Fiction: Afterlife Volume 3 (Chapter 26)

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Afterlife is a sci fi/western action serial published every other week. Join us in a post-apocalyptic journey through a future where life has become little more than a struggle for survival. However, where there’s life, there’s always hope.

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Read the previous chapter here:

Afterlife, Volume 3, Chapter 25

Where:

Abby and Shelly are reunited, but it’s a bittersweet reunion.
Averil Jones sells her wares at the New Atlantis Black Market.
Shelly faces off with Warrick Baines.

Find the Volume 3 Table of Contents page here.

View the Map here.

Check out Afterlife on Goodreads and don’t forget to rate it.

 

Afterlife, Volume 3, Chapter 26

Warrick was silent as he stood before the backdrop of a burning building, the orange and yellow flames reflecting off his metal face and torso.  His skeletal silver grin gave the impression that he was enjoying the situation.  His one remaining red camera eye focused on Shelly as she stood with ready swords.  She was shaking slightly, even though she’d fought many foes.  Warrick was a famed savage killer, and he was barely human.  She flinched a few times, but was afraid to attack.  She reminded herself of all of the people he’d killed.  Nat and especially Bobby.  She thought about her unborn child to whom Warrick would also be a threat, and she squinted her remaining eye.

Warrick came at her with a swift volley of attacks from his two blades.  His speed was inhuman, and it took every ounce of focus and concentration for Shelly to block the blows, but she was quickly backed up against the building beside them, and Warrick was still coming at her full force, a blur of silver blades.  Shelly jumped around his left to get to his side and one of his blades sliced a deep cut through her left side, soaking her gray jumpsuit with blood.  Shelly turned to face the cyborg as the pain shot through her and she felt the blood oozing down her side.  She gritted her teeth and took several steps back.  Warrick closed in on her, his grin as menacing as ever.  “Glad to see you’re enjoying this,” she said.  “It’s gonna be the last few minutes of your life.”  His grin didn’t change and it was starting to get to Shelly as she backed away some more, trying to catch her breath and get over the pain from her wound.  She was already at a disadvantage and the fight had just started.

Warrick lunged at her again, attacking with an inhumanly fast barrage of blows that seemed to be coming from every direction at the same time.  Shelly blocked blow after blow, breathing more heavily as she continued backing away.  It was only a matter of time before he’d wear her down and land a killing blow.  Shelly had to figure something out fast.  She didn’t have time to think, though, as it took all of her mental energy and focus to fend off Warrick’s attacks.  The clanks and rings of metal hitting metal filled Drummond as Warrick attacked Shelly in the street.  She made sure to keep her distance from the buildings.  The last thing she wanted was to be cornered again.

As Shelly blocked the blows and began to grow tired, the reality set in that there was no way she could win.  His grinning metal face was constantly mocking her inferiority.  He was too fast, and he didn’t tire.  She stepped over bodies, severed heads and limbs, and splashed through puddles of blood as she continued blocking his blows, backing her way through the town.  She knew that it was likely that she was going to lose this fight.  She’d never get her revenge, and she and her child would die.  She thought about Bobby again and lunged forward as Baines tried to attack her.  She blocked a blow out of the way and with all of her might swung her sword at Warrick’s neck.  There was a clank as her sword made a slice mark on the metal.  With her other sword, Shelly stabbed Warrick between the eyes where the bullet hole was, hoping to somehow stab through to his brain, but there was only another clank.  Warrick kicked her in the chest and she flew backwards several feet, landing on the ground on top of some bloody bodies.

As she picked herself up, her chest was throbbing so badly she could barely keep her eye open.  She could tell some ribs were broken.  And blood was seeping out of her side.  She was having trouble breathing, and now she was covered with the blood from the corpses.  Warrick walked towards her with his mocking grin.  Her attacks had very little effect on him.  Shelly knew if she ran, he’d catch up with her and kill her.  She also knew if she stayed and fought, she didn’t stand a chance.  She was dead no matter what she did.  Her unborn child was dead no matter what she did.  She decided that she would fight with everything she had.  She wouldn’t give up until Warrick at least showed some signs of pain.  She lunged at him and attacked, and Warrick easily blocked her blows.  He was toying with her now.  She sliced at him with labored strikes and Warrick knocked her swords away like he was swatting flies.

