Nano Z (19 page)

As dominant as Mack was fighting meat puppets in the Golden Pony lobby, the numbers he was up against were just too much. It didn’t take long before he felt teeth bite into his arms and legs. That’s when he spotted the weapons of fallen security team members on the floor near his feet.

Mack managed to shake off enough puppets to bend over and grab an assault rifle off the blood soaked carpet. Once the bullets ran out, he grabbed another gun. The creatures started falling.

“Get the fuck off of me!” yelled Ted. The CEO of Galatea Systems had a much harder time than Mack. When he entered the lobby it was sans a plan. While he was able to fight them off for a little bit, they eventually swarmed him.

Leave him. He deserves it. Let them tear him to pieces. See if he can heal from that.
Mack had a brief break in his fight. He saw Ted being overwhelmed. And as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t just watch a man get ripped apart alive. No matter how horrible that man was.

Mack aimed the assault rifle in his hands at the meat puppets on Ted. With a handful of shots, he managed to get enough of the creatures off for Gorman to be able to get up and keep fighting.

There wasn’t enough time for Mack to regret saving Ted. More undead were coming his way. He had to move.

Mack ran towards the adjacent casino gaming floor. Any meat puppet that stood in his path almost got their heads taken off by the butt of his gun. He knew he needed to get there. The search for Amber would start among those slot machines.

“Hold up!” yelled Ted as he watched Mack run by. Not willing to be left behind, he followed.

The casino floor didn’t share the little bit of light that barely illuminated the lobby. There were no doors or windows. Without power, the rows of slot, poker and blackjack machines were almost pitch black. Mack’s eyes glowed red and he could see everything.

Navigating the casino floor would have been easy if the less evolved meat puppets occupied it, as they had vision that was no better than an uninfected person’s vision. Instead, Mack was confronted with a room larger than a gymnasium filled with monsters whose bodies were made mostly out of metal.

“This isn’t good,” commented Ted as he caught up with Mack. They both stared at the substantial challenge in front of them.

“You should’ve picked up a gun,” said Mack before he started firing on the red eyed, almost metallic walking dead.

Ted laughed. “You’re probably right.” The mad CEO went over to the nearest slot machines and broke off their pull levers. With a broken, jagged ended lever in each hand he proceeded onto the casino floor.

Mack took out as many undead as he could with his assault rifle. But he had limited ammunition and the creature’s metal skulls were hard to penetrate. Fighting them would be a long drawn out affair. And he didn’t have the time.

After dropping his almost useless assault rifle, Mack dashed towards one of the exit signs. Any meat puppet that got in his way received a running punch to their head. Luckily, as evolved as some of the infected were, he was faster.

Ted tried to follow Mack. But the sadistic CEO didn’t make it more than five feet before something cold and strong wrapped around his midsection. Ted looked down to see metal cable like tendrils around his waist. He tried to pry them off but couldn’t. When he followed his bonds to their origin he saw a meat puppet with a twisted appearance unsettling enough to scare the sociopath.

The puppet that snared Ted was infected during the initial outbreak. No clothing was left on its body. Rotten flesh could only be found in small strips. Its head was tilted to the side with a grossly extended jaw, screeching at its prey. One of the puppet’s arms split open with tendrils extended and wrapped around Gorman.

Goodbye Ted. It was not at all nice to know you.
Mack reached the exit sign. Before going through the same door Amber had less than an hour before, he watched as multiple meat puppets mobbed the CEO of Galatea Systems. The bastard didn’t even have a chance to scream.

Mack found himself in a long hallway that led to a door at the end. Above the door was a sign that read “Stairs”. He told himself that Amber must’ve made it that far. To find her, he’d have to follow her footsteps. There was only one problem. Or more accurately, three.

A humanoid meat puppet and two puppet dogs were at the end of the hallway. They stared at him for a moment. Then they charged.

Mack was without a weapon. His own natural strength was enhanced by the nanites in his blood, but would that be enough to take on meat puppet canines? There was little time to think about it. He was about to find out just how much the microscopic machines had changed him.

The first dog pounced. Mack tried to push the demonic mutt away but failed. Sharp metal teeth clamped down onto his forearm. He attempted to shake it off but there was no freeing his arm.

The second dog tried to bite down on one of Mack’s legs. Luckily he saw it coming. With a hard kick to the monster’s head, he managed to stun the puppet. That allowed him to focus on the creature clamped down on his forearm.

Mack started slamming the dog on his forearm into the walls in the hallway. When that didn’t work, he swung his arm down towards the floor, like he was hammering a nail. The puppet dog yelped and let go. Not willing to let his canine foe regain its senses, he stomped its head to death.

