Dead Mech (41 page)

“Shut up, heathen,” a Rancher scolded,
digging the barrel of his carbine into June’s skull. The Ranchers
steered them to the back of the ATV, unlatching the tailgate to
reveal a trussed up man facing the other way. With a little effort
the man was able to roll over and face them.

“Look who it is,” the Boss said. “A shitty
meal and a smelly cunt. Which one should I eat first?”

***

June couldn’t tear her eyes away from
Olivia’s lifeless body as the Rancher ATV passed by, leaving the
corpse to be ravaged by the wasteland.

“You’re just going to leave her there?” June
said. “At least burn the corpse. There’ll be deaders swarming about
in no time.”

“We do not fear the disciples as you
heathens do,” the Rancher driver barked back. “It is the will of
God to feed them and prepare the Earth for the one True
Disciple.”

“Waste of good meat, if you ask me,” the
Boss said, a mocking smile playing at his lips.

June glared.

***

Capreze stood next to Bisby, quite surprised
by the progress the Skinners were making. “For a ‘non-warring’
people, they sure can fight.”

“Yes, I may have misled you before,
Commander,” Mastelo said, moving to join the two men. “We do train
in combat from a young age, so we can defend ourselves against the
dead things if needed.” Mastelo gestured towards Harlow as she
knocked another Skinner to the ground. “But, we are no where near
the skill level of Pilot Harlow.”

Bisby laughed. “Not many are!”

“Yes, my men are finding that out the hard
way,” Mastelo said, smiling.

***

“How much longer must we travel, Montoya?”
Bishop Wyble asked impatiently.

“Several hours, Your Grace,” the Deacon
responded. “I do have good news, though.”

“Pray tell.”

“We have captured the Capreze woman, sir as
she approached the base.”

“Excellent news, Deacon, excellent!”

“There is more, Your Grace,” Montoya
continued. “The Boss was captured also. Apparently he was trying to
beat us to the mech pilot, but, as you well know, Your Grace, his
inferior abilities are no match for our Righteousness.”

“So true, Montoya,” the Bishop praised. “And
His Holiness, the Archbishop? Has he arrived?”

“Within the hour, Your Grace.”

***

Rage filled June as they approached the mech
base and she saw the Rancher transports stationed outside the
hangar. But the rage was tempered with confusion, as UDC troops
stood watch.

“What the hell?” she blurted out. “Why is
the UDC here, also? Where is Capreze and the base staff?”

The Boss eyed June carefully. “That’s right,
you don’t know. Your Daddy got scared and ran. Your mech buddies
didn’t even have enough piss in them to wet themselves, they just
hiked up their pussies and left.” The Boss grinned viciously,
enjoying the look of shocked outrage on June’s face.

***

The Rancher ATV pulled into the hangar and
stopped. Several armed Ranchers approached, ready to unload the
prisoners. But, June ignored them, focusing instead on the many UDC
troops standing stock still about the hangar walls.

“What is wrong with them?” June asked as she
was pulled roughly from the ATV. “They look dead.”

“Shut your heathen mouth!” a Rancher barked.
“You will not speak unless spoken to!” The Rancher slapped June
across the face and grabbed her by the hair. “You will obey and
behave yourself or become our next sacrifice!”

June spit in the man’s eye. “Fuck you.”

***

The boy cried out as June took the butt of
the Rancher’s carbine to her jaw, dropping her to the hangar floor
in a bloody heap. The Boss burst out laughing and didn’t stop as
the Rancher whirled on him.

“What are you laughing at, Boiler?” the
Rancher growled.

The Boss stifled his laughter, but his face
twitched with the effort. “Not much, as far as I can tell.”

The Rancher lashed out, but the Boss stepped
out of reach and the Rancher overbalanced, falling to the
floor.

The Boss couldn’t hold it in any longer and
hooted with delight.

***

Ranchers pounced on the Boss, fists pumping.
He continued laughing until finally the blows were too much and he
succumbed to unconsciousness.

The first Rancher, Deacon Stern, picked
himself off the ground and planted a swift kick into the Boss’s
midsection. “Take this Boiler piece of shit to a holding cell.” He
wiped blood from his nose and flicked it onto June. “Take the
Capreze whore to Reverend Heath in the control room. Her handprint
should unlock more systems.”

