by Jake Bible
Capreze, Rachel, Jay, and even One Arm, proved that there is nothing more deadly than a determined mech, dead or alive.
Everything Capreze had fought for over the years was at the front of his mind: his late wife, his daughter, the mech pilots, the mech base, the city/states, and even the wasteland itself. Not much was left and Capreze knew he had failed many, but he also knew that there were many still that depended on him to see them through the hell that had been brought to them all.
With all of that fueling him, Capreze fought.
He unloaded his 50mms until they overheated and seized. The few RPGs that he’d been able to reload in the hangar went flying into the deaders, sending showers of body parts into the air. When every weapon was spent he shifted to the one weapon that never needed to be reloaded: himself.
There was no thought, no premeditation, no calculation, as Capreze waged war against the deaders. He used everything to his advantage. He grabbed transports and broken rail cars and wiped areas clear of deaders, sending hundreds flying about the wasteland. When he tired of that he would grab the undead up by the handful and slam them down into the dirt, smooshing them between his massive fingers.
When he was overrun by deaders, their boney hands clambering up his exoskeleton, he’d just fall, crushing the ones on his back then rolling over and crushing the ones on his front. At no time did he feel overwhelmed.
The need to protect everyone was supplanted by the need to destroy every single fucking deader he could. And he gave into that need 100%.
***
“Damn!” Mathew said. “Look at him go!”
“Who’s that in the other mech?” Bisby asked. “That’s Jay there. I can tell that bumbling fight stance anywhere. But who’s the other one?”
Mathew watched the mech fight. He saw how it rolled and kicked, punched and grabbed. He watched the movement and the transition from guns to melee and back again. There was something about it that he knew.
“That can’t be,” Mathew said. “It can’t be at all.”
“That’s her isn’t it?” Bisby said. “That’s our girl?”
“Rachel’s dead, Biz,” Mathew said. “That can’t be her.”
“But that clone, remember?” Bisby said. “It could be-.”
“She’s dead!” Mathew shouted. “Why even do this, man? I know she’s dead.”
“Let us find out,” One Arm said. “So that you two flesh bags will shut up.”
“Whoa!” Bisby and Mathew shouted as One Arm leapt into the air and landed just a few feet from Rachel.
One Arm opened the cockpit, swatting at deaders that started to climb up him immediately to get at the two pilots inside.
“Pilot Bisby? You will want to provide cover while Pilot Jespers speaks to the woman he believes is dead,” One Arm said as he swatted more deaders away. “Pilot Bisby? Now.”
“Right, sure,” Bisby said as he moved to the edge of the cockpit and opened fire with his 9mm. He made sure every shot was a head shot and he couldn’t help but smile as he watched the deaders fall headless to the ground below.
“Your move, Pilot Jespers,” One Arm said. “And you will need to make it quickly.”
Mathew got as close as he could to the edge of the cockpit and looked out at Rachel. She parked her mech and opened her cockpit also, both hands holding 9mms.
“Hey, Matty!” Rachel smiled. “Surprised?”
“Tell me something to prove it’s you,” Mathew said as he looked at the younger version f the woman he loved. “Just one thing.”
“Remember the watchtower at the old base?” Rachel asked.
“Of course,” Mathew nodded.
“Get to it, you two!” Bisby shouted as he reloaded his 9mm.
Rachel blew the heads off six deaders then looked right at Mathew. “Six times. It was our record.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Bisby groaned.
Mathew watched her for a few moments as she killed more and more deaders. “Okay, it’s believable,” Mathew said. “But we’ll have to talk more for me to be sure.”
“How about we not do that talking right now!” Bisby yelled as he reloaded again. “Can we shut the fucking cockpit?”
Rachel smiled at Mathew. “I love you, Matty,” she said. “You’ll see.”
She closed her cockpit, slicing the arms off two deaders trying to get inside. She immediately turned and began stomping everything that moved.
