Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy)

by Jake Bible

  “They’ll be there to back us up,” Harlow said. “Quit bitching.”

  “Unless they get ambushed,” Marin said. “Could be a trap. I’d hate to lose those guys.”

  “See?” Bisby snapped. “I’m not the only one.”

  “You want to call Capreze and cry over the com?” Harlow shot back. “No? Then shut the fuck up, Biz.”

  “What the fuck ever, Harlow,” Bisby growled. “I’m just saying it’s a stupid thing to do.”

  “I think it’s worth a look,” Marin said. “But they better fucking hurry. We’re not too far from the first wave of mechs.” There was a slight pause. “You sure that One Arm mech of yours will behave?”

  “It’ll behave,” Bisby replied quickly. “It has to or we both die.”

  ***

  “Yeah, I see it,” Campbell said as LaFrance pointed towards the cloud of dust coming at them. She looked about the wide open wasteland that surrounded them. “But we’ve got no where to go.”

  “We were bound to meet up with something,” LaFrance admitted. “Only a matter of time.”

  “Friendly or hostile?” Campbell asked.

  “Around here I don’t think you get to choose,” LaFrance said. “I think the choice is made for you. Keep moving. Better to get this over with.”

  Campbell pushed the dogs on, knowing that LaFrance was right and they didn’t get to choose who they allied with. All she knew is there was a few hundred tons of BC on their asses and they didn’t have Shiner with them anymore. She hoped the bioborg would catch up, but as time went by she began to suspect that Shiner was long gone. He had been a remarkable machine, with capabilities she never dreamed an AI could have, but he wasn’t strong enough to survive a head on assault on the mechs that chased them.

  “What is that?” LaFrance asked as a shape emerged from the dust. “Is it alive?”

  “Other than humans there hasn’t been anything alive in the wasteland for four centuries,” Campbell stated. “It has to be machine.”

  “Nothing I’ve seen before,” LaFrance said. “Not in any of the UDC records I’ve poured over.”

  “Well we’ll find out soon enough” Campbell said. “Because they look like they’re picking up speed.”

  ***

  “You gonna run them the fuck over, Grendetti?” Sol asked.

  “Just keeping us on schedule,” Grendetti answered.

  “Slow down, Grendetti,” Murphy ordered. “Don’t alarm them. If they’re friendly then we want them to stay that way.”

  “And if they aren’t friendly?” Kafar asked.

  “Then they die,” Murphy said. “Won’t matter how fast we come up on them. We’ll blast them from the sand just the same.”

  “Jeezus,” Sol said as he studied the readings in front of him. “Real fucking dogs. Never, not in a million years did I think I would see that.”

  “There’s a lot of things I never thought I’d see,” Grendetti laughed. “One being our Special Ops team clomping its way across the wasteland in a tin can.”

  “Better than walking,” Kafar laughed. “Way better.”

  “I prefer boots on the ground,” Murphy admitted. “The feel of a good run, the threat of death in the wide open, the movement from cover to cover at night, the determination to make the best time as possible even if your body wasn’t up to it.”

  “Well, when you put it that way,” Grendetti responded. “This tin can ain’t so bad after all.”

  “Pussy,” Murphy joked.

  “Never said I wasn’t,” Grendetti replied, enjoying himself. “I’m just a pussy that’s a damn fine fucking shot.”

  “That could be our new team name,” Kafar said. “Since Special Ops is really UDC.”

  “Name? What fucking name?” Sol asked.

  “The Shooting Pussies,” Kafar replied, completely serious.

  “You gotta be kidding,” Grendetti said.

  “Maybe the Pussy Shots?” Kafar mused, caught up in it. “No, no, no! I got it! The Hot Pussy Shots! You know, like instead of just hot shots we’d be-.”

  “Got it,” Murphy said. “And we aren’t an ATV club. We’re fucking soldiers. Special Ops is just fine.”

  “Still think we need a name,” Kafar said.

  “Come up with something that isn’t completely retarded and maybe we’ll vote on it,” Sol said.

