Wasteland in Red Square

by Josh Matthews

  ***

  Antoine opened the door to the pantry and crawled out. Blood, shattered glass, and debris covered the starboard wall of the dining car. Several tables had broken loose from their floor mounts and sat at awkward angles. In the middle of the carnage, a ravager with no right arm or leg twitched uncontrollably, its regeneration taking longer than usual due to the extent of its injuries. Throughout the car, the Russians stood up and rummaged through the debris for their weapons.

  “Is everyone alive?” Antoine asked.

  “Yes, but some of us are hurt badly. We’re well enough to fight, though.”

  “We’ll be doing a lot of that soon.” Antoine examined the windows above him. All the bars appeared to still be in place over the panes. He pointed to the door at the rear end. “Make sure that’s secure, and lock it if possible. Post someone there in case anyone tries to escape from the other cars.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “Hang on a minute.” Antoine went over to the rear door. He knew the derailed portion of the train presented a sitting duck for ravagers. If the rest of the rolling stock had not derailed, maybe they could fight their way to them and make a last stand from there. Grabbing the handle, Antoine slid it open and exhaled audibly. The last six cars had not derailed and sat less than two hundred feet away. If they could make it there before the ravagers got them, they might—

  A ravager centered itself in the doorway and snarled. Antoine raised his FAMAS and fired several rounds point blank into its face and chest, ripping the demon apart and flinging its body onto the tracks. No sooner had he shot the first ravager when three more pushed their way through the opening and into the dining car.

  ***

  The horses went wild as ravagers landed on the sides and roof of the stock car. Sook-kyoung and Luther had taken up position near the rear door, with Vicky and Gaston in the middle as back up. Sook-kyoung knew that at any moment the Hell Spawn would swarm through the opening, and their chances of surviving were small. One of the ravagers made its way along the roof and dropped onto the platform outside. On spotting the humans, it snarled. Luther drove the tip of his broadsword into its face, pushing the blade until it smashed through the back of its head. Luther placed his right foot on the demon’s abdomen and shoved. The ravager slid off the blade and fell onto the tracks. Alerted by the first ravager, the others swarmed along the stock car toward the door.

  Sook-kyoung took down the next one that landed on the platform with two three-round burst that flung the demon back against the baggage car. Five rounds had punctured its chest and the sixth struck it in the forehead above and to the right of its eye, blowing out a portion of its skull. The ravager lay against the wall, mewling and twitching as its head wound healed.

  Two more entered one after the other. They came in over the upper lip of the door and crawled along the ceiling like spiders. Before Sook-kyoung or Luther could stop them, the ravagers split up and descended into the first two stalls on either side, tearing into the horses. The shrieks from the slaughtered animals were chilling, causing the remaining horses to panic. Vicky ran up to the first stall on the left and emptied her FAMAS, killing the ravager as well as putting the terrified animal out of its misery. Gaston did the same on the right, using three three-round bursts.

  A fifth and sixth ravager attempted to push through the open door, one dropping to the platform and rushing in, the other spider walking along the ceiling. Luther disposed of the latter, slashing the broadsword from left to right and cleaving off the demon’s head. Sook-kyoung fired on the ravager on the platform, emptying the remainder of her FAMAS into its face. The headless carcass slumped across the floor.

  “I need to reload,” she said. “Someone spot me.”

  “I’ve got it.” Gaston moved up on Sook-kyoung’s right. He raised his weapon into the high ready position and gently applied pressure on the trigger, waiting for the next ravager to attack.

  Sook-kyoung could hear six more demons scurrying around the roof.

  ***

  As Haneef reached the second baggage car, he spotted the six ravagers hovering around the edge of the stock car, searching for a way to break inside. He stopped in the middle of the roof and motioned to the prison guard accompanying him.

  “Fire a burst into those things.”

  The guard stepped in front of Haneef and released ten rounds into the pack of ravagers. The bullets thudded into them, succeeding in attracting their attention. Upon seeing the new prey, all six broke into a run, charging across the top of the baggage cars. The guard fell back behind Haneef, taking up a position ten feet to his rear. Haneef raised the barrel of the flamethrower and waited. When they were halfway across the second baggage car, he squeezed the trigger.

