Tandem of Terror (2 page)

Dead faces leered, hollow eyes, gaping
mouths, mangled limbs, and ravaged flesh. A foul stench filled the
warehouse suddenly, sweeping upwards and compounding her horror.
Their moans echoed as the black man held the walking corpses at bay
with one gesture of his hand.

Lindsey felt a chill run down her spine. This
was no drug deal. Those things. . . those creatures were the living
dead. The US had barely survived its brush with their plague back
in the 80's when the dead had first begun to walk. The dead were so
rare now in the states, thanks to the efforts of the CDC and
military, that they were almost a myth. No one thought twice about
the quick burnings that happened when someone died.

The whole thing was a dark stain upon the
past, best forgotten.

The rest of the world hadn't fared as well
though. Most of the third world nations were now barren wastelands
ruled solely by hordes of the mindless dead. In Europe a darker
thing had happened though. As the government fell, the mafia rose
to power-tyrants caring only about their own safety and profit,
lording over a populace that struggled to survive not only their
rule but the horrors of the dead.

Suddenly everything made sense to Lindsey.
The American crime families wanted what their European counterparts
already had, a free hand and unlimited power, and they were willing
to loose the plague again on American soil to get it. Of course
they would be prepared and be ready as the government turned to
protecting lives and stopping the plague, they would make their bid
at making a new America under their rule.

She watched as the bald man haggled with the
Vincetti representatives. Only one thing still haunted her. How
could the black man control
them?
As far as she knew, no one
had ever been able to do that before. The dead only had one drive,
to feed on the living, and he was most surely alive.

She shook her head as if clearing away the
cobwebs of her thoughts. Time enough to worry about that later. She
rushed down the fire escape, thinking only of getting to her car.
No matter how much she wanted it, she couldn't take a chance on
something this big by herself. If she failed, everyone would pay
the price with her. She needed help.

She dropped from the fire escape into the
alley but even before she could run towards the car, a voice called
to her from the shadows.

"Why Lindsey, how nice of you to join us,"
the black man said emerging from the end of the alley behind
her.

She drew her gun and popped off three rounds
into his chest without thinking. The move was a pure reflex. He
staggered and fell into the darkness at the alley's back end. She
took off at a run for her car then skidded to a halt in shock.
He knew my name,
she thought,
and how in the Hell did he
get out here so quickly?

The black man stepped out of the darkness
once more, now standing in front of her, his suit smeared with
blood and a radiant grin upon his lips. "That wasn't very nice," he
purred, in a soft voice that sounded like an angel singing.

Lindsey jerked her gun up but this time an
unseen force knocked it from her grasp and the gun clattered down
the alleyway away from her.

"Who are you?" she heard herself ask,
suddenly very afraid.

The man's eyes glowed red. "Someone with a
vested interest in what the Vincetti's are trying to do here. I cut
them a very special deal, ya know?"

He took a step back. "I'm afraid I can't let
you stop us. I am much to close to my goal now." As he faded into
the night, dissolving into the shadows, his voice echoed after him.
"I have worked far too long on it."

Lindsey heard the sound of shuffling feet
again and the dead were all around her. They came from out of the
walls like ghosts, surrounding her and leaving her no place to run.
Her gun lay at the far side of the alley, the dead between her and
it. She whirled, kicking the creature creeping up behind her in its
putrid face. It caved in under her foot oozing blood and black pus.
She grabbed hold of it, flung its limp form over her shoulder to
the ground behind her. Her eyes scanned the area around her for
something, anything to use a makeshift weapon but there was nothing
to be found.

Faced with the choice of fighting her way
towards the car or the gun, Lindsey chose the car running dead on
into the mass of walking dead in front of her. She shoved through
the first few, knocking them aside, but then she found her father
staring vacantly at her.

