Fallen Metropolis (Omnibus Edition)

by Matthew J. Barbeler

  Doctor Fewster’s hand went to his pocket and rested on the handle of his pistol. Vynce grabbed his hand and shook his head.

  “No aggression,” Vynce said.

  Doctor Fewster pulled his unsteady hand out of his pocket. He nodded at Vynce nervously.

  “Follow my lead,” Vynce said and took two steps backward.

  Doctor Fewster took two steps backward and stopped next to Vynce.

  The shambler took one step forward dragging its overgrown foot along the ground after it. It took another step forward and dragged its other foot forward along the ground again. It stopped after two steps and looked the two men up and down again.

  “What the hell are they doing?” Doctor Fewster asked.

  “They’re not attacking. They’re afraid of getting too close to us, as though they’re conscious of appearing to be aggressive.”

  “I wouldn’t give them too much credit. The last time they were conscious was before they were infected,” Doctor Fewster said.

  “There’s some intelligence there somewhere,” Vynce said and walked back towards the column of survivors.

  They caught up quickly and continued through the Residential District. The entrance to the hangar was near the Eden’s Hill MagLev station. They continued on in that general direction for as long as they could. More and more fleshlings joined the horde behind them.

  The road they followed forked off in two directions in front of a large cluster of closely built apartment buildings. They had been built so close together that there was barely enough room for five people to walk abreast between them. The spaces between the buildings were dark. It was impossible to see any further into the complex past the first set of buildings.

  Jaxon halted the procession in front of the building and spoke quickly to Doctor Cooper. “What do you think, doc? Easier for us to go around, or through?”

  Doctor Cooper considered this for a moment and said, “The entrance to the hangar is right on the other side of these apartment blocks. Cutting through would be quickest, but no one’s been brave enough to go in there for days. We used to raid these buildings for food and bottled water, but eventually the people we sent out stopped coming back. We decided it was too dangerous.”

  “How long would it take us to walk around?”

  “Maybe half an hour.”

  “How long if we cut through?”

  “If we don’t run into any trouble? Ten minutes.”

  Vynce jogged up to the front of the group and asked, “What’s the plan?”

  “We’re debating on whether we take the long way, or cut through,” Jaxon said.

  “Cut through. We need to get out of here,” Vynce said.

  Doctor Cooper stepped in and said, “We don’t know what’s in there. We could be walking into a nest.”

  “So what? The infected won’t attack us,” Vynce said.

  Doctor Cooper laughed dryly. “How can you be absolutely sure of that?”

  Vynce looked back at the horde of infected who had come to a halt roughly fifty yards behind the cluster of survivors. “They won’t attack us. Look at them. They could take us all if they wanted to, but they don’t. Captain Goldwing said that they think we’re going to take them to a safe place. They think we’re going to get them off this ship. They won’t attack us unless we attack them first.”

  “You put a lot of faith in your assumptions,” Doctor Cooper said.

  “No, I put a lot of faith in my Captain,” Vynce said.

  Jaxon smiled. “Very well.” He approached a small single passenger car that had tipped on its side against a light pole and climbed on top of it. He stood above the rest of the survivors. “Passengers of Metropolis Seven! I need you all to trust me right now, and I need you to follow my orders to the letter. Can you do that?”

  A low non-committal murmur came from the crowd.

  “We’re going to get out of here alive, and the quicker we can get to the hangar and our evacuation ships, the quicker we can leave. To do that, we need to cut through these apartment buildings.”

  The conversation between people became panicked and full of fearful objections.

  “I need all men and women who can hold a gun and protect themselves to go to the outside of our group. I need you to protect those who can’t protect themselves. Those of you who are already infected, I need you to also join our protectors on the outside of our group. But we will not provoke the infected. No gunshots. No violence. No aggression. We group up together, get through this, and we’re home free. Do you all understand?”

  “I understand,” Doctor Harris said. She stepped to the front of the group. Slowly others began to join in.

  Survivors began to organize themselves. Those with weapons moved to the outside of the group, and those who were unable to defend themselves moved to inside of the group. Those who were on crutches, in wheelchairs, and those missing limbs were all ushered to the inside. One of the passengers tried to usher Ava into the center of the group, but she pushed his hand away with the barrel of her assault rifle.

  “All right. Let’s move out!” Jaxon said as he jumped down from the overturned car.

  He held his rifle with its barrel pointed at the ground as he led the group in between the first two buildings. Those who could wield weapons concentrated themselves towards the head and tail of the column, and next to those that couldn’t protect themselves.

  Jaxon arrived at the junction between the first two buildings and turned right. The path to the left had rubble strewn across the walkway, which would make it impossible for those who did not have full mobility to traverse.

  At the end of the column, Vynce watched the horde approach. They still followed the survivors and kept the same distance. As Vynce followed the survivors around the curve in the walkway, the shambler stepped in between the first two buildings and the rest of the horde followed.

  Vynce looked up between the buildings and immediately regretted it. Fleshy growths crisscrossed the space between the buildings like spider webs between trees. There were larger lumps in between the twining flesh which were the size and shape of human beings.

