4. Bishop: Fresh meat

Senses began to return. Slowly but surely. First the simple sensation of being alive. Then light barely filtering into my eyes followed by a horrible static from my nervous system attempting to establish the position of my body and relay its state back to my brain. A few minutes later twitching my fingers as eyes made out a blurred image of a room in a small shack we now resided in ignorant as to what transported us here only remembering the screams.

Suddenly a noise. Incredibly faint but certain. Something stumbling over the wooden floor elsewhere in the house. Eyes barely making out two other bodies in the room the stumbling became louder until the door flew open with an unidentifiable individual falling through. Helping itself up precariously and turning to me the individual began to move unsteadily and almost unnaturally with just barely perceivable rasped breathing.

It stumbled forward. Arms almost limp to it’s side. Picking up its pace. Desperately trying to move myself my body responded. An amplified sickening static shot through my nerves as the message to move was jumbled and distorted through my resetting body. As the being lurched towards me the message to deliver a precise blow arrived to my arm as an awkward swing into it’s side. Enough to deflect its movement into the wall I was slumped against.

Rolling over away from the being struggling to all fours it managed to take hold of my shoulder. With another tremendous effort bringing in tow a heightened terrible static throughout my body I darted back onto my knees. Losing it’s grip and beginning to drunkardly fight back against the assailant in futile effort as it tackled me onto my back. However it did not continue to attack and spoke through grated breathing.

“B… Bishop… It’s alright… we’re safe…” Eyes focussed to reveal Flux holding me down to prevent any further misguided defence. Letting my head hit the wooden floor gently in relief I allowed my body to now properly reset as Flux checked the other two bodies. A moment later taking Flux's hand and groggily getting to my feet to lean against a wall I tried to process what happened before somehow getting here until Flux broke the silence.

“I’m sorry… something… got into my head. Took control and I was just latching on for the ride…” He leant against the wall in a defeated manner.

“Doesn’t matter right now. Let's figure out where we are.”

Standing steadily now and moving to help Strider and Hazard up Flux nodded and casually walked towards the window to inspect our surroundings. Both Hazard and Strider quickly found their balance as Flux arrived at the window and stood in shock for a moment while Strider checked his rifle. His eyes locked with something but he didn’t react. Not yet. His mind still hazed presumably but ready enough to take action if need be, surely. No action was taken as his eyes widened in absolute shock as a weak rasped monotone voice of a drone drifted through the window.

“(Cooolllleccttiivvee…)”

Diving across the room into Flux peering out for a moment as I flew through the air revealed a husk of a man holding a sawn off shotgun. Both barrels unleashed a cloud of buckshot where Flux once stood. The gunshot shattering the silence as it did the window from which glass fragments blew out from. Hitting the ground unharmed the man continued to drone on unintelligibly as he slowly fumbled shells into his weapon. Trying to enter the building he flopped through the window onto his face. Dragging himself up Flux threw me off him leaping into action knife drawn delivering a fatal thrust into his chest.

However the man continued to fumble around with his shotgun trying to lock the breach as if nothing happened. Shocked yet unwavering Flux dealt another stab with the knife viciously plunging it into his heart ripping it out with a fountain of blood in a single tactful movement. The man finally managed to close the breach again as if Fluxs decisive incisions had never happened. Flux continued his blows. The masterful finesse in the way he handled the blade giving way to savage swings as he ripped the man's chest cavity apart. Breathing heavily and covered in gore Flux stood up from the desecrated body breathing heavily through clenched teeth.

“He should have died after the first blow. What the fuck is he made of.”

Strider handed me his pistol while Hazard kept his drawn on the body in disbelief as to how much punishment the man took before going down. The disbelief was dwarfed by its continued gargling groan. It’s arm moving, inching towards the shotgun that slid across the floor. Holding it’s head down Flux delved the knife in between it’s vertebra just beneath it’s head and finally it’s movement stopped.

In dismay we looked down at the corpse, then again out the window shocked by the view. More bodies shambling towards the shack. A small hoard of men stumbling erratically in between columns and rows of rusting vehicles blocking out the world beyond. Clutching a variety of weapons in their hands one brought it’s pistol up pointed towards us as we dived down onto the ground. Bullets and buckshot began tearing through the walls relentlessly.

“Crawl! Find an exit on the other side!”

Flux, Hazard and Strider promptly followed my order only standing up at the door to breach it. Flux took the lead and I followed through. Pistol drawn right behind him. Quickly taking a shot at a drone who was raising his weapon the bullet dug through his forehead and eliminated the threat. Flux dispatching another as Hazard and Strider darted in between the dilapidated cars and trucks throughout the equipment graveyard. Charging through Hazard knocked a drone to the ground as it suddenly appeared from one of the gaps in between vehicles which Strider delivered a quick shot to as he passed by next.

