Zombies_Dead Space, page 1
part #5 of Forever War Series
Zombies: Dead Space
By Simon Smith-Wilson
Copyright © 2018
Zombies: Dead Space
Simon Smith-Wilson
Books by Simon Smith-Wilson
***
(City of Sin Series)
Five Days Notice
Hand of God
Last Tomorrow
All those Yesterdays
Blood for Blood
Dark Fantasy
(Prisoner 3-57 Series)
Prisoner 3-57: Ghost
Prisoner 3-57: Nuke Town
Prisoner 3-57: Phantom Soldier
Prisoner 3-57: Trilogy
(Zombies Series)
Zombies
Zombies: Black Rock
Zombies: Death Squad
Zombies: Hell Dimension
Zombies: Dead Space
(Generation Series)
Personal Apocalypse
The Curse of Meredith Holmes
Erasing Creation
(Heroes of Magic Series)
The Legend of the Hermit Master
The Last Magic Dog
Liquid Crystal
Star Slayer
(Beast Trainer Series)
Beast Trainer: King’s City
(Infection Series)
Infection
Infection: P.O.T.U.S
(Novels)
Sinister Shadows
Tokyo Terror
Adultery & Murder
I Believe
The Arrangement
Killers
Bridge to the Moon
Attack of the Sprouts
Winter is Coming
Black Ocean: Genocide Device
(Short Stories)
Dirty Honey
Princess Amber and the Unicorn Valley
The Owl
Before the Dawn
Angels of Abortion
Story of God
Gift from God
The Longest Wait
Wanderers of the North
A complex network of wormholes connects different points in space and time together, making it impossible for the enemies of Pegasus House to know the location of where every starbase, colony or fleet could be, or at least that is what they believed. The dead launch a coordinated attack, striking every last location where a human could be found. It is shock and awe at different points of time and space, which was supposed to be impossible.
A band of space marines led by the mysterious dark psychic Rogue are sent on a mission to locate the origin world. They must find the word where the initial outbreak of the zombie virus first started all those millennia ago. If they can find this world, there might be a chance to save Pegasus House before humanity is wiped out once and for all. This dangerous mission will unlock the truth to the plague of the dead, but they are not the only house searching for answers. Rogue and his marines must face the indestructible android-human hybrids of Cyber House, the monsters of the dead and the twisted beings that started this forever war all those thousands of years ago.
The truck bounced violently over the rough terrain, as Breaker narrowly avoided driving them face first into a free-standing rock. Strong winds kicked up dust from the planet’s surface, creating a wall of limited visibility. Obstacles were appearing from the gloom, giving only a single moment’s notice to react to the potential crash. A thunderous boom echoed across the heaven, as a starship erupted into a fireball of death and destruction. Breaker glanced up at the incredible battle above the planet. Thousands upon thousands of space crafts were locked in a fiery apocalyptic battle. The contrast of the opposing vessels was vastly different. Black cockroach-like vessels were latching onto the grey arrow like hulls of the human battleships. The vessels were the size of mountain ranges. Brilliant weapons of blue and red lights danced from the battleships, blowing chunks from the living alien ships. The alien ships possessed no weapons. They fought with their razor sharp arms and teeth the size of skyscrapers. Once one of those fuckers latched onto a battleship, it was doomed. The alien death roll was impossible to escape. Six legs gripped around the ship, cutting through the hull, as teeth ate through to the engine room. Thousand of smaller dragonfly type vessels twisted and turned as fighter jets attempted to protect the evacuating unarmed drop ships.
‘We have incoming,’ yelled Sparrow, standing in the back of the truck.
The gunner spun his mini-gun around to bear on the approaching alien. He glanced down at the tied up young woman lying motionless in the back of the truck with him. Sparrow knew she was faking sleep, but that worked for him, as he had more important matters to be worried about. Galloping on all fours was a grotesque monster born straight from the depths of hell. It looked like a dog on steroids, which had been skinned. Two eyeless heads protruded from one thick muscular neck. A menacing howl echoed across the dead surface of this foreign world. Sparrow knew that the howl could be fatal if the alien was allowed to get any closer. The problem was the alien was gaining on the truck.
