Clio and Cy: The Apocalypse (7 page)

“The first and final thing you have to do in this world is to
last it and not be smashed by it.”

― Ernest Hemingway

Clio was afraid of the world, but she couldn’t stay in the
car.

Maybe they like the
dark
, she thought, remembering that she’d only seen two of them in the daylight,
and that was by the tunnel where it was dark. She convinced herself of it –
they only like the dark, and the light hurts
their eyes.

She glanced over her photon pistol and eyed its disturbingly
low charge.
Only a couple shots left,
she pondered. The sun hadn’t yet shown itself but the morning was awake and
glowing in dawn’s early light. It was enough to make her brave. She wedged
herself between the two front seats and reached back to grab her rucksack. She
pulled it through and positioned herself in the captain’s chair. Goose bumps
raced across Clio’s flesh as she twisted in the seat and caught it out of her
peripheral. Gripped in terror, she flew out of her body and looked down at
herself like a rising phantom.
What is
it? What’s there?

Only moving her eyes, Clio reached for the door lock and
confirmed the creature inches away. It was at the driver’s side window, staring
through the glass at her. “Ssshhhhaaa.” Its hiss muffled outside the car as it
pondered the barrier of steel and glass between it and its meal. The monster
stood outside wanting in, scratching and palming over the vehicle’s surface.

A single tear fell from Clio’s eye. She watched the thing
coil. Like a bobcat, the creature jumped out of sight and landed on the roof.
She jerked, startled from its landing. The car creaked and rocked, as the
monster buckled the metal roof. She readied her pistol and aimed at the roof
trembling while pushing her body against the seat hard as she could. The car
stopped moving and not a sound was heard. It was eerily silent… knowing it was
up there. Too frightened to turn her head, Clio looked through the front
windshield and moved her eyes from side to side.

She became dizzy as her mouth sucked in air and her chest
rose and fell in deep, uncontrollable respirations. Her brain snapped a
picture, stopping the world in a photograph. Time stood still. As if her brain
was being sucked out of her skull, her ears rang in a sound that she’d never
heard before.

Upside down, the creature’s head appeared staring through
the front windshield at her. Hissing, it held on to the roof and looked in. The
monster pulled away and disappeared again. Clio waited, not seeing it or
feeling movement; wondering if it was still on the roof. Suddenly smashing
down, the demon creature landed on the hood in front of her, rocking the car,
crouching and hissing. “Sssshhhhaaa.”

Clio screamed and thought of firing her pistol, but the fear
of breaking the glass prevented her from pulling the trigger. Somehow it seemed
foolish to destroy a barrier that the creature hadn’t broken through on its own
yet. Not yet, but maybe short-lived as the beast began smashing the glass with
the base of its paws.

Its nails screeched down the windshield, sounding like a
bloody squeegee. The beast paused and then reared back, striking hard. It
splintered the glass in a thickening thud. The monster continued smashing and
the spider web shot out in jagged cracks. Sounding like a sheet of breaking
ice, the windshield began to cave. Clio aimed her pistol and watched the
creature bloody its paws, pounding its retched ape hands and nails against the
wilting barrier.

The creature’s paw broke through and reached for her as if
it were grasping for an invisible tennis ball. Clio’s belt loop was stuck on
the emergency brake, preventing her from moving into the backseat. The glass
wilted deeper. It smelled like the inside of a pigpen as the creature swiped,
stirring the stench inside the car’s cabin. The demon was inches away and the
girl tried to get lower, watching it like a train wreck with her back against
an immovable force. The beast scraped against Clio’s skin and clenched her
shirt.

It pulled – she fired.

The photon ray melted through the glass in a vertical strip,
causing it to cave in on top of her. She felt the beast’s weight increase
through the cracked windshield. The see-through barrier continued to fall and
pinned her harder. She tore free from the emergency brake, ripping her pants
while stretching and opening the driver’s side door. Clio squeezed out from under
the heavy burden and fell through the door, cutting her arm in the process.

Outside, Clio turned to see the creature roll off the hood,
holding its stomach in the place where it had been shot. The beast limped away
from the car and turned back to face her. It paused and then partially stood up
before dropping back down from pain of its injury, looking at her.
“Ssssshhhaaa.” Coiling in anger, it breathed hard and gurgled stringy bands of
mucus from its mouth.

Clio aimed and shot again, hitting the demonic beast in the
chest sending it reeling. Remembering her low photon charge, she properly
released the trigger. The creature dropped like a mortal to the ground.

The girl ran and then stopped.
What am I doing
she thought? Clio remembered her backpack inside
the car and reluctantly turned back. After reaching inside the Mercedes, she
violently shook the pack, seeing visions of the creature raising from the dead
and pouncing on her. She freed it and ran, imagining the monster coming back to
life while keeping its dead corpse glued to the corner of her eye.
 
