Wasteland in Red Square

by Josh Matthews

  “Sorry. I thought you were one of the demony.”

  “You’re on your toes,” she said. Svetlana motioned for Leonid to step to the rear of the cab, and then led Jason and Father Belsario to the front right corner. She opened a small hatch two feet wide and four feet tall mounted on the front wall that exposed a small dark crawlspace not much bigger. “That’s the walkway on the outside of the engine. It’s been enclosed in armor. At the far end is another hatch that opens onto the front of this engine. You can access the first engine the same way we did this one.”

  Jason crawled up and paused as he gazed down the crawlspace. “Are you sure we can fit?”

  “It’s cramped, but it’s doable. Now hurry. We’re running out of time.”

  Jason checked on the ravagers. They were six minutes away.

  ***

  Neal entered the command car with both backpacks. “Where’s Jason?”

  “He went forward already,” Sasha answered.

  Neal’s eyes widened. “Do I have to bring it to him?”

  “Slava will once he gets here.”

  Ustagov arrived a moment later. Melnikov took one of the backpacks from Neal and handed it to the doctor. “You’re responsible for keeping this safe. If others fail, we’ll need this to complete mission.”

  “What will you do?”

  Melnikov pointed to Neal. “I’m protecting him.”

  Two Russian soldiers entered the command car. Melnikov snapped his fingers to get their attention. “Colonel is waiting for you on armored engine.”

  They raced forward.

  Jeanette barged through the door lugging the minigun over one shoulder. She headed for Sasha. “Turn around.”

  “Where’s Slava?” Sasha asked as she presented her back.

  “I’m taking his place.” Jeanette lifted the 10,000-round ammunition pack onto Sasha’s shoulders and helped her strap it on.

  “Is Slava okay?”

  “He’s fine.” Jeanette helped Sasha strap in. “I want to be with Jason just in case.”

  Sasha understood the sentiment. Hefting the minigun in her hands, she asked, “Ready?”

  Neal handed Jeanette the backpack containing the antimatter device. She slid it over her shoulders. “Let’s rock.”

  ***

  Cramped was an understatement, thought Jason. He had to crouch to make it through the crawlspace, and kept on banging his head and shoulders on the armor plating. The flashlight he held in his left hand barely lit the path ahead. It didn’t help that the confined space intensified the sounds of the engine and the drivers racing along the tracks as well as the heat from the boiler. When he opened the hatch at the far end, he felt relieved to be blasted by soot and high wind.

  He and Father Belsario exited the crawlspace. They descended the access stairs to the coupling platform, clutching the single guardrail attached to the boiler. Once on the coupling platform, Jason steadied himself. The metal ladder on the rear of the lead tender was four feet away. Beneath him, the tracks raced by at over fifty miles per hour. He inched forward and stretched out his hand, terrified that one bump would knock him off balance and he would fall under the wheels. When his fingers touched the metal rung, he clasped tight and swung his legs over. Jason climbed up and slid down the coal into the cab.

  “Vy zdes’ chtoby bombu?” Iosif asked.

  “I don’t speak Russian,” Jason yelled over the roar of the steam engine.

  “Are you here to plant bomb?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where is it?”

  Jason gestured over his shoulder. “Someone is bringing it.”

  “They better hurry.”

  Jason stuck his head out the cab window. The ravagers were five minutes away.

  ***

  Haneef entered the prison car and stopped short.

  Two swivel mounts had been built into the floor on each side of the car at the center mark. In front of each mount, a slit five feet wide and one foot high had been cut into the armor plating along the wall. A Russian soldier attempted to fasten a two-wheeled M1910 Maxim heavy machine gun onto the mount, having difficulty due to the weapon’s size and weight.

