Gravewalkers: Blade Thirsty

Gravewalkers

Book Seven

Blade Thirsty

Richard T. Schrader

Copyright © 2013 Richard T. Schrader

Copyright © 2022 Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

Contents

Sky Wolves

More Better Day

Honing Malevolence

Blues and Greens

Rattling Sabers

Founding Fathers

The Solitary Tree

Yokefellows

Ghost of Achilles

Uninvited Invitation

Council of Governors

Chapter 1: Sky Wolves

Penny, Wolf, and Carmen were still away on their mission to take the pirate boy back to the city when Critias rounded up what remained of his team and then headed out of the air traffic control tower complex.

On their way through the lower building, Critias stopped off to see the dead pirate since he didn’t want to leave a fresh corpse in Doctor Kine’s reading room. Somewhat comical as the notion was, Critias thought it bad manners to leave the bodies of people they killed just lying around in a friend’s house.

When he reached the corpse and then had a chance to look it over, Critias asked Yeti, You really did this with your fist?

Yeti was not in a bragging mood as he explained, I had seen a reflection of movement on some glass and then followed him down here. I wasn’t really sure if it was one of you guys or maybe even just my imagination. I never said anything on the radio; that was a mistake.

As far as the pirate goes, I didn’t want to shoot him because I might have hit someone else in here. To be honest, it sort of just happened. I had to do something and he ended up dead. I didn’t mean to kill him.

You’re right about the radio, Critias agreed on that point. That’s why we wear them. You will know better next time. Punching this dickhead to death is topnotch work; couldn’t have done it better myself. You make me glad I put such faith in you. Great job.

You can say it, Tony told Critias. I fucked up. There were four of us in here and that prick caught us all with our pants down. I was in charge; so it’s my fault.

Critias was technically in overall command of that mission, but he didn’t carry any rank to tell Tony how to run his life. To put it behind them, he said, We are ghoul fighters, not pirate hunters.

This guy was good at his business. He survived as long as he did while his friends had abandoned him here and his pals were all dead. It is a statement on the value of being a cowardly pirate. They are more dangerous than ghouls who are too brave to be smart, usually anyway.

After a brief search of the body, Critias observed, He doesn’t have a radio.

They used those big encrypted radios, Bobby Bean reminded him. Maybe they were under strict radio silence and their captain didn’t even give them any personal ones fearing we might pick it up and then know they were here.

We would have picked it up, Critias acknowledged that. I think you’re right. That must be why his friends thought they were all dead when they never came back.

He grabbed the corpse and then hefted it up onto his shoulder to leave. On the way out, Critias told them, We need to check out the hangar for the dirigible. Since Penny took our truck, how do you guys feel about walking a couple kilometers to get there? Someone will show up with a ride before we leave again.

The others understood the risk they were to consider. If things stayed quiet like they had been thus far, they had nothing to worry about on a long walk. If a tribe of ghouls suddenly appeared while they were halfway there, they might die.

Ghouls naturally migrated to where the food was available. The lack of infected in the area had made the airbase nutritionally abundant. The ghouls would be around. It was just a matter of time before they crossed paths.

Let’s walk, Tony said. "Vern is overhead watching from the Black Hole. If any packs move into the area, he will see them before they see us."

With it decided, they headed off.

Critias took the dead pirate with him all the way to the great runway that they came in on from the East Airport. That is where he dumped the corpse. It was fresh edible meat for ghouls and he wanted to use it as bait. If he lured them out into the open, it would make it that much easier to shoot them rather than let them lurk in the long grass from where they might eventually ambush someone.

The runway was wide and straight like an interstate highway, which made it easy for them to stay clear of the grass where it grew up along the sides.

Bulldozers in the last days had found plenty of headshot ghouls to pile up in the interior of the base. As the defenders had retreated inward, their defensive fighting lines had followed them. They had done their best to keep the runways open for planes, which meant the body mounds were invariably off to the sides.

Such was the flatness of the land combined with the tall prairie grass that they had a great view into the distance only without being able to see anything but the tallest structures.

