Storm Orphans

by Matt Handle

  Tyler smiled and replied a little louder, enabling the other two to hear as well. “We’ll be okay. Just stay close and keep your eyes open.”

  Sawyer glanced back at the young pair, momentarily swinging the penlight across them so he could see their faces. When he turned his head forward again, Angel gave him a knowing smirk. Jenny liked the boy. He was too old for her, of course, but who were they to judge? Sometimes you just had to seek comfort wherever you could. Angel knew in her heart that she sought the same from Sawyer and had for days now. She just hoped there’d come a time when they could slow down and explore that feeling without fearing death around the next corner.

  As Angel pondered these thoughts, a spider web was illuminated by the penlight in the dusty window of a subway car on the rails up ahead. Unseen by the foursome, a fat black spider crouched on the corner of the web, waiting on its next victim.

  The subway train had stalled out at some point in the past, its wheels now rusting, its bulk rotting here beneath the earth like another corpse. It looked like there was enough room in the tunnel to scoot past the cars along the walls, but it was going to be tight. Angel’s stomach was already beginning to clench up at the thought of being sandwiched between all that metal and dirt so far underground.

  Sawyer stopped to look over their options and the three others followed his lead. They stood in the darkness and waited as he shined the light down one side of the train and then the other.

  “There’s no way to tell from here, but I’m betting at least six cars,” he told them. “Walk single file and sideways just in case there’s any sharp edges on the train or the walls. Do your best not to brush up against anything. The last thing we need is for someone to get injured down here. I’ll go first, then Jenny, then Tyler. Angel you bring up the rear. Got it?”

  When all three of them had acknowledged the plan, Sawyer wedged himself between the end of the train and the right-hand wall and began sidling his way deeper into the tunnel. His friends followed and soon all four disappeared into the darkness.

  As they passed beyond the end of the train, a male Afflicted, its face bearded and bloody, raised its head up behind the spider’s web and gazed from inside the rail car out into the tunnel beyond. It had heard Sawyer and his companions as they’d trooped past and its red-rimmed eyes darted back and forth as it sought them out. It was hungry, and the scent of fresh meat lingered on the stale air with an enticement it simply couldn’t ignore.

  The foursome was almost beyond the rear train car when the Afflicted struck. As Tyler started past the half-open doors, it lurched out; grabbing the boy by the throat and pulling him back inside the car where it could more easily feed. Tyler wore a look of pure panic and he yelled out as he thrashed against the thing’s wiry grip. Sawyer immediately pointed the penlight in their direction but before he could reach them, Jenny instinctively whipped out her gun and pulled the trigger, blowing the Afflicted’s skull into bloody bits all over the seats and the inside wall of the car. As the creature slid to the floor, Tyler gasped and yanked free of it, stumbling toward his friends. Sawyer and Angel stood agape as they looked at the mess and then to Jenny. Her jaw was clenched tight, but she lowered her gun and then offered Tyler a smile.

  “Just stay close,” she mimicked. “And keep your eyes open!”

  Tyler uttered a relieved laugh that immediately turned into something resembling a sob as he tried to steady his nerves. Sawyer just shook his head and Angel put a comforting hand on the girl’s shoulder.

  “Nice shot,” she told Jenny as she brushed a lock of the girl’s hair off the side of her sweaty neck. “You okay?”

  Jenny just nodded and returned her gun to the waistband of her jeans. Then she reached out for Tyler’s hand and helped him step back out of the train car and onto the narrow strip of tunnel that would lead them away from the dead monster and hopefully out of what she’d now turned into a tomb somewhere up ahead.

  “Did it bite you?” Angel asked Tyler as they began inching forward again.

  “I don’t think so,” he replied shakily. “It happened so fast…”

  “Good thing Jenny was close,” she told him. Then to Jenny, “I think you’re getting better with that gun, sweetheart.”

