by T. A. Uner
“Yes, Doctor,” Longface said. “Mum is definitely the watchword here. Now, shall I demonstrate Isabel’s purpose…yes?”
“What purpose?” Holbourne said.
“This is Isabel’s essence, Doctor.” He held it up to Holbourne. “It will help our cause.”
“Us?” Holbourne tried to swallow; he couldn’t. His neck muscles tightened like a noose.
Longface poured the fluid over the Millie android’s body. Holbourne hands shook. He wasn’t breathing. Maybe he’d suffocate. Good. That way he wouldn’t be part of this.
Millie’s eyes flickered open. Her hands started moving. Holbourne watched as she sat up on the table, in her nudeness. He didn’t have an erection this time.
“Hello,” she said. It was a soft voice that was pleasing to the ear. She turned toward Longface and smiled. Then her head turned toward Holbourne.
She bore two pairs of Vampire fangs. Holbourne pissed himself. Everyone in the room laughed. He wished that someone (someone human that is) would walk into his laboratory and break up this freakish gathering.
“Do you know your mission?” Longface asked Millie. (Holbourne wanted to call her Isabel…but he had a bad feeling the real Isabel had already outlived her purpose).
She nodded. “Infiltration.”
Longface smiled. “Good. Now return to your former state.” She nodded once and lay back down. Her body was still again.
“We shall come often to this laboratory, Doctor,” Longface said. “Usually at night. So make sure you schedule yourself appropriately.”
“That won’t be possible,” Holbourne said. “It will look suspicious.”
“Then make it ‘possible, doctor.’”Longface said. Serious parroted him twice. “I would hate to think what would happen to your family if you didn’t co-operate. That would be unfortunate.”
Not my family! Shit! My involvement is complete. “Very well.” He didn’t want to grovel. He would go where this would take him. He only hoped it was hell. Where he belonged for conversing with such Godless creatures. “How long do you think this will take?” Holbourne said.
“Let us deal with that.” Longface patted Millie’s (or Isabel’s; depends on what you want to believe) breasts and ran a sharp-nailed finger down her chest until it reached her bellybutton. “Now we must go.”
“What about her?”
Longface placed the vial inside his black coat. “She’s hibernating; when the time is right she will return. Goodbye doctor.”
“Goodbye. Goodbye,” Serious said.
The next morning, at the breakfast table, Holbourne couldn’t look at his wife and daughter. He knew they suspected something was wrong; they asked him. But his response was always: “Work, or burned out.”
Giselle was still holding his hand. “It wasn’t your fault doctor. The Black Arm had you cornered; and don’t kill yourself over Isabel. God only knows what happened to that poor thing.”
“If there is a God.” He wished he hadn’t said that but it was too late. It was already out of his mouth and he couldn’t take it back. Just chalk it up on my bill, Lord; I won’t be seeing you after I die.
“One thing my parents taught me was that no matter what religion you are, or what you believe in, you’re not at fault for the things that happen to you that are out of your control. And you had no control over what happened to Isabel, or your program. You were trying to protect your family.”
It didn’t make him feel better. This lovely girl with a curved nose and a honey complexion, whom he looked at like a father would a daughter, was only trying to ease his misery.
During his story Sawtooth had waddled away. But now he returned, bottle of whiskey lodged in his snout. He released the bottle and it rolled toward Holbourne’s foot. He took a gulp and lifted the bottle in toast to Sawtooth. “Thanks you scaly wanker!”
Giselle shot Sawtooth a nasty glare. “You shouldn’t of done that boy,” she told the croc. “I was just getting through to him.”
Sawtooth opened his mouth again and made a noise from his throat. Neither Giselle nor Holbourne understood what it meant.
***
Barnes followed Reptilius’ airboat from under the protection of his river cruiser’s stealth screen. He had seen everything. Now he could take down that half-metal freak for good.
He’d never liked Reptilius, but when the two brothers had offered him a sizeable bribe, linked to a bank account in Liechtenstein, he couldn’t resist. All they asked of him was to monitor Reptilius, and when they alerted him, to move in and arrest or kill the Dino-Hunter.
