by Jake Bible
“Val, you know we can’t wait for you,” Commander Lee says. “With the Code Monkeys attacking, we need to shut the doors now.”
“We know,” Val says. “We’re leaving the Cheyenne Mountain facility in just a couple minutes.” She pauses. “Uh, Sister is going to get the helicopter for us.”
“Get the helicopter? What does that mean?” Commander Lee asks.
“We’re not quite sure,” Val says. “Something about flying it through the tunnel to the interior doors.”
“Commander?” Kevin interrupts.
“Hold on,” Commander Lee says to him.
“But, sir, you need to tell her that one of the missiles is aimed at Denver,” Kevin says. “They need to either get here now or…”
Commander Lee sighs.
“I heard that,” Val says. “You didn’t let go of the button.”
“I’m sorry, Val,” Commander Lee says.
There is the sound of a huge explosion and the walls shake as dust falls from the ceiling, adding to the many layers that dominate the room.
“What the hell was that?” Commander Lee shouts.
There’s another explosion and the lights flicker.
“Val, I have to go,” Commander Lee says. “Do what you need to do. You might want to stay where you are. I am sorry to say that, but if you can’t get here in time then you will be stranded outside with the herd of Zs and a nuclear winter.”
There’s no response.
“Val?” Commander Lee shouts, clicking the handset button again and again.
“Let me see,” Kevin says, taking the handset from Commander Lee.
He clicks it himself, getting a harsh look of disapproval from his boss, then begins turning dials and knobs on the comm system console.
“The equipment is working,” Kevin says. “It went dead on their end.”
There’s another explosion and emergency claxons ring out.
“What is going on?” Commander Lee shouts. She goes and gets the dead guard’s rifle then points at the door. “Jorgens? Open the door.”
“Commander, that will leave this room vulnerable,” Kevin protests.
“Lock it down after we leave,” Commander Lee says. “If I am not back in five minutes then launch. Do not wait a second longer. You launch those missiles and finish this.”
Kevin blanches with fear, but he nods. “Yes, sir.”
“Jorgens?” Commander Lee says.
The guard keys in the code and the door clangs open. Wisps of smoke and the smell of burning metal quickly fill the room. Commander Lee and Jorgens rush out into the corridor and are lost from sight. The second they are gone, Kevin hurries over and locks the room down once more.
Then he turns and looks at the launch console, his blood turning ice cold.
***
Diaz drops to the ground, his hands around his throat, his trachea only a pinhole after the blow from Skye’s boot. He gasps for air, struggling to keep his eyes open as his airway closes. He looks up in time to see a second boot come at his face and there is nothing he can do to stop it. Lucky for Diaz, it is stopped by someone else.
“I don’t think so, you blind twat,” Stanford shouts as he kidney punches the Code Monkey and wraps a forearm around her throat from behind.
The woman grunts and sends an elbow back at Stanford, but he dodges to the side and avoids the blow. Which sends him right into Skye’s other elbow. The wind is knocked out of him as his diaphragm spasms and seizes.
Skye pries Stanford’s arm away from her neck and twists it hard, flipping the man head over heels onto his back. He tries to grunt from the impact, but his diaphragm still won’t obey and all that comes out is a choked cough.
A shot rings out and Skye spins to the side, dodging the bullet before it can tear into her back. She leaps into the air, plants a foot on the communications console and then jumps back in the direction of the gunshot, her left leg whipping out and kicking the pistol from Cole’s hand. She lands three blows to his face, her fists moving at a speed that can barely be seen, and the TL rocks back on his heels before landing hard on his ass. Her right leg catches him across the chin and his eyes role up into his head as he takes a break from the conscious world.
A loud alarm echoes through the facility, the entire place bathed in red flashing lights.
“Emer-emer-emergency purge in t-t-t-ten minutes,” a scratchy and stuttering computerized voice announces. “Emergency-cy-cy pur-pur-purge in ten minutesssssss.”
