by Aline Riva
Then Flossie stepped down from the hillside, standing beside David as he and the others watched in silence as the rest of their army began to draw near, gathering strength and unity beneath an Arctic sun half shielded by a cloud-streaked sky. Not one word was uttered as they waited, knowing once the army had gathered strength and joined as one, the hunt would move on to its conclusion:
This was the calm before the storm...
Chapter 8: Gas
As they walked beside the convoy of soldiers, weaponry and mutant zombie hunting caged animals, the group felt much stronger. Being alone with a handful of guns and a small military presence had helped a little to encourage them to feel perhaps the odds could be in their favour, but now it really felt as if this would be the case. There was strength in numbers and in unity, and as the civilian fighters walked alongside the military personnel, the mood lightened.
“I'm wondering if I should swap this gun for the other kind again,” Vince remarked, looking to Toby and Jason once more.
“You are joking, right? Can't you make your mind up what you want?”asked Jason.
“Well, I want to kill the enemy but I'd like a lighter weapon if possible, something easy to manoeuvre if we get into a tight spot.”
“A tight spot?” Toby echoed in disbelief, “This is the Arctic. We're about to encounter a horde, the sum total of all the people killed here by the infected at the start of the outbreak. There are many stations here, all around the coastline...think about it...think how big that horde will be. Then there's Frazer, or what ever he is now...and you think we might just get into a tight spot? Most of us won't be coming back after this gets ugly!”
“I'd still like to change my weapon,” Vince said.
“Shut up, change this,” Toby said, flicking him a middle finger.
And Flossie who had run on ahead, had turned back to see if the others were still following. As she caught Toby make the gesture, she smiled at the vast group of people in front of her and copied, jabbing her middle finger in the air as she smiled warmly.
“Oh that's just great!” David snapped as he glanced to Toby, “Thanks a lot, first I almost lose her in the freezing water, now she's got a new gesture to show off when she gets back...Rick's going hate me!”
Just then the Captain handed over her radio, passing it to David as she shot him a frosty look.
“As much as I appreciate help from your people, I did make it clear communication channels are to be kept open for mission purposes only...Rick's on the line, he wants to know about Flossie.”
David gave a sigh, speaking into the radio as they walked on and Flossie ran ahead, stopping every once in a while to sniff the air.
“Rick, get off the line – we have to keep the channels clear -”
“Me and Lois just want to know how Flossie is.”
“She's picked up the scent...Justin or his army or both. We're following her and right now all we see is ice and snow. We have an army of our own, we have tanks and mutant animals and weaponry – and most importantly, the experimental gas. Flossie is just fine.”
“Okay thanks,” Rick said, “Make sure you do look after her, please. Me and Lois love her very much.”
“I said I would! I have to go, speak later.”
He cut off the call and handed the radio back to the Captain.
“Sorry,” he told her, “I'm sure he won't do it again.”
“I bet he does!” Tara said as she smiled and looked away from the others, hiding her amusement, “If Lois gets her hands on that radio you'll never get her off it!”
Her remark brought a flicker of a smile to David's face, he glanced over at Marie and she caught his eye and smiled too, then he looked away thinking of the task at hand as he set his sights on the horizon, where as far as could be seen as ice and snow dipped and rose in great waves and into walls set in fantastic naturally carved shapes, there were no undead yet visible.
As he walked along, Vince was still handling the weapon, but still unsure of it.
“Let me help,” Marie said, and as they lingered back, David watched as Marie stood behind him, sliding her arms around the handsome former guard of Mortiz as she showed him the best way to balance the new weaponry. Then she turned her head and he caught her gaze and looked away, walking on, looking down at the snow, feeling caught out and wondering why – she was helping the guy with a gun, they were about to go into battle...Why did he feel like he'd just got away with that look? Tara hadn't noticed, he felt relieved and it was nothing to do with her mistrust of Marie...
