Hardluck Solution
On the other side of the courtyard, Justin and Layla lingered in relative safety, away from the fray. Justin idled the Mongoose for a moment. There, at the base of the Eastern spire that towered over the city, he watched what was left of the group still at the factory entrance. They defended their position valiantly. Their aim and discipline under the parasite assault had improved rather remarkably. Justin almost entertained the impulse to ride back there and pitch in—show the zombies that humans weren't on the menu tonight. But even more than that, he had to make sure his friends were okay—everyone but the Kaiser and his men, of course. Now, though, there was little he could do.
But Justin had disclosed the rendezvous point to Hendricksson. The man was a military commander from some distant planet, from some distant time. He would know what to do. Attain accountability of everyone, make sure they were alive and firing, to lead them to safety. Justin was counting on him now.
He watched a few more pulses of light emanate from muzzle flashes beyond the way before turning the 'Goose around. Ahead now, was the darkness of the stockyard tunnel.
-
At the entrance to the factory, the zombies came in waves. In and out, lull and surge. The zombies' tactics, if any, were unusual. They were happy to throw themselves into a hail of bullets, so long as others of their kind had a shot at the group—even if it was just one person. They were undoubtedly united in their cause and fearless of death as well. Such an enemy could surely outlast any fighting force. The only thing that could possibly allow the humans to win against such an adversary was strength of arms. Guns and plenty of ammunition—which was dwindling with every barrage.
Joe took notice as he reached for his last clip. "The next break they give us, we're outta here!"
"Where are we going?" Chris asked after firing two shots. "And where's Justin?"
"Justin's at the lookout tower. And that's where we're going. We're taking as many vehicles as we can. They should be fueled up." Joe finished with a three-round burst to an approaching mass of parasites. He then rushed over to a Mongoose and fired it up, retaking his position to sight up more targets. And they just kept coming.
"And what then?" the Kaiser asked. "Take in the scenery?"
Joe took aim, and then lost it an instant later. "…I don't know. He just said there was a better view up there, that's all." He aimed again, fired another short burst.
The Kaiser thought for a moment. He smiled. "It's a good plan."
Their defense wasn't much as they prepared to flee the factory, but the zombies were a comfortable distance away. This allowed Joe to drop out of the ranks of shooters and tend to each Mongoose, firing them all up. He looked around and assessed the scene—the bay, the vehicles and the courtyard. "Okay! Everyone: fire everything you got and then get on an ATV!"
An instant later, the bay and the courtyard outside became one continuous roar as everyone fired at once. An entire wave of zombies and parasites at their feet fell, another wave rushing up from the main tunnel to replace them. Seconds later, dry clicks reached everyone's ears. Their weapons were empty. It was time to leave.
"Go! Go! GO!" Joe shouted.
Everyone ran to the vehicles idling in wait. They all mounted up, goosing the throttle and zooming out into the horror-filled night.
"Follow me!" Joe said from over his shoulder.
To the right, a carpet of parasites emerged from the main tunnel. To the left, across the blood-drenched courtyard, was the great spire and the tunnel beneath it.
-
Justin's Mongoose shone the way, its single headlamp casting a narrow cone of light into the swallowing darkness. They were more than half way to their destination. Layla had pillion, holding on tight to Justin, her arms wrapped around his waist rather than the rear handle. It made her feel safer, and Justin didn't mind her touch either. But his attention was most certainly ahead, searching for any threat in the narrow passageway. The solid walls, floor and ceiling stretched on and on, sucking up the headlamp's luminosity. Justin was careful not to overdrive the headlight. At this speed and RPM, the bulwark around them amplified the Mongoose's growl, making it sound more like a feline driven into a corner—an allegory to their current predicament.
Justin slowed a little and spoke over his shoulder, "Do you know how to fire a gun?"
"My father taught me how. Refresh me a little and I'll kick some ass."
"Okay."
Justin once again placed full attention back to the front. Immediately, he squeezed the brake lever.
