Nano Z

by Brad Knight

  Like everything else in the Golden Pony, the labs consisted of re-purposed space. Before Galatea, they were interconnected storage rooms that held everything from liquor to frozen food. The company converted them to laboratory workspaces.

  The first area of the labs consisted of hospital beds surrounded by plastic tarps. Medical monitoring equipment accompanied each one. Mack slowly approached one to see if whoever lay there was all right.

  Be ready for anything. Mack used one hand to open up one of the tarps. His other hand held and aimed his gun, just in case.

  Jesus! Behind the tarp, in the hospital bed, was a woman. She was strapped down. Beneath her pale skin, Mack could see black veins. Her eyes were cloudy. The woman was undead.

  Mack considered putting the meat puppet in the hospital bed out of its misery. But a shot would bring more. Instead he closed the tarp and backed away.

  What the hell is this? Mack looked around at the other beds. He didn’t check them but felt it was safe to assume that there were more meat puppets strapped there.

  Mack continued into another room. In it there was another makeshift prison. Behind metal grate doors were people who looked even more defeated than the inmates he passed on a daily basis.

  Wait… I recognize him. Simon? You got to be kidding me. Mack wasn’t sure at first. The lack of meat on the prisoner’s bones and sickly look made identifying him hard. It was Simon.

  Mack stood inches from the metal grate door. “Simon?”

  One of the prisoners got up. His legs shook as they struggled to bear his weight. He was weak, malnourished and frail. But there was no mistaking his face. The last time Mack saw it was back in the cabin with his sister.

  Stephanie? Mack’s eyes darted around the prison cell. He was looking for the kind woman he met at the rodeo arena. She was nowhere to be seen.

  “Where’s Stephanie? Where’s your sister?” asked Mack despite having a good idea what the answer to his question was.

  Simon’s wide eyes stood out on his dirty face. They started to tear up. That was all the answer Mack needed.

  “I’m getting you out of here,” said Mack as he tried to open the padlock that kept the metal grate doors closed. He backed up and used the butt of his rifle to try and knock open the lock. It took some doing, but he managed to open the doors.

  “C’mon, let’s go,” encouraged Mack. The prisoners didn’t move.

  Get up! We need to go, now! What’s wrong with you people? None of the prisoners budged. That was when Mack realized that they were lost causes. He’d be better off leaving them behind. Hell, he’d be better off leaving the labs all together.

  “Lost, friend?” Mack heard Ted’s voice.

  Shit. Mack turned towards the voice. Ted Gorman stood about fifteen feet away. There was something different about him.

  “I heard some screaming and I…I’m going to go,” said Mack as he slowly backpedaled.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You came in here to look around.” Ted gave a devilish grin. His eyes started to glow, red.

  That’s not good.

  Ted’s cranked his neck sideways. There was a loud crunching noise. Then much to Mack’s surprise and horror, the CEO of Galatea Systems neck started to elongate. His skin tore.

  For the first time in months, Mack was scared into immobility. He couldn’t move. Ted’s head got closer and closer, carried by an impossibly stretched out neck. It stopped a feet away from Mack.

  “Let me give you the tour,” laughed Ted.

  Mack’s arms moved with a mind of their own. He swung his hunting rifle at Ted’s face, hitting it. Upon contact there was a loud clang, like metal against metal. The vibrations from the impact ran through his hands, almost making him drop his weapon.

  Suddenly, Mack’s legs returned to him. And he ran. He knew something was wrong with the Golden Pony. But even he couldn’t imagine something quite so horrible. Behind him he could hear Ted laughing.

  I’ll go up, get Amber then find some way out of this place. What am I going to tell her? How do I explain this?

  Mack ran past the hospital beds near the entrance of the labs. Their occupants were convulsing behind the plastic. Black blood sprayed on the tarps from the inside as he hurried towards the exit/entrance.

  “Where are you going, Mack? There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.” Mack heard Ted’s voice behind him. “Come on back. We’ll just talk. I promise.” Ted struggled to get the last sentence out without laughing.