The voice degrades into a static hiss turned up to the highest volume possible. Skye clamps her hands over her ears and cries out as the noise penetrates straight into her brain.
“Good to know something hurts you,” Val says as she rushes forward and tackles Skye about the waist.
The two women go flying through the air as Val’s impact lifts them both up off their feet. They hit the ground sideways and Val’s head smacks into the concrete, dazing her briefly. One of Skye’s hands comes loose from its position over her ear and she screams as the static stabs into her brain like a burning hot poker.
Val rolls a few feet away, shaking the fuzziness from her head, and shoves up onto her knees. She sways a bit as she catches her balance then struggles to get up on her feet.
“I’ve trained my whole life to be a Mate,” Val says as she shuffles over to Skye, her legs wobbly and crooked. She stops and takes a deep breath before moving again. Her hand goes to her head and comes away coated in blood. “Fuck. What was I saying?”
She reaches Skye and kicks the woman in the gut as hard as she can. Skye grunts, but doesn’t scream. The Code Monkey’s entire being is focused on keeping her hands clamped to her head.
“Right, right,” Val mumbles. “I trained my whole life to be a Mate. I’ve been fighting since I could walk. Before that even. I remember watching my mother train, her body drenched in sweat, her skin bright red from the exertion. The Teams have been my life before I was even born.”
She kicks Skye again and then again.
“You know what? I’m fucking sick of it,” she says. “I am not shitting you sideways, as my cousin would say. I am sick of fighting. It’s why I fell in love with Hamish. I knew one day I could quit and still contribute. Maybe join him in the hospital and help save people instead of killing them.”
She kicks once more, but her foot is blocked by Skye’s foot. The impact sends Val off balance and she stumbles back a couple of feet. Skye flips herself upright and comes at her fast. Val barely gets an arm up in time to block the kick aimed for her head. The blow knocks her into the communications console and she cries out as her ribs meet metal.
Without her hands leaving her ears, Skye goes on the attack. She kicks out at Val’s knee, then thigh, then side. Val is able to roll along the console and dodge most of the kicks, but not all of them. She goes down on one knee as a boot nails her calf, sending shooting pains all the way up her leg.
A second boot catches her right between the eyes and Val’s head slams back against the console. More dizziness and the feeling of fresh blood on the back of her scalp are added to her world.
Skye comes in with a knee to Val’s chin and the Mate rocks back then comes forward onto all fours. The boot that comes for her face whiffs by as Val tucks and rolls, sending herself right into Skye’s legs. The Code Monkey shouts as they both end up in a tangle on the floor once again.
“All of you must die!” Skye yells then screams as one of her hands comes loose because Val’s jaws are clamped down tight on her bicep.
Skye screams and screams as she leaves her other ear unprotected and starts punching Val in the side of the face to get her to let go. Instead of letting go, Val doubles down and bites harder then starts shaking her head from side to side until she actually rips through the hide of the coat and right into bare flesh.
Blood spurts from between Val’s lips as she yanks her head back, a huge chunk of Skye’s arm coming away with her mouth. Skye’s screams turn into full body roars and Val has a spli
t second to spit out the deer hide and arm flesh before she’s grabbed around the throat and lifted up off the ground.
“You are not chosen!” Skye screams. “You are not worthy of glory! Your place will be to rot here for eternity! Your corpse will come back and you will wander the halls of this facility for the rest of time!”
“Eternity means the same as the rest of time,” Tommy Bombs says from behind Skye.
“What?” Skye shouts as she drops Val and spins about.
The blade, Val’s long blade that had fallen from her belt, stabs all the way through Skye’s belly, but doesn’t go out the back. Tommy Bombs halts the motion and then angles the blade upward. He gives it one last push and blood explodes from Skye’s mouth. The woman reaches for Tommy Bomb’s face, her fingers smearing blood from his forehead down his cheeks and to his neck.
“Did you get a good look?” Tommy Bombs asks before he pulls the blade free. Blood gushes from the wound and all over his boots. He looks down and frowns. “Fuck. That’s nasty.”
