Nano Z (13 page)

Mack frantically looked around. In every window he saw meat puppets. “There’s too many of them.”

“So what are we gonna do? We can’t stay here. They’ll eventually get in.”

That’s a great question.
What did we originally come to this town for?
“A garage! Did you see a garage?”

“I don’t think so. There might’ve been a garage. But I don’t think there’s any way to get there from in here.”

Mack had a choice to make. Do they hold up in the house where there weren’t many places to hide? Or did they take their chances outside searching for a garage that may or may not be there.

Mack came to his decision. “We go out and look for the garage.” He silently prayed to himself that it was the right one.

“There’s a sliding door in the office,” said Amber. She led the way into the aforementioned study.

Outside of the sliding glass door were meat puppets. But none of them were that close. If they moved quickly and quiet enough, they might be able to sneak by.

Mack led the way. He’d try to avoid using his guns. It would be up to Amber to down meat puppets with her crossbow, if necessary.

Carefully, Mack slid open the sliding door in the office. It wasn't completely silent, but quiet enough not to get any of the meat puppets’ attention. The fact that it started snowing heavily didn’t hurt. A thick blanket of white served as camouflage for the duo as they crept around the perimeter of the house.

Before coming to Colorado, Amber had never seen snow before. Sure she saw some on television and in movies, but never in person. Outside the house in Hidden Valley she was witness to a surreal scene.

The snow not only hid Amber and Mack but did the same for the meat puppets. All they could see were the creatures’ eyes, floating in a sea of white. It would’ve been beautiful in an eerie sort of way; if not for the fact that the owners of those eyes would rip them apart if they saw them.

On the side of the house was a garage. It wasn’t attached to the home but was a separate structure all its own. And it was surrounded by the puppets. There was no way in other than through them.

We better make this quick.
Mack rose up. He aimed his hunting rifle at the puppet closest to the door to the garage.

There was a loud crack as Mack fired. His aim was true and downed his intended target. As he worked the bolt action of the firearm, the whole area was filled with meat puppet screeches. In a matter of seconds they started descending upon him and Amber.

“Move!” yelled Mack as he shot another puppet. Amber followed, using her crossbow to take down anything that got too close. The problem was both of them were using single shot weapons. And there were too many puppets.

Mack ended up having to use the butt of his hunting rifle to try and clear a path to the garage. Amber did the same. Before getting overwhelmed, the former took his new revolver out of his waist band.

There were only three bullets in the revolver. But that was enough to get him and Amber to the door of the garage. He was relieved when he turned the handle and found it unlocked. Inside there were two luxury vehicles. One was a truck, the other a sedan. It was an easy choice as to which one to go with.

“Keys! Find some key!” yelled Mack as he held the door to the garage closed from the inside. The undead outside banged on it, trying to get to the fresh meat on the other side.

“Keys? Fuck that,” said Amber. She ran over to the truck, and with the butt of her crossbow she broke the driver’s side window. Then she reached in and opened the door. “C’mon!”

Mack took his weight off the door to the garage and ran over to the large vehicle. Amber climbed into the passenger seat. He got into the driver’s side.

Finally a break.
The truck had a push button ignition. He didn’t need keys to start. Nor did he have to try and hot wire the vehicle. With a roar that echoed throughout the garage, the engine came to life.

The door to the garage burst open. Snow covered meat puppets came rushing at the four-wheel drive. Mack didn’t have a window on his side to protect him.

“What are we going to do?” asked Amber. After asking she put her hand on Mack’s chest and got him to lean back in his seat. She shot a bolt, inches past his face, into one of the meat puppet’s head.

“Hold on!” Mack proceeded to slam his foot down on the accelerator. The truck sped forward and crashed through the closed sheet metal garage door in front of them. Acting like of all things, a snow plow, the dislodged door gathered meat puppets until Mack took a sharp turn down the driveway.

Amber and Mack felt the tires on the truck try their best to keep a grip on the snow covered driveway. They slid but never lost control. While driving, Mack felt cold wind and snow hit his face from his missing window.

There were no attempts not to hit meat puppets on Mack’s way down the driveway and into the streets on Hidden Valley. Some made a wet meat sound as they met the front grill. Others made a clanging sound as the metal parts of their body hit the chrome of the wheel rims.

Mack slid the truck into the street and drove as fast as he could while staying in control of the vehicle. Their arrival in Hidden Valley unleashed all hell in the town. The sleepy abandoned village was actually populated by meat puppets. They came out of windows and bushes. Many of them shuffled out of the woods. There were even some that rose out of snowbanks. Everywhere Mack and Amber looked the undead roamed.