By now Flossie had led them to a place where the valley grew low and the walls of ice were high and she stopped, sniffing all around, with a confused look in her dark eyes.
“What's she doing? What is that child doing?” David heard the Captain say as she came to a halt and the convoy stopped and all eyes fixed on the mutant girl who suddenly seemed to have lost the scent...
“Flossie?” David called as she stood there looking about, sniffing the air as she looked all around, then repeated the action as if trying to recapture the scent.
“Maybe the horde have moved on...” the Captain suggested, looking about the icy hillsides all around and seeing nothing but the blue-white layers in sun and shade that made up this valley.
The others looked to Flossie, wondering what she was trying to do as she slowly turned around, sniffing at the air, she kept on turning around...
Then as all sights were fixed on the mutant child as she slowly turned, sniffing the air, David got the oddest feeling like a prickle at the back of his neck, as if eyes, somewhere, bored into him heavily. Then as he caught sight of the figure in black that stepped out of the mouth of an ice cave above, on the slope that led up to the hillside, his eyes widened as he stared at the man who watched him, his face covered by a balaclava... It was Justin Frazer. He waited for David to see him, then he stepped back into the blue tinted cave, once more out of sight.
David blinked, his face pale as his breath made an icy cloud. Despite the thick padded clothing he wore, he felt as if the Arctic chill had just sank to his bones... That had been no trick of the light, no illusion created by his mind – he really had seen Frazer standing there...
“What did you see?”
As he felt Tara's hand on his shoulder, he turned to see her looking at him, eyes wide as she wondered why he was looking in the opposite direction.
“I thought I saw -”
“Open the cages, stand by, enemy sighted!” yelled Captain Swan.
David had no time to finish his answer as he turned back to see Flossie, turning around, sniffing the air, she had not stopped...now he knew why. As he looked up to the top of the hillside that surrounded the valley, fear shone in his eyes as they stood out stark against the shades of white and blue in their torn and bloodied padded coats, their skin rotted and darkened by decay...
“We're surrounded!” he said in alarm, “That's what she was trying to tell us, she can smell them all around us!”
As the cages crashed open the lions and tigers snarled and bounded up the hillsides, the lions roared and the sound shook the valley, sending snow scattering downward as the sound seemed to shake the frozen surroundings. Then the mutated animals leapt off in all directions, kicking up snow as they thundered up towards the approaching dead.
The horde were running now, screeching and moaning like nothing that belonged on earth as they came over the hill crest, some clashing with the mutant animals that ripped at them with claws and snapped with sharp teeth, others avoided the animals, tearing past them, clashing with soldiers as cannisters were launched and smoke filled the air. Regular gun fire sounded along with the hiss of gas as more of the smoke filled the air.
Chaos had erupted in seconds, and through it all as the others took up arms to fight, David looked up through the haze of heavy smoke that seemed to hang still in the air and once again saw Justin Frazer, standing up above, overseeing the carnage below as guns fell and men cried out as corpses tore out th
eir throats and more gas was sprayed into the air. Then Justin stepped back inside the ice cave.
“Bastard...” David said under his breath, knowing that had been an open invitation from the spider to the fly... he was being lured into a trap...
“Who was that? Was it Frazer?”Marie asked.
He pointed the launcher towards the ever increasing horde and launched another cannister, it flowed through the air, landed amid the chaos and thick smoke began to rise up from the centre of the battle.
“Yes!” he said breathlessly, preparing to launch a second cannister, “I've seen him twice...it's me, he wants me...Maybe I'm the only one who can talk to him!”
He fired more gas into the battle and then turned away and started to make for the slope that led up to the mouth of the ice cave.
“David, no!”Marie called, her voice half lost on the clash and the smoke of battle. Then Tara, who had just seen four undead fall with mouths foaming red as they staggered from the battle's edge, stared in horror through the haze as she saw David making for the hillside.
“David!” she yelled, “Come back!”
