Deadrise

by Steven R. Gardner

  The desk was heavy and the explosion was rigged to throw pieces of shrapnel to every corner of the room, and it did. The Overlord had just passed through the bookcase entrance when the explosion went off and was lucky enough to be shielded from shrapnel and felt only the blast wave, but it was enough to throw him forward several feet into a small room with a window on one end and a small staircase leading down.

  The Secondary had not been so lucky. It had been halfway to the balcony entrance when the desk exploded, shredding and impaling it with dozens of shards of flaming shrapnel and smashing it with the blast wave. Its small body was pulverized and sent flying out the door and over the edge of balcony where it landed in a broken, skewered heap, leaking thick black blood and what remained of its internal organs.

  The Overlords presence sense pinged, alerting him to a pair of Templar’s coming up the staircase. The Overlord still had his weapon, and he shot the first Templar that appeared, his upper body exploding like a water balloon. The Overlord hurried to the top of the stairs and saw the second Templar covered in the remains of the first, reeling in shock. The Overlord obliterated him with a single blast to the chest.

  His presence sense fired again: more approaching from below and coming in from the office behind him. He would be overpowered. He turned his reptilian head toward the window on the one wall, hissing with cunning delight. The Overlord sprinted across the small room and leapt into the air, its small frame crashing through the window and falling three stories to the ground below…

  The chair came to a stop at the bottom of the escape chute and a pair of his Fedayeen Necrotura helped Mordecai from the chair. Indeed all five of his Fedayeen Necrotura, his elite death squad, were there awaiting him.

  “The transport is ready Master.” Said the Commander.

  “We must be expedient. Another alien craft will be here in minutes. It is heavily armed and will destroy our compound.” Mordecai hissed painfully through clenched teeth, his hand gripping his ruined cheek. It was all he could do to keep from vomiting as mouthfuls of blood and bits of ripped flesh threatened to pass down his throat. Another wave of pain and nausea swept through him, causing him to sag in the arms of the two Fedayeen who held him.

  “Master?” the commander asked, clearly fraught with concern.

  “I need medical attention! Now take me away from here.” The Fedayeen led him out of the room into a small garage where a bulletproof, reinforced SUV was parked. The garage was hidden and exited into the forest away from the main house. He would be taken to his family’s old dairy farm at the outskirts Kittewa, where another half dozen Fedayeen Necrotura awaited his arrival, as well as a small Learjet hidden in one of the barns. A nearby field had been converted into an adequate runway.

  He would fall back to his secondary base, a small resort island in the south pacific. It had been a joint venture with his now dead partner Dr. Winters. They had converted it from a resort for the masses into a smaller, more intimate corporate retreat for powerful, jet-setting executives and their clients.

  At least that was how it had been marketed.

  In truth it was a recruitment and training center for his fanatical New Humanity. From past experience he knew that his small jet would make the flight non-stop, but with only fumes remaining in the tanks when they landed. There was a minimum of one hundred Templar’s on the island at all times, not to mention the dozens of acolytes and hundreds of cult members who lived and worked on the island as docile and obedient slaves. He would take Communion from their numbers and regain his strength. Losing the Rainbow Lake compound was a setback to be sure, made more so by the emotional attachment that Mordecai felt for the lake and the Town of Kittewa, but it represented only a fraction of Mordecai’s strength and power. He would make new plans and set into motion other machinations that would ensure the rise of his New Humanity and elevate him to ruler of the world…

  Chapter 59

  Tuesday, June 26 2001

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  7:40 PM

  Zack’s emerged from the tree line into the back yard of Mordecai’s compound just as something exploded inside the house. He saw the black robed form of a Krylok thrown from the third floor balcony by the force of the explosion. He quickly gave it a scan, sensing the last of its life force seep away.

  Zack broadened his mind scan, sensing several humans throughout the main house and two powerful emanations of evil. One psychic imprint was unknown to him, definitely human, exuding evil and hatred so powerful that it carried a psychic stench.