  Five minutes later, they’d gotten past the train and all four of them stopped a moment to rest, breathing heavily in the stifling darkness. The monster’s attack had rattled them and Angel fretted that her every heartbeat was loud enough to be heard by other predators that might lay in wait somewhere along their path. Worrying about being torn apart and eaten alive was bad enough on the roads and in the daylight. Here in this subterranean passage with nothing but a penlight to see by, she could feel the fear wash over and threaten to suffocate her.

  As they each stood there trying to catch their breath, Tyler broke the silence and told Jenny, “You saved my life back there. Thank you.”

  Although he couldn’t see it, Jenny smiled in return and then replied “That’s what friends are for.”

  It struck Angel again that this was her family. Without them she wasn’t sure she’d still be alive. As much as being stuck down in this shaft beneath the earth frightened her, they had each other. She took a deep, steadying breath and told her herself to be calm. They’d find their way through this just as they’d survived everything else. They had to.

  After the walking they’d done in Miami, Sawyer figured another ten miles on foot was nothing. Ten miles in near total darkness and a growing fear that the walls might cave in on you any minute was something else entirely. He could feel the fear creeping into his friends and could smell it in their sweat. Jenny had surprised him with her reflexes back at the train, but he knew he couldn’t count on that sort of response again. If any more of the monsters beset them before they reached their destination, he’d have to dispatch them himself. He breathed a sigh of relief when they reached the next station without further incident. They still had a half dozen more stations to go, but the evening’s last few rays of sunlight shone down upon the rails from the platform atop the long-dead escalators and after climbing up off the tracks, they each plopped down on the cement where they could soak it in.

  “Is there no way we can try the streets again?” Angel asked as she gazed up longingly toward the dirt-streaked skylights high overhead.

  “Whoever fired that missile at us back there messed up,” Sawyer replied. “It could have taken us out from much further away and we’d have never seen or heard it coming until it was too late. We go back up there where they can see us and we might not be so lucky next time.”

  “What if there’s something even worse down here?” Jenny asked quietly. “Like that thing at SOUTHCOM.”

  Angel and Tyler both looked at Jenny and then to Sawyer as he sat by the bottom of the escalator, staring off into the tunnel of darkness that awaited them. He answered without turning around, his eyes remaining locked on their path ahead.

  “Then we’re probably all dead,” he told them. “Without another mine or even a grenade, we haven’t got the firepower to stop another of those metallic freaks.”

  Sawyer got to his feet and then looked at all three of his companions, his face set with determination. “But that’s not going to happen. We didn’t come all this way to die down here in the dark.”

  He offered his hand to them one by one, helping each rise from their seat. When all four of them were standing in a circle inside the station’s small patch of dying light, he simply said “Let’s finish this,” and then led them back into the abyss.

  Each stretch of tunnel between stations felt longer than the last, the lightless miles yawning ahead without any hint of ending. Unlike their first stop, the next three were completely underground, only the abandoned platforms with their faded signs revealed by Tyler’s penlight telling the group that they’d reached another milestone on their trek. The only other station that provided any view of the sky was the next to last one, but by the time they’d reached it, night had fallen over Atlanta and
thick clouds blocked out the moon and stars. Despite the lack of light, the station was still welcomed by the foursome since it offered them their first taste of fresh air in hours.

  Sawyer breathed in the night deeply, happy to have something other than dirt and rot fill his lungs. The air was thick with humidity and smelled of rain.

  Sawyer had stuffed the penlight in his pocket when they’d reached the station so his friends were mere shadows against a backdrop that was only slightly less black. They huddled against one of the station’s tall cement walls, careful not to step out into the open space beneath the sky. Each of them looked up at the dark gray clouds and Sawyer knew without a word what each was thinking.

  “Predator drones can locate and lock onto a human heat signature from 10,000 feet,” he told them. “Chances are, it can’t spot us underground and this close to the walls, but if we stood in the open and it’s still up there…”

  “So what happens when we get to the next stop?” Angel asked.

