*****
Meanwhile, Priscilla raced down the street and ran into Savannah.
“I’m really glad to see you! Gable fell into some type of mass grave! He needs help!” Priscilla insisted.
Savannah tried to catch her breath. “Okay, we’ll find something to get him out. Priscilla, we need to be really careful. This town is overrun with cannibals and murderers!”
“I figured that out when we saw the pit filled with human bones,” Priscilla grumbled.
“There’s a colony of people who appear to have somewhat of a resistance to the radiation. However, some of them are still dying. One of them tried to kill me. His face was covered in burns, and then his arm popped right out of the socket. It’s like they’re diseased and rotting,” Savannah explained.
Priscilla was nauseated. “That’s gross. Did any of them follow you?”
Before Savannah could answer, a shotgun blast hit the pavement next to them. The two women ran across the street to escape the gunfire. One of the cannibals ran after them with a shotgun.
“Clearly, there’s a bunch of these guys!” Savannah growled as they ran.
He fired several more bullets at them. One of the bullets struck Priscilla’s right shoulder blade.
“These grafted clothes are great, but shotgun bullets really hurt!” Priscilla complained.
A truck zoomed down the street and ran over the shotgun-wielding man. The two women stopped and stared at the vehicle.
Savannah tried to identify the driver. “Maybe it’s someone from our group!”
A cannibal exited the vehicle and grabbed a flamethrower from the bed of his truck. He lit the flamethrower and menacingly walked toward the women.
Priscilla held up her hands. “Hang on. Fire isn’t a very good weapon against Steampunks. You might want to reconsider.”
“Then why are you still afraid? I can smell your fear right now,” the cannibal said in a threatening voice.
He tried to use the flamethrower, but it malfunctioned and he set himself on fire. The assailant ran around and screamed until he collapsed on the pavement.
Savannah shook her head. “Lucky for us, these people are their own worst enemies. I noticed this happens a lot.”
“Perhaps there’s a little bit of divine intervention in worst-case scenarios. Come on. We need to find a way to help Gable,” Priscilla said, then ran down the street.
Chapter 12
Reb wandered through an outdoor shopping center while she searched for her family. She twirled the baton and crowbar while she watched out for enemies. “I hate irony. We went to an anti-terrorism event and encountered them on our way to the airport.”
“I find the word terrorist very offensive,” Lionel said, through an intercom that was mounted on a store’s roof.
Reb whipped around, trying to find the mysterious individual. “Who are you? I want to know why you’re attacking us! Just leave us alone!”
“Somebody is impersonating my crew. I don’t appreciate phonies,” Lionel replied.
“Neither do I! Be a man and show yourself!” Reb demanded.
Lionel cleared his throat. “I’m watching you from a safe distance.”
Reb raised her crowbar. “Tell me what you did with Giles! Did you kill Alban? If you hurt Giles or anyone else in my family, I’ll tear you to pieces!”
“You’re a feisty little woman. Perhaps you should consider anger management. Your husband is being kept in a safe place. Unfortunately, time has expired for your limo driver. It’s so easy to trap Steampunks like you. We just lay metal spikes on the highway and then we wait for travelers to tumble down the hill,” Lionel explained.
“It sounds like you don’t have a good opinion of Steampunks. Are you a Utopian supporter?” Reb asked.
Lionel sharply responded, “Nonsense! I despise Boris, Victor, and the entire Utopian movement. They created the Apocalypse and destroyed our nation. Steampunks like you are an unfortunate product of the Apocalypse. I blame the Utopians for this terrible world. Like you said, irony is cruel.”
“Well, Victor is on death row. That should make you feel better,” Reb remarked.
Lionel continued speaking with his raspy voice, “I’ll feel even better when your subculture dies. Steampunks are not supposed to exist. Fortunately, your anti-radiation serum is quite useful. It gives my research team a chance to work in this nuclear zone. We’re going to harness the power plant’s nuclear energy and use it as a weapon against the Steampunks. I had to make a change in my plans, but it’s still going to be fantastic.”
