“Should have seen it coming,” Alan sighed. “Remember that one summer camp?”
“Oh, right,” Gee nodded. “I forgot about that.”
“Last one. Good luck,” Alvin said as he faded away.
Ian appeared next to the group, looking around the room wildly. “Where? Umm...”
“We killed them,” Alan said. “Thanks for the backup.”
“Dude, you know how much I hate normal bugs,” Ian snapped. “Fucking asshole, throwing giant ants at us.”
The room around them turned into a field with a Humvee parked in front of a forest. Behind them was a town where a large wall stood. “Okay, if they’re giving us this vehicle, I’m now officially concerned,” Wes said.
“Everyone into the Humvee,” Gee said. “Wes, driver, Brian—”
“I’m gunner!” Ian shouted as he jumped into the back.
Gee exhaled, looking at the others before shaking his head. “Everyone else, get in. We’ll talk it over afterward.”
“Alvin might have a good point,” Alan grumbled as he climbed into the Humvee.
“Might?” Brian laughed. “Understatement, much?”
“Your job is to help keep the town safe,” Alvin’s voice said. “Good luck.”
The scenario started out with zombie animals coming out of the forest, followed by more. The group did their best to stay unharmed, and were successful until a large pack of bears came running toward them.
“That can’t be good,” Wes said as he drove away from the bears.
“We can’t get an angle to kill them,” Brian said from beside Wes.
“Go faster!” Ian shouted when the bears increased in size and started gaining on them.
Gee was the first one to notice that the bears’ target was not them, but the town gates. “Wes, we need to cut them off! They’re trying to break down the gates!”
Packs of undead panthers and wolves came racing out of the woods, heading straight for the walls, while the large mass of bears kept on an unerring path for their target.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Ian shouted as he kept shooting the bears, watching the other animals streak past them.
Wes did not sacrifice the Humvee to stop the bears, meaning the gates fell when the mass of flesh hit them.
“Good try,” Alvin said when the room reverted back to normal. “Go on out to the living room. I’ll be out in a moment.”
“Sure,” Gee said and took them all out of the training room.
Once they were gone, Alvin turned to Becky. “Damn good work on the scenarios.”
“Thank you, Hero. I’m going to tweak them before the next group comes in, just in case people start talking.”
“Coming for drinks and snacks?” Alvin asked.
“We’ll be out in a few minutes,” Becky said.
“Okay.”
Entering the living room, Alvin found all of them relaxing. “What did you do wrong?” Alvin asked as he accepted the coffee from Jarvis.
“There was no way to beat that last one,” Ian said before the others could speak.
“Wrong,” Alvin replied. “There was a way— unconventional and not great, but still a way. I was talking about all of them, not just the last one.”
“The first one, we needed to react faster,” Gee said. “Second one, we should have avoided the trap to begin with. I thought we did good with the ants, besides Ian running away. Last one... I have no clue.”
“Agreed,” Wes said. “I should have been more assertive on the second one since I was the driver.”
“We need to focus on surviving first,” Brian added. “A stock of medkits and trauma kits are important. We all need to have them, too, not just one of us.”
“We could use a bit more target practice, as well,” Alan chimed in. “That second simulation was abysmal. Being under fire made us horrible.”
“I still don’t see how we could even have managed the last one,” Ian said.
“That one was tricky,” Alvin admitted. “We held the gates by having the bears run into the Humvee. They pushed us into the wall next to the gate instead of straight through the gate.”
“Oh, I see it,” Wes said, nodding. “Inside the Humvee, we would have been able to withstand the crash and still hurt them even when pinned.”
“That’s what we did,” Alvin replied. “Not a great solution, but it worked. Sometimes, you’ll need to trade off.”
“That includes letting someone hurt you, so you can immobilize an arm while you stab them to death,” Becky added as she came into the room, trailed by Kuro.
All five boys went silent as they watched the two women walk toward them. Alvin shook his head. “They’re taken,” he said flatly. “Look at the women in Green River and not mine.”
“Err… sorry,” Gee said sheepishly. “They do kind of grab the eye.”
“Right?” Wes laughed awkwardly. “Sorry,” he told them.
“Sir, I believe all the other groups are waiting now,” Jarvis said.
“Good point,” Alvin said. “Finish up the snacks, guys. I’ll talk to Susan tomorrow. You’re as ready as you can be, aside from gear, that is. That you need to work on.”
“We’ll get it together,” Brian said. “Thank you for showing us the room and letting us prove ourselves.”
“Thanks,” Alan nodded as he set his empty cup down. “We’ve been hoping for this chance.”
“How did we do, in your eyes?” Wes asked.
“Good. Better than some people I’ve encountered,” Alvin replied.
