Monsters of the Apocalypse

by Rawlins, Jordan

  Chapter 85

  ***

  Miho arrived in October's office just as he'd begun his dinner of lo mein. He struggled with the chopsticks and the slippery noodles.

  "They tell me you went to the mainland. What were you doing there, Miho?"

  "There was a rumor that Bragg and the survivors are living in the tunnels under Los Angeles, sir."

  "And?" October said as a selection of noodles slipped helplessly through the sticks, away from his mouth.

  "It's true."

  "Under our noses? Under our noses! We can't allow that, Miho!"

  "There's over a hundred miles of tunnels under that city, sir. To clear them out would take a willing ground force that we don't have. Even if we had enough soldiers, which I'm not confident we do, they're not going to be happy about the order to go systematically through the tunnels of L.A. killing humans whose only crime is not dying when we told them to."

  "We have bombs and missiles then!" October screamed while throwing down the chopsticks in frustration.

  "To blow up the underground you'd have to decimate the city. Los Angeles is one of the only cities that isn't so radioactive that it's unlivable. It would be a poor choice to nuke it given our hopes of returning to the mainland in the next decade."

  "But… what… we should just let them live there?!"

  "Well, I have good news on that point, Mr. President. Our drones have picked up something recently."

  Miho passed over the satellite images.

  "What am I looking at, Miho?"

  "Those are print-outs of pictures taken by one of our satellites. You are looking at an army of mutants heading toward Los Angeles."

  "An army of mutants? An army, Miho?"

  "It would appear so."

  "But… we made that up."

  "Well, we seem to have given them ideas."

  "Them we can kill!"

  "No. Not yet. We let them live. They get here and they clean out our tunnels."

  "Then we have mutant tunnels, how's that better?"

  "Tunnels full of man-eating mutants will get you the willing ground force you're looking for. Especially after the army hears that the mutants have killed Nestor Bravo."

  "They have?" October froze, his hands placed on the side of the bowl, midway to his mouth.

  "No. We are going to, but we're going to make it look like they did. Remember?"

  October placed the bowl down on the table and leaned back, a satisfied look on his face.

  "Yes… yes I see it. I gave them the idea to create an army. I came up with the idea to frame them for Nestor's murder. Once Nestor is dead and the feed is no longer broadcast, the Mutant Army finishes off the last of the human survivors and then The Island's military heroically wipes this monstrous scourge from the face of the planet - and we win. I did that. Didn't I?"

  "You did that, sir, you win," Miho said handing the President a fork.

  Chapter 86

  ***

  When they came to the river it was clear that they would not be able to ford it. It was too high and too cold. The bridge loomed dark on the horizon to the south, but it still stood. Nestor spat into the water and stared at the bridge. He sat down on the ground and lit a cigarette while Caleb nervously ate a piece of beef jerky that he occasionally broke apart and shared with the wolf. The wolf ate the jerky as she sat on her haunches and occasionally growled at the bridge, her nostrils working in the wind. Nestor listened to the water.

  "Listen, girl, that bridge may have all sorts of things up there. It might get bad. If you walk away now I won't think any less of you," Nestor said to the wolf as she looked at him, a single eyebrow raised.

  "Um… what about me, Nestor? Can I walk away?"

  "No, Caleb. There are mutants on that bridge, maybe a lot of them. I need back up. I need you to use the sniper rifle, up there, on that building's rooftop. You should have a good line of fire from there."

  "You sure?"

  The wolf growled and wagged her tail twice. Nestor nodded and flicked his cigarette butt into the water and stood up.

  "Okay. Let's go."

  They walked slowly, the river roaring to their right. She sensed the men's anticipation and pricked up her ears, her eyes never still.

  "Don't bother worrying, girl," Nestor whispered as he watched Caleb move up ahead holding the sniper rifle at his side. "He's a good shot now. Anyway, we have no choice but to cross the bridge. There are no trees in this part of the country to build a raft with. When you got no choice but to move forward or turn back, there ain't no point wondering or worrying."