Layla peered over his shoulder into the distance, to where the light from the Mongoose just about died out. There, in the middle of the road, were two objects blocking their path. Two figures, vaguely biped, just standing there, not moving.
"Get ready." Justin said.
They started to pulsate, bobbing up and down, walking.
"The entrance to the tower is right there. " Justin said again. "You have to really hold on now."
She squeezed his waist even tighter.
He switched to high beams. It didn't yield that much better of a result, but at least he could blind them for a bit if they were not human. He looked up ahead hard and gave it his best estimate at distance. Not tolerating a chance at second guess, he gunned it. The Mongoose darted forth, its cowling devouring the road in front of it. Layla held on, only squeezed tighter despite the forward inertia wearing off.
As if to confirm Justin's suspicions, he could see the figures up ahead now running at full speed as well. They were zombies.
Justin shouted, "The door is up ahead! Get ready to get off and follow me!"
She nodded, her cheek pushed up against the back of his shoulder.
Justin depressed the brake with all his strength and the ATV's knobby tires chirped once, and then skidded the Mongoose to an abrupt halt.
Justin grabbed Layla's hand. "C'mon!"
She dismounted with him and ran up a curb. Immediately in front of them were the outlines of a door recessed into the wall. Justin pushed it open and they scrambled in. They could hear the echoes of footsteps rapidly approaching, scuffing and stammering towards them. Justin slammed the door shut and held his weight up against it. "Find some lights!" he shouted to Layla.
She searched the room—it was all but totally dark. "I can't see anything!" she replied.
"Here," Justin said, maintaining pressure on the door as he reached into his pocket, "my lighter."
She took it from his hand and sparked it up. "There!" she said. "Pull chain above your head."
With one hand, Justin reached up and gave it a yank. An overhead light flickered on, revealing a cubical room with empty shelves along the walls. More importantly, there was a padlock hanging from the door latch. Justin reached for it and was thrown back as he did—the door flew open on his face. He shoved his foot inwards and caved the door back in, at which point an awful shriek nearly robbed him of hearing. Just outside the door, two zombies could be seen through the peephole, salivating and clawing. They were overpowering.
"Hand me the lock. Quick!"
Layla dashed forth and snatched the lock off the fixture. The door flew open again. Justin used all his might to close it this time, right as one of the creature's arms entered the threshold. The door slammed, breaking the arm clean off. Half of it fell to the floor as the door closed. Layla immediately shoved the lock in placed and snapped it shut. Justin gave the dial one full twist to the left to fully extend the bolt as furious pounding emanated through the hatch not a second later. He took a few breaths, as did Layla.
"We're safe."
"Should we go up top?" she asked.
"Yeah, let's go."
"Oh! Wait! What about the others? They'll be coming this way, won't they?"
"Shit. I forgot about that. Okay…we'll wait here until we hear gunfire. When it gets quiet again, we'll wait for the good guys to knock."
"Sounds easy enough." she said.
-
Joe led the way to the tunnel with Bill, Ken, Chris, Kaiser and all his men rolling out behind him. They had spanned the courtyard quickly in order to get out of sight from the critters crawling into the inner sanctum.
They had just entered the tunnel.
Total, complete and uncompromising emptiness enveloped them. It was pure blackness, with only meager vehicle headlamps attempting to fill it with illumination. What the single light bulbs of the Mongoose flock amounted to was 75 meter's worth of depth perception. Any speed over a glide and they'd be in for a sudden surprise if there was any.
"I hope there's more ammo in the stockyard." Ken said from pillion.
"I hope so too." Joe said. "My gut tells me we're gonna need it soon."
If only Joe knew just how soon it would be.
-
A few minutes went by inside the base of the spire, Justin and Layla just waiting. It felt more like thirty. The room was simple and small, almost confining. There was no other way to go but up.
"I'm gonna go to the top for a look." Justin said. "I'll be back in a minute."
"No, don't leave me here."
