Bigfoot War 3: Food Chain (8 page)

“You never stopped looking for me, did you?” she asked softly.

He moved to her, pushing her over gently onto the bed as he smelt her hair. Their lips met. That first kiss seemed to last an eternity and chase away all the darkness and lost years as if they had never existed. Finally, he pulled away long enough to answer, “No, I didn’t.” Then she jerked him down onto her again.

Three hours later, they lay exhausted and sweating in each other’s arms.

“I thought you were dead,” she told him.

Wally grinned. “I was, at least in a sense. Death became my life. I wasn’t just a soldier anymore . . . I was something barely human, the shell of a man filled with nothing but violence and longing. I . . .”

Bree
touched a finger to his lips. “It doesn’t matter, Wally. You’re home now.”

“And you’ve been here all this time?”

She nodded, the flesh of her cheek rubbing against his chest. “The government rounded up all the engineers and scientists they could and brought us here to The Bunker during the last days before everything was lost. Since The Bunker was my original lab for the Wolf project and I knew the facility inside and out, I ended up becoming the administrator. Commander
Weger
and I are the leadership, if you can call it that. We’re all pretty informal. I won’t say it’s been easy, but compared to what you must have lived through . . . out there . . . well . . .”

Wally kept silent as he continued to gaze at the curves of her naked body. Finally, he looked up and met her eyes again as she sat up, playfully slapping his chest.

“Oh, Wally. I did it. The Wolves are real. They’re not just designs on paper anymore. There are nearly a dozen fully functional, completed suits.”

“I knew you’d do it. You’re too stubborn to ever let anything stop you, even the end of the world.” He grabbed her and jerked her close again. “You have no idea how much I have missed you,
Bree
.” Tears of happiness ran like tiny rivers from his eyes.

Bree’s
lips pressed into his once more and the world around them melted away.

* * *

Greg got up early. As he assembled his new gear, a knock sounded on the door of his quarters. He opened up the door, revealing Brad standing in the hallway outside.

“Sorry, bro,” Brad said, “hooking up with your squad is going to have to wait. Commander
Weger
wants to see you in the war room A.S.A.P.”

Greg followed him through The Bunker to a large room with a huge table in its center and a wall covered in view screens. Commander
Weger
, along with an attractive brunette in her thirties and a man who radiated an enthusiasm for lethality, waited.

“So glad you could join us,” the commander said with a trace of sarcasm.

Greg felt himself turning red. “Uh . . . thank you, sir.”

He gestured to the woman. “This is Dr.
Bree
Langley, the head of our scientific and civilian staff.”

Greg noticed the commander didn’t introduce the man with her, but could sense the tension between the commander and the strange man.
Weger
gestured for him to take a seat at the table next to Brad. When he did, only
Weger
remained standing.

“Something is happening topside,” Commander
Weger
began. “The beasts are amassing a huge force. It’s my belief that they have cleared the entire south of any surviving human outposts other than our own.” He turned to Greg. “Can you confirm this for me?”

“Sir, I . . . I didn’t even know there were outposts until
your
. . . whatever it was . . . saved me and brought me here. Up until last week, my wife and I were completely alone and just trying to survive from one day to the next.” He held back the tears at his wife’s memory.

The man beside Dr. Langley spoke up. “I’ve spent the last fifteen years taking the war to the beasts. I think . . .”

Weger
whirled on the man. “Mr. Morgan, when I want your input, I will ask for it.”

Bree
leaned forward over the table. “Carl, if Wally has something to contribute, you should listen to him.”

Greg was growing more uncomfortable with each passing second. Power games and politics were something he had thought he would never have to deal with again. He watched as Commander
Weger
shrugged, passing over the floor to Mr. Morgan.

“For those who don’t me yet, you can call me Wally. I believe your assessment of the topside situation is correct, Commander. New Denver was the last standing human city within a hundred-and-fifty-mile radius of this base. I know for a fact it recently came under attack from a band of nomadic marauders with old world military vehicles and weaponry. If things went badly for the city and they broke through its defenses, picking off those who were left in the aftermath of that battle would have been easy for the beasts. With the ever-decreasing numbers of the dead, this base would become the only real threat to their dominance. If they’re amassing, you can bet they are getting ready to come here in force.”

“Not that it will do them any good,”
Bree
hastily added. “This base is completely underground with only three entrances, each of which is not only camouflaged but sealed by titanium doors.”

Greg wanted to believe her about them all being safe, but his gut told him otherwise. There was something in her voice that made it sound like she was trying to reassure herself as much as those around her.

Wally shook his head. “Don’t underestimate them. They are a lot smarter than most folks believe they are.” He paused, giving
Weger
a look of warning. “How many are we talking about when you say they are gathering a huge force?”

“Best guess, based on the last recon report,” the commander answered, “upwards of a thousand.”