They clearly made out the roof of the large maintenance hangar that was on the far side of the runways ahead. They saw some water towers, a few lesser aircraft hangars, and a handful of the greatest buildings.

Other than those landmarks, they could see the trees of the forested areas, which were mostly in the vicinity of the East Airport side, and they could see the long grass that just went on to the horizons. The whole center of the base was a square kilometer prairie of the tall grass interrupted by nothing but the network of mostly concealed runways.

As they left behind the forested areas to follow the wide runway through the sea of grass, one of the smaller maintenance hangars was off to their right. It had a sizable parking area for the aircraft that packed the place in a tight jumble. Not only were there huge military planes and smaller fighter jets, there were also dozens of civilian private propeller planes of small size.

In the same way as the base had been a magnet for truck survivors, the false promise of security had also lured in aircraft from even wider distances.

There was a noticeable shortage of heavy military ground vehicles. The Airforce base didn’t have any tanks or armored personnel carriers more typical of Army units.

They did see some of the relatively common four wheel drive Humvee military cars at times. Those sat idly abandoned along the sides of runways, no doubt heavily contaminated with ghoul blood from their Outbreak service.

They were most of the way across the central grass prairie when Blue raised his hand as a silent instruction that they should stop. There was a major intersection of runways ahead and near the center of them was a military cargo plane, one of many around the airbase.

The one ahead of them had suffered a mild crash where the front landing gear had failed on touchdown, such that it had ground to a halt with its nose against the pavement. Hitting a ghoul or one of their undead bodies may have been the culprit. While the plane would have never moved again, the damage seemed mild enough that the crew had probably survived the accident.

It wasn’t the plane that Blue wanted them to see. He pointed, Right there, look. What is that?

Everyone watched carefully until movement drew their attention to a feral hog as it slid along the pavement. The hog was on its way to disappear beneath the near wing that tilted down so that it touched the ground at its tip.

Critias used his telescopic vision to see a most astounding and perhaps even prophetic sight. A white hybrid Siberian tiger dragged its kill into a secluded hideaway within the wrecked plane where it would feed in privacy away from any thieving ghouls if they wandered past.

The great beast had clearly not migrated from Siberia. Though none of them knew it, the tiger’s former home had been a private refuge only a hundred and fifty kilometers to the north.

In the years since the Outbreak, necessity had gradually driven the great cat south as it sought a well-watered habitat with suitable game without too many infected to harass it or steal its kills. The cat commonly returned to feed repeatedly rather than finish an animal at a single sitting.

With the great river that prevented it from exploring westward, the tiger had followed smaller waterways into the more rural south until it discovered an ideal land of tall grass, lush creeks, and groves of forest with very few infected. Best of all, it had encountered a favorite food source in the form of the feral hogs whose northern most range included that local area.

Dan saw it then, That’s a fucking tiger. Does that mean there are more of them around here?

I doubt it, Blue assumed. There can’t be many of those in the whole country. It is about as likely to see a second of its kind as we are. It must have escaped from a zoo or a circus.

By checking his HUD, Critias learned that the species had a reputation to leave humans alone unless provoked, unlike the man-eating Bengal variety of the Indian subcontinent. That was his lesser reason to leave it in peace.

Let’s go, he told the others. It won’t bother us if we don’t push it.

That skin would look nice on my floor, Tony said. Are you sure you don’t want to shoot it?

Critias put his radio on speaker so that they could listen when he called his wife, Carmen, is this tiger dangerous?

She got the image from him and then said, Yes, it is very dangerous if you torment it. Don’t let anyone hurt it. You are trespassing in his land and he deserves respect. That is a sacred animal. We are lucky to have it live so close.

I won’t hurt it, he pledged and then ended the call.

Tony got Critias’ point, I don’t want Carmen to beat the crap out of me. I think we should leave the tiger alone. After a moment, he commented, Your wife is something of a tree hugger.

She is right, Critias replied. Only a dick goes around the ruins smashing the noses off of statues and burning down libraries. Shooting that tiger won’t make this shitty world a better place.

