The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion Book 2) (30 page)

“And overrun.” Torran switched on his weapon light and brushed the illumination over the area. Dark stains were everywhere. Most likely, it was blood.

“MacDonald, clear a path while we cover you,” Lindsey directed.

Attaching his weapon to his armor, Torran started swiftly stacking the stuff to clear a path. Glancing at the next portion of their climb, he hesitated. The glass canopy was gone and snowflakes fell through the gap onto the steps. The escalator was bunched into an ugly snarl of metal. To bypass the area, they’d have to climb over the ruins.

“Vanguard Rooney, this isn’t going to be easy.”

Lindsey stepped next to him and scrutinized the situation. “Shit.”

The metal steps were twisted and misshapen, exposing the damaged chains underneath. The rubber that covered the handrails lay in big loops over the devastation. Charred luggage, large pieces of metal and glass from the canopy, and scorched bodies made the situation even more harrowing.

“Grenade,” Franklin decided. “Someone set off a grenade.”

“Our best chance is to climb the center rail,” Lindsey decided. She clambered onto the wide rails set side by side, and she stood, staring at the debris. It reached as high as the broken ceiling in several places. “Yeah, this is our only way up and over.”

Torran scrambled up behind her, allowing her to lead the way. Lindsey’s analytical mind would probably help them through the ruined area much faster anyway. Lindsey treaded carefully along the handrail.

“How badly compromised is the area?” Torran wondered.

Continuing to cautiously inch upward, Lindsey squatted to peer at the beginning of the damage. Torran and Franklin paused as Lindsey lifted her pad for a scan.

“The escalator took the brunt of the explosion and obviously the roof. The frame is intact, but there are some fractures along the flooring and walls.” Lindsey stood and tucked her tablet away. Glancing over her shoulder, she flashed a smile as she shrugged. “In other words, let’s hope it holds.” With that comment, she started to gingerly find footing and hand holds amid the mound of debris and pulled herself up.

The wind blew through the exposed roof and buffeted the three soldiers as they climbed. Snow began to whirl about their heads and settle onto their helmets. Torran cautiously tested each spot before advancing. The sharp metal and glass made the climb precarious. Lindsey reached the apex of the mangled vestiges of the escalators and paused. Torran also hesitated when she glanced back at him.

“We have to jump across to the next landing,” she said in a breathless voice.

Immediately, Torran’s gut clenched into a tight knot. “Vanguard, let me move up and go first.”

Beneath their bodies, the structure was creaking.

“No, MacDonald. Hold your position. This area is not very secure. It’s a little over a meter jump. The problem is this shifting crap under me.”

Struggling to not give into temptation and check to see how far they might fall, Torran searched for a different option. The metal creaked and the wind whistled loudly, making him even more afraid. He considered retreating to give himself more time to analyze their predicament. Maybe they could hold position at their location until they could discern a better way around the obstacle.

“We can’t stay here,” Franklin declared. It was as if she was reading his thoughts.

“Just long enough to figure a way past this mess,” he replied.

“We can’t,” Franklin persisted. “They’re inside.”

Torran gave her a sharp look and recognized she was deadly serious. Torran increased the volume of his external mic and listened. What he’d first presumed to be the wind howling through the roof was actually something much more terrifying. It was the screech of the Scrags. Since the tube was soundproofed and they were too high to hear the herd at ground level, that meant they were inside the structure.

“Confirm they are inside,” Lindsey ordered.

“They’re inside,” Torran grimly answered.

The noise was swelling, getting louder, or maybe he could hear it more clearly now that he was aware.

“Then we have no choice,” Lindsey decided.

Torran turned about just in time to see her jump.

Chapter 28

When Lindsey leaped, she felt the wind tearing at her body and, for a frightening moment, was convinced that she’d be flung by the gust to the ground. Holding her breath, she sailed through the air over the gap between the wrecked escalator and the landing across from it. The river and the mass of Scrags in the road far below looked almost like a painting beneath her feet. If she fell, she would be dead the second she hit the water or the ground. Then the panorama was obscured by warped metal, dingy cement and broken tiles, and Lindsey crashed onto the landing. Momentum carried her forward and she rolled her body into a tight ball to keep from injury. Coming to a stop at the base of the next set of escalators, she raised her head to see Torran standing near the top of the rubble and staring at her in terror.

“I’m okay,” she said quickly. “Just be careful when you jump. That pile is really unstable.”

“Noted,” Torran replied, and cautiously took a step forward.

Bits of cement, metal and glass rained down. With a resolute expression on his face, Torran launched himself forward. Lindsey scrambled to one side, giving him plenty of room to land. Being taller, longer, and stronger, he easily cleared the gap and landed on his feet. Stumbling forward, he caught himself on the wall and spun about to face her. His hand grasped hers for a split second, and she saw the fear in his eyes.

