David closed his eyes and said a silent prayer of thanks. He had been hoping for cover fire when he first hatched the plan on the ladder, but getting the protection of the tank was far more than he had expected. The machinegun fell silent, and a few moments later there was a creak of metal above his head, and a small emergency escape hatch lifted open in the center of the tanks underbelly. Private Philips dark face popped into view, a wide, gap toothed grin spread ear to ear.
"How’s it going there little brother?" Philips asked with a laugh.
On the other side of the hatch Commander King’s strong chinned face came into view. "I bet you could use a lift." He said with a smile of mock arrogance.
David’s pain was temporarily replaced by euphoria at the joy of being rescued. He had accepted his death and prayed only for a quick mercy killing by his friend’s just moments ago, but now he was saved. His joy brought tears to his eyes, and his laughter turned to sobs and Philips and King reached down and pulled David up into the tank as gently as possible…
Matt ran into the back bedroom on the third floor and stepped out onto the balcony just as the mangled, yet still functional superzombie pulled itself back over the edge with the stump of its right arm. It was missing its left arm and black pus was leaking from the open shoulder socket. Matt could hear screaming from the roof above and with a quick glance saw Samantha and Sharon, both clutching children, their faces tear streaked masks and their mouths open and wailing.
Where the hell was David?
Matt went to aim at the superzombie but it moved with blinding speed and kicked the M-16 out of his hands, out over the balcony. It kicked at him again but this time Matt was able to dodge aside and step back into the bedroom. Norris was just entering the bedroom from the hall, his M-16 in hand.
"SHOOT IT!" Matt screamed, leaping onto the bed and rolling for the floor on the far side.
Norris raised his weapon and fired as the superzombie stepped into the room. His weapon was only on single shot and the bullet slammed into it’s already pulverized chest, passing through it’s body and exiting its back with almost zero resistance. Norris fired again and again, the bullets not even slowing the zombies momentum. It’s broken, bullet riddled, skeletal frame jumped up and kicked Norris in the chest with both feet, a flying dropkick, sending him flying back across the room where he smashed into a small bureau and mirror with a loud crash.
Matt rose to his feet on the opposite side of the bed, drawing his machete from his hip. The superzombie stood up and circled around, its single, pus filled eye socket staying fixed on him. Behind him, Norris groaned with pain, mingled with the
tinkle
of glass shards falling to the floor as he tried to extricate himself from the broken remains of the bureau. Matt sensed someone else entering the bedroom from the hall and he turned to look, his eyes going wide with shock and surprise.
It was the slimy, black and green mottled man-creature they had encountered across the lake at the cabin yesterday.
It was Zack…
Zack sensed the psychic surprise of the Sentinel as he came into the room, and he zeroed in on that, using it to fuel his own anger and hatred at the evil monsters and the hell they had made of his world...his life. The
Beast
came free in a snarling hiss of animal fury, and he seized the Sentinel by the throat and hip, pulling it close. Its broken stump of a right arm clubbed at him feebly, both wilted legs kicking futilely.
Zack burrowed his psychic drill deeper into the Sentinels consciousness, which was a foul, bubbling pit of hatred, violence and suffering bent only on destruction…deeper until he could feel the mental tendril of the Krylok this Sentinel was subservient to...
The same Krylok who had implanted Zack with the embryo…
The Overlord.
The Overlord sensed him as well, sending out a telepathic wave of loathing and hatred before raising its mental barriers and retreating from the Sentinels mind.
With another bestial scream Zack crushed the creatures shoulders together, crumpling its upper torso like a can. He was sprayed with the Sentinels thick black blood. He walked toward the balcony, grabbing the creature' s hip with his right hand and crushing it up into the mangled torso. Then he put his hand on the remainder of the superzombie's head, and compressed its head down into the center of its crushed thorax. When he reached the balconies edge what remained in his hands was a wadded up, leaking ball of crushed bones and shredded flesh, with one leg and the stump of an arm jutting out from opposite ends. With a final snarl he tossed the mess over the edge of the balcony.
