“A what?” Chloe asked. “What’s that word?”
“Like a shell, but for an insect, or some forms of sea life,” I replied. “This one must have been two meters long.”
“It’s a fucking scorpion?” Mira asked. “Right?” Her voice shook with disbelief. She knew The Empty, and this was something she hadn’t seen before, at least not this particular variety. That made it new, and therefore even more dangerous.
“And the rats ate it? Do you think they killed it?” Chloe asked, her tone filled with worry.
I turned a piece of the carapace over in my hands, noting the deep, regular score marks, made by a predator. “I think they killed it. And then they ate it.” I kicked at the next pile of bones, and the next, and then one more just to be sure. The farther I went into the hallway, the more scorpion exoskeletons I found. By the time I was ten meters in, their shiny exteriors were the bulk of each pile. “Clearly, these rats have developed a taste for scorpion meat.”
“How big are these fucking things?” Mira asked.
“Big enough to treat a scorpion the size of me like a snack. That’s a problem,” I said. Standing, I dropped the remains with revulsion, turning back to the stairwell. “Let’s check the other side. I have a feeling a simple door isn’t going to be enough to keep these rats at bay. We’re going to need something a little more substantial.”
We crept back to the main stairs, careful not to make noise since we were well beyond high alert. The notion of a horde of predators at our back turned us into part-time ninjas, our steps light and silent.
“Wait a second,” I said when we rounded the corner into the other wing. Everyone stopped, holding our collective breath at the scene before us.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mira hissed, taking an involuntary step back.
I had to look twice just to make sure we hadn’t doubled back. The hallway was a virtual duplicate of the other, right down to the deposits of bones.
Yawning jaws and empty eye sockets were peppered through a storm of predatory trash, the jackstraw of skeletons similar in every way except one.
I bent to pick up a long skull, the jaw gone but still armed with formidable teeth. “Mira, I’m no expert, but would you say this is a giant rat skull?” It weighed at least ten kilos and was longer than my forearm.
“I would, Jack. I also note that there isn’t a scratch on it,” Mira said.
I repeated my search from the other wing and, after a minute fraught with silent examination, turned back to everyone with my nerves humming like high tension wires. “You know what I don’t see here?”
“Scorpion shells?” Chloe offered.
“You would be right. And you know what that means?” I said, searching the long corridor for signs of a very different kind of game trail.
“We’re in the middle of a war between two kingdoms,” Silk said. “And both of them are always hungry.”
10
The lights blazed around us while the clock in my head ticked down to a war that would determine whether my people would survive. Inwardly, I seethed over the stupidity of humans, all while making ready to fight creatures that fell somewhere between natural and manmade monsters.
I listened to the distant hum of unseen technology at work, somewhere below us in the warren of space carved long ago. I saw no life other than human, just bones and an implied threat that at some point, there would be hallways filled with monsters.
“It’s the lights. They don’t like the lights,” I said.
“Even the scorpions?” Mira asked. “They travel during the day. Not often, but still . . .”
“But most of them hunt at night, right?” I asked.
“They do. Rats too. They move about during the day, but they prefer the night as well. Maybe we’re making them stay in their lairs?” Mira asked, craning her neck to look for an obvious tunnel or other hiding place for the beasts.
“We’ll keep our eyes open, but for now we have to go down another level. As long as the lights hold, we have some minor advantage.” I held up the key, taken from the mummified officer. “We go room by room, looking for things that are locked, secure the reactors, and then make ready to repulse any invasion from Rowan. If we don’t find the reactors, not much else will matter. Leaving to fight another day is not an option, because once we lose control of our power sources, we’re back to single water wheel. And Rowan will have endless power to go with his sneaky fucking ambition,” I said.
“So we go under,” Chloe said, more statement than question.
“We do, eyes open and guns up, and we do it right there,” I said, pointing my shotgun to the metal staircase descending to our right. There were lights below and no motion. I couldn’t see any bones piled up, either, which gave me hope that the warring factions of predators had kept their disagreement to the top floor. I took the lead and began going down the stairs. Time was not our friend, and I needed a break. The idea that hundreds of monsters loomed overhead made me nervous. Knowing the beasts were held in check by a power system as old as I was made me twitchy, and I couldn’t afford that reaction. I needed to be calm and cool, all while moving ever forward to reclaim a part of my past that would secure our future.
If freedom was a destination, then the first steps were here, with the pocket reactors and other technology left over from when the world was whole.
“Ready?” I asked.
The murmur of assent from everyone was a mix of caution and dread, but that was better than silence.
“Follow me,” I said in a low tone, and one by one, we began to descend the second stairwell, its steps going down into unseen depths of a facility that was held hostage by creatures out of a nightmare.
If the first level was a graveyard, the second was a complete surprise. Not only was it free of bones, it was clean, bright, and the air hummed with purpose. We were closer to the source of power, and I felt an odd resonance in my teeth.
“You feel that?” I asked.
“Hear it and feel it,” Mira said “Heard something like it once before. They rebuilt an electric motor at Wetterick’s, but it came apart when the cranked it up. Made this kind of whine, gave me a headache in the process.”