“Feel free to keep killing,” Bisby said as he took a deep breath and leaned back. “I need a nap.”
***
“My count is twenty thousand,” Jay said. “How are you holding up?”
“Still going,” Capreze replied. “You?”
“I could use a gallon of shine right now, but I’ll make it,” Jay said.
“We’ll all make it,” Capreze replied. “We’ll be scarred, but we’ll make it.”
The two mech veterans continued their onslaught. With each foot stomp and fist punch, more and more died. Soon the twenty was down to nineteen thousand. Then seventeen thousand. Ten thousand. Between the four mechs they systematically demolished the deader numbers.
Twice a mech was taken down, toppled by the weight of deaders as they swarmed over it. But another mech was there to swipe the deaders off and pull the mech back to its feet, ready to keep fighting.
After several exhausting hours, the mechs all stood side by side, looking at the last of the deaders. The ones in suits.
“Those aren’t normal,” Jay said. “That’s Melissa’s BC tech on them. I think I’ve stomped that one there at least ten times and it won’t fucking die.”
“Need some help?” Melissa asked as the hangar door opened and she rode out on one of the cyces. Charlie, Dog and Immy were right behind her.
“Can’t let you guys do all the work,” Dog said. “You’ll start to think that all we need are mechs in the wasteland.”
Melissa hopped off her cyce even before it rolled to a stop. She leapt at the first group of deaders and rolled up to them. Her hands grabbed the first two and the BC suits instantly changed, popping the heads off the deaders inside. Charlie, in full shock suit, blasted three more suited deaders, keeping them from getting Melissa. Immy and Dog joined Charlie and the three of them created a protective shield against the deaders that circled them.
Melissa reached out and changed suit after suit with just a touch. BC covered heads began to roll everywhere. Dog kicked a few and smiled as they sailed through the air.
In less than fifteen minutes Melissa had ended the last of the deaders. The group, including the mechs turned in a circle and looked at what they had done all night long. Piles and piles of motionless deaders covered the ground. The smell was almost unbearable, but it wasn’t the worst they had to face. The worst was still to come as they cleaned up, sorting friend from foe.
“We find everyone,” Capreze said as if they had all been talking about the subject. “Everyone gets remembered and put on the fire. I mean everyone.”
They all nodded.
The sun broke the horizon and the bright rays turned the gore covered battlefield into a bright tableau of oranges and reds. They all waited until the orb was fully up, none wanting to break the spell and scare the sun away.
They all knew they needed the light.
Sixty-Five
“I’m sorry, June,” Capreze said. “I know this is hard.”
June nodded, but she didn’t seem sad. “It was the child of a rapist, sir,” she said about her miscarriage. Taking 10,000 volts to the body was not good for the fetus. “I’m fine with what happened.”
“I know,” Capreze said. “But I’m still sorry.”
“Thank you, sir,” June said. “Have you seen Stan?”
“Just passed him in the hallway,” Capreze said. “He’s been running around the Stronghold with that dog for days now. Doesn’t he ever get tired?”
“He just falls down,” June said. “With the dog on him. Those two won’t leave each other’s sides
.”
“I’m going to the mess, need anything?” Capreze asked as he started to leave the infirmary.
“No, thank you,” June said. “But you’re in for a treat.”
Capreze raised his eyebrows, but didn’t ask.
***
“So Matty is convinced,” Rachel said.
“I’ll bet he is,” Bisby muttered under his breath.
“But I thought I’d prove it to all of you,” Rachel continued as she set a tray of steaming mugs on the table. “Because you can’t learn this from a mainframe. This is the real shit.”
Bisby, Jay and Mathew were the first to grab a mug and hold it up in the air. Dog, Immy, Charlie and Melissa followed.
“To the fallen,” Bisby said. “Those we knew and those we didn’t.”
They all lifted and clinked their mugs then took cautious sips.
“Holy fuck,” Jay sighed. “Oh, how I’ve missed that.”
