Children Of Fiends - Part 2 A Nation By Another Name: An Of Sudden Origin Novella (8 page)

As they watched the 1218 come to a stop, Thompson relayed the news to Sandusky and Lake. The engineers brought the train to a halt.
 

Plimpton turned to his footman, “Let’s get a stretch.”

Thompson said to driver Timbs, “Bring up Bertie and keep an eye out for the councilman.” (Bertie being the nickname for one of the two Sentinels. The Major did this every time that Plimpton chose to go out for a walk.)

As they stepped off the train Niles heard the trap door on the roof of the command car open and a slight shadow spread across the ground. The Sentinel remained on the roof and took on the posture of casual observance. The action this time raised Niles’ paranoia up another notch. It was utterly unnerving and he wished he hadn’t had even considered the notion that his fellow travelers intended to kill him.

They were parked in a semi-industrial area and a slight breeze rattled and animated bits of broken roof, metal, and loose doors; noises that brought a false sense of life to what was a very dead place.

The priests stepped off the train as well and walked out toward the front, the vicar offering a priestly wave. Plimpton watched them for a moment and then steered Hanson toward the tracks behind. “Hanson, rarely I ask for your inner thoughts.”

Hanson cocked an eyebrow. “I can’t recall when you have, sir.”

“Indulge me. What does your gut say about our fellow travelers?”

“In what way are you asking, sir? The question being broad, I mean.”

Bringing his lips in close to Hanson’s ear, as though he might be overheard, he said, “The Vicar. What do you make of him? Don’t be shy. Between us.”

Hanson slowed his pace and then finally said, “He strikes me as rather jovial for a man of his position. Kind of a Friar Tuck. I’m told he can be quick to anger.”

“And the deacons?”

“Not much, outside of Bible talk. Hoeg is…very Scandinavian. Jones: I don’t trust Jones.”

“Really? Why?”

“You asked me what my gut says, sir. I don’t trust Bible talk.”

“Of that, we agree.”

Thompson stepped off the train and called to both parties. “Gentlemen, the Northerners have made contact with the devils. They are not under assault, but assume we must that the creatures are near this area as well. Will you all please come back aboard so that we might seal up?”

Naoto Kitta and Maggie Tender had run hoses from the waste treatment water pits to the canteen along with Bill Wall and Tom Murphy. They took turns on the hand pump that pushed the water along. It was grueling work, made the more so by the shattered nerves that they felt while being so exposed. It didn’t matter that they were protected by their helmets. It didn’t matter that the soldiers and the rest of the crew were armed to the teeth and keeping watch. They were yards away from a fence covered in the tortured skeletons of thousands and a pack of Fiend Children were staring at them from maybe a hundred yards away. Not three, but six of the monsters had come out to watch. They had no weapons and made no threatening moves, but the way that they watched…

It was getting dark, and Hansel and Gretel’s huge irises gathered all the light that they needed, but something was wrong. Though they could still feel their kin out there, their fellow pucks had thrown up a wall. Communication was cut off. Hansel refused to admit to the failure so they pretended. Eliza and Dean watched as the six took a step forward as one and paused. Dean said, “Okay. They keep doing that. Maybe a minute or so and another step.” He turned to Gretel. “What’s going on?”

“They are, um.” She looked at Hansel. “They are just curious.”

Eliza asked, “They are telling you that?”

Hansel said, “How many times have we said we can only feel.”

The six stepped again. Dean said, “Okay. That was maybe ten seconds.”

MacAfee’s voice came from atop the train. “We got more over here. I count another six.”

“And here. Six more from the west,” shouted Hernandez from the engine.

The original six stepped again toward the pumpers. Kitta looked at his companions and said, “You’re seeing this, right?”

Wen yelled up to Bishop who was keeping the hose aimed into the train’s boiler. “How we doin, Bish?”

“Long way to go. Maybe half full.”

MacAfee stood on the roof of the observation car and keyed his mic for Wen. “Marshall, how long to get us moving again?”

Wen said, “No steam with the boiler open. A while.”

“Gonna have to be enough. Wrap it up and stoke that fire.”

Wen called out to Bishop. “Close it up and put the water in the canteen instead.” He looked at the pumpers. “Focus. Others got your back. Need all the water we can get.”

As one, the eighteen pucks took another step. MacAfee keyed his mic for Dean. “What the hell do we have from the kids?”