He came at her again with another barrage of attacks, slicing and stabbing at her.  Shelly blocked the blows the best she could, but one blade sliced into her left arm.  Another sliced her right leg and she stumbled.  She leapt backwards several times, dodging Warrick’s stabs.  She couldn’t let him slice her abdomen, where her baby was.  She stumbled backwards, in great pain.  Her arm was a bleeding mess.  Warrick’s blow had sliced her sleeve almost clean off and cut a deep cut.  She could barely stand on her injured leg and she was quickly getting tired and lightheaded.  She noticed a crumbling wall behind her and backed up towards it.  Warrick lunged at her and with all of her remaining strength, she leapt out of the way.  Warrick smashed into the wall and it came down on him.  Shelly took the opportunity to run through the nearby door of the closest building.

She stumbled up some stairs with every ounce of strength she still had.  She ran to the end of a hall into a room where she slammed a door shut, locked it, and dead bolted it.  With that, she collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily and bleeding profusely.  She wanted to rest, but she was afraid she’d pass out.  She was beyond thinking, but somehow she knew that Warrick would find her soon, and when he did, the battle would be pretty much over.  She was on her last legs.  She only hoped that Abby was having more luck in the bank finding the diamonds.  Even if she was going to die, at least Shelly knew she’d managed to hold Warrick off at least for a little while.  Hopefully it had been enough time for Abby to do what she’d needed to do.

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The dunes spread out away from the Rose City Undertown, deceptively quiet and calm, their massive shapes looming like dark, sandy mountains beneath the unyielding early morning sky.  It was still dark, but Della’s night vision goggles revealed the terrain.  He was leading a party of soldiers up the side of one of these dunes, his boots trudging through the unstable sand.  He watched as one soldier on another nearby dune slipped and fell down into the sand below, where he disappeared.  Several of his comrades stopped and tried to pull him up.  Della hoped they had a handle on it as he led his soldiers forward.  They were one of the lead attack units in General Rodriguez’s plan to strike the IAO before they had the chance to attack the city.

Della was fighting alongside the resistance army in the fight to defend Rose City.  Mavery had offered him the chance to stay back as a bodyguard to guard her in the case of a breach, but Della wanted to be where most of the fighting would be.  He felt that was where he’d be able to best help the resistance.  Now he was decked out in a tan uniform with a tan helmet and a silver sand shield which covered his face, holding a Mueller AZ-2 assault laser rifle as he pushed through the sand, using the dunes to hide himself and his squad from the IAO.

Della was a major, a rank which he’d held since he’d been one of the leaders of the resistance in Silver City before he met up with Horseman, Shelly, and later Abby and her group.  He looked back to make sure the other soldiers were still following him as he rounded another dune.  They were getting close to the IAO positions.  The spotters had given precise coordinates to each of the squad leaders and they were still connected through a secure messaging system in case the targets moved.  These guys weren’t going to know what hit them.

Della made a hand signal and the fifteen soldiers following him stopped.  They wanted to wait until all of the resistance units were within range, then each squad would scale the last dune and open fire on the IAO who’d surrounded Rose City.  It was still dark, but there was just a hint of light as the sun started to show itself over the horizon.  Della looked up and saw an EMPC flying through the sky, a silver saucer zipping quickly from place to place.  The resistance soldiers were using cloaking systems that projected an image of sand above them along with radar jammers.  Hopefully it would be enough.  Surprise was key.  Della knew the cloaking projectors would run out of power soon, but by then the attack would be starting.

The signal light on Della’s wristwatch communicator started flashing and he motioned his squad to follow him up the dune.  They scaled the steep, sandy shape and once they got to the top, they spread out and aimed their laser rifles at the hover tanks and tents on the dune across from them.  Della fired, hitting one of the tents.  Resistance lasers blasted the tents to pieces and other anti-tank lasers blasted the tanks.  Something was off.  Della felt like there should have been far more IAO forces there.  As he and his men fired, he looked at the nearby dunes.  A ring of laser fire surrounded Rose City, firing out from the dunes at the surrounding IAO forces.  “Keep an eye on the dunes beyond them!” Della shouted at his troops as they continued firing.  He had the bad feeling that the IAO knew about the attack and that they were waiting to ambush from the dunes beyond.  Perhaps the spotters had just seen decoys.