  When Mack reached the tinted glass door that separated the labs from the white room, he felt no relief. That was due to his inability to open it. He didn’t know that he needed a keycard to get in and to get out.

  “Eugene! Open up!” yelled Mack as he pounded on the tinted glass. No one came to the door.

  Eugene you lazy mother fucker. Wake up and open this damn door. Or I swear to god my ghost will haunt you. Shit, here comes Ted.

  Mack turned, showing his back to the tinted glass door. He raised and aimed his hunting rifle. As soon as Ted showed his face, he’d start firing. Then the lights went out.

  Down the hall, Mack saw two red eyes. It was Ted. The Viking didn’t wait. He fired his hunting rifle. Without skipping a beat he reloaded, using the firearm’s bolt action. Mack fired again.

  Each gunshot lit up the dark hallway. In that very brief moment of light, Mack saw Ted get closer. The CEO of Galatea Systems had twisted features. It was as if his bones were constantly breaking and reforming under his skin.

  Mack’s hunting rifle had to be reloaded. He didn’t have any extra bullets on his person. With no other choice, he took out his knife and prepared to fight to his death.

  Suddenly the door behind Mack opened. It looked as if luck was on his side. That was until he turned around and was met with the butt of Eugene’s gun. Just like that, his fight was over and the world went black.

  ***

  “Who wants to go first?” asked Mrs. Parrish. She was talking to the only other two guardians at the Golden Pony daycare. Lucy and Amber looked at each other to see if either of them would jump at the chance. Neither was particularly hungry, despite all the kids under their care munching away on their lunches.

  “Fine, I’ll go first. Lucy, you’re in charge until I get back.” Mrs. Parrish elected herself to take the first lunch break.

  For the next twenty minutes Lucy and Amber did their best to corral the kids. It wasn’t easy. Lucy was better at it, probably due to her giving birth and raising a son of her own before the outbreak claimed him. With that said, Amber wasn’t bad at it.

  There was a peace in her job that Amber thoroughly enjoyed. It’d been weeks since she had to fire her crossbow. Her life wasn’t in peril. And she genuinely liked spending time with the children.

  Mrs. Parrish returned to the theater allowing Lucy to go and have her lunch. Watching the oldest worker at the daycare handle the kids was awe inspiring to Amber. While the teen had trouble keeping the children together in a cohesive group, Mrs. Parrish herded them with the same skill and confidence as a cowboy with cattle.

  Another twenty minutes passed before Lucy returned to the makeshift daycare center. That meant it was Amber’s turn to eat. By that time she was practically ravenous.

  The most exercise that Amber got since arriving at the Golden Pony with Mack consisted of ascending the stairs from the theater stage to the exit. It was considerably less strenuous than the endless miles she had to walk since the outbreak. She hoped that things stayed that way.

  I don’t care how gross it is, I’m hungry and I need some lunch. Unfortunately the end of the world didn’t curb Amber’s teenage appetite. As she passed through the lobby she fantasized about the SPAM sandwich she was on her way to eat. She couldn’t help but notice that there was something wrong in the cavernous entrance of the Golden Pony.

  There was a sense of panic and confusion amongst the men and women assigned to the sand bags in the lobby. Some were checking their weapons. It seemed like they were preparing
for a fight.

  Naturally curious, Amber wanted to know what was happening. She deviated from her path to the communal dining area and approached one of the armed guards.

  “What’s going on?”

  “We don’t know yet,” answered the guard. He didn’t take his eyes off the front doors of the casino. “Word is that they broke through one of the fences.”

  Amber heard gunshots from outside. At first it was just a couple. Then the rate of fire increased.

  “Go girl, get away from here. It isn’t safe,” ordered the guard before he flipped the safety off on his assault rifle.

  I gotta see what’s going on. Amber speed walked right past the communal dining area and to the elevators that led to the residential areas. Her hunger was gone. Instead curiosity took a hold of her. It wouldn’t let go until she got a glimpse of what was occurring outside.