“Welcome home, girl,” Bisby smiled. “I never doubted it was you.”
“Fuck you, you didn’t!” Mathew exclaimed.
“Shut the fuck up, Jespers,” Bisby growled.
“I think this is better than I remembered it,” Dog said. “I don’t know how I’ll be able to live in Eden without coffee.”
“I’ll send you a thermos,” Rachel smiled. “You’ll just have to come visit your old mentor now and again for more.”
“Or you can show me how to make it,” Dog suggested. “One last mentor duty?”
“Some things aren’t taught,Rookie,” Rachel laughed.
“Yeah, Rookie,” Bisby smirked.
“To the Rookie!” Jay laughed as he held his mug up.
“Ah, come on guys,” Dog frowned. “I’m gonna be like mayor and shit of a whole settlement. A little respect?”
Immy didn’t say anything, her eyes wide as she stared into the mug of coffee like she was seeing God Himself.
“I think I still prefer tea,” Melissa said. “I could die for a cuppa.”
“Get out,” Bisby said. “Just leave right now.”
“I miss tea also,” Charlie said, pushing the coffee mug away.
The table understood what he meant and they all nodded.
“What’s this I smell?” Capreze asked as he walked up to the table. “Is that…?”
“Here you go, Papa Bear,” Rachel said as she handed him a mug. “I dare you to fucking tell me I’m not your daughter.”
Capreze took the offered mug and inhaled. Memories flowed through him of times spent at the mech base before it was destroyed. He looked over the rim of the mug at the girl that was supposed to be Rachel.
“This won’t prove anything,” Capreze said stubbornly. He took a sip. His eyes closed and his entire body relaxed. “Oh…wow…”
“Wait for it,” Matty said.
“That’s…that’s…,” Capreze turned away. “Oh, man.”
“Paper Bear?” Rachel asked as she took him by the elbow and spun him around. Tears filled his eyes and he struggled to keep it together. “Ah, come here.”
She hugged him fiercely and he hugged her back, almost dropping the mug.
“Hey, Baby Girl,” he sobbed. “Welcome home.”
“Jesus,” Melissa whispered. “I didn’t think the coffee was that good.”
If looks could kill…
***
“So, small batches,” Beth said as she monitored the BC production. “We can handle small batches. Maybe a ton a month.”
“Better than none,” Jethro said. “You know, I’ve been thinking…”
“That’s all you do, dipshit,” Beth replied. “You don’t have a body anymore.”
“Yeah, that’s hard to get used to,” Jethro said. “I guess the body was only needed in the beginning. My consciousness was fully integrated for who knows how long.”
“Hard to let go,” Beth said. “I get that. Even though I really only had a body for a few years.”
“Which is what I was thinking about,” Jethro said. “The info I uploaded from Styles 1’s BTT showed me scans of that Stone guy. He had a completely BC body.”
“And you’re what? Thinking of making one for yourself?” Beth asked.
“Maybe for both of us,” Jethro suggested. “Get us out and about a little. Sure, being the all knowing mainframe is fun and all, but…”
“Let’s just get the production room squared away first,” Beth responded. “Then we’ll look into getting us bodies.”
“We can make those bodies anyway we want, you know,” Jethro said, a grin in his voice. “Likeanyway we want.”
“Yeah, I get your meaning,” Beth laughed. “Just calm down, horndog. One step at a time.”
***
Specialist Grendetti was upside down and backwards as he twisted the metal panel away from the mech and reached inside. “Hand me that ratchet.”
“Right here,” Specialist Kafar replied. “You almost got it?”
“Yep,” Grendetti said. “Just a couple more turns.”
He worked the ratchet a few times and then had the CPU free. “Here.”
Kafar took the CPU and placed it in the protected case with the others.
“You think Jethro can retrieve anything from these?” Kafar asked as he helped Grendetti up and out of the mech.
“He’s going to try.”
