by M. Lorrox
He nods and grabs the mouthpiece. He raises a hand out to the passengers as he speaks.
They look at him and hear: “Family! Crazy man switching planes, shoot you calm, now run!”
Enough people in the plane leap from their seats that anyone still hesitant is swayed to act as well. The flight attendant smiles as he hangs the handset back on the wall.
Charlie shakes his head at the smug flight attendant. “I don’t remember much Japanese, but I remember enough to know that you’re an idiot.”
Twenty minutes later, the last of the passengers are transferred off, and the weapons start to be transferred on. The knights Charlie posted at the gates had to keep some nervous travelers at bay, but they only had to take out three zombies. They look up as a man with an eye-patch and a soft-sided leather bag screams, “Help!” He’s running down the long hallway between the gates—toward the knights—with a pair of zombies chasing after him.
Balena is on the end of the guarded area nearest the man, and she jogs out of position. She yells over her shoulder, “Rick! I’m pushing up!”
“Got it!” He slides over to cover her area while she blasts down the hallway toward the man.
When she’s forty yards from the man being chased, she stops and raises one of the M4 carbines General Campbell provided the team. “Hey! Jump right!”
The man leaps and rolls to his right, and Balena drops the zombies that were behind him with two quick single-shots to the head. The man recovers on the ground, glances behind him, then he gets up and continues running toward Balena. “Thanks!”
She nods then turns around to jog back to the guarded gates. When she gets there, she’s surprised that the man has followed her. “Listen bud, you gotta stay back. Find a place to hide. You’ll be safe.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t think so, I’m coming with you… I’m Johannes. Now can we please get the hell out of here?”
In New Zealand, at the facility called The Plant, Valerie Beran walks a hall with a clipboard in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. She pauses at the door to what she calls her lonely office. It’s marked “DANGER - ZOMBIES” and she swipes her access card to open the door. She walks into a small room with a camera above a computer terminal to her right, a lit red light on the wall to her left, and a door beside a window in front of her with a sign that reads “KENNEL.”
When the door she came through closes and relocks, the red light turns off. A pair of shaded goggles hang near the now-dimmed red light, and she grabs them and puts them on. She swipes her access card at the next door, and it unlocks. When she opens the door, bright lights turn on in the hallway ahead of her, spilling light into the small room as she steps out.
On her left are a series of rooms without doors, each holding a large, stainless-steel table with restraints bolted to them. On her right are metal storage containers with their thick metal doors swung open into the wide hall. On each door is a worm-gear opening-and-closing mechanism, and attached to the side of each container is a controller and radio transmitter. Blocking the opening of each door is a sliding, thick, plexiglass plate. Beyond it, zombies.
The blinding lights that automatically turned on when Valerie entered are pointed into the containers and at the zombies, who cower away. Their cries and growls permeate the kennel’s hallway as Valerie walks through. She pauses in front of each container, counts the zombies inside, and assesses their state of decay. Then, she updates the information on the clipboard before continuing. When she reaches the end of the long hallway, she’s at container twenty-four.
When she’s done checking it, she walks across the hall to the room opposite. She sets the clipboard down on the large, shiny table and flips a sheet. He wants eighteen containers deployed, damn. Better use the older ones, they won’t last too much longer. Save the fresh meat for later.
She marks the containers to deploy, then steps over to an intercom near another computer terminal. She hits a button on the intercom.
“SeCComm.”
“I’m ready to begin deploying containers. Is the helicopter prepped?”
“Waiting on you.”
She rolls her eyes and picks up the clipboard. “We’re going to start with bay seven. Let’s put it in section one, and then work up through the rest.”
“Very well, I’ll inform them. Anything else?”
“Nope.” She walks down the hall to bay seven. She pushes a few buttons on the controller attached to the container, and the worm gear starts to close. The plexiglass barrier is timed to retract when it needs to, so for a few seconds, it doesn’t move. When the metal door is about to pinch the plexiglass, it starts to slide out, never creating more than an inch of opening between the two doors.