“Shit, they’re almost here,” Franklin shouted.

Lindsey immediately unhooked her weapon and aimed across the gap toward the spot behind Franklin. The other woman scrambled onto the rubble. The passage of Lindsey and Torran must have loosened the pile, because it visibly shifted beneath Franklin’s feet. With a terrified cry, Franklin threw her body forward. Unable to kick off with her feet, she flailed through the air, hands stretching out to grab the platform. Torran dove forward, landing on his stomach, and miraculously managed to grab one of Franklin’s wrists. He let out a grunt as he took the full brunt of her weight.

“I’ve got her. Cover us,” Torran said through gritted teeth.

Lying across the landing, his arms over the edge, he struggled to pull Franklin onto the platform. It seemed odd that he was trying to help the woman who had abetted in the murder of the squad, but Lindsey knew Torran had his reasons. She was surprised and saddened by the coldness in her own heart toward Franklin. The soldier’s urgent cries and terrified gasps of breath resounded in Lindsey’s helmet, but she couldn’t help but think of her squad thrashing in the water around her as they suffocated to death.

The first few of the pursuing Scrag horde scrambled onto the rubble heap. Screeching, their twisted faces almost appeared gleeful at the sight of the humans. Lindsey opened fire, aiming for their heads. The bodies of the Scrags toppled over the edge. More appeared, climbing without fear onto the noticeably rickety pile. Large chunks of the flooring gave way, spilling the escalator remains and other debris into the void below. Scrags tumbled through the widening opening, but more kept swarming onto the rubble in an attempt to reach the humans on the other side of the gap.

Torran finally managed to get a solid grip on Franklin’s armor and started to drag her over the side. A Scrag hurtled itself off the disintegrating structure and slammed into Franklin, nearly wrenching her out of Torran’s clutches. Torran shouted in pain and his body slid forward, toward the brink. Lindsey threw herself on top him, pinning him to the floor and stopping his slide.

The Scrag lost its grip on Franklin and fell.

The broken chains of the escalator on the other side gave way completely, spilling its innards. Stairs, glass, parts of the wall, luggage, long dead corpses and Scrags poured through the widening opening, and within seconds, the entire floor gave way with a thunderous crash. Through the smoke and debris cloud, Lindsey saw that the entire section they had just traversed was gone.

At last, Torran dragged Franklin onto the landing. No one spoke as they lay in a heap at the base of the next set of escalators. Lindsey aimed her weapon up the next expanse, but Scrags did not appear. Across the now much-wider divide, the Scrag rush continued unabated. Having no understanding of death, they attempted to hurtle themselves across the gap and plunged to a final death below. The torrent of bodies continued for more time than Lindsey cared to track. It seemed endless.

“We need to keep going,” she said finally. Pushing her back against the wall, she slid upright. She was a bit wobbly from the adrenaline rush, but she found her footing and took a cautious step onto the next section.

“Thank you,” Franklin said. “I thought I was going to die.”

“We gotcha.” Torran’s comment was devoid of emotion and he brushed past Lindsey while unhooking his weapon to take point again. Was he angry at her for leaping? Angry at himself for saving Franklin? Or was he just scared?

The next few sections were absent of the discarded items they’d seen earlier. Lindsey speculated that everything had been left behind when the escaping people had barricaded the lower area. She noticed a lot more signs of a battle. Bullet holes were in the glass roof and shell casings were on the floor. Had a security team come down from the upper city to save those trapped inside the passage?

Over the arch of another escalator was a sign she was relieved to see. They’d finally reached the exit. Stepping into a room that matched the entrance on the ground, Lindsey was unnerved to observe that the doors were already open. She immediately pressed against the wall and motioned for Torran and Franklin to do so as well. Torran sidled up to her to get a view of the outside.

“There’s a low number of Scrags out there,” he said.

“Okay, now that we’re up here, we need a new destination.” Lindsey pulled out her pad and called up the grid of the city she’d downloaded before the excursion.

“Look for Rescue Hubs,” Franklin suggested.

Rescue Hubs had been controversial in the days before the fall of humanity. They were constructed by a private company and people had to pay to have access during a Scrag outbreak. Situated strategically around the cities, the Rescue Hubs were basically lifeboats. The oval-shaped pod was built around a reinforced pole. Inside were supplies, a sleeping area, and a communication console. During an outbreak, people with passes could slip inside, activate the security protocols, and the pod would slide up the pole and remain elevated above the ground and out of the reach of the Scrag hordes. There was also a topside hatch so the inhabitants could be airlifted without ever being on the ground. There’d been protests among the general populace that the Rescue Hubs should be available to all citizens.

“They could all be locked,” Torran pointed out.

