by Aline Riva
“Arm yourselves!” he yelled as he scrambled from the seat and Elise followed, heading for the door as above, the boom of heavy gun fire sounded from the mounted guns.
Up top, Ruby and Spike let the bullets fly as bodies were felled, the boom of the shots rang in their ears as they didn't let up as another volley of shots rang out and they returned fire, peppering the ground and the three armed gunman who lay bleeding on the ground instantly.
Lynch opened up the door and jumped down, hitting the ground and rolling as a hail of bullets came in his direction as more hostility came from below ground, more fighters were emerging, mostly men, a few women, all of them in camouflage and all armed and sending shot after shot towards the occupants of the motor home. Spike swung his gun around and laughed as his body shuddered with the kick back from every round fired off as Lynch on the ground returned fire, peppering his attackers with machine gun fire, catching them in a peppering spray of bullets as Elise jumped down, rolled and joined him and fired off shot after shot, crossing her fire with Lynch as the aggressors still standing danced jerking like puppets as the bullets riddled their bodies in a dance of death that saw each one fall, punched through with bloody holes as their bodies lay bleeding out turning the grass from green to crimson streaks.
As the last aggressor fell dead, Elise lowered her gun, so did Lynch and as they exchanged a glance she smiled.
“I love it when we put our fire power together.”
“Me too,” he said, getting up and pausing to stiffly rub his hip as he cursed the low levels of cybernetic fluid that made his joints feel stiff. Elise got up with ease and checked her weapon, Lynch looked to the building, still clutching at his faithful Gloria, ready to squeeze her trigger at the slightest sound that came from the open doorway but for now, all was silent. He turned his head as the breeze ruffled his grey hair and he looked up to Spike and Ruby.
“Stay on guard!” he called out, “We're going in!”
Then he looked to the open door of the motor home to see Joy with a gun in her hand. The barrel was smoking and by the look in her eyes he guessed she had fired more than a few shots from that doorway as he had fired from the ground. But now her gun was lowered and there was a look of firm resolution in her eyes.
“Jekel's got main cable damage,” she said.
“Then you should attend to that,” Lynch agreed, knowing far more than he had ever wished to know about the basic workings of cyborg design: The main cable carried the power supply to the wired parts. If that snapped, Jekel was a dead man... He turned to Elise.
“Let's go,” he said, and the two of them clutched their weapons firmly as they entered the open doorway.
As Jekel lay back on the table in the medical area he caught his breath as she hit a button and the scanner above him lowered down.
“My main cable?” he said in fright, and a tear ran from the corner of his eye as he lay back visibly shaken.
Joy switched on the scanner and waited for the screen to illuminate and looked down at her patient. Jekel was stripped to the waist, his firm but slender body was toned and sleek, the dark hair that covered his chest tapered into a fine line that ran down the centre of his body, and she would have admired the sight of him minus his shirt if not for the fact that he was shaking and tearful.
“My main cable...” he said again, “I can't live without a main cable!”
Joy was looking in wonder at the fine wiring that ran through his body, outwardly he looked totally human, but inside...she had never seen such fine and graceful wiring, and as she reached down and held his hand to comfort him the scanner showed her human bones covering his, as she took in the sight of the cable that ran from his battery and through his body, into a series of intricate wires that covered his brain, she saw micro installations of what seemed to be a scanner and a shield system, and then she stepped back as she let got of his hand and turned the imaging system off.
“Wow,” she said quietly as she raised the machine from above him, “I believe Blake Riley designed your conversion. It's like a piece of art work!”
“With a fatal piece of damage!” his voice had broken up tearfully as he looked up at her, “How long do I have?”
Joy looked down at him and felt a flood of warmth fill her heart as she recalled how they had first met five years before – back then, Jekel had been alone and terrified and just as tearful as he was now... She stepped closer to him.
“Its not fatal,” she assured him, “Listen to me -”
“I'm not going to die?” he blinked and more tears ran from his eyes. Joy gently brushed them away as she closed her hand over his again, knowing instantly that as all cyborgs did, he would need maintenance from time to time – and he needed very gentle handling with it.
“No Ash, you're not going to die!” she promised him, “Its a power issue. You have a hairline crack in the base of the cable- its compromising your battery. I can't believe you have to charge it at all – I thought rechargeable batteries were never an option, it should be a permanent power supply -”
“I was fitted with a prototype,” Jekel told her, and by now his tears had stopped, “It was never meant to be permanent I was supposed to have a replacement but by the time Blake designed it, the world had gone to hell. So I was stuck with this one....” he paused as apprehension reflected in his eyes, “So what can you do about it?”
“For now,” Joy replied, “Treat you with frequent recharges. Not full charges – half power, it should last longer. Your battery supply can't take one hundred percent capacity, the crack in the cable makes it drain too fast. A half charge should last longer and put less strain on the cable. You need to let me know when you're down to ten percent again.”
And she turned to the locked case and opened it up and took out a portable battery.
“Where do I plug you in?” she asked.
Jekel breathed a relieved sigh as he reached down and opened up the patch of fake skin set in to blend seamlessly with his own, hit a button and opened up a port.