“This is it!” Specialist Sol shouted as he and Lt. Murphy carried the body that had been Shiner on a grav-sled over to the hybrid. “Get your asses over here so we can get the fuck out of this graveyard!”
Grendetti took one last look at the destruction around them. The fallen mechs were everywhere, not just the ones native to the wasteland, but the Canadian ones as well. From the looks of the torn open cockpits and the dried blood smeared everywhere, the Canadian Mech Pilots hadn’t done so well once the EMP took out their mechs.
He shook his head, imagining the terror they must have felt.
But then he smiled, thinking of the terror one Canadian had felt just a few days earlier.
***
Control’s soldiers poured into the command center of Outpost Tango Charlie and stopped in their tracks. Some turned and retched, others crossed themselves.
Hanging from the ceiling, his arms and legs pulled tight by wires so that he was in the form of an X, Norton was flayed open, his intestines drooping to the floor. They had been tied into knots and lit on fire.
“What the hell am I seeing?” their commander asked as he pushed past. “Why is everyone just standing…?”
His eyes found Norton. Then the words on the wall, obviously written in his blood.
“Greetings from the Wasteland, bitches. Call first next time. We’ll be waiting.”
“Oh, fuck…,” the commander whispered.
***
The last screams had died down minutes before and Stone guessed that there wasn’t man or woman alive in Monterey. Or on the ships in the bay that listed to their sides as they took on water.
Stone had had quite a fun time showing the Three’s forces just what they’d created.
He’d had more fun showing the Three in person. Their heads sat on the table in what had been their tent. He waved at them as he sipped the whiskey he’d found. He really wanted a pint of bitter, but the whiskey was nice. He took another sip as he lifted his feet up onto the table, nodding the glass at each of the heads.
“Gentlemen,” Stone smiled. “It has been a pleasure.”
A noise outside got his attention and looked towards the entrance to the tent.
Ms. Isely was shoved inside, her face battered and nearly unrecognizable. But Stone would have known that woman anywhere.
“Hello, mum,” Stone said.
Behind her walked Reginald, his face covered in as much blood as Ms. Isely’s. “Stone.”
“Reg,” Stone nodded. “Got yourself out of that pickle I left you in, eh?”
“It was tough, but doable,” Reginald nodded. He glanced at the Three’s heads. “Been busy, I see.”
“Needed to blow off some steam,” Stone grinned between sips.
“You murdered them all,” Ms. Isely nearly screeched between split lips and broken teeth. “You didn’t need to kill everyone, Stone.”
“Need, want,” Stone shrugged. “Such a fine line. So subjective.”
“Do you want the honors, Stone?” Reginald asked as his hand shifted into a thin, deadly blade and pressed against Ms. Isely’s throat. “I’ll defer to you. An apology of sorts.”
“Oh, Reginald,” Stone said as he got to his feet. “You never need to apologize to me. What happened, happened. Bygones and all that shite.”
“Very kind of you,” Reginald said as he quickly drew the blade across Ms. Isely’s throat. Her hands went to her neck and the blood spurted through her fingers and down her chest. She fell to her knees and tried to say something.
“Oh, just fucking die, you cunt,” Stone said and punched her through her face, his hand coming out the back of her skull.
He shook the brains from his hand and looked Reginald up and down. “Feel up for a trip, Reg?”
“Where to, Stone?”
“Well, I’ve always wanted to see what lies behind the wall of the Mexican Empire.”
“I do love a good mystery,” Reginald grinned. “And it’s not like they can stop us.”
“No, Reg,” Mr. Stone smiled as he took a long, deep breath. “No, they can’t.”
“What about Mr. Gein?” Reginald asked as they walked from the tent. “Should we get him?”
“You want to put the band back together?” Stone asked. “Didn’t think you were sentimental like that.”
“He can be useful,” Reginald replied. “He has a way of seeing things that sometimes we don’t.”
“That is true,” Stone nodded. “But how about we come back for him? Let him take some time to really think about what he’s done.”