“I think we know why the rats and scorps don’t like it down here. Harmonics,” I said, reshuffling the deck of our chances in my mind.
“What’s that word mean?” Silk asked.
“If the reactors have been running for a long time without maintenance, then they may be deteriorating. The noise we’re feeling is from something being out of tune or broken. I’m betting it keeps animals away like poison. Their hearing is better than ours. Makes sense that they would find this floor to be a threat. Maybe the sound is enough to make them lose their hearing. Or worse,” I said. For the first time since we came down the stairs, I felt a flare of hope. We might have an advantage over nature.
Now, we had to use it.
“Got that map?” Silk asked, holding her hand out as she searched the wide corridor.
I gave it to her, glancing at the layout. We had a single hall, then two offshoots and a series of rooms that terminated in another stairwell going down. There were elevators to the far left, but I wouldn’t take us in there under any circumstances. The risk of being stuck—and vulnerable—was too great.
“What are you looking for?” I asked, but Silk just pored over the image, her lips moving in silence. She was memorizing the map.
When she gave a small nod, she handed it to Chloe. “Commit this to memory, then you too, Mira. We need to know where we are at all times.”
“Got it,” Chloe said.
“You have it, and that’s good, but there are shifting sands underneath us. Based on how this floor looks, and just how fucking big this place is, certain things might have to wait,” I said.
“Like the reactors? Thought those were at the top of our list,” Mira said.
“They are, along with survival. But this floor is huge, and based on the map, we could be down here for wee
ks and not clear every room. That means we need to prioritize in case we need to shift goals in mid-fight. Case in point—if we find a control room, everything stops. If we find a computer system under power, everything stops. We need power, but we also need the means to control it. Are we all clear?” I asked, receiving nods and tightened hands on weapons. “All right then. Forward.”
We stepped lightly down the wide hallway, a scent of ozone and damp in the air. The smells were far less grim than up top, and the lack of shadows made our first ten meters little more than a walk in the park. At the first door, we surrounded it as I tested the metal handle with a small push.
It was open.
“Going in. On me. No firing unless I fire first.” I clicked the handle and pushed into the room, gun leveled and eyes scanning as a light flicked on automatically. It was the kind of sleeping quarters doctors and researchers used at facilities where they burned the midnight oil. Two beds, a table, lamp, and standing metal cabinets were all I saw, each painted the bland institutional gray of a government hue.
Their labels were a different matter entirely.
“I think I know where that key we found goes,” I said.
In stenciled lettering on a locker were the words FR:Cache.
“The dead guy? This is his—his place?” Chloe asked.
“If not, then it’s a hell of a coincidence.” I opened the standing cabinet, seeing only metal hangars and the deteriorated remains of a pair of shoes. “Cleared out, but that doesn’t mean everything is gone. This isn’t a permanent place for anyone. Just a place to crash for a few hours, or maybe over a weekend. Nothing personal here.”
“Move on and mark this as clear?” Mira asked. Silk was staring at the hallway, listening.
“Good enough. Next door,” I said.
We filed out in silence, opening six more doors to find the same setup, free of relics or information, although one desk had an ancient can of Coke on it, and my mouth flooded with remembrance of all things carbonated and sweet.
On the seventh door, we hit pay dirt. Of a sort.
The room was larger, with two long tables in the middle, and the benches of a mess hall used by up to thirty people at one meal. Attached to the back was a commissary kitchen, racks of canned goods sitting in mute silence, their labels revealing that even after I was in the tube, military people still ate shitty canned vegetables to counteract the fresh, flavorful meat in their diet. The armed forces couldn’t be accused of spoiling troops with things like flavor and comfort.
“Wonder how fast that food would kill you?” Silk asked.
“You’ve seen these cans before?” I asked her. I turned a row of cans labeled Tomatoes; Whole, Peeled and heard the thump of desiccated remains inside.
“Now and then. People find entire stores from your time under The Empty. Storms must have covered them over whole,” Silk said. She trailed a long finger down a can of butter beans. “I don’t like butter beans now, even when I’m hungry.”
“That’s because they’re evil, and no one should ever eat them. Let’s check out the kitchen. We won’t cook there, but might find knives, weapons. Who knows,” I said.
I was right. Nothing had been removed, not even the wax paper and cling wrap hanging in wall racks as ancient sentinels to a time when people had food that wasn’t cooked over a fire. There were ovens, pans, pots, and an array of tools that would be going with us to the Oasis—even the stoves could be useful, given tinkering to provide a source of natural gas. The kitchen was our first true golden strike, but it wouldn’t be the last. I knew it in my bones. The granary was packed with leftovers from my time, all for the taking if we could secure the reactors and clear a few hundred murderous beasts from above our heads.
After, of course, we killed Rowan and his goons.
“Mark this location on the wall map, and let’s move on. Time isn’t our friend, not now,” I said. We filed out again, gaining confidence in our routine. Stalk, open, clear. Stalk, open, clear. Room by room, the floor opened to us, spilling secrets large and small, adding to the list of things that would be going back to the Oasis.
Even if we didn’t find the reactors, the trip would be worth it. I stared back at the open doors, making a list of how many people it would take to secure the loot.
