by Aline Riva
As she looked down and saw the body of a fallen soldier at her feet, she heard the radio crackle and took it from the dead man's pocket.
“Broadcasting on the open channel,” said Rick in desperation, “Please...can anyone find a little girl called Flossie? The girl who tracked the horde...Please find her and keep her safe, we want her back!”
Flossie's dark eyes widened as she shook the radio, wondering how Rick had got stuck inside it.
“Flossie, can you hear me?” he called through the radio.
She ran to a sheltered spot below the hillside, where a small area was enclosed and offered shelter from the battle, here she stood looking to the radio in her hand as he spoke again and she wondered what to do about it...
As the horde closed in and the spray guns went off and cannisters were launched, the thick haze grew heavy as the two sides clashed, soldiers and the civilian fighters were jammed into the heart of the low valley as attacking undead encircled them, this time Captain Tina Swan kept a tighter hold on her gun as she let more of the gas into the air, into the faces of the undead as they lunged snarling, their skin bubbling and eyes swelling as their mouths foamed bloody.
Here the cages were placed and open where the animals had been released, and Toby was up on top of one of those cages, spraying the dead from above as he watched the effect of the gas take hold. Jason climbed up beside him, kicking a corpse in the face as it reached for him, then he turned around, pulled a hand gun from its holster and blasted off its face, exploding brains into the faces of the corpses moving in behind. As a creature entered the open cage, reaching up and grasping at Toby's leg, Jason turned sharply to see him fall to the roof of the barred cage, where he lay face down and screaming as the corpses piled in beneath him, grabbing at his arms and legs, pulling them through the bars as Toby screamed and they stared to bite off his fingers and take chunks out of his legs, tearing through insulated clothing as the snow below the cage became spattered crimson.
“No!” Jason yelled, opening fire below with the gas as the feeding frenzy became a blood bath of red foam and melting faces as one by one, the undead fell. In that moment it seemed the heat of the battle could not touch him as all Jason felt was the loss of his friend. Toby was still alive, he raised his head weakly, looking to him as blood ran from his mouth and his body trembled.
Jason knew what he had to do – Toby was already dying and already infected. But his eyes blurred with tears as he raised his hand gun, balancing carefully where he stood beside him on the cage as their eyes met for the last time.
“Do it...” was all Toby could whisper.
Jason pulled the trigger, sending a bullet into his brain that made Toby's body jerk, then he fell still and Jason jumped down from the cage, hit another incoming corpse with a bullet that felled it then switched to the other gun, filling the air with gas.
“Fucking die!” he yelled as the corpses bubbled and foamed blood, “Die you bastards!”
And the battle raged on, as the haze of smoke grew heavier, spread wider, forming a deep smog over the valley, where the war was still being fought to decide the future of life on earth...
Chapter 9: Men and Monsters
Amid the chaos, as Jason screamed in anger and leapt down from the cage and fired gas into the faces of the undead like red mist had taken his mind, in that moment he seemed immune to danger as the zombie horde staggered and he cut a path through them, gassing every undead being in sight as he fought his way through to take more of them out. As one of the creatures lashed out, the blow split his face mask as the clear cover ran red, but he felt no pain as the image of Toby eaten alive seared through his mind.
As he caught sight of the battle worsening up ahead, where soldiers were falling to the undead as the Captain, joined by Vince, found themselves cornered, he blasted the rotting bodies that lunged at him, rammed the gun into undead faces in between blasts of gas, and fought his way around the horde, up the pathway and then leapt down on top of a snow plough, aiming a kick at at an attacking creature, then he sent another blast of gas into the horde. As he looked down amid the smoke and the chaos of bodies piled up, he realised much of the army was dead – but the undead creatures were also destroyed, they littered the snowy landscape, their numbers matching the fallen living...
“Fuck...” he said breathlessly, guessing it was not likely many of them would get out of this alive, then he blasted the horde with another burst of gas, as they bubbled and foamed and fell, he jumped from the snow plough, landed on his feet and sprung up fast, running towards Vince and the Captain, who were desperately trapped...