“See,” Ian said, “I told you guys we’ll be fine.”
“Mind your weaknesses,” Alvin said, meeting Gee’s eyes.
“We’ll do our best. Thank you again, Al. You, as well,” Gee said, nodding to Becky and Kuro.
Once Gee and his friends gave their keys back to Alvin and left, he turned to Becky. “I’ll go get the next group and bring them in, but I’m going to hand them over to you. I need to spend a bit more time in the world.”
“I thought you might,” Becky nodded. “If need be, we can have some fun in the inn again tonight.”
“Won’t say no,” Alvin grinned. “Be right back.”
“Hero,” Kuro said, “if you have to stay there, I can keep you company.”
“You need her help, Gothy?”
“No. You two enjoy yourselves,” Becky grinned. “Just remember the kids have to walk through the inn room.”
“I’ll remember,” Alvin laughed and put his arm around Kuro. “Come on, Mousie.”
Chapter Seventeen
Leading the last group of teens into the base, Alvin handed them off to Becky. “This is the last of them. Susan is asking us to dinner to discuss how they all did.”
“Invite her here, instead,” Becky said, “and whoever was going to that dinner.”
“Jarvis?”
“I can make something suitable, sir.”
“I’ll find out how many are coming and be back shortly.”
“I’m going to stay here with Gothy, Hero,” Kuro said.
“Have fun with the last run. See you in a bit.”
Alvin was stopped by Terry as he made his way out of the inn. “Al, thank you for what you’re doing. I’ve heard from most of the kids that they have a better understanding of what we’re up against now. It’s also convinced some of them that maybe it’s better to stay here and help instead of gambling on going outside.”
“I never meant for it to come to this when we came back, Gran. Gee and his friends started this ball rolling, and I thought it might help disillusion their grandiose fantasies.”
“It’s done that,” Frank said, coming over to join them. “A few of them are seriously reconsidering their plans now. Most of the ones who thought they would go out and be heroes are suddenly realizing their own mortality.”
“Good.”
“Which is why I wanted to thank you,” Terry said.
“No thanks needed,” Alvin shrugged.
“Of course,”
Terry smiled. “Have a good night.”
Alvin stepped out into the dying light of sunset and made his way toward the bunker, stopping when a voice called his name. “Al! I wonder if you, Gothy, and Mousie wanted to come to dinner with Justin, Joanna, and I?” Megumin asked, closing the distance from the auto shop.
“I’m sure Gothy would love to, but we’re having dinner with Susan tonight to talk about the older kids,” Alvin told her. “Is tomorrow okay?”
“It should be fine,” Megumin smiled. “I’ll let Justin know and we’ll adjust accordingly.”
“I’ll tell Gothy,” Alvin said, turning back toward the bunker.
After a dozen steps, another voice called out to him. “Al, do you have a minute?”
Alvin stopped, suppressing a sigh, before he turned to David. “What’s up?”
“The training room,” David said. “I want to test out some new experiments. Can I do that tomorrow?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll find you.”
“Thanks… umm… is Becky okay? You know, with my engagement and all?”
Brow furrowing, Alvin replied, “Yes? Why do you ask?”
“She’s always been able to lie to me, and I wasn’t sure if she really was or not.”
“As long as Bridget loves you, she’ll be fine with it. If Bridget hurts you, well... I don’t think Gothy would let her get away with that.”
“She was always a little protective of me,” David nodded. “Okay, good. Thanks.”
“See you tomorrow,” Alvin said, walking toward the bunker again.
Alvin made it inside, happy not to be interrupted again. At Susan’s office door, Alvin knocked.
“Come in,” Susan said.
“See? I knocked. Now that I’ve done it once, I can ignore doing it again,” Alvin said with a grin.
“You are coming to dinner, right?” Susan asked, ignoring his attempt at humor.
“I was told to invite you to our place, instead,” Alvin replied. “Besides you and James, was anyone else coming?”
“Dad and Betty,” Susan replied. “That was it.”
Alvin put four keys on the desk. “Say... two hours? Gothy is running the last set of teens through now, and then we’ll get ready for guests.”
“Two hours,” Susan agreed, picking up the keys.
“See you then,” Alvin said as he left.
Alvin went into the inn, slowing when everyone in the mostly full inn turned to look at him. Shaking his head, he was almost to the stairs when someone spoke up. “Is it true you have a holographic training room?”
“Yes,” Alvin said simply, continuing up the stairs without pausing.
“What the fuck? He doesn’t even stop to talk to us,” someone complained.
Alvin sighed and wondered if telling people what his base could do had been a mistake. Fuck it. None of them are coming inside, anyway, Alvin thought as he stepped into his room. I wonder if the last run is over... need to stop in and check.
