***
Using all his skill as a mech pilot, Bisby carefullypulled apart Stanislaw's cockpit, exposing the body of his mentorand friend.
The colossal hands lifted Stanislaw's body away fromthe wreckage and into the air. Bringing the body to eye level, Bisbysaid his silent goodbyes, then deposited the corpse in an auxiliarycargo pocket.
Bisby turned his mech 360 degrees, trying to get hisbearings, not trusting the minimal info his navigation scanners weregiving him.
He spotted the ridge and pushed his crippled mech inthat direction. The direction of the mech base. The direction ofhome.
***
"Okay, everyone settle down," Commander Caprezesaid. "Let's get through this as fast as possible and get on ourway."
The mech pilots grabbed a seat, ready for the dailybriefing. Capreze sipped at his coffee, glanced at his tablet thenstarted in.
"Alright … Only real order for the day is to keep aneye on Balsam Ridge. Harlow noticed some activity out there yesterdayand we should probably keep a watch on it. Harlow?"
"Nothing, really. Just some Rancher movement. Theydidn't engage, so I didn't either, but they watched my ass thewhole time."
"Okay, next quick item … "
***
Bisby pushed his mech as fast as he could without thething falling apart. He knew the damage was bad since he couldn'tengage the motor drive; he was walking the thing in to the base. Evenwith the hydraulics working, the long trek was starting to take itstoll on Bisby's legs.
Off to his right he caught movement. He tried activatingscanners, but they were shot. He was walking blind, a 50-ton targetwith a living meal in the cockpit and a quickly putrefying corpse inthe auxiliary cargo pocket. He raised his binocs.
"Fucking great," he muttered.
***
Downing the last of his coffee, Jay rubbed his eyes andpushed away from his worktable. "That might actually work … " hemuttered. "But first, some real work."
He crossed the hangar to a partially dismantled mech,grabbing a span-hammer on the way. He surveyed the mech, taking inthe wounded behemoth.
Nodding to himself he raised the span-hammer, took aimand whacked the mech in a junction point just above its ankle. Helistened carefully then whacked it again. This time he smiled andtossed the span-hammer aside.
"Jethro! Put this heap back together! Try not to fuckit up!"
***
Bisby watched the wave of zombies crest the hill andswarm towards him. There must have been hundreds.
"Jeezus fuck! Where did they all come from!?!" hecursed aloud.
He tried to outrun them, but his mech was notcooperating. Accepting the inevitable, Bisby double checked hisweapons, turned and made a stand.
When the front of the undead horde was fifty yards outhe fired up the 50mms. Scorching hot lead ripped through dead flesh,painting the wasteland grey and black.
"DIE ALL YOU MOTHER FUCKERS!!!!!" he screamed in hiscockpit.
Row upon row of zombies fell, finally dead.
***
"Need a hand," Jethro asked, his grin filling hisvoice.
Jay struggled with the six cables he had hopelesslytangled around his legs. Jethro just watched him, eyebrows raised,waiting for Jay to give in.
Within seconds, Jay's shoulders slumped in defeat."Yes."
"Yes, what?" Jethro asked enjoying Jay's torture.
"Yes, you can help me," Jay growled.
"What's the magic word?"
Jay whirled on Jethro, intending to throttle him, buthis feet stuck solid and he lost his balance.
Jethro smirked and offered his hand. Jay slapped itaway. Jethro offered it again, unfazed.
Jay gave up and laughed. "Thanks."
***
The right 50mm overheated within minutes. Bisby watchedit redline and swore as the gun froze up, metal fusing. He flippedswitches, sending all available ammunition to the left gun withoutstopping the flow of bullets aimed at the overwhelming zombie massesonly yards away.
Unbelievably a few zombies made it past his onslaught,climbing his mech's legs, fighting to get at the flesh tauntingthem above.
Bisby agilely picked off the zombies, flinging eachagainst the ground, pulverizing them.
Eyes manic, Bisby grinned wickedly, forgetting his lossand remembering why he had always dreamed of being a mech pilot.
***
Jay settled into the cockpit, secured his limbs andpowered up the mech.
"So when do I get to do that?" Jethro asked over thecom.
"When you become Chief Mechanic," Jay responded."Only the Commander, the pilots and the Chief Mechanic have theirReaper chips altered. You know that."
"Yeah, but you know how things are way out here in thewaste. Can't rules be bent, just a little?"
"Fuck that! Last thing I need is your zombie asscoming after me. I like your chip just the way it is."
