Motorpool Vehicle Repair Bays
2/19th Special Weapons Group Area
Secure Area, Alfenwehr
West Germany
29 October, 1987
2110 Hours
The clackers fell from my hands as I dropped them, my hands dipping into the parka as the men bunched up in the hallway. They howled that gibbering war cry again, which made my flesh prickle up in goosebumps as I felt like someone had splashed me with cold water.
The lizard pressed the button and everything slowed down.
The pistols came out smoothly, the .45's grips feeling comforting as they filled my hands. As soon as the lizard knew the firing arc had reached them center mass I began pulling the trigger.
Time was slowed as the adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine, dopamine, and ATP flooded my system. Oxygen flushed through my system and my peripheral vision widened out for my one eye, giving me a better viewing picture.
I knew time didn't actually slow down, it was just my perceptions speeding up fast enough for me to track everything since the lizard took over. He was used to split second reactions, decision trees that were mandatory to be under a thousandth of a second.
In a way I was almost a passenger during combat, and it had become more and more apparent since earlier in the year, while my reflexes and movement seemed to get faster, the decision trees shorter, ingrained muscle memory and neural plasticity overlays allowing actions to happen even faster. Even the targeting priority was done by the lizard as he identified who might be the most dangerous. While my sight was shrunk to one eye, I could pay attention, with different through tracks, to different sections of what I could see.
ALERT! VOLTAGE FLUCTUATION DETECTED! ALERT!
Each shell casing flew from the pistol when I pulled the trigger, the slide riding back and forward to load a new .45 round into the chamber, which made the lizard pull the trigger again. The pistol rode up slightly with each trigger pull, but the lizard guided it, double-tap, hitting lower center mass and upper center mass. Shift the pistols, the first two hit not even really aware of what happened. The center figure took a single shot from each pistol, the shell casing flying out. Each pull of the trigger jolted my right arm and brought out a spark of pain as something inside my right shoulder joint was strained. The tendon I'd strained in my left wrist twinged with each trigger pull, and I could feel that the lizard was pumping repair chemicals, proteins, and sugars into that area as a priority.
I was completely detached. Clinical. Surgical.
The sight of two gutted women swaying slowly back and forth on the chains over the grease pit, the fat snapping and popping as the heat burned it away from their bodies, appeared in my mind's eye and part of the lizard's sight picture honed in on behind them.
...they're kids...
One had slowly spun in place while I was gone and her mouth was open in a silent scream, her eyes already missing, the bottom of her breasts ruptured as the heat liquefied and expanded the fat content, blood dried and gone from the gaping wound that had vivisected her.
ALERT! POLLING SUB-PROCESSOR B OFFLINE! ALERT!
The lizard slapped a button and my vision sharpened on the five still up, who were trying to push by the ones starting to slump.
Three trigger pulls, two with the right, one with the left, the second pull on the right to correct for the miss. Two hits, two more down.
ALERT! RAM VOLTAGE ERROR! CRC ERROR! ALERT!
Bon Jovi was singing Living on a Prayer in the back of my head.
I could taste home made dried peach ring candy, coated in crystals made from dehydrating the thick peach syrup and Caro syrup onto the rings of dried fruit. For a second I could smell my grandmother's kitchen.
Still falling, the two behind them staring to slump, the halo of blood, flesh, and brain matter still spreading out, spattering the faces of the three at the back. The weapons were just coming down, the eight of them suddenly realizing that I wasn't a defenseless target.
...BLOOD! BLOOD FOR LUGUS!...
Aine's voice thundering in my brain as my hand slowly moved toward my LBE to holster my left hand pistol, my right hand moving slowly, ever so slowly, to bring the sights along the top of the slide into line with my right eye. The smoke around both pistols swirled as the pistols moved, moving slowly so slowly.
ALERT! SYSTEM UNSTABLE! ALERT!
As the left hand pistol crossed my belly button, heading toward the holster, the right hand pistol's sights lined up with the screaming small polarized green glass of the face mask.
The lizard pulled the trigger and I watched curiously as the bloom of flame at the end of the .45 was reflected for a split second by the glass right before it shattered inward. The pistol was already moving, shifting, reacquiring a target.
Less than two seconds had passed.
