

DARK LUMINANCE

E.M. McDowell
DARK LUMINANCE

By

E.M. McDowell

Copyright © E.M. McDowell 2013

Cover Illustration by Novel Idea Design

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher and/or author. Published by E.M. McDowell Publishing

Contact E.M. McDowell at author.emmcdowell@gmail.com

Printed in the U.S.A.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would never have been able to bring the worlds floating around in my head out into the open without the awesome support and encouragement of my wife, Tammy and my two beautiful daughters, Brittany and Alex. Although encouragement in our family is sometimes a convoluted maze of sarcasm and snarky jokes, it was the foundation that pushed me during the periods of intellectual stagnation and the occasional bout of laziness. You ladies are my everything!

And the other Tammy that made this possible, Tammy Salyer, amazing editor/blogger/twitter guru, and my role model as a self-published author. Reading her novels showed me what a good indie published author could do when given a chance. Her early manuscript critique pushed me back on path when I had started to wander after my first draft, and her numerous blog tips for writing and publishing gave me the confidence to do it on my own. Thanks for everything Tammy!

Finally, to my awesome group of beta readers, who pointed out the various places where I zigged when I should have zagged. Thank you, Jennifer, Scott, Dave, Mark, and Brian, for all the suggestions and encouragement. Mackland and the rest of the crew couldn't have made it without you.
CHAPTER ONE

Mackland Luther shifted his grip. Wedging his fingers into a small fissure, he clung to the side of Blanca Peak and took a moment to look out over the Colorado landscape. The verdant green backdrop of the San Luis Valley in the distance contrasted the bright blue of Lake Como below. Mackland marveled at the variety of terrain visible from his perch. Grasslands, lake forests, tundra, and mountains all merged to create the spectacular vista before him. "Enough daydreaming, Mackland." He thought. "Focus or you'll become part of the pretty landscape." He turned his thoughts from the beautiful scenery to the sharp unyielding rock beneath his hands and feet. Swinging a hand up and over to a stone lip above him, he blinked away stone dust as it drifted down in small puffs, although he still got a good nose full with his next breath. The rock face here jutted outward from the vertical wall, forcing Mackland to pull himself up using only his arms and upper body, leaving his legs dangling in open space as he scaled the thirty-foot ledge. Ignoring the fact that his hands were now all that kept him from an abrupt and messy return to their base-camp below, he pulled himself along the rock shelf. His intense mental focus matched the visible strain of every muscle in his arms, chest, and shoulders as he pulled himself across the rock face. He shot a quick glance back towards his two fellow climbers, Sean Flannigan and Billy Roland, just below him. "Come on you slackers, step it up!" he cajoled the two younger men with a laugh. At thirty-eight, Mackland was not old by any means, but his two co-workers were both in their early twenties, so he felt the need to make sure they knew the "old" guy could still lead the pack. He knew it was a throwback to his Marine Corps days, where everything was a testosterone-fueled competition for superiority, but he couldn't help it; he simply thrived on competition and difficult challenges. It didn't matter if they were physical or mental; he had to win.

His friends responded with short barks of laughter punctuated by gasps for breath as they continued to climb. Billy piped up as he looked for his next foothold to get him to the overhang Mackland was pulling himself over. "I guess experience does count for something, if an old guy like you can stay ahead of young bucks like us." He groaned as he reached up for a handhold just out of reach, and with a grunt began to pull himself along. When he didn't say anything else, Mackland knew that Billy was struggling and focusing on his climb, since he typically didn't shut up for more than a few minutes at a time unless something forced him to.

Sean on the other hand, climbed as he did most things, with minimal communication or elaboration beyond an occasional grunt of exertion as he pulled himself along. Where Billy was outgoing and extroverted, always willing to crack a joke or tell a story, Sean was quietly focused and preferred to keep to himself unless others drew him into conversation. Their complimentary personalities are what Mackland liked best about his two friends. Ever since the accident that had taken Carla from him, they gave him a sense of balance he couldn't seem to find on his own.

Thinking of his friends brought a small grin to Mackland's face. There was nobody he would rather have with him today than these two. It seemed that every adventure he could remember had one or both of them involved, and today was no different. The three men continued to climb toward the top of the rock face nearly fifty feet above them as the afternoon sun moved toward the west. The waning sunlight painted brilliant reds and golds across the rough canvas of the mountainside, throwing shadows across the boulders interspersed with scrub pines and sparse vegetation. Mackland pulled himself over the lip of stone at the summit, flopped down and took several deep breaths to gather himself after the strenuous climb. Billy was the next one up, and when his fingers thrust above the ledge, Mackland reached over to give him a hand up. Billy pulled himself up the last few feet with Mackland's help, and then sat down heavily to catch his breath.

"You think Sean is gonna make it?" Billy gasped with a grin.

Mackland looked over the ledge and saw his friend about six feet below him preparing to move to his next handhold.

Sean looked up, grinned at Mackland, and placed his fingers into the crack in the rock, but his expression suddenly changed as he shifted his weight and tried to pull himself up. He should have come up almost even with the shelf where Mackland and Billy waited, but instead the rock between his fingers broke away with a crack, and Mackland yelled out as he slowly fell away from the cliff face. Without a safety harness, he was facing a deadly plunge to the desert floor far below. His fingers scrabbled for any ridge, crack, or outcropping within reach, but Mackland knew it was too late. Flashes of the accident that took Carla threatened to crush him. I can't watch someone else I care about die! He saw the realization in Sean's eyes as gravity pulled him out and away. Mackland's heart raced as he watched his friend falling away from him, and he dove forward in a desperate attempt to save him.
CHAPTER TWO

Mackland grinned as the wind rushed over the windshield of the convertible, surrounding them in the smells of springtime in the Georgia Mountains. Glancing over at Carla's blonde hair blowing wildly as she leaned back with a contented smile in the warm sunlight, he couldn't help but smile at how lucky of a man he was.

He throttled back slightly so they could hear each other over the wind. Reaching over to put a hand on her knee, he shouted, "Hey beautiful, you wanna stop and stretch our legs pretty soon?" Not bothering to yell a response, Carla simply gave him a thumb-up and nod of agreement. Mackland began looking for somewhere they could pull over for a break, but he knew it would be awhile before they found something this far into the mountains.

So far, the trip had been everything he imagined, and he couldn't wait to get to the cabin tonight. After two years of dating this fantastic woman, he wanted to make this something they would both remember forever. He glanced over at the woman he planned to spend the rest of his life with as he absently patted the pouch holding the ring in his pocket.

The steering wheel suddenly jerked violently to the right and Mackland snapped his gaze back to the road in time to see the shoulder had dropped away, catching the right front tire just as he was approaching the next curve. His split-second of inattention had caused him to miss the damaged road, and now he was fighting to bring the car back onto the asphalt as he tried to slow the vehicle without losing control further.

The right rear wheel dropped off the shoulder as he fought the steering wheel, further pushing the car toward the edge of the approaching curve. Whatever had damaged the shoulder had also destroyed any guardrails, and Mackland realized there was nothing to prevent them from going over the edge. Fear and adrenaline combined to rob Mackland's fine motor control, and he slammed on the brakes, putting the car into a slide that carried them off the road completely.

The convertible tumbled countless times as it dropped down the mountain, alternating sky and trees in Mackland's view before his head struck the door pillar and everything went dark.

* * *

Mackland woke to a crushing pressure across his chest and sharp pain in his head. He cracked open eyes caked with blood to check on Carla. The sun had dropped low in the sky, and although he couldn't tell just how long he had been out, it had to have been at least an hour. The car tilted onto the passenger side, leaving Mackland hanging from the driver's side seatbelt, which explained the pressure on his chest. He turned towards Carla— or tried to, as agony shot through his right arm at the movement. He glanced down to see the arm caught by the seatbelt and bent completely back at the elbow, with white slivers of bone visible through the skin. His eyes watered as the pain threatened to knock him out again, but he sucked in a deep breath and struggled to remain alert long enough to check on Carla.

As his vision cleared, he turned just his head towards Carla and the pain from his shattered arm disappeared as he fought for breath at the scene before him.

Either Carla had taken her seatbelt off, or there had been a mechanical failure, but Carla was no longer in the seat next to him. The car was resting on a ledge, propped at an angle on a pine tree that had finally stopped the car's fall. From his vantage point, Mackland was looking down to a clearing about fifty feet below the tilted car, and his heart stopped when he saw the yellow fabric of Carla's sundress peeking out from the pile of rubble they had knocked loose as the car crashed down the mountain. "Carla!" he screamed, praying for any response, no matter how small. Birds singing and the creaking of pines in the wind were the only response. He saw no movement and heard no sound from Carla, so far below him. "Babe!" he screamed. "I'm gonna get help! Stay with me!"

Every movement was searing agony, but Mackland was finally able to get his cell phone out with his left hand, only to find what he had already guessed, they were out of any kind of cellular coverage. He tried to remain awake, but the combination of blood loss, pain from his broken arm, and hanging nearly upside down for so long pushed him towards unconsciousness. As he passed out, his last thought was that her yellow sundress looked like the sun, forming the center of his whole universe.
CHAPTER THREE

Mackland's chest slammed onto the ground and he shot his arm as far as he could towards Sean's outstretched hand. Their fingers locked, briefly halting Sean's fall, but Mackland was too far over the rim; the extra weight began pulling him over the edge. He yelled, "Billy! Grab my feet!" as he dug the toes of his hiking boots into the dirt, barely slowing his inevitable slide.

Hands grasped Mackland's ankles and Mackland looked back to see Billy throw himself backwards on his butt and dug in his heels. Between them, Mackland and Billy stopped the sliding and Sean swung back towards the mountain. Panting and straining with exertion, Mackland was able to work his way back a few inches with Billy's help. As soon as his center of gravity was back on solid ground, he and Billy were able to shift positions and begin pulling Sean up towards the relative safety of the ledge.

Sean dangled at the end of Mackland's arm as they pulled him up and gasped, "I think I can get that one there," pointing his chin towards a fissure about two feet to his right side. Timing his next swing, he stretched his left hand towards the small crack in the rock. The movement increased the strain on Mackland's arms, causing him to wonder if his arm would simply pop free from his body before they got Sean to safety.

"Anytime you want to do your part would be great!" he ground out at Sean without loosening his grasp. Sean's fingers found the edge of the fissure, and he pulled himself up, relieving the strain on his friends somewhat. A few minutes and several strained muscles later, Sean was able to pull himself over the lip and lay there gasping next to Mackland and Billy.

After catching his breath and slowing his racing heartbeat, Sean cleared his throat and looked at his friends. "That was pretty damn intense...I don't know what I would have done if you guys—"

Before he could finish, Mackland reached out and smacked Sean's shoulder and said "Hey, don't sweat it. That's what we do; we watch each other's backs, right?"

Billy choked as a laugh forced its way out between gasps for air. "Riiigghtt, we have each other's backs." He pushed himself up on his elbows and looked at Mackland with one eyebrow quirked up. "You do realize we wouldn't need to worry so much about our backs if you didn't drag us into all these crazy "adventures" of yours, don't you?' He nudged Sean lying on the ground next to him. "Like our trip to go running with the bulls in Pamplona? My arm was in a cast for three weeks!" He held a hand out to Mackland as he got his feet under him, "I could do with a little less "adventure" sometimes, chief. I think our backs might be able to use the rest." His grin put the lie to his words as Mackland tugged him the rest of the way to his feet.

All three laughed and Mackland mumbled something about them being pansies. They took a few minutes to drink some water and collect themselves before beginning the descent to the canyon floor. If they were lucky, they would make it back down to the base-camp before nightfall. If they weren't lucky, they might have to spend the night on the mountainside. Mackland thought that would probably be just another "adventure" for the three of them to survive, together.

* * *

"As you gentlemen are aware, the Frameway project is the culmination of over fifty years and more than twelve billion dollars spent on research by Alphalabs." Mackland turned away from the projection on the wall showing a bar graph with financial statistics for research spending at the lab so he could talk directly to the executives gathered around the conference table. He hated these dog and pony shows but it was unavoidable if he wanted to get the next round of funding he needed for phase V. Besides, never really got tired of talking about the science and possibilities of the project and the results they had achieved so far. He gestured grandly as he went on, "The Frameway project represents the best, and probably only, hope for mankind's future by providing the energy required for expansion into our solar system and beyond. At the conclusion of Phase V, all indications are that we will have access to virtually unlimited energy, capable of not only providing for the growing power needs of our entire planet, but most importantly, powering the Alphalabs interstellar space fleet. As most of you know, our current ships are only capable of one quarter light speed, but scientists are confident the additional power provided by the Frameway project will enable them to approach three quarter light speed within the year, which would, in turn drastically increase the range and opportunities for finding habitable planets available to our space fleet."

Mackland privately thought it was amazing that they had a space fleet at all. Space exploration had stagnated for years following the shutdown of the American space shuttle program in 2012. Other countries had already shut down or drastically scaled back their space programs in the face of rising costs and sagging economies, and America was the last holdout. For almost a decade, space exploration wasn't a priority, if it was even discussed at all. So Mackland was as surprised as everyone else in 2020, when the United Exploration Organization was founded. A multinational group, funded in part by Alphalabs and several other large scientific research firms, the UEO was dedicated to alleviating the global over-population problem by finding a planet or planets suitable for colonization. The UEO built upon the foundation provided by the space shuttle program, and within five years, they had a fleet of ten ships capable of traveling throughout our galaxy in search of habitable planets. Now that fleet was the key to his pitch for funding the next phase of the Frameway project.

"The key to the amazing energy generating capabilities of the Frameway project lies within a specific branch of the fantastic world of quantum physics. Under the multi-world theory of quantum physics, physicists have long speculated that quantum string theory allows for the creation of virtually unlimited numbers of multiple universes. But it wasn't until 2025 that Alphalabs researchers stumbled upon the discovery that allowed them to not only open a brief window into these various universes, but to also harness the vast energy created during this moment of creation." He paced from one side of the lecture hall to the other, gesturing with his hands and becoming more animated as he warmed to his subject.

"The first breakthrough was the discovery of quantum causal points, which are specific points in space-time that can be located and identified and serve as markers for the creation of multiple universes, or multiverses. The second, and arguably most important, breakthrough was the discovery that each time a causal point diverged during the creation of one or more multiverses, a new type of atomic particle is created, which we eventually named dark electrons, or simply datrons. Datrons have several unusual properties, foremost of which is their ability to store and release huge amounts of energy in a much more controlled manner than typical atoms. This is crucial because unlike a hydrogen atom, which requires large amounts of energy to overcome the Coulomb Barrier and achieve fusion in order to release their stored energy, a datron atom can release exponentially more power using a fraction of the energy to achieve fission." Pausing for a moment, Mackland advanced the power point slide and spread his arms in an encompassing gesture. "In addition to storing and releasing energy more efficiently than normal atomic processes, datrons release all of that energy in a much slower and controlled manner, providing stable power without the additional risk of nuclear holocaust." Turning off the projector, he nodded to Billy to turn on the room lights. "Gentlemen, all of these characteristics combine to make datrons the most powerful and efficient form of energy every harnessed by humanity." He knew by looking at their faces that they were picturing the possibilities, both tangible and financial that such a power source would provide; so he went for the kill. "But in order to find out if we can harness this energy, Alphalabs will need to approve another thirty-eight million dollars to fund Phase V of the Frameway project for the next six months. I hope I can count on your votes at the board meeting next week."

He began to gather his materials. "Thank you, and I will be available for the next half hour or so if you have any questions." The presentation ended, the executives began talking between themselves as they started to clear out.

Billy sauntered over and leaned in close to Mackland so he wouldn't be overheard, "Not bad boss. You think they'll give you the money?"

Mackland looked at the men in expensive suits furtively talking and pointing his way every so often. He gave Billy a tired grin, "They can't afford not to, and they know it."
CHAPTER FOUR

Mackland decided to skip going to his office and headed directly to the Frame portal labs. Immersed in his thoughts, he paid no attention to any of the other scientists at their workstations. As he placed his palm on the scanner that would simultaneously scan and verify his finger and palm prints, he continued to turn over the revelations that he had arrived at the night before. Making the Collector smaller and disconnecting it physically from the Frame itself shouldn't be a problem. The issue would come from making sure that the Collector could re-use the energy from the multiverse in order to power itself once the Frame was open and running.

As the final set of doors opened into the large metal room containing the Frame, Mackland was again struck by the incongruous appearance of the device. A metal box ten feet high and ten feet wide with a small panel on the left side containing a typical computer keyboard and a small HD monitor built directly into the Frame itself; the Frame was minimalism at its finest. The computer that controlled the portal was contained within the Frame itself, and a large cluster of thick cables snaked down from either side of the apparatus and into openings in the concrete floor. Those cables fed down to the couplings and conduits required to handle the incredible amounts of energy that had to be routed to the Alphalabs storage facilities several miles away. At the moment, the interior of the Frame was completely inert, appearing to be nothing more than an empty doorframe which allowed Mackland to see through to the other side of the room. For such an immensely powerful device, capable of harnessing the fantastic energies of creation itself, it looked like nothing more interesting than some aluminum welded into a square like one might see in a modern building under construction.

From the far side of the room, Billy loudly mumbled, "Well if it isn't his majesty, finally gracing us with his presence," he gave a mock bow as Mackland approached, which elicited a small chuckle from Sean at the back of the room. As the team engineer and computer experts, respectively, Billy and Sean were the primary members of Mackland's team. Although Alphalabs spared no expense for the Frameways project, and Mackland had numerous technicians, assistants, and fellow scientists, Billy and Sean were the ones that made Mackland's visions and theories into functioning reality.

"Bite me, moron," responded Mackland as he approached Billy's workstation and gave him a friendly smack to the back of the head. "I had an idea last night, and I want to see if we can make it happen before the next Frame test." He turned on a wall screen tied to his personal tablet and started drawing as he spoke. "The problem has always been that the Collector uses too much power during the targeting and acquisition phase, so once the Frame is open, there is only enough power to hold it for a maximum five seconds, right?" The two men nodded their agreement. He gave them a big grin as he continued, "But we were missing the obvious. What are we doing with the Frameway?" When neither answered right away, he went on. "The Frame is connecting to virtually unlimited energy, so why don't we siphon some of that energy as soon as the Frame is up, and feed it back to the Collector?"

He saw the realization hit both men at almost the same moment. Billy's eyes widened and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before he found the words he was looking for. "But Mack, if that were possible- and I'm not saying it is- but if it were, we would pretty much be able to keep the Frame open indefinitely! We're talking about unlimited energy, I mean- Holy shit!"

Mackland nodded and looked over at Sean, who was deep in thought, before he answered. "I know. It's almost too much to consider at once. The implications are pretty staggering, so let's take it a step at a time." He held up his index finger. "First, we need to separate the Collector from the rest of the Frameway portal. It needs to be able to use dual-power circuits so that it can switch over to nullspace energy as soon as the portal is activated."

As Mackland finished, Billy sat in obvious concentration for several minutes as he considered the possibilities and requirements such a change would entail. Sean spoke up first, asking "How are we supposed to maintain the processing power required without having the Collector physically connected to the computer core? That much data can't be transferred by Wi-Fi, it's too bandwidth intensive!" Mackland simply smiled with a knowing look at his friend for a moment, until Sean turned to walk back to his desk mumbling "Of course, Sean will figure out some way to do it." He raised his voice a few notches. "My name is Mackland, and I just have to imagine something. Then I will assume my peons can make it happen...Asshole." Mackland continued to smile at his friend's retreating back as he listened to the expected diatribe, knowing that Sean would come up with some method for overcoming the computer problem before the day was over.

His real concern was converting the power source to work within a remote unit; and maintaining the power once the portal opened into the multiverse itself. Billy had been silent since Mackland had told them his idea, but he finally looked at Mackland and said, "Give me a few hours to run some numbers and try a few tests, but I have an idea that just might do what you are talking about." Mackland simply nodded and left his friend to get to work.

Billy burst into Mackland's office about five hours later and exclaimed "I did it!", and then dropped into one of office chairs, obviously exhausted. Mackland came around the desk; "You did? How did you do it?"

"Well, it was tricky at first, but eventually I thought about what Sean had said about bandwidth, and realized that wireless was the answer to both our problems!" he took a breath, and then continued, "By linking a smaller version of the primary power source that fits inside the Collector to a modified wifi module, I was able to not only get the power coupling stable and capable of handling the power requirements we anticipate, but Sean was able to make some adjustments allowing the Collector to communicate with the central processor remotely!"

"That's great," Mackland replied as he pulled Billy up and prodded him toward the door on their way to the Frameway lab. "I never doubted that you guys would be able to do it; and you're just in time for us to make the next scheduled Frame test."
CHAPTER FIVE

As they entered the lab, Billy and Mackland found Sean already at his workstation working on the processing connection for the upcoming Frameway test. He tapped long sequences of commands on his keyboard before he finally looked up and noticed the other two men in the room with him. "Billy tell you we are good to go?"

Mackland shrugged as he answered, "Yeah, but I knew you guys would do it. You both work a technical challenge like a dog with a bone, until nothing is left to chance. The only question is which dog gets the meat off the bone first."

"Great, now I'm a highly trained mutt. You want me to roll over and play dead too?"

Billy chimed in, "You try to make me chase a Frisbee, and I might decide to take a bite out of your leg!"

Mackland sighed as he raised his hands in defeat, "You know what I mean. I'm just saying that you guys both love a challenge, and won't give up until you get the answer."

The other two were partially mollified by his answer, and turned back to prepare for the upcoming Frameway activation.

Billy walked over to another station and grabbed what looked like an oversized TV remote control with a smartphone display attached to the top, and presented it to Mackland with an exaggerated bow and a flourish. "Ok, so here is the new Collector all ready to go; all you need to do is choose the divergence point, hit enter, and then monitor the power levels." He pointed to the smaller LED display at the bottom of the device which had a scale going from green to red with increments from zero to one-hundred before continuing, "You need to make sure you watch that meter carefully and don't let the level go above eighty percent or you will risk destroying the Collector and possibly damaging the Frame itself."

Mackland took the device and said, "Got it," before turning to Sean; "Is everything ready with the data link?"

Sean nodded and gave Mackland a thumbs-up. "Yep, as long as the Collector has enough power to keep the Frame open, the new wireless module should have plenty of bandwidth to keep the data link up and able to process all of the data that will be coming through."

Mackland checked the data displayed on the screens of the Frame as well as those on the Collector. Excitement tinged his voice when he spoke. "OK, let's do this." The three of them moved to their respective workstations as Mackland turned on the Collector which began the process of scanning for a point in space with the amount of energy they were looking for.

The Collector began searching for a divergence point with a significant datron energy signature as the three men continued to monitor their respective data screens for any fluctuations that could cause trouble.

The silence stretched out as they concentrated until Billy spoke up. "So Mack, why don't we just keep this discovery to ourselves, and start our own electric company? We could be rich in six months by providing energy at a fraction of the cost of any other utility around the world. I really wouldn't mind having a couple Lamborghini's in my driveway."

Mackland laughed at his friend's humor. "Shit, you wouldn't know what to do with that much money. You'd end up spending it all on hookers, booze, and video games. And you'd still be driving a piece of shit."

"That's possible, but I'd be happy no matter what I was driving; what with the hookers and booze."

Mackland couldn't argue with that, so he didn't try, instead turning back to the Collector display just in time to see a set of coordinates pop up in red. He gestured to get the other men's attention, "Looks like we have a good candidate coming up in about two minutes; Sean, let me know as soon as you have a solid data link, and Billy, let me know if any of the secondary monitors show any abnormalities once the Frame is open. I'll watch the Collector, and pull the plug if the power level gets to 80%, or if anything else looks too out of whack." Excitement tinged his voice as he scanned the banks of monitors at his workstation. "I'd rather shut it down than to take a chance damaging the Frame. Got it?" Both men nodded but said nothing as they continued their own preparations for the Frame activation.

Just before the two minute mark, the Collector pinged, and three green lights activated on the Frame display. "Data link is live and holding steady." Sean reported as the empty space within the Frame started to display a slight shimmer, like the reflection from a puddle of water in bright moonlight.

Billy added, "All secondary systems showing green across the board!"

Mackland watched the Collector power reading jump to 5%. "Frame is open, power transfer underway at six percent and climbing steady," he tapped a few buttons before continuing, "initiating nullspace power transfer to Collector." The interior of the Frame now appeared to be a vertical pool of liquid mercury rippling with occasional arcs of energy just below the surface. The ebb and flow of power within the portal was mesmerizing to watch, and Mackland fervently hoped they would be able to keep the portal open long enough to see something new and fantastic within this link to the space between universes.

As the Collector switched from its own power to running from power derived from the mysterious energy from the datrons in nullspace, Billy suddenly spoke up, "OK guys, overall power is at thirty percent, with ten percent being used by the Collector to hold the Frame open past the five second mark for the first time ever!"

Mackland glanced at the rows of green lights across the face of the Collector before smiling at his friends and saying, "Congratulations are in order gentlemen; we have just doubled the previous maximum output of the Frame, and it looks like we have plenty more where that came from!" Billy and Sean whooped and performed an air high-five across the space between their stations before looking back to their screens.

Five minutes into the Frame activation, Mackland's displays indicated that they had already collected more energy than had been gathered during the previous two years' worth of Frame activations combined, the Collector was running from only thirteen percent of the total power being transferred, which was holding steady at sixty-five percent. By any standard of measure, the new Collector was an unqualified success. "Alright, let's not press our luck first time out of the gate." Every part of him wanted to keep gathering energy as long as he could, but he knew the responsible action would be to shut down while all was good and analyze the data before moving forward. He shrugged to his friends, "Set clocks for three minute shutdown on my mark...mark."

With one minute left before their shutdown, Billy saw a brief surge on one of his displays. "Hey Mack--..." before he could finish, several displays on all three of their stations flashed red, and the power level on the Collector surged to eighty-five percent. "What the hell?" Mackland exclaimed, frantically trying to shut down the Collector while attempting to determine what was causing the problems. "Billy? Sean? Any idea what is happening?"

Sean looked over and said "All of a sudden the data coming across spiked off the charts! It's like someone opened the flood gates from the other side of the Frame!" He checked a display before he continued, "From what I am seeing here, it looks like the Frame somehow extended from the nullspace around the divergence point to somehow connect to a point beyond."

Billy gaped at him for a second as the implication of what he was saying registered. "You mean another...universe? Is that even possible?"

Mackland answered as calmly as he could, "Theoretically, there isn't much difference between the point in nullspace that the Frame connects to and any other point in the other universe that the divergence point creates. But the Frame was designed to target nullspace, since that is where the most concentration of datrons exists."

"Someone needs to tell the Collector that, because it just jumped out of nullspace!" Billy yelled, as he continued trying to control the surging energy from his station.

Mackland looked up and exclaimed "Holy shit! Look at the Frame!" The shimmering field inside the portal now resembled the tunnel mirrors in a funhouse, with hundreds of reflections of their room extending out as far as they could see into the other side of the Frame.

Sean had to raise his voice to be heard over the growing hum of power being drawn into the room, "Umm, Mack! Hey!"

Mackland snapped his gaze up at Sean's tone. "What's wrong now?"

Sean's fingers blurred as he frantically tapped commands on his keyboard. "I can't disconnect the data link! It's as if the Collector itself is locking out my commands. Unless one of you can pull the plug, it's not going to stop until it overloads, and if that happens, I don't need to tell you guys what that means for us and the surrounding fifteen miles!"

"Power at eighty-nine percent! The Collector is overloading!" Mackland continued to try shutting it down, but the feedback between the Frame and the Collector appeared to be overriding all commands and keeping the power and data links open through the portal while continuing to draw even more power.

And then as quickly as the power levels had spiked, all of the indicators in the room suddenly went dark. Every piece of electronic equipment in the room, from computer to light bulb, simply died without warning. Mackland frowned into the dark, "What the hell? Did one of you guys disconnect something?"

Both men answered in the negative as they tried to bring their equipment back on-line to discover what had happened.

"Well, at least we didn't have an over-.." Before Mackland could finish the sentence, the field within the portal suddenly sparked and the silver shimmer instantly grew bright and surged beyond the metal aperture of the Frame and into the room. All three men jumped up, but before they could attempt to get to the door, the field expanded again and encompassed the entire lab, as well as several of the surrounding rooms on the same floor. In the blink of an eye, everything changed.
CHAPTER SIX

One moment Mackland was in the lab frantically trying to shut down the Collector to prevent an overload from destroying the Frame, and the next, he blinked and was engulfed by a cacophony of sight and sound unlike anything he had ever experienced. Billy and Sean had disappeared the moment things went crazy, and he couldn't focus on finding them with the avalanche of sights, sounds, and smells assailing him from all sides. He felt like he was in the largest IMAX Theater showing a thousand movies filmed from his perspective in the lab, but then ran fast forward into countless different story lines; he saw crimes, parties, men, women, death, love, and every variation that life could create. And then Mackland started to see really strange things; people flying without planes, mobs of shambling, bloody people attacking others, dinosaurs, demons, clockwork vehicles and weapons, and a hundred other things right out of any number of sci-fi and fantasy novels. The scenes flashed by too quickly for him to comprehend, putting him on the verge of sensory overload as his mind tried to cope with the massive amount of information flooding into it.

"Billy! Sean!" He yelled, or at least tried to yell. But when he opened his mouth, no sound came out, instead waves of light issued forth and expanded quickly beyond his field of vision. Mackland blinked several times as he tried to put this new sensation into context. What could have happened that would convert sound waves to light waves? Scientific curiosity battled fear as he tried to say his own name. "Mackland," clouds of sparkling silver dust burst forth from each syllable.

"Ok," he thought to himself, "I need to figure this out. There has to be a scientific explanation, but what?" Fear came rushing back and knocked scientific curiosity on its ass. "Am I dead? What if this is heaven? Or hell?" Although raised by his parents in the Lutheran church, Mackland had never been particularly religious. Science provided most of the answers he needed, so he simply tried to live a good life as a decent man, and figured things would work out in the end. Now he was wondering if this was the result of his choices.

As his thoughts drifted along this new path, he realized he was also drifting, literally. His pulse rocketed at the sight of a limitless void beneath his feet. Arms thrashing wildly as his sense of equilibrium vanished, Mackland struggled to establish some type of stability. His frantic motions set him into a slow spin, and after a moment he gave up the attempt and resigned himself to riding it out. Taking several deep breaths, he closed his eyes and tried to slow his pulse.

Having his eyes closed allowed him to focus inward in search of answers.

"OK Mack, you can figure this out. Ignore the unknown...focus on what you know."

He began checking off mental notes:

"Something went wrong while the Collector was tapped into nullspace. Now I suddenly have massive sensory...confusion?"

He frowned as he tried to come up with a plausible answer.

"Maybe the device exploded and I got knocked out, leaving me with these hallucinations."

He discarded that idea almost as quickly as it appeared; somehow, it didn't feel right to him. His thoughts drifted back towards his previous musings.

"Maybe it was worse than that. Maybe I did die, and this is the next step. Not heaven or hell, but some type of transitional stage between life and after-death."

While the thought that he may have been killed did scare him, the scientist and skeptic inside batted the thought aside with intellectual contempt.

"So what does that leave? I'm alive, but unable to process the environment around me. So the environment is something beyond anything I have experienced."

He cracked one eye open to see a five story roaring ocean wave of fluid metal race by. He gulped and slammed the eye shut again.

"Make that an environment beyond anything humans have experienced."

The question was; what environment? Where did the Collector and the Frame pull him to? And where were Sean and Billy?

One thing he knew for sure was that he wasn't going to find answers with his eyes closed. Taking a deep breath to prepare for what he was going to see and deal with, he once again looked around.

Scenes continued to flash by faster than he could track, and he had no concept of time passing. A few minutes, hours, or days, Mackland couldn't begin to guess at how long he had been stuck in this kaleidoscope of insanity. As he struggled to determine where and when he was, and how long he had been there, he looked down to see the Collector in his hand smoking. Running a hand over the device, he noticed the power pack on the back was getting noticeably warmer.

"That's not good. Better shut this thing down while I can."

He tried to pry the cover off the power pack in order to disconnect it, but he couldn't get the latch to release. The Collector started pouring smoke as he worked, and quickly became too hot to hold onto any longer. A few heartbeats later, Mackland yelped as the power pack exploded in a shower of sparks that shot off in multiple directions; each spark seeming to follow one of the different scenes flowing all around him. The remains of the Collector sparked a final time before everything went dark as Mackland fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
CHAPTER SEVEN

Mackland came to slowly and reluctantly. The chaotic displays had left lingering images burned into the back of his eyeballs, and his head felt like he just came off a three-day martini vacation. His mouth was dry; sounds were muted as if he had cotton in his ears; and opening his eyes was like blinking in a sandstorm. He couldn't decide if he wanted to wake up and see where he was or go back to blissful sleep and hope it was a dream.

After several minutes, he heard coughing off to his left followed by a throat clearing, "Mackland? Billy? Anybody?"

Mackland tried to respond, but it came out sounding like a bullfrog gargling mud, so he coughed a few times and tried again. "Yeah Sean, I'm here, I think." He opened his eyes finally, but the light around them was so dim he could only make out vague shapes. "Can you see anything, Sean? Can you see or hear Billy?"

"I'm here, for what it's worth." Mackland followed the voice and saw Billy's outline about twenty feet away. "What the hell happened? The last thing I remember was feeling like I was flying through a thousand movies that had some really weird shit going on, and then a flash, a loud bang, and then nothing." He spat out a mouthful of dust as he pushed himself to his feet and shook his head.

Mackland took a minute to collect his thoughts before responding. "Well, that's pretty much what I remember too, except I know the flash came from the Collector, because it had a meltdown and exploded in my hands just before the lights went out for me." He stumbled towards his friends in the darkness. "Speaking of lights, we need to get them on, so we can figure out what happened to the Collector and find out how damaged the Frame is."

Sean spoke up as Mackland helped him to his feet and he began brushing himself off, "All I know is that feedback loop was off the charts; power and data both were coming in at levels I've never seen before. I wouldn't be surprised if the Collector and the Frame were trashed."

Mackland pushed a piece of debris aside and said, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let me turn on the light—what the hell?" He moved toward where he remembered the doorway being, but stumbled into an extremely heavy object of solid metal that must have fallen over during their failed Frame activation. "Hey guys, be careful, looks like we aren't the only things that got knocked around. We might have to move some stuff to get to the door and the lights."

Sean and Billy shuffled their way over toward Mackland's voice, and together they tried to move the metal object in their way, but it was too heavy. Deciding that they may need to conserve their strength for future tasks, they started to make their way around the object, working towards the door and the light switch.

Within minutes, they made it around the metal obstacle and Sean reached for the light switch near the door. His hand met nothing but empty air for several feet in any direction. He searched in vain for a few more minutes before breaking the news to his friends. "Ummm...Something isn't right here guys. I don't feel a door, or a light switch. Hell, the wall isn't even where it should be."

Mackland swore under his breath as he found the same thing in his search. "What the hell is going on? We need to get some light in here if we're going to get a handle on things." He forced himself to remain calm as he considered options. "Ok, something is seriously screwed up, so let's spread out and see if we can find anything to help us see what happened." He turned with his hands out in front of him, "I'm heading off to the right. Sean, you go left, and Billy, you go back around the big thing toward where we started, and see what's out that way. We need light of some sort, or a phone..." He smacked a palm to his forehead as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He stabbed the power button repeatedly, but the screen remained dark. He gave a frustrated grunt and asked the other two men "Do either of your cell phones work?"

Billy chuckled. "You just now thought of the cell phone? That was the first thing I checked, but no go. It's d.e.a.d."

Sean confirmed his was out of juice as well as they resumed their search for anything that could help them. They spread out as Mackland kept going over in his mind what had happened to see if he could figure out what might have gone wrong. The equipment had been running fine, and his calculations checked out, yet something had gone terribly wrong. His mind churned as he fumbled in the dark looking for a light or a window, anything that might help them see. His eyes were gradually adjusting to the gloom, and he was barely able to make out the dark shadows of Billy and Sean as they methodically covered the other parts of the room they were in, but he couldn't make out much else.

For long minutes, the only sounds came from the three men shuffling around the room. The lack of light and sound was becoming suffocating until a piercing scream shattered the silence. Mackland spun towards the sound, which came from the side of the room Billy was on, except it wasn't Billy screaming. A woman's voice echoed as she screamed a second time. Mackland couldn't be sure, but it sounded as if the woman were screaming in rage, not fear. But what had her so upset? And more importantly, where had she come from?

As each man scrambled towards the screaming, the vague outline of two figures began to resolve. One was definitely the woman who had screamed, and she was currently crouched behind some type of barrier separating her from the other figure.

The other shape was more of a mystery. As the men got closer, they struggled to put the pieces together into something that made sense. Crouched on all fours but still easily six feet high at the shoulder, with an immense musculature covered by some type of hair or fur; in the dim light the crouched shadow looked like an obscenely large version of a dog or wolf. The creature paced along the front of the barrier as if trying to determine how to get to the woman cowering behind it, and Mackland knew they didn't have much time before the beast renewed its attack.

They converged just to the left of the barricade separating the two shapes, and Mackland held out an arm to slow his friends as he searched frantically for anything to use as a weapon in the dim light. The woman had stopped screaming as soon as she saw them approaching, and from the way she glanced back and forth, it was obvious she was splitting her focus between keeping the beast on the other side of the barrier and keeping a wary eye on the newcomers for any indication of their intentions.

Billy whispered into the darkness, "Don't worry little lady, the cavalry has arrived. Give us a minute, and we'll take care of Fido here for ya." A soft coughing snort came from the woman's direction. Being careful not to alert the beast, Billy crowed quietly over his shoulder to Mackland and Sean, "Ha! She thinks I'm funny! We gotta save her, and if she's hot, she's all mine!"

Mackland shook his head at his friend's comment in the face of a potentially deadly situation. He wasn't so sure that her snort was in admiration of Billy's humor, but he decided they didn't have time to discuss it at the moment. The important thing was taking care of the huge creature stalking her. "We need to find a weapon, quick. You guys see or feel anything?" He crouched down and thrust out with his hands in all directions looking for anything to use as a weapon. Within seconds, his hand brushed across a metal rod about four feet long. He picked it up and swung it to test the heft, which was solid and slightly heavy. He just hoped it would be enough.

He whispered to Billy and Sean as a plan began to form, "You guys run around to the left side of whatever that thing is, and as soon as you get in position, start yelling to get its attention. I'll come up from the other side, and hopefully I can get to the candy inside that werewolf piñata."

The other men nodded, not wanting to speak more than necessary and risk alerting the beast as they moved off to get into position. Mackland made a patting motion in the air to calm the woman and let her know they would try to help. He couldn't tell if she understood, but she continued to crouch behind the barrier and shift away from the beast whenever it changed position, so he hoped for the best.

A few minutes later, he could barely see the outline of his friends beyond the huge beast as they made their way to a spot from which they could draw its attention. They were much closer than Mackland felt was safe, and he prayed they could get a good bit farther away before trying to draw the creature's focus.

As if reading Mackland's thoughts, the beast suddenly looked to the side where Billy and Sean were crouched, and before Mackland could even yell out, it bunched its powerful legs and leapt towards his two friends. Covering the half the distance in one huge bound, the monster raised a skillet-sized paw with unbelievably long claws to deal with these two interlopers on its mealtime.
CHAPTER EIGHT

Mackland knew he was about to see one or both of his friend be torn apart by this nightmare, yet he was frozen, unable to see any way in which he could save them.

The rod in his hand disappeared as the woman took advantage of the creature's distraction to move right next to him. She spun toward the beast as it launched into a second leap, and with a smooth flex of her right arm, threw the rod like a javelin straight at the creatures' back. The rod covered the thirty or so feet to the monster in a second, with a solid thud into the back of the huge head before glancing off and shattering a nearby window. Moonlight suddenly streamed in as the darkened security glass cascaded to the floor.

The blow from the metal rod knocked the creature off balance and forced it to break off its attack on Sean and Billy, but didn't appear to have done any serious damage. The hellhound turned to stalk back toward Mackland and the woman with death in its eyes. Crossing the new shaft of moonlight as it advanced, its features became clear enough to stop the breath in Mackland's throat. The monster must have been a wolf or some other large wild dog at some point, but it was now something much worse. Behind the slavering jaws that dominated Mackland's view, the beast's face was a patchwork of rot and mange-ridden fur surrounding milk-white eyes with no emotion or life within them. The hellhound, as Mackland had come to think of it, continued towards them as they backed away, frantically trying to figure out their next step.

Mackland took advantage of the additional moonlight to look for the best chance for escape. The moonlight allowed them to see more of the area around them, but it also told Mackland just how wrong things were. The lab they had been in minutes ago was several levels below ground, so moonlight should be impossible. Yet here it was, and it allowed Mackland to see that they were not in his lab, but in a large room, with rows of shelves, some standing and many toppled over. He evaluated the room as he watched the hellhound circle. There was no shortage of cover within twenty feet, if they could somehow make it past the creature. As he looked around, the woman pulled his arm to draw him toward the barrier she had originally been behind, but the monster saw their intent and surged forward to cut off their escape. Before they took two steps, it was between them and the barrier. Each time they shifted, the hellhound would place itself in their path, but whether it was being cautious or simply playing with them was anyone's guess. Mackland could see that they would never make it to out of room without a miracle, and he prepared to face the creature and die fighting no matter how hopeless it was.

The creature closed to within ten feet and Mackland could smell its putrid breath as he focused on the horrendous face more clearly. Apparently imminent death focused the mind and allowed for incredible attention to detail. He noted the huge fangs inside the mouth that could easily engulf his entire head with space left over, and the dead eyes that glittered with malice like frosting over pits of death.

As he lifted his hands to ward off those teeth as long as he could and maybe buy some time for the woman and his friends, his intense focus was shattered by the metal shaft that suddenly sprouted from the eye socket less than a foot from his outstretched hands. He didn't move, even as rancid blood and other warm fluids from the exploded eye socket sprayed him and the hellhound slowly toppled and crashed to the floor, truly dead at last.

As the beast crashed at his feet, Mackland sucked in a deep breath and sagged as the adrenaline rushed out of his system. He stood bent over for a minute trying to settle himself and grasp what had just happened. He straightened and looked over the dead monster to see Sean panting and staring at his hands on the other end of that metal rod. He glanced over at Mackland with a weak smile, "Guess we're even now, huh?"

Mackland let out a shaky laugh and nodded, "Yep, I would say so, but who's really keeping score?" Seeing the woman watching them warily, he put on his best smile as he spoke to her. "Hey miss, are you ok?" She didn't respond, but continued watching the three men. He tried again. "I'm Mackland. The beast-slayer there is Sean, and the smart-ass behind him is Billy." The other two gave her tired waves. "Thanks for your help back there. That was a hell of a throw you made with that rod. I guess I froze when I saw that big bastard going after them, and if it hadn't been for you, they would have ended up as really ugly doggie treats."

Apparently coming to a decision, the woman stepped closer, allowing her features to resolve slowly in the dim light around them. A little shorter than Mackland, she was still a tall woman, at about five foot ten. Her long dark hair spilled back into a braided ponytail, and although obviously exhausted, she moved with an easy grace and confidence. Her mannerisms, combined with her combat fatigue pants and simple grey t-shirt, gave Mackland the impression she might be military or paramilitary, even with the lack of any obvious weapons.

He could see her weighing his words before responding. This was a woman used to thinking things through before taking action. She finally gave a small smile as she reached out to shake Mackland's hand. "Lily Decker," her grip was firm, yet gentle, "And I'm really glad you guys came along when you did. I don't know what the hell that thing was, but it didn't make any noise until it was right on top of me, and I don't think I could have taken it out without any weapons." She seemed to notice Mackland's lab coat for the first time in the murky twilight; "Do you have any idea how we ended up here?"

"You mean you weren't here all along?" Mackland asked.

"Nope," she shook her head, "I'm with Alphalabs security, and I was assigned to the checkpoint detail outside of lab 11A on level twelve. I relieved the previous guard about twenty minutes early and was checking over the day's logs and security footage." She sat down as she continued. "I heard a rumbling sound kind of build all around me, and then there was a flash from behind the lab door. A minute later, everything around me got all wonky, and I started seeing all kinds of crazy things; like a hundred dreams being smashed up together." She paused as the recollection of the intense experience came back to her. "That seemed to last forever, and then I saw another bright flash and some kind of shockwave knocked me out." She pointed back towards the spot they had first seen her face off against the hellhound. "When I came to, I was laying in the dark wondering what the hell hit me. When I stood up, Lassie's demon spawn there was standing over me slobbering and getting ready to make me a chew toy. You know the rest."

Mackland looked at Sean and Billy before responding. They both shrugged to indicate it was up to him what he revealed. He sighed before asking, "Well, Lily, what do you know about the Frameway project?"

"Nothing other than it was the name of one of the projects going on at the labs."

"Right, well the lab you were guarding was where the Frameway project was being conducted. It was my project, and Billy and Sean worked on it with me. Without getting too detailed, it dealt with drawing energy from the space between universes by using a portal called the Frame."

Her eyebrows rose at his casual mention of multiple universes. "What do you mean, 'space between universes'? I thought multiple universes were that stuff of cheap sci-fi movies?"

Shaking his head, Mackland and quirked up his own eyebrow. "I meant what I said. I don't think we have time to go into the details, but you'll just have to take my word for now that there are other universes besides ours. And we figured out a way to tap into the fabric between them to gather energy. It works, and provides enormous energy, but apparently something went wrong on this last run." He gave a sheepish shrug. "I just don't know what, yet."

Lily's grin broadened at his self-deprecating manner, "Well, I can't say that I completely understand or even believe that humans have been accessing other universes, but I don't have a better answer just yet, so I'll play along. And thanks for dumbing it down so a regular grunt like me can follow. So what happened?" Lily asked.

"As I said, I'm honestly not sure. It looks like the equipment overloaded, and there was some kind of feedback explosion. However, that doesn't explain why we would be in a completely different room, apparently aboveground, instead of the underground lab we were in when the experiment started. And it doesn't come close to explaining our overly large canine friend or where he came from."

She nodded at his explanation and appeared to come to a decision after a few moments consideration. When she replied, she straightened and her voice took on a more professional staccato cadence. "Ok, first things first, like you said earlier, we need some light. We can't do much until we can see what's around us. Once we can see, we can figure out what the hell is going on, and plan our next step. So let's spread out and see what we can find."

Mackland and the other two men accepted her authority by unspoken agreement, and the four of them spread out again, looking for a light source, door, or window that might give them some ability to find out more about their surroundings. This time, they were much more cautious, being careful to keep an eye out for any more unexpected visitors. After a few minutes, Billy yelled out, "Hey! I think I found a door!" The other three made their way over to him as he turned the knob and pushed. The door resisted slightly, but Billy leaned against it, and it swung open slowly. As the door opened and soft starlight filtered in, Mackland struggled to grasp what he was seeing. Although logic dictated that the moonlight they saw around them meant they were no longer underground, he still didn't expect a park full of grass and trees illuminated in moonlight instead of the familiar hallways and office furniture from his lab.

Billy broke the silence first with an echo of Mackland's own thoughts, "Umm, weren't we were several stories below ground? How could we suddenly be above ground and outside?"

The others crowded in closer as they tried to make sense of what they were seeing. As Mackland stepped through and onto the grass, he caught a scent on the breeze; like dust and mothballs with a slightly ominous undercurrent running throughout. He paused just past the threshold to try to get a better idea of their surroundings. It appeared they were stepping out of some type of large maintenance building for what looked like a sizable natural park situated in the middle of the city. There were no lights on in the park, the surrounding streets, or in the buildings closest to them; in fact, he couldn't see any artificial lights anywhere within view. Many of the building outlines visible in the gloom were identical to the buildings he had passed earlier this morning, leading him to believe they were still in the same town; but his breath caught in his chest as he looked more closely and realized that almost all of the buildings he could make out were in various states of ruin. Even more disconcerting was the fact that he couldn't see a single person or vehicle moving in the entire city.

He strained to make out more details in the distance, but the murky twilight only gave him vague shadows and outlines beyond the area immediately around them. And even within that limited area, he could only tell that the grass and ground cover was wild and overgrown, not the manicured landscape he would have expected of a city park. Until they either found some light sources or the sun came up, there was no way of telling what had happened to turn this area into a desolate, lifeless wasteland, which prompted Mackland's decision. "We still need some light if we can find it." He headed back toward the door they had just exited and pulled it as wide open as he could.

Even though they were in a totally unknown situation, and already confronted by one hostile creature, Mackland smiled. The moonlight filtered in and illuminated the room, providing a much better opportunity to search through the equipment and debris they had been stumbling over minutes ago. This looked to be a promising adventure.

* * *

As the others stood peering into the park around them, nobody made a sound as they each tried to come to grips with their situation. Lily looked back at Mackland standing in front of the open door, and her green eyes showed no fear, but confusion and a need for understanding in order to determine her next course of action. Billy turned back toward the open doorway of the building, rushing past Mackland as something inside the room caught his eye in the moonlight. "Hey, I found some stuff that I think we can use!"

Sean quickly joined him inside, and together they brought out several armloads of equipment that they laid on the ground in front of the door while Mackland and Lily kept an eye out for any more of the demon-hounds. Billy dug through the gear and pulled out a cylinder shaped object which he poked and prodded for a few minutes before a weak light suddenly emerged from between his hands.

"Woohoo!! Billy said as he held up the flashlight, "Let there be light!" He smacked the device against his palm and a brighter beam suddenly stabbed into the night. "Now let's see what we got." He pawed through the pile and pulled out a machete with a nicked yet still sharp blade and another heavy steel rod about 3 feet long. He grabbed a roll of duct tape and started making a padded grip for his improvised club, handing the flashlight to Lily as the others continued looking.

"Here's another flashlight." Lily said, tossing it over to Mackland, who tried to turn it on with no luck.

"Looks like the batteries on this one are dead. Let's get this stuff sorted quickly so we can conserve the batteries in that one for now."

Sean grabbed a coil of some braided nylon rope that was lightweight yet felt very strong, as well as another of the pipes similar to Billy's, and a sweatshirt.

Lily looked around and grabbed a sharp edged hoe and several utility knives, another sweatshirt since she only had a utility shirt on, a fire axe she found at the bottom of the pile, and finally a lighter and some rags to start a fire later.

