07. Unexpected Dev-elopments, page 23
part #7 of Apocalypse Gates Series
When it finally fell over dead, Alvin opened up the back. “Care to do the honors?”
Ohm shook his head in disbelief as he stepped out of the Bradley along with Alvin. The road and immediate area around them was pockmarked with damage from the explosive ammo. Picking his way carefully over to the wyvern, Ohm bent down and touched an unbloody spot on the carcass. The body vanished and Ohm almost fell over, as he’d been leaning on it.
“Come on back. We’ll be on the road again shortly,” Alvin chuckled.
Ohm was almost to the door when the ground behind him erupted and two pincers snapped on his legs. Screaming in pain, Ohm hit the ground as the giant scorpion tried to drag him underground.
Alvin cussed as he leapt out of the Bradley, his war hammer in hand. Summoning his battle armor, he was already striking one of the insect’s claws, trying to get the sheriff free. “Mousie, help!”
The scorpion pushed itself out of the ground after the first hit. It chittered as it released Ohm with one claw, using it and its stinger to try to hit Alvin.
Mousie was out the back of the vehicle in short order, her armor forming around her and her blades already in hand. “I’m here, Hero!” Her words were punctuated by her swords deflecting the tail.
With two much bigger threats to worry about, it let go of Ohm and backed away, trying to focus on Alvin. The moment it let go of Ohm, Desiree pulled the sheriff over to the Bradley, her armor already on.
“You all okay?” Gothy asked.
“Fine now,” Alvin said, his armor formed just in time to stop the claws digging into his flesh. “Just a scorp. Give us a minute.”
“No losing a leg,” Gothy said pointedly.
“Armor’s on. I’ll be fine,” Alvin laughed.
“Good.”
With Ohm safely inside the Bradley, Desiree joined the other two with killing the giant bug. It didn’t take them long to butcher the venomous insect, as it couldn’t deal with their armor. Looting it, the trio climbed back into the Bradley.
“We’re good, Gothy. Go ahead,” Alvin told her.
“Okay.”
“Mousie, gun please,” Alvin added, giving her a kiss.
“Of course, Hero.”
“Ohm, how are you doing?” Alvin asked.
“My legs feel like they might be broken,” Ohm hissed.
“Any healing items on you?” Alvin asked.
“A single medkit, but I doubt that’s enough.”
Alvin shrugged, pulling out a trauma kit and applying it to Ohm. “Get some trauma kits.”
Ohm inhaled sharply, then bent his legs slowly. “Those are expensive to us.”
“Not anymore,” Alvin laughed. “Check your XP.”
Ohm did as Alvin said before snorting. “No wonder you’re always so well prepared.”
“You can afford fast travel and some trauma kits, plus more, once we get to Green River. We’d just go straight there, but I need to make sure there’s clear airspace between them.”
“Why?”
“Desiree, can you go be the commander?” Alvin asked.
“Roger,” Desiree replied, collecting a kiss before she left the two men alone.
“Well, there’s a story involved,” Alvin said. “Luckily, even at max speed, it’ll be hours before we get there. We have the time for it.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Susan, Bill, James, and a crowd of people were waiting for them when they pulled into Green River that evening. Alvin dropped the back gate on the Bradley, stepping out first. “How’re you all doing?”
Bill just shook his head. “We’re still trying to negotiate for one of these.”
“We’re fine,” Susan said. “We didn’t expect you until the guard called up that you were coming.”
“On the road, there’s not a lot of time to call ahead. Let me introduce Sheriff Ohm from Ely.”
“Sheriff,” Bill greeted the sheriff with a handshake. “What brings you here?”
“The wyvern between our settlements is dead,” Ohm said. “I went with them to watch. They make it look effortless.”
“Alvin is just special that way,” Susan said. “Are you going to stay?”
“No. I need to use the kiosk to buy fast travel so I can get back. I left one of my men in charge, and while he’s pretty solid, I don’t want him to get swamped by some of the settlers that would take advantage.”
“We understand,” Bill grunted. “Follow me.”
“Thanks,” Ohm said, walking off with Bill.
“Are you here to help with the fish-demon?” Susan asked.
“That’s the rough idea, but we need to talk,” Alvin said, looking at the crowd. “Privately.”
“Sure. My office is a good place,” Susan said.
“My base would be better,” Alvin said. “I want to get the Bradley started repairing, anyway.” He fished out two keys and held them out to Susan and James. “Come on.”
“That’s as private as it gets,” Susan laughed.
“I need to check on some things,” James said, not reaching for the key. “I can catch up with you later.”
Susan frowned, but didn’t gainsay him.
“It’ll be quick,” Alvin said, tucking the key into James’ pocket. “Five minutes or less. Come on.”