Dean asked the children. “What’s going on?”

The children were lost in their own heads. So exciting.

My heart is pounding.

Like hunting.

We have not hunted.

But it feels…

Like hunting.

What do we tell them?

Maybe the truth.

We don’t know the truth.

Who is Arthur? Why do they say Arthur?

There again. Arthur. Arthur says eat.

“Kids?” broke in Eliza. The pucks looked at her dumbly. Frustrated, Eliza started taking off her helmet.
 

Dean grabbed her wrist. “What are you doing?”
 

“I’m going to find out for myself.”

He lifted his visor. “Stop. You don’t know what will -“

She handed him her helmet. “Then don’t let anything happen to me.” She pulled his visor back down and looked at the six that she could see as they took another step. As one they turned and looked at her. In the same instant Eliza felt as though all twelve of their hands had latched onto her. It was almost real, like they were actually firmly holding her. She gasped with the sensation and her lungs felt suddenly crushed. Again they stepped toward the pumpers as her mind filled with sensations of desire and hunger and curiosity and fear. There was no language but for one sentence: ARTHUR SAYS EAT. ARTHUR SAYS EAT.

MacAfee’s heads-up display told him that Eliza had taken off her helmet. “What the fuck is she doing? Dean, what the fuck is she doing?”

Dean tried to put her helmet back on but she smacked it out of his hands, sending it across the room. Hansel started laughing and then Gretel joined in. “Funny,” said Hansel.

“She’s like a puppet,” said Hansel.

Eliza started taking jerking steps forward like a drunken marionette, saying, “Arthur says eat. Arthur says eat.” She smiled a toothy grin and then launched herself at Dean, her jaw snapping open and closed. He fended her off while Hansel and Gretel watched.
 

Should we eat him?
 

Dean quickly grabbed one of Eliza’s arms, spun her around and snapped her into a full nelson and she continued to kick and try to break away, her teeth snapping open and shut while saying, “Arthur says eat! Arthur says eat!” He looked at the suddenly hungry looking Hansel and Gretel and barked, “Don’t even think about it. Put her damn helmet on.”

Outside, Maggie Tender broadcast to everyone, “Uh, they’re getting kind of close.”

MacAfee said into his mic, “KK, go cover the pumpers. Everyone, if they get within fifty feet, warning shots. Another step and shoot to kill.”

Kelly climbed down from the coal car and walked carefully to the pumpers.

Inside, Gretel tried to put the helmet back on Eliza as she thrashed her head around. Sanders came running up the stairs, saw the situation and shoved Eliza down, sitting on her chest as she repeatedly batted the helmet away. She seemed to be in agony as she pleaded, “Arthur says eat!”

That’s when the six pucks broke and ran toward the pumpers. KK fired off a warning shot and the pucks pulled up short, all eighteen of them ducking as one. Whatever spell they had over Eliza was briefly broken and her thrashing stopped. Dean slapped the helmet over her head and snapped the buckle. She instantly hugged him to her, saying, “Oh God. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

The eighteen pucks suddenly hissed and charged as one. The humans opened fire. In three loud bloody seconds, they slaughtered the creatures, each absorbing multiple bullets. In the silence of the aftermath Hansel and Gretel screamed as though they were burning and thrashed about on the floor; their movements matching those of the wounded pucks in the dirt. A second round of shooting finished it. Hansel and Gretel stopped their screaming and instead, held each other in terror. “They died!” cried Gretel. “We felt them die!”

The Vicar and his Deacons had joined the others in the command car as they watched the scene unfold.
 

“Stunning that they waited as long as they did to shoot them,” said Thompson.

“Clearly they haven’t had much interchange with the devils,” said drone driver Gallagher.

The Vicar said, “God rest their souls.”

“That was a fucking disaster,” snapped MacAfee as he pulled off his helmet and paced before the assembled crew. Dark had descended. They stood mostly in line outside the train. The steam was up and the building pressure was automatically released from the pistons with a loud whoosh. He turned to Hernandez. “Action report on my desk in one hour. We need to completely revise our tactics. That cannot happen again.”

“Yes, sir.”

The colonel turned to Eliza. “Ms. Sherr, can I ask what you were thinking when you pulled off your helmet? Your action created a diversion that those fuckers took full advantage of.”