  “Vote?” Murphy asked, looking at each of her team. “You’ve been hanging out with the mechheads and Railers too much. This isn’t a democracy. We don’t vote on shit. I state an order, you fucknuts follow it.”

  “The Fucknuts!” Kafar nearly shouted.

  “Sweet Jeezus, shut up!” Grendetti snapped.

  ***

  Campbell halted the sled and set the brake, jumping to the ground, rifle aimed at the stopped Hybrid. “I’ll feel this out,” she said as she started to walk forward.

  “At ease, Campbell,” LaFrance ordered. “You aren’t going to do shit against whatever that is. Just hang back and let them come to us.”

  It was only seconds before Specialist Sol and Lt. Murphy descended from the Hybrid, their own rifles to their shoulders, and walked slowly towards Campbell, LaFrance, the dogs and the sled.

  “Identify yourselves!” Specialist Sol ordered. “You have three seconds to comply!”

  “Former Outpost Commander Stephen LaFrance!” LaFrance shouted. “This is former Outpost Engineer Cassidy Campbell. We are no threat, believe me.”

  “Outpost?” Lt. Murphy asked as he studied the two Canadians and the dogs. “What outpost?”

  “Outpost Tango Charlie,” LaFrance answered. “Canadian gateway to the wasteland.”

  “Canadians?” Sol asked tensely, his finger moving a millimeter closer to the trigger. “Too bad for you.”

  “Oh, and why’s that?” Campbell snapped, her rifle still to her shoulder.

  “Because we’re headed to kill some Canadians,” Murphy said. “Looks like you may be the first.”

  “I don’t think so,” LaFrance smiled. “We’re not the Canadians you’re looking for, trust me. Plus, we have a mutual friend.”

  “I’ve never met a Canadian in my life,” Murphy said. “Didn’t even know they existed until a couple days ago. So nice try.”

  “You do know the AI Shiner, though, right?” LaFrance asked. “He seemed to know you.”

  “Shiner?” Sol said quietly for Murphy’s ears only. “How could they know that AI? The mech was blown to pieces during the Stronghold assault.”

  “I can see the wheels grinding along in your heads from here!” LaFrance said. “But you have to believe me. We’re on the same side.”

  Lt. Murphy sighed and motioned for them to come forward. “Ok. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. We’ll secure you in the Hybrid until we confirm your story. But let me ask you this.”

  “Yes?” LaFrance replied.

  “Where is Shiner?”

  “Ah, yes, that is the unfortunate part.”

  ***

  “They what?” Bisby asked as he pushed his mech into a run, ready to cover more ground and get to the fight as soon as possible. “Shiner? Impossible!”

  “That’s what they say,” Lt. Murphy replied over the com. “This LaFrance guy had intel that only Shiner would know.”

  “Unless the Canadians have had us all under surveillance,” Harlow interrupted.

  “They have,” Murphy confirmed. “LaFrance admitted as much.”

  “And they have dogs?” Bisby asked. “Why the fuck would they have dogs?”

  “The engineer Campbell is their handler, I guess,” Murphy replied. “They use sleds up north. The dogs pull the sleds. Helps them get across the snow faster than ATVs.”

  “Snow?” Harlow marveled. “It snows up there?”

  “They don’t have the climate issues we do,” Murphy said. “In fact that seems to have been the Canadians priority: keep the shield strong and the wasteland from spreading.”

  “Wonder what this mech would do in the snow?”
Harlow asked. “That would be something to see.”

  “Kafar has already been asking them those questions,” Murphy laughed. “They both want to know what a ‘real’ wasteland mech is like. Guess our Hybrid isn’t flash enough for them.”

  “It isn’t flash enough for anyone,” Bisby said. “Bring ‘em to me, I’ll show them a real mech.”

  “Yours is missing a fucking arm, Biz,” Harlow laughed. “And looks like it’s been rust fucked by a horde of deaders. They can look in awe at mine.”

  “Whatever,” Bisby said. “Just get back to us ASAP.”

  “They’re closer to the rail,” Marin said as she joined the conversation. “We’ll pick them all up. The Hybrid is designed to hitch a ride.”

