by SD Tanner
“What does that mean?”
“I am a cop, but there’s no force left.”
The voice fell silent and Jas asked, “What do you think they’re gonna do?”
“Nothing bad.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because they would have done it by now. They’re more worried about us than we are by them.”
Confirming his suspicions, a man wearing a military style jacket climbed out of the truck. Slowly walking towards him, the man kept his gun by his side showing he was armed, but not a threat.
“Hey,” the man said warily.
“I’m Sergeant Harry Jones. I was with Northwestern Command in Albuquerque.”
The man looked around the area contemplatively. “I’m Sean. I live around here.” Fixing him with a worried look, he asked, “Do you know what’s happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the radio and TV went off, then the phones died and we lost power. We’ve seen a few folks come through here, but other than breakin’ into the stores and bustin’ the pumps, they ain’t stayed.”
“Have you seen any black, rubbery looking critters running around?”
Sean nodded. “Yeah. When the phones went off I came into the town with my brother to see what was goin’ on, but most of the folks was gone. We saw some weird black lookin’ things, but we jus’ shot ‘em and left. You see some strange shit out here, so we didn’t think anythin’ of it.”
Surprised they’d managed to kill the critters, he asked, “Did they die?”
“Hell, yeah, but them damned things didn’t stop comin’ until we blasted ‘em good and proper like.”
He was impressed they’d managed to kill the creatures when so many others hadn’t. Nodding, he asked, “Where are you living?”
Giving him a wary look, he replied, “Same place we always live. I was jus’ wonderin’ if ya know when the power is comin’ back on.”
Hard though it was to believe, Sean hadn’t been attacked by the critters in his home, and he clearly didn’t know the entire country had fallen. “How many people are with you?”
Now Sean looked even more worried. “Jus’ my family and the folks from up the road. Why?”
“The country is under attack.”
“By who?”
“We don’t really know. People just went crazy and they turned into the things you killed in the town.”
Sean’s eyebrows shot up. “They was people?”
“Yeah, sort of…they kinda changed. They tore off their skin and underneath it was the rubbery things you saw. The government has pretty much fallen, but what’s left has been nuking our cities trying to get rid of them. I can’t believe you don’t know any of this.”
“TV’s bin off.” Sean replied curtly. He looked back at his truck and shouted, “Dean! Git out here!”
An almost identical, slim man wearing a flannel shirt climbed out of the truck and ambled across the station. “What?”
“This cop reckons the aliens have landed and the government’s bin bombin’ the cities to get rid of ‘em.”
“Shiiit.”
Sean nodded at Dean. “Yeah, we gotta go to Plan B.”
That seemed to please Dean and he grinned widely. “Hell, yeah!”
Giving Sean a confused look, he asked, “What’s Plan B?”
“That’s what the shelter’s for…Plan B. Ya can’t trust the goddamn government to do jack shit for ya, so we’ve got ourselves a Plan B.”
“Too fuckin’ right,” Dean agreed confidently.
“You have an underground shelter?”
Both Sean and Dean nodded.
“Have you got a radio in your underground shelter?” When they looked at one another as if he’d just asked if they knew how to chew gum, he said, “Okay, if you have a radio then you can talk to CaliTech.”
“Who’s CaliTech?”
“They’re a research and development company with equipment that we can use to kill the…critters.”
With a brusque nod, Sean asked, “What’s their frequency?”
Before he’d left, Ark had handed him a small wad of cards with a number written on them. Not being familiar with how radios worked, he pulled a card from his pocket and handed it to Sean.
After glancing at the card, Sean said cheerfully, “Gotcha. We’ll get ‘em on the horn.” Giving him another brusque nod, he added, “Thanks for heads up. We owe ya one.”
Sean and Dean stayed to help them fill the tank and gas cans and they headed back to the I-15. Although it was hard to believe people might not know what had happened, he supposed it was a big country, and many people lived in remote regions like this one. It meant there might be a lot more survivors outside of the cities than he’d expected. Maybe Bill was right and it might be possible to mount an attack on the critters.
