
“Keep moving,” Mark shouted as he pushed Donna ahead of him, turning to deal with the critters appearing through the hole in the wall.
The next exit appeared out of nowhere and she dropped heavily into a tunnel. Finally finding her rhythm, she continued to find holes and they tumbled from one to the next, making her lose track of just how many levels they’d travelled. Eventually one tunnel led to an oval shaped chamber with bumps along its walls.
Donna appeared at her side and pointing to the lumpy surface, she said, “People are trapped in the walls.”
Sliding her feet along the floor, she hunted for the next hole while Mark dropped from the ceiling. “Crap! Are they people?”
“Yeah,” Donna replied.
Pulling his weapon to a firing position, he said angrily, “I’m not leaving them this way. They could be our families.”
When he opened fire, blood began to stain the glossy walls, pooling into wet uneven puddles on the floor, and critters erupted from the gaps between their bodies. Slipping through another hole in the floor, Donna dived after her, leaving Mark to find his own way. While Donna took aim at one end of the corridor, she found another hole and fell into the next level.
Once Donna joined her, she asked, “Where’s Mark?”
As critters ran along the tunnel towards them, she felt herself fall headfirst into the next hole, landing with a sickening crunch that jarred her neck.
When Donna landed next to her, she finally replied, “He didn’t follow me from the chamber and he’s stopped responding.”
Although she found the military guys annoying, she hoped he was okay, but knew he probably wasn’t. She was starting to realize that there was nothing much wrong with anyone around her and that she was just an angry sort of person. Tank had only ever been kind to her and yet she’d rebuffed him, so maybe the problem was hers and not his. Feeling that perhaps she’d been mean, she decided she’d talk to Tank once she was out of the nest, assuming she ever got out.
Tumbling down the next hole, she landed on top of a critter, flattening it to the floor. Reaching down, she found its skinny neck and tugging sharply, she tore its head off. Giving a grunt of satisfaction, she looked up and saw only green. A mass of critters were bearing down on her from only a few feet away.
Punching wildly and forgetting to fire her gun, she shrieked, “Donna, don’t come down!”
CHAPTER TWENTY: Dead men talking (Lexie)
Finally giving up, she climbed on top of the truck and lying on her back, she stared at the blue sky. Not that she could see it or even knew what blue looked like. The men were moving between the two trucks, counting and recounting ammo and power packs, calling out useless facts and advice to one another. They were wired and anxious, which were feelings she knew well, but hers wouldn’t show up until she was in the thick of the fight.
It was still early morning and the sun was warming her chest through her partially opened gear. Soon she would have to put on her helmet and ride on top of the truck until they reached the nest. As usual, their plan was not a complicated one. They would drive the trucks to the pyramid and run inside. It sounded simple enough, but she knew it wouldn’t be. Critters would attack them from all sides and once they stopped moving, it would turn into a full-scale fight to get even a few of them inside of the nest. After that, they could expect to have to fight their way to the bottom, only to die once they were there.
Dying didn’t bother her much. Shelley had died so she figured she wouldn’t be alone and her parents were probably on the other side as well. Ark didn’t believe in an afterlife, but that didn’t matter. Her main worry had been whether he’d look her up once he got there, but after he’d promised to marry her that concern had gone away. Thinking he might not have been serious, she sat up.
“Ark, are you really gonna marry me after this?”
His head popped up above the roofline of the truck. “Yep. Why?”
With a satisfied smile, she allowed her body to fall back onto the flat roof. “Just checking.”
After they’d wasted another hour preparing for the attack, Ark finally said, “Saddle up.”
Resealing her gear, she pulled on her helmet, spinning around until she was facing the front of the truck. With her visor at full power, she thought she could see a pinkish glow in the distance. Her vision extended three miles and the color was on the edge of what she could see. “Amber, I’m getting a funny read.”
“I see it. Let me see what I can do, but I think you need to get closer.”
