“We’re bleeding money here. Are you sure it’s not ready for DOD testing?”
“Absolutely not, Director. We still haven’t managed to restore cognition in subjects, and there’s also the risk of communicability.”
“What kind of risk are we talking about if this becomes infectious?”
“It would be an Armageddon-level biological disaster.”
–Dr Ava Sherman. Manchester, New Hampshire. 2 Month Before.
----------------------------------------
Would it always be this way?
There had once been a time where Liam had fashioned himself the expert in survival. He could boast about getting dropped anywhere in the world, in any environment, with any number of tools at his disposal, and still being able to concoct the means to escape. Survive In Wild had let him put his grit to the test, and though the producers had forced him to carry a flare gun for liability reasons, Liam could proudly claim that after five tumultuous seasons, he had never fired a single flare. His struggles had been his alone, and nobody could take away the experience that he had gained. He was just a man facing all that the world could throw at him, and he had surpassed each challenge with flying colors.
But what could be done when the threat was so fundamentally inhuman? What was all his tenacity when stacked against an army that never stopped, never slept, and never surrendered? As Liam sat in the back of a car, with Buttercup and Kurt to his sides and a suppressed hunting rifle in his lap, he wondered who were the survivalists, and who was the amateur.
When was the last time he’d held a bolt action rifle like this? It might have been before his Survive In Wild days. Though he’d used them for the majority of his life before, wielding them for the show had taken some of the flair away, and he’d gotten better at avoiding confrontation than challenging it as a result. Now a .308 was in his hands, and he again yearned for the days where he’d be shooting things that didn’t shoot back.
“We’re good,” Leah said, fingers wrapped around the binoculars she’d been using to keep watch ahead.
The car again accelerated into a slow roll as Vaughn brought them around the next bend. The hum of the electric engine was quiet in the growing stillness of night. They had been working their way back into Reno since dusk, keeping off the main roads with lights off, all while their pursuers were seeking them out in that vacuous, opaque darkness.
Vaughn frowned. “It’s a shame you won’t be able to see our FOB by the light of day. We used to use the speakers to draw hollows in, and the lights to distract them. It makes them easier to herd, and it sure looks beautiful. A nice slice of old world taste done again.”
“Old world”. How many times had Liam heard that term before, and never truly appreciated it? They all used it so flippantly to describe such a heartless and conclusive end. As if humanity and all its triumphs could be reduced to the same word one would reserve for a pair of shoes that’d been left in the closet too long. It had no value. It was just old. But that was still fine. There was another pair waiting downstairs. All that had been accomplished with the first pair was now irrelevant the moment it had reached its limit. There was no reason to waste time referencing it, except perhaps out of nostalgia.
Was Liam any better off? Or was he just another relic of ancient history, soon to be discarded?
“What kind of building was your FOB?” Liam asked to busy his mind, keeping his voice gruff to maintain the facade.
“A casino,” Vaughn explained. “Well, several actually. The living had this idea of making a whole bunch of them bunched up together in one structure. It’s so big that it spans entire blocks. I can only imagine what a great time it must’ve been.”
“What do you think it was like?”
“Well, been a while since I hit up Elysium, so I’m guessing it was somethin’ like that. Lots of drugs. Lots of rock. Lots of sex.” His shriveled eyes squinted into the night, as if to pierce through the veil. “I swear, sometimes if I try hard enough, I can almost see what it used to be, back before all this. Not like when we look at a pic or movie too. I’m talking like I was there, running around those halls with everyone else. But the Hollowing truly is a tough bastard, and I know it’s just my mind playin’ tricks on me.”
Liam smiled. “I remember the first casino I went to. Me and a couple of the guys ran off after work. Thought we’d try something different, and you can’t exactly party when you’re spending all day on some bloke’s lawn. I was a landscaper back then, and didn’t know half as much as I thought I did.”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He stared into the blackness too, and willed the memory into action.
“It was a bloody miserable time. I’d never been anywhere near as drunk before, and with all the lights and the music, all I could think of by the end of the night was running away and finding my tent.” He laughed. “This was after I’d moved out of my parents, you see, but before me and Nelly went out to Al–”
“Liam!” Leah shouted.
He snapped out of the memory, and realized that the car had now stopped. Vaughn was staring wide-eyed into the street, no doubt wondering how half that story could be true. Had Liam dropped the fake voice by mistake as well!?
“Parents? Drunk? Couldn’t have had those, unless…”
Mastermind lunged from Leah’s lap and onto the wheel, and Leah drew her pistol.
“Got control, mum!” Mastermind shouted.
“We still good, Vaughn?” she asked, the suppressor pressed against his skull.
