Dead Mech (60 page)

***

“Back to back on me now!” Capreze
ordered.

Shiner/Mathew and the Rookie backed their
mechs up next to Capreze’s creating a triangle of mech
firepower.

“Keep firing until I say break! Do not step
away until then!”

“Yes, sir!” Mathew shouted.

“Gotcha,” the Rookie acknowledged.

“Affirmative,” Shiner added, making Capreze
grin despite himself, knowing he now commanded a former deader by
default.

As the dead mechs raged down the ridges,
Capreze, Shiner/Mathew and the Rookie opened up with everything
they had.

Hot lead and plasma blasts filled the air.
The earth shook as the bolts and bullets found their marks.

***

“3 o’clock Jenny!” Timson screamed. “3
o’clock goddamn it!”

Jenny swung her gun turret about 45 degrees
and opened fire on the dead mech only yards from her. The behemoth
shuddered under the large caliber rounds, but kept charging, its
dead fist reaching for her.

“Fucking get out of there!”

Jenny un-strapped and leapt from the gun
seat, rolling across the train car roof as the deader’s hand
slammed down where she had just been. She got to her feet
immediately and jumped the gap between train cars, trying to put
more distance between herself and the undead battle machine.

***

The Rookie watched the deader chase Jenny
from car to car, the other Railers unable to help her without
risking hitting each other.

“Commander! Jenny’s in trouble!” the Rookie
called.

“Do not break formation!” Capreze yelled
back, putting six plasma blasts into a deader’s mid-section,
dropping the thing in a pile of flame and melted metal. “That’s an
order, Rookie!”

The Rookie snarled in frustration. He sent
50mm fire towards the East ridge attackers then turned his plasma
cannon on the dead mech chasing Jenny. Cracking his neck, he slowed
his breathing and took careful aim, leading the deader
slightly.

***

Jenny stumbled and slid, nearly tumbling off
the train car she was on.

“JENNY!” she heard her father scream as the
dead mech reached for her, its zombie pilot thrashing in the
cockpit, eager for its meal.

She felt the train car rock and shudder
once, twice then the dead mech’s cockpit exploded outward towards
her and she could see the extended arm of the Rookie’s mech, plasma
cannon glowing, through the resulting hole in the deader’s
body.

“Sorry! Wasn’t exactly a clean shot,” the
Rookie said over the com. “Did you catch any shrapnel?”

“No, I’m good. Thank you.”

***

“Dead mechs eight and twelve have some
weapons capabilities!” Shiner called out. “Target those!”

“Too late!” Capreze responded, fire burning
in his left shoulder as two slugs ripped through his uniform, his
skin, muscle and bone. “I’m hit!”

The Commander’s mech wobbled, but he gritted
his teeth and regained control. “Split now! Take the battle to
them!”

“Thought you’d never say so!” the Rookie
yelled, pushing his mech into a full run towards four oncoming
deaders. He dropped and slid, taking their legs out then was up and
throwing punches, elbows and kicks like the pit fighting Boiler he
was.

***

Jenny strapped herself into an unoccupied
gun seat and brought the turret to face the deader with the 50mm.
She unleashed a hail of large caliber rounds at the dead mech,
ripping its thighs to shreds. The thing fell forward, one arm
outstretched to catch itself while its 50mm shot wild, hitting
several of the deaders close to it.

One of the dead mechs that was hit became
further enraged and began to pummel the fallen deader, ripping its
50mm right off its frame, beating the thing over and over with the
gun until the dead mech no longer moved.

***

Shiner/Mathew side stepped, bringing its
left knee up as a deader dove at it. The dead mech’s cockpit
crumpled like paper from the force of the impact and Shiner/Mathew
wasted no time in blasting the zombie pilot, lifting the defeated
dead mech over its head and tossing it into the group of attackers
coming from the west, sending several sprawling.

“Left hydraulics took serious damage,”
Shiner stated.

“Serious damage and non-functioning are two
different things! Keep fighting!” Mathew responded.

“I had zero intent of surrendering the
fight. I was merely giving you a status report,” Shiner stated.

“Status noted. Thanks.”

***

“Mathew! Down!” the Rookie shouted, rushing
towards the mech.

Shiner dropped the 50-ton war machine to the
dirt just as the Rookie leapt above them, tackling the deader
poised to strike from behind.

