Surface: Doomed Planet

Excerpt 21-The Volatiles

Location: Calos City, St. Mary's Catholic Church

Time: 7:52 PM

Weather: Super Storm Incoming, 75MPH Winds, Heavy Rain Imminent

The clear weather we had on the way to the church didn't last. About an hour or so after Allen was air lifted out, the clouds returned and the wind's picked up, the temperature dipped to 60 degrees with it, there was a Super Storm coming and everyone knew what that meant, Volatiles. Mother Angelica had us scrambling to strengthen the Church's defenses against the telekinetic zombies that were sure to come. Which meant boarding doors and windows, landmines out front, snipers in the bell tower and a few portable turrets that girl Alcatraz's age wearing a Stryker Combat Rig had with her. Alcatraz and a few other people in Exo suits were using burnt cars to block a few of the ground entrances, while Mike and Jacob helped the woman with the Stryker Rig with getting her Gravity Vortex gun to actually hold a charge, I had a feeling we'd need it. I stood out in the court yard, Steven and Ross had switched from artillery mode to direct combat mode and had moved the tank so it was much closer to the church. I was watching the clouds, which were dangerously close to blotting out the sun, sentencing anything with a heart beat to death until they decided to pass. I'd never been more scared in my life, and I'd been pants shitingly terrified before.

"You're jumpy as a cat brother", Mike said walking up beside me.

"Aren't you?", I asked, "Last time I fought these things I lost both arms. Not really wanting to face them again, because what happens if we, who by the way have more firepower than the rest of the church combined, fall to these things? That leaves one 14 year old with a few turrets and a Gravity Vortex gun to protect about 50 people who are so religious they won't touch an M16."

"Well if I die, I go down in a cloud of Sarah's nerve agent", Mike shrugged, "I'll be taking a few of them to hell with me."

I shot him a glare.

'What?", he asked.

"You're wearing a suicide vest?", I asked.

"A Dead Man's vest is more like it", Mike said, opening a pouch on his leg, "It's wired into my watch, which has a heart beat monitor in it, if it hit's zero, the can opens, that's a square mile that would get purged."

'How much of that shit did Sarah make?", I asked.

Mike grinned, "three table spoons, and the stuff is diluted, she told me at full power a spoon full of this stuff could sterilize New York City."

"Then maybe don't die", I said, "I'd rather not be exterminated by a chemical like your standard household roach", I sighed.

"What now?", Mike asked.

"I'm loathed to say this, because this goes against everything I stand for, but at this point I think Ania is beyond saving, we're on the surface of a doomed planet Mike, maybe it would just be best to set off Sarah's nerve agent and let every thing die."

Mike gave me a furious glance, "the fuck? That's not the Skyline that rescued me in the labs, since when are you an advocate for WMD's?"

"You questioning me saying maybe we should do this action, when you have a dead man's hand that would kill every survivor in the city?"

"What you just said would kill every survivor on the planet!", Mike shot back.

"Like what will happen if you die is any different from what I just suggested?", I returned

"I thought we were rescuing people?", Mike asked.

"We are", I said.

"Sure about that?", he asked, "I'm going to walk away if you say something like that again."