Treasure From the Skies
The following short story has been inspired by the weekly Iron Age Media literature prompt "The Dirigible" for Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Scanning the blasted cityscape from his vantage point, Hannigan wiped the sweat from his brow, moving away strands of graying hair. It had been a hot day. The sky was heavy with clouds, and he wanted to get this job done before the rain came. Ignoring the flailing movements of the feral creatures scurrying about the ruined buildings, he looked for subtler signs of danger. The glint of a scope, exhaust fumes in the distance or the slight movements of a rival group staking out the prize that had fallen from the skies and now lay among the skeletons of the city of yore.
“Alright, let’s move out,” he finally declared, lowering his binoculars, satisfied he and his group were the first to reach the crash site.
“Fucking finally!” exclaimed Kurt, lifting up his considerable frame from where he had been sitting on the ground. The big man checked his equally big gun, with an eager look on his face. “Another hour waiting around and this box of goodies would have been picked clean already.”
“Not so fast, boy,” Hannigan scolded him. Jumping down from his elevated position in the ruined building they had been camping at for the past few hours, he felt his left knee protest. He was getting old for this. Ignoring Kurt’s as he rolled his eyes with impatience, he approached the wiry blonde woman cleaning a sniper rifle next to their parked humvee.
“Alicia, be a dear and send out some gas to clear out those rejects.”
“You got it, Hannigan,” her efficient demeanor was in stark contrast to Kurt’s. She looked over to the large man. “Help me with the mortar, will ya?”
Kurt snorted, moving deliberately slowly to the back of the humvee. Alicia glared reprovingly at him.
“I’ll help!” came the overeager voice of Jacob, as he jumped from the passenger seat and rushed to assist Alicia. He was the younger of the group, his boyish looking face just now showing the first few wispy signs of beard, a fact that Kurt loved to haze him about.
They are always so young, Hannigan thought to himself. He leaned against the vehicle, watching as the trio picked up the disassembled mortar from the back and put it together. A familiar feeling of guilt started to creep up inside him. He pushed it back, looking at the great airship nested among the ruins and reminding himself of what they would find inside.
“So, the intel was good, huh?” the man at the driver’s seat addressed him over the opened passenger’s door. He had blonde hair, much like the woman who was now calibrating the mortar. Lighting up a cigarette, he continued. “I mean, a fresh crash site, with no other scavenge crews around? It’s got to be our biggest find.”
“Yeah, we got lucky with this one.” Hannigan smiled, still looking at the dirigible in the distance. “That thing should be full of pre-Torrent tech. We’ll probably get enough stuff for trading to be set for the rest of the year. It’ll be nice, not having to worry about food for a while.” He tapped the side of the humvee. “Just wish we could carry more loot on this old thing.”
“Yeah, I hear you. But it’ll do the job.” The blonde man rubbed a hand affectionately on the steering wheel.
“Listen, Alex,” Hannigan continued. “Let’s play this one by the book, you hear? It's the first time we’re going into an airship fresh down from the sky. Could be all sorts of danger inside. Just do your part and I’ll keep Alicia safe in there, ok?”
“Alicia?” Alex asked, an amused look on his face. “I’d be more worried about Jacob, if you ask me. Are you sure he knows which side of his gun to point at the bad guys?”
“Of course he does, smartass.” A half smile formed on Hannigan’s lips. “I trained you all the right way.”
“All done.” came Alicia’s voice from the back. She was kneeling next to the large tube of the mortar. A heavy cylinder of nerve gas had been loaded into the weapon by Kurt, who now stood next to her with his arms crossed. Alicia looked up at Hannigan. “Just say the word.”
The older man climbed back to where he had scouted the area around the crashed dirigible. Raising his binoculars once more, he could see the mutated monstrosities walking about the rubble ridden remains of the street. Poor bastards, he thought, seeing their bent forms, the extra limbs, protruding bones and the glowing blue goo that oozed from their twisted flesh.
“Fire.”
A loud thump filled the air, followed by a small cloud of white smoke as the gas filled mortar arched through the sky. Alicia’s calculations had been precise, and the round exploded right in the middle of the group of creatures, releasing a cloud of yellow-brown color. Some of the creatures scurried away, moving as fast as their misshapen bodies could carry them, but others were caught in the cloud and staggered about for a short while, before falling to the ground, unmoving.
“Beautiful.” Hannigan nodded to Alicia, as he made his way back down to join the others. They were already disassembling the mortar, loading it quickly onto the vehicle while Alex started the engines. When all was ready, they climbed onto the back of the humvee, weapons at the ready. Hannigan checked his own rifle, before banging on the roof.
“Alright people, let’s make some money!” he shouted, as his scavenger crew sped off through the ruined city.
The armored vehicle bumped its way through the ruined city, dodging mounds of debris and scattered remains of buildings as it approached its destination. The airship was massive, a behemoth that dwarfed the broken brick and mortar husks around it. Its smooth greenish surface was marked by deep gashes and tears caused by its fall from the sky, and the metallic framework that supported its massive form was visible in several points. It felt like the body of a great beast being torn apart by carrion eaters after its death.
“Whoa, look at the size of that thing!” Jacob exclaimed, mouth agape as the crashed airship grew in the distance. “What could’ve brought that down?”
“Probably aliens,” Kurt jumped in, a serious expression on his face. “Only plasma cannons from outer space could bring one of these babies down.”
“Really?” the young man’s eyes widened in shock.
“Yeah, and they’re probably coming for you next, I hear they just love to stick probes up people’s asses,” laughed Kurt, no longer able to keep a straight face.
Alicia slapped the big man on his arm, as Hannigan turned to the credulous youngster.
“Well, nothing most people have left nowadays could make a dent on those things, much less bring it down. Sometimes they just fall down. Maybe from some sort of mechanical failure. Or maybe all that Feynman tech inside acts up and fucks it all up, like it did everything else out here.”
“I just don’t get what they’re for.” The young man shook his head, staring at the crashed airship. “Do people, like, live there or something? Do they just fly on their own?”
“No one really knows, kid. I’ve heard all sorts of stories. That they were like flying vaults, keeping things too valuable to fall into the wrong hands well above the reach of us down here. Or that the high ups from back in the day fled the war on those ships. Doesn’t really matter now.”
“How long have they been flying around? I mean, since back in your day?”, came the next question.
“You make it sound like I’m eighty, kid,” chuckled Hannigan. “Nah, I saw the first ones only after the war. Dunno where they come from, but I’d bet it’s got something to do with what’s left of the old government from those times."
“It’s so weird to imagine how things used to be before,” Alicia commented, staring at the ruined remains of a world she didn’t know as they passed by.
“Did you really live in places like this?” Jacob asked Hannigan, a boundless pit of questions, as ever.
“Most of us did, yeah,” the older man answered. “Millions of people, in cities like this one. I was never much for that, though. Always preferred the countryside. Maybe that’s what helped me make it through the Torrent.”
“People back then were pussies, if you ask me,” Kurt chipped in. “All that tech, all those resources and they still let it all go to shit. They wouldn’t last a day out here, those pansies. What?” Alicia punched him harder on his arm, motioning towards Hannigan, who had a distant stare on his face. “Oh, sorry.”
“What was it like, when it all happened?” Jacob wanted to know more.
Hannigan’s mind was taken back to that time, almost thirty years before. Back then, the world was marveling at the advances in what came to be known as Feynman tech: reprogrammable nanotechnology with endless applications. The future was bright, but maybe they flew too close to the sun. No one really knew how it all came crashing down, but all those dreams and promises burst into flames alongside civilization. There was talk that the Feynman tech had gone haywire, spreading out like a plague and devouring everything and everyone. Others said war just broke up, the countries that had the tech being attacked by those who wanted it. Or maybe it was the other way around. In the drowning sea of propaganda, the truth got blurred into doubts. In the end, the cold hard fact was that the world from before had died in a torrent of fire, and people had been remembering what it was like to fight for survival ever since.