‘Light it up,’ ordered Breaker.
‘With pleasure,’ smiled Sparrow.
An incredible noise exploded from the barrel of the mini-gun, as red tracers flickered across the landscape. The alien changed direction without breaking its speed. It attempted to circle around the truck, using the various rocks as cover. The mini-gun followed the creature, carving up everything that it touched. It was standard routine to place explosive rounds in with the armour piercing rounds, which meant every few seconds one of the tracers were ignite in a small explosion, leaving nothing but a crater in the floor.
‘Kill that bastard,’ said Breaker.
‘I’m trying!’
***
Forest spat blood, as a six-foot long black limbed pieced his abdomen and erupted out through his spine. The overwhelming pain concealed the fact he could no longer feel his legs. The young man screamed like nothing he had heard before. The alien beast rose up on two gangly legs, holding him in the air like some kind of trophy. Forest pressed the barrel of his sidearm into the things face and squeezed the trigger. Green blood splattered everywhere, but that didn’t stop the thing from crunching through armour plated helmet, skulls and brain.
‘You fucking bastard,’ roared Echo.
The eighteen-year-old jumped over the sandbags, charged out of the open blast doors and sprinted into the dead land. His assault rifle kicked back on full-auto. Ninety percent of his rounds went high and wide, completely missing the target. The alien monster chomped down Forest’s decapitated head and then tossed his lifeless body to the side. Echo’s gun clicked empty. He reached for his ammo. There was none. That was it. He was out of ammunition completely.
The alien monster came at him.
‘MOVE!’ came to the booming voice of Hex.
The six foot six African was almost as wide as he was big. A shoulder barge buried Echo face first down into the ground. He could hear the buzz of the chainsaw. Echo glanced up just in time to see Hex and the alien meet in a violent head-on crash. A horrifying howl echoed through the barren landscape, as green gore and internal organs splattered everywhere. Hex’s war cry was almost as loud as the alien’s death rattle. The chainsaw practically cut the thing straight down the middle, leaving it in two pieces.
Echo got to his feet.
Wide eyes looked at the dozen of demonic alien monsters charging in their direction.
‘Fall back, Hex.’
Hex nodded his head in agreement. The medic was covered from head to toe in alien insides.
Both men sprinted back towards the blast doors of the outpost.
Dozens of human’s from the Pegasus house lay dead all around them. Twenty of them had been sent to hold the Western blast doors, and now only two of them remained. It wouldn’t take the aliens long to cut through the reinforced armour-plated doors. They just had to hope the commander had completed what they had come here to do.
***
Perched on the highest point of the outpost was a single figure. His upper body could be seen leaning out of an access hatch upon the top of the domed shape structure. Babylon swung his beast of a rifle this way and that. The butt of the powerful weapon was tucked into his shoulder, as his right eye looked through the incredible scope. The scope was programmed to sense for a certain type of opponent. Little red squares were zooming in on the alien monsters, pinpointing his targets. His gun rang out like the bell in a tower every half a second. The sniper never missed. He twisted this way and that way. His gun rang out, and alien torso’s exploded in a shower of green slime.
‘What do you have for me, Babylon?’ asked a voice in his earpiece.
Babylon didn’t even break his stride as he spoke.
‘Team three is down, Commander.’ Babylon swung around, noting the build-up of alien’s gathering around the base. They were like a swarm of insects closing in on their position. ‘Team four is down. Team two is retreating back into the base.’ His gun continued to ring out, confirming kill after kill. ‘Team one is holding ground for now and...’ he spotted something in his scope.
‘What do you see, Babylon?’ asked the calm tone of Commander Cloud.
‘Team one has a vehicle inbound.’
‘Is it one of ours?’
Babylon turned his weapon on the truck. A gunner was spraying a mini-gun wildly, as an alien beast cut between the rocks in an attempt to gain ground on them. He spotted the red symbol of the winged horse on the armour of the two soldiers. It was the sign of the Pegasus. The sign of Babylon’s house.