  What caught Haneef off guard were the two Russians at the rear. They dragged a young female prisoner from her bunk in the middle of the car to an open cylindrical cage the size of a coffin that stood against the starboard wall. Even though her wrists were bound in front by handcuffs, she struggled, kicking with her legs and trying to bite the guards. One Russian placed a hand on her chest and shoved her into the cage with such force that, when she hit the bars, it knocked the wind out of her. The other soldier took advantage and closed one cheek plate of a second pair of handcuffs around the chain of the female prisoner’s handcuffs and the other end to the top bars. When he finished, the first guard slammed shut the cage door and secured it with a padlock. Three other prisoners had been locked in similar cages along the starboard wall.

  Klimenko, who struggled with the machine gun, noticed Haneef and motioned for him to come forward. “Help me get this damn thing mounted.”

  “Who are these people?” Haneef pointed to the cages.

  “Prisoners.”

  “What are they doing in cages?”

  “They’re bait.”

  “What?”

  “To distract the ravagers,” Klimenko huffed with growing frustration. “The demony go after the food and leave us alone.”

  “That’s barbaric!”

  “Do you want to debate our methods or do you want to live?”

  Haneef wanted to respond but could not. As horrific as the practice may be, with a score of ravagers bearing down on them they would need every advantage they could get. He would find a way to atone for this sin later, if he lived that long.

  Klimenko waved him over. “Help me get this damn thing mounted.”

  From the cupola, Barzukov called out. “They’re four minutes out.”

  ***

  When Jeanette, Sasha, and the two Russian soldiers reached the armored engine, they found Svetlana waiting for them. The colonel ushered the women toward the crawlspace between the engine and the plating. “This will take you to the front engine. Now hurry.”

  “I can’t fit through there with this,” said Sasha, referring to the minigun. “I’ll have to crawl along the top.”

  “Be careful,” said Jeanette.

  “I will.” Sasha jumped up, grabbed the roof of the cab, and lifted herself topside.

  Svetlana pushed Jeanette toward the hatch. “You. Through the crawlspace. Now.”

  As Jeanette climbed in, Svetlana pointed to one of the soldiers that had accompanied them. “Boris, follow her. Once she and Sasha are on the other engine, decouple us.”

  ***

  Antoine stood by the shattered window, shivering as the frigid air rushed through the cabin. He barely noticed the cold, his attention focused on the horde of ravagers stampeding toward the train. Binoculars were no longer needed to see them. Although he could not make out each individual Hell Spawn, a distinct line of rampaging flesh approached.

  ***

  Maneuvering through the crawlspace was hard enough without having to pull the backpack with the device along behind her. Jeanette breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the other end, until she emerged onto the access stairs. The ground raced by beside her. For a moment, she froze. Something touched her back. Jeanette cried out.

  “We must move quickly.” Boris pointed to the coupling platform.

  Summoning her courage, Jeanette slid the backpack onto her shoulders and made her way down the access ladder. She concentrated on her footing, ignoring the rails racing past beneath her. Once on the platform, she inched forward until she had gone as far as possible. She reached out, grabbing a rung with one hand and then the other. Jeanette stepped out, placing one foot after another on the ladder, and climbed.

  Boris knelt, took hold of the cut-lever, and yanked up, lifting the coupler lock. The couplers disconnected and the first engine
lurched forward.

  When it did, Jeanette lost her footing and slipped off the ladder.

  ***

  “We’re all going to die,” the soldier beside Slava whined, his terrified eyes fixed on the horde.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Yuri.”

  “Yuri, if you panic you’ll die. If you don’t let fear get the better of you, you have a good a chance of living.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Slava patted Yuri on the shoulder. “Because this is the third time I’ve done this, and I’m still here.”

  ***

  “Help me!” Jeanette cried as she dangled from the ladder. She frantically kicked to get a foothold, but her feet hung a yard below the lowest rung. Boris reached out to help. By now the first engine had pulled too far away and he could not get to her. She felt her grip giving way. Any second now she knew she would slip off and fall beneath—

  A hand wrapped around her wrist. Sasha leaned over the rim of the tender, her other hand clutching the top rung. She lifted Jeanette so the latter could plant her feet on the bottom rung. Once Jeanette felt secure, she waved to Sasha who released her grip. The two women climbed to the top of the tender and paused.