All Mack wanted was a way out of Hidden Valley, but there weren’t many options. Due to its location and insignificant size, the town only had one way in and one way out. And two infected moose stood in their way.

Moose were imposing animals while they were still alive and uninfected. They had two large racks of sharp horns on their heads. Some weighed up to and in excess of two thousand pounds. And most people aren’t aware of the fact that they had bad tempers.

Amber and Mack were looking out the front windshield of the truck and through the blizzard at two very big, and very angry looking moose. To make matters worse, they appeared to have been meat puppets for a while. Like the bear at the rodeo arena, the two animals were almost more machine than mammal.

Imagine a one ton mass of rotting flesh, metal stronger than steel and reinforced bone. Add to that glowing red eyes and a desire to do nothing but kill. All that culminates to an absolute nightmare. Those nightmares were preparing to charge.

“A full grown adult moose can grow up to two thousand pounds. It can run at upwards of thirty five miles per hour. At that weight and speed, getting hit by a charging moose would be like getting hit by car. The damage would be catastrophic.”
A snippet from a nature program that Mack had seen years earlier flashed through his mind.

The beams from the truck’s headlights lit up the horns atop the mooses’ heads. They had turned to metal. When Mack saw that particularly scary feature of theirs, he involuntarily stomped on the brake pedal. The truck slid then fishtailed on the snowy road. They both gritted their teeth and tensed up their bodies. There were woods on either side of the street. It was only through sheer luck that they didn’t slam into a tree, but instead the back wheels fell into a ditch.

“What’s wrong? Why aren’t we moving?” Amber was trying not to panic but it was getting harder. The two meat puppet moose were charging at them.

Even though Mack was flooring it, the truck wasn’t making any forward progress. Instead it swayed left-to-right. The tires spun but couldn’t get enough traction to propel the vehicle forward.

“I’m trying!”

“Why’d you even stop? We could’ve run those things over!”

“Look at them, girl. Those aren’t some deer that might roll up on the hood. Those are full grown bull moose. We hit them and our ride would’ve been totaled. And we would’ve been screwed.”

“Screwed is exactly what we are.”

Mack looked over at the moose. They were seconds away from colliding with the truck, horns first. “Brace yourself!”

“Wha…?” Before Amber could finish speaking, the first moose rammed its horns into the side of the truck bed. The horns tore through the steel and were followed by the full brunt of the moose’s charge which dislodged the vehicle from the ditch.

Mack had no time to react. The second moose was coming for his side of the truck. He closed his eyes and prepared for the pain. But it never came. Instead he and Amber’s heads’ and bodies whipped from side to side from the impact. When he looked down he saw one of the moose’s set of horns just above his thighs.
Thank god.

After charging at the truck, both moose backed up, retracting their horns from the metal of the vehicle. Then they got ready to do it again. Mack had no intention of letting that happen, for their ride would be lost. The prospect of walking out of the Rockies was enough to spur him into action.

With a sharp turn of the wheel and a generous amount of acceleration, Mack and Amber’s truck once again started down the road. Its tires had to work hard but they found their grip. And the duo was on their way out of Hidden Valley.

Amber looked in the rearview mirror and watched as the moose chased after them. It didn’t take long before they were just more red eyes floating in white. In a weird way it was a beautiful sight.

Beautiful, just beautiful.
Mack stared out the front windshield of the truck at the sun, watching as it rose over the mountain ranges in the Mojave Desert. The color was striking. Different hues of blue, yellow, orange and red made the sky look like it was painted. Below it was the elegant desert of Nevada.

Wind blew into Mack’s face from his broken driver’s side window. But he didn’t mind. If anything he kind of liked it. While it wasn’t hot or even all that warm, sixty degrees was a lot nicer than the frigid temperatures of the Rocky Mountains in February. And if he never saw a flake of snow again for as long as he lived, that wouldn’t be long enough.

When he was younger, Mack always loved movies that took place in the wide expanse between Utah and California known as Nevada. There was something romantic about the endless horizons and rocky formations. Even though the state had been well explored and populated before the outbreak, it had an air of the frontier about it. It was wild and unconquered by strip malls and cookie cutter suburbs.

One of the main reasons Nevada never crawled with people was the fact that it wasn’t a kind environment. The days were hot and the nights cold. You could drive for hours without coming across a tree or a natural source of water. Gas stations and rest stops were few and far between.

