• Chapter Twenty-One

    There was a blinding flash of light, and the boy ducked. From another world he head someone scream his name. He saw the mouth move, but didn’t hear the words at first. Then the world of sound came rushing back at him in a wave. The words mouthed now carried the booming voice of Sergeant Fredrickson, his superior.
    “Get the hell up and fire back, rookie!” The words rattled his head inside his helmet, and he stood, leveling his machine gun on the horizon which was lined from one side to the other with the enemy. The Kirin Orc tribe. One of the feral sort. Their race had been fighting since long before humans ever came around, at least that’s what he had been told. They were big, savage, and bloodthirsty. And the orcs had been backed into a corner.

    That had been one of the bloodiest battles of his life and the last war, and right now visions of it were flashing through Storm’s mind. Ahead of him, down the massive passageways of stone, the heavy machineguns of the Zolumous had awoken, no doubt the docked ship had encountered the same sort of grotesque wave of infected people, and Storm imagined the hail of bullets ripping through their taunt yellowed flesh. Several manner of non-humans all moved forward now as one giant uncoordinated mass, moving for them to devour them all.
    Captain Robin’s voice came again over the small hand-held radio Khey had brought with them. “Hurry the hell up you guys! We would’ve taken off a long time ago but I thought you might have gotten a bit upset if we left you behind to deal with these nasties.” His voice cut out as Khey keyed the call button, shouting to be heard over the sound of the far off gunfire, which had echoed and amplified its way along the cavern walls.
    “Damnit, we’re not that far away. But we’ve had to take the long way back so far thanks to some unexpected trouble. We are coming up the south branch of the Murough district. And we’ve got a whole mess of tagalongs.” As Khey spoke into the little receiver, Storm took another look back at the steadily gaining mass of zombie like infected that were closing the distance as the four of them had stopped to catch their breath. They had been running for over half an hour straight, following Khey around half the city it seemed. On top of running they had been forced to fight their way through some small patches of those monsters, and now they were all exhausted.
    “We can’t hold these doors open for much longer. We are going to run out of ammo before they run out of bodies I think.” Alexander’s voice came again, muffled through some radio static. They had come to Stone Tomb to do many things, including re-supply. Storm hope that munitions had been near the top of the list. They began running for their lives again, following Khey’s lead.
    Ahead, he spotted a small group of city patrolmen engaging a mob of the infected citizens that in days past they had been charged with protecting. There were a handful of them, fighting with riot gear, and Storm could tell that the numbers were stacked against them. They were already surrounded and the former soldier knew those men had no chance. The little ammunition he and Khey had with them had already been used up getting this far. Those men were making their last stand, and they knew it.
    Khey led them into an alleyway to try and get out of sight of the mob following them. Rachel tried to speak while pulling in ragged breaths. “Aren’t we… going… to help?” She looked back over her shoulder, past Storm, her eyes both panicked and concerned at the same time. She too knew those few men stood no chance, especially with the horde that had been following them now bearing down on those unsuspecting policemen. Those officers, fighting with only riot shields and maces, had no doubt exhausted their own ammo some time ago as well.
    “We have no ammo, no weapons, and no time.” Khey spoke as he slowed his pace a bit to try to let them catch their breath a little. Rachel looked like she wanted to say something more but couldn’t find the words, or perhaps the energy with which to say them. They could all hear the pitched battle that was to be their fate if they should fall behind as well as the ever-present volleys of gunfire echoing down the cavern. Storm looked to Maria who seemed to somehow retain calm amidst the chaos. He could feel her moving away from him everyday, as he lost her to this unending insanity.
    “We have to keep moving forward, or there isn’t going to be a ship waiting for us.” The big man said, closing the subject, and sealing the fates of the already doomed men. Without words, the group acknowledged and made their way back onto the streets and headed towards the airport. As they made the last corner, Storm could hear the bloody screams of the men as they were finally overtaken and killed, torn apart by people who might have once been friends or family. The sound of the gunfire railing far away soon drowned out the sound of screaming and death, and Storm thought of all those whose lives had been forfeit already to the madness begun so long ago by his forefathers.
    They only had a little farther to go, and he knew that they were all pushing the very limits of their endurance, though he was surprised that not a single one of them had fallen behind. He was running behind the rest incase he had to help one of the girls or fight off anything that crept up out of the shadows. Though he suspected Khey was used to running like this, his gate hauntingly fluid and practiced, it was likely the shear overload of adrenaline that pushed the rest of them beyond their normal bounds. Either way he knew that they could only keep this pace up for so long.