  She growled as they entered the building.

  Nestor leaned on the roof's edge as Caleb got into position and adjusted his scope.

  "You see anything?"

  "Yeah. It's not good. Mutants, lots of them, but they seem pretty laid back. I could shoot some of them right now if you want, Nestor."

  "Then they'll get ready, I'm sort of counting on drawing them out and then using surprise. You hold off until I've started shooting."

  Caleb stood up and looked into the distance at either horizon.

  "You wanna try up or down the river somewhere else, Nestor?"

  "No, if there was somewhere else they wouldn't be waiting here."

  "Well, we could back track and…"

  "There's a bunch of mutants behind us."

  "You didn't mention that earlier."

  "Didn't see any reason to upset you."

  "Aw, Nestor, that's so sweet. Thanks for caring. Okay, any last advice?"

  "Yeah, don't shoot me. Try and shoot them. Don't shoot me."

  Caleb smiled, lay down on his stomach and took aim. Nestor and the wolf headed toward the door that led to the stairwell. Her growl was loud and deep enough that it vibrated through Nestor's chest.

  "What was that last part, Nestor? Did you say to shoot you or not to shoot you?"

  Nestor laughed and let the door close behind him.

  Dead cars lined the bridge. They walked the white lines in between them staying low. They both could smell the dead rotting bodies inside the cars, but didn't bother to look at them. They both moved forward. Ready. She stopped and growled, the hair on her neck rising. Nestor dropped to his knee, listening. He kept one of his Colt 1911's pointed dead ahead. The other he kept in a holster on his belt. He held extra clips in all of his pockets. He glanced out the side of his eye to follow where she was looking, but he failed to see anything.

  He held still and listened to the river, he counted her panting breaths till he reached a hundred. Neither of them moved. They knew how to be patient. They knew how to hunt.

  Nestor stayed low and moved forward. He moved to the left side of a burnt out car and pointed to the right, she followed his direction silently. They moved forward, quickly and low, until she stopped short and they both froze.

  He rose up slightly more and saw that the mutants were moving forward on her side, the far right of the bridge. They must have smelled them. He guessed the only reason they weren't charging was because the wolf smell, mixed with his, had them confused.

  He crawled around the front of the car and moved forward. He rose up as he approached the mutants, their attention on the river, on his diagonal. He opened fire. Three shots hit three of them, all fatal. He broke to his left, drawing their attention as the first of Caleb's shots hit one of them in the eye. They moved in Nestor's direction with panic as he reloaded, aimed and fired, killing two with two shots. That’s when they heard her roar. Before they could turn, she pounced on the one on the far right, ripping out his throat, freezing them in confusion and terror. Nestor jumped onto the hood of the car in front of him for a clear shot, she was a blur and he couldn't risk missing them and hitting her. He squeezed slow and steady. From a distance Caleb did the same. One after another the mutants fell to tooth, claw and bullet.

  In the calm that followed, Nestor rotated with watchful eyes while she finished them off on the ground. He released his empty clip and then glanced back
and waved at the distant Caleb, who quickly packed up the rifle and headed down from the rooftop. As Caleb disappeared from view, Nestor turned back and saw the second wave of mutants charge forward. He'd never seen so many mutants in one place.

  "Shit."

  Chapter 87

  ***

  "So you're telling me that hitting an arctic wolf in the face doesn't cause him to kill you in your sleep? That seems like you should end up with your throat being opened by large teeth, but instead, Nestor makes a wolf friend," October sighed. "So unfair, he's so lucky. Where is the platoon?"

  "West of Nestor. Waiting," Miho said checking her screen.

  "Waiting for what? Why don't they charge in and do it already?"

  "It's a trap, sir. We have to wait for him to walk into it. Numbers are our advantage, but only in an ambush out in the open. In a city or suburban environment Nestor could get the high ground and pick our men off. He is Nestor Bravo after all. We project him to enter the trap in a day or two at most."

