Where the Dead Men Lie (29 page)

"YoshidaCorp?" I asked out loud to myself.

Maria looked at me. "Did you say something?"

"Yeah. On this weapon, it says ‘YoshidaCorp’."

"Isn’t that Kenji’s last name?"

"Yeah. I think that’s the name of his father’s company."

"Guys," Tariq said, over the radio. "I think we have a problem. The nano-swarm appears to be coming back. It is making its way to your position right now."

I guess it was finished with the big monster thing.

Daniel moved over to the one and only window of the armory. He picked up a knife and scratched out a tiny peep hole in the window and had a look outside. "Are you sure? I don’t see anything."

"Yes. It is coming right for you. It is coming fast"

I should’ve been scared. The rogue nano-swarm was coming back. It was coming for us. But I was still staring at the writing on the harpoon gun.

YoshidaCorp.

What did it mean?

Daniel moved over and snatched the weapon out of my hand. "Hey, you need to focus."

"I’m sorry. It’s just that…"

"Look, it doesn’t mean anything. Yoshida is probably a very common name."

I shook my head. "No. It’s too much of a coincidence."

The walkie-talkie crackled to life again. "Daniel?" It was Tariq.

"Yeah?"

"According to the proximity sensors, the nano-swarm is three miles out and closing."

"OK, we better hurry."

We moved out of the armory and back up the stairs. Daniel quickly found a room with the label ‘operations’ on the door. He said this is where the controls would be.

Inside the room were more computers. All of the computers were still on, making me think that whatever had happened here had only just happened. Which means, the soldiers had only just left or disappeared. Or died. Something about this whole situation was unnerving, but at that moment, with a doomsday clock counting down, and a rogue nano-swarm hunting us, I couldn’t figure out why.

Daniel sat down in front of the nearest computer and basically hacked into the system in a matter of seconds.

"I can’t disable the explosives," he said. "The self destruct sequence is locked in. But the security system is live," he said. "Sentinels are armed. Running hot."

A split second later we could hear the machine guns from the towers. The buzz saw noise of the mini-guns filled the desert as their rotating barrels made short work of the remaining infected.

Daniel brought up several images from the surveillance cameras. From this vantage point we could watch as the infected began disintegrating before our very eyes. They were mowed down by a constant, never-ending barrage of bullets. Or metal rain as Daniel called it.

"There’s a problem," Kenji said over the radio. "The guns can’t reach the infected that are closest to the compound walls."

"What? Why not?"

"I’m guessing they weren’t designed to shoot at targets so close to the actual facilities."

"What do we do?" Maria asked "We can’t go running around out there with the infected."

"We have to," Daniel said as he handed me a rifle. "Kenji, you’ll have to cover us as well. In the meantime, try and take out as many as you can."

Daniel handed me another rifle and slung it over my back. He then handed me two smaller handguns.

"I think that’s enough," I said. "I’m not Rambo."

"I was thinking more like what’s her face from the Matrix. Trinity."

"I’m not her either."

"I know. But these will come in handy, especially since you might not have time to re-load. If you don’t, just draw your next weapon, OK?"

I nodded, suddenly realizing I was about to step outside into an extremely hostile situation.

"If they’re close," Daniel continued. "Use your sidearm. But if you’ve got time, use the M4. Much more powerful."

He loaded up Maria as well. She looked even more uncomfortable than I did.

"Daniel," Tariq said. "The proximity sensors are picking up movement two miles away. It is getting closer."

"All right, we gotta do this now. You two ready?" he asked, making eye contact with me and then Maria.

Maria was silent, biting her bottom lip. She definitely did not look ready.

Unfortunately, I was no better. "No, we’re not ready," I finally answered. "But we don’t have a choice. So let’s get this over with."

"Kenji, you ready?" Daniel asked through the walkie-talkie.

There was no response. Outside we could hear a few gunshots. Single shots. One after the other. A second later Kenji replied.

"Yeah, I got your back. Make sure you guys stick together. I can’t cover two people, in two different places at once."

"Got it," Daniel said.

Daniel turned off the security system. The guns stopped. "Jack," he said. "The sentinels have been disarmed."

"Copy that," Jack answered.

He made eye contact with Maria and me once more. No words were spoken.

It was time to go.

"Wait!" Tariq said over the radio.

"What?"

"Stay put. Do not move."

"Why?"

"The swarm," he whispered. "It is here."

CHAPTER 45

We crowded around the computer monitor to check the surveillance images. The nano-swarm was moving around the building in zigzagging pattern. It reminded me of a hound dog sniffing a trail.

"It’s tracking us," Daniel whispered.

From outside we could hear the familiar hissing sound.

"I think we should back away from the windows," Daniel said.

"How does it know we’re here?" I asked.

"I don’t know," Daniel answered as he brought the walkie-talkie up to his lips. "Kenji, I think you should come inside."

No response.

"Kenji, are you there?"

Again, no response from Kenji, but Jack answered instead. "Daniel, are you sure the sentinels are disabled?" he asked.

Daniel checked the computer to make sure. "Yes. Why?"

"I’ll lead the nano-swarm away with the Humvee. This will give you a chance to turn the EMP field on. But I don’t want to drive out there if I’m just gonna get blown away."

"Good point," Daniel said.

"Wait," Maria said. "Jack, what are you doing?"

