The building shook under their feet.
Cody must have blacked out at the moment of the explosion because when he opened his eyes he was on the floor lying on his back. He could see a streak of ferocious white light beaming through the window, temporarily blinding everyone on the staircase as it passed the building.
Confusion spilled through both groups of soldiers. People began scrambling back to their feet, eager to resume the battle.
The sound of gunfire came from below.
Cody pulled himself upright to see who was doing the shooting. There didn’t seem to be any bullets coming his way. Marv, Crazy Diamond and Nick were unharmed too. Cody looked downstairs and saw that Mackenzie’s troops were in disarray. But it wasn’t just the explosion that had knocked them off their stride. There was something else going on. Now they’d turned their backs on Cody and the others to focus on yet another disturbance from further down the staircase.
Cody leaned his head closer to the stairs for a better look at what was going on down there. Looking towards the lower landing, he saw some of the ragtags lying dead on the stairs.
Crack!
Another one dropped on the stairs.
Someone came running through the smoke.
Lance charged at the huddle of ragtags from behind. His face was ghostly pale and his hair and soft beard were drenched in sweat and blood. There was more blood on his chin, trickling down from his mouth. Despite his injuries, Lance’s eyes were alert and he rushed forwards with reckless abandon, shooting into the gang of ragtags and sending them into a panic.
But the element of surprise didn’t last.
The ragtag soldiers opened fire and Lance was flung back under a hail of bullets. Blood sprayed from his body. He collapsed on the lower landing, his arms stretched out on both sides, lying flat on his back on the floor.
“Lance!” Marv yelled. His eyes were wide with horror.
Marv didn’t hesitate after that. He charged downstairs and fired at the ragtags with no thought of personal safety. Nick was right behind him and once again the ragtags were caught off guard as they dealt with an attack coming from upstairs.
Crazy Diamond turned back to Cody. She grabbed his arm and stopped him charging downstairs with Marv and Nick.
“This is the only chance we’ll get,” Crazy Diamond said. “Go upstairs and get Rachel. We’ll push the ragtags down to the first floor, no matter what it takes. Get her to the rooftop and tell her to send those Exterminators back to wherever they came from. They’re here Cody.”
Cody glanced through the window. The city was ablaze with a swarm of light sweeping across the sky. There was something else too. Cody heard a familiar noise out there – the dissonant whale noises that he’d heard in Brackenridge Park.
It was much louder this time.
“Don’t think about it Cody,” Crazy Diamond said, slapping him hard across the face. Gunshots rang out at their back. He heard Nick and Marv yelling at the top of their voices, hurling insults at the ragtags.
“Get Rachel,” Crazy Diamond said. “Now!”
Crazy Diamond pushed Cody away and ran downstairs to join Nick and Marv.
Cody turned and ran upstairs. He tried to ignore all the noise at his back. There were muffled cries of pain from the stairs, intermingled with the sound of the Exterminators’ arrival in San Antonio.
He reached the seventh floor and found Rachel sitting inside her sleeping bag. Despite the chaos unfolding elsewhere, she looked fairly relaxed about the situation.
“They’re here aren’t they?” she said.
Cody nodded.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“It’s time to go to work,” Cody said. “The others are making a path for us.”
Rachel climbed out of the sleeping bag and looked around the room. “What about our things?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Cody said. He ran over to his sleeping bag and gathered a couple of items together. “You got your coat and gloves, right? Your hat?”
“I’m wearing them,” Rachel said.
“That’s all you need.”
They ran towards the door. Cody offered his hand but Rachel didn’t take it. He wasn’t sure if she’d deliberately snubbed him or whether she hadn’t noticed the offer. Either way, it stung.
They hurried downstairs, edging closer to the sound of gunfire.
Fortunately, Marv, Nick and Crazy Diamond were on a roll. They’d forced the ragtags back to the first floor and that’s where the action was taking place. It allowed just enough of a gap for Cody and Rachel to bypass the shooting and sneak through the dark towards the back exit. As they approached the door, Cody checked the magazine in the Glock. He was carrying extra rounds in the inside pocket of his parka. It was the only thing he’d brought with him from upstairs.
They reached the back door, located next to the Rand’s car park. Cody took a deep breath and opened the door slowly. Rachel was tucked in close at his back.
Cody peered outside and couldn’t see anything at first. Seconds later, he was met by the high-pitched crack of a pistol shot, which pushed his head back inside the building.
Rachel was standing at his back, a look of curiosity on her face.
Cody shook his head.
“How many?” she said.
“Two I think,” Cody said. “Maybe three.”
As quietly as he could, he opened the door again.
Cody looked outside and saw two dark shapes standing in the middle of North Main Avenue. Two ragtags keeping watch. They must have been pretty sure of themselves because they were standing out in the open with only the darkness for cover.
No wonder they were so confident, Cody thought. They’d seen Mackenzie’s gifts and had become hypnotized by the man’s otherworldly power and promises of immortality. They must have believed they were every bit as special as Mackenzie was if they too were going to be saved by their masters.
But of course the ragtags wouldn’t listen if anyone told them the truth. The truth, the hopelessness of it, would drive them mad.