On a related issue, he added, I don’t think Carmen would have a problem with you hunting the tiger in a fair fight. If you want to go over there and capture him with your bare hands, you should go for it. I think it is the part where we shoot him in the back with a rifle that upsets her the most.

They continued on without seeing the tiger again. It had gotten into the plane through an opening caused by the crash.

When they reached the southwestern edge of the long runways, they saw unending rows of abandoned planes. There was every variety from small private planes, military cargo haulers and bombers, to large passenger jetliners. All of them had been out in the weather for years, but aside from that, they appeared to be in excellent condition.

The nearside doors of the great maintenance hangar stood closed. The building had no apparent damage and it was certainly large enough for their dirigible needs because it was beyond enormous. It could hold multiple large cargo planes simultaneously. Under different circumstances, survivors could have set up their small town inside of it. The Black Hole would fit in the hangar comfortably with plenty of room to spare.

That doesn’t look like an old dirigible hangar to me, Tony noticed. That hangar doesn’t even look old at all. If there was another one around here, we would be able to see it.

Still big enough for what we want, Critias didn’t mind the difference. Urban legend seems to have been wrong. They must have demolished the old one when they did some remodeling. I thought that was the right one from a distance. My concern now is that it isn’t empty. If that beast has a full load of junk, it will be a big job emptying it out.

Like the serviceable airport areas they had used before, the great hangar sat upon a vast expanse of concrete pavement that kept the grass at bay. The clear view would make it difficult for ghouls to appear right near them so long as they remained cautious.

The long side of the hangar was a hundred and twenty five meters and it was ninety meters wide, a truly massive shelter with equally massive doors on each end.

They had to be alert as they moved in among the parked planes that were like an aircraft graveyard. Fortunately, most of the aircraft were large enough that it was no difficulty for them to see underneath their fuselages.

Vern flew overhead in the Black Hole as he radioed to them, I can see some movement up ahead of you on the other side of the hangar. It appears to be individual infected, but there is more than one. They only come into my view for brief moments. The area that way is all congested suburban housing that gives them a lot of cover. I advise you to stay out of it.

Thanks for the heads up, Critias told Vern. Keep your eye on them. I will clean up a bit from here before we move in.

He pointed out firing positions for his companions, Take cover and get ready to put down the ghouls as I call them to us.

While they moved, he radioed Carmen, I need a piglet in distress audio lure. That tiger already has a large meal. I don’t think it is going to be what comes running.

Carmen had a complete collection of sound effects that she could use to form traps against ghouls. There was no delay as she sent it to him, but she did warn, If you think there is a tribe nearby, your idea may cause you more trouble than you desire.

I feel that I need to remind you that you are the only person with a mechsuit and your extraction support is limited. If you can wait, we are on the way back to you. I expect to reach you in about half an hour.

Bring my rifle from the garage when you come, he instructed her. I will need it later. Tell your people that we will have the hangar secured by the time that you arrive.

She didn’t appreciate his casual dismissal, Are you listening to me?

Always, he assured her. They can handle it.

You don’t need to worry about the pigs attacking you, Carmen informed him in reference to his auditory lure. The feral hogs are still a couple months away from their mating season when the boars go into their rut and then fight for breeding rights. None of the sows hiding in the grass are going to rush out to defend what they think is one of their piglets.

Too bad, he replied. I would have shot them too for the meat.

As appealing as that might sound, she cautioned, the pavement all over that airbase is heavily contaminated. Any wild game that you exposed to it would be unsafe as well as unappetizing.

Critias hadn’t been serious. He already had better plans for when his opportunity came to hunt for food.

When his companions were ready to defend themselves from ghouls, Critias turned on his external speakers to play the sound of a piglet in distress. He only used the natural volume of a real piglet, but with their background silence, the noise seemed shockingly loud even for high pitched squealing.

The ghouls that Vern had spotted up ahead could hear the screaky lure clearly enough. The armored hide of a boar was totally impervious to their feeble attacks and a large sow could easily break ghoulish bones with her size alone. Ghouls feared the adult swine, but they did have an appetite for piglets.

