The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) (33 page)

By noon, their shadow had not shown itself, and everyone began
to relax. They stopped for some food and rest.

Anton checked his PDP and announced that they were only a
few miles from the highway. They ate some of the food and made small talk about
nothing in particular. Wendy was going through her backpack looking for
something to help with her headache when a sudden commotion startled the group.
Anton already had his weapon ready, and the rest of them were only seconds behind
in getting their weapons out. The noises had come from about fifty yards north
of their location. There was silence for a few more seconds, followed by a
shout and some gunfire. Anton moved to the nearest tree and motioned for the
rest to find some cover. He scanned the forest with the aid of his helmet.

It had gone silent again and the four of them practically
held their breath as they strained to hear something new. Without warning, a
largish Mute burst through the forest, running toward them. He did not appear
to be paying attention to where he was going, a look that could only be
described as fear on his face. When he spotted the four people in front of him
with weapons trained, he paused, put a scowl on his face, and yelled a battle
cry, “RAAAAAAAAGH!” as he charged them.

They opened fire, cutting him down before he took ten steps.
His corpse landed not three feet in front of them, and once again there was
silence. The four of them exchanged confused glances as they waited for
something equally as odd to happen.

Another minute passed and finally she broke the silence, “What
the hell is going on?” Anton only answered with a shrug. “Are there bears
around here?” This time he paled, looking a little worried: all the answer she
needed.

They continued to wait, the four of them each tensely
scanning the woods, expecting something to happen. It was safe to say that each
of them were thinking about the stories of the horrors left in the wild after
hundreds of years of radioactive fallout and the biological tampering the wars
had left. Something had terrified that Mute, and none of them wanted to have to
deal with whatever could do that. Another five minutes passed and finally Anton
said, “I’m going to go investigate. Stay here.”

* * *

Jack woke around seven in the morning, but didn’t get out of
bed right away. His sleep had been fitful, and he didn’t feel the least bit
refreshed. In effort to find some more time to sleep, he made a quick mental
list of what needed to be done today.

He had avoided Teague the night before, and had not taken
any medicine before bed. Right now that seemed like a really stupid decision,
as every movement reminded him of the nearly three hundred pound Mute landing
on him the day before. Part of him welcomed the pain as a reminder that he had not
only failed to rescue the survivors of the salvaging team but also risked his
life purely out of selfish machismo.

Unfortunately, as soon as he thought of Wendy, there was no
going back to sleep. Chin would call if anything new came up, but he just
couldn’t convince his mind to settle down. He carefully got out of bed and made
his way to the shower. The hot water did him a lot of good, and he was
beginning to feel a little better. He decided the first order of business was
to see Chin and find out today’s rescue plans.

He stepped off the transport into the large flight deck and
made his way to the makeshift command center. Chin was the only man in the
massive room. His head was tilted back, his eyes closed, and a sound somewhere
between air escaping a leaking tire and a ‘52 Studebaker with an exhaust leak
was coming from his nose. Jack called out and Chin nearly fell from the chair. He
wiped a little drool from his bottom lip and quickly composed himself.

“Sorry, Jack, I was up all night. I guess I never made it
back to my room to catch some shuteye.” He stood and stretched, eyes sunken and
bloodshot, hair disheveled, and his scrubs-like outfit wrinkled and grimy. In
short, he looked about how Jack felt.

“No worries, Chin. When did the last search party get back
last night?”

“About one in the morning. The only thing showing up on the
thermal scanners was a few game animals. So far there is no sign of either the
crew or any more Mutes. We covered everything in a ten mile radius of the
landing site. The third rescue party landed at the site and investigated before
the sun went down.” He pointed to a table off to the left. “Those items were
found near the wreckage. Stanley’s body was found in the old factory building. There
were a total of sixteen Mute bodies, bringing the total confirmed dead to
thirty Mutes, and one of ours.”

Jack looked at the gear on the table. There was a helmet, a
datapad, and a rifle. “Who’s is it?” he asked.

