A Cold Black Wave

by Scott, Timothy H.

  Once Leah’s vision fully returned, they moved through the forest until arriving at a rocky incline. Knicte climbed first, checking back to see if Leah was okay following him. He reached the peak, about thirty feet up, and hunkered down with his rifle resting over the lip of the rock edge. Once she joined him, an exhausting task in her current state, he pulled a thin covering over his head and he all but disappeared from view.

  Leah dared not expose herself as much, but Knicte handed her the rifle after he was done peering through the scope, pointing for her to look herself. She gingerly held it, afraid she’d touch some alien button and cause it to explode. Once she had it situated on the rock, she pressed an eye against the scoped lens and had a look.

  It provided an amazingly wide view. A triangular box appeared large in her view, and then focused on a set point in her view, locking onto the machine. The viewfinder provided information on the target, but Leah understood none of it. There, walking along the weeded road was a nearly identical version of the machine that nearly killed Josh. Its head swiveled occasionally from side to side as if scanning its field of view. It carried a large and ominous weapon she had never seen before. There was something wrong with it though. The left leg could not extend as far as the right, causing it to hobble and walk slowly. The metallic chassis was worn, burned in some locations around the torso and some wiring hung loosely at its side. The left hand was missing.

  Leah’s leg was falling asleep and she shifted herself to take weight off it, pushing off with her other foot but the rock gave way and her body slid a few feet before Knicte grabbed her arm. Heavy rocks tumbled and knocked apart on the way down. An explosion rocked the earth around them and sent dirt and dust blasting high into the air. The impact flung Leah backwards onto a ledge ten feet below and knocked the air out of her lungs.

  Her ears rang so loud that nothing else could be heard. She reached blindly about her but realized her rifle was gone and she couldn’t see Knicte anywhere.

  Chapter 12

  As she lay there, a rapid fire sound echoed in the distance. It was followed by more impacts against the rock face, large thumping concussions that sent showers of rocks big and small high into the air. She cried in terror, covering her head as the debris rained down around her.

  Then there was another sound, closer. Two sharp zapping sounds like static electricity. Then silence.

  Knicte appeared next to her and helped her up as he helped her down the ridge. He let her go once they reached the bottom and motioned for her to follow.

  She followed him across the field as he took the lead, swiftly moving to the kill. Black smoke drifted in a small column off the head of the machine and shards of shimmering metal were scattered all over the road. Knicte put one knee down next to the machine and scanned the road both ways. Seeing no other threats, he pulled a tool out of his pocket and began dismantling the breast plate. Leah watched as he carefully removed it, and then worked with a clamp on the inside until he popped out a matchbox sized device as steam lifted off the mysterious object. He dropped it into a heat proof pouch and sealed it.

  They backtracked to the cabin and left the metal chassis lying in the road. When they arrived, Knicte pulled a device out from his stash and inserted his pilfered object into the handle. It looked like a power tool except the head was flat and long with a glassy finish, and the interior emitted a soft cyanic light that danced with electricity.

  He started for the other room when she interrupted him, "Wait, what are you doing?"

  "Ki lo, viven...Joh-sh." He said, waving the device towards the room. She followed him.

  Josh remained unconscious and his bandages were wet with fresh blood. Leah didn't realize how badly injured he had been, and she gasped in horror as Knicte carefully peeled the wrappings back. There was a deep gash along his left torso that wept blood with every heartbeat. Knicte jammed something into Josh's arm before raising the device up to his wound. Leah covered her face and turned away.

  A humming sound began and then increased in speed. Her curiosity got the best of her and she turned to watch. Knicte moved the device slowly down the length of Josh’s wound, sealing the two fleshy edges together like a welding tool. It took a long five minutes before he was finished. He must have given Josh some kind of sedative, as he barely moved during the entire procedure. Leah couldn’t believe what she had seen and had to touch the skin where his wound had been. All that had remained was a line where the seal had been made and the skin around it was tender and pinkish.

  Knicte abruptly grabbed her wrist, shaking a finger at her to leave it be.

  A loud pinging tone sounded. Knicte rushed to the other room, and she followed behind him. The holographic image was displaying multiple red objects moving on them from the east with rapid purpose, approaching the cabin in a direct line.

  Knicte pointed to Josh, "Mar tah, ki le, ki le!" He strapped his rifle to his back and smashed the device on the ground with his boot. He ran to the other room and swung Josh's arm around his shoulder and started carrying his sedated body out of the cabin. Leah grabbed her pack and gun and followed Knicte. He kicked the door open and ran outside with Josh hanging dead-weight over his shoulder.

  They ran as fast as they could through the forest. Leah glanced over her shoulder just in time to see dark figures weaving through the trees. Knicte slid over the top of a fallen tree and put Josh down against it. Leah jumped over the tree and sat with her back to it, paralyzed with fear. Knicte reached over and gripped the barrel of Leah’s rifle and shook it to get her attention.