  “Weapons please.” Amber didn’t even hear the attendant at the armory station. She kept walking. “Weapons!” The attendant was not amused. She thought the youth had ignored her.

  That’s right. My crossbow. Amber ran back to the armory station. She gave the attendant a nervous smile.

  “My bad,” apologized Amber as she checked her crossbow into the armory. Once she got her poker chip, she ran to her and Mack’s room.

  The view from the window in their room allowed Amber to see the goings on in front of the Golden Pony. Her face was pressed against the cool glass as she tried to get a glimpse of what all the commotion was about. She wasn’t disappointed.

  Guard towers made of aluminum scaffolding were stationed every fifty feet or so, just behind the last layer of chain link fence. Stationed at them were guards who were expending considerable amounts of ammunition. That expenditure was in the hope that they could keep the advancing meat puppets at bay.

  Members of the security squads started sliding huge slabs of sheet metal behind the last layer of chain link fence. The large sheet metal panels were on trolleys with wheels designed to be easily removed. Once the panels were in place, forming a long interconnected wall, workers set up triangle shaped supports to hold them up.

  With everything in place, brave men and women knocked off the wheels. The bottoms of the sheet metal panels fell onto the asphalt producing loud bangs. Each one made Amber’s heart race.

  The guards stayed in their towers and kept firing, until they ran out of ammo. They used ropes to climb down, over the sheet metal panels and into the safety of The Strip. Amber couldn’t help but wonder how scary that must’ve been.

  Shit, what time is it? Amber didn’t know how long she had stood at the window and watched the scene below her. But she was sure that it was longer than her allotted twenty minute lunch break. So she left the room and hurried back down to the theater.

  Chapter 13: A Lame Horse

  Mack woke up groggy, with a pounding headache. He felt cold metal underneath him. Where was he?

  Through his blurry vision, Mack could make out a cluster of bright lights above him. They were intense. He could feel the heat emanating from their white bulbs.

  “You awake big guy?” Mack heard Ted’s voice.

  Get up Mack. This Gorman guy is bad news. You have to get up and get out of here. Amber is all alone.

  Mack tried to get up. But his arms and legs weren’t cooperating. They were bound with thick leather straps. The same restraints were used in hospitals to subdue patients.

  Slowly Mack’s vision started to sharpen. As it did, the memories of what led to him being tied down to a table started to crawl back. I heard a scream. I went into the lab to see what it was. There were people in hospital beds and more prisoners. I saw that Ted guy and he…Oh shit.

  “Coming back to you buddy?” asked Ted. He walked over into Mack’s vision. His neck wasn’t elongated. The skin on his neck was intact and flawless. Neither of his eyes were red. And he was smiling, as if nothing happened.

  “You fucking…!” yelled Mack as he tried to reach out and strangle the CEO of Galatea Systems. Of course his restraints stifled his efforts.

  “Calm down. You don’t want to hurt yourself do you?”

  A woman came into view. She was wearing a lab coat with the Galatea logo on it. Within minutes she started an IV on Mack’s arm.

  “You’re probably wondering what’s happening, right? I would be. Well, it’s pretty simple Mack. I’m going to inject you with a concentrated dose of weaponized nanites. Those are little microscopic machines that will multiply in your bloodstream and quickly turn you into something more than human. They will make you stronger, faster, smarter, better, like me.” Ted talked as he filled a syringe with gray liquid.

  “Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. You don’t want to end up like those mindless things out there, beyond the walls. You won’t. I promise. I’m giving you the same dose I got. It took longer than I thought it would, but we’ve perfected the nanotechnology.”

  “If you’re wrong?” asked Mack as he continued a futile struggle against his restraints.

  “Then you’ll become one of those mindless things. Either way, your old life ends tonight, bud. There’s nothing you can do about it. I suggest embracing it.” Ted inserted the syringe full of gray liquid into Mack’s IV.