Several soldiers appeared on the dunes beyond the decoys and started firing at Della and his squad.  A laser blasted the soldier next to him, splattering his brains across Della’s sand shield.  “Get down!” he shouted and he dove into the sand, as did the other soldiers in his squad.

He aimed his assault rifle from his prone position and started firing at the IAO soldiers on the far dune, picking them off one by one as lasers blasted the sand all around him.  The soldiers in his squad were also firing their lasers at the IAO soldiers and red lines of light filled the surrounding desert along with hissing sounds and explosions.  Della heard the hum of a far off RLR along with the thoom of a huge laser canon, probably mounted on a leveler.  The IAO had much of Rennock’s technology now, so the soldiers in the resistance were told to expect anything.  They’d thought they had surprise on their side at least, but the disturbing fact that the IAO knew they were coming was quickly setting in.  Della wondered what other surprises they had in store as he fired at leather-clad soldiers.

“Look out!” Della’s second in command, Lieutenant Malia Saint Claire shouted.  “Behind us!”

Della turned his head to see a dozen or so soldiers on a dune directly behind them.  How had they outflanked them without him noticing?  They opened fire on Della and his group, firing laser rifles and other weapons.  One laser blasted Lieutenant Saint Claire in the chest as other lasers blasted the sand around Della.  Malia tried to take her helmet off as another laser blasted one of her legs out from under her.  Della heard a buzzing sound and he realized one of the IAO soldiers behind them had a nanogun which fired thousands of tiny nanobots.  The silver cloud moved quickly to the dune Della was on and he watched ten of his men disintegrate before his eyes, becoming piles of flesh, cloth, blood, and bone fragments.  Malia had been wearing the EMD belt, which would have been the squad’s only defense against the flesh-eating nanobots.  Della breathed heavily as he rolled down the side of the dune.  Lasers fired everywhere, filling the morning sky with red light as Della rolled through the sand.

Della hit the bottom of the valley between the dunes and started sinking into the sand.  He quickly pulled himself up, leapt to his feet, and started running, still holding his assault rifle.  The chaos of battle was all around.  There were lasers blasts and screams, explosions and clouds of spraying sand.  Della was somewhat disoriented, but he ran in the direction he thought Rose City was in.  He was alone now, and he’d gone from soldier carrying out his orders to man in survival mode.  He ran until he came face to face with five leather-clad IAO soldiers who were all pointing laser rifles at him.  “Stop running and drop your weapon,” one of them said.  “We’re takin’ you prisoner.”

Della frowned, dropped his assault rifle, and put his hands in the air.  The five men approached him, and Della quickly drew his two pearl-handled laser pistols from his hips and started firing, dropping to the sand and rolling sideways.  Two of the soldiers got off shots, but Della had blasted all five of them in the face, and the shots the two soldiers had fired at him missed.  Della picked up his assault rifle and walked past the five smoking bodies.

<>

Ayman followed close behind Wild Joe Rodeo, who was leading his squad to the top of the dune ahead of them.  Joe and all his men had looked strange to Ayman at first in their tan military uniforms, but he was starting to get used to them. Joe was a major and he was the leader of the squad.  They’d made Ayman a lieutenant due to previous combat experience, and the rest of the members of Joe’s show had been made sergeants, corporals, and privates.  Ayman could tell Buckaroo Billy, who’d been made a sergeant, was a little jealous that Ayman had been made Joe’s second in command, but Ayman hoped that was all behind them now that they were about to see combat.

Belle and Mary lied down on the dune next to Ayman once they reached the top, and they aimed their laser rifles at the tents and hover tanks ahead of them.  “I don‘t like this one bit,” Joe said.  “There’s somethin’ fishy goin’ on.  Hold your fire for now.”

Ayman noticed that the Chief, Jimmy Thumb, and Big Bob were on the dune just past Mary, while Billy was on the other side of Joe.  The whole squad was on top of the dune, lying in the sand and aiming their laser rifles.  Other resistance soldiers around them were firing, but Joe continued holding his hand in the air, signaling them to wait.  “If we wait too long,” Billy said, “they might come out of the tents and start firin’ at us.”

