Alive and Fighting: Lost and Found Read online

  "Please, the Grey Klan scouted me for a reason." Vera quietly replied. She then dashed to the nearest zombie and lopped the top half of its cranium clean off, causing the corpse to drop to its knees before falling face first into the street.

  Lynn flashed Vera a smile and ran forward to join her, plunging his wrist blades upwards through the base of two hapless zombie skulls at once. He made short work of it, carving a steady swath through the back of the horde, often bringing two zombies down at once with his razor edged blades. As he and Vera neared the middle of the pack the sound of the post driver firing made them both stop momentarily. The sound was first that of a piston, followed quickly by a wet and sickly crunch, finished off with a loud shattering. Despite the gruesome nature of the driver, Lynn and Vera couldn't help but rejoice at how effectively it was thinning the herd. Drawing the zombies to it instead of repelling them, the driver was tearing three, four, even five at a time into pieces. Ripping his blade out the back of one last undead skull, Lynn pushed the corpse aside and looked out over the street.

  "Great work everyone, really great…We'll need to get a clean team out here soon to deal with this, can't have them rotting out in the streets…Alright, who wants to watch the truck while the rest of us go in?" Lynn asked after he and Vera had gotten back to the driver.

  "I'll do it Sir, need to recollect my bolts anyway." Yancy offered, hopping off the driver.

  "Okay, we probably won't need ranged support inside the office. Shouldn't be too long, just keep the Zed down and the Gravers away from the driver, no joy ridin'!" Lynn instructed as he, Gil, and Vera approached the old City Hall.

  The lobby looked to be more or less the same as it had been before the Infection, only the quality of people's dress and their daily business seemed to have changed. In one corner, a young man sat behind a desk, clearly swallowing his fear of the slaughter he had just heard outside. The other Gravers were huddled behind tables and couches. While the sounds of combat and struggle were commonplace to the ears of Blood Oak's Graveyarders, the post driver, and its grisly roar were an all together new and terrifying sound. Though clearly relieved the threat outside had been dealt with, few Gravers seemed happy to see a party of Greys walk up to the front desk.

  "Yes, where could I find the residence belonging to Keith?" Lynn asked the front desk clerk politely.

  "Sir, we…uh, well, don't just give that information out…you need to show some…ah screw it…he lives on the third floor, second door on the right…but I swear I haven't seen him in days. Please just don't hurt anyone else here, just take him and go." The clerk revealed, not interested in arguing with Lynn.

  "Thank you very much Mr.…" Lynn trailed off, waiting for the clerk to fill in the blank.

  "…Greg…" Greg, the front desk clerk, responded weakly.

  "Thank you very much, Mr. Greg. If I see your manager or landlord I'll be sure to tell him how much you helped me." Lynn said with a smile that was lost on Greg, as Lynn still wore his mask.

  Greg feebly nodded as Lynn headed for the stairs, with Gil and Vera close behind him. They trudged up the stairs, passing the second floor without a glance and making their way swiftly up to the third floor. The layout was clearly once that of an office, but had recently been converted into housing. The "bull pen" had become a large shanty town of cubicles turned into single person sleepers with sheets serving as walls and roofs. The offices had been turned into living for families, couples, or groups of friends. The second door on the right, where Greg claimed Keith lived, once belonged to a Sam Pollack according to the faded metal name plate. Trying the door and finding it locked, Lynn knocked twice.

  "…Who is it?" a male voice called from behind the locked office door.

  "Friends of Keith, we just need to grab something for him." Lynn replied through the wood.

  "No way, I saw him get dragged off, I'm not opening for anyone unless you tell me who you are." The voice stated, followed by the sound of a dead bolt sliding into place. "So who are you?"

  "Land shark." Lynn said, growing impatient. He wasn't sure what it meant, but his father told him it was funny, and he had no reason not to trust that.

  "What?" the voice responded clearly confused.

  "Nevermind." Lynn sighed, already tired of the back and forth. Stepping back briefly, Lynn delivered a solid kick directly to the dead bolt, knocking the recently installed safety feature clear out of the door as it swung open.

  "What the fuck?" the man groaned from the floor, having been right behind the door before it was kicked in.

  "Gil, keep an eye on that guy. Vera, help me find the coffee pot." Lynn instructed, stepping into the makeshift apartment.