But he ran on, taking to the slope and heading for the mouth of a cave. The others were now in the midst of the heaviest of clashes as Toby rammed the butt of his gun into the face of a lunging zombie then sprayed more oncoming. Vince ran to the aid of Captain Swan whose gun had been grabbed by two more crazed undead, then Tara aimed her weapon, sending a spray of mist past the nearby fighters who were being over run by the dead, then she turned away heading for the slope, running through the snow as the sharp air made her gasp for breath as she pushed herself onward, sights set on the mouth of the cave, up high above the rising smoke, where the sunlight made the icicle filled entrance shine blue and glow unearthly.
David had already reached the cave and gone inside, unaware amid the chaos of the battle below that Tara had followed him. He stepped into the blue hell where the icicles hung long and deadly in sharp points, stepping carefully around them, making his way into the vast cavern beyond, where shards of light cut through and the whole of the ice cave was bathed in blue.
“Justin?” he called, and his voice echoed back at him.
“Justin!” he yelled again, then made his way across a well worn pathway of ice, into the heart of the cave where he stopped, staring at the sight of a raised, clear shelf of ice flat as a table, on that table was a woman, her faded t shirt had been ripped up the centre and parted widely, displaying her naked body. Her skin was hairless, she was bald and her flesh looked blue in the light of the cave but shone smooth, even the lids of her closed eyes were bare with no trace of lashes. At first it was hard to place why he felt as if he knew her, but then as he stepped closer, the shock hit him:
This was Samantha?
He thought back to the hostel, finding her hair all over the pillow and her body missing...She had half turned, affected by the virus but not died...and in these freezing temperatures, what had the virus done to her? Did she still have her own mind, did she still know who she was?
“Samantha,” he whispered, grabbing her torn clothing and covering her body, “Wake up...It's David...”
Her eyes stayed closed.
He shook her gently, then noticed the bruising to her throat. As the torn material fell away exposing her naked body once more, he reached down, putting the material back into place, but was unable to miss the fact that her belly was swollen. He hadn't noticed at first glance, his first thought had been to cover her, certainly not to look at her...She was pregnant? By Frazer? He looked again at the marks about her throat.
“Samantha?” he said cautiously, leaning closer, noticing her stillness.
“Can you hear me?” he asked.
Then he heard a footfall behind him. Fear shot though him sharp as the ice shards that hung above as he froze, knowing instantly he had found Justin Frazer. Samantha gasped a breath, snapping open darkened eyes as her hands flew to his padded jacket and she gabbed him, dragging David closer.
“It's a trap!” she gasped, but too late as Frazer seized him from behind, ripping him away from her grasp with incredible strength as he hurled him across the cave, slamming him into a wall of ice as his shoulder cracked painfully and he sank to the ground. For a moment the world around him threatened to go dark, but the cold of the snow and ice against his face revived him as David lay there, the impact with the wall still reverberating through his bones, as Justin walked towards him, his boots falling heavy as he crossed the floor of the ice cave.
Rick and Lois were still operating the radio when the call came through from deep in the frozen wasteland.
“Base here,” said Rick, now more confident after practise with the radio, speaking into the microphone as he turned the frequency, pressing a button that counted downward, mindful of the sticky note that indicated down instead of up for the arctic signal.
“This is Captain Swan, we are engaged in battle the gas is being deployed... Too soon to confirm success.. we are surrounded, I repeat, surrounded...!”
She had yelled the message above the sound of battle, the noise of the dead clashing with the living, and then as there was a sharp crack the link went dead as the channel hissed static.
Rick said nothing for a moment, tears filling his eyes as he thought of Flossie, then as tears streaked his face, Lois was weeping too.
“She's just a little girl,” he said tearfully, “If David's got her caught up in the middle of this I'll kill him!”
Then he placed his hand in her grip, cold and metallic against her warm hand of flesh and bone to comfort her as they sat together, waiting and hoping for a call to come through, a call to say Flossie was okay. But the desperate hope that anyone would make it out of a battle that had sounded so heavy was slim indeed...
