by David Peters
Dylan passed several doorways but whatever was inside didn’t call to him. He was running on pure instinct now. He was letting his gut tell him where to go. He jumped as he felt Cap-Cap tap him on the shoulder.
“Dylan, you need to see this,” the captain whispered quietly and turned back the way they came.
Dylan followed him back to one of the last doorways they had passed. Cap-Cap motioned for him to look inside. He peered inside but it was utter blackness. There wasn’t enough light for the night vision goggles he was wearing to enhance. He turned back to Cap-Cap and shrugged. Cap-Cap handed him a small flashlight. It wasn’t a normal flashlight, it only shown in the light spectrum the goggles used. He looked back into the room and turned on the light. He wasn’t sure what he was looking at. There was a translucent bag about three feet high. He couldn’t tell what was inside until it rolled its face toward Dylan. It was some sort of Hunter cocoon. He shined the light around the room and gasped. Every square foot of wall and floor was covered with the black pulsating sacks. There were thousands of them moving and writhing all across the room. He quickly turned the light off and looked at Cap-Cap, “We’re going to be in trouble when those hatch at some point.”
Cap-Cap nodded solemnly, “So let’s get moving before they do.”
Dylan took the lead again and began moving deeper into the hive. The volume of passing Corrupted Workers started getting uncomfortably high. Some were working on the walls. Some were carrying large bundles of an unknown substance in bags similar to some of the rooms they passed, but all moved slowly down the tunnels without acknowledging the team.
Dylan could feel he was getting closer but he still couldn’t place why. The temperature was starting to edge into the uncomfortable region. He had already unzipped his coat and the top two buttons on his shirt and still he was sweating heavily. They traveled another few hundred twisting and turning feet and entered yet another chamber with multiple entrances. Dylan didn’t hesitate as he moved across into the far tunnel. He began moving slightly faster. It suddenly occurred to him that above the stink of the place he could pick up slight hints of Niccole’s perfume. He had been following it subconsciously this whole time.
He whispered to Cap-Cap, “You smell that?”
“Ya, smells like Corrupted shit.”
“No. Not that, the perfume. Can you smell that perfume?”
“Dylan, I feel like I am hip deep in the intestines of a sick cat. A really sick cat. That’s all I smell is sick cat. If you think you are smellin’ perfume, that’s great. I’m happy for you, now the sooner we find your wife in this dung heap, the better.”
Dylan nodded and smiled then turned to follow his nose. It wasn’t too much further until they reached an opening to his right. He followed the scent into the room and found it filled with Workers. There were several people still alive and embedded inside the walls. He saw Niccole high in the back corner with two Workers attending to her. He moved as quickly as he could without upsetting any of the Corrupted scattered around the room. Cap-Cap had several team members set up a perimeter and began looking at the other survivors.
Dylan stood behind the Worker that was tending Niccole and looked at his wife. It appeared like she was sleeping but the pale green shade the goggles created wouldn’t allow him to tell any more detail. It didn’t matter; she was coming back to Paradise Falls with him regardless of her condition. The Corrupted could not have her.
Jokester was standing next to him and whispered, “What’s the plan Boss?”
“I need a way to get these Workers out of the way quietly and without drawing any undue attention to ourselves.”
Jokester looked at Dylan than shrugged and nodded. Walking up to the first Worker he pulled out a small silenced pistol and dropped the Corrupted like it was a bag of bricks. He then quietly repeated the act with the second Corrupted, “Ok, what’s step two Boss?”
Dylan blinked at the man then turned and began tearing away the mass of alien cardboard that held Niccole to the wall. Jokester stood behind him waiting for the other Workers to react. The one working on the wall nearest them finally turned and started walking towards Dylan. Jokester stood by waiting for the Worker to pass him. When it had its back to him but was still within an arm’s reach he calmly dropped it like the first two.
Dylan had her arm free and felt for a pulse. It was slow but it was there. Her skin was clammy but warm, there was no doubt she was still alive. Once he had her upper body free he was able to pull her down and lower her to the floor. She was torn up but it looked as if the Corrupted had actually cleaned her wounds. Dylan smelled her breath as she exhaled shallowly. There was no rotten smell. He removed his goggles and turned on his small flashlight. Her nails were pale but showed no signs of the bruising that comes in the early stages of being turned.
Dylan heard Cap-Cap whispering orders to several of the team members behind him then watched as he came over to kneel next to Niccole, “How is she?”
“If I didn’t know better I would say she is sedated. She seems to be asleep but she isn’t turned.”
“We have three others that look like they are alive. One is turning, the other two I think we can get out of here. All three are females. Doc will have something to say about this no doubt. Let’s roll.”
Dylan laid Niccole down on the fold up stretcher and on his signal Jokester picked up the other end. He fell in step behind Cap-Cap and they began following the glowing bread crumbs out of the hive. They made it to the first hub room when several Hunter screeches came rolling up the tunnel they had just left. No words needed to be said as the team naturally picked up the pace. They were still far too deep to fight their way out if they were discovered now.