Skye lands on her knees, her hands clutched to her belly. Her body is still as a statue.
“Uh… Are you dead?” he asks. “Oh, fuck it.”
With one hard swing, he takes her head off and then her body collapses onto the concrete. Tommy Bombs kicks the severed head away from him as it rolls towards his feet.
“Everyone forgets about Tommy Bombs until they need something blown up,” Tommy Bombs says to himself. “It’s nice to step out of the box.”
“Are you talking to yourself?” Stanford asks as he gets to his feet. He stays bent over, his hands on his thighs, and takes a couple of slow, easy breaths. “Oh, fuck me. That hurts.”
“My everything hurts,” Val says, still on the ground. “Help a Mate up, will ya?”
Tommy Bombs walks to her and offers her his hand. She takes it and he pulls her up then offers her the blade.
“You hang onto that,” she says. “My hands are shaking too much to hold anything.”
“I know the feeling,” Tommy Bombs says. The static starts to get worse and he winces. “How do we shut that off?”
“I don’t think we do,” Val says. “It sounded like some sort of self-destruct. Might be a good idea to leave.”
“Self-destruct?” Tommy Bombs asks. “Why would that Skye bitch set a self-destruct? She was talking about killing you and letting you walk around as a Z forever.”
“She didn’t set it,” Sister says as she comes running into the room. “I did.” She skids to a stop and her eyebrows rise nearly to her hairline. “I left you five alone for only ten minutes and look what happened.” She frowns. “Ah, man, my coat.”
“I killed her,” Tommy Bombs says quickly. “Just want that on the record. Killed her with a blade, not with explosives.”
“Good for you,” Sister replies. “We’ll get you a medal or some other shit.”
“How?” Stanford asks. “We’re stuck here forever.”
“Nope,” Sister says, hooking a thumb over her shoulder. “I brought our ride to the front door.”
“I don’t understand,” Val says. “How?”
“I told you I’m really, really good at flying helicopters,” Sister says and grins. Then the grin falters a bit. “There is one problem.”
“What’s that?” Val asks.
“Uh, I better show you,” Sister says. “We need to get the shit fuck out of here and it’s gonna take a while to help get Cole and Diaz to the chopper.” She laughs. “Get to the chopper!” She laughs harder. “I am funny.”
Everyone awake looks at her more like she’s insane. Sister shrugs and moves to get Diaz up.
“Tommy Bombs, help me out,” she says. “Val, you and Stanford get Cole.”
“I’m good,” Cole mutters from the floor. Then he rolls to the side and vomits. “No, I’m not.”
There’s a static burst and the red lights stop flashing and stay solid red.
“Five minutes to boom time,” Sister says. “This is going to be cutting it shit fucking close.”
***
“I don’t want excuses!” Commander Lee yells. “I want those doors closed and sealed!”
A woman stands with her hands on her hips and shakes her head.
“That isn’t happening!” she yells back. “The crazies blew up the closing mechanisms! These doors are open permanently!”
“No, that is not acceptable,” Commander Lee growls. “If we don’t get those doors closed then this whole place, our one shot at survival, will be flooded with radiation within a week!”
The woman takes a step back, her face full of confusion.
“What?” she asks, the fight leaving her quickly. “What did you say?”
“What did she say?” someone close by asks as well.
“Did she say radiation?”
“What radiation?”
“In a week? How long are we going to have to stay in here?”
“The council has been lying! We’ve been put in here to die!”
The crowd that fills the huge entranceway to the new Stronghold starts to panic. Voices are raised, fingers are pointed, and Commander Lee suddenly finds herself in the middle of an angry mob.
She points her rifle in the air and fires.
“Everyone will shut up and calm down!” she yells. “We do not have time for rumors and accusations! What matters is getting these doors closed! I want everyone from the engineering department and from the construction department on this ASAP! I do not want to hear excuses! I do not want to hear complaints! We will work together and we will close those doors so all of us are safe!”
