Origins (The Wasteland Chronicles, #2) (11 page)

In that forest we would be reduced to a crawl. The Recon’s speed would be no advantage. It was a good thing the Recon had a compass, or we would surely get lost in that maze.

We paused on the hill. No one said anything for a long time. I seriously wondered whether Makara was going to turn back. It never seemed more hopeless.

Only she didn’t do that. We were in this to the bitter end.

“Kind of makes you wish we could fly, huh?”

She drove down the hill toward the forest.

***

W
hen we entered the first line of trees, the entire sky was nearly blocked out. Makara turned on the headlights, revealing a web of trees and branches. Soon, the strange life-forms became so thick that it was less like a forest and more like a cave. We didn’t find anything living other than the plants – at least, not yet. It seemed as if something sinister was hiding, waiting to jump out around every bend.

At points, the slime dripped and splattered onto the windshield. The washer fluid and wipers could only get so much off. The rest stuck in a thin film that, while not impossible to see out of, made the windshield a bit blurry.

We continued for an hour like this. Nobody spoke. The landscape darkened, became more twisted, more terrifying.

Through the windshield, a small circle of natural light materialized in the distance, like the exit of a cave.

“I think that’s the way out,” Makara said.

I checked the compass to make sure we hadn’t got turned around. We were still heading east. The circle of light grew in size. It was definitely a way out of this horrible place. I watched as the Recon’s headlights illumined the thick, gnarled tree trunks embedded in the xenofungus, their roots like tentacles, as if they were absorbing some energy or essence from it.

We emerged from the forest and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. We had entered the Great Blight’s equivalent of a meadow – a wide, open space carpeted by the pink and purple xenofungus, flanked on all sides by the grotesque trees. The clearing was only a temporary escape from the xenoforest, but all the same, it was good to see the sky again, even if it was the same menacing red it had always been.

In the center of the meadow, Makara pulled to a stop. It was midday, and we had probably gotten ten miles closer to our goal.

Her head fell on the steering wheel, and she closed her eyes. “I can’t go through that again.”

“Makara,” Samuel said. “We need you here. We can’t just sit out here in the open.”

I saw something moving among the trees. It was just one at first, then another, and another...

“Guys...” I said.

Everyone looked toward the south, where I was pointing. There were dozens of crawlers appearing from the trees in all directions. Some were big, some small – but all of them had those creepy white orbs for eyes. Their wails and screeches pierced the air, sending chills down my spine.

“Go!”
Samuel said.

The Recon’s engine roared. The monsters charged. Even as we slogged through the fungus, it seemed to not affect the speed of those things.

Lisa forced her way toward the turret.

“Go with her,” Samuel said to me and Anna. “Give her cover and bring down as many as you can.”

By the time Anna and I got to Lisa, the monsters were maybe fifty feet away.

We were near the eastern edge of the forest. Closer, I saw that a narrow trail led through the xenofungal growth, flanked on both sides by the blighted trees.

If we could get on that trail, there would be no need to go back into the xenoforest.

Before I could even go back into the Recon to tell Makara, the vehicle started heading that way. She had seen it. As we entered the trail, the creatures fell in behind us.

Lisa aimed the turret behind us. The monsters filled the trail, tumbling over each other in a mad attempt to get to us. It was like a tsunami.

Lisa fired at the teeming mass, and couldn’t have missed any to save her life, there were so many. The creatures screamed as the powerful bullets entered them. She waved the gun back and forth, doing whatever she could to stop the wave. But there were so many that it had almost no effect. The ones that died were only buried as the rest stampeded over them.

The trail weaved back and forth. Anna tumbled, falling toward the side. I grabbed her by the waist, pulling her back into me.

“This is doing no good,” I said. “We need to get back inside. We’ll get thrown off if we stay up here any longer.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something pink flying through the air. I turned to see a long-limbed creature falling from a tree above.

“Look out!”

The monster crashed on top of the cargo bay, making a dent in the roof. It turned and snarled. It had long arms and legs and was ripped from head to toe with muscle. Its shape resembled a gorilla, but who knows what it had been before? It had no hair, and sickly pink skin coated in slime, just like the rest of them. The way those white orbs burned into me was paralyzing.