Getting out of the hive was far faster than getting in. The point man would stop at every junction to see if hordes of Corrupted were waiting for them. When nothing was seen aside from random Workers they would continue the slow jog following the glowing dots on the floor.
“Contact!” came the yell from the back of the line. There was brief sporadic gun fire then silence. With the goggles on the rifle fire looked like a strobe light and lit the tunnel up from one end to the other.
Cap-Cap yelled over his shoulder as he continued to climb the steep tunnel, “They know we are here now, no need to be quiet. Let’s move quickly folks!”
They continued up the incline heading to the next open room. Ahead of him Cap-Cap motioned for them to stop. The captain pointed to his eyes, then out to the hub room, then motioned Dylan forward.
Dylan and Jokester eased his unconscious wife to the ground then he moved up next to Cap-Cap. Looking around the man’s shoulder he could see three Hunters looking at the markers Jokester had placed on the ground. The infrared dots should only have been visible with the night vision goggles but the Corrupted could clearly see them. Dylan made another mental note to tell Doc the damn things could see in the dark.
Cap-Cap whispered to Dylan, “Guess it’s time to see how good Travis is.” He quietly pulled the pin on one of the smoke grenades and lobbed it into the center of the three Hunters. As one they hissed loudly at the grenade that rolled into the middle of them. The nearest hunter slammed his clawed foot on the grenade as it rolled up to them. The three then turned as one in the direction that it had come from. As they began their scream of alarm the grenade burst.
Through Dylan’s goggles the smoke cloud was a brilliant bright green. All three Hunters fell to the ground convulsing and shaking violently the instant the cloud formed. After a few short seconds they stopped shaking and their skin began to break down as if they were in acid. The cloud of smoke, harmless to humans as far as they knew, was instant death to the Corrupted. Dylan nodded to Jokester and they picked Niccole back up. The two other smaller women were loaded onto the backs of two of the team and they began walking as fast as they could, silently moving through the twists and turns of the tunnels towards the surface and escape.
From far below them they could hear Hunter cries begi
n to spread through the hive. First the echoed cries came from one tunnel, and then other cries joined in until the sounds seemed to be all around them. Thousands of screams echoed through the tunnels and reverberated off the walls. Soon the sounds of clawed feet could be heard coming up from the tunnels below.
-
Cap-Cap told the team to toss one smoke grenade into each room they passed and one more behind them every twenty meters. It wouldn’t shut the hive down but it would slow them down some and limit what could follow them out. As they passed the Hunter chamber they had seen earlier Cap-Cap threw his remaining grenade and both of Dylan’s far into the cavern. The sound of the bursting Hunter cocoons was unmistakable.
As they broke into daylight they had to walk around a large pile of Workers and several Hunters littering the entrance to the hive. Nearly everyone was headless.
Once every member was clear of the entrance Jokester set several anti-personnel proximity mines and joined the team moving rapidly across the yard. The mines would detonate when they detected movement in the direction they were facing and fill the air with thousands of deadly steel fragments. It created a rapidly moving steel curtain of death that could shred anything in its path.
Whitey and Travis had the horses ready when they came through the fence line. Dylan climbed on his horse and Niccole was carefully loaded up in front of him.
Off in the parking lot behind them a boom was heard along with the sound of shrapnel ringing through the air and bouncing around the lumber yard. Dylan looked over his shoulder and saw the rising cloud of smoke from the explosive. He looked down the line of horses and saw the other women secured with their riders holding them, “Let’s go home folks.” They were several hundred yards up the hill before the second boom rolled over them.
Jokester was looking over his shoulder into the lumber yard far below watching the cloud from the last explosion rising in the parking lot. He turned back and called out to Cap-Cap in the front of the line, “That leaves one more mine Boss. The last one has a special surprise just for ‘Rupts.”
The final detonating thunder rolled out of the valley. Although the actual entrance to the hive was obscured the large growing cloud of blue smoke was not. Jokester had strapped his last smoke grenade to the face of the mine. The Hunter shrieks carried far down the valley and up the mountainside to the rapidly retreating team. The pain and anger carried in the screams brought smiles to everyone.
--3--
Niccole began to moan quietly about halfway back to Paradise Falls. She had yet to regain consciousness but she was beginning to move enough that Dylan was concerned she would roll off the horse if he loosened his grip at all. The top of the barricade gate was quiet as they made their way up the gravel road. Everyone on the wall feared the answer to the question they wanted to ask. As Dylan closed the distance he waved his hat high in the air and announced simply, “She’s alive!”
Erica rushed through the open gate and het Dylan before he could even enter the town. He smiled with a tear in his eye as he watched his daughter hold Niccole’s limp hand.
“Is she alright?”
“I think so. We need to get her into Docs so he can take a look. She wasn’t turned so just about anything else is ok with me.” Several people helped Niccole down gently and carried her through the front door of Docs small office.