“It was a mess, that’s all I know,” he answered simply, pulling himself from his memories. Unconsciously, his hand moved to a breast pocket underneath his body armor. He continued. “I was just a grunt back then, just doing what I was told. Like you lot.” He smiled at his crew. “So be good boys and girls and keep your eyes on the prize.”
“Heads up, people!” Alex’s voice came from the front, as if on cue. “Approaching the crash site now.”
“Mask up, everyone!” Hannigan snapped into action, securing his own gas mask after retrieving it from his pack.
The humvee crossed the last stretch of ground until finally coming to a stop under the shadow of the enormous dirigible. The warped bodies of the dead rejects lay strewn about, amid the remaining wisps of gas, and the crew made sure to give them a wide berth as they jumped down from the vehicle’s back. Everyone moved with precision born of training, covering each other and checking all directions for danger. Hannigan felt a sense of pride at that sight.
Moving to the driver’s side, Hannigan instructed Alex.
“All right, we’ll be as quick as we can. Keep the engine running, you hear?”
“I know”, the driver answered, his voice muffled behind his mask.
“And keep an eye out for more rejects. Any sign of danger and you take off, circle around and stay safe, ok?”
“I know, Hannigan,” came the answer once more.
“And stay in radio contact all the time.”
“Dad, I know!” Alex replied. “It’ll be fine, you thought us right, remember?”
“Yeah, that I did.” Hannigan adjusted his body armor and checked his rifle once more. “Be back soon with the good stuff.”
With a wink, he turned to join the others. The scavenger crew fell into formation, advancing towards the crashed airship.
Jacob’s gaze lingered on one of the deformed bodies littering the ground. “Why are these called ‘rejects’ again?” he asked, pointing at the dead creatures with his rifle, a look of disgust visible even through his mask.
“That’s what happens when you get into direct contact with Feynman fluid,” Alicia explained. She carried her sniper rifle on a strap, and held a submachine gun at the ready. “Sometimes it reacts badly, kinda like it rejects your body. Then you get turned into one of these things.”
“Better eat your veggies so you grow strong and the nano crap doesn’t turn you into a freak, little guy”, quipped Kurt, shifting the weight of his light machine gun as he advanced.
“Cut the chatter,” snapped Hannigan. “Let’s circle around, look for an opening.”
The group approached the base of the airship. It had fallen amid two crumbling buildings, wedging itself in the space between them, with its nose high in the sky and its tail closer to the ground. The crew made their way to the back, where the impact from the crash had hopefully created a big enough opening for them to get in.
Aside from their footsteps and ragged breathing behind the masks, the streets were dead quiet. Slowly, peering around every corner, they advanced through the debris, until Alicia pointed at a section of the torn up dirigible.
“There!”, she exclaimed. A narrow tear in the airship’s outer layer was visible among the piles of broken bricks. The metal framework had been twisted and bent from the fall, and pointy bits of that metallic skeleton now jutted out like broken bones. Still, it would allow them entry. The group quickly moved in that direction.
As they approached the opening, they realized just how narrow that passage was. The airship’s outer layer was made out of reinforced material, pre-Torrent stuff that just couldn’t be reproduced nowadays. Even the thunderous force of the crash could only tear open a small bit. They would have to take off their backpacks and squeeze carefully through the spiked metal. Kurt scowled at that. He would have trouble passing through that gap.
A soft, white glow emanated from the interior of the airship, doing little to illuminate the darkness within. A cold draft came from inside, blowing from the tear in contrast with the hot air of the heavily overcast day. The strange light accentuated the feeling of cold from inside, and the scavengers nervously shifted their feet at the opening for a few seconds, trying to see what lay beyond.
“Alright, I’ll go first. Cover me,” Hannigan took the lead, holding his backpack in one hand while turning on his gun’s flashlight and going in. He moved sideways, slowly, his eyes shifting from the cold interior to the twisted metal stakes that could impale him if he tripped forward.
After a few moments, he crossed that dangerous path and made his way inside. Cold breath formed in front of him as he pointed his gun to both sides of the corridor he found himself on. The floor was made of metal grating, and the walls were also made from metal panels. Thick cords ran the length of the corridor, up and down, some kind of bright substance visible within, the source of the strange white glow. There was no immediate sign of danger inside.
“All clear, c’mon,” he signaled the group, motioning for them to enter as he kept guard.
Alicia moved in next, her smaller body making it easier for her to traverse the entrance. As she assumed her position next to Hannigan, right when Jacob was getting ready to start crossing, a screeching hail was heard coming from the ruins.
Jacob twisted around with his rifle pointed towards the crumbling walls, a tense look on his young face. Kurt sneered, keeping his big gun steady, ready for any sign of movement.
Then the thing appeared. Limping into view from deeper into the destroyed building, the crooked creature contorted its way into view with faltering steps. It was a horrible sight. Its flesh was a mess of reddish gray, split open where its bones erupted at odd angles. What remained of its skin sloughed off at some points, and the creature left a trail blue liquid where it tread. The reject’s face was the worst part though, not because it was warped or mutated, but because there was enough there to recognize as once having been human.
When its bright blue bloodshot eyes caught sight of the two men standing next to the opening into the dirigible, it went into a frenzy. Suddenly, its gait turned from unsteady to manic, and the thing charged with an ear-piercing scream.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” cursed Kurt, aiming at the running reject and opening fire. His machine gun roared, and the bullets sprayed dirt and chunks of brick as the thing quickly closed the gap between them. Some rounds hit their target, and the ground was soon painted with the strange blue ooze that flowed from the wounded deformed flesh. But still the creature advanced, shrieking in deranged pain.
“What the fuck is going on?!” shouted Hannigan, struggling to see what was happening from inside the airship.
“Reject!” Kurt screamed back. His rain of bullets had managed to cause some damage. The creature fell to the ground, one of its legs torn to shreds and dragged behind uselessly as it continued its advance by crawling. The blue goo pouring from its wounds flowed with a will of its own, seeming to boil over the creature’s wounds. “Go, you shithead! Get in there!” the big man yelled at Jacob.
The youngster hadn’t fired a shot, a dumbstruck expression on his face. Kurt’s yelling seemed to snap him out of it, and he quickly moved through the opening, hurrying to join Hannigan and Alicia.
With the reject still inching closer, Kurt quickly turned to cross inside. Awkwardly holding his heavy gun with one hand, he squeezed through, but his large frame soon caused him trouble. In his rush, he had forgotten to remove his backpack, and it now caught in one of the metal spikes jutting from the walls. Hurrying to wrench it free, he lost precious seconds as the wounded reject closed in on him.
Just when he managed to pull the backpack free, the creature struck. A limb with jagged bent bones swiped at Kurt’s arm, leaving a deep gash and causing him to release his grip, dropping the backpack. Cursing loudly, he moved in deeper as fast as he could manage, which caused more cuts as he brushed against the spiky metal in his rush.
The mutated reject followed him, ignoring the metallic points being driven into its body, but then it suddenly stopped its relentless pursuit. Its horrid face seemed to express a sort of fear or hesitation, and it backed away with cumbersome movements, disappearing from sight beyond the opening. Its shuffling movements could still be heard among the ruins.
Joining the group, Kurt was quickly examined by Alicia. He was bleeding from where the creature hit his arm, and from another dozen cuts.
“What in the shit! That thing just wouldn’t go down! Hey, watch it!” he turned to Alicia, pulling back the injured arm she had been checking.
“You big baby. You’re lucky you didn’t get into contact with any fluid. Now, hold still.” She grabbed a bandage from her backpack and started tending to his wounds.
