Nano Z

by Brad Knight

  Meat puppets weren’t the source. Amber didn’t have to go far to discover what was. Like a sight in a haunted house attraction, she saw piles of dead human bodies at the bottom of the stairwell. Lit by the red emergency lights, it looked surreal.

  A strong stomach didn’t help Amber when she discovered the bodies. She threw up all over the stairs. It wasn’t just what she saw or smelt. It was the idea that the little oasis in the middle of the desert had a dark side. From the corpses, who had gunshot wounds to their heads, it was clear that something ugly was going on in the Golden Pony.

  Amber steeled herself and went back up the stairs. She found that the door to the ground floor was locked. Just like the entrance to the stairwell, she was able to destroy the lock with a well-placed shot. There was no being ready for the chaos of the Golden Pony lobby that the door opened up to.

  Sandbags and the weapons in their hands were all that separated the men and women in the casino lobby from the advancing meat puppets. The sheet metal walls were falling, one by one.

  A week before the outbreak, Amber went to a concert with some of her friends. Not only was it fun but it was the loudest experience she ever had. Her ears rang for the rest of the weekend. She didn’t care. To her it was like a badge of honor. The necessary price for a life experience.

  The concert was replaced by the scene in the lobby of the Golden Pony. A dozen guns fired at the same time. Each shot echoed throughout the cavernous space. Those combined with the security team’s yelling and the screeches of the meat puppets made for an extremely loud environment.

  Empty shell casings covered the carpeted floor. The smell of burnt gunpowder stung Amber’s nose. A couple members of the security team guarding the front entrance were overrun and mauled by meat puppets before their comrades downed the creatures.

  Amber managed to pry her attention from the fighting in the lobby. Mack wasn’t there, and she needed to find out where he went. He would never leave her. So she wasn’t about to leave him. The only problem was that she had no idea where he was.

  Mack never told Amber exactly what he did at the Golden Pony. Nor did he tell her where he worked. All she knew was that he was a guard. Since she didn’t see him in the lobby, she had to move on.

  As Amber reached the far end of the embattled lobby, the meat puppet screeches got louder than the gunshots. Before heading into one of the many casino floors, she took one last look at the fighting. The creatures were overtaking the security forces. She didn’t stick around to watch the slaughter.

  ***

  Becoming more than human was a painful process. The nanites injected into Mack’s body didn’t just stay in his blood. They spread out through his body and started changing his bones and organs.

  Almost every bone in Mack’s body broke and reformed itself in a stronger metallic form. Nanites embedded themselves in his organs, taking away any need for food or water. He felt every excruciating change.

  This can’t be happening. I spent the better part of a year killing meat puppets. Now I am one? What will I tell Amber? Is it even safe to go anywhere near her?

  “Feeling better?” asked Ted. He sat in the corner of the Galatea Systems laboratory and watched Mack suffer. By the time he finished his apple, the transformation was almost complete.

  You made a mistake Ted. You should have killed me. I’ll let you live long enough to see if there’s any curing this. But once I do, you’re dead.

  “What, not going to talk to me? Going to give me the silent treatment? You should be thanking me, big guy. I just gave you all you need to survive this new America.” Ted got up. He threw the core of his eaten apple aside and approached the table that Mack was strapped to.

  “You don’t believe me?” asked Ted. He picked up a scalpel. “I’ll show you.” Ted sliced through the skin and muscle in one of Mack’s forearms. It was painful but Mack refused to show it. He then felt like there were bugs crawling around the cut. Nanites in his body closed the wound, repaired and replaced the skin.

  What…the...fuck? Mack watched as his new body healed itself. He’d seen some strange things since the outbreak but that put all the others to shame. It was like something out of a movie or comic book.

  “You see? Pretty cool huh?” Ted started undoing Mack’s straps. “There’s no need for these. Besides I need your help. There’s work to do.”