Amber wasn’t as enchanted by the desert as Mack. Where he saw natural beauty, she saw boring expansive nothingness. She leaned her forehead against the passenger side window of the truck. The only thing that kept her spirits from descending into the annoyed teenager depths was Las Vegas.

The torn up truck that Mack and Amber rode out of the Rocky Mountains, through Utah and into Nevada was holding up. Since leaving Hidden Valley they didn’t have any run-ins with meat puppets. Nor did they see any uninfected people. It was smooth sailing.

As nice as it was not having to fight anyone in a couple of days, there were some immediate concerns that could derail Amber and Mack’s trip westward. The needle on the fuel gauge was nearing “E”.

We really need some gas. Or else we’re in trouble.
Mack glanced down at the dashboard. He’d been doing so for the previous hour or so. There was no sign of a gas station. Though he loved the desert, he had no desire to walk it.

“Have you ever been to Vegas?” asked Amber. She didn’t take her attention away from what she interpreted as bland scenery.

“Nope.”

“I’m kind of excited.”

“Why’s that?”

“I dunno. I’ve seen in movies and shows, it looked fun. I always wanted to go.”

Mack smiled. “In all your what, fourteen years?”

“Yeah.”

“In all your fourteen years on this earth you’ve wanted to go to Las Vegas?”

“Are you making fun of me?” Amber turned her attention to Mack. “Be careful big guy. You almost made a joke. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“Well girlie girl, it’s safe to say that Vegas probably isn’t all that fun now.”

Amber turned back towards the passenger side window. “I still want to go. I can check it off my… what do they call that list thing?”

“A bucket list.”

“Yeah, a bucket list.”

I guess that makes sense. The shape this world is in, you start making a bucket list no matter how old you are. There’s a good chance you won’t see tomorrow.

“Don’t get too excited. We’re not going there to sight see. We need gas if we’re going to make it to the coast.”

Amber took the last sip out of her water bottle. Then she held the empty bottle upside down. “Water too. If we didn’t have to run out of that Hidden Valley shithole, we’d have plenty.”

“Go easy on that. I don’t think we’re going to make it to a gas station on time,” Mack said after taking another glance the fuel gauge.

“So what are we gonna do? Walk?”

Mack didn’t answer. He just kept driving down the utterly empty road.

“I’m not walking to Las Vegas man!”

“To a gas station, not Vegas.”

Amber quickly reigned in her outrage. “Oh. That still sucks.”

“Yes, yes it does.”

They kept driving another half an hour. Finally the gas fumes ran out and the truck rolled to a stop. Even though they hadn’t seen another car in a couple days, they pushed the vehicle off the road.

Before leaving the truck, Amber and Mack took stock of what they had left. There were two one liter bottles of water, a couple protein bars, five crossbow bolts, thirteen rounds of ammo for the hunting rifle, an empty plastic gas can, and assorted medical supplies. They took all of that with them, lest they come back and find them gone.

The long stretch of road ahead of them looked daunting. It seemed to go on forever. There wasn’t even anything in the distance for them to shoot for or look forward to reaching.

Quickly it became clear that Mack and Amber had a very long walk ahead of them. Though it was only about sixty degrees Fahrenheit, there were no clouds to obstruct the sunlight. It didn’t take long for them to start sweating.

An hour passed, no gas station in sight. Mack wondered if he made a mistake. Again, Simon’s words replayed in his head. What if he and Amber made it not only to Las Vegas but the Pacific Ocean, and there was nothing there but more death? What would he tell the teenage girl who put so much trust in him? What would they do?

Two hours passed. In the distance, Amber spotted something shining in the intense sunlight. She lightly hit Mack in the arm to get his attention.

“Over there,” said Amber as she pointed at the shining light.

Is that a mirage? Are there mirages in the Mojave? I sure as shit hope not.
I’m sick of walking.

Encouraged by the light in the distance and the potential end of their long walk, Amber and Mack picked up their pace. If it was a gas station or rest stop, they could get some fuel. Then they could walk back and be in their truck before sunset.

The abundance of walking that Mack had to do since the outbreak back in Dallas was hard for him. He wasn’t a young man. Although his stamina constantly got better throughout that time, he still got sore.

Both of Mack’s knees ached with each step taken on the hard asphalt. The soles of his feet were sore. Still, he pushed himself forward. If his body hadn’t betrayed him yet, it could hold up a little longer. At least that was what he hoped. Truth was, he knew he was on borrowed time. Eventually he’d fall apart physically.