Grabbing the boy, he yanked him to the side
of the hangar, shackling him to mini-mech Two. “You’re for the
Archbishop.”

***

Reverend Heath scowled as June was thrown to
the floor in front of him. “And, what Brother, is this?”

The Rancher guard shrugged. “Some mech pilot
that was found. Deacon Stern said you’d want her hand to unlock the
base’s systems.”

Two Ranchers seated at the control room’s
consoles spun about in their chairs to look at June. Reverend Heath
squatted next to her and grabbed her by the face. “Is this true?
Can your print access the system?”

June narrowed her eyes, but before she could
speak, Heath had a blade against her throat. “Think carefully when
answering, heathen.”

***

“Why should I willingly help you?” June
asked. Reverend Heath pulled his hand and blade away from June and
stood back.

“Because all I have to do is take this knife
and slice your hand off. I really don’t need the rest of you,” he
answered, his eyes never leaving June’s.

“You think that hasn’t been thought of? The
hand needs to be body temperature for it to work,” June said.

“And do you think this is the first system
of its kind I’ve come across? I’ll have that hand off and on the
scanner before it loses a degree.”

***

June could see from the casual looks on the
Rancher techs’ faces that Reverend Heath had in fact followed
through on his threat before.

“I think I’ll keep the hand,” she said.

Heath grinned, sheathing his knife. “Great.”
He reached down and pulled June to her feet, shoving her to the
control console. “If you’ll do the honors we can have you out of
here and back to whatever Hell they have planned out there for your
heathen soul.”

June made a show of shaking her bound hands.
“A little help?”

Heath laughed. “Again you take me for a
novice.”

***

Heath turned June around and grasped her
right hand, placing it above the scanner pad. “Now, before I go any
further, are there any protocols I need to know about? I’d hate to
be locked out further because a step slipped your mind.”

“No, my print is all you need,” June
responded.

“That better be true, otherwise I’ll make
sure you are still alive as you’re systematically dismembered for
the Archbishop’s entertainment.”

“Just the print,” June insisted.

Heath eyed her for a moment then shrugged
and placed her hand on the pad as June hoped Jethro had some backup
plan.

***

Jethro’s tablet bleeped. “Whoa whoa whoa
WHOA!” he cried as he examined the data.

“Something I should know about?” Capreze
asked, stepping to Jethro’s wheelchair.

“Yeah, all the base’s advanced systems have
just been accessed,” Jethro answered. “And that isn’t possible
unless…”

He trailed off, flicking from screen to
screen on his tablet.

“Unless what, Jethro?” Capreze asked
impatiently.

“Huh? Oh,” Jethro responded flipping the
tablet around so Capreze could see. “Unless the system is
physically unlocked by a hand scan, sir.”

Capreze read the name on the tablet. “What
does that mean?”

“It means June came home,” Jethro
answered.

***

Capreze wheeled Jethro back into the
transport. Jethro immediately brought up the vid feed from
mini-mech Two.

“Doesn’t look like any new activity,”
Capreze stated studying the Rancher movement in the hangar.

“No, they still look like they’re getting
ready for the Archbishop,” Jethro said. He panned the image back
and forth. “Nothing.”

“Wait, go back,” Capreze said leaning in
close. “What’s that?”

Jethro studied the image for a minute then
pulled out and focused on a reflection upon some sheet metal across
the hangar. Mirrored in the reflection Jethro could see the
mini-mech and the boy shackled to it.

***

June was thrown roughly into the cell with
the Boss. The cannibal didn’t move, letting June fall atop him.
“Oh, Heaven has delivered!” the Boss laughed.

“I should kill you for that blasphemy,
Boiler!” the Rancher guard snapped.

“Hmmm, pretty sure there’s a line formed for
that privilege,” the Boss mocked.

The Rancher glared and secured the cell
before leaving the two alone.

June, her hands still bound, thrashed and
rolled away from the Boss.

“Ahhh, I was working up a chubby just for
you.”

June righted herself into a seated position.
“Please, there’s nothing chubby about your tiny prick.”