  “A real mech doesn’t need to hitch a ride,” Bisby grumbled.

  “You’re starting to sound like that Maker guy,” Harlow said. “You gonna start your own cult? The Biz-natches?”

  “Fuck off.”

  “We’re not hitching a ride, people, so chill the fuck out,” Murphy said. “We’ll be on your trail right fucking quick. Don’t have all the fun without us.”

  Thirty-Eight

  “You think your family could get more fucked up?” Jenny asked as she walked shoulder to shoulder with Dog, their eyes scanning the dark corridor for movement, the smell of deaders telling them they were close.

  “Probably,” Dog replied. “They do keep showing up. Just when I think I have a handle on who I am I get kicked in the old family jewels.”

  “Would you have preferred that I had not said anything?” Agnatha asked from a few steps behind them. “I did not have to, but I wanted you to know who you are dealing with when you leave the Maze.”

  “If we leave the Maze,” Dog said. “You said that it’s a fuck ton harder to get out than to get in. It was pretty fucking hard getting in.”

  “But you were only one,” Agnatha responded. “Now you have the power of the slits behind you.”

  A girl of about seventeen came running up to them, her body covered in gore; her sword just as stained.

  “How many?” Agnatha asked.

  “Most of them,” the girl replied.

  “The Mayor has tampered with the Maze,” Agnatha stated. “He must have known that I would reveal who I was. I will not live through this.”

  “What? Why?” Dog asked. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “We will get you through the deaders,” Agnatha said. “It will be hard, but it will happen.” She took a deep breath. “Then you and your woman will leave the Maze and he will send men in here to kill me and probably most of the other slits. A new batch will be brought down, ones that haven’t had the years some of us have had to re-think our place in Eden.”

  “Cleaning house,” Dog said. “Yeah, the Boss would do the same thing. He’d kill half his guards on a whim and replace them. It kept everybody on edge and wary, more concerned with staying alive than actually being alive.”

  ***

  The moans and growls of the deaders grew louder and louder as they raced through the Maze towards their prey. They had spotted the wounded slit and the smell of food had driven them into a frenzy. They shoved and jousted for position, each one wanting to be at the front so they could get to the meat when it was fresh, warm, still throbbing.

  The slit cried for help, her voice terrified, the fear driving the deaders after her even faster. She ran as fast as she could, leaving behind large drops and smears of blood on the floor and walls of the Maze. Some of the more desperate deaders stopped to lick at the droppings, their dried, crusty tongues lapping at the salty nectar. But most of the horde pushed on, their need for the flesh compelling them to keep moving.

  The food was so close, so very close.

  “NOW!” Agnatha yelled from above as the deader horde rushed by underneath them.

  Dog leapt from the place he’d been hiding, held aloft by a thin sling made from what he assumed was deader skin. Perfect to keep the ones below from sniffing them out. He landed in the middle of the horde and his sword swung and slashed, taking heads and limbs off with ease.

  For the first time in a long time, Dog had a purpose. He knew his place; he knew his future. He knew what he needed to do for Agnatha and the other women and girls. And for Eden as a whole.

  As long as he survived.

  And those thoughts drove him on. He let loose with everything he had. His entire life experience solidified at once. When he’d entered the Maze he had let the Rookie fall away and he had embraced Dog. As he shredded deaders, sending them to their final deaths, he knew he’d made the right choice. No longer were conflicting voices in his head; no longer was he clouded with self-doubt, self-loathing.

  He had a people.

  Agnatha and the other slits fell on the deaders with a ferocity that few had in the wasteland and Dog would know. Most of his life had been nothing but unbridled ferocity.

  He had a life.

  Jenny found him in the mass of congealed blood and dead flesh and they stood back to back, rotating when needed, ducking, dodging, hacking, slashing, as if they knew how each other would move.

  He had love.

  A slit screamed as she was taken down, the numbers too much for her. Her intestines were ripped from her belly and passed from one hungry mouth to another, feet upon feet of warm, pulsing food. None of the other slits moved in to help her, well aware that when you went down in the Maze, you stayed down in the Maze.