“You listen to my order,” Joe said.  “We don’t want to waste our weapons’ energy ‘til we know what’s goin’ on here.”

“Everyone else is firin’,” Mary said.

“Everyone else ain’t us,” Joe countered.

Another group of AIO soldiers appeared on the dune beyond the tents and tanks and they started firing their laser rifles at Joe’s group.  One had an RLR, which hummed and fired hundreds of laser blasts at their dune in a matter of seconds.  Ayman got as low as he could as sand sprayed everywhere.  “They’re behind us!” Jimmy shouted.

“Get down the dune!” Joe shouted.  “Fast!  Head back for Rose City!  We’re surrounded.  It’s a trap!”  Joe slid down the side of the dune through the sand, firing two laser pistols on his way down.  Ayman slid down beside him.  The dune behind them was crawling with IAO soldiers.  Many of them were firing laser rifles at Joe and his men.

Lasers blasted the sand as Ayman slid down to the bottom of the dune.  He could see next to him that a laser hit Big Bob.  He saw the blood fly, but he wasn’t sure where the giant had been hit.  When he got to the bottom, Ayman stood and looked around to see who was with him.  All of Joe’s men were there, and Bob had just been hit in the left arm.  It could have been way worse.  “Follow me!” Joe shouted as he led the squad between two dunes.  Ayman ran as fast as he could through the loose sand.  He was afraid he’d lose his footing any second, and he’d be a sitting duck for nearby IAO soldiers. He prayed to Allah as he ran. The situation was desperate.

Lasers flew past Ayman as he ran for his life, and he knew there were pursuers behind them.  He heard someone shout and he turned to see that Belle the Beauty had fallen.  Mary, Bob, Jimmy, and the Chief ran past Ayman as he watched the IAO pursuers catch up to Belle.  “Wait!” he shouted.  “We can’t leave her behind!”  He fired at one of the IAO soldiers, hitting him in the chest and knocking him to the ground.  Four men pulled Belle up out of the sand as Ayman felt a laser blast his right leg and he fell into the sand.

“There’s another one!” someone shouted.  “Go get him.  We got another prisoner.”

Lasers flew past Ayman as Joe and his squad fired at the soldiers who had Belle.  “Nobody’s takin’ any of my people!” Joe shouted.  Ayman watched as Joe fired his two laser pistols, but more soldiers appeared on the dunes around them and started firing down at them.  The Chief, Mary, Jimmy, and Big Bob provided covering fire as Joe and Billy helped Ayman up out of the sand.  Pain shot through Ayman’s leg and he knew there was no way he was going to be able to walk.  He watched as the IAO soldiers dragged Belle away behind a nearby dune.

“We’ll have to go get her later,” Billy said.  “Let’s just see that we get ourselves to safety.”

“But we can’t leave ‘er behind!” Joe shouted.

“We have to!” Billy said.  “We’ll get her later.”  The two of them helped Ayman as the others continued firing at the IAO soldiers that seemed to have them surrounded from the dunes above.  Somehow, they all managed to trudge through the sand to safety.  Ayman heard laser blasts behind them as Joe and Billy pulled him through the sand.  After some time, Ayman could see the metal columns that held up Rose City in the distance ahead.

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General Howell was looking out at the dunes through his binoculars.  “Tunnels.”

“What was that?” Javy asked, a perplexed look on his face.

“They came out of tunnels,” General Howell said.  “They dug tunnels through the sand underneath our troops and that enabled them to surround us.  Now their soldiers are between our guys and the Undercity here.”

Javy kicked the wall and threw the binoculars to the ground.  Foxtrot picked them up and scanned the surrounding dunes through the window.  There were openings in the sand where IAO troops were standing.  Foxtrot noticed a drill-like vehicle of some sort near one of the cave-like openings.  A burrower.  “General Howell’s right,” he said with a frown.  “They tunneled under our men.”  Several columns of IAO soldiers were now heading for the Undertown, where Javy, Foxtrot, and General Howell were.  General Howell’s second in command, Colonel Clarissa Trent was also with them.  Howell’s other two top commanders, Major Perry and Major Rainer, were out leading assault squads.