“Goddamn, how’s that for a start? And you!” Kurt glared at Jacob, venting his anger on an easy target. “Some help you were, huh?”
“Sorry I-I just…” the boy stuttered an excuse, shivering from the cold inside the airship.
Kurt shook his head, his snarl relaxed slightly as Jacob babbled on. “Look, just watch my back and I’ll watch yours, you got that?”
“Shut it, both of you”, cut in Hannigan. His radio let out some static. With the press of a button, Alex’s voice chimed in.
“Hannigan? Are you guys ok? I heard gunfire, any trouble?”
“We’re fine, managed to get inside. Had a run in with a reject straggler, but we drove him off. Stay alert, though, there could be more of them around.”
“Will do. Take care in there.”
“We’ll make it quick, see you soon,” finished Hannigan.
Despite Hannigan’s scolding, Kurt was still running his mouth.
“Why didn’t that fucker just follow us in here?”
Alicia finished patching him up, then moved up to one of the glowing cords on the wall. She looked closely at it, then let out a cloud of cold breath that condensed into a thin layer of frost over the cable’s surface.
"It's the cold. Feynman tech doesn’t work well in low temperatures.” She looked at Hannigan. “I guess that goes for rejects too?”
“Seems so,” he shrugged. “Alright, enough chit chat. Masks off, let’s see what we can find in here.”
Taking point, Hannigan led the group down the corridor. Their flashlights offered much better illumination than the low light of the cords, but there wasn’t much to see. The corridor extended for a while. Twice they came across broken bits of the metallic frame of the airship that had partially blocked the path, forcing them to remove the heavy obstacles or crawl underneath. There weren’t signs of rust or decay, indicating the airship hadn’t been here long, which gave the group motivation. After walking for some time, they came across a metal hatch on the side of the corridor.
“I’ll get it open, cover me,” ordered Hannigan, moving up to the wheel at the center of the hatch. The others kept their guns at low ready, providing him light to work.
Hannigan jerked the wheel once, then twice until it moved. With a rasping sound, the door opened, revealing a dark room beyond. Slowly, the scavengers moved in, weapons raised, shining their lights around.
The room looked like some sort of living quarters. A bed occupied a corner, next to a table, a chair and a small shelf. The floor was a jumble of fallen and broken items, from books and scattered papers to a broken vase. An adjoining room served as a bathroom, complete with a shower. There was no sign of anyone inside, but the room looked like it had been used recently.
“Alicia, Kurt, check that mess for anything useful.” Hannigan instructed, pointing at the floor. “Jacob, stay alert at the door. Living quarters means people. I’ll check the bathroom.”
The scavengers set to work, rummaging around for anything that could be traded in one of the settlements that dotted the region. Entering the bathroom, Hannigan took care as he stepped on the shards of a broken mirror. Pity, he thought. Mirrors usually fetch a nice price. His disappointment was short lived, and he let out a laugh when he spotted a small plastic bottle in a corner.
“Found some shampoo!” he announced, going back to the room with the others.
“What’s shampoo?” Kurt asked, befuddled. “Ah, look at this. These are worth something, right?” He took a couple of packs of cigarettes from under a pile of papers. Something else caught his eye. “Is that a camera?”
“Hannigan, take a look at this,” called Alicia, crouched next to the table.
Approaching her, he saw that she was holding some sort of map or schematic of the airship. She pointed at it, a quizzical look on her face.
“Cryo lab? Stasis chamber? What do you suppose they were doing here?”
Hannigan looked at the map, reading the room’s names and trying to get a sense of where they were.
“No clue. Some sort of experiment with Feynman tech, maybe? Hey, look here.” He tapped at one spot. “Armory. That should have some good loot, huh?”
“I guess.” Alicia looked around the room, seeming unnerved. “I just have a bad feeling, you know?”
Hannigan placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll be gone soon, just need to find some nice stuff to bring back, ok? Then we can all take a nice, long vacation somewhere.”
“Yeah, right. Like you can get away from the action,” she laughed, feeling more at ease.
“That’s why I plucked you guys from the streets. So you can take over when I’m too old and I can spend my days drinking on some beach.” He winked at her.
The other two men were squabbling over who would carry Jacob’s backpack after Kurt had stuffed it with knick knacks he had gathered from the room. The argument was resolved when Hannigan called out, and Kurt held the bag while they regrouped around the older man.
“Alright, here’s the plan.” He held up the ship’s schematic, tracing their route. “We’ll go for the jackpot, here in the armory. Then, it looks like we can get out this way.” His finger indicated a shipping bay area, where a set of doors opening to the ship’s exterior were highlighted. “Sounds good?”
The team nodded in agreement, exiting the room and resuming their advance through the cold corridor. Hannigan handed the map over to Alicia, who guided them as he took point once more.
Following her directions, the scavengers kept going until the corridor bifurcated, the path continuing on while they moved to a side passage to their right. There, in the frost covered dark bowels of the ship, they came across a heavy metal door.
“This should be the engine room.” Alicia held up her flashlight to double-check the map. “Going across from it, we’ll reach the cargo storage, then we should make it to the armory.” Pointing further down the side passage, she continued. “That way and to the right should be the shipping area.”
“Great, we’ll circle back here after clearing out this place.” Hannigan stepped up to the metal door, tried to turn the wheel that would open it, but failed to budge it. “Goddamn! Kurt, give me a hand, will ya?”
With the added strength of the big man, they managed to open the door, only to be hit by a stifling wave of heat coming from inside. The contrast with the icy temperature they had encountered inside thus far was staggering. The soft, white glow emanating from the coolant lines gave way to an orangish light that permeated the engine room. The space was massive, the ceiling invisible amid shadows and a maze of metal catwalks that crossed each other over their heads. All around, immense machines loomed over them, pistons, cables and panels that gave the airship life, but now joined it in death with their ominous silence. Here and there, some piece of machinery went on the fritz, emitting a shower of sparks, the last dying breaths of what was once the beating heart of the dirigible.
“Geez, didn’t think I’d miss the cold so soon,” muttered Kurt, small beads of sweat already forming on his forehead.
“Over there,” Alicia pointed ahead. “There should be another door leading to the cargo area.”
The group moved up, hurrying to get out of that furnace. As they walked by a large machine with a series of bent metal tubes, a flurry of sparks rained onto Jacob, the electrical popping sounds causing the boy to jump at the startle.
“Crap!”, he tried to regain his composure, ignoring the chuckles coming from Kurt. “Do you think they had some sort of malfunction? Maybe that’s why the airship fe… wait, what was that?”
A loud metallic sound echoed in the engine room, coming from above. Someone, or something, was running on the catwalks and coming towards them. Fast.
“Look sharp!” growled Hannigan, his gun pointed above, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. “We make for the door, double time!”
Moving as quickly as they could while still remaining alert, the scavengers managed to get halfway to the door before a cacophony of crashing metal reverberated on the engine room. One of the catwalks above came tumbling down, taking several others with it in a tangle of falling metal. Hannigan and Alicia jumped to the side in order to avoid the deadly debris, but Jacob just stood there dumbfounded, until Kurt tackled him out of the way, diving to safety and bringing the boy along. A disgusting, wet impact sound was heard even through the loud clanging sound, as the cause for the falling catwalks hit the ground amidst the wreckage.
Its landing was not soft. As the scene settled, the scavenger crew bore witness to a ghastly spectacle. Impaled on a large piece of broken metal, a large reject grunted and moaned at them, pinned to the ground. The thing’s three massive arms wiggled in the air, bent limbs and fractured bones scraping the surfaces around it as it tried to wrench itself free. Blue ooze flowed abundantly from its devastated, bloated body, pooling on the ground where the metal spike had torn through its back and broken its spine. Such grievous wounds still seemed insufficient to end the thing’s wretched existence. It planted two stubby legs on the floor and began to pull itself forward, shredding its blasphemous body apart as it excruciatingly tore itself free.