When the heavy metal door seals shut, Valerie enters a code on the keypad, and the radio receiver is activated. She takes a step over to the wall the plexiglass retracted into, flips up a safety cover, and then holds in a large red button.
Motors churn above the container, and the ceiling begins to retract. By the time it’s fully opened, the helicopter is overhead, and a worker is attaching cables to the container.
Before container seven is lifted out, Valerie is on to the next one on her list. She begins the process again, figuring that it will take the helicopter at least fifteen minutes to make the first, closest drop and return. That’ll give me a half hour before they need the third container. Plenty of time to hit the galley.
She opens the roof over bay ten and closes the roof over bay seven on her way back out the door. She sighs. The farther sections will take the helicopter longer to deploy to and return from... This is going to take hours. Oh! I’ll grab a laptop and binge something, that’ll pass the time.
Andre Cojocaru, leading the Electronic Warfare Group, has a very different outlook on his tasks over the next few hours. Of all the times to have a failed charger... Good thing we have extra batteries.
While Valerie works alone, Andre has four team members working directly under him, some of whom have others working under them. Instead of readying just a dozen units, he decides to push it to fifteen.
Ira, supervisor of the Robotics Team, frowns. “Why do we need so many for operational tests? Shouldn’t we do more developmental tests on a few units? There could be a problem with—”
Andre waves his hand in front of her. “I tried to argue, but the orders stand. That’s why I want to prep more than needed, in case we have some initial failures with whatever operations SeCComm has planned.”
Ira glances at the explosive modules they’re installing on each unit. “Let’s hope that any initial failures happen far from here.”
In Honolulu, equipment is ferried up the ramp from one 747, across a lobby between gates, then down another ramp to a different 747. On the new plane—which has a different layout in the upper deck lounge—Eddy helps Second Lieutenant Owen Metcalf. They grab the gear as it’s brought onto the plane, then they carry it down the aisles to the aft of the plane where they stack it.
The first few minutes are awkward: the last time Eddy spoke to Owen was on the ground in DC—before he and July hid in the bathrooms and deceived the team. Soon, however, Owen grows to appreciate Eddy’s strength, and they work together efficiently.
Eddy bends down to pick up one side of a crate that was set just inside the plane’s forward door. “So, I heard you’re a computer guy?”
Owen grabs the other side and lifts before he speaks—it’s an incredibly heavy crate and he doesn’t want to look weak. Ooof! “…Not exactly. Do you know what microcontrollers or FPGAs...field gate programmable arrays, are?”
Eddy looks over his shoulder as he walks backward down the long aisle. “Course.”
“Oh cool, well that’s the kind of thing I do—embedded systems programming. Mainly for communications, but the technology is super widely applicable.”
They set the crate down at
the end of the aisle, and Eddy glances back up toward the door. No one has brought in any more equipment. He pushes a large crate of grenades a few inches to the side, then he sits on top. “Nice. I’ve done a little programming myself, but nothing fancy like that.”
Owen laughs. “Fancy? That’s an odd way to think about it.” He sits down on a crate of rifles and ammunition. “That’s awesome you’re already into programming. What kind of things have you done?”
“Well, I taught myself Python and Ruby... This guy, he was like ‘Yo, Ruby’s hot, learn that,’ so I did, but now I don’t know if I’ll use it again. And I used to program little robot kits, but it wasn’t really programming them. You know, the operating systems were in place, and I’d just customize the sets of instructions for the robot to follow.”
Owen chuckles. This kid’s sharp. “What I do isn’t all that different. I write the programs that other people then give commands to. In the end, it’s all the same; telling the machine what to do and when.” He motions to Eddy and squints. “How old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
“You should keep playing around with programming, it’s a powerful field.”