Barnes didn’t like the two brothers either. They’d arrived in the swamp over a year ago. Both were goofy as hell, with a tendency for profanity, but they were a couple of harmless dolts. A month ago he’d noticed a change in them, now, their personalities seemed skewed. This was shortly before the now overly-gregarious brother had offered the bribe, while the other sibling had grown sullen and quiet. Barnes found that strange. Guess they don’t like that cyborg either, he thought.
He scanned Reptilius’ airboat and noticed the croc wasn’t with him. Good. It would be easier this way. He’d kill Reptilius and finish off the scaly monster later. After this nasty business was over he’d resign from the force and high-tail it out of America, or what was left of it. He thought about going north but couldn’t stand the winters of New York City, besides, the water level was rising up there, already 20% of the city had been relocated. Maybe he’d go to Europe; he didn’t speak any other languages. And the “English” they spoke in England sounded foreign to him. Truth is, there wasn’t a safe place left on Earth. Off-world colonies were now the rage due to overpopulation. He wondered if those artificial beaches on Io’s moon were as good as the news feeds advertised.
He turned his focus back to Reptilius and loaded his net-cannon. “Gonna get you fucker!” He laughed. Barnes had been waiting for this a long time.
He fired the cannon.
***
Reptilius knew that someone had been following him. His senses were so well-developed it was almost impossible to fool him. At first he thought it was Moose, a rival Dino-Hunter who had lost 23,000 Credits to him last month in a Backgammon match. But Moose’s swamp hopper wasn’t equipped with a stealth screen.
While laying the beacons he’d done a quick-scan of the immediate area. Short enough to get a reading but not long enough for an actual craft ID. He didn’t want his stalker to detect a scan coming from him; that would ruin his counter-plan.
The emission reading matched that of a Class-two Police River Cruiser. Reptilius smiled under his helm. Looks like he and Barnes would have that final confrontation.
What the Constable lacked in intelligence he made up with blunt arrogance. This was all Reptilius needed. He heard the cannon-fire and watched the scene unfold.
The blast exploded before Reptilius’ eyes, Arrow was no more.
Or was it?
***
Barnes’ heart fluttered with joy. He drove his cruiser toward the spot where he’d put an end to Croctus Reptilius. As he got closer and closer he pictured the moment when he’d tell the twins about his victory. He pulled up to the wreckage, Reptilius’ boat was in flames, in fact, there were snippets of wispy flames scattered around him. That’s strange, he mused, I’m almost right in the middle of the wreckage and I can’t feel the heat. Wait. He turned around and sat up from his seat to get a better look around. That was when a bolt slammed into his shoulder, pinning him to his cruiser.
Arrow decloaked and Reptilius put it on autopilot. He saw Barnes’ shoulder pinned to the river cruiser. I doubt he expected this. “You son of a whore!” Barnes said. “I’ll kill you!” He reached for his pulse pistol. Another bolt slammed into him. This one sliced through his wrist.
“You should’ve left my mother out of it.” Reptilius stepped off Arrow and onto the deck of the river cruiser. He disengaged the engine and they sat there for a minute. Only the holographic flames kept them company. Reptilius lifte
d his visor and saw a mucky trail of brown blood seeping from Barnes’ left wrist. The constable looked like an ancient caricature that one would find in an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph. “Now, Barnes, you will explain your role in all of this.”
The constable was trying to pull the bolt out with his unpinned hand. Every time he touched the shaft it shocked his hand. “I polarized it.” He smiled behind his black helm. “Talk…or I’ll dissect you; then, leave you to the Blues.”
“Promise you’ll let me live.”
“I make no promises to sell-outs.”Reptilius couldn’t believe this pathetic excuse for law enforcement was trying to negotiate. Then again, it was Barnes’ ego that had led him to this predicament. “Those two brothers…they made me do it.” Barnes’ nose started dripping. A glistening drool-like mucous strand curled around his upper lip. “They paid me hard dough to keep an eye out for them.”
“And of course you did a fine job of that I see…what else?”
“They were expecting both the girl and the scientist. They also wanted you eliminated so they could lay claim to this territory. It was one of their staging-zones.”