Mackland took the light and said, "I'll be right back. I have to see what happened to the Collector and the Frame so we know how bad things are before we decide our next steps." He went back into the building and swept the flashlight around the room they woke up in less than an hour ago. As he suspected from their stumbling in the dark, there were numerous pieces of office and warehouse equipment lying all over the large room, but he was now able to navigate easily around them with the flashlight. A sense of confusion and not a little bit of desperation began to creep up on him as he processed the advanced state of ruin around him, both in the room and outside in the park. This wasn't a recent development for this area. It didn't look like anything larger than rats and squirrels had been in this building for years prior to tonight. And the massive damage he had seen in the other buildings outside could only come from a combination of a serious disaster and years of neglect. He didn't know where they were, but it wasn't good, and as far as he knew, the only way to get back was lying in pieces in this room. There was every chance that they were most likely stuck here permanently, but he couldn't think about that just yet. And if he was being honest, he wasn't sure how he felt about that prospect.

Thoughts of the accident and losing Carla tried to sweep over him, but he didn't have time to dwell on the past while trying to survive the night. It didn't change the fact that ever since he lost Carla, there wasn't a lot for him beyond his work back at the lab, and this place looked to be exciting, if nothing else. Images of the mangled car flashed through his mind's eye, but Mackland had always prided himself on his ability to put logic before emotion, and he did so now. Fear of the past combined with excitement for the future and had his heart rate and breathing elevated, but he mentally clamped down on everything outside of their current situation. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself and resolved to keep it under control until he knew more.

He made a wide path around the still warm bulk of the demon-hound toward the back of the building where he believed they had arrived. As he had originally feared, the large metal object that had blocked them earlier was the Frame apparatus itself, lying on its side, with all of its controls completely dark. The bundle of umbilical cables which normally ran into the wall and floor of the lab connecting it to the rest of the facility now snaked away from the fallen device and came to an abrupt and jagged end about thirty feet away. As Mackland searched further, he saw a brief flash about fifteen feet off to his right, and when he shone the flashlight on the spot, he released a sigh of relief as he saw the Collector beneath a loose stack of papers that had fallen to the floor. He pleasure was short-lived; however, as he turned the Collector over and suddenly remembered what had caused the final bright flash and the abrupt end to his crazy trip. The power pack on the back of the collector was nothing more than a large burn mark and exposed circuitry.

* * *

As Mackland entered the maintenance building, Lily turned to Billy and Sean and pointed to the pile of gear lying on the ground. "What do you boys say we finish going through this stuff so we are ready to go when he gets back?"

Sean groaned quietly to himself as Billy suddenly turned a huge smile toward Lily while walking towards the gear, "Anything you say ma'am. I could never say no to a pretty lady." As he spoke, he strategically placed himself as close to Lily as he could without actually invading her personal space.

Lily decided the direct approach would be best in this situation; they didn't have time for hormone-fueled distractions. "Billy... right?" He nodded. "Don't take this the wrong way, but we need to keep our heads together until we can get to something resembling safety, so I need you to focus and think with the big head tonight, ok? I promise, if we make it out of this in one piece, you can buy me a drink somewhere, sound good?" She knew her words sounded harsh, and tried to soften them with a friendly smile, but it felt inadequate.

Billy looked slightly embarrassed for a moment, and moved several feet around the other side of the pile before crouching down to concentrate on sorting equipment, and Lily was afraid her brush-off might have simply substituted one distraction for another.

As she considered saying something else, Sean sidled up to her, and she wondered if she was going to have to give the same speech to two guys in the span of five minutes, but he held his hands up in a warding gesture before leaning in to whisper to her, "Don't worry about Billy. His brain doesn't work right around women. I guarantee you an hour from now; he will only remember that you said he could buy you a drink later. I suspect it's a defense mechanism, but he'll be fine if you just let it go." He gestured towards the building, "And a word of advice about dealing with Mack. He spends more time with quantum physics running through his head than anything in the mundane world, so sometimes you have to bring him out of that other place before you can expect him to work with you here. But once you do, there isn't anyone in the world that can solve a puzzle faster than him, so it's usually worth the effort." He paused as he turned away, "Oh yeah, and he loves scotch."

He smiled at the look on her face at that last comment, and started to grab a small first-aid kit as she caught his arm. "Ok, I get that Billy is the jokester, and Mackland is the contemplative brainiac. Where does that leave you?"

He chuckled at her summary. "Well, I guess that makes me the glue that holds our little crew together. I just like technology, and technology today is all about making sure that things can talk to each other. So I make sure that the devices' Billy builds from Mack's crazy theories can actually work with the rest of the technology in the world." He gave her a knowing look as he knelt down, "And sometimes I guess I have to make sure that Billy and Mack can work with the rest of the real world too."
CHAPTER NINE

Lily and the other two men turned as they heard Mackland emerge from the building. She noticed how handsome the tall scientist was, and the way he carried his lean frame with a natural athleticism only heightened his attractiveness. He glanced up and met her gaze as he approached, and she quickly pushed thoughts of his appearance aside, looking away with just a brief surge of heat in her cheeks.

"Well," he began, the good news is that I found several packs of batteries in one of the desk drawers from the lab which seems to have arrived wherever here is with us, and I found both the Frame and the Collector." He paused. "The bad news is that the Frame, Collector, and a few pieces of lab equipment seem to be the only things that came with us, which means the Frame is completely non-functional." He added the packs to the pile of equipment Billy and Sean had pulled out. "Since the Collector power supply exploded just before we arrived here, it's done for now as well. Oh yeah, and we have no idea where we are or how to get back home."

Sean groaned, "Holy shit! What are we supposed to do now?"

Mackland let out a loud sigh as he looked around. A low fog slid across the ground, turning everything into vague cotton outlines. "I would assume that Lily has the most training for this kind of thing, unless one of you two has been keeping your Special Forces background secret from me." This got the desired chuckle from his friends, but they both shook their heads. "Well, in that case, I'd say it's up to you Lily. What do you think we should do?"

After a quick glance at the last of the equipment they had gathered, Lily replied, "First thing is load up this gear and get to someplace we can make more secure in case any more of our doggie friends come around. The building we were in would be OK, but I think I would prefer something with at least a few windows, preferably on a second floor so we can keep a better eye on things. Then we can come up with a plan of action moving forward."

The others agreed, so they grabbed everything they could and headed towards the closest bunch of buildings they could see. Lily cringed inwardly at how loud the three men were as they made their way across the park, "Think you guys could make a little more noise?" she hissed over her shoulder. The rustling died down marginally, but it was a good thing there didn't appear to be anyone around, because they were making enough noise to alert anyone within fifty yards. Hopefully when they got to the road and the buildings, her companions would be able to move with a bit more stealth.

As they approached the park gate, the buildings across the street marched out of the fog, revealing some of their features; some were familiar downtown Pueblo landmarks they had all seen during their time with Alphalabs. Yet some of the structures were nothing like the buildings the four were used to seeing in the area. The disparity was jarring; a Burger King that Sean and Billy frequented for lunch no longer had the Starbucks next door. Instead, there was now a branch of some bank called World Bank, which none of them had ever even heard of before. A small drugstore just around the corner from the lab was still there, but two doors down, a flower shop that had sold Billy a bouquet for his girlfriend just yesterday afternoon was now a UPS store.

"This wouldn't feel so damn weird if there were at least some lights on in some of the buildings, or if there were some people around." Billy said. "It's like all of Pueblo turned into a ghost town in the past hour!"

Lily agreed wholeheartedly. Even with the changes in the surroundings, if they could just see some people or movement, things might feel a bit safer. As it was, they decided to try to get into the Bank-that-had-been-a-Starbucks to use as their base. "If we can get in there, it should provide the best security for the night. Not to mention if there is anyone around, breaking into a bank should be the best way to get some attention, so we can make contact." Lily whispered as they crossed the street. "Let's just hope if someone does see us, they're friendly."

Lily approached the doors and gave them a gentle tug, and stepped back in surprise when they opened smoothly. "OK, guess we don't have to do it the hard way." She mumbled as she cautiously poked her head inside. Things were definitely not normal if an empty bank was standing wide open in the middle of the night, and her senses went into overdrive as she scanned the lobby in front of her. As they made their way inside, she saw that at some point, looters had been through this building and picked it clean leaving only overturned furniture and papers scattered everywhere. "At least they didn't break the windows," she said as she pushed a desk out of the way, "That will make it a lot easier to secure this area for the rest of the night."

Mackland told Billy and Sean to find a rod or stick to run through the handles for further security as he and Lily moved deeper into the bank. They explored the lobby and the front offices, but the looters had done their job, and anything useful was long gone. Lily moved toward a door at the back of the offices, and turned to Mackland with a whisper as she reached for the knob. "Ready?" He nodded silently, and she wondered if he felt as scared as she did, or if he was really as calm as he appeared. His blue-gray eyes were expressive and honest, but set in a face that seemed to be quiet and reserved regardless of the situation around him. She shook her head as she realized she was focusing on his appearance for the second time in the few hours she had known him, and scolded her traitorous libido for visiting at the exact wrong time. Snapping back to focus on the task at hand, she counted to three on her fingers and pulled the door open quickly, prepared to strike anything that came through with the axe in her hand.

Fortunately, the hallway beyond was as empty as the rest of the bank had been. Unfortunately, it was also as devoid of anything usable as the rest of the building, thanks to the previous looters. She pointed to the vault door. "From the look of all the scratches and marks, somebody that had no idea of what they were doing tried to get to goodies in the safe." She rapped her axe against the thick steel. "Looks like the loot is still safe though." She wasn't surprised to find that no one had succeeded in breaching the door.

"This doesn't make sense. Why would someone try to open a two foot thick steel vault door with sticks and knives?" Mackland wondered aloud as he ran a hand over the huge door. "Doesn't really seem like something a sane person would do, but the evidence is right here. Doesn't give me the warm fuzzies though." He walked back towards the front office.

Lily wondered the same thing, but lost her train of thought as Mackland placed a hand on her shoulder, prompting a small tingle that she studiously ignored as she said, "Looks like this whole building is empty, and the back door is closed and locked. I think we can be pretty sure that nothing is going to bother us from this direction, but we also don't want to get penned up back here, so let's setup camp out front." With a final glance at the rear exit door, they went back to the lobby and focused on helping Billy and Sean get set up for the rest of the night in their new home.

* * *

Mackland knew by the position of the moon that they had about four hours until daylight, so they agreed to each take a one hour shift on watch, while the others slept. "I'll take the first watch." He offered as Billy tried to stifle a huge yawn. "I'm still amped up with adrenaline from facing the big bad wolf back there, so I won't be able to sleep for awhile. You guys get some sleep." Lily looked like she might argue, but her eyelids drooped as she looked at the sleeping bags, and she nodded as Mackland waved her away.

As the others tried to get comfortable and drift off, Mackland sat at a lobby desk across from the front doors and tried to reconcile what he knew with what he suspected. The Frame drew energy from nullspace and brought it to our reality for storage. Nullspace existed between parallel universes. Something had obviously gone wrong during the last Frame activation; the end result being that they were somewhere familiar, yet different. The question was HOW different? They had already seen the town of Pueblo they knew somehow reduced to ruins, fought some type of mutant wolf, and witnessed the lack of humanity in what should be a well populated city.

His mind ran through numerous variables and possible scenarios, but try as he might, the only logical conclusion he could come to was that somehow the Frame had punched through the Nullspace termination and into another multiverse! "Is that even possible?"

There was a huge gulf in his mind between the knowledge that other universes existed and the possibility that he had somehow brought them into one of those universes.

"If we came through to another universe, what does that even mean? Did our counterparts from this universe end up in ours?"

He shuddered as his imagination went down darker paths. "What if we tore something in the Nullspace fabric and that destroyed our universe?"

It was theoretically possible, but where did theory end and reality begin in this situation? He blew out a frustrated sigh as his fears began to mount. "Worrying about maybes and theories isn't going to do us any good; I need to focus if we're gonna deal with this."

He leaned back and massaged his temples as he concentrated. "Assuming we did come through some type of Nullspace tunnel to another universe, we need to get the Frame and the Collector working if at all possible before we can worry about going home, or anywhere else for that matter."

He knew that with both the Collector and the Frame itself damaged and possibly irreparable, the possibility of getting back home was not good.

For the next hour he leaned his chair back and ran through possible workarounds and bypasses that they could use to get the equipment functional, depending on what they found damaged. Working through problems he could solve calmed him down and pushed his fears to the back of his mind. He let logic and the scientific process take over and found himself looking at their situation in a different light. He knew that fixing the damaged equipment had to be a top priority in the morning, yet the scientist in him couldn't help but consider the possibilities in front of him here. "We're possibly the first humans to travel to another universe!"

If true, the implications for science were staggering. Not only had they just answered some of the primary questions regarding quantum mechanics and string theory, the ability to travel between multiple universes instantly could change the entire future of the human race! The search for habitable planets to support the burgeoning population would accelerate exponentially, not to mention the possible new resources such planets could provide.

He dropped his chair back down flat on the floor. "Don't get ahead of yourself. Before we can use anything from this, we need to figure out a way back to our own universe; and that means fixing the Frame and the Collector."

Fortunately, although the Frame was incredibly complex technology and had suffered some damage, the computer that composed the "brains" of the device resided in the unit itself, and that portion of the Frame had appeared to be intact. Ideally, activating the Frame should consist of simply finding a large enough power source to allow it to open a new rift back to their home reality.

Which is where the real problems came into being. The Collector was the means by which the Frame identified divergence points with the appropriate size and datron energy signatures providing the most energy from the Nullspace. The Collector would be the only way they had to identify the divergence point that would connect to get them back to their own reality. However, the Collector currently didn't have a power source capable of powering itself on and holding a Frame open for more than five seconds, when they would need a minimum of one minute to get all four of them through the rift. But the biggest problem was that the Collector had been designed to identify and track Frame targets based on energy signatures only. Without knowing the exact energy signature of their home universe, there was no way the Collector could derive the coordinates the Frame would need to connect and bring them home.

As he considered their situation and the many obstacles they would have to overcome to get back home, Mackland kept coming back to the same question. Even if they could find a way back to their own universe, would it be the same? If the Frame had been powerful enough to pull them to an alternate reality, could it have caused damage to their own reality during the transition? Did their universe even still exist?

He just didn't have enough data to come up with a logical hypothesis...yet. "With luck, I'll know more when the time comes for us to get back home."

He frowned and put a hand on the thick glass window facing the dark city as he thought of the last few years. "Do I really even want to go back?"

* * *

Lost in his thoughts of how to get them back to their own reality, Mackland didn't hear Lily pad softly up beside him, until she gently put a hand on his shoulder. He jumped as she quickly whispered, "It's Lily!" He couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw a glint of amusement cross her face as he settled back down to his watch. A shaft of moonlight streaming through one of the many holes in the ceiling fell across her face as she moved next to him, and the beauty of her soft white skin and sparkling green eyes framed by her curly red hair struck him. The image lingered as she moved out of the beam of light, and he had to force himself to focus on his conversation.

"What are you doing up? You couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour."

She shrugged. "I don't sleep long on a good day, and this definitely hasn't been a good day. Guess I'm just too amped up."

"Watching the dark isn't all it's cracked up to be, but have a seat." Mackland swept a hand to indicate one of the chairs.

She pulled a worn office chair on wheels around so they could talk while watching outside and plopped down with a sigh. Not surprisingly, her first question was, "Sooo...Do you think we can get back home?"

He gave his own tired sigh as he answered, "Honestly? I don't know. We don't know where 'here' is, how exactly we got here, or how to get back." He sat up with a deep breath. "But do I 'think' we can get back?" He paused for a heartbeat and decided she deserved a direct answer. "The science, and the fact that we got here in the first place, says it's possible. Billy and Sean are two of the best when it comes to just 'makin stuff work', so I think there is every possibility, even though its long odds right now."

They both remained silent for a few minutes as their situation settled in a bit further, like freshly fluffed sheets drifting onto a bed.

Lily spoke into the silence. "I have to be honest Mack, I'm not sure I believe that we somehow got sucked into another universe." She held up a hand as Mackland started to explain the science further, "I know you have all kinds of mumbo-jumbo to explain it, but it would just be over my head, won't it?" When he didn't answer immediately, she nodded and grinned to let him off the hook. "It's OK, I know my strengths and weaknesses, and I always hated science class." She leaned close, and Mackland smelled lavender. "But what I believe or don't believe doesn't matter as long as you can get us back to where we came from, right?"

"No promises, but I am going to make sure we do everything we can to get the answers we need to get out of here." He intentionally left their destination vague for the time being. "Fair enough?"

She nodded. "Ok, enough doom and gloom. Tell me how you ended up running the nerd-herd at Alphalabs."

Mackland started to object to her description, but stopped when he saw the impish look on her face. "Well, I was probably more surprised than anyone that I ended up where I am. I was a less than stellar student in high school, and given my lackluster academic performance, the mere fact that I ended up in any kind of an intellectual position would have surprised anyone that knew me way back then. My grades had been so bad, in fact, that I spent the few months after barely graduating in summer school evaluating my choices. It didn't take long to realize that I didn't have a lot of options for moving forward as an adult."

It was an innocent question, but he seemed to deflate slightly as he answered, "Both my parents were killed in a plane crash returning from a trip to South America when I was sixteen. I'm an only child and all my grandparents were already gone, so I ended up living with my aunt." He smiled as he thought of her for the first time in years. "She was nice enough, but a little off-kilter. She wasn't quite the crazy cat lady, but she was on that path."

"Damn, I'm sorry Mackland. I had no idea."

He waved off her apology. "No worries. How could you have known? Besides, it was a long time ago. So anyway, I was living with her when I graduated high school, but she wasn't much help when it came to figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. I jumped around jobs that summer, never really settling anywhere. I'm still not sure if was a fit of inspiration or insanity that drove me to enlist in the Marine Corps later that winter, but it turned out to be the best thing I could have done." He paused as he thought back on those years.

"Four years of forced maturation, mixed with enough independence to learn who I was, gave me a foundation from which to move into adulthood after I got out. I loved the 'Corps, especially the sense of brotherhood; but I got tired of the constant mind games and power struggles. So after doing my time on active duty, I pulled the chute and went back to the civilian world. The Marines had given me the confidence and focus I needed to find my path. I just had to put myself into motion." He gave a small chuckle, "Hundreds of hours on work parties as a non-rate convinced me that I didn't want to spend life doing manual labor, so I took my newfound work ethic, abundance of confidence, and my meager high school transcript off to college. My military background went a long way to offset my poor grades from high school, and I was able to get into a local community college just outside of Pueblo for my core classes."

He stood and walked over to their gear, pulling a pair of granola bars from a pocket. He held one out to Lily, but she declined with a small shake of her head. "I found that I now had the ability to focus on scholastics, and after two years with a 3.9 GPA, I was able to transfer to Colorado State University for the final year of my bachelor degree in Physics. My life centered around CSU for the next five years, first as a student working on my Masters and PhD and writing all kinds of papers about my theories, both good and bad and basically just enjoying my newfound intellect. I wrote some articles for physics journals that were generally well-received, and I guess I got a bit of a reputation as an up-and-coming scientist." He stood with a staccato series of pops as his back re-arranged itself and stretched his arms. "And that's where Dr. Jerrington approached me about working at Alphalabs. I declined at first because I thought I was going to go into teaching, but he kept at it without pushing too hard, and eventually he convinced me to try it. So here we are three years later, with me in charge of the 'nerd-herd'." He flipped her off when she laughed at that last bit, which made them both laugh all the harder.

Once the laughter died down, Mackland asked, "So what about you? What leads an attractive woman down the path to private security guard?"

She flushed slightly at his "attractive" comment, and quickly answered, "Well, I did my time in the military too, eight years in the army, last two assigned to an MP company specializing in high profile security details. We protected everything from high-ranking brass to visiting dignitaries, and they found that a small woman made a great bodyguard, since nobody suspected me. I would usually be the closest to the target, and a few would-be attackers got a big surprise when the woman they thought was a daughter or girlfriend suddenly knocked them on their ass. Kind of funny sometimes—" She stopped as both of them looked back out the front window. "What is that?"

They both heard the new sound coming from outside; barely perceptible, yet low and building like a swarm of bugs flying towards you on a summer day. He got up and walked towards the windows at the front, but even in the bright moonlight, he saw nothing that would account for this new sound.

As the droning grew louder, the other two men woke and groggily came up behind Mackland and Lily. Billy asked, "What the hell is that? It's giving me the creeps." By now the sound had built to a bone-deep buzz they could all feel as well as hear.

Mackland shrugged, "Can't tell. It's still too dark to tell what might be out there. But it's a Big Bitch of noise, that's for sure." Lily quirked an eye up at his description, so he explained. "When I was in the Corps', I had a buddy that was as gung-ho as they came, but he hated the loud noises, from AR rifle shots and tank fire to hand grenades. He used to say the 'Big Bitch' noise was gonna drive him nuts. So anytime I hear something loud or extra annoying, it's a Big Bitch noise. I guess it just kind of stuck with me." Lily chuckled as she went back to watching out the front window. Mackland looked over at Billy and Sean. "You guys should go try to get back to sleep. There's no telling what we're going to have to deal with tomorrow."

Nobody took him up on the suggestion; even if they wanted to, the Big Bitch noise meant sleep wasn't going to be an option, so they elected to stay up and try to see what was going on. Ten minutes of pacing the windows looking for any sign of the cause of the droning sound as it grew and wore on the edges of the group's sanity until Sean pointed off to the western edge of the city block they were on and said, "Look!" Vague shapes were moving in the moonlight like dark clouds hugging the ground.

A moment later Billy also saw something moving on the opposite side of the block near a taller building, and Lily and Mackland saw movement directly in front of them across the park, in front of the maintenance building they had emerged from earlier.

As they strained to make out details of the approaching mass, the Big Bitch noise added a low-frequency vibration, and each of them felt it pulsing through their bones like the steady thrum of a helicopter flying overhead. Mackland knew a headache was coming soon if the constant droning didn't stop, and he massaged his temples as he continued staring out at the undulating mass approaching them.

Soon shapes began to emerge from within the moving shadows surrounding them. "Hey! I think those may be groups of people!" Billy whispered urgently as he pointed out the window. "Yeah, those are definitely people walking this way! Damn, there must be a couple hundred over here."

Sean said from his side of the room, "Yep. That's about what I got over here too."

Mackland tried to hide the anxiety that was growing as she said, "Us too." He paced nervously between Lily and the door. So we have what looks like several hundred people heading our way at the same time. Does anyone else think that's too weird?"

Billy ignored Mackland as he rushed toward the doors and started to pull out the bar from the door handles. He paid full attention; however, when Lily stepped forward and slapped his hand away before could move the bar more than a few inches.

Shaking the injured hand he yelled, "Hey! What the hell was that for?"

Lily thrust a finger in his face as she growled, "We don't know who those people are, what they want, or even where they're going," she threw a quick glance back toward the windows before continuing. "They seem to be headed this way, but we need to ask ourselves why that would be. They don't, or at least they shouldn't, know we are here, and this place has been deserted since we arrived hours ago, so why are there suddenly four or five hundred people converging on us?"

Billy tried to hide his embarrassment at being scolded by this woman they barely knew with a flippant, "Maybe there was some kind of community meeting or a block party, and they are all just coming back." But he didn't try to open the doors again as Lily moved away.

The mobs were now about a hundred yards away, and the Big Bitch noise was giving birth to a symphony of smaller sounds, causing all four of them to look at each other with confusion and rising fear in their eyes. Mackland spoke up first, "Does that sound like moaning and growling to you guys? With some kind of rasping sound underneath it?"

The other three agreed, but none of them had any ideas why so many people would be groaning as they walked toward the bank building. As the mobs closed the distance, they started to converge, and where the edge of one group met another, Mackland could see fights break out; but the fights looked to be awkward and clumsy like what he imagined two extremely old men would look like in battle. Stumbling, falling, haphazard swings, and even some fumbling tackles broke out along the entire edges of the groups that met, and slowed the forward progress of the whole gathering somewhat. But advance they did, and when the first bodies were about twenty-five yards away, the bright moonlight illuminated them to the point where Mackland's group could make out individual characteristics and facial features. All four inside the bank fell silent and stepped back from the doors and windows as they looked at the horde of people about to be at their doorstep, because as far as they could determine, not a single person in the mob outside was alive.
CHAPTER TEN

"Get back!" Lily and Mackland needlessly shouted at the same time, since all four were already backing as far away from the horror outside as they could.

The bodies shuffling outside were in various states of death and decomposition. Their faces were slack and unseeing; mouths open as they created the monotonous groaning vibrating through the entire building. Everywhere they looked was a different panorama of blood, bone, and viscera, a horde of bodies creating a gallery of death. Mackland saw one creature missing huge chunks of flesh from his face, while another trailed a spilling cornucopia of intestines where his stomach should have been. Some bodies had pieces bitten off, while some appeared to have simply sloughed off as time and decay performed their own unstoppable assault. Several in the front ranks were missing arms, and those missing one or more legs drug themselves along at surprisingly good speed, considering their lack of limbs. In addition, for everyone they saw was missing a limb, another carried an extra arm or leg. Mackland noted with revulsion that at least one creature was gnawing at a severed arm like a renfest wizard with a turkey leg from the food court.

Sean stumbled as he backpedaled and fell down hard. "No fucking way! We are not surrounded by zombies!" He looked to the others with panic in his eyes. "Billy? Mack? This can't be real, right?"

Billy seemed to be at a loss for words, which was alarming all by itself, and Mackland replied as they reached the back wall and their gear. "I don't know Sean. They sure as hell look like zombies, and I'm not planning to go out there to ask 'em, so for now that is what I am calling them. Now get your shit together, and let's grab anything we can use as a weapon in case those things get inside, ok?"

Mackland's firm directions seemed to steady Sean somewhat, as he got to his feet and started pawing through the gear, although Mackland saw his hands were still shaking and his breath was coming in short pants.

Lily leaned over to Mackland as they worked on gathering equipment, just as the first of the monsters made it to the glass and began a slow pounding. "Looks like the windows are reinforced plate glass, so it should hold for awhile, but if that whole group keeps pushing on it, we may have trouble. We should fall back to the rear offices near the vault and the back door, that way if they do break in, we can close and bar the inside door between the front lobby and the back hall, and then hopefully make a break out the back once the mob is occupied trying to get in here."

Mackland thought for a moment as he lifted one of the homemade clubs they had made and put a flashlight in his pocket. "The only problem is that we don't have any guarantee that there aren't more of those things surrounding the entire building, and that back room doesn't have any windows. We'd be completely blind back there, and we could walk right into the arms of more of those things." He ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh. "Not to mention we don't even know what they can or can't do, and most importantly, we have no idea how to stop them. At least from here, we can watch them and get some information." He raised his hands to cut off Lily's protest. "I promise, if it starts to look like they are breaking through, we will move to the back room, ok?"

He could see that she wanted to argue her plan further, but she paused as she considered his words. Finally, she agreed, "You're right. I don't like staying where these things can see me, but we need to see them if we are going to figure out how to make our next move."

Mackland turned to the other two. "Guys, let's grab all the other gear and move it to the back room, but keep one eye on the ones out front. Bundle everything as much as possible in case we have to make a quick break for it. Someone put an ear to the back door and see if you can hear anything moving out behind the building or making that same noise as they are out front. But don't open that door for any reason; that's our last resort." The two men nodded as they began gathering up the loose gear.

By now, zombies pressed up against the glass the entire length of the bank storefront. Like a series of waves breaking on the beach, the zombies in the back pushed down those in front as they worked towards the humans cowering behind the thick window. So far, the glass was holding, but occasional creaks and pings echoed as the pressure mounted on the building's outer wall.

Lily tapped Mackland's shoulder and pointed toward a middle-aged woman in a Waffle House waitress uniform missing her left ear and much of the skull behind it. "See that? She has a good bit of brain exposed, and she's still moving. I would say if we're looking for weaknesses, my guess is that you would have to do significant damage to the head to stop them." She directed his gaze to a man in overalls with a melon-sized hole in the left side of his chest surrounded by dried black blood, "I think he is proof that major damage to the body won't do the trick. Plus all the ones missing limbs tell me that loss of blood isn't a factor."

Mackland put his head in his hands and grumbled, "I don't know how many horror movie clichés I can put up with in one day. Not only do we have real honest-to-god zombies running around trying to get at us, but now it looks like we really do have to 'aim for the head'? What's next? They start moaning that they want 'Brains!'?" However, he acknowledged the truth of her words nonetheless. "I used to think the whole "Crush the zombie head or cut it off" method was an easy plot tool for writers that didn't want to figure out an original way to kill a zombie, but it makes sense now that we are looking right at it." He waved to indicate the mob of decaying bodies outside. "The only thing we don't see out there is a zombie missing his head, so that's gotta be it. Dammit."

Lily paced back and forth in the small lobby and let out a shaky laugh, "Yeah, as much as facing a horde of undead zombies can make sense." She turned to Mackland with a smile. "So we go for the head if we have to fight them, and hope like hell the movies are also correct about how slow they are, right Ash?"

Mackland groaned at the Evil Dead reference, "Ash... Really?" They both began to laugh, allowing a bit of the tension of the past few hours to break for just moment.

They recovered their composure just as Billy and Sean came back into the room with questioning looks on their faces. Stifling the last giggles, Lily filled them in on what she and Mackland had observed about the head and brain being a logical weak point. Sean looked decidedly green as they discussed the best method for stopping the monsters; while Billy used a sharpening stone they had found to hone the blade on his machete.
CHAPTER ELEVEN

Daylight approached, revealing evidence of the lack of sleep on all four faces watching the creatures outside assaulting their sanctuary. The sight of blood and viscera smeared thick on the windows combined with the incessant moaning vibrating throughout the building to wear them down like beans in a coffee grinder. Nobody talked, leaving each person preoccupied with their thoughts as they tried to comprehend their situation. Mackland broke the silence just before daybreak. "We are going to have to get water and food, preferably in that order within the next day. Obviously that means we need to figure out a way past our friends out there. They don't seem to be in any hurry to go on about their way, so anybody got ideas? Good, bad, or ugly, let's figure this out."

Lily spoke up, "I hate to say it, but I think we have to check the back door. If it is clear, we can get away and get some space between us and the zombies, and hopefully find food and water."

Sean was shaking his head. "What if it's not clear? Billy and I didn't hear anything at that back door last night, but if we crack it open even a hair, and those things are waiting out there, we're screwed! I'm not going out that door!"

Mackland disagreed. "Sean, look at those things; they aren't smart enough to hang back from the door, if they were back there, we'd hear them right on the door trying to get in. I'd bet that since they can't see anyone back there, they aren't paying any attention to the door. They may be in the area, but we might be able to make a break for it before they know we are there." He looked over at Billy. "What about you?"

Billy hesitated, clearly not liking either suggestion, but finally shrugged apologetically at Sean, "Sorry dude, but we can't just camp here and wait for those things to get inside. We don't have the firepower to hold 'em off. We'd be dead in minutes. We have to do something, and Lily's plan seems as good as it gets."

"Fine. I'll do it, but I still think it's a bad idea wrapped up in bullshit."

With the decision made, they quickly gathered up their gear and moved to the back room, closing the door to the front lobby behind them and pushing a large file cabinet against it as a further safety measure. Lily put her ear against the back door and listened for a few minutes before turning to the men with a shake of her head. "I still don't hear anything outside the door." She whispered. "As soon as I'm outside, stay close to me. The worst thing we can do is to get separated." All three men nodded, trying not to make any more noise than necessary. Lily took a deep breath, turned the handle on the door, and slowly pushed it open.

* * *

Weak daylight pushed its way in through the crack created as the door swung open onto the sidewalk behind the bank. Lily glanced quickly all around ensuring none of the monsters was within reach of the doorway and then took a few quick steps out and to the left before waving the men through. As Mackland stepped up beside her, his breath caught at the sight confronting them. Scores of zombies were milling at either end of the street they had emerged onto, and although they hadn't seemed to notice the group yet, just having large numbers of the creatures less than a hundred yards away, with nothing separating them, was more than a little unnerving.

Billy and Sean pushed close and Sean whispered frantically. "Which way do we go? They have both ends of the street blocked just by sheer numbers. If we go to another building, we could be in the same situation we just came from. We need to get away from here and find someplace to setup base."

During the past twenty-four hours, Mackland and Lily had emerged as the co-leaders of the group by unspoken agreement, and they now shared a look before Lily pointed toward the smaller group of zombies off to their left. "There aren't as many of them over there, and it looks like more of them are crawling, so that's probably our best bet." When nobody disagreed, they readied themselves and their weapons, and hugging the wall of the building, they moved out towards the group of creatures to the left.

Before they had covered half the distance to the monsters, a middle-aged housewife missing the lower half of her jaw, her left eye, and most of her fingers noticed them. She turned what was left of her head and locked her single-eyed gaze on the four advancing toward her. She stopped moving as she watched the four approaching, and they did the same. The early morning breeze carried the stench of decay and death as the four humans stood motionless, waiting to see what she would do. The standoff lasted no more than ten seconds, ending when the rest of the decomposing creatures in the zombie woman's immediate vicinity suddenly turned their heads towards them as a single unit. A huge pregnant pause hung in the space between the two groups filling the air with tense electricity. One group was afraid to breathe, and the other had ceased the need to breathe. With an abruptness like a rubber band snapping, the group of zombies started rushing toward the four survivors, a wave of undead malice determined to destroy these four interlopers on their territory.

Mackland shouted, "Back the other way!" However, as he turned he immediately saw that the group on the other end of the street had also seen them, and was advancing as well. He briefly considered going back into the bank, but quickly rejected the idea as it would leave them surrounded with no avenue of escape. "We have to fight!"

Lily slid beside him, "Mackland and I will go first; you guys watch our backs. Mackland, let's focus on the edge of the group by the street." She pointed towards the ten or so zombies across the street as they started moving. "There are more of the crawlers there, so we should have a better shot at getting to the building behind them."

With a basic plan in place, and time running out, the four ran directly into the face of the undead mob intent on devouring them. Lily was slightly faster than the men were, and closed with the first zombies two steps ahead of Mackland. She thrust out with her improvised spear, aiming for the head of a pizza chef with half of his torso opened to reveal several rotted internal organs and tripping over the ropes of intestines wrapping around his legs. Her first strike was slightly off and her spear thrust through his shoulder and burst out his back. The spear sticking through his torso didn't slow his momentum at all, and she immediately found herself thrusting her hand up under his chin in order to keep his snapping teeth away from her face. He outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds, even with large portions of his body missing, and she quickly fell back with his bulk landing on top of her, trying to get around her hands in order to bite into her soft flesh.

In the matter of seconds it took for Lily to get buried by the fat zombie, Mackland shifted his attack to move closer to her and swung his pipe/club at the head of the nearest monster between them. He pulped the head of the elderly woman trying to grab a hold of his face with fingers worn to bone, and she toppled to the side with the sound of bones cracking like popcorn in a microwave. Mackland quickly reached down and grabbed the fat chef on top of lily, and hauled back as hard as he could. The creature's struggles prevented him from pulling the creature completely clear of Lily, but it was enough to allow her to add her own strength and lever herself from under the creature and back to her feet. She yanked her spear free and drove it through the chef's eye as he clambered at them one last time. Mackland saw her fight back revulsion as she pulled the spear out of the creatures head with a loud slurp.

Billy yelled out from behind them, "We gotta keep moving! These things are coming on faster, and I think there are more behind them!"

Lily and Mackland quickly dispatched several more zombies by concentrating their attacks together, and the four of them maneuvered toward any zombies that were missing legs or had other significant injuries that made them slower than the rest of the mass. As they jumped over a crawling convenience store clerk who snapped and growled at them in passing, they emerged into a semi-clear area that resembled the eye of a hurricane. They only had a few seconds before the mass of zombies shifted their focus and resumed their attack, so Lily and Mackland grabbed Billy and Sean by the arms and shouted, "RUN!"

They made it past the last few zombies in the group that had attacked them, but relief quickly surrendered to despair as they looked up and realized that the huge groups from the front of the bank had already made their way around and were advancing on them with murder in their dead, soulless eyes.

* * *

Faced with hundreds of the undead monsters flowing towards them, Mackland's group slammed to a stop against a wall of indecision. They knew that there were fewer of the monsters behind them, but there were still too many for them to fight. Frantic searching of the area around them confirmed that they had no easy means of escape. Sean pointed to a building across the street that looked like an older tenement, with crumbling walls and broken windows throughout; but his focus was on the metal structure barely visible on the side of the building. "Is that a fire escape?"

Mackland looked in the direction he pointed, "I can't tell for sure from here, but it looks like it, so what?"

"These things have us cut off in every direction, and if we do get into a building, we won't have time to block the doors to keep them from getting in. But if we can make it to that fire escape, we should be able to get to higher ground, and they don't look like they have the coordination to climb something like that. We can at least buy ourselves some time, which we're running out of down here." With no more time to discuss options, Mackland and Lily nodded to each other and all four quickly started sprinting towards the slim glimmer of hope shining from the rusty ladder and scaffold across the street.

The entire mass of zombies from both ends of the street began converging towards them as they crossed the toward the fire ladder. A huge roar suddenly erupted from the back of the mob, unlike anything the group had heard before now. Incredibly deep and loud, it was a sound that could not have come from a human mouth, living or undead. The roar stirred a primal fear in all four of the humans running across the street, and made them involuntarily pause as they reached the sidewalk on the far side to look back for the source of the horrifying sound. Like a shark parting water in the ocean, something was knocking zombies aside as it came towards them at twice the speed of the shambling undead. Clearing the front of the pack, Mackland realized it could have been the twin of the demon wolf they had encountered on arriving in the park.

In the daylight, he could see that the creature was some type of mutated zombie cross between a Rottweiler and a wolf. Twice the size of a large wolf, the beast was three hundred pounds of muscle and fangs covered by bloody flesh. Two gimlet eyes like hot coals glared at the four of them with undisguised hunger and malice as it charged across the street. The sight of the beast spurred them into action; shooting Lily halfway up the ladder to the first landing, with Billy was starting up right behind her. Sean was yelling for both above him to go faster and that a demon hound was going to eat them all, leaving Mackland backed towards the fire escape. He couldn't take his eyes off the huge zombie wolf while thinking the beast was about to take its revenge for their killing of its twin or mate. He bumped up against the ladder and saw Sean's foot level with this face. He quickly scrambled up the rungs towards the rest of the group already working their way to the second floor landing. Just as with mountain climbing, he was completely focused on not missing a step or a handhold and falling to the beasts below, so he never saw the huge wolf bunch its powerful legs and leap the final twenty-five feet to the fire escape Mackland clung to. His first indication that something was wrong was when a monstrous paw swiped across his leg. Raggedly sharp claws tore a pair of gashes across his calf, eliciting a scream of pain at the burning pain in his leg. The pain and surprise swirled together to knock Mackland's grip loose from the ladder before he could catch himself. He fell several feet before finally hooking his arm on a rung mere feet above the snapping jaws of the wolf. He struggled to pull himself back up, glancing down to see the zombie wolf opening its maw preparing for a final leap that would pull Mackland back down where it could devour him at leisure. From the screaming and yelling coming from above him Mackland knew that his friends could see what he already knew; there was no way he could get high enough to get out of range of the deadly jaws about to rip him from the ladder. He cocked his foot back vowing not to go without a fight and preparing to knock at least a few wolf teeth out as they closed on his foot. In the second before the beast ripped his foot off and pulled him down, a huge boom came from the end of the street, surprising Mackland yet again as the creature's head and part of its upper torso exploded into mist.
CHAPTER TWELVE

Mackland shook his head to clear it and pulled his foot up to the ladder rung before he looked up to see Billy pointing behind him. Billy's mouth was moving, but no sound penetrated the ringing in his ears from what could only have been a gunshot at close range. Following Billy's finger, he saw a group of about thirty people moving toward the horde of zombies in a mixture of several cars, trucks, and a couple of dirt bikes, firing as they advanced. Shotguns, rifles, and handguns were all barking loudly as the newcomers cut down zombies by the dozens. The hundreds of undead turned as one to face the new threat, allowing Mackland to pull himself to the relative safety of the second landing with the rest of his group. As he caught his breath, he watched the new group cutting a swath of bloody destruction through the monsters now attacking them.

Lily yelled over above the sounds of battle mixed with the Big Bitch noise of undead moaning, "That must be their leader!" She pointed at a dark skinned man near the front of the approaching group, wading through zombies with a menacing black sawed off shotgun blasting large chunks of heads and torsos with every shot. He was not a tall man, probably 5'9 or so, but with broad shoulders and a thick torso. From this distance it was impossible to make out facial characteristics, but Mackland had the feeling that he had seen the man somewhere before. The leader had three other fighters on either side of him with various guns blasting away at zombies, sending red mist and bone shard explosions in a widening path as they advanced towards Mackland's group. Running out of ammunition for his shotgun, he suddenly reached over his back, slid a large samurai sword free of its scabbard, and decapitated the zombie directly in front of him with a smooth slash. His return stroke left another creature with ragged bone and sinew where his left arm had been seconds ago. As he moved forward, he continued to decimate undead men and women with every swing of his now gore-encrusted blade. His fighters formed a phalanx and their combined firepower was clearing a significant portion of the horde on their end of the street.

As they approached to within a hundred feet of Mackland's group, Sean suddenly gave the others a questioning look and indicated the man leading the group below. "Umm...Does that look like Dr. Jerrington to anyone else?"

The other three saw it and nodded as soon as Sean asked the question; there was no doubt that the man leading the rescue was Dr. Bradley Jerrington or his twin brother, if he had one. It was both reassuring and unsettling at the same time to see something in this new world that directly corresponded to something in their world. The similarity to the Dr. Jerrington they knew was striking, until the man looked up at them. Locking gazes with Mackland across the distance, there was no sign of recognition in his eyes, just a ferocity fed by the mayhem he was inflicting on the monsters all around him. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted up to them, "We can clear a spot below you within a couple minutes, but there will be hundreds more Psidead continuing to roll in here the longer we take, so you guys need to get down here as soon as we give you the word so we can get clear before we get overrun!"

Mackland gave the Jerrington-twin a thumbs up to acknowledge his instructions and moved with his companions toward the ladder at the center of their landing in order to be ready the instant the area below was clear. He filed the name the man had used for the monsters away for the time being while making a mental note to find out as much as he could about the zombies, demon hounds and any other threats as soon as they had a chance to breathe and speak. They watched as their rescuers cleared the space for about thirty feet around the ladder hanging down from their fire escape. The leader yelled "Now!", and they quickly filed down the ladder starting with Sean and Billy, Lily, and finally Mackland. As soon as their feet hit the pavement, three of the fighters at the back of the protective circle waved for them to follow, and began working their way back toward the vehicles. Very few Psidead had made their way past the fighters left at the vehicles, so it was only a matter of minutes before they were inside the relative safety of the back of a pickup truck watching the rest of the fighters and their leader rushing back to join them with hundreds of the Psidead close behind. As they watched, one of the fighters slipped on a puddle of blood and viscera, and the few seconds delay between falling to his knees and trying to jump back up were all that the lead monsters need to fall upon him. Half a dozen rotting hands grabbed his ankles and lower legs and dragged him back screaming and firing his pistol into the mass of seething undead. In seconds, he was buried beneath a seething mass of undead fighting to pull gobbets of flesh from the fresh body.

The leader hesitated for a second clearly weighing his options before waving the other fighter on toward the vehicles. "There's too many of them and we're low on ammo! Get back to the vehicles!" He gave one last look back at the swarm of zombies crawling over the spot his fighter had disappeared before dropping his head and following to the vehicles. As soon as he jumped to the runner of one of the lead trucks, he waved above his head to signal the others, "Move out, move out!" With a rumble of engines turning over, they finally put the hell of Pueblo behind them.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Mackland stared over the tailgate as the last of the Psidead fell away behind them as the convoy raced away from the hordes of zombies. They drove nonstop until the town was no longer visible, on a stretch of road with nothing but open fields of grass on both sides. A few miles farther along revealed the beginning of a wooded area with a side road leading into a KOA campground that had seen better days. The familiar A frame registration building had several large holes in both sides of the roof, and most of the windows were broken, in addition to the front door hanging loosely on its hinges. The trucks pulled inside the gates, and people dismounted as the vehicles found parking spots, while several pairs of individuals with assault rifles spread out to establish a perimeter during their stop.

The stocky leader got out of his vehicle and walked up to Mackland's group. He smiled warmly and offered his hand to Mackland, who shook it firmly. Billy spoke up, "Damn lucky break you found us Dr. Jerrington! Don't think we would have made it off of that fire escape if you and the cavalry hadn't showed up!"

The man looked somewhat confused at Billy's enthusiastic gratitude, and gave a slight frown as he responded, "Not sure where you got the idea that I'm a doctor, but you seem to know my last name, which means you have the advantage, as I have no idea who you are." Thrusting his hand towards Billy, he said, "Name is Brad Jerrington, and I'm glad we could pull you folks out of that nest of Psidead." He gave Billy's hand a perfunctory shake, and Mackland got the impression it was more out of necessity than an offer of friendliness. "But before we go any farther, I need to know who you are, and more importantly, how it is you seem to know me."

Mackland and Lily shared a look as Billy muttered something that sounded like "Crazy bastard" too quietly for Jerrington to pick up, and Mackland decided they needed to get a better handle on their situation before confiding in this man that looked like his boss.

"I think Billy said he heard someone call you Dr. Jerrington, but he must have just heard the last name." He said, pulling Jerrington's attention back to him.

"But—," Billy suddenly jumped away from Lily and started rubbing the back of his arm. "What the—, something big just bit me!" Still rubbing the spot on his arm, he turned back to Jerrington, "Yeah, I must have heard it wrong with all the crazy zombie shit goin on." He gave a shaky laugh as he shrugged his shoulders. As soon as Jerrington turned away, Billy flipped Lily off behind his back. Lily just smiled and continued listening to Mack and Jerrington.

Mackland continued, "Anyway, we really appreciate the save back there. What the hell were those things? You called them the Psidead?"

"You don't know about the Psidead? I can't say that I've heard anyone claim that in quite a long while. I am even more intrigued to find out the story of how you came to be in Pueblo surrounded by hundreds of the Psidead zombies you know nothing about. I'm sure it is a fascinating tale."

Taking a risk, Lily chimed in, "These guys are scientists, and I'm their graduate assistant. We've been working on an energy research project in the northern wilderness without any access to media." Not knowing how long ago things had gone to hell here, she remained intentionally vague as to how long they had been in the wild. "When we came back down to civilization, we found all the devastation, so we decided to come farther down south to see if things were better. When we got here to Colorado, we made camp in the bank the night before we met your group." She hoped that by combining just enough truth about their occupations and research while being vague as to the specifics of their fictional trip, Jerrington would buy her story.

His relaxed stance indicated he bought most of it, at least. "I suppose I can understand the surprise you must have had upon returning from your research. Even living with this every day, there are still nights I wake up not believing what happened to the world. I can only imagine what it must be like to find yourself thrust into this." Mackland and the others relaxed slightly as Jerrington gave them a sympathetic smile. "Your disorientation is understandable, and hopefully I can help you put some of the pieces together." When the four merely nodded, he continued. "Those things back there are just what they appeared to be; what the media and other less educated masses refer to as zombies, undead, walking corpses, whatever you want to call them, but with a significant change." He paused and shook his head, "But I'm getting ahead of myself. I suppose since you are totally in the dark here, I should go back to the beginning, and explain how all of this came about so you can better understand what makes them different, and why we call them the Psidead."

Glancing at his watch, he clapped his hands together and gestured towards a large truck parked near one of the covered picnic shelters. "But first, I'm sure you folks are hungry after your excitement this morning. Please, head over and get some lunch, and then find a spot to put down your gear and get settled. Let's meet back here this evening to continue our conversation."

* * *

Mackland's group spent the rest of the day exploring the camp, talking to some of the other members of Jerrington's group and enjoying a couple of warm meals. They found an open area near the western edge of the camp where they could set their gear. It had the added bonus of being near one of the many fire pits scattered throughout the camp. Shortly after lunch, Billy and Mackland spent thirty minutes gathering some firewood and kindling so they could have a decent fire when it was time to hit the rack.

Shortly before dusk, a runner came by requesting their presence back at Jerrington's tent. Ten minutes later, they were sitting around a fire as Jerrington picked up his earlier tale.

"Get comfortable folks, this might take a few minutes." They all found a spot and listened attentively as he began his story. "Guess it was about a year and a half ago when the first reports came in about a new drug hitting the market that was a better hallucinogen than LSD or PCP, but without the side effects like psychosis and loss of control. It was, of course, highly addictive, but it wasn't until six months after the drug first hit the street that some of the more 'interesting' side effects began to surface. Users started claiming that they could read each other's thoughts when they were tripping, and some even believed they were influencing other's thoughts. News reports and local officials started calling the drug 'Psikick' based on these initial reports, and doctors and scientists started researching the drug's effects to see if there was any validity to the reports from users."

Billy couldn't keep quiet. "You mean they believed a bunch of drug users?"

"Correct, and the scientists and academics actually found that the users weren't just blowing smoke. They performed standard ESP tests; the kind using Zener cards with certain symbols that the subject can't see and asking them to tell what is on the card. Their findings were nothing short of amazing. While under the influence of Psikick, the junkies were able to identify pictures on Zener cards that they had no way of seeing. Then the test subjects began picking out private thoughts from the scientists minds, and the testing came to a quick halt. No researcher wanted to have a druggie spilling all of their personal dirty laundry, so they published only their initial findings and left it at that." He held up a finger. "However, around that same time another side effect started to become apparent as user's mental abilities when not on Psikick diminished. The timing varied, but once the mental decay began, it rapidly progressed and within a few months proved to be one hundred percent fatal."

Mackland interrupted, "One hundred percent mortality rate? How is that even possible? Even Ebola and Smallpox were only ninety percent fatal at their worst. Somebody must have survived!"

Jerrington shook his head slowly. "Psikick acts like nothing made by man or nature. Once a person is addicted, they have signed their own death warrant." He glanced around at the activity of the camp around them before he continued. "We had a few scientists in our group at the beginning, and they told me that hundreds of doctors and scientists tried to determine what it was doing, and how to stop it, but that the drug constantly changes and mutates once in the body. Nobody was able to prove anything conclusively, but the best minds believed that the drug not only enhanced the part of the brain controlling psychic abilities, but several other areas as well, with the end result being that those areas burned out as the drug built up in the users system."

"So the problem was solved, right?" Lily asked. "Those that were addicted died, and those that were left were too afraid to use the drug anymore?"

Jerrington shook his head. "You would think so, but that's where things got really bad. You see, Psikick was an impressive drug, in that it had a lot of positive effects and initially at least, no negative effects. By the time the negative side effects did begin to manifest, the usage rate had gone through the roof, with almost 40% of the population in the US having tried it, and once you try it, you don't stop. Other countries had similar stats, and even the threat of death couldn't break the hold that Psikick had on its victims. As people started dying, most believed that to be the end of the problem, but it was just the beginning. Within weeks of the first burials, reports started coming in of bodies being removed from graves. A few days later, the even more disturbing reports began that the dead were rising on their own!"

