Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy) (31 page)

“Former Outpost Commander Stephen LaFrance!” LaFrance shouted. “This is former Outpost Engineer Cassidy Campbell. We are no threat, believe me.”

“Outpost?” Lt. Murphy asked as he studied the two Canadians and the dogs. “What outpost?”

“Outpost Tango Charlie,” LaFrance answered. “Canadian gateway to the wasteland.”

“Canadians?” Sol asked tensely, his finger moving a millimeter closer to the trigger. “Too bad for you.”

“Oh, and why’s that?” Campbell snapped, her rifle still to her shoulder.

“Because we’re headed to kill some Canadians,” Murphy said. “Looks like you may be the first.”

“I don’t think so,” LaFrance smiled. “We’re not the Canadians you’re looking for, trust me. Plus, we have a mutual friend.”

“I’ve never met a Canadian in my life,” Murphy said. “Didn’t even know they existed until a couple days ago. So nice try.”

“You do know the AI Shiner, though, right?” LaFrance asked. “He seemed to know you.”

“Shiner?” Sol said quietly for Murphy’s ears only. “How could they know that AI? The mech was blown to pieces during the Stronghold assault.”

“I can see the wheels grinding along in your heads from here!” LaFrance said. “But you have to believe me. We’re on the same side.”

Lt. Murphy sighed and motioned for them to come forward. “Ok. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. We’ll secure you in the Hybrid until we confirm your story. But let me ask you this.”

“Yes?” LaFrance replied.

“Where is Shiner?”

“Ah, yes, that is the unfortunate part.”

***

“They what?” Bisby asked as he pushed his mech into a run, ready to cover more ground and get to the fight as soon as possible. “Shiner? Impossible!”

“That’s what they say,” Lt. Murphy replied over the com. “This LaFrance guy had intel that only Shiner would know.”

“Unless the Canadians have had us all under surveillance,” Harlow interrupted.

“They have,” Murphy confirmed. “LaFrance admitted as much.”

“And they have dogs?” Bisby asked. “Why the fuck would they have dogs?”

“The engineer Campbell is their handler, I guess,” Murphy replied. “They use sleds up north. The dogs pull the sleds. Helps them get across the snow faster than ATVs.”

“Snow?” Harlow marveled. “It snows up there?”

“They don’t have the climate issues we do,” Murphy said. “In fact that seems to have been the Canadians priority: keep the shield strong and the wasteland from spreading.”

“Wonder what this mech would do in the snow?” Harlow asked. “That would be something to see.”

“Kafar has already been asking them those questions,” Murphy laughed. “They both want to know what a ‘real’ wasteland mech is like. Guess our Hybrid isn’t flash enough for them.”

“It isn’t flash enough for anyone,” Bisby said. “Bring ‘em to me, I’ll show them a real mech.”

“Yours is missing a fucking arm, Biz,” Harlow laughed. “And looks like it’s been rust fucked by a horde of deaders. They can look in awe at mine.”

“Whatever,” Bisby said. “Just get back to us ASAP.”

“They’re closer to the rail,” Marin said as she joined the conversation. “We’ll pick them all up. The Hybrid is designed to hitch a ride.”

“A real mech doesn’t need to hitch a ride,” Bisby grumbled.

“You’re starting to sound like that Maker guy,” Harlow said. “You gonna start your own cult? The Biz-natches?”

“Fuck off.”

“We’re not hitching a ride, people, so chill the fuck out,” Murphy said. “We’ll be on your trail right fucking quick. Don’t have all the fun without us.”

Thirty-Eight

“You think your family could get more fucked up?” Jenny asked as she walked shoulder to shoulder with Dog, their eyes scanning the dark corridor for movement, the smell of deaders telling them they were close.

“Probably,” Dog replied. “They do keep showing up. Just when I think I have a handle on who I am I get kicked in the old family jewels.”

“Would you have preferred that I had not said anything?” Agnatha asked from a few steps behind them. “I did not have to, but I wanted you to know who you are dealing with when you leave the Maze.”

“If we leave the Maze,” Dog said. “You said that it’s a fuck ton harder to get out than to get in. It was pretty fucking hard getting in.”

“But you were only one,” Agnatha responded. “Now you have the power of the slits behind you.”

