Necrotic Earth

by SW Matthews

  Andy had expected the creature to transform into a pile of mush, not attack. He chambered another shell as the creature arose, the knife still embedded in its chest. He started to raise the weapon, but before he could fire, the creature was upon him. It knocked the barrel aside just as Andy pulled the trigger, and the blast hit the demon’s shoulder.

  The demon didn’t stop. It flung the shotgun away, then backhanded Andy, sending him sprawling.

  Andy desperately fumbled for his revolver as the damaged man approached to finish him. Andy fired four quick shots before the demon was on him again. It grabbed his leg and threw him.

  Andy landed on his head and was momentarily stunned. But he regained his wits when he realized the creature was coming toward him again. He pulled his pistol and carefully aimed it. He exhaled as calmly as he could, and pulled the trigger.

  The bullet hit the demon in its good shoulder, but it kept coming. Yet just as it was about to strike Andy, it stopped, a look of horror in its face. The bullet hole in its shoulder wasn’t healing, and it was starting to swell—the tissue around it bubbling and draining. Then, as with the other demon, the reaction began to spread—down the remaining arm and across the torso. The creature collapsed, and was soon a pile of wet, greasy meat. In a few more moments, only a small pool of slimy fluid, shallowly covering Tuck’s knife, remained.

  Andy retrieved the knife, then ran over to Tuck. He was alive, but his face was severely swollen.

  “C’mon, buddy, let’s go,” Andy said. He tried getting Tuck into a seated position.

  “Uhhhh, what… happened?”

  Andy placed his hand over Tuck’s mouth. “Shhh.” He heard moaning coming from the forest. “We’ve got to move, trooper.”

  Andy pulled Tuck to his feet, and together they staggered toward the rocky area.

  Andy knew that in Tuck’s current condition, there was no way he could move fast enough to make it across without being burned to death. Which meant Andy was going to have to make it alone—then try to figure out how to disable the flamethrower.

  But Tuck surprised him. He pulled away from Andy, stood, and brushed himself off.

  “I’m okay, Skipper,” he said weakly. “Let’s finish this mission.”

  They stationed themselves on the edge of the rocky area and started throwing items past the opposite border, onto the grass beyond. They had just tossed the raft when more demons appeared at the forest’s edge.

  “Holy shit,” Andy said. Dozens of figures were now emerging from the woods, and all of them were coming toward Tuck and Andy. “Go, Tuck. Now!”

  “You first, Skipper.”

  There was no time to argue. Andy sprinted toward the opposite edge of the barren strip. Just before he reached the center, he leapt. As soon as he touched down, he leapt again, but not before flames shot from the ground in front of him. He had to leap a third time before making it to the grass, but he made it through mostly unhurt—only his pants from the knee down were aflame, and he extinguished the fire by rolling in the grass.

  He quickly crawled back to the rocky area, looking for some way to disarm the flamethrower so Tuck could get through. He spotted the weapon immediately: a pipe running along the border, with nozzles aimed toward the forest. He had just pulled out his revolver when Tuck was on top of him, rolling around frantically, trying to extinguish his own flaming clothes.

  When the fire was out, he rolled over and saw the pipe—and Andy with his gun in his hand.

  “You might blow the whole thing up if you shoot it,” he said.

  “Riiiight,” Andy replied slowly. He hadn’t considered the possibility.

  Tuck smiled through his swollen face. His right eye was completely shut now.

  The two men gathered their gear, grabbed the raft, and ran toward the river. They heard the flamethrower firing behind them, and with it, increased moans from the demons.

  “Let’s get on the water in case one of those freaks makes it through,” Andy said.

  Tuck nodded in agreement. “It’s flowing east, so it’ll take us inland.”

  “How far in was the tracer?”

  “Sparky said about ten miles.” Tuck looked west, toward the coast they had arrived from. “I’d say we’re about a mile in now.”