  But the second presence there was no mistaking… The Overlord. Zack felt his own hatred boil over and his hunger flare to a roar.

  He charged for the house, locking onto the Overlords location. As he neared he heard the shatter of glass from around front.

  The Overlord was trying to flee.

  He diverted around the side of the mansion and ahead his night vision could make out the Overlord picking himself up from the ground, shaking shards of broken glass from his black robe. The demonic creature turned to look at Zack, its burning red eyes going wide and a psychic wave of fear rolling from the alien like a tidal wave. Zack raised his mental defenses in anticipation of a psychic attack, but one never came.

  Instead the Overlord turned and tried to run.

  But Zack was almost at full speed, and he overtook the small robed creature with a diving tackle that sent them both sprawling into the gravel of the front drive. Although small, the Krylok was compact and powerful, with six arms tipped with razor sharp claws and a mouthful of needle sharp teeth, all of which it brought to bear, fighting like a badger in Zack’s arms. But Zack was not without his own natural weapons, and he gave as well as he got.

  The Overlords face was suddenly before his, its hot, fetid breath hitting him like a noxious gas, filling his lungs and causing him to gasp for air. He felt a pair of the Overlords claws sink into his belly, searching out vital organs while its talon feet clawed at his thighs and groin. Another pair of its arms grasped his head, digging the nails deep.

  With a blinding flash the Krylok’s feeding proboscis shot out of its mouth and punctured Zack’s right eye, probing for his brain! He let out a scream of agony and grasped the proboscis before it could wriggle any deeper. It pulsed in his hand like a thick, slime covered snake, sending fresh, searing pain through Zack’s skull. With another scream of pain he yanked the proboscis from his eye with a loud, wet sucking noise and tore the entire proboscis from the creatures mouth with a fountain spray of thick black blood.

  The Overlord let out its own hissing scream, releasing Zack’s head and tried to get away.

  Despite his nerve splitting pain, Zack could still sense the terror and desire for self-preservation pulsating out of the Overlord like raw current. Sensing victory he gripped the Overlord firmly with both hands and raised its small, writhing and slashing body above his head. Its claws raked his back, his chest and face, tearing long, ragged gashes that spurted his own greenish black blood. Zack brought the Overlord’s back down across his knee, hearing its back crack with a brittle, liquid popping sound. The Overlord let out a pathetic, mewling gurgle. Zack felt no pity for the foul beast, raising its crippled body up to peer in its face. Vile smelling, green-black blood sputtered from the Krylok’s mouth and nose as it breathed air in ragged, liquid gasps, its thick black, hollow stump of a tongue hanging out. Both of its eyes still burned red with life, but were fading quickly.

  With a snarl of hatred Zack struck out with his feeding proboscis, plowing through the Overlords right eye into his soft, moist brain! At the same time he launched his own mental assault, drilling through the Overlords weakened psychic barriers and shattering them into non-existence. Zack drilled deeper into the alien’s mind, past its racing surface thoughts filled with pain, fear and death…

  Its brains were like the sweetest of nectars! Absolutely THE most delicious he had ever tasted!

  Like a man dying of thirst Zack sucked harder, all the while his mind drilling de
eper into the core of the Overlords mind, Zack’s mutated brainwaves adapting to the twisted nightmare of the Krylok’s inner mind, bonding with it, absorbing its memories and knowledge as if downloading it from a computer.

