Aliens Versus Zombies (19 page)

FronCar, still annoyed at having had to return to the surface only hours after his last visit, stood inside the temporary command center set up by
Unit Commander GlebTorl weeks ago. It wasn’t fancy, but it was spacious enough for the needs of the dozens of people supervising the colonization effort. The large windows, shattered at some point in the past, had been replaced with the sturdy transparent polymer used by the Drahtch for that purpose.

The indigene trash had been hauled away and replaced with all of the technology needed to run a command center. People scurried about looking busy, and perhaps they were. After all, FronCar was here to find out what was going on under the city in those tunnels.

He watched the multiple holographic images transmitted from the helmets of the various hunting parties. FronCar wasn’t about to let another fiasco like the BlexJasp one happen again.

There were now hundreds of troops scouring the tunnels from one end to the other for indigenes. Once secured, the tunnels would be sealed off. The indies would no longer be able to use them to move about unseen.

If any “smart” indies lived down there, they wouldn’t be alive for long, even with their projectile weapons. As for the other kind, well, those vermin would be taken care of, one way or another. If the troops didn’t kill them, the virus almost certainly would.

It wouldn’t be long now before the first indies began dropping from the hyperallergy.

* * * *

Geoff and Daniels had lunch together in the dank basement where the humans were holed up. It stank of mildew and had puddles along one wall. It had seemed like a decent place to live in temporarily when it was scouted two days earlier—but that was before the rain exposed the leaks around the window.

But they were here now and they had to figure out what to do next.

“Well, we can’t use the subway tunnels anymore, now that the aliens know about them,” Daniels said.

“Damn straight.”

“Moose has been saying for months that it was time to hightail it for greener pastures. I think I finally agree with him. The aliens are buttoning up the city neighborhood by neighborhood, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it. They’ll find us sooner or later if we hang around much longer.”

Geoff nodded. “I concur. We’re done here. All we can hope to do is slink out of town with our tails between our legs and hope we don’t get spotted. Pisses me off, though. This is
our
town,
our
planet. They have no right!”

“Hey, I feel the same way. But it’s a cold, cruel galaxy out there. Might makes right. They have the might, so they have the right. Doesn’t mean I like it any better than you do.”

“So, we’re agreed. It’s time to leave. The big question now is how do we do it?”

“I’ve been think about it, but I don’t have any great answers. Obviously, the fastest and easiest way would be to take some cars or a bus and drive off. The problem is, if we’re seen, it’ll be obvious that we’re not aliens, and they’ll hit us with everything they’ve got. On the other hand, we could walk out, but that’s really slow and dangerous. Too many Zoms out there to be wandering around unprotected, with no guarantee of finding a safe shelter at night. And we have kids and seniors with us who can’t move fast or walk far. And if a column of people get spotted by aliens, then we’re even more exposed than if we’re in a bus, with nowhere to go.”

“So what do y’all suggest, then?” Geoff asked.

“Well, I said I didn’t have any great answers. I didn’t say I didn’t have
an
answer. But it sure wouldn’t be my first choice.”

“And what’s that?”

“We need a fast-moving vehicle to get away in. But as I said, any car, truck, or bus we use would stick out like a sore thumb. So we need a vehicle that won’t stick out.”

Geoff frowned. “I don’t follow. What would that be?”

“We need to steal an alien vehicle.”

“Steal—? You insane, boy? They don’t exactly leave them things parked at the curb with the keys in the ignition.”

“I’ve noticed. I said it wouldn’t be my first choice. It won’t be easy. Hell, it might get us all killed. But I don’t see a better alternative, do you?”

Geoff thought for a few seconds, before sighing. “No…but even if we’re crazy enough to try it, how do y’all propose we drive off in the thing? We have no idea how the technology works, let alone how to start it, steer, brake, and so on.”

Daniels shrugged. “I don’t think it matters
how
the technology works. You don’t have to understand internal combustion engines to drive a minivan. Besides, I figure if the things are designed to be driven by soldiers, rather than scientists or engineers, they’d probably want to make them idiot-proof, like we do with most of the general-purpose weapons. You make a gun too hard to fire, reload, or clean, and someone’s gonna get killed because of it. So, we kill the troops riding on one, and figure out how to use it when we get there.”

Geoff sighed again. “I hope yore right. We could lose a bunch of people in the attempt. So, what happens if instead of a key to start it they use biometrics—like a thumbprint or voice or retinal eye scan? Then we’re screwed.”

“True, but I doubt they’d do anything like that. What if the driver is killed? The other soldiers would have to be able to drive it. And I can’t see them setting up every vehicle to recognize every soldier. Too much bother. No, I think it’ll be pretty simple to start and operate. We just have to figure out how, pretty quickly, before any reinforcements arrive, and then hotfoot it out of town.”

“I sure hope you’re right. Have you thought about the fact that the alien trucks aren’t big enough to hold thirty of us?”

“Yeah, that’s a problem. But if we drop everything but weapons, and everyone stands in the back, I think we can just fit everyone. We only have to get to the next hole-in-the-wall town where we can hotwire some other vehicles and then we’re in business.”

“Sounds like y’all have an answer for everything.”

Daniels laughed. “Not even close. We’ll be winging it every step of the way.”

“Then we better get started plannin’ how we’re gonna wing it.”

* * * *

“I think we just found some of those so-called smart indies they’ve been talking about.” The driver pointed ahead.

On the sidewalk, a bonfire burned bright. Sticks crackled and fiery ashes floated off into the sky.