The sound of the battle had carried up high into the ice cave where Justin stood over David, gloating as he looked down at him.
“What did you do to Samantha?” David hissed as rage burned in his eyes but pain prevented him from movement.
“I did nothing,” Justin replied as he looked down at him, “The virus to make us all New is yet to transform her fully...”
David raised his head, then pulled himself to his hands and knees as every bone in his body ached and he looked up stiffly at Justin.
“New? You've gone fucking mad, it's a virus, it took over the world, it mutated and killed and made the dead come back to life as hunters, preying on the living! New? What the fuck has it done to your mind?”
He managed to grip at the jagged wall, pulling himself to his feet, then he leant against the wall, panting for breath with the effort as Justin watched him with interest.
“I have heard the theories on the radio,” Justin replied, “I think the world is yet to understand only the chosen, only the strongest, can walk this earth in the new age of undead.”
“Oh yeah, you're insane, I am right,” David said as he leant against the wall, unsure if Justin was about to kill him or lock him in a debate on the subject.
Over Justin's shoulder, he saw Samantha weakly raise her head and then sink back to the table of ice, and anger burned in his eyes as he glared at Justin Frazer, whose features were hidden behind the balaclava he wore, showing only blackened eyes and peeling lips.
“What did you do to her?” he said in fury.
“Nothing she didn't want me to do,” Justin replied, “But she still isn't New... I want her to be New.”
“She's half turned, it's a DNA reaction!” David said angrily, “Some victims don't die...some just partly change but most don't keep their minds any more... she did because she was infected in freezing temperatures! Just like you...you're not special or chosen, it's the Arctic! It's what the Arctic does to certain infected people, it's random, you're just fucking random!”
Justin's head tilted as something between rage and madness burned in his eyes as his gloved hand raised to his head and he ripped off his balaclava, exposing decayed, mutated flesh.
“My army will destroy your people, David. But you won't be there to see it. I'm going to eat you alive, slowly. I can't wait to taste you!”
As Justin stepped closer, pinning him to the wall, David turned his face away as Justin leant in, taking a deep sniff of the scent of his skin.
“I can hear your blood singing in your veins!” Justin hissed, “I want to spill it!”
Something moved behind Frazer's shoulder. He heard the foot fall on the ice and turned back sharply, to see Tara armed with a gas gun.
“You will watch me eat him,” he said darkly as his hand clamped to David's throat and he pinned him casually to the wall, lifting him from the floor as David fought for air, “And then, Tara, you will replace Samantha...you shall be new instead.”
“Your army is dying!” Tara said as her grip on the weapon faltered and she stood there facing the mutant trembling, “You're losing the fight!”
His cracked lips turned into a smile as he regarded her darkly, still standing there, holding David by the throat with ease as he struggled in vain and fought to breathe.
“My army is invincible!” he roared, squeezing harder as David's face reddened and he started to
choke.
Tara squeezed the trigger of the gas gun, the cloud erupted into Justin's face, making him stagger back as he coughed and choked, letting go of David, who fell hard to the floor of the ice cave, fighting for breath.
Tara stared at the sight of Frazer as he coughed, her eyes widening in horror as she realised that unlike his army of undead, one blast of the gas had little effect on him at all...
“Get out!” she heard David gasp as he clutched at his aching throat and dragged in another breath, but the warning came too late as Justin lunged forward with a roar, slamming into Tara, knocking the breath from her body with the force of the blow as he seized her and lifted her from the floor, hurling her across the cave with such force that she hit icicles that shattered and crashed down, smashing into shards as her body hit the wall with a loud crack, bounced off and then fell limp, blood pooling from beneath her head, soaking through her hat and running over her padded jacket as she lay there, on her side, facing the wall of the ice cave.
In that moment, David felt as if his heart had stopped as he saw she was not moving.