He paused as one of his fighters approached to report that the perimeter was secure, and scouts had declared a one-mile perimeter around their camp secure. Jerrington nodded, "Go ahead and setup camp and set sentry duties. And have Ming come join us as soon as he can." The fighter left to carry out the orders as Jerrington finished his story.

"So the dead were rising, which was bad enough, since they were stronger than us, and they wanted to kill anything and anyone they came across. The Psikick in their system appears to become more concentrated after death somehow, and the assumption is that the drug enhances and animates other cells in the body just as it does the brain cells during life. The drug provides two final kicks at this stage; it becomes so concentrated in the cells of the dead, that a single bite from them that is deep enough can transfer the drug to the victim, starting the cycle over and creating more zombies, spreading like a plague. The final kick is that the drug not only animates the dead bodies, but it allows for a type of limited short-range telepathy." Mackland shuddered at the memory of the zombies in the alley behind the bank, as they had simultaneously focused on his group. He shook his head and focused as Jerrington continued, "This creates an almost hive mentality when clusters of the Psidead get together, and while it doesn't increase their intelligence, it allows them to share focus, and if one Psidead sees a victim, every Psidead within about a hundred yards will instantly focus on that victim."

Mackland nodded, "Yeah, we saw that back in the bank. It seemed like they moved together as group whenever one of them would see us." As he thought back on that attack, another question came to mind. "What about those big ass demon hounds?"

Jerrington laughed at Mackland's description, "Ah yes, the Psidogs...Well, there isn't anything official, but from what we have seen, it looks like the drug can affect animals as well as humans. Our best guess is that since the Psidead don't discriminate in what they attack, they had infected various animals, who then attack and infect other animals, spreading like rabies. The drug affects different animals in various ways, sometimes damaging them to the point that they cannot reanimate, and sometimes enhancing them as in the case of the Psidogs. However, even by Psidog standards that we have seen that creature back there was unusually large. I would think it must have been some type of wolf/dog crossbreed before it was bitten."

He stood and stretched as another man approached. "Excellent timing as usual, Ming." He made the introductions, "Folks, this is my second-in-command, Ming Tao. One of the best fighters I've seen, and does a pretty good job making the crappy rations we have out here into something palatable." Ming shook hands with everyone and took a seat by the fire as Jerrington looked at Mackland. "Well, now that Ming is here, and you have some background on what got us into the situation we find ourselves, how about you folks tell us a little bit about yourselves?"

Mackland's companions were stunned when he said, "Seems fair enough. What do you know about parallel universes?"
CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Jerrington sagged back in his seat as Mackland described how his group had arrived back in Pueblo, but he barely heard anything the other man said over the roaring in his head.

Listening in on the Psidead creatures was draining by itself, and attempting to control even one or two of the monsters was enough to make him dizzy after less than ten minutes. Tonight was his first time attempting to control a group this large, and he was paying for it. The pounding in his head was combining with an overwhelming lethargy, threatening to make him pass out in front of these new strangers.

He forced his eyes to stay open and focused on Mackland as the other continued talking, while organizing his thoughts for the final task he had to complete before allowing himself to sleep. "Can't lose focus now! Just a few more minutes, and then I can rest". Clarity of thought was the most important factor for what he was about to do, and he took several calming breaths before broadcasting his orders.

<Stay away from bright fire on road> He sent the thought to the dozen Psidead that had demonstrated the highest level of responsiveness to his commands, and knowing the rest would follow their lead.

<Go to mountain> That should send the bulk of the Psidead off to the west, effectively penning them in for the time being, as they wouldn't be able to get past the mountain, and would simply wander aimlessly until they got further instructions.

He shook himself as one of the strangers asked if he was all right. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. Simply exhausted from the day's events. I'm afraid I will have to finish this conversation tomorrow. I'm falling asleep on my feet, it seems."

The others said they understood and needed some rest as well, and after a round of handshaking and thank-you's, he turned and headed towards his tent. Walking away, he sent one last command to the Psidead zombie he had come to think of as his lieutenant. <Keep your group close. Don't attack unless I say.> Although marginally smarter than the other Psidead zombies, his lieutenant was still incapable of complex strategy and planning, so simple and clear was always the best choice.

* * *

As Jerrington bid the others a good night and left for his tent, Mackland struggled to control himself and keep from laughing at the expressions on his companions faces. They were obviously surprised that he would give up so much information to people that they didn't know, regardless of their previous actions to save Mackland's group. He just hoped they would go along with him for the moment, as he had no intention of giving Jerrington or his people any real information. He wanted to buy some time so they could feel out their hosts and the situation they found themselves in.

Mackland continued weaving a tale for Ming about their project in a remote research station located in the northern wilderness near Kamloops, BC. Merging truth with fiction, he described a project focused on isolating and identifying individual energy signatures with specific quantum resonances, citing the lack of background energy signals as the reason for performing the experiments in such a remote location. "We typically stayed at the research site for a few weeks at a time, until we needed supplies. About three months ago, we packed up and headed into town as usual, but five miles outside of Kamloops, we saw things weren't right. From the woods, we saw plumes of smoke coming from the direction of town, and as soon as we hit the main road out of the woods, we started seeing vehicles abandoned; as we got closer to town, the number increased. We also started seeing bodies, both in vehicles and along the road. We made it into town only to find it completely ransacked and deserted. Looters had cleaned out anything of value, and fires had been set in many of the buildings, I assume to cover up evidence, but it could have been just plain old-fashioned assholes for all I know." He glanced around at the group, and was amused to see that Lily, Billy, Sean were listening as intently as the other to his story. "We didn't stick around long once we realized we couldn't restock there. We figured we had enough gas to make it to the next town south, and were hoping whatever happened would be isolated to Kamloops, so we headed south with what we had."

Ming asked, "I'm guessing you found out that cell phones were out as well?"

Mackland mentally kicked himself for missing such an obvious detail. "Oh yeah, forgot about that little surprise. We had no signal out in the research station, so we didn't even try until we got close to town, but once we started seeing bodies, Billy kind of freaked out a little bit and tried to make a call. I have to admit we were all a little spooked when there was no recorded messages, no tones, nothing." This last part was a guess based on his limited knowledge of cellular networks, and judging from the lack of reaction by Ming, he must have been correct. He breathed a small sigh of relief before continuing.

"Anyway, we made it to the next little town, I don't even remember what it was called, and found it was pretty much the same as Kamloops. We were almost out of gas and food, so we decided to do a more thorough search before moving on. We got lucky and found a gas station on the east side of town that hadn't been completely ransacked, probably because it was so far out near the wilderness. Looters had gotten some stuff, but we were able to find some food and a case of bottled water that had been covered by a rack of tourist clothes that got knocked over. Of course, the gas pumps were dead without any electricity, but we found an old hand pump in the back of the station and after about two hours to figure out a way to hook it to the underground tanks, we finally got enough gas to fill the tank and get back on the road. We drove pretty much non-stop except for gas and food when we had to, and then it was only long enough to scavenge what we needed and keep going. Even so, what should have been twenty four hours of drive time took us almost a week with all the detours and road clearing we ended up having to do along the way." Standing, he stretched to relieve the stiffness of sitting after so much activity earlier.

Ming spoke into the pause, "You didn't see any Psidead along the way?"

Mackland thought quickly. "No, and I was wondering about that since we ran into them back in town. The only thing I can figure is that they must disperse once there isn't anything left alive in the area, and we didn't stick around long enough to draw them back."

"I suppose that could explain it. Sorry to interrupt, please continue Dr. Luther."

"We eventually made it back down to Pueblo, and found that maintenance shed back in the park, figured it looked like a good spot to camp for the night, and setup camp."

He described their encounter with the first Psidog, and their decision to move to the bank for security before the hordes of Psidead surrounded them. He was partway through their escape from the bank when a loud scream rolling in from the far side of their camp interrupted him, followed by loud shouts and gunfire. Everyone came to their feet, and Ming spoke over his shoulder as he headed toward the sounds of fighting. "Stay here until I figure out what's happening."

They all watched him move away and looked at each other nervously for a few seconds before Lily called out to Ming's retreating back, "We need our weapons if those things found us. I'm not gonna be a sitting duck for those Psidead!"

Ming turned back to them and considered for a moment, but quickly agreed. "Stay here, and I'll send someone right back with your weapons."

As soon as Ming was out of earshot, Mackland quickly called the other three together as gunshots rang from several points near where Jerrington had headed. "Listen, we only have a few minutes. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about telling Jerrington and Ming anything specific about the Collector or how we really got here, so I decided to wing it with that story. Just stick with it, and if anyone asks, don't get into details and we should be ok. That will give us some time to figure out what we've gotten into, and if we decide to confide in Jerrington and his people later, we can. Right now, I have a theory as to how we can get back to our own universe, but I want to work some of the details out with you guys before we try anything. As soon as this crisis is over, let's see what we can figure out before we tell them anything else."

The others agreed just as a young fighter returned with their weapons, which he placed near the fire saying, "Ming radioed me and said it looks like a group of about twenty Psidead surprised the guards on the west observation point, killing two fighters before they were taken down by our people. Scouts are out securing the perimeter right now, but you need to be ready in case any more Psidead show up unannounced. Grab your weapons," he pointed towards an open box truck twenty yards away, "and some MRE's. Get some sleep while you can. Ming said he would make sure someone wakes you immediately if we're attacked again."

Although they were all exhausted from the morning of running from the Psidead, the adrenaline-rush from the most recent attack wouldn't let them sleep just yet. After grabbing some sleeping bags and settling down in a spot away from prying ears, yet near enough to a fire to stay somewhat warm and have some light by which to see each other, they discussed their plans for the coming days.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Lily stretched out in her sleeping bag and shook her hair out of the ponytail it had been in since they arrived and Mackland watched with just a bit too much intensity as the long red curls fell down around her shoulders. He caught himself and quickly looked away, but not before Billy gave a small snort of laughter as he caught Mackland's lingering gaze. Before he could get further flustered and alert Lily, Mackland cleared his throat and asked if anyone had anything to share before discussing his theories.

Lily gave a soft groan as she pushed closer to the fire and said, "We definitely need to see if these guys will give us some better weapons. Sticks and machetes are better than nothing, but guns and grenades are what we need if we are going to have to deal with telepathic zombies and mutant wolf-dogs."

Sean, who had been quiet for most of the day, added, "No shit. Smacking hundreds of those zombie bastards with a stick doesn't seem like the best way to handle things. And these people look like they have enough guns to spare a few. I'll ask Ming first thing in the morning." He gave Mackland a questioning look. "So what is this theory you have? Please tell me you know how we can get the hell out of here, and back to where we came from."

"Well, it's only a theory, and I really need Billy to get some tools and make some adjustments to the Collector to see if it can do what I am thinking, but if he can do it, I think we can at least get out of this universe, and hopefully back to our own, if we want to."

"Whoa! Wait a minute! What do you mean; 'hopefully', and 'if we want to' get back to our own universe?" Billy asked.

"Look, you guys know how the Frame works; and how the Collector focuses the Frame. It isn't made to find specific universes, just the highest energy concentrations where universes split." He pointed to Billy. "You know more about the inner workings of the Collector than anyone, so tell me this, what do you think happened when the power pack exploded while we were in the Frame?"

"I don't have any idea! I didn't even see it ex-...Wait, did you say the whole power pack exploded? So you saw the pack actually blow apart?"

Mackland nodded, "Yep. Little glowing pieces went in every direction while we were in that funky color show. As soon as it blew, the force knocked us out of the funhouse tunnel and we ended up in that shed."

Billy thought about that. "Ok, so let's assume we were actually travelling inside the Frame between universes, which I'm still not convinced is possible; but if we were, then the power that was being fed back into the Collector power pack would have been building inside the individual storage cells that make up the power pack. So the sparks flying in every direction would have to have been individual energy cells. And that's the primary problem. Even if I can build a new power pack and get the Collector working again, without those energy cells, we can't use the Collector to identify a causal point with enough power to keep the Frame open long enough for us to travel."

Mackland tapped a finger to his chin as he followed Billy's logic. "That's what I was afraid of. Here's my thought. If you get the Collector to power up, would it be possible to reconfigure the sensors to scan for and detect the energy signature given off by the energy cells from the destroyed power pack?"

"I think so, but I'd have to build a basic power pack just to get the Collector running, and then basically design and build a secondary system within the primary systems dedicated to scanning for the specific energy signature of the energy cells." He took a deep breath. "But there's another problem."

Sean sighed dramatically, "Isn't there always?"

"Yeah, seems like it. And it's actually two problems; even if we can get the Collector to scan for the energy cells, we don't have any guarantee that any of the cells are even in this universe with us, and scanning into other universes would be almost impossible without those original energy cells. But the last problem is the biggest in terms of us getting home. There are five energy cells in the original power pack, each with one fifth of the overall stored power from the last trip through nullspace. In order to target a causal point and just hold the gate open long enough for us to go through requires ten percent of the total power; but targeting the specific causal point in nullspace we came from requires significantly more power."

Mackland looked up. "That actually brings me to the 'if we want to' part...I don't know about you guys, but I'm not sure I want to go back to our universe." At their shocked expressions, he held up his hands. "Hold on. I'm not saying I don't want to go back ever. Just that this is a hell of an opportunity, the ability to go to different universes! What if we just went to a few different ones before we tried to go back home?"

Sean spoke with typical aplomb, "Mack, I know how you like to go off on anything that looks like an adventure, but I want to know we can back home first. Why not go home and then focus on using the Collector to travel to other worlds?"

"Well for one thing, we don't even know for sure that we can target our home universe. And even if we can, it will use more power than we have here now." Billy nodded his head in confirmation as Mackland continued. "So we stand a better chance of targeting our home universe if we can collect more of the energy cells." He gave a Cheshire Cat grin as Sean started to object. "And it's another universe, for God's sake! We might never get another chance like this!"

Lily interrupted, "Ok, I admit I can't follow half of what you brainiacs are talking about, but I can do the math, so let me make sure I understand. You're saying that Billy needs to do some nerd magic to get the Collector to even turn on, and if he can do that, we need to find an energy cell before we can open a Frame to get the hell out of here, but we have no idea where we would end up, right?" The men nodded, and Billy mumbled something about "dumbing down his genius," which she pointedly ignored. "So the big question is how many of the energy cell things do we have to find to get back to our own universe?"

Billy looked at the other three and shrugged his shoulders. "There's no way to know until we actually try it, since I never expected to travel using the Collector, much less have to find my way back from another universe, but based on my original specs, it could be as many as four of the five."

Mackland turned his head so the others wouldn't see the grin splitting his face.

* * *

Jerrington tossed fitfully on the minimal sleeping pallet he used when on the road. Sleep was never a deep, restful experience for him since he had taken the huge dose of Psikick long ago, so there was no sense trying to make himself comfortable at the expense of efficiency. Yet his slumber was more troubled than normal tonight as voices and sounds crashed through his subconscious. <Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat.> The same phrase seemingly uttered from dozens of mouths, all within his head, mixed within a miasma of groans, moans, and growls, and all threatening to drown him unless he regained consciousness. His dreams twisted in the tumultuous chaos within his skull...

/Looking down at the pills in his hand, it was hard to believe that something so small could have taken away everything he loved. No matter that the whole world was going to hell in a hand basket, these god-damn pills were responsible for the loss of his beautiful Marta and their daughter Lisa all those months ago. Torn apart by a mob of Psidead like a pack of dogs fighting over table scraps and scattered across that alley-...No. It wasn't something he could think about, there was nothing he could do to change it. But he could join them, finally.

He had saved for the past few months and managed to get enough to afford a huge dose of the popular and deadly Psikick drug. <Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat.> Addiction to the intense high and telepathic effects of the drug had driven the price through the roof, regardless of the reports indicating that the drug was responsible for massive numbers of deaths. Not even the most recent scientific reports that indicated the drug was also creating the Psidead zombies was enough to overcome simple supply and demand economics, leaving the price for a single dose on the black market was astronomically high. But he had gotten the money, and finally found a dealer with the amount he wanted, so after a few half-hearted warnings from the slime ball that taking too many at once would kill him, he held twenty doses of the drug that had taken everything from him. Now all he had to do was swallow them and he would get everything back. <Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat.>

/Opening his eyes, he was disappointed to find himself still lying in the dirty apartment he had moved into after the girls were killed. Dammit! Twenty of the fucking pills should have killed him ten times over! Why did he wake up? He didn't even feel any different, other than maybe a bad hangover headache. Sitting up slowly and looking around the room, he tried to figure out what went wrong. <Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat.> The pounding in his head was extremely distracting, however, and as he thought about the pounding of the blood pulsing through the over-pressurized vessels and capillaries in his head, the pressure suddenly subsided slightly. The more he focused on the painful throbbing, the less severe it became, until the headache was gone altogether, but Jerrington didn't give it a second thought at the time.

/A few days later...physically, he had never felt better. All of his previous aches and pains, even the old shoulder injury that had bothered him since high school, were gone as if they had never existed. It seemed all he had to do was concentrate on something that wasn't right within his body, and he could intuitively identify and correct the problem from within. <Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat.> He still wasn't sure how, but he knew it had to be a side effect of the drug he had taken. The thought both excited and scared the hell out of him, because mentally and emotionally, he was on a roller coaster ride of manic depressive cycling unlike anything he could have imagined. One moment he was content and filled with purpose as he worked at finding out how to use his physical abilities to help others, the next he was practically suicidal with guilt over the thought he could be any kind of happy with his girls gone.<Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat.> There was no rhyme or reason, just chaos...

Chaos. Jerrington cried out as he sat up with his hands to his temples, and stared around his tent with wild eyes. "Damn! What have the monsters done now?" He tried to collect his thoughts and scan for some sign of the Psidead he had left patrolling around the camp, but the adrenaline still coursing through his body from his nightmare robbed his ability to focus for the moment. Ever since he took the drug, his life had been chaos. At first, manageable chaos, but increasingly overwhelming. Over the past months, he had become more adept at controlling his thoughts and sending them out to those Psidead that were most receptive, whether because of intellect or the amount of Psikick they had used while still alive, he wasn't sure which. Why they were receptive didn't matter, just that they were. By controlling selected individuals and allowing them to guide the actions of the other Psidead around them, he could steer much larger groups than if he tried to control them individually. The only drawback <Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat.> that he had found was that repeated connection to these Psidead seemed to leave his mind open to them when he was <Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat.> asleep or otherwise weakened; however, it hadn't been a problem. Had it? <Kill. Eat. Find. Kill. Eat. There is food. Kill!>

No. He wanted nothing more than to be rid of these strangers, but he was certain that they had answers to some of his most pressing problems, and until he had those answers, he would have to work at earning their trust. Now it seemed that some of the idiot Psidead were putting that in jeopardy, so he grabbed a jacket from the chair he had draped it over and ran out into the night to stop his creatures.

* * *

Lily was stunned. "Eight? I thought you said that the energy cells went in multiple directions when it exploded. What are the chances that eight of the cells are on this world?"

Billy shrugged again. "Theoretical physics is more Mack's area. I just build the stuff with buttons and shiny lights that make it work."

Mackland thought for a moment before answering. "We're still just touching on how nullspace works, and the ways that it interacts with multiple universes. All we have ever done before is tap in, get what energy we can and get out. So the honest answer is, I have no idea." He looked at each of his teammates before continuing. "But my best guess is that we will be extremely lucky to find even the first energy cell here to even open the Frame. Those energy cells are probably scattered across more than one world in one or more universes."

Lily sat down heavily and looked at Mackland with flickering hope in her eyes. "So what do we do?"

"First we get some sleep, then in the morning, we find the tools for Billy, give him some time to make the changes to the Collector, and see if we can get a track on one of the energy cells." Spreading out his sleeping bag next to the fire, Mackland stretched out his overworked muscles and joints with an audible groan.

Hours later Lily woke up and lay staring into the flames as she tried to come to grips with everything she had suddenly been thrust into. She couldn't believe less than forty-eight hours before she had been working at Alphalabs, and now she was supposedly in a different universe facing zombies and mutant dogs. It was still too much for her to grasp, no matter how she tried. Lost in her thoughts, she was interrupted by a scratching sound from just beyond the ring of light provided by the fire. She grabbed one of the machetes and scanned all around trying to find what was making the sound. She considered waking the others, but decided that it would be embarrassing if she raised an alarm for nothing more than a raccoon rustling in the brush, and decided to find out more before rousing anyone.

Quietly rising out of her sleeping bag she crept toward the direction the sound had come from; looking for any sign of movement, tensing in anticipation of whatever threat might appear. She strained to see beyond the firelight, trying to make out where the nearest sentries were posted and hoping to find some backup.

The sound hadn't repeated since she first heard it, and she was just turning to head back toward her sleeping bag thinking it had just been her imagination when a blur of fur, fangs, and claws streaked out of the brush and hit her behind the knees, sending her sprawling with a grunt.

"That sure as hell wasn't a raccoon!" She growled as she rolled to her feet and swung the machete to point in the direction the creature had run to after hitting her. Backing toward the fire, she didn't look away from darkness. She kicked the first body she came too, which happened to be Sean, who gasped at the abrupt interruption to his sleep.

Shaking his head as he tried to clear the cobwebs, he muttered, "What the hell?" just before his eyes widened and the last vestiges of sleep fled as he saw Lily standing over him with a machete drawn and waving toward the darkness.

As he scrambled to his feet, Lily hissed, "Something just tackled me at the knees and ran back into the dark! Some kind of animal I think, size of a large dog or a bear cub, I don't know. But it was pretty strong and fast. And it didn't make much noise."

Sean quickly woke the others, and within minutes, all four stood with weapons drawn and ready to face the threat.

* * *

Lily spoke without taking her eyes from the spot she had last seen the beast disappear. "One of you guys go tell Ming something is going on. I don't see any sentries, and I was pretty sure he left a few close to here."

Billy quickly left to do as she asked while Mackland and Sean closed ranks, standing back to back to back with Lily to cover all directions. They were all aware of the silence that seemed to have blanketed the area; owls were no longer screeching in the night, crickets had stopped chirping; even the sound of the breeze seemed to have died to a dreary whisper. Adrenaline and fear had their senses amped up and hyper-aware, so when the sound of branches snapping came from the dark in front of Sean, all three jumped and turned to face the threat. As Sean pointed his spear with a shaking grip and prepared to do whatever he had to survive, the sounds of movement in the darkness surrounding them intensified. A man-sized shadow moved toward their firelight, and Sean started to lean into an attack position. He took two steps toward the shape and thrust his spear with a vicious "Yiah!"

Fortunately, his foot twisted on a rock hidden in the shadows, causing him to stumble at the last second, almost plunging the blade of his spear through Ming's left shoulder as the other man ducked to the side and yelled, "What the hell is going on?" He shot Sean an angry glare as the other man stuttered apologies and looked as if he wanted to jump into the fire himself.

Billy came into the firelight slightly out of breath from racing across the camp, as Ming waited for further explanation. Before anyone could respond with more details, the sounds of movement and scratching increased from the night around them as several shapes burst into the firelight lunging toward the group.

The front attacker was several steps ahead of the rest of the pack, and in the light of the fire they could see that it was some type of mountain lion or bobcat, but as with the demon hounds earlier, it was larger than normal, and had obviously been dead for some time before it had decided to attack them. The big cat leapt directly at Mackland, who happened to be closest to it. He set his legs as solidly as he could in the split second he had, and raised the machete in a hasty defense as fifty pounds of snarling dead cat hit him on the fly. His blade bit deep into the creature's shoulder, but did little to slow its momentum. Worse yet, with his blade lodged in the beast's shoulder joint, he had nothing with which to stop the other paw full of razor sharp claws slicing towards his face. Pure luck and terror-amplified reflexes allowed Mackland to jerk his face back far enough so that the beast's claws only managed to leave three long slashes across the side of his head. He felt a shallow burning quickly followed by liquid warmth that told him the cat had not done any serious damage; just some cuts to his ear and scalp. He knew it wasn't life threatening, so he put it out of his mind in order to focus on keeping the cat from continuing its attack on him or his friends.

A blur of mangy fur landed on the ground and turned with a viscous snarl to renew its attack. The machete was dislodged by the landing and clattered to the ground. Amazingly, the cat was only slightly slowed by the bone deep slash in its shoulder, and crouched to spring at Mackland's throat.

An enormous explosion sounded from what seemed like inches away from Mackland's damaged ear, and the cat flew sideways several feet with a significant portion of its head missing and rotted brains leaking from the gaping hole. It hit the ground with a flat thud like a sack of potatoes and twitched a few time, but didn't rise.

Mackland took several seconds before he remembered to breathe, realizing when he did that he couldn't hear anything on his left side. He turned to see Ming standing several feet away with a large pistol still pointing toward the cat carcass to make sure it didn't get back up.

Before he could process what had just happened, Mackland ducked as Billy walked up behind Ming pointing another pistol in his direction. Confusion crossed his features as he raised his hands defensively in front of him. "Whoa Billy! What the hell?"

Billy advanced two more steps, and Mackland suddenly realized that Billy was aiming behind him, not at him. Fear slammed another fist into his gut as he turned to see the rest of the creatures almost upon Sean and Lily.

* * *

Lily felt more than heard the explosion of Ming's pistol as he shot the creature attacking Mackland. Turning to see if anyone was injured, she fell beneath a growling blur of black fur, fangs and claws. As they both rolled toward the fire and the scattered pile of weapons, Lily's hand shot out and grabbed an old baseball bat, which she quickly levered up between her body and the juvenile black bear that was trying to eviscerate her. She gained a few inches of space between them, but the beast still scored several gashes with its claws as she struggled to keep the mouthful of sharp fangs away from her throat. She looked around frantically for a more effective weapon, preferably something with a trigger, or at least a blade.

As she searched, she caught sight of Sean in the flickering firelight as he ducked away from a shadow flying past his head, but she could do nothing to help him as a pair of huge talons ripped a large hole in his right cheek from just in front of his ear to his mouth. His scream turned to a gurgle as blood from the huge wound filled his mouth in seconds. He fell to the ground with his hands covering his face as a large hawk with rotted wings and missing the lower part of its beak fell onto his back and continued slashing with those razor sharp talons, ripping a series of deep furrows along his spine.

Billy's pistol boomed and most of the hawks' right wing disintegrated as it fell over and off Sean's back. Sean pushed himself away from the hawk and Billy fired another shot that finally put the huge bird down for good. He turned towards her when he heard the sounds of her ongoing fight with the mangy undead bear.

The beast weighed as much as she did, was just as dead as every other thing that had attacked them since they had arrived, and she knew she had to do something right now or it would start digging out her vital organs. She put all of her flagging strength into a twist of her torso and quickly rolled to the side as the bear's weight shifted. As it fell off her, she quickly swung the bat at the creatures head with the last of her energy. She made a solid connection, but the beast rolled away from the blow, avoiding a crushed skull in exchange for a few rotted teeth being knocked out. Although it didn't kill the creature, the force of the blow combined with the blood and gore splashed across its eyes disoriented and slowed it significantly. Lily planted her feet and swung the bat again. And again. She continued to pound the bears' head into the dirt until it was a mass of blood, brains, and fur.

Lily immediately sat down heavily as the adrenaline left her body and the stress and exhaustion of her battle settled on her like a heavy blanket. Mackland and Billy ran over to Sean as Ming yelled for other fighters to come help secure the area around them. She staggered over toward the men leaning over Sean, and winced as she heard the other man whimpering in pain.

Mackland groaned at the multiple wide cuts across Sean's back. "Sean's always been more of a video game fighter than a real fighter. He's in pretty good shape, but he wasn't ready for anything like this."

She looked at the blood soaking through Sean's shirt, and could see the red, angry rips in the skin of his back with layers of muscle visible on either side of the wounds. They would have to find some way to stitch those closed to stop the blood loss as soon as possible. Mackland and Billy placed their hands on Sean's shoulders to try to calm him somewhat so they could let him know what they needed to do.

Mackland leaned down to make sure Sean heard him, "Sean! I know it hurts like hell, but you have to listen to me!" Sean still made strangled noises and thrashed beneath their hands, but not quite as violently or as loudly. Mackland dropped his voice to a more soothing tone. "You're gonna be ok brother, just try to relax...Ok? You have about six deep slashes down your back about four inches long." Sean shuddered slightly beneath their hands. "They are through muscle, and bleeding freely, so we need to close them up before you lose too much blood."

Ming held up his index finger in a 'wait' signal and ran off. He came back a few minutes later with supplies in his arms. "Our medic is on the other side of camp working on one of the fighters with a leg amputated in an earlier attack. He won't be done for another twenty minutes." He held out the supplies. "We're gonna have to close those up ourselves." He had some dental floss, a needle, and a bottle of whiskey that he set down by Sean.

Mackland sighed, "I'll do it. I've sewed up a few guys back in the 'Corps." He put the floss through the eye of the needle and soaked it in some whiskey in a plastic cup for a minute.

Mackland nodded to her, Ming and Billy, who tightened their hold on Sean's arms as Mackland told him, "I won't lie, this is gonna hurt bad, but we don't have time for you to drink the whiskey to help numb yourself. Sorry buddy."

Pinching skin together on either side of the first cut he quickly pushed the needle through as Sean's whimpering escalated to a guttural moan made worse as it whistled through the gash in his cheek. Lily, Billy and Ming were able to hold him steady so that Mackland was able to run a series of wide stitches up the first half of the cut. As Mackland finished closing the first gash and pinched the skin on the next one, it was obvious to him that the talon had gone a good bit deeper than the first cut. As he started the next set of stitches, Sean again started to scream but within seconds the pain finally overcame him and he passed out.

Mackland paused as he noticed Sean's body relax and Ming quickly felt for a pulse. "A little weak, but fairly steady. It's a good thing. Go ahead and finish him up while he's out. If we're lucky, we can take a look at that hole in his cheek before he comes to."

Mackland knew he was right, so he went back to his stitching with no further talk. It took another fifteen minutes to close the cuts on his back, pour a generous amount of whiskey to hopefully kill germs, and use a clean t-shirt provided by Ming to bind around his torso to protect the cuts while they healed.

Next they rolled Sean over to look at the cut on his face. Billy let out a low whistle and Lily's breath caught at what they saw. The talon had sliced completely through his cheek like a sharp knife going through a slice of cheese, and they could clearly see the inside of his mouth and his teeth through the parted skin.

Mackland again cleaned the wound, and stitched it closed, taking more time and trying to make the stitches smaller and more even in an attempt to minimize scarring down the road. Twenty minutes later, Mackland rocked back on his feet and stretched his arms. "I'm no surgeon, so it ain't pretty, but hopefully it will heal. I don't know what else we can do with what we have." He waved towards the fire, "You guys carry him over to that sleeping bag so he stays warm tonight. Just make him as comfortable as you can without waking him. He needs to sleep." He stumbled slightly as he turned, "Actually we all need some more sleep." Although they had a few hours sleep earlier, dawn appeared to be at least two or three hours away. "Think you can set up those guards now, Ming?" The other man nodded and quickly assembled several pairs of guards to patrol the camp.

They got Sean settled in a sleeping bag, and Ming left to let Jerrington know what had happened while Billy dropped onto a mat across the fire and fell asleep almost instantly. Lily and Mackland lay by the fire whispering as they wound down from the fight.

Lily stretched with a series of small pops and let out a small sigh. "Mackland, what are we going to do? Can Billy fix that Controller to be able to find those energy things?"

He stared at her in the firelight, and she watched the play of red flames across his blue-gray eyes. He gave a tired yawn. "Please, call me Mack. All my friends do, and even though we've only known each other a few days, I think saving each other's ass this many times qualifies us to be at least friends."

"Ok, Mack," she smiled, "What are our chances here?"

Mack rolled onto his side as his eyes grew heavy and he said, "Billy is a mechanical genius, so if anyone can do it, he can. We just need a few hours without having to fight more zombies so he can actually work on it. I'm going to talk to Jerrington in the morning to see if they have a schedule for returning to wherever their home base is, or at least someplace more secure than this open camp."

Lily hesitated as she asked, "This might sound weird, but do you get any kind of weird vibe from Jerrington? I don't know what it is, but something about him gives me the heebie-jeebies. Ming seems like a stand-up kind of guy, but something isn't right with Jerrington."

Mackland fought to stay awake and thought back to their few interactions with the leader of the other group. While he couldn't put a finger on anything specific, he realized that he did have a gut feeling that something wasn't what it should be regarding the man. "It's hard to tell, with all the crazy zombie shit we have been dealing with, not to mention the fact that it appears we travelled to a different universe. It wouldn't surprise me if all of our senses are out of whack." He nodded and closed his eyes, "But yeah, something seems off about him."

Lily leaned back and gave a huge yawn with another stretch. "Good, I was afraid it was just me being paranoid. Working in security will do that."

Lily rolled over to face the fire and within a few moments, she and Mackland joined the other two men in exhausted sleep.

***

Mackland shifted fitfully with a low moan as he slept.

Mackland stood up and gave the sleeves of his tuxedo a sharp tug.

"Looking good, amigo!" Billy dropped a hand on his shoulder, shaking him. "You sure you wanna do this, pal?"

Mackland laughed and shoved Billy back a few steps. "Don't worry, we'll still have poker Saturday nights, dude."

Billy tried to look offended, but gave up with a grin when Mackland shot a raised eyebrow at him. "Ok, but Carla better be prepared to let me sleep on the couch when I wanna pass out." He stuck a finger in Mackland's face for emphasis.

Pushing Billy's finger down, Mackland nodded. "Sure thing, pal. Now let's go get me married."

Organ music drifted across the park as they made their way past the small pond and around to the small group of people standing beneath the flower covered gazebo. Each step suddenly stirred little flutters of anxiety inside him, growing as he got closer to the preacher smiling and beckoning him onward. Carla's sister looked like she could hardly contain her excitement; regardless of the horrible plum colored bridesmaid dress Carla had put her in for the big day.

Billy put a firm hand in the middle of his back and steadied him as he took the last two steps, taking his place next to the preacher. "Alright reverend, let's make some memories." The preacher smiled and nodded to the organist, and gentle notes of "The Wedding March" began to float on the spring breeze.

Mackland turned slightly and froze. Carla was walking slowly towards him between the rows of family and friends on either side. Her face lit up when she saw him smiling at her, and he felt as if a bolt of pure energy suddenly connected them across the intervening yards. Each step shortened the distance, while strengthening the energy connection tugging at his soul.

Carla paused at the bottom of the steps as Mackland held out his hand to her. Reaching up, she wrapped her fingers around his.

No sooner had they touched than the energy connection between them suddenly flared into a bright wave of pressure temporarily blinding him and pushing him back a step, breaking their connection. Blinking to clear his vision, he choked back a scream.

Carla was flying backwards, no longer in a pristine wedding dress. Large rips and tears crossed the blue jeans and sweater she had been wearing the day of the accident, exposing the blood and bruises from her injuries. He watched helplessly as she continued flying away from him, spiraling into a tunnel of nothingness, until she was gone.

Mackland shot up in his sleeping bag, heart racing as the last of the nightmare fled from memory. Taking a few deep breaths to steady himself, he looked over at Lily sleeping quietly next to him for several minutes before laying back down and staring at the ceiling, knowing sleep would be elusive if it returned at all tonight.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Jerrington's head lolled to the side as he lay sweating on his pallet. The feedback from the Psidead hawk had almost overwhelmed him when Billy shot it, and coupled with the effort required to regain control of the rest of the Psidead, he had passed out as soon as he got to his tent. A few hours sleep had done wonders for his physical strength, but mentally he was still weak as a kitten. Pushing himself to a sitting position, he picked up the cup of hot coffee one of the guards had placed on the small table and struggled to collect his thoughts.

The rouge Psidead attack shouldn't have happened last night, and he would have to be much more diligent in order to make sure he had control of all the Psidead in the area if he wanted to ensure everything went according to his plans. He calmed his breathing and sent out a psychic scan of the area, noting each group of Psidead, and touching their leader to make sure they were still under his control.

Once he had checked on each of his servants, he allowed himself to send a general, more passive, mental sweep of the camp just to verify that all of their "guests" were still with them, and under control. He knew that if he were to attempt a more intrusive mental scan his subjects would feel an itching sensation in their scalp which could possibly raise suspicions, so he simply touched their minds to make sure they weren't overly stressed or paranoid, and then moved on.

His last mental stop was with Ming. He had a much tighter bond with Ming due to their close relationship over the past months, so he was easily able to slip in and brush the other man's surface thoughts without his knowledge, allowing him to quickly verify that his friend was at ease and preparing for their imminent departure.

Confident that things were relatively under control, Jerrington got up from the pallet, stretched, and started to get ready for the day. As he brushed his teeth and splashed water on his face, he planned on the best way to get Dr. Luther and his friends to share their secrets with him so that he could make the final decision on what to do with them.

* * *

As dawn broke and the camp came alive, Mackland woke to Sean moaning and thrashing in his sleeping bag. The bandages were soaked through and when he pulled them back to check on the stitches, there was a large amount of angry red lines expanding outward from around the wound. Sean was still unconscious, so Mackland shook Billy awake. "Wake up, lazy-ass." He spoke quietly to avoid waking the others. "Keep an eye on Sean. His wounds don't look too good, and I think he's gonna be in pain when he wakes up. Do what you can to help him out. I'm going to find Jerrington and ask about their plans. I'll see if he can get us some painkillers for Sean, so I should be back in about twenty minutes or so. Cool?" Still half asleep, Billy nodded and leaned against the truck nearest to Sean as Mackland strode towards the center of camp.

Several minutes later, he found Ming sitting on the tailgate of a pickup not far from their fire, sipping what looked suspiciously like a cup of coffee.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Ming smiled, "If you think it's Starbucks dark roast, then you're not even close. But it has caffeine, and a vaguely coffee-like flavor, so given the circumstances, it's pretty damn good. Want some?"

He gave a longing look at the pot hanging over the fire. "Hell yeah, but I really need to talk to Jerrington and get some clean bandages and antibiotics if you have any for Sean. His back doesn't look too good."

"Jerrington is waiting for you over in his tent; you can see it from here. It is the one with the red peak over there." He pointed towards the tent on the west side of their camp. "I don't know if we have any antibiotics, but I can check with Fuller, our medic, and get some bandages, and some alcohol to clean his cuts out some."

Mackland thanked him and promised to stop by for the coffee on his way back as he headed for Jerrington's tent.

He found the flap open, and before he could say anything he heard a voice from inside, "Come on in. We need to talk."

Mackland entered and found the leader sitting in a camp chair next to an old card table with a map and some other papers spread out in front of him. As he approached he saw that the map was of the entire state of Colorado, and he saw several spots marked with sticky tabs, but Jerrington put down a stack of papers he had been holding on top of the map before Mackland could make out what the spots were marked for. He figured it would be something they discussed shortly, so he put it aside, shook the man's hand and took the seat Jerrington waved him towards.

Jerrington pointed towards a kettle on the table between them, "Can I get you a cup of tea, Dr. Luther?"

"No thanks, I've always been a coffee guy. But thanks for the offer."

Jerrington shrugged, "I was never able to get the taste for coffee, but I think Ming has something resembling coffee out there if you find him," wasting no time, he continued, "my scouts say we're clear for at least a mile out, so we should be safe long enough to get a plan together and move out before dark."

Mackland leaned forward in his chair and pointed to the map on the table. "Moving sounds good, but I was kind of hoping to find out where you were planning on heading to, so we can decide if we are heading in the same direction."

The other man's eyes registered his surprise, but he quickly composed himself before answering, "Sorry, I just assumed from your story that you didn't have a specific destination, so I figured you would go with us." He composed himself, but Mackland had seen a flash of anger cross his face when questioned. "But of course, you are free to come with us, or go your own way if that's what you want." His tone suggested that he was being magnanimous by recognizing their freedom, which set off alarm bells in Mackland's mind.

"Well, to be honest, we haven't made a concrete decision on our immediate future, so we may want to hang with you guys, depending on where you're going."

"Our main base is a little place is about fifty miles north of here in an abandoned military complex you might have heard of called Cheyenne Mountain."

Mackland whistled. "No kidding? As in NORAD? How did you guys end up there? And why are you out here now, instead of holed up back home?"

Mackland knew that Cheyenne Mountain was home to the control center for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, and was one of the most secure sites in the country, so he assumed it wasn't like anyone could just walk in and setup shop. The fact that Jerrington's group had somehow managed to gain access to such a secure facility was puzzling and a little bit scary, if he was being honest with himself.

Jerrington sighed. "The answer to the last question is simple; even though we have large stores of dry goods, we still need to gather other supplies like toiletries and medical gear. Plus we sometimes come across something we didn't even know we needed until we find it. So far, it's been worth the risk. As you can see, we go more heavily armed than we expect to need, which allows us to handle any Psidead groups we have come across so far. That group attacking you was the largest we've encountered yet." He poured himself some more tea before continuing. "As to how we ended up at Cheyenne; that's a bit more complicated. When the Psikick addiction got out of hand and became an epidemic, the Psidead started to outnumber the humans. Within a matter of weeks it became apparent that none of the government institutions were prepared for something of this magnitude, and it was only a few months before government control networks started to break down and societies began to fracture. Ironically, for all the stories and theories that floated around popular media in the past, nobody was really prepared for a zombie apocalypse. Fortunately, we were able to establish a relatively secure little group in Boulder, and we held our own for a few weeks. Some of the people that first joined our group in Boulder worked or had family that worked for NORAD, so as things continued to go downhill, they insisted the Cheyenne complex would be our best bet. I figured if it was still running, they would be able to provide the best protection we could hope for, so we headed south. We found the main gates deserted and several small groups of Psidead wandering between the complex and Ft. Carson, the military base that provides support for the Mountain complex. We cleared the Psidead, closed all the perimeter gates, and setup camp." He paused to take a drink of his tea before continuing. "As soon as we had Ft. Carson secure, we moved to check out the Mountain, since that made more sense for long term security from a defensive standpoint. We found the primary blast doors were open, and the emergency support buildings on the first level were accessible by a few of those in our group that had had family members working at Cheyenne. They had ID cards with limited access provided for family members, but it was enough to get into the sleeping, dining, and medical facilities. We have the generators running for essential equipment, and enough water and food stores for 12 months depending on our numbers and rationing. It's not nirvana, but it's better than most have."

His story was plausible, but Mackland couldn't shake his uneasy feeling that Jerrington was hiding something, so he hedged with his answer. "Sounds like you guys have a pretty decent setup, and it might be the best option we have for any kind of long-term stability. I'll talk to the others and we should be able to figure out where we'll go before this evening. I will let you know as soon as we decide, but either way, we'll be glad to help around camp today." He considered how to convince Jerrington to give Billy access to the tools he needed without raising too many questions. "As a matter of fact, although Lily and I can help out pretty much anywhere, Billy is a mechanical genius, and a prodigy with electronics. If you have any comm equipment or data gear that needs to be looked at, I'm sure he wouldn't mind working his magic on 'em. Plus it would give him the opportunity to boost the power on the walkie-talkies we picked up when we got here."

Jerrington stared at him what seemed like minutes, almost to the point of being uncomfortable, before replying, "I think we do have a few radios in the vehicles that have been acting up out in the field. Have Billy see Ming; he can put him in touch with our techs. Ming can also let you and Lily know where you can be the most use in camp today." He stood, which Mackland took as an indication their meeting was at an end, and extended his hand again. "I think you and your people will be much safer with us than on your own. You can't imagine how bad it is in other areas of the country. It's bad here, but some of the more populated urban cities are absolutely overrun, and even those that are surviving are dealing with disease, crime, and countless other complications on top of the Psidead." He stared intently as they broke off their handshake. "Just something to consider as you make your choice."

He had said it with every indication that he was just offering helpful advice, but Mackland couldn't help feeling as if it was a warning not to leave the group.

* * *

Mackland left the tent and made his way back to the others to relay the information from Jerrington, and discuss their options. As he approached, he saw Ming still seated on the truck, so he angled his way over. "Is that cup of coffee still available?"

Ming reached behind him in the truck bed, and after a few seconds held out a metal cup with steam rising towards Mackland. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Mackland took the cup and took a deep breath of the steam. "Doesn't smell as bad as you make it sound." He took a sip and winced a bit at the sharpness of the drink, eliciting a chuckle from Ming. "Ok, it isn't the best I've ever had, but after the past twenty-four hours, it's better than nothing. Thanks."

"No problem. I found a few painkillers and gave them to Lily for Sean when he wakes up. How did things go with Jerrington?"

"We discussed a lot of things...which reminds me, he said you guys had a few pieces of radio gear acting up, so I sort of volunteered Billy to take a look at it. If I send him to you in about thirty minutes, think you could you get him to your techs?"

Ming nodded. "Sure thing. Did you and Jerrington get everything else worked out?"

Mackland shrugged and glanced towards Jerrington's tent. "Sort of. He told me where you guys are headed, and I told him we would figure out if we were going the same way or not. I'm gonna go talk to Lily and Billy now to figure out what we want to do. Give me about an hour and then Lily and I will be at your disposal the rest of the day to help out wherever we can." He stood to leave before suddenly smacking his palm against his forehead. "Damn! One of us needs to stay with Sean, we can't just leave him!"

Ming put a hand on Mackland's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Let me have someone keep an eye on him. I'll make sure they have orders to come get one of you if he needs anything. Fair enough?"

He didn't like leaving his friend with strangers, but he realized that in his current state, Sean wouldn't know who was with him anyway, so he nodded. "Thanks Ming. I appreciate it, and I know Sean would too." He paused for a moment as he considered what he should tell Ming. Contrary to his feeling about Jerrington, he felt he could trust Ming, but he didn't feel right confiding all of his misgivings before discussing it with the others of his group. He decided to bring up something that had been bothering him since his meeting with Jerrington. "I realize I don't even know the man, but Jerrington seemed a bit off this morning. I couldn't put my finger on it, but he seemed kind of jumpy. You know him, any idea what could be bugging him?"

Ming gave a small grin. "You mean other than leading a group of people depending on him to get them through a post-apocalypse filled with zombies?"

"Well, yeah. I guess that could make anybody act a bit off."

Then Ming said something that surprised Mackland. "Always trust your gut. It's the only one thing that won't ever lie to you. It might not be 100% accurate, but it won't lie to you." He stood, stretched, and headed toward another part of the camp. He called over his shoulder, "Send Billy to the row of tents on the east side of the camp and tell him to ask for Trevor. He'll be expecting Billy. I'll have someone come get you and Lily shortly, and give you guys a few jobs to handle."

Mackland agreed and walked past the smoking embers of their fire and found Lily and Billy sitting and talking over plates with a simple breakfast of bread and some kind of sausage. They each also had a cup of the watered down coffee as well and they nodded to Mackland as he sat down to join them. "Well, I got Billy access to some electronics gear, and Lily and I will do some work around camp today." He grimaced at his cooling coffee. "And Ming is gonna have someone stay with Sean while we are working. They'll come get us if he wakes up." Looking around to make sure nobody was close enough to watch them, he reached into his pack and quickly handed the Collector across to Billy along with directions to the communications tents. "Keep that out of sight, and don't let anyone know what it is. I told Jerrington we had some walkie-talkies that you would work on, so if someone asks, that is just a piece for scrap parts." Billy nodded and put the device in his pack as Mackland gulped his coffee before relaying his conversation with Jerrington and his promise to let the other man know their decision before nightfall. "Jerrington is giving off some seriously bad vibes, but nothing I can pin down. He definitely wants us to go with them to their base, but I don't know why he would care so much." He frowned as he tried to make sense of the conversation. "He obviously isn't overly concerned for our welfare, and there isn't anything in it for him to have us along, other than more mouths to feed. So something isn't adding up." He pointed to the Collector; "We need to get that thing working so we can find out where the nearest energy cell is. That will tell us which direction we need to go. My thought is that if it happens to be in the same general direction as their base, we'll tag along as long as needed, then split off when we need to get to the energy cell and get the hell out of here. But if it is in another direction, we'll have to get what weapons and supplies we can in return for our work today and head out on our own toward the cell." He looked at each of them before continuing. "We also have to think about Sean. If we go with Jerrington's people, we can put Sean on a vehicle and he can ride until he is strong enough to walk get up and about; but if we go on our own we'll need to figure out some way of getting him around."

Billy shouldered his pack and shared a look with Lily before addressing Mackland. "That's what we were talking about when you showed up. We both get a bad juju feeling from Captain Creepy, even though he saved our asses." He stood and put a hand on Mackland's shoulder. "I like the idea of more people for protection and hot food as much as the next guy, but we both think we need to figure out where the energy cell is and get the hell away from the bunch ASAP."

Mackland nodded. "Well, we can't do anything until we find out if the Collector can find that energy cell, so you better get your ass over to their tech guy and start working on that. Let us know as soon as you have something."

Billy promised to do just that, and headed off to find some tools and get to work, leaving Mackland and Lily to wait for Ming's messenger and their own assignment.

* * *

As they waited to find out what Jerrington would have them doing, Lily and Mackland checked on Sean. They both jumped when Lily felt his forehead and he opened his eyes. He grimaced from the pain in his torn cheek as he tried to speak, which came out as a strangled croak. Lily grabbed cup of water and brought it over to him with the painkiller Ming had gotten them as Mackland gingerly helped him get to an upright position so that he could take a few sips.

Lily told him not to try talking yet, and after a few minutes of sipping water, he looked at them with unasked questions in his eyes.

Mackland asked, "Guess you're wondering what's going on huh, amigo?" Sean nodded weakly, so they took turns bringing him up to speed on what had happened while he took the pill and drank some more water. They told him of their uneasiness about Jerrington's attitude and actions, and their plan for finding the missing energy cell.

Finally, Lily said, "So bottom line is you need to get rested up as quickly as you can so that when the time comes for us to split from Jerrington's group, we have all our options open."

Sean nodded and looked at both of them as he tried once more to speak. Lily started to tell him again not to say anything, but before she could interrupt, Sean held his hand up in a 'wait' gesture. His voice was quiet and scratchy, and pain stretched the skin around his eyes as he spoke haltingly. "I-... I'll try to get up. Tonight. Or morning. Back hurts. Face hurts." He looked down and they saw him move his feet side to side. "Legs seem ok. Can... Can we go in couple of days?"

Mackland considered for a few moments before answering. He couldn't say for sure what their timetable was; there were simply too many variables right now. But he didn't want Sean to worry about preventing them from leaving when the time came. He gave him a smile and lightly grasped his forearm. "Yeah, just take it easy pal. You have some pretty nasty gashes down your back, and some of those muscles are torn pretty good. I closed 'em up as much as I could, and the medic said they should heal ok, but you don't want to tear my crappy stitches and start bleeding again." Releasing his arm, Sean laid back down. "We'll see how you are doing when the time comes. Sound good?"