Subregulator SlokZerl spoke into his communicator to the seven men in the back of the open vehicle. “Fan out in pairs. I’ll be joining you. Start on the side with the fire. If we find nothing, we’ll cross the street and look there. Keep your wits about you.” He turned to the driver. “Wait here. This shouldn’t take long.”

They jumped out of the vehicle and joined the others. SlokZerl pointed at two of the soldiers to go left and the rest to go right.

Before they could do more than turn to face the houses beyond the bonfire, the windows lit up with flashes: muzzle flashes from various weapons.

As he fell, mortally wounded, he thumbed his radio. “Alert, alert. SlokZerl here.” He coughed and attempted to clear his lungs of blood. “Indies—” He paused for a wracking cough. “Weapo—” That was as far as he got before a shotgun blast took off half his face.

Seconds later, the driver took two rifle shots to the chest as he exited the vehicle to defend his colleagues.

* * * *

“They’re down! Everyone converge on the truck. Now!” Daniels, now outside, windmilled his free arm to hurry everyone along. He ran to the driver’s side of the vehicle.

As they passed the downed aliens, two of them still twitching, several of the humans took another shot. They, too, had lost friends and family to the aliens.

“Everybody on board. Hurry! Don’t waste ammo.”

He jumped into the driver’s seat and stared at the controls. “Holy shit.”

There were no buttons, dials, or knobs. Just a shiny black surface. Now what?

Chrissy slid next to him from the other side. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go!”

“Um, this may be a bit trickier than I thought. I have no idea how to start it. Or even
where
to start it.” He pondered what to do next.

“Touch it. Maybe it’s pressure-sensitive or heat-sensitive, or something.”

He touched it with the tip of a finger. Then he tried his palm. Then swiping a finger across the surface. Nothing. He looked at Chrissy. “Any other ideas?”

She shrugged. “Hell if I know. Just do
something
. Try waving your hand over it.

He did and then jumped in his seat when a 3D holographic image appeared above the surface. It was in the shape of a cube with nine cubes within it, stacked three by three by three.

“Cool,” Chrissy said.

“Now what?” His hand hovered indecisively.

“Jeez, ya baby. Scoot over and let me try.”

He jumped out of the vehicle and went around to the other side as Chrissy took his place.

She pointed a finger inside the big cube at the small one in the center. The display changed to a sort of control panel with unidentified lights on it. Al least, not identifiable in English. Squiggles appeared to float above and below the indicator lights. “Probably markings that identify the lights in alienish.”

She pointed at one light and moved her finger up and down. The roof-mounted lights brightened and dimmed.

“Cool,” she repeated. She tried a few more lights, then waved away the hologram and started over with the original cube. She played with those virtual controls for a moment to see what they did as well. Then she tried another cube and played with those controls.”

“How do know how to do all that stuff?”

“It’s pretty intuitive, once you figure out the paradigm. Didn’t you ever play VR games as a kid?”

“Sure, immersive virtual reality projected onto goggles, not actual holograms with some sort of gesture-sensitive 3D interface. This is way beyond me.”

“It’s kinda fun, actually. Give me a few more minutes and I’ll have the hang of this.”

“I don’t know if we have a few more minutes. We need to get moving.”

“Hang on, I think I’m getting close. Hells, yeah!”

The engine hummed to life.

Chrissy grinned. “See, I’m more than just another pretty face.”

Daniels smiled, “You certainly are.”

Something about the way he said that caught Chrissy’s ear. She’d have to revisit this at a later time. Was he expressing interest in her? No time to think about that now.

“Don’t go celebrating yet,” Daniels admonished. Aren’t you missing something?”

“Missing?” She looked around to see what he might be referring to. “What do you—? Oh. Ha. Yeah.”

There was no steering wheel.

“How do we steer this thing?” he asked.

She frowned for a moment as she looked around. “Ah. I think I know.” She put her hand on a domed area of the “dashboard” just to the right of the control surface. “What, you never used a trackball before?”

She grinned. “This is so cool!” The surface was solid, yet yielded to a gentle touch. She pushed with the heel of her hand, and the vehicle began moving forward. Pulling back with her finger tips slowed it down until it stopped. She pushed again and found that the speed remained constant once she stopped pushing. “It’s like cruise control!” she gushed. “And a little pressure to one side or the other turns the thing. It’s like power brakes and power steering, but it doesn’t require any effort at all. A five-year-old could drive this thing.”

Daniels smiled. “Well, right now you’re the five-year-old. So drive. Get us the hell out of here. The interstate is a couple miles ahead and then we can boogie. The next town is only about twenty miles from here, but there’s no telling how the roads are up ahead.”

“You got it, boss!”

* * * *

“Sir!” Senior CommTech YoldWab ran up to Unit Commander GlebTorl. FronCar stood beside him. “Sir, we just got an Alert call from Subregulator SlokZerl. It was somewhat garbled. It sounded like he said something about indies and weapons, but there were loud noises in the background, from projectile weapons, I presume. We attempted to clean up the call by canceling out the weapon sounds as much as possible.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Yes, sir.” YoldWab held up a storage device and waved his hand over it. SlokZerl’s voice repeated the message.”

“It sounds to me,” FronCar said, “as if he was warning us that they’d found the armed indies.”

“I agree,” said GlebTorl with a nod.

“Have you attempted to confirm with the Regulator?”

“Yes, sir. He’s not responding, and neither is anyone else from that vehicle.”

FronCar frowned. “Bring up a satellite image of the vehicle.”

The CommTech returned to his console and after a few seconds, a holographic image of the street where the vehicle sat appeared overhead. There was a large fire nearby. It was enough to show the vehicle, but not much detail.