The second dog lunged for Mack’s neck. He caught it in midair by its jaws. With a grunt, he pulled the jaws apart and split open its head. Relieved, he let his guard down and forgot about the third, humanoid meat puppet.

Before he could react, the last puppet was on top of him. It was abnormally strong and overpowered the nanite enhanced Mack. One of the creatures’ hands jerked around erratically. The end of its finger tips split open. Long, sharp nails slowly pushed out of each.

That’s not good
. The meat puppet tried to forcefully bring its spike like nails down on Mack’s chest. He managed to catch it by the wrist. But that didn’t stop the attack. Slowly, the nails elongated and stabbed into his chest.

Mack tried to get the monster off of him but the spikes through his chest nailed him down. The creature leaned forward till its face was only a couple of inches away. He could smell the nauseating aroma of rot.

The meat puppet on top of Mack opened its mouth wide. Under the monster, Mack could hear bones dislocating and breaking. It appeared that the puppet was trying to open its mouth wide enough to chomp off his face in one bite.

Mack let go of the meat puppet on top of him, and with two free hands he grabbed the creature’s head. With all the strength he could muster, he twisted. It took a little work, but he managed to break the puppet’s neck.

As soon as he got up, Mack started stomping on it's head. He didn’t stop until black goo oozed out of every orifice on the thing's head. When he was done, he examined his own wounds. The black blood that he normally saw when he killed the infected was now the same that ran through his veins.

Move. Don’t waste another second. It could be the difference between Amber living and dying.
Mack stumbled and limped towards the stairs as his wounds started healing themselves.

The group of Golden Pony residents that Amber joined stopped just a couple floors from the top of the casino. It consisted of Spencer and two other men. She didn’t know why, but the men made her uncomfortable. They were in one of the hallways, scrounging for any weapons or ammo they could find at the armory station.

This is ridiculous. Why are we stopped? And where the hell is Mack?
Amber leaned against a wall in the hallway near a corner. She was supposed to keep watch.

Amber didn’t see any meat puppets coming. But she did hear the whispering of Spencer and the other guys. She only caught brief snippets. But what she did pick up didn’t sound good.

The group that Amber was with gave her looks. She recognized them. She’d seen expressions just like them before, at the rodeo arena. They were looks of lust and anger.

Unwilling to ever be used by anyone ever again, Amber waited for none of them to be watching. When she found an opening she slipped away. As she tried to silently make her way back to the stairwell, she unslung the crossbow from around her shoulder and held it at the ready.

I need to go back down. Mack must be down there somewhere.
Amber paused for a moment after entering the stairwell. She had a very brief internal debate before heading down the stairs.

In the familiar stairwell, Amber heard the screams of people dying and the screeches of meat puppets. Then she heard footsteps coming up towards her. When she tried to look over one of the railings and see who or what was coming, she could only see a silhouette in the red emergency lights.

Amber stopped descending the stairs. She knelt in a corner and aimed her crossbow. Whatever came up those stairs would be met with one of her bolts.

The top of a shuffling silhouette came into view. After exhaling slowly, she put her finger on the trigger. Before the approaching being could reach the landing, she let a bolt go.

“Ah, son of a…” Amber heard a voice that she doubted she’d ever hear again. It was Mack’s voice. That meant she just shot her protector.

Mack reached the landing that Amber was on.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry. I thought you were a puppet. I didn’t know…” Amber dropped her crossbow and stood up.

“Nice shot,” laughed Mack before ripping the bolt out of his shoulder.

“We have to clean that up and put a bandage on it,” said Amber.

Mack held out his hand in a gesture to stop her. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.”

Amber gave Mack a puzzled look. She just put a crossbow bolt in him. And he was acting like it was nothing but a scratch. Her joy in seeing him, alive, soon pushed those questions out of her mind. She hugged him tight, as if he would slip away if she let go.

“Where have you been?” asked Amber with her face buried just under Mack's uninjured shoulder. “I don’t care. You’re here now.”

“We can’t go downstairs. There’s hundreds, maybe thousands of them down there. No, we got to go up.”

Amber let go of him, and picked up her crossbow. “Where are we going to go then?”

We installed a dispersal system up there for our new and improved nanites.
The words of Ted Gorman ran through Mack’s head.
That guy was a kook. But he was far from stupid. He must’ve had some kind of escape plan.

“We go up,” said Mack. He didn’t give any time for Amber to argue.

They trudged up the stairs. They were three floors away from the top, and from there they’d try to find roof access. With Mack leading the way and Amber following, the duo went up two floors quickly. There was only one more to go.

I hope there’s some way to…
Mack swung around when he heard Amber yell. A group of three men, led by Spencer, burst through one of the doors and grabbed the teenage girl. They seemed angry. Unfortunately for them, she had a guardian who was more than human.