  That’s it you fucking nut job. Let me loose so I can kill you. Mack tried to stay calm as his captor slowly freed him. He prepared himself for what he was about to do to the unhinged CEO of Galatea Systems. Then it hit him. The guy’s crazy but he’s not dumb. He must have some kind of secret, an ace in the hole to keep himself safe.

  “What’s to stop me from killing you as soon as I’m free?” asked Mack. There was no reason to be clever about it. He decided to just ask.

  Ted stopped unstrapping Mack and reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Out of the pocket he retrieved a small box. It looked like something you’d find inside a computer tower.

  “Do you know what an electromagnetic pulse is Mack? This here is a device of my own design. It is capable of emitting an EMP up to a six foot radius. You so much as touch me, I’ll set this off. The blast would kill the nanites in our blood. Our biology’s have been altered to such a degree that if those wonderful little machines are disabled, we die.”

  That won’t stop me. Let down your guard just once, and you’re dead.

  Ted finished unstrapping Mack. He then turned his attention to a mirror where he made sure his hair was undisturbed. Once he was satisfied he turned back to Mack and smiled.

  “What is this? What did you do to me?” asked Mack as he got off the surgery table he was previously strapped to.

  Mack’s question brought Ted joy. “I thought you’d never ask. My company, Galatea was hired by the military to develop a way to use nanotechnology to heal injured soldiers on the battlefield. Those microscopic machines swimming around in your blood are the result of that work.

  “I’ll admit, we didn’t quite have it figured out at first. See, each nanite is programmed to keep itself operational, to survive. In order for them to do that they needed a host, a body.

  “Each nanite had three purposes programmed into them. The first was to heal injuries. As soon as a trauma occurred to the host body, they’d rush in to heal it. It’s actually pretty neat how they do it. You see, they copy the surrounding cells and are able to replicate them, seamlessly healing the wound. But they need live cells. That’s why those things out there can’t heal themselves.

  “The second purpose was to make the host body stronger. We initially just thought they’d reinforce bones and muscles but instead they rebuilt them. Test subjects became radically strong. And their bones became a strange metallic substance composed of elements found in the human body.

  “But then things started to go wrong. The nanites became, what’s the best way to put this? They became over vigilant in their third purpose of assessing and protecting the host from threats. Our test subjects became violent and irrational.

  “Five of our test subjects died. Two were actually killed by malfunctioning nanites. The other three beat each other to a point that they couldn’t heal themselves. We burned their bodies after death, so we had no idea that the nanites could reanimate them.

  “That’s about the time that the government cut off our funding. They said the work we were doing was sick and immoral. Who the hell were they to judge us and the work we were doing? Their job was to kill people. And they dared to judge us.

  “So I did what I had to do to save my company. I released the stores of nanites that we had in facilities all over the country. As America tore itself apart, we kept working on perfecting the technology. A week ago, we did it. I injected myself with the first perfected dose of nanites.

  “Now I’m more than human. We went far beyond just healing wounds. I’ll never age, never get sick and never get hurt. I don’t have to eat, even though I still like to. I don’t have to s
leep. I’m perfect.

  “Soon every survivor of this necessary purge will be just like you and me. And out of the chaos, we will rise out of the ashes like a phoenix. A new America will be born. It’ll be one without disease and without hunger. It’ll be a utopia.”

  This asshole is responsible for all this? Yeah… I’m definitely going to kill you.

  “Sacrifice, an unfortunate necessity. Can’t get something for nothing, right bud?” Ted stood there looking proud of himself. In his madness he truly believed himself not only a hero but some kind of new age hero. The fact that a million people died due to his actions didn’t seem to matter to him. That’s when Mack first truly saw what a real monster looked like.

  Suddenly the lab was filled with loud sirens. Ted and Mack both knew what that meant. The former because he ordered the sirens to go off upon meat puppets breaching the outer walls. The latter because every resident of the Golden Pony was told what the sirens meant.