  October nodded, biting into another hot dog. The mustard spilled onto his shirt, but he didn't notice. His focus was still on the screen, his thoughts still fixated on the narrow precipice of his own terrifying power.

  "Everything is going to plan, sir. The Mutant Army is close now. They march endlessly, all day and all night. Survivors are fleeing before them, which means they aren't just going to clean out our tunnels, but perhaps the entire country as well. Stay patient, Mr. President."

  Chapter 88

  ***

  Nestor dropped the second gun when the clip ran out and threw his knife. He ran forward and pulled his knife from the throat of the dead mutant and spun around to see the wolf leap into the air and rip the throat out of another mutant. Behind the wolf, a mutant lunged as Nestor threw the knife into its eye. It stood stunned momentarily and then collapsed, dead before it hit the ground. Nestor took two steps towards the corpse to retrieve his knife and then saw the wolf turn, teeth barred to Nestor's left. Nestor spun and faced nine advancing mutants. Huge and fearsome, the mutants ran forward at Nestor and the wolf at a speed that would beat Nestor to his knife. He balled his fists and growled beside the wolf, his feet struggling for purchase in the pool of blood he was standing in.

  "Down!"

  Nestor dropped to his stomach at the sound of Caleb's call and watched as the mutants fell from right to left with a series of back to back gunshots. For a moment the bridge was silent. No one moved. Nestor glanced to his right where the wolf sat happily panting, her white fur covered in the dark red of fresh mutant blood. Nestor stood and turned to see a smiling Caleb walking forward, sniper rifle held loosely at his side.

  "The eagles, the eagles are coming," Caleb said with a laugh.

  "I don't get it," Nestor shrugged.

  "Really?"

  They collected Nestor's guns and knife and moved on. They didn't rest until they reached the other side of the bridge.

  Nestor made a fire that night and they ate canned tuna. She didn't eat. She'd already had her fill of flesh on the bridge. They stayed up late in the night, she howled at the moon that shined overhead and Nestor and Caleb laughed along with her.

  In the morning Caleb made coffee while Nestor picked at the dried blood on his hands.

  "You're bleeding, Nestor, let me look at that… Jesus."

  "It's nothing."

  "It's something, Nestor. Shit. Did you bleed all night? This is bad. We should stop and rest for a day."

  "It's a cut."

  "No, it's a deep gash made by God knows what, a mutant fang or claw, a rusted car door... It could be infected and lord knows a man in your condition is in no place to…"

  "My condition?" Nestor snarled.

  "Yeah. Your condition."

  Nestor glared at Caleb until Caleb turned his face away.

  "If we rest even for a day they'll find us, Caleb! I'm broadcasting, remember? The delay is what, a few hours? Wherever we go, I'll see it and then they'll see it and find us!"

  Caleb smiled and looked at the wolf. Nestor followed his glance and just as he turned his head he saw that it had been a feint, Caleb's fist hit him right in the temple. Nestor spun around his knife inches from Caleb's throat.

  "Shit, that hurt my hand!" Caleb moaned, his eyes passing back and forth between the growling wolf and Caleb's knife.

  "Why the hell did you hit me?"

  "I was going to knock you out and move you in the night, so that no one would see where we were going."

  Caleb looked down at the wolf that was now protectively standing next to Nestor.

  "How about a blindfold, moron?"

  "Oh. Yeah. Right," Caleb smiled. "Easy girl. Nestor, could you say something here, so that she doesn't eat me? Please?"

  "I’m thinking. Hold on," Nestor growled, feeling his face where Caleb had punched him.

  "Think faster please."

  Caleb, leading the blindfolded Nestor, followed by the padding feet of the giant wolf, brought them to a basement under a house in the suburban sprawl. Caleb did his best to clean and stitch Nestor's wound, but the next day a fever came. Nestor couldn't rise or move. He moaned on the ground, responding with grunts and incoherent words to vision

  Chapter 89

  ***

  Nestor felt at home in the strange bar. The heat was unbearable, like a wet towel had been laid over the entire city of Mombasa. Nestor tried to stay focused. He tried to ignore the desire to rush back to the room where she would be waiting. Waiting for him.