“Stop him, Mr Harley...” Samantha pleaded weakly as she turned her head from the table of ice.
“TARA!” David yelled, his wide eyes fixed on her unmoving body, then as rage took over from pain he drew in a sharp gasp of air that somehow reached his lungs despite his bruised throat.
“It doesn't have to be like this, Justin...you can work with us... not against us!”
Justin looked to Tara, bleeding out on the floor of the ice cave. He silently considered becoming ruler of the world's army...the army of undead out there waiting for a commander, and then he smiled.
“The world is not yours to negotiate,” he said darkly, “It is already MINE!”
Then he lunged, as he slammed into him David grabbed hold of him, sending the two of them crashing to the ground. He knew he was no match for Justin's strength, but it was better to go out fighting that to surrender to a madman who could not be reasoned with...
Further along the hillside, in a small sheltered area where she was up above the fighting below, Flossie looked down sadly at the radio. Rick had been speaking to her from inside it, but now she had smashed it against the wall to get him out, all she found inside were wires and electronic parts and no Rick...and he had stopped calling her on it now the thing was broken...
She frowned as she wondered what to do. Then she saw Marie run past, armed with a gas gun. Gripping her icky stick tightly, she stepped out on to the slope and watched as Marie went higher up the snowy hillside, then she looked down, saw the battle below was still raging, and decided to go upwards and scamper after her. As she stood there for a moment, watching as Marie disappeared into an ice cave, she looked back at the radio, wondering again why Rick had disappeared when she smashed it open. Then she ran up the slope, heading for the ice cave, wanting to know why Marie had been in such a hurry...
Bodies littered the blood soaked snow, turning it to pink and crimson slush, the living and the dead fallen in equal numbers. The Captain was still trapped, holding off the horde as she kept her small space where she was trapped against a wall of ice, the dead held back by the gas as more took their place. Then she turned to Jason, who had just hit the oncoming horde with another burst of gas as beside them remaining soldiers did the same, fighting off the horde that never seemed to stop coming.
“How many of them are there?” the Captain exclaimed, turning to Vince, who had fought his way through to add to the gas attack.
“They just seemed to keep coming over the hill,” he replied, looking up through a haze of fog and foaming, dying zombies to see the mutant lions tearing more apart as those who escaped the mutant's jaws tore down the hillside to join the horde.
In front of the Captain and the others was the scattered debris of a broken snow plough the horde had attacked, parts littering the way like a poor excuse of a barrier, the remaining soldiers behind it were firing chemical and regular weapons alike, taking turns to reload as one by one, they were attacked by the undead as the others fought off the creatures.
“We're not going home, guys,” Jason said, looking to Vince and the Captain, “Toby's dead...we're next. But I'm not going down without a fight, a good one, too...They won't take me while I'm still breathing!”
Then he fired a jet of gas at incoming undead who ran towards him, undead who slowed, bubbled and with bursting eyes and foaming mouths, fell to the snow, steaming as they perished.
The Captain grabbed a radio from a nearby soldier and spoke into it.
“Base, this is Captain Swan – report to home shores. Give them the good news the gas seems effective so far. But tell them we may not be coming home.”
“What?” she heard Rick say, “Where's Flossie?”
As the others sprayed the oncoming horde again, she turned away from the noise of the battle and spoke close to the radio.
“I don't know, Rick. Just wait for me to confirm the gas... if you don't hear from me within the hour, just tell them what I said...call the UK, tell them there's a chance we may win this war...”
Then she cut off the radio and as two of her men fell, the undead barged through a gap that could not be closed in time.
“Fire all weapons!” she yelled, then as the dead rushed at them and Vince and Jason tired to hold them off, she struggled as a corpse grabbed at her padded jacket, then looked to the two men who were battling beside her.
“Sorry boys,” she said, “Get out if you can...it's our only hope!”
Then as she continued to fight with one hand, the other went into her coat, she pulled out a grenade, ripped out the pin with her teeth and pitched it as best she could into the horde that face them.