Smoke poured from the mech's control panels.
"Fuck!"
***
"Fuck this," Bisby muttered. He started flippingswitches across his weapons array.
He emptied the 50mm, started in with the plasma cannons,tossed in some plasma charges, fractal grenades and a little homemade napalm Jay was kind enough to fit his mech with.
75 seconds was all that passed before movement ceased onthe valley floor.
The already barren terrain was now a blackened hell,littered with smoldering zombie husks.
Bisby would have laid waste to God Himself if He hadbeen unlucky enough to be present. That wasn't an issue; Bisby hada bone to pick with God.
***
Commander Capreze ended the briefing, dismissing thepilots to their respective duties. Mathew hung back waiting for theothers to leave then approached Capreze.
"Yes, Mathew?" Capreze asked, looking up from histablet.
"Has Doc Themopolous talked to you about FoggyBottom?" Mathew asked.
"No, why?"
"Not sure. She asked me if I'd heard anything fromthere in a while. She wouldn't go into details, but, I don'tknow, her tone was off."
"How so?"
"More fear than worry. When did we trade with themlast?"
"Not sure, check the requisitions. Let me know whatyou find out."
"Sure thing."
***
Bisby crested the ridge out of the valley and turned hismech to survey the carnage he had wrought on the landscape. Hisbreath caught in his throat.
Sifting through the wreckage of Stanislaw's mech wasOne Arm. It tossed pieces of debris aside, hunting for sustenance.
Bisby raised his binocs and watched in horror as One Armfound Stanislaw's severed right arm, cracked open his cockpit andtossed the morsel to the ravenous zombie pilot inside. Bisby wantedto put his binocs away, but he couldn't tear his eyes away.
One Arm turned and roared at Bisby in triumph.
Part Two- Grief & Anger
Rachel sat up in her cockpit, instinct telling her towatch the horizon. Automatically she started to strap herself in andactivate weapons systems.
She watched and waited.
Nothing.
Knowing better than to trust only her eyes, she dialedup the long-range sensors and pushed them to full spectrum.
Nothing. Wait … There, miles out, something moved. Amech. But whether it was living or dead, she couldn't tell.
Not one for drama, she didn't sound the claxons rightaway, waiting for a closer look and a little more info.
The thing wasn't moving fast, so she figured she hadtime.
***
"Doctor?" Commander Capreze inquired, knockinglightly on Themopolous' office door. He waited politely for aninvitation.
Doctor Themopolous looked up from the medical charts shewas reviewing on her tablet. "Yes? Oh, Commander, please come in.What can I do for you? Feeling alright?"
Capreze chuckled. "Yes, I'm fine. I am here to checkon you, actually." Capreze took a seat in one of the open chairsset before Themopolous' desk.
Themopolous raised an eyebrow. "Me...?"
"Yes. Pilot Jespers mentioned you were asking aboutFoggy Bottom. Anything to do with the coded communiqué you receivedthis morning?"
Themopolous looked away.
***
"Hey, what was the name of those vids we watched?"Jethro asked around the screwdriver clenched between his teeth. Hepulled it from his mouth, stretching his arm past wires and pistons,trying to reach the right spot. "The Transmogrifiers?"
"Transformers," Jay responded, reaching from theother side, helping guide Jethro's screwdriver.
"Right. Transformers. Man, that was some cool shit."
Jay stared at his assistant in disbelief. "You work onfucking mechs! I'm pretty sure these are way more cool than thatmade up shit."
"Yeah, but they turned into stuff like boats andcars."
"Yeah, you got a point."
***
Harlow stood below Masters' mech, manning theinitiation console, going over the start-up procedure. She checkedgauges, then looked up directly at Masters' cockpit.
"You're all set Pilot, go kick some deader ass,"Harlow yelled. Masters cupped a hand to his ear and shook his head.Harlow clicked her com.
"I said, you're all set. It's the same thing I sayevery morning."
"I know, baby. I just like hearing your sweet voice inmy ear," Masters cracked. Harlow shook her head, smiling.
"Get out of here, will ya?"
"Eager for me to leave?"
"No. Eager for you to return."
***
Mathew sat in the control tower, built decades beforewhen the UDC expected the mech bases to be bustling hives ofactivity, mechs coming and going, troops being transported in andout.
Movement below caught his eye as Rachel locked hercockpit. The tower was insulated from sound, but he knew she waspowering up full systems. Immediately he scanned the horizon, tryingto see what had alarmed her.