She gets only accusatory looks in response. No one moves a muscle.
Commander Lee levels the rifle at the crowd and turns in a tight circle.
“The Code Monkeys have been killed, but we are not out of danger,” she says. “In only a minute, a button will be pressed launching hundreds of missiles, each with multiple nuclear warheads, at specific targets across this country. I am sorry I have kept that from you, but we have lost the war against the Zs and we need to cleanse the land of their presence so future generations may live out in the world in peace.”
There are some mutters and mumbles, but still no one moves.
“This hasn’t been an easy choice to make,” Commander Lee says. “But it is one that has been coming for some time.”
“You’ve known this would happen?”
“What about the Teams? Can’t they keep us safe?”
“How do we know you don’t have some other secret plan when we close the doors?”
“Yeah! How do we know that?”
“Hey!”
“Listen to me,” Commander Lee pleads. “We have all been trained from our first day that—”
“HEY!”
There’s a shotgun blast and the crowd turns towards the entrance.
“Why do you have to do that?” Marsh asks, yanking the shotgun from Collin’s grasp. “You just freak people out.”
“It softens the blow from the real bad news,” Collin says and looks at all the faces turned his way. “Zs. They’re inside. The gate and front wall have collapsed. They’ll be up here in only a few minutes.”
He looks over his shoulder at the smoking ruins of the machinery that opens and closes the doors.
“These things going to close or what?” he asks.
Commander Lee growls long and loud.
“Hey, Sis,” Collin says and winks. “You look stressed out.”
“Jesus,” Marsh mutters then looks at the crowd. “I do not know what is going on in here, but we need to barricade this entrance then get everyone armed now! NOW!”
The crowd scrambles into action, everyone well drilled on what to do if the walls collapse and the undead world outside comes for a visit.
***
Val wants to scream, but she doesn’t as she holds her head out the window of the helicopter. Instead of looking forward, she is looking back, making sure the top rotors don’t hit the sides of t
he tunnel or the ceiling. The need to scream is because there is about two feet clearance on her side and up top as the helicopter races backwards out of the tunnel.
Her headset almost comes off her head, but she clamps a hand down to keep it in place.
“Adjust to your right!” Val shouts. “Your right! YOUR RIGHT!”
“Sorry!” Sister shouts back from the pilot’s seat. “I thought my right was your right!”
“It’s not! Your right is your right! My right is your left!” Val yells. “I thought you said you were really, really good at flying this thing!”
“Are you shit fucking kidding me?” Sister yells. “You have no idea how good I am if you have to ask that question! I’m fucking flying a helicopter backwards in a fucking tunnel! I’m a shit fucking GOD!”
“Wouldn’t that be a goddess?” Stanford interrupts.
“Don’t be a sexist ass!” Sister replies.
“I’m not,” Stanford says. “You’re a woman so you would be a goddess, not a god.”
“So a woman can’t be a god?” Sister asks.
“What? No, I’m not saying that,” Stanford replies. “No, wait, maybe I am. It’s just—”
“You’re a sexist dick knuckle!” Sister shouts. “Why’d I even give you a headset?”
“A sexist what knuckle?” Stanford asks. “And I have a headset to help you see on your side!”
“That was dumb of me,” Sister says. “You’re just distracting—”
“PAY ATTENTION TO FLYING THIS THING!” Val screams. “You’re going to hit the ceiling!”
The helicopter shudders and Sister flinches.
“Sorry,” she says.
Val briefly looks down at the ground and the hundreds of Zs that were chopped to bits when Sister flew the helicopter inside the tunnel. Those intact enough try to reach up and grab the helicopter; many just stare with undead eyes as a meal flies by. Other than screaming, Val wants nothing more than to blow the whole tunnel up and bury the fucking things.
“How am I looking?” Sister asks.
“We’re almost to the entrance!” Val replies. “You need to turn to your left, my right! Do you understand?”