The command center was on the top floor of the tallest building in the Undertown, a stone building that had once been a bank.  Foxtrot was happy to see how sturdy the stone building was when he’d first seen it.  Still, nothing would be much defense against a leveler’s laser cannon.  Foxtrot watched as the closest IAO soldiers started firing at one of the columns beneath the city.  “They’re trying to take out the columns.”

“Damn it,” Javy said.  “I should have seen something like this coming.”

“How could you have seen this coming?” Colonel Trent asked.  She was wearing a brown military cap over her bald head, and she had goggles on instead of her usual glasses.  The goggles had protection on the sides to keep sand out of her eyes, in case any attacks came too close to home. Foxtrot wished he’d had similar goggles, but he was convinced his glasses were lucky after all the close calls he’d gotten out of since he’d started wearing them.

Javy frowned.  “Well, Bobby.  Go ahead and say it.  Get your ‘I told you so’ moment out of the way.”

“I agreed with you ultimately,” General Howell said.  “You suggested this attack.  But I agreed.  I’ll shoulder some of the blame.”

“You were right, though, General Rodriguez,” Foxtrot said as he handed the binoculars back to Javy.  “We had to strike while we still could.  We couldn’t let them just sit and build on their position and reinforce themselves until they were ready to attack.  We would have lost either way.”

“We haven’t lost yet,” Colonel Trent said.

Javy chuckled.  “Yeah, right.”

Foxtrot didn’t need binoculars to see one of the columns collapse.  A leveler was firing at one of the other ones.  “They’re gonna bring this city down on our heads,” Colonel Trent said.

“I doesn’t matter,” Javy said.  “We need to stay here.  We need to stay here ‘til the end.  For our men.  We’re all in this together.”

General Howell nodded.  “So let’s not dwell on the mistakes we’ve made or what should have happened.  We need to figure out the best way to deal with this problem at hand.”

“Well I for one am fresh out of ideas,” Javy said.

“Give it some time,” Foxtrot said.  “You’ll think of something.”

“Will I?” Javy asked.

Foxtrot watched as some stragglers made it back to the Undertown.  They took cover behind sandstone houses and started firing at the IAO soldiers who were closest to the city.  The leveler continued firing at the column until it also collapsed.  Things weren’t looking good.  Still, Foxtrot had to hold out some hope.  He took the binoculars from Javy once again and scanned the dunes.  The IAO soldiers had torn most of the resistance army to pieces.  Some resistance soldiers were still making their way back to the Undertown, but there weren’t many.  Foxtrot scanned the entrances to the tunnels the IAO had used.  There had to be an answer.  Every problem had a solution.  Foxtrot just needed some time and he’d find a solution to this problem.

The levelers were now firing their cannons at another column.  There were eight columns left.  Foxtrot noticed a flag flying over one of the sandstone buildings in the Undertown.  It was the American flag from the old world, the red, white, and blue stars and stripes.  It was a mostly forgotten symbol form a bygone era, a shadow from the past.  But recently, some people seemed to be latching onto it.  Foxtrot watched the flag flap and flutter as the laser blasts came into the city.

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Matt Lund hung up his communicator as Mavery watched.  His face had hopelessness written all over it.  Mavery braced herself for the bad news she knew was coming.  “Things are looking bad down there,” Matt said.  “The army’s pretty much gone.  The IAO have taken out two columns and are about to destroy another one.  I think it’s time for us to begin the evacuation.”

Mavery looked out the window of the Phoenix Books office and saw several EMPC’s zipping through the sky.  There was also an attack copter not far away.  All were IAO operated.  They’d taken out most of the resistance aircraft.  A few were still putting up a fight.  Big Ed seemed to be noticing the same thing.  “We’re gonna evacuate the city through the air?”

“Air and land,” Matt said.

Mavery frowned.  “That’s a recipe for disaster.  I watched Rennock’s men slaughter evacuees trying to leave Primrose.  I don’t want to see that again.  I don’t want another Primrose.”