“The door, hurry!” Shouted Hannigan. He and Alicia were closest to the exit, but Kurt and Jacob had been cut off by the falling catwalks. The two men moved around the debris, rushing for the door while the reject shrieked and reached for them, still unable to reach the escaping scavengers.
At the door, Hannigan strained himself to turn the wheel and get it open. Alicia pulled her sniper rifle and put round after round on the creature, but the thing shrugged off the bullets as if they were mosquitoes. Reaching the door, Kurt soon joined Hannigan in his efforts, his bulging muscles glistening with sweat as the pair managed to move the wheel. A gust of much cooler air greeted them, as did the sickening sound of flesh and bone being torn, when the reject freed itself, screeching in demented agony.
“Go, go, go!” Kurt screamed, motioning for the group to move. Hannigan, Alicia and Jacob crossed running to the other side. As soon as they were through, Kurt started pulling the heavy door shut behind them.
The reject stumbled forward, its large body cut almost clean in half by its struggle to pursue the scavengers. The Feynman fluid bubbled on the surface of its cleft form, slowly reforming the cursed flesh and returning the creature to its deformed integrity. The thing lunged towards the door, vacillatingly at first, but with more purpose as its body grew back. Before Kurt could slam the door shut, one of the creature’s arms slipped through, holding it open as the reject tried to force its way through.
“I got you!” Jacob exclaimed, moving to the side of the door and taking aim with his rifle at the things head, visible through the opening.
Pushing against the door with all of his might in a desperate struggle to close it, Kurt’s expression went from exertion to alarm. “Wait, kid! Don’t!” He shouted. But it was too late.
Pulling the trigger, Jacob fired a burst right into the reject’s face. Blue fluid sprayed from the wounds, splashing the surprised face of the boy standing next to the door. The thing wailed as the bullets punched holes into its skull, staggering back and pulling its arm from the opening. Pressed against the door, Kurt quickly closed it and turned the wheel to lock it shut. Soon after, loud banging noises could be heard from inside the engine room, as the reject tried to force its way out. The heavy door shook, but withstood the assault.
Falling to the ground, Jacob fought a desperate battle of his own, as the Feynman fluid reacted on contact with his skin. The liquid bubbled, flowing up his face, despite his frantic movements. The substance, a mixture of chemical medium and nanomachines, behaved unlike any other the panicked boy had ever seen. He clawed at the air, his eyes white with terror, crying out and begging the others for help.
“No, no no!” Kurt kneeled beside him, not knowing what to do.
Hannigan and Alicia rushed to their side. The boy convulsed, arms and legs flailing as the fluid insinuated itself inside him. Afraid to directly touch the stuff himself, Kurt struggled to wipe it away with a piece of fabric he had torn from his shirt, but it was useless. The blue liquid hungered for flesh, invading Jacob’s body through his mouth, his nose, his very pores.
“What do we do, Hannigan?” Kurt asked, pale and wide-eyed.
Hannigan stared at the young man on the floor, being consumed by the Feynman fluid. The familiar feeling of guilt crawled its way up from the bottom of his stomach, wrapping its cold claws around his heart.
“I don’t know,” he whispered, standing over them. Alicia grasped his arm, a look of shock on her face as she watched Jacob writhing on the floor.
“You don’t know?!” Shouted the big man, his face contorted by raging emotions.
Jacob coughed, each hacking breath causing his back to arch as he tried to expel the invading nanomachines from inside him. His eyes went wild, searching around for relief until finally fixating on Kurt.
“K-Kur…” he tried to articulate, but was taken by another coughing fit.
“I’m here, I’m here,” the big man tried to reassure him. He took the boy’s hand, holding it tight. “Just fight it, c’mon!”
The young man’s body began to shake uncontrollably. Blue lines formed on his face and arms, as the Feynman fluid filled his blood vessels. He kept his eyes on Kurt, his face contorted from pain, until the battle was lost. Slowly, his muscles began to release their tension. His expression softened, his mouth opening slightly as his last breath fled from the nanomachines that occupied his body. His eyes gradually shifted colors, going from their natural brown to an unnatural pale blue, that soon lost all light of life.
Kurt held Jacob’s hand for a few moments more, as if only by letting it go would the boy’s death actually be a reality.
“Fuck…” He muttered. He placed the hand on Jacobs chest, then let his voice out with a shout that echoed on the cargo bay. “Fuck!”
Turning to Hannigan, Kurt lunged and grabbed the older man by the chest.
“You were supposed to take care of him!” The words fed the grasping feeling of guilt in Hannigan’s chest. He couldn’t tear his gaze from Jacob, couldn’t muster the strength to face Kurt.
“Why the fuck even take us in, huh?! Fill our heads with all this crap about earning a living in this shit world you people left for us?” The accusations continued.
“Kurt…” Alicia tried to calm him down.
“Is this how it goes for you?” Kurt continued to vent his grief, shaking Hannigan as he yelled. “Having us scrounge up scraps that you value more than our lives? We would be better off without you!” His fiery anger began to abate, having consumed its way inside him. “How many before Jacob? How many more after?”
Hannigan felt the weight of his age as he stood there, allowing Kurt’s anger to rain over him. The sinking feeling swelled and coiled around his heart, gaining a voice of its own and echoing the accusations. How many more?
“Kurt, that’s enough.” Alicia gently pulled him away from Hannigan. The big man sat on the floor, covering his face with his hands. She sat next to him, holding his broad shoulders in an embrace. “He knew the risks. We all did.”
“Fuck… why Jacob? He wasn’t ready yet, it shouldn’t be like this,” Kurt lamented.
Watching the two of them mourning, Hannigan forced his heart to turn into stone. The guilt wrapped around inside his chest was pushed back down. He had done it before, silencing the sibilating whisper of guilt. He’d even gotten good at it. It’s a dog eat dog world out there, he told himself. Standing around crying only gives the next guy a leg up against you.
He walked up to the sobbing pair and tapped his boot on Kurt’s leg.
“We need to keep moving.” A loud bang came from the engine room, as if to emphasize his words.
The younger man looked up at him, a refusal almost materializing in his expression. But he had no more strength for that fight.
“Right,” he wiped the tears from his face, taking a deep breath. “Just give me a second.”
Alicia also looked up, and when her gaze met Hannigan's, something in it cracked the hardness he had coated his heart with. He looked away, turning his focus elsewhere, lest he allowed himself to feel again. His hands moved to his breast pocket, holding the small ember of humanity he kept inside.
The trio were standing on what looked like the remains of the cargo bay. Crates and containers were strewn over the large space, scattered around when the airship fell from the sky. They accumulated on the far wall, blocking the path the group had intended to take. The scavengers would have to find their way to the armory elsewhere.
Part of the roof on the cargo bay had collapsed, creating a passage to the upper deck of the ship. Chunks of metal and broken structure formed a haphazard way up, allowing them to climb to what Alicia’s map indicated was another access corridor. From there, they would have to pass through the room marked ‘stasis chamber’, and then go down into the armory.
Kurt refused to leave Jacob’s body behind. Despite Hannigan’s disapproval, he lifted the boy up and carried him on his shoulders. As they made their way up the unsteady path, Kurt’s footing faltered once or twice. Alicia approached to help him with his burden, but Hannigan didn’t allow it, taking her place instead. By the time they reached the upper deck, the two men were sweating and panting. The air was cold again here, the coolant lines glowing softly in the dark much like the first corridor they had traversed when first entering the airship.
Few words were exchanged as they walked through the corridor. They walked past some side passages, but the map prevented them from getting lost. Kurt’s heavy breathing was a constant reminder of what he was carrying, and that weight lay heavy on all of them. As they walked, Hannigan contacted Alex over the radio, relaying the bad news.