  “Thanks for saving me.”

  “You’d do the same for me.” Sasha pointed to starboard. “Come on. We don’t have much time.”

  The ravagers were less than two minutes away.

  ***

  The horses bordered on panic. Sook-kyoung assumed the ravagers must be near. She wished the stock car had windows.

  “Are you two all right?” she asked Vicky and Gaston.

  Vicky nodded, but the way her finger kept switching the FAMAS’ safety switch on and off belied that.

  “Yeah,” said Gaston. “I’m just worried.”

  “You’ll do fine.”

  “I’m not worried about that.” Gaston gestured toward the stalls. “If these horses panic during battle and break free, we’ll be trampled to death.”

  ***

  Jason heard a commotion behind him as Jeanette and Sasha slid down the coal mound. As the women rushed over to him, his eyes narrowed. “Where’s Slava?”

  “I switched places with him,” said Jeanette.

  “Why?”

  “Because I love you and want to be with you.” Jeanette handed him the backpack, and then leaned forward and kissed him. She spun him around and pushed him toward the hatch. “Go.”

  Jason didn’t argue. Opening the hatch, he stepped onto the walkway and headed for the front of the train. Sasha followed, pausing to maneuver the minigun and ammunition pack through the small opening.

  “What are you doing?” Jason asked.

  “I’m providing you with cover.”

  “Okay, but stay here. I won’t be long.”

  Jason rushed along the walkway and down the access ladder at the front of the engine. He crouched on the metal platform, steadying himself by leaning against the steel supports of the extended cow catcher. Glancing up, he hoped to see the portal in the distance, but it was still too far away. Jason unzipped the backpack, removed the device, and placed it on the platform. He draped the three straps over it and tightened them.

  ***

  Haneef and Klimenko finished securing the M1910 onto the swivel mount. As Haneef loaded the ammunition belt, Klimenko stepped over to the cupola and called up to his friend.

  “How long before the ravagers reach us?”

  Barzukov replied, “They’re already here.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  The ravagers did not swarm the train in a line abreast. They approached like a stampeding herd spaced apart, attacking in small packs with a hundred feet or more between them. While they numbered twenty when counted abreast, their ranks were four or five deep stretching to the rear. Although the humans did not realize it yet, they faced over one hundred ravagers.

  The first ten to reach the train jumped onto it as it raced past, tearing into the separate cars in a desperate effort to get at the food inside. As the train pulled away, the rest of the horde gave chase.

  ***

  Once he had secured the device, Jason climbed back up the access ladder. He had taken a few steps when an object flashed by in his peripheral vision. A moment later, a ravager landed on the walkway ten feet in front of him. It faced Jason, its cold black eyes boring in on him. With a hiss, the Hell Spawn lunged.

  ***

  Haneef aimed the M1910 at a ravager charging the prison car and fired a two-second burst, targeting its head. Instead, the rounds tore into the demon’s chest, blasting off chunks of flesh and shredding internal organs. The ripped-apart carcass collapsed. Haneef knew it would regenerate and return. Three other ravagers trampled its body as they neared the prison car. Haneef swung the heavy machine gun in their direction.

  Beside him, the female prisoner chained inside the cage pleaded. “Please don’t do this! I’ll never steal food again! I prom—”

  The guard clasped a lever above his head and pulled down. When he did, the section of wall behind the cage swung to the side and a panel on the floor beneath the cylindrical cage tilted at a forty-five-degree angle, ejecting it out of the prison car. The female prisoner shrieked as it hit the ground, bounced once, and somersaulted end over end. Releasing it had the desired result because the three nearest ravagers veered from the train and chased after the cage.