Niccole was rescued and as an added bonus they had two more survivors added to their town. Cheers moved through the town rapidly as the word was passed from person to person. They went straight to Docs office where he already had one bed ready and waiting for Niccole. He wasn’t expecting the other two but quickly cleared room and put out two military issue cots. Jonathan was sleeping soundly on the remaining cot.
Doc had spent several hours examining Niccole and the other two for any signs of bites or other Corrupted infection. He found several deep cuts and scratches and it appeared like she had a fairly severe fracture in her left arm but he gave her a clean bill of health all things considered. The other two women were in similar condition and also not infected. The three slept quietly under the white sheets barely moving at all during the few hours they had been there. Aside from the visible cuts and bruises they all appeared to be resting comfortably. Dylan was sitting in a metal folding chair next to Niccole. He held her hand and looked at her delicate fingers. Her small wedding band was still on her finger, scratched and worn from the years of farm work they had both loved so much. Regardless of the miles and hell she had just been through the ring had remained on her finger. In the hours he had spent sitting by her side the ring had come to mean so much more to him now.
Touching the ring on her finger he spoke to her quietly, “I gave up on you, didn’t I? I was more concerned about getting vengeance than I was about getting you. I failed you, didn’t I? I let you down.” He absently rolled his own wedding band around his finger with his thumb, a nervous habit he had picked up when they had first exchanged vows. Dylan could hear the front door in the other room open as Doc came back into his office.
Doc walked back into the room with a notepad and a fresh cup of tea, “Can I get you anything Dylan?” he asked just above a whisper.
“I’m good, thanks Doc. When is she going to wake up?” Dylan asked as they stepped away from the patients. He found he had trouble letting her out of his view now.
“I have no idea Dylan. I haven’t ever seen anything like this before. Their heart rates are good, breathing is good. Whatever it is they use to sedate their victims, it has a very slow half-life and appears to only affect the higher neural functions. I wish I had the facilities to test their blood further and give you a better idea of what is going on but that is the best I have right now. Doc adjusted the blankets on one of the other women. “I will keep an eye on them and send a runner if anything changes. Of course you are welcome to stay if you aren’t needed elsewhere but there isn’t much for you to do here but worry and I know you are apt to do that just about anywhere.” He smiled with the last comment.
“On a semi related note,” Doc looked at the notepad on this desk, “it looks like the agent I was able to synthesize performed better than I could have hoped. We don’t have a whole lot of it right now, but come mid spring I anticipate being able to harvest quite a bit of the flowers. I think we can put another check mark in the positive column.”
Dylan nodded absently not really hearing what Doc was telling him. He stood there looking at Niccole for a few minutes. She seemed to be in a very calm yet deep sleep. She was at peace and resting but he was finding it difficult to allow himself to leave. “Let me talk with Cap-Cap and I will be back in a few. Got a couple things I need to go over.”
Dylan stepped out of Docs office onto the wooden sidewalk that ringed the town square. The team was still standing outside Docs office waiting to hear. Dylan broke away from his private thoughts to see over a dozen sets of eyes waiting anxiously for him to speak, “Uh, hey. She is resting as are the other two. Far as Doc can tell they will all be fine once whatever has them knocked out wears off.”
Cap-Cap nodded and smiled. He tipped his hat as he met Dylan’s eyes then turned and walked off to find Jen.
Erica came running up excitedly and jumped onto Dylan putting him in a massive bear hug, “You found her, I knew you would! Is she ok? When can I see her? When can I talk to her?”
“Slow down Princess. She is doing fine but she is resting. We can go in and see her but let’s keep it quiet, ok?”
Erica nodded and followed behind Dylan as he walked back into the Doc’s office. He pushed things back into their little mental box and decided Cap-Cap was going to have to wait.
--4--
It was several hours later when he was finally able to catch up with the military man and new friend. Dylan sat next to Cap-Cap on the wooden bench outside of Doc’s office. People moved about their daily business without giving much notice to the two. The smell of wood fireplaces was heavy on the air. Dylan was stirring the noodles and gravy in the meal-ready-to
-eat the captain had brought him, “You know Cap-Cap, a year ago this most likely would have disgusted me, but now? I could probably eat four of these in one sitting before it hit me how bad they really are.”
“These are pretty much all I have been eating for the last few years, I think they are pretty damn gross myself. None of the movies I ever watched talked about how bad the post-apocalyptic food was. I really don’t think any of the folks in planning ever heard the word texture. I mean really,” he held up one of the limp noodles on his fork as an example, “shouldn’t the gravy at least stick to the noodle? I know they wanted to feed us to fight, but I think we fought so we wouldn’t have to eat.” He smiled at Dylan when he said it.
Both men laughed heavily as they finally let the pressure of the day slip away. Dylan was at last able to allow himself feel that Niccole was safe, or at least as safe as anyone in the town could be.
He savored a large bite of the peaches and looked around the town, “They are going to be royally pissed that we walked in there and took something from them you know. I mean like ex-mother-in-law out to beat our asses type pissed.”