Clio smelled its horrendous stench after
passing by and looked back just to make sure, confirming that it wasn’t ever
getting up again.

Her arm was bleeding but she was alive. Clio was a good mile
away from the scene now. The sun continued its ascent, bringing the sound of
afternoon bugs. A fly buzzed by her ear and crickets chirped beyond the tree
line. Startled, Clio raised her weapon after hearing movement across the
leaves. She watched a family of raccoons scamper out of the forest and cross
the road in front of her. Anything would scare her at the moment. A cat on a
hot tin roof; the girl was a frightful mess.

It wouldn’t be long before another one came, she knew it -
more of those goddamn things were out there. She couldn’t take much more of
this. Clio had the strangest thought of wanting to die; if she were dead, then
this would all be over at least. Thoughts of her mother and father floated
through her mind. Her dad wouldn’t approve of such an idea. She had too much of
him in her to go without a fight.

Not necessarily known as a jock or a
tough kid
. She wasn’t known for being popular either. Clio would
hang out with anyone, anyone that was friendly to her at least. She had her
small group of girlfriends that lived with her on the RMB; most of which
weren’t known as
what
Clio and her
friends referred to as
Populars
.

Clio spent most of her time reading and drawing. Excessively
creative, she would spend hours dreaming and building her imaginary world on paper,
or on the computer. Her mother would often worry about her daughter, especially
since she spent so much time alone in her room, “doing her art” her mother
explained to people. Just as her mother’s concern peaked about her daughter
being isolated in her room for far too long, on cue, Clio could be heard
laughing hysterically through her bedroom door. The sound warmed her mother’s
heart more than anything else in the universe.

It was a beautiful noise.

Clio hadn’t experienced her first kiss yet, but she noticed
boys. More and more she was noticing them. She was a beautiful girl, her
features mixed with her mother’s Asian descent and her father’s strong Irish
and Italian heritage. Suspecting that she was pretty, Clio wasn’t really sure
of it; either way, she didn’t concern herself with it too much; not yet anyway.
Sadly, now, maybe she’d never have to…

The sun was high overhead and it reminded her of one
dreadful thing; it only had one place to go from here, down. It wasn’t a good
thought and what she saw in front of her wasn’t a welcomed sight either. The
road seemed to end and disappeared through a thick patch of forest. Asphalt was
still there, invisible, buried under Frasier Furs and Aralia Spinosa trees,
better known as
Devil's walking stick
.
How far would she have to travel through it,
how long is it
? She wondered, looking at the thick patch of woods.

Break time… Clio pulled out a bottle of water from her
rucksack and leaned against a truck. She was flat like all four tires it rested
on and her nerves were shot like the bashed out glass. Parched, she needed to
take a minute. She drank with the sound of water sloshing in the plastic. Her
chugging sounds and a pestering gnat were the only things audible in the
sweltering air. Sweat and water mixed in her mouth, tasting salt that was
preciously leaking out of her body.

She paused and the world seemed to pause with her. Bugs
chirped and the heat rose above the asphalt in hypnotic wavy dance. A foul
smell shattered Clio’s peacefulness and then she heard it… “Sssshhhhaaa.”

The truck was the only vehicle within several hundred yards
so she jumped in its bed. The five-foot border of truck’s walls were her only
protection. Its broken glass and the fact that she didn’t want to be back
inside another vehicle prevented her from climbing inside the cab.

The monster came out from the patch of woods that covered
the roadway, walking upright. From the sight of it, the others she’d seen must
have been youngsters, or not fully grown. This one stood over eight feet tall and
effortlessly walked on its hind legs. Dr. Pavlov had created different batches
of bloodthirsty monsters, some better and bigger than others. The batch this
creature came from was one of his favorites.

The way it looked at her…

The others knew what they were doing when they saw her, but
this one was really looking at her. Gazing at her like a person with a mental
disorder might – not a hundred percent up to speed, but almost. It was smart,
she could tell by how it was observing her and cautiously approaching. Clio’s
legs began to buckle and the photon pistol rattled in her hand. She glanced
down and eyed the charge indicator. A single light blinked, alerting
one shot left, maybe. The monster moved in closer and
stopped. Coiling, it hissed and then growled in a deep roar. Clio fired,
hitting the super-sized creature in its chest.

A short burst at quarter power but it pierced the monster’s
flesh. The creature remained calm. Appearing unfazed, it stood erect and looked
down at the damage on its chest. It looked up at her and she knew this was the
end. Clio felt warm urine leak down her legs, and watched it coil again,
smelling her own piss. The beast kept a bead on her and remained tense,
seething energy. Thoughts of her mother and father ran through her head. Clio’s
twelve years flashed before her eyes. Like it was shot from a, cannon, the
monster sprang with murderous rage and launched forward.