“GET DOWN!” Jason yelled, headbutting an attacking corpse and throwing himself backwards into the snow as Vince, in front of the Captain as he blasted the attackers with gas, froze in terror, knowing it was too late as the Captain threw herself back, kicking and punching at the undead to stagger through and jump clear, landing beside Jason.
“RUN!” Captain Swan shouted, as their eyes met through the smoke and chaos of battle.
But the dead were all around him, the gap had closed. He hit the incoming creatures with a burst of the spray, then dropped and rolled to the side, hitting out at corpses that reached for him as he tired to put a distance between him and the grenade.
There was a boom that shook the valley and sent ice and chunks of snow skittering down the hillside as ice cracked and more snow started to slip, threatening to bury the fallen as well as those still fighting as a landslide began to loom. A large section of the horde had been destroyed, blown apart by the blast. The Captain got up and pulled Jason to his feet, and he scanned the carnage for a glimpse of his friend.
“Vince!” he yelled, but as the haze of smoke hung thick, he saw no movement, nor a sign of the former guard of Mortiz who had been prepared to give his life in the battle for humanity.
As David fought for his life against Justin, whose hand was back around his throat, a shadow fell over the path that led to the mouth of the cave. As Marie rushed in he turned his face away, closing his eyes as she locked aim close up on Justin, who looked into the barrel of her spray gun, shock registering in his eyes as she gave him a blast of gas. As he let go David kicked out, shoving Justin aside, then as he rolled coughing as his face started to blister, David got to his knees, grabbed the dropped weapon and joined Marie, giving a continuous blast of the gas, hitting Justin in the face as the gas continued to blast from both weapons, now the concentrated fire power had weakened him as he lay on his back, choking as his skin burned and peeled.
“We need more!” David yelled, keeping his finger on the trigger as Justin's head was soaked in the gas, then as David staggered to his feet beside Marie they kept the fire power concentrated, a stream of the gas covering Justin as he writhed and moaned and his skin bubbled and started to erupt in bloody blisters. As he gave a screech and bloody foam burst from his mouth, he
rolled on to his side, falling still.
Then David lowered his weapon, still breathing hard from Justin's assault.
“I tried,” he said, “I did try to reason with him...but he was too far gone.”
Then with a roar Justin rose up from the floor, grasping at David's leg, sending him crashing down beside him. Man and half dead mutant rolled as they fought, Justin's teeth bared as he drew closer to David's throat. Then as something sliced into his back Justin gasped, peeling lips parted as shock registered in his eyes.
David pulled the bloody shard of smashed icicle out of his body, kicked Justin on to his back and leapt on top of him, his arm moving in a blur as the sound of the makeshift weapon stabbing repeatedly sounded like meat being chopped on a butcher's slab.
He stabbed at Justin until blood flowed from his chest and ran from his mouth, until his decayed face went slack and his eyes glazed, staring at nothing.
“David...”
He was breathless and his arm ached from the frantic, countless stabs it had taken to kill Justin Frazer. He looked up at Marie.
“He's dead,” she confirmed, looking to Justin, then to David, who shrugged off her touch, tossed aside the bloody icicle and half slipped on the frozen floor as he ran over to the other side of the ice cave, falling to his knees and grabbing Tara, rolling her over and gathering her into his arms.
One look told him she was dead. Her eyes were open, staring at nothing, her head had been smashed against the cave with such force that as he slid away her hat and parted bloody hair he saw her skull bore an indentation where skin was split, bone was shattered and brain matter was bloody and exposed.
“I told you not to come here!” he sobbed, “Why did you come to the Arctic?”
He hugged her body as he wept and Marie stood there in silence, looking to the body of Justin Frazer, covered in countless stab wounds, and then over to the table and the dead girl who had perished instantly when the icicles had fell – Samantha had been impaled through the eye by an icy shard, another cut through her chest like a stake to the heart of a vampire. Blood ran from her body to the table and was pooling on the floor of the cave.