Reb became even more worried by his declaration. “What plan? I want to know what you’re talking about! Give me answers!”
She waited, but Lionel didn’t respond. Out of frustration, Reb jabbed her baton in the dirt several times. She heard someone walking in the vicinity, so she hurried behind one of the shops. Reb peered around the corner and saw a masked man walk into the area. He was carrying a lead pipe. She crouched and waited for him to come closer. When he walked by the shop, Reb ambushed him with both of her weapons. She struck him several times with her blunt objects.
He hurried away from her as he yelled, “Get away from me!”
Reb limped in his direction. “I want to know your master plan! Tell me the truth!”
The cannibal slowed down and coughed. He ripped off his gas mask and struggled to breathe. The cannibal clutched his stomach and whined, “I feel really sick! Something’s wrong with me!”
Reb caught up to the criminal and saw the burns on his face. “What on earth is going on?”
The man vomited a huge amount of blood. Reb screamed at the sight. The cannibal fell to his knees and wheezed.
“Help me!” he whined before he fell on the ground and died.
Reb was perplexed and scratched the side of her head.
Back in the basement, Malcolm was still trapped. His vision became blurry as sweat ran down his temples and into his eyes. “You need to give me some of that serum. I can tell my body is going to change soon.”
“Be quiet! I need that serum more than you. It’s the only thing keeping me alive in this burned-out town,” the kidnapper said, as he grabbed a second knife.
Malcolm could feel the muscles in his neck shift and bulge. “The mutation is already starting!”
The cannibal turned around and faced him. “Yeah, I’m sure you’ll say anything to distract me.”
Malcolm cried out in pain as his bones snapped and transformed. He ripped off the restraints and stripped off his clothes. “I’m burning up! This is so painful!”
The German man collapsed on the floor. His muscles and skin shape-shifted.
“No way! We can usually kill you guys before the mutation happens!” the cannibal yelped, and he crawled underneath the workbench for protection.
Malcolm transformed into a giant Komodo dragon, then he busted through the basement’s wall. The monstrous lizard scurried through the town while the cannibal hid.
*****
In a different part of town, Percy and Gable tried to reactivate the phone lines from the local telephone company. Percy fiddled with the main control panel, but he didn’t understand the problem.
“I’m not an expert with this technology, but everything appears to be working fine,” Percy muttered.
Gable was becoming impatient. “Obviously, it’s not fine. Every phone in town is dead. I thought you were a computer genius!”
“You’re being impatient like Reb. Don’t let her bad habits rub off on you,” Percy remarked.
“I’m sorry, but this is a very frustrating situation. Nothing makes sense in this nuclear zone,” Gable replied.
Percy stood up and said, “Let’s go outside and test some of the power boxes. Maybe we’ll find some answers.”
The two men exited the building and went to an outdoor control area. Both of them tampered with the power boxes, but cell phone reception remained dead.
“I’m not getting any results. I don’t know how to fix
phone lines,” Gable admitted.
Percy checked the signal on his cell phone again. “This is crazy because the power boxes work. An outside source must be tampering with the phone signal. You said people are killing Steampunks in this town, so I assume they don’t want the Steampunks to call for help.”
Gable placed his hands on his hips. “What should we do next?”
“We need to find our group before everybody runs out of serum. Let’s get out of here,” Percy ordered.
They departed from the phone company and headed out to resume their search for the others.
*****
Giles woke up to find he had been hung inside a meat locker. His wrists were tied together and he dangled from a meat hook. Giles noticed Harold and another cannibal inside the cold room. The attorney tried to free himself, but Harold pulled out a knife.
“Don’t even think about escaping,” Harold threatened.
“Why are you kidnapping people? There must be a reason,” Giles inquired.
Harold played with his knife. “Everybody has their own reasons for coming to this town, but I’m just trying to survive in a Post-Apocalyptic world. Originally, we were a research team of brilliant scientists who wanted to use this nuclear zone for a grand purpose. Nowadays, we’re barely able to survive. We kidnap travelers on the highway and use them as a food source.”
