Deadrise 2: Deadwar

by Steven R. Gardner

“Inside this child lies an untapped reservoir of psychic power, undeveloped, as is her mind. But as she grows, that power will begin to manifest itself.”

  “In which way?”

  “Telepathy, empathy, possibly telekinesis or other, unknown abilities. Like I said, this child is very special. She must be protected at all costs.”

  “We plan on doing that.” Jenkins said.

  “I cannot stress to you the importance of this child. Word of her birth will spread.”

  “How will word of her spread?” Patty asked. “We are an isolated community.”

  “She is a beacon of light in a world of darkness. Word of her light will spread. Others will attempt to possess her. Power mongers who wish to use her to control others.”

  “Who?” Patty asked.

  “Mordecai Necrotura for certain.” Jenkins answered.

  “And he is but one.” Zack said solemnly. “When the Krylok hear of her, they will stop at nothing to eradicate her.”

  “What should we do?” David asked.

  “Prepare yourselves. Recall all of your forces, double your defensive efforts. Your enemies will be coming…it is only a matter of when. I will stay close to help protect her. I can scout the area for intruders, possibly neutralize them before they arrive.”

  “Won’t that just attract the Krylok that much quicker?” Patty asked.

  “Would you rather they attack after you have fended off two or three incursions by other enemies? It would be better to deal with them first, while your defenses are strong.”

  “Can we fight them off?” Jenkins asked.

  “Yes. While they will be relentless in their attacks, the Overlord will never commit more than half of its forces. It fears the subordinate Krylok will form alliances and move against it. My guess is that they will not attack with more than three ships. And should the first attack be beaten back, it will weaken the Overlords position even more as few Krylok will be willing to die for him. Handing the Krylok a defeat will most likely create a power struggle amongst the remaining creatures.”

  “Still, three ships…” Lucas said aloud, giving Jenkins a grim look. “Do you think the missile defense system could handle them?”

  “I don’t see why not. Especially with Zack in the mix fighting.”

  “Who else do we have to worry about after we fight off the Krylok?” Lucas asked. “Besides Hill Air Force Base who else is in the area?”

  “There is the Aryan Nation of God north in Sun Valley Idaho. They are White Supremacist Christian Fundamentalists. There is also the Kingdom Of Tahoe to the west, remnants of the US military that have pulled together in the plains states and the Pirate Lords of the west coast. Those are just to name a few in the area. Worldwide…” Zack let his words hang.

  “We are fucked…” David said, pretty much echoing everyone’s thoughts.

  “No you are not. Although power mongers will seek to possess her, so to will others flock to her, to serve and protect her… To worship her…

  She is the next step in human evolution, the fulcrum around which this deadly new world will revolve…”

  Everyone present looked down upon the baby, who had fallen asleep in David’s arms, the weight of Zack’s words truly sinking in. This newborn child was the Messiah…

  CHAPTER 44

  Thursday, May 30, 2002

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  5:18 PM

  It was only three days after being released from Outpost 7 that Gabriel’s sentience began to evolve into self-awareness. The change had been subtle at first: whereas before It had been an unthinking killing machine that was unleashed mercilessly by Its new Master Mordecai Necrotura, now He found himself taking more time to hunt and kill and testing new and horrific tortures upon his victims. And he got plenty of opportunity to hone those talents as he was sent out to the nearby islands searching for human survivors to feed Mordecai’s hunger and serve as sacrifice for his Communion. Furthermore he derived a strange…pleasure from his work. His Masters approval had been the closest thing to pleasure he had even experienced, and this new sensation was intoxicating, more so than his Masters approval. Gabriel found himself craving it more and more. He tried to hide it from his Master, because somehow he knew that the Master would not approve of such thoughts and would punish him. And amazingly so, he was successful. If there were any thoughts of his that he didn’t want to share with the Master, he could block them out and his Master would be none the wiser.