“I've got an idea,” he said suddenly, focussing on the ice channel as he retuned the frequency.
“Show me that paper...”
“But why?”
He slammed his metallic fist on the table, eyes blazing as he turned to Lois.
“Just do it, please!”
She thrust the paper into his hand.
“What is this about?” she asked as Rick pressed buttons turned the dial and his progress was hindered by loss of signal then the air was peppered with his swearing as frustration got the better of him. Finally the channel opened up, and he breathed a relieved sigh.
“Halfway there...” he muttered, “Wait.. Got it! Open channel, all units on the ice field...”
Then he hit a button and began to speak urgently.
“Flossie, Flossie, love, are you okay? Can you hear me, it's Rick, it's Rick and Lois...”
And Lois said nothing as she sat beside him, watching as he repeated his words over and over, hoping someone would hear him, someone who could tell him the little girl who didn't belong in the middle of such a fierce battle was alive and well...
The crack that had taken out the radio had happened as a stinking corpse in rags had hurled the Captain to the icy ground, as she connected with it face first, the snow spotted with blood as she raised her head. She reached for her weapon but it had been knocked aside and was now being trampled as soldiers clashed in a haze of heavy, hanging smoke as the undead kept coming, then as the attacking corpse lunged, landing hard on top of her knocking the breath from her body, she struggled, yelling out as it grabbed her by the hair, ripping her head back yearning for the warm blood that flowed beneath the warm, inviting throat that was now exposed. She reached down, pulled a handgun from its holster and aimed behind, squeezing the trigger as the corpse jerked, bullets punching through is chest and throat as it snarled, then spluttered, but still it had a grip of her, still it was moving in for the kill.
As a boot connected with the zombie's jaw, sending it tumbling off the Captain and into a roll, she was dragged to her feet, catching her breath as in the heat and smoke of battle she wondered if the enemy had seized her again but instead, she found herself face to face with Vince.
&nb
sp; “Are you okay?” he asked.
She nodded, then stepped over a fallen soldier and grabbed his gas gun.
“Thanks,” she called to him as gunfire echoed about the valley of ice as amid the slaughter and the destruction the handsome young former guard of Mortiz looked into her eyes for a brief moment.
“We'll get out of this,” he vowed, “We'll win, too!”
“I wish I could be so sure about that,” the older, battle experienced Captain murmured as the sight of him was swallowed up by a haze of thickening smoke.
As the gas turned to another veil of thick smoke, the creature that had been kicked away from the Captain got up, giving a roar as it ran towards the battle, its broken jaw rotted and hanging half off like a door with a broken hinge. As dead hands wrapped about Marie's throat, she jerked her gas gun upward, spraying a mist into the air above her head as the creature behind her started to splutter, losing its grip.
She turned around in time to see it fall to its knees, jaw hanging off, eyes bubbling and blood foaming from deep in its gut, rising out of its mouth and erupting like a science experiment she recalled as a student many years ago with baking soda and vinegar. The stuff just kept fizzing and frothing, then the corpse's eyes exploded, as it jerked and crashed to the ground, the last of the froth ran out bloody and fizzing foam, along with a brief hint of smoke, which travelled up in the freezing air to converge with the rest of the haze that hung over the battle like smog, as humans clashed with corpses whilst up on the hills, the mutated wild animals tore heads off captured zombies and bit them in half.
Flossie was watching from the edge of the battlefield, up on a small slope, where she had used her icky stick to stab the eye of a corpse that had made a grab for her. Now the stick was in her hand, the corpse was way down the slope, destroyed by a single stab, and the eye she had plucked from its skull had tasted good... She was chewing the last of it, crunching down on an optic nerve, when she stepped lower to get a closer look. Then she saw the others caught in the conflict, and she frowned as she saw the people she knew in so much trouble.