“Wendy’s. We didn’t find her body or any body parts around
the blast, so at least she was in one piece when the other survivors hauled her
off. It seems to confirm what you overheard.”

This wasn’t good news, but it wasn’t bad either. “When is
the next party going out?”

Chin looked at one of the screens to check the time. “They
should be here in a few minutes. I had planned to rotate two full crews for the
whole day, that way we will have a team in the area in case the survivors use
their beacon. I would hate for them to use it and have Cali get to them before
us because of bad timing. Unfortunately, that only allows one salvage crew to
work on your operation.”

Jack liked the idea of constant coverage for a search party,
but with one less medium transport, it really limited their ability to scavenge
for much needed parts. “Where are we at on the list of materials we need?”

Chin grabbed his pad and tapped a few times. “We are doing well
actually. The one thing we really need is copper tubing and insulation. As far
as we know, the best place for that will be the site that was attacked.”

Jack nodded. “Tell you what, let’s send two transports there
this morning. One can search and keep a lookout for more Mutes and the other
can collect the materials we need. They can also try to salvage anything left
of the destroyed transport.”

Chin made some notes and said, “Sounds good, Jack. I will
contact the morning salvage crew and tell them to get in here ASAP.”

Jack turned to leave then stopped and turned back. “Chin, do
you want me to bring you some breakfast?”

Chin smiled. “Jack, that would be wonderful, thank you.”

* * *

The machinery hummed next to the two men, the air stinking
of oil and dust. The room was not well lit, but it was the perfect place to
talk and not be overheard by anyone or anything.

“What the hell were you thinking, giving up the location of
our salvage crew!” The older man was furious.

“I was just doing what you told me to do!”

“I told you to make Jack look incompetent, not to give away
all our secrets to Cali! How exactly did you think giving up our scavenging
group would accomplish that task?”

The younger man had a look on his face that suggested he had
thought things through very thoroughly. “I knew that the second he heard about
his girlfriend being in trouble, he would be on the first transport to find
her.”

“And what exactly did you think would happen if they
captured some of our people? You didn’t think they could get the information
out of them?”

His smug look melted. “Our contact told me they would be
sure to wipe out the whole crew! This just goes to show that the Cali can’t be
trusted! I think we need to revise our plan.”

The younger man was out of line, and needed to be reminded
of his place. “Of course they can’t be trusted! It will be irrelevant, however,
when I trade all the assets from that facility for a seat on their council.”

The younger man scoffed. “Once you are on the council, what
makes you think they will listen to what you have to say?”

“Let me worry about that! Don’t forget your place here, boy!
Once I secure a position of power, you will get your reward, but until then, I
make the decisions! If Cali discovers the cryogenic facility before we are
ready, we will not have anything to bargain with, and it is all for naught. Is
there any hope of turning this catastrophe in our favor?”

The younger man shrugged. “It’s out of Jack’s hands now,
since he won’t go out and look himself, so there’s nothing to gain or lose by
the return of the surviving crew. If his girlfriend don’t make it, it might
distract him, but I wouldn’t count on it. The key will now be the success or
failure of the group heading to Saber Cusp. Jack hasn’t planned for the
possible failure of that mission, and it will take too long to fabricate the
heavy machinery they need if it does fail.”

The old man was skeptical, but he tried to hide it. “You
weren’t put on that detail. How do you plan to ensure their failure?”

“I don’t think we have to worry too much about it. You know
what they’re up against. The chances of their surviving are very low, and with Teague
and that damned reborn kid leading the mission it will surely fail.”

“Don’t underestimate Teague. That man has proven time and
again that he can be just as resourceful as the most seasoned soldier. Find a
way to make that mission fail.”

The younger man sighed in resignation. “It won’t be easy
without revealing myself to them.”

“If you cannot do it, I will find someone who can. Just
remember what is at stake here.” With that, the older man left the room.