A metallic ring filled the air as Anna drew her katana. I took out my Beretta, aiming for the head. I fired, three times. Two of the bullets entered its shoulder. It roared in pain, and hurtled forward, readying one of its long arms to swipe. Its long claws curved outward.

I ducked just in time, and so did Anna next to me. Lisa swung the turret around, and it stopped right over our heads.

She fired.

Deafening blasts emanated from above, but even over that noise I could hear the creature’s roar of pain. I covered my ears and saw the monster fall backward from the power of the bullets entering its chest. It hurtled from the Recon and crashed into the fungus-covered ground below. The crawlers overran the monster’s body like a raging river.

My ears rang and my head felt as if it were going to split open. I couldn’t hear a thing.

Lisa hopped off the turret, and pulled me to the ladder. Anna appeared unaffected – apparently, she had escaped the worst of the noise.

They both pulled me down the turret as the first creatures hopped on top. Two pairs of hands pulled me inside and the turret door above was slammed shut.

Inside, the bumpy cargo bay made me feel like puking. I saw Anna’s face in front of mine, but I could barely focus. As I sat there for the next two minutes, feeling more dead than alive, the world slowly righted itself.

“Alex...
Alex!”

“Yeah. I’m here.”

Relief filled her face. “We thought you had gone deaf.”

My ears still pounded. I hoped there wouldn’t be permanent damage.

“Come up front,” Anna said. “We found something.”

When I entered the cab, I saw that the forest had fallen behind. But that was where the good news ended. Before us was a large, open valley of pink and purple, pockmarked with gnarled trees. Mountains surrounded the valley on all sides, and behind, the monsters were still coming.

Anna pointed ahead. I squinted. It looked like a tall, thin mesa at first, coated in pink fungus. But as we got closer, I saw that it wasn’t a mesa. There were rectangles along the outside surface, faded beneath the fungus.

It was a skyscraper, out in the middle of nowhere.

A
s we made our way to the building, it was as if the ground itself came alive. Monsters squirmed their way through the xenofungus and charged for the Recon. Makara swerved left and right to avoid them, all the while making for the tall building.

“Are we going inside that thing?” I yelled.

“What choice do we have?” Makara asked. “It’s either that or get buried alive under these things.”

As she said that, one of the creatures leaped through the air, crashed into the windshield, and rolled off to the side. Purple ooze splattered on the glass. Makara turned on the wipers, but that only made it worse.

“Can’t see a damn thing,” she said.

“We’re almost there,” Lisa said. “Just keep going!”

The evening was filled with the cries of the infected monsters, making my blood run cold. The building was getting close. It was tall, and completely out of place in this secluded valley. Whatever it had been in the Old World, it was a monolith from another time.

“Pull in there!” Samuel said, pointing to an opening in the ground. “Looks like a garage.”

“Who knows what could...” Makara began.

“Just do it!” Samuel said. “It’s our only option.”

Makara scowled. “Fine. But if we die, don’t blame me.”

She pulled into the opening. The creatures followed us in. Makara turned on the headlights, revealing the road curving downward and to the left. The tires screeched on asphalt.

Where the road straightened, we were greeted by rows and rows of parked cars, rusted with time and lack of use. They had been here since Dark Day thirty years ago, and it looked as though they hadn’t been touched since. Most were buried beneath the fungus. The Recon’s headlights lit the ceiling, sending strange tiny creatures scurrying upside-down along the fungus-covered ceiling.

“Not looking good,” Makara said.

“Just trust me,” Samuel said. “There’s a door over there. It should lead inside.”

“How do you know...?”

“Just park in front of it. We’ll use the Recon as a shield to block them from coming after us.”

Makara made for the door, parking the Recon sideways against it.

“Everyone out, move, move,
move!”
Samuel said.

“Through my door,” Makara said, “unless you want to get killed.”