Justin thought for a moment. He needed someone to stay here to let the good guys in when they arrived. Then again, the zombies had their ways; there was a chance they could break in, and Layla would be all alone if it happened.
"C'mon."
Justin led Layla to the flight of stairs nestled in the corner of the room. Up they went.
The steps were old, solid stone. The air was heavy with moisture and minerals, most certainly a welcomed change from years of heavy industry and chemical vapor. And the ascent was confining, the width of the rungs only enough to pass one person at a time. The ceiling was especially low as well, as it loomed right above their heads in a way proportional to Traxus IX's cloud-ceiling.
After what seemed like a session of calisthenics, they had finally ascended all 20 flights and reached the top. Justin propped open a wooden hatch and a cold breeze whisked in. He climbed the last few steps and helped Layla reach the summit with an outstretched arm. They now occupied a wide landing, the highest point in the entire city. A slight amount below, the courtyard lights beamed all around the floor of the courtyard, back-reflected light seeping around the edges of their focused fixtures. They were as safe as could be, yet totally isolated from anywhere else by the same token. However, they could see for miles, which was exactly why Justin had come here.
"Here!" Justin said, walking over to one ledge.
Mounted on Northern wall was a rotary scope. From here, they could get a 360 degree view of the lands all around City 17. Justin peered into it and rotated it about to face West, the sleeve bearing inside almost totally rusted as it shrieked with every movement he gave it. He nudged it to a slight downward angle such that it could view the courtyard. It was almost barren of activity. Joe and the others were no longer there, which either meant they had left…or they were dead. The only presence below was the smaller critters, the ones that turned humans into murderous zombies.
Justin let go of the scope and looked to Layla. "Well, wanna go back downstairs and wait for the others?"
"Sure."
Before Justin opened the hatch to descend, a faint glow caught the side of Layla's tender face. It was pleasant orange at first, barely visible in the dark so high up. But it instantly blossomed into an angry red that expanded upon her face, lighting up her eyes. Justin turned to see what it was.
Far out, deep into the northern plain was a massive fireball. It mushroomed high into the air, easily jutting up into the cloud layer where it backlit the foggy mass like a lamp behind Japanese Shoji. Justin stepped back into the scope and swung it about to face due North. A better view now, he could make out the source of the explosion—a chemical processing plant sent ablaze. It was not tied to City 17, too far out. But he could also make out dozens of people running and screaming. And behind all of those people, like an organized wave of an army, were hundreds of men and boys toting weapons, marching down upon the small town.
"What do you see?" Layla asked.
"I see pointless genocide all over again."
"The Kaiser's men?"
"Yes."
"You were here for the first War, right?"
"Yes. I saw it all."
"Why is he doing this? Why are they doing this?"
"Because Kaiser Sergei is their God. And people will kill for their God."
Layla almost had the urge to look into the scope and see for herself, but she took Justin at his word, figured it was senseless war waged by senseless people.
She, like many others, didn't know the real story.
-
Kaiser Sergei trailed just behind Joe and Ken, steadily coasting through the tunnel. He had insisted to his men that he have a Mongoose all to himself. They didn't like the idea at first, their leader being all alone, particularly vulnerable. They usually preferred to keep him shielded from any threat out in the open. But he had assured them back at the factory that it was for the better—if they ran into alien trouble, the Kaiser could escape with speed on his side, and live to fight another day. They then readily agreed in this logic.
Sergei looked at his fuel gauge just to make sure he could at least get somewhere outside City 17 in such an event. He squinted but could not read the gauge. He leaned to one side so a trailing ATV could light up his instrument cluster for him. Now, he saw that he had a little more than half a tank. This, he surmised, was good enough.
Just as he placed his eyes back in front to the road, he was met with a panorama of red. The ATVs in front rapidly approached his own. He nailed the brake. "Shit!" he said. "Stop a little quicker next time. I almost smashed into ya."
"Shh!" Ken said, idling in front.
Joe turned around to face the rest of the pack. "See that?"