As they got closer, Mack started to make out a building in the distance. Out in front of the building were what looked like fuel pumps.

Those better be fucking full of gas or I might just cry.
Mack took off his backpack. While still walking he zipped it open and reached in. He was looking for some ibuprofen. It was somewhere in there. In order to find it he had to slow down and look in.

Amber pulled on the sleeve of one of Mack’s sleeves. She wanted his attention, and got it. Mack stopped looking for pain killers and looked over at Amber who was urgently pointing out in front of them.

When Mack looked at what she was pointing at, he saw three vehicles. They were speeding towards them. In a matter of a minute or two they’d converge on the duo.

Mack took the hunting rifle off his shoulder. Amber did the same with her crossbow. Neither of them wanted a fight. But both of them knew a fight was a very real possibility. And they were ready for it.

“Get off the road, see if you can find some cover,” ordered Mack.

Amber looked around. All there was to hide behind were shrubs and other small desert plants. None of them were conducive to hiding a human body behind.

“Drop your gun. And you, drop your bow,” ordered a calm voice from behind them. The voice was accompanied by the telltale click of a gun.

Where the hell did he come from?
Mack looked over at Amber. When they locked eyes, he nodded indicating that she should follow his lead. And he was bending his knees and placing his hunting rifle on the road. Amber did the same with her crossbow.

“Turn around,” ordered the calm voice.

They’ve finally found us. This is it. Game over. Just make it quick you bastard. I’m sorry Amber.
Mack and Amber turned around. There were three men in black SWAT outfits, pointing submachine guns at the duo. But there was something different about them. Unlike the SWAT guys in Middleton and the rodeo arena, they had patches.

Galatea?
Mack saw a logo on the black uniform on the SWAT guys who had him and Amber by gunpoint. The insignia was white with a blue crescent moon, intersected with a black crescent moon. Under the crescents in blue letters was “Galatea Systems”.

We’re not going to be prisoners again. Amber isn’t going to go through what happened to her back in that rodeo. These fuckers are going to have to kill me… us.
Mack tensed up. His fists tightened. He was ready to fight. One of the Galatea SWAT men noticed.

“Whoa, relax big guy,” the Galatea men lowered their guns. “We don’t mean you two any harm. Quite the opposite. We want to help.”

“Help us?” asked Amber while giving an untrusting look.

“There’s a colony in Las Vegas. It’s safe there. We have power and running water.”

When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
“Why?”

“What’s that?” asked the calm voiced Galatea SWAT man.

“Why do you want us? I mean you supposedly have a safe place, a colony. So why are you out here and why do you want us?”

“We have orders, sir. Every morning we head out of the city and look for survivors, the uninfected. Then we offer them sanctuary. If they say yes, which they always do, we bring them back. As far as why? You’re going to have to ask someone a bit higher on the food chain than me.” The man seemed genuine. That didn’t necessarily make him trust worthy.

Mack and Amber stared at each other for a minute. The vehicles that they spotted in the distance were parked right in front of them. Two of them were black SUVs. They looked exactly like the ones from Middleton.

The third vehicle that pulled up was a heavily armored van. It looked like the sort of thing that banks used to transport money. There was nothing friendly about its appearance.

“Look, we won’t force you two to come with us. But I highly recommend you do. For your own sakes.” The calm voiced Galatea SWAT member had a charisma to him. It was hard not to believe what he was saying.

“We’re going to the same place. Why don’t we go with them? At least we won’t have to walk back to the truck.” The fact that Amber was willing to take a chance and go with those guys spoke volumes. It was her that was so horribly mistreated back at the rodeo arena.

“Fine, we’ll go with.” Mack agreed to go with the SWAT guys. But he still didn’t trust them. Every other time he’d run into people like them there was carnage and violence. To not expect the same that time would be foolish. He decided to go with it for as long as it was safe.

“You can take your weapons. When we get to the colony you’ll have to check them into the armory.” He signaled to the rest to depart.

Once they retrieved their weapons, Mack and Amber followed the SWAT guys to the armored van. One of their supposed saviors opened the back. Inside was a man and a college aged young woman.

Despite their doubts as to the intentions of the men in SWAT gear, Mack and Amber got into the armored van. It was a risk they needed to take if they were to advance to the West Coast. If anything went wrong, they stayed ready to fight.