Cody looked around for a way out. He noticed a constant stream of colored light floating up through cracks in the road and drifting towards the sky. It looked like the invasion was also seeping up from the bowels of the Earth.
“We see you!” one of the ragtags shouted to Cody. “You ain’t going nowhere mister. End of the line for you.”
They fired at the door, forcing Cody back inside.
“We don’t have time for this crap,” Cody said. “We should have been on the roof ages ago.”
He looked at Rachel.
“Is there anyway you can distract them?” Cody said. “Make a noise or create a disturbance at their back, just long enough for them to look the other way. I only need a couple of seconds.”
Rachel took a step back and closed her eyes. She hung her head low in concentration.
Cody turned back to the door and teased it open again. He felt the cold air of black winter scraping at his skin like a claw. His muscles were taut. His finger was like a block of ice hovering over the Glock’s trigger.
There was a sudden crashing noise nearby. It sounded like a door being kicked open from somewhere across the street.
The ragtags jumped back with fright. They looked over their shoulder at the same time, pointing their weapons into the darkness.
“Who’s there?” one of them said.
Cody rushed outside. He took aim and fired, hitting both men square in the back. Two shots and they dropped like stones. One didn’t move but the other – a fat bearded man who couldn’t have been much older than twenty – crawled along the ground on his elbows for a few seconds before dropping face first onto the snow.
“C’mon,” Cody said, turning back to Rachel. He grabbed her by the arm and they ran outside.
They heard gunfire from the other side of the building. Cody had a feeling that Crazy Diamond, Nick, and Marv were in for a long standoff with the ragtags. But that
could only be a good thing as long as his friends didn’t get killed. Let Mackenzie think that Rachel was still hiding out upstairs on the seventh floor. That would allow Cody to get Rachel to the Robert E. Lee building.
Cody looked up and saw the enemy everywhere.
Streaks of free-floating light and striking color danced across the city. Were these the monsters? Cody had half expected the Exterminators to look like Godzilla or some other bulked up prehistoric creature, clawing their way through the gates with brute force before jumping down to Earth to run rampage across the city.
That might have been better.
7
Cody and Rachel hurried along North Main Avenue.
They lost their footing several times as they walked over the soft snow. The sound of gunshots faded in their ears, and the colorful display of the Exterminators was a constant reminder of the terrible urgency of their situation.
Cody could hear the low-pitched whale noise of the Exterminators. It was everywhere, creeping up through the cracks in the city streets, through the drains, bouncing off the walls and up there in the sky too. But that wasn’t all. The loudest thing was the crashing and rumbling of the city as it was being torn apart. Cody could hear large chunks of stone and metal falling from great heights onto the streets.
The ground was swelling up under their feet. In several places, the surface of the road would push up like a giant hematoma forming on the skin. Then it would go back down again. Then it would come back up. It was like something was alive underground, poking its massive head up in a probing manner, looking for a way to break out of its den. The hard surface of the road looked soft, almost like liquid as it rose up and down at regular intervals.
The three gates watched from afar like medieval kings observing the battle from a distant hillside. They spilled over with color, which seeped out like blood from a wound, trickling down towards San Antonio.
At last, Cody and Rachel reached the Robert E. Lee building. Their tired legs climbed up to the roof faster than they’d ever done before.
As they ran towards the edge of the building, a thin streak of red and gray light swam through the air towards them. It lingered in front of Cody, floating just inches from his face.
Cody looked directly into the light and saw Kate’s face staring back at him.
She was lying on the floor of a filthy apartment, one covered in broken glass and half-empty takeout boxes. There were rats on the floor, scurrying back and forth in slow motion. Kate was screaming in terror, her face twisted and unrecognizable. She looked at Cody and crawled backwards. Wriggled. Her naked body was revealed as she made her retreat. There were at least a dozen needles stuck in the crooks of her arms – dirty, giant syringes spilling over with a brownish liquid that Cody knew was heroin. At the point where each needle pierced her skin, Kate’s ghoulish white flesh had mutated into a horde of hungry mouths, all of them opening and closing, sucking on the point of the needle like a baby on a pacifier.
Kate’s eyes were bloodshot. She reached across the sheet of red and gray mist, begging Cody to come to her.
“Please,” she said. “I need you Cody.”
Cody walked forwards. Something – a faint whimper at the back of his mind – protested. It said no. But his legs decided to ignore the command and take charge of the situation. They pushed Cody towards her. Kate needed him, didn’t she? This was his chance to be there for her. It was a second chance because he’d failed her once before and that sure as hell wasn’t going to happen again.
Cody reached through the mist. Kate nodded, assuring him with her doll-like eyes that it was the right thing to do. She was smiling now. Her hand, with dried blood encrusted on her fingernails, reached for his face.
Cody took a step towards the edge of the building.
They were almost touching.
“Kate,” he said.
One more step and…
Something pulled at Cody from behind. The sudden jolting sensation forced him to let out of a yelp of protest. The mist retreated quickly, taking Kate’s disappointed face with it.
Rachel was standing at Cody’s back. She had a firm grip on his coat pocket.
