by Jake Bible
“Look out!” Zach yelled as a hunk of concrete fell toward them from a debris pile after lightning hit it.
Olivia managed to swerve around the falling concrete, but then almost drove them headlong into a different debris pile. She yanked the wheel and got them around that.
Then they came to a full stop as the front of the ATV fell forward into a ditch that was filling rapidly with mud. Mud that was too deep for the ATV to power through. Olivia scrabbled out of her seat and jumped into the mud. She fought against the suction and waded across the ditch until she was able to get to a high enough spot that the mud only came up to her calves.
She stopped and realized Zach wasn’t with her. She spun about and saw the ATV sinking deeper into the mud, the top of Zach’s head all that was visible of the man.
“Shit!” she yelled and fought her way back.
***
Cash was running. The ground was slick and ankle deep with mud, but he ignored all of that and did not slow. He had his rifle pressed to his chest with one arm while he waved his other above his head while shouting, “Come and get me, you bastards! Come on!”
The two albertosaurs that were still alive were right on his heels. Literally.
One of them snapped its jaws and just missed catching the back of Cash’s scalp. He felt the hot, fetid breath on his skin and his words turned to terrified screams. It did not matter how many decades of experience he had as an operator, feeling a carnivorous monster that close turned anyone into a screaming mess.
Cash dove around the front of the speed roller, twisting in the air so his back was to the ground when he hit. His body slid fast on the mud and grass, giving him the time and space to put his rifle to his shoulder and fire up at the open jaws of the beast that was about to chomp him in half. He squeezed the trigger until the rifle clicked empty.
The albertosaur that had almost snatched him lost most of its upper jaw. It fell to the side with enough force that Cash was lifted up out of the mud for a split second before falling back in and continuing to slide. Cash fetched a fresh magazine from a front pocket and slapped it into his rifle as soon as he ejected the spent one.
But he was too late. The second albertosaur was on him. Cash knew he couldn’t get his rifle up in time.
Then the beast roared as electricity flowed across its hide. It stumbled, staggered, and fell forward, its eyes rolling back up into its head. Cash was still sliding, but he wasn’t going to slide fast enough to avoid being crushed. He rolled hard to his left and managed to get under the speed roller. His head hit an axle and he grunted as stars filled his vision, but he came to a stop as the creature fell where he’d just been, sending a wave of mud into Cash’s face.
Cash kept rolling, knowing if he stayed where he was, he’d end up buried under the speed roller in two-foot-deep mud. He could see the wheels already sinking.
Cash came up out onto his knees on the other side of the speed roller then got to his feet. He sprint-slipped his way to the back to the vehicle and saw Barbara standing a few feet away, stun thumper up to her shoulder. Even through the rain, the smell of cooked meat reached Cash’s nostrils.
“What did you do?” Mike yelled as he appeared out of the speed roller. “Take this! Take this!”
He threw a new power pack to Barbara. She caught and stared at the pack them looked at the stun thumper. Her eyes went wide and she scrambled to get the old pack out and the new pack in just as Brain announced, “Now is the time, Michael DiCenzo. Push the button.”
***
“No! No! Not like this! Come on!” Olivia screamed as she tried desperately to get Zach out of the ATV while it sank deeper into the mud.
She’d gotten his face above the surface of the mud, but he was unconscious, a huge gash splitting his forehead from temple to temple.
“No!” she screamed again as she dug with one hand and held Zach’s mouth to the air with the other.
But she was losing. The ATV was sinking too fast and the rain was coming down so hard that the mud was only getting deeper with every second.
“NO!”
Then she felt the suction grab onto her legs and she dropped a foot into the mud herself, the surface coming up to above her breasts.
It was not the first time Olivia had had to make a bad choice. Since she’d arrived Flipside, her life was a series of bad-to-worse choices. Choosing to save herself over dying with Zach was not a hard decision to make.
Olivia scrambled up out of the mud, her arms burning with the effort as she clawed through the muck to find solid ground at the edge of the ditch. She managed to get up far enough that her legs were no longer influenced by the sinking of the ATV. Olivia didn’t stop moving until she was all the way out and only knee deep.
She turned, but the ATV was gone. Zach was gone. She hadn’t known him well, barely at all, but the loss hit her hard. She fell to the ground, the mud splashing up around her, and sobbed.
“Get up!” a voice yelled in her ear. “Liv! Get up!”
Olivia turned her head and Ivy was pulling her to her feet.
“Wha…?” Olivia said, but her stunned question was lost to a thunderclap.
The base was illuminated by several bolts of lightning above and Olivia saw operators running through the mud, abandoning the wall. Well, not so much running, as wading. Those in ATVs quickly ditched them and got out as the vehicles became mired in the mud.
Ivy had Olivia on her feet and was dragging her along.
“I’m good!” Olivia yelled as she got her shit together and fought against the mud on her own power. “Did we win?”
Ivy gave her a look and Olivia knew the answer. She glanced over her shoulder at the wall and that’s when she saw what was climbing up over the top.
Smeeks. A lot of smeeks.
***
“MS. CHIN!” Lakshmi yelled. “FIRE NOW!”