  He could feel the creature’s life force being sucked down the black hole of death, just as its brains were being sucked out of it’s skull, but Zack still drew from its mind, his own life just seconds from being pulled into the void with it. But at the very last second, just as he felt himself begin to be drawn into the maw of death, he released his mental claws from the creature’s mind and it was sucked away while he snapped back to full consciousness…

  Zack withdrew his feeding proboscis from the empty skull, black blood and gray brain matter still dripping from its bony tip as he retracted it back into its socket beneath his tongue. The Overlords body was a broken husk in Zack’s arms. Tossing the dead alien aside he fell to his knees. His ruptured eyeball was a gnawing hole of pain. His mind overwhelmed by the massive influx of the Overlords information. Zack threw his head back and took several deep breaths, his head spinning with sickening speed, feeling the Beast begin to rage and howl furiously, desperate for more sustenance…

  And he knew he wouldn’t be able to control it much longer. His metabolism was keyed to a hyper-state and already his body was beginning to heal itself. His flesh would mend, his eyeball would regenerate, but doing so was taxing and required replenishing. Worse yet, the Overlords brains had been the most savory of delicacies, affecting him as a narcotic as well as providing nourishment, demanding more.

  I must feeeeeed!

  He scanned the area with his mind…the powerful human presence he had sensed was fading, moving away to the west at high speed, but its psychic stench of insane evil still remained. There were others with him, but they were inconsequential, merely pawns in the Madman’s quest for power. But they were too far away for him to hunt, and there were still several humans here in the compound, most likely white robed fanatics with the brain implants. Gathering his strength Zack climbed to his feet and raced for the mansions main entrance…

  Chapter 60

  Tuesday, June 26 2001

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  8:00 PM

  Mac took a long drag from his cigarette and leaned his head back against the doorjamb, exhaling slowly. The morphine Norris had shot him up with had gotten him high as a kite, but his leg still hurt like a son of a bitch. The bandage had stopped the bleeding but the tightness of it only added to the pain. He thought about trying to get up and make it to one of the beds but dismissed the idea. He would wait for someone to come move him. He could hear muffled voices wafting in through the rear balcony, but he couldn’t make out who it was or what they were saying.

  He closed his eyes and took another long drag on his smoke, replaying the battle over in his mind when he was suddenly pulled from his musing by a shuffling in the hallway.

  Scotty’s corpse was struggling to sit up from where he was strewn across the stairs.

  In the heat of the battle, nobody had thought to put a bullet through Scotty’s head. And now he had reanimated as a zombie. His clothes were drenched with blood, his thin hair a mess of disheveled wisps, his mouth twisted into a painful snarl, his eyes glazed with death…

  Until they fell on Mac.

  Instantly they gleamed with the primal light of hunger.

  Mac carefully checked the load of his rifle then patiently waited for the zombie that used to be Scotty to stumble down the last couple stairs and turn to face him before he put a single round through the center of it’s skull…

  Susan targeted the final zombie in front of the house, and blew its brain’s out the back of its head.

  Lowering her rifle, she closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. The night air was cool and invigorating, the fresh oxygen helping to clear her mind of battle fog. She could hear sporadic gunfire from out back and down stairs as well as the rattle of the tanks machine gun, but it was quickly dying down as the last of the zombie horde was killed. She opened her eyes and cast one final look down across the corpse littered driveway and circle before turning and entering the house.

  Mac was sitting in the doorway of the opposite bedroom. His helmet was off his head and his face was both a grimace of pain and a smile relief. His flak vest was shot in a couple of places but intact and his left pant leg was drenched in blood and wrapped tightly with a field dressing around the thigh. Susan rushed to him.

  “Are you OK?” she asked with concern.

  “It hurts like hell but I’ll live. But not everybody was so lucky.” His words were slurred and he nodded his head towards Scotty’s corpse.

  Susan closed her eyes and lowered her chin. “Jesus, welcome him with your loving arms. He was a good Christian.” Scotty had been a good hearted, decent man and she would miss him.

  “Where is Matt?” she asked, her voice suddenly full of fear.

  “He’s ok. He, Norris and Turner went downstairs to mop up the last few in the house.” He could see the next question forming on her lips so answered before she could ask. “Your mom’s ok too. Matt said she’s safe on the roof.”

  “What about David?”

  “I don’t know.” He said solemnly. Susan fought with her emotions. She had to remain strong, no matter what, yet she didn’t know if she could bear losing David so soon after her father.

  “There’s more.” Mac said bitterly.