Eddy raises a shoulder and tips his head toward it in a shrug. “Maybe. So do you have any insight on the sort of tech you…or we, maybe, I guess…might find? Being used against, uh, us…I guess?”
Owen stands and retrieves the device Hecate recovered. “Yeah, a lot actually.” He hands it to Eddy. “A knight, or whatever, found this in the metro.”
Eddy turns the device over. There’s a keypad with numbers as well as a few other buttons with custom labels: ON, OPEN, and CLOSE. The housing has been opened, revealing a circuit board with a few wires and LEDs.
Owen sits back down. “I has onboard GSM cell networking and Wi-Fi. The battery underneath the board is absurdly large, and the few wires that come out of the box are likely antennas and then some switches for relays or something. It’s a rather simple design, but the thing is—” Owen smiles and points. “—that chip is a top-of-the-line FPGA. I mean, the things I work on for the military aren’t even that…fancy.”
Eddy studies it. “So that’s odd that they’d have good tech?”
Owen shakes his head. “No, it’s like... Hmm. It’s like building a desktop computer just to tell the time. That thing is insanely powerful for how it’s being used.”
“Oh. So we know at least that they have access to the best tech, but why would they overkill this?”
Owen sighs. “That’s the problem... The why? My bet is because they could.”
Eddy hands the device back to him. “Meaning?”
“Meaning they were spare. Like they had them for something else, or they just bought a ton of them. It makes me think that we’re going to see a lot of fancy sh—stuff. When we’re there.”
“Shit.” Eddy grins. “You can swear around me, but I hope you’re wrong.”
Owen raises a single eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Have another idea?”
Eddy stands up, then yawns. “Sorry.” He shakes his head. “I hope they used this because they’re amateurs with money. You know, buying the fancy tech to be badasses, but then being dumbasses in the implementation.”
Owen laughs. “Are you an optimist—sorry, what’s your name again?”
Eddy shakes his head. “Just feeling hopeful I suppose. Call me Leo.” He extends his hand for Owen to shake.
He shakes it. “I can get behind that.”
July walks down the ramp to the plane. The Army Combat Uniform she wears is baggy and hangs off her small frame. Just inside the plane, she finds Charlie talking on the phone to the cockpit. She pauses alongside him until he’s done.
He hangs up the phone, glances at her, and sighs. “July.”
She tilts her head toward the open door. “Hey. The knights want to pull back and leave if we’re ready. They said all the weapons and gear has been loaded.” Her face is stone-cold and emotionless.
“For the record, I’m very upset at you.”
“And I’m very upset at Dr. Melgaard.”
Charlie frowns and nods. “We’ll get him.”
She shakes her head. “I’ll get him.” She turns and walks away.
Charlie blows air through tightened lips and his cheeks puff out. He sticks his head into the opened door and yells up the ramp to the gate, “Balena! Pull back! Ready to go!” He stands a moment and listens, and he hears activity up the ramp. Alright. Let’s see what they’ve got going on in the upper deck lounge.
Balena, Gabriel, Ricochet, and Johannes make their way down the ramp and to the plane. When they’re inside, George the copilot closes the door, and the plane is pushed back.
Upstairs on the upper level, Charlie groans. No couches? Instead of the comfortable seating the other plane had in its lounge, this plane has modern-looking tables and cushionless chairs. Oh well. He sits down to test just how uncomfortable the chairs really are when Balena leads Johannes up the stairs.
“Sir, you were right, the fixer found us.”
Charlie stands back up and notices someone behind her with short brown hair and a ripped shirt, but they’re looking away. “Johannes, right? I’m glad you found us.”
“I’d know that voice anywhere.” Johannes steps out from behind Balena, a huge smile slapped across his face. “Charlie!”
Charlie’s mouth hangs open. “Peter!”
Peter/Johannes steps forward and attacks Charlie with a monstrous hug. “It’s been so long, buddy!”
“It has! I can’t believe this!”