  "What are you doing here?" the man said, trying to stand up.

  "We told you. We're getting something for Keith. His life's in danger and he needs whatever's in the coffee pot to stay safe." Lynn truthfully reiterated to the shaken man.

  "Got it." Vera said, a small black chip with a flashing red light on it in her outstretched hand.

  "I trust you, Vera, you hang onto it." Lynn said pleased at the brevity of the encounter as they filed out of the room, leaving Keith's unnamed room guard still nameless on the floor.

  "Wait, so you're just gonna leave that guy in there? What if he tells someone someth-" Gil began, until being pinned against the office wall by Lynn's arm against his neck.

  "We. Are not. Bogeymen. We protect these people. That guy did not wrong us, what quarrel do I have with him? Tell me, actually you know what, both of you, why'd you join the Grey Klan? Vera, ladies first." Lynn hissed through his mask before releasing Gil and leading them into the stairwell where he stopped.

  "I couldn't get anywhere or get ahead before. I was lousy at salvaging, whether it was just scrap metal or tools, always felt like I was stealing from someone…so I became an escort for people, you know body guarding salvagers who wanted to go in sewers or condemned buildings. Of the few people willing to accept that I was good enough to protect them, most refused to pay. The Klan offered me a position where I'd be fed and sheltered, hell yeah I signed up." Vera explained, leaning against the wall of the stairwell.

  "What about you, what makes you think we have any right to kill that man back there for what he might know?" Lynn asked, turning on Gil.

  "What gives us a reason not to? We could! I haven't had to pay jack shit for anything in almost a year. This hood is fear, and fear is power. If the only cost is I gotta kill a few more Zed than I'd planned, whatever." Gil replied with a harsh honesty.

  "We are who we are for one reason. To keep the people safe and the undead down, not our own gain. Do you understand me?" Lynn nearly shouted, taking hold of the front of Gil's shirt and hood with both hands.

  "Lay off, might is right and I don't need this anymore, I'm out." Gil spat, pulling himself free of Lynn's grasp.

  Lynn grabbed Gil's shoulder and spun him around to bring the two face to face. His other hand flicked out and he brought it quickly to Gil's face, beneath the mask. He then gently brought his hand down and out from behind the tattered cloth. Gil's body fell limp and rolled down the stair well. Lynn watched it fall then looked up to Vera, who was just sheathing her machete. From his lower position in the stairwell Lynn could see a look of understanding on Vera's face.

  "Part of the problem." Lynn said, turning back to Gil's body.

  "Must not stop the solution." Vera finished, drawing Lynn's attention once more.

  "How do you know that?" Lynn asked as they both walked down the steps to Gil's crumpled form.

  "I'm a Deputy Arbiter candidate, my commencement is next week. I've been studying." Vera responded proudly, taking Gil's hood and mask, both becoming quickly stained by the blood spilling from his mouth. Lynn stood back and watched as she took his pads and blade as well before turning Gil's body over. She then checked his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, placing a bullet case over each. Lynn was impressed with her efficiency and thorough workings.

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nbsp; "I'm sure these people will take care of the body. It was a shame, the kid had potential, but not at that cost. I'm sick of the fear, but…it's not unreasonable, too many of us are like he was. Just in it for gain. I'll admit I've done terrible things…today even, but it's all been for the greater good." Lynn said as he and Vera left the stairwell.

  "You don't have to explain it to me. I'm no fan of the means we need to take sometimes…but we need to take them." Vera agreed as they crossed the lobby and left the building

  "Where's Gil?" Yancy called from his seat at the driver as Lynn and Vera stepped out onto the sidewalk.

  "Complications." Vera answered simply, taking her seat in the back of the truck.

  "That's a shame, I'll make sure the clean up team goes in for his body, we can give him a proper burial back at base…we at least get what we came for, right?" Yancy asked, turning to face Lynn, who climbed into the driver's seat.

  "Yep, and now we've gotta go pay a visit to an Ape to see what we can get from the chip." Lynn explained reaching for the ignition.

  "Actually, we can read it from here." Vera added, causing Lynn to turn around in his seat.

  "Wait, how? It's just a chip, no output or anything." Lynn said as Vera took out the chip.

