Chapter 5: Fallout

Zack Skellington once more awoke to congestion and a sore back. He was really getting sick and tired of having to sleep in a supply closet. It was ridiculous. There was no harm in him sleeping somewhere else. He was no threat to anyone in the Last Remnant; everyone knew just how pathetic he was when they saw him practice shooting yesterday. Zack wasn't going to complain though, he knew tonight was going to be much different. He went through the daily morning routine just like he had the day before, there was even one of the worker bots following him around just like last time.

Bah, the Lost Land isn't so scary. I've already fallen into a routine! Zack thought as he followed the worker bot to the mess hall. Despite the danger that lurked outside the walls of the bomb shelter Zack found it easy to accept his new life. How could one not like having robot servants? And Zack didn't exactly miss anyone from his old life… he did miss the internet though. Zack made a mental note to ask if they had the internet in the Lost Land. He was sure they must have some sort of version of it, they had robots for crying out loud—real robots, not some mobile automated vacuum cleaners. It would certainly be a surprise if this place had robots but no internet.

Once more Zack was served a pink smoothie-like substance though this time he was confident enough to ask for seconds… and then thirds. He was plenty hungry after only eating two meals yesterday and Zack was going to eat as much as he could for breakfast until he was either satisfied or they cut him off. After his fourth drink Zack's hunger was satiated. He was surprised the bot hadn't told him no at some point.

Finishing breakfast, Zack wondered what was on the schedule for today. He had been thrown into weapons training yesterday and felt that everything had gone way too fast. He needed much more practice (that was less rushed) if he was going to retain anything. Zack wasn't sure where the bot was leading him after they left the mess hall but he figured it was the firing range again.

The pair saw the Meakrous as they walked down the hall. The sleg was down on one knee, facing an open panel in the wall. His scaly hands gripped a large rusty wrench to fix some problem… Zack couldn't exactly see what. It was too dark and Meakrous was in the way. It didn't really matter to Zack, though he was curious as to why Meakrous was doing menial repairs, he thought that was the purview of the worker bots.

"Hey Meakrous, what do you think—" A loud noise cut Zack off and the floor rumbled as if they were suddenly hit by an earthquake. It sounded like an explosion. The lighting flickered for a moment before remaining on.

"What was that?" Zack asked.

"Come on." The sleg got up off the floor and ran down the hall with the human and bot in tow. They soon came across Xandra.

"What's going on?" Meakrous demanded.

"The infestoids!" Xandra's face was warped with anxiety. Her cybernetic eye glowed brighter than before, as if someone had lit it on fire. Zack had never seen her like this before.

"So? What the hell are you worried about?"

"They have a tank! They just blew up the front door!"

Meakrous' jaw hung open. "Where'd those slimeballs get a working tank?"

"As if I fuckin' know!"

Silvac appeared from around the corner. "I have a guess. They took it from that empty bunker!"

Xandra kicked at the wall in frustration. "Arrgh! This is your fault!" She pointed a robotic finger accusingly at Zack. "We would'a gotten there sooner if we didn't have to teach your sorry ass the basics!"

Her words stung. Xandra had been so nice until now. "If opening that thing was so important why didn't you guys leave me here and go there without me?"

"What, and leave you at the base alone? Do you think we're stupid?" Meakrous said.

"You all know I can't fight. What the hell would I do to your precious base?"

"Reprogram the worker bots to do your bidding," Xandra hissed.

"He's not smart enough to do that," Silvac said.

"Wait a minute." Zack thought a moment. "The hole in the bunker wall was too small for a tank to get through. This isn't my fault. Their tank didn't come from there."

"They could have gotten it through the main bunker doors!" Xandra snapped.

"They bunker doors were closed when we got there."

"Then maybe they closed them before they left!"

"Now you're just trying to blame this on me!" Zack did not like arguing with Xandra but he wasn't about to take the fall when it clearly wasn't his fault.

"We can argue later," Silvac said, "we have to deal with the infestoids. Now."

"What's an infestoid?" Zack asked.

"No time for stupid questions!" Xandra snapped. They took off as a group. Zack stayed in the back. Not only did he not know where they were going, but he didn't want to be first in line if they ran across an enemy.

As they passed by an intersection something smashed into the group from the side. Xandra, Meakrous, Silvac, and the bot were knocked over. Zack was far enough back that he didn't take a tumble like everyone else.

There were failing limbs and flying curses as everyone tried to get up, but one individual stood tall before the others. It had two heads… two heads! Its eyes glowed lime green and its mouths were agape in a combined expression of anger and pain. Its pale skin had a light green tint to it. Its legs bent backwards at the knees. The dual heads roared as the horrific being aimed some sort of gun at Zack.