He stood before her in his old uniform,
tattered and burnt. "No!" she screamed. Her mind raced. He'd been
dead for years, riddled with bullets from a stakeout gone bad. He
couldn't be here. His gray, rotting hands grabbed her as the swarm
of creatures closed in. They dragged her across the street, feet
scraping concrete. She fell awkwardly, her head splitting open
against the hard street. Yellow and black teeth gnawed at her flesh
but she was already beyond dead when they tore into her.

The Vincetti representatives stood a few feet
away watching and laughing, the black man beside them. A heavy set
Vincetti man leaned over and vomited onto the street. When he stood
straight again his eyes were filled with terror. He turned to the
Vincetti black man and said, "Take them back. I don't want to buy
them anymore. Nothing is worth this."

The black man laughed. "Then accept them as a
gift."

"No, I don't want this in the states."

The black man cackled. "Too late for that. We
set a few free down at the docks an hour ago."

The black man smiled as the Vincetti men drew
their guns and emptied their clips into their heavy comrade. As
they walked away, his body still twitched until the dead finished
with Lindsey and turned their attention to his still warm form.

Waking the Dead

Eric S Brown

Bullets ricocheted off the walls of the
ancient corridor as Dr. Galli and Jessica ducked inside the
complex, fleeing their pursuers. The heavy environmental suits they
wore were designed to stop alien bacteria and toxic enzymes not
automatic weapons' fire. They came prepared to face the dangers of
exploring a "tomb" from the lost world before the Great War not
make a stand against a pack of Western Alliance soldiers.

The two them rounded a corner in the
passageway and Galli skidded to a halt, the weight of his suit
nearly toppling him over. He braced himself against the corridor
itself as his fingers flew on the keypad embedded in its metal.
With a hissing noise, a thick blast door dropped into place between
him and the men chasing them. Jessica looked at him. "Thank God,"
she exclaimed. "I thought they had us."

Galli shook his head. "That door won't hold
them long. We need to get going."

He led Jessica deeper into the complex in
search of their goal.

During the Great War, a hundred years before,
much of the world's knowledge and science had been lost. The
survivors of those dark times split off into two factions, the
Eastern Republic, who believed the world could be saved by
recovering all which was lost to mankind and that science could
cure the world, and the Western Alliance, who was only concerned
with their continued existence regardless the cost. Members of the
Western Alliance were violent, savage cannibals, who stole most of
what they possessed in terms of weapons and full from the Eastern
Republic. Despite the Republic's more advanced technical knowledge,
they were losing the war due to the Alliance's much greater
numbers. Their only hope rested in finding a single man, Dr.
Michael Lee. Lee was, according to legend, one of the most
brilliant men of science who ever lived. During the Great War, he'd
supposedly taken refugee in this base, far underneath the
Appalachian Mountains. Dr. Galli and his student, Jessica, had
spent the last five years of their lives finding this place because
Galli firmly believed that Lee had somehow found a way to keep
himself alive despite the passage of time and that Lee could very
well be the savior of the world.

Galli and Jessica made their way through the
winding corridors of the ancient base, awed by its size and
technical marvels. Galli pulled a bundle of notes from his backpack
and flipped through them. He pointed to a door to their right.
"That should be it," he said. The pair entered the room. There was
still power inside. The room was empty except for a single
tube-like tank in its center. A blue tinted liquid filled it and
inside the tank floated a man unlike either of them had ever seen
before. His skin held a bizarre pinkish hue. Galli wondered if it
was a side effect of the suspension tank that looked to be keeping
him alive. Galli walked over to the tank and examined the readouts
on its side. "He really is alive," Galli breathed.

"
That's impossible isn't
it?" Jessica asked.

"
I would've thought so too
if it were anyone other than Lee. Clearly when he thought the world
was going to end, he invented this tank and locked himself away to
help whatever future generation rediscovered enough of the past to
find him." Galli leaned closer to the tank's transparent side.
"He's breathing the liquid. This is a miracle."

"
What do we do?" Jessica
asked. "The Alliance soldiers... We can't let them have
him."