  The first three ravagers caught the full force of the attack. The flames washed over them, incinerating the demons. The lead one collapsed onto the roof of the baggage car, thrashing around for several moments before the flames cooked its muscles and melted its brain. The other two fell over the side and rolled in the dirt. A stream of fire caught the fourth ravager in its face; it jumped off the baggage car and rushed into the tundra, screeching at the top of its lungs. Untouched by the flames but frightened, the last two dove off the train and scurried toward the shelter of the derailed cars.

  Haneef ran up to the edge of the first baggage car. The guard stayed with him, his eyes scanning the area in case the ravagers doubled back. Haneef dropped to one knee and leaned over.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” answered Sook-kyoung. “Do you need help?”

  “No. Stay where you are and protect the horses. We’ve got things up here.” Haneef said to Klimenko, who had just joined him, “You stay here and keep those things from getting into the stock car. We’ll check on the others.”

  ***

  “Let us out,” pleaded one of the remaining prisoners.

  “Shut up,” snapped Barzukov.

  “We’re no good to you now that the train has stopped. We can help you fight these things.”

  “I said shut up!” Barzukov stared through the front window of his cupola, watching as Haneef set fire to the ravagers around the baggage car. He had already taken down four of the demony in under a minute. Maybe their crazy scheme would work aft—

  One of the female prisoners screamed. Barzukov glanced down. She stood in her cage, terror etched across her face. He followed her gaze out the rear door and down the tracks, and immediately understood her reaction.

  Barzukov had forgotten about the ravagers that had given up chasing the train to go after the cages of prisoners they had dropped along the way. With that food supply now gone, those ravagers, eighteen in total, as well as another half dozen wounded ones that had fallen in battle and regenerated, had given chase and were closing in on the immobile prison car.

  ***

  Jason studied the pack of ravagers closing in on the engine. They were less than five hundred feet away. Sasha and Father Belsario took up position on the starboard walkway, ready to defend the train. Jeanette stood behind him watching their rear. Yet something bothered Jason. This attack seemed different. Ravagers usually swarmed their target en masse. This time, while half the Hell Spawn descended on them, the rest veered right and rushed to a location in front of the train.

  “What’s ahead of us?” Jason asked Iosif.

  “You mean Lake Baikal?”

  “No.” Jason pointed to the Hell Spawn moving away from the engine. “Where are they going?”

  Iosif leaned out the window and swore. “Shit. They’re heading for the junction box.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It’s where the main rail line branches off onto the spur that leads to the vrata. Last time we were here, the colonel set the junction to put a train onto the spur. If those things change it, we’ll have to stop to reset it.”

  “Which will make us sitting ducks.”

  “Exactly.”

  Jason climbed out onto the walkway,
maneuvered past Father Belsario, and made his way to Sasha.

  “Get back inside,” she warned him. “We’re about to be attacked.”

  “Never mind about them.” He pointed in front of the train. “Concentrate on taking out the ones ahead of us. They’re going to switch the junction box and send us away from the Hell Gate.”

  Sasha rushed down to the front of the walkway. Jason stayed near to provide cover. The engine barreled toward the junction, yet had not lessened the distance enough for her to get an accurate shot. Sasha waited until the first ravager approached to within a hundred feet of the junction box and fired a two-second burst. At this distance, half the rounds missed, although enough struck that the Hell Spawn ran away to avoid the pain. She fired at the next two that neared the switch. These did not break and run. They raced ahead until they reached the junction box. Sasha fired a five-second burst that took them both down.

  Jason missed this, concentrating instead on the six ravagers about to swarm the engine. One launched itself at Sasha. Jason opened fire with his FAMAS, catching the Hell Spawn with a burst to the chest that tossed it back onto the tundra.