Makara opened her door and stepped out. She opened the door into the building. The rest of us crawled over into the front seat, and out the driver’s side door. Makara was already inside the building. Lisa was the last out. She shut the Recon’s door, and headed inside with the rest of us. Samuel slammed the building door behind us, shutting out the monsters and their horrible cries.

It was pitch back inside, and cold. Several flashlights clicked on, revealing a long hallway that led into further darkness.

“What now?” Makara asked.

“I don’t know,” Samuel said. “Let me think.”

“We should probably get higher up,” Lisa said. “Might be safer.”

“That’s a good idea,” Samuel said. “Find a room and set up a perimeter.”

“Then what?” Makara asked. “We’re stuck in here with no way out.”

“We’ll figure that out later,” Samuel said. “Let’s get moving. We’re killing time.”

Anna and I hadn’t said anything. I was just trying to follow orders and not get in the way. I agreed with Makara; we should have never come in this creepy place. Something about it felt off. Sure, the creatures weren’t inside. At least, not yet.

The darkness didn’t help. Now that we were stuck here, we had no choice but to stay.

Samuel took the lead, shining a flashlight with his good arm. The fact that he was able to push himself so hard and lead the group was amazing, but we may have just met our match. Makara followed behind, alongside Lisa. Both had their pistols out, ready to go. Anna drew her katana, the sound of metal echoing off the walls. Bringing up the rear, I drew my Beretta.

No one said a word as Samuel led us up a stairwell. The sounds of our footsteps clanging in the darkness shattered the silence.

We had gone up four flights of steps when we heard a gunshot, distant.

Everyone stopped.

Samuel held up a hand, and cocked his head to listen. We waited one, two, three seconds. Nothing.

“Someone else is here,” Lisa said, voice low.

“Whoever they are, they probably know we’re here,” Samuel said. “We brought a whole army of monsters to their doorstep.”

“That probably won’t make them happy,” Makara said.

“No,” Samuel said. “No, it won’t.”

Footsteps ran up the stairs behind me. I immediately fell to the ground. And just in time – a gun went off, and I heard the bullet ding off the metal next to me.

More shots filled the air – some from us, some from them – whoever
they
were.

“Run!” Samuel said.

I got up and chased everyone up the stairs. Footsteps, yells, and more shots followed us up from below. There were maybe three or four of the others. I charged upward, rounding the bends of the stairs.

Out of breath, we reached the top floor. Samuel ran across the hall and threw a metal door open. Everyone followed him in. I was the last one through. A bullet zinged off the door. I slammed it shut, finding the latch and locking it in place. Just in time, too. A body slammed against the door, followed by a male cursing.

I looked around. We were in a dark room that contained a desk piled with papers, a file cabinet, a trash can, and a broken computer. Weak sunlight filtered, faded and pink, through the fungus-tinged window. It tinted the room and its articles in an eerie pink glow.

“Great,” I said. “There’s no way out.”

Voices spoke from the other side of the doorway. They had us cornered in this room, and there was no way out except the window – and I didn’t want to fall a dozen floors to my death.

“Who are you?” a male voice demanded from the other side of the door. “What are you doing here?”

Samuel stepped forward. “I could ask you the same.”

The man guffawed. “You do not own this place. It is our territory, and you are infringing on it.”

“Look,” Samuel said, “I don’t know who you think you are, but those things are out there and we had nowhere else to go. If you’re telling us to leave, you’re just going to have to make us. It’s five against however many you have, and we all have guns. Your call.”

That shut the man up. I heard two more voices whispering out there, one a woman’s. We all had our guns out, ready to go.

“Look,” Samuel said. “There’s no point in fighting. We don’t want to harm you, and we hope you don’t want to harm us. We’ll just wait for these things to go away and we’ll be out of your hair.”

“The monsters you brought to us,” the man outside said. “They’re not leaving. All of us are stuck here, thanks to you.”

“We had no choice!” Samuel yelled. “What would you expect me to do, drive out there until they overwhelmed us?”

“That would have been nice,” the man said.

“I’m tired of this,” Lisa said, taking out her handgun. “Let’s just kill them while we can.”