Giles grimaced. “That’s disgusting! You’re just a bunch of cannibals!”
Harold pulled off the mask and revealed his disfigured face. “What choice do we have? Look at me! We can’t leave this place!”
“How can you survive in a town with this much radioactivity? There’s enough nuclear energy here to melt your organs,” Giles said.
Harold put his mask back on. “You might be right. Half of our research team has died within the past couple of weeks. We’ve been using anti-radiation serum to stay alive, but it doesn’t seem to work forever. Now the radiation is giving us a lot of side effects.”
“It sounds like you’ve made some bad choices. Anyway, it’s time for me to leave this meat locker,” Giles commented.
The attorney used his enhanced strength, freeing himself from the meat hook. Giles dropped to the floor and punched Harold’s face. The masked man fell unconscious onto the hard floor. His companion wielded a golf club and swung at Giles, but he hopped backward to stay away out of the weapon’s reach. The cannibal hurried toward Giles and struck him a few times, although the impact wasn’t very effective against the Steampunk’s grafted clothes.
“I hate it when Steampunks escape! You’re so difficult to kill!” the assailant complained.
He accidentally smacked a light fixture with his golf club. The light fixture fell off the ceiling and crushed the cannibal’s fragile head, splattering blood and brain matter on the floor. His body fell on the ground in front of Giles.
Occasionally, something surprises me. I don’t see how that light fixture was heavy enough to crush a human head, but these guys seem to be falling apart. Hopefully, Reb and everybody else are okay. I need to find them before the atomic power mutates us, Giles thought to himself before he fled from the meat locker.
The attorney hurried outside and ran through the irradiated town.
Chapter 13
Reb tentatively approached the cannibal who died in front of her. She poked his body with her crowbar.
This is too weird. I’ve never been chased by psychopaths who are literally falling apart. Victor was the one who said Steampunks would become cannibalistic monsters. I find it amusing that regular humans are the ones killing people and eating them. The serum wasn’t designed for regular humans, so it doesn’t surprise me that it isn’t a long-term solution for these cannibals. I have a feeling they’re resorting to cannibalism because the atomic power is turning their brains to mush. Well, I guess it’s onward to find my family, Reb thought.
She headed north with a little bit of optimism.
Priscilla and Savannah wandered through an unfinished construction site. The metal outline of a partially-completed building had been completely abandoned. Construction equipment including bulldozers, jackhammers, shovels, and cranes littered the area.
“It’s a shame that so many lives were affected by a single terrorist attack. This would be a thriving town if the Apocalypse hadn’t happened,” Savannah said.
Priscilla continued their discussion. “The damage goes far beyond this town. Even though the cataclysm happened in the United States, the global economy was affected and cultures across the world slowly changed their ideals.”
They were interrupted when several veins in Savannah’s neck bulged and throbbed. She immediately injected a dose of anti-radiation serum into her wrist. Savannah rubbed the injection site. “The radiation is beginning to affect me. You should use one of your antidotes, just in case a mutation is going to occur soon.”
Priscilla pulled out a syringe and injected the serum in her wrist. “Truthfully, the mutation scares me. I’m afraid of losing my humanity and hurting someone.”
Suddenly, they heard a low, rumbling growl. Then the two women heard something scurry across the ground behind them. They turned around but didn’t see anything.
“We should leave. I can tell we’re not alone,” Savannah quietly said.
They didn’t walk very far when the mutated Komodo dragon stepped into their view. It hissed at them and walked forward.
Priscilla grabbed Savannah’s arm and yelled, “That creature doesn’t look very friendly! Let’s get out of here!”
The two women frantically fled from the giant lizard. It pursued them at a frighteningly quick pace. The monster caught up to them and knocked Priscilla out of the way. It chased Savannah across the dirt as she searched for a hiding place. She found a bulldozer and quickly climbed into the elevated shovel. The Komodo dragon sniffed the bulldozer and tried to reach her.