He stepped into the base and saw Jarvis watching the TV. “Four people, Jarvis.”
“I am aware, sir,” Jarvis replied. “I didn’t expect Sophie to be as deadly as she has turned out to be.”
“Huh?” Alvin said, looking at the TV. The screen was displaying the ant tunnels. A female teen was in the lead with a shotgun in her hands, using it to kill another mutated ant. “She shoots well. Isn’t that the flute player?”
“Indeed, sir,” Jarvis chuckled. “It seems she has hidden depths that even she didn’t know about until today.”
“How’s the rest of her team doing?”
“Badly. They lost two during the first scenario, and all but her during the ambush. This time, they’re letting her do the bulk of the work. One of them died from an ant because they froze when it came up behind the group in the tunnels.”
“They’re probably fucked for the last one,” Alvin commented. “Gothy and Mousie in there?”
“Yes, sir,” Jarvis said as he got to his feet. “I should start preparing dinner.”
“Go ahead and watch this to the end. Dinner is two hours away, so you have plenty of time.”
“I shall. Thank you, sir,” Jarvis replied, taking his seat again.
Heading for the training room, Alvin hoped he was still considered an observer. When he stepped in, the room dimmed again, and he could see Becky and Kuro a few feet from Sophie, watching as she started across the fungus room toward the queen.
“Dinner in two hours,” Alvin told them. “Jarvis told me how they were doing.”
“Sophie is fun to watch,” Becky said. “She’s been on point every time. The rest of this group is useless.”
“She is also fearless,” Kuro added. “When they did the second scenario, she went with the helpless girl act when cornered, then took the biker’s knife and killed him with it. She would make an admirable Queen’s Guard.”
“Talk about hidden depths,” Alvin snorted.
“Nigel is the exact opposite. She’s been kind to him, but he’s getting upset that she’s been the one to do it all,” Becky said.
“I wonder how he’ll handle that,” Alvin chuckled. “Not a lot of men can stand their women being the badass in their relationship.”
“He’s definitely not you,” Becky smirked.
“Of course there’s a queen,” Sophie sighed. “Fuck, they’re even protecting her like a shield. We’re done here. Everyone, back up to the surface.”
“We can’t kill her?” Nigel asked from the back of the group.
“No. Too many to get through to her and she’ll likely be too armored for us to kill her fast.”
“Fine,” Nigel said, leading the group back to the surface.
With a long look at the queen, Sophie sighed before following the others. “If we had some nitro or dynamite, we might have been able to do something,” she muttered.
“Smart girl,” Becky grinned. “If she joined Gee’s group in Ian’s place, they would be a damned scary bunch.”
“Anyone would be more useful than Ian,” Alvin chuckled. “I’m agreeing, though. She would give them a huge boost.”
Once the teens climbed back to the surface, one of the skinners came over with the explosive and offered it to them. Sophie took it and ordered the others to stay there.
“Wait!” Nigel said. “Why you? Why not one of us? Any of us can use that.”
Sophie looked at Nigel for a long moment before she handed him the explosive. “Okay, Nigel. Go on.”
Nigel gulped but nodded, taking the bundle and going back to the tunnel entrance. “I’ll be right back.”
“Shouldn’t one of us go as backup?” one of the others asked.
“Yes,” Sophie said, walking to the tunnel. “You three stay here.”
The next few minutes were boring as they watched the two teens go back down to the queen’s chamber. Fortunately for Nigel, Sophie was trailing him. One of Becky’s twists had the queen sending a few of her guards to see if the intruders had left.
Nigel was not a good shot, but he still managed to kill one of the three ants. Sophie rushed ahead and got there in time to kill the other two ants, but not before Nigel’s leg had been gashed deeply.
“Sophie? What are you—?”
“Nigel, just don’t,” Sophie sighed as she began to bandage his leg. “Once this is tied, you’re going back up. I’ll go finish this.”
“But—”
“Stop it,” Sophie said softly. “Look, this didn’t go as either of us hoped, but you need to accept what is… please.”
Nigel deflated. “Not much of a boyfriend, am I?”
“You are still the man I love, Nigel. Not everyone can be a killing machine who always survives. I love you for being the one who always helps and tries, but I’d rather not see you die again. Go back up, and I’ll follow once this is delivered.”
“Sorry. I’ve been thinking things that you don’t deserve.”
“So was I,” Sophie replied, leaning in to kiss him. “I’ll
be your protector here, so you be the supportive one, okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry.” Giving her another quick kiss, Nigel started limping out.
Downtime and Death (Apocalypse Gates Author's Cut Book 5) Page 16