Nano Z (Book 2): Salvation

by Brad Knight

  “Luckily we didn’t have to go far before we reached this charming little rural town. As you might guess, there weren’t any living people there. There was however a huge superstore just outside the limits.

  “That superstore had everything. I mean there were canned goods, bottled beverages, clothes and hunting supplies. It was hard but we managed to kill the meat puppets that took up residence there without getting infected ourselves. It was ugly, but we did it. That was the start.

  “Simon and I stayed in that store for a good week. We recovered from the hell that was that damn basement. And more importantly, we worked on our shooting.”

  Stephanie laughed. “Before we practiced, neither of us could hit a target ten feet away. By the time we left that store we were virtual sharp shooters. Shooting targets and those things is a whole lot tougher than shooting people. We found that out the hard way.” On her last sentence, the tone of her voice changed to one more somber.

  “You don’t have to tell me.” Mack did his best to be understanding.

  “I do. I want to. So you can know.”

  “Look, I already feel guilty about leaving you two. Hell, I felt guilty immediately after I did it.”

  “That’s not… I want you to know how much stronger we’ve gotten. For you to understand, you have to know what we went through.”

  “Okay, go ahead,” Mack accepted it.

  “We were in Utah, on our way out here. We walked alongside the highway, careful to stay out of view. We ran into a group of people. They invited us back to their camp. Despite the fact that the food we took from the superstore was running out, we declined their invitation.

  “Later that night we noticed that we were being followed. It wasn’t obvious, but we heard them and saw their silhouettes moving in the dark. We knew they were human because of the way they moved, with purpose. And they tried to stay hidden.

  “Anyway, that went on for a couple of days. Me and Simon pretended not to notice them. Part of us hoped they’d just go away. Of course they didn’t. And we knew that eventually we’d have to fight them.

  “One unusually cold night, they attacked. It was bad, really bad. All we had to take cover behind was a boulder. That’s what we did.

  “There were eight of them. I think we surprised them when we started firing. The first ones were difficult. Neither of us had killed before.”

  Mack expected Stephanie to break down at that point. Not because she was a woman. It was due to the fact that she was human and a good one at that. But she didn’t. In a weird way, that made him proud.

  “I just imagined them as those creatures. I told myself that they were infected, as good as dead. That lie didn’t last long. When I heard the first guy I shot scream out in pain that illusion was wiped away. And the strange thing was, I didn’t care. I didn’t feel bad. I kept shooting.

  “We killed all of them. Every last one. Then we got as far away as fast as we could. We didn’t talk about what we did. We didn’t have to. We knew we changed. And we were fine with it.”

  Mack and Stephanie were both silent for a minute.

  “How’d you hook up with the people back in LA?”

  “They found us, shortly after we entered the city. It wasn’t long until their leader, Lincoln, took us in. At New Babylon we found what we thought would be a new home. The other survivors there were our family. We knew it wouldn’t last forever, but it was good.” Stephanie stared off into the darkness.

  “I’m happy that you guys found some peace no matter how long it lasted. And I’m glad that you’re alive. Although I gotta admit, that happiness is a bit selfish.”

  Stephanie looked up at him. Mack looked back. “I need to ask you something.”

  “Sure, I’ll marry you, Mack.” Stephanie tried to keep a straight face but couldn’t for very long. They laughed till it hurt. “What’d you really need to ask me?”

  “I know we really don’t know each other all that well. But I need you to promise me that if something happens to me, that you and your brother will take care of Amber.”

  The question took Stephanie by surprise. “Of course we would. And you really didn’t need to ask.”

  “I did. I had to hear you say it. I had to know for sure.”

  ***

  “Land!” yelled Simon.

  Stephanie awoke in the same position she fell asleep in. Her head rested against Mack’s chest. Through sleepy eyes she looked around and saw her twin brother pointing towards something on the opposite side of the Sarah’s Gambit. She tried to speak but all that came out were some jumbled mumbling.

  “Good morning, sis,” Simon addressed his waking sister but didn’t look at her. His eyes were focused on something else entirely, something urgent.