* * *

Anton stopped and Wendy heard a sudden intake of breath. Startled,
she whispered sharply, “What is it?” The path they had been following all day
was heavy with trees and brush, but here, less than fifteen feet from the path,
the trees were spaced so close together that it was difficult to see more than
a dozen feet in front of them. Anton didn’t reply, but after a moment he
gestured for them to move forward.

After a few more steps she saw what had caused his reaction.
There was a medium sized Mute lying against a tree up ahead. ‘Medium’ was a
relative description; the man was easily over six feet tall and two hundred
fifty pounds, but for a Mute that was average, even for the females. The man
was not moving, and it was obvious, after a few more steps closer, why. The
Mute’s head rested at an unnaturally sharp angle from his shoulders. Breaking a
man’s neck is not an easy task, but certainly possible. Breaking a Mute’s neck
on the other hand, was like grasping one of these evergreen trees and snapping
it in half. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
What the hell could
have done that?

A few more yards revealed two more bodies, both similarly
dead. There were still no sounds around them, except for their own. After
scanning the trees for a moment, Anton quietly said, “Maybe we should get out
of here.”

“Perhaps you should.” The deep voice rumbled from somewhere
to the north of them, and everyone spun toward it, their weapons ready. There
was nothing in front of them but more trees.

Wendy could not remember another time in her life when she
was so nervous, and a quick glance at the other men told her that she wasn’t
the only person scared out of their mind. The sudden need to urinate was almost
overwhelming, but she was too tense to even piss herself. Wayne whispered
harshly “What the fuck is that!?”

Anton didn’t answer, and nobody moved so much as a muscle.

“Please put down your weapons. If I wanted you dead, you
would already be dead.” The deep voice left absolutely no room for argument. There
wasn’t even a hint of doubt in the voice, and Wendy felt whatever was behind
that voice was perfectly capable of dealing with them. She was the first to
holster her weapon.

Anton said, “Who are you, and what do you want?” His voice
quavered a little, but she was impressed that he had managed to get any
coherent words out at all.

There was a slow, deep sound that could have been a chuckle.
“Shouldn’t you be asking
what
I am?”

Wendy could almost feel Anton’s bowels turn to liquid. Hers
were already there.

“I... I’m not sure I want to know what you are.” His voice sounded
very small.

The deep chuckle turned into what was unmistakably a laugh. When
it ended, the voice said, “I took care of your pursuers, do you always look at
a gift with such skepticism?”

Anton relaxed slightly, and with more confidence said,
“Would you walk away with some unknown entity capable of this kind of violence
a short distance behind you?”

There was a pause. “Good point” the rumbling voice said. “Tell
you what, put down your weapons and I will show myself, so we can talk about it
face to face.”

The fear was being replaced once again with confusion and
curiosity. Wendy looked back at Wayne, who only shrugged. Anton motioned for
them to lower their weapons. Greg, the man behind Wayne, shook his head and
whispered, “Fuck that, you have no idea what is out there. What if it’s a
trick?”

“Do you honestly think we would have a chance against
whatever did this?” he gestured at the bodies around them. Greg looked at one
and shivered, but he lowered his weapon. Anton turned back towards the source
of the voice and said “Okay, we lowered our weapons.”

“Thank You. Please do not be alarmed, I would hate to have
to kill you all just because someone got scared and tried to attack me.” As he
said this, the biggest Mute any of them had ever seen stepped out from behind
the tree not ten feet in front of them. The man was easily seven and a half
feet tall and had to weigh over four hundred pounds. Unlike most Mutes Wendy
had seen, this one had a crude, long sleeved shirt on, as well as long pants,
and covering his shoulders was a blanket or cloak made from what had to have
been a very large animal.

Behind her, he heard a rifle hit the ground, and as she
turned she spotted the backside of Greg as he fled. Anton shouted after him,
“Greg, come back!” It was no use, the man was gone. Anton rolled his eyes and
shook his head, but then turned his attention back to the current situation. Wendy
knew that Greg wouldn’t get far, and they could raise him on the radio if they
couldn’t find him.