  "That's right, but Gil had an Ape PDA in his pocket…and a Vulture key card. We can use the PDA to see what's on the chip." Vera revealed, handing the PDA to Lynn. "I've already loaded the chip and started it up."

  "…It's right there…been there all along…okay…Okay, you two, here's what we're really doing out here. This chip is from an old military vessel. It was called the 'Leviathan,' it could submerge itself in water and stay powered solely by the river's currents pushing its turbines. We, by which I mean, us three, we're gonna go scout the Leviathan and bring back whatever we can to the base…if we can figure out how the fuck to get to the riverbed in the middle of the goddamn Mississippi…" Lynn explained, realizing the challenge they now faced as he spoke.

  "Well, it wouldn't be perfect, but while y'all were inside, I checked out the post driver's mechanics. It's powered by an air compressor. With enough hose, we could use it like a big air tank. One at a time, we could each go in." Yancy suggested, gesturing to the large compressor tank in the vehicle below his feet.

  "Yeah…yeah, and we could tie weights to our feet to hold us to the bottom. Odds are, the currents have kept it powered up so we'll be able to find a working airlock. It'll be smooth sailing…Yancy, hop back in shotgun, Vera, take gunner, let's go see what we can scrounge up.

  The drive was quick and easy, as they were heading away from the River Center and thus away from most of the nearby zombies. After a left on Convention Street it was a straight shot to where the 'Leviathan' lay submerged in the river, according to the information from the chip. Lynn drove off the street and over the train tracks that ran along the side of the levee, up the levee and then down the steps to the river, parking the driver alongside the river's edge to give the air compressor the best reach into the river they could.

  "How far out is it?" Vera asked, looking over the murky brown water.

  "Right in the middle looks like, so about a third of a kilometer," Lynn answered, checking the information on the PDA. "How much hose do we have?"

  "Only two hundred feet, and that's if it's completely stretched out." Yancy replied, checking the driver's storage holds. "There is a high powered light in here, though aaaaand…it looks like it's water proof!"

  "Great, now we just need five times as much hose." Lynn said, relieved that the light would give them some sight through the low visibility water.

  "Well…not necessarily. The water's been low recently, what if we…and you need to hear me out on this. What if we backed the driver in as far as we could where we're still able to hold our heads over the water and went from there?" Vera suggested apprehensively.

  "Eh…I wouldn't risk the driver just yet, the airlock could be all the way on the other side of the Leviathan for all we know. What if one of us went in from here and tried to get a gauge on where the airlock is? Then if it's close we could go with Vera's plan." Yancy added, building on Vera's idea.

  "Smart, see if there's any face mask or helmet or anything in the storage bins. I can open my eyes underwater, but I don't think I'd see much like that." Lynn requested, taking off his hood, mask, and shirt. This was the first time Yancy or Vera had ever seen his face.

  "Your…your eyes, they're so green!" Vera remarked as Lynn waited for Yancy's search.

  "Heh, thanks I guess. They're the same as my dad's were, people always told me…It's been so long under that mask, I guess I don't hear that much now…" Lynn trailed off, happy to snap back to reality when Yancy called.

  "You're in luck! A pair of driving goggles. They weren't made for diving, but they should work." Yancy remarked, passing off the torch light and the goggles, before strapping two concrete chunks to Lynn's boots.

  "Alright, I'll tug hard twice if I…wait, that's dumb, you'd pull the air out my mouth. I'll just be back soon." Lynn began to instruct, before quickly revising his plan. "Make sure no one knows what we're doing. If people ask, we're fetching the boss's wedding ring.

  Vera and Yancy both nodded as Lynn took the air hose and held it in his mouth with his left hand, holding the light in his right. He waded into the river slowly due to the heavy stones, but as soon as he was half submerged found them already invaluable. Checking the air one last time, Lynn plunged completely into the water and turned on the hand light. It didn't breach the murk far, but he could see about twenty feet ahead. Occasionally, he saw a fish swim past, but most swam quickly away from him. After a minute or two of walking, Lynn reached the end of the hose. Not ready to quit yet, Lynn walked around a small circle until he found a sunken car. Deciding to take a massive risk, he tied the air hose around the wrecked car's empty window frame. Lynn then took off his concrete adorned boots and filled his lungs with air from the hose before swimming off with the light. His risk paid off, after almost a minute, Lynn saw it just ahead.