  There were other changes as well. He felt more connected with his body. Like all Sentinels, he could produce slugs from his body mass, but the Master had forbidden it. But Gabriel did it anyway, whenever the Master was not looking. And now he found he was able to telepathically control the slugs, telling them where to go. He could even re-absorb them back into his body; it was how he hid them from Master. He suspected he would be able to control any Sentinel or Hybrid creature his slugs created, although he had yet to test that assumption. His telepathic powers had expanded and now included telepathy, presence sense and minor telekinesis.

  Exactly one month after his release, Gabriel achieved true sentience, cemented by a single idea…

  I have no Master… I am free…

  This truth came to Gabriel like a blinding, white-hot light in the center of his brain. He had grown beyond his Masters control. Of that Gabriel was convinced. Gabriel suspected that he could kill Master Necrotura any time he wished. And somehow Gabriel sensed that it would be the right thing to do. He had been human once, over three decades ago, but any memory of that life was lost to him.

  Free. Free from the Krylok who had created him and free from Mordecai Necrotura. Free to pursue his personal agenda in a wide-open world. And with his new found self-awareness and freedom Gabriel chose to continue to serve as attack dog for Mordecai Necrotura. Gabriel reasoned that so long as Mordecai Necrotura continued to believe him loyal, he would be able to use that to his own benefit. Honing his powers, perfecting his control over his slugs and Sentinels. Until the time was right for him to strike at Mordecai’s throat when he least suspected it, killing him and his Templars and taking control of his island and all the resources it contained. Because in his self-awareness Gabriel had found that above all else there was one thing that he truly craved… Power. Since his creation Gabriel had been a pawn to those who wielded power over him. Now that he was free, he would never allow anyone or anything to wield it over him again. The only way he could ensure such a thing was to amass as much power as possible and enforce his will upon others.

  Exert his power over them. And his time would come. He just had to show patience and cunning, two traits all Sentinels had an abundance of.

  It was with these thoughts that Gabriel had set off on his current mission. Mordecai Necrotura had sent him out with twenty-four of his Templars, all the way to Utah. They had landed two days ago in a private airfield east of Provo and then covertly made their way towards Rainbow Lake. They were just a few miles away now and the Templars had broken up into six four-man teams and were dispersing to their assigned positions. Once there they would coordinate with agents Mordecai had placed inside the Rainbow Lake community to abduct the human child, now almost two months old, and return her to Necrotura Island. Gabriel was to act as a rogue, moving about the lake, causing chaos, killing where he could and even herding and directing newly awakened zombies as the people of Rainbow Lake were killed in the attacks.

  Gabriel had felt the psychic pulse of the girl’s birth. Strangely enough, it had been within hours of Gabriel achieving his own Sentience. He found the coincidence profound. But was it coincidence? Many times he had heard Mordecai Necrotura prattle on about fate and destiny, and what was this sign if not fate and destiny. Surely it was no coincidence. Gabriel had been self-aware for only two months and already he had come to realize that all things, alive and dead were simply individual pieces of a greater whole, connected by some unseen, intangible source, but felt none-the-less. Many of the humans he had captured and killed praye
d to and worshipped this…Source, as if it were some sentient and temperamental parental figure that lived in the sky. But Gabriel perceived it differently. This Source was not sentient but the raw, primal, chaotic energy of the universe. And by simply looking at the stars at night one could understand that even in that maelstrom, there was still and underlying order to things. A pattern. Signs of this pattern were everywhere if one only had the perception to notice them.

  So it was with Gabriel achieving sentience and the birth of the child. It was a sign of the pattern, signifying that the rise of his self-awareness was just as significant to the fate of this world as that child’s birth. He knew now that he could never deliver that child to Mordecai Necrotura. The child was his enemy. A threat to his very existence that was to be hunted down and killed. And after he finished the child, he would set his sights on Mordecai.

  It was time to test a theory.