Sean agreed, and gingerly rolled onto his side as a messenger from Ming approached. He waved them over. "You guys Mackland and Lily?" They both nodded, and he said, "Ming said for you to grab some weapons from the armory and relieve the sentries on the northern post." He pointed in the general direction. "Just head that way, and you'll run right into the sentries. They've been told you were coming, so just identify yourself, and they'll take it from there."

Lily smiled at the messenger, sending a surge of uncomfortable tension through Mackland, but he wasn't sure why. She asked, "Where can we find the armory?"

The messenger was suddenly much friendlier when he replied with a wide smile, "Just go over past that Snap-On tool truck, ma'am," pointing towards the truck, and taking the opportunity to step closer to Lily.

Mackland decided it was time for the young boy to be on his way. "Thanks for your help, son. We can find what we need from here." The boy looked ready to insist he could stay and help when he saw the look on Mackland's face and decided he was needed elsewhere.

"Yeah, I gotta get back to other...stuff. Good luck folks!" He yelled back as he took off at a run.

Lily shot a confused look at Mackland, and he smiled back and shook his head. "Kid was kind of jumpy, huh?

Lily stared at Mackland for a few more heartbeats, "Yeah, I guess. Weird how he just all of a sudden had to go, though." Putting it aside, she shrugged and turned to make sure Sean was resting comfortably before they headed towards the truck to see what kind of weapons they could get their hands on.

* * *

Billy made his way through the camp towards the row of tents indicated on the directions, but his mind was preoccupied with the task before him. The Collector was designed to pinpoint specific energy signatures within the nullspace accessed by the Frame, so theoretically it should be fairly simple to re-calibrate the sensors to look for the energy signature of the missing energy cells. The reality, however, was that raw nullspace energy was significantly different from the converted nullspace energy that was stored in the energy cells, so Billy wasn't sure if it was even possible to use the Collector to find the energy cells, or what the effective range would be if it was possible. However, he resolved to do whatever he could to try to make it work.

As he approached the row of tents, he could smell the sharp tang of smoking solder and plastic common to any tech shop. He lifted the flap of the first tent he came to, and squinted after coming from the bright sunlight into the dim lighting of the tent. There was a solitary figure sitting at a tech bench, looking through a lighted magnifying lens as he worked on a circuit board of some sort. He didn't look up from his work as he said, "Hang tight Ming. If I slip and burn one of these resistors, and without replacements, we'll have four radios out of commission, and that means two teams down. Jerrington will have my ass!" The man was short and squat with chocolate colored skin, but what was most striking about him was that he was most likely the hairiest man Billy had ever seen. From the dark mop of curly black hair to the hair visible at the neck and arms of his short sleeve shirt, Billy felt like he was looking at a short black bear working on the radio gear.

"Ummm...I think Ming said you would be expecting me? I'm Billy."

The man didn't react to the new voice, but simply said, "Yeah, he did. Gimme a minute to finish this up. Grab a seat wherever you can find one."

Billy looked spotted a crate that had some tools scattered within, so he closed the lid and sat down while the man finished his work. Looking around the tent, he saw various military radios, transmitters, and receivers in assorted states repair. He hadn't even considered the possibility that their electronics gear may have been drastically different from what he was used to, but seeing the familiar equipment put his mind at ease. After about five minutes, the hairy technician put down the tools, pushed back from his workbench, took a deep breath and stretched his arms above his head. He turned to look at Billy with a grin. "I'm Trevor. Guess I'm kind of the self-anointed gear god around here. So you're the tech-head prodigy Ming told me about?"

Billy found himself at ease with the man's easy-going manner. "Well, I don't know about the prodigy stuff, but I know my way around a soldering iron, and I'm willing to do whatever you need help with." He gestured at the communication equipment scattered around the tent. "I've worked on just about any kind of comm and data gear made in the past fifty years, and even built a few pieces of gear myself. I know Ming said you guys had a few two-way radio sets with issues, so I figured I might be able to help you with that."

Trevor pointed over his shoulder to a pile of various pieces of electronic gear about four feet high. "Yep, that's all stuff that needs to be looked at. I've had a couple of guys come in here offering to help, but they had no electronics experience, so they ended up slowing me down with questions instead of helping. I'm about two weeks behind on this stuff since it's just me, so any help would be appreciated." He pointed to a cluttered bench made of plywood laid across two rusty sawhorses. "You can set yourself up at that second workbench over there, and I think you should be able to scrounge a full set of tech tools from the bins around the tent here. We raided several Radio Shacks and other electronics stores months ago, so we are pretty good on tools. But like I said when you came in, we are low on some parts like certain resistors, so we scrounge parts when we can."

As Billy worked on getting himself setup, he asked Trevor how he had ended up in this job. The black man gave a shake of his hair head, "It was bound to happen. When I first joined the group, I was doing all kinds of odd jobs and pulling shit duties like everyone else. But I was a cell-phone tech in my past life, so when anything electronic started breaking down around the base and they asked who knew the difference between a capacitor and a resistor, I volunteered. After a few weeks of fixing everything from flashlights to ham radios, Ming asked me if I wanted to take charge of all the technology repair for the base, and I agreed. That was six months ago, and I've been doing it ever since. Like I said, I've had a few short-term helpers, but for the most part, it's just me battling the hordes of unruly buttons and blinky lights." He grabbed an old SINCGARS vehicle mounted radio set and handed it to Billy. "This got stripped out of an old hummer we found on the way down here. I haven't been able to get it to put out a decent signal strong enough to be picked up more than fifty yards away. I found some documentation on those units that indicate it should be able to communicate up to about 8km in single channel-mode. See what you can do with it; consider it your initiation."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Mackland and Lily walked up to the tool truck turned armory and Lily knocked on the door when they didn't find anyone waiting for them. When no one answered within a minute or so, she banged hard on the door with her foot, which prompted a loud yell followed by muffled crashes and metallic clatters coming from inside. They heard a few muttered curses as the door swung open revealing one of the largest men either of them had ever seen. With light skin and blonde hair indicative of a Russian or Scandinavian descent framing his huge head, the man completely filled the doorway and favored the two of them with a scowl as he barked at them with a heavy accent that narrowed his lineage to somewhere in Russia. "What you want? Why the pounding?"

Mackland decided quickly that the direct approach would be the best method for dealing with the man's surly attitude. "We just got assigned to a post, and Ming said to get some weapons. We need a couple of ARs and side arms, grenades to, if you have em."

Mackland's request elicited a deep belly laugh from the armorer that never made it up to his eyes, and it was several seconds before he could respond. "We not have rifles for use. All being use or broken. No grenades for use on post. I might find two pistol. I check." He stomped off to the interior and rummaged around for several minutes before coming back to the door. "Here two pistol, holster, few extra magazines, and hundred rounds each. You take?"

Lily and Mackland looked at each other with a shared sigh and took the proffered weapons. Mackland said, "Not like we have much of a choice, but pistols won't do much if we run into more than one of those Psidead. Guess it's better than using bats and machetes though."

Lily expertly slammed a magazine into the pistol and racked a round into the chamber with a sneer at the Russian giant. "The slide on this feels as loose as a three dollar whore. Is this the best you have for us?"

He gave her a contemptuous smirk in return. "Is best I have? No. Is best I have for new people I don't know? ...Da."

Before Lily could get into an escalating confrontation with him, Mackland tapped her on the arm and nodded toward their post; "Come on, let's just go. Getting into a pissing match with Ivan the Stupid isn't going to do us any good." Lily looked like a fight might be just what she needed to make her feel at least a little better, but she reluctantly let him pull her away with nothing more than a parting glare at the armorer's back.

* * *

Lily was still grumbling about "that communist bastard" and vowing all sorts of nasty options for revenge as they crossed the camp headed towards their post. They ran into Ming near the center of camp; before they could say anything, he frowned as he saw their weapons. "Why didn't you get any rifles? I told Makrov to get you a couple of M4 carbines and a couple of pistols."

Lily spoke up first, her ire still up from the confrontation with the armorer. "Yeah, Comrade Assface said he didn't have any available when we asked, and gave us these beat up old pistols instead. He didn't seem inclined to find us anything better."

Ming seemed genuinely irritated, and Mackland guessed that either Makrov the armorer had ignored his orders of his own accord, or someone had overridden Ming's instructions. As far as Mackland knew, the only person that could do that would be Jerrington, which only fueled Mackland's suspicions about the other man. Either way, Mackland felt confident that Ming would be taking the issue up with Makrov as soon as he could. It wouldn't help him or Lily since they didn't have time to return to the armory before they were supposed to relieve the other sentries, but at least they might get some satisfaction knowing the rude Russian armorer would be put in his place. Ming confirmed his suspicion with his next comment.

"Well I'll talk to Makrov, and as soon as I can get a couple of carbines, I'll have someone bring them to you on post."

Mackland and Lily told him they would appreciate it and headed off to their assignment as Ming walked off mumbling angrily to himself.

* * *

Ming barged into the armory truck, and the big Russian jumped up surprisingly fast for such a large man as the door banged into the opposite wall. "What the hell Makrov? What happened with those two sentries that just left here?"

The armorer looked uncomfortable for a second, and then anger washed across his features. "They new people. Not even ours. Why I should give them good weapons?"

Ming bristled, "You don't decide that, Makrov! I do! You do what I tell you to, understood? I told you to give them a pair of rifles and pistols. I know we have rifles available, so why the hell did you tell them we didn't have any, and then give them the crappiest pair of pistols we have?"

Makrov opened his mouth to reply, but the voice that answered came from the open doorway behind Ming. "He did it because I told him to, Mr. Tao." Jerrington stepped to the truck, and put his hand on Ming's shoulder before continuing. "We don't know these people, Ming. I want them to have something to allow them to make it back to camp if they are attacked, but I would rather not give them enough weaponry to cause significant damage if they are so inclined."

"What? They were defenseless and under attack when we saved them, and they haven't given us any reason to suspect them! I wouldn't have put them on sentry duty if I had known you were going to send them out there weaponless!"

"They have guns, Mr. Tao. They will be able to hold off a few Psidead should they be attacked, in which case, their gunfire will arouse the camp and we will send reinforcements." He turned towards the door behind him. "Pistols are better than the sticks and machetes they had when we found them, I believe." He walked out of the truck without waiting for a response as Ming fumed at his retreating back.

Ming turned and caught Makrov as he struggled to hide the smirk he had on his face when Ming's back was turned. "I'm glad you're amused, Makrov." He pointed to the pile of defective rifles in the far corner. "That humor will help you while you stay here and work until you get me another dozen rifles serviceable. I want to be ready to help those two on sentry duty if something goes bad for them."

Makrov glared at him, "I work for last twenty hour. Need time for sleep."

"Guess you better get to work then. Sooner you get done, sooner you can sleep." Knowing the Russian would do as he instructed whether he liked it or not, Ming grabbed a rifle for himself and left the truck. Jerrington never said that he couldn't help the two new sentries.

* * *

Jerrington's mind raced as he contemplated possible outcomes resulting from his plans. He was sure Mackland and that Billy character were hiding something that had to do with how they arrived here, and more importantly how they planned to leave. He didn't know how that information could benefit him, but his instincts told him he needed to find out or miss a huge opportunity.

However, Mackland had made it clear that he was not generally inclined to stay with Jerrington's group, so he needed to come up with some way to convince the other man that it would be in their best interest to go with Jerrington at least as far as their base at Cheyenne Mountain. Once there, he was sure he could figure out some way to get their secrets out of them. The question was how to convince them they needed Jerrington's group?

As he considered his options, one of the sentries stuck their head into his tent. "Excuse me Mr. Jerrington, the watch captain wanted me to let you know that there was a sighting of a small group of Psidead about four hundred yards from our southern perimeter. Do you want us to engage?"

"No, just let them be, unless they approach to within a hundred yards and try to attack."

"Yes sir. Thank you." Obviously dismissed, the man turned and headed back towards the perimeter.

As Jerrington thought of what the sentry had reported, his head suddenly snapped up and he suddenly mumbled quietly to himself. "Of course! I'm a fool for not thinking of it sooner! Dr. Luther and his friends haven't seen just how bad the Psidead zombies can be, but if they come to realize how much they need my protection, they will be forced to go with us to Cheyenne." He quickly formulated his new plan and began sending out psychic commands to the Psidead leaders lurking outside of the camp. Taking a breath as he finished, he began to have second thoughts. People could get hurt if things got out of control.

Shaking his head, he put such concerns from his mind. He didn't like what he was going to put into motion, but sometimes people had to get hurt or even die in order to protect the rest of the group.

* * *

Lily and Mackland made their way through the camp in tense silence. Their post was a ten-minute walk outside of the western perimeter of the camp. As they approached the spot Ming had directed them to, they saw the two sentries they were relieving sitting side-by-side and talking to each other as they scanned the area for any threats approaching the camp. When they were about a hundred yards away, one of the sentries saw them approaching and waved an acknowledgement to them.

They spent a few minutes getting as much information as they could from the departing sentries, such as the lay of the land around them, positions that seemed to be susceptible to attack, and the layout of their little sentry post. As the two soldiers finally departed, Mackland and Lily settled in for what they hoped would be a quiet, boring shift of guard duty.

The first hour passed and they began to settle into patterns of taking turns watching different sections of the open ground while talking about bits and pieces of their past in an attempt to get to know each other better.

Mackland took the first opportunity he could to find out more about Lily. "Ok, you got to find out all about me back at the bank, but we got interrupted before you told your story, so tell me, how did you get into the security business? I'm all for women's empowerment, but security jobs still seem to be mostly guys from what I've seen."

She grinned. "Yeah, most jobs I had since leaving the military have been working with nothing but testosterone overloaded boneheads whose idea of security strategy consists of shoot first and think later." He could tell from the grimace that crossed her face what she thought of such men, and hoped that his military background didn't put him in the same category with her. "But I came along and showed that I could not only handle myself and any of the weapons the boys could, but I could also put together contingency plans that were functional and simple to execute. The execs at my first security gig saw the potential for an agent that was able to think as well as shoot, minus the male ego, and they made me a senior agent within my first year." Her pride was evident, but he could tell her focus was on the facts, not her accomplishment.

"During the next year, I headed up several assignments for high profile clients including celebrities, and of course, politicians. My last official assignment was to protect a senior senator during a press conference in which he was announcing his support of some controversial legislation. I forget what the bill was about, but it had something to do with gay marriage rights, and some whack job group called "Soldiers of Light" declared they would take action if this law were passed. They had a history of attempted violence during their protests, so we were on high alert." She paused as she tried to get more comfortable on the hard chair they had found in the sentry post. "We had several teams scattered throughout the crowd in plain clothes in addition to uniformed agents around the perimeter and manning checkpoints. The senator started his speech, and before he got three sentences out, I saw a guy in a gray sports coat looking furtively at the senator, and reaching into his jacket. I was the closest to him, and I didn't have time to call for backup, so I rushed him. When I was about ten feet away, I saw his hand pulling the butt of a pistol out of shoulder rig under his jacket. I had no idea how he got it past the checkpoints, but it didn't matter at that point. I drove my shoulder into his side with everything I had, and it was enough to knock him off balance, but he held onto the pistol. As we fell he managed to get the gun pointed at me and pulled the trigger twice." Mackland was watching her intently as she continued, "I felt the intense burning as the first round grazed my right side, but it wasn't deep so it was manageable. The second round was much worse; a straight-up gut shot. I've never felt anything like that before or since. My whole world shrunk in an instant down to that little point in my abdomen, and then just as quickly exploded to a wave of pain that encompassed by whole body. I fell on top of the shooter, unable to do anything other than put my hands over the hole in my belly and hope I didn't die, but my body weight was enough to keep him from getting up easily, and by the time he was able to push me off, several of our other agents got to us. The shooter stood with his pistol in his hand, and two of those testosterone-fueled boneheads that worked for me knocked the gun from his hand and proceeded to make him into a very messy example of why you shouldn't resist arrest. That was the last thing I remember until I woke up in a hospital room three days later."

"As soon as I came to, one of the senator's aides was there and she immediately called her boss, who showed up within an hour to thank me personally for saving his life. He told me to take my time getting better, but that once I was recovered, he wanted to talk to me about a job." Mackland didn't interrupt her, but glanced over to his left when he heard something that sounded like a branch breaking near the tree line. Lily didn't seem to notice as she finished her story. "It took me about a month, but I finally recovered and got out of the hospital. The day after I got home, the senator called and told me that he wanted to offer me a job leading a security detail at a high security research facility, which turned out to be Alphalabs. I had been working there for three months before our little trip of the light fantastic the other night, and you know the rest from there."

Still thinking about the noise he had heard minutes earlier, he remained hyper-alert as he told her more details about his military background, and how he got involved with the Frame project, and Lily kept him entertained with stories of some of her exploits on security details protecting some famous celebrities and politicians. The hours passed more quickly than either of them had expected, and Mackland forgot all about the noise as they were both beginning to feel more comfortable with each other as dusk approached.

As the sun began to set, Lily was recounting a mission involving a famous democratic senator and an escape from a mob of violent feminists when she noticed Mackland's gaze focused on a spot a couple hundred yards out from them. In the waning daylight, shadows were starting to grow on all sides and she stopped speaking as she tried to see what he was looking at.

He placed his hand on his pistol and leaned forward, "Do you see that movement near the tree line out there?"

She strained her eyes but couldn't be sure if she saw something moving or if it was just lengthening shadows. "I don't know. I guess it could be an animal or something. I honestly can't make it out from here."

His eyes never moved from the spot that he was watching as he replied, "No, there is something moving out there, and I don't think it's an animal. Too tall. Whatever it is, I think it's heading this way. Better radio it in."

Lily still wasn't sure, but figured it would be better to be safe than sorry, so she pulled out the short-range radio and thumbed the transmit button. "Post three to base, post three to base. We have movement two hundred yards to the west at the tree line, over." She released the button, but instead of the hiss of static from a live handset, there was only silence. She waited a few seconds, and when no response came back, she pressed the button and repeated her report, with the same result. With an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach, she quickly pulled the back of the radio off to check the batteries, and grimaced as she saw mounds of corrosion on both ends of the battery compartment. "Shit! This radio is shot! We're gonna be on our own unless we make a break back to the came perimeter."

Mackland thought for a second, and then shook his head. "We need to see what we're dealing with before we head in. Right now we don't really have anything concrete to take back with us." They both watched the spot Mackland had first seen the movement, and after a few minutes, Lily let out a small gasp. "Shit Mack, you were right. There is something or someone moving over there, and they are headed right for us!"

* * *

As they watched, the shadows began to resolve until they were recognizable as human shapes; three bodies coming toward them at a steady clip. Mackland pointed at the group, "I'm sure those are Psidead zombies, but does it look like they are moving faster than the ones we saw back in Pueblo?"

Lily tried to make out more details but they were still too far away. "It's hard to tell from here, but, maybe? It doesn't seem like their stumbling as much."

When the trio got within fifty yards, their features became clearer in the twilight. The zombie on the far right looked to have been a rail thin, tall man even before death and decay had taken additional mass from his frame. The remnants of a postal worker's uniform hung from him in tatters exposing an even more tattered torso with several ribs poking out at odd angles.

Another zombie walked to the left of the postal worker, a woman who appeared to have only been dead for a few days at most. She had no outward signs of decay and no obvious sign of trauma, except for the odd cant of her head, which sat at an impossible angle to her torso. Several vertebrae protruded from her neck underneath a harsh purple bruise that left no doubt that the woman had suffered a severely broken neck that ended her life. Most likely due to her recently turned status, she was the steadiest on her feet, as well as being slightly quicker than the other two.

The final creature didn't look like it should have been mobile in any universe. Both of the man's legs were nothing more than shreds of skin flapping over rotted muscle that barely connected the bones that held him up. The rest of his body was not much better, with more bone and muscle showing than skin, a bare skull missing lips, nose, and ears, creating a perpetual grin that would give a serial killer nightmares.

Lily and Mackland took this all in within a few seconds before taking aim at the undead creatures. Mackland pointed at the postal worker. "I'll take him; you get the faster one in the middle. The walking skeleton goes last, since it is slowest." Lily nodded her agreement as they opened fire.

Mackland carefully squeezed off five shots at the postal worker when his pistol suddenly jammed, and no amount of frantic clearing or reloading could get it to fire again. To make matters worse, it appeared that three of his five shots had missed completely, and the two that had connected merely passed through the creature's extremities, and the Psidead didn't slow down in the least.

Lily was having better success due to her more recent training and two of her first three shots blew the majority of the female zombie's skull to bits, and she crumbled to the ground, truly dead at last. Another single shot to the forehead left the walking skeleton slumped on the ground, unmoving. Finally, Lily shifted her aim to the postal worker who was now within ten yards of their position. She took a rushed first shot that went wide, but her second shot connected and blew a large chunk out of the creature's right shoulder. Although this left the arm useless, it still failed to stop the zombie's advance, and as Lily squeezed the trigger to finish the job, she got nothing but a dry click as her pistol also misfired. Lily quickly ran through the manual of arms to clear the malfunction, racked the slide, and tried to fire again, with the same result. The Psidead monster rushed the final few feet and lunged for Lily, but his trajectory changed at the last moment as Mackland shoved his machete through the creature's open mouth and into its brain. Momentum carried it another few feet as Mackland and Lily fell into a tangled heap as they backed away from the dead thing that fell at their feet.

Suddenly aware of how close together they were laying on the ground, Mackland forgot about almost dying a few moments ago as Lily held onto him for a moment. After sharing their quick embrace, Lily pushed herself up and pulled her feet away from the Psidead that had almost killed her. She aimed a violent kick at the dead thing's head, and screamed a frustrated curse. "What the hell? Two guns jamming on the first magazine at the same time? That shit just doesn't happen." She grabbed her pistol and quickly field stripped it. Within a few moments, she found several parts including the extractor, guide rod, and magazine release that had various defects. She couldn't tell for sure, but the trigger assembly also looked shady. "If this thing wasn't intentionally sabotaged, whoever maintained it was criminally negligent."

She repeated the inspection on Mackland's pistol, and found similar results. "One gun being that screwed up is unlikely, but both weapons, out of all those guns they had back there? That wasn't a coincidence. I think -..." She stopped as she heard a thud in the dark outside their post. She and Mackland jumped up and looked around frantically for the source of the sound. They quickly saw a mass of bodies coming from the woods to the south. They couldn't determine an exact count, but there were definitely more than they could handle with just machetes and bats. They shared a quick glance full of unspoken understanding of just how screwed they were, and turned and ran as quickly as they could back towards camp.

* * *

Lily aimed for the point of light that marked the closest spot on the perimeter of the camp and tried not to think of what the mob of psychic zombies would do if either of them tripped over a rock or ditch in the dark. Adrenaline and fear combined to propel her at breakneck speed toward the promise of safety afforded by the camp. She couldn't see Mackland a few steps behind her, but she could hear his footsteps keeping pace between her and the Psidead, so she assumed he was ok for the time being and focused on getting to camp and raising the alarm. "Those gunshots should have raised an alarm back at camp, but I don't see anyone headed this way yet! We might be on our own till we reach the perimeter!"

Mackland responded between gasps for air as they continued racing towards the camp, "Just keep running! We'll make it!"

Lily looked back quickly and was horrified to see that the Psidead were only a few yards behind Mackland, and while the creatures were not fast, they continued to come on steadily through the night in pursuit. She looked back towards camp, but her moment of inattention caused her to miss the tree root that caught her foot and sent her lurching forward. Reflexes trained over years allowed her to catch herself without falling, but the stumble slowed her down significantly, and Mackland couldn't stop in time to avoid bowling her over. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs, and the first two Psidead were on them in a matter of seconds.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Billy hunched over the metal carcass of the radio system he had been working on for the past few hours with his head obscured in a cloud of solder smoke. He had already fixed several obvious problems and he was relatively sure he could fix the last few issues within a few minutes, but he was trying to stretch out his time until he could get an opportunity to work on the Collector. Trevor had been working on his own projects across the tent from him, but now he stood, stretching and yawning. "I'm gonna get some air and stretch my legs. You need anything?"

"Nope, I think I'm good here. Just gonna see if I can get these last few IC chips replaced and test the signal output. Thanks though." He waited until he heard the other man's footsteps fade away before pulling out the Collector and starting to work on what he hoped would allow them to find the missing energy cell and get out of this land of the walking undead. He placed the Collector on his workbench, along with the two walkie-talkies he was supposed to be working on to avoid suspicion. He quickly opened the casing on all three devices, and began making his modifications to the Collector while keeping an ear out for Trevor's return.

Twenty minutes later, the Collector had an additional LCD screen haphazardly attached to its top, and as he continued replacing components and testing the results, he heard footsteps approaching the tent. He quickly put the Collector down, making sure to leave several of the resistors, capacitors, and IC chips lying around it as camouflage. He picked up one of the walkie-talkies and leaned over to focus on the exposed circuits as Trevor entered, complaining under his breath.

"I would kill for a good bottle of scotch. Seems like years since I've had anything stronger than watered down beer." He plopped down heavily onto the stool in front of his bench with a heavy sigh. "What about you? Wait; let me guess...You strike me as a tequila man, right?"

Billy laughed and shook his head. "No way Jose. I don't drink anything stronger than Dr. Pepper, and that's only when I'm feeling really crazy."

"Oh man, brother, I feel for ya. You don't know what you're missing. A glass of smooth ten year old scotch is almost as good as a smooth twenty year old woman."

"Hell, with that kind of sales pitch, you might convince me to take up the stuff." He gave a little chuckle as he continued working on the Collector, adjusting a few settings and replacing the final components while making sure his body was shielding his activity from Trevor's view. After a few minutes, Billy picked up their conversation, "Seriously though, I did some drinking in college, but I never liked feeling like my brain was shut off, even a little bit. I might do some crazy shit, but I like to do it on my own terms, not because some chemical made me do it. So while my friends were getting hammered and running around with their pants off, I was just running around with my pants off, and acting like I was just as drunk as they were."

Trevor chuckled, "Well, as much fun as that sounds like, I'll stick to actually being drunk when I make an ass of myself." He laughed again, and turned to go back to work on the equipment he had left on his workbench.

Billy closed up the Collector and hit the power switch, holding his breath as he watched the displays. If the internal lithium-ion battery had been damaged in the explosion, they would have a bigger problem. He doubted Trevor had the parts needed for him to rebuild the specialized high output battery. He blew a great sigh of relief when the bottom display lit up quickly, indicating that the internal battery had ninety percent charge left, the unit could contact the Frame, and that it had detected a likely causal divergence point to target. The new display on top didn't do anything immediately, and Billy had just decided to take it apart and make some additional changes when it suddenly let out a ping and a set of coordinates popped up on the top screen. Billy quickly contained the yell that threatened to erupt from him, and turned the device off before it drew any attention from Trevor. He hurriedly put it back in his pack and closed up the walkie-talkies he had dismantled.

* * *

Billy finished the repairs to the SINCGARS unit and showed Trevor that the power output was well within the specifications listed in the manual before turning it off and placing it with the other repaired equipment on the far side of the tent. Trevor started to grab another piece of gear, but Billy cut him off with both hands raised in an "I surrender" gesture. "Let's call it a day Trevor, ok? My first day, and that SINCGARS unit was a bear. I know Mack sold me as a prodigy, but truth is, I've been out of the repair game for a while. I'll pick up speed tomorrow, I promise."

Trevor didn't look happy, but he nodded and said, "Yeah, that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Guess I could knock off a little early too, maybe get a drink. Can I offer you a coke?"

Billy gave him a grin and fluttered his eyelids. "I'm flattered, really...but you're not my type. Maybe some other time?"

"What? No-" Trevor caught himself as he saw Bill's grin. "Ahh...so you're a funny man. Ok, ya got me. Very funny. Now get the hell out of here, and come back tomorrow morning first thing. Maybe you can fix more than one thing, ya think?"

Billy promised to try harder and left with an impish wink and a grin to find the others and tell them the good news about his work on the Collector.

As he emerged from the tent he saw that he had lost track of time more than he thought, by the burnt orange light of the sun was setting fast, leaving long shadows falling across the camp. Even with less sunlight, the air was hot and unusually thick for this part of Colorado leaving Billy sweating before he made it fifty feet from the tech tent. As he approached the center of camp, he saw Jerrington walking towards him. The other man held up his hand in a gesture indicating he wanted to talk to him. As he got to within ten feet of him, Billy got an uneasy feeling and a slight itching sensation just below his scalp. Billy missed a step just before he shook Jerrington's outstretched hand, but quickly caught himself. The itching feeling ended as quickly as it began, leaving just the general uneasiness, which Billy attributed to zombies, multiple universes, and the rest.

Jerrington wasted no time mincing words. "Some of the longer range scouts have come back, and they have reports of large groups of Psidead converging towards us. They must have gotten our psychic scent somehow. Estimates are that they will get to us within the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours, so we've decided to head to Cheyenne Mountain first thing in the morning. That should give us enough head start to get clear of their psychic zone in plenty of time to prevent them from following us to the base. It's not an exact science, so the sooner the better." He paused and looked at Billy's pack. "Did you get your radios fixed?"

Billy considered his answer in light of his feeling of uneasiness before responding. "I think so. Trevor had me working on a vehicle unit, so I didn't get a chance to test my walkie-talkies yet. I was going to test em as soon as I see Mack, Lily, and Sean."

"Good. Well, please let them know of our plans to depart in the morning so that everyone can be ready, would you?"

"Sure thing Doc. Have a good one." He headed toward their part of camp as Jerrington continued past the tech tent to an unknown destination.

* * *

Billy made his way to the pickup truck that marked the path to their part of the camp, and continued on to find Sean gingerly leaning against a log with his sleeping bag acting as a cushion for his damaged back. Sean didn't notice him at first, and continued to stare out at the edge of camp. Billy guessed that he was wrestling with whatever demons were left behind from the attack that ripped his face and back open. He didn't want to intrude on his friend's contemplation after all he had been through yesterday, but Sean must have sensed him, and turned with a grin to wave Billy over.

"What the hell have you been up to wiseass? I'm ripped up, so I have a reason for sitting on my ass, but I'm guessing you're just being a slacker, am I right?"

Billy laughed, "Damn, you get a few little scratches and think you can just take a freakin vacation? Well, I got bad news for you bro. Jerrington says we have to move out in the morning, and I'm not carrying your lazy butt, so you need to get moving." He moved closer and lowered his voice to barely above a whisper. "I think I have the Collector set to find the energy cell. We need to talk to Mack and Lily to make a plan. Are you gonna be good to go tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I think so. Still hurts like hell when I smile or bend over, but I think I can do some walking if needed. You really think the Collector will work?"

Billy struggled to contain his comments about Sean smiling and bending over, but it wasn't easy. He sighed and replied, "It looks like it. Mack will need to tweak it a bit, and interpret the results to be sure we get the right signal, but I think I got it ready to go." He looked around and Sean answered before Billy could ask. "Mack and Lily are still on sentry duty. They should be back in about two hours."

"Damn, I was really hoping we could get everything planned out and ready to go. I don't know about you amigo, but I am more than ready to get back to home sweet home."

"I don't know what the hell you're complaining about, you didn't get sliced open by a freaking zombie eagle."

Sean's comment was punctuated by the sharp crack of a gunshot from the direction of Mack and Lily's observation post that caused both men to jump, and elicited a small gasp from Sean as his injured back smacked against the log. They heard footsteps and raised voices behind them, and turned to see Ming running in their direction, yelling for other fighters to follow him. Billy tossed his pack with the Collector to Sean, grabbed a burning log from the fire, and took the gun Ming held out to him as he passed on his way toward Mack and Lily and the sound of gunfire beyond the camp.

* * *

As they approached the perimeter of the camp, the light began to fade behind them, allowing the shadows to grow darker and merge into larger patches of night. Ming slowed and pulled out a flashlight to avoid tripping over any number of obstacles in the dark. He heard the sounds of bodies rushing towards them from the darkness, but he wouldn't take any action until he could see what he was dealing with. About ten other fighters had joined Billy and Ming as they made their way through the camp, and now all twelve of them were focusing on getting to Mackland and Lily. He glanced over when he heard Billy mumbling in the darkness. "You alright?"

Billy chuckled self-consciously, "Yeah. Just asking the big man upstairs to help Mack and Lily make it back. I've never been the religious type, but I was raised Lutheran, and I figure it never hurts to call in the big guns when you need em."

"Nothing wrong with it, man. I've been known to say a prayer or two when the chips are down. Think a few might have been answered, and some not so much. Better than nothing though."

Ming returned his full attention to the search for Billy's friends while trying to avoid tripping over any number of unseen hazards in the dark. He glanced over as a shadow detached itself from the night near Billy and several other fighters. Before he could shout a warning, the Psidead tackled the fighter closest to Billy's left. Both Ming and Billy leaped to help, but within a matter of seconds, the zombie had tackled the man to the ground and torn a large gobbet of flesh and muscle from his throat, silencing the man before he could even scream.

Ming spun around as a blocky fighter came up from the ranks behind, and together the three men pulled the undead creature off the wounded fighter, and quickly decapitated it. As soon as they had dispatched the Psidead, Ming knelt next to the man and placed a hand over the hole in his throat while calling for someone to get him something to stop the bleeding.

"You're gonna be fine son. We'll get you back to camp and the medics will patch you up, you'll see. You might not be singing in the opera for a while, but we'll make sure you get back on your feet ASAP."

The man on the ground looked at him with eyes wide with fear as pain-spiked adrenaline overloaded his body in response to the massive wound. His mouth moved as if he wanted to speak, but the damage to his throat was too extensive to allow speech. Instead, he weakly shook his head from side to side, never letting his eyes leave Ming's. Ming could feel the man's lifeblood leaking out rapidly, and realized that the soldier knew as well as he did that he wouldn't last until the medic got to him. Ming nodded silently, and continued to put pressure on the wound, trying to keep him alive, but knowing it was futile. Within minutes, he watched the fallen soldier take a deep breath and hold it forever as his eyes glazed over. Ming silently cursed the fact that he couldn't even remember the man's name as he put the muzzle of his pistol inches from the dead man's forehead. They couldn't afford to have him come back as a Psidead, but it didn't make it any easier as he turned his head and pulled the trigger. He rose to join the others while vowing to make sure this man had a decent burial once they got past this current crisis and got back to Cheyenne Mountain.

But right now, they needed to make sure Mack and Lily got back ok. He was surprised that they hadn't made it to his position yet, since the post was only a couple hundred yards out, and they had been running towards each other when the Psidead attacked his party. They should be here already, and the fact that they weren't gave him a boost of energy as he stood and waved Billy and the rest on. "We'll come back and get him as soon as we deal with whatever is chasing our people out there. Come on!"

They took off as quickly as they could with the limited light from their flashlights, but they had only gone about fifty yards when the bouncing lights illuminated a scene that filled Billy with dread. A cluster of five or six Psidead approached two of their undead brethren who were currently attacking two thrashing bodies that could only be Mack and Lily.
CHAPTER NINETEEN

The two Psidead fell onto Mackland and Lily with a single-minded focus on tearing them apart. Mackland gagged at the overpowering stench of rot and festering wounds emanating from the creature like a poisonous cloud. Breathing was difficult, and left him nauseous and dizzy as he struggled to keep his machete between himself and the zombie scrabbling at him with mindless determination. He felt a burning sensation as the creature swiped his left forearm, and he was horrified to see that the zombie had gouged him with a hand that had no fingertips, but instead ended in raw bone, as if it had worn the ends of its finger off digging through stone and dirt. He looked down at the deep cuts left by the zombie's fingers, which started to burn instantly, and the zombie took advantage of his lack of attention to grip his other arm in a bony grip of unnatural strength. He struggled to break free as numbness began to spread from the gash left by the zombie's fingers to the rest of his arm.

Twisting his grip on the machete, he pushed it against the Psidead's arm, cutting deep into the rotted flesh and muscle, but the zombie felt no pain, and didn't let up its attack in the least. Mackland struggled to get better leverage and damage the zombie when he suddenly heard Lily gasp in pain next to him. Looking over to see the Psidead woman that was attacking her had managed to sink its rotting teeth into Lily's right bicep, he could see that she didn't look inclined to let go without taking a large piece of Lily's arm with her. Lily was trying to pry the monster's jaws apart, but she didn't have space to work, and wasn't having much success.

Mackland made a quick decision and pulled his machete from the creature attacking him. Before the zombie could renew its attack, Mackland thrust the blade across his chest and through the lower jaw of the female currently attached to Lily's upper arm. He pushed back on the handle, and the flat of the blade levered between Lily's arm and the zombie's face, prying them apart, and allowing Lily to use her own blade to make several quick slashes across the undead woman's throat; severing the spinal cord and allowing her to push the dead thing off of her.

The Psidead attacking him took advantage of Mackland's distraction with Lily's zombie to slip beneath his guard and dig its ragged finger bones into the pectoral muscle on the right side of Mack's chest. He grunted in pain and tried to shift away from the clawing hand digging into him, but the Psidead was relentless, and he didn't' have leverage enough get away. Combined with the earlier injuries, Mackland knew he was losing blood and strength at an alarming rate. He could feel himself losing ground against the unending strength of the Psidead zombie. As he began to lose consciousness, he saw Lily standing up with her machete held high, preparing to attack the zombie on him.

Struggling to stay awake, he saw Lily slam her machete deep into the muscle of the zombie's back before lodging between vertebrae in the thing's spine, preventing her from pulling it free. Struggling to free the blade, she never saw the two other Psidead that tackled her to the ground. Weaponless and unable to move underneath their combined mass, she screamed once before disappearing from his line of sight. Then everything went black and Mackland knew no more.

* * *

Billy raced towards his friends, watching in horror as Lily decapitated one zombie while another Psidead attacked Mackland lying on the ground. Lily turned to help Mackland, but two more of the monsters burst out of the dark and fell on her before she could do anything to protect herself.

Billy lunged the final few feet and thrust the burning brand he had grabbed into the face of the Psidead on top of Lily. The creature groaned and fell back as flames licked the raw, rotting skin of its face, setting the ratty plaid shirt it was wearing on fire. "Hang on Lily! I'll get it!" Billy yelled as he kicked the other zombie as hard as he could in the side of the head several times, giving Lily an opportunity to pull her knees up and push the zombie off of her. The creature scrabbled and clawed at her legs, but Billy torched it as well, leaving it to burn beside the other one.

Turning towards the zombie attacking Mackland, he saw Ming arrive with the rest of the rescue party out of the corner of his eye. Grasping the machete sticking out of the zombie's back with both hands, he pulled it free with a wet sucking sound, then grabbed the creature by the shoulders and yanked it off of Mackland, allowing Lily to quickly put an end to it with a swift stroke of her machete. Breathing heavily, Billy looked around and was glad to see no more threats in the immediate area. His relief was short-lived; however, as he turned and saw Mackland.

Leaning down and putting his fingers on his friend's neck to check his pulse, Billy was couldn't believe how pale he looked from blood loss. Mackland was barely conscious and moaning in pain as Billy examined his wounds. The zombie had left four deep puncture wounds in Mack's chest that were bleeding profusely, so he ripped a section from his shirt and pressed it to the wound firmly in an attempt to staunch the bleeding. The four cuts on Mackland's forearm weren't deep, but Billy shuddered to think of the number of poisons and bacteria on those finger stumps that could cause problems if either set of injuries went untreated.

As the rest of the soldiers fanned out to make sure there were no more Psidead waiting to attack, Ming grabbed two of the larger men and pointed to Mackland. "Pick him up get him back to the medic as quick as possible." He turned to the rest of the group. "Everyone else, head back to camp." Billy tried to brush away their hands when they grabbed Mackland's arms and legs, but Ming gently put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get him every bit of help we can, but you need to let these guys take him for now. We can't do much out here. He needs to get back to the camp medic." Billy sagged as exhaustion combined with helplessness left him drained, and the men quickly took Mackland back to camp. Lily sat down heavily next to him, and they leaned on each other, too exhausted to move.

Ming crouched down in front of them and spoke quietly. "We need to get moving, but there's something I need to tell you." He looked around to make sure no one else was within earshot. "I talked to Makrov in the armory after Lily and Mackland left. It took some persuasion, but I found out that Jerrington was the one that told Makrov not to give you guys any rifles. I don't know why yet, but I'm gonna see what I can do to find out."

Billy didn't have the energy to swear, but instead slapped his hand against the tree trunk next to him and let out a grunt of irritation.

Lily looked like she wanted to continue her slashing spree with Jerrington as her next target as she spat out, "I'm going to choke that bastard myself!" She stood and tried to push past Billy, who placed his hands on her shoulders to stop her. She glared at him, "He tried to kill us!" She suddenly paused and Billy saw a flash of understanding in her eyes as she looked at him before continuing. "It's almost like he knew we would be attacked, and didn't want us to be able to fight back. He probably told that damn Russian giant to give us damaged pistols as well."

Ming nodded and said, "I didn't know you had damaged pistols, but I wouldn't doubt it based on what I've heard so far. Look, I promise to find out everything I can about what happened and why, but right now we have to get out of here before any more of those monsters attack. Come on." He quickly recalled the scouts, and they fell back toward the camp to regroup and prepare for the march to Cheyenne the next day.
CHAPTER TWENTY

Sean struggled to his feet as Billy took off towards the sound of gunfire with Ming and the other rescuers, looking around for something to use as a weapon in case he needed it. The only thing readily available were the logs in the fire, so he grabbed the cool end of a burning branch the size of a softball bat, slung the pack Billy had tossed him over his shoulder, and leaned with his back against the pickup truck for support, straining to see beyond the firelight for any sign of the battle he could hear taking place in the dark. "Dammit!" He mumbled darkly to himself as he looked frantically from side to side for any sign of attack. "Someone could have left me a damn gun. What the hell am I gonna do with a stick?"

He couldn't make out anything specific in the darkness, but he heard yelling punctuated by sharp commands and muffled responses that told him the rescue party had found something and were engaging with the attackers. Even in his weakened state, he was going crazy with helplessness knowing that more of the Psidead creatures were attacking his friends, and he stumbled toward the sounds of fighting without even thinking about it.

A cracking branch off to his left was the only warning he had that something was wrong before he saw four of the zombie burst out of the dark heading right for him. He scrambled backwards in an attempt to put the truck between himself and the monsters, but as he rounded the dropped tailgate, he saw movement off to the opposite edge of firelight and his stomach dropped as he realized it was another group of undead. His fear mingled with confusion as he watched this second group start to fan out in a flanking type maneuver. He muttered to himself as he maneuvered back toward the opening between the first group and the second group. "What the hell? I thought these things were brainless?" Fear forced a nervous giggle from his mouth that belied the terror he was feeling. "Just my luck, looks like someone with half a brain is driving this group."

Continuing around the fire, Sean thrust the burning brand toward any zombie that got too close, but he could see that he was running out of room. Each group had a pair of newly dead creatures near the front that moved quicker than the rest, and these sprinters were quickly hemming him in. He needed to make a stand or make a break for it; his odds here were bad if he stood his ground, but the unknown threats in the dark could be infinitely worse if the sounds of battle were any indication. He stood frozen with indecision as the Psidead closed in on him from both sides, leaving only one avenue of escape.

The single hope disappeared as a third group of zombies appeared between him and his escape path into the darkness. Surrounded, Sean and swung his torch wildly as he yelled for help. "Ming! Dr. Jerrington! Mack! There are Psidead all over here! Help!"

His wild torch swinging paid off, connecting with several of the closest Psidead and setting their decayed clothing on fire. This had the double effect of slowing the closest monsters as they burned while also turning them into mobile torches that set other zombies aflame as they bumped into them. Within minutes, six of the creatures were burning on the ground, but Sean remained surrounded with no avenue for escape.

Several Psidead shuffled around the burning bodies and advanced toward Sean, their dead eyes staring at him, but not seeing the reflection of firelight as the first tears rolled from his eyes as he realized the inevitable. He continued to thrust his torch at the monsters, but in the reduced space left to him, he realized that a burning zombie would kill him as quickly as anything else would. Within seconds, one zombie had knocked the torch from his hand, and another had pulled his left leg from underneath him, causing him to rock back as he lost his balance.

As he fell to the ground, he tried to catch himself with his right arm, but his wrist bent the wrong way and broke with a sharp snap like a log popping in the fire next to him. The pain flared new awareness and adrenaline through his system, and he struggled to roll away from the monsters clawing at him, but the firelight dimmed as multiple bodies fell onto him. Teeth bit at his arms and legs as rotted fingers dug into him like dozens of small knives. His scream of pain choked off with a gurgle as one of the zombies bit through his windpipe and tore it away in a spray of blood. As Sean's vision faded along with the blood pouring from his neck, the last thing that he saw was Jerrington's face at the edge of the firelight surrounded by Psidead zombies.

* * *

Ming led the rescue party back through the dark toward camp, and as they approached the light of the campfire, he saw Jerrington walking towards them with a grim look on his face. He intercepted them before they could get within view of the firelight, with his hands held up to stop the group. "You folks should wait here for a few minutes. Something terrible has happened. I have some people cleaning things up."

Billy surged forward in an attempt to get around Jerrington. "Sean? What happened?"

Ming turned and placed his hand against Billy's chest. "Billy, hold on! Let's let Jerrington tell us what's going on." He turned expectantly toward the other man for clarification.

"Yes, well, I don't know how to say this so I'll just cut straight to it. I heard the gunshots and headed out this way, but as I neared the campfire, I heard another commotion from this area back here behind me. I saw several of the Psidead clustering around, so I called for some backup and came to check it out. We found about ten of the Psidead attacking someone. We dispatched the creatures as quickly as possible, but when we got them cleared out, we found your friend. We were too late. The zombies had overwhelmed him and there was nothing we could do."

Billy let out a strangled cry and surged against Ming's hand, pushing him to the side and running toward the campfire. As he broke into the circle of light, he stumbled to a stop as he saw the extent of the attack. Several men were pulling mangled zombie bodies and parts of bodies away from the clearing to be disposed of, and two men were preparing to spread a sheet over the broken and bloody remains of Billy's friend. He stepped towards them, and spoke quietly in a cracking voice. "Stop, I'll do it." His vision blurred as he grabbed the sheet and told the men to take off. When Ming and the rest of the group approached, he spoke without turning around. "Give me a few minutes, please?" He sagged visibly, shoulders shaking as he continued, "Get Mack to the medic. I'll be there when I'm done." Jerrington nodded, and led Ming and the rest toward the camp. Lily looked to Billy with a question in her eyes, and he nodded to indicate she should stay.

After the rest had left, Billy knelt down by Sean's body with tears drawing down his face at the obviously brutal end his friend had met. The Psidead had broken, torn, bit and smashed Sean almost beyond recognition. Jagged, torn flesh and muscle smeared with blood were all that was left of his face, both legs were bent at unnatural angles, his right arm was gone, and a huge hole looked as if it had been slowly dug out of the center of his chest. Lily gasped and put a hand to her mouth as she saw the extent of damage the monsters had inflicted on Sean. Billy couldn't even imagine the terror Sean had endured before he died, and he felt pressure building in his chest from the sheer magnitude of what had happened here.

Lily stepped up and grabbed one edge of the sheet, spreading it out to cover Sean's body. As they dropped it gently across him, Billy realized something else that was wrong as he looked around the area of the attack. Hating himself for even thinking of something besides his dead friend, he nonetheless asked, "Where is the pack?" Panic and anger combined to push his mourning aside as he searched all around Sean's bloody remains; however, he couldn't see any indication of the missing pack or more importantly, the Collector that was inside of it.

Lily was confused, "What pack?"

Billy leaned close to her to avoid being overheard, "I tossed my pack to Sean as we came out to see what was happening to you guys, but it isn't here now." He gave her a significant look. "The Collector was in it."

"You're sure? Maybe it got knocked out of the way in the fight."

Billy let out a disgusted grunt as he gestured angrily toward Sean's cooling body. "What fight? This was a massacre! I've looked all over, and the pack isn't here. And these were zombies, not people! What the hell would a zombie want with the pack? No, somebody else came through here and took the pack." He looked back toward the direction Jerrington had led the rest of the rescue party. "And I have a strong suspicion who that was."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Mackland cracked his eyes open and immediately regretted it. Someone was pointing a bright light into his face. Swatting a hand in the air, he tried to roll over, but the pain in his face and chest spiked through and kept him in place better than any shackles ever could. He lay back with his eyes closed and took a few deep breaths, focusing on taking stock of his situation. He remembered the attack up to the point of the zombie burying its fingers into his chest, but everything got fuzzy from there. He didn't remember anything about how he got back to camp, or how Lily was doing.

The thought of Lily hurt or dead sent his heart rate racing, but there was nothing he could do until he could get up on his own or find someone to give him some information. He looked around his surroundings and saw the dirty green camp cot he was lying on, the IV tube steadily dripping into his arm, and the man with the flashlight that had been pointed into his eyes a few moments earlier. He was in one of the small cabins they had seen upon entering the campground.

"Wh--" He tried to clear his throat, "What happ--"

The man with the flashlight reached over and handed him a glass of water. "Take a few small drinks. You gotta be dry as hell."

Mackland took a few small sips and tried again. "What happened? How did I get here?"

Another voice answered him from the other side of the room. "We carried you back here, Mack." Ming stepped into view. "You and Lily did a hell of a job holding off those Psidead bastards, especially with just a few busted pistols and machetes, but by the time we got there, you guys were losing ground. Billy went kind of nuts and roasted the last couple of zombies to get em off you. As soon as we got you clear, we brought you back to our medic here. That was about two hours ago, and you've been out the whole time. You lost a lot of blood, and he pumped as much antibiotics into that IV as he could, because Billy said the Psidead that left the holes in your chest did it with some really nasty fingertips. You have a slight fever, but as long as the infection doesn't take hold, it looks like you are gonna be ok, just weak as hell for a couple of days."

"Lily?" Mackland asked, holding his breath as he waited for the answer.

"She's good. She got a few scratches, a sprained wrist and more bruises than she'll want to remember, but the zombies kind of focused on you for some reason."

Mackland was relieved that Lily was all right, and Ming went on before he could ask his next question. "Billy is ok too. He and Lily are waiting outside. I'm gonna bring 'em in before we talk more."

Mackland nodded as Ming went to the door and called for Billy and Lily, and the medic checked Mackland's vital signs before stepping out to give the four of them some privacy.

Lily came in first, walking up to the right side of the bed and grabbing Mackland's hand in a surprisingly strong, yet pleasantly soft, grip. "I'm so glad you're awake. You gave me a good scare back there." She smiled as she spoke, and Mack felt a warm tingle at the sight of that smile.

Letting the warmth of Lily's presence wash over him, Mackland relaxed and focused on the smooth contours of her fingers wrapped around his, wondering what she was feeling. Before he could process that thought or say anything to her, Billy stepped up quickly on the other side of the bed and gripped his shoulder softly. His usually goofy grin was subdued, and Mack knew something was wrong. When no one spoke into the uncomfortable silence, he finally asked, "How's Sean doing? Is he gonna be able to move soon?" As soon as he said it, he saw Billy flinch and turn away, and his throat suddenly went dry again. Lily spoke softly as Mackland watched Billy's whole body shake.