  “Who?” Susan asked softly, not really wanting to know.

  “Irving and Cordoba.” He paused, and Susan could see Mac steeling himself. He reached out and took her hand. “Rick, Jennifer, and baby Tiffany.”

  “Oh God no!” Susan gasped, her emotions bubbling over and a small cry escaped her throat.

  Not the baby!

  She clamped her eyes closed but a few tears managed to escape and roll down her cheek. She stood, forcing her emotions under control, wiping her eyes clear.

  “I’m going downstairs to find my husband.” She said, turning away from Mac.

  The main floor stairwell was charred, blasted full of holes, and littered with foul smelling pieces of zombies. Susan took as much care as possible not to step on any, but it was next to impossible. It smelled of burnt, rotting flesh and smoke. The bottom of the stairwell was packed with brain blasted zombies which had piled up then been pushed aside to make way. The foyer beyond was piled nearly waist high with dead zombies, strewn this way and that. She looked into the living room and kitchen to see more of the same. Dozens of dead zombies fallen everywhere.

  She heard another gunshot through the smashed rear patio door, and went out to find Matt, Norris and Sgt. Turner on the patio, looking out into the darkness, toward the lake.

  “Matt?” Susan called, walking up behind them.

  Matt turned and embraced her tightly, his whole body shivering. They didn’t speak, they just held one another, drawing strength from the others warmth. Susan couldn’t bring herself to inquire about David.

  Not yet.

  The Abrams tank lumbered up from the north tree line and came to a halt at the patio’s edge. The top hatch popped open and a moment later Commander Kings sweat streaked face appeared.

  “How many did we lose?”

  “Six.” Sgt. Turner answered grimly. “Cordoba, Irving, Rick, Jennifer, one of their children and Scotty.”

  “My God.” Commander King said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “We don’t know what happened to David.” Matt said, feeling Susan tense in his arms.

  “We picked him up.” King said, his face breaking into a smile.

  “What?” Matt and Susan said simultaneously.

  “That superzombie had a hold of him so the crazy little son of a bitch jumped off the balcony, right into our path. We pulled over top of him and pulled him in.”

  “Is he ok?” Susan asked.

  “He busted his leg in the fall. Hurt his shoulder and ribs as well, but the deadfucks didn’t even scratch him.”

  But Susan
was no longer listening to him. She was clutching her husband tight, weeping into his shoulder.

  “Carey took a few.” King said to Sgt. Turner. “He’s passed out right now but if Norris gets to work on him right away he should be ok.”

  “You heard the man Norris,” Sgt. Turner barked with a smile. “Time to earn your keep…”

  They had just extracted David and the unconscious Cpl. Carey when the sound of helicopter rotors sounded on the night air.

  Susan grabbed her radio from her belt, checked the frequency then transmitted.

  “Base to Jenkins? Do you have a copy?”

  “I copy base. You don’t know how good it is to hear your voice.” She could practically hear Jenkins smiling over the radio.

  “Likewise. What’s your location?”

  “We’re coming up the canyon. We should be home in less than a minute.”

  “We?” She asked.

  “I picked up a couple of hitchhikers.” Jenkins said.

  “So did we. And after the losses we suffered tonight we’re going to need them.” Susan was amazed at how much like Jenkins she was sounding.

  “Who did we lose?” the cheer had disappeared from Jenkins voice.

  “We’ll talk about it when you land…”

  Chapter 61

  Tuesday, June 26, 2001

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  8:03 PM

  There had been four Templar’s remaining in the house and he had killed them all and eaten their brains.

  Zack could feel strength and vigor flush through his entire body, his wounded eye now looking like a ruptured grape rather than a whipped egg, his other flesh wounds practically healed. He could sense several more humans in the basement, and a quick mind scan revealed them to be prisoners, tortured and raped, destined for the crucifixes. But his mind was clear once again, no longer clouded by the narcotic effect of the Overlords brain, the Beast or the hunger, so he put them from his mind.