Kaiser and all his men looked on ahead, where Ken and Bill's Mongooses headlamps flooded the way. There, standing perfectly still, were two people. But everyone knew better. They weren't people at all. They were zombies. People don't just lollygag in the middle of a road, full of ATVs.
"Fuck." one of the Kaiser's men said. "What do we do?"
"We have no ammunition." Joe announced.
"Can't we just truck 'em?" Chris asked from Bill's pillion.
"You mean…run them over?"
"Yeah!"
"No…it's too risky. They could still fuck you up."
"It's our best option. Their standing in our way. I doubt they'll let us skimp by without a toll."
"You got that right."
"So, what are we gonna do?!" Kasier's man asked again.
"…You heard the kid," Ken said, "truck 'em!!"
Ken twisted the throttle all the way home and the lead Mongoose churned up a rooster tail of dust and exhaust high into the air. He and Joe rapidly accelerated towards the two zombies. Chris, figuring there was strength in numbers and in all the weight they possessed aboard the ATVs, shouted to Bill, "GO!!"
Bill instantly obeyed and followed Ken and Joe. Kaiser and all his men mirrored.
They were all locked in a one-way stampede towards fate.
-
Justin and Layla descended the stairs. With every step, they were met with a subtle echo of their own footfalls. They were surrounded by stone on all sides. It was rather confining, but at least they knew nothing could get to them. They proceeded downwards with confidence.
Layla broke the silence of their descent.
"You're kinda quiet, huh?"
"I don't talk much."
"I've watched you around the factory."
Justin didn't know what to say. "…Okay."
"You've watched me, too."
Justin didn't answer.
"Of all the guys I could be paired with in this mess, I lucked out with you, didn't I?"
"Well, I consider myself a survivor. I've been keeping everyone else alive too."
"So I've heard."
"Wait!" Justin said, stopping short. "Do you hear that?"
Justin and Layla had almost reached the ground floor. "I hear something." she replied.
"C'mon!"
Justin rushed down the last set of landings and pressed an ear up to the door. "It's gotta be them."
Justin could hear something getting louder. It sounded like a swarm of mosquitoes, bitter reminders of the climates on other colonies he toured during his time as a Marine. But he filtered the noise out, realizing that a dense tunnel would distort any sound passing through it. He pictured the noise out in the open rather than confined. It was undoubtedly Mongooses speeding at wide open throttle. "I hope they see them in time." Justin said.
"I'm sure they will." Layla answered. "Hard to miss zombies."
"Ah, the hell with this!" Justin shouted, undoing the door lock.
"You're going outside?!" she yelled.
He pulled the door open and peered out into the tunnel. A flock of headlights shone right into his face and sped ever closer. They were right upon him, the light so intense that he had to close his eyes. There was a loud thwack! And a splash of thick liquid showered his face and seeped into the doorway as the lights faded. He wiped it away and looked down. He was covered in strange fluid, stinking to high heaven. He looked out into the open. Ken, Joe, Bill, Chris and everyone else came rushing to him. A few meters in front laid the corpses of two zombies in the middle of the tunnel—the same zombies that came across his path moments ago.
"Ha!" Ken laughed. "Good timing, Justin! Thought you'd step outside for a zombie entrail shower?"
Everyone burst out into laughter.
"Right, now get in!" Justin shouted. "More will be on the way!"
-
Everyone gathered inside the ground floor of the spire. The room was abuzz with dull conversation as everyone came back to their normal senses. To Justin's discontent, Kaiser and his men were here as well. He leaned over to Joe. "You couldn't ditch him?"
"No. There was no way I could."
"Fine. We'll have to address that later. Is everyone else okay?"
"I think Bill might be a little shaken up, but everyone's okay. No scratches and no critters."
"Good."
Justin started walking up the stairs and a moment later, everyone else followed as if on autopilot. Joe made it a point to be the trailing person, the last to ascend. He also made sure Bill stayed behind as well.
"So does this Sergei fellow know that Justin was the Marine from that day?"