"Mack...Something happened while you and I were being attacked. Another group of the Psidead attacked Sean. There were too many of them." Her voice broke slightly as she looked him in the eye. "I'm so sorry Mack, he didn't make it."

Stabbing pain roared through Mackland's chest, washing away the pain from his wounds in a heartbeat. Blood roared in his ears as he looked at Lily and Billy with pleading eyes. "Huh? Sean can't be dead." He looked to Billy as his friend turned back with tears in his eyes. "We've been friends for years... He can't be dead."

The room spun and Mackland sank into the welcoming darkness.

Opening his eyes, Mackland saw Billy and Lily both leaning over him with worried looks on their faces. Memory followed a split second behind, and the pain of Sean's death slammed into him like a truck. Mackland felt more lost than ever as he tried to grasp what had happened, and what it meant going forward. Sean's predictable pessimism had served to counterbalance some of Mack's crazier ideas and activities. Truth be told, Sean had probably saved all their asses several times just by telling Mackland to think again before jumping into something.

Where Billy was the comic relief in their trio, and Mack provided the impetus and ideas, Sean was the grounding, the foundation. He wasn't sure how they would function without his calming influence.

Sean didn't deserve to die at the hands of some damn monsters! Mackland turned away as grief and pain washed over him in a wave. It was several minutes before he could turn to face his friends again to continue.

* * *

Ming spoke quietly "I'm sorry Mack. Sean was fine when I came through and got Billy and the others to come help you guys. We weren't out there that long, but when we got back, it was over. The only person that saw what happened was Jerrington, and the soldiers he called to help, but they were too late, according to him."

Mackland looked up at the underlying tone in Ming's voice. "You say that like it's a question instead of a statement." He watched the other man for any sign of where this was going.

Ming sighed and moved in closer before continuing. "Look, all I have is a gut feeling being fed by circumstances but there is a lot of stuff that isn't adding up with Jerrington since you guys showed up. It started with him telling Makrov not to give you guys rifles after I had already set up what he was supposed to give you. He's never done that before, so it set off alarm bells for me. Then both pistols malfunction? The odds of that are incredibly slim, unless it was intentional." He looked around as if to reassure himself that Jerrington wasn't waiting in the shadows. "But the attacks themselves are what has me the most concerned. They are too coordinated. We know that the Psidead can function with a kind of group hive mentality that allows them to act as a unified organism, but we've never seen anything like this. Multiple groups attacking from different areas at the same time and apparently adapting as our forces spread out? Not to mention a few of the guys that showed up to help finish off the zombies that attacked Sean said that it looked like the bodies had fallen in a roughly circular pattern that looked like they had spread out and flanked him. Even if they share a brain, that brain is running at the most primal survival level. There isn't, or shouldn't, be any kind of strategy in their attacks, but that's sure as hell what it sounds like is happening." He took a deep breath as he considered his next words. "Look, I know it sounds crazy, and I don't have any evidence to prove it's not me that's gone off the deep end, but someone or something is controlling these Psidead, I would bank on it."

The other three said nothing as the shock of Ming's suggestion soaked in, until Billy finally spoke into the silence. "Well, I hate to pile on more bad news, but I left the pack with the Collector with Sean when we came to get you, and when we got back and found Sean, the pack was gone. I looked all over, and I can guarantee that it wasn't anywhere around our section of camp. Someone took it, and based on Ming's suspicions along with my own gut feeling; I'm thinking Jerrington had something to do with that as well."

Lily had been listening and now she frowned as she considered everything she had heard. "What reason would he have for taking the pack and the Collector? He doesn't know what it is, and more importantly, he doesn't know how it works."

Mackland shook his head as he considered the possibilities. "You're right, it doesn't make sense, but someone must have taken it. If it wasn't Jerrington--"

"Did I hear my name?" Everyone turned to see Jerrington come through the door, and Ming spoke up to avoid any more questions regarding Mackland's comments.

"We were just trying to bring Mack up to speed on what had happened, and figure out how things should move forward."

"That's why I came over, I wanted to make sure you all knew we were moving out first thing tomorrow morning, and to ensure that Dr. Luther would be ready to go." As Jerrington spoke, he looked around at each of them, and Mackland felt the same itch he had felt earlier as Jerrington's gaze brushed across him. He noticed that the sensation faded as Jerrington's focus shifted to the others in the group.

Mackland glanced over to see Lily watching him intently and felt sure that she must have felt something as well. He replied to Jerrington, "I don't know what the medic says, but I think I'll be able to at least get to one of the vehicles with some help. Don't think I'll be hiking to Cheyenne or anything, but I think I'll be ok to get on the road in a few hours."

"That is good news indeed! Just let me know if you need anything in the meantime, and get some rest while you can." He looked at Mackland for another moment, then made his excuses and headed back out to the camp.

* * *

As soon as the door closed behind Jerrington, Mackland and the others shared concerned looks and waited a few minutes before speaking.

Finally, Billy gave an exaggerated grimace and spoke up, "So did anyone else get the creepy-crawlie heebie-jeebies when Jerrington stared at you? 'Cuz I felt like I had ants running across my brain the whole time he was talking." He followed his statement with an overly dramatic shiver for effect, which elicited some nervous laughter from the others.

Ming got control of himself first and said, "Yeah, that was weird. But we need to focus on our plans. I gather from the way you guys are talking that this Collector is important, so what are your plans?"

Mackland paused and got another drink of water as he considered whether or not they could trust Ming. His gut told him they could, but he shot a raised eyebrow inquiry at Lily and Billy, and they both nodded their unspoken agreement, so Mackland went on. "Ok Ming, I'll see your crazy zombie theories and raise you one better. The truth is that we weren't really doing research up north. I realize this is going to be hard to swallow, but we're actually not from here. And by here, I mean, not from this universe." He held up a hand as Ming started to interrupt. "Let me finish before you say anything. This is going to be a lot to grasp. We really are doing quantum research, but it's actually a lot more than I indicated earlier. Our research led us to find a way to tap into quantum fields, and to make a long story short, we had an accident that dumped us from our universe to this one, and the Collector is the only way we can possibly get back. And the Collector was in that pack. So originally, we were going to split off as soon as possible and find what we needed to get back home. But without the Collector, our plans have changed, although I can't say for sure how just yet." He spread his hands with a weak smile. "Go ahead and laugh or tell me how crazy I am. I understand."

Ming soaked it in and thought for a few moments before he answered. "Well, considering I live in a world full of undead telepathic zombies, the idea that you all are from another universe isn't that much of a stretch for me. So in the interest of time, let's assume I have no problem with your story. The question becomes: what can you do without the Collector?"

"Not much in the short term. With enough time, I think Billy and I could rebuild one, but finding the parts and redesigning it would take significant time and resources. So for right now, unless either Billy or Lily has a better idea, I think our best bet is to tag along to your base, hope we can find the Collector, and then figure out our next steps." He looked over to Billy and Lily to see if they had any objections or suggestions.

Billy shook his head after thinking for a few seconds. "Rebuilding the Collector is going to take materials that we won't find on the road easily, but a military base like Cheyenne Mountain would have most of what we need, so my vote is to head north with you guys."

Lily shrugged and pointed to the door. "I'm not crazy about going anywhere with Dr. Creepy there, but I'm just a grunt. Mack and Billy know about the techie stuff that can get us home, so I go where they go."

Mackland felt a small thrill shoot through him at hearing Lily's use of his nickname for the first time, surprising him somewhat. He couldn't deny she was attractive but he usually went for the more girly-type women, and while Lily was undeniably all woman, she had a much harder exterior than most girls Mackland dated. Nonetheless, he found himself hoping she would continue calling him Mack going forward.

Ming stood up to leave. "I'm sure Jerrington is planning on us leaving shortly, so everyone get what you need together and get some rest. I'll come by to see you before we pull out. And don't worry about your secret, it's safe with me. I don't know what's going on with Jerrington, but he is giving off weird vibes I haven't felt before, so we'll keep everything close to the vest for now."

They all voiced their agreements as Ming left the room.

Lily and Billy started to leave, but Mackland asked them to stay. "There's no reason you guys can't stay in here. We all know something isn't right with Jerrington, so it would be a hell of a lot safer for all of us to stick together till we pull out of here. Plus the cots are probably more comfortable than sleeping on the hard ground in a tent."

The others agreed, and after running over to their tents and gathering their sleeping bags and other gear, they returned to the rundown building Mackland was housed in. They got their sleeping bags setup on the cots and within a half hour both of them were snoring lightly.

Mackland teetered on the edge of sleep for several minutes after his friends had drifted off, and as he faded into blissful nothingness he kept seeing images of Jerrington's eyes staring at him. His last thought before sleep claimed him was that those eyes were the last thing that Sean had seen as he died in the firelight.

* * *

The warm sand was just wet enough so that his footprints remained visible as he walked along the water's edge. The rhythmic pounding of the waves was almost like a soothing lullaby that spread throughout his entire body, washing away the pains and fears that he felt, but couldn't identify. Part of him knew that some very bad things had happened, and were going to happen, but trying to focus on them was like trying to grab a handful of fog.

He was holding someone's hand. He looked over to see Lily's wide smile wrap around him like warm sunshine. He couldn't help but return the grin. "Hey there. This is beautiful, isn't it? I wouldn't mind staying here forever."

Lily didn't respond, she just kept smiling, and turned to look towards the dunes lining the beach.

Mackland followed her gaze and saw a figure silhouetted against the sun setting behind the sand. From this distance it was impossible to recognize the person, yet Lily started walking towards the unknown individual, pulling Mackland along behind her.

They arrived at the foot of the sand dune minutes later, and Mackland looked up at the figure on the crest, feeling as if he should know the person, but unable to make out their features with the sun directly behind them. Lily silently dropped his hand to point up at the figure, indicating that Mackland should climb the dune. He placed a hand on her elbow to bring her along with him, but she slipped out of his grasp with feathery softness and shook her head. He was to go alone.

He hesitated only a second before starting up the loose sand, pausing briefly about twenty feet up to look back and ask Lily a final time to join him. Her smile never wavered, but she shook her head again, waving him on.

The dune was only about fifty feet high, and within minutes he stood atop the dune ten feet from the stranger. He should have been able to see their features by now, but for some reason, the sun seemed to have shifted to intentionally keep him blind. The person didn't want to harm him, or they could have done so at any time while he was literally climbing blind, so he walked the final few feet until he could see the face of his companion atop the sand.

The sun slid to the side and Mackland saw Sean smiling back at him with a horrifying skeletal grin displaying bloody teeth and gums where something had torn huge chunks away from the right side of his face.

Mackland staggered back away from the horror that used to be his friend, stumbling in the loose sand beneath his feet. Landing on his butt, he tried to scoot back with his hands and feet, but the sand proved impossible to maneuver in. He screamed as the creature that had been Sean moved forward with the stump of an arm beckoning him to come back.

Frantically, Mackland looked to Lily for help at the bottom of the dune, but Lily was no longer waiting for him. Carla stood at the base of the dune, silent and pleading with her eyes for him to come to her. As Mackland tried to understand what was happening, she began sinking into the sand. She didn't react to her situation at all, merely watching Mackland as he wrestled with this impossible situation.

The monster that had been Sean was almost on him and Mackland tried to roll down the face of the dune to get to Carla, but the sand simply shifted away from him when he tried. He was forced to watch her and face what was left of his friend.

Carla slowly sank into the sand until only her eyes and the top of her head were visible. She didn't struggle as her mouth and nose were covered. There was no fear, no agitation. All Mackland saw in her eyes was the silent accusation that he hadn't been able to save her, and a single tear rolling free to soak into the sand as she disappeared completely.

Mackland howled as he lost her again, and the Sean-creature fell on him with teeth and claws.

* * *

"Mack! Mack! Wake up!" The urgent whisper broke Mackland free of the nightmare more quickly than he would have preferred, leaving him disoriented. "Come on, get up."

Mackland cracked his eyes open to squint at Ming in the dim light. Taking several deep breaths, he calmed his racing heart. "Is it time to hit the road already?" With no clock, he was still in the disoriented fog of waking up from a deep sleep, and flashes of his dark dream still pulsed behind his tired eyes.

"Not yet. We still have an hour until we leave, but I needed to talk to you about something now." The urgency in his voice was sufficient to clear the last of the cobwebs from Mackland's sleep addled brain as he sat up.

"Ok, you have my attention. What's up? Do we need to wake the others?"

"Not yet. I wanted to tell you first, and see what you think before we get everyone worked up."

Shooting a glance at the blanket mounds that were his friends, he nodded, "I'm not crazy about hiding anything from them, but it's up to you for now. Shoot." Ming looked back at the door as if he expected someone to bust through at any moment, which further concerned Mackland. "Come on Ming, what the hell is going on?"

"After I left you guys yesterday evening, I went to check on a couple of things throughout the camp before hitting the rack so I could be up in plenty of time to organize the departure. I had already touched base with the sentries for the night, and made sure the section leaders knew we were packing up in the morning to head back to base. I decided to swing by Jerrington's tent to check in before calling it a night. I heard him talking to someone as I approached, and then I heard him say your name and something that froze me in my tracks." He looked at Mackland and the fear in his eyes was obvious. "I couldn't make out everything, but he said something about you, and then a few words later, I heard him say 'Collector'! I thought I might have misheard, since I was still outside the tent, but since you had mentioned the device to me, it kind of jumped out at me when I heard it, and I moved closer to see what else I could hear. When I heard the other voices, I realized he was talking to a couple of thugs we've had with us for the past month or so. We picked them up during a scouting mission east of Cheyenne Mountain looking for other survivors. We found about twelve people all together, and most were normal, hard-working folks like the rest of us, but these two had 'bad apple' stamped on their ugly mugs from the beginning. It wasn't long before they began living up to my expectations; they were bullies who picked on anyone they felt was weaker than them, and got involved in all kinds of shady activities throughout the group."

He paused and glanced over his shoulder again, nervously tugging at his shirt collar. "So it was a surprise when I realized that Jerrington was talking to the two of them, but as I listened more closely, my surprise turned to something much worse. The one goon asked what they should do about you and your two friends, and Jerrington told them he didn't care what happened to the girl, but he needed you and Billy in order to determine how to make the Collector work. Then he told them he had gone to a great deal of effort and taken some serious risks in order to get a hold of the device, so he didn't want them screwing it up by hurting you or Billy before he was able to make you help him use it."

Mackland looked at Ming with a combination of confusion and horror. He had no idea how Jerrington could have known anything about the Collector or what it was used for, but the point was moot now that he had the device. The only thing that mattered was getting it back so that they could find the energy cells and get back home.

First, he had to make sure that Lily was safe from Jerrington. He decided they needed to wake the other two and let them know what was going on, given the threat that Jerrington had made against Lily. Ming woke them up, and after a few minutes, they were both standing by Mackland's bed waiting for an explanation. Mackland quickly related the details that Ming had told him including Jerrington's plan to dispose of Lily. Rubbing tiredly at the stubble growing on his chin, he said, "So now we need to decide how to play this. Assuming Jerrington really does know about the Collector—"

"Oh, I assure you Dr. Luther, I do know something about your 'Collector'." They all spun to face Jerrington as he came through the door flanked on either side by what could only be the two thugs that Ming had told Mackland about earlier. "Not nearly enough, but I am hoping you folks can help me with that." His face split in a harsh leering grin that spoke volumes about his plans for the device and the three of them. "Ming, that will be all for now. Please make sure everything is ready for us to move out before daybreak, and I will take care of our friends here."

Ming left after a brief moment of hesitation and a quick nod from Mackland. As soon as he was outside, Jerrington had one of the thugs close the door. He turned back to the three of them and said, "You understand, Dr. Luther, that I need you folks to tell me everything you can about that beautiful piece of technology, how it works, and most importantly, where I can go with it. The only real question is; will you do it without fuss, or will things have to get interesting?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Ming's jumbled thoughts matched the chaos of the bustling camp as preparations for their imminent departure continued. He couldn't believe things had gone so bad with Jerrington so quickly, and he had no idea as to how he could help Mackland and the others.

Jerrington seemed to know things he shouldn't, and he was always a few steps ahead of everyone else lately. Ming had no idea how he could have known about the Collector, but he was beginning to have some suspicions.

He finally decided the best thing would be to go along with Jerrington's plans for the time being. He hoped staying close to Jerrington would put him in the best position possible when the time for action came. Checking on the various section leaders to make sure everything was going according to plan, and that they were on track to make their scheduled departure window, his mind continued to try to put the pieces together.

In addition to the strange prescient abilities Jerrington had been exhibiting, there was the increasingly coordinated nature of the Psidead attacks lately. He had never seen them perform flanking maneuvers or schedule simultaneous attacks from multiple fronts, and he knew that such planning required more brainpower than any group of zombies possessed. But if it wasn't the zombies themselves, then someone else was obviously guiding them. Ming had a strong suspicion as to who that someone was, but he didn't know how he was doing it.

As he continued to work through the indications and implications, something kept nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn't put a finger on what it was. Like an itch he couldn't scratch, it was driving him crazy.

Realization washed over him and he slapped a hand on his thigh with an involuntary yell. "That's it! An itch! The itching when he looks at us!" He clapped a hand over his mouth and looked around to make sure no one had heard him. Seeing nobody within earshot, he headed for his tent.

Understanding brought some sense of control to his situation, but he was still horrified at what it all indicated. He didn't know how, but he was convinced that the itching feeling Jerrington was giving off was a side effect of his reading their minds and possibly even trying to control their thoughts. However, that was just the tip of the iceberg. If Ming was right, then somehow Jerrington was controlling the actions of large groups of Psidead zombies, causing them to attack at his command. He still needed to work out how such a thing could be, but for the time being the important question was; how could this information help him rescue Mackland's group? How could he best help Mackland and the others get their device back and get away from Jerrington's reading influence?

As Ming wrestled with these new revelations, emotions warred within him. He was torn between his relationship and loyalty to Jerrington and these recent suspicions about what his friend was doing. Jerrington had done so much for him that he began to second-guess his assumptions.

Jerrington was obviously confident in Ming's loyalty as demonstrated by his easy willingness to let Ming leave the room after admitting to stealing the Collector. That faith made Ming think of all they had been through since they met.

They had been together since the beginning of the Psikick outbreak and the rise of the Psidead. When the outbreak spread, Ming came home one day and found his wife and two kids gone with no note or any type of indication as to what happened. He searched for days without success. During his search, he met Jerrington, who was putting together the beginning of his group of survivors and preparing to get away from the chaos of the bigger cities and setup base in a more secluded area. Ming told him his story, and Jerrington promised to devote any resources he could to finding Ming's family if he decided to join up with their group. Ming initially turned him down simply because he wouldn't leave the city without finding his family. Jerrington proved good to his word anyway, and for the next several weeks, he sent multiple teams to coordinate with Ming and assist in his search. After more than two months, Ming still hadn't found any sign of his wife and kids, and Jerrington suggested that it was time to move on. Things had continued to get worse in the cities, and Jerrington was convinced that the window of escape for a group their size was closing quickly. He promised to have teams that were staying in the city continue the search for Ming's family with regular reports back to him, as well as giving Ming time frequently to come back himself and look for as long as he needed. Without having any other viable options, Ming decided Jerrington only had his best interest in mind and agreed to head out when the rest of the group did.

Since then, teams had reported every two weeks on the search for Ming's family, but other than a few false alarms that turned out to be people that were similar in appearance, there was nothing new to report. Ming had gone back home five times in the past year, spending several days each time, but with no more success than any previous attempts. Jerrington and Ming had grown closer, and Ming eventually became second in command of the Cheyenne survival group. From that day until these past few days, Ming had never questioned any of the decisions made by Jerrington and he had been totally committed to the vision Jerrington had for their group of fighters and survivors.

Now that had all changed.

* * *

"The Collector isn't going to be of any use to you Jerrington. I don't know what you think you know, but it's just a research tool that we use to test energy readings." Mackland moved back away from Jerrington and his henchmen as he spoke, with Billy and Lily shadowing his movements.

Jerrington laughed without any trace of humor. "Come now Dr. Luther, do you take me for a fool? Even if I didn't know that this Collector of yours was vital to you, it simply wouldn't make sense for you to be so concerned for a piece of research equipment after you left your research station, would it?" He motioned with his hand and the two thugs fanned out to cut off any avenue for escape. "I know that this Collector device of yours harnesses some type of energy source, and that energy source also provided some type of passageway from your universe to this one." He paused to smirk at the look of astonishment on the other's faces. "Yes, I know you are not from this universe. It really wasn't that difficult to figure out once I overheard pieces of your conversations and put the rest of the evidence together. However, that isn't important right now. What is important is this Collector of yours. I believe if it could bring you folks here, then it can also take me away from here."

He paced towards them with a unsteady gleam in his eyes. "There isn't a future in this world, that much is obvious. The Psidead numbers keep growing, and unless something significant happens, they will keep increasing until there isn't anyone left alive to fight them! We aren't going to be able to rebuild any major industry because the zombies prevent groups from being able to merge long enough to become established." He got within a few feet of Mackland and thrust a finger in his face. Mackland met his growing tirade with a calm gaze, giving away nothing. "You have a means for escape from this world! I simply want you to tell me how it works!" Jerrington suddenly relaxed and leaned back from Mackland's personal space. "I will take you with me. All I want is to leave this world. Once we arrive at the new world, I will give the device back to you, and you can leave for your world."

Lily stepped toward the thug closest to her and took up a defensive stance. The brute grinned at the prospect of violence combined with female contact and flexed his huge fists in anticipation.

Mackland placed a restraining hand on Lily's arm and gave her a reassuring look when she glanced back at him. "Look Jerrington, you're right. I wasn't truthful about the Collector, but it isn't that simple. I don't know what you think you know, but I assure you that device by itself will not do what you want it to. Even if we could get it working again, there is no guarantee that it will be able to do anything other than what it was intended to do, which is to identify and gather energy from something called nullspace. What happened to bring us here was a freak accident, and it might very well be impossible to recreate that set of circumstances again." As he spoke, he felt the beginning of the itching sensation behind his eyes that had happened several times during the past few hours. He saw Jerrington staring at him intently as the itching sensation increased.

"Come now Mackland... if I can drop the formality?" He continued when Mackland didn't respond. "Very well. I know that you are lying. You have a very good idea of what happened, and you need—something...You need to find something?" He frowned as if he were focusing on a stray thought eluding his grasp. "Yes, you are looking for something to do with the Collector, aren't you? And that something is vital to making things work so you can get back home, isn't it?"

The itching sensation increased until it became an almost painful pressure in his skull, and Mackland shook his head in an attempt to clear it.

Jerrington clapped his hands together loudly, startling the other three as he continued. "Yes, I can see that you are not inclined to help me voluntarily, and you will only continue to attempt to mislead me. We don't have the time right now to work through this, so we will have to continue our conversation once we arrive at the base. My two associates will be staying to ensure that you don't try anything inadvisable before the trip starts, and they will escort you during the trek. Perhaps you will reconsider during the trip, but rest assured that you will help me to escape this world, one way or another."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The sun rose on the convoy as it made its way along the flat barren stretch of I-25 headed toward the Cheyenne Mountain military complex housing Jerrington's group. The parade of vehicles and people stretched for a quarter of a mile with nothing but sage grass and scrub brush reaching to the small foothills on either side of the highway. Jerrington ordered the two thugs to ride with Mackland, Lily, and Billy in one of the vans in order to ensure they didn't try to break away. Lily and Mackland sat in quiet contemplation, not wanting to discuss anything in front of the guards. Billy sat staring out the window, not moving or talking, his usual spark of humor and glibness seemingly blown away with Sean's death. The two guards, apparently lost in their own thoughts as they followed the vehicle in front of them, completed the silence.

The quiet ride gave Mack time to admire Lily sitting in front of him and to think about how their relationship was growing and developing so quickly. He couldn't deny that he had feelings for this incredibly vibrant woman that had literally fallen into his life, and he was relatively sure she had some feelings for him as well; however, his track record with women after Carla resulted in more misses and failures than successes. And he could be honest enough with himself to admit that he was usually the problem. He wasn't emotionally accessible, it was difficult for him to open up to anyone, and when combined with the pressures of possible romance and intimate relationships, his first response was usually to get away quickly and cleanly before things could progress too far.

His recent nightmares weren't exactly helping either. They had uncovered long-buried feelings of loss, helplessness, and most of all, guilt. Part of him knew that Carla's death wasn't his fault, that it was a freak accident and she wouldn't want him to blame himself. But another part of him whispered dark little insidious suggestions that he couldn't erase; that if he had paid more attention, or tried harder to get to her, or called for help, or...anything. That cruel part of him was responsible for making sure that he never let another woman get close, no matter how much he wished otherwise.

Lily was different. Although he sensed she was attracted to him, Lily didn't seem inclined to push things; of course, the circumstances they were in hadn't been conducive to any type of romance, but he could sense it was more her natural attitude than anything else, which he found comforting and made him all the more attracted to her.

As he continued his musings, Lily turned to look at him and he had to struggle not to look away too quickly for fear of looking guilty. She gave him a small smile that said they would figure this out together before turning back towards the front.

Mackland looked out the window and watched the desert landscape roll by in stops and starts as the convoy moved on like a huge caterpillar. They had to stop frequently as they found abandoned cars and trucks left by those fleeing the Psidead, or those that had fallen victim to the zombie madness. Depending on the terrain, the scouts would determine if the convoy could simply detour around the vehicle carcasses or if they had to stop and move them because ditches or boulders along the road prevented easy bypasses. It was less than 100 miles between their camp at the KOA and Cheyenne base, but the frequent stops and road clearing were slowing down the already cumbersome convoy so that what should have been a trip of a few hours would most likely take them the full day and most of the night, at least. Mack just hoped that it would give them time to figure out some way to get the Collector and escape from Jerrington, because he felt sure if they entered Cheyenne Mountain, they would never leave alive.

* * *

Ming rolled down his window as two scouts approached his vehicle. "What's up?" He said to the taller of the two men.

"Sir, there's another roadblock up ahead. It looks like two pickup trucks, and one is lying on its side. The ditch on one side is too deep for anything without four-wheel drive, and there's an embankment on the other side that is about eight feet high."

Ming put his face in his hands and pressed on his temples. From his perspective in the second vehicle in the progression, Ming supervised the road clearing and was the final word if the scouts weren't sure whether they should go around or clear an obstruction. Most of the time the choice was easy, when the car or truck was obviously rusted and sitting on flat tires or missing entire wheels from previous scavengers, they would go around unless the ditches that ran along the road were too deep for the cars and non-four-wheel drive trucks to navigate, or some other obstacle prevented it. He considered options as he asked another question, "How steep is the embankment? Any chance of going over it?"

"No sir, it's almost straight up, sorry."

"Dammit!" Ming slammed a hand on the dashboard and told the men to get a crew to clear the road. He grabbed his radio and set it for the command channel. "All section leaders, this is Ming. We have another obstacle we have to clear, meaning we'll be stuck here for at least thirty minutes, so let's make the best of it. Go ahead and break out food and water. We pull out in an hour no matter what."

He put the radio down and sat back to watch the crews go about their work. Ming barely registered what was happening as he continued to try to figure out what Jerrington hoped to accomplish by kidnapping Mackland and his friends. Most of all, he was trying to determine how he could best help Mackland and the others without tipping off Jerrington that he was no longer the loyal follower he used to be. As he waited for the road to be cleared, Ming considered and discarded numerous plans. The primary flaw in any escape attempt, as he saw it, was Jerrington's close proximity to the three captives, coupled with the unknown quantity of Jerrington's psychic abilities. He had no idea if distance affected Jerrington's ability to read minds, and if so, what the effective range was. Without that knowledge, Ming had to assume that Jerrington would be able to detect any attempt to free his captives before it could happen. For that matter, Jerrington could be reading his mind right now, but Ming was fairly sure the itching feeling was a reliable indicator of the other man's mental presence, so he was confident his thoughts were private for the time being.

He considered raising a false alarm about a Psidead attack and trying to free Mackland's group in the ensuing chaos, but without an actual attack, he doubted that Jerrington's guards would leave their prisoners. If there was an attack, Ming might be able to get them free, but escaping both Psidead and Jerrington's men might be too much to hope for with their limited resources.

The original scout returning to his vehicle interrupted his thoughts. "Sir, the crew has the road cleared. We are moving out, so just give us fifteen minutes to scout ahead, and then you should be good to head out."

Ming nodded. "Sounds good. You guys keep an eye out, and be careful." He reached out and shook the other man's hand before he turned to leave, then picked up his radio. "All section leaders, we are pulling out in fifteen minutes. Repeat, be ready to move in fifteen minutes."

Fifteen minutes later as his vehicle started down the road again, Ming was no closer to a solution that would help Mackland and his friends. He resigned himself to be ready to act, and if an opportunity arose on the trip to Cheyenne, he would do his best to take advantage and get them free; otherwise, he would wait until they got to the base and see what Jerrington planned on doing to them before coming up with a plan to help them escape. He just hoped that he wouldn't be too late.

* * *

As twilight overtook daylight, long shadows stretched across the convoy moving through the fading orange sunlight toward Fort Carson, the base that was home to the Cheyenne Mountain complex. The base was a small city that could support up to 15,000 military and civilian personnel, and had been home to numerous Army units since its founding in 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. As they turned off highway 25 and onto the main access road to the base, Mack let out a low whistle at the massive silhouette of Cheyenne Mountain rising behind the low skyline of two and three-story buildings. What should have been a comforting sight of safe refuge from the hordes of Psidead monsters instead left him full of nervous tension, wondering what Jerrington had in store for them once they arrived at the complex.

The lead trucks approached the closed main gates, slowing to a stop as two armed sentries stepped out of the guardhouse and fanned out to either side of the approaching vehicles. Mackland watched closely as Ming got out of the second vehicle and hailed the sentry, who recognized him before waving the procession through. Ming shook the sentries hand and shared a few quick words before the convoy passed through. Minutes later Mackland's SUV lurched forward as they entered the base and their uncertain future.

Looking around at the buildings as they drove deeper into the mini city, it was easy to see that the Psidead zombie outbreak had decimated Fort Carson. Scattered pockets of survivors were visible as they passed. A man and two women had a car hood open as they looked at the engine, while across the street a small group of people milled in front of the run down ruin of the local grocery store. Mack couldn't help thinking that they looked like a bunch of lost children looking for something to do, which for all he knew may be exactly what they were. The atmosphere was grim and heavy, as if a blanket of misery were smothering the base, and contributing more to the tense atmosphere in their vehicle.

The convoy slowed as they passed through the middle of the town and the lead vehicles pulled into the large parking lot for the Troy University campus. As the rest of the procession filed in and the vehicles parked, Mackland asked what was going on. Surprisingly, the goon in the passenger seat responded. "Getting supplies." It wasn't the most eloquent feedback, but Mackland took it as a positive sign nonetheless.

Jerrington approached their SUV and spoke to the driver. After a few minutes, he walked up to the lead vehicles as their driver spoke to his partner before getting out and opening the rear doors. "Get out."

Lily sneered at them. "Great, so we're free to go, right?"

The goon didn't even respond, merely waiting for them to exit the vehicle as if she hadn't even spoken.

As soon as they got out, the driver moved behind them as his partner pointed towards a door on the east end of the building. "There's a bathroom in there. You each have five minutes. There's only one door in and we'll be watching the window, so don't get any bright ideas."

* * *

Mack and Billy stood at the sink and discussed their options. Billy's voice was flat and lifeless as he asked, "What the hell does he want with the Collector, Mack?"

Mackland heard the pain in his friend's voice, and wanted to comfort him, but he knew they didn't have time. Focusing on Billy's question, he paced by the door as he tried to put the pieces together in his head. "Obviously, he thinks it's his ticket out of here, and it's bordering on an obsession, even though he doesn't know how or why the device works. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure if he gets what he wants from us, not only will we never get back home, I don't think we'll be leaving here alive."

Billy stared into the dirty sink."Yeah, I'm getting the same feeling. He is seriously off the charts crazy; I wouldn't put anything past him. But the question is what the hell are we supposed to do to keep him from finding out what he wants if he really is doing some kind of mind reading voodoo?"

Before Mackland could respond, one of the thugs pounded on the door. "Time's up! Let's move."

They shared a sigh and made their way out the door.

Lily was walking out at the same time, and they all made their way back to the vehicles. They watched as people went back and forth carrying boxes of supplies for the next fifteen minutes before Ming signaled the convoy was ready to resume. Mackland made a snap decision and managed to get Lily's attention with a small nod of his head. Once he knew she was watching him, a raise of the eyebrows with a glance toward the goon closest to him was the only warning he gave before he suddenly bent at the waist and kicked out straight behind him. His foot cracked into the goon's knee, which bent the wrong way with an audible crack. The man screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, giving Mackland the opportunity to fall on top of him and grab for the gun at his waist. Lily adjusted to the surprise move almost instantly, and as the other thug pulled his pistol, Lily stepped in towards him and slammed her palm upward into his chin, snapping his head back and causing him to drop the weapon. Billy was not as quick to adapt to the changing situation, standing frozen and unable to decide how to help Mack or Lily.

The man below Mackland managed to get his beefy arm across his body and block Mack's attempt to grab the pistol. He punched Mack several times in the face and chest in an attempt to get space to draw his weapon, but Mack was having none of that. Scrambling to stay on top of the thug, he threw punches and knee thrusts while continuing to fight for possession of the pistol. The guard was bigger and stronger than Mackland, but crushed knee was slowing him down and preventing him from focusing. He managed to land a solid blow to the head that left Mackland dizzy and seeing bright pops of light when he blinked. He knew that if he didn't do something to end the fight, his escape attempt would end as quickly as it had begun, but he couldn't clear his head and was still seeing multiple copies of the goon he was fighting. A kick to the ribs left him fighting for breath, and he curled into a ball to try to protect himself. He waited for the next blow, and when it didn't fall after a few seconds, he cautiously opened his eyes to see Billy straddling the thug's chest and raising the pistol clutched in his fist. He watched Billy bring the butt of the pistol down against the man's temple and the body below him collapsed bonelessly. Billy kneeled on the man's chest, breathing heavily and most likely in shock. Mackland looked over to see that Lily had taken down the other thug and was tying his hands behind him with a few strips of cloth. Rolling up to his knees with a groan as pain shot across his ribs, he placed his hand against the neck of the man Billy had knocked out. Finding his pulse steady, he grabbed Billy's shoulder. "It's ok dude. He's not dead, and you saved my life. That gorilla was gonna tear me apart if you didn't stop him."

The stress of the fight appeared to have brought Billy out of his grief, at least temporarily. He stared at the unconscious man below him for a few more seconds and gradually came back to himself. "Damn, that was intense. I've never just knocked someone the hell out before, ya know? I've been in fights, and then we had the zombies, but this was a regular guy. I mean, damn!"

Lily came up behind them, "Ok, now what? I assume you had some kind of plan?"

Mackland finally got to his feet, looked at the other two, shook his head and said, "Run!"

* * *

The three friends took off running through the groups of people clustering around gathering supplies and preparing for the last leg of the trip to the Cheyenne mountain complex. They had been lucky that the fight with the guards had stayed behind the two big SUVs, going unnoticed by those around them. Lily tried to create a pace that would let them get clear without drawing undo attention, but she knew they needed to get away before someone found the guards they had left tied up in the back of the truck. Several people complained as they jostled their way through, but Mackland and the others simply muttered apologies as they kept moving.

Mackland gasped as they ran, "We have to find somewhere to hole up for a little bit, Lily." He bent at the waist with his hands on his knees. "I'm still not a hundred percent. I need a breather before we get into some real shit."

Seeing the pale sweat breaking out on his face, Lily knew he was understating his condition, so finding a safe spot quickly became her highest priority. As they approached the edge of the convoy, she gauged their options. She quickly discarded the path to the left, which appeared to be an alley with a dead end. Straight ahead was a road with several small business storefronts that might be promising, but when she glanced to the right, she knew she had found the best choice. "Come on guys! I see an apartment building a few blocks down this way! If we can get to that, we should be able to setup a safe spot tonight."

Billy and Mackland simply swerved in the direction she indicated, and when Mackland stumbled, Billy stepped in close and put his shoulder under his friend's armpit so they could continue running.

As they approached the apartment buildings, Lily quickly chose the one on the left side of the road, as it appeared to be the more secure of the two. She just hoped that it wouldn't be too difficult for them to find a unit they could get into. A simple two-story apartment building with units along the entire outside wall, as well as an interior courtyard with more units, it looked like something they could use for a safe night of sleep. A plain black wrought iron fence with a sturdy gate surrounded the complex. She said a quick prayer to any god that would listen, and released a breath she didn't know she was holding when the latch opened easily. The three of them ran through the gate and into the building just as the first cries of alarm rose from the direction of the convoy.

Lily ushered the men into the central courtyard. "You two stay here and catch your breath. I'm gonna try and find an apartment we can use." Without waiting for a reply, she took off running.

Figuring that one of the units facing the convoy would give them the best vantage point for advance warning, she began checking the units on that side. The first three were locked, but the fourth door swung open when she pushed on it. She caught herself just before bursting into the apartment. A bit of caution was probably in order, as she had no idea if the apartment was unlocked because it was abandoned, or occupied by someone or something that didn't fear intruders. She pulled the pistol she had taken from the guard and cautiously pushed the door open while sweeping the main room with her gun. Seeing no movement inside, she slowly made her way into the apartment, methodically checking each room. As soon as she was sure the apartment was unoccupied, she quickly ran back down to the other two and signaled for them to follow her.

As soon as they were all inside, Lily locked the door and turned to Mackland and Billy. "Ok, I think we'll be ok here for the night. This city is pretty good sized, and Jerrington doesn't have that many people to search for us, especially since they have no idea which way we went, of if we even stayed in the city. Billy, watch the road while I check Mack's ribs." Several minutes of gentle poking and prodding assured both Lily and Mackland that his ribs were merely bruised, not broken. Although each breath caused him to grimace in pain, he would be all right in a few days. She helped him into the master bedroom and gently eased him onto the bed. "Get some sleep. I'll check on you in a little bit."

Lily walked back into the living room and put a hand on Billy's shoulder as he stared silently at the street below. "Hey. I'll take the first watch. I'll wake you in about four hours or so, and then you can wake Mack for last watch. If we make it through tonight, we can come up with a plan in the morning."

Billy headed for one of the bedrooms but asked, "What are we supposed to do if they show up here? All we have is two pistols, and no extra ammo?"

Lily crooked a finger for them to follow her as she moved to the hallway. She pointed to a recessed attic-type door above them. "I found this when I did my initial search. That door leads to some kind of crawlspace for storage, but it also has a small vent that leads out onto the apartment roof. While I was checking the unit, I popped the vent loose, so that all we have to do is push it out and we can get to the roof. There are several fire escapes from the roof, so that will be our last ditch escape plan, ok?"

Mackland and Billy couldn't think of a better plan on short notice, so they settled in for the night. As soon as Mackland and Billy were in their rooms, Lily made sure there were no lights on inside the apartment and sat watching out the small gap between the curtains to see what was going on back at the convoy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

One of his fighters rushed up to Jerrington flushed and out of breath. As the man gasped for air, Jerrington barked, "What is it? What the hell is the problem?"

The man struggled to stand straight and answer. "Sir, the three people we rescued back in Pueblo...Apparently knocked out their guides - and took off!" He drew a deep breath before continuing. "Nobody knows why, or where they went, but they left the two guides tied up in the back of the SUV they were in!"

Jerrington stared hard at the man before speaking again. "Did they take anything?"

"Not that we could find, sir. It looks like they just hit and ran. What should we do?"

Jerrington seethed inside, but calmly replied. "Have Mr. Ming organize search parties of four people each. We need to find those three so that we can make sure they don't lead any Psidead to us here. However, they are not to be harmed, do you understand me? They are probably confused and scared, so we don't want to cause them any more harm. Simply find them and bring them back so that we can make sure if they want to leave, it is in such a way that they don't bring the zombies down on us."

The fighter responded with a tight "Yes sir!" as he turned to find Ming and carry out his orders.

Jerrington watched the other man before turning to one of the nearest guards and pointing to a nearby tax preparation office. "I'll be in there working if anyone needs me. We aren't moving until those three are found and brought to me. Nobody is to bother me unless it is dire, is that understood?"

The guard nodded, "Yes sir. I'll make sure you are undisturbed."

* * *

Inside the small office, Jerrington walked behind the single desk and swept the stacks of books and papers to the floor with a wild swipe of his arm. "Dammit! What the hell are they up to now? They can't possibly think they can get away and survive the Psidead out there." He seethed. Sitting in the worn faux leather office chair, he put his head on the desk. With a focused effort, he slowed his breathing and heart rate as he prepared for what he needed to do.

Slowly he sent out tentative mental sweeps, similar to submarine sonar pings, looking for the mental signatures of the three escapees. Although he hadn't spent significant time with them, he had been able to retain the basic image of their mental patterns, which should allow him to locate them. The catch was that his range was limited to no more than a city block or so, and he needed to be in the near meditative state he was currently in, so he couldn't just drive around scanning for them. After five minutes, he knew they were not in the immediate vicinity, so he shifted his focus.

Reaching out to the Psidead leaders in the area, he sent mental images of the three escapees. He followed up with his commands. <Find. Hold. Report. Not Eat! Not Eat!> He just hoped that they would follow that last directive. Sometimes the primal urges driving the monsters could override contradictory commands, and the risk rose the more time elapsed after he gave the command. If the Psidead found Mackland's group in the next half hour or so, they would probably contain them until he could get there. After that, all bets would be off as to the zombie's actions. He shot a quick reinforcement to be safe, <Find. Hold. Report. Not Eat!>.

Raising his head as he came out of his trance, Jerrington looked out the front window as his people moved about their various tasks. "Oh, Dr. Luther...I will find you, and you will show me how to use your device to leave this god-forsaken world once and for all." Pulling out a handkerchief, he carefully wiped away the slow trickle of blood from his nostrils. "And if you are very lucky, I may even let you live afterwards."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Staring out the window into the dark streets below, Lily worried about how they were going to get away from Jerrington and get back to finding a way home. She knew he had teams searching for them, but in the darkness, she only caught brief glimpses of movement. That meant that at least the team leaders were experienced hunters, and they would find her group eventually. They needed a plan for getting out of this town and away from Cheyenne Mountain; but without better weapons, supplies, and transportation, their options were limited.

Running plans through her mental shredder, her frustration built. "Think Lily!" She started as she realized she had spoken aloud. Crossing the room, a loose floorboard in front of an ugly yellow couch squealed below her foot, jarring the silence like a baby squalling in church. Cringing at the noise, she glanced back toward the two men. "Figures," she mumbled when she saw both still sleeping soundly, "Probably sleep through the next batch of zombies, too."

Crouching down, she probed at the board, finding it slightly raised. Working her fingers under the edge, she pulled up on the piece of wood, which came up a fraction of an inch before stopping. She tried pushing and pulling in different directions, like working at a loose tooth, but the board refused to come out. "Oh well." She thought to herself. "Not worth the time." She stood and pushed the board back down with her foot, but it popped back up with another loud creak like a mocking laugh. "Oh yeah?" She raised a foot and stomped down hard on the offending board. A small click popped beneath her foot, and the couch shifted slightly.

Curious now, she knelt back down to see what had happened to move the couch. Lifting the coarse yellow dust ruffle, it took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, and then her breath caught as she looked into the darkness under the couch. Jumping up, she ran across to where the guys were sleeping. "Mack! Billy! Get up!" She whispered urgently, prodding them at the same time. "Come on! You need to see this, now!"

Mackland was the first to come awake. "Ugghh...What is it?" He stretched. "Is everything ok?"

"I don't know, honestly. I found something under the couch as I was keeping watch, and we need to figure out what to do about it."

Billy rolled over, putting his back to Lily and Mackland. "Tell me what you find." He mumbled.

Lily kicked him in the back of the thigh. "Seriously Billy! Get up."

Apparently realizing that Lily wasn't going to let it go, he slowly rolled back over and dropped his feet to the floor. "I hope this is worth it, otherwise I'm reconsidering my plans for our marriage. I can't love a woman that wakes me up with a kick in the ass."

She looked over and realized the humor still didn't reach his eyes. It was just an act, but at least he was trying. "Shut up and come on, lover-boy."

Walking into the living room, Mackland and Billy watched Lily rush towards the couch. "I heard something from one of the floorboards, and when I was checking it out something moved under the couch. One of you grab the other end and help me slide it out of the way." She said.

Mackland and Lily slid the couch back until the floor below was uncovered. Even in the dim light, they could all see the outline of the slightly raised trap door cut into the floorboards.

"What the hell?" Mackland asked. Moving towards the door, he reached out to lift it open.

"Wait!" Lily said. "Billy, grab the flashlight, but don't turn it on just yet." She unholstered the pistol and pointed it towards the trap door. "Ok. Slowly."

Grabbing the edge of the door, Mackland slowly pulled it open. Blackness and silence pooled beneath the opening, offering nothing to their investigation.

"Billy, when I say so, shine the flashlight straight down into the hole." Sliding closer to the opening, she waved Billy towards the opposite side. "Mack, just be ready in case things get crazy." He nodded, and she looked back to Billy. "OK...Now."

The beam of light stabbed down into the hole, and all three shielded their eyes at the sudden brightness. Lily leaned over the hole with her pistol leading the way. A mostly empty room glared back at her. "Looks like a janitor's closet. The only thing down there is a sink and a rack with some cleaning supplies."

Mackland pointed to the near wall of the opening. "So why have a ladder leading from that room to this one?"

"Good question. Billy, hand me the flashlight, please." Taking the light, she swung her legs over the hole and grabbed onto the ladder. "Be right back."

Leaping lightly off the bottom rung of the ladder, she methodically checked the closet. When she got to the door, she let out a small whistle. "This is strange. Someone barricaded the door from the inside, like they wanted to keep someone out." She looked around again, confusion plain on her face. "But where did they go? Up? Or--" She aimed the flashlight at her feet. "I can't believe I didn't see this sooner!" Kneeling down, she brushed the layer of dust away to reveal a sister trap door to the one above. "Bingo! Looks like we go deeper."

"Hang on. Let us come down." Mackland said.

Billy dropped to the floor next to her and quickly moved aside to give Mackland room to come down into the little closet, while Lily prodded around with her foot for the switch to open the trap door. After a minute, she got the same soft click as before, and the door popped open a fraction. Reaching down, Billy pulled the door up to reveal another black hole beneath them.

* * *

Mackland looked down into the hole in the floor, but instead of a room, a concrete and dirt tunnel extended to either side, well beyond the range of his small flashlight. What they could see was bare concrete walls and ceiling melded to a dirt floor. "Well, do we go down, or go back up and get some rest first?"

Lily wiped thin perspiration from her forehead and shrugged. "I think we have to go down. Just before I found that door above, I saw several search teams around this area. They're going to start checking these buildings pretty soon."

Mackland looked to Billy, who just gave a resigned sigh, "Either way sucks right now." He leered at Lily, "When in doubt, 'go down' is my motto!" Lily rolled her eyes and turned towards Mackland. "Well?"

"Yeah, I think our best bet is down. But let's get our gear first."

Twenty minutes later, they had their gear in the little janitor's closet, and Mackland was tugging on a rope hanging through the trap door above them. "What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"Sliding that couch over the trap door as much as possible. It won't be perfect, but at least it may slow down a cursory inspection, and give us some more time." A few minutes later, he pulled the trap door closed, and came down the ladder. "Ok, let's go."

Lily handed him the pistol. "I'll go first with the flashlight. You come next with the gun. Billy, make sure you listen out for anyone coming down after us. You're going to be the only warning we have from above." The two men nodded agreement as she dropped down to the ladder below.

Mackland watched her descend, amazed at the concern he felt for this woman he barely knew. He wondered if she felt anything for him. He had caught something in her eyes when she looked at him earlier, but was it affection or something else? Shaking his head, he pushed thoughts of relationships aside and focused on their current situation. He followed her down the ladder, listening for any sign of trouble. They climbed down the ladder slowly for ten minutes before anyone spoke. "Hold it," Lily said from about fifteen feet below Mackland's feet, "something is blocking the way."

Mackland swore under his breath. If they had come all this way to simply have to climb back to the top, he was going to be royally pissed. "What is it?"

He heard Lily working something below him as she replied. "It's another door. Give me a minute to get it opened up." Several minutes passed before there was another soft click, and suddenly light from below filled their tunnel.

Mackland looked down to see Lily sticking her head into the now illuminated opening below them. "What is it?"

"Looks like a cross-tunnel, but it's been in use, and it has power! The whole thing is lit up!"

Mackland hadn't realized how much the lack of real lighting had affected their moods, but the thought of being in a fully illuminated location filled him with excitement. The fact that it was an unknown, potentially dangerous environment simply made it that much more interesting. "I'm coming down." He said.

Lily had already dropped into the tunnel below, and less than a minute later, both Mackland and Billy stood beside her in the softly lit, grey concrete corridor. The tunnel appeared to have been a service conduit of some kind before it had been converted to a passageway. Lights hung from a simple electrical cable strung along the ceiling, running alongside the original bundles of conduits and thick cables. There were no markings or signage Mackland could see in either direction. "Any guesses on which way we go?"

Billy snapped his fingers. "Hang on. I have an idea." He rummaged in his pack, and after a few seconds, pulled out a small compass. He held it in front of him and circled a few times. "That's what I thought." He pointed to the tunnel running off to the left. "That is west, and that means it runs straight to the Cheyenne Mountain complex. So the other way is the way we want to go if we want to get away from Jerrington."

"But where does it go? Mackland asked.

"I have no idea, but does it matter? We know Jerrington is going to Cheyenne, and we have to find Jerrington if we want to get the Collector back. Ergo, we go that way." He gave Mackland that look that said he could be really dumb for a smart guy. "We just need to get far enough away so that we can get back up to the surface without Jerrington finding us. Then we figure out how to get the Collector without Jerrington or the Psidead getting us. Simple, right?"

"Ok, smart-ass. I suppose you have a point." He looked to Lily. "Unless you have another suggestion, I guess we go to the left."

"Nope, I think Billy actually had a good idea for once. Guess there is a first time for everything, right?" She smiled at the offended look Billy shot her way.

Picking up their gear, they started down the corridor. Mackland figured they had been walking for about thirty minutes, with nothing but grey walls and conduit passing by before he called for a break. The other two agreed, and they sat on the cold concrete as they drank from the bottles of water they had brought.

A few minutes later, Mackland looked over at Billy. "If we get away, we have a bigger problem. Without the Collector we--" Mackland stopped as all three of them heard the unmistakable sound of voices coming from farther down the corridor, just beyond a curve about fifty yards away.