Wally whistled as Greg saw
Bree
and Brad shudder. Greg focused on trying not to let his concern show as he thought about the number
Weger
had just admitted to.

“That would mean they outnumber us over three to one,” Brad said, his voice quiet and his eyes wide.

Commander
Weger
took control of the discussion again. “Our best course of action is to meet them head-on before they reach The Bunker. We need to break them before we find ourselves fighting a last stand on their terms. If they were to somehow manage to get inside this base, we would be done for, plain and simple.”

“My Wolves are ready, Commander. They can head out within the hour,”
Bree
told them all.

Greg noticed Wally shoot her a look that was a mix of pride and lust. It was obvious the two of them were far more than people who happened to work together. Greg flinched as Commander
Weger’s
full attention fell on him again.

“Well, it appears your first day on the job is about to be a rough one,”
Weger
said to him then turned to Brad. “I want every soldier and militia unit we have mobilized. Half of them will be accompanying the Wolves as support. The other I want on alert and doing all that can be done to make this base more secure should the beasts refuse to break. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!” Greg and Brad said together.

The meeting ended as everyone scurried out to attend to their duties.

* * *

Greg shook the older man’s hand and winced from the pressure of his grip.

“Good to meet you, son. You better live up to what Brad’s told me about you. Today
ain’t
a day for screw-ups,” Hawkins said. Apparently, Hawkins was a longtime veteran of the war with the beasts according to Brad, and would be sticking by his side today. Despite his age, Hawkins’s muscles came through firm and strong beneath his uniform with each of his movements.

Greg rubbed at his aching hand after Hawkins released it. “Don’t worry, sir. This is a fight I’ve been waiting for
for
a long time.”

Hawkins grunted and turned away from him to return to overseeing the preparations for the militia’s departure. The
mechs
would be heading out to meet the beasts under their own power. The Bunker’s actual soldiers were double-checking the .50 caliber weapons mounted on their convoy of jeeps and one open-back truck in which sat an even larger cannon that reminded Greg of the anti-aircraft guns of World War II. The militia, however, were delegated to two ancient-looking military transport trucks, each containing over a dozen men, not counting the two riding up front in the cabs.

“Don’t let the old man get to you,” an all-too-chipper voice said from behind Greg, making him jump. A fierce, red-headed woman holding an AK-47 with a scar that ran diagonally over the right side of her face smiled at him. “He’s not so bad and he gets the job done.”

She couldn’t be more than twenty years old and her body was like that of an old world supermodel. “I . . . I . . .” He was finding it almost impossible to keep his gaze level with hers.

“You’re Greg, right? The new guy?” she said.

He nodded, heat filling his cheeks.

“You can call me Meagan” —she slammed a fist into his arm— “and today’s your lucky day because the old man decided to assign me to watch over you out there since he’s too busy to take on a trainee right now. Hope you’re ready for some hardcore on-the-job training.”

The heavy footfalls of a Mark I Wolf as it lumbered up out of The Bunker’s huge garage stole Greg’s attention. The Mark I’s thick silver armor gleamed in the sunlight before it vanished from his view into the world above. The wildly different looks of the types of
mechs
made it easy to tell one type from another.

“Yeah, I know.” Meagan frowned.

“What?” Greg asked.

“Those guys get to have the real fun, but don’t worry, I’m sure there’ll be enough beasts for everyone to get in their shot today.”

* * *

“You’re not going.”
Bree
blocked Wally’s path to the garage area where the attack group was assembling and heading out. “Don’t even think about it. I didn’t wait all these years to get you back just to have you throw it all away again.”

“
Bree
,” Wally said, but she wasn’t having any of it.

“No, Wally. You’re new here and you’re not military anymore. Whether you admit it or not, that means you’re under my command not Commander
Weger’s
. You’re staying and that’s all there is to it.”

“I’m the best there is,” he said without a hint of arrogance or boasting. “Killing the beasts has been my life since I lost you. I can do a lot of good up there.”

“No,” she told him again, placing a hand on his heart. “I’m your life now. Commander
Weger
is leading the attack himself. He doesn’t need you there undermining his authority. Besides, if they fail, who’ll be left here to stop the beasts when they come? A handful of soldiers and some militiamen with no real training, who were likely chosen to stay behind for a reason? Your place is here, Wally. Accept it. Stay with me.”

He gritted his teeth in frustration, knowing she was right, but that fact didn’t make staying any easier. “Okay,” he said at last, standing down. “But if the beasts do make it through . . .”

“You’ll be in charge. I won’t question your orders and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said with a smile.

“I love you,” he said, taking her into his arms and pulling her close for a quick kiss.

Bree
beamed up at him, happy about her victory. “I know, you idiot. I love you, too.”

After a moment, she pulled away. “Come on. All my Wolves are equipped with the best communications gear I could put together for them. We’ll be able to watch the battle from the war room.”