  Together they unpacked and inflated the raft. They positioned it on the shore, loaded it up, and started to shove off into the fast-moving water. But before they could get away from the riverbank, a drone appeared overhead. The two men leapt into the boat.

  “Lay still,” whispered Andy. “Maybe it won’t see us.”

  As they remained motionless in the raft, a moaning sounded nearby—closer than the rest. One of the demons had made it through the flames and was staggering toward the water. All of its clothing had been burned off, and its scarred skin was still reforming.

  The drone turned toward the creature, firing its weapon.

  The blasts burned and shocked the demon, but it kept advancing. Finally, a blast shocked the beast, and it shook before turning into a lump of flesh and fluid, just as the others had.

  The drone paused, then continued on its way.

  The two men let out a sigh of relief. Soon they had their vessel in the swift current, heading downriver.

  Chapter 11

  Piper, Doc, Rosie, and Bandit had been walking for over an hour, but at least the trek so far had been easy—the ground was flat and the grass was soft, the sun was shining, the only clouds were far to the south, and a light breeze was blowing. There were no birds, no buzzing insects. Piper appreciated that. She needed some time to think—to mourn.

  But apparently Doc felt she might need to talk.

  “Will you tell me about them, Piper?” he asked quietly as they walked. “I would like to know more about Andy and Tucker. Please, Piper. You’re the only one who can—”

  “I can’t believe this is happening!” she blurted out, sobbing. She stopped walking, and the group stopped with her. “Any of this! It’s crazy! Why did we have to get involved?”

  Rosie gently hugged her. Together they cried.

  “Let’s sit for a while,” Doc suggested as he sat. “We’ve walked a long time.”

  The women stepped back from each other and sat in the grass next to Doc. Bandit continued standing, guarding the group.

  “Tell us about them,” said Rosie softly.

  “They’re assholes!” Piper screamed. “Both of them! Making me leave the plane—that was my plane! More than either of those two. I paid for it! I worked on it!” She wiped her eyes. “I didn’t want to leave them. They made me!”

  Doc waited for her to calm down a little, then said, “You had to drive that pod, Piper. You had to save us.”

  “Tucker could have done that!” she yelled. “Andy is my husband! I should have been with him. Him and his goddamn watchdog made me get in that fucking pod!”

  “As your husband, his first duty is to protect you,” Doc said. “I failed in that duty to my wife. Believe me, you do not want him to have to experience that defeat.” A tear ran down Doc’s face, and Rosie rubbed his back. “You did the right thing; don’t ever doubt that.”

  “But I do doubt it,” Piper said quietly. “Maybe we could have just cut the engines and glided in. I mean, if the drones were following the noise, it might have worked. Or we could have tried to increase altitude, maybe hit the booster jets? Those drones probably aren’t built for high-altitude flight. Maybe we could have gotten out of their range.”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” said Rosie, soothingly. “We can only move forward from here.”

  “But now we’re stuck here,” Piper said. “We have no way to get off this damn island, even if we do find this super-kid. We’re probably going to end up getting killed ourselves.”

  “That is not going to happen,” said Bandit matter-of-factly.

  Piper looked up at the young man. He stood tall and straight, full of confidence, and strangely, she believed him.

  “Okay then,” she said, wiping
her eyes dry. “Let’s go.”

  They stood and began walking again.

  “So, how did you guys meet?” Rosie asked.

  Piper cleared her throat. “In the hospital.”

  “Andy said the Dole Medical Center, in Wichita?” asked Doc.

  “Yes, that’s right. I had been at the Santa Fe tech center. We were attacked during the Mexican surge, and I was hurt pretty bad. The closest military hospital that had the surgeons I needed was in Kansas, so that’s where I ended up.”

  “What happened to you?” Rosie asked.