  Amber. Free of his straps, Mack got up off the surgery table. Whether he was a meat puppet or not, he was going to save her. Killing Ted Gorman could wait. She was and would always be his first priority.

  “And where do you think you’re going?” asked Ted as he watched Mack get up and head towards the only door in the room.

  Mack didn’t answer. He tried to open the glass door. It was locked. His fist reared back and was ready to break through it.

  “You’re going to go save that little girl you were with, aren’t you? What was her name? Amber, right? Notice how I said ‘was’ instead of ‘is’? That’s because she’s probably dead already.” Ted talked while trying to pick bits of apple out of his teeth with his tongue.

  “How do you… you know what? I don’t care. I’m going to go save her. You can’t stop me.” Mack punched through the door. He hit it with enough force to shatter the glass. And he didn’t feel a thing.

  Ted strolled over to Mack who was looking at his hand in disbelief. He put his hand on his shoulder. Mack’s reaction was to punch the CEO of Galatea Systems in the face. All it achieved was it messed up his hair.

  Damn. Mack didn’t bother throwing another punch. He wasn’t a scientist like Ted Gorman. But he was smart enough to realize that trying to beat up a man who could almost instantly heal any injury was pointless. If he was going to kill him, he’d have to get more creative than that. Again, that had to wait.

  Ted fixed his hair then wiped the black blood from his lip. “As I was about to say before you punched me in my face, you can’t save her. At least not by yourself.”

  You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” said Mack.

  “No. This would be the perfect chance to test the capabilities of our new bodies. Plus as strong as you are, there are thousands of infected out there. You need my help. And I need yours.

  “Here’s the deal. I help you find your daughter or girlfriend or whatever the fuck she is. And you help me get to the roof. We installed a dispersal system up there for our new and improved nanites. The problem is it has to be activated manually.

  “So… I help you, you help me and in doing so help America. Deal?” Ted stuck out his hand for Mack to shake.

  Mack didn’t answer. He just climbed through the broken glass of the door. The next room was full of expensive looking medical equipment, and dead bodies. All of the corpses had on white lab coats. Most were in several pieces.

  “Don’t worry about them. They are of no further use to me. Just forget you ever saw them.” Ted tip toed around his victims.

  God it’s going to feel good killing this guy.

  Chapter 14: Overrun

  Amber was stuck on the ground floor of the Golden Pony. Specifically, she hid amongst the seemingly endless electronic gambling machines. None of them were operational but they provide decent hiding places.

  The Golden Pony lobby was overrun by meat puppets. Amber could hear the security forces who fought valiantly against the creatures get torn apart alive. It was gruesome.

  As horrible as the slaughter was, Amber didn’t hide because she was scared. She hid because she knew she couldn’t fight the hundreds of walking corpses that infiltrated the casino. If she was going to get away and find Mack, she had to be smart.

  Amber moved from gambling machine to gambling machine. She had to wait for her moments as some of the meat puppets wandered into the casino floor. As long as she stayed low and didn’t make any noise, she’d be okay. That was her mindset.

  Until the lights went out.

  There are no windows in casinos. That was done for the same reason that there were no clocks. The last thing a casino wants is for gamblers to know how long they’ve been playing. Because the longer they sat at the tables or machines, the more money they were likely to lose. Only the hotel rooms had windows.

  Without a view to the outside world, the Golden Pony casino floor on the ground level was almost pitch black. The only reference points were the red exit signs required by Nevada State law in case there was a fire. To make things worse, Amber didn’t have her phone to use as a light.

  Head towards the exit signs. All you have to do is reach them. Amber slung her crossbow across her mid-section. It would be useless in the dark. Instead she unsheathed a knife she took from one of the armory stations. In her other hand she held her pistol, just in case.

  Some of the meat puppets on the casino floor were at a more advanced stage than others. That was to Amber’s advantage. Their glowing red eyes made avoiding them easier.

  Shadows darker than the casino floor wandered around. Every couple of seconds, one screeched. Amber managed to make it halfway to an exit sign near a far wall.