    The monsters chasing them were not the ambling undead things from old movies, nor were they some nightmarish horrors that could run like the wind forever. They maintained a steady quick pace just shy of what would be considered a fast jog. It was that pace that had allowed the four of them to keep ahead, of only in increments, though the horde was never to far behind and was ever growing.
    Alexander’s voice called out again at them over the radio, the sound of gunfire muffling his words in the raucous. “We’re going to switch to some shorter range stuff in a couple minutes.” The transmission paused and then came back again. “So get as close as you can without putting yourself in any lines of fire. Wait for my signal and then run like hell for the back door.” There was another break. “There are a lot less on that side, and hopefully we’ll be able to see you coming.”
    Now he knew fore sure. The airship was fighting off a force that made the horde trailing them look small in comparison. There would no doubt be piles of mangled bodies and gore, a sight Storm was all to familiar with. In the back of his mind he silently thank some unseen heavenly body for letting him be with the people he was now in this mess. Were he still fighting along side the men of the Empire against these odds he had no doubt he and his men would have been left behind long ago. He would have faced the same fate as the policemen. Though he didn’t count himself as a man of religion Storm said a small prayer for those men and those like them. Those who died fighting to save their home and their people.
    “C’mon, we have to get moving.” Khey said, obvious worry in his voice. He better than anyone knew the limits of the captain’s patience. “Its only one more block before the airport, then just across the lot into the airfield. it’s a wide open stretch.”
    “A wide open stretch of zombies.” Rachel pointed out matter-of-factly, referencing the old legends of the walking dead. With all the running they’d been doing she’d lost the energy for terror a while back. Storm hated to imagine having to leave someone behind to this horror, least of all one of the girls. He knew he would not hesitate to make whatever sacrifice necessary to ensure they both got out of this safely.
    “We’ve got to try.” Khey said in a pleading tone. He knew that they were all ready to collapse from fatigue, but they were so close now, far to close to quit.
    Minutes later the four of them were slouched down behind a waist high concrete barrier that barricaded off the airfield itself. What he had seen on the other side had looked like a massacre of biblical proportions. Hundreds upon hundreds of bodies were strewn all across the tarmac, gunned down in uneven rows marking the traversing patterns of the machine guns. Some of the grotesque heaps were almost waist high, the macabre sight bringing back flashes of a past life into Storm’s mind. It seemed that no matter how far he went, death followed with him.
    Khey turned himself away from the sight, Storm could see he had been gauging distances instead of focusing on all the death. The man was a thinker, not easily distracted, and Storm found a quiet bit of piece in that fact as if it somehow dispelled some unsaid worry that they all been following a lunatic this entire time. “Alexander will switch to his flame throwers and such any second now. When he does, we need to make a break for it.” They had navigated around to the eastern side of the airstrip, and could see the top of the ship just down past the ramp. It was a good mile off still, and down in the landing area.
    “And what about all those things that are still attacking the ship?” Storm asked, once again re-assuming he former role of a soldier on the battlefield.
    “I don’t think the zombies are going to just let us through with a smile and a friendly wave goodbye.” Rachel added in quickly, which caught Khey off guard, though if it was because she had made a joke at a time like this or if was that she had beat him to it Storm wasn’t sure. He noticed that her joke had given them all a little bit of ease, even himself. There was more to this girl then he thought. Maybe Khey hadn’t just picked her out of convenience.
    “If we had some weapons we could punch a small hole through from this side while they weakened the same spot from the other.” The big man suggested.
    “And if we had the time we could likely find a better way around them. Neither is an option for us right now.” Khey replied, a very cold finality resounding in his voice. The group shared a collective moment of silence are the tried desperately to think of a fast and effective solution to the problem. Storm knew that if the captain focused his fire on one point for them to get through it was likely all the advancing infected would need to overrun the other parts of the ship.
    Maria pointed to a maintenance garage just off to their left. “What about using that?” They all looked and saw, sitting outside of the small building was an older pickup truck with a snow plow attached to the front. Considering the altitude, Storm figured it made sense to have a vehicle on standby for the unforeseen snow flurries.
    Khey’s face lit up with a cunning smile while Storm picked up his daughter and gave her a big hug with renewed vigor. She laughed a bit in his arms, and Storm could see some of the little girl he knew inside her. He remembered their good times. She spoke through a smile, “That means yes, right?”