  Mack felt Stephanie moving and woke up himself. They both slowly rose and stretched their backs and necks. All the commotion stirred Freddy and Amber out of bed and up onto the deck.

  Thick fog enveloped the Sarah’s Gambit. It was hard to see anything more than a handful of feet in any direction. That made Simon’s claims that land was nearby hard to confirm. Then again, why would he lie?

  “Where?” asked Mack.

  Simon saw a dark shape close by, high above the boat. He’d heard of the ocean side cliffs of the Pacific Northwest. He always kind of wanted to see them. The fog made that difficult. Since he couldn’t get a good look, he didn’t know for sure that’s what it was.

  “Stop the boat,” said Simon.

  “What?” Dr. Bawja barely heard him. The fact that she didn’t get any sleep the night before didn’t help her hearing at all.

  The Sarah’s Gambit got real close to the large dark of the mystery in the fog. It got close enough that it stopped being a mystery and became high, sheer cliffs. And the boat was heading straight for them.

  “Cut the engine! Now!” yelled Simon. Everyone else in the boat stared at the cliffs that quickly approached. What they should have stared at and worried about were the jagged rocks that jutted out of the water at their base.

  Dr. Bawja turned off the engine but she was too late. Momentum and the waves carried the Sarah’s Gambit straight towards the rocks. There was nothing that they could do to stop it.

  The sharp rock edges went through the hull of the boat like a sharpened pencil through a sheet of notebook paper. They cut with loud crunching noises. Everyone on board the vessel was thrown off their feet. Amber went overboard and into the drink.

  Shit. I don’t think she can swim. Mack jumped into the turbulent surf, after her. The teen tried her best to keep her head above water. It was a losing battle. In a matter of seconds she’d sink into the Pacific, then would likely be slammed against the rocks. Water is a powerful thing.

  Mack wasn’t the strongest swimmer. The extra weight of his boots and soaked clothing didn’t help. He found himself happy that he was infected with the nanite virus. It gave him the strength necessary to power through those encumbrances.

  Amber began to sink. The water was cold and murky. She thought she was done for. That was until a hand grabbed the collar of her shirt and pulled her up to the surface.

  Mack did his best to stay afloat with Amber in tow. Even with his enhanced strength, the waves were too much for him. Either they headed back towards a literal sinking ship, or they had to climb. No matter what, they needed to get out of the water.

  Back on the Sarah’s Gambit, Simon, Stephanie, Freddy and Dr. Bawja were in a full on panic. Water rushed onto the deck and into the cabin through the large holes punched through its hull. It was clear that they needed to get off.

  “We need to jump!” yelled Simon.

  “I don’t think we can swim through that,” said Stephanie as she looked at the violent water around them.

  “A life raft! There must be some kind of life raft. Help me find it,” said Dr. Bawja as she started lifting up seats and checking anything with a door or resembled a cabinet. Freddy joined her. Stephanie and Simon followed.

  “There isn’t one.” F
reddy was the first to realize that the Sarah’s Gambit had no life raft. Their search was useless. It would bear no fruit, or in that particular case, a yellow inflatable dingy.

  There was hope. Under one of the seats on the deck of the boat, Freddy found a hidden compartment. Inside were life vests. Conveniently there were exactly four of them.

  “Here!” Freddy threw his comrades their respective life vests. One almost flew over Simon’s head. He managed to snatch it from the air but instead of putting it on right away, he stared at it.

  “Are you serious? If we jump into that water, we’re as good as dead.” Simon wasn’t happy with the new plan.

  “If we stay in this boat, we’re dead. So you can either take your chances floating in the water or you can go down with the ship.” Stephanie knew there wasn’t time to contemplate whether or not to get off the Sarah’s Gambit. She could feel the vessel slowly sink into the deep.

  “Shit,” replied Simon as he put on his orange life vest.

  Freddy and Dr. Bawja were the first to leap into the water. They tried their best to avoid the sharp rocks that acted like mines protecting the base of the cliffs. Stephanie went next. Simon was a little hesitant but had no choice except to jump in behind them.

