DEAD FACTIONS - the Zombie War Narratives - a Novella (9 page)

Corey looks away.  Tonya notices something is not right with him, “What’s wrong? Are you ok?”

Corey unfortunately begins to understand, “Did the Doctor tell you who this foreign partner was?”

Tonya is amazed at Corey's thought, “Of course not, it’s a ridiculous story!”

Corey tilts his head back against the seat.

Patrick wonders, “Wait, what about that weird dude that attacked Chief?”

Richards speaks up to stop the speculation, “They are called t
he Swarm
. They are an alien race that is building an army to help defend their planet.” 

Corey disturbed, now realizes, “The Zlys!”

Patrick looks at Richards and asks, “You said earlier most of the soldiers that had the drug died. What happened to the rest?”

Richards wonders what is going to happen to him but he offers a reply, “Three survived and they fled. I overheard they were to have started their own rebellion against the government.”

Corey is just not able to handle what is uncovered, he blurts out what has now become obvious, “Malcolm, Jordan and Thomas…
Shit!
”

Tonya keeps looking back in the side mirror expecting to see the General at anytime, “Thomas? Is he the one you fought just after we met you?” Corey nods.

She looks back and figures they have gained enough distance, “Patrick, go ahead and turn on the tracking device.”

Corey looks over at Tonya, “Who are we tracking?”

She grins, gripping the wheel, “…an old friend.” Patrick opens the small box he got from the jeep and presses a button.

At the base, Chief makes his way outside, still favoring his side. A soldier notices him as he passes the guard gate, “Should I report him?”  Another guard near by laughs gesturing with his arms open, “Does he look like a threat to you? Doesn’t look it to me?”

A staggering Chief walks away from the base, heading back towards the group’s abandoned stuff. As he struggles across the rugged terrain to make his way, he thinks of his father…a man that he admired, an immigrant construction worker from Mexico who taught him a man’s word is only as good as the firmness of his handshake. Chief feels there are no more hands to shake.

The sandy wind picks up as he finally reaches the rocket launcher. Needing to rest, Chief takes a minute to lean against it and plan the best way to pull himself up. He takes a deep breath and struggles to climb the weapon. He feels his strength waning, but is able to position himself in order to complete his task.  He reviews the controls and flips a switch, “Come on! Power up!”

In the jeep, Corey sees a building about a half mile away and people moving just outside, “There is a large group ahead of us.”

Patrick places the box on the armrest as if Corey’s words marked the start of a task. Tonya looks down at the tracking device, “I know, I need to get a little closer.” She calculates quickly in her head the distance and realizes that it is time to remove the stud from the Doctor's head, “Patrick, time to remove the tracker.”

He nods, “Gotcha!” He reaches behind Richards' head and removes what was once believed to be a bomb.

The Doctor quickly becomes concerned that it will detonate, “What are you doing?!”

Patrick raises an eyebrow and laughs, “Just removing this.” He looks underneath his seat and goes into his bag to pull out a football then sticks the tracker on it.

The Doctor has absolutely no idea what is happening, “What are you doing now? That’s a bomb?!”

Patrick presses down firmly making sure the tracker sticks and stays on the ball, “Nah! Just a tracking device.”

Tonya looks back for a second, “Patrick, thank you for parting with it, I promise we will get you another.”

He looks down at the ball, admiring it. “This was my 50
TD pass, you know…but whatever.”

Tonya again looks down at the device to verify their location, “Just a little closer.”

Inside the second military truck a driver relays to the General, “I'm getting a signal, but is faint and appears to be slowing down. We should be up on them in a few minutes, Sir.” Only moments later the driver announces, “It now appears they have stopped.”

Patrick gets out of the jeep and takes a three-step drop before releasing the ball towards the shadowy landscape. Still in QB form, he looks back as he hears the sound of the oncoming convoy.

He remembers...an announcement over a loud speaker,
“Thirty-three seconds left before the Cougars can wrap this one up and move on to the state championship!”

Patrick paces back and forth calling signals to his offensive line. “81-42-set...GO!”