  Knicte covered his head with his camouflage, laid his rifle steady on the tree and aimed, waiting. She followed his lead and raised her weapon with shaking hands onto the damp bark of the tree. The cabin was a hundred yards away. Then, the machines appeared fully from the thick of the forest. They were much faster, nimbler and moved far more intelligently than the one they had just destroyed on the road. In fact, their movements were so fluid they appeared human. Had they skin and a face it would be difficult to tell the difference.

  Two of them sat back to aim their weapons towards the cabin at converging angles, providing covering fire as another two proceeded to assault the cabin by breeching the front door. There were two pops as they stormed inside and then silence. Leah’s heart raced. They’d track them here. They’d find them, and there’s no way they could take on all four. She tried to shake Josh awake but whatever Knicte had given to him was powerful and he remained obliviously sedated.

  In a near panic, Leah looked to Knicte for reassurance. The ageless soldier didn’t notice as he had an eye pressed to the scope and focused on his targets. Knicte slowly turned a knob on the stock of the gun until he found the right position he wanted. Leah aimed as well, but her hands were shaking so much she could barely keep the barrel straight and her hands turned cold as she breathed prayers to herself.

  One machine strolled along the perimeter of the cabin, its head turning and watching for any movement in the forest as the other three convened on each other. Leah was both amazed and terrified by how they behaved. One rested its gun back on its shoulder as if relaxed, and another shifted on its feet like a human would if he were anxious. But these were machines, nothing more. There was no soul and no room for mercy or forgiveness.

  The scout, which was patrolling the perimeter, caught sight of something, a broken branch or freshly trampled foliage, and communicated with the others and they uniformly turned towards Leah and Knicte and broke into an inhuman sprint through the forest.

  “Isny ... isny ... ” Knicte cautioned in a low voice, still aiming as the machines ran through the forest and around obstacles so efficiently, they hardly lost any speed in their leaps and turns. Once they were close enough, Knicte fired. The rifle’s sound deafened Leah and the hair on her body stood on end. A blue crackling string of electricity leapt forth from the barrel and found its target, the scout, and the concentrated energy arced to the next one, and then the next in split-second succession. A spect
acular flash of light caused Leah and Knicte to recoil their faces.

  Three of the machines collapsed to the ground, unmoving and wafting black smoke.

  Knicte aimed at the last machine and fired again, but the gun made a dry rattling noise. “Osk! Osk li!” He pointed at the machine which had flanked them, and it was closing so fast they could hear its weight pounding against the earth. Leah cried out and swung her rifle towards it and let out a stream of bullets.

  The machine jumped over the log and landed hard on the other side, and Leah could feel the artificial life humming from its very body. She froze as she could only stare in terror. It pointed its arm and fired at Leah, but Knicte slammed his rifle against it just in time, causing its shot to go errant and blast a hundred hot needles into the log next to her.

  Knicte lunged forward and knocked the machine to the ground and tried grappling it, but the machine lifted him up and threw him against the fallen tree. Leah scrambled away on her hands and knees but the machine came right at her again, lurching out with its metallic fingers and grabbing her leg in a crushing vice. Leah felt her leg on the verge of breaking when a loud static pop filled the air and the machine let go of Leah.

  Knicte held some kind of whip like a lion tamer, its wirey end having been wrapped around the machines ankle. Knicte pulled on it with ferocious anger and dragged the machine away. Once it was clear of Leah, Knicte activated something on the hilt that sent rippling blue sparks coursing into the machine. It paralyzed it long enough for Leah to crawl away. She tried to shake Josh, “Wake up! Josh!”

  The machine reacted slowly, reaching across its body and severed the wire of the whip, regaining full control of itself. As it did, Knicte picked up Leah’s rifle and fired into its chest at point blank range but the machine whipped its leg around and dropped Knicte onto his back, knocking Leah’s rifle out of his hand. It then pounced on top of him and used its weight to slowly crush his chest.

  Its left arm became disabled, hanging at its side, and it used the right to slam its fist down just inches from Knicte’s head as he desperately tried to avoid the blows. Leah dove for her rifle. The machine immediately turned his attention to Leah as she raised the rifle and fired.

  The bullet ricocheted off the head, and before she could fire again, it grabbed the end of the muzzle and ripped it out of her hands. As the stock hung at Knicte’s face, he reached up to pull the rifle down just enough to get a finger around the trigger. The barrel was directly facing the machine as a single bullet blew through its head and metal pieces sprayed about into the air.

  It sat frozen atop Knicte, its central processor blown apart and the chassis lifeless. He strained every muscle to push the deadweight metal off of him and Leah helped by pressing her shoulder against it and toppling it over. Knicte struggled to sit up, coughing up blood.

  Josh stirred, "Leah?"

  "Josh! Oh my God," she crawled to him.