Eliza was exhausted but she straightened her spine saying, “I’m sorry. It was a mistake. I was trying to do what you are doing right now, Colonel, trying to communicate more effectively.”

MacAfee pointed at Hansel and Gretel. “That’s what they’re for!”

Eliza glanced at the children who were still deeply distraught over what they had experienced and said, “It wasn’t working.”

“So you decided to put all of us in danger by winging it? What the hell does Arthur says eat -”

Gretel interrupted, “Your helmet, quick!”
 

“Excuse me?”

“Put your helmet back on, Dustin MacAfee!”

“Are you threatening me, you vile little...” MacAfee’s posture suddenly went ramrod straight.

Eliza looked at Gretel. “No. Leave him alone.”

Hansel said, “It’s not Gretel. It’s them.” He pointed at the fence. With night vision, the crew saw dozens of bright eyes staring at them through the skeletons, with more of them coming every second.

With a slurred voice, MacAfee said, “Mommy.” Then he slipped his pistol out of its holster, placed the barrel under his chin and rained his brains all over the desert floor.
 

Dean didn’t hesitate. “Mount up now! Blakely, get this thing moving!”

There was a mad scramble as everyone ran to the train, bunching up on the entrances. Hernandez, KK and Green opened fire in the general direction of the fence. In moments, the locomotive’s wheels were trying to gain traction and slowly slipping on the rails. The soldiers were the last onboard as the headlight blazed a path on the empty rails ahead. Everyone continued to lay down suppressing fire from the windows as Hernandez scrambled back up to her position on the top of the engine. The pucks beyond the fence disappeared from view. With few targets, the shooting slowed down and finally stopped.

“We left the colonel,” Green said to KK.

Kile flicked a bit of bloody skull off his shoulder. “I doubt he minds.”

“That was a twist,” said Ensign Palmer with shock in his eyes. “I mean one moment he’s cussing Eliza about uncovering and next he’s blowing his brains out. Ironic, am I right?”

Green shoved his elbow into the bosun’s throat and pushed the man against a wall. “The hell’s wrong with you, asshole? We just lost the colonel.”

“Enough!” yelled Dean. “Back off, Sergeant.” He clicked his mic. “Hernandez, get back to observation. Sergeant Green will replace you on the engine.” He looked at the sergeant who had flipped up his visor, a questioning look on his face. Dean flipped it back down. “You’re trying to figure the line of authority right now, Sergeant. I’ll sort it out with Hernandez. Go take your post.” Green hesitated for a moment longer then left. Except for the sound of the wheels clicking on the rails, the room was dead silent. Kile, KK, Palmer, Cinders and Jamesbonds kept their weapons trained outside. Cookie, Eliza and the pucks seemed to be in mild shock. Sanders began to speak, but Dean cut him off. “Save it ‘til Dez gets here.” The room remained silent until Hernandez entered, her gun at rest but her body sprung for action. “We gotta go back. We don’t leave our dead. We go back. That’s an order. We get the colonel and then we turn this bitch around. This mission is scrubbed.”

Cinders jumped in. “She’s right, Cap. This is bullshit. Bullshit.” He pointed at Hansel and Gretel and said, “I say we shoot these two and turn the fuck around.”
 

Eliza put herself between Cinders and the pucks.

Dean let the conversation lay there for a long beat and then said, “While I agree with you in spirit, Chief, I don’t condone sending more to die to collect the already dead. We’re not going back.”

Dez clicked her mic. “Blakely, stop the train.”

“Belay that order, Marshall,” said Dean.

Cinders aimed his Punisher at the pucks. “Bye bye.” And was just as quickly disarmed by Dean who twisted the gun out of the man’s hands, pulled the clip and racked the chambered round onto the deck. Dean looked at the astonished man square in the eyes and said, “Retire to your quarters, Cinders.” He handed the gun to Sanders and turned to
 
Palmer. “Ensign, help Cinders to his quarters. Cookie, get him a bite to eat.”

Cinder’s fire went out. “I’m, I’m sorry, sir. Don’t know what came over me.” He stepped down the stairs, Cookie saying, “A little food in you and you’ll be right as rain.”

Hernandez said, “We’re turning this thing around, Captain.”

“We’re not, Chief.”

“This is not a democracy, Captain Dean. We are turning around.” She keyed her mic and said, “Marshall Blakely. I order you to bring this train to a stop and reverse her direction.”