  “Abdominal wounds. I lost some of my intestines, my spleen, an ovary. Had to have my bladder repaired. It was a long recovery. I was in ICU for a couple of weeks, then I was transferred to a double room. They usually keep girls with girls, but they were overloaded with patients, so I was stuck in a room with a guy. It was Andy. He wasn’t hurt too bad—broken nose, which he refused treatment for. Some scrapes and bruises. He had been held prisoner for a while. He had only been rescued a few days before we met.”

  “He was a prisoner?” Doc said.

  “Yes. For a week or so. His helijet was shot down. Tuck was part of the team too. He was rescued at the crash site, along with another guy, but Andy was taken hostage.”

  “That must have been terrible,” Rosie said. “I can’t imagine.”

  Piper nodded sadly. “He didn’t really ever say much about it, and I didn’t force it. He was really messed up for a while. That’s also when I met Tucker. He came to visit Andy every day.”

  “So you guys fell for each other in the hospital?”

  “Well, kind of. We were roommates for a few weeks, and I did manage to get him to open up to me a little, but he was transferred before we became too close—although I did like him a lot.”

  “That’s right, he said he was leaving as the hospital was attacked,” Doc said.

  “Yes. It was the Mexicans’ last effort. They made it all the way to Wichita. A lot of people died in the attack. Andy was scheduled to transfer that day. I thought he died—I even checked the database later and it said he was dead, but he had escaped.”

  “Escaped?” Rosie asked.

  Piper bit her tongue. She wasn’t ready to divulge everything. “It’s a long story,” she said. “Anyway, after Wichita, I was transferred to Denver, then discharged. I got a job with a shipping company in the Western Islands. Pacific Navigation. I was stationed on Whitney Island.”

  Doc nodded. “Beautiful there, but dangerous.”

  “That’s why I was there. My job was to electronically detect and confuse pirates.”

  “Wow,” said Rosie. She looked impressed.

  “It wasn’t as daring as it sounds. I sat in front of screens, interpreted data, redirected radar and laser systems. Boring geek stuff. And it was actually very safe. PacNav is a huge company, and they spared no expense on keeping us free from harm. It was really a great job.”

  “So why’d you leave?”

  “I found Andy.”

  “You found him?”

  “Yes. He was also working in the islands, but he was in bad shape.” Piper was careful here, trying not to reveal too much. “Physically, mentally. He needed help, and I wanted to help him, so we left and went to Lakeland.”

  “What about Tucker?” Rosie asked. “Where did you find him?”

  Piper smiled. “Actually, he found us.”

  “In Lakeland?”

  “When we were driving to Lakeland. He said he owed Andy his life, and he wanted to come with us. So he did.”

  “Sounds like there’s more to that story,” Doc said.

  Piper just shrugged.

  “You know,” said Doc, “after we bought our land, and started building the cabin, I had to use several different air cargo companies to get all of the supplies and workers up there, but I don’t remember you guys being one of them. Seems like I started using you in…”

  “2105,” Piper said. “We bought the plane and cabins in 2104, and opened the business later that year. You started using us a little the next year.”

  “Right, right. We mostly used Skinner before that. Then, when Gabby and I decided to spend more time up there, we needed larger deliveries, so we switched to you.”

  “You’ve been one of our best clients since 2108.”

  “That’s when I retired.”

  “Then your account really increased in the last year.”

  “That’s when Pol arrived. Like I said, he required a massive amount of sustenance.”

  “Plus, you had two more mouths to feed,” Piper added, indicating Bandit and Rosie.

  “And one less,” Bandit said somberly.

  “Right,” said Piper, quietly.

  Together the group silently continued their march. It was understood that they had all suffered great tragedy. That their lives had become disjointed and unstable. That the plans each of them had once had for themselves were now impossible, and irrelevant, because as heartbreaking as the events in their own lives had been, they paled in comparison to the miserable existence of one innocent small boy. A boy who had known only a brief episode of happiness and peace before being thrown back into a world of pain, suffering, and solitude. A boy who would now once more be tormented by the man who should have been his champion all along, but instead was his nemesis.