Victor Lowe, Sandy Patel, Gale the android, and Art Crab the programmer were also in the office with them.  Victor was constantly trying to talk Matt down.  Matt was a nervous wreck.  Sandy was sitting at her desk with her feet up, trying to look calm.  Gale was trying to make sure everyone had whatever they needed, even in the midst of chaos, and Art was typing away at his computer.  He was a short man with glasses and a long, bushy gray beard.  He’d been the main person responsible for hacking into the IAO’s messaging system, though he’d had a team of programmers working with him.  Some of the best minds in the resistance were present, but no one knew what to do now that everything seemed to be falling apart.  Mavery and Big Ed had seen it before in Primrose, so they at least had some experience in defeat.  “I think we may have another Primrose,” Sandy said, “whether we like it or not.”

“Well whatever happens,” Art said, “the resistance will live.  We can flee to fight another day.  I’ll keep hacking into their systems, causing ruckus.  We’ll find a way to keep it going.”

“We can’t evacuate,” Mavery said.  “They’ll slaughter everyone.  You think they’ll just let people leave here?” she asked Matt.  “They don’t care if you’re a soldier or a civilian.  They want to kill everyone.  That’s what they’ve done everywhere else.”

“If we stay here and fight,” Victor said, taking his man’s side, “we’ll die.”

“If we try to leave,” Big Ed said, “we’ll die.  Might as well stay here and make ourselves harder targets.”

“What are you waiting for?” Matt asked Mavery as she stared out the window.  Mavery could hear the frustration in his voice.  “If we don’t evacuate now, then when?  Are you waiting for the city to collapse under our feet?  Is there really any reason to stay here at this point?  I mean really, what are you waiting for, Mavery?”

She thought about Abby.  Mavery wasn’t sure why Abigail Song was the first person who came to her mind in this situation.  She wasn’t sure what Abby would be able to do to help them.  “I’m not sure what I’m waiting for,” she said with a smile.  “Maybe I’m waiting for a miracle.”

<>

Shelly watched the locked and bolted door as her side, her left arm, and her right leg continued to bleed.  The pain from her broken ribs was still there, also.  Shelly had hoped to rest and catch her breath, maybe gain a second wind, but she’d lost more blood and was feeling weaker.  She still had to be ready.  The door burst open and Warrick shot through.  Shelly stood and readied her swords.  She noticed an open window and she leapt through, landing on both feet two stories down and rolling through the sandy street.  Pain shot through her injured leg and she shouted as she stumbled to her feet and turned to face Warrick, who’d leapt out the window after her.  He sliced and jabbed at her and she continued blocking the blows, backing up through the burning city.

She was glad Warrick came for her rather than Abby.  Either he didn’t know Abby was there or he was more focused on Shelly for some reason.  That would give Abby the time she needed to get the diamonds and escape.  Shelly stood about ten feet away from Warrick, her swords ready.  His blades started spinning like propellers, making a high pitched whistling noise, and Shelly swallowed hard.  Warrick walked towards her and she continued backing away.  He flew at her with lighting speed, the propeller blades flying at her chest, and she leapt out of the way, turning to face Warrick again with what little strength she had left.  Warrick spun a blade at her head and she blocked it with a sword, but the sword was ripped from her hand and flew several feet away from her, leaving her with only one.  Warrick sliced at her several times and kicked her in the chest again.

Shelly stumbled backwards and collapsed, unable to pick herself up from the sandy ground.  She was now unarmed and lying on her back, looking up as Warrick pointed both of his blades at her, one at her neck and one at her belly.  Shelly used every ounce of strength in her body to keep herself from passing out.  There was no way she’d be able to mount another attack.  Warrick looked down at her with his red eye and his skeletal grin as he prepared to finish her off.

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDbeqj-1XOo&w=560&h=315]

 

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Continue on to the next chapter:

Afterlife, Volume 3, Chapter 27
Where:
The Southwest Resistance receives help from unexpected allies.
The battle for Rose City continues.
Warrick Baines prepares to end his duel with Michelle Hemingway.

Find the Volume 3 Table of Contents page here.

View the Map here.

Check out Afterlife on Goodreads and don’t forget to rate it.

Check out Michael Monroe’s page on Amazon to find other stuff he’s written.
Like Afterlife on Facebook to find out when the next chapter is posted.
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