“A lot of work,” Silk said, reading my mind.
“At least three caravans of wagons, but that road out there has me thinking,” I said.
“You think it’s drivable? For the car?” Silk asked.
“If we secure fuel, no sense in leaving it rot. We’re close enough to the Oasis that we could make two trips a day. I know this is sacrilege, but if we could build a trailer for it, then Dixie could carry all the gear from here in short order,” I said.
“Dixie? You named the car?” Silk asked me, raising a perfect brow in question. She ran a hand over her leg, then looked at me with mild interest. “Not enough women in your life?”
“Well, she is a southerner, and there’s a rich tradition of naming cars. And ships, and other things, but Americans were obsessed with cars, and Mustangs were a kind of—it’s hard to explain. Cars were a lifeline to adulthood, and friendship, and being in a club. I’m glad we have it, but not using the car for the Oasis doesn’t make sense. Seeing that road changes things,” I said with a shrug.
“I’m not the jealous type, but on the day that you add a woman to your collection who makes you forget where my bed is, we’re going to have a little chat,” Silk said.
While we talked, Chloe and Mira were rooting through another metal locker, making exclamations at the neatly stacked pants and shirts. They weren’t natural fibers, so they had survived intact. Dark blue, the uniforms were like nothing I’d ever seen, bearing patches made after my long sleep started.
“You have my permission to knock me unconscious if I ever forget where your bed is. Promise,” I said, raising my hand to seal the deal.
“Noted,” Silk said, turning to look down the hall. Chloe and Mira were done with their inspection. “What do you think?”
“They’ll work. Yet another thing to take. Those would made good work clothes. Tough, not like anything I’ve seen before,” Mira said.
“Good,” I told her. “Let’s move to that big chamber on the right. It connects to the room next door. We’ll go in both doors at once.”
“We’ve got right,” Mira said, taking Chloe with her, weapons up and eyes alert.
“Left it is,” I said in agreement. “I go in first, you follow in a second. No mistakes.”
I opened the door with a swift, certain motion, the hinges still smooth after all the years. In the gloom, I saw the glow of machinery that struck a chord of familiarity with me, making me pause in my headlong charge.
“Holy shit,” I breathed. My mind began assembling what I saw, taking a good moment to process the facts. Chloe and Mira crept in from the side of the room, guns lowered when the lights flickered on and they saw me standing, hands down and head tilted in disbelief at the contents of the room.
Mira spoke first, standing still as we all stared at the object dominating the back wall. “Is that one of the things we found you in, Jack?”
“It sure is,” I said. Stepping forward, I peered in the small port of the tube, my mind falling through time as I remembered what my long, last look had been 2000 years ago, just before the drugs took me into a place of nothingness. “She’s here.”
“Who’s here?” Mira asked.
“I don’t know, but she’s in there, and she’s waiting. Looks alive to me,” I added, noting her pink, healthy skin and slack features. She was about thirty, with short blonde hair and high cheekbones. There was an elfin quality to her, with a cupid’s bow of lips and eyebrows that gave her a natural look of mischief. After staring for a long time, I saw the artery in her neck pulse. She was alive.
“Do we . . . wake her up?” Chloe asked.
“We do, for a lot of reasons,” I said.
“Reasons? Other than she’s one of
your people?” Silk asked.
“Look at her uniform.” I pointed to the blue overalls she wore. A patch was sewn to the upper collar, the gold and white thread as new as the day it was made.
Fortress: Cache
Exhaling in a low whistle, Mira stepped even closer. “That’s the same thing as the skeleton. I recognize the lettering. This is is—her place?”
“No. Government facility, but she worked here, and they put her in cold storage for a reason. I can only think of good reasons as to why they would hide an officer while the world fell to shit around them, and every idea I have means something good for us. We wake her up, just not in the way you found me,” I said.
My decanting had been abrupt, but the ‘bots made my transition little more than an hour of discomfort. Considering I’d been entombed for 2000 years, that was nothing short of miraculous, but I knew I didn’t fully understand the power of my nanobots. Not yet.
11
Sometimes, a problem is a nail. In that case, you use a hammer.
The woman in the tube was one such case. The need for subtlety was swept aside by our time crunch, so I pored over the tube, trying to remember where Marsten’s hands had been as he set the commands that sent me into my long sleep all those years ago.
“I’m going to go in a sequence of three. Power, then gate command, then revive. It’s the closest thing I can do, but in the event she can’t breathe, you’ve all got to step back, okay?” I said.
“Step back? Why?” Chloe asked with a touch of alarm.
“Because I’m taking this tube apart in a hurry. By hand. Trust me, you don’t want to be in the way. When Silk found me, there was air coming in; I can remember the heat of it on my face. I don’t know everything about this tube, but it’s intact and the power hasn’t been cut. My tube was self-sufficient, which means there was a small, working power source that kept me alive. She—” I pointed at the beautiful woman. “—has the benefit of this entire facility, but there might not be a backup. That’s why you should stand back.”
Future Rebuilt: A Post-Apocalyptic Harem (Future Reborn Book 2) Page 10