They especially liked to steal kills from other carnivores when they got the chance to harass the successful predator. The local ghouls already knew to fear the tiger because they could never muster sufficient numbers to rob that titan of strength and clawed ferocity. The opportunity was reason enough for them to at least investigate the possibility of a free meal.

Just as Vern had warned, six ghouls came out from around the great maintenance hangar ahead of them and then approached. They saw Critias where he squatted and pretended to be a ghoul that had captured a struggling piglet. The ghouls recognized him as the source of the sound.

They rushed at him to see if they could steal his prize.

Watch what you’re hitting, Critias cautioned his companions by radio. We don’t need to start any fires or bust up the airplanes.

From their rested positions, the shooters cut the ghouls down with a brief flurry of suppressed headshots. Three more infected came in from their rear only to suffer the same fate. A final two ghouls came at them from the sea of grass then got their bullets too.

At that point, Critias turned off the lure. They would wait in silence while any stragglers came to them.

None did.

Since they had cleared their path, Critias led his team to the fully open doors on the far side of the hangar.

Not bad, Tony admired the epically spacious interior. They must have been using this as their hospital and for decontamination operations. He meant the military during the last days.

There were no aircraft inside that they would need to remove. The pirates had found that the hangar fully accommodated their dirigible shelter requirements. Those raiders had even gotten one of the aircraft tow tractors operational and then used it to anchor a mooring line when they pulled their airship indoors to be safe from any foul weather.

Even at the best of times, the Black Hole was a lighter than air wind sail. Just as stormy winds could tip over a large truck, even mild winds could slam the fragile dirigible around and destroy it.

Jim’s new dirigible hangar was perfect. It was close to the East Airport and there was plenty of room in all dimensions. It wouldn’t be a tight fit.

The pirates had pulled down and pushed off to the side the acres of plastic sheeting that had once walled the place off into sections.

There were chains along the sides that still had hundreds of handcuffs and plastic zip-cuffs spaced among the links where the defenders had secured people they worried might be infected.

Critias used his visor to film everything in detail for Kevin. He gave special attention to the hangar doors and the mechanical systems that delivered the power to move them open and closed. Without any electricity, the doors were going to stay open where they were for the time being.

The pirates clearly had experience with such things and there were some signs that they had attached a portable generator to the drive motors. It was a generator that they had taken away with them when they left, which implied that it was currently aboard the Black Hole.

Since they had some time before their reinforcements arrived, Critias asked his group, What do you think about starting to clean this up?

Yeti had worked in decontamination in his early career before he developed the confidence to join the G&P. He advised, If we start shifting that stuff around, it will throw up a lot of dust. I think we better wait until we hear from the experts. If we make more of a mess than we started with, they will be angry.

True enough, Critias supported that thinking. Let’s just poke around a bit to make sure there are no holes in the walls or any lurkers burrowed into the trash. They should be here soon.

The reinforcements did arrive in a timely manner that revealed they had not suffered any significant delays. Penny Welder drove the tractor trailer transport from the lightrail to the East Airport where they had a brief stop, and then she brought the truck along the path Critias had walked. She finally pulled up out front before the maintenance hangar’s open doors.

Critias walked out while the occupants sat quietly in their truck. He pistol shot the three ghouls that charged in to confront the comparatively noisy vehicle. The creatures shrieked and fussed enough before he dropped them that they summoned up five more feeders.

Tony came out to help him, but the ghoulish screams persisted for long enough to make it clear that the incursion continued to spread. By the time the two of them shot down the group of five, another eleven ghouls sprinted in from various directions. Wolf had gone out to watch Tony’s back and helped shoot all of those.

The new ghouls made their share of enraged howls before they went down. That noise called in even more ghouls who already yelped away even before they arrived. The problem continued to grow rather than settle down.

The Starlight Squad rushed to help and their open season shooting continued for several minutes more. It was only the modest population of nearby infected that finally brought the problem to an end. If the same situation had occurred on their home side of the river where ghoul populations were fantastically higher, a complete evacuation would have been the only survivable response.

As it was, only about fifty ghouls had been able to find their way to the transport. All of them ended up on the pavement with their brains shot out.