“Here,” he said, “In my side... and thanks for this, Joy.”
She activated a cable and drew it out carefully and plugged it into the battery, and as he hit the button and began to charge it at half power, he gave a sigh and closed his eyes, feeling as if life flowed back into him as the power supply began to charge his worn out battery.
As they made their way down the dark tunnel with only the flickering flame of torchlight set in the walls to light the way, as the tunnel began to slope downwards and lead to a turn in the distance where more firelight flickered, Elise kept a steady grip on her gun, her finger a fraction from the trigger as her half android senses took the lead and remained on high alert.
“You should get behind me,” she said.
As he walked beside her with his weapon ready and he set his sights on the turn in the sloping corridor, where all was dark save for the eerie glow of flickering firelight casting leaping shadows in the distance, Lynch gave his reply.
“I don't care that you were once a potential weapon of destruction finely tuned by the UNA, around here, I'm the one who had higher ranking back in the day - and you're also a pregnant woman. There's no way I'd let you put yourself before me in the line of fire.”
“No need to worry,” she replied, “My organic reproductive system is protected by android tech that surrounds it. Back in the day, as you would say, Astral was very keen to understand the science of reproduction and also toyed with horrific plans for the child once it was handed over....not that I would have let that happen. Astral couldn't even understand the human bonding process when I relayed it back because I did so scientifically and there's nothing scientific about love.”
Lynch briefly glanced at her.
“I thought it was all down to chemicals and attraction.”
Elise briefly smiled.
“Don't tell me the science when my human heart encased in an android chamber says otherwise... Why the torches?”
Her sudden chang
e of subject had alerted Lynch to something he had not thought about until now, and she had a valid point, too...
“I don't know,” he replied, “A facility like this, it should have its own generator but the lights are out,” he gestured to the dead strip lighting set in the ceiling that ran along the tunnel, “Fire as light.... that would say the electrics are out...Which means who ever those people were that attacked us had no need of it.”
“Crazies?” she suggested.
“As I said before,” he added, “There's plenty still out there in the wilds driven mad by the end of the old world. Some of them got to like it out there too much – insane savages...we saw enough of their handiwork with the body parts on the fencing...I'm guessing a place as deep underground as this had its own power supply and they took it out...If they took it out, why?”
Elise slowly turned her head and met his gaze as his words registered and she reached a horrible conclusion, “They've been using the place as a shelter – living their own way. And some of the food down here must have needed cool storage or frozen storage...yet they had no need of it...Crazies are often -”
“Cannibals,” Lynch said said in a hushed voice as he gripped the weapon tighter, his gaze fixed on the turn in the corridor that now loomed closer.
“If you see something move, if you hear a sound, don't wait,” he said to her.
“I won't,” she replied, “I'll fill them with lead.”
They turned the corner sharply, weapons ready, but were met with the sight of another tunnel lit by torches that went deeper downwards, leading to a half open doorway.
“I never like half open doors,” Elise said as she took the lead and ignored the look of annoyance on her lover's face, “It seems to say come in, this is a trap...”
They reached the half open door, and Lynch stepped forward without warning and kicked it wide. The metal door swung back on its hinges revealing a vast storage area – where boxes had been crushed and contents shredded. Packaging had been laid out to make bedding where filthy blankets were strewn about, and in the corner of the room was a stinking pile of filth where the occupants had been using the empty corner as a toilet.
Lynch looked away in disgust and gestured silently to another doorway, this one was open and led to a smaller corridor.
“Nothing worth taking here,”he said in a low voice, “Let's see what that doorway leads to...”
“I'll lead,” Elise replied.
Lynch caught her in a hardened gaze.
“No, you won't,” he replied firmly, and he went first, through the door way and down the corridor as Elise stayed tight behind him, looking back to check the rear as he advanced onwards.
As he came to a second door he paused, sniffing the air as an odd smell that resembled pork filled the air. Then Lynch stepped back, letting of a round of fire into the lock, and the door swung open amid a shower of sparks as bullets punctured metal.
He stepped inside, saw the flesh laid out on metal grilles, most parts were unrecognisable but others were definitely human – a whole arm, a thigh, slivers of skin drying out like bacon rashers as the low burning coals beneath the grilles smoked the salted flesh and the smoke filled the room in a haze, before the majority of it gathered thick at the mouth of a chimney that ran up through the ceiling to the surface.
“Human flesh?” Elise whispered.
“This place would have had around forty personnel at one time,” Lynch replied as he took on the sight of the vast smoke house that stretched on long and dark, “No wonder the bastards claimed it as their own...”
Then something lunged at Lynch from out of the darkened corner, slamming into him from behind as it gave a screech and raked dirty fingers through his hair as teeth snapped close to his throat. His gun clattered to the floor as the wild woman leapt on to his back hands sliding through his hair and down to his face as she tried to dig long nails into his eyes as he grasped at her wrists and tried to pull her off him.