“I can hack into one.” Lindsey hated to admit it was a good idea to find one, but she also recognized that they were probably playing into Franklin’s plans. Studying the maps, she sifted through all the data until she found a Rescue Hub located a few blocks away near a shopping district. A quick calculation revealed that they would just have enough time with the stealth activated to reach it as long as they didn’t run into any trouble. Though she didn’t like capitulating to Franklin, she knew they needed to find a secure place. With the snow falling and the storm building, nightfall wouldn’t be their worst enemy. They would become visible to the Scrags if they were coated with snow.

“Okay, this is what we’re going to do,” she said, raising her head. She laid out her plan and there weren’t any protests from Torran or Franklin. She supposed they were probably just as weary as she was and ready to be somewhere safe.

Activating the stealth on her suit, Lindsey darted through the opened doorway and exited into a wide courtyard with dense trees and foliage. Silent fountains were covered in mold, and statues and ornate columns showed signs of erosion from the elements.

“All the Scrags are dormant,” Torran observed. “That’s a good sign.”

A few silent Scrags in torpor stood among the overgrown garden. Unmoving, they were waiting until prey was near. Most were women and upon further scrutiny, Lindsey ascertained they were clad in disintegrating nun habits. Glancing over the tangle of trees, she spotted the peaked roof of a cathedral made of glass and stone.

Leaving the courtyard, they stepped onto the sidewalk of a silent street. Since pod cars weren’t allowed in the upper city, there was less debris scattered about. Most of the buildings were made from lightweight materials and were designed to reflect the sky. At one point, Lindsey was certain the upper city had been quite beautiful. Now most of the glass facades were broken and the decorative vegetation was overgrown with weeds. Monorail trains were stalled on tracks, and the remains of a tiltrotor were imbedded in a concert hall. Hurrying along the streets, the three soldiers were mindful of the hushed Scrags swaying back and forth in their blacked-out state.

“We’re nearing the hub,” Lindsey said while sprinting through an abandoned outdoor cafe.

She scooted around a corner and peered up the wide boulevard bordered by what used to be swanky shops. The upper city was always more costly to live in than the lower city in the two-tiered metropolitans, according to her research, and from the faded beauty that surrounded her, she believed that was most likely true. The locale still smacked of opulence. In the all-glass store in front of her, elegant eveningwear adorned mannequins that resembled Roman goddesses. Only the back of the store was made of a material other than glass, and that was probably the fitting rooms and storage. The glass walls were treated, so the sunlight hadn’t bleached the dresses inside the shop. It almost looked ready to open for business.

“Just six meters up this road,” Lindsey said.

“The long dead world,” Torran breathed.

“Excess. Everywhere,” Franklin said dismissively.

Scrags of all ages, races, and genders stood like sentinels in the street. It was quite a large group and Lindsey swallowed her fear. They had enough time left on their stealth suits to make it through the throng.

A transport vehicle sat at the far end of the street. Apparently, an airlift had been overrun. There wasn’t any hope of using the transport to escape. The fuel in its tanks would have long gone stale and would need to be treated before use.

A short distance in front of the aircraft was the Rescue Pod. It had not been activated and still sat at street level.

“Be careful. This may get a little tricky. Keep close, but don’t follow in a single line. I don’t want us tripping over each other if we have to react quickly,” Lindsey ordered.

She started along the road, mindful to keep her elbows tucked at her side and her weapon against her chest as she carefully advanced past the Scrags in the torpor state. Some were standing very close together, and she had to double back a few times to find a better path through the crowd. Torran and Franklin also carefully scooted around the Scrags, avoiding the more heavily populated parts of the streets. Lindsey climbed over a bench and walked along the seat to avoid a thick gathering of the undead before hopping down. The uncomfortably loud thump of her boots striking the ground reverberated through the air.

A few Scrags near Lindsey twitched, and she froze in place.

Nearby, Torran and Franklin also stopped and waited for the echo to fade.

Around the trio, the Scrags sluggishly stirred, eyes shifting about in their sockets seeking prey.

“Don’t move,” Lindsey ordered through the comm link.

Seconds ticked away as the soldiers waited for the Scrags to settle back into their lethargy.

Lindsey checked her timer and comprehended there wasn’t any time to spare. They’d have to risk traveling through the crowd. She was the closest to the Rescue Hub, but wouldn’t be able to activate the controls without the remote generator in Torran’s pack. The Scrags continued to gradually rouse with no signs of returning to their torpor.

“We have to keep moving. We don’t have a choice,” she said. “MacDonald, as soon as we reach the hub, I need that remote generator activated. Franklin, cover us.”

Gripping her weapon tightly, Lindsey surged forward, weaving through the Scrags as fast as she could without touching them. The rap of her boot heels against the ground was joined by those of Torran and Franklin. The noise clearly agitated the Scrags.

The Rescue Hub was a large oval-shaped structure tucked between two buildings. The fence surrounding it was already open and the decorative garden planted around the hub was long dead and full of weeds. Emerging from the center of the hub was a thick metal pole that rose high above the other buildings.