In the exact same way that the contamination problem had happened before during the Outbreak, the undead meat bled out into soppy pools that had no soil to absorb it.

Being shot in their heads did literally nothing to stop their hearts, which pumped away at marathon speed, hosing down the pavement by the liter. Once dry, the exsanguinated bodies would permanently remain to offer transfer contamination to anything that came into contact with them.

During the great battle years before, the military had used bulldozers to pile the deactivated undead. As it was, someone would have to drag away many of the bodies just so their vehicles would not have to drive over them.

When it was over, Critias banged on the trailer for them to come out.

The doors opened and then Stig hopped out first. He used hand signals to command his three dozen guards to come forth and then take up defensive firing positions.

Critias trusted Stig to handle security for the area.

He went over to ask Yeti, How many did you get?

Only three, Yeti pointed to indicate the nearby left hand corner of the hangar where the overgrown suburban housing area came dangerously adjacent to the building.

The cover there was excellent such that runners could get rather close before they ever exposed themselves. Three ghouls had managed to get near them by taking that route. Their headshot bodies were on the ground as evidence to the fact.

Yeti showed Critias his weapon. It was a Forager armory suppressed MP5.

I can’t hit them in the head at long range with this, and not without damaging all those old planes. I just waited to see if any would get close while the rest of you guys handled the real sharpshooting.

Good job again, Critias slapped him on the back with approval. If you keep thinking about what you are doing and not about showing off, I may get you killed by bringing you out more.

Carmen, Penny, and Wolf approached as they escorted Jim with Hatchet. Carmen had Critias’ teslaflux rifle, which she offered to him.

Would you carry it for now, he requested kindly even though he already knew she would.

Critias talked to Jim, The hangar looks good. Apart from the location being away from your other planes, it will be perfect.

Several mechanics rushed by with their toolboxes. They also wheeled an electrical generator that would power the door motors.

Let’s get inside, Jim told them. A circus out here is only going to make more trouble.

Jim went in and then looked about the enormous structure, This will suit our needs nicely. Fleet Admiral Rudel will like having the space. His people need a secure hangar where they can start fixing up aircraft. From what I saw on the drive in, there are enough planes here to make his dreams come true. He wants replacement parts as much as anything else. They will be safe enough doing their work in here.

He summoned a radio from Hatchet and then called Vern, How much trouble do you think you will have flying that thing down into this hangar?

Vern had no shortage of enthusiasm, This ship is really great. If both ends were open, I bet I could barnstorm the place. We can reconfigure the shape by expanding inflatable flight surfaces. If we inflate the skirts on the underside fans, it will even run along the ground like a hovercraft.

I’ll get back to you, Jim ended the conversation.

Critias asked Jim, What do you want me to do now?

You have done a magnificent job, Jim praised him. Carmen tells me that you ran into a white tiger. That must have been an experience. I saw a rhinoceros once. I have no idea what ever became of it. Anyway, I don’t need anything for the moment. You can just hang out in case something comes up.

It took him a moment to catch on, You have something you want to do?

I want to have Vern take me around to do a little hunting, Critias admitted to Jim’s suspicion. We could drift up on whatever looks tasty and then I could repel down to hook it up. If it flies as good as Vern says it does, we could take a lot of meat.

Jim pointed out an unused log of sheet plastic roll that leaned against a distant wall, Take that sheeting with you to package it up. We don’t have a meat locker out here yet. Find a rooftop or something where you can dress it.

He told Hatchet to summon the Starlight Squad for him before he went back to Critias.

"If you can get enough to make an ordeal of it, you can have Vern take the Black Hole to drop it off on the roof of the Customs House. If that is not convenient, you always have the option of dropping it off at the lightrail train."

Critias asked, How did your conference go?

There are eighty-seven of them down there, not exactly a city, Jim reported. They are eager to come out and join us. I got the impression that Doctor Kine was keeping them prisoner. They have wanted to come up and explore for years.