&
‘Put down cover until team one is back inside and then retreat.’
‘Roger that.’
***
‘Help me!’ screamed Dirt, as the ground gave way beneath her feet. It was a sickening sensation to feel yourself being sucked down into the earth. The young woman could feel clawed fingers grabbing at her thighs. She screamed out as something sharp cut into the base of her foot. Grizzly squeezed off a controlled burst of fire, as he attempted to drop back to her position. The problem was that the enemy was everywhere. Hundreds of small alien monsters were all around them. The aliens were about hip high and were humanoid in shape. They looked like the classic Grey’s from the old B-movies, but they were horribly disfigured in an acid attack. The creatures didn’t appear to have faces, but they did have mouths filled with thousands of razor-sharp teeth. The things were so skinny that they looked undernourished. Black skin oozed an acid like sweat that melted anything that it touched. The fuckers were small and slow, but that didn’t matter. There was an endless supply of them, and they were coming out through the ground all around them. Grizzly slapped in a new magazine and charged back to his friend. The veteran soldier never wasted a bullet. He made every shot count. Dirt let out one long agonising scream, as she thrashed around on the ground, scrambling to get free. Blood squirted from her mouth, as the aliens ate through her lower half.
The blade of a sword removed her head and silenced her.
Joker pirouetted like some kind of dancer, as he slashed his samurai swords through the air. The bulky soldier held a five-foot samurai sword in each hand. He released a long and angry war cry. Removing Dirt’s head was the only way to help the woman. The others were all dead. They had all seen them go out the same way. These alien bastards were eating them alive from the feet up. Cutting off her head was the only way to end the pain. Joker turned to a group of the aliens and went in swinging. Arms, legs and alien heads were removed from bodies. Grizzly began to fall back towards the black doors, picking his shots. Every half a heartbeat the sound of Babylon’s sniper rifle rung out, and an alien head exploded.
Suddenly, a truck came bouncing across the landscape.
The driver went straight into a crowd of aliens.
The little bastards popped like balloons.
‘Fall back,’ ordered Babylon, in their earpieces.
The truck sped forward and drove straight between the blast doors and into the interior of the outpost. Babylon put down fire as Grizzly and Joker sprinted back. The defence of the South entrance had finally been lost. They had managed to hold it for less than thirty minutes, and all that remained were two soldiers. The endless horde of faceless grey’s crawled out of the dead ground in their numbers. Joker and Grizzly didn’t even stop to fight. There was no point. If they stopped for a single second, then they were done for. The two men skipped around the cracks appearing in the ground, jumped over their fallen friends and charged with everything they had towards the blast doors.
***
Sparks flew into the air, as the truck forced its way into the tight confines of the corridor. Breaker slammed his foot down on the break and brought the hectic journey to a conclusion. He glanced back over his shoulder at the tied up woman. Her eyes were closed, but he knew she was fully awake. Who did she think she was kidding? The dead didn’t sleep. She was a persistent one and right now all he needed from her was for her to stay still. Breaker grabbed the semi-automatic gun off the front passenger seat, scrambled over the back and took up a position beside Sparrow. The young gunner was laying down controlled bursts of fire as two soldiers sprinted with everything they had back towards the outpost. One of the two men almost floated through the air like a bird in flight, as the blades of his samurai sword cut down everything and anything that got it his way. The youngest of the two sprinted into the corridor, turned and dropped into a kneeling position. His main weapon clicked empty, so he transitioned neatly onto his sidearm. The button to close the blast doors was an inch from his head, but Breaker could tell that the man hadn’t even thought of touching it. There was no way in hell that he was going to leave his friend out there. That was just the way of the Pegasus House. The soldier with the two swords burst into the corridor like an athlete crossing the finishing line. Sparrow had time to squeeze off another short burst before the red button was pressed and the blast door slammed shut. A moment of darkness consumed the corridor. It took nearly thirty seconds for the lazy red emergency lights to come into force. The four soldiers looked at one another. The sound of heavy thudding could be heard against the blast doors. It was only a matter of time before the alien’s got inside.