Of course, a remote swamp with little human activity would be the perfect place to set-up shop; an abandoned national park in The Everglades. “Are you aware that these brothers, like you, are traitors? You actually sold out your badge and the area you swore to protect. Did you know that hundreds of thousands of Death Walkers are going to come pouring through this swamp in a matter of hours? You’ve doomed your own race.” Barnes did not appear sorry. He tried removing the blot again but only shocked his hand again. Reptilius did not know whether to feel sorry for Barnes or loathe him for his crimes. “Do you know anything about a ‘Sect’ or Vampires?”
Barnes grunted, tears in his eyes. “Vampires? What the fuck are you talking about, boy? Ain’t no such thing as Vampires; and never heard of no ‘Sect.”
‘Boy’? I ought to put another bolt in you for that ancient slur. He fired a third bolt into Barnes’ knee. It jerked backwards and almost snapped off the thigh. But it was small punishment for a man who had betrayed his position and race. Reptilius holstered his ballista and stepped back onto Arrow.
“You can’t just leave me here! Wait!”
Those Blues’ll be coming soon. They’ll put you out of your misery. Trust me, it’s a better end than you deserve. Consider it payment for your crimes against humanity.”
Barnes emitted a howling laugh, and Reptilius wondered where the traitor had found the strength to summon one. “Humanity? Ain’t no humanity left, boy, everyplace is radioactive, flooding or polluted. Come back here, boy!”
He powered up the engine and took off back to his home.
Behind him Barnes was still laughing.
Reptilius thought hard and when he did he went deep. Deep into his unconscious mind where Malcolm Hendricks still lived. There wasn’t much left of Dade County’s baddest, but perhaps it was enough to still call himself human. Malcolm wondered where humanity was going. Men of Barnes’ character, or lack of, were everywhere—like venom in a viper. Yes the world had descended into a second apocalypse. The first had tried to decimate the dinosaurs hundreds of millions of years ago. Through dumb luck the scaly bastards had survived; at least in his reality. But in other realities, such as the ones Giselle and Holbourne lived in, they had died off.
It was man that had ended the reign of the great lizards, except for the Raptors, whose speed and evolutionary trends had helped them evade humanity’s reach.
But Barnes was right about one thing. There wasn’t much of Humanity left. Not after former third world nations developed dirty bombs and had used them to spread terror across the planet. In his reality America had tried to rid the world of terrorists and had almost ended up exterminating itself. The global riots of the late 2040s had gained momentum and were coming. When they arrived on American shores they tore through the 52 states (Guam and Puerto Rico had become states in the year 2000 in Malcolm’s reality) like shrapnel. It seemed that overnight America had crumbled into four sub-nations.13 states per quadrant. The media called it the birth of the “Unlucky Thirteens.”
But the more Malcolm thought about Barnes, the more he worried about the shifting realities. Even now somewhere The Sect had conquered various timelines. But he still did not know what made his reality the focal point, and why the twins had hired an incompetent slug like Barnes to kill him. They clearly underestimated Croctus Reptilius, and that would cost them.
He thought of his family, or the people whom he had once considered his family. Malcolm wanted to see them again; Reptilius did not. “But if you survive this Death Walker invasion, or ‘Zombies’ as Giselle and Holbourne called them, you need to see them, and don’t forget Gruss, you loved that little man to death,” Malcolm said. But Croctus Reptilius wasn’t listening; he was more interested in hunting Raptors and providing his mutant crocodile whiskey so it wouldn’t shit all over his living room.