A grim expression was etched on her face.
“Don’t let them in,” Rachel said. She tapped a finger off the side of her head.
Cody’s head was spinning, like it was trapped in between being blind drunk and the hangover from hell.
The swirling fog of red and gray had vanished.
“Kate,” Cody said. He looked at Rachel and felt his head clearing. “I saw your…”
“It wasn’t real,” Rachel said. “They’ll show you whatever you want to see. Make you do things you don’t want to do. Don’t look into the light Dad – never look into the light.”
Cody nodded. He ran a hand through his dirty blond hair while a gust of cold air scraped against his face.
He looked up at the gates. A vicious frothing sound snarled in his ears. Cody didn’t know if it was coming from the gates or inside his head.
Rachel stepped towards the edge of the building, just like she’d done during her training. The three gates towered above her, bleeding an endless river of light and color.
“Close the gates Rachel,” Cody said. “You can do it.”
Rachel held her arms out at both sides. The shield crackled into life, spreading quickly over her forearms and covering the rest of her body.
There was little he could do to help her now. But he could at least be there, standing beside her for whatever it was worth.
Cody took his place at her side.
Rachel’s eyes were tightly closed. Her face was screwed up in a mask of deep concentration. Cody wanted to say something to his daughter, to find the right words of encouragement and most of all, to let her know that she wasn’t alone.
But it was a lie. As far as this fight went, she was alone.
She let out a muffled grunt and her arms stiffened. Cody watched her footing – she was so close to the edge of the ten-story building that he thought he was going to have a heart attack.
He heard a noise from the sky. It sounded like distant cannon fire.
Cody looked up at the gates and his heart bounced with joy. Something was happening up there. The gate on the left was fading – it was noticeably duller than the other two, which were still spitting out a fresh barrage of color. But the left gate was barren. That door had been shut. It was like Cody was looking up at a wilting rose sitting next to two others in full bloom.
“It’s working,” Cody said. He could barely contain the excitement in his voice. “Keep going Rachel.”
He looked at her.
Rachel was straining badly. Cody could see the rope-like veins sticking out on her neck and head. It reminded him of weightlifters that he’d seen on TV at the Olympics, lifting heavier and heavier. It was only after they were squatting down with the weight of the world on their shoulders that they realized what they were up against.
“Dad,” Rachel said. Her voice was shaking. “It’s too heavy.”
Cody didn’t know what to say to her. Was he supposed to tell her to stop and try again? Take a deep breath and reset? But he knew that even if she did that, it wasn’t going to get any easier.
She was their only hope of closing the gates. Of turning this thing off.
Cody watched as the invading army floated across the city. They were translucent marauders from another dimension. Long strips of multicolored light cut through massive buildings like a sword slicing through a pile of bamboo sticks. Large blocks of stone, wood and metal crashed to the ground. There was a permanent clattering noise in San Antonio. Elsewhere the light continued to drift out of the ground like steam.
The marine-like call of the Exterminators was constant. They were the hidden conductors of all this, orchestrating the destruction from the shadows.
“Rachel,” Cody said, watching his daughter’s body tremble under the pressure. He’d never felt so helpless in his life. He didn’t know
whether to grab her and run or to stand firm and encourage her further.
“Fight them,” Cody said through gritted teeth. “Hang in there baby. You’re stronger than they are. You’ve worked hard for this and…”
Something hard slammed into Cody’s chest. It felt like a monster truck going straight through him and he was knocked backwards across the rooftop.
“Dad!”
Rachel’s voice sounded far away.
Cody rolled like a soccer ball along the roof. Seconds later, he felt the solid base underneath slip away. His body hung in midair for a second and it felt like time had stopped altogether. It was during that brief moment that his fingers, which must have been running on automatic pilot, grasped for something – anything to keep him from plummeting down ten stories to the street.
He grabbed a hold of the ledge.
With a cry of terror, Cody held on for dear life to the side of the building. The ledge, icy and narrow, felt unwelcoming. His legs dangled in midair like clothes hung out to dry in a stiff breeze. The giant hotel sign, with its promise of air-conditioned rooms, towered over him.
Cody tried to pull himself back up. Looking across the rooftop, he saw that Rachel had stopped fighting the Exterminators and now she’d turned around and was staring at him with look of panic on her face.
“Dad!” she cried out. “Get back on the roof!”
“Keep going!” Cody yelled. His voice was hidden beneath the sound of the city being pulled apart. “Don’t stop Rachel. I’m alright. You have to close the…”
One hand slipped off the ledge. Cody’s body jerked downwards. He gasped and clawed for the side of the building again.
He saw Rachel running across the roof towards him. The shield fizzled out around her and Cody saw the left gate, the one that had been wilting moments earlier, surge back to life. It swelled up like a peacock stretching out its magnificent tail. A flood of heat and color surged back into its gray center.
Rachel kept running towards her dad. Cody could hear her breathing heavy as if she was on the brink of collapse. She thrust out an arm, reaching for the ledge. Reaching for Cody.
“Take my hand,” she called out.
Mega Post-Apocalyptic Double Bill Page 80