Beside them, Balena watches, fully puzzled.
Charlie smacks Peter on the back and steps out of the hug. “Balena, this is Peter, a Knight of the Order. He served with me on Catherine’s Ascension.”
Balena chuckles. “Well I’ll be damned. It’s a famous knight party up in here. It’s nice to meet you, Peter... Or should we call you Johannes?”
He glances from her to Charlie. “Well, that’s an interesting question, and to answer it in detail might offend you. So, let me answer without explanation; call me Johannes, forget the name Peter.”
Balena shrugs. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Johannes.”
He puts on a charming smile. “And you, Balena.”
She smiles back, then glances at Charlie. “I guess I’ll let you two catch up. We’ll be taking off soon, so it might be a good idea to find a seat and strap in.”
Charlie nods, his eyes wet from happiness, and he smiles. “Thanks.” He turns to his old friend. “I can’t believe it’s you.” His eyes bounce from the eye-patch to a pair of gray streaks at Johannes’ temples.
He smiles. “Believe it, old man.”
Charlie smacks him on the side of the arm. “Ha!” He moves to sit down, and Johannes sits with him. “So, what’s the deal with the name thing? And the eye?”
While taking a breath, he bounces his head back and forth and takes the opportunity to look around the cabin. Alone… “You’ll understand better than anyone, I believe... I hope.” He sighs. “I had a chance at a new life after the outbreak in the west, so I let Peter die. Officially, he’s MIA and supposed dead. I burned the identity and adopted this new one. Figured I lived in the Pacific long enough, I’d be a decent fixer in this theatre, and so I came out to Hawaii... I never reported in to the War Cab, though, and I don’t plan to.” He swallows. “I’ve been a knight for almost three hundred years. I’ve seen so much death... I want out.”
Charlie nods. “I see. Johannes... It’s different, but it works. Do you mind if I call you Johan?”
Johannes scoffs. “Yes, I mind, so I’m sure you’re going to anyway.”
“You know me well... Your son? Nicholas?”
Johannes’ face grows long. He glances away for a moment, then straight into Charlie’s eyes. He stares into them as he shakes his head.
Cha
rlie closes his eyes. Gods be damned. “I’m so sorry.”
He nods. “Yeah.” He points to his eyepatch. “I’m just getting my eye to work again, but it’s pretty nasty looking still. The outbreak was really rough… It was complete chaos.”
Charlie shakes his head. “I can imagine... I was so hopeful you both made it out of there.”
Johannes sighs. “Are you and your family still living in North Carolina?”
“Good question. Last Sunday... I guess that’s a week ago now, but I’m not sure what happens with the date line between Hawaii and New Zealand... Anyway, last Sunday, we were outed, and after we left Monday morning, they burned our place down. So, now I don’t know where we’ll go next.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, but everyone came along? Everyone is alright?”
Charlie nods. “My youngest son is downstairs. I don’t think you’ve met him.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you were bringing a squire.”
Charlie shakes his head. “I didn’t… I’ll explain later.”
Interesting. “In any case, no, I haven’t met him. It’s been a long time since I’ve visited... How old is he?”
“Pain-in-the-ass age.”
Johannes laughs. “That age I know well. Nicholas was just growing out of it. He was about to take the rites as a Knight of the Order, but then...everything changed.” He clears his throat.
Charlie places his hand on his old friend’s shoulder. “Johannes, I’m glad you’re here with us. I believe we may be in for the fight of our lives.”
Johannes nods in sad agreement, then he motions to the soft-sided bag he carried with him. “I’ve done a little legwork, and I hate to say it, but I think you’re right… You are.”
When the plane picks up speed on the runway and begins its takeoff, Ghost sits in a seat along the aisle of the starboard window row and buckles in. She grips the armrests and squeezes the blood out of her hands. She exhales slowly through her mouth, but her heart races. Slow. Slow the mind with the breath... It’s not working, Naga!