With nowhere to hide, Mackland stepped in front of Lily and Billy, aiming the gun down the corridor towards the voices. As they got closer, Mackland could make out both a man and a woman's voice.

"Yep, I know that crazy bastard is back up top with his group. Shouldn't matter, we can still get what we need. He don't even know we're down here, does he?" The man's deep bass sounded as hard as the concrete around them.

The woman's voice was a wind chime counterpoint to the man's stormy rumble. "Not that we know of, Grizzly. But that doesn't mean he can't find us. And then what?"

A grunt was the only reply she got before the two rounded the corner and the two groups saw each other. The pair were not what Mackland had expected. Huge and hairy, with a wild mane of hair and a beard down to his chest, the man looked like a cross between Santa and Bigfoot. The slight woman next to him practically disappeared as he swung an arm out to stop her. "Get back, little-one! Go get some of the grunts and bring 'em here. I'll find out what's what."

The little woman hesitated. "No Grizzly! What if they hurt you?"

"Bah! You know that ain't gonna happen, girl! Now go and get them boys I told ya ta get, you hear me?" He gave her another gentle shove, and the girl took off running.

The huge man looked back at Mackland's group, focusing on the gun in Mackland's hand. "You know what your chances are of hitting me from there with that pea-shooter, boy? I'll tell ya...Slim ta none." He put his arms down. "Why don't you point that somewhere else and we can talk like civilized folks? Well, as civilized as we can be in this fucked-up world, right?"

Mackland didn't move the gun, but the man sounded reasonable enough. And he wasn't sure what choice they had. They could run, but if the man brought reinforcements, they could find them easily. There weren't any places to hide. "Who are you?" He called out.

The huge man laughed, and Mackland was certain the vibration brought dust down as it enveloped him. "They call me Grizzly, boy. Only my friends know my real name, and we ain't friends yet, are we? But maybe later."

"Well, Grizzly, I'm Mackland, and this is Billy and Lily. What do you suggest we do?"

* * *

Grizzly laughed again at Mackland's question. "We can do whatever you want, boy. You can run, but me and the boys will find ya, since I can see you don't know the tunnels, and we do. Or you can put down that gun and we can talk. If you don't have bad intentions, we won't have a problem. But if you do, then you might as well run or shoot, and get it over with." He leaned up against the wall of the corridor.

Mackland looked over at Billy and Lily. They both shrugged, not certain what to do either. Grizzly sounded genuine, and he was right, they didn't have much choice. It would be easier to work with the man than against him. Mackland came to a decision and put the gun back into the holster. Grizzly nodded to himself and started walking towards them. Mackland met him midway in the tunnel and stopped a few feet away. Grizzly suddenly shot his hand out with a speed Mackland wouldn't expect in a man his size. When Mackland jumped back and reached for the pistol, Grizzly let another seismic laugh loose as his hand stayed extended and open. "Ha! Jumpy fella ain't ya, boy? Ya don't wanta shake?"

Mackland regained his composure and grasped the huge hand in front of him. He looked up at the larger man as his fingers were crushed. "I told you my name was Mackland. You don't need to keep calling me 'boy'. My friends even call me Mack, but as you said, we aren't friends, yet."

Grizzly actually looked slightly abashed. "Sorry boy--I mean, Mackland. I call most everyone I don't know 'boy' or 'girl'. Just makes it easier on what little brain I have, but I'll do my best, in the interest of new friends and what-not."

Despite the situation, and the man's lack of common manners, Mackland found himself liking Grizzly. He couldn't decide just what it was, but the man was simply easy to be around. "Ok Grizzly, so what are you guys doing down here?"

Intense eyes looked out from the bushy face. "Same as you folks, I figure. Surviving. Not sure I can tell ya much more until I know some about you. But I can promise you that we ain't no threat to anyone that doesn't threaten us, if that helps ya."

"Yeah, that actually does, Grizzly," Mackland said, "We heard you talking to that woman about the group above. Do you know them?"

"Not by name. We just know that they moved in to the military base in the mountain last year. They come and go, but they don't bother us, and we don't bother them. Why?"

"Let's just say that we haven't had as much of an easygoing relationship with the man that leads them. He's trying to capture us."

Now Grizzly looked cautious. "Why, did you do something to him?"

Mackland weighed his response. "No, but we had something he wants. He took it from us, but he doesn't know how to use it, so he is trying to make us show him."

Grizzly was quiet for a moment. "Well, he sounds like an asshole to me. Is that about it?"

Mackland laughed, "Yeah that's one way to put it. He's a bit more than that, but asshole is a good start."

"Well, I don't put up with assholes, so I guess we'll have to see about helping you folks to stay away from him, if we can."

Billy finally spoke up. "Can you help us get into Cheyenne?"

Grizzly started back towards the bend in the tunnel. "We'll have to see what we can do, boy--I mean, Billy." He shrugged apologetically. "I'll have to talk to some of the others back at base, but I get the feeling you folks are good people, and my feelings don't usually lead me wrong. I think we can help you get to where you need to be."

* * *

Grizzly led the way deeper into the underground tunnels. Just beyond the bend where they had first seen Grizzly, the tunnels began to branch at various intersections, unlike the long single tunnel they had been following from the apartment complex. After a few minutes and several turns, Mackland couldn't have found his way back on his own. He hoped Billy or Lily had a better sense of direction underground, or they were completely at the mercy of their new companion.

"We should run into the girl on her way back with them boys in a few minutes," Grizzly said over his shoulder, "You folks just stay calm, and let me talk. Don't give none of these fellas a reason to get jumpy." He pointed toward a passage running off the left from their current intersection. "They'll have some blindfolds, and we'll put em on ya for the last part of the trip. I'd like to trust you folks, but we gotta be careful till we all know what's what."

"We understand," Lily said, "I'd do the same thing in your shoes. Hopefully we can show each other we mean no harm, and everyone can come out ahead."

Grizzly held up a hand as they heard voices coming towards them, and they all stopped. Grizzly's partner came running around the corner as a slow jog, followed by four young men in camouflage utilities. They were all carrying rifles, with pistols and grenades visible as well. Grizzly gestured for Mackland and the others to stay put while he went ahead to meet the girl. They talked for a few minutes, and at one point, she gestured towards them with clear annoyance as she raised her voice at the man towering over her. Grizzly made patting motion obviously asking her to calm down, and spoke quietly to her for a few more minutes. Mackland had no idea if they were related, but it was obvious that Grizzly had some type of fatherly influence on the smaller woman. She visibly calmed as they spoke, until he turned back and motioned for them to join his group.

"Mackland, Billy, Lily, this is Tonya. Tonya here has been with me since the shit hit the fan about a year ago. She ain't crazy about bringing you folks back to our place, but she's agreed to let me vouch for you." He held a hand out to Tonya, and she placed several strips of black cloth in it. "Go ahead and put these on like we discussed. It's not too far, and each of you will have one of us to guide you along, so you won't fall and bust yer ass."

As soon as they had the blindfolds in place, Mackland felt a hand at his elbow start to guide him along the corridor. "Billy? Lily? You guys ok?" When they both responded they were fine, Mackland relaxed and allowed his guide to steer him along.

As they walked, Mackland marveled at the sounds and smells he had missed before. The dampness of the underground concrete filled his nose with an earthy mildew scent. Their footsteps echoed and mixed together with a snare drum rattle. A loud bass counterpoint could only be Grizzly's heavy tread. After walking for about twenty minutes, the echoes began to spread out as if they were in a larger space. Realizing they were probably close, he wasn't surprised when his guide brought him to a halt and removed the blindfold.

Squinting as his eyes readjusted to the light, Mackland saw they were in an open chamber fed by several of the tunnels. The concrete walls and dome ceiling were no different from any of the previous corridors they had been through; gray and cracked with age. Mackland figured the ceiling of the dome was a good fifteen feet higher than the surrounding tunnels.

Grizzly pointed towards the only door in the room, located on the far wall. "Ok folks, this is where you show me I'm not bein' a moron for takin' a chance with you. Once we go through that door, you do what I say, when I say it, and let me handle everything else." He gave each of them a meaningful glance. "If you do anything threatening, I won't be able to pull your butts out of the fire before someone gets hurt. Got it?" All three nodded, and Grizzly led them to the door. He pounded a series of long and short thumps on the metal, and a few seconds later, the handle turned from the other side and the door swung open.

Walking into the room beyond, they were greeted by another group of six soldiers with weapons trained on them. Grizzly signaled to one of the soldiers with a sergeant's insignia, "It's ok Sarge. It's just me and the girl, bringin some new friends we found in the west tunnels. I'm gonna put em in some rooms and then go talk to the Council."

The sergeant nodded to his men as Grizzly approached with a smile. "Damn Grizzly, you just always find the strays, don't ya?"

Grizzly slapped the sergeant on the shoulder as he passed, almost sending the other man into the wall. "Yep, sarge! Gotta keep things interestin' around here, don't we?" Grizzly pretended not to notice the other soldiers smiling as the sergeant steadied himself. "Come on folks, we're almost there." He took them down a long hallway and stopped in front of another non-descript gray door. "This is your room for now. I'll be leavin' a few boys out in the hallway here to make sure you don't go wanderin', and to get you anything you might need. We got plenty of food and water; nothing fancy, but we can fill an empty belly."

Mackland looked around the room. It was functional and plain, with a metal table, two chairs, and two cots. Nothing fancy, but at least the cots looked like they had decent mattresses on them. "Ok Grizzly, we play this your way." He met Grizzly's eyes. "Don't screw us," he said, "How long will we be in here?"

"I should be back within an hour. I just need to make sure the Council knows what's going on, and let them know I have everything under control." Without further comment, he turned and left. The door closed behind him and they all heard the latch drop in place.

Billy looked over the table at Mackland. "I hope you know what you're doing Mack. This feels uncomfortably like a jail cell." He tapped the metal table.

Mackland flopped onto his stomach on the nearest cot. "Yeah, I hope so too, but I have a good feeling about Grizzly. Plus, we could use some help in dealing with Jerrington, otherwise we might never get the Collector back."

"Scoot over."

Mackland looked up to see Lily standing next to the cot, and froze. "Huh?"

"We all need to rest, and there are only two cots. I'm not lying next to Captain Hormone over there, so scoot!" She sat on the edge of the cot and gently prodded his shoulder until he finally slid over to one side.

Billy tried to look offended, but grief and exhaustion robbed his enthusiasm as he dropped onto the other cot. He let out a groan as he stretched with a series of audible pops.

Mackland briefly caught the scent of something like vanilla underlying the not-unpleasant smell of perspiration coming from Lily. Despite his own fatigue, he felt his heart race when her hand brushed his. Knowing now was not the time or place, he reigned in his libido and forced himself to try and sleep. He finally did fall asleep, but vanilla led him to his dreams.

* * *

Grizzly barely noticed people stumbling out of his way as he headed for the boardroom. He was too preoccupied trying to get his thoughts in order before he spoke with the Council. Now that he had had a few minutes to think, he was second-guessing his decision, and berating his lack of foresight. What was he thinking, bringing strangers to the compound? Even though he had a gut feeling that they were ok, he was putting everyone at risk if he was wrong. His mental flogging ended as he rounded a corner and ran into someone headed the opposite direction. He tried to catch the other person as they rebounded off of his much larger frame, but wasn't fast enough. Guilty embarrassment became even worse when he saw that it was Tonya that he had just knocked ass over teakettle.

"What the hell?" She sputtered as she scrambled to her feet. "Why don't you watch where the hell-- Grizzly?"

He reached out and finished helping up. "Sorry girl; I wasn't lookin' where I was goin'."

She raised an eyebrow, "No kidding! You heading to the Council?"

"Yeah," He nodded, "Not really sure what to tell 'em though." He smacked a huge hand against the gray corridor. "This is why I don't want 'ta be on the Council, or any other leadership spot. I'm not cut out for making these kinds of decisions." He leaned against the wall with a sigh. "When I met you, I was just another "crazy prepper" with knives and guns, more MRE's than a military base, and a bunch of plans for surviving the apocalypse." He shook his head, "I guess I never really thought about what to do beyond surviving. And I never planned on having to deal with other people needing me." He thought back on the months and years before the Psidead outbreak, and all the time spent studying survival techniques, and preparing caches of food, water, weapons, and other supplies. He had heard others more than once call him crazy or paranoid. The fact that they were dead while he had survived didn't provide any consolation.

"You did survive," Tonya reached up to put a hand on his shoulder, "And you allowed the rest of us to survive, including me. If it hadn't been for your preparations and skills, we wouldn't have made it to where we are now." She waved to indicate the complex around them, "There wouldn't be anything for the Council to protect. We would all be dead. You need to remember that, Grizzly."

A series of loud pops created small echoes as Grizzly stretched his neck. "It's nice of ya to say so, girl. I don't know what I'd do without ya. But now I have to figure out what to tell the Council. They're gonna want to kick 'em out, or worse. But I know they're good people. I can't let the Council hurt 'em." He started walking towards the boardroom again.

Tonya followed alongside, "How do you know they're good, Grizzly? You just met them!"

A brilliant smile thrust itself out of the brushy beard. "Same as I knew about you and everyone else in here now, girl...I just know when someone's good or bad. And those three are good."

They walked in silence for a few more steps before stopping in front of the only wooden door in the complex. Tonya grabbed his hand just before he knocked. "Ok, Grizzly. I'm with you, whatever you decide. You deserve that much, at least."

Gratitude eased the tension in his face when he looked at her, "Thanks girl. You've no idea what that means 'ta me. Now go on. No need for you to deal with this lot." He pounded on the door as Tonya headed down the corridor with a last look over her shoulder.

A few minutes passed, and the door swung open just as Grizzly was preparing for another fist pounding. He grimaced when a small, thin man with huge glasses looked up at him. "Can I help you Grizzly?"

The man barely got out a strangled yelp as Grizzly pushed past him. "Not now, Alice. I need to speak to the Council, and I know they're in there. Stay out of my way."

"Dammit Grizzly!" the smaller man yelled as he rushed to catch Grizzly crossing into the inner chambers, "You know my name is Alistair, not Alice, and you don't have an appointment, Mr. Bjorneson!"

Grizzly heard a catch as the other man tried to emphasize his last name. He spun in place with a speed belying his massive size. "Gonna get formal on me, Alice? You didn't care about appointments when I found you in that dumpster behind the library did you?" Alistair blanched as Grizzly advanced on him. "I didn't make you set an appointment to come live here and eat my food, did I?" He towered over the little man as he shrunk away. "So are you gonna tell em I'm here, or do I need to drag your ass in there when I go talk to them?"

Alistair quickly realized his current path was not going to end well, and dropped his chin. "Very well, Grizzly. I was just trying to do my job. Give me a second to let them know you are here, please."

"Hurry up." Grizzly knew that Alistair's submission was an act meant to placate him, but he didn't care. "Tell em it's important."

Alistair disappeared through the interior door, only to return moments later. "The Council will see you."

Grizzly strode through the door knowing that the Council would not be as easy to manipulate as Alistair.

* * *

Mackland watched the stranger across the open field. He knew she was a woman, but distance and clothing conspired to hide her identity. He took several steps towards her, but she seemingly drifted away from him at the exact pace he advanced. He didn't know why, but he had to get to this woman and find out her identity. He called out to her, but she didn't hear or didn't care, and he got no response. He broke into a sprint, covering fifty yards as quickly as he could, but when he stopped to catch his breath, she was no closer. Frustration threatened to overwhelm him as he tried to think of a solution.

As he considered options, the ground beneath him suddenly began to shake violently. Fearing an earthquake, he again tried to call to the woman and broke into another futile run towards her. He was surprised when she responded. Carla turned and called out, "Mack! Mack!" from across the open field, which was now buckling like folded paper, thrusting spears of soil several feet into the air, and leaving chasms in its wake.

* * *

"Mack. Wake up. Someone is knocking." Lily shook his shoulder gently. The thrill he felt rolling over towards her brought him out of sleep faster than a double espresso, and he barely caught his arm drifting towards her, apparently of its own accord. Embarrassment crept up when he saw her looking at the offending arm, which he quickly pulled back. He wasn't sure if she looked disappointed, or if he was projecting his desires, but another knock at the door saved him. He crossed to the door and pulled it open. Grizzly's huge frame filled the doorway. "Mind if I come in?" He rumbled.

Mack stepped back and waved him in. "Sure thing," he said, "I hope you have good news for us."

"Well, it ain't bad news," Grizzly hedged, "But it ain't exactly great news, either." He pulled out one of the metal chairs from the table, and Mackland winced when the chair looked ready to buckle like a newborn colt. Grizzly went on, apparently unconcerned about the stability of his seat, "I talked to the Council; and a bigger bunch of pin-heads ya won't ever meet. They like to plan years down the road, but can't see what's right in front of 'em."

Mackland and the others shared looks of confusion. "Grizzly I don't --"

"Damn, I need 'ta back up. You folks don't know what's what around here, do 'ya?" He sat back, and Mackland saw him relax slightly with a look of surprise; as if he hadn't realized the stress he held. "When everything started to go 'ta hell about a year ago, with the druggie zombies, and other crazy shit, I was on my own. Never married, no kids, and my folks been dead for years. Had an older brother, but he moved to Sweden when I was twelve, and I hadn't talked to him for twenty years. So I was used to being alone." He gave them a small smile. "I was what folks called a 'Prepper'. Someone that knows bad shit is gonna happen, and prepares for it. Lot of folks thought I was nuts, and that was ok, too. I had contacts with some other preppers in the area, but it was informal kind of stuff, just an email to let each other know that certain stores had a specific item, or that a hard to get ammo had come in someplace." The smile dropped from his face as quickly as it had appeared. "But like I said, the shit hit the fan a year ago, and within a month or so, I went from "That crazy prepper" to the man with all the answers. People started comin' round my property askin' me 'ta help them find food or supplies, and I did what I could at first, even let a few of 'em stick around." His mouth set in a grim line, "Then folks started showin' up that thought they could take what they wanted. At first, I kept 'em away with threats and a few shots in the air. But it finally got to the point where I had to choose between me and those that had come to depend on me, and the bastard tryin' to take what we had." Haunted eyes peered out at them. "Killin' a man changes ya, I don't care what anyone says. I decided that day that we needed to find a spot we could stay hidden so we wouldn't have to kill to protect what was ours." He sighed, "It was a pipe dream to think there wouldn't be any killin', but at least we found this place."

"So you moved everyone here," Lily spoke into the silence, "To keep them safe. And it looks like it's working; you seem pretty well hidden. But that doesn't explain why are you reporting to this Council? Aren't you their leader?"

Mackland felt a slight vibration in his chest, and it took him a second to realize it was a morose chuckle escaping from Grizzly. "Nah...See, that's the thing. I'm not the leader type. I took in those folks looking for help, that I thought was good people; but I didn't have a clue how to take charge and organize a group larger than one. They was lookin' for me to tell em what to do to survive as a unit, but all I could do was tell em what I did alone." The chair protested as he shifted to a more comfortable position. "We barely made it to this complex, and that was with just a handful of us. Once we got setup here, we started to make foraging runs looking for food, water, and supplies. It wasn't long till we started runnin' into others doin' the same thing, and if they seemed like good folks that we could trust, we brought 'em back."

Mackland interrupted, "But I thought you were trying to stay hidden? Why bring people back?"

"We didnt' want folks botherin' us. But that didn't mean we wouldn't help those that needed it. It was a chance we took, and we had a few that didn't work out; we handled those when they came up." His expression made it clear he didn't want to go into details, and he continued. "Anyway, as we grew, even I could see that we needed someone to take charge of the group, and it wasn't me. So we came up with the idea of the Council with five members that we chose as a group. Those five picked one of the group to be the leader for a year, and he or she was the Chairman. The Chairman is really just the one that runs their meetings and what-not. Each member has an equal vote, and with five members, we avoid ties. It's worked out good for the group so far."

They could all see the "But" hanging like a physical presence in the room. Naturally, Billy asked first. "So, this Council is good for the group, but you think it sucks?"

"No, that's not it," Grizzly sighed, "At least, not all of it. The council is fine, and does a good job of taking care of everyone here, and I don't have a particular problem with 'em. They even said you folks could stay for as long as you want. I'm sure they'd let you stay permanent, if ya wanted to." He stood and let the chair recover. "The problem ain't with the Council. It's with me. I'm tired of this group livin'. I'm gonna have ta head out on my own again."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Mackland set his tray on the table as he joined Billy and Lily in the cafeteria. The swirling aroma of meat and vegetables in the stew rose up and made his mouth water. The food in Grizzly's complex was definitely a key selling point. "I don't know how they make something this good from the supplies they have around here, but this is as good as any stew I've had," He said, "And did you guys have the omelet this morning? I swear it had real ham in it! But Grizzly still won't tell me where they get their meat supply." He broke off a piece of his bread and soaked up the rich, brown gravy before taking a bite. A contented sigh slipped from him.

Glancing across the table at Billy, his contentment washed away. Shadows around his friend's eyes gave testament to his lack of sleep, and Mackland could almost feel the pain radiating from him. He still cracked jokes and sarcastic comments, but Mackland saw through the façade with every sigh and averted glance. Sean's death had hit both of them hard as hell, and Billy was hurting in a way that Mackland almost envied. At least it appeared to be a pain that was moving and evolving towards something that could become closure with enough time. He wished he could do the same, but grief wasn't something he processed like other people. Hell, if he was honest, he didn't process it at all. Not since Carla...

Lily leaned forward and put a hand on his arm. "Mack? You still with us?"

Snapped out of his melancholy thoughts by her touch, he blinked quickly and nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, I got a little sidetracked. What were you saying?"

With a small harrumph of irritation, she continued. "I was saying that actually, Grizzly isn't telling us much of anything since the day we got here," She gestured with her own piece of bread to indicate the complex around them, "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate them letting us stay here and everything; but Grizzly hasn't been exactly forthcoming since his proclamation that he had to leave. Every time I ask him about how his group survives, he gives me some vague answer. When I press for details, he decides he has something else to do. And the one time I asked him what he knew about Jerrington's group, his simply told me I would have to talk to the Council, and he refused to say anything else." She glanced around to be sure nobody could overhear as she dropped to a whisper. "I'm not positive that they aren't connected to Jerrington somehow, and that makes me really nervous. What if they know Jerrington wants us back, and are just negotiating to sell us out?"

Mackland considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't think so. Everyone here seems to be pretty secretive, and probably with good reason, after what they've been through. Not to mention, they've only known us for three days. Most of them have no idea if we can be trusted. But they haven't done anything to keep us here. On the contrary, Grizzly made it clear that the Council said we could leave anytime we want; provided we wear blindfolds back to where he found us so that we can't easily find our way back." He took a swallow of the overly sweet tea everyone down here seemed to drink. "I think Grizzly is just not sure about what his own path is at the moment. He seems pretty torn between his commitments here and his desire to head out on his own; so he isn't focused on us or anyone else right now."

As they finished their lunch Billy finally worked up a weak smile and chimed in. "So what's the plan now, boss? Not that I don't think the Underground Hilton here isn't the greatest subterranean city around, but I still kinda want to get back to our own universe."

Mackland considered his response as both of his friends looked at him expectantly. "I've been thinking about that. It's been three days since we got away, so if we're lucky Jerrington has decided to go on to the Cheyenne complex. He may have left some scouts behind to keep looking for us, but if we can get back to the apartment on top of the tunnels, we should have a pretty good chance of being able to figure out some way to get in touch with Ming."

When he didn't continue after a few seconds, Lily asked, "And then what?"

"That's as far as I got. Until we talk with Ming, we won't have any idea how to get into Cheyenne, if it's even possible. We need more information before we can come up with a way to get the Collector back from Jerrington. Sorry guys."

"Oh, you can get inta Cheyenne," All three started, even though Grizzly kept his voice to a low rumble as he dropped onto the bench next to Billy, "But ya need someone that knows which tunnels lead to where. There's only a couple of maintenance tunnels that have access into the mountain." He sat back and hitched his thumbs through imaginary suspenders. "Luckily, you happen ta know just the fella that can lead ya through them tunnels."

Billy recovered from his surprise first. "Damn Grizzly! How the hell does someone as big as you sneak up like that?" Grizzly chuckled but didn't answer. "And why would you want to help us into Cheyenne? You barely know us. You have no reason to risk yourself for this."

"Billy's right," Mackland said, "You haven't been exactly forthcoming with information the past few days, so why the sudden interest in our plans?"

"I told you folks the first night we brought ya here that I was tired of bein' with this group; and for the past few days, I've been tryin' ta figure out what I was gonna do about it. With all yer questions, it didn't take a genius ta figure out that you wanted to get ta that Jerrington fella for some reason. But I wasn't sure how involved I wanted ta get." He leaned in, and Mackland could have sworn his side of the table rose off the ground. "I was comin ta tell you folks what I knew about Jerrington's group, and when I heard ya talkin' about gettin' inta Cheyenne, everything clicked for me. Leading you inta the mountain gives me the reason I need fer leavin', and if I don't come back, everyone here will just eventually ferget about me. I can get you folks inta the mountain to do what you need, and then go my own way. We both get what we want." He gave them a wide smile. "So whaddya say," He stuck a hand out to Mackland, "We got a deal?"

Billy gave Mackland a nod, "What the hell?" He said.

Lily didn't look convinced, but finally agreed, "Sounds better than trying to find Ming and hope for the best. I hope you know what you're doing, Grizzly."

Mackland felt like he was shaking hands with a real bear as his hand disappeared in Grizzly's. "Ok, let's do this."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Grizzly picked up his battered old backpack, stuffed to capacity with gear for their trip. He ran through his mental checklist yet again. Although he was confident he had accounted for everything he could, his prepper mentality wouldn't let him rest. A knock on the door interrupted his concentration. "Yeah, come in." He said.

Tonya's tiny shadow pushed in as the door opened. "Hey Grizzly," She said, "You still plannin' on doing this, huh?"

"Yeah girl," He replied softly, as he set his pack on the bed, "Ya know this is somethin' I need ta do. I'm startin' to go stir crazy around here, and these folks need someone ta help em."

"And you're all about helping people, aren't you, ya big softie." She teased gently.

Grizzly shook his head and looked down so she wouldn't' see his eyes. She had become something like a daughter to him, and she was the main reason he had taken so long to decide what he was going to do. But in the end, she knew he wasn't happy here anymore, so she supported his decision. Neither of them wanted to say good-bye though. "Yeah, I suppose I am a sucker for helpin' those that need it," His voice shook slightly, "But it didn't work out so bad when I helped you, did it girl?"

Tonya didn't attempt to hide her tears now. "Dammit Grizzly! Why can't I go with you? I know you said they need me here, but that's bullshit, and we both know it! I don't want to stay here if you leave." She put a hand on either side of his face and turned his head towards her. "Please?"

He almost broke as their eyes met. It would be so easy to say yes, and take her with him, but it wouldn't' be fair to her. She was thriving here in the compound, and she liked being around all the people. If he let her come along with him on the road, she would go mad with loneliness in no time. "Look girl, I don't know what's waitin' for us at Cheyenne. Ta hear those folks tell it, this Jerrington character is crazier than two bats in a bag, and willing to hurt people to get what he wants." He pulled her hands out of his bushy beard. "I couldn't take it if you got hurt just because of me." She started to say something else, but he put a sausage-sized finger to her lips to silence her. He leaned down and kissed her softly on the forehead. She threw her arms around his neck with surprising strength for her small frame. "We'll see each other again, girl. We both know it."

She let go just as another knock sounded at the door. "You better not get killed you big oaf. I'm gonna miss you." She whispered.

"And I'll miss ya, girl. More than ya know." He turned towards the door. "That'll be Mackland. Time ta go." He opened the door and Tonya rushed out of the room without a word to Mackland standing in the hallway.

"Everything ok, Grizzly?" He asked, "I can come back if I need to."

"Nah, it's ok, boy. Just sayin' goodbye to the girl." He tossed the big backpack over his shoulders, and picked up the M4 assault rifle from the bed. He caught Mackland looking at the rifle. "I'm a prepper, remember? Figure this might come in handy with the crazy bastard you're lookin' for." He stepped past Mackland and started down the corridor. "The other two waitin' on us?"

"Yep, in the main room."

Grizzly cast a meaningful glance at the fresh scars on Mackland's arm. "Ya sure you're ok? We don't have to go today, ya know."

"No, I think I'm good. With the five days we spent in your compound, it's been about a week since I was attacked. It'll be awhile before I'm a hundred percent, but a few more days wouldn't make a difference. And every day is another chance that Jerrington takes the Collector someplace else. We need to get to him as soon as possible."

They got to the main room and found Billy and Lily packed and ready. Both had matching new backpacks identical to the one Mackland carried. Grizzly had made sure they all had plenty of supplies and gear from the compound's stores.

"Ok, so you're sure you want to go back to that apartment first?" This had been a source of contention the past two days as they made their plans. Grizzly thought they should just go straight to Cheyenne using the maintenance tunnels, but Mackland and the other's had insisted they go to the apartment first, on the off chance that Jerrington hadn't moved on to Cheyenne yet.

"I think it makes sense Grizzly. If he isn't in Ft. Carson when we get to the apartment, we'll be able to find out quickly. If we go straight to Cheyenne, it'll take us longer to determine if he's there or not, since we don't know the layout, and we'll have to hide until we can talk to Ming." Grizzly gave a wave to the perimeter sentries as they passed. "It shouldn't take us more than an hour at the apartment to figure out if Jerrington is still there or not. Then we go on to Cheyenne. Ok?"

"It's yer show, boy." He smiled behind his beard when Mackland glared at being called "boy" again. It had become something of an inside joke between them during the past week. "I'm just the guide. Just make sure ya keep up." He glanced back and Lily and Billy. "You two as well. I don't care if 'yer a girl and a book-worm. I ain't slowin' down just because yer feet hurt." His grin undermined his harsh words. He couldn't contain his excitement at getting out of the stifling compound.

* * *

The panel appeared just as they had left it days ago, with Mackland's string still hanging down into the little closet. It had taken them an hour to get back here, mostly because Mackland, Lily, and Billy had made a few wrong turns as they tried to retrace their steps prior to meeting Grizzly. Fortunately, the big man's knowledge of the tunnels had prevented them from going too far astray.

Lily looked up at the panel. "Ok, I'm going to see if I can open it a crack and get a peek above. You guys try to stay clear in case I have to drop down fast." They spread out as much as they could, but Grizzly barely fit in the closet at all, so leaving extra space was out of the question. He opted to wait several feet down on the lower ladder while Lily checked above.

The men protested at her suggestion that she be the one to check the room; until she pointed out that she was the quickest and most agile on the ladders. That would be critical if they had to make a fast retreat back down to the tunnels. They had still argued, but accepted her decision.

Now she wished she had some of the men's upper body strength. Lily braced herself on the ladder and pushed up slowly and firmly on the panel above. The weight of the couch wasn't terrible, but it did make the task more difficult. When she didn't hear any movement after a few seconds, she raised the panel enough to get a look into the room. She cringed when the couch slid down the panel with a loud scratching of wood on wood, and prepared to drop back down into the closet below. But again, there was no movement she could see or hear above. Satisfied, she stepped up one rung on the ladder, and using her shoulder, opened the panel the rest of the way. "Looks clear!" She called down to the others, shocked at how loud her voice sounded in the silent apartment. She dropped to a loud whisper, "Come on up. Stay low and away from the windows. It's dusk, and we don't need any shadows giving us away if they still have people looking for us."

The other three clambered up into the room, and while the others set their gear down, Lily searched the apartment quickly. "Doesn't look like anyone has been in here at all. We should be ok for the moment. Let's get a look outside as soon as it gets full dark."

An hour later, Lily stared out the window at the streets below, attempting to memorize the layouts and plan various escape routes they could use depending on the situation. Her ability to analyze and plan multiple strategies for various contingencies had led to teasing and nicknames like "Chess master" and "Droid" from her peers in the military; however, it had also led to rapid promotions and recognition from her superiors when they needed someone to tackle a difficult problem. That same ability had served her well when providing security to politicians and other VIP clients. Trying to secure a politician on the campaign trail wasn't always a simple matter of stopping a direct attack from a known direction. It often involved looking at all of the possible attack vectors and taking the steps to mitigate as many as possible without hindering the client's ability to shake hands and kiss babies. In short, it was a logistical and strategic nightmare, and it was what Lily lived for.

The "Chess master" nickname was her favorite. She truly saw the security profession as a huge game of chess with people as the pieces, and the world as the chessboard. Individuals, as well as small groups and large crowds, had certain rules and restrictions on how and where they could move. Other politicians and financial supporters were allowed closer access, which made them more of a risk, although they were less likely to be attackers. Protestors and boisterous individuals on the other hand, were easily identified and blocked off. Lily reveled in the ability to read the people, the situation, and the risks, and find those paths that would put someone in place as a risk to her "Queen", the client, so that she could move in to prevent a check-mate.

She put her skills to use now, ensuring none of the numerous groups roaming the city below could put them into a check-mate position.

Two separate groups of four were currently within her view, one directly below on the street in front of their apartment complex paused outside the gate, but moved off after a few minutes of quiet discussion and pointing. The second group was more of a concern, as they were two streets over, and moving toward the back side of her position. Once they were out of her view they would have very little warning if the group decided to search the complex. Lily considered waking the others but quickly discarded the idea and deciding to rely on her escape plan if things went south too quickly.

She saw several more groups of searchers patrolling the surrounding streets and buildings over the next few hours, but none appeared to have focused on their location yet. A few hours later, Lily found herself beginning to zone out as she sat staring out the window, so she decided to wake Billy for the next watch. With a final check of the area around them, she walked over toward the three men sleeping on the floor and crouched down to gently shake Billy awake.

"Huh- wha-?" He grumbled and tried to roll over away from her hand on his shoulder.

"Come on sleeping beauty. Time to earn your keep." She gave another light shake to emphasize the point.

"Alright! Ugh." He rolled over and looked at her with eyes still unfocused from sleep. "You sure it's been a couple hours? I feel like I just feel asleep."

"Yep, sorry, but I'm starting to doze off so I figured it would be better to get someone fresh over there."

Billy sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I appreciate you taking the first watch. I was about out on my feet when we got here. I feel better now, though."

"Good, because we need to--" Lily was interrupted as the apartment door shook violently in its frame as if hit by a small car. The door held, but just barely.

Billy and Lily jumped back toward the wall, as Grizzly and Mackland struggled to their feet, eyes wild at being shocked awake. "What the hell was that?" Grizzly rumbled.

"I don't know," Lily said. "But I think we need to get to that roof access right now. Run!"

Before they made it halfway across the room to the roof hatch, the apartment door splintered apart as a second powerful blow hit it. Pieces of wood and door hardware showered into the room as a huge roar split the night air. Before the dust had a chance to settle a large shadow filled the now-open doorway. Mackland stared as the figure came into the room toward them. "Ok, now I know I'm dreaming. And I really need to wake up!" He yelled.

The immense figure shambled into the moonlight coming through the front window and the others suddenly understood Mackland's comment, as the huge Psidead bear looked at them with milky white dead eyes before roaring again and lunging toward them.

* * *

The dead creature crossed the space of the small room in two swift steps and was on them before they could move. A second later, and the creature swung a massive paw, sending Lily flying into the wall behind them where she crumpled to the floor, unmoving. Stunned by the ferocity and speed of the attack, Grizzly, Billy, and Mackland tried to get between the monster and Lily as it advanced toward them with a low growl. But the bear didn't continue its attack. Having slammed Lily aside, it seemed content to watch the three men without attacking. However, when they tried to get to Lily, the beast lunged forward, stopping them. Mackland watched as it circled them, looking for any sign of weakness they could exploit. The creature was obviously one of the Psidead beasts, but a newly dead one, as the decay was minimal, it had all four limbs, which were tipped with two-inch long claws, and it was only missing a few of the sharp teeth it had when still alive. Another room-rattling roar suddenly settled to a rumbling growl, directed at them as it circled Lily.

"Ah, I see you have met my pet." Jerrington strode up with no indication of concern for his proximity to the four hundred pound beast. He glanced at Grizzly standing near the couch. "It appears you have acquired some new friends as well," He turned away and sighed, "Well, no matter. He will just have to come along as well. He may prove useful."

Without warning, Grizzly tensed and lunged with the ferocity of his adopted namesake. Jerrington didn't move, yet the Psidead bear was suddenly in Grizzly's path with fangs bared. Mackland knew there was nothing he could do, and cringed as he imagined his new friend being torn apart by the undead monster. Amazingly, Grizzly must have realized the futility of attacking the beast barehanded, and was able to stop himself less than a foot away from the snarling muzzle. Sweat popped along his brow as the bear gave a snort. "Yer a right piece of work, ain't ya Jerrington? Can't even fend fer yerself. Gotta let an animal protect ya. Bah." He backed away slowly.

"I was just thinking the same thing of Dr. Luther." Jerrington's eyes glittered with malice at the implied insult as he turned back to face the others. Dismissing Grizzly as easily as he would an ant on the sidewalk, he stepped closer to Mackland and gestured to the zombie bear. "Splendid creature, really, and I'm sure you're wondering how he came to be, so let me explain." He crossed in front of the monster, which lowered its head submissively. "We found that the Psikick drug could be carried not only by a Psidead human attack on an animal, but also by animal consumption of human flesh that had been exposed to the drug. So I began to experiment with various animals to see how they responded to a diet of Psidead flesh. Some species tended to burn out too quickly once the drug took effect, rendering them incapable of reanimation, while others proved to be more...resilient." He reached out and the undead bear rubbed its huge head against him like an overgrown puppy happy to see its master.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway outside the apartment. Jerrington shot an irritated glare at the doorway as Ming burst into the room, gasping for breath. He saw Ming's eyes go wide at the sight of the dead bear, and held up a hand before Ming could say anything. "I'll answer your questions at a more appropriate time, Mr. Tao." He turned back to Mackland's group. "I truly wish you hadn't engaged in this futile escape attempt. It has cost me almost a week of time searching for you, and it really isn't going to accomplish anything other than forcing me to restrict your activities further. Now, if you would be so kind as to drop your weapons, you can collect your young lady friend, and we can all be on our way." He turned to Ming. "Mr. Tao, please recall the remaining search groups, and get everyone prepared to push on to the base."

Ming looked as if he would object, but Mackland caught his eye and gave a small shake of his head to indicate he should do as Jerrington said. Ming hesitated for a moment, then appeared to accept Mackland's verbal cue, and turned to do as Jerrington asked.

As soon as he was gone, Mackland looked at Jerrington in disbelief. "How are you controlling that thing? It looks like he would fetch the paper for you." No sooner had he made the comment then the bear walked over and picked up the one pistol that was laying on the ground in its jaws and brought it back to Jerrington's outstretched hand.

"Come now Dr. Luther. You have some secrets that I would like to know, so you will have to let me keep a few secrets for the time being as well. Please gather your equipment and Ms. Decker so we can get underway. My pet will stay with you until you are securely back in your vehicle. I beg you don't give him any reason to do any more damage to either of you. I will see you once we reach Cheyenne Mountain."

He strode away, and the monstrous bear stared at them with a dead, empty gaze. Mackland felt as if the beast were a trap waiting to spring. He found Billy and Grizzly staring at the bear as well, and nudged Grizzly to get his attention. "Come on." He sighed in resignation. "Let's check on Lily and head back to the convoy." They edged over toward Lily, and although the bear rolled out a low rumble, this time it made no attempt to stop them, so they rushed the last few steps to her side.

Billy knelt down quickly and felt her pulse. "Strong and steady." She had several deep cuts on her head, and her left wrist was swollen and turning purple, but Billy wasn't sure if it was broken or not. "Can you get a couple strips of cloth so we can bind these cuts, and I'll grab a few pieces of wood to make a small splint for that wrist just in case."

They quickly bound her wounds and Grizzly carried her back to the SUV, where one of the thugs they had knocked out the previous week was waiting for them with a new partner. Billy and Mack approached with Grizzly carrying Lily between them. The guard glared at them with unbridled hostility and not a little embarrassed outrage, but neither he nor his partner made any move to help or hinder the men as they put Lily into the back of the SUV before climbing in themselves. The thugs closed the doors behind them, climbed in and started the vehicle before taking their place in the procession pulling out for Cheyenne Mountain.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

As they approached the north portal entrance to the mountain base, Mackland struggled to contain his rising anxiety about what lay ahead for them. With Lily still unconscious, their options for escape were already almost non-existent, and when he saw the multiple guard checkpoints along the winding road leading up to the twenty-five ton blast doors, the odds got even worse.

As they drove through the last gate and headed for the circular entrance, Billy leaned over and nudged Mack. "At least we shouldn't have to worry about any of those Psidead getting in here, right?"

"I don't think the zombies are what we have to worry about right now. Jerrington isn't going to let us get out of here no matter what, so we have to get that Collector and find a way out."

"You're right. Let's hope we get a chance to talk once we get inside." Billy leaned back to his side of the vehicle as the guard in the passenger seat looked over his shoulder and told them to "shut the hell up" with a look that left no doubt as to his willingness to exact a little revenge for their earlier escape attempt. Grizzly snorted at the thug, further ratcheting up the tension in the vehicle.

Mackland watched as several vehicles in front of them pulled up and let their passengers get out and unload their gear. As each vehicle emptied, the next in line moved up, until it was their turn and the guards opened the rear doors, telling them to get Lily and get out. The driver told them, "No funny business out of you, got it? My partner is staying with you until I drop off the car, but there are plenty of guards around here, and they know you aren't free to go, so don't be stupid." Mackland decided not to point out that they couldn't exactly run sprints while carrying an unconscious woman since it wouldn't really do anything other than piss off the goon. Instead, he grabbed their gear as Grizzly stepped out of the vehicle, cradling Lily like a baby in his arms.

Billy wasn't so reserved, however. "Got it Brutus. Don't take out the guards and escape from the secure military base while carrying the knocked out girl." He gave exaggerated thumbs up to the guard. "Thanks for the tip, big-guy."

The driver looked ready to take a swing at Billy, but his partner spoke up. "Shut the hell up and get moving. We got a room waiting for ya." Mackland was silently grateful when Billy decided not to make any further wisecracks and instead concentrated on helping him carry their gear into the base.

They headed through the portal and past the first set of blast doors into the main access tunnel, Grizzly being careful to carry Lily without causing her more discomfort. Their guard pointed toward another checkpoint, and Grizzly set her down as the sentry spoke quietly with their guard. As soon as she touched the cold stone floor, Lily's eyes fluttered open, and she groaned, "What the hell happened? Where am I?"

Mackland leaned down to look into her eyes as he spoke. "Damn, am I glad to hear you talking. You took a really nasty shot to the head. We weren't sure how long you were gonna be out."

She shook her head slightly, trying to clear the cobwebs. "Am I crazy, or did a freaking bear punch me?"

Mackland gave a low chuckle. "No, that's about the sum of it," he said, "The short version is that Jerrington has a pet zombie bear that he controls somehow. When you got in its way, it smacked the shit out of you and you've been out for the past two hours or so. How do you feel?"

"My wrist hurts like hell, and I feel like I'm gonna have a migraine for the next year, but I think I can walk." As she spoke, she pushed herself up and shakily got to her feet.

Grizzly stepped in and put his shoulder under her armpit to help steady her. "Easy, girl. Ya took a nasty knock there." He said with uncharacteristic gentleness.

Mackland felt a stab of unreasonable jealousy at the soft look of gratitude in Lily's eyes as the big man supported her. He blinked in surprise. What the hell was his problem? It wasn't as if she was his girlfriend! They barely knew each other; and Grizzly was probably old enough to be her father, so what was he worried about? He shook his head to stop his mental rambling. Grizzly was just helping, and she needed that help right now. He focused back on their situation.

Lily was looking around at the bare metal and stone surroundings painted with drab white, black, and olive drab color schemes and made a guess, "So we made it to their base, huh?"

Billy started to reply when the security door unlocked with a loud metallic clang, and their guard spoke up. "Ok, let's go. Through that door, and down the access tunnel. I'll tell you where to go from there."

Lily leaned on Grizzly as they made their way through the foot thick metal door and followed the echo of their own footsteps bouncing off the stone and steel in front of them into the unknown.

* * *

Ming stepped out of his vehicle as they pulled up in front of the famous north portal to the Cheyenne Mountain complex. All around him, vehicles disgorged passengers and equipment in a chaotic flurry of activity, with people carrying boxes and bags, and some pushing carts of supplies into the base. He looked back to the vehicle with Mackland and his friends, but they hadn't gotten out yet, with just the two guards standing on either side of the SUV waiting for instructions before they did anything. Ming briefly considered trying to convince the goons to turn the captives over to him, but he figured the ruse would be short-lived at best, and would most likely jeopardize his ability to help them when it would matter most.

A few team leaders came to him looking for instructions, and he spent the next twenty minutes organizing and coordinating the unloading process as the groups settled in. He glanced over to see Jerrington speaking with Mackland's guards for a few minutes before heading into the complex without looking back. The guards immediately opened the doors of the SUV and after a few minutes, he saw Lily get back to her feet before the guards guided them down the long corridor leading into the mountain stronghold.

Ming finished coordinating the unloading process until he was sure everything was under control. With that done, he grabbed his pack from the vehicle and headed into the base planning to stop by his room before making his way to the control center and Jerrington. Approaching the first internal checkpoint, he marveled again at the engineering and structural features built into this complex. The drab utilitarian design and color scheme might not make the base feel like a home, but it left no doubt that the complex was built for security and safety. He looked up at the huge blast door in passing, and felt a small shiver at the thought of being locked inside of the mountain fortress with Jerrington.

He approached the guard who recognized him immediately. "Welcome back sir." He wasn't required to salute Ming, but he stood a little straighter as he continued. "Everything go ok on the scouting trip?"

Ming showed a smile he didn't feel as he replied, "Good enough. Only ran into a few Psidead groups on the road, and we managed to take them out with minimal problems." He waved at the door. "Can you let me through? I don't want to wait thirty minutes for the next bus if I can help it."

"Sure thing. You're all clear." The sentry pushed a button and the door unlocked with a clang and swung open.

Ming started to go through but paused and looked to the sentry. "Do you know where the guards took the four new guests a few minutes ago?"

"He didn't say specifically, but they headed for the blue bus. You can probably catch em."

"Ok, thanks. Have a good one." He headed through the door at a quick pace, flinching as the steel door banged shut behind him. He stepped into the open transport area where two buses currently sat idling, waiting to head down one of the two primary access tunnels leading into the rest of the complex. There were small groups of people in the process of boarding each bus, as well as groups heading down the various pedestrian walkways and hallways providing access to the offices and administration buildings that were not as far away. He saw Mackland's group getting onto the blue bus, which would take them into the living quarter's section, and quickly made his way over to board the bus just before it pulled out. Grabbing a seat in the front, he stared out the window at the rock walls passing by and tried to figure out what exactly he was going to do.

* * *

Mackland watched the same tunnels pass by on their way down to their unknown destination. Neither of the guards was offering any insight or additional information, leaving Mackland to the workings of his imagination as to what they were headed for. He knew it was nothing good. Looking at Grizzly, Billy, and Lily, he knew they were having the same thoughts. A few minutes later, their bus pulled up to the loading area for the living quarter's module and rolled to a stop. The doors parted and their guards moved behind them, motioning for Mackland and the others to get up and precede them off the bus. The thugs followed closely behind and roughly herded them toward one of the side tunnels marked "Storage A2." The dimly lit passageway they entered was extremely bare and utilitarian with several numbered doors on each side opening into windowless storage rooms.

Finally, one of the guards spoke up as they approached the last few doors. "Hold it. This is your suite." A cruel sneer emphasized the last word as he opened the door to a larger storage room and flipped on the light inside. They were ushered into a plain space with bare stone floors furnished with nothing more than a table and four chairs in the center and three bare mattresses covered with army blankets and lumpy pillows placed along three of the walls. Mackland sucked in a mouthful of stale air thick with alcohol and old antiseptics.

Billy looked around the sparse accommodations with undisguised contempt. "What, no mint on the pillow? I'll be marking off for that on the survey at check-out."

Neither of their guards acknowledged his snide comment; however, the one that had directed them into the room simply said, "Don't bother trying the door; it will be locked behind us. Someone will bring some food in a bit, and if you really have to use the bathroom, knock on the door." Without another word, he turned and followed his partner out the door, closing it behind him with an audible click as the lock engaged.

Mackland turned one of the chairs around for Lily as she sat down heavily and let an audible sigh of relief. "Guess I was more tired than I thought." She smiled up at the other three before leaning back and closing her eyes.

Mackland patted her on the shoulder as Billy sat in one of the other chairs while Grizzly paced like a caged animal. "I think we're all pretty beat. We've been going almost non-stop since we left Grizzly's place," Mackland said wearily. "I don't know what's in store for sure, but I would say we need to get some rest while we can, so we can be ready to act when an opportunity presents itself." He moved over to one of the mattresses and pulled back the blanket laying across it; coughing at the plume of dust that rose to surround his head. He waved a hand ineffectually at the cloud lingering in the stagnant air. "Hope you guys don't have allergies. This place hasn't seen a maid in a couple decades." They all shared a quiet laugh as they settled in to get what sleep they could. Mackland just hoped tomorrow provided some answers to the issues they were facing.

* * *

Without any clock in the room, they had no way of knowing how long they had been sleeping when the door opened and a new pair of guards came in carrying trays of food. Both men had the same look of open hostility common with Jerrington's thugs. One of the men put the trays and plastic cups of water on the table. The taller of the two men stayed by the door, staring at the three prisoners with a hostile glare. "Don't think about trying anything like you did with those guards back in town. You give me a reason, and I won't hesitate to take any of you out, understand?"

Lily let out a laugh, shooting sparks of pain through her bruised ribs. "Yeah, watch out!" she gasped, "No weapons or gear, and we've all been beat to hell the past week. We're a real threat." She held a hand to her side. "Asshole."

The guard took a step toward her and everyone tensed for a confrontation. Fortunately, the other guard stepped smoothly between the two sides and placed a hand on his partner's chest. "Come on dude. It's not worth the trouble. Let's go." He shot a look at them that told them not to take things any farther as he ushered his grumbling partner into the hallway. The lock clicked a few seconds later.

The four prisoners yawned and stretched as they tried to shake off the fog of sleep and made their way to the table of food. Mackland felt as if he hadn't slept at all, and the dreary surroundings didn't exactly provide a boost to his spirits as he trudged over to the table. Lily took a long drink from the glass of water as Grizzly, Mack, and Billy lifted the lid on their trays. Mackland was not impressed; a small portion of something that looked like powdered eggs, some kind of dehydrated pork product, and a few slices of dry toast.

Grizzly grumbled, "Oh well. Just like when I was on my own. At least it ain't MREs."