  Up ahead, Mack had reached the cliff, and had Amber hold onto his back. He looked for a handhold. The rocks were slippery. Moss made his grip precarious, but he managed to start climbing.

  Stephanie, Freddy, Dr. Bawja and Simon were subject to the whims of the waves. Almost all of them suffered scratches, bruises and cuts from the unforgiving underwater rocks. As bad as it was, it seemed that they were all going to make it through the surf okay and reach the cliff face.

  Mack felt the extra weight hanging on his back. He ignored it. All he cared about was finding the next hand and footholds. It wasn’t long before he didn’t notice his extra burden. The nanites running through his veins, tissue and slowly turning his muscles into something akin to metal cables, dealt with the strain.

  Dr. Bawja lagged behind the rest of the group. She tried to fight the relentless waves and reach them. But with each second she lost more and more control. Each time the tide rolled in, she barely missed getting impaled and each time it went out, she was pulled further out to sea.

  “We made it!” yelled Freddy as he clung to the cliff face. To his left were Stephanie and Simon. To his right was…where was Dr. Bawja?

  “Doc!” Freddy saw Dr. Bawja struggling to make her way to the cliff and the rest of the group. He had to make a decision. Would he try to help her and risk being in the same position? Or would he start climbing and hope that everything turns out okay for her?

  Through the waves and chaos, Dr. Bawja saw the pained look on Freddy’s face. She knew what he was thinking. And she wouldn’t allow it. If she was going to die, it will be on her own terms, and not cost the life of a child.

  There were two plastic buckles on the life vests. Dr. Bawja unbuckled one. She watched as Mack almost reached the top of the cliff and the twins start to climb. She unbuckled the second.

  The last thing Dr. Bawja heard before sinking into the ocean were the screams from Freddy. She sunk into the dark green deep, unable to see a thing. Instead of trying to hold on, or waiting to smash into some rocks, she exhaled. Then she proceeded to let the cold salty water rush into her lungs. It wasn’t long before she drowned.

  Freddy couldn’t bear to watch Dr. Bawja die. Instead he turned towards the moss covered rocks of the cliff face. There was no time to mourn and no time for regret. He had to climb. Or he’d join the doctor in Davey Jones’s locker.

  Even with his enhancements, Mack started to have a hard time climbing. It was the combination of the hostile conditions of the rocks and the extra weight on his back that started to get to him. So when one of his hands hit grass at the top of the cliff, he was relieved.

  Amber climbed off of Mack’s back and onto the top of the cliff, just a few feet away. When she got up there, she rolled over onto her back and sighed in relief. Mack joined her less than a minute later, and looked back over the edge to check on the rest of the group.

  Stephanie, Simon and Freddy struggled to make their way up the cliff face. None of them were experienced climbers. It wouldn’t have mattered if they were. The rock was too slimy and slick with moss and sea spray. Watching them, it was clear to Mack that they weren’t going to be able to make it to the top.

  “We need to help them up,” said Mack as he stood. He looked around for anything that he might have been able to use as a rope, or fashion into one.

  Not far from the top of the cliffs were thick forests partially hidden by fog, consisting mostly of pine trees and ferns. It was beautiful, but he doubted he’d find anything he could use as a rope. That was until he spotted something high in some of the trees.

  “Stay here,” ordered Mack as he headed towards the pine forest.

  “Sure, no problem,” responded Amber as she stared up at the sky. She was soaked and exhausted. She had no problem staying behind.

  There was a corpse hanging high above the forest floor. Its parachute chords were tangled in pine tree branches. Mack figured that the chords, or even the parachute itself, would make a great rope to help the rest of the group once he retrieved it.

  Climbing the pine trees was considerably easier than the cliffs. Mack got up them quickly and reached the hanging dead man. From the corpse’s tattered uniform and helmet, it was apparent that while alive, he was an air force pilot. The advanced state of decomposition meant that the body was there for months.