"No. And don't give that away. Only ones who know that are Ken and I, and now you."
"Okay, no problem. Just wanted to stay in the loop of things."
-
Justin cleared the top and waited there in the cold wind for everyone to reconvene.
The next up was Layla, followed by Ken, Chris, and Kaiser Sergei—smirking that typical smile of his as he met Justin's eyes. Everyone else cleared the summit and Bill swung the hatch shut.
Justin waited for a moment for everyone to get used to the scenery. And in perfect silence, he panned over to the Northern horizon. Small patches of fire and smoke still rose upwards from the great explosion earlier. He then looked back to the Kaiser.
"What?" Sergei said with a smile. "Okay, I jumped the gun a little. I assumed you'd come through with the deal, so I ordered my soldiers to begin. I didn't hear from Paulie, it was already too late. Guess it matters little, now. Your spiders have done more work than I could do. But I never forget a business deal, so don't think that just because we're playing 'enemy of my enemy' that you can skate away from your obligation. I want my supplies."
Justin surveyed the mayhem through the scope once again. Shanty homes and vehicles and corpses were on fire, lying facedown in the dirt. And there was no telling when the parasites and zombies would arrive to that giant signal flare. There was even no telling how far along they were by now—maybe to the next city.
"So it comes back to square one, then." Justin said. "Have you learned nothing over the last ten years?"
The distant fires did not reflect in Sergei's eyes as they had in Layla's. But like most people, the blossoming orange and red hues captivated him. He replied flatly,"I wouldn't expect you to understand." without eye contact.
"THI won't have it, you know. They'll send the New Model Army down here again. Is that what you wanted out of all this? Armageddon part two?"
"No. You started Armageddon when you brought your creatures to the surface. My operations are guaranteed not to impact the industry. People worse than us made this world, and it was supposed to be the time to return the favor once all these obstacles to progress were removed."
"We will eradicate this parasite. But you…you couldn't let bygones be fucking bygones. You had to have your empire back or you wouldn't know what to do with yourself. And now we're condemned. Thanks."
"Don't thank me, thank you local administrator."
"That's right, keep going the course. Keep thinking it's all a joke. And then when enough people die, the New Model Army—just like before—comes down here and kills everything in sight."
"It's what they do."
"Yeah, no shit it's what they do."
"I meant my soldiers."
"What, they follow your suicidal orders?"
"Oh please, you did the same when you were a commissioned officer. Yes, that's right, I've heard you were once UNSC. You killed for someone higher up on the totem pole than you. And you probably got some enjoyment out of it, didn't you? You certainly got paid for it, yes?"
"Fuck you. I followed orders because they were lawful and because they meant something. All this," Justin pointed out to the fire-scorched horizon, "means nothing. What's it all for?"
"It means something to them."
Justin glared. There was just no reasoning with Sergei.
"Hey!" Chris shouted. "A light!"
Everyone wheeled around to where Chris was looking—across the square, over the main tunnel, across another courtyard, to the main Admin building. Three stories up and merely a few meters below the cloudy, chemical gloom, a light pulsed on and off.
"It's on the top floor." Ken said. "It's just flashing on and off…wait. That's Morse Code!"
"Who uses that anymore?" Justin asked.
"Pilots."
"Pilots?"
"Among others, yes. Anyone who's required to learn Morse Code usually forgets. It's obsolete, but I can't think of anyone else that would need to know it—especially here."
"Because there are no pilots around here." Justin added.
"Maybe not, but there's people who've had some amount of flight training."
"…Gibson. Can you tell what he's saying?"
"Are you kidding?" Ken said. "I forgot Morse Code long ago."
"Regardless, we still have to get over there. That's our ticket to safety."
-
Again, Justin made ready to set off on another adventure, making little effort to inform those around him of his plans, as usual.
"So…what's the plan now, Justin?" Chris asked.
Justin didn't reply. He just kept feeding round after round of ammunition into any magazine or receiver in sight. "I suggest you all do as I do."