  “Push them forward!” Agnatha ordered and the slits started to shift their direction taking the horde with them along the corridor.

  Dog grabbed Jenny by the hair and pulled her backwards as the deadly sharp claws of a deader swiped at her throat. He shoved her back up and she slashed down, taking the hand off at the wrist. The deader snarled at her, it’s jaws open and ready to snap, when Dog rammed his sword through its skull. Jenny shoved and the sword came free.

  They turned and continued their push, each step taking them closer and closer to the goal and to freedom.

  ***

  Dripping with black blood, Jenny and Dog stood at the exit to the Maze, their eyes locked on the vid cam that stared down at them.

  “Open the fucking door!” Dog shouted. “I have my woman!”

  “You will pay for saying that,” Jenny whispered.

  “Gotta talk the talk in Eden,” Dog said. “They won’t open up otherwise.”

  Dog and Jenny waited, their guts churning with apprehension. If it took much longer then their plan would fail. The vid cam would see everything and the door would never open.

  “HEY!” Dog roared. “I said to open up!”

  Just when Dog was sure they’d been figured out he heard the locks and bolts being thrown and a bright sliver of light, followed by a blinding deluge, filled the exit of the Maze.

  “Damn,” the guard said as he walked inside. “You actually made it. Didn’t see that coming.”

  “You have something for me to sign?” Dog said as he walked forward, Jenny in tow. “Let’s get this fucking shit done.”

  The guard nodded. “Sure, sure.” He hesitated as he looked over his shoulder. “You let any follow you?”

  “I killed them all,” Dog said. “Fucking look at me.”

  “No, I mean the slits,” the man said as he backed out of the door. “Wouldn’t want to get jumped. How about we get you straightened out out here?”

  “Fucking gladly,” Dog said. “Come on, woman.”

  Jenny had to fight with every cell of her body not to smack him.

  They both blinked in the light of the day as they walked from the Maze and the door closed behind them.

  “Clean her up and she’ll be looking nice,” the other guard said. “I’d brave the Maze for that piece.”

  “I’d stay in there if I knew you were coming for me,” Jenny snapped.

  “Oh, damn!” the first guard laughed. “She’s got some serious spirit!”

  “Where’s my uncle?” Dog asked. “Figured he�
�d be here to meet me.”

  “He’s on his way,” the second guard said. “He was watching the fights.”

  A knock came at the door and both guards looked at it, stunned. They turned and looked at Dog and he just shrugged. One of the guards brought the vid cam up on his tablet, but the image was nothing but wavy static.

  “Thought you said none of them followed,” the first guard asked.

  “I never said that,” Dog smiled. “You just assumed that.”

  “Pretty fucking stupid if you ask me,” Jenny said.

  “That mouth is gonna need correcting,” the second guard warned. “If your boy here ain’t man enough to do it then I’ll be happy to oblige.”

  The knock came again.

  “Aren’t you going to get that?” Dog asked.

  “That door stays closed,” the first guard laughed. “You think I’m stupid?”

  “No,” Dog smiled as he bounced slightly on his toes and rolled his neck, eliciting some serious cracks. “I think you’re dead.”

  Jenny leapt at the second guard while Dog moved on the first one. Jenny landed two hard punches to the guard’s face before he backhanded her and kicked her in the stomach, knocking the breath from her. She stumbled back, but recovered before he was on her. She went down on a knee and her fist met the man’s crotch. It was his turn to go breathless as he crumpled to the ground.

  Dog stood by and smiled. He’d snapped his guard’s neck in a blink. The man probably never knew he was under attack.

  “You gonna finish him off?” Dog asked.

  “Nah,” Jenny said as she got up and opened the Maze door. The women all spilled out past her, their hands shielding their eyes. Once the door was clear she grabbed the guard’s legs and dragged him into the Maze. She shut and bolted the door. “Why waste a chance for a good correcting?”

  ***

  “They are on to us,” Agnatha stated. “There is no resistance.”

  “Yeah, I did think the deserted streets was kinda strange,” Dog responded as the group walked cautiously through the streets of Eden. “Where is everyone?”