***
Deep down beneath the outpost, four hundred meters below the surface of the planet was a room. The room was circular in design. The space between floor to ceiling was nearly twenty foot. Every inch of the room was painted in white. Only one door led into and out of the room. Reinforced bulletproof glass covered the only window that looked down onto the room. Commander Cloud stood silently in this room, watching. His assault rifle and helmet were placed on the desk in front of him. A scar ran across the top of his shaved head from his forehead to the base of his neck. The man had a mean look but was no older than twenty-five. For a soldier, he would be considered a veteran. Beady eyes looked down at the alien beast below. The demonic creature was stood at eight foot tall. It walked on all fours but looked poorly designed. Its head was like a crocodile with a long, dangerous looking face, but its body was built for speed and power like that of lions. It’s three tails had been removed because of the wrecking ball like design. Over one hundred different sets of chains pinned the creature belly first to the floor. Additional chains had been wrapped around its mouth to stop it from snapping anyone up. It’s killing power came from the bite, but the muscles required to open the jaw were far weaker.
Rogue stood in front of the demon.
The man was dressed from head to toe in black.
Only a white dog collar of the religious man offered some colour to his outfit.
The priest wore revolvers on each hip and carried a shotgun on his back.
Rogue approached the beast.
‘I want you to show me,’ he told the creature.
He extended out a hand.
The alien tried to pull back, but the chains held it in place.
‘Show me what I want to see,’ he spoke like a man trying to soothe a frightened dog.
Rogue placed his palm upon the side of the alien’s face. Suddenly, an explosion of images appeared within his mind. The holy man gasped, as the download of information poured into his mind. For a moment he couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. Star maps flashed across his vision. He could see an incredible fleet of living ships crossing through the universe. An image of a woman with white eyes appeared in his mind. She appeared almost human. The shape of her naked body was captivating. She was deadly, but gorgeous all at once. Rogue was then being pulled through space. He could see invasion forces attacking planets. It wasn’t just the Pegasus House, but all of the Five Great Houses. The aliens were searching for something. Deeper Rogue travelled into the mind of the beast. He was now travelling through the vortex that linked all worlds and time. He was somewhere far away, a place before the birth of Earth. There was a planet covered in an incredible jungle. He could feel life flowing from the place, but he knew that this world was long since dead. His mind travelled down towards the planet’s surface, flying over the landscape like a bird in flight. He crossed mountains, oceans and entire continents in a mere handful of seconds. A temple of orange stone came into view. Rogue flew in through the entrance way. And that was when he saw it. The thing he had been searching for. It was the weapon that would bring an end to this war. He had finally found the lost planet.
***
The elevator opened to reveal an automated machine gun. A red laser painted Babylon’s Chinese features before the weapon deactivated. The sniper swung his rifle over his shoulder and stepped out into the corridor. This was where they were going to make their final stand. He just wondered how many of the others had made it back alive. Babylon walked down a long corridor, climbing over the chest-high barricade that was designed to slow the enemy down. Automated machine guns scanned his face at every single checkpoint. Another set of blast doors led him into the main living area. The place consisted of four glass rooms. There was the medical bay, the sleeping quarters, the communications and command room and then the playroom. He did a quick headcount. One of the holy warrior’s was busy ceiling up to the far blast doors with a blow torch. Babylon remembered the man’s name was Blade. Joker was sprawled out in the sleeping quarters, hugging his twin samurai swords like some kind of security blanket. The man could sleep in any situation. Echo was currently in the playroom sat on the edge of the snooker table. There were two soldier’s Babylon hadn’t seen before inside, and a young woman sat down on the couch. A discussion appeared to be taking place about the woman. Babylon’s eagle eyes spotted the yellow crest on her shoulder. She was from Phoenix House. They were not enemies of the Pegasus House, but they were not exactly allies either. It concerned him that she was here. In the medical bay, Hex was treating one of Grizzly’s wounds.