The dead mech tucked a leg up under the
Rookie and easily tossed him off, sending the live mech rolling
across the ground.

The dead mech was instantly on its feet and
roaring. Shiner/Mathew reached for the deader’s leg, trying to trip
it up, but the thing moved too quickly, avoiding the grab while
also stomping Shiner/Mathew’s outstretched fist into pieces.

“It’s a fucking thinker!” Mathew cried.

***

The gunner two cars from Timson’s pleaded
for help as he was plucked from his seat by a dead mech and jammed
into the thing’s cockpit, the poor Railer’s limbs snapping as his
body was shoved through the windshield.

“Capreze! We’re getting our asses handed to
us! Where the fuck is your-?!?” But, Timson never finished as giant
metal fingers closed about his head, popping it off like a cork
from a bottle.

Jenny screamed as she turned her turret to
see her father’s decapitated corpse spewing blood from its open
neck before the deader snatched it up.

“Daddy!!! NOOOO!!!”

***

Capreze watched Jenny open fire in a mad
rage, aiming at anything that moved. “Jenny! Watch the friendly
fire Goddammit!” he ordered over the com, but Jenny was lost in
murderous grief, oblivious to the world around her, bent only on
death and revenge. “Jay! Give me something! Is Jethro back
online?!?”

“Back online?!? He’s not a fucking machine!”
Jay barked over the com.

“Right now he is! I need the stronghold’s
defenses operational! Can you bypass him and hack them
yourself?”

“Not a fucking chance! This system is locked
down! Only one person at a time is allowed access!”

***

“Marin! You read?”

“Yeah, Jay. Whatcha need?” the Railer
mechanic responded over the com.

“I need your help right now!” Jay replied.
“I’ve got Bisby monitoring Jethro’s life signs, but I need another
set of tech hands! This shit is ten kinds of fucked up!”

Marin tossed her span-wrench to a Railer
tech and took off running towards the mainframe room. “I’m on my
way!”

She quickly passed the Special Ops team
still struggling to open the mess doors, but didn’t slow to help
even when Specialist Sol began shouting after her.

When she entered the mainframe room she
gasped.

***

The Rookie got to his feet firing, sending
round after round into the deader reaching once again for
Mathew/Shiner.

The monster shuddered under the assault, but
refused to fall. It turned its attention onto the Rookie, roared
and charged.

“Holy fuck! This one won’t fucking die!” the
Rookie yelled, bracing for the impact as the dead mech continued to
close the distance despite being riddled with large caliber
slugs.

The Rookie’s head slammed back as war
machine met war machine and the world spun. He could hear someone
shouting, but it was barely audible over the ringing in his
ears.

***

“What the shit?” Marin said, her eyes drawn
to the rapidly changing images flashing across the mainframe vid
screens. “Where are those coming from?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Jay shouted. “But, I
think they’re what Jethro is seeing!”

“His pulse is weakening!” Bisby called out.
“Should I get the Doc?”

“Not yet! Just give me a second!” Jay
replied. “Marin, take that console there, see if you can find an
end around to get manual control of the stronghold defenses. Our
people are getting torn up out there!”

Marin studied the tech in front of her and
went to work.

***

Red.

The red of blood.

Blood spurting from Timson’s neck, the blood
pumping behind Jenny’s eyes, making it even harder to see past the
hot tears. Her whole world turned red.

“Dammit Railer! Get yourself under fucking
control!” Capreze shouted, throwing his mech to the ground as Jenny
swung about, heedlessly firing at everything around her.

Capreze had to make a quick decision, a
decision he didn’t want to make, but had no choice. He sent a
plasma blast into the train car Jenny was set up on, knocking the
Railer senseless. “I’m sorry I had to do that Jenny!”

***

Shiner/Mathew tried to get to the Rookie’s
mech, but they barely made it five yards before being taken down by
two deaders, each trying to rip one of Shiner’s arms off.

“Forget the left!” Mathew shouted. “That
hand is useless!”

Shiner/Mathew ignored the dead mech
attacking on the left and focused on the one on the right. The live
mech targeted the deader with its RPGs and fired, knowing the
proximity would be dangerous. The rocket exploded immediately,
shredding the dead mech, knocking Shiner/Mathew back into the other
deader.