Several neurons fired and I could remember vividly being at the Rod & Gun Club, then more neurons fired and I remembered, vividly, right down to the smells, the way the breeze felt, the warmth of the sun, the makeshift range at Atlas, firing the issue .45 pistol, practicing, always practicing, going through box after box of ammunition ordered by thousands from Soldier of Fortune magazine advertisers. Practicing fast draw for fun with Bomber, laughing that his Texas blood gave him an advantage in quick-draw and fire on target competitions.
The trigger went back again as the left hand pistol began to slide into the holster.
Last one wasn't even aware that the two beside him were already dead as the sight picture lined up on his face.
The brass glittered as it flew away from the pistol, through the smoke, it making curlicues as it headed toward the wall.
ALERT! SYSTEM
The lizard noted something flashing, some kind of alert, and slapped the override on it, watching the sights slide and merge.
USER INTERRUPT DETECTED!
Trigger pull.
Bloom of light in the hallway, overriding the chemlights, overriding the fires from the main bay. Eye already compensated, pupil widening back out, visual purple flooding the rods inside the structure. Left hand letting go of the grip and sliding over to the magazine pouch.
Sight picture lowering. First rank having slumped down, second rank slumping, obvious bullets through the first three had hit ones behind them, the back three slumping and falling backwards. All eight of them down and out. Slide locked back, smoke wafting out.
ALERT! MALFUNCTION! ALERT!
The magazine slid comfortably out of the pouch, rotating smoothly in my fingers as I hit the magazine release for the M1911A1 and the magazine began to slide out.
ALERT! LOW CPU VOLTAGE POWER DETECTED! ALERT!
The new magazine slid in comfortably and my hand swept through the air to grab the falling magazine as the slide rode forward.
The lizard slapped the override and my system shivered like vibrating crystal as more dopamine and endorphins slammed into my system, along with adrenaline and norepinephrine. ATP production as ADP production peaked.
Sight picture still on the falling figures.
Rotate the magazine upside down.
Fingers slide it into the magazine pouch.
Middle back rank was still on his feet, wobbling slightly, his hand opening over his head to let go of the makeshift blade.
ALERT! RAMM CHECKSUM FAILURE! ALERT!
Muscle tension.
My sister singing Cum On Feel the Noize in the rain as we walked home from school. The smell of ground venison sausage being mixed. The feel of the sweat and grit on my face as I helped move the nuclear rounds back into the bunker after Atlas had exploded. The taste of a woman's sweat from her love-warmed skin.
ALERT! POLLING PROCESSOR E NOT RESPONDING! ALERT!
The lizard slapped the override again.
Double-tap. First shot through the head of the man in front of him, second shot center left of the chest. One step back.
My left knee went out.
The feel of the sun on my skin as I crossed the finish line at the Fulda Marathon. The taste of flat tepid water pulled through the drinking tube of an armored J-suit. The rumbling sonic assault of the big 100K forklift firing up. The smell of a woman's perfume as I pass her in the PX, talking to Bomber as we look for a birthday present for Nagle.
My leg began to fold, the brace screeching as I start to go down.
They were all finished. The lizard had taken out all of them in less than 5 seconds, including reload time. They were still falling as the lizard let off the combat button.
It didn't pop back up.
ALERT! SYSTEM VOLTAGE SPIKES DETECTED! ALERT!
Time stuttered and sped up slightly.
...what...
My knee slammed into the floor, bright white pain flaring through my body as something crunched inside of it. I didn't scream, the pain shifting, flowing, pouring out of me as the circuit breaker was already snapped. More adrenaline poured into my system, along with endorphins, coursing through my blood stream.
The lizard started hammering on the buttons, screeching in anger as I knelt there, my weight on my damaged knee.
I just stared in front of me, watching the flames dance, watching the bodies finally slam into the floor, two of the weapons slowly moving down to land on the twitching bodies.
The lizard looked around at the boards, flipping the override switch to the off position.
His boards went dark.
Everything sped up and the pain from my knee made me groan in pain. I had to put my hand against the wall to push myself up with my other leg, I could feel sweat bead up on my back as I managed to get to my feet.
The lizard's board were still dark.