  “I won’t know until we get there,” Sawyer answered. “First thing we’ll need is a little reconnaissance.”

  “It’s still probably safer to try to break into the place at night though, don’t you think?” Tyler piped in.

  “Probably,” Sawyer agreed. “But until I can get a look at their security measures, you guys are to stay put. We may only get one shot at this.”

  Sawyer took one more look at the sky above and then turned his gaze back on his friends. “You ready?” he asked.

  All three of them nodded so Sawyer strode off to the far end of the platform and turned on the tiny penlight again before jumping back down onto the underground tracks.

  “Come on,” he beckoned. “Let’s go find out what we’re up against.”

  Two long and dreary miles later, the four of them stood at the bottom of one last dormant escalator and looked at each other with an equal measure of relief and dread. They’d finally arrived, the end of their journey somewhere just past the top of the long stairs set before them.

  “Stay down here,” Sawyer told them quietly. He handed the penlight to Tyler. “Keep the light off unless absolutely necessary. I’m going to go up and check it out.”

  Sawyer put his hand atop Jenny’s head for just a second and then smiled at Angel with what he hoped looked like confidence.

  “Be right back,” he told them. Then he started up the metal staircase without another glance.

  When he’d reached the top, Sawyer crouched behind a pair of inoperable parking validation machines and listened intently for any sound of movement or life. For a moment, the station and the streets beyond were as silent as the grave. Just before he decided to chance moving closer to the exit, an owl hooted so loudly, Sawyer nearly jumped.

  It was lighter up here than it had been below, but cloud cover still blocked out the moonlight, shrouding everything in a blanket of gray. As Sawyer sought out the location of the giant night bird, he found it perched on a metal beam that ran along the ceiling not 20 feet from where he remained hidden. The owl’s round yellow eyes regarded him with scrutiny. It hooted again, but didn’t budge from its roost.

  Sawyer stared up at it for a minute and then looked back at the turnstile that marked the exit from the station to the parking lot outside. Taking a deep breath, he scuttled across the platform in a crouch and then stopped again at the edge of the wall just beside the turnstile where he could peek around it at the world outside.

  There were a few cars in the parking lot beneath the darkened street lamps, but nothing moved. Past the lot were an abandoned street, a couple of boarded-up storefronts, and a traffic signal just as lifeless as the lamps. Sawyer couldn’t see it, but he knew the CDC wasn’t far away. If they were going to make it there alive, the middle of the night felt a lot safer than broad daylight.

  Five minutes later, his three companions squatted beside him as they each stared out at the night.

  “It looks dead out there,” Angel commented.

  Sawyer looked at her and asked “Zombie humor?”

  Angel smirked. “I just mean it looks empty,” she said.

  “It’s the stuff we can’t see that I’m worried about,” Sawyer replied as he kept scanning their surroundings.

  “Where’s the CDC?” Jenny asked.

  Sawyer pointed toward the traffic signal above the empty intersection. “Two blocks past that light to the south on the other side of the road.” Sawyer continued, “Everybody check your ammo. Safeties off, but don’t shoot unless you have to. We’re going to run to that first building past the light. Stay low. Once you get to the side of the building, flatten yourself against the wall. Got it? ”

  After a nodding of heads, Sawyer took off first; his friends right at his heels. They ran like their lives depended on it. And of course, they did.

  Chapter 16

  Alarms rang throughout the Biomech building, their blaring sound jolting Erika from sleep not more than an hour after she had laid her head on the pillow following her discovery of Doctor Steele’s laboratory in the basement. Bleary-eyed and confused, she kicked the sheets off her body and shuffled to the bathroom in order to splash some cold water on her face and try to wake up enough to get a better understanding of what was going on.