  'Leviathan' was enormous, at least a quarter of a kilometer wide and forty feet tall, it sat peacefully on the bed of the Mississippi. It's hull was made of metal, but had yet to begin rusting, and even the paint still shone clearly in his light. Lynn relished the look of the submersible for seconds longer, and then returned to his much needed air supply. He regained his breath from the hose and took off once more, looking for an entrance to the massive aquatic base. After several trips to and from the wrecked car, Lynn finally saw what he was looking for, the airlock, clearly defined by a still spinning, still illuminated red light over the faded yellow words "West Airlock." Returning to the beach as fast as the concrete shoes would allow, Lynn burst out of the water with an ecstatic look in his eyes.

  "Is…is it there?" Vera managed to ask.

  "Back the driver in as far as you can go without flooding the engine. The airlock is close enough that we'll be able to get there." Lynn said excitedly after a few false starts, his enthusiasm at finding the Leviathan having rendered him temporarily incoherent.

  Yancy responded immediately and began turning the driver towards the levee and gradually backing into the water. The river bottom was muddy, but the massive tires of the driver had no issues reversing into the Mississippi. About one hundred feet into the river Yancy stopped, the front tires having become completely submerged in the water. Putting the parking brake on, for whatever good it could do, Yancy climbed over the seats to sit in the gunner's seat. Lynn had remained in the water, staying just behind the driver as it approached the submersible's location.

  "This is as close as we can get, boss." Yancy said, checking the tank's air supply. There was more than enough, even if they had been a much larger party.

  "It's great, definitely close enough. The airlock's towards the southern end of 'Leviathan,' so we should have about twenty feet of slack, at least." Lynn reasoned, looking towards where the sunken base lay, completely hidden in the murky water.

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nbsp; "What's the plan? How are we all gonna get in?" Vera asked, sitting on the driver's cab frame, looking to Lynn.

  "I'll go back to the airlock, and flood it with water. When it opens, I'll swim in and drain the water for myself. When the next person comes, I'll flood it and open the lock and, then drain the water, so we can breathe. And then repeat for the last person." Lynn explained, completely confidant in his plan.

  "Take this rope too! We'll uncoil it as you walk to the airlock, that way we can find it without the light or the goggles." Vera added, pulling a long cord from the driver's storage box.

  "Smart, which of you is gonna come after me?" Lynn asked, looking to Vera and Yancy.

  "Vera, you can go second. Once you get in I'll go stash the driver, no need to let it get water damage, or stolen. I'm a great swimmer, I'll just swim out and dive to the airlock." Yancy suggested, patting the post driver affectionately.

  "Okay, but if you can't make it, go get the driver and use the tank. We've got a lot more to gain here than to lose," Lynn said, before taking the air hose. "Alright, I'm off."

  With that, Lynn pulled the goggles on and strapped his feet into the weights. The walk back to the 'Leviathan' was much quicker now with the driver's closer location. Lynn made his way to the airlock quickly and looked for a way to get it open. After a brief inspection, he found a hatch that opened to reveal a simple lever. Pulling down hard on it, some rust having formed from decades of nonuse, a large panel slid upwards into the hull of the vessel to admit him. Tying Vera's cord off on the lever, Lynn took off his weights and swallowed as much air as he could before releasing the air hose. Lynn entered the air lock and quickly found what he was looking for, a large lever marked [flood/drain]. This lever moved much easier, flushing all the river water out of the small chamber. A few dim lights clicked on, the base still had power after all these years. Lynn figured it had been built to last for decades, perhaps centuries.

  The lights then began to flash rhythmically before turning red. The lever that had drained the room flipped back on its own as water began to pour into the room through vents on the wall. Lynn inhaled deeply as the water filled past his neck and the rest of the chamber became once again flooded with river water. Seconds later, the wall slid up and Vera swam in, her eyes closed and hands feeling about, Her hood was down and her mask was tucked away. Lynn reached out and took her wrist in one hand, pulling her towards him as he brought the lever down a second time. The wall dropped back into place and air once again was pumped into the room through vents on the ceiling as water was sucked through vents on the walls.