With only slight hesitation, everyone there complied, searching the depths of their pockets for any ammo they might've overlooked in their frantic firefight with the zombie hordes only moments ago. Their searched turned up largely inconclusive, but there was little they could do but wait for whatever Justin deemed the next course of action to be. By the nature of the task at hand, they all assumed it wasn't going to be easy, or quick. With only one person equipped with a loaded weapon, they all felt their luck running dry.
Chris clenched his jaw. "I wish you would tell us all what's going on. We don't have to follow you around all the time, you know."
Justin still didn't answer. He only had the mind for preparation this minute. He was done loading. He reached down and retrieved a handful of shells and tapped each one of them against the butt stock, packing the rounds tight on the backside. Satisfied that there was now little likelihood of a jam, he started feeding cartridges into the receiver and it replied to him in its own way, with a pleasing clack.
"Here's the plan." Justin said, standing up and ignoring Chris' incessant gaze. "We're going to Admin, to the office that was signaling us. We'll get there from over the rampart."
-
Justin found a foothold in the Southwestern face of the spire. He then found another, followed by a handhold. He now had three points of contact with the rock face. He began to descend the face of the spire, repeating the motions. Everyone began to follow. After a grueling forty-meter downward scale, the lot of them reached the curtain wall that adjoined the thick base of the spire. As each one landed, they regarded the periphery of it. The curtain wall spanned the entire perimeter of the city, breaking just where the tunnel ceiling was. The wall had always kept out the bad. Now, it just enclosed it all in.
But they could traverse the top of it to the outer sanctum—the Admin courtyard. In truth, Justin hadn't thought this plan all the way through. It was actually rather half-assed. Surely, they'd remain unscathed by the zombies as they made their way across the wall—so high up. Unnoticed, too. But once on the ground in the Admin courtyard, it was a Graveball field to the building they were headed to, and God only knew what was in between.
They followed Justin, walking in between widely separated parapets along the top of the South Western curtain wall. At regular intervals, they became shielded on either side by waist-high battlements, offering even more protection. In their case, it was concealment that benefited them most. Stretching even further outward from the wall was the occasional machicolation and chaguette architecture, reminiscent of a primitive and brutal medieval era. But in many ways, life on Traxus IX could hardly differ. Why then should its structures differ? The design of the factory-cities was all the same, which might very well have been just another well-informed decision put into effect by corporate executives—one of many insurance policies to protect its high-demand industry. City 17 certainly wasn't going anywhere by virtue of its structures alone. But weather here was hardly hostile, just dead cold and barren.
It was a quiet and gentle walk down the length of the rampart, zombies and parasites milling about down below. They were oblivious to the survivors' presence. And though they needed to maintain stealth and swiftness to their destination, each one of them couldn't help but briefly study the monsters as they walked on by. They lot of them stood or crawled in one place, a certain rhythm to them as if dancing. Justin grabbed Chris by the shirt collar as he stopped to examine them more closely.
They rounded a narrow bend in the rampart, which told Justin they were more than halfway to the end. Soon, the wall would abruptly stop at the entrance to the tunnel. They'd scale down once more, if they could. The face of the curtain wall was perfectly smooth to prevent intruders from climbing it.
They reached the end. Justin turned to face the group.
He whispered, "Alright, it's only seven meters down to the ground. We can all make it. Just remember to let as much of your body take the fall as possible. Bending your knees won't do it; you'll break them if you try that. When you fall, roll into it. Once you hit that ground, it's everyone for themselves. Haul ass to that building." Justin pointed. "I'll go last."
Justin surveyed the land around the wall. There was no zombie in sight, even though they were stealthy little bastards. And Justin's night vision certainly wasn't what it used to be. Nevertheless, they had to move. The factory complex was overrun with death. And whoever was signaling from inside that building knew Morse Code. This meant they possessed some level of knowledge not common in citizens of Traxus IX. This meant good things.
It was time for Justin to see just how much the odds favored them.
"Jump!"