Zack had nothing to attack with. He turned around and ran as fast as he could. He heard some sort of gooey noise, as if someone was blowing their nose, but he felt nothing. Whatever the infestoid tried to shoot Zack with had missed. He kept going and rounded a corner. Even when he could no longer be shot at the human kept running.

Zack could hear GR-12's and RR-17's machine guns echo through the halls, as well as the sounds of the muttering infestoids. The bomb shelter was normally nearly odorless but now a heavy stench of soggy garbage hung in the air so strongly Zack could taste it on his tongue. Zack nearly tripped as he starting going down an incline. He was so busy looking out for enemies had hadn't even noticed where he was running. It didn't matter much as Zack was thoroughly lost and had no idea where he was going. He kept moving in the hope that eventually he'd run into a random weapons locker or make his way to the firing range. As long as he kept moving he figured the infestoids wouldn't corner him.

An infestoid appeared around the corner right in from of Zack. He nearly tripped and fell over as he came to a stop. The horrible two-headed creature raised an odd looking gun and pulled the trigger. A stream of green goo shot through the air and hit the wall, missing Zack. The green substance smelled horrible. Zack ran back the way he came and when he reached an intersection yet another infestoid appeared to block his path. This time he ran right for the mutant biped, shoving his way past and round the corner.

Zack ran down another ramp. The floor had changed to a grating instead of being solid. Zack stopped short—yet another infestoid blocked his path. The infestoid fired his goo gun and missed. The goo hit the grating and slowly started to sizzle. If Zack had anything going for him it was the fact these guys couldn't shoot for shit.

He turned around to see the other one he shoved past had caught up to him. This one had a large, blunt, beige weapon. Zack recognized it, it was one of the weapons he had learned about the day before, and it was also the weapon EV-97 used. It was a radioactive flare gun. The infestoid fired once. Zack dodge the green ball of radiation and it hit the infestoid behind him. The infestoid charged his flare gun. Once the gun was ready, he fired again—only this time a massive violet ball hurled over towards Zack.

He backed up and threw up his arms to cover his face. The light was blinding. The radiation blast came up short but Zack could still feel it cook him. He tried to get away but the other infestoid on the opposite side was still alive despite being hit by his friend and blocked Zack's only route of escape.

It was only a couple of seconds but it felt like an eternity. Zack's goose was cooked; there was nothing he could do. The goo on the grating had finally eaten through, causing the grate to collapse. Zack fell down into the sewer system. He landed hard into a shallow stream of sludge.

Zack let out a groan. The fall hurt, certainly but it was better than being cooked to death by the radioactive death ball. It hurt to move but Zack got up and started to walk. This was his chance to get away.

Unfortunately he didn't get very far. The violet radiation blast died out and the two infestoids dropped down into the sewer to finish off the human. The pair of mutants easily caught up and shoved the human down into the muck.

Zack turned around and looked up at his killers. His eyes widened—not because he was going to die but because there was something worse behind the two infestoids.

A pair of lanky limbs hung in the air, claws at the ends. The claws seized the infestoid with the radiation gun and cut it in half. The other infestoid turned around and backed up a few paces.

Zack's savoir was a gigantic crab. A crusty brown body covered in barnacles connected two long, puke-green limbs that ended in large claws that had ripped the infestoid to shreds as if it were a soggy garbage bag. The remaining infestoid cursed and fired his gun, but the green goo didn't seem to bother the giant crab in the slightest. Zack ran as the huge crab killed the remaining infestoid.

It wasn't easy running through sludge but Zack did it anyway. He didn't have any choice. He didn't want to die. He spared a second (and some speed) to look back and he saw that the crab was chasing after him now. It was completely silent as it effortlessly glided through the muck. It didn't even look like it had any legs, as if it were designed to glide over sludge.

Zack pumped his legs harder. The giant claws snapped… foretelling the gruesome fate that awaited the human once he was caught.

The snapping was slowly getting closer. It was the only indicator of how far behind the crab was, since it didn't make any noise as it slid over the muck. Zack dare not look back again.

Up ahead was a fence. Zack could make out a pole with hinges, so there was a door. He just hoped it wasn't locked. He was lucky there was way through at all and when he smashed against the metal mesh, the door swung open. He quickly shut it and kept running. The crab cut through the gate like a knife through cheese.

It was ludicrous to think he could keep running for much longer but Zack saw no other option. There was plenty of trash floating along in the stream of sludge but nothing he could use as a weapon. And unless he happened to find a rocket launcher lying around he doubted anything would kill the massive crab.

Something did manage to grab Zack's eye, though it wasn't a weapon. On his left was a circular entrance to another sewer tunnel. Large vertical iron bars prevented access but Zack noticed that they were cut near the bottom. Zack wasn't sure if he could fit under or not but he didn't think it over. He couldn't keep running like he was, he knew he would tire out before the crab did.