 
Clio heard loud
fireworks and jumped down, lying flat on the truck’s bed. “Wham!” The creature
slammed into the side of the vehicle, rocking it back and forth. She screamed
in a deafening shrill. Crows flew from the trees in a flutter, blotting the
sky.

She couldn’t look up. Clio smelled the rusted metal pressed
against her face and couldn’t move. More fireworks cracked amidst her fear and
confusion. Her eyes were closed and Clio was dreaming of a 4
^th
of
July she experienced with her family by a lake. She could smell the celebration
as smoke drifted over the truck. The dream was gone and the quiet was slowly
being penetrated by the sounds of it moving.
It’s alive… this is it.

“We shall not capitulate... no never. We may be destroyed,
but if we are, we shall drag a world with us... a world in flames.”

- Adolph Hitler

Jekyll Island, GA:

Dr. Pavlov knew there were still places that had some oomph
left. The other side of the continental U.S. still had a fighting force that
could pose a threat. The Marines were tough and RMB Pendleton was a fortress.
His Destroyer Robots sent back disturbing images right before being blasted to
scrap metal. It sent a shiver up his spine and then angered him. He needed more
warriors
.

He couldn’t build enough of what he needed at his home
laboratory now that it was partially destroyed. LT King’s well-placed grenade
lob thoroughly fucked up Seth Pavlov’s house lab. Even if it hadn’t been
destroyed, he could only build one or two Ker a month from there. His
production line in Savannah where the Smartbots were originally made was
destroyed. It was the first target the U.S. Military hit while they still had a
few fighters in the air.

Besides needing a new assembly line, the Resistance
discovered the location of his home on Jekyll Island. The atomic grenade hadn’t
destroyed the house completely but it was basically useless now. He knew they’d
come for him again too.
Those goddamn
Resistance monkeys will be back eventually.

Dr. Pavlov was a decent pilot and decided the best way to
get to Atlanta was by air. He sent his machines out to do reconnaissance.
Robots returned, confirming that the airstrip at Jekyll Island Airport was
still operational. It was free of debris and potholes anyway. And so was
Hartsfield in Atlanta. Dr. Pavlov remotely programed a Ker and Sentinel detail
to meet him when he touched down at Hartsfield International. He was going to
land on what used to be the busiest airport in the world. Formerly known as Art
models and now known as Sentinel Ker, were tasked with finding suitable ground
transportation once he arrived.

Flanked by Ker, he left his island home and headed for his
hangar. The bots had to kill several of the flesh eating monsters that he’d
created to get to his Cessna. With a Sentinel Ker riding shotgun, Dr. Pavlov
boarded his plane and lifted off.

He approached Hartsfield Jackson runway. Like the sky, it
was devoid of activity. There wasn’t a soul around. The airport was intact and
appeared as a ghost town.
Perfect.
Jumbo jets sat as if they were waiting to carry people away. His robot garrison
was in sight after he screeched the tires and taxied the small plane toward a
former Delta terminal. Seth climbed out of his Cessna and stretched his old
body. He heard a vehicle and saw his detail arrive with transportation. The
Sentinels hit the brakes too hard and screeched to a stop, whiplashing like
crash dummies.

Other than their lackluster driving skills, the scientist
shook his head with approval. “Nice work,” he said to the only friends he had
left. Two Sentinels got out and stood at attention, saluting. “I’ll drive. Well
don’t just stand there… get in, knuckleheads!” he ordered.

They arrived at the CDC after navigating the abandoned
streets of Atlanta.

“Come on… Let’s get to work,” Pavlov ordered. He needed to
build more Ker.

Robots were sent out gathering the things he needed. He
stole from several of the car factories around Atlanta. Honda’s Power Equipment
Headquarters was the first place he raided. He stole the heavy robotics from
the high-end Kia motors plant in West Point. Scrounging together all of the
pieces and parts he needed took some time.

The robots went to work constructing the assembly line. His
new makeshift facility was nowhere near what he had in Savanah; it was
half-assed, so he was only able to produce a new Destroyer every few days. Even
if he could build ten thousand of them, they still wouldn’t be enough. He
needed something else. Dr. Pavlov needed something with more firepower. Seth
Pavlov needed metal warriors that were hung with serious balls.

He began with a sketch: working on his design for a new
Super Destroyer while his bots continued rummaging through the land. Dr. Pavlov
would send them back out after coming up with fresh ideas for his new class of
warrior machine.

Seth Pavlov looked down at his final sketch… The Super
Destroyer was something very different from the Sentinel and Ker Smartbots that
already existed. The new design resembled a massive bionic bug. Its armor was
stronger than what his current class of robots were equipped with and designed
to withstand heavier rounds. His new war machine was a quantum leap forward.
The bionic bugs would be faster and stronger, too and hopefully far deadlier
than his current autonomic warrior machines.

Dr. Pavlov now had the materials and equipment he needed.
Inside the CDC, production began on his Super Destroyer series.