He runs to the right with the protection of his offensive tackle. Patiently, Patrick waits for his tall tight end to break open. From the corner of his eye, he sees a defensive lineman has gotten free and is approaching fast. Patrick, off balanced, makes an awkward throw that is just long enough to hit his receiver in the chest. The ball carrier turns up field and takes it into the end zone.

An energetic voice broadcasts over the AM radio,
“Patrick Morgan has done it yet again! The comeback kid has stolen another victory from the opposing team. Listen to this Crowd!! Go Patrick! Go Patrick!  Go Patrick!”

Tonya tries to bring him back to the present, “Patrick, what are you doing?? 15 seconds!! You gotta throw it now!” He launches the football towards the dark figures. He watches it sail until Tonya pulls him back into the jeep and peels out making an immediate right turn to move them away from the building.

Seconds later, the military drive up on what they think is the fleeing group. The General looks for the jeep but there is a lot of dust and what appears to be several people walking around. He radios to the last truck in the convoy, “Let's stop, they probably abandoned the jeep and ran for it.” As the General gets out of the truck, he is approached by one of the locals. The General becomes uneasy and presses a button on his helmet, “Colonel Stevens….radio to base for support troops. NOW!”

Back at the base, the alarm sounds and the troops gather. Chief looks at the control panel and presses the button to fire, “Lights out, tarados!” The rockets launch rapidly landing into the heart of the base. The military building ignites into massive flames. The explosions continue as the flames ignite mass amounts of ammo located inside the base. Any surviving troops stay to help the injured instead of going to assist the General.

The enormous explosions provide a backdrop for a silhouette of Chief humped over the launcher’s controls.  His upper body is laid out with a gun slowly slipping from his hand.  He has found peace. 

General Anders and his small military team become surrounded by the locals that turn out to be a ban of Zlys. The one closest to the General looks him up and down, “General Anders, what a nice surprise!” The General tries to smile, “Have we met?”

With sword in hand, the Zly beats his chest…the General’s jaw drops…on the chest of the Zly he recognizes the Amity tattoo. On the sword’s grip is a shiny object…a tracker clearly resembling the one attached to Richards’ neck. 

“I was one of your best.”

The General shakes his head...steps backwards. “Thomas!?!”

From a high plateau, standing beside their vehicle, the four overlook the conflict between the General and the Zlys, but Patrick continues to keep a close eye on Richards. Tonya looks towards Corey and states, “Thomas got everything he wanted.” 

Corey continues to watch the killing, “Not everything.” He turns around and looks at Tonya, “His next move will be to get the weapons that we abandoned. We will need to beat him to the site.”

As they get back in the jeep Tonya asks, “Who’s left?”

Richards concerned, rubs his temple with his hand, “The General was only part of a bigger picture...Thomas' grudge is against the one who made him what he is.”

Chapter Six

The Arachnian Conflict

As an air ship approaches Kleet, this distant planet's terrain comes into view…coarse, dusty and barren. The craft breaks through the atmosphere and prepares to descend on a once advanced planet now showing heavy signs of wear from long waged battles. The large space vessel belonging to the Swarm, has survived many years of defeat in war for their race. They now have hope, in the form of cargo, held in the storage bays of their descending ship. As the ship lands, dust lifts high into the air which is already overly populated with fine granules.

Once contact is made, a hull door at the back of the ship unlocks and drops followed by lights streaming down the ramp. Through the thick screen of pollution, the feet of Zlys surrounded by Swarm soldiers’ boots are seen exiting. A small, but heavily armed Swarm regiment leads the Zlys towards a structure meant for modifying subjects.

The building’s configuration is tinted and plain, short of what would have once been considered state-of-the-art on Earth. The tinting ability can change, offering the large domed-complex a chameleon defense which attributes to its current existence.

The soldiers escort their subjects like cattle to the entrance using an electrical charge from their staffs. Hearing the sound of war, one of the Swarm guards looks back. The explosions and blasts are closer than they suggest. The struggle has eroded the Swarm army to a shadow of what they once were. Even though the Swarm's enemy is not as technologically advanced, they do command large numbers of troops that attack forcefully.