“Shit…” his voice came over the radio, followed by a short silence while he absorbed Jacob’s death. “Listen, things are getting weird out here. I heard some reject activity, so I went for a ride around the block.” His voice was assuming a worried tone. “It looks like there’s some kind of leakage from the airship. Some weird, white stuff. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t look good. Just hurry up in there, alright?”
Spurred by his warning, the scavengers rushed through the corridor. From time to time, they stopped and heard attentively whenever they noticed a sound coming from elsewhere on the ship. Everyone was on edge, even Hannigan.
At last, they arrived at a large set of doors. There was a control panel on the wall nearby, but its screen was dark, rendered inoperant. Fortunately for the group, they wouldn’t have to bypass this security measure. The doors were opened, or rather torn open. If this had happened from the fall or from some other cause, they couldn’t say.
“Watch out now, keep your eyes peeled,” Hannigan’s voice broke the silence, as he crossed into the stasis chamber. Alicia and Kurt followed him, the latter grunting as he carried Jacob’s body.
They found themselves inside a long, straight chamber. The floor was made of the same metal grating from the corridor, and the coolant cords also lined the walls, bathing them with their ghostly glow. The eerie light reflected on the transparent surface of some manner of tanks or pods that lined both walls of the room. There were countless of them, going as far as their eyes could see. Wires and machinery of unknown purpose connected the pods to the walls, and they seemed to be filled with some kind of strange, semi-translucent liquid. As the scavengers advanced through the room, pointing their flashlights around, dark shapes could be seen inside the pods.
“Look at all this,” wondered Alicia out loud, approaching one of the tanks with her light. The coolant lines on the walls fed into each pod, leaving a thin layer of frost on their surface. She turned to Hannigan. “Do you think there are… people inside?”
Hannigan approached her, adding his own flashlight to hers. The combined illumination penetrated the clouded interior, revealing a pale, twisted arm covered by a patchwork of blue veins.
“Maybe not people,” he said, frowning. He took a step back, pulling Alicia with him.
“Hey, this one looks kinda normal,” came Kurt from further back. He had carefully placed Jacob’s body on the floor, and was examining another pod. His flashlight revealed a more proportional and human silhouette inside. It had its face barely visible, with only faint traces of blue vessels visible.
“Could they be trying to reverse the effects of the Feynman fluid?” Alicia mused, joining Kurt. Compared to the rejects they had encountered, this one looked at peace.
Kurt’s eyes went wide at that thought. He glanced at Jacob’s body and grabbed Alicia by the shoulder. “Do you think there’s something in here that could help…?” His voice trailed off, grasping at a faint possibility. “I mean he didn’t turn into one of them.”
“I doubt that,” remarked Hannigan, dashing his hopes. “I’d say they were probably creating these things here.” He looked around the chamber, uncomfortable.
Alicia pointed to a point further down the room, walking up to something she caught sight of with her keen eyes. The two men followed her, finding themselves before a tank that had been broken. The pods weren’t made out of glass, but some sort of transparent synthetic material. Shards and pieces of that material lined the floor, and the coolant cables dripped white liquid over the smashed remains of the destroyed tank.
“Oh, that’s not good,” said Kurt. “I sure hope this was holding one of the nice ones.”
“C’mon, let’s get the hell out of here,” Hannigan called.
Kurt picked up Jacob once more and the group moved on. The chamber stretched for a while, but they finally reached the opposite end where they found another set of doors. Being on the inside of the chamber, however, there fortunately was a wheel they could turn in order to easily open them. More dark corridors awaited them beyond, the pale glow of the coolant lines outlining their path.
Following Alicia’s lead, they walked a bit further until turning left, where the map led them to a spiral staircase that should take them to the armory. The three sets of footsteps echoed in the darkness as they descended, and Hannigan’s fingers tingled with anticipation. It will all be worth it, he thought to himself, reaching the bottom of the stairs. We go in, take some high grade stuff, trade it and live like kings.
A reinforced metal door blocked their path into the armory.
“Goddamn it,” he cursed.
There was a control console next to the doors, with a red message flashing on the screen. The mixture of the red light with the white glow from the coolant lines painted the small antechamber with a strange, pinkish tint.
Approaching the console, the scavengers could make out the alert: EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN. INSUFFICIENT POWER. REROUTE?
“Well, that seems simple enough,” Hannigan said, raising a finger over the screen.
“Wait,” intervened Alicia, grabbing his wrist. “Do you think it’s safe?”
“We came all this way for this, sweetie,” he replied, raising his eyebrows.
Alicia held him for a few heartbeats, then acquiesced. Hannigan pressed the screen, and the whole room changed. First, the white glow of the coolant lines died out, and the crimson light from the console dominated the small space. A low hum was cut short across the ship, noticeable only now in its absence. Then, a brief buzzing sound came from atop the reinforced armory doors, followed by a sliding, metallic sound, and the vault-like barrier swung open.
Wasting no time, the three of them rushed in for their prize. The armory was small, with walls made of sturdy pre-Torrent material. The lights on the walls and ceiling were dead, much like in the rest of the airship, but it seemed the room’s solid construction had spared it from the devastation found elsewhere on the fallen leviathan. The walls were filled with racks full of guns, as well as sets of body armor and lockers marked as containing all sorts of equipment used for a security or military unit. This veritable treasure trove sat in the dark, seemingly untouched, as if just waiting for the scavengers to come and claim them.
“Look at all this stuff!” Alicia marveled, scanning the room with her flashlight. Her eyes were immediately drawn to a pristine sniper rifle hanging from one of the walls, a much more advanced model than her own shoddy gun.
Kurt was similarly amazed, though his excitement was dampened. He gingerly placed Jacob’s body against a wall. “Wish you could see this, bud,” he whispered, before starting to fill the boy’s backpack with as much loot as possible.
There was simply too much to take. The armory could provide equipment for several dozen men, and the scavengers could only carry so much. Hannigan’s eyes almost glowed in the dark as he evaluated what to take with him. This is it, the motherload, he admired the find, more than most scavengers could hope to find in years. His mind started to work out what they could get by trading all this in one of the settlements. Hell, in more than one. I doubt any settlement would even have enough to trade for half of this. Food, water, a new vehicle. Maybe settle down for a while, give Alicia a chance to have a better life.
To not die like Jacob did, the specter of guilt whispered from deep within.
Shaking his head, Hannigan pushed the feeling deeper, attempting to drive it back to the dark recesses of his being, where it could fester out of sight.
The boy knew the risks. He wanted to go out there, to do what I do, he tried to argue with himself.
Did he, now? Or did you use him like you did the others before? Like you’re using Kurt… Like you’re using Alicia? The voice haunted him, with words weaved from the shadows of his soul.
“Hannigan?” Called the woman, cutting through his inner debate. She was standing next to a small opened metal case at the back of the armory, a soft blue glow coming from it illuminating her face from beneath. “Is this what I think it is?”
Thankful for the chance to avoid facing his demons, he crossed the room to take a look. The interior of the case was lined with a kind of padding or foam, and it held several small cylindrical canisters. A small transparent panel on each cylinder allowed the glow from their content to shine through, parting the darkness with sinister blue light.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he whistled. “I know a couple guys who’d sell their own mothers for some actual Feynman fluid. Now that’s a good find!” He patted Alicia on the shoulders, but her expression was one of concern, not elation.
“Maybe we can put that stuff to good use ourselves?” Kurt joined in. He was carrying a large contraption, all wires and angular shapes. Its presence at the armory and what looked like a trigger made clear what it was. “I think this thing uses Feynman crap as power, see?” He pointed at a round slot at the side of the gun, roughly the size of the canisters.