Goddamn it, the Claymores I'd set up, double-welled, didn't go off when I'd hit the clackers.
I sighed, making up my mind to move forward to disarm and recover them. My leg slowed me down, forcing me to lean against the wall and drag my leg forward. I chewed my lip, wondering if when I moved up they would...
The whole world erupted in twin explosions. The explosions themselves tore apart the plywood dividing walls, the ball bearings that had been embedded in a plastic matrix tearing apart everything, bouncing off the cement floor, and howling around me.
...atlas exploding around me...
I stepped back, putting my weight on my knee and having it buckle slightly, recoiling from the explosions. If I had moved forward normally I'd have been right at the beginning of the overlapping explosions and shrapnel. Something hit my hard in the right side, and I knew it was a ball bearing that had bounced and ricocheted into me.
"Holy shit!" I turned my face away, not caring if my blinded eye took the damage.
I turned back around, staring at the damage.
The lizard tapped on the combat button, cocking his head and peering at it, wondering why it didn't pop back up.
The hallway was destroyed, the eight bodies of the dead men having been rent to pieces by the force of the explosions and the high velocity shrapnel.
A chunk of wet meat fell from the damaged ceiling and landed on the floor silently.
Yeah, I was deaf. Again.
I sighed, moving out into the main bay, keeping an eye out for any stragglers. The whole scene was a goddamn horror show that made me shake my head and blink, half expecting it to all be a hallucination.
ALERT! SYSTEM MALFUNCTION! AUTONOMOUS COMBAT SYSTEMS OFFLINE! ALERT!
I moved over to the solvent baths, picking up a heavy tanker bar as I passed a barrel full of something that I didn't want to think about. Slime dripped from the bar as I moved up and turned on the solvent tap. I ran the tanker bar under the solvent first, the grabbed it and slammed the wedge end behind the sink.
One good twist and the solvent sink tore free of the wall, the metal strips breaking. I pulled the sink off to the side, then kicked it over, ignoring the flare of pain in my knee.
ALERT! OVERRIDE SYSTEMS OFFLINE! ALERT!
The lizard tapped on the button with one clawed finger, blinking in surprise as it stubbornly stayed down. He twitched his tail in irritation and started to work his fingers under the button, intending on pulling it up by force.
I moved to the next solvent sink, repeating the action all six times at all of the remaining six solvent bath sinks. The solvent was running onto the floor as I walked over to the back wall, right in front of the sign on the wall.
"DANGER! NO SMOKING! FUEL TANKS ON OTHER SIDE DANGER!"
I drew back the tanker bar and drove the rounded point forward, slamming it through the sheet metal wall and into the thick steel of the fuel tank. I wasn't vain enough to think I had penetrated the tank, but it was a start. I walked over to the tools, picking up a sledge hammer and moving back.
ALL LOGIC PROCESSORS ONLINE
The fifth hit of the hammer and the tanker bar slid forward nearly a foot. I pulled it back, moved it slightly to the right and repeated the action twice more before walking five steps toward the way I'd come in and repeating it.
The lizard pressed the buttons to bring up his high detail external maps, and nothing happened.
That was all right, I could remember where those above ground external tanks were pretty well. I repeated it several times, until when I slammed the bar into the wall it just sunk half of the length into the snow.
!COMBAT SYSTEM ERROR!
Diesel and mogas were pouring in through both the holes and from the bottom of the sheet metal wall. It was mixing with the solvent, and steam was starting to rise. I saw the mixture of diesel and solvent hit one of the mechanic grease pits and fire roared up in a sheet.
Oops, time to go.
I picked up to a job, heading for the outside door. I heard another whoosh and knew the fluid had hit another pit.
Burn it all fucking down. The mechanics would fucking thank me.
TIME/DATE STAMP ERROR
And I couldn't stand the thought of the abattoir still standing behind me. I couldn't leave it behind me.
...purification by fire, Aodan, always works no matter how far the world turns...
Aine's voice whispered through my head as I reached the door and kicked it open.
When it flew open it knocked a figure back into the three behind them. All of them had M-16's, all of them dressed in cold weather protective clothing.
They'd been bringing food to the other groups.
...aw crap...
!AUTONOMOUS COMBAT SYSTEMS OFFLINE!
...double crap...