Barbara had just gotten the fresh power pack into the stun thumper when the command came over the comms. She turned, took a knee, aimed, and squeezed the trigger three times. Electric rounds hit the combot, the cube, and Lakshmi.
Even over the thunder, Barbara and Cash could hear the woman scream as she and the combot took a step forward.
Then they were gone.
In the blink of an eye, faster even, they went from there to not there.
Cash ran toward the bubble and stared at the mud where they’d been standing. It was churned up from the weight of Lakshmi and the combot. A foot ahead, inside the shimmer of the bubble, the mud was untouched.
“They made it,” Cash said and spun around.
Barbara was right there. She dropped the stun thumper and grabbed his uniform, pulling him to her. She kissed him so hard that she split her bottom lip on Cash’s teeth. But she didn’t give a shit.
She’d never felt so alive before.
“Hey, dudes?” Mike called over the comms.
“We did it, Mike,” Cash said, gasping as he pulled away from Barbara.
“Yep. We sure did,” Mike said, not sounding happy. “Take a look at your scanner.”
“Shit,” Cash said and brought up a hologram from his wrist tab.
“Yep. That’s a whole lot of wingers about to swoop down on our asses,” Mike said. “You might want to get in back here with me.”
Barbara grabbed Cash’s hand and dragged him toward the speed roller. About a quarter mile off was a flock of wingers that was larger than any she’d seen so far. And she’d seen a lot since landing Flipside.
They reached the back of the speed roller and Cash helped Barbara inside, jumped up behind her, reached out, and slammed the doors closed just as dozens of claws landed on top of the vehicle.
“I think we’re going to be here a while,” Mike whispered.
***
“Head count!” Bloom yelled as soon as the bunker’s doors were shut and locked tight.
Team leaders started calling out names. Only half responded.
“Commander?” Tressa asked, approaching Bloom.
“Tressa,” Tressa said.
The sound of smeeks roaring outside the bunker, followed by violent banging against the doors, had all of her attention. She reached out and took Bloom by the arm.
“What now?” she asked in a hushed tone.
“Now we hope our fallback plan works,” Raff said as he joined them. He gave Tressa a hug. “Good to see you made it.”
“Fallback plan?” Tressa asked as she pulled away, giving Raff an uncertain smile.
“How many combots did you count out on the field?” Bloom asked and answered before she could. “Twenty. But we have thirty.”
“The generals,” Tressa said.
“The what?” Raff asked.
“Never mind,” Tressa replied. “So there are ten more combots out there on the base?”
“Yes, and they are programmed to fight in mud and to copy the hunting tactics of the smeeks,” Bloom said. “They should be engaging right about now.”
He stopped talking and cocked his head. Nothing happened except for the smeeks continuing to attack the bunker doors.
“LEWIS!” Bloom shouted.
“Now, sir!” a woman shouted back.
The sound of .50 caliber machine guns joined the roars of the smeeks. Then the roars began to retreat and lessen until all that could be heard were occasional cries far away.
“When will we know it’s safe?” Tessa asked.
“Lewis!” Bloom yelled again.
“Bringing up vid feeds now, sir!” the same woman called back.
“Go and rest, Tressa,” Bloom said. “You’ve earned it. As soon as the base is clear, Lewis will let me know and I will, in turn, let you know. But that will be a while. The smeeks are on the run and until they realize that they are no longer the apex predators, they are going to keep circling back to try to get to us. I’ve been through this before. Most of us have. Go rest and get some sleep. It’s going to be a long night.”
Tressa couldn’t think of any more questions. Raff smiled at her and helped Tressa wind her way through the crowd of operators and personnel until they found the cot where Tressa’s father was laying.
“Special delivery,” Raff said. “Mind if I leave her here with you while I check with the team leaders?”
“Of course,” Thompson said.
“Good,” Raff said. “I’ll check on you later.”
He was gone into the crowd and Tressa turned to face her father.
“We win?” he asked.
“I think so,” Tressa said and collapsed onto the cot next to his.
“I knew we would,” Thompson said. “Thompsons always win.”
Tressa laughed until she fell asleep.
Twenty
It became annoyingly hot inside the back of the speed roller, which did not help the smell of the three still very damp people trapped inside.
“Sun’s up,” Barbara said as she pulled off her T-shirt. “So, hey, that means it’s only going to get hotter.”
She glanced up at the ceiling and the sound of the pterosaurs that were on top of the vehicle, ready and willing to wait them out.
“I honestly thought I wouldn’t be in this position again,” Barbara said. “Trapped in a damn crawler with a bunch of wingers waiting to eat my ass.”
“This is a speed roller,” Mike said then flinched at the look Barbara gave him. “Or crawler. You call it what you want.”
Cash shoved open the hatch and checked out the cab.
“Those teeth managed to shatter a shatterproof windshield,” Cash reported. “Same with the side windows.”
“Leave that open,” Barbara said, fanning herself. “At least it lets some air in.”
“I can crack these vents,” Mike said as he stood up and slid two small panels aside at the tops of the side walls to reveal air vents about a foot square each. A very sharp beak immediately tried to get in at him and he stumbled back and fell right on top of Barbara.