Running into the open again onto a dirt road between the parked vehicles another small hoard took notice of us and brought their weapons up firing as we staggered into cover. Running desperately onto another road laden with bodies and a man holding an AK-74 precisely aiming down his sights saw us quickly ready ourselves. Drawing our guns onto each other as quickly as we realized that neither us nor him were the human husks so intent on hunting us down he pointed in our direction and ran towards us indicating for us to do the same. Avoiding expending ammo as best we could we escaped the compound into a dried up creek bed where we held for a moment to catch our breath while the stranger began yelling in Ukrainian over the chaos as the fire intensified above us.

“(They’ll be converging onto this position soon but at this range their aim should be rat shit-)” The man stopped his yelling for a second to rip Strider down trying to peek over the edge as a shot tore through the dirt from where he attempted to look from.

“(-that doesn’t mean they won’t get lucky. Move along the creek bed before they get here.)”

Continuing our desperate retreat we followed the creek bed down a few hundred meters before charging through a field towards buildings in the distance. The air filled with the supersonic cracks of bullets travelling around us. A pistol round impacting a tree nearby. A hail of buckshot blowing apart a wooden post. A wild spray of rifle fire as the husk tried to control the recoil. The stranger reached the cover of the buildings ahead of us first with myself arriving around the corner last as a barrage of fire burst through the air around me burying into the wall as I took cover behind it.

“Too fucking close. What are they? Don’t die easily.” The stranger began to speak in English in response to my remark.

“Husks of men. Honestly zombie isn’t too far from the truth to describe them. Just dead men whose bodies are driven by something else. Take a moment to rest. We’ll lose them in the town. It’ll take them at least ten minutes to stumble over here.”

The stranger then calmly took off the gas mask he wore along with his helmet to reveal a weathered face wrought by age. Dirty grey hair lined his face up to his head the same length all around. His weary eyes calm and focussed on the canteen of water he began to open. He wore a camouflage rubber undersuit layered with tactical webbing and black body armor over his chest, knees and elbows with an oxygen tank integrated into his backpack. Finished with the canteen he returned it to one of the pouches in his webbing and looked over analysing us.

“You’re all still clean apart from some blood splatter. Hell his hair is done up. Definitely weren’t one of the inhabitants of this town. Didn’t happen to arrive here in a truck did you?” Giving him a blank look his brow lowered slightly waiting for a response.

“How’d you know?” The old man's eyes lit up for a moment followed by a frown. “That mean something?”

“Means something that’s for sure. People who lived here captured a truck and found you all inside of it. Then in the morning we found them all fried. You just made my investigation a whole lot easier.” With that the man’s eyes drifted over to Hazard, Strider and Flux observing them staring for awhile and before it became unsettling turned back to me.

“You’ve got one rifle and the rest of you are armed with pistols. You’re not going to survive here long with that. You don’t even know what areas are safe do you? It’s a longshot but do you have one of these by any chance?”

The old man rustled around in his webbing and eventually pulled out a small electronic tablet that looked almost as ancient as him yet advanced in some way. In response I pulled out my PDA and with a smile he snatched it away for a moment. A minute later he handed it back with a map on the screen with various markings.

“Now it’s got the right software it’ll be invaluable. Automatically updates next to other pioneers. Securities not great but no one has the time to go about accessing people's information. Head to that town there you’ll find work to afford some better guns.” He eventually stood up and fastened the helmet and gasmask securely around his head. “You’re welcome to follow me. I’m heading back now.”

Without question or argument we followed the stranger towards the town shown on the map. Hiking through the woodland at a moderate pace occasionally stopping as the stranger put up his fist as an order to stop and wait for whatever commotion he was attempting to avoid to pass us by. The wildlife was surprisingly plentiful but incredibly hostile most of which looked either like it’d been thrown into a fire or hideously mutated. Occasionally both.

A pack of dogs were spotted running through a field a hundred meters ahead bearing down what was once a deer. The dogs had no fur and were covered in scarred, burnt skin while the deer had talons for hooves and antlers moreso like scythes than anything but it was the eyes that caught the most attention. The eyes of the lone deer that was currently impaling the dogs that dare attack weren’t just black, they seemed to absorb all of the light that happened to shine upon them.

“Ah you see that lads?” The stranger broke the silence with a whisper. “That there is an atrocity. Those eyes would be worth an incredible amount. Not just for what they are but as a bounty too. A Lot of people have died to that thing.” Strider inspected the beast through his scope resting his finger next to the trigger.

“Unless it’s hiding something I could make your trip that much more profitable then.” The stranger turned around to look towards Strider proud of his hesitation.

“If it’s hiding something indeed. Your shot won’t do anything. It’s surrounded by an incredibly powerful ambient electrical field that sends bullets flying off course. The faster the round the more energy that pushes it away.”