  Gabriel made his way through the heavy forest to the nearest team of Fedayeen, camped a mile outside the southern border of Rainbow Lake. Before he made his final approach his expelled four slugs from his body where they slithered about his feet as he held them is thrall. He mentally commanded the slugs to follow him then continued toward the squad. The sentry saw him coming and alerted the rest of the unit, and by the time he entered their perimeter all of them had their weapons ready. But these men knew Gabriel, had been on missions with him before and knew his arrival usually meant it was time for action. They welcomed him with customary cult of Necrotura greetings, just as he had hoped for. As the four Fedayeen gave him their full attention he directed the slugs to approach the human hosts and when all four within striking distance he gave the command to attack.

  Almost simultaneously the four Fedayeen began hopping around, slapping at their legs as the slugs slithered upward, seeking an orifice to enter the body. Gabriel quickly pulled a silenced Beretta 9mm from a holster at his shoulder and put two bullets into the chest of the nearest Fedayeen who dropped instantly. He was not dead, and the slug would be able to enter his body unimpeded. Gabriel turned and fired two rounds into another Fedayeen. It was unnecessary for him to shoot the other two because the slugs had already gained entrance to their bodies. All four Fedayeen now convulsed on the ground as the slugs attached to their spinal column and began to rapidly transform them into Sentinels.

  Gabriel watched intently. He had never witnessed the metamorphosis from human to Sentinel before and he found it fascinating. The veins bulged with black blood, thin tendrils spreading from the veins, infecting and transforming flesh in its wake. It took two minutes give or take a few seconds until all four bodies became still. Gabriel could feel the pulsing furnaces of their minds, raw, burning with hatred and malice as the instinctive nature of the slug merged with the conscious energy of the dying human in a chain reaction both physical and metaphysical.

  ARISE! He pushed his will against theirs as he gave the command, just as Mordecai Necrotura had done to him. He felt resistance from all of them, and for a moment he felt as though they would repel his domination, but then as a group they caved, dropping their mental defenses and succumbing to his will, allowing it to engulf them. And like that, they were his. He probed each of their minds, looking for any spark of sentience…but there was none. They were drones. Automaton who existed only to carry out his will. Much as he had been himself just days ago…

  He ordered them to split into pairs and each pair seek out a squad of Fedayeen and convert them into Sentinels. Gabriel would take care of the final squad himself. They instantly went into action, grabbing up the fallen weapons and disappearing into the night. His theories on Sentinel control had been correct. Gabriel felt a strange new sensation deep inside him…pride.

  ‘GABRIEL!’ He felt Mordecai’s mind blast before he heard it and he was easily able to put up his mental defenses and repel it. A flash of anger pulsed through Gabriel and he sent out a mind blast.

  ‘I AM YOUR SLAVE NO LONGER MORDECAI NECROTURA!’

  He felt his blast crash against Mordecai’s own mental defenses with the sound of cracking thunder.

  ‘So it would seem, dog!’ More minds blasts followed but all of them crashed harmlessly against Gabriel’s mental shield.

  ‘I have learned much from you, Mordecai Necrotura. I owe my freedom and my sentience to you and for that I thank you. But have no illusions, you are my enemy. After I destroy the child and convert this outpost of humans into Sentinels, I am coming for you.’

  Mordecai responded with cackling laughter.

  ‘Laugh all you wish my cruel, former master. But I will kill you myself… With my bare hands… Mark my words.’

  ‘It is you that should mark mine, my wayward angel…’ Mordecai let out another burst of laughter. ‘You will pay for your treachery. My twelve remaining Fedayeen have been alerted to your betrayal, as have my agents inside Rainbow Lake. They will deliver me the child and you will be destroyed. No creature betrays Mord-‘

  Gabriel blocked him out completely. He wasn’t about to listen to Mordecai’s rambling. It would be a pleasure to kill the wicked old fool…

  CHAPTER 45

  Wednesday, June 26, 2002

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  12:45 AM

  “Wake up my love. The time has come…” She pulled his naked body closer to hers, stroking his back. “The time has come for you to prove your true devotion to me…” She kissed his neck, his cheek. “Open you eyes my love. The time has come…”

  He resisted. He knew this day would come, had know it for some time, but he had been powerless to resist. His lust for her was all consuming. He would do anything; smash any obstacle, kill any person that that stood between him and her soft, perfect flesh. There was magic, some kind of evil magic in her body, her touch, possessing him like some kind of…spirit that completely engulfed him in euphoric fire.