“Get off,” Barbara growled as she shoved him away.
Then all three of them paused, cocked their heads, and began tapping at their ears.
“Static,” Cash said.
“We’re on the wrong side of the bubble,” Mike said. “The relays can’t get a signal to us here.”
The static grew stronger then a painful screech filled their comms.
“Good morning, survivors!” Raff called over the comms. “We have you on scan and see your little hearts a-beating. Hang tight and we’ll get those wingers clear.” There was a pause. “You may not want to be leaning against the metal walls of the cargo hold.”
Cash was already standing clear, but Mike and Barbara quickly joined him in the center of the hold.
“Fire in the hole, folks,” Raff said.
The unmistakable crackle of electricity filled the air and the hair on everyone’s arms stood straight up as a cacophony of angry pterosaurs assaulted their ears. Cash, Barbara, and Mike stared up at the hold’s ceiling and waited out the opera of anger and pain. After a couple of minutes, and several thuds from unconscious wingers, Raff’s voice returned.
“You are clear,” Raff said. “Pop those doors open and come give us a hug.”
Barbara didn’t have to be told twice. She unlocked and shoved the doors open then jumped down from the speed roller. She stepped a yard or two away, held her face up to the sun and fresh air, and turned in a circle.
“Eh hem,” Cash said and threw her T-shirt at her.
“Thanks,” Barbara said, grabbing the T-shirt from her face, where it had landed, and slipping it on. “That would have ended up all over the streams if we were back home.”
A speed roller stood about twenty yards away, an amused Raff sitting up top with a stun thumper across his lap.
“Hey there,” Raff said as he climbed down and walked toward them while four other operators hopped out of the speed roller and took up watch positions.
Raff studied the area and nodded.
“Nice work,” he said as he regarded the albertosaur corpses that were everywhere. “Good eating, too. You guys ever had alberto-steaks? Surprisingly tasty for carnivores. Like alligator, but with a tang. Don’t even need sauce, just some salt and pepper.” He put the tips of his fingers to his mouth and kissed them. “Delish!”
Cash laughed and walked over to him, giving Raff a big hug then pulling back and patting him on the shoulders.
“We got her there,” Cash said. “Barbara saved the day with her shooting. She hit the target and they crossed the turn to Topside without getting sliced in half.”
Cash gestured at the bubble and grinned. The grin slowly faded. He moved around Raff and walked to where the edge of the bubble should have been. In the bright sunlight of day, especially after a massive rainstorm, the bubble should have been shimmering like crazy.
It wasn’t. There was no shimmer at all. There was no bubble.
“It’s gone,” Cash said. “They collapsed the bubble.”
“Yeah,” Raff said as he followed Cash. “That was the plan. If it worked, then every bubble across the globe is collapsed too.”
“And this will stabilize Topside?” Barbara asked, joining them. “How soon until they get the bubbles up and working again so we can go home?”
“Hard to say,” Raff replied.
Cash eyed Raff. “Raff? I know that tone. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Raff said with a smile. “Everything went according to plan. Come on. We need to get back to the base and start working on clean up and fortification.”
“How much fortification?” Barbara asked. “We aren’t going to be here that long, are we?”
She looked about, her eyes searching for answers on the operators’ faces. Mike walked up and patted her shoulder.
“Let’s get back to base and get cleaned up,” Mike said. “Eat something. I know I’m starving.”
Raff whistled and s
napped his fingers then pointed at the albertosaur corpses. “Winch a couple of those up top then come back for the rest. You guys know the drill. Gonna throw some alberto-steaks on the barbie tonight!”
Cash raised his eyebrows. Raff shrugged.
“You try living with a bunch of Aussies and see if you don’t start picking up the lingo, mate,” Raff said. “Oh, and they make beer, too. We brought some. It’s…funky, but does the job.”
“I bet,” Cash said.
Raff glanced at their speed roller, which was stuck in mud up to the wheel wells. “You guys probably need a ride, right?”
“Ya think?” Cash replied and laughed.
Raff twirled a hand above his head then pointed in the direction of the base.
***
Tressa stood watching as the bodies that had been removed from the bunker were loaded onto trailers that were attached to the backs of ATVs.
“We didn’t burn them because the smoke and smell drew the teeth,” Tressa said as Bloom walked up to her. “Why is it a good idea now?”
“Because it’s the fastest, most sanitary way to dispose of the corpses,” Bloom said. “And this base has a lot more corpses after yesterday, human and dino.”
Speed rollers were busy winching struts and hunks of metal out of piles of debris. The operators and personnel that Bloom had brought with him were moving like a well-oiled machine and Tressa nodded approvingly.
“I’ll trust your judgment, Patrick,” Tressa said. “You’ve been at this longer than us.”
“You’ve been here a while yourself,” Bloom said. “You know how this world works.”
“We were surviving like rats, not like people,” Tressa said. “You know how to make this place functional until it’s time to leave.”
Bloom didn’t say anything. Tressa nodded and laughed.
“Which is going to be a long while, isn’t it?” she asked.
“That is something we’ll need to discuss as soon as we have your key people back here on base, Tressa,” Bloom said. “Until then, we clean and fortify.”