***

A Rancher wheeled in a large vid screen and
set it before the bars of the holding cell.

“Will there be snacks?” the Boss asked. The
Rancher didn’t respond, just turned on the screen and left. The vid
screen flicked to life and the image of Bishop Wyble’s face
appeared.

“Boss, hello, I’m so glad you could join
us,” the Bishop grinned. “And you’re exactly how I’d always
pictured: caged like the animal you are.”

The Boss glowered silently.

“Did I hurt your feelings, Boiler? Oh, well.
Not to worry, I have something special planned for you. And Ms.
Capreze.”

***

“Where is June?” Capreze asked. “Can’t you
access the base’s security?”

“No, sir. Like I said before, not without
alerting the Ranchers to our presence,” Jethro answered.

“Two is separate, though, right? If they did
catch us in the system, they wouldn’t know about Two, correct?” the
Commander asked.

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Fine, then who fucking cares who we alert!
I’ve already thrown down the gauntlet. And we gain nothing by
keeping our heads down.” Capreze grinned. “So, how about you rip as
much info from the base as you can and then trash it all?”

“Sounds fun,” Jethro smiled.

***

“Because of the Archbishop’s age, he has
certain appetites,” Bishop Wyble said.

“The Boss knows all about appetites,” June
stated.

“I imagine he does!” Bishop Wyble laughed
heartily. “To continue, one of his appetites is witnessing the
glorious spectacle of two of God’s creatures pitted against each
other. To the death, of course.”

“What is it with you fucking cults and your
need for death matches?!?” June shouted. “Can’t you sick fucks just
play cards?!?”

“Instead of wasting your folk, you’re gonna
let him watch the princess and I scrap it out, right?’ the Boss
said.

“Precisely,” the Bishop grinned.

***

“How soon can you start?” Capreze asked
Jethro as the mechanic furiously typed at his console.

“30 minutes,” Jethro answered. “I need to
optimize the assault or they’ll block me out before I can get to
the core.”

“And once you get there?’

“I’ll be able to make our system useless to
them and shred any of their systems they may have connected,”
Jethro answered. He stopped typing and looked at Capreze. “I’ll
also be able to activate the base’s self-destruct.’

“Not with June inside,” Capreze
responded.

Jethro just stared.

Capreze narrowed his eyes. “Not with June
inside,” he insisted.

***

“If you think I’m going to go along with
this shit, you both are crazier than I thought,” June snorted.

“It’s you or that grotesque boy you’ve
become attached to,” the Bishop threatened.

A Rancher approached. “Your grace? The
Archbishop’s transport has arrived.”

“Delightful!” the Bishop cried. “Wheel my
screen outside so I can greet him personally.”

“Yes, Your Grace,” the Rancher responded,
taking a hold of the vid screen cart.

“Well, good luck you two,” the Bishop said,
his voice diminishing as the screen was wheeled away. “Try to make
things entertaining for His Holiness, if you don’t mind!”

***

The Boss chuckled, was silent, then chuckled
again.

“What?” June asked knowing the Boss was
setting her up.

“It’s funny,” the Boss answered.

June sighed. “What’s funny?”

“Well, how you’re afraid to face me, that’s
all.”

June closed her eyes, trying to get her
anger in check.
Don’t let the fucker bait you
, she
thought.

“Really? That’s how you see it?” June asked,
sounding bored.

The Boss turned his full gaze on June.
“That’s how it is. You can take on my men, you can kill an old
woman and even kill Chunks, but you can’t handle a real man.”

***

Bishop Wyble’s screen was wheeled outside
just as the ramp to the Archbishop’s transport touched the
ground.

“Turn me around you fool!” the Bishop
ordered and the Rancher scrambled to face the screen towards the
transport.

A Page descended the ramp and puffed up his
chest.

“Let all of us rejoice,” the Page bellowed.
“I present Heaven’s Ambassador, His Holiness, The Archbishop!”

All present clapped loudly and then fell to
one knee as a boy of fourteen, dressed in ornate robes appeared.
“True believers, in the name of the Father, the son and the True
Disciple, I bless you all!”

The Archbishop, followed closely by Bishop
Wyble’s wheeled vid screen, marveled at what would have been the
Rookie’s mech.