“Please,” Malcolm said. “There has to be some of me left in you Rept.” Reptilius thought hard. Malcolm was a tiny fraction of his spirit, but it was persistent. Perhaps it was unfair to label it tiny. “Maybe,” Reptilius said. “But if I decide to come, Sawtooth will be coming with me; I can’t leave him alone in the house.” Malcolm said: “You know Mama doesn’t like snakes, but I guess we can work something out. Then there’s Papa.” Reptilius didn’t like where this conversation was heading. “What about him?” Reptilius replied. Malcolm said: “He still loves you; he doesn’t understand what’s happened to you but he wants to. Honest.” Reptilius pondered that remark for a moment. “He wasn’t too happy about me coming back with 65% of my hide chewed off.” Silence. “Malcolm? You in there buddy? Or did you die again?” Reptilius waited for a response. Then Malcolm spoke: “He’s human, and he doesn’t yet understand what has happened to you. You have to tell him; tell him about your change. But be positive about it. Don’t make it seem like you’ve become Frankenstein. When he understands, after you make him understand, he won’t be scared anymore.” Reptilius thought hard, and explored all his options with an artificial brain that had been upgraded with bio-circuitry. “You think so Malcolm? Papa can be hard- headed.” Malcolm laughed: “Papa’s hard on the outside, but soft on the inside. It’s a good kind of ‘soft.’ It defines him. Reptilius wondered how this teenage kid from Dade County had managed to get to him like this. The big, tough Dino-Hunter who gave Raptors nightmares. “So what’s it gonna be Rept?” Malcolm waited for an answer and Reptilius continued thinking. He had reached his decision but went back on it. Then he changed his mind again. “You can’t duck this one, Rept. We’re each a part of one another.”
Croctus Reptilius’ conscience had spoken. But his mind wandered back to his three friends and the coming battle. One that could go either way. Then there were the twins, he hadn’t forgotten about them. His upgraded bio-brain formulated a plan and he confirmed it. Then he pushed Arrow to flank speed leaving Malcolm behind in his wake.
The Zombies
When Giselle saw Arrow powering its way back to the swamp house she felt a sense of calmness wash over her. Sawtooth stood next to her on the jetty and made some strange noises that sounded like a cross between a snarl and a gurgle. If he was complaining she didn’t know what about. She’d only fed him for the third time since Reptilius had left.
When Sawtooth saw Reptilius return, his black eyes began contracting like shutter lenses. It would’ve been funny, but with all that had happened, with Holbourne, and his story about the murdered girl, Isabel, Giselle was not in a laughing mood.
The airboat banged against the jetty’s piles and she ran toward it and helped tie the moorings. When Arrow was secure she hugged Reptilius. His body felt cold. Or was that his chestplate? She rubbed her cheek against it and felt the replica scales carved into it. The metal felt strange. Not that she was an expert metallurgist (she obviously wasn’t). Giselle figured it was some advanced alloy from the twenty-second century, and left it
at that.
His rubber black-gloved hands gently fastened themselves on her shoulders and she looked up into his visored face. His eyes darted from side to side, examining her like some robotic scanner.
“We got problems, Rept.”
“Has Holbourne been drinking again?”
“How did you know about that?”
He kneeled and rubbed Sawtooth’s ridged snout. The croc made another noise from its throat. A softer gurgle—less obtrusive. She took it for a good sign. “Giselle, even without my improved senses, I can tell when someone’s been drinking.”
“Well, it’s something worse,” she said pensively, “the anomaly, it’s grown. And I have a feeling it’s gonna even get larger…soon.”
When they returned to the spot where the anomaly had first appeared, Giselle could hear a pulsing sound coming from it. It reminded her of the sensation she felt in her ears when she had one of her panic attacks, before her essence had been transferred into the Vampire Clone body. She hoped that Reptilius would tell her about his plan; because she sure didn’t know how to combat a horde of raging Zombies.
Reptilius looked at Giselle’s frightened face and smiled at her beneath his helm. He rubbed her back reassuringly. It’s the Least I can do to calm her nerves, he thought.
“Not much time, left.” He scanned the area with his visor and picked up a heat signature. Holbourne was urinating behind a palm bush at the other edge of the swamp pool that bordered Reptilius’ house. He detected the yellow heat signature of the Englishman’s discharging urine, along with the Holbourne’s red body signature cast within a hazy white outline. The three colors reminded him of candy corns he ate at Halloween back when he was a kid. When he was still Malcolm. “I’m still in here you know,” Malcolm chimed in. Reptilius ignored the voice and watched Holbourne emerge from his latrine and approach them. Sawtooth snarled.
“No need to get cross. I was only pissing out your whiskey, you scaly bugger,” Holbourne said lightheartedly. Reptilius was glad the Englishman was in a good frame of mind. What other choice does he have? Did any of them have?