"
No," Galli agreed. "We wake
him up. If he can move, we'll take him with us. There's a back way
out of the base I am sure those monsters don't know
about."

Jessica nodded as Galli fiddled with the
tank's controls. Galli finished the waking sequence and stepped
back. The blue liquid drained from the tank via tiny vents cut in
its base. The interior of the tank pressurized itself to the level
of the room and popped open, spilling the man inside onto the
floor.

The man moaned and rolled over trying to get
to his feet. Jessica moved to kneel beside him. "It's okay," she
whispered. "You've been asleep for a long time."

Lee looked up at her. Through the clear face
plate of her suit he saw her hollow eyes and gray flesh. He knew
instantly the dead had won the war. He turned to see Galli coming
towards him with a needle in his hand. The doctor's face was more
bone than flesh. "Move out of the way Jessica. It will be easier if
we sedate him and carry him out. He's too terrified for us to deal
with."

Lee's screams echoed off the metal walls of
the room as Galli plunged the needle into his arm. Then his world
went black.

Jessica glanced at Galli and smiled. "If
you're right about the cloning process, Dr. Galli, you've just
saved the entire world from hunger."

"
Let's hope so," he nodded
as he helped her pick up Lee and the two of them made a run for the
base's rear entrance leaving the Western Alliance soldiers still
inside the complex, trying to cut their way through the first blast
door.

Dreams

Eric S. Brown

The ship's drive whined as it was pushed to
its limits. The sleek attack craft veered hard to the left dodging
a volley of fire from the enemy. Grant knew he had the advantage.
His Mark XI Adder was far faster than the bulky and heavily armored
Lizradian vessel. All he had to do was hang on long enough under
the larger craft's belly. He spun his Adder, rolling past another
volley and then dove head on at the Lizradians.

Grant awoke screaming. His sheets were soaked
with sweat and his knuckles were a taut white on his clenched
fists. Claire sat up beside him. She opened her arms and took him
in them. Grant's mind struggled with the scene around him. Where
was his cockpit? How in Hades had he gotten home? He looked into to
Claire's deep green, sad eyes.

"
You're having the dreams
again," she announced with the glint of tears in her eyes
reflecting the dim lighting of the bedroom.

"
What dreams? How did I get
home?"

"
Please Grant, don't do this
to me," Claire whispered lying her head on his chest with her arms
still encircling him. "I can't go through it all again."

"
Go through what? I don't
understand."

Claire broke her embrace her sadness changing
to frustration and anger. She got up out of the bed and picked up a
bottle off the nightstand. She rattled the pills inside it around
as she shook it at Grant. "You've stopped taking them haven't
you?"

Grant said nothing. He didn't know what to
say.

"
How could you Grant? Every
time you miss more than single pill we relive this nightmare. It's
been two years and nothing's changed." Claire sobbed.

"
I don't understand Claire.
The last thing I remember is going in for an attack
run."

"
I know Grant, trust me I
know." She looked him straight in the eye. "I am sorry. I just
can't do this anymore. I can't."

Claire finished getting dressed and headed
for the door. "I am going to stay with my mother for a while on
Mars. I don't know where I will go from there. Don't waste your
time trying to call. You're not going to see me again." Claire
stormed out of the bedroom as the doorway dilated open before her
as she approached.

Grant watched the iris close and shook his
head as if he were still dreaming and trying to wake up. Had he
just lost Claire for good? He felt a profound sense of fear at the
thought but his need to know why he had no memory of the two years
she spoke of cut him more.

He got up out of bed, not even bothering to
dress, and set out to explore this strange new place he had woken
up in. Apparently it was their house and a rather nice one at that.
As he stepped into the living room, his breath caught inside him.
His eyes stared out the force window into the purple skies of
Lizradia. He ran to the window and placed a hand on the surface of
the hardened energy. Then it hit him. They, the Terran Republic,
had won the war. Lizradia was just another conquered world and its
reptilian denizens were servants to the ever growing power of
humanity.