A girl of about seventeen came running up to them, her body covered in gore; her sword just as stained.

“How many?” Agnatha asked.

“Most of them,” the girl replied.

“The Mayor has tampered with the Maze,” Agnatha stated. “He must have known that I would reveal who I was. I will not live through this.”

“What? Why?” Dog asked. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“We will get you through the deaders,” Agnatha said. “It will be hard, but it will happen.” She took a deep breath. “Then you and your woman will leave the Maze and he will send men in here to kill me and probably most of the other slits. A new batch will be brought down, ones that haven’t had the years some of us have had to re-think our place in Eden.”

“Cleaning house,” Dog said. “Yeah, the Boss would do the same thing. He’d kill half his guards on a whim and replace them. It kept everybody on edge and wary, more concerned with staying alive than actually being alive.”

***

The moans and growls of the deaders grew louder and louder as they raced through the Maze towards their prey. They had spotted the wounded slit and the smell of food had driven them into a frenzy. They shoved and jousted for position, each one wanting to be at the front so they could get to the meat when it was fresh, warm, still throbbing.

The slit cried for help, her voice terrified, the fear driving the deaders after her even faster. She ran as fast as she could, leaving behind large drops and smears of blood on the floor and walls of the Maze. Some of the more desperate deaders stopped to lick at the droppings, their dried, crusty tongues lapping at the salty nectar. But most of the horde pushed on, their need for the flesh compelling them to keep moving.

The food was so close, so very close.

“NOW!” Agnatha yelled from above as the deader horde rushed by underneath them.

Dog leapt from the place he’d been hiding, held aloft by a thin sling made from what he assumed was deader skin. Perfect to keep the ones below from sniffing them out. He landed in the middle of the horde and his sword swung and slashed, taking heads and limbs off with ease.

For the first time in a long time, Dog had a purpose. He knew his place; he knew his future. He knew what he needed to do for Agnatha and the other women and girls. And for Eden as a whole.

As long as he survived.

And those thoughts drove him on. He let loose with everything he had. His entire life experience solidified at once. When he’d entered the Maze he had let the Rookie fall away and he had embraced Dog. As he shredded deaders, sending them to their final deaths, he knew he’d made the right choice. No longer were conflicting voices in his head; no longer was he clouded with self-doubt, self-loathing.

He had a people.

Agnatha and the other slits fell on the deaders with a ferocity that few had in the wasteland and Dog would know. Most of his life had been nothing but unbridled ferocity.

He had a life.

Jenny found him in the mass of congealed blood and dead flesh and they stood back to back, rotating when needed, ducking, dodging, hacking, slashing, as if they knew how each other would move.

He had love.

A slit screamed as she was taken down, the numbers too much for her. Her intestines were ripped from her belly and passed from one hungry mouth to another, feet upon feet of warm, pulsing food. None of the other slits moved in to help her, well aware that when you went down in the Maze, you stayed down in the Maze.

“Push them forward!” Agnatha ordered and the slits started to shift their direction taking the horde with them along the corridor.

Dog grabbed Jenny by the hair and pulled her backwards as the deadly sharp claws of a deader swiped at her throat. He shoved her back up and she slashed down, taking the hand off at the wrist. The deader snarled at her, it’s jaws open and ready to snap, when Dog rammed his sword through its skull. Jenny shoved and the sword came free.

They turned and continued their push, each step taking them closer and closer to the goal and to freedom.

***

Dripping with black blood, Jenny and Dog stood at the exit to the Maze, their eyes locked on the vid cam that stared down at them.

“Open the fucking door!” Dog shouted. “I have my woman!”

“You will pay for saying that,” Jenny whispered.

“Gotta talk the talk in Eden,” Dog said. “They won’t open up otherwise.”

Dog and Jenny waited, their guts churning with apprehension. If it took much longer then their plan would fail. The vid cam would see everything and the door would never open.

“HEY!” Dog roared. “I said to open up!”

Just when Dog was sure they’d been figured out he heard the locks and bolts being thrown and a bright sliver of light, followed by a blinding deluge, filled the exit of the Maze.

“Damn,” the guard said as he walked inside. “You actually made it. Didn’t see that coming.”