He sat bewildered for a moment, and then burst out in laughter. “Shit. No wonder you shook the hornet’s nest so bad. Here I was thinking that you’d formed yourself a little rebellion, and this chump was the guy you’d use to replace Hades. But no. You really are more nuts than I thought.”
“All we’re asking for is a ride out of town. Nothing more.”
“You really think that she’ll deliver on this one? Mother might be God’s gift to Earth when it comes to medicine, but ending the Hollowing? Might as well try to freeze the sun in the sky.”
“Not going to debate this one, Vaughn. This is all we’ve got, so either get with the program or get out.”
The car rolled again.
“Then I’d guess we’d better hurry up,” Vaughn said with a grin. “Always wanted to see what was on the other side. If we’re all gonna die doin’ something stupid, it might as well be over this.”
Liam let out a breath of relief, and Leah holstered her pistol. Disaster had been averted.
For now.
* * *
Night melted into twilight and the clouds parted. Monoliths rose in front, with white hotel towers turned silver in the light of the moon. Closer still, and a dome stood out from the rest, still twinkling in spite of its age. A faded, torn sign caught recognition but for a beat. ‘The City Within a City,’ it read. No surprise, really. The hotels seemed to vomit shops out from their base, and the construction of each casino was so vast that whole streets were consumed by their design. There were three total here, Liam had been told, though it seemed so much more vast. A triumvirate of decadence, designed to beget more decadence.
The car reached its stop in front of a parking garage.
“It’ll be quicker to walk from here,” Vaughn explained. “I have it stashed on the fourth floor of this lot, by the stairwell.”
“You sure you won’t come with us?” Leah asked.
“Can’t abandon the Larder. I’ve spent six long years building that beauty, and I won’t leave her behind.” He stared at his hand. “No matter the cost.”
“Kurt will make the cut clean. Don’t worry.”
“Would be nice if you’d take my leg, at least,” Vaughn said. “I can still work well with a limp.”
Leah shook her head. “We need it to look real if Hades will let you out of this. The only way to get him to believe we took you hostage is if I cut off your arm.”
Liam winced. Even though he’d learned by now that a severed limb wasn’t near as debilitating for a rezzer as their living counterparts, hearing the words out loud and in such a cavalier tone still sent a shiver down his spine.
Vaughn sighed. “You’re gonna owe me so much after this.”
“If this works out as planned, I’ll make sure that you’re the first in line for a cure,” Leah said.
“Let’s do this then.”
The group made their way to the garage in silence, with Vaughn leading the way. No sooner had they reached the threshold into the main lot that a ping broke the stillness of the night. Blackened ichor exploded from Vaughn’s head as he fell limp into the concrete.
Liam froze in place, the air caught in his throat. Before he could even cry out, more suppressed bullets ricocheted through the garage, and he was shoved back into the cover of a wrecked truck. Leah stood above, peering through the blackness with the same level of desperation as him.
She ducked just as a shot whizzed overhead. “Anyone have eyes?”
Buttercup leaned into view, only for the trim of his suit to tear from a shot. “Can’t see shit.” He threw his hand over his shoulder as blood began to well.
“We’re sitting ducks.” She raised her gun. “Fall back. On me!”
Leah fired blindly into the darkness, and Liam took his cue to break into a sprint, clutching his rifle as though he owned nothing else. As Liam reached the street, he caught sight of a half-dozen silhouettes rushing toward him. More gunshots rang free, and dust burst from the concrete pillars besides. The tires of their getaway car moaned as air leaked free.
In a frenzy, Liam made a run for the closest structure in sight, one of the casinos in the shape of a circus tent. He rushed through the broken glass door and took cover inside.
Now was his turn to help. Liam had found that he held a single significant advantage over the undead: his ability to sprint. Their muscles atrophied post-Hollowing, and they were never able to regain enough coordination to move faster than jog. Even if their stamina was near-infinite, Liam was unrivaled in his ability to cover short distances when compared to them.
With his own safety secured, he fired his rifle at every shadow he did not recognize, reflexively pulling on the bolt action in response to each shot. Their enemies were forced to withdraw as Leah and the others trotted across the street.
Leah nodded in approval when she reached the door, then ordered him further back. Liam complied.
The interior of the casino was like a childhood nightmare aged fifty years. The main room had been designed like a carnival, with dart throwing stands, mini-basketball hoop kiosks, bowling, fishing, and so much more, while roulette tables and slot machines dotted the outer ring – all with prizes dangling above. A mix of red, yellow, and black carpeted the floor to match the flair. But there were no lights here, save for that which leaked through cracks in the ceiling, and the games stood frozen in time, linked from one to the other by spiderwebs.
The group found a water balloon stand to hide within while taking aim on the door. It was only a matter of time before someone else came through.