It is just as well that he did. They would probably have died. Kine concentrated his efforts in preserving people he felt would be useful in rebuilding society. None of them are soldiers. They tend to be scientists and engineers, people we can use and be glad to have them.

On another matter, he told Critias, We dropped off Romeo and Verloc at the air-traffic control-tower. They were interested in meeting Doctor Kine. Having one of their own kind give them a special treatment to make them non-infectious appealed to them.

Kevin assures me that the process works, so I don’t deny that it appeals to me as well. Having them safe to be around is definitely what I would call a huge improvement.

Doctor Kine will work out, Critias assured him. He is the scientist who sent me. I had no idea he was so old at the time.

As to that, Critias added, I had no idea that he was a Watcher either. When you think about it, with the androids being cloned people, and now this, there was a lot going on back home that nobody told me. I find it hard to believe that Grand Marshal Wayne or any of the Council of Governors had no idea who Doctor Kine really was. It makes me wonder if there were others.

The Starlight Squad came up to answer their summons.

Jim told them, You have a reward coming. Doing Forager work and doing it well entitles you to some compensation. I had Nick pack you guys a picnic basket that I left back with Colonel Davis. You are having lobster for dinner tonight.

He gave special attention to Yeti, You really saved the day today. When you need a favor, come ask me.

It was more than Yeti knew how to react to, so he just said, Thank you.

The rest of the squad looked forward to a royal dinner back at the East Airport.

Tony was nearby and Stig came up to jerk his chain, I hear you ladies were an inch away from getting yourselves corn-holed by a pirate. He had to chuckle, My boy Yeti rescued your back hole virginity.

After Critias went over to get the plastic sheeting that he would take hunting, Jim told him, Leave Carmen with me. We don’t know this place yet and any number of problems might pop up.

He had no resistance to that when he told Carmen, Do what Jim says until I get back.

For a moment, Critias considered reminding her to only do things that he would approve of, but rightly decided against it. Neither Carmen nor Jim would appreciate him doubting their good intentions as though he still harbored ill feelings over the mission where his daughters went to capture the Black Hole.

Even without her empathic emulators analyzing Critias, Carmen recognized his moment of hesitation that bordered on prevarication. With the Black Hole capture mission in mind, she asked him, What if he asks me to do something I shouldn’t?

You’re a big girl, he answered somewhat evasively as he took his rifle from her. Just dig down deep and solve your problems with strategy. You’re good at that. You can always call me if things are beyond your ability to resolve.

The mechanics had the hangar doors about to close under their own power when Critias called over to Blue, You want to go hunting? I bet you know how to clean a deer.

Blue hurried to follow so that they could get out before the place locked up, Oh yeah, I want to go. I can skin a deer with flint flakes if I had to.

Even while he worked G&P, Blue always had a preference for rifle caliber weapons and he was a crack shot since before the Outbreak.

The two men headed outside and then walked back the way they had first arrived. Once they reached an open space of pavement where Vern could answer their summons, they radioed for him to come down and pick them up.

True to his boasts, Vern demonstrated that the Black Hole had the free flight qualities of a balloon, but it also had the performance characteristics more akin to an airplane. With its powerful drive fans and wing-like protrusions, the Black Hole could turn sharply or dive. Vern swooped down and then used the top-mounted fan thrusters to descend near to the ground.

One of his assistants lowered the four-cable elevator basket that they winched back up once Critias and Blue had climbed aboard.

It was the first time that Blue had seen much of the dirigible. Once he was inside, the layout gave him an inspired idea.

He told the crewman that brought them up, We need a hacksaw, some sharp kitchen knives, and some kind of steel hooks like from a tow chain maybe.

While the man went off to round up some tools, Blue explained to Critias, We can dress the meat right over this elevator hole. It will already be hanging and we don’t care where the guts fall.

Vern flew them south over nearby open farm country until his telescopic cameras found them something edible.

He informed them over the internal intercom, There is a herd of cattle drinking at a small lake a few miles from here. Most of them look fat and healthy. Do you want deer that will be easier to handle?

Hell no, Critias told Vern. Sneak up on those cows and then hover overhead.

Blue removed his outer clothes and body armor before he went