James’ smile was frozen, but he nodded. “Fine.”
Once they were loaded into the Bradley, Gothy summoned the portal and took them into the garage. The instant they were inside the base, Alvin slammed James into the side of the compartment and forced Gothy’s ring onto James’ finger.
“Alvin, what the hell!?” Susan screamed at him, grabbing at Alvin to try pulling him off James.
“Stop!” Desiree shouted, jumping into the back compartment.
“But he’s attacking James!” Susan shouted back.
“Susan, stop,” James said tiredly as he slumped against the wall. “Fuck... thanks, Alvin.”
“James?” Susan asked, not understanding.
“The fish-demon,” Alvin said, letting James take a seat. “I remembered where I’d seen something like it before.”
James pulled the ring off, handing it back to Alvin. “How’d you know?”
“You were changing,” Alvin said. “Even Susan could see it, but she had no way of guessing. Now, how many others do we need to worry about?”
“I don’t know, but David was there, too,” James sighed.
“What’s going on?” Susan demanded.
“The fish-demon has a type of mind control,” James said, not looking at her. “I was a thrall.”
“That creature is based on something from an old tabletop game,” Alvin said. “They subvert people and make them slaves to their will. James was doing what his master wanted.”
“It was like a god to me,” James shuddered. “I couldn’t disobey it. I was giving it intel on our settlement and about the hunters that would cross the freeway.”
“How?” Susan asked, stunned.
“I was in that first group that encountered it. It subverted me then. That’s the only reason some of us lived. I don’t know if it turned all of us, but it turned me.”
“Hero,” Gothy said, “we need to go see him.”
“We’ll get there,” Alvin said. “James, why didn’t you want to come to the base?”
“Because I knew you were smart and might have an idea of what was happening. I couldn’t refuse too much or you would know, so I tried to buy time. I was going to sneak away to report that the attack would be coming soon.”
“Report?” Susan asked. She was clearly upset, but focused on killing the thing that would dare take her husband from her.
“I have to be within a couple of miles for it to telepathically talk to me. I report to it every other day. That means it’ll know something’s up if I don’t show up tomorrow to report. I told it that you’d come back last time.”
“Okay. David went through a Gate, so he’s safe from it at the moment,” Alvin said, looking at Gothy and holding out her ring. “We’ll be going there next, okay?”
“Yes and no,” Gothy replied. She took the ring back from Alvin, slipping it onto her finger. “I’d hoped you were wrong about this.”
“Me, too, but now we know better. It also means the fetish the shaman gave you might have powers, Susan.”
“It does,” James said. “I could feel the power coming from it and knew it would break my bond.”
“Okay,” Alvin grinned evilly. “Susan, town hall meeting. Pocket the fetish and pull it out during the meeting. We’ll hold the door, just in case anyone tries to run.”
“The range is limited,” James said. “Fifteen to twenty feet, which is why I could go to the office, but not inside.”
“I can give it to Nohel. She hands out drinks during meetings,” Susan said. “That’ll ensure it gets around the room.”
“Be prepared for them to lash out,” James said softly. “We’ve been told to go down fighting if exposed.”
“We’ll deal with it,” Alvin said grimly. “Devs, fuck you and your mind-fucking creatures.”
“When do we do this? Was this why you wanted to talk privately?” Susan asked.
“Sort of. Nellis is possibly willing to send some bombers to help us kill it. I need to know what split you’d offer them for the help.”
“It needs to die,” Susan said grimly. “I’ll offer half of everything the settlement gets.”
Alvin nodded. “I’ll send the message. Split it in fourths, if that’s okay? A quarter for them, a quarter for the settlement, a quarter for us, and a quarter for anyone else who can help.”
“Can you withstand it?” James asked.
“With our armor, the fetishes from Johnny, and some food with the right buffs...” Alvin wiggled his hand. “Possibly? We haven’t stacked them all to see how high we can get the resistances. We’re the best bet to kill it, though, with or without the bombers.”
“Okay. I agree to the split if they do,” Susan said. “If not, then thirds.”
“Done,” Alvin said. “Arrange the meeting and I’ll be there shortly.”
“Yes, but let’s say two hours?” Susan asked before going to stand in front of James, who didn’t look up at her. “James?”
“Yeah?”
“Please look at me?”
James swallowed hard and looked up at her, ashamed of being controlled by the fish-demon.
“I do not blame you. If you could’ve stopped it, you would have. I will kill it for daring to harm you and our home.”
James swallowed again as he got to his feet and embraced Susan gently. “It was a nightmare... I wanted to tell you... to go to you.”
“Shh,” Susan shushed softly, soothing him.
Alvin motioned with his head toward the door. He and his wives left to give the couple a moment alone.
