“Yeah, I’ve deployed on probably hundreds of missions, many even more dangerous than this one, and never had anyone watching me drive away.” The captain slumped in his chair as the APC rounded a curve in the long driveway and the house was out of sight. “Hardest thing I’ve ever done, leaving Melly and her brother.”
“They’re not alone,” Cody reminded him. “You also left Trent and Zach to stand guard.”
As if he couldn’t help himself Jeff grinned. “Yeah although mostly they’re there to keep the doc from doing something foolish. She gets a distress call she’s likely to take one of Tamsyn’s old trucks and head off without stopping to think what she’s driving into.”
“Doc has a good heart,” Cody said.
“I’m not sure she’s really taken in the fact she’s living in a world that will kill her in the blink of an eye. Even with all she’s been through with us and losing her parents…” Jeff’s voice trailed off. He flicked open his handheld. “Run a perimeter check with a couple of your drones and make sure there aren’t any infected near the ranch.”
“Already did surveillance runs twice today, sir, but I’m happy to do it again.” Cody redirected the requested two drones. He sent a trio of the others off to fly over the ruins of Rosewater and survey the town again. No signs of life aside from a large number of infected standing aimlessly as they did, waiting for prey to set them into motion. While he drove, he watched the drones as they overflew what Tamsyn had told them was the Fafield mansion, made into a hastily fortified compound. It was a burned-out shell now. A gaudy rockstar’s tour bus sat untouched in the big circular driveway, for all the good it had done anybody when the place fell. A school bus lay on its side at the rear of the mansion, also burned, with bodies all around it.
Tamsyn was lucky to get out of there alive, he thought. And then she was going to walk all the way home across open country. He didn’t know if she was just born hardheaded and tough or whether growing up on the ranch had made her that way but he was drawn to her. Cody glanced at Jeff, who was engrossed in whatever he was checking on his handheld and then opened a secret mental compartment where he had tucked a few images of Tamsyn in his enhanced memory.
With his left hand Cody fiddled with one of his many fidgets, twisting and turning the toy, trying to relieve stress. The only time he hadn’t needed to divert part of his mind to the activity was when he was with Tamsyn, he remembered with a mix of gratitude and astonishment. She gave him peace and quiet and no one else had ever done that for him, not since he’d made his bargain with the devil—or the Sectors scientists to be precise—and accepted the offer to become a cyborg in their experiments. Better than dying, he’d figured at the time, although he wasn’t sure what he was living for, really. More missions with Jeff and the team?
Not in the mood to be so self reflective, he concentrated on sending his fleet of drones questing over the surrounding terrain and the road ahead.
* * *
The drive to New Damarkal was mostly uneventful. They had to do a lot of creative driving to avoid the various wrecks and traffic jams of empty cars, many burned and others with infected trapped inside. On two occasions Cody’s drones spotted small groups of people moving cautiously but neither group seemed to have any desire to attract the soldiers’ attention..
“Interesting,” Jeff said when Cody showed him the holos. “Could be they’re raiders. Or could be the military here on the planet has given people good reason to avoid them. Either option has its inherent problems but at least we’re not being called upon to fight our way into the city.”
Cody thought maybe it was too quiet and the back of his neck tingled. They did have to make a long detour over a set of bad side roads to avoid a swarm of infected who were moving aimlessly along the freeway. The detour cost them about an hour and it was getting late in the day when his first drones started sending visuals from the city.
Impatient as they all were to get the job done and return to the ranch, Jeff had them pull the APC over and take a six hour rest break, napping as best they could in the cramped quarters, before continuing on into the city.
At first glance New Damarkal seemed normal as its towers rose on the horizon but Cody’s drones revealed the truth as there were smoldering fires, several toppled skyscrapers strewing rubble everywhere, masses of bodies in the streets and infected at every turn. Aside from crudely painted gang signs Cody saw no sign of human presence and for all he knew the tags had been made prior to the virus outbreak.
It was a much needed relief when his drones sent him a holo of quite a different scene.
“Take a look at this,” he said to the other two occupants of the APC as he projected a holo into the clear space.
It was a large park in the center of the city, with badly overgrown landscaping. A small herd of tantoreans moved through the brush with stately grace, stopping to grab leaves from lower branches. There was a large alpha male leading the group, standing 12’ tall or so, and three females, who spent their time watching over a calf. The baby was clumsy and into everything and the mother and aunties were constantly nudging him or her back into their midst.
“I guess they escaped the zoo,” Jeff said as he watched the scene.
“Or the keepers let them out,” Ryan guessed as he leaned down from his post in the gun turret to watch. “Those birds sure aren’t native to Randal Four.” He pointed at a flock of brightly colored birds fishing in the park’s pond, undisturbed by the proximity of the hulking tantoreans.
After a millisecond of research Cody told them, “New Damarkal was renowned for its interstellar zoo and botanical gardens. The list of species is long. Lot of predators.”
“Great,” Jeff said with a laugh. “More hazards to watch out for. Any snakes? You know my feelings about those.”
“Take your pick.” Cody displayed holos of slithering creatures of all types which he found on the zoo’s website cache.
“No thanks. If you don’t want to walk the rest of the way to the base, you’ll shut that off.” Jeff’s tone was mock serious and Cody complied. His captain had a mild case of PTSD from a mission where he’d been trapped in a pit of snakes and he didn’t want to upset his friend.
“I’m glad the poor animals weren’t left trapped in their pens to die though,” Jeff said as the APC raced onward at its best speed. “Even the snakes.”
“I’ll remind you when we’re facing off with some Aldebaran vipers or a nice Komodo dragon from Old Earth,” Ryan said. “Wait a minute, what’s happening now?”
Cody diverted a portion of his attention to the holo from the park. A swarm of infected was making its way across the green and the tantoreans were obviously upset. The small group began trumpeting and their eyes went red. The bull stomped his feet and broke into a headlong run at the swarm, his small herd on his heels. Cody braced himself to see the infected tear into the animals but on the contrary, the tantoreans left a wide swath of destruction in their wake, tossing infected like straws with their trunks and tusks, trampling others into the soft ground. The tantorean bull was on a rampage and the infected had absolutely no sense of self preservation so they kept marching in their shambling fashion, ignoring the devastation the animals were wreaking. Nor did the infected attack the herd, not even the vulnerable baby.
“Let one human stroll by right now and the swarm would be all over him,” Jeff said, watching the scene closely. “So why aren’t the infected attacking the tantoreans? They’re warm blooded and known to be highly intelligent.”
The group of tantoreans ran out of sight into another area of the park and the remaining infected continued their progress.
“Doesn’t make much sense,” Cody agreed. “The infected are too dumb now to remember how to open a door so how do they distinguish between a human and any other animal, as far as when to attack?”