“Let’s hope we don’t have to waste any of the fluid ourselves,” said Hannigan. “Alright, gather what you can, let’s get this over with.”
The scavengers quickly filled their backpacks with as much as they could. Guns, ammo, supplies. Alicia took the better sniper rifle, and Hannigan also grabbed an upgrade to his old gun. Kurt kept the weird weapon, improvising a strap so he could carry it alongside his own. After they had taken their fill, the group gathered around a small table to plot out their escape route.
“Ok, let’s see here,” Hannigan looked at the ship’s map with his flashlight. “The engine room is a no-go, so our original plan is dead in the water.”
“What about this?” Kurt tapped his new toy. “Maybe we can waste that motherfucker with it.”
“Too risky, we don’t know how this thing works,” Hannigan shut him down.
“How about here?” Alicia pointed, analyzing the map. Her finger hovered over a section about midship, marked as ‘personnel intake’. It looked like a tunnel to the outside of the dirigible. “Looks like this could be an exit, right?”
“Sounds good,” Hannigan nodded. He scanned the map some more. “I’d like to have a backup plan, though. In case we come across any other nasty surprises. Here.”
He indicated a small area, squeezed between others towards the nose of the ship.
“Missile bay?” Asked Kurt, raising an eyebrow. “How’s that any help?”
“Well, missiles need an opening to be fired, right?” The others stared at him with a skeptical expression. “Look, it’s just a backup, ok? It would be a little high, but we should have enough rope to rappel down.”
“What about Jacob? I wouldn’t be able to take him down with us,” asked Kurt, frowning.
“If it comes to that, we’ll have to leave him behind,” the older man declared. Kurt began to protest, but Hannigan cut him off. “Sorry, I can’t risk the living because of the dead. Jacob would understand.”
He folded up the map, handing it to Alicia. After putting it in her pocket, the woman looked around the room, as if smelling the air.
“Is it just me, or does it feel warmer in here?” She asked.
Hannigan’s radio let out a burst of static, startling the scavengers standing there in the dark. Alex’s voice echoed in the bowels of the airship.
“Come in, Hannigan!” His tone was distraught, and it sounded like he was driving fast, which made his words difficult to understand. “The area is getting hot out here. Rejects all over the place, I had to move out. I think some of them got into the airship. I’ll circle around to pick you guys up. Get the hell out of there, now!”
“Understood, moving out. Our extraction point is on the right side of the ship, about midway through it. We’ll let you know when we’re out, stay safe out there,” Hannigan’s training took over, and he snapped into action. He motioned for the others to follow him out of the armory. “Let’s hurry up!”
The three of them rushed up the staircase, following the path to the personnel intake that should lead them outside. They would have to cross the stasis chamber and go down one of the side passages on the access corridor beyond, and so they ran as fast as they could with the added weight of their packs filled with spoils. Kurt was still carrying Jacob over his shoulders, and his breath soon turned ragged, but he was too determined to leave his friend’s body behind.
It wasn’t until they were halfway up the steps that they heard the first shrieks reverberating across the airship.
“Shit!” Kurt swore, in between heaving breaths. He looked up, then to the sides. The origin of the wails was indistinct. “It’s like they’re everywhere!”
“Keep going, we can make it!” Encouraged Hannigan, cursing his knees as he climbed the stairs two steps at a time.
Reaching the top of the stairs, the group turned right and entered the stasis chamber. In their frantic rush, they ran a short distance in before noticing the stretch of nightmare that corridor had become.
The ghostly glow from the coolant cables was gone now, and the air was much warmer than before. The pods on the walls loomed in the dark, their thawing surfaces glistening under the erratic light shone by the running scavengers. As the cold air gave way to warmth, the contents of the tanks erupted from their frozen sleep. Taken by psychotic rage as they suddenly awakened, the monstrosities within banged their limbs and heads against the pods, in a deranged attempt to break free.
The chamber was filled with the screeches of rejects, and the horrifying sound of tanks cracking apart. Hannigan and Alicia dashed down the room as the creatures snarled, roared and clawed for them from inside the pods, but Kurt was falling behind. Carrying the weight of a backpack full of loot, two heavy weapons and Jacob’s body, even his strong body couldn’t keep up.
As Alicia looked back at him, one of the rejects burst free from a pod and fell to the floor where Kurt had been just moments before. The thing rose up on its twisted legs with jittering movements, semi-translucent liquid dripping from its misshapen form, before lunging for the exhausted man in front of it.
“Kurt, look out!” Alicia shouted, raising her submachine gun and taking the risky shot. Her three round burst was precise, hitting the reject as it was leaping and causing it to fall back onto the floor, squirming like a fish out of water.
Spinning around, Hannigan also pointed his rifle back the way they had come. The flashlight affixed under the barrel revealed the warped forms of other rejects behind Kurt, their blue eyes glowing menacingly in the dark. The sound of more pods being broken could be heard beyond, as well as a few in the direction they had been running to.
“Run, boy!” Hannigan shouted, opening fire. He shot over Kurt’s right shoulder, hitting the head of a reject with three eyes and a drooling maw that split his face in an evil grin. His aim shifted lower, and he blasted the arm of another monstrosity that was crawling on vestigial legs as it was extending its unnaturally multi jointed limb to grab the big man’s leg.
Kurt kept going with trudging steps as a rain of bullets screamed past him. The newly awakened rejects shrieked as their bodies were torn apart, but the blue substance oozing from their wounds seethed over their deformed flesh, causing them to shrug off their wounds and stay on their relentless pursuit.
Letting her submachine gun hang from its sling, Alicia pulled her sniper rifle. With confident motions, she pulled back the charging handle and fired down the corridor. The successive shots resonated in that space, the heavy caliber rounds exacting a toll on the rejects. One of the things was pulling itself back together when her shot punched through its mutated flesh, tearing a fist sized hole in its back before it kept going and obliterated the left shoulder of another behind it.
Amid the covering fire, Kurt managed to reach them, panting with exhaustion. “Watch out!” He half spoke, half grunted lifting his machine gun with one hand while he held on to Jacob with the other, as he opened fire behind Hannigan.
A reject with extremely thin limbs had been shambling towards the unsuspecting man, Feynman fluid running down its eyes and ears. Kurt’s barrage tore the thing in half, and it wailed and spasmed as it was mowed down. More of the creatures could be seen behind it, and the machine gun kept on roaring, raining death upon them.
“There’s too many of them!”, the big man’s voice boomed as his gun fell silent, all ammunition spent. He had dropped Jacob’s body to the floor mid fire to better control the recoil. His hail of bullets had left a trail of carnage and shredded flesh, but the creatures were slowly reforming themselves. Pulling up the strange gun he had taken from the armory, Kurt turned to Alicia. “Quick, give me a canister!”
Frantically going through her backpack while Hannigan covered the other side, she found the metal case and handed Kurt one of the Feynman fluid filled canisters. Fumbling a bit, he inserted the canister in the slot on the side of the gun. The contraption flared to life, lights lighting up along the barrel with a crescent humming sound as he pointed it to the lumbering rejects rising from the floor ahead of him.
“Let’s see how you like some of this you fuckin…” He pulled the trigger, and his words were lost as devastation consumed the hallway.
A giant ball of Bose-Einstein Condensate spilled forth from the weapon’s muzzle, destroying everything in its path. The ultra-low temperature substance ravaged the quivering forms of the rejects on the floor, freezing them solid as the near absolute zero substance stopped the Feynman nanomachines dead on their tracks. The condensed gas blast kept on going down the room, turning rejects into grotesque frozen statues before dissipating itself.
“Holy shit!” Kurt laughed, looking at the gun with a satisfied look. The spent canister ejected itself from the slot. “Give me another one!” He asked Alicia.