  He looked up as Jacob swaggered through the room and sat down across from him, his white suit seeming crisp and cool, his face and hair untouched by sweat, despite the heat.

  "I never understood why you liked this town so much, Nestor."

  "It's hot so people leave you alone. You can disappear here."

  "Well, you don't have to hide anymore," Jacob said as he lit a cigarette. "It's over."

  "I'm not even sure I know what it was."

  "It's not that confusing, Nestor. October wants to be President. He's going to run as a hero. We could threaten that by being bigger heroes. In his defense, it was his father that sent the assassins after us."

  "So how's it over?" Nestor said nervously swirling the melted ice at the bottom of his glass.

  "October's father was killed."

  Nestor stared at Jacob's smiling face. He could tell that it had been a painful death by the gleam in the man's eye.

  "No need to thank me. Now, where are they, Nestor?"

  "She's with me now."

  "You're sure about that?"

  "Yes. Look, nothing happened while you two were together. This started after."

  "I love her, Nestor."

  "I'm sorry."

  "Do you love her?"

  Nestor tossed the glass back and chewed the last chill of the ice. He used a napkin to wipe the sweat from his forehead and pushed the hair back from his face. He scanned the room for any other threat, but there was only Jacob.

  "Why did you come here, Jacob? To ask me if I love her?"

  "No."

  "To tell me about October's father?"

  "No."

  "Then why?"

  Nestor looked at the knife Jacob placed flat on the table.

  "You know, Jacob, you're really supposed to return those when they discharge you."

  "I love her, Nestor."

  Nestor stared into Jacob's eyes as the knife cut through the air too fast to be seen. Neither man blinked.

  The wolf sat there and watched Nestor, licking his face. She looked away when he began coughing. She looked away for a long time. When she finally turned back Nestor wasn't moving. She circled him, licked his face, felt the heat of his breath from his mouth and knew he wasn't dead.

  She pricked her ears. Something was coming. She looked at Caleb, who was already moving towards the basement door with a pistol in his hand, the sniper rifle hanging from his shoulder and Nestor's knife in his belt. Caleb glanced back at her once before he moved upstairs an
d closed the door behind him. She sat beside Nestor, breathing softly by his ear.

  The screams from outside brought Nestor out of his stupor. He looked around the dark room in a panic. The wolf looked at him with a whine and sniffed the air. Together they listened as more screams came from above.

  Not long after the screaming Caleb came back into the basement and sat down next to the wolf. He handed her a piece of bloody flesh, which she took into the corner and devoured quietly. Caleb smiled at Nestor.

  "Are we safe?"

  "Stay down, Nestor. Don't try and sit up."

  "Are we safe?"

  "It was just a roving band of mutants. They just happened to be here. Bad luck. I buried them. They won't lead anyone here. My concern is that your fever isn't breaking. I have to go find something for you, Nestor. I'm gonna have to go. She'll protect you."

  "You're leaving?"

  "I'll be back, Nestor. I promise," Caleb smiled as Nestor closed his eyes. He lingered a moment to make sure that Nestor hadn't stopped breathing. He then looked in the wolf's eyes.

  "You stay and you keep him alive. You hear me? Good girl."

  She stayed as Caleb left.

  Chapter 90

  ***

  One day they were just there. Overnight they had come, like a bad dream, but unlike a bad dream, in the morning they didn't disappear with the rising sun.

  Bragg looked at the Mutant Army, now camped a mile back from the eastern-most entrance to the tunnels under Los Angeles. The mutants showed no particular signs of aggression beyond their terrifying appearance and the huge artillery guns they held like a normal soldier would a rifle. The rumor in the tunnels was that these big guns were what kept the drones from coming close enough to attack, but Bragg wondered.

  He waited for the call, the call that the attack had begun, but it didn't come. A trickle of people did instead. A few people came one day, a few more the next, until they seemed an endless tide that never broke.