Turning to Jas, he asked, “Do you think the cities were more vulnerable than the country areas?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“I’m just wondering how many people are hiding outside of the cities. I mean, we’re judging our strength by what we saw in Albuquerque, but maybe that’s a false read. Maybe there’s more people out here in the middle of nowhere and some of them have got a Plan B.”
“If that’s true then Bill’s right about telling people to form cells.”
Grinning, he replied, “Judging by Sean and Dean, some people are already in cells.”
For the first time since the city had fallen, he thought maybe the military guys in CaliTech were on the right track.
CHAPTER NINE: Pulling petals (Leon)
“What do you see?”
Trigger had first watch and he was sitting on the roof of the trailer house. “There are people hiding in the houses about two miles away. Plenty of critters are roaming about, but none are too close.”
They’d left CaliTech at dawn in their two MaxxPro trucks and had covered about three hundred miles. It was an eight hundred mile trip to the nest and it would take three days to get there. Deciding to stop for the night, they’d found an abandoned trailer to camp in, and were now resting in its small lounge. Jenna had brought four of her squad, but not being skilled enough with the tech they were dressed in regular combat kit, whereas he, Tuck and Trigger were wearing their mid-level Navigator gear. Jo had decided to come with them, and Ark and Bill were monitoring their mission on the Navigator communications grid from the underground central command bunker in CaliTech.
Tank was fully armed and loaded and Lexie was in her usual armor. Their mid-level gear was a heavier version of hers, and they were carrying their freestanding guns in addition to the computer controllable weapon built into their right arm. The custom-built freestanding weapon was about thirty-two inches long and eighteen inches high. It fired depleted uranium-tipped .30-cal bullets with an extra powerful grain load. They each carried six fifty round magazines for it and had an extra ten in a box on their backs. With an effective range of twelve hundred yards, in automatic mode, it would fire four hundred rounds per minute. They’d tested the guns before they’d left and, although they weren’t familiar with the weapon, it fired rounds as effectively as a .50-cal.
The gear wasn’t comfortable, but he’d ordered everyone to stay on high alert, meaning they would have to sleep in their armor. Lexie had warned them to conserve their power and they were on what Ark called half-loading. It meant their hydraulics compensated less and he could feel the weight of the gear pressing against him. After sitting down on the sofa and breaking it, Tuck had declared furniture was for pussies. They were now sitting on the floor, using the wall as a backrest, with their helmets by their side. Lexie had thrown a tantrum at the engineers, and they’d redesigned the lower body on the gear to be removable. It meant going to the bathroom was still an ordeal, but it beat the hell out of having to wear a diaper under their gear.
It felt good to be out again. CaliTech was impressive, but the tech was useless unless they learned how to use it. The simulators were only designed to test the g
ear, and they wouldn’t prepare anyone for combat. He finally understood why Lexie didn’t know what she was doing. No one had trained her in the harsh realities of war. Battle was always an ever-changing dynamic where you had to trust your instincts, but she didn’t have any. They needed her advanced vision, and given her lack of combat training, he was surprised she’d agreed to join them.
Sitting opposite her, he kicked her boot. “Why are you doing this, Lexie?”
“What? Trying to sleep?”
“No, why did you come on this mission?”
Without her helmet, her silver orbs glittered oddly in the sharp light of the LED lanterns. “I dunno. I s’pose this is the first time I’ve ever been needed. I mean, I’ve been blind all my life and people don’t ask you to do anything when you can’t see.”
Without orbs, she was completely blind and he supposed having them must have changed her life. “What was it like the first time you could see through the orbs?”
A wide smile broke across her face, softening her angular features. “It was kinda strange. Nothing looked like I thought it would. I mean, I never knew what anything looked like, but I had an idea of what shape things were. Mostly it was just good to know where I fit.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you can’t see you don’t know where everything is. Now I can go anywhere and I’m free.” Yawning, she asked, “What about you? Why are you doing this?”