  Fleshlings grown from parts of the infected passengers walked the flesh webs, tending to the growths of their new brothers and sisters in their cocoons. They came in all shapes and sizes. Some looked like nothing but misshapen blobs of flesh with spindly legs growing out awkwardly from the bottom. Others were distinct parts of people. One was clearly a hand whose fingers had been re-purposed as feet, with a stubby little face poking out of the stump that was once a wrist. Others had similarly been re-purposed from hands, feet and heads.

  One of the creatures, a squat little thing that looked like a slab of meat with six stubby legs sticking out of the bottom, dropped down from one of the webs and landed wetly next to the survivors. Those who were at the edge of the group started to move away from it, but it showed no signs of aggression. It just stood there awkwardly and watched them as they passed.

  The group moved on, winding between the buildings. The creatures that tended the webs above them started to crawl down the walls and joined the horde of infected in their silent procession.

  In the center of the cluster of buildings was an open space with a pond. To the right was a climbing fort for kids, but half of it had been covered over by a giant fleshy growth. Thick tendrils anchored the huge growth to the ground. They wound over and through the climbing fort and the swing set next to it. They also crossed the path and into the pond. The growth pulsated. It moved rhythmically, as though it was breathing. It was just like those that they had seen in the water treatment plant. Above them, smaller creatures climbed across their webs in the open air between the buildings.

  They crossed the park on the farthest side of the huge growth, but all of their eyes fixated on it as they heard a wet tearing sound, like a soggy tea towel being ripped in half.

  Something pushed outward from the center of the growth. The wooden climbing fort groaned with effort. The thing pushed outward ag
ain, and the cocoon split open. Something huge and terrifyingly strong was being born. The cocoon started to bleed as it was torn asunder. The thing pushed outward again, and a blood-curdling roar broke the stunned silence.

  “We need to move!” Jaxon yelled and spurred the survivors back into movement.

  Vynce started to push those who were at the back to move faster as he watched the monstrosity’s birth.

  The horror of its magnificence overwhelming. Its body was bent at unnatural angles, propped up by things that resembled both human arms and legs all at once. Each limb had been grown haphazardly from the body of an infected passenger into a monstrous gestalt of humanity. Its eyes flashed with anger, hunger, and curiosity. As it pulled itself from its cocoon it roared at the survivors and took a few curious steps towards them.

  The shambler with its overgrown foot and constant torrent of red liquid dripping from its slack-jawed mouth shuffled forward and said a single word.

  “No.”

  The monstrosity looked back at the shambler and breathed in and out raggedly. There was a split in the front of what Vynce presumed what was its face. The split opened and revealed jagged teeth. The monstrosity bared its teeth and roared again as though it was challenging the shambler.

  The shambler stepped towards the monstrosity with its arm outstretched. Vynce wanted to keep time with the rest of the survivors, but he was transfixed.

  The creature opened its mouth so wide that Vynce thought its skin would split. The shambler put its hand on the monstrosity’s flesh. A shiver ran through the monstrosity and its many eyes that sprouted from its centipede-like body rolled backwards in their sockets. It exhaled deeply, and the aggression and tension left it. The shambler put its hand into the creature’s mouth and it promptly ate the shambler in two vicious mouthfuls.

  More of the infected passengers started to approach the monstrosity. They all held an outstretched hand as they approached. They were consumed one by one, accompanied by the sound of their crunching bones and rending flesh.

  Doctor Fewster put a hand on Vynce’s shoulder and Vynce almost jumped out of his skin as he broke fee of the hypnotic spectacle before him.

  “Come on, we’re almost through,” Doctor Fewster said.

  Vynce hurried after Doctor Fewster to join the rest of the survivors. The rest of the journey passed without incident. The infected passengers continued to follow them, but they kept their distance. The monstrosity was nowhere to be seen. It was far too wide to squeeze between the buildings. If it wanted to get out of the apartment building complex, it would have to go over the top.

  When they arrived in the wide-open streets, relief began to spread through the survivors. Hope started to return.

  The Eden’s Hill MagLev station was just across the street.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Draco’s head swam in dizziness and confusion. The impact had knocked the wind out of him. He could vaguely make out four large humanoid shapes standing where he and Aloysius had stood just moments ago. Draco closed his eyes and shook his head to try to clear the fuzziness away. There was no mistaking their silhouettes or the color of their armor. They were Vartalen mercenaries. The dusty red of their armor showed that they belonged to a mercenary outfit that Draco had tangled with previously.

  They called themselves the Black Tide, and they were headed by one of the most dangerous Vartalen in the galaxy, Varxxas, the Black Death.

  The fleshy growth beneath Draco started to move. He felt himself starting to sink into it. He staggered back to his feet before it had a chance to truly grab hold. He frantically looked around for his rifle, but it was nowhere to be seen. Draco’s grapnel hook had been affixed to his back before he was thrown, and he wondered whether it was still there. One of the four large humanoid shapes came towards him and started barking orders at him with its deep booming voice, speaking in native guttural Vartalen language.

  Draco raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and said, “I understand Vartalen, and I don’t appreciate being called a runty little ape spawn. You understand me?”