  Mack ignored the smell and the bugs that hovered and crawled around the dead pilot. He took out his knife and cut some of the chords. The dead pilot plummeted to the forest floor, leaving the parachute behind.

  “I’m stuck!” shouted Stephanie. She desperately looked around her and couldn’t find another handhold on the cliff wall. There was no turning back. The struggling climber was already halfway up.

  Simon looked down. He was the highest out of the three still left on the cliff. His twin sister was frozen in place. And he knew he couldn’t save her. It was torture.

  “Hold on,” Freddy was almost up to where Stephanie was. And he planned on helping her. There wasn’t a chance that he’d let another member of the group die. Not if he could do anything about it.

  When she looked for a new handhold above her, all Stephanie found were slick rocks that barely stuck out from the wall. None of them looked safe. The task of climbing to the top seemed impossible. That was when she heard Mack yell to those on the cliff face.

  “One of you grab on! I can pull up one at a time!” Mack lowered down a red parachute.

  “Stephanie, you first!” Simon shouted down at his sister.

  “No, Freddy should…”

  “You first!” yelled Freddy.

  Reluctantly, Stephanie grabbed the parachute. She made sure that she had a good grip. “Okay!” She let Mack know she was ready.

  Mack started hoisting up the parachute and its passenger. Pulling the load of a full grown adult was more strenuous than carrying Amber, but it was well within his abilities. Once he got Stephanie up to the top, he lowered the parachute again and prepared to bring the other members of the group up out of danger.

  Chapter 13

  : The Pursuit

  “You sure you don’t want to head back and get that taken are of?” asked Ted. He was addressing Isaac. The Salt Lake City security team leader nursed his injured arm.

  “I’m positive, sir. With all due respect, there is no way I’m heading back until the job is done.” Isaac smiled as he slowly stretched out the arm that got hurt when Lincoln hit him with a car outside the New Babylon parking garage.

  “That’s what I like to hear. Let’s go,” ordered Ted. Those orders were directed at the pilot of the helicopter he and Isaac were in. They were joined by the remaining members of the Salt Lake City team.

  Attached by cable and contained inside a metal cage was the infected bear that Ted h
ad complete control over. The beast snarled and paced around the small enclosure. It was ready to kill. And that was exactly how Ted liked it.

  “You better hurry up, boy. Or they’re going to get away.” Thomas stood next to the helicopter as its rotors started up. The spinning made a little vortex out of the cigar smoke.

  “They aren’t going anywhere,” Ted accidentally responded out loud.

  “What’s that, sir?” asked Isaac.

  Shit. I did it again, didn’t I? Damage control dumb ass, damage control. “They won’t get away.”

  “No they won’t, Mr. Gorman,” agreed Isaac.

  “That one is too dumb to know how nuts you are,” said Thomas. “Then again, I think he’s a toy short of a happy meal himself.”

  That’s why I like him. Birds of a feather right?

  The helicopter took off, rising above the Los Angeles streets. From up high, the devastation wreaked upon the City of Angels was apparent. Smoke rose across the city. Meat puppets wandered the streets and alleys. It was a lost cause.

  Ted took out his radio. “Seb?”

  “Yes, Mr. Gorman,” answered Sebastian from the other line.

  “Send in the Hellfire jets. Burn this city to the ground.”

  Sebastian was in a communications room back at the Los Angeles facility. It was dubbed “The War Room” by the staff. When he heard the orders from Ted over his radio, he cringed. He knew that it wasn’t a tactical decision, but a personal one. Destroying an entire city over his psychotic boss’s need for revenge was extreme. Then again, he was used to the extreme whims of the CEO. And unless he wanted to be subject to them, he had to do as ordered for the time being.

  “Yes sir. Right away.” Sebastian put down his radio, and sighed. He turned to one of the staff at the rows of computers next to him. “Give the order.”

  Sebastian left the War Room and headed out into the hallways of the Galatea Los Angeles Facility. Denise followed him. The two of them made sure no one was watching. Then they kissed.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Denise, still in Sebastian’s arms.