From downstairs in the garage we could hear Jack turn the key in the ignition as the Humvee’s engine roared to life.

"You can’t let him do this," Maria pleaded. "That thing, it’ll kill him."

"It’s just a diversion," Daniel said. "As soon as we get the EMP field back on he’ll be fine."

The hissing noise of the nano-swarm grew louder.

Jack revved the engine and then put the car into gear. The tires screeched on the concrete of the garage. Jack then floored it and smashed through the roller doors. Metal flew in all directions as the big vehicle speed off into the desert.

Jack even managed to swerve and steer into some of the remaining infected, running them over.

Classic Jack, I thought to myself, smiling.

But my smile soon disappeared as I saw the black cloud of the nano-swarm chase after Jack with amazing speed.

Faster than the Humvee.

Faster than a damn formula one car.

In a matter of seconds it had caught up to the Humvee.

In a matter of seconds it had completely engulfed the Humvee.

The big military vehicle was swallowed whole, disappearing and reappearing in the black smoke.

The car swerved again. Jack had lost control. It flipped over. Somersaulting.

"Jack!" Maria screamed.

The Humvee must’ve flipped over five or six times before it eventually came to rest on its roof. The nano-swarm swirled around it, engulfing the massive vehicle once again.

Maria pushed Daniel repeatedly and beat him with clenched fists. "What did you do? Why did you let him go?"

"We had no choice!"

Maria shook her head. She looked at Daniel in disgust, like he had betrayed her or something. Like he was the enemy. Before we could stop her, she ran out of the room and down the stairs that led to the garage. I tried to grab her but she was too quick.

Daniel swore. "Kenji, cover us! We’re doing this right now."

He checked his rifle, made sure it was loaded. "Come on," he said to me. "We gotta go."

CHAPTER 46

We leapt down the stairs, past the armory, into the garage. The roller doors of the garage had been completely destroyed. But there was no time to inspect Jack’s handy work. We ran out into the hot desert sun. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the harsh orange light.

The sun was low in the western sky, making it nearly impossible to look in that direction.

When my eyes finally adjusted I spotted Maria. She was way out in front. Damn she was fast.

At school she had always been a good runner. Didn’t matter if it was a sprint race or a long distance race, she was always in the top three at least. It also didn’t matter that she never actually trained for any running events.

"Maria!" I yelled to no avail as my voice was swallowed up by the desert.

She was too far away from us. And at that moment she had an infected man chasing after her. She didn’t seem to notice, or care. She just kept running. Faster and Faster.

Luckily for us, Kenji had sprung into action. It took him a few seconds but eventually he lined up the infected man that was chasing Maria.

He fired.

One shot was all it took. The bullet completely destroyed the infected man’s skull. He fell to the ground, head over ass.

Another random act of luck was that it appeared most of the surviving infected were concentrated on the other side of the compound. This would buy us a few minutes. Although we all knew it wouldn’t be long until they figured out there was fresh meat on offer.

Up ahead, the Humvee was still in the middle of what appeared to be a black tornado.

"You have to get Maria before she does anything stupid!" Daniel shouted to me.

"What are you going to do?"

"If I can get this EMP generator online, it will take out the nano-swarm. Maybe it’s not too late."

As we ran further away from the compound we had to be careful not to trip over the scattered corpses of the infected that had been taken out by the sentinels. Somehow, a lot of them were still moving. I even had to jump over a few, as they held up their arms, reaching out for us.

Meanwhile, Maria kept running towards Jack.

I had no hope of catching her. But I noticed she had something in her hand. Whatever it was, she threw it. A second later a bright purple flash of light ignited inside the black tornado. Like a lightning bolt inside a storm cloud.

It was an EMP grenade. Clever girl, I thought.

The EMP grenade had stunned the swarm. Just as before when I had used one, the grenade seemed to confuse it, make it sluggish. Half of the black cloud turned limp as though all those little nano-bots suddenly became uncoordinated, separate from the rest of the swarm.

Maria had bought us some time. But she wasn’t done yet. She let off another grenade. There was another flash as she dived, head first into the swarm.

For the Humvee.

For Jack.

A heartbeat later, she had disappeared from view.

I skidded to a stop. Was it too late?

"It’s in a state of shock!" Daniel shouted to me. "But we don’t have long. I need you to cover me while I get this thing online."

"But what about Maria?"

"She’s already inside the Humvee, she already inside the swarm. You can’t do anything to help her now. Except get this EMP online."

I sprinted for the Humvee with the satellite dish on its roof.

Lucky for us, the dish was pointed in the general direction of the black smoke. So basically, all we had to do was turn it on and that would be the end of the swarm.

Or so we hoped.

Daniel was already in the driver’s seat when I got there.

The inside of the Humvee was covered in a type of foil.

"Faraday box," Daniel said.

"What?"

"Insulates against the EMP."

"Oh."

Up ahead the nano-swarm still seemed to be in a state of shock. It actually looked like it was drunk or concussed.

"This better work," Daniel said as he typed on a small keypad attached to a monitor on the dashboard.

He fired it up.

Punched in some commands and hit execute.

And nothing.

No noise. No explosion.

Nothing.

Silence.

I didn’t realize it at the time but this is the nature of an EMP. It’s a fairly silent and understated weapon. Nothing like a machine gun or a heat seeking missile. But boy, oh boy is it effective.