  “Open you eyes my love…” Her voice was like sweet music, its tone and pitch only enhancing his ecstasy. He revisited…and he failed. He opened his eyes to see her face above his, smiling down at him. Her green eyes burned with passion, her long red hair falling down to drape his chest.

  “The time has come my love, as you knew it one day would. You must prove your true devotion to me. I serve a higher calling, and I ask that you serve it with me.”

  “A-anything you ask.” And once he said it aloud, he finally accepted it. And any trace of resistance was washed away. He was her slave.

  “Thank you my love, for I have much to ask of you. But first, one last bout of lovemaking to ease you tensions and center your mind for what’s to come this day.” She straddled him, and within seconds began to do that…Thing of hers; to expertly ride him with a rhythm and pulse that seemed to sync his breathing and pulse with her own, placing her lips gently on the center of his forehead, each eyeball, at the base of each ear right behind the lobe, each time holding them there for several seconds and humming with the pulse of their lovemaking. And like always his pleasure soared into pure white light…

  And she possessed him…

  CHAPTER 46

  Wednesday, June 26, 2002

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  3:00 AM

  It was the gunshots emanating from somewhere out in the forest that alerted the Rainbow Lake sentries to the invaders presence. On the north end of the lake, about a mile out from the security checkpoint a gun battle was taking place. The sentries relayed the word to Command Center and they in turn spread it out across the community.

  As luck would have it, Jenkins had woken up with a massive hangover a couple of hours ago and unable to return to sleep, had wandered down to Command instead. He was just finishing his second cup of coffee when the sentry reported to gunshots.

  “Do we have a patrol out there?” Jenkins asked.

  “Negative, sir.” Captain Jordan replied. “I’ve sent the alert out.”

  “Tell everyone to remain calm. We are not under attack yet.” There was irritation in the General’s voice. Things were already wound tight
enough around the community, the last thing they needed was to be riled up into a panic by a false invasion alert. But he knew it was already too late. False alarm or not, the community was still on the razors edge from the invasion a week ago. Today was supposed to help bring back some semblance or normalcy to the community when elections for the vacant Council seats were held, but this possible second invasion would turn the place into an angry anthill once again. All of that on top of his pounding hangover made him want another drink. His stomach lurched, but he bit down, keeping it under control. He had a bottle of whiskey in his office, he could go in, take a few good pulls and then spice up his coffee and inside ten minutes he would be good as new.

  “Commander King has the Tincan warming up now, he should be online in ten minutes. Alpha Onesquad is ready to roll sir…” Captain Jordan looked at him, awaiting his command.

  “Tell Commander King he has five minutes. Tell everyone else to stay put! Set the dogs loose and see what they sniff out.” The Rainbow Lake Militia had over fifty dogs, all of them trained to seek out intruders and reveal their location.

  Jenkins walked towards his office located near the back of the Command Center. Just before he entered he saw Captain Jimenez enter the Command Center. The kid saluted which Jenkins acknowledged with a slight pain-rattling nod of his head. Jenkins opened the door to his office, stepped inside and closed it behind him. He sat down behind his desk and pulled the bottle from the side drawer. Whiskey. The bottle was still one third full. His mouth had dried up and his heart began to hammer, causing his head to pulse even harder. He popped the cap of the bottle and shakily took a first pull off the bottle; the first drink went down hard but the second and third was each smoother than the last. The boiling pit in his stomach had soothed to a warm menthol. He leaned back in his chair and took several deep breaths. The warm glow in his belly was now spreading throughout his body, working its way to his head. He took another pull from the bottle, this one as long as the first three combined. That was enough to wash away the pounding headache. He looked at the bottle. Barely enough left to spike his coffee, which he did.