“Don’t use them all, goddamn it!” Hannigan barked out. The rejects on the other side of the room hesitated for a moment before the gust of cold air caused by the gun. Hannigan used the moment to reload, and to start retreating down the path Kurt had cleared out. More and more creatures broke free from their pods.
“Oh, fuck off!” The big man snapped, taking another canister and reloading his weapon. “I just saved our… argh!” He cried out in pain, looking down to see the multi-jointed arm of a reject stretching from the darkness, coiled around his leg like a malformed snake. Bone fragments jutted from that twisted limb, and blue Feynman fluid trickled down Kurt’s leg, mixed with the red of his own blood.
“Kurt!” Alicia cried out, pulling up her rifle and blasting the top of the reject’s head off. The sinuous arm went limp, and the wounded man pulled it away and tossed it to the side. Hannigan resumed fire, keeping the creatures at bay, but they had recommenced their advance.
“Ah, shit…” Kurt groaned, falling to one knee, already feeling his skin burn as the nanomachines invaded his body through his wounds and pores.
“Can you walk? We’ve gotta get out of here!” Alicia started trying to lift him up.
The big man stopped her, shaking his head. Their eyes met for an instant; his were resigned, yet decided; hers were still trying to deny the obvious.
“I’m dead weight now, girl. Go on, get out of here.” He pointed the freeze gun down the corridor and pressed the trigger, sending another wave of supercooled condensate tearing through the rejects. The deformed things were driven back once again, but more of their glowing eyes could be seen coming in the dark.
“Don’t give me that bullshit!” Alicia insisted.
“Go!” Kurt pushed her away. He turned to Hannigan, reloading his machine gun with shaky hands as he spoke. “I’ll buy you guys as much time as I can, alright?”
The older man placed a hand on the younger one’s shoulder and nodded. “You give them hell, son,” he sighed, then grabbed Alicia by her arm and started pulling her away.
She resisted for a few moments, unable to tear her eyes from Kurt’s, unwilling to accept that outcome. Then the big man gave her a half smile and winked at her, hiding the agony as the Feynman fluid ravaged him from the inside, and all her resistance melted away as the reality of the situation overcame her. With a last, pained look, she turned and ran, leaving behind the man she had grown together with. Hannigan didn’t look back as both of them ran through the frozen remains of the rejects, rushing for the access corridor.
“It’s just you and me now, bud,” Kurt muttered, glancing at Jacob’s body there on the floor next to him. From the darkness, the misshapen rejects inched their way forward, crawling over the frozen corpses, an unstoppable tide of warped bodies. “Be with you soon.” He opened fire, shouting challenges and curses, not letting go of the trigger even as the wave of deformed things washed over him.
Running through the dark corridor, pulling Alicia behind him, all Hannigan could hear was the voice inside him, repeating the same accusation over and over again.
How many more?
The two surviving members of the scavenger group rushed through the dark access corridor as the shrieks closed in on them from all around the dirigible. Hannigan’s heart was thumping from the exertion of their mad escape. Alicia had begun faltering and wanted to leave her backpack behind, but he refused to leave half of the valuables behind. Now, struggling to breathe as he awkwardly ran with two bulky backpacks strapped around his shoulders, part of him began to question that decision.
We’re almost there, he reassured himself. Kurt bought us the time we needed.
Bought you the time you needed, the specter of guilt hissed, firmly wrapped around his heart despite his best efforts to dislodge it.
They came to an intersection, one path leading right and another continuing straight on. The sounds of the rejects hurtling after them could be heard from afar, louder with each passing minute.
“Which way?” He asked Alicia, panting. There was no time to stop and check the map.
“Uhh…” She looked from one direction to another, her efficient demeanor finally crumbling under all the pressure.
“Which way?!” Hannigan urged her on.
“Right, right!” she blurted, following him as he rushed on.
Pushing his body to the limit, Hannigan raced on, only partially aware of the girl running after him. His survival instincts were in control now, and he kept on going despite the many pains and aches his middle-aged body manifested in protest.
The dark corridor ahead drifted into and out of sight as each of their steps caused their flashlights to bounce around uncontrollably. As the light pointed up for a brief instant, Hannigan spotted a small plaque near the ceiling: personnel intake.
Almost there, a surge of hope gave him strength to keep going. Just a bit further and…
He stopped suddenly, a sinking feeling bringing him to halt like an anchor. Alicia collided with him from behind, caught by surprise by his sudden pause.
The path ahead was blocked. Just as the passage began to exit the airship, the metal framework had collapsed. Tons of twisted structure now lay between them and the outside, an impassable knot of metal and reinforced material that let tantalizing bits of the sky shine through it.
“Fuck!” Hannigan cursed, approaching the blockage. There was no gap big enough for them to crawl through, and a glance at the heavy debris made it clear they wouldn’t be able to muscle their way out.
“Ok, plan B. Back to the corridor, let’s go for the missile bay,” he said, turning back.
Alicia nodded and began to turn as well, when a movement behind her caught Hannigan’s eye.
A pair of glowing blue eyes materialized back the way they had come. The reject’s form was faintly visible in the dim illumination of the flashlights. It was horribly contorted, its torso turned around itself like a pretzel, bits of fragmented spine visible here and there. The thing moved on the ceiling with unnatural speed, grabbing onto the horizontal surface with four arms ending in sharp bony growths. A long, twisting tongue hung from its open jaws, as it hungrily jumped at the unsuspecting woman with murderous intent.
And now Alicia too, whispered the shadowy ghost inside Hannigan.
“No!” He screamed, something flaring up inside his chest.
His world slowed down to a crawl. His many years of training caused his reflexes to lift up his gun as the creature soared through the air. His shoulders burned with pain as his tired arms lined up the shot, aiming the rifle just right without his eyes even having to be part of the process. Over the course of a heartbeat, Hannigan took aim and pulled the trigger. He was acting on pure instinct now. But it wasn’t an instinct to kill, to survive and get out of that deathtrap with his loot. It was an instinct to protect something far more valuable, and so it allowed him to go beyond the possible. Like any father would for their daughter.
Not Alicia too, his heart finished its beating, aching, pleading.
The shot hit the reject squarely between the eyes, changing its trajectory and making it fall right next to Alicia instead of on top of her. Blue fluid sprayed from the wound, and Hannigan’s heart skipped the next beat as the stuff landed around Alicia, but miraculously none of it hit her. She finished turning, only to jump back with a start.
“Shit!” She exclaimed, looking at the creature twitching on the floor. The wound was already sealing itself, as the nanomachines reformed the creature’s blown out brains. “Thanks, let’s go!” She beckoned him, starting running back to the corridor.
Releasing a breath he only then realized he had been holding, Hannigan followed. The missile bay was located further up the ship, so they ran down the long access corridor. The floor was beginning to incline as they moved closer to the nose of the ship, and both of them were already feeling the effects of severe fatigue. Only their desire to escape, and Hannigan’s need to protect Alicia, kept them going as the mass of mutated monsters converged on their position.
Hannigan pressed a button on his radio as they ran. He had to warn Alex they would be going for an alternate extraction site.
“Alex… extraction is no-go… alternate exit… missile bay, near… nose of ship… rappel down…” He couldn’t form entire sentences, every breath was needed in order to keep moving.
“Jesus, ok!” Came the answer, accompanied by the sound of screeching wheels. Fortunately, he understood the message. He’s a bright kid, Alicia’s lucky to have a brother like him, he thought, until even thinking became too tiresome.
The path ahead became progressively more difficult as the floor inclined more and more. A small blessing came in the shape of several holes puncturing the outer structure of the dirigible. Light from outside shone in, giving the fleeing scavengers a welcome respite from the darkness they had faced thus far. That small comfort was short lived, however, as the wail of the approaching rejects was heard just behind them.