The
Beast
was still raging, pounding in his ears like a volcano, white-hot
hunger
gnawing through his body. Screaming up on the roof drew his attention, and he cast his eyes up to see two women with children in their arms looking down. He recognized the older, blond haired woman…Sharon. She had been his neighbor in his human life. Now she would make a good meal.
Feeeeeeeeeed!
Matt followed the trail of oily superzombie blood onto the balcony to find Zack halfway up the ladder, his slimy, mottled body pressed close to the wall as he climbed, his eyes narrow and alert, his mouth wide open, revealing razor sharp, pointed teeth and a thick black tongue. Matt was reminded of a cat stalking prey, muscles taut, legs coiled, preparing for the leap. He looked up and saw Sharon and Samantha had backed away from the edge of the roof.
"ZACK!" He aimed his M-16 at his friend. Zack stopped climbed and turned his head to look at Matt. His eyes were slit like a snake, and they bore into his.
Matt felt a tiny tickle behind his left eye, almost like a sneeze, but sharper, more intense. The tickle spread to the center of his forehead, blurring his vision and giving him an almost drunken feeling. Memories of Zack suddenly began flashing through his mind, old, forgotten memories of when they had first met, memorable social events, conversations about their hopes and dreams, their aspirations and their fears, racing through his mind like pictures from a photo album but with such dizzying speed that it caused him to stagger and fall on his ass.
And just as suddenly as it had begun, the tingling left his head and his vision cleared. He looked up to see Zack descend to the balcony, the wild predatory gleam in his eyes was gone, the snakelike, slit pupils returned to normal human eyes. Almost timidly Zack walked over to Matt, his shoulders hunched, his head held low.
"Zack?" Matt asked.
"Matt." Zack said with a nod. Matt was shocked at how different Zack sounded, there was a thick, almost liquid bubble to his voice. He had heard similar special effects in movies, but to hear it for real, from the mouth of his best friend in the world, in his mutated state, was surreal.
"Did you just do that to me?" Matt asked.
"Yes. I was lost to the
hunger
. Your memories pulled me back." Zack crouched down in front of Matt to face him eye to eye. His alien body carried a pungent, musky smell.
Norris came out onto the balcony with his M-16 in hand. His eyes flared in surprise and fear at Zack’s alien appearance. He tightened his grip on his rifle and started to raise it.
"No!" Matt snapped, raising his hand. "This is my friend Zack that I told you about." Zack looked over his shoulder at Norris. Norris let out a long breath and lowered his gun.
"I’m going back down to help Mac guard the stairs." Norris said, giving Matt a hesitant look before departing.
"I must leave also." Zack said, standing.
"What happened to you?" Matt asked.
"I was implanted with an alien embryo. It…
changed
me."
"When did it happen?"
"The night we camped in Summittown."
Just as they had suspected all along.
"You were fine when we got you out of the hospital in Park City." Matt said incredulously.
"I was not fine. My wounds were completely healed, my metabolism already mutating rapidly." Zack’s thick, bestial voice was unnerving to Matt.
"But you looked…normal."
"Once implanted the embryo took several hours to bond on a genetic level, assimilating my own genetic code into its own. At first it merely healed my wounds at an incredibly fast rate. But once I was free of the city and into the woods I began mutating."
"But why?" he asked, almost afraid of what the answer would be.
"I don’t know. What I do know is that Earth has been invaded by an alien species called the Krylok. I was chosen as an experiment in crossbreeding. Why I do not know. But I will find out. When I do, I shall return and share with you all that I have learned."
Matt shook his head, having a hard time believing what he was hearing. Zack gripped the edge of the balcony and prepared to vault over.
"Wait!" Matt said, pulling himself to his feet. "How do you know it’s an alien invasion and not a government experiment or a terrorist attack?"
"Because I’ve seen the aliens. It was a Krylok that implanted the embryo inside me. There are two Krylok less than a mile from here, in another estate on this lake."