  This boy—with the potential to achieve unimaginable feats and unlock secrets hidden from the mortal mind—was locked in a cell, alone.

  Chapter 12

  They had only been traveling for a half hour, but Andy and Tuck were both completely exhausted. They had survived multiple areas of whitewater and had traversed two waterfalls.

  But at last they reached a calm, wide area. The water was fast, but it was smooth, which was fortunate, not only because the men were worn out, but because the raft had sustained several tears and was now only about half inflated. It was still staying afloat—barely—but there was little to no hope of actually steering it now. Their only goal was to make it to the opposite shore before they smashed into rocks or sank.

  After several minutes’ effort, they managed to get out of the swift current, and they slowly paddled toward the distant bank. As they came closer, they saw a large fence running the length of the river.

  “Looks about thirty feet high,” said Tuck between exhausted paddles.

  “That’s a relief,” Andy managed. “I thought it was fifty.”

  They then floated past a building on the other side of the fence.

  “I bet that’s it,” Andy said.

  Tuck just grunted while trying to get the boat stopped.

  Finally they landed the craft, about a mile beyond the building. They crawled up the riverbank and collapsed, exhausted from the ordeal. They remained motionless for several minutes, soaking wet and covered in mud.

  “Think they’re at the building yet?” Andy asked.

  “I doubt it, but who knows,” Tuck answered.

  “You up for climbing that fence?”

  “No choice.”

  “Make for an easy drone target up there.”

  “Yep.”

  “Let’s wait until we see one fly by. Once it’s past, I’ll climb over. If it turns back, or another one comes, you can shoot it down.”

  “Okay. Let’s start looking for drones then.”

  “Five minutes,” said Andy, and let his head fall to the grass.

  ***

  The foursome came upon the building from the southwest. It was a long, narrow, one-story concrete structure. There were no roads to it, or around it. Windows ran all along the west side, and there was an entrance on the southwest corner. A hangar stood to the east of the building, and a large fence was to the north, with the river beyond.

  “This must be it,” Doc said.

  “No guard towers or cameras,” said Bandit.

  “Guess they feel pretty safe,” said Piper.

  “Mistake,” replied Bandit.

  ***

  Tuck woke Andy with a nudge. “Go
, Skipper. Drone just flew past.”

  “What, what? Oh, right. What’d you say?” Andy rolled over in the grass, trying to come to his senses. His body ached everywhere, and he was shivering in his wet clothes.

  “Drone,” repeated Tuck. “They come by about every ten minutes. One just flew by, center of the river. Time to climb.”

  “How long have I—”

  “Twenty-five minutes or so. You needed a rest. But now you need to hustle.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  Andy clumsily rose to his feet, ran to the fence, and started climbing. His hands were numb from cold, and he was still groggy from the short nap. His muddy boots slipped on the fence, and he fell on his butt.

  “Hurry, Skipper!” Tuck hissed. He had already positioned himself with his rifle. With his right eye swollen shut, he was awkwardly using his left eye on the scope.

  Andy focused and started climbing again.

  ***

  Given the drone defenses, the group was shocked at the lack of security around the building itself. The door was propped open with a rock, and they entered without seeing a soul.

  A long hallway ran the entire length of the building. Windows lined one side, and doors were evenly spaced on the other, about fifteen feet apart. A single adjoining hallway led off to the right halfway down the building, and at the far end, another door faced them. All of the doors were closed, and no lights were on.

  “I don’t think there’s anyone home,” Rosie said.

  “This place looks brand new,” said Piper. “It even smells like fresh paint.”

  “Maybe that’s why the door was open.”

  “Let’s stay together and search the rooms,” Doc suggested.

  They approached the first door. It was unlocked, and led into what looked like a tiny apartment, complete with a bed, a desk, a couch, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. But the place was immaculate, with no sign that anyone had ever lived there.

  They continued to the next door. It was identical to the previous one, except this one had been lived in—papers were on the desk and dishes in the sink. The bathroom had towels and toiletries.