  Two ravagers landed on either side of Father Belsario. The one on the left spun around to lunge at Jason. Belsario stepped to his left and swung his broadsword in a wide arc at waist level. The blade sliced half way through the demon’s abdomen and lodged in its internal organs. From behind him, the second ravager attacked. Belsario flattened himself against the boiler, allowing the second ravager to land on the first. Belsario grabbed the railing with his left hand and the hilt of his sword with the right, and kicked the wounded Hell Spawn off the train. It hit the ground and somersaulted, spilling its guts and intestines in the process. The second ravager also slid off, but at the last moment managed to grip the edge of the walkway and pull itself up. Belsario repositioned the broadsword and sliced off the demon’s head. The ravager spasmed once before its lifeless body slid off the train.

  The last three attacked the cab. Two landed on the tender and rushed Jeanette and Iosif. Jeanette sprayed her FAMAS back and forth between the demons. One collapsed onto the coal, kicking and screeching from a wound that tore open its abdomen. The other leapt over the tender and attached itself to the rear wall, out of Jeanette’s line of sight. She switched her aim back to the wounded ravager, emptied her magazine into its head, and reloaded. The third ravager mounted the cab roof and paused, waiting for Jeanette to be distracted so it could attack, its back to Father Belsario. He held the broadsword in his hand like a spear and chucked it. The blade sliced into the ravager’s back, severing its spinal column. The demon went limp, collapsed to the roof, and rolled off, taking Belsario’s broadsword with it.

  By now, three more ravagers reached the junction box. One grabbed the mechanism to shift the tracks. Sasha blasted it apart with a five-second burst of gunfire from her minigun. The other two attempted to take its place and met a similar fate. Having doubled back, the first ravager raced for the switch. The engine reached the junction first and veered left onto the spur leading to the portal, tilting precariously for several seconds due to its high speed. Jason and Sasha clutched the railing and braced themselves. Father Belsario had not seen the curve approaching and would have been thrown off if he had not grabbed the rim of the open hatch at the last second. As the engine cleared the junction, the ravager reached the switch and swung the mechanism, shifting the tracks back to the main line.

  Jason placed a hand on Sasha’s shoulder. “We made it. It’s clear sailing to the portal.”

  “I hate to disappoint you.” Sasha’s eyes were tired and desperate. “But it’s not.”

  ***

  Svetlana grinned as Jason’s engine made the turn and proceeded toward the vrata. In less than five minutes they would deploy the antimatter device. With luck, they might just–

  The major had not noticed the ravager as it manipulated the junction switch, so she was shocked when her engine continued straight along the main rail. Nor did she see the demony give chase to the train as it rushed past. Svetlana stepped over to the driver’s controls and applied the brakes. The drivers locked and the engine lurched at the sudden decrease in speed. Metal squealed against metal and sparks flew from the tracks as more than one hundred tons of steel skidded along the rails. The driver and fireman were thrown against the boiler’s bulkhead. Svetlana slammed into the controls. On top of the tender, the two soldiers standing guard fell forward, toppling down the coal until they hit the interior wall of the bin. Because of this, neither of them noticed the ravager jump onto the roof of the command car and scurry toward the hole ripped into the roof.

  Inside the command car, the sudden drop in speed tossed everyone and everything around. Because of their claws, Lucifer and Lilith were unable to maintain a firm grip on the floor and slid forward, banging into furniture along the way. Knocked off balance, Neal dropped the backpack containing the antimatter device and staggered against the port wall. Matthew, who had been staring out the back window keeping watch, grabbed hold of the door handle. Ustagov, who stood beside him, stumbled backward and tripped over the backpack. As his shoulders hit the floor, the ravager dropped through the gash in the roof and landed on his chest. It raised a claw above the Russian’s head, pointing the talons at his face.

  “No!” Neal pushed himself off the wall and charged the ravager, hoping to shove it off Ustagov. It spun around at the sound of his voice and swung its hand, slicing three deep gashes across Neal’s chest. He stopped, his body going into shock. His eyes fell onto the wounds. Blood trickled from the gashes, which soon began hemorrhaging. The wounds opened, spilling his internal organs and intestines. Neal dropped to his knees, landing in his own gore, before collapsing. The ravager jumped to its feet to feed off Neal’s viscera. It did not notice Matthew come up behind it, his broadsword drawn. With one swing, Matthew decapitated the demon.