"The place with the crucifixes?" Matt asked, Zack nodding in return. "They sent these zombies against us didn’t they?" Zack nodded affirmative again. "But why-"
"No more questions." Zack said, cutting him off. "If I am to find the answers I seek then I must act quickly. Until we meet again." Zack jumped off the balcony, landing with the grace of a feline before racing south past the pool and into the tree line, moving so fast he was a blur, lost in the darkness…
Chapter 58
Tuesday, June 26 2001
Rainbow Lake, UT
7:35 PM
As Mordecai Necrotura assessed the latest telepathic intelligence report, he could feel his frustration boiling into murderous rage. Thanks to the unexpected addition of the Abrams tank his horde of zombies had been routed and the defenders were mopping up what few remained. Of the ten Templar’s he had sent to assist in destroying the intruders, only one still lived, and he was wounded and panicked, retreating back to the compound as fast as he could. The Templar had begged Mordecai for help, for guidance as the pain of his wounds and the inevitability of his impending death dawned on him, but Mordecai had cut him off with a mental snort of contempt. The man had fled his post in cowardice rather that greet death with open arms in the name of his Lord and Master Mordecai Necrotura. He had neglected his
Holy
duty, and deserved to die alone, cast out from the flock. With a malicious sneer Mordecai sent the telepathic signal that would deactivate the Templar’s Third Eye. Not only was he cast from the flock; he was now stripped of the divine touch that protected him from the devouring zombies. The fallen Templar would now meet an
Unbeliever's
death in the bellies of the dead.
Putting the man from his mind once and for all, Mordecai turned his attention to the two Krylok that stood beside him on the sacrificial balcony. The short, robed creatures stood silent and still, their reptilian features hidden by the folds of their robes. To his left was the Overlord, on his right the Secondary. He telepathically probed them, but their minds were shielded.
"What of your Sentinels?" he sneered contemptuously, peering out across the rear grounds of the compound. The bonfire still burned in the center of the yard, but the crucifixes had been raised back to the roof and the remaining body parts removed.
'All three are destroyed!'
The Overlord’s telepathic voice hissed.
"Had they concentrated their attacks on the hybrid as planned rather than trying to take the house they might still live."
'The hybrid remained hidden until the assault was well under way.'
'We are in danger. We must be gone from this place.'
The Secondary Krylok added.
"Then recall your ship from Park City."
It was several long seconds before the Overlord answered.
'It was destroyed in the fighting.'
He could sense the shame in the Overlord.
"Then call another!"
'That will take time. I must communicate with the Mothership.'
Mordecai could sense the Overlord’s psychic shield go up.
Mordecai seethed, his hands clenched into white knuckled fists. There was no fear in him, only boiling frustration with the Krylok. Despite the fact that the horde had been broken and the three Sentinels had been destroyed, they had inflicted severe casualties upon the intruders. Had the Sentinels survived to continue guiding and controlling the horde, and focused first on neutralizing the tank rather than taking the house, they may have prevailed, but as it stood they were severely weakened. On the other hand Mordecai still had twenty Templar’s on hand and as many Acolytes.
'The Hybrid is coming!'
Said the Secondary Krylok. Mordecai could sense fear emanating from the alien. Mordecai smiled in delight.
"My Templar’s shall destroy him." Mordecai boasted arrogantly.
'Your Templar’s will be killed. Your inferior Earth weapons can only slow him down. His Krylok metabolism will quickly repair any damage you may inflict.'
"It was inferior Earth weapons that destroyed your Sentinels!" Mordecai shot back sharply. "He is flesh and blood just as you, dog! And he can be destroyed as such!" Mordecai glared down at the diminutive, black robed alien, wondering how it would react to his insult. But it ignored him, staring out across the compound in silence.
'There is another ship three hundred miles south of here. It will be here in minutes.'
The Overlord said. Though he despised the Krylok, Mordecai was impressed with their telepathic abilities.