~*~*~
Two hours later, the group was inside the settlement cafeteria. They’d greeted the people they knew, but just shrugged when asked if they knew what the meeting was about. Susan and Nohel were the last two to arrive.
“Gothy,” Nohel said softly, stopping next to them, “can we talk later, please?”
Gothy gave the young woman a long glance before replying, “Once we’ve dealt with the main reason for us being here.”
“Thank you,” Nohel said, then turned to look at Alvin. “I’m sorry for the last time, sir. I’ve been speaking with Terry every night since then. Will you give me a chance to be better than I was?”
Alvin’s eyebrow went up at her calm and deferential question. “I don’t hold your hate against you, Nohel. My wives aren’t as forgiving, though.”
Nohel nodded, looking at Mousie and Desiree. “I’m sorry about before. Could we speak together later?”
Alvin had a bad feeling about Nohel’s wanting to apologize to everyone, but he didn’t say anything.
“We’ll be there when you speak with Gothy,” Mousie said flatly.
“As Mousie said,” Desiree added, though she had a touch more warmth to her voice.
“Thank you. I have a task to complete, so please excuse me.”
“Hero?” Gothy asked, seeing his concern.
“She’s going to try again,” Alvin said simply. “I don’t see where she’d fit into our life.”
Gothy nodded. “She wouldn’t, not right now… but if she’s learned and something changes?”
Alvin chuckled softly. “I find it hard to tell you no.”
Gothy smiled softly, her hand squeezing his briefly. “I know, but I also won’t abuse that.”
“She’ll have to be very convincing,” Mousie said. “After what she said about Hero last time, I’ll not forgive easily.”
Gothy put her arm around Mousie’s waist, drawing her closer. “I know. You’re right to be protective of our Hero.”
Alvin found Nohel in the crowd— she had gathered a cart and began moving through the room, offering drinks to people. Susan walked slowly to the stage. Most eyes were focused on her, but Alvin made a mental note of the few who were more interested in Nohel.
Pulling up his interface, he used the battle map feature to put kill markers on each person who was leery of Nohel. “Ladies,” he murmured over the radio, using the throat mics to be unheard by everyone else, “these six are the ones we need to watch closely. Remember: we’re nice until they become violent, then we put them down hard.”
“Roger.”
“Understood.”
“We know, Hero. Are we going to split one per?”
“Since James and Bill are with us, yes. James, you’ve got the orange circle. Bill, blue box. Mousie, skull. Desiree, diamond. Gothy, you get the red lips. Focus on only your own target so they can’t slip off or get in a sneak attack.”
Both Bill and James gave small nods as they took up flanking positions next to Susan on the stage. Gothy, Mousie, and Desiree began to drift to different parts of the room, and Alvin stayed where he was.
“Sorry for the late meeting,” Susan began with a smile. “We have good news... great news, really. Our friends have come back to help us finally get rid of our biggest problem.”
Nohel was approaching the first marked target, and Bill tensed slightly. The woman got up and began to go for the exit where Alvin was.
“Bill, switch to mine. I got her,” Alvin said.
Susan watched the woman start to leave and called out to her, “Marcia? Is something wrong?”
Marcia didn’t slow down. In fact, she started to walk faster and covered her stomach. “Sorry, it was the beans. I’ll be back quick.”
“Of course,” Susan said, catching Alvin’s eye before she turned back to the room at large. “Where was I?”
Alvin let Marcia go past him, then followed her out and down the hall. Summoning his K-bar, Alvin jogged to catch up to her. His knife was being held against his forearm, hidden from her. “Marcia? Are you okay?” Alvin put all the concern he could into his tone.
Marcia slowed, looking back to find him nearly on top of her. “Yes, I just—”
Alvin slammed into her, covering her mouth with his hand as he stabbed her repeatedly. Marcia wasn’t prepared for his sudden attack, nor his strength. By the time she realized what was happening, she was dead.
Alvin looted the body and went back to the cafeteria, glad his clothing was self-cleaning— the gore and blood vanished when the body was looted. A dozen feet short of the room, the sound of gunfire exploded from the confined space, and Alvin rushed for the door.
Turning into the room, Alvin had his Type 56 in hand and ready to fire. What he found was everyone but his group and those on the stage laying on the ground. Five bodies littered the floor among the terrified crowd.
“Everyone, please, calm yourselves,” Susan said primly. “Those five, plus Marcia, were under mind control by the fish-demon. Now, please resume your seats.”
Mousie and Desiree were already looting the bodies. It earned them some worried looks from everyone but the few who trusted them.
“How do you know they were being controlled?” someone asked just loudly enough to be heard, but not pinpointed.
“Nohel?” Susan motioned to the young woman.
Nohel picked up the fetish from the cart and went to Susan, handing it over before moving back to the cart.