  The mercenary laughed and said with a heavily alien accent, “Yes. I understand, ape spawn.”

  “What are you doing aboard this ship?” Draco asked.

  He looked over toward Raze and Aloysius. They had been made to kneel towards the bridge windows, looking out at the dark void of space. They had confiscated Raze’s rifle and thrown it towards the elevator at the back of the room. His flamethrower sat to the side of the room, its flame extinguished.

  “This ship belongs to the Black Tide now. You are our prisoners,” the Vartalen mercenary said.

  “There is an infection on this ship. It is worthless to you. If you put this ship down on an inhabited world, everybody who lands on that planet will die,” Draco said.

  “Not worthless, then.”

  A chill worked its way up Draco’s spine as he realized what the Vartalen were planning to do.

  “You’re going to sell this ship as a biological weapon,” he said.

  The Vartalen smiled, then shook its head slowly. “Not sell.”

  “You’re going to use it.”

  The Vartalen laughed. “We make it go back to New Earth. No more humans.”

  “If this ship lands on an inhabited planet, everyone who steps foot on it will die. That doesn’t just include humans.”

  “Sacrifice is required to make the galaxy a better place. The Black Tide will notify the Council of the infection and enact quarantine measures. The Black Tide will be heroes.”

  “Heroes? You’ll be mass-murders responsible for the genocide of an entire planet. Twenty-three billion people. We humans are more resilient than that. We have other planets. Other military forces than those on New Earth. If you strike at the heart of our people, you’ll start a war that your people aren’t ready for.”

  “Start a war? Your people already started the war when you invaded our space. The Vartalen will finish it.”

  “The human race has been at peace with the Vartalen people for years. Why would you restart this war now?”

  “Peace?” the Vartalen said, his voice tinged with venomous anger. “There is no peace. Not while the human race keeps pushing into our sector of space. Have you heard of planetoid LV-9812?”

  “I have not.”

  “A small colony of Vartalen have been there for almost fifty cycles. A human mining ship surveyed the planetoid and detected a large deposit of precious metals. Your mining vessel blew the planet apart to get at the rich veins of metal that ran through its surface, killing the thousands of Vartalen who lived there. There were families there. Children. And your race destroyed their home for the sake of profit.”

  “Was this reported to the Council for investigation?”

  “You humans have the Council’s favor. They would never side with the Vartalen over their new pets.”

  “Our own people, our own military, would never allow something like this to happen if we knew about it. If you tell me what company is responsible for what happened on LV-9812 I promise you that I will report this directly to the Commander in Chief of the Alliance military, and action will be taken,” Draco said.

  “This is just one of many provocations that your race has done to the Vartalen. We are not interested in justice. Only vengeance.”

  “If you start a war, the Council will have no choice but to support humanity. You know what’s happened to the Vartalen before. You’ve had trade sanctions put in place, your rights to claim planets outside the Arcturus Sector have been revoked. You’re already on thin ice, and if you destroy New Earth there will be no coming back from it.”

  “No one will ever know that we sent this ship to New Earth. No one. We will say that we intercepted it on its return course to its home planet and detected the bioweapon inside its hull. We dared not venture on board the ship as we did not want to risk infection. We will notify the council, and they will quarantine the planet. The heart of humanity will be destroyed.”

  Th
e Vartalen grabbed Draco roughly by the back of the neck and forced him to walk towards Raze and Aloysius. The Vartalen pushed Draco to his knees next to Al. Another human was made to kneel next to Draco. He stole a look to his left and saw a bedraggled young man in a torn suit looking back at him with terrified eyes.

  “You must be the Metropolis Corporation rep that Captain Hane talked about,” Draco said.

  “I’m sorry. Really, I am. I tried to help you. Tried to guide you to safety. I... I... I needed your help to get the ship out of danger. I’m sorry, but I needed to use you,” the man said. His bottom lip quivered as he spoke, as though every word threatened to bring him to tears.

  “You endangered the life of my crew, and you’re endangering the lives of every single living organism in the galaxy by delivering this ship back to inhabited space,” Draco said.

  “There are quarantine measures, right? The Alliance could lock us away, check us for infection, treat those who are infected, and learn how to stop it, right?”

  “There are no quarantine procedures for something like this, apart from the Jericho protocol.”

  “What’s the Jericho protocol?”

  “It’s a fancy way for the Alliance military to say nuke the site from orbit. For something as infectious as the organism on board this ship, there’s nothing we can do but destroy it.”

  “I don’t believe it. I was hoping the great hero Draco Goldwing would be able to get me out of this mess.”

  “How do you know who I am, kid?” Draco asked after realizing that this man really was nothing more than a kid playing corporate. Draco knew the type. They rose to the top of the corporate ladder on New Earth by stepping on the shoulders of those who did the real work while gambling with the futures of others. They drove fast cars, had private starships, and had more money than sense.

  “My Dad used to tell me stories about you. How you’d always do what was right, no matter what. He told me the story about how you were really discharged from the military. You killed your commanding officer to save the lives of thousands, but no one could ever know about it. It was completely off the books. You were dishonorably discharged, but you were awarded the medal of valor. The gold wings. Do you remember Admiral Fiamingo?”