  The noise of the alarm was ear-splitting and Erika could already feel the start of a headache coming on as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and dabbed the water off her face with a towel. Slightly more focused, she realized that the alarm signaled a security breach. They hadn’t had one in over a year now, but there was no mistaking that noise. Her first thought once she recognized the alarm was that it was for her. Mechler’s men had already discovered her computer hack and laboratory break-in. Any second now, they’d be banging on her door and demanding she surrender for questioning. She had a momentary vision of being executed by armed men just as Albert had and then she broke free of her hesitation and moved quickly to her desk so she could get back on her laptop. She didn’t know where she would run, but first she had to be sure it was her they were after.

  ***

  General Keane spoke up from one of the giant monitors while Mechler looked on from his control room.

  “We’ve got movement outside the perimeter,” the general stated. “Switching to split screen with the drone feed now.”

  A brief screen of static on one half of Mechler’s monitor was replaced with a view of Sawyer and his friends taking cover along the side of the building across the road from the MARTA station. The view was blurry, in black-and-white and didn’t include sound, but there was no mistaking who or what it depicted.

  Mechler stared at the screen while Keane waited with a growing sense of dread. The general knew how Mechler had dealt with past failures and despite the stars on the collar of his uniform; Keane was well aware of who was in charge these days. The military was as deserted and powerless as the streets outside what remained of his base and airstrip. Mechler was a madman, but with his facilities and resources, he had the upper hand. As long as he did, Keane and his few remaining men were at the doctor’s command.

  Mechler said dryly, “It looks like you missed the first time, General.”

  With a tweak of the controls, the drone enhanced the view, providing a close-up of the four approaching individuals. Sawyer could be seen mouthing words at the other three while he gestured in the direction of a car that stood rusting and abandoned in the middle of the street not far away.

  “You’ve got one more chance before they reach the building,” Mechler continued. “I’d suggest you make it count. I’d hate to have to reassess the value of your contributions to our endeavor.”

  With that, Mechler touched a button on his remote and the drone feed took over the entirety of the screen. He didn’t want to see the general again until this was over. Keane would either resolve the issue or Mechler would have to do it himself. He’d watch the battle play out here in the safety of his control room and if the general failed, Mechler thought the remnants of Keane’s
operations at Dobbins Air Force Base would make for an excellent training exercise for his zyborgs. The mad doctor smiled briefly at the thought, but then reminded himself to stay focused on the task at hand. First things first, they had intruders to kill.

  ***

  The drone zeroed in on the foursome, flying fast and low as it fired another missile. Almost as soon as Sawyer and his friends caught their breath, they heard the scream of the incoming projectile and all four of them moved on instinct. Streaking away from their cover, the car disappeared in a huge explosion just as they got out of the blast radius, the heat singeing their backs and the debris peppering the ground all around them. A piece of twisted metal ripped a hole across the back of Sawyer’s shirt as it flew by, digging a shallow, two-inch gouge in his flesh in the process.

  Racing to escape the fiery shrapnel, they ran past an old gas station whose LED price sign was broken. The brightly-colored numeric display was gone and a large bird nest was revealed inside by the light of the flames. The drone fired another missile which hit the station’s pumps, obliterating the building, the remnants of the sign, and the nest in a fireball so big that it tossed Sawyer and his companions to the ground like ragdolls. Sawyer had a second to be thankful the fuel tanks beneath the pumps must have been nearly empty; otherwise he knew that he and the others would have been nothing but grease spots on the scorched pavement. With their lives at stake, all four of them ignored their new cuts and scrapes and instead scrambled back to their feet, silhouetted in the explosion’s plume of fire as they started running again for their destination.

  A third missile plowed into the road ahead of them, sending chunks of asphalt raining down on the four as they continued on amidst the fire and smoke toward the CDC. Sawyer was a good 10 steps ahead of the others and he could see the darker shadow of the glass and steel building standing against the night as he crested the hill that stood above it. The road was now a wide ditch full of acrid smoke and smoldering ash but he thought they’d make it to the safety of the CDC’s staunch walls within the next two minutes. They just had to hope the Predator didn’t get another shot at them as they maneuvered over the ruined pavement.