  "...what the hell is going on?"

  Her whole body shook in terror as the adrenaline wore off, and then she noticed Knicte fading as blood pooled from his nose and mouth.

  "I don't know, I don't know..." she choked back tears. “Oh God,” she stumbled over to Knicte and fell next to him and helped him lay on his side. His white mask was covered in spatters and strings of blood and mucus hung from underneath. His body convulsed as his lungs no longer could take in enough air. With shaking hands Leah pulled his mask back and gasped.

  His face was badly deformed, but not from battle, as if he had been born that way. Despite his horrific features, his eyes desperately looked upon Leah as the life ebbed out of him. Leah perceived a deep sorrow in them, a lifetime of memories flashing through his mind and words unable to form. “Please, God,” she cried as she took his hand. This would be his final moments and she prayed out loud and his hand squeezed hers tighter. His eyes lit up for a brief moment, and a painful grimace came to his lips as he never removed his eyes off of her.

  Then his chest went still. His grip relaxed and his stare turned vacant and lifeless.

  She slipped down onto his chest and cried.

  “Leah!” Josh called out frantically. “Leah? Say something!”

  Finally she realized Josh had been calling her and crawled towards him.

  She touched the bandages over his eyes and her voice cracked, "Josh ... I need you to see, please ...” Leah slowly removed the bandages until Josh's face was exposed and he squinted against the white contrast of the sun. His face was badly bruised and cut. There were yellow and purple colors across the bridge of his nose and under his eyes which had blood filled in the sclera. The damage on his face was terrible. When Josh saw the machine lying there, he instinctively reached for the rifle but it was too far away.

  “What the hell is going on?” His heavy eyes danced back and forth between it and Knicte.

  “He’s dead ...” she said, her voice dry and distant.

  “Are you okay? Are there other machines? Leah?”

  She shook her head.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “No!”

  He winced in pain as he slid next to her and put her shaking hands in his and said hoarsely, “Its okay, its fine, just breathe.”

  “There isn’t ...”

  “What?”

  “There are no other people,” she said blankly. “They’re all dead. We’re alone. We’ve been abandoned here ...”

  “You don’t know that. Look at me. You don’t know that.”

  She raised her head her eyes were defeated, questioning, a look that he had never seen in her before. “Why would God do this to us?”

  “You can’t think like that,” he said. “Focus on this, us,” he said as he squeezed her arms, “because we’re here and we have no choice but to move forward. And we will Leah. We will. Okay?”

  “I can’t take this anymore ... I can’t ...” she held her head and sobbed. Josh cupped her face and lifted it until she was forced to look into his eyes, “Please. Focus on me.” She did. Her green eyes were red rimmed and splashed with tears. They plead with him for deliverance from this place, from the emptiness that was filling her but he couldn’t because he felt the same way and knew she saw it in him too. She also saw how deeply he cared for her and in that moment, that was all that mattered.

  She kissed him. She kissed him and held his face and pressed it against hers and felt how real and good it was.

  Josh pulled her into his arms and held her so close he could feel her heart pounding against his chest. She let everything go and cried on his shoulder until she felt nothing. Josh let her cry and enjoyed the warmth of her embrace, the feeling of her body given fully to his.

  Finally he pulled away and brushed her hair back.

  “Josh,” she said, staring at the ground. “What are we going to do?”

  “We’ll find others Leah. They’re out there somewhere and we’ll find them. I promise.”

  “And if we don’t?”

  He wanted to say what they both were thinking, but held back. “I don’t know. Let’s figure one thing out at a time alright?”

  "Back at the stream. You thought I was going to die, didn’t you?”

  His faced turned grim as he recalled that dark night. “You had the virus,” he said somberly. “It wasn't just a cold or a flu that you came down with, Leah. People, people who spent their lives working on diseases and vaccines and studying every strain that was ever inflicted upon man, and they couldn’t stop it. You were immune or you weren’t. That was it.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  He kept one hand gently cupping her neck, rubbing his thumb across her cheek, “You were still so happy, you believed everything was going to be okay even when I knew it wasn’t. In some way I really wanted to believe you, and I couldn’t bring myself to take that hope away.”

  “How did you feel, about, about me dying ...?”

  He stumbled when he tried to tell her what he had nearly done that night, and chose to hide the truth from her. That
part of it anyway. “All I knew was that without you, I was lost. I had to imagine you being gone and being left alone. I imagined being the last person alive and that death would be better than being without you.”

  Her eyes welled up and she hugged him with all the love and energy she had in her, because she felt the same way about him. Somehow they were condemned to this place where they could barely struggle to survive, and all they wanted was the peace and love of a life together away from all of this.

  Josh pulled away suddenly.

  “What’s the matter?”

  He looked down to his wound and winced, “Still hurts.”

  “How’s your leg?”

  “Broken, I think. The pain is getting worse. Whatever he gave me is wearing off.”