“Now we have to deal with cannibals and hideous lizards! Where did this creature come from?” Savannah griped while she lied in the bulldozer’s shovel.
The monstrous lizard quickly changed its mind and hunted for Priscilla.
She stood up and looked directly at the mutated Steampunk. “Dang, you’re ugly.”
Priscilla sprinted toward the unfinished building while the Komodo dragon chased her. She ran through the hollow building and hid in between some of the beams. The giant mutant tried to squeeze in between the beams too, but it was too large. Finally, the Komodo dragon gave up and left the construction site.
Savannah waited for the monster to leave. “Priscilla, are you still there?”
The southern belle was out of breath, but managed to say, “Yeah, I’m fine. What was that creature?”
“Unfortunately, it was probably a mutated Steampunk. I hope it wasn’t anyone from our family,” Savannah said, as she climbed out of the scoop.
Priscilla hurried over to the matriarch. “Well, I certainly don’t want to transform into an abomination like that lizard. We need to find the others before our situation gets worse.”
They fled from the construction site, watching out for the various enemies.
*****
Meanwhile, Lionel was berating Harold inside the sheriff’s station.
“How can you lose two Steampunks? We need their meat! Both of them managed to escape!” Lionel ranted.
Harold defended his failure. “Boss, we can’t survive in this town for much longer! At the beginning, I had more help because we had a bigger team! Everyone is dying! How can we combat those Steampunks when we’re sick and struggling just to live?”
“Stop giving me excuses! We might die from starvation before the radiation kills us! More importantly, we can’t have witnesses! What do you think is going to happen when those Steampunks escape? They’re going to tell the police about our colony! The government will send fighter jets to kill us!” Lionel shouted.
Harold coughed. “I think it’s the end of the road for us. This was a terrible plan. We should have known a nuclear zone like
this was too dangerous.”
Lionel sat down in the sheriff’s chair. “I need you to find more serum! Raid our dead team members if you think it will make a difference! This chaos has gone far enough! We came here to eliminate the Steampunks and I know a way to make them pay!”
“All right, but I’m really worried about your mental state,” Harold admitted.
Lionel stood up and put his gas mask on. “After today, none of it will make a difference. Follow my orders so I can have an ample supply of serum. I’ll need it for my master plan.”
Beauregard spied on the two terrorists through the station’s window. He hurried away from the window and ran down the sidewalk.
That plan doesn’t sound good! I need to warn the others! We need to get out of this town immediately! Beauregard thought to himself.
Along the way, a trap snared the Frenchman’s legs and hoisted him up into the air. Beauregard hung upside down from a tree and tried to free himself from the snare. Two cannibals came out of the bushes and laughed as they approached him.
“Look at what we found! This Steampunk will make a nice meal for us!” one of the masked men gloated.
The other cannibal replied, “Steampunk culture is overrated. They don’t seem so brilliant to me. If Steampunks were smart, they wouldn’t get stuck in simple traps like this.”
“You’re the ones who are going to die! The radiation will destroy your bodies from the inside out!” Beauregard shouted.
While he writhed in the trap, Beauregard’s syringes fell on the pavement. The two villains picked up the serums and examined them.
“It’s the antidote! We need this! It looks like we’ll live to see a few more days!” one of the cannibals declared.
The second cannibal stuffed a syringe in his pocket. “Maybe my headache will stop if I take a dose of serum.”
“What are you doing? I need that serum! It’s the only thing that’s preventing me from turning into a monster!”
“Yeah, right. I think the mutation is a myth. We never had any Steampunks turn into monsters,” one of cannibals remarked.
The artist felt the heat rise in his body as his bones began to shift and crack. He tore out of the snare and landed on the pavement. Beauregard howled in pain as his muscles and skin shifted.
The Post-Apocalyptic Society: A Nelson and Hyde Vendetta Page 7