  Ustagov crawled over to check on Neal, his knees smearing blood across the floor. Although his eyes were open, Neal stared into space. His breathing grew labored. Ustagov patted him on the cheek. “Kid, are you still with us?”

  Neal’s lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling. “Doc?”

  “It’s me.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. You saved my life.”

  “Good.” Neal tried to lift his hand, but did not have the energy. “Do me a favor.”

  “Anything, kid.”

  “The devices. Help Jason with them. Please.”

  “Of course I will.”

  “Thank—” Neal’s head slumped forward.

  ***

  Antoine fell back, spraying the three ravagers with gunfire as they swarmed through the open door until his FAMAS ran out of ammunition. Two of the Russian soldiers joined him. The demons were gunned down before they made it to the humans, but would recover quickly. Attracted by the noise, five more rushed inside. Two tackled the soldiers on either side of Antoine, knocking them down and ripping into their flesh. The other three charged the Moroccan.

  With no time to reload, Antoine dropped his weapon and grabbed the central base of one of the dining tables that had been dislodged. He swung it back and forth, knocking the three ravagers aside. Antoine retreated halfway down the dining car, past where the two soldiers were being slaughtered, and brandished the table in front of him like a sword. As each ravager attacked, he slammed the table top into its face. Antoine kept them away for several seconds, but he knew sooner or later they would overwhelm him.

  ***

  Barzukov sat frozen in terror as the pack of ravagers rushed through the open rear door and tore into the last four prisoners. He wanted to cover his ears so he didn’t hear the screams of those being devoured alive and the maddening slurping of the demony as they fed, yet knew if he moved he would give away his presence. He shut his eyes and tried to drown out the hellish sounds. The tortured screeching soon died out, leaving only the sounds of the rending and chewing of flesh. Despite his fear, Barzukov slowly opened his eye
s. Down below, one of the ravagers stared up at him, its head cocked to one side. Barzukov yelled. When he did, the ravager sprang into the cupola, ripping apart Barzukov with its talons and splattering blood across the windows.

  A burst of gunfire from the forward part of the train attracted the ravagers’ attention. As a pack, they raced out and swarmed toward the derailed cars.

  ***

  Ian pulled the Russian soldier through the exit and slid the door shut a moment before the ravager reached it. The demon slammed into the metal, the force of the blow knocking Ian backward onto the ground. The Russian soldier he had saved lifted him up.

  “Thanks, mate,” said Ian, brushing off the dirt.

  “I should be thanking you.”

  From inside the car, the ravager howled and scratched at the door.

  “We need to get out of here,” said Ian.

  “But where?”

  Ian stepped away from the car to check out the situation. The armored engine raced down the tracks a few miles ahead of them, much too far for them to make it. Behind them, the rest of the train sat two hundred feet from the derailment. Reaching it would be a long shot, but it was better than the alternative. Ian pointed toward the rolling stock that still stood on the tracks and pushed the soldier in that direction.

  “Let’s go!”

  ***

  “Screw this.” Sook-kyoung made her way along the stock car to the open door. “I’m going topside.”

  “I’m with you.” Luther fell in behind her.

  “Haneef told us to stay here and protect the horses,” Vicky protested.

  “Those things are not coming after the horses with us topside. Haneef needs us. Are you coming?”

  Vicky hesitated, but eventually nodded.

  Sook-kyoung fixed her gaze on Gaston. “What about you?”

  “I’m in.”

  Leading the way, Sook-kyoung led her team outside and onto the roof.

  ***

  Slava and Yuri reached the end of the crash site and leaned against the roof of the dining car, ignoring the melee going on inside. Slava peered around the corner. Haneef stood on top of the stock car. The Russian scanned the surrounding area to make certain no ravagers were nearby and then stepped away from the dining car, waving his arms to catch Haneef’s attention. His friend spotted the gesture and motioned for him to join them. Slava and Yuri dashed across the two hundred feet between the derailed cars and the stock car.