Mackland thought back to the Meals Ready to Eat he had to eat during deployments, "I don't know Grizzly. A good ham and cheese omelet MRE would have this beat, hands-down."

"Maybe. I was always more partial to beef stew. Still, this grub don't look that bad." He used a piece of toast to scoop some of the eggs into his mouth. Mackland tried to ignore the cascade of powdered eggs falling through Grizzly's beard.

Billy stabbed a fork into the meat and grimaced at the greasy trail it left behind when he moved it. He said, "At least the cuisine pairs well with the accommodations."

Lily lifted her tray cover and Mackland could see her try to psych herself up to put some of the unappetizing lumps of food in her mouth. "It doesn't look like the worst food I've ever eaten, but it's probably near the bottom of the barrel, literally and figuratively." She said as she took a bite.

As the four started to eat, they were interrupted by the door opening again, this time by Jerrington himself, flanked by the two guards that had delivered the food. "Well, I see your food has been delivered as I requested. I hope you find it adequate." His face gave no indication as to whether he was being sincere or not, but given the quality of the fare in front of them, Mackland doubted it.

He chose to ignore it for the time being, however. "It's fine. What do you want?"

"I was hoping you or Mr. Roland might have reconsidered your willingness to help me get this working." As he spoke, he pulled the Collector from his coat pocket and placed it on the table. "As I said before, if you help me, I will make sure you can use the device to return to your universe... Just as soon as I open a portal to a universe that gets me away from here."

Mackland looked longingly at the Collector sitting just beyond arms reach. He knew there was nothing he could do with Jerrington and his goons sitting here. He shook his head slowly before responding. "I don't know what to tell you Jerrington, we can't help you. We haven't even verified what needs to be done, and if we did, we can't be sure it would let us get more than one trip, so we need it to get home." As he spoke, he felt the familiar itching sensation begin to crawl over his scalp, and he suspected he knew what was happening, so he did his best to clear his mind of any thoughts that would betray him.

Jerrington made a tsking sound in the back of his throat as he made his way around the table to stand behind Lily. "I'm sorry to hear that Dr. Luther, truly, I am. I had hoped you would be more willing to work with me, but I see now that I was being overly optimistic." He motioned to one of the guards who came over and pulled Lily's chair out from the table. When she tried to stand up, the thug grabbed her upper arms in a vice-like grip and pulled her to him in an immense bear hug. As she struggled ineffectually in his grasp, Jerrington stepped away and continued talking to Mackland and Billy. "Now my associate is going to take young Ms. Decker here to another room for a bit to allow you boys some time to reconsider your cooperation. I'll be back after awhile to see how things are coming along and we will talk then." The other guard had stepped between them and Jerrington, raising a pistol to point at Mackland's chest as he surged toward the other man. Mackland pulled up short, and the sight of the pistol kept Billy and Grizzly in place as well. Jerrington shook his head. "Now, now, Dr. Luther. Violence never solves anything." He looked over his shoulder at Lily struggling in the guard's grasp. "Well, actually, violence does have its benefits. We will just have to see how things progress." He grabbed the Collector off the table and walked out of the room, followed by the guard dragging Lily as she continued to struggle and yell. The other guard backed out before closing and locking the door.

Mackland sat down heavily as the adrenaline drained from his system and looked across the table at Grizzly and Billy. "Ok, we only have a few hours to figure out how to get Lily free, and get the Collector back. What do we have?"
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Ming dropped his gear onto the bed in the middle of his room and looked around briefly. A small space with minimal amenities, he had done his best to make it his own. He had acquired a few small statuettes during his travels since joining Jerrington's group; mostly Native American and western style figurines with a few contemporary paintings for a touch of contrast. Although they couldn't make up for the bland lack of color on the walls and floor, they at least allowed him to feel a bit more at home when he was here. One of the few perks the room had was its own tiny bathroom, which he used now to splash some water on his face. Tiny cold sparks danced across his face and cleared his head, allowing him to gather his thoughts before confronting Jerrington.

He patted his face dry, switched off the light, and put on his holstered pistol as he walked out of his room. Heading for Jerrington's office, he ran through his options. He wasn't sure what would happen when he spoke with Jerrington, but he wanted some insurance against the other man's disturbing mental abilities in case things went badly.

As he made his way towards Jerrington's office, he passed several team leaders returning from the field. He stopped to trade greetings and listen to any reports or requests his people had for him, but his mind was on the upcoming meeting. Fifteen minutes later, he stood outside of Jerrington's office and paused for a second to take a breath before knocking. Jerrington's voice came through the door, "Come in."

Ming pushed the door open and walked in with a smile he didn't feel on his face. "Brad. You have a few minutes? I wanted to talk to you about upcoming plans."

"Yes Mr. Tao, always have a few minutes for you. Have a seat, please." He gestured toward a counter with several bottles of liquor, "Can I get you something?"

"No, thanks." Ming wondered at the formal tone, but he was even more surprised about the mini bar Jerrington seemed to have acquired. He hadn't seen Jerrington drink anything harder than a beer since he had known him, but he watched as the other man poured a generous two fingers of scotch into a glass. "I still have some plans to make for the next few days and I want to keep a clear head. But don't let me stop you."

Jerrington picked up the tumbler of scotch and moved to a recliner across the room. "So what's on your mind Mr. Tao?" As he spoke, he began gently massaging his right temple.

"Well, I wanted to go over the possible scouting schedule for the next few days, to see if you have any suggestions for areas to look for food and supplies, but that can wait until later today if you want to think about it."

Jerrington thought for a moment before waving his hand in dismissal. "Yes, let me think on that a bit and I'll get back to you. Was there anything else?"

Ming shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and cleared his throat. "What I really wanted to talk to you about was what happened back there at Ft. Carson, and what your plans are for Mackland and his friends."

Jerrington gave no indication he had heard Ming as he swirled his drink in his glass while looking at some paperwork on the table in front of him. Just as the silence became uncomfortable and Ming was about to ask again, Jerrington looked up and Ming caught a glint in his eye for a split second before he dropped a calm expression across his features.

"Yes, I suppose we should discuss the current...situation we find ourselves in. What would you like to know?"

Ming took a second to prioritize his questions and finally said, "What happened back in Ft. Carson? That bear acted like it was a trained puppy, and you were its master. Or was I just imagining things?"

Jerrington blew out a heavy sigh thick with emotional release. "Yes, I suppose you would want to know a bit more about that. Very well, allow me to begin a bit further back, if you would?" Ming nodded for him to continue. "Right. You know that my wife and daughter were victims of the early Psidead attacks, but what I never told you was the affect their deaths had on me. I spiraled out of control for several months, and when I reached my lowest point, I finally decided it wasn't worth it to go on. I decided to end it all. But I also wanted to experience the enhanced psychic abilities for myself, to feel the euphoria so many people died to experience. Psikick had taken everything from me, so why not let it give me peace in my final moments? I planned to take a massive dose of the drug and to hell with whether I came back as a Psidead or not." His expression went blank as he remembered this painful part of his past, and he gazed through Ming as he continued his story. "I found a dealer and bought twenty doses of the drug. I went home that night, and washed all of them down with a bottle of bourbon, just to be sure. The next twenty-four hours were chaotic and almost indescribable, but I can remember some portions of it very clearly. I alternated between feeling as if I had died for hours at a time, and then I would spend hours feeling as if I were on top of the world. Enhanced strength; all five senses amplified to almost painful levels; and I could pick up thoughts of people all around me! I could hear the argument of the couple four houses down as if I were in the same room, and beyond that, I knew both sides of the argument as if I had thought of them myself!" He started to pace with pent up energy as he recalled the events from months ago. "The emotional and physical roller-coaster ride continued for the better part of a day. At one point towards the end, I made the realization that I could exert conscious control over my autonomic nervous system. But the most amazing thing I found was that i could project my thoughts into the minds of other people! It took practice and intense concentration, but within hours I was able to make a man across the street jump around like a monkey and sing opera at the top of his lungs. He screamed out every word exactly as I projected it to him. And that argument four houses down that I had heard earlier? A few minutes of serious concentration, and I had it resolved, both parties happy as could be, and no idea as to what they had been fighting about for the past few hours."

Ming interrupted, "But I thought Psikick always led to death eventually? How are you still here?"

Jerrington nodded, "Very astute of you Mr. Tao, I wondered the same thing, and to be honest, I'm still not entirely positive why it didn't kill me. I do have a theory though. I believe it is because the massive dose that I took gave me not only telepathic abilities, but also the greater control over all of my bodily functions. That control allows me to counteract the rapid cell burnout the drug usually causes. By taking a regular dose of Psikick each day, I am able to maintain that control and prevent the cellular overload that kills all other users."

Ming thought he knew the answer, but he had to ask anyway. "So if the drug doesn't kill you, what else does it do?"

Jerrington smiled, "Well as I said, I can control any aspect of my mental and physical functions down to the cellular level, which provides for faster healing in addition to the enhanced strength, speed and senses." He looked up at Ming from beneath hooded eyelids. "And yes, as I demonstrated with the bear back in Ft. Carson, in addition to reading and applying limited control to living being's thoughts, I am also able to exert mental control over the Psidead creatures." He knocked back the last of his cocktail before continuing, "Over time I found that living individuals tend to fight back if they know their thoughts are being controlled. I discovered the hard way that my psychic abilities are still limited when used against someone that has their mental defenses up." A grin without warmth split his lips. "Yet that limitation doesn't apply to the Psidead since they have only the most rudimentary of higher brain functions needed to coordinate their group movements. It was really a simple matter of experimenting and finding the correct process for translating my desires into commands that they can follow. Once I was able to control human Psidead, I found that the same process could be used on the animal Psidead zombies as well, and by simplifying the commands down to the basics such as 'stay', 'guard', 'attack', 'kill', I was able to turn any animal zombie into my personal guard dog." He leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh. "Between the human Psidead and the animals, I found myself at the head of a very powerful army everywhere I went."

* * *

Ming stood and walked over by a bookcase near the door. He was careful not to let any expressions betray his thoughts and give Jerrington a reason to probe his mind, but he couldn't believe how casually Jerrington was admitting to his regular use of Psikick; moreover, he was astounded at how cavalier the other man was about invading other people's minds and even controlling their thoughts. If he had no problem with such personal violations of other human beings, then Ming didn't want to imagine what he would be willing to do to Mackland and the others in order to get what he wanted; but he had to ask. "So you didn't die, and got some extra psychic powers out of the deal." He gestured to the mountain around them. "You brought us here, got things stabilized, and relatively safe from the Psidead," He watched Jerrington closely for a response, "So how do Mackland and his friends figure into the deal?"

Jerrington shook his head, "Well, that was an unexpected development, wasn't it? To begin with, and contrary to what they have told us, Dr. Luther and his companions were not working up north when the Psidead outbreak occurred." He said. Ming started to ask how he knew this, but he held up a hand and Ming decided to wait until he was done. "The three of them are actually from another universe, deposited here because of an accident with some technology they were working with. They were stranded here when the device that transported them was damaged. They are missing some parts they need to activate another portal and get them back to their home universe." He rose and poured himself another drink before continuing. "Once I figured that out, I realized that I could use that same device to get you, me and a select few others out of this world and to someplace safer that doesn't have the Psidead overrunning their world."

"But I thought you just said wanted to rule an army of Psidead? Why run away?"

"No, Mr. Tao. I simply said that I found myself at the head of such an army. I admit that I have made use of that army when it was necessary to ensure our safety, but leading an army is not a goal of mine." He looked over to the bookcase near Ming as he tried to explain. "Even at my strongest, I can only control Psidead within about a hundred square yards, sometimes a bit farther. But that provides me with a maximum of about fifteen hundred Psidead warriors at a time. Although that is a significant number, as you saw back in Pueblo when we rescued Mackland and his friends, the population of Psidead are increasing rapidly. My army will not be enough to hold off the hordes of Psidead indefinitely. We need to get Dr. Luther and the others to repair their device and get off of this world. Then we can regroup and settle ourselves in a new home that is hopefully safer."

Ming repressed a shudder at the thought of anyone controlling that many of the Psidead humans and animals together. As he considered all that Jerrington had told him, a horrifying thought crossed his mind, and even though he knew it may be crossing a line better left alone, he pushed on anyway. "What happened to Sean back at that camp?"

Jerrington dropped his gaze to the floor and managed to look ashamed. "Mr. Flannigan attacked me for reasons I am still not clear on. I didn't have time to read his mind to see what was driving him to strike me. I had gone to speak to Dr. Luther about their plans, but when I arrived at their campsite, he and Ms. Decker had already left for their sentry duty, so I spoke with Mr. Flannigan for a few moments. When I turned to leave, he struck me across the back of the head with a stick of some type. Unfortunately for him, I had several Psidead nearby as guards, and as soon as he knocked me down my concentration faltered." He began absently massaging his temples again, and Ming noticed tiny beads of sweat along his forehead. "The Psidead attacked before I had a chance to stop them. By the time I gathered my wits about me, he was already beyond saving. When I got to him, he had no pulse, and was in the horrible state you witnessed later. Once I knew there was nothing to be done, I let the others take over the cleanup. As I was leaving, I saw the device he had been protecting, and decided to take it until I could figure out what it was for, and what it's value was."

Ming gave him a razor sharp glare. "Even though it wasn't yours to take?"

Anger tightened the lines of his face, and Ming feared he had pushed too far. "Yes, Mr. Tao, I did take the device knowing it wasn't mine, but I was fairly sure it could either help or harm our people, either of which meant I needed to find out what it was. That was my justification for my action. And now I know that I was right to take it." He suddenly looked at Ming with pleading hope in his eyes, all traces of anger gone in an instant. "Don't you see? It can provide us with the only means of escaping this hell on earth, maybe the only chance we have! But we need to convince Dr. Luther and his friends to help us learn to use it."

Ming arched an eyebrow at that statement. "We? Look Brad--" He knew Jerrington disliked the familiarity of first names, but he didn't care right now. "I appreciate that you want to protect us, but we can't just force those people to give us their technology and teach us how to use it so we can do what we want with it. We need to let them go and work with them to see if they can help us get away from here when they use the device to get back to their world." An idea occurred to him with that comment. "Why don't we just go to their world, anyway? That should be as good as any."

Jerrington looked thoughtful for a moment but shook his head sadly when he responded. "I wish that we had the time and the assurance that we could work with them, Mr. Tao. But time is of the essence. I have had Psidead scouts ranging while we were down in Pueblo, and through them I have seen immense groups of other Psidead headed this way. I don't know how or why, but we are going to be overrun by Psidead within the next few days, a week at the latest." He gave a pleading look to Ming, perhaps in an attempt to convince him of his sincerity. "So you see, we really must convince them to help us. If the Psidead arrive in numbers sufficient to cut us off from the rest of the world, we will have to close the blast doors, and then it will be a countdown until the food runs out. Maybe two months with strict rationing, but then there will be significant loss of life, and when they start to reanimate, the deaths will increase exponentially until we are all gone." He let that sink in as he stood and reached a hand out to Ming. "Will you help me, Mr. Tao?"

With no other available option for the time being, Ming swallowed the bile churning up from his stomach and, not trusting himself to speak, grasped the other man's hand and nodded.

Jerrington looked incredibly pleased and patted him on the back "Wonderful. I will be checking on the arrangements for Ms. Decker's interrogation, if you would be so kind as to await my word and then bring Dr. Luther, and the other two to her room, we can begin."

* * *

Mackland and Billy looked up as the door to their cell opened and Ming came in. Grizzly stopped his pacing and crossed the room. As soon as he was in the room, Ming turned to the guard coming in behind him, "Wait in the hall. I want to talk to the prisoners alone before we go." The guard didn't look happy, but Ming outranked him and Jerrington hadn't given any orders preventing it, so he stepped out as Ming closed the door and rushed over to the men at the table. "I don't have much time. Jerrington is out of control, and I don't know how to stop him yet. He is going to have me take you to the room he is keeping Lily in, but I don't know what he has planned." He looked furtively over his shoulder at the door as if he expected Jerrington himself to appear out of nowhere. "We have to go, but our suspicions were right, Jerrington says he can read and even control thoughts, but only if the person isn't prepared. If you feel that itching sensation, do whatever you have to do to protect your thoughts, think about music, sex, food, anything to prevent him from getting information on fixing the Collector. I have no doubt once he gets it, he will get rid of you right away. I'm working on getting you guys out, but I have to wait for the right time. Just trust me for now."

Billy looked as if he wanted to make a smart-ass comment, but Mackland spoke up first. "Ok Ming. You haven't steered us wrong yet, but if we get an opening, we have to take it. I'm not gonna have us stuck with that lunatic any longer than necessary." Mackland stood as Ming turned to the door to let the guard in. "Ming, one more thing. Did you see the Collector?"

"Yep. Jerrington had it in his room. I'm sure he is going to have it with him. He's not gonna let it out of his sight."

Billy moved next to Mackland as the guard entered to escort them to see Lily. Grizzly sneered at the thug trying to shove him towards the door. "Hey boy. Ya might wanna wait till ya have some hair on yer chest before ya try pushin' people around." He smiled as he heard Mackland groan from behind him as they walked down the hallway.
CHAPTER THIRTY

Ming knocked on the door to the room they had moved Lily to, which swung open immediately. He followed Mackland, Grizzly, and Billy into the room, then instructed their escort to close the door and wait in the hall. Mackland ignored Jerrington standing off to the right, instead focusing on Lily sitting in a metal chair across the room. She shared a small nod to let him know she was ok, calming him and allowing him to focus on their situation. The room was basically the same as the one they had just left, without the furniture. It also had a second plain metal door with an extra deadbolt set into the wall on the left side of the room. The other difference was a large window on the right side of the room, but whatever was on the other side of the window was hidden in darkness. The guard that had driven them into the base stood just behind and to the side of Lily's chair. He wasn't making any threatening gestures, but he looked like a guard dog on a short leash just waiting on the word from his master.

Jerrington attempted a smile as they entered, but Mackland interpreted it as more of a sneer. Real or imagined, it didn't matter; it set the tone for the meeting in his mind. "Look Jerrington, nothing has changed, we—"

"Oh, things have changed significantly, Dr. Luther, I assure you." The smile/sneer dropped from his face like a snake sliding under a rock, and was replaced by a malignant stare that promised violence if he didn't get what he was looking for. "I tried to ask you nicely to help me, but you declined. I even hinted at future unpleasantness if we couldn't work together, and you still refused the opportunity."

Billy snorted at his use of the word "opportunity" and snapped, "Seemed like an opportunity for us to give you our ticket out of here, and get rewarded by kissin' your ass as you leave us with a bunch of zombies trying to eat us. Hell of an opportunity if you ask me."

"Mr. Roland, I will not ask you again to refrain from your inane commentary." He turned to the guard behind Lily, "If Mr. Roland speaks again without my permission, shoot him in the left kneecap." The guard nodded and placed his hand on the obvious lump of a pistol under his jacket.

Billy's eyes bulged as he struggled to remain silent in the face of such a brazen threat. Mackland put a hand on his shoulder and gave a quick shake of his head. "It's not worth it Billy. Just hang tight."

Ming stepped forward and confronted Jerrington. "What are you doing Brad? I thought you wanted their help?"

"Indeed I do, Mr. Tao, but as I told you, I don't have time for prolonged negotiations or meaningless chatter," He gave Ming a meaningful stare, "Please try to keep that in mind when you consider your future questions, if you will."

Irritated at the rebuke, but not wanting to push the other man too far just yet, Ming simply nodded and stepped back for the time being."As I was saying, you ignored the opportunity to work with me willingly, so now I must insist. Either you agree to help me understand how to use your device, or I will be forced to take more drastic measures."

Billy struggled to remain silent as Mackland thought for a few minutes before answering. "Fine. We'll work with you to get the Collector working again, but the only place we go is back to our universe. That way we all win. We get back home, and you get someplace other than here."

Jerrington shot an icy glare at Mackland's suggestion and held up the Collector. "Perhaps I wasn't clear enough Dr. Luther. Your only option is to tell me everything I need to get this device working to the point that I can open a portal to another world. But it will not be a portal to your own universe. I am not going to your world so that you can use your contacts and knowledge to take me into custody or otherwise prevent me from going on my way. I hope I am being clear enough for everyone." He made a dismissive gesture. "Once I and those with me are safely in our new home, you may do what you wish with the device."

As he finished speaking, he stared over at the door on the left side of the room, and everyone in the room felt the itching sensation begin to increase in their skulls. The itching became almost unbearable and was so distracting that they almost missed the Psidead woman that walked into the room until she was almost on top of them.

* * *

Everyone in the room except for Jerrington and the guard moved as far away from the dead woman shambling towards them as possible. Lily tried to jump up, but the guard dropped a large hand on her shoulder, pinning her to the seat. Jerrington waved a hand toward her, "Please use the plasticuffs to restrain Ms. Decker to her chair." As the guard moved to comply, he turned to the others in the room. "Mr. Tao, if you would be so good, please escort our guests to the adjacent room so that we can continue our discussion."

Ming couldn't remain quiet any more. "Brad! What the hell is going on? We need to put that thing down now before it hurts someone!"

Jerrington took several steps until he was directly in front of the dead woman. She appeared to have been an attractive brunette woman when she was still alive, and from what Mackland could see she hadn't been dead very long. She still had most of her hair, and aside from some cuts and bruises that would never heal properly now that she was dead, she didn't look that bad. But the blank, vacant stare of her dead eyes and the slack muscles throughout her face left no doubt just how far from human she was. Jerrington ignored all of that and turned his back on her to address Ming and the others. His eyes seemed heavy with anger and a deep weariness. "She is no threat to anyone unless I determine she is. She is fully under my control, so please refrain from further emotional outbursts, and take our guests next door."

Ming persisted. "What about Lily?"

"Ms. Decker will be remaining in here for the time being until we conclude our discussion. If all goes well, she will be joining us shortly."

Mackland looked ready to explode and blurted out, "No way, you bastard! We aren't leaving her here with that thing!"

Grizzly advanced slowly towards the Jerrington with murder in his eyes. "Ya ain't gonna do nothin' but get smushed, unless you let us outta hear, ya uppity shit!"

Jerrington dipped his chin towards the zombie, who placed herself between Grizzly and himself as he went on, "Enough. Either you three follow Mr. Tao into the other room in the next five seconds, or I will instruct this deceased young lady to bite Ms. Decker a few times. I don't know for sure how much bodily fluid is required to transmit the drug in sufficient quantity to begin the transformation, but I would expect four or five would do it." He held up one hand and began counting down. "Five...four...three..."

Ming knew his former friend wasn't bluffing, so he put his hands out to corral the other three men and move them toward the door. "Ok, ok, we're going. Just keep that...thing away from her."

* * *

As Ming ushered Billy, Grizzly, and Mackland into the adjacent room, they rushed immediately to the window to see what was happening with Lily. They saw Jerrington speaking to Lily, and judging by her facial expression, he wasn't giving her any reassurances. They could see the muscles of her neck straining as she jerked at her bonds in a vain attempt to strike out at him. He patted her thigh in a patronizing gesture, and then motioned for the guard to follow him out of the room. The female zombie didn't move at all as they left, simply staring vacantly at a spot at the back of the room and ignoring anything else.

Within moments, Jerrington entered their room, leaving the guard in the hallway and looking at Ming. "Mr. Tao, thank you for your assistance. Would you be so kind as to check on the progress of our scouting teams and get updates on how everyone else is getting settled in? I will be with you as soon as we have any information to discuss."

"Brad, don't do this. I'm sure we can figure out some way to work together..." He stopped at the look Jerrington shot his way.

Realizing he wouldn't change the other man's mind he grunted a frustrated surrender. "Yeah, fine. I'll check on things. I'll be back soon." He gave Mackland a surreptitious nod to let him know he would work on it, and then stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind him.

Ming didn't see the guard that had accompanied Jerrington from the other room so he stood outside the room for a few moments to collect his thoughts. After a few seconds, he realized that he could still make out the voices behind the door.

Jerrington's voice was clear. "Mr. Tao has proven himself to be a loyal follower and assistant, but I don't know if he has the stomach for what needs to be done here."

Billy snorted a laugh and sounded as if he were trying to buy some time. "I'm sure if Ming knew what kind of a man you really were, he would have left you long ago. How did you trick him into thinking you were worth following anyway?"

Ming didn't hear anything for a few seconds, and he was sure Jerrington was going to have his guard shoot Billy for making another outburst. He was surprised when Jerrington gave a loud sigh and responded.

"Very well Mr. Roland, I would punish your blatant attempt to antagonize me, but I believe this may serve to help illustrate to you how deadly serious I am. Mr. Tao came to me after his family had disappeared and he had presumed them lost. I agreed to help him look for them once he joined our team, and I did so for several months. During that time, he became indispensible to me as my second in command, so when I got word that a woman matching his wife's description had been sighted, I made the decision to withhold that information from him."

Ming leaned heavily against the door as Jerrington's words slammed his chest like a sledgehammer.

"I sent out scouts to investigate and they reported that the woman and a daughter matched the description perfectly. As I considered my options, I knew that if Mr. Tao got his family back, he would focus on them, and I would lose my most valued team member. That would have been unacceptable."

Ming didn't want to hear anymore, but he knew that he had no choice now.

"When a rogue band of Psidead showed up at the compound his wife and daughter were located in the following night, we were unfortunately unable to get to them in time. Needless to say, Mr. Tao never knew anything about it, which worked out best for all of us, don't you think?"

Ming sank to the floor of the hallway as Jerrington's muffled words sank in and crushed his soul. His chest felt as if it had caved in, and he couldn't draw a full breath. He leaned against the wall as he broke out in a cold sweat and panted like an overheated dog. He felt as if he were having a heart attack, and realized he welcomed the thought of death. Not only were his wife and daughter dead, they were killed by zombies sent by Jerrington. All this time, the man that he thought of as his friend and mentor had been responsible for the deaths of his family. God only knew what other atrocities he had committed without Ming's knowledge. Even with the previous things that Jerrington had admitted to Ming about his abilities to control Psidead zombies, these new revelations were a whole different level of insanity, and the past few moments had turned Ming's entire world upside down, leaving him unsure of what to do about any of it. Nothing he did would bring his wife and daughter back, and that realization almost robbed him of the will to even get up off the floor.

The sole driving force that had kept him going in the months since his family disappeared had been his desire to continue searching in the hope that he would find them somehow safe. No matter that the chances of success were incredibly slim, it was a possibility, and it was what got him up in the morning and his last thought when going to bed at night. And now it was all gone, taken away by the madman that his mentor had become.

Ming dropped his head into his hands and considered how easy it would be to go to the armory, check out a pistol, and end the physical and emotional pain racking his body as he sat in the hall staring at the concrete floor beneath him.

His emotional turmoil was suddenly interrupted by the voice of his wife in his head, telling him that he needed to go on, to put a stop to Jerrington's insanity in order to make her death mean something. He knew she wasn't talking about her death meaning something to her, or to the world at large, but to him alone. Only by stopping Jerrington from hurting anyone else, especially Mackland and his friends, would Ming be able to begin to come to terms with the loss of his wife and daughter.

Taking a deep breath to find his center, he focused on the current problem. Now he simply had to come up with a plan to get past Jerrington's guards, an unknown number of Psidead thralls protecting him, and then kill a man that may very well be able to read and control his mind before he could even think about pulling the trigger.

He stood and started to head down the hallway, but stopped when he heard Mackland's voice."So let me guess...the rogue band of Psidead were under your control, like the one in there?"

"Dr. Luther, as I said earlier, we must all keep our secrets. Suffice it to say that I didn't want to lose Mr. Tao, and I didn't. And now, I want your assistance, and I will have it." He gestured to the room on the other side of the window. "We have had enough small talk, so let's get to it. You will start telling me everything I need to know about this device, the method you used to get from your universe to mine, and how to use the same method to get away from here," he rubbed his temples as he continued, "If you don't start right now, that Psidead zombie will start nibbling on your Ms. Decker in small pieces until such time as she succumbs to the drug and reanimates, or simply dies. If you still haven't given me what I need, I will pick one of you to then join her in the room and take my chances on getting the rest of the information from the one surviving member of your little group. Am I being clear enough?"

Mackland sighed. "Crystal clear. I hope you have some time. This is going to take awhile." Looking into the room at Lily, Mack started talking.

* * *

Mackland began by covering as much ambiguous background information as he could get away with, trying to stall for time without putting Lily at further risk from the Psidead woman standing less than two feet away from her. He covered the basics of the Frameway project and how they used the Collector to target and hold the portals open for longer periods of time, making sure to leave out key details that should prevent Jerrington from actually using the Collector or the Frame on his own. " I truly don't know the cause of the accident that brought us through the portal, but my best guess right now is that we need to find the fractured pieces of the energy cell before we can do anything. If you will let me see the Collector for a couple of hours, I might be able to use it to find the energy cell, and figure out the next step." He watched Lily through the window as she squirmed in her chair trying to get as much space between herself and the zombie waiting like a statue an arm's length away, but the chair was not sliding, and every time she pushed back it threatened to tip over. Mackland feared if she fell over the motion may cause the zombie to instinctively attack regardless of Jerrington's commands, so he waited until she glanced his way and shook his head to indicate she should stop fighting. She looked confused at first, but after a few seconds, he saw her take a deep breath, stop squirming and sit back in the chair. Although her arms and legs were tied, she still looked coiled and ready to take whatever action she could if the zombie attacked.

Jerrington walked over to place himself directly in Mackland's line of sight as he watched Lily. "You have tried my patience long enough Dr. Luther. You have spent the last twenty minutes spewing inane drivel and theoretical quantum physics, and I don't have to read your mind to know that you are simply trying to buy enough time to come up with an escape plan. I fear the only way I will convince you of my seriousness is to allow my friend to get closer to Ms. Decker." He started to turn toward the window.

"No!" All three men shouted at the same time and surged forward toward Jerrington, prompting the guard to draw his weapon and point it at Mackland, who was slightly closer.

"You all need to step back from Mr. Jerrington, right now." His voice was not loud or threatening, simply solid in the promise of violence.

Grizzly looked as if he were considering making an attempt on Jerrington heedless of the threat from the gun in the guard's hand, but Mackland stopped him with a raised arm and whispered urgently, "You'll just get yourself killed. Let me talk to him."

Jerrington overheard him, and simply said, "No more talking." The itching sensation returned slightly as Jerrington motioned, and the Psidead woman took a step toward Lily as she screamed and tried to push away.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Ming heard Lily scream on the other side of the door and knew he was out of time. Without thinking of the consequences, he burst through the door and was confronted by the surprised guard turning towards him with his pistol ready to fire. Ming continued on without slowing and plowed into the bigger man's gut with his shoulder, knocking the wind out of him and preventing him from getting a shot off. Recovering quickly, the guard brought both hands down in a vicious blow to the back of Ming's head that he felt along his entire spine and dropped him to his knees. Ming knew he had to act or the other man would shoot him in seconds, so he grabbed the guard's ankles and tugged as hard as he could. The guard finally fell back cracking his head on the concrete floor, and as Ming rolled over, he saw the big man was out cold.

The sounds of a scuffle drew Ming's attention toward the window where Mackland and Billy had tackled Jerrington and were beating him into unconsciousness. As Ming approached them, he looked through the window to see the Psidead woman standing motionless again less than a foot away from Lily, who was trying to scramble back with little success. As Billy unleashed a viscous kick to Jerrington's head, knocking him out cold, Ming saw the Psidead woman's head give a small jerk, and she tottered for a second. She looked around her as if she were searching for something, and as her vacant eyes settled on Lily, Ming suddenly realized what was happening. "Grizzly, get in there!" He waved toward the other room. "Jerrington's not controlling that thing anymore! It's going to kill Lily any second!" He followed Grizzly as he screamed, with Billy and Mackland just steps behind. Grizzly careened into the hallway and yanked the other room's door open.

The Psidead woman was leaning in toward Lily with her mouth open when Grizzly burst into the room like a hairy tornado. Whether it was the noise or the smell of more human bodies in the room, it was enough to distract the zombie at the last second. She turned her head toward them and away from Lily. Grizzly hit the undead woman like a truck; driving his shoulder into her stomach and lifting her off the ground as he stood upright. The sharp clack of her teeth snapping at his face echoed across the room, "I don't think so, girl!" He dug his hands into her abdomen and pushed straight up, lifting her above his head like a weight lifter finishing the clean and jerk. He paused for just a second as the zombie continued to writhe in his grip before turning slightly and slamming her into the floor from seven feet in the air.

Bones cracked like gunshots as the Psidead crashed on her back into the concrete and bounced slightly. Rancid black blood spewed out of the dead mouth from the force of the impact. The creature was still moving, and tried to get to her feet, but Grizzly slammed a booted foot on her chest, pinning her in place while the others helped Lily.

Ming and Mackland worked on freeing Lily, while Billy went to help Grizzly with the zombie. Lily was already starting to calm somewhat now that the immediate threat was gone, and as they tried to loosen the plasticuffs she said, "Next time, could you guys pull the knight in shining armor thing a little sooner? I could smell the death on that bitch's breath when you guys got here."

Ming gave her a smile. "Sorry, it looked like you had it all under control, what with your awesome back scooting."

"If I wasn't tied to this chair, I'd show you some back scooting. Now can you get me out of here?"

Mackland gave a frustrated curse as he worked the restraints. "Dammit! These things can't be loosened, and I don't have anything to cut them. I'll have to find something."

"Reach into my left sock. I keep a small dagger in there, and they didn't pat me down that well."

He lifted her pant leg, studiously ignoring the feel of the smooth curve of her calf as he reached into her sock. With a gulp, he grabbed the knife and quickly cut her free.

In a blur, she grabbed the dagger from him and ran across the room to Billy and Grizzly. Before anyone could react, she shoved Grizzly hard. Surprise left him off-balance just enough to be rocked back by her attack. As his foot came off the Psidead zombie, the creature tried to roll onto her side to get up. Before the monster could complete the maneuver, Lily dropped onto the zombies back. Striking like a coiled cobra, Lily plunged the dagger straight into the base of the Psidead's neck where the spinal column joins the brain. The zombie jerked once and then stopped moving completely. She stayed on top of the monster for a few seconds to be sure it was truly dead, looking up when Grizzly put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Come on girl. It's over. We have ta get movin' before that crazy bastard wakes up."

* * *

Ming stopped them as they approached the door. "We've got to move quickly. As soon as Jerrington comes to, he's going to have the base on alert to stop us. The motor pool isn't far from here, and if we're lucky, we can get there in a few minutes. If we're really lucky, we should be able to grab a vehicle and get as far away from here as possible before he wakes up, but I'm not counting on that."

Mackland started to agree, then his eyes widened as realization hit him. "We can't leave yet, we need the Collector! We're stuck without it."

Billy smiled and reached behind him. "I'm ahead of ya doc. I grabbed it after I kicked Mr. McCrazy in the head and he went to LaLa land." He held up the device as he spoke, and Mackland could see that he had already powered it up so they could locate the missing energy cell.

Mack sighed in relief and gestured toward the door, "Well then, after you sir." With a quick glance through the door, Mackland and Lily followed Ming and Billy out of the room and into the hallway, Grizzly brought up the rear.

They moved down the hallway to the right as quickly as possible without running to avoid drawing any attention to themselves until they had to. The hallways and corridors all looked alike with their gray walls and gray or green floors, and Mackland was happy to have Ming leading them with his knowledge of the base. After three minutes and multiple turns, an alarm went off as they rounded a corner and Ming called over his shoulder, "Sounds like Jerrington woke up! Two more turns, and we'll be at the motor pool. We need to speed it up, come on!"

They broke into a sprint as they heard movement behind them and quickly covered the last two corridors, but as they rounded the last corner Mackland and Billy ran straight into Ming and Lily stopped in the middle of the hallway. Grizzly barely skidded to a stop before running over all of them. "What the he—" Billy left his complaint unspoken as he looked over Lily's shoulder and realized what had caused their halt.

Clustered in front of the door to the motor pool were a dozen Psidead men and women who began walking toward them as Billy watched.

Looking back the way they had come, they found the way blocked by several human guards with automatic rifles leveled at them, forcing a groan from Lily. "Shit! What the hell do we do now?"

"I would suggest you give yourselves up, and I will give Dr. Luther and Mr. Roland a final opportunity to give me what I need." Jerrington walked up between the human fighters to stand between them and the four escapees. "Mr. Tao, I am very disappointed in your choice. You will need to go into custody with the others, I'm afraid."

Ming exploded, "I heard everything, you bastard!" He raised an accusatory finger at Jerrington. "I know what you did to my family! You can do whatever you want to me, but I won't rest until I see you dead, do you hear me?" Such a violent outburst from the normally quiet and controlled Ming took everyone else by surprise, yet Jerrington showed no reaction at first.

An uneasy silence settled between the two groups, pregnant with tension. Finally Jerrington slumped slightly and met Ming's fiery glare with tired eyes. "I'm not proud of everything I have done up until now, Mr. Tao." A small shudder raced across his shoulders. "In fact, I have done things so reprehensible it makes the Psidead seem tame by comparison. But everything I have done has been for the very survival of our group. I don't know how to explain it, or even if I want to, but the more time I spend communicating with the Psidead, the more I lose of myself." His expression pleaded with Ming to understand, but Ming just shook his head and muttered incoherently under his breath. Mackland looked at the two of them and couldn't tell which of them were the sanest.

With a sharp breath, Jerrington blinked, and everything about him suddenly changed in an instant. The weariness left his eyes, to be replaced with something almost alien in its cold malevolence, and his posture straightened with an audible cracking of vertebrae. "Since I cannot change the past, and you have every right to want me dead, I believe we are at an impasse." He gave another tight shrug. "Very well. Take them into custody." He gestured to four of the human fighters who immediately moved forward to carry out his orders.

Before they had closed half the distance, Ming suddenly leaned forward to Mackland and whispered urgently, "The second SUV past the door has the keys in the ignition and a full tank. Go directly through the garage door, and stay to the right until you get out of the main portal." Mackland looked back with a confused expression. "What?"

Ming looked at him with sad determination. "You guys are the important ones here. Don't let him get his hands on that device again." Mackland didn't like the look he saw in Ming's eyes. "I don't have anything left to lose, but I can help you. Just follow my lead." And with that, Ming turned and ran directly to the far left side of the hallway filled with the Psidead. As soon as he was in their midst, he began punching and kicking any zombie within reach. Every Psidead in the hallway turned to converge on the fresh meat in their grasp. Ming gasped a loud "Go!!" as the Psidead buried him beneath their grasping, biting attack. He gave a final angry scream before he was lost beneath the roiling feeding frenzy.

Mackland and the others were stunned and horrified by Ming's sudden action, but so were the human guards; giving Mackland's group an opportunity that they had to take quickly if his sacrifice was going to mean something. With a final glance at the frenzied mass of bodies snarling and biting what was left of their friend, they sprinted for the motor pool door.

* * *

They broke into the motor pool and Mackland led them to the SUV Ming had indicated. He found the keys right where Ming had said, and he quickly turned the ignition. The engine started with a loud roar as the other three jumped in, and Mackland put it in gear while slamming down the gas pedal just as Jerrington and the human guards came through the door. "Get down!" He screamed as he bore down on their pursuers. Grizzly, Lily, and Billy dropped as low as they could in their seats as gunfire erupted. Several rounds impacted with loud whumps against the body of the vehicle, and cracks spider-webbed from a hole in the passenger rear window as a bullet whistled through the cabin. Fortunately, none of the tires were flattened as they sped toward the closed garage door. Mackland yelled again, "Hang on!" just a few seconds before the front of the SUV crashed through the garage door. Fortunately the door was not reinforced, and they burst through without losing much of their momentum. They shot out into the vehicle corridor and Mackland had to quickly veer to the right as the tunnel curved. Keeping Ming's instructions in mind, he continued to hug the right side of the tunnel as they careened toward the main portal.

Lily looked over to Billy as Mack concentrated on driving and not smearing them along one of the rock walls, "We won't have long before he gets some vehicles behind us. Which way is that energy cell?"

Billy held up the Collector in a still shaking hand, checking the display. "Umm...let me see. Give me a second to make sure it's calibrated, and not damaged."

"Hurry up, the main gate is just ahead." She pointed ahead at the daylight growing as they approached the open portal out of the mountain, and Mackland pressed the accelerator down harder.

Adjusting a few settings, Billy finally seemed to get what he was looking for. "Ok, judging by the display, the energy cell is north of here. I won't know more until we get closer, but I wouldn't think we are more than twenty minutes away."

As Billy spoke, Lily had climbed over the middle row of seats and was digging in the back of the SUV. "Good news guys. Looks like someone was stocked up for action." She held up an M4 assault rifle, then turned and hefted a black canvas bag onto the seat next to her. She pulled out several pistols, another assault rifle, magazines, ammunition, several machetes, and a pair of large hunting knives. She let out a low whistle as she reached the bottom of the bag. "Now we're talking...these will come in handy!" She placed four fragmentation grenades on the seat next to the rest of the weapons. "Looks like we've got about two thousand rounds of ammo for the rifles, a thousand rounds of the pistols, the blades and grenades. Not enough for a war, but it might be enough to get us out of this mess if we control our shots." She looked pointedly at Billy. "That means try to aim, don't just spray and pray, got it?" Billy flipped her off, but said he would try, and she handed him a pistol, knife, and one of the grenades. "Who wants the other rifle?"

Billy looked to Mackland who responded quickly, "Give it to Grizzly. Billy knows more about the inner workings of the Collector, so he's going to be tied up finding the energy cell and getting the Collector back to working. I've got my hands full driving, so you and Grizzly will have to be responsible for security while he's working." Grizzly simply nodded and finished checking his weapons.

Lily finished checking and loading the rest of the weapons that she and Grizzly would use as they continued toward the location of the missing energy cell. They could only maintain an average speed of about fifteen miles an hour as they maneuvered around derelict vehicles and various other obstacles that had accumulated since the Psidead breakout.

Two hours later, they had covered about twenty miles and were in the process of working their way around a pair of overturned cement trucks. One truck had spilled a load of concrete that had hardened into a four foot high lump stretching across the road like a huge speed bump. They were working their way around this latest obstacle when the first shots ricocheted off of one of the cement trucks. Looking back the way they had come, Mackland saw vehicles heading their way, with several people sticking their heads and weapons out and taking aim at his group. Several more shots cracked behind them, but their pursuers were still outside of effective weapon range, so they were still safe for the moment. Nonetheless, he pushed the vehicle harder as they careened through ditches and gullies, and running over scrub brush and small vegetation as they shot back onto the road on the far side of the blockage.

Billy checked the Collector as the worst of the bouncing passed for the moment, "We're close, Mack! The energy cell is probably less than a quarter mile from here, off to the left. If you see any roads heading that way, take the turn. If you don't, we'll have to go off-road." Peering off across the terrain, he nodded, "There are some ruts and a few small hills, but it looks manageable as long as you put it in four wheel drive."

Mackland scanned the road ahead, but didn't see any crossroads coming up. They had only gone a few hundred yards when he saw a new obstruction across the road on the horizon, but from here he couldn't tell what it was. A dark line that spanned the road as well and continued on for several hundred feet to the right, Mackland tried to figure out how the fastest way to get around it. His first thought was to simply go left as they needed to anyway, but the ditch that had been running along that side of the road for the past few miles had deepened and widened until it was now twenty feet deep and almost as wide, so without back tracking right into their pursuers, they would need to find another way around the obstacle in order to get to the energy cell. Lost in his thoughts and plans, Mackland was startled by Billy and Lily yelling at him as Grizzly gestured at the dark line in front of them. He looked up and saw what was causing their concern. The blockage running across the road and to the right was not vehicles or debris. Hundreds of Psidead zombies were lined up, dozens deep, standing between them and the energy cell.

* * *

Mackland slowed slightly as he tried to figure out their options. "Guys? Any ideas?"

Lily looked out the back and said, "Our pursuit just got to the cement trucks. Looks like they have to go a little slower since they are heavier, but they'll be around in less than five minutes or so. Ten minutes till they get to us."

Billy chimed in, "Why don't we just plow through the zombies? Mow em down and roll on."

Grizzly pointed out the obvious. "Those things are ten or twenty deep. We would make it through the first row, even the second or third; hell, maybe the first ten. But as soon as our momentum dies, we'd have a mountain of bodies piled in front of us. Plus, we don't know what other obstacles might be hidden in there. All those bodies could be hiding one or more cars or trucks in there. If we get stuck in that mass, we don't have enough ammo or room to fight our way out, and we're dead." He looked off to the right side of the road and the line of Psidead extending in that direction. "Same problem with going off road on either side. We lose speed and momentum, and for all we know, they could have a wall of boulders hidden behind them that would stop us cold."

Lily racked the bolt on her assault rifle and said, "Ok, the four vehicles behind us can't hold more than eight people each, but they have guns and probably lots of ammo. I'd say we have a better chance trying to plow through the dead, than dodging the bullets from the living. Even if we get stuck, we still have the safety of the truck. We can take our shots through the rolled down windows. It's not much of a chance, but it's a chance."

Weighing the options, Mackland reluctantly agreed and pressed the accelerator to the floor. As the big SUV rocketed ahead toward the Psidead, he marveled at the countless variations in the ranks of zombies. From the freshly dead ones that looked almost alive except for their vacant stares, to zombies that had been horribly burned or otherwise damaged with missing limbs, half-faces, decayed and rotting flesh; the entire mass of walking, crawling, and stumbling death was as impressive as it was horrifying. And they were heading right into it at more than seventy-five miles an hour.

They hit the first rank of Psidead like a bomb, the multi-ton vehicle sending bodies flying in every direction as a mist of blood and other fluids exploded from the bodies being crushed underneath the vehicles wheels. The plowed through the next few ranks without losing much momentum and hit a ditch with a steep wall that sent them slightly airborne. They rose up, and just as quickly came back down in a jarring drop that crushed numerous more bodies below them as they continued driving. Mackland was fighting the steering wheel as they bumped and slid over bodies, rocks, fluids, and vegetation in an attempt to get to clear space. They were halfway through the mass of bodies and still had decent momentum, but Grizzly yelled at Mackland to step on the gas before they got stuck. Blood and gore covered the big vehicle as they plowed onward, and several rotted bodies bounced over the hood to splatter across the windshield. Warm rotted body parts and bodily fluids clinging to the vehicle created a rank miasma of stench that was almost tangible within the confines of the SUV. As Mack pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose to breathe more easily, he tried to turn on the wipers to clear the windshield. He was not surprised to find that the wiper blades had broken under the multiple impacts, so he resigned himself to peering through the dark film coating the windshield.

The crowd of Psidead had begun to collapse inward toward the rampaging vehicle, and the press of bodies began to take its toll on their speed, slowing their progress. Mackland attempted to steer toward any open space within the crowd of dead creatures. Peering through a small clear spot in the windshield, Mackland was able to just make out the far edge of the mob of zombies, "Looks like we have about fifty yards till we get clear. I think I can make it, but it's gonna be close." The last word barely got out of his mouth before he saw a large dark mass directly in front of them between several Psidead less than ten yards away. Without thinking, he jerked the steering wheel as hard as he could to the right. Sparks flew as the side of the SUV ground against the huge boulder, and Mackland grimaced as the screeching metal announced their near miss. They cleared the remaining space and finally broke into clear ground, allowing Mackland to turn left and accelerate back toward their original direction toward the energy cell.

"Billy? Talk to me, how are we looking?"

"Keep going straight this way. It shouldn't be too far."

"What are we looking for?"

"How should I know, Mack? I haven't seen anything more than you! The cell itself is the size of a watch battery, so we have to rely on the Collector to guide us to it, and hope that it isn't buried very deep, or under something we can't move."

Lily made an exasperated sound. "Dammit! You mean to tell me we might not even be able to find this energy thing? You might have said something about that earlier."

Mackland saw Billy shoot her an irritated look. "Well, we haven't had a lot of time to discuss the options, what with getting you away from the zombie wanting to eat your face, and then hauling ass away from mercenaries and zombie roadblocks...but it doesn't matter anyway. We have to find that energy cell or we can't get home, period. There is no other option."

Glancing back at the Collector before Lily could respond, Billy suddenly smacked Mackland on the arm, "Hey, look up ahead, that rise with the rock pile, the Collector looks like it's putting the cell right in that area. Head over there."

Lily looked back the way they had just come from. "We have maybe ten minutes before the mob of zombies get here. So we have maybe six minutes to find the cell and get out of here."

Billy didn't look hopeful, "That's not much time to find something that small, even with the Collector helping us. We need more time."

Lily came to a quick decision, "Mack, stop the car and let me out. I have a plan."

* * *

Mackland clearly wasn't happy with her request, but she insisted. "We don't have time for me to explain, just stop!" As he pulled the SUV to a halt, she grabbed several items from the back seat. "I'll buy us some time, just get over there and find that cell, and I'll be there before its time to go," She looked at Grizzly, "Cover me when I'm coming back?"

He nodded. "Sure thing girl. Just don't get yer little butt backed into a corner ya can't get out of." He gave her a lopsided grin.

She jumped out the back door before any of the men could do anything to stop her. As the door slammed shut, she smacked the side of the SUV hard and yelled "Go!" Running out of time and options, Mackland pulled the truck away toward the rock pile, leaving Lily alone in the open with hundreds of Psidead zombies heading her way.

She dumped out the contents of the bag, hoping that she had enough to do what was needed. During their crazy escape over and through the mob of zombies, when they had gone airborne, another bag had popped from beneath the back row of seats. When she opened it, she found another four grenades, which she now planned to use for maximum effect. She dug small holes just big enough to put each grenade in, leaving the safety pin and striker lever exposed. She placed each grenade about twenty yards apart; creating what she hoped would be a long enough line to stop the advancing monsters. She ran string from each safety pin out to about twenty feet, and then tied them together. She ran the single line out behind her as she took cover behind a small clump of rocks about fifty yards away. Laying down flat behind the rocks with just her head poking up, she yelled, "Hey you dead bastards! Over here! Come on, you rotten fucks!" If this was going to work, she knew she had to keep the mob of zombies focused on her as they approached the line of grenades. She choked as the dust and dirt rose, filling her lungs and sticking to the fine sheen of sweat that had coating her arms and legs. Small sharp rocks dug into her body as she settled herself, but she ignored the discomfort and forced herself to wait as the first ranks of Psidead crossed the buried explosives so that she would get as many of them into the blast radius as possible. By the time she estimated the center of the group had made it to the grenades, the front rank was less than thirty yards away from her hiding spot, so she yanked as hard as she could on the line and counted slowly to three as she ducked her head behind the rocks and hugged the ground.

* * *

Mackland and Billy made it to the rock pile minutes after dropping off Lily. Grizzly stayed with the SUV to provide security for the rest of the group as Billy and Mackland started climbing the hill.