“Left hydraulics are gone,” Shiner
stated.

“Then we limp!” Mathew shouted.

***

The violent shaking and the sound of
wrenching metal brought the Rookie out of his daze. His eyes
focused on the deader only feet from his cockpit and realized he
was in a world of shit.

“Mathew! I’m fucked!” the Rookie
shouted.

“I’m struggling too!” Mathew responded.
“You’re on your own kid!”

“Commander!” the Rookie yelled.

“No go! I’ve got three on me and I’m barely
holding them off!”

The Rookie thrashed but the deader had him
pinned. “Fuck!”

“Would you care for assistance, Pilot
Rookie?” Stomper’s voice asked over the com as a giant hand closed
around the deader.

***

“Masters! Thank God!” Mathew yelled.

“Guess again, Matty!” Harlow’s voice called.
“Masters is grounded for being such a fucking pussy! I’m the hero
today!”

“Harlow? But, you’re dead!”

“Apparently that’s the fucking rumor. I
really thought you guys had more confidence in my ability to kick
the wasteland’s ass!”

“Welcome back, Pilot Harlow!” Capreze said.
“Perfect timing as always!”

“I take pride in my job, sir! Now where do
you want me to toss this fucking deader?” Harlow asked, holding the
squirming dead mech in Stomper’s massive fist.

“Anywhere you want, Pilot as long as it does
maximum fucking damage!”

***

“Jay! Seriously, man, Jethro’s pulse is
plummeting!” Bisby shouted.

“There’s nothing I can do about that, Biz!”
Jay shouted back.

“Doc? It’s Biz. Jethro isn’t doing well and
we need you ASAP!” Biz said over the com.

“I’ve got dozens that aren’t doing well,
Biz! Jethro will have to wait his turn!” the Doctor answered.

The monitor hooked to Jethro trilled sharply
then let out a steady high pitched tone. Almost instantly the
stronghold’s voice boomed throughout the facility.

“T MINUS THIRTY MINUTES UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“I think he just went to the front of the
line, Doc!” Bisby said.

***

“T MINUS TWENTY-NINE MINUTES UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“What the fuck!” Specialist Grendetti said.
“Didn’t we just go through this?”

“Something must have happened to the
mechanic,” Lieutenant Murphy stated. “The mainframe isn’t built for
just anyone. I heard it takes weeks of conditioning to prep your
mind for the shock.”

“Fuck all this tech,” Sol cursed. “It’s tech
that’s gotten us into this fucking mess to begin with! I’m about
ready to bug out of here and go live in a fucking cave!”

“This
is
a fucking cave,” Specialist
Kafar responded.

“Fuck you. You know what I mean,” Sol
replied.

***

“T MINUS TWENTY-EIGHT MINUTES UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

“This better be a drill, Jay!” Capreze
shouted, targeting two deaders as Stomper crushed three more with
its giant feet.

“Jethro’s flatlined,” Jay answered.
“Themopolous is on her way and Bisby’s doing CPR, but we may need
to evac.”

“EVAC?!? Evac where?” Capreze shouted.
“Figure out how to fucking shut it down or get Jethro’s ticker
pumping again. There is no fucking evac!”

“Yeah, I’m working on it Goddammit! You’re
not the only one fighting here! You think I wanted this to fucking
happen? Feel free to go fuck yourself James!” Jay roared.

***

As he watched Shiner try to push itself
upright with its one working arm and bad hydraulics, something
about the way the thing moved, finally triggered buried
memories.

“Mathew, I want you out of that mech right
now,” Capreze ordered.

“Sir, I can’t. Shiner’s AI will deteriorate
if we aren’t integrated,” Mathew responded.

“That’s bullshit, pilot. The mech is just
using you as a shield against me.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but what the fuck are you
talking about?”

“Your mech knows, don’t you Shiner? You know
exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Yes, Commander and I had hoped you wouldn’t
remember.”

***

“What the fuck is going on?” Mathew
asked.

“I am sorry, Mathew, but your Commander is
correct. I have deceived all of you,” Shiner answered. “For your
safety, I would advise exiting the cockpit. Nothing will happen to
my AI.”

Mathew sat there unmoving, a million
thoughts running through his mind. “How did you keep this from
me?”