“We need the practice. When we’ve finished in the city we’re gonna head up to Seattle to look for Amelia.”
“I thought they bombed Seattle.”
“They did, but I need to see it for myself.”
“And then what?”
He hadn’t thought that far ahead. If he couldn’t find Amelia, he didn’t know what he would do. It had only been three weeks since he’d landed back home, and with no army or government, the country had quickly disintegrated into every man for himself.
“I dunno.” Elbowing Tuck who was sitting next to him, he asked, “What do you wanna do after Seattle?”
Trigger was sitting on the other side of him and he said, “We have to go back to CaliTech.”
“Why? We could just get the hell out of Dodge. Find an island somewhere and stay the hell outta this mess.”
“You won’t do that,” Lexie said confidently.
“What makes you say that?”
“You’re not that guy. You’re the sorta person who wants to save people, and that guy doesn’t clear off at the first sign of trouble. Why else did you go to the hospital to rescue those kids if you’re that guy?”
Smiling to himself, he supposed she was right. He wasn’t the kind of guy who abandoned his post or left his buddies in the shit to keep himself alive. The army had trained him to lead men into combat, and until there was nothing left to fight, he would keep doing exactly what he’d been taught to do. Bill might have a strategic mind, but he was a fighter. Although Lexie might not be able to see in the literal sense, she’d seen straight through him. It wasn’t his nature to abandon anyone when he was needed, and in that way he and Lexie were the same. They were both happiest when they were needed and always did whatever had to be done.
“Go to sleep, Lexie.”
He didn’t know how long he’d been asleep before Tuck shouted through his headset, “Incoming!”
Scrambling to find his helmet, he pulled it over his head and plugged it into the outlet on the sensor suit next to his neck. With full power, his screens flickered on and he could see why Tuck was shouting. About twenty green outlines were heading towards the trailer from the north, and he tapped his screen to modify his view. The dark of night became light as day, and his visor outlined all of the trees, bushes and buildings within three miles. The critters went from being green outlines to the black, rubbery monsters they really were. They were about a mile away and running towards the trailer.
“Jenna, get everyone into the trucks and lock ‘em down. Tuck, Trigger, Tank and Lexie, you’re with me.”
Ark’s voice came through his headset. “This is good.”
“Like how?”
“Between five navs, twenty is manageable and you need the training.”
Standing outside of the trailer, he said, “Let’s try a formation. Lexie, you’re on point. Tank, you cover our six. Tuck and Trigger, we’re in the middle position and each of you take a flank.”
“What are you thinking?”
“Let’s take ‘em head on.”
“Then make sure you’re all on full power.”
After ordering his computer to give him maximum power, they got into position and began to run towards the critters. With the hydraulic joints, while taking sips from the oxygen pipe feeding his helmet to supplement his cardio, he could pace along at twenty miles per hour. Lexie moved swiftly across the flat plain, leaping over clusters of rocks without losing speed. As they ran head long towards them, the critters were drawing ever closer. They were mostly of the spider variety and there were several of the taller ones that liked to spit goo. Spiders seemed to be the most common type, but the one in the training hangar had adapted, and Ark was worried the critters might be able to do more than they’d seen to date.
Tank couldn’t run as fast as they could and he was slowly falling behind. With his heavy-duty gun and grenade launcher, Tank could single handedly obliterate the twenty critters, but he wanted them to practice hand-to-hand combat.
“Tank, we’ll take lead. Only step in with the heavy weapons if we need you. Tuck and Trigger, let’s conserve our ammo and try this hand to hand. Fire your inbuilt gun if you need to, but use auto targeting. I don’t want us accidentally shooting one another.”
“Roger that.”