    “Remind me to give you a hug myself when we have the time later.” Khey proclaimed as they all went over the barrier and towards the truck, keeping low to avoid being seen by the infected or getting caught by a stray bullet. When the got to the truck Maria was the first to pop the hood while Khey got into the driver’s seat. He shouted that the key was still in the ignition, and Storm though of someone being violently ripped out of there. Maria slammed the hood down, giving a thumbs up that everything was good to go.
    Storm stole a glance around the corner of the building, getting a clear view of the Zolumous and the state of their fight. It was surrounded by enough people to fill the Imperial Stadium in New Helena City. He could only guess to how many there had been before the crew of the ship had begun opening fire. But now it seemed the mass had thinned just enough to a point where the truck actually stood a chance of charging through.
    Behind him the engine roared to life, and at the same time massive arcs of yellow, orange, and red flame burst forth in angry funnels from the airship. Storm turned and ran for the truck. “Time to go!” He shouted as he hopped into the bed along with the girls. The truck jumped as Khey put it in gear and slammed on the gas as he released the clutch. Then suddenly the engine died. Khey looked over his shoulder at them, with an angry face. “Had to be a stick, didn’t it?”
    “I can come up there and drive if its to hard for you.” Rachel called up to him. She and Maria shared a little private victory before Khey restarted the engine and got them going. They peeled around the corner of the building, and Storm was thankful that the heavy plow kept them from fishtailing as Khey over-corrected the turn. The man was not a driver. The diesel engine billowed as they began to pick up speed and gain momentum.
    Storm took up a defensive position, crouching overtop of the two girls. “If we can’t punch all the way through, I will make sure you two get to the ship. I promise.” He was positioned to intercept anything that might get kicked up above the plow, or try to crawl its way over the sides. He saw Maria’s mouth move as if she wanted to say something, no doubt wanting to object, but she stopped herself. Rachel put a hand on his chest, and leaned up a bit to give him a kiss on the cheek.
    “You’re a hero in my book. But I think we’re all going to make it out in one piece.” Rachel’s eyes betrayed her worry though. She motioned to their driver. “I trust him.” Storm was honestly sure if he could, one hundred percent, say the same. But they had come far and were still all together. He spotted a fire axe attached to the wall of the bed and took it in-hand. Better safe than sorry. The three of them braced themselves as the truck sped towards the crowd of infected. Storm heard himself shout for everyone to hang on tight.
    The truck slammed into the sea of bodies, and at first it didn’t seem like they were being slowed at all. Forms were caught by the plow, many shredded in half by the sharp top and sides. A body careened over his head, spinning, and fell somewhere behind them. There were some body parts in the air above them as well, but Storm did his best to keep his focus on the things that could do some real harm. He hacked at groping arms and clawing hands as he finally felt them begin to slow.
    Underneath their tires was a bloody carpet of mangled corpses, the tires already slick with the gore. The top half of what had once been a dwarf sailed over the hood of the truck, landing square in the back of the bed of the truck. Its was clawing at the girls even in the throes of death, and Storm wasn’t about to take any chances, bringing the axe down and severing the head from the rest of the body.
    Khey wailed on the horn trying to signal the ship as the drew closer. From this distance Storm could see the faces of the people still firing small arms into the crowd. He saw Fred, the younger of the two Kandle brothers. The large young man had been holding a large flame thrower, but dropped it when he saw them on approach, tossing a grenade from each hand into the crowd in the path of the truck. “Down!” Storm shouted, jumping on top of the two girls. The two small explosives detonated at the same time, and sent limbs and gore into the air, and gave the truck enough leeway to push the last hundred yards relatively unhindered. The blood-coated pickup trove straight up the cargo ramp and stopped, it’s occupants disembarking.
    Storm saw that behind them, the second horde of monsters had now joined the group pressing in on the airship, adding half again their numbers. There were thousands here now, both thousands standing and thousands dead. The big flamethrowers began firing again, coating the ground behind them in liquid flame. He caught sight of the captain talk into his radio, no doubt calling for liftoff, and he felt the ship shift a little as it began to lift off the ground.
    As the four of them began to make their way inside, he saw a few of the crew push the truck they had used over the edge. They had gotten clear of the crowds, and the truck landed on a large group, smashing them all in a messy heap. Maria sighed. “Seems like a waist of a good truck to me.” He couldn’t help but laugh, and the big man gave his daughter another hug. Khey and Rachel shared a smile, and for a moment they all seemed to forget their troubles and just be happy for making it out of that nightmare alive. Captain Alexander walked up to them, a grave look on his face. The man looked to have seen better days, as no doubt did they all.
    “We have a lot to talk about, don’t we Keldon?” he asked.
    “Yes… I’m afraid we do, little Robin.”