  Each step Amber took was a gamble. At any moment she could’ve run right into a meat puppet. Despite the danger she stayed low and moved quickly and quietly.

  Almost there. Just a little ways to… Amber bumped into someone or something. She raised her knife and prepared to stab. Then she heard an ear piercing screech. Without delay, she stabbed upwards, hoping to skewer a meat puppet head.

  Amber didn’t know where or what she stabbed but she sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around to find out. The teen stumbled over the fallen body that she stuck with her knife. Unsurprisingly she was tripped up.

  I’m dead. All the noise Amber made attracted other meat puppets. They screeched and started to converge on her. She scrambled to her feet and ran towards the red exit sign. Luck was on her side and she reached a door.

  “Over here! Hurry!” Amber heard voices in the dark. One of them sounded familiar. “C’mon!” Through dim red emergency lighting, she saw the silhouette of a man at the end of the hallway she found herself in.

  There wasn’t enough time for Amber to think. She had to move. Behind her, the door that she used to exit the casino floor, swung open. A meat puppet that was barely more than a metallic skeleton came through, followed by two running puppet dogs.

  One of the dogs was missing three fourths of its face. The metal skull underneath reflected the red emergency lights. Next to the faceless dog was one that was more intact but bared metallic teeth. Both looked crazed and willing to maul Amber.

  Shit. Amber ran. Her feet underneath her moved faster than they ever had before, spurred on by slobbering monstrous mutts. Through her ribcage she could feel her heart pounding. When she reached the end of the hall and tried to stop, her feet slid.

  The faceless dog lunged at her. There wasn’t enough time to raise and aim her pistol. She did the only thing she could. She ducked.

  Amber’s pursuer slammed into the wall at the end of the hall, faceless head first. The girl looked up and saw a familiar face hold out his hand and encourage her to follow him. It was Spencer, the man whom she shared an armored transport with on the way to Las Vegas.

  ***

  “What are you going to do with all of them?” asked Mack as he and Ted walked past the tarp covered hospital beds near the entrance of the labs. He’d already seen the remains of Ted’
s science team.

  “What do you mean?” Ted was confused.

  “These people,” said Mack as he pointed at the hospital beds.

  “People? They’re not people, just spoiled meat. Leave them.” There was no sarcasm in Ted’s voice. There was only coldness.

  “We can’t just…”

  “Of course we can.” Ted took out a pistol. He started firing at the infected strapped to the tarp covered hospital beds. That spurred Mack into action.

  You son of a bitch. Mack punched Ted harder then he’d ever hit anyone before in his life. The arrogant, psychotic CEO’s jaw was dislocated and partially shattered.

  Ted laughed through his broken jaw as it rapidly mended. “You’re too sensitive.”

  That felt really good. “You’re insane.” Mack didn’t wait for Ted. He headed towards the tinted glass door that separated the labs from the white room he used to work in.

  Mack didn’t care that he didn’t have a keycard. He didn’t need one. His foot broke right through the tinted glass door. When he climbed through he was surprised to see Eugene sitting behind his desk.

  Time for a little payback. “Hello Eugene,” said Mack. That time he had the sadistic smile.

  “Jesus,” Eugene fell over trying to get up out of his chair. He put his hands up in front of him in a defensive position. “Whoa, hold up. I’m just an employee. I did what I was told to do. It wasn’t anything personal.”

  “It sure felt personal when you knocked me out.” Mack slowly approached Eugene.

  “What’s going on here?” laughed Ted as he followed Mack into the white room.

  Before anybody could answer, Eugene grabbed his shotgun. He used the brief distraction to take a shot at Mack. A split second later, the lights went out.

  The black of the powerless white room lit up for only a brief split second by the muzzle flash of Eugene’s shotgun. What the large man didn’t realize was that Mack was no longer just a man. And no matter how much buckshot he put in him, the big Viking would keep coming.