Now they were within fifty feet of the critters, some began to leap into the air with excitement, and their screeching static cries penetrated the soundproofing inside his helmet. When one landed heavily against his chest, he grabbed at it with both of his hands. Other than the tiny spiders he’d crushed in the hangar, this was his first experience handling their rubbery forms. The critter wrapped its twenty legs around his torso, and he pushed against its hard body, stopping it from becoming completely stuck to his gear. His hydraulic joints added enormous strength to his movement, and the critter pulled away from his body, until it lost its grip and scrabbled at his armor. Protected by his visor, he could see it close up, and its round molded mouth spat a stream of goo directly at his face. The cameras weren’t positioned over his eyes, so it had no effect. Grabbing one of the legs, he pushed hard on the round body, and felt the limb detach. The critter didn’t seem to notice, and he pushed it to the ground, and stomped heavily on its head. The hard round ball gave under his boot and it stopped moving.
Another larger critter slammed into his chest, almost throwing him to the ground, but he managed to hold his position. The large creature had a thick torso and limbs, and he pushed himself forward, slamming into it with a hard body blow. The abruptness of his move threw the critter to the ground. He dropped onto one knee, landing hard on its chest, while slamming one heavily armored elbow onto its head. It didn’t burst like the other one had, and he pulled back his arm to punch it squarely in the face. The single blow was enough to make its head explode and it stopped moving.
He was so caught up with the fight, he hadn’t noticed another critter had attached itself to his back, and its claws were trying to burrow into his armor. Grabbing one clawed foot, he peeled it away from his chest. Swinging his arm, he dislodged the critter while keeping hold of its rubbery leg. The sound of angry static reached through his helmet. He dropped to both knees and repeatedly body punched the critter into the ground until it too stopped moving. Even with the added strength of the hydraulics and oxygen support, the pace of this combat was tiring. It took effort to move the hydraulics and the critters were fast, which demanded an equal speed from the Navigator.
When he stood up, Tuck was ripping the legs from another critter while cheerfully singing, “She loves me,
she loves me not…”
A flash of red light cut across his visor screen, and he shouted, “Who’s firing?”
Tank replied calmly, “Just watching out for Lexie.”
When he finally finished killing the critters attacking him, he looked around to find Tuck and Trigger still crushing the last of theirs. It had been a brief engagement, and the corpses of the critters littered the sandy ground.
Ark said steadily, “Nicely done, Leon. What did you learn?”
This was his first Navigator mission, and he knew Ark would have watched his every move. CaliTech may have tested the componentry of the gear, but they’d never militarized it, and their missions would become the basis of how the future Navigator squads worked.
“They’re still hard to kill even with the gear. One-on-one it’s an equal fight, but if there’s more than five or six of them at a time then they could overwhelm a Navigator.”
“I already knew that,” Lexie said dourly.
“We’re gonna need to use weapons, Ark. They don’t die easy, and there’s more of them than there is of us.”
CHAPTER TEN: Waking nightmare (Ally)
“Ally, can you hear me?” The voice was male and she didn’t know who he was. “Ally, you need to wake up.” She liked the firm, rich tone and tried to smile. “Ally, I’m Doctor Dayton, and I need you to wake up.”
Fluttering her eyes open, she was surprised when she couldn’t see anything other than darkness. Perhaps her eyes weren’t open, and she tried to move her hand to touch her face. Her arm felt weak and she wasn’t sure it moved.
“That’s good, Ally. Try to move your hand again.”
Dayton’s voice was gentle and encouraging. Wanting to please him, she lifted her arm again, and this time she felt fabric against her fingers. A warm, soft hand slid into hers and squeezed it gently.
“Very good, Ally. Can you squeeze my hand?”
Her hand twitched and her grip tightened. “Excellent, Ally. You’re doing well.”
Licking her dry lips, she tried to speak. “C…can’t…see.”
The tone of Dayton’s voice changed to one of sympathy. “Your pupils are non-responsive. The drugs they used to save your life can cause damage to the eyes, resulting in blindness.” A small stick was gently inserted into her mouth. “This is a straw. Try and drink something.”