As the stranger finished his sentence the deer finished the last of it’s aggressors with a charge tearing one of the dogs in half in it’s vicious assault. The surviving dogs fled desperately craven with fear.

“The only way I think there is to kill that would be to use a knife and I doubt that would work. Even if it would I don’t think you’d appreciate your chances next to that thing.”

With a victorious stamp it continued onward unfretted and unaware of us observing the tantalizing nightmare as it strode away. Continuing on the stranger pointed out to the left into the forest noticing a distortion in the air. He began to explain the gravitational tear and the terrible force they’d bring down on anything that disturbed the field. He then rambled on about other types of tears and abominations taking residence in this desecrated land and we listened as if to be children being told an epic tale. Even without going into detail about everything he mentioned he had us transfixed until again he threw his fist back into the air going silent as the air carried a reticent groan.

No further order came. Not to get down or skirt around an area. Raising my pistol another groan irradiated through the air this time more audible. Without a word the stranger broke into a sprint. Ourselves just behind. My body distraught from having to be pushed full tilt once more but continuing regardless. A minute later it started to become clear though as to why the stranger suddenly began to run. The sky opened up with another groan throughout the air as a lightning strike erupted in the sky splitting it open forming a pinkish-orange haze which spread like the sky was bleeding. The groaning was fairly consistent now. Different shades ranging from orange to red flowed like a filter of being trapped in a sand storm obscuring view.

In the distance we could see the buildings we so desperately ran for and began to understand the terror that the stranger must’ve felt upon the sight. I felt my mind warming. The pressure in my head slowly increasing. It began as something barely noticeable and kept creeping towards insurmountable pain. We were sprinting through trees, splashing through burning pools of stagnant water and over the distorted roots of the trees. Seeing the buildings in the distance just at the edge of the woodland hope returned once more only to be snatched away by a lone dog.

It lept viciously out of view from my squadmates and began snapping wildly at my face with unfathomable rage. Blocking the dogs desperate attack cost precious moments. Deflecting another bite and throwing it off gave me a moment to reach for my knife. With a thrust into the side of its neck the dog quickly lost its strength and slumped over. Upon getting to my feet there was a terrible soul piercing crash in the sky.

That same horrific pain before blacking out. My mind being ripped in half slowly as the forces began to whir around the town just ahead. All the colours fading into shades of deep red as I desperately put one foot in front of the other towards my objective. My mind screamed for it to stop but subconsciously refused to give up. One foot in front of the other. Nails digging into my skin clasped over my head.

On the verge of succumbing to the storm not sure as to how far I had to go a figure came through the now blood red storm that raged around me closing in while the screeching got progressively louder. Taking hold it dragged me through the blind arena that had formed and into a room secured by a bulkhead. The pain subsided but screams could be heard outside still. Someone else didn’t make it. Trapped in the storm that was turning his brain into a roast. While the storm rumbling around was almost deafening you could still hear the pioneers tortured wailing until what sounded to be a shock wave could be heard approaching.

It continued to close in towards us until finally when the pioneer caught outside reached the frenzied peak of his demise his screams died out instantly followed by multiple impacts against the side of the shelter. Another pioneer winced at the sound. The reinforced building was filled with people. Some holding their heads in their hands waiting for the nightmare to stop and others calmly standing at tables taking the time to pay their respects to those who hadn’t made it.

Searching the bar shakily I eventually found Hazard, Flux and Strider sitting against a wall in what could only be described as pure terror. We’d experienced most of what war had to offer. Heavy bombardments, chemical warfare, incendiary weapons, mass killings, witnessed war crimes against communities, but this was different. This was the unknown coming out from the depths to wipe the earth clean. A cataclysmic event.

Eventually the storm passed and three veteran pioneers quickly returned to the recently ravaged world. Other rookies remained still for awhile longer letting the shock leave their bodies before venturing out once more. I sat in a line with Hazard, Strider and Flux who had his arms wrapped around his legs. The three eventually turned to me when they realized I’d been trapped in that storm for a moment.

“You alright…?”

I wasn’t even sure which one of them asked. My mind felt numb for the moment and senses dulled. I wasn’t sure how to describe what just happened so instead I simply sat there blinking occasionally still shocked to the core.

“First one is always the worst, shake it off.”

The stranger returned with a small jerry can of water offering it to us which Flux, Hazard and Strider instantly reached for with consecutive thanks. Filling their canteens and downing the water they took what relief they could. I continued to mindlessly let my eyes wander across the room to notice the attention we’d gathered. A few looked over towards the stranger with gratitude in their eyes. Due to his generosity and now realizing he’d saved my life just maybe a few more men might survive a bit longer.

“Oh by the way I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Noah. Get a decent night and we’ll see what we can do for you tomorrow.”

Others though looked towards him as if he were an idiot with a deathwish. Assisting dead weight that wouldn’t stand a chance.