  Haneef swung his gun back toward the flank, scanning for another target.

  ***

  Vicky cried out when something heavy landed on the roof of the stock car. Two more thuds followed a moment later. Frightened, the woman pointed her FAMAS toward the roof.

  “Calm down,” ordered Sook-kyoung.

  “Shouldn’t we be shooting them?”

  “This car is covered in steel plates. It won’t do any good. Besides, you want to conserve ammo. Wait until you can see your target.”

  “By then it’ll be too late,” quipped Gaston.

  Scraping sounded against the roof as the ravagers used their talons to try and break in.

  ***

  A ravager leapt onto the dining car, coming to rest on the window in front of Antoine. It shoved its right arm through the bars and swiped at him. Antoine ducked out of the way. Leaning forward, he placed the barrel of his FAMAS against its skull and fired a three-round burst, blowing its head apart. The ravager fell away.

  ***

  Yuri fired recklessly into the approaching horde. Most of the Hell Spawn were too far away, and his bullets thudded harmlessly into the tundra.

  Slava placed his hand on the kid’s arm. “Slow down.”

  “I’m trying to stop them before they get to us.”

  “It’s not going to happen.” Slava raised his weapon into the high ready position. “Wait for them to come to us.”

  ***

  Ian stuck the barrel of his FAMAS out the broken window and fired several rounds at a ravager as it rushed past the first sleeper car. The rounds thudded into its thick flesh, not even slowing its pace. Turning left, the Hell Spawn headed for him. Ian emptied the remainder of his magazine into the demon with no effect. It jumped onto the car, landing on the bars covering the window in front of him. Reaching in with its right hand, it slashed at Ian. He jumped back out of its reach. Popping out the empty magazine, Ian reached for a new one, fumbled with it for a second, and dropped it.

  Werner stepped up and aimed his FAMAS at the ravager’s head. It snarled as he squeezed the trigger. The three-shot burst decapitated the demon. The carcass slumped and slid off the car, its right arm caught between the bars. Werner slammed the stock of his weapon against the hand and wrist until the bones shattered and the Hell Spawn fell away.

  ***

  Neal jumped when he heard the ravager land on the roof of the command car, and cringed when its talons scraped across the metal surface. Then silence. He hugged the backpack with the antimatter device against his chest. To his right, Lucifer and Lilith morphed into their demonic
forms. To his left, Melnikov eyed the roof, trying to detect movement.

  ***

  I may be immortal, thought Luther, but this is insane. From atop the dining car, he had a better view of the approaching horde of ravagers, and for the first time realized how many they faced. Movement to his left and right caught Luther’s attention. Three ravagers were on top of the stock car, and another had landed on the command car. He stepped over to Matthew and nudged his shoulder.

  “You go help Neal and the others. I’ll take care of those three.”

  ***

  “Get down!” Sasha yelled.

  Jason dropped to the walkway and covered his head as the minigun whirred to life. A two-second burst shredded the ravager’s torso, splattering blood and gore across the boiler. The tattered remains dropped with a sickening plop. Jason climbed to his feet. The Hell Spawn had already begun to regenerate. Pulverized internal organs reformed and shredded skin healed. Jason reached for his crossbow and paused, going instead for the FAMAS. He unslung the weapon and released a five-round burst into the ravager’s head. The lifeless corpse slid off the walkway. Sasha waved him on. Jason clutched the handrail and inched his way through the demonic detritus. Once on the other side, he raced for the cab.

  “Thanks,” Jason said when he reached Sasha. “That’s the second time you saved my life.”

  “It’s more like the fourth or fifth, but who’s counting.”

  Jason crawled through the hatch into the cab and offered Sasha his hand. “I’ll help you.”

  “I’m staying.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s too confined in there. I can defend us better from out here.”

  Jason wanted to argue, yet knew she was right. “Good luck.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  Jason kept the hatch open in case he needed to help Sasha.