“You have something for me to sign?” Dog said as he walked forward, Jenny in tow. “Let’s get this fucking shit done.”

The guard nodded. “Sure, sure.” He hesitated as he looked over his shoulder. “You let any follow you?”

“I killed them all,” Dog said. “Fucking look at me.”

“No, I mean the slits,” the man said as he backed out of the door. “Wouldn’t want to get jumped. How about we get you straightened out out here?”

“Fucking gladly,” Dog said. “Come on, woman.”

Jenny had to fight with every cell of her body not to smack him.

They both blinked in the light of the day as they walked from the Maze and the door closed behind them.

“Clean her up and she’ll be looking nice,” the other guard said. “I’d brave the Maze for that piece.”

“I’d stay in there if I knew you were coming for me,” Jenny snapped.

“Oh, damn!” the first guard laughed. “She’s got some serious spirit!”

“Where’s my uncle?” Dog asked. “Figured he’d be here to meet me.”

“He’s on his way,” the second guard said. “He was watching the fights.”

A knock came at the door and both guards looked at it, stunned. They turned and looked at Dog and he just shrugged. One of the guards brought the vid cam up on his tablet, but the image was nothing but wavy static.

“Thought you said none of them followed,” the first guard asked.

“I never said that,” Dog smiled. “You just assumed that.”

“Pretty fucking stupid if you ask me,” Jenny said.

“That mouth is gonna need correcting,” the second guard warned. “If your boy here ain’t man enough to do it then I’ll be happy to oblige.”

The knock came again.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” Dog asked.

“That door stays closed,” the first guard laughed. “You think I’m stupid?”

“No,” Dog smiled as he bounced slightly on his toes and rolled his neck, eliciting some serious cracks. “I think you’re dead.”

Jenny leapt at the second guard while Dog moved on the first one. Jenny landed two hard punches to the guard’s face before he backhanded her and kicked her in the stomach, knocking the breath from her. She stumbled back, but recovered before he was on her. She went down on a knee and her fist met the man’s crotch. It was his turn to go breathless as he crumpled to the ground.

Dog stood by and smiled. He’d snapped his guard’s neck in a blink. The man probably never knew he was under attack.

“You gonna finish him off?” Dog asked.

“Nah,” Jenny said as she got up and opened the Maze door. The women all spilled out past her, their hands shielding their eyes. Once the door was clear she grabbed the guard’s legs and dragged him into the Maze. She shut and bolted the door. “Why waste a chance for a good correcting?”

***

“They are on to us,” Agnatha stated. “There is no resistance.”

“Yeah, I did think the deserted streets was kinda strange,” Dog responded as the group walked cautiously through the streets of Eden. “Where is everyone?”

“I don’t know,” Agnatha said as she motioned for the women to fan out and check the buildings and homes. “If it is a trap it is bizarre one.”

“No one here,” a woman called out as she came out of a small shop. “Lights off.”

More and more women reported the same. By the looks of it Eden was deserted.

“What the hell is that?” Jenny asked as she pointed to a rock in the middle of the street holding down a piece of paper.

“I’ll bet it’s for me,” Dog said as he held his hand up. The women all stopped and Dog walked slowly to the rock, his eyes scanning the buildings around him, watching the windows and rooftops, waiting for the ambush.

But nothing stopped him from approaching the rock. He lifted it up and grabbed the paper before it fluttered away in the slight breeze.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Dog said. He walked back to the group and handed the paper to Jenny. She read it and then handed it to Agnatha.

“Why bother with any of this shit if this is where it all leads?” Jenny asked.

“I don’t know,” Dog said.

“Because he needs it to be official,” Agnatha said. “Change must be fought for in Eden.”

“I’m trained for combat and nothing but combat,” Dog said. “So why risk his life?”

Agnatha grinned. “He has to show that you are the right choice. Even if it kills him.”

“Whatever,” Dog replied. “Guess I don’t really have a choice.”

“You do not,” Agnatha said as she turned to her women. “The arena. That is where all of Eden awaits.”

***

The Mayor was waiting for the group at the entrance to the arena, flanked by his wives and several guards.

“Good to see you made it,” the Mayor grinned. “I wasn’t sure for a bit there. You had a rough go of it.” He exchanged a quick glance with Agnatha.