Elise raised her weapon and the woman with the wild hair and crazed eyes stared back at her for a split second, just before cullet after bullet hut between her eyes and her head exploded in a mess of blood and bone and brain matter that sizzled as it hit the metal grilles in fragments and the body slid to the floor.
Lynch grabbed his gun and looked to Elise.
“Nice shooting.”
“Let's go,” she said to him, “There's nothing for us here.” And the two of then turned back, armed and ready for more trouble as they hurried from the smoke house filled with human flesh.
Back outside, Spike and Ruby were still up the top and on the big guns, looking towards the facility and ready to meet potential hostility with a barrage of heavy gunfire.
Inside the motor home, Jekel had finished the slow half charge and was feeling better for it as he sat up on the table and reached for his shirt now the power transfer was over.
“Thanks for helping me, Joy,” he said as he sat there buttoning his shirt, “But please, do one thing for me – it's okay for the others to know I'm a cyborg...just don't tell them I'm THE cyborg designed by Riley. Can you imagine the reaction to that? They might even want to drain me of my cybernetic fluid – mine is self renewing...it can't help them. Different design.”
“I won't tell them anything,” she promised him, “Because I know how much pressure Lynch would put on you to find Sanctuary. But you must believe me - not one person here would harm you if they knew the truth.”
“Just don't tell them that part,” he replied, “Please?”
He reached for his jacket, paused to brush down the plush fabric of his expensive threads, then he put his jacket back on and got off the table with ease.
“Oh! I feel good as new!” he said in delight, and seeing such happiness in his eyes made Joy smile.
Then Jekel stepped closer to her, recalling their misunderstanding.
“Listen Joy, I messed up. With you, I messed up with you...I was wrong...We go back a long way and I'm sorry if I offended you when you and me -”
“No need,” she replied and turned away, “Just forget it, Jekel.”
“I'd rather not.”
He reached out and placed his and on her arm gently.
Joy turned back and looked into his eyes, feeling utterly surprised at the depth of emotion she saw reflected in his gaze all of a sudden.
“Can we can try again?” he offered, looking at her hopefully.
She nodded, smiling as suddenly, the thought of getting closer to the man she and Murdock had met so long ago in that hellish ruined town seemed to make sense. Perhaps it always had, but she had never known it until now...
“We'll talk later,” she promised him, “Once we get out of here.”
And as Spike and Ruby looked towards the building, armed and ready to cover Lynch and Elise should more trouble arise, they did not see or hear the man in torn clothing with wild eyes who stank of filth and savagery and carried a loaded gun. A knife was also at his side, along and sharp and in a leather pouch at his hip as he thought about that knife slicing through the meat on these warm, living humans who had dared to enter this domain...
The two people up the top of the vehicle were watching towards the building as he crept up quietly, crawled under the vehicle and then found a panel which was heavy, but the gap where it was closed to the vehicle was easy enough to slide his knife underneath as he began to lever it, putting a strain on the screws that held it into place. He turned on his side and placed one grubby hand against the plate, steadying it as he used the top of the knife point to turn the screws. One by one they fell out as he felt the panel come loose, and the weight of it fall silently into his hand. Then he set the panel aside and slipped the knife into the pouch and once again armed himself with the gun, as he put pressure on the thin lining above, and prepared to burst through.
Inside the vehicle, Jekel was standing in the walkway with Joy. They had just left the medical area and now the willowy man in the expensive suit was looking much better, h
is pallor had left him and he was smiling as his eyes sparkled as he looked to Joy.
“We really should talk about this once we get out of here,”he said, “Oh Joy, I didn't mean what I said...you're more to me than just a quick -”
“And we can talk about it later,” she reminded him, smiling as she recalled that meeting so long ago when she and Murdock had first encountered him...As Jekel had walked away, she had hoped he would be okay. She had often thought back to that day and perhaps for a reason – her heart certainly seemed to think so and it was making perfect sense...
“I'm looking forward to that very much,” he assured her.
Then the floor cracked and splintered and with a roar a man caked in filth and wielding a gun burst through the floor of the motor home.
Jekel turned, using his new found energy to grab Joy and slam her to the padded seating as she gave a cry of shock, her hand scrabbling for a gun on the table that was just out of her reach.
The man ran at Jekel, giving another inhuman roar as shots rang out and he ducked, reached for his holstered gun, whipped it around with lightning speed and then squeezed the trigger, hitting the savage in the shoulder, he cried out in rage but was only stopped for a moment as that rage built as if oblivious to pain, and he continued to rush at them, so close now the stench of his unwashed body and clothing filled the motor home. He fired another shot and Jekel dropped his gun and fell to the floor to avoid being hit.
Joy grabbed again at her gun, this time reaching it as she closed her hands around it and sat up sharply, aiming with a two handed shot, squeezing the trigger and hitting the target between the eyes. The savage fell heavily on to his side, eyes open and blood oozing from his lifeless body.
“Who...what...what just did that...what is he?” Jekel stammered as his face paled.
Joy was up now, and her first action was to take Jekel by the arm and help him up because the poor man was shaken, then she led him over to the table to sit him down as he stared at the corpse on the floor.