Mack jumped down the handful of stairs between him and Amber. Seconds after his feet hit the landing, he grabbed the nearest man. Effortlessly, he threw the man down the stairwell. The next man was on the receiving end of a life ending punch. All that was left was Spencer.

With one arm, Mack grabbed and lifted Spencer by his mouth. He crushed the man’s jaw as easily as a potato chip. Blood and bits of teeth and jaw dribbled out of Spencer’s mouth as he fell to the ground dead.

“No…no!” yelled Amber as she backed away from Mack with wide eyes filled with disbelief.

What’s wrong with her?
Mack looked down at his body.
Oh.
Somewhere during his slaughter of Spencer and his friends, he took a knife to his gut. Black blood ooze out of the wound.

“You’re infected! You’re a meat puppet!” Amber screamed with tears in her eyes. She ran up the stairs away from Mack.

How the hell am I supposed to explain this? I’ll just tell her the truth. But I have to catch up to her first.
“Amber! Wait!” Mack chased after her.

When Mack reached the top floor, he was relieved to see that finding roof access wouldn’t be hard. There weren’t any rooms. Instead it looked like a storage area. Broken slot machines and extra chairs lined the walls. The stairs and a service elevator were the only ways to get there. And there was only one door that led to the roof.

“Hey buddy. Long time no see.” When Mack reached the roof of the Golden Pony, he was met by the sight of Ted Gorman holding Amber hostage. The teen tried to struggle and wiggle her way out of the psycho’s grip, but he was too strong.

“Let her go,” ordered Mack.

“Why? Seriously why should I? I mean, I thought we had a deal big guy. You help me, I help you. Instead, you left me to die.” Ted’s clothes were in shreds. It was clear to Mack that however Ted managed to survive, it wasn’t easy.

Mack looked around the large gravel covered casino roof. He was looking for the dispersal device that Ted told him about down in the lab. Other than vents and air conditioning units, there was only one other thing on the roof. Near the edge was a tall rectangular box. He deduced that it was what he was looking for.

“I’m here now. Let her go and I'll help you with that,” said Mack as he pointed at the dispersal device near the edge of the roof.

Ted looked at Amber. He sniffed the side of her face then smiled. “Sure, fair enough.” He released his grip on her.

Once free, Amber didn’t know what to do. She wanted to get away from Ted but was hesitant to go to Mack. He was a meat puppet. The same thing she spent the better part of the year fighting.

“Shall we?” Ted sauntered towards the dispersal device. “I’m telling you, we’re doing good work here. You may not see it now, but we’re going to change the world for the better.”

Mack didn’t say a word. He just followed Ted until they reached the dispersal device.

“Okay, first we need to…” Before Ted could get started, Mack rushed him. With a series of punches, the CEO of Galatea Systems was on his ass.

Time for you to go Ted.
Mack reached into Ted’s pockets. He was looking for the EMP device the kook showed him earlier. After a brief search he found it.

With EMP device in one hand, Mack picked Ted up with his other. He dragged the laughing maniac towards the edge of the roof and rectangular dispersal mechanism. When they reached it, his finger moved to the top of the device’s only button.

“If… if you… if you press that button, we’re both dead. So press away.” Ted had a hard time talking through his laughter and a broken jaw.

I know.
Mack closed his eyes and pressed the button, setting off the EMP device. Amber watched on in horror as Ted and Mack both fell, limp. The dispersal device started sparking, then smoking.

Ted’s listless body fell off the edge of the Golden Pony roof. It plummeted twenty stories into a sea of meat puppets. Mack almost followed. But only the upper half of his body hung over the edge.

“Mack!” The emotional roller coaster that Amber endured within the past ten minutes overwhelmed her. She fell to her knees and sobbed. For the first time since the interstate back in Dallas, she was alone.

Amber crawled over to Mack’s lifeless body. She pulled him away from the edge. With her head on his chest, she laid there, silent and traumatized. As far as she was concerned, she’d never get up.

“What’s wrong with you, girlie girl?” Amber heard the impossible. It was Mack’s voice.

“How…?” Amber lifted her head up and smiled at Mack with tear soaked eyes.

“Would you look at that.” Mack didn’t get up. He stared up at the sky. For the first time in decades, the stars were visible in the Las Vegas skies. There was no light pollution obscuring the view.

Amber and Mack laid on the roof of the Golden Pony for a good hour. Mack explained what happened to him. At least as much as he could. Finally, they got up.

“What are we going to do? How are we going to get out of here?” asked Amber as she looked around. They were on a roof, twenty stories up from the street. There were no escape routes, no helicopter or fire escape.

“We’ll figure something out.”