The Swarm recognized long ago that they needed to regroup and take additional fighters...desperately they looked for a warrior that could endure their enemy's pursuit…an enemy known as the Arachnians.

At the structure opening, a door lifts and the Swarm leads the Zlys into an empty room and pushes the obstinate beasts through. Once the hundred or so Zlys have been successfully placed into the complex, the door shuts. Swarm members stay outside waiting to see that the process starts.

Inside, the Zlys roam around. Above them, openings to the ceiling distribute softball-sized orbs. The silver balls float and begin to surround them. Outside, a Swarm member puts his hand on a sensory reading panel located at the building's entrance. Its genetic code is read to activate the conditioning process that instructs the orbs to release a charge onto the Zlys. While the Zlys show discomfort, the process begins to manipulate them. The mutant creatures learn their new purpose through electrical charges that provide pertinent instructions…instructions that will echo in their nervous systems from this day forward or until they are no longer able to act.

The Swarm member, with its hand still on the sensor, looks back at the eruptions caused by war. This transformation process could not be quick enough…as each minute passes, more Swarm troops expire.  After the alien solider sees that the procedure is completed, it returns to the others already gathered at the ship and waiting to
set off for another harvest on Earth.

The time has come and the building doors open. A newly programmed Zly army appears at the door ready to carry out their orders. The space freighter lifts off leaving behind a marching Zly army on its way to the war. They move through structure debris that is covered with the Swarm's dead. The defeated Swarm lie scattered around, some wrapped in webbing. 

The Zlys continue forward, toward movement they see in the distance; a movement that will soon be their first contact with the enemy. The Arachnians are best described as spider-type creatures. Their heads are average human size but round and smooth with large eyes. They have tusks of an insect origin or better known scientifically as chelicera. The Arachnians are brown in color and stand on four segmented legs that are connected to the cephalothorax,
just above a large abdomen. Their smaller upper bodies have four more legs that act as arms. The two upper arms end with three appendages for handling weapons, while the two lower have tarsal claws for holding and ripping when consuming their prey.

Zlys come closer to observe the enemy feasting on Swarm soldiers, while the other spider-formed aliens quickly scavenge through Swarm weapons and left-behind technology. Arachnians have overpowered their foe on two planets in the course of this long war causing Swarm armies to flee and ultimately be punished severely for retreating. It took many years of searching before finding the Swarm on their new home planet, where the Arachnians anticipate nothing less than an easy victory.

They now notice the approaching Zly army and spread out as they pull firing weapons from their backs and take aim. The mutants are not fearful of the drawn weapons...their instructed impulses do not allow them to be.  Not wanting to wait any longer, the Arachnians begin to fire a gooey adhesive that ejects out as a ball. As it reaches its target, the ball expands into webbing. This usually traps and limits the movement of the offensive, but not this time. The Zlys march on, tearing through it with their enlarged claw. The Swarm carefully constructed the colonies to produce genetically designed warriors that could engage the Arachnians, defeat them and show no remorse. The time invested to develop the Zlys appears to be paying off.

The Swarm's warriors move through the eight-legged freaks using their claws as swatters, tossing and smashing their nemesis with moderate effort. One Zly becomes curious, a human emotion that failed to be removed. It sees an Arachnian gun on the ground, picks it up to take a closer look. Sensing something approaching, it turns and blasts an enemy with the web-like discharge. The Arachnian soldier struggles in the webbing and looks up to see the Zly observing it. The Zly steps closer to insert its stinger from the center of its claw into the trapped spider. The Zly looks at the Arachnian soldier and examines him before finishing the kill...a luxury the Swarm rarely knew.

Chapter Seven

Despondent World

The jeep with Tonya, Corey, Patrick and the Doctor hurries away from the plateau where they watched the governmental patrol get massacred.  The jeep moves quickly, but Richards has a moment to think back about how he came to be here. He clearly remembers the day he was working in his research lab at the university and General Anders abruptly appeared. The General was there to offer Richards an opportunity to complete his grandfather’s work. His grandfather was Dr. William Richards, a retired neuroscientist in 1945, who served as a medical advisor to the newly elected President of the United States, Harry Truman.