Hannigan spun around, firing his rifle on full auto. Exhaustion claimed its price, and his wild bullet spray dropped only a few of the creatures. More were coming for them, many more.
“There!” Alicia pointed at an opened door up ahead. The familiar shapes of missiles were visible inside, weapons of destruction heralding their salvation.
“Keep going, I’m right behind you!” Hannigan shouted over his shoulder, emptying his penultimate magazine on the closest rejects, sending them tumbling to the ground only for more to take their place, like a hydra of twisted flesh. Reloading his rifle for one last time, the exhausted man walked back as fast as he could.
Alicia dashed for the door, kneeling just inside the missile bay and bringing her own gun up to provide covering fire. Her shots blared across the corridor, giving Hannigan enough time to make it safely inside. But just when he crossed the threshold and began to close the door behind him, one of the creatures reached it and tried to force it open, followed by two more.
Summoning all of his remaining strength Hannigan pushed against the door with all he had left. His body had reached its limit, however, and slowly the tidal wave of deformity started to gain ground. The door began to open, bit by bit, as the nightmarish mass of glowing blue eyes, bent limbs and oozing fluid threatened to swallow them whole.
Acting quickly, Alicia moved to Hannigan’s side and opened one of the backpacks he was still carrying. Picking up a grenade from inside, she threw it out of the room, in the middle of the horde of rejects, before adding her strength to man’s own faltering efforts to close the door.
After a couple of long moments of hopeless struggle, the grenade went off. The blast evaporated several of the creatures, suddenly rebalancing that perverse game of reverse tug of war. The duo managed to close the door, and Hannigan wasted no time turning the wheel inside and locking it shut.
“Well done,” he smiled at Alicia. Allowing himself to take a few deep breaths, he looked around the room. The rejects banged on the door. They didn’t have much time.
Stacks of missiles dominated one of the walls, ready to be loaded for launching. On the furthest end of the room, a set of reinforced blast panels with a small viewport separated them from a section that could be opened for the missiles to fly off from when fired. The panels were closed, but there was a console next to them, presumably the controls for operating the mechanism that fired the missiles.
Straining to remember what little he knew of such things, using memories that seemed from a lifetime ago, Hannigan navigated the console. Pressing one command after another, he spent precious seconds trying to figure out how to open the blast panels, while the rejects continued their assault on the door. The metal barrier creaked as the things slammed themselves against it with reckless abandon.
With Alicia next to him, holding his arm and nervously shifting her gaze from the door to the panel, he finally seemed to find the right sequence of commands. One press of the screen caused the panels to lift, clearing the way for the section that would open for the missile, or for them, in this case. With another smile at Alicia, he pressed the screen again, issuing the command that would open their path to freedom.
The console beeped, quickly dissolving his smile. An error message flashed on the screen: CLOSE BLAST PANELS BEFORE FIRING.
“Shit,” he muttered. The rejects kept on pounding the door, which was now slightly bent open, despite being locked. Hannigan looked at the door, then at Alicia and at the missile opening that refused to budge. He sighed heavily, resolute.
“I have an idea”, he told her, pointing at the blast panels. “Go inside there, see if you can tie your rope around something for us to climb down. I have another one in my backpack, if you need some more length. Let me just get something first.” He gave her one of the backpacks, stopping for a moment to take something out of the other before handing it as well.
Alicia did as he instructed. Crossing the blast panels, she looked around until she found a small bit of protruding metal. She took her rope from her backpack, tying a firm knot around the metal bit, then took Hannigan’s rope and tied it to the first for good measure.
“All good, what now?” She asked him. Suddenly, the blast panels closed down, leaving her alone inside the small space. “Hannigan?” she called, alarmed.
His face appeared on the small viewport. He seemed at the same time apologetic and at peace.
“Sorry, sweetheart. This was the only way.”
“What’s going on?” Alicia looked around, trying to force the panels open once more, to no avail.
“I failed them, Alicia,” Hannigan opened up, as realization slowly dawned on her face. His eyes were watery. “Jacob, Kurt, and so many before. But not you, sweetie. Not you.”
“Hannigan, don’t! Please, don’t do this!” She pleaded, tears of her own starting to stream down her face as she banged on the panels.
“You go on now. I’m gonna open that thing and you go, you hear me?” He pointed at the floor next to her. “You stay safe out there. God, I’m so proud of you.” He quickly turned to look at the door behind him. The rejects had torn it open some more, and several warped limbs now clawed at air, trying to reach Hannigan.
“I can’t, I just…” Alicia’s voice failed as she tried to cope with the situation.
“Yeah, you can. I didn’t have much good left in me, but I sure as hell hope I’ve managed to pass it on to you. You’re so much more than I am. Just keep on going, for both of us, ok?”
“I love you, dad.” She sobbed, trying to encase within those four words all the myriad emotions and feelings that she wished she had more time to express.
It was enough.
“I love you too, sweetheart,” he said his farewell.
With the legion of nanomachine warped monsters breaking down the door, Hannigan rushed for the console and pressed the screen. A section of the floor opened up next to Alicia, revealing the ruined street below. Alex was down there, waiting with the humvee and looking up as the missile bay opened with a click. Alicia had given up trying to control her tears, and struggled to see as she threw down the rope and strapped both backpacks over her shoulders before beginning the descent. She didn’t falter, though. She owed Hannigan that much.
Climbing down the rope, she reached the ground next to the humvee. Alex looked at her face and turned pale.
“What happened? What about the others?” He questioned, with panic in his voice.
Throwing both backpacks over the back and climbing onto the passenger seat next to him, she simply shook her head. She couldn’t say the words, not yet. Alex’s shoulders slumped, but he snapped back to attention as he heard the shrieks of rejects approaching.
“Let’s go home,” Alicia said, looking up at the dirigible.
High atop the airship, Hannigan strained to look down at the opening on the floor through the viewport in the blast panels. He sighed with relief as he saw the humvee speeding off, before disappearing from his limited line of sight.
The rejects were almost through the door now. Hannigan had emptied his last magazine at the creatures on the front, but they had healed up and others had take their place. He had little time until they broke through, so he decided to use it well.
Reaching for his breast pocket, he pulled out the old, crumpled photograph that he carried everywhere he went. It was an old memento from life before, of happier, simpler times. Of a time where he hadn’t almost forgotten what really mattered.
He knew every line and every detail of that photograph, having looked at it countless times before. Still, each glance at it still evoked the same warm sensation inside. Recently, he had used it like an antidote to the guilty feeling that haunted him from time to time. There was no need for that now, so he allowed himself to simply enjoy the picture.
It showed a happy family on a charming field of green. It had been an incredibly beautiful day when it was taken, Hannigan remembered. The sky on the photo was a pale, faded blue, but to him it was that rich, azure expanse on the perfect summer afternoon.
God, I looked so young back then, he laughed to himself, as the deformed things bent the metal door, moments from charging in. And Sophia was so beautiful. He ran a finger across his late wife’s face, before turning his eyes to the small girl between them.
She had blonde hair, like her mother, and a broad, gap-toothed smile, the kind only a child can have, with contagious effect to those around. So many times before, Hannigan had caught himself thinking how she looked like Alicia, and wondering what she would be like if she was alive today.
The door creaked and groaned as the rejects’ efforts were finally rewarded. One of the creatures squirmed its way inside, tearing its skin open on the jagged bits of broken metal, leaving a trail of blue Feynman fluid.
Without looking up from the photograph, Hannigan raised his other hand, where he held the grenade he had taken from one of the backpacks. He pulled the pin and threw it across the room, where it landed next to the stacked missiles.
The rejects burst inside the missile bay, swarming around Hannigan, rushing in their demented rage to kill him. He only smiled. Alicia was safe. He had won.
There it is, Hannigan looked at the girl in the photo, thinking of the woman he had raised. My real treasure.