  This isn’t happening. I have to be able to stop this. Try and talk him down. “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Don’t do this. You really don’t have to do this. Just put the syringe down and we can work something else out. I’ll keep my mouth shut. You can assign me to the survey team. Chances are the meat puppets will kill me. But at least I’ll have a chance. I’ve earned that much. We all have.”

  Ted smiled. His eyes looked soulless, like a doll. “Don’t you get it yet? We broke the world. This virus is our doing. So we did the responsible thing. We cured it.” The CEO of Galatea Systems pointed at the syringe. “This is the cure. This is how we fix the world that we broke. This will give you a chance. Really, you should be thanking me.”

  The world you broke? This is your doing? You mother fucker. Give me the damn cure so that I’ll have the strength to get out of here and strangle you to death with my own two hands.

  Ted’s thumb slowly pushed down on the syringe’s plunger. Mack watched as the gray liquid drained into the IV stuck in his arm. He could feel nanites enter his bloodstream. They felt like millions of tiny insects, crawling under his skin. Then came an intense pain that again rendered him unconscious.

  ***

  Amber spent the night after her shift at the daycare staring out the window of her room. She watched as the new sheet metal walls that surrounded the Golden Pony and The Strip started to fail. It was only a matter of time before they fell. Once they did, the meat puppets will overrun the place, no matter how many weapons they had.

  The puppets beyond the walls weren’t the only reason that Amber stayed awake. Mack didn’t come back to the room. That wasn’t like him. He always came back. Nothing could keep him from being there to protect her.

  That’s it. I’m going to go look for him. He’d do the same for me. Amber got ready to leave the comfort and safety of their room. As she tied her shoes she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d never be back again. And that was fine. Just as long as she found her guardian, she didn’t care where she was.

  A loud blaring siren filled every room and hallway of the Golden Pony. Amber didn’t know it, but it was an alarm. It signified that there was a breach. Meat puppets were past the perimeter defenses of The Strip.

  Amber hurried out into the hallway. There she found residents panicked, confused and still half asleep. But she was calm.

  After wading through the sea of confused residents in the hallway, Amber made her way to the armory station. The attendants must’ve abandoned their post because no one was behind the table. She opened up the metal cabinet and retrieved her crossbow, along with someone’s pistol.

  There’s no fucking way I’m getting on that elevator. As per usual there was a line for the elevator. Even with the panic and the sirens,
people still waited. Amber wasn’t a sheep. She’d find her own way.

  The stairs! Amber knew there had to be a stairwell. In case of a fire, no building with elevators didn’t have stairs for backup. She didn’t know where they were, but she was sure as hell going to find them.

  Amber wasn’t big. She had a hard time pushing her way through the throngs of residents in the hallways. It took a while, but she managed to reach a locked door. There was a sign that read “Stairs”.

  Time wasn’t a luxury that Amber had. Every second could push Mack even farther away from her. Or worse, he could die. The rules of the Golden Pony held little meaning to her at that point.

  Amber aimed her gun at the door lock. She squeezed the trigger. Nothing happened. The safety, idiot, switch off the safety. With her now ready pistol, Amber fired at the door lock. It took a couple of shots but she broke through.

  A wall of rotting human body aroma overtook her when the door to the stairwell opened. She’d smelt the dead before. This was different. They smelled worse, older. Nothing would deter her. She lifted the collar of her shirt and put it over her nose and entered the stairwell. It was dark, and only red emergency lights provided illumination.

  Be careful. Don’t run. You’re no good to Mack if you fall and break something. Amber hurried down the steps but she was careful not to go too fast. She could hardly see her feet let alone where she was going.

  The further down the stairwell that Amber got, the worse it smelled. When she was just a floor away from the ground level, the number of flies in the enclosed space increased. They were there for a reason.

  Just through this door. Amber stood outside the door marked “G”, for Ground Level. All she had to do was open it and continue her search for Mack.

  Where’s that smell coming from? If there are meat puppets already in the casino, people need to know. I can’t ignore this.

  Amber backed away from the door and continued down the stairs. There were still a couple levels below the ground floor. She didn’t have to go far before discovering the source of the horrid smell.