Ark asked, “Are they people?” After seating himself next to her, he banged on the roof. “Jonesy, head towards that.”
“That’ll take us off schedule,” Leon complained.
“I don’t think it’ll make any difference if we’re a few minutes late.”
While Jonesy drove towards the pink glow, it gradually became a crowd of people who appeared to be moving towards the nest. She estimated there were probably three hundred or more of them and they were all shuffling dispiritedly. Pueblo Pintado was remotely located and no one would be going there on the way to anywhere else, so if this crowd were headed towards the nest then it was not by accident.
Amber’s voice came through her speaker confirming what she’d thought. “Ark, that’s at least three hundred people heading towards your nest. Some of them appear to be in vehicles, but a lot of them are walking.”
“Are they armed?”
“Hard to tell with so many tightly packed people. I’m getting some weapon signals, but not enough for this many of them.”
“Why would they go there unarmed?”
They were less than three miles from the nest, and even walking so slowly, the crowd would reach it within a few hours. Drawing closer it became clear not all of the walkers were able to move on their own. Some were leaning against others and that was probably why they were moving at such a sluggish pace. Had there been as many critters as there usually were, they would have been cut down well before they’d managed to get this close to the nest. As it was, most of the critters were within a half-mile radius of the giant pyramid at its center.
When they were less than a few hundred yards from the crowd, they still appeared to be oblivious to their presence. Finally drawing alongside the large group of people, Jonesy stopped the truck, turning off the engine. Jumping down from the roof, she joined Ark and Leon as they walked towards the still shuffling group.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Ark called. Ignoring him, they continued their listless movement and he grabbed one of them by their arm. “Where are you going?”
Standing next to Ark, she opened a channel to her helmet, equally as curious to hear the man’s reply. “To end this.”
“What happened to you?” Ark asked gently.
The man waved his hand vaguely to the east. “We were living in and around Albuquerque when they dropped the bombs.”
More as a statement than a question, Ark said sympathetically, “You’re very sick.”
“Yeah. There were more of us, but we’re dying.”
“So, where are you going?”
“To end this.”
“Do you know what’s out here?”
“This is where it lives.”
“How are you planning to kill it?”
The man spat something onto th
e ground at his feet. “Dunno. We had some dynamite, but I dunno what happened to it.” Coughing to clear his congestion, the man added, “It doesn’t matter if we don’t kill it, we’re dead anyway. We just didn’t wanna lie around waiting to die, so we headed out here. I guess we had a big plan, but now…I dunno…I just want it to end.”
After handing the man the water bottle she’d passed to him, Ark replied, “We’re about to break into the nest. You could turn around and leave it to us.”
With a shrug, the man asked, “What difference would it make?”
“The critters will cut you down before you get anywhere near that nest,” Leon warned.
Ark waved his hand dismissively at Leon and addressed the man. “Anything you can do to help us get into that nest will be useful. We have the explosives to kill it.”
Seeming to brighten, the man nodded. “Then you should follow us.”
While they waited for the crowd to continue their slow amble past them, Ark said unhappily, “They’re the people we killed when we bombed Albuquerque.”
Hearing the heavy guilt in his tone, she replied confidently, “We didn’t bomb the city. We bombed the ship. They were gonna die no matter what we did. The thing inside of the nest did this and we’re gonna kill it.”
“You can’t see them, hon, the radiation has messed them up.”
She loved that he cared so much for others when he was so badly injured himself. Not wanting his last moments on earth to be wracked with guilt, she replied archly, “You’re badly messed up and I don’t see anyone feeling sorry for you.”
“Should we really use these people as a distraction just so we can get inside of the nest?” Leon asked unhappily.
To her surprise, it was Trigger who answered decisively. “Yeah, this is everybody’s problem, not just ours.”
Tuck nodded and saluting the men and women slowly shuffling past him, he said, “They’ve got some cojones.” She imagined he was beaming with pride when he added, “Not all heroes wear a uniform, dude.”