He ran for the bars and got on his stomach. He crawled along, coating himself in the foul sludge. The bottom of the cut bars stabbed at Zack as he shoved his way under. He made it across just as the crab reached the bars. Zack got to his feet and looked back, the crab was already trying to cut the bars, but unlike the fencing, the bars were holding—for now. Zack ran.

Zack ran as long as he could until he couldn't run anymore. He was exhausted. It was no use. Despite the terror and the strong desire not to die he just couldn't run on willpower alone. The grim reality was his muscles wouldn't allow it. Zack looked back, he expected to see the sludge crab approached but it wasn't there.

Maybe it gave up back at the bars? Zack wondered. Maybe it's still trying to cut through them? Maybe it knows a way around?

Whatever the giant crab was doing Zack continued on at a leisurely walk. He had no idea where he was. He didn't know his way around the bomb shelter let alone the sewer system below it. It's not like he could go back anyway. He figured the infestoids had overrun the place. Plus the grating he had fallen through had created an open passageway between the bomb shelter and the sewers. For all Zack knew that meant that giant crab or any of its friends could get in and kill whoever was left in the bomb shelter.

The tunnel slowly started to get brighter. Zack's vision went from a dingy dark brown to a vomit green. There were several large rats chewing on various scrapes of garbage. Their eyes glowed red… that wasn't natural. While creepy, the rats left the human alone. Zack even passed by a few giant roaches about the size of his foot. These were a lot bigger than the bugs he had seen crawling around on the surface of the junkyard and he wondered just how big bugs could grow in the Lost Land. He hoped not too much bigger, the foot-sized roaches were vile enough already.

"Fuck," Zack said aloud. There was no one to talk to but hearing the sound of his own voice was somewhat calming, as if he were reminding himself that he wasn't dead yet. "That crab was huge. There are probably bugs as big as it is." Zack had meant to ask the Last Remnant more about the creatures and inhabitants of the Lost Land. It was too late for that now. Though knowing more likely wouldn't help him any, he was a dead man whether he knew what awaited or not.

His arms were sore and itchy. He had been way too close to that radioactive ball of energy. Another few seconds and he would have died. The grating giving way had saved his life. Only now did Zack have the time to think and realize just how lucky he was.

A weird noise echoed through the tunnel. It sounded like someone trying to suck the last bit of a milkshake through a straw. Then Zack saw what was making the noise… and it lay directly in his path.

It was a large green grub the size of a dog. It had a circular maw full of sharp teeth and a proboscis darted in and out as it oozed forward in his direction. Zack couldn't turn around, that would eventually lead him back to the bars… and the giant crab. There was no side passage he could take. That left forward as the only option. The grub didn't seem very fast. Trying to avoid it was certainly better than going back in the direction of the crab.

Zack had regained a good deal of his energy. The grub continued to make its disgusting noises as it slithered its way closer. Zack broke into a run, hugging the wall to his left as close as he could. He ran right by the grub. The creature was too slow to even make a lunge at him. It did turn around and start to pursue him. Zack continued to run. It was easy to lose the grub in comparison to the crab.

The shallow stream of sludge became thinner and easier to walk through. It was more water now than mud. The sound of running water caught Zack's attention and eventually he came across a crack in the ceiling that was leaking a steady downpour of water… at least Zack hoped it was water. He didn't have any choice; he had to walk through it if he wanted to continue. As he did it certainly felt like water so Zack opted to pause for a second and tried to scrub off as much of the muck and grim from his clothes as he could. He got a good deal of gunk off, but didn't dawdle too long for fear of allowing the grub to catch up.

Soon the hue of the tunnel changed again. Instead of green it had turned yellow and up ahead Zack saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Zack looked back towards the darkness. He could barely hear the sounds of the grub anymore but it still sounded like it was chasing after him.

He started running again, excited to have found a way out of the sewer. He was sick and tired of the smell. He considered himself lucky. He could have been lost wandering the sewer tunnels forever—or at least until the giant grubs or crabs cornered him.

In his blind excitement Zack neglected to slow down and tumbled out of the sewer pipe onto the hard, rocky ground. He let out a groan and clutched at his back. He felt like his spine had been trampled on by an elephant.

The human's grunts of discomfort were suddenly silenced as he looked on to what was just ahead of him. He saw his death. Sharp teeth and claws were melded to a slender, scaly frame. A large sickle claw was connected to each foot of the creature. A being of ferocious death that almost looked like it was ripped right out of Jurassic Park.

The velociraptor stared at Zack. He had nothing: no weapon, no means of escape, no energy and no idea how he could possibly get out of this situation alive.

Author's Note: This chapter has the same name as one of the multiplayer maps from Turok: Rage Wars.

The infestoids appeared in Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion.

Sludge beasts (the giant crab) appeared in the final level of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

The grubs appeared in Turok 2: Seeds of Evil. They only appear at the boss fight in the Lair of the Blind Ones level.