Mackland looked back at Lily scrabbling in the dirt two hundred yards away and fervently hoped she had a plan and knew what she was doing, but most of all he prayed that she would not try to do anything needlessly dangerous just to buy them some time. Putting those thoughts behind him, he turned to follow Billy scrambling up the piles of boulders at the base of the hill.

Billy called over his shoulder as he scrabbled at the dirt and rocks, "Come on Mack, the Collector is showing that energy cell right at the top of this pile! If we're lucky, it will be as flat and plain as it looks from down here so finding the cell should be straightforward."

Mackland fervently hoped his friend was correct. "Go on. I'm right behind you, let's get that damn thing, pick up Lily and get the hell out of here. We still have to get back to the Frame before we're safe."

The two men scrambled over rocks varying in size from a small footstool to several in the middle that were the size of a VW bug. Billy struggled to pull himself up past one car-sized rock just below the plateau where the cell should be located, as Mackland made it to the level just below and was forced to wait as Billy completed the climb.

Billy gave a final gasp as he finished pulling himself over the lip to lie on top of the pile of rocks trying to quickly catch his breath. Mackland jumped up and grasped the edge near Billy's feet, and had barely started to pull himself up when a wave of pressure knocked him loose. He fell several feet back down, and seconds later, a loud concussion temporarily deafened him. Struggling for breath after his fall, he rolled over looking back toward the direction they had come from, and his heart stopped as he saw clouds of smoke and debris raining down from where he had last seen Lily. As the smoke cleared, he could make out some of the Psidead zombies still heading their way, but so far he only saw about twenty-five or so of the creatures. As the scene continued to clear, he realized that Lily had rigged some type of explosive trap. He wasn't sure how she had made it so powerful, since he and Billy still had two of the four grenades they had found. The effect was impressive, regardless. A new ditch ran through the middle of the mob of Psidead, and body parts were scattered for hundreds of yards in every direction.

Mackland frantically scanned for any sign of Lily, and after a few moments, he saw movement from behind a small cluster of rocks between the advancing zombies and his location. She stood, obviously disoriented from being that close to the explosion, and he couldn't tell if she knew how close the Psidead were to her. He got to his feet and began yelling, "Lily! Run!...Run!" Waving his arms as he yelled he tried frantically to get her attention. Whether it was his yelling or if she just saw the closest Psidead, she suddenly looked toward his location, and headed his way in a stumbling jog, quickly gaining speed as she ran. He yelled encouragement and waved her on, yelling "Come on, you can make it! Hurry!"

He looked up as he heard a yell from above. Billy stuck his head over the edge with a huge grin as he held out something in his hand. "Got it boss-man. It was in a small pile of loose gravel up here, but the Collector homed right in on it. I'm coming down."

"Great. We need to get the hell out of here as quick as we can. That explosion took out a bunch of the Psidead, but there are still twenty or so headed this way." He moved back as Billy started to drop down next to him, and then they both started climbing down at the same time. As they descended he yelled out to Lily, "Go to the truck! We're on the way!" He didn't look to see if she heard, as he was focusing on not missing a step and falling. A twisted ankle could kill him as much as a bullet with the zombies getting closer each second.

A shot rang out and Mackland saw Grizzly taking aim at the zombies chasing Lily. Another shot, and one of the monsters crumpled. Grizzly was obviously a hell of a shot, and Mackland released a little of the tension he felt for Lily.

As soon as he and Billy hit the ground, they raced to the truck and got in seconds after Lily closed the back door behind her. Billy grinned at her, "Great job, beautiful. I'd kiss you if we weren't running for our lives."

She snorted a laugh and punched him in the arm, "I'd rather kiss one of the zombies. But as long as you tell me you got the energy cell, I'll consider it," when he nodded, she leaned over to Grizzly, "Nice shooting there, big guy. Thanks for covering my little butt." He grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.

Mackland started to pull out the vehicle as the banter continued. "Ok you guys are all awesome...But we still have to get back to the Frame and figure out how to get back to our univ—" The others all looked up at his sudden silence and saw that they were completely surrounded by the remaining zombies, the four vehicles that had been chasing them, and the mercenaries with weapons leveled at them.

As Mackland stopped the SUV, Jerrington stepped out of the lead vehicle and came to the edge of the circle. "I believe we have wasted quite enough time and energy on this foolishness, Dr. Luther. You and your companions will turn over your device, and you will come with me back to the base. Needless to say, we will take much more stringent measures to ensure you do not escape again."

Mackland looked at his friends. "Any ideas?" When nobody answered, he yelled out to Jerrington, "Ok! We're coming out! Don't shoot!"

Once they were standing together at the front of the vehicle, Jerrington waved a couple of guards towards them. "Secure them and put them in the rear truck. I want to get back to base before dark." He turned to walk back to his own vehicle without a look back.

The instant he stopped speaking, Lily threw something in his direction and grabbed Mackland and Billy by the arms, pulling them around the side of their SUV. "Get down now!" They had learned to listen when Lily sounded like that, and all three men dropped instantly to the ground. Mackland looked back toward Jerrington just in time to see the two grenades Lily had thrown bounce one final time before exploding directly beneath the two lead vehicles.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The ensuing pair of fireballs caused by the two vehicles exploding rocked the suspension of the SUV Mackland and the others were crouched behind. Lily fell back as the vehicle slid several feet towards them. The wall of sound and heat crashed against them like a suffocating net, and it was several minutes before they could see or hear anything more than a few feet away. When the dust began to settle, the four stood and found a scene of massive carnage all around them. Two craters marked the spots the grenades detonated, each an epicenter with rings of destruction radiating outward. The multiple explosions caused by the grenades and subsequent vehicle detonations had killed everything in the immediate vicinity. Body parts and vehicle parts spread outward like gruesome confetti for yards in every direction. Both of the remaining two SUVs had taken massive damage from the blast; smoke suddenly began pouring from beneath the hood of the one farthest from them. Mackland pushed himself to his feet. "We better hurry up and get out of here. That truck could go up pretty damn quick."

Lily took the lead and stepped around the SUV that had shielded them from the blast with her rifle raised and ready for anything that moved. Mackland and Billy followed her cautiously, flanking out to either side to prevent any surprises from those directions. Grizzly took his now customary spot securing the rear. Lily pointed toward the center of the blast zone. "Looks like that finally shut Jerrington up." She approached the mass of bodies and prodded one in particular with her machete. The shirt told her it was Jerrington, but she wanted to be sure; using her blade to push off a section of door that had landed on his head, she knew it was him. Although the blast had burned off most of the skin in addition to destroying a large portion of his skull, it was undoubtedly the man that had been threatening them moments ago. She dropped the piece of metal back down and told the others. "It's over. Jerrington's dead, and I don't see anyone else moving. Let's get out of here. I need a shower and a bed."

They rushed over to their SUV, which looked as if it had seen better days. Fortunately it appeared to have been outfitted with run-flat tires, so the piece of shrapnel sticking out of the left front tire had not destroyed it. They would probably have to change it later, but it looked like it would hold long enough for them to put some miles behind them first. Mackland yanked on the warped driver side door several times, but it wouldn't budge. Without a word, Grizzly reached past Mackland for the door. The handled disappeared in his massive hand; muscles bulged in his forearm, and the door opened with a groan of straining metal.

Mackland shook his head and gave a rueful grin at Grizzly's smug expression. "I loosened it up for you, dammit!" Climbing behind the wheel, he looked to the others. "Let's get the hell out of here." Grizzly and Lily climbed in the back, Billy grabbed shotgun, and Mackland said a little prayer as he turned the key in the ignition. Thankfully, the engine turned over on the second try and Mackland pulled away, accelerating back toward the road that would take them back south down to Pueblo and the Frame portal, and with any luck, back to their own universe.

Focusing on the road ahead of them and their ultimate goal, Mackland and the others never saw the movement in the rearview mirror as something pushed its way out from beneath the mass of bodies scattered around the rock pile in the middle of nowhere.

* * *

The cabin of their vehicle became rank with the smell of sweat, gun oil, and blood stagnating due to the failed AC unit damaged when the SUV was caught in the explosion. They rolled the windows down as they drove, but the air was thick with noxious liquid nonetheless. Nobody spoke as they made their way south toward Pueblo, the only sounds came from the road passing beneath them and the occasional pops and cracks as Lily and Grizzly broke down weapons to clean and reload them. Billy was focused on the Collector, getting the energy cell re-installed before running diagnostic and calibration routines to make sure it was working properly.

Mackland glanced over as Billy worked, "How's it looking?"

"Diagnostics will take another five minutes, but so far so good," he pulled a few small wires out and re-routed them, "the cell was intact and went in clean; so as soon as the diags finish, I'll know for sure."

Mackland glanced at Lily in the rearview mirror. "That was some quick thinking back there; you really saved all our asses. Where did you get all the grenades? I thought we only had like four."

She told them about the extra grenades that she had found, and how she had used them to rig her trap. "I held onto the last two, thinking we would need them at some point; but I had no idea it would be that soon. When Jerrington was talking about taking us back, I just couldn't stop thinking about that Psidead monster he had waiting to bite my face off like a rabid guard dog when he was interrogating me." She shuddered slightly at the memory. "I knew I wasn't going to go back to that, so I guess I didn't consider the danger to us when I threw the grenades. I'm sorry, but I just knew I wanted him dead no matter what."

Mackland shook his head, "You saved us. You have nothing to apologize for."

Grizzly broke in, "Don't kid yourself boy, we got lucky. Lot of stuff could have gone wrong, and ended up killing us right along with Jerrington and his zombie bastards."

Mack acknowledged the point with a small nod, "You're right, but they didn't go differently. And if Jerrington had gotten us back to his base, the only thing we had to look forward to was torture before he killed us." He said. "There was no way he was going to let us go, regardless of what information we ended up giving him; you know that as well as any of us."

"Yeah, I know, and I'm glad the girl did what she did. Just want 'ta be sure we don't go gettin' cocky, is all." He closed the bolt on the rifle he was cleaning and started reloading the empty magazines with ammunition from the bags in the back of the SUV.

Billy suddenly gave a whoop and pumped his fist in the air, "Yeah, yeah... we're all freaked out, and lucky, and shit...but let's focus on what's important." Holding up the Collector, he grinned, "namely the fact that, I. Am. The. Man!" When none of the others said anything and looked at him expectantly, he sighed. "Really? Nothing? Fine, I'll explain it slowly." He pointed to the device in his hand. "I got the Collector working with the missing energy cell. Now I'm just going to let it run the calculations that will let us open the reverse portal to get us back home."

Lily grinned. "Really? So all we have to do is get back to the Frame, and we can go home? That's terrific Billy!"

Mackland still wasn't sure going back to their old universe was what he wanted, but he smiled anyway and congratulated Billy. No sense in starting an argument until they knew for sure going home was an option.

Grizzly leaned forward and gave Billy a friendly pat that nearly dislocated his shoulder. "Good job boy. Sooner you folks get back ta yer little experiment, the sooner I can get on about my own livin'."

"Thanks guys." Billy concentrated on the device as it ran through the computations, making a few adjustments as he realized a few of the inputs were incorrect. After about five minutes, he frowned and pushed a few more buttons while watching the display. "Well damn, I think we might have a problem."

Lily leaned over from the back seat, "What kind of problem?"

"Well, according to these readings, it looks like the Collector can't get a lock onto a specific energy signature. It shows green across the board for opening the Frame and initiating the energy transfer, but it won't let me lock onto any specific coordinates. Right now, it doesn't look like we can find home, much less get to it."

* * *

Mackland pulled over to the side of the road as he struggled to grasp Billy's announcement. Moments ago he had been trying to decide if he even wanted to go home, but hearing that it wasn't even an option right now still shook him. "Ok, let's think this through. What's preventing it from locking onto the coordinates? What options do we have?"

Billy closed the back of the unit up with a frustrated sigh and held it out to Mackland. "I don't know Mack, it has to have something to do with the missing energy cells, but it doesn't make any sense. The positioning system shouldn't be dependent on a specific power level lock."

"But you're sure it won't lock on, right?"

Billy held the device out to him. "Go ahead and double check it Doc, but I'm sure. It's ready to open the Frame and start the energy transfer, but it won't let me put in specific nullspace coordinates."

Mackland re-ran the calculations and tried to reverse the coordinates they had used to open the Frame that brought them to this universe, but had the same results as Billy. He frowned as he watched the readout on the display. "Billy, did you notice that since we have been here, every time we reset the Collector to open a portal, it locks onto one of four sets of coordinates? Always the same four sets?"

"I hadn't noticed, but so what? If they aren't the coordinates for our universe, it won't do us any good."

Mackland was silent for a few minutes as he considered what he was seeing. "How many fragments did the energy cell break into?"

Billy thought for just a second before answering, "Five...Wait- I think I see what you're getting at, and it makes sense! The Collector is being drawn to the remaining energy cell fragments when it is trying to open the Frame. The whole purpose of the Collector and the Frame are to find and collect energy from nullspace, so it makes sense that since we can't put specific coordinates in, it would be drawn to the energy signature of its own energy cell fragments."

Mackland nodded. "It's just a guess, but we're in unknown territory here. The Frameway project was never intended to transport people between nullspace universes, and I never imagined the energy cell breaking up and disappearing." Rubbing roughly at his eyes, he looked around at the others. "I don't have a better explanation, so where does that leave us?"

Billy held his hand out for the Collector. "Alright Mack, you drive, and get us back down to the Frame in Pueblo. I'll keep trying to come up with some way to lock onto our coordinates; but if that fails, I say we open the Frame and go to wherever the Collector says the other energy cells are. If we can collect all five cells, we should be able to set our home coordinates and get back to our own universe."

Mackland dipped his chin to hide the grin spreading across his face as an electric thrill of excitement shot through him. They would have to go to several new universes before they could go home! He glanced into the rearview mirror and saw Lily staring quietly out the side window. Guilt crept up and began to choke out his excitement. "You ok, Lily?"

A false smile slipped across her face as she looked up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to wrap my head around where we're at." She thought for a moment before continuing. "Billy? You think we need to find the other cells to get home, but we don't know for sure it will work even with the rest of the energy cells, right?"

Billy shrugged with an apologetic sigh, "No, we don't. But we don't really have any other choice. We have to get the Collector back to full power before we can eliminate that as the source of the problem. I don't like it any better than you guys, but it looks like our only option for now."

* * *

They drove for another few minutes towards Pueblo, each lost in thought with the ramifications of what they had just learned. Without a miracle, it looked as if they would not be getting back to their own universe today, if they ever got back at all. Mackland struggled to contain his excitement at the prospect of seeing more universes, knowing the others didn't share his enthusiasm.

His good mood died as quickly as it had arrived, as they passed the road leading off to the KOA camp Jerrington had initially took them to over a week earlier. Where Sean had died. He suppressed a shudder at the thought of Sean being torn apart by zombies. It was hard to believe that it had been less than two weeks earlier. With everything that had happened in the intervening days, it seemed like a different lifetime ago.

His ruminations were interrupted as the front tire started to bang and thump, causing him to fight the steering wheel that suddenly began twisting viciously with each bang of the tires. "Shit! Looks like that hole in the tire finally got big enough to blow out. We're gonna have to pull over and change it." He found a clear spot on the shoulder and pulled the big SUV to a stop.

Everyone but Mackland got out; they all agreed he should be ready to make a fast getaway. As Lily and Billy took up position at the front and rear of the vehicle, Grizzly grabbed the spare tire and inspected the damage. The front driver's-side tire had blown out a huge chunk of the sidewall once the shrapnel had been pushed out, and was now a mangled mess of rubber shreds. As he used the jack to lift the vehicle, he yelled out to the others, "Looks like we stopped just in time! Much further and we coulda busted a lug nut!" He slung the flat to the side and hefted the spare in place. "Should be good ta' go in a few!"

Fifteen minutes later, the spare tire was in place, and once Grizzly had checked the other three tires and declared them ok for the remainder of the trip, they were ready to get back on the road. Billy tossed the Collector onto his seat as the others got back into the vehicle. "Gotta go to the little scientist's room real quick. I haven't peed since early this morning. Be right back doc." He stuck his face in the rear window with a grin. "No peeking Lily."

Lily looked disgusted, "You wish, nerd boy. You wish."

Billy mumbled something she couldn't make out as he jogged over to a nearby bunch of scrub brush, but she figured it would be something crude.

Mackland smiled in spite of their situation when he heard Billy's attempt at humor. He believed everyone grieved in his or her own way, but he had been afraid Sean's death had broken that spirit that made Billy who he was. Hopefully Billy's banter was a step in the right direction.

Snapping back to the present, he was ready to get moving. "Come on, Billy," he muttered, "Lily, Grizzly; keep an eye out behind us. We're exposed as hell out here."

Lily replied, "I am, but there isn't anyth—...oh shit!" She yelled out to Billy, "Billy, zip it up and run! We got company coming in fast!"

Stomach dropping, Mackland craned his head around to see what had gotten Lily so rattled, but he was afraid he already knew. He wasn't surprised when he saw the group of Psidead emerging from behind the small rise less than fifty yards behind their truck. On the other hand, the large bison that broke away and headed straight for Billy was a surprise.

Billy burst from the bushes, zipping and sprinting to the truck as fast as possible. Lily was still screaming at Billy to hurry, and when she saw the bison, she turned in her seat, "Mack, you need to back up and get us between that buffalo and Billy! That thing is another of Jerrington's zombie pets, and it's going to kill Billy before he can get back to us."

Mackland saw immediately that she was right, and before he had time to reconsider, he slammed the SUV into reverse, waving Billy on as the bison bore down on him. "Run, dammit!"

Billy didn't waste the breath it would have taken to respond, but the look on his face told them that not all the yelling in the world would make him get there any faster, so they settled for opening the door so he could jump right in.

Mackland had a chilling thought and turned to Lily in the seat behind him. "Lily, if that thing is a zombie bison, who is controlling it?"

Her eyes got even wider as the implication of his words sank in. "Shit, shit, shit... He was dead. I mean, like, pieces of his head missing, dead. Even with his accelerated healing, he couldn't have fixed that. No way."

Mackland wanted to agree with her, but the two thousand pounds of angry Psidead bison bearing down on them left him suggested otherwise. "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling that we haven't seen the last of Jerrington."

* * *

Billy put on a burst of speed and dove from five feet away to land on the passenger front seat in a heap, yelling "Go!" before he even got the door closed.

Lily was pushing herself to the passenger side of the back seat, trying to get away from the rushing zombie bison and into Grizzly's lap in the process. The beast was close enough that she could see the snot and drool blowing from its nose as it bore down on them. Clods of dirt flew from ragged hooves as the creature churned the earth, thundering toward them with death in its eyes. Lily focused on the creature's face with a morbid fascination on those dead eyes. Milky with cataracts, they left no doubt as to the fact that the beast was one of the Psidead zombies.

Seconds from impact, Mackland stomped down hard on the accelerator and sent the truck rocketing forward in a spray of dirt and gravel toward the road. Just as he thought they had escaped the bison, a huge thud reverberated through the SUV as the beast crashed into them, and the back end rocked and slid several feet to the side. Mackland fought to keep the big SUV pointed toward the road, looking back to see the Psidead creature roll several times before getting back to its feet and shakily turning to follow them. Looking back to the front, he barely saw the two pickup trucks slide to a stop across the road ahead, forcing him to wrench the steering wheel hard to the right in an attempt to go around.

The SUV bounced over a small ditch, the back end sliding sideways and spraying dirt and rocks as they shot back onto the road, narrowly missing the nearest truck even as the driver tried to ram them. Luckily, the smaller pickup truck could not match the speed that Mackland had already built up, and their SUV pulled away slowly.

The one-ton zombie bison didn't make the turn quickly enough to catch Mackland's vehicle, instead plowing into the passenger side door of the smaller truck with enough force to slide it to the ditch. Beast and machine both disappeared in a cloud of dust and debris before coming to rest. Grizzly chuckled from the back seat. "Nice drivin' boy! Now let's get gone before the others figure out what happened!"

Mackland and the others breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the scene behind them shrink in the rear window, until the second pursuit vehicle broke through the cloud obscuring the road, accelerating quickly towards them. With an obviously bigger engine, the truck was steadily gaining on them, even as Mackland pressed harder on the gas and their SUV continued to gain speed.

Bracing against the door frame , Lily took aim with her assault rifle out the passenger window, "I don't have a shot yet...Just a little closer." She looked through the scope on the rifle as the pursuit vehicle pulled closer, and almost dropped the rifle at what she saw. "Shit...It can't be..." Pulling the scope back in front of her, she looked again. "Guys...you aren't going to believe what I'm seeing."

Billy snorted, "Really? I'm sure I can believe anything after some of the shit we've seen here. What is it?"

"Mackland was right, sort of. Jerrington is sitting in the passenger seat behind us. But I don't think-...I mean, it looks like, well..." She took a breath and tried again. "Oh hell. He's dead!" She went on quickly at their shocked expressions. "I mean, he's still missing a chunk of his face, and the eye he still has is milky and blank like the buffalo's was back there, but its him."

Mackland slammed the steering wheel. "Shit! I thought that Psikick drug couldn't animate them if the brain wasn't working. What the hell?"

Lily pulled away from the riflescope with a helpless look. "Apparently his brain wasn't as damaged as it looked. Either that or he has some other tricks in his bag that we don't know about. Either way, it looks like we have to deal with him yet again."

Billy smacked the dashboard and turned around. "We are so screwed. It must have something to do with the huge amounts of Psikick he used, and the 'abilities' to control his body that he mentioned. There's no telling what else he is capable of, if he was able to come back from that kind of damage we saw back there."

"Only one way to find out for sure." Lily took a few calming breaths and gathered herself together and focused through the scope again. As the truck drew closer, she took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger as the crosshairs settled on her target. The rifle cracked loudly in the enclosed space of the vehicle cabin, causing all three occupants to flinch as the driver behind them spouted a small hole in the middle of his forehead a split-second before the back of his head sprayed all over the passengers in the back seat.

Lily watched the driver slump forward as the vehicle began to swerve across the road toward the deep ditch and a guaranteed rollover; yet before the truck left the road, Jerrington turned to look at the driver, and Lily felt the familiar itch under her scalp as he exerted his mental power. Given the distance between them, and the fact that he was focusing on someone else, she shuddered to think about the level of power he was exhibiting. The driver suddenly sat up and grabbed the steering wheel, bringing them back to the road and continuing the pursuit under Jerrington's control.

* * *

Lily frowned to herself as she considered this turn of events. "They're back on our tail. The rifle isn't going to do it if Jerrington just keeps re-animating them, so we need to come up with plan B. Any ideas, guys?"

Mackland looked back at the horror pursuing them, "We aren't that far from Pueblo, so just concentrate on slowing them down instead of stopping them. I'll keep it floored as much as I can, but you know we have at least two roadblocks we have to drive around before we get back."

"Ok...hold it steady." Lily knew that the truck chasing them probably had run-flat tires like theirs, so shooting the tires wouldn't do much good, so she struggled to think of another option to slow them down.

Grizzly turned and held his hand out, tapping Lily on the shoulder as she stared through the scope at the truck behind them. She turned and saw him holding something in his closed hand. He slowly opened it to reveal the last grenade that she had originally given him. "Think we can use this, girl?"

She smiled and snatched the grenade from his waiting hand. "Oh, I think this will do just the trick." She faced back to the rear and spent a few moments gauging the distance between their SUV and the truck behind them before yelling to the others. "Mack! Keep this speed, no faster, no slower." She answered Grizzly's unspoken question. They're about eight seconds behind us, and the grenade has a three second fuse, so this might work." She took a deep breath, leaned out the window, and in one smooth motion pulled the safety pin from the grenade as she threw it in a high arc directly into the road in front of their pursuers.

Jerrington realized too late that she had thrown something at them, and although he forced the driver to swerve, it was too little, too late. The front wheels spun as the truck slid sideways over the grenade a split-second before it exploded, throwing the vehicle several feet into the air as it flipped over on its side. Several of the occupants flew free as the truck completed a second flip before coming to a stop on the edge of the road. Lily couldn't tell if Jerrington had been thrown free or trapped, but given his newfound abilities she figured it was better to assume he would survive. "Ok, that should buy us some time, but not much. Maybe thirty minutes tops. Let's make the most of it."

Mackland gave her a wink and a smile in the rearview mirror and pushed the SUV faster down the road to Pueblo.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

It took them an hour to drive the remaining five miles, but Mackland finally pulled the SUV off of the highway onto the side streets of Pueblo, headed back for the park they had arrived in originally. They had made fairly good time, considering the couple of detours around partial roadblocks and obstructions along the way. They hadn't seen any sign of Jerrington or his Psidead zombies since the earlier attack, but they all agreed it was just a matter of time before he caught up to them. Mackland turned several blocks from where he remembered the park being and broke the silence. "We don't have much time, how's it lookin' Billy?"

Shrugging without looking up, Billy said, "I still need to make some adjustments so the Collector will maintain the Frame using only the single energy cell. I need at least another hour, preferably two."

Lily caught Mackland's eye in the mirror, "We should hole up someplace safe for the night, give Billy time to finish the repairs, and then get to the Frame first thing in the morning."

Mackland wasn't sure, "Why not just camp at the building with the Frame? Then we can go as soon as Billy is ready."

She shook her head. "Because we don't want to draw Jerrington or his zombies to the Frame. He only knows we showed up in this part of town. He doesn't know where the Frame is, so we need to wait until we're ready to open the portal before we go near there."

Billy agreed, "But, let's setup camp as close as we can without giving it away. I don't want to have to fight a running battle for blocks before we get the hell out of here in the morning."

Mackland looked to Grizzly, who simply shrugged, "This is yer show now, boy. I'm just here to help ya get to yer fancy device, so you can get back to where ya need to get."

With all four in agreement, they continued driving closer to the park, keeping an eye out for Jerrington or any of the other Psidead and looking for a defensible spot near the park where they could setup camp. They passed by several small groups of the zombies, but all appeared to be the "wild" variety, simply wandering around looking for food, but lacking the concentrated focus found in Jerrington's creatures.

They drove in circles around the park, narrowing their perimeter with each pass in order to get as close as possible and still maintain a quick getaway route. Once they were within a block of the park entrance, Lily pointed to a small elementary school surrounded by a wrought iron fence one road north, "That looks like something we can use. The fence isn't as high or as thick as I would prefer, but it's better than nothing."

The school was an "L" shaped building with about twenty rooms on each leg. As they drove through the gate, they could see that the main doors sat in the junction between the two branches, and as Mackland brought the SUV to a stop, Lily noticed the doors were slightly ajar. "We'll have to do a good search of each room before we bed down to make sure no boogie men are waiting for us, but it's small enough that we should be able to clear it in twenty minutes, setup watches and get some sleep."

The rest agreed, so they grabbed their weapons and gear and got out of the vehicle. Mackland closed and secured the gate before they cautiously followed Lily through the open doors. The entered a small foyer with a hallway leading to either side and a small administrative office directly across from them. Large double doors to the right of the office led to an enclosed courtyard with a small playground just visible in the dusky twilight. Lily scanned both directions then motioned to the other three with a quick whisper, "I'll take the hall to the left. Mack, you take the hall to the right. Grizzly and Billy, check that office and the courtyard. If any of you come across anything, try to avoid an encounter until we can regroup; but if you have no other choice, shoot first and then haul ass to rendezvous here. Good?"

They all agreed, and thirty minutes later, they had cleared the building with nothing more exciting than a stray cat that jumped out of a closet Billy was clearing. He almost fired his rifle in surprise as he jumped back from the hissing cat, but Lily's admonition was still fresh in his mind, and he caught himself at the last second. "Damn cat! Bout made me piss myself. Mack owes me a freakin sandwich." He kicked out at the cat as he moved on.

As soon as they had finished clearing and securing the school, they set up their gear in the administration office, Billy took the first watch as he continued adjusting the Collector, and they settled in for the night.

* * *

Lily and Mackland unrolled their sleeping bags and stretched out in the little administrative office as Billy got setup in the lobby to take the first watch. Grizzly mumbled something about "wanting to get some quiet" and shambled into an open classroom just off the main lobby. Lily placed one of the rifles next to her on the floor and tossed an MRE across to Mackland. "Tastes like week-old bologna soaked in rancid ketchup, but I have a feeling we're gonna need the energy in the morning."

They both tore into the packets and took a few bites in silence before Mackland looked up with a grimace. "Wow, you weren't kidding. I think I'd rather face the zombies than eat this stuff." He grimaced as he swallowed another bite. "Actually, this is what I imagine zombie would taste like if I had to eat one." Lily made a gagging face and they both chuckled at the thought of Mackland taking a bite out of one of the Psidead. But when she looked back down to the MRE, Lily had to struggle to put the image out of her mind so that she could finish her meal.

After they had finished, Lily tossed another MRE on top of Billy's pack, and then lay down to try to sleep. Mackland was already lying on his side on top of his sleeping bag facing her direction, and as she got settled he couldn't stop looking at her for some reason. Exhausted and covered in grit and grime from the day's trials, she still seemed to radiate an aura of strength combined with femininity that he had never known in any other woman. She gave a small smile when she looked over and caught him watching her. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

He was sure his face was turning red at the thought of her catching him staring, but he smiled and responded, "You know, I've never really met a woman like you before. I seem to attract women that are only interested in having someone take care of them, either financially, emotionally, or whatever. I've never been real good at the emotional stuff, eventually they realize that I'm more focused on my work then their needs, and the relationship ends pretty quickly." Lily watched him quietly as he went on. He figured he was all in, so what the hell? "But you are so damn strong and independent; you don't need anyone to take care of you. Hell...you've done more taking care of us then the other way around, and you just do it so naturally, it's amazing."

Lily blushed lightly, spiking Mackland's pulse to new heights. She shook her head, "Well, not that amazing. I mean, yeah, I can take care of myself in a lot of ways, but I wouldn't say I don't need anyone. Matter of fact, I know I can sometimes come across a little controlling, which has lead to my own share of relationship problems. Seems like most guys want a girl that needs to be protected, and I don't really fit that bill. So once we go on a couple of dates and they realize that..." she held up two fingers, "I can order my own dinner, and kick their ass in a fight, the phone calls usually stop pretty quickly."

Mackland let out an involuntary chuckle at her description, and when she reached over to smack his shoulder, he made an exaggerated flinch away from her and said, "Hey, don't kick my ass just for laughing! I'm sorry!"

Lily put on an expression of amused outrage and leaned over farther as she shoved Mackland off his sleeping bag. "What are you laughing at? You just can't handle a woman that thinks for herself. And considering you can't even tell a woman how you feel, you have nothing to laugh at."

"Hey! I can tell a woman how I feel. I just don't usually get the chance."

Lily got a sly look on her face. "Yeah, so how do you feel about me?"

Mackland stopped laughing at the change in her demeanor. "What do you mean? I told you I was impressed with you."

She leaned closer. "That's what you think of me, not how you feel about me. There is a difference."

Mackland was becoming more and more uncomfortable, although he wasn't sure if it was from her question, or the answer he was going to give. "Well, err...I mean...you know, I like you, of course." He floundered as he spoke. "I mean, it's only natural, right? After all we've been through the past few days, there is a bond that had to develop, I would think."

She laughed at his obvious discomfort, but didn't let up. "That's great; you make it sound like one of your scientific theories, instead of feelings. You really do have trouble expressing emotions, don't you?" She scooted her sleeping bag closer to his and leaned in so that their faces were only a foot apart. "So what are you feeling now?"

Mackland felt as if he were being drawn to her sparkling green eyes and mischievous smile, so he gave up trying to explain and allowed himself to be pulled toward that vortex of beauty and happiness. A soft sigh of breath brushed his lips as their lips met, and the entire world narrowed down to just the two of them, pushing all thoughts of zombies and alternate universes away as they settled into each other's arms and forgot about talking for the time being.

* * *

Waves gently brushed sand in flowing swirls around his ankles as he stared out at the setting sun. Ocean breeze caressed his face, and he could taste the salt mist on his lips as they curved into a contented smile. Fingers brushed his hand as they gently intertwined his own, and his heart swelled at the sight of Carla smiling up at him.

"Mack." She said. He expected more, but she simply reached up to caress his face with her other hand.

Tilting his head into the caress, he turned and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Is this real? Are you really here?" Holding his breath as he expected her to disappear, he pulled her closer, breathing in the vanilla scent of her hair mingled with the sand and sea. Tears grew as he buried his face in the curve of her neck. "Oh kid. I miss you so much. I don't want this to end. Don't leave, please." His voice broke like an unformed wave.

She held him for a handful of heartbeats before gently pulling her head back. "Mack...Darling...You will always keep me." Dropping her hand, she laid it over his heart. "Here." When he started to reply, she put a finger on his lips, silencing him. "Our time is over, but you must go on living. Remember the man you were for me," her smile widened and she held his face in both hands, "and be that man again. She deserves it." Tipping her head up slightly as Mackland leaned down, she placed a soft kiss on his lips that lingered for several seconds.

When she pulled away, Mackland gasped like a drowning man breaking the surface of the water at the last second. Knowing what he wouldn't see, he kept his eyes squeezed shut for several minutes, replaying her words and that last kiss over and over before finally taking a deep breath and looking down at the empty space in front of him.

Raising his head, he was surprised to see her walking into the sunset, and he almost took off running after her in a desperate attempt to prevent the inevitable. Realization crashed into him before he took the first step, dropping him to his knees as he began to sob quietly while watching her disappear into the last of the sunlight.

Just before she completely vanished, she hesitated and turned. Although she was much too far for him to hear over the wind and waves, her voice carried to him with startling clarity. "Be that man Mack. For me and for her; but most of all, for you, my love."

Seconds later, she was gone.

* * *

Hours later, Mackland felt more at peace than he had in years. Carla's message had even helped to ease the pain of losing Sean, fresh though it was. Staring out the front windows as his watch was ending, Mackland marveled, watching a sun that wasn't his, rising on an alien world that looked exactly like his own. The familiarity was almost more surreal than if this world had presented him with a green sun, or something equally bizarre. Identical yet different, this alien orb made him anxious to explore, to find out what other mysteries awaited in other universes, more than anything else he had encountered thus far. Thoughts of adventure and discovery pushed him along to the office, to start collecting their gear and wake the others up so they could get on their way.

As he turned away from the windows, he saw movement to the left, in the direction of the park, and he walked over to the window to get a better look. As he watched, he saw the movement again, realizing it was a person walking across the grassy area near the gate of the park. He couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but within seconds it didn't matter, because another person joined the first, and another, and another...Within minutes, Mackland quickly lost count of the number of people walking aimlessly at the front of the park. To make matters worse, he saw vague outlines indicating that there were even more people spread throughout the rest of the , directly between his group and the maintenance shed they had arrived in. He couldn't be sure due to the distance, but he had a sick feeling in his stomach that the bodies he was seeing wander in the park were Psidead scouting under Jerrington's control, and he was confident that their aimless meandering would become focused as soon as the three of them made a move.

Mackland quickly woke the others and brought them up to speed on the situation outside. "...Jerrington must have somehow known all along that we originally arrived in the park," he concluded, "and now he's gambling that we need to get back there to open the portal home. There's no telling how many Psidead he has out there, not to mention his human mercenaries. We need to come up with a plan or we are royally screwed."

Lily replied after only a moment's hesitation, "We need to create a distraction. I'll draw their attention away from the maintenance building while you two sneak in and get the portal opened up." She was gathering her gear as she spoke, and Mackland quickly put a hand on her shoulder.

"Whoa, killer...Who says you're the one to create the diversion?"

"It's pretty obvious Mack. Billy has the know-how for the Collector, and you are the brains behind the Frame itself. I'm just the hired gun, so I can be the most use by keeping the Psidead away from you for as long as you need."

"Err...I think ya fergot somethin', there, girl!" Grizzly came around the corner from his classroom. "I'm the only one that don't need to be there to go through the portal, so I should be the one ta' keep our friend and his nasties tied up; and I won't hear anythin' else, understood?"

Lily started to reply, but Mackland beat her to it. "Grizzly, we really appreciate all you've done for us till now, but this isn't your fight. You can still get out of the park unseen if you go alone." He pointed at the growing mass of creatures. "But if you wait much longer, and Jerrington starts focusing them, you'll be stuck." He reached up and put a hand on Grizzly's shoulder. "We can't ask that of you, my friend. Just go, and we'll take it from here."

Grizzly looked down at them as if they had each grown an extra head. "Boy, I don't stop somethin' until it's done. We're gonna get you folks to yer doorway and on your way." He paused as he thought for a second. "Besides, I said I didn't need to go through your portal, not that I wasn't going through."

All three looked at him with fresh confusion. Mackland stammered out a "Huh?"

Grizzly chuckled, "Look, I didn't like the big group that had grown up around me back at the complex, so I left. But that don't mean I want ta' be alone forever." He gestured around them. "This world ain't got a lot fer me to hang around for, and it's become plain to me that you folks need someone like me ta' make sure you don't get into somethin' ya can't get out of." He shrugged. "So I figure I draw Jerrington and his zombies away, then once you are ready ta' go, I'll join ya."

Billy finally found his voice. "Grizzly, we don't even know for sure where we're going. We might go back to our own world, or we might end up on a world worse than this one. And we may have to go to several worlds before we can find all the parts to get back home."

"Didn't ya hear me boy?" Grizzly said. "I don't have anythin' here, and I'm thinkin' anyplace has got ta' be better. So I'm goin', unless I don't make it back in time." He quirked an bushy eyebrow. "In which case, it won't matter none anyway, will it?" He turned back towards the classroom to gather his gear. "As soon as I get packed, I'll be ready to draw 'em away, so be ready to move." He disappeared into the classroom.

Mackland didn't like it, but he had to admit Grizzly would make it easier to get to the Frame. As soon as the big man returned, Billy reached into his pack and handed him one of the radios he had fixed. "Take this with you, and we'll call as soon as the portal is about to open. Once we give you the call, you'll have five minutes to get to us, so don't go wandering off too far."

Mackland shot him a questioning glance, "How are you going to distract them?"

He smirked and gave them a wink as he turned and headed for the door. "I think I'll be able ta' come up with something."

* * *

Grizzly cursed to himself as the bare wires sparked between his fingers and the engine still refused to turn over. He had seen the small pickup truck parked near the rear of the school when they had pulled in the night before, realizing it would work perfectly for his hastily planned diversion. The only problem was that the truck wasn't cooperating, and what should have been a three minute hotwire job was dragging on for almost ten minutes as he took a deep breath to try one more time before resorting to plan "B".

Since he didn't really have a plan "B", he gave a silent prayer and held the wires together, and was rewarded with a crackling spark followed by the rough cough of the engine turning over. Reaching down to quickly feather the gas pedal with his hand, feeding fuel to the engine without flooding it, after a few seconds, the motor steadied to a harsh chatter. It wasn't pretty sounding, but it was running, so he could work with it. He quickly scrambled behind the steering wheel, put it into gear, and pulled away toward the gate. He could see the zombies wandering around the park across the street, and he hoped he could avoid drawing their attention until he made it out of the school parking lot to give Mackland and the others the best chance at sneaking in. He saw them out of the corner of his eye, waiting at the door of the lobby, ready to make a break for the park as soon as the way was clear. Mackland gave a small wave as he passed.

He cleared the gate and rolled down about fifty yards towards the park entrance before putting the truck in neutral and gunning the engine loudly several times. The roaring of the engine had the desired effect, drawing the attention of every zombie in the immediate area and setting them on a path directly for him. He put the truck back into gear and started accelerating slowly down the road past the gate, making sure to go just slow enough to keep the interest of the zombies pursuing him. He had to swerve out away from the park perimeter as more of the creatures poured out towards him, and as he looked in the rearview mirror he was gratified to see no zombies remaining at the park gate. He just hoped that his luck would hold long enough for the others to get to the Frame unnoticed.

* * *

Making sure they were out of Lily's earshot, Billy nudged Mackland with a huge grin on his face as they watched Grizzly head towards the edge of the school parking lot. "So did you and Lily have a nice 'talk' last night?"

Mackland didn't look away from watching Grizzly's diversion as he answered, "She's an amazing woman, no doubt. I hope we can get to know each other under more normal circumstances. That is, if we survive this morning, so let's focus on that for now, ok?"

Billy laughed. "You got it boss. But if we make it out of this alive, you have to make me your best man, ok?"

Mackland punched him in the arm with a chuckle and pointed down the road. "Look! His plan is working. The Psidead are following him." He motioned Lily closer, "Alright you two, get ready, because we're gonna have to haul ass in a minute."

Grabbing their packs, Billy patted the Collector nestled in the front pocket on his backpack.

Mackland grabbed the door handle as zombies continued filtering out to follow Grizzly down the street. As soon as the way appeared clear, he yanked the door open and led the way across the parking lot. "Come on!"

They sprinted through the gate and across the road to the park entrance without seeing a single Psidead. After a quick double-check, they continued down the trail toward the still open door of the maintenance building. As soon as Mackland got to the doorway, he turned to the others. "Quick and quiet. We don't want to draw any attention if we can help it." They nodded without speaking, and quickly entered the building, making their way silently down the hallway to the room they had originally arrived in. The Frameway portal was lying on its side just as they had left it, so they quickly stood it up and started checking the connections.

"Lily, keep a watch on the door while Billy and I get everything connected, ok?"

She dipped her chin in acknowledgement and moved behind an overturned desk to train her rifle on the doorway.

As soon as everything was connected, they flipped the primary power switch, watching it progress through the diagnostic routines. Billy watched the display until it completed, and nodded to Mackland. "Ok, everything looks good on the Frameway side. I'm still not sure about the Collector. I'm getting funky readings, but I think we are about ready to fire it up."

Mackland kept glancing at the doorway, even though he trusted Lily to warn them if needed. He looked over his shoulder at Billy. "Ok, let's do it. Initiate the Collector targeting sequence and target the energy signature for our own universe."

"What? That won't do any good, there isn't enough power for it."

He knew it wouldn't work, but guilt over his excitement at not going home had been gnawing at him. At least this way he would know they had tried everything. "I know, but it won't hurt to try. Just shoot for our universe first, and set it for one of the cell signatures as a secondary option. Maybe we get lucky."

Billy mumbled something that sounded like "crazy-ass bastard", but he began making the adjustments on the Collector as the Frame hummed, a steady drone underlying their activity. Billy called out, "Initiation complete. Coordinates are in, and targeting is processing. Looks like it will take a minute or so to complete. We still clear?"

Mackland looked over at Lily, who gave a quick nod. "Yep. Nothing happening so far."

After another thirty seconds or so, Billy let out a curse. "Dammit! That's what I was afraid of; there isn't enough power with the fractured energy cell to lock onto specific coordinates! It looks like it can open a portal, but only once, and it is going to be a crap shoot!" He frowned and made a few more adjustments before continuing. "Ok, I think the best I can do is to ensure that wherever we go, it will be someplace with one of the missing energy cells. The Collector naturally wants to target those energy signatures, so I tweaked it to home in on that for whatever portal it opens." He looked up as he concluded, "But chances are almost zero that we are going to make it back to our own universe."

* * *

"Shit!" Lily smacked her palm against the desk and stared at the door as she considered Billy's announcement. "Are you sure the only thing preventing us from locking on is the missing energy cells?"

Billy nodded. "Yep, the diagnostics confirm it. Once the Frame is open, the Collector can gather enough power to keep the portal live as long as we need it, but it can't lock onto any specific coordinates with the minimal power generated by the fractured energy cell. I don't know how many of the cells we need to be able to lock onto our own coordinates, but there's no doubt we need to find at least one more before we have a shot."

Keeping his excitement contained, Mackland interrupted their conversation. "Well, we have to get out of here no matter what, before Jerrington gets here. Start the Frame activation." He looked over at Lily, who had the radio. "As soon as Billy gives you the go, call Grizzly, and tell him to hightail it back here." Billy punched a series of buttons and the Frame began to shimmer with a building hum.

As soon as he was sure the activation was progressing, he nodded to Lily, who pulled out the radio and hit the send button. "Grizzly! We're live! Get your ass back here!"

There was a hiss of static as she released the button, and then Grizzly's normal bass rumble came out as a tinny crackle. "Ok girlie, but I've got Psidead all over the damn place out here. I'm heading yer way, but I'm comin' in hot, so ya' might want ta' be ready to block the door when I get there. Otherwise we might be fightin' an ass-load of zombies while we try to get away."

She keyed up the mic. "Got it Grizzly. We'll be ready, just get back here within the next five..." She looked at Billy as he gestured, "Make that, four minutes, or I can't guarantee you'll have a ride out of here." She dropped the radio back into her pack and yelled across the room to Mackland. "Grizzly's coming, but he's gonna have company! We need to be ready to block the door as soon as he gets in here."

Mackland looked around and pointed to a large table in the corner of the room. "We can start with that. Let's stand it on end near the door. Then we can drop it down--"

"That won't be necessary Dr. Luther." Lily, Mackland, and Billy spun towards the doorway to find Jerrington bracketed between two other Psidead zombies as he entered the room. They recognized his voice, although it now had a disgusting wet, gurgling undertone. "The only Psidead that will be entering this room will be doing so at my direction, and provided you cooperate, I won't need to resort to bringing any more in here." He stared at Mackland and Lily with dead eyes as they raised their weapons to point at him and the other zombies. "Please, Dr. Luther. You and your friends have already killed this body. It is only through my enhanced mental control of physiological functions that I was able to heal and animate this shell. So your weapons will be an inconvenience, but they will not be enough to stop me with the amount of Psidead I have available around this park. I have already given them commands to destroy you all if I am incapacitated."

Billy took a few steps towards Jerrington with his pistol pointed at his head. "I'm willing to bet that if one of us puts a round between your dead, freaky eyes, it will turn off your telepathy. And then we'll still have plenty of bullets left for your dead friends."

"Perhaps, Mr. Roland, but consider the more positive alternative that you could work with me, and we could all get out of this world together, and then you will be free to go on your own way once we are in the new universe." He gave a bubbling cackle. "We all go on about our business, nobody dies." His head canted loosely for a second. "Well, nobody other than me, of course. But I am sure I can overcome that given enough time. Regardless, we all win, in our own ways. Think about it for a minute."
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

There was a commotion in the hallway as Grizzly came racing around the corner and into the room, barely avoiding running into one of the Psidead standing beside Jerrington as he skidded to a stop. "What tha' hell? Mack? Billy? What's goin' on here?"

Mackland answered without letting his gaze or his pistol move from Jerrington's head. "Jerrington here was just trying to convince us to let bygones be bygones and take him with us."

The Frame continued to power up in the background and the hum increased in intensity as well as pitch. Billy looked at the Collector in his hand and murmured to Mackland, "Three minutes until the Frame activates. We need to make a decision. I'm with ya either way boss."

Mackland looked past Jerrington to Lily, and she gave a small nod to indicate her agreement as well. He focused his attention back on Jerrington who stood like a statue gazing impassively at him with dead eyes. "Fine. You want a decision? Here's what we'll do." Without another word, he pulled the trigger on his rifle. A small round red spot blossomed at the base of Jerrington's throat a split second before a huge spray of blood and tissue exploded from the back of his neck. The round shattered his spine, and unable to control his body, Jerrington collapsed to the floor instantly.

Before his body hit the floor another shot rang out as Lily took out the Psidead on Jerrington's right in a spray of blood and brains. Grizzly quickly stepped up and swung his machete toward the zombie on the left as it turned toward Mackland and Billy. A quiet "snickt" was the only sound as its head dropped to the floor next to Jerrington, lying gasping and struggling to speak with a ruined throat. Mackland grabbed him by the ankles and started tugging him toward the doorway. "Hurry up and get those other two into the hallway! We need to get the door blocked before he recovers enough to call more zombies!"

As the others quickly began pulling and dragging the other two dead bodies out of the room, Billy asked a question between gasps. "How did you know shooting Jerrington wouldn't trigger his emergency command to the zombies?"

Mackland dropped the still gasping Jerrington in the hallway before he responded. "I gambled. If he was telling the truth, killing him outright would trigger the failsafe command, but I figured severing the spinal cord would overload his nervous system, no matter how modified and advanced he is. He may be able to reboot himself eventually, but we should have a few minutes to block the door and get into the portal."

Grizzly gave an appreciative whistle. "I'm impressed, boy. I would've never thought of that. And since we aren't being mobbed yet, I'm guessin' ya' bet right." He dropped the Psidead body in the hallway and came back into the portal room. "Ok, let's get that stuff in front of the door."

Grizzly and Billy started dragging the large table and any other heavy objects they could find to block the door as Mackland opened panels on the Frame and began making adjustments. When Lily asked, he said, "I have an idea, but it's going to be close before we run out of time and the portal activates. You guys just block us in, and make sure nothing else gets in here."

* * *

Lily knelt behind a turned over desk off to the right of the door coming into their room, calmly sighting down the barrel of her assault rifle as she listened to the pounding on the other side. "How much longer Mack? It sounds like Jerrington's Psidead are close to busting through."

Mackland looked at the Collector as he worked on it, then shot a quick glance at the Frameway portal for verification. "Two minutes till the portal activates, and I should have my modifications done by then."

Billy looked over from his position directly across from Grizzly and Lily as he chimed in, "What modifications are you doing?"

"Well, I was trying to figure out some way to stop Jerrington permanently, and I realized we need to completely destroy him, and to do that we need a lot of energy." He pointed to the Frame with the shimmering field. "The Frame is made to harness energy, so I decided to see if I could modify how it stores and uses that energy. Normally, it takes the energy from null space, uses some to keep the portal open longer, and the rest is fed into storage arrays at the lab, right?"

Billy nodded as Mackland continued. "So, I'm reconfiguring one of the Frame's internal storage cells. I pulled it out and ran it over there," he pointed across the room to a plain metal box the size of a microwave, with a cable running back to the Frame. "I re-routed excess power to that storage cell. It should be just outside the portal once it activates fully, so as soon as the portal closes, it will be separated instantly. That will cause a short circuit which will release the excess energy as a feedback wave."

"How much power are you talking about?"

Mackland hesitated as he checked a few readings. "Hard to say for sure, but I think it's safe to say that it should be enough to level everything within a mile radius of here. So Jerrington and his Psidead army will be nothing but ash once we're out of here."

Billy whistled as he imagined the power Mackland was talking about unleashing. "Damn! You sure it won't fry us too?"

"I put in a failsafe, so it won't release until we are through and the portal is closing." He looked down at the Collector. "And we have thirty seconds before we go through, so let's get ready."

Just as Mackland finished his statement, the door shuddered and their makeshift blockade crashed inward. Several Psidead forced their way into the room as Grizzly and Lily opened fire while backing toward the Frameway. Between the combined firepower of their weapons, the first three zombies that were closest to them were quickly mowed down, although more were pouring in every second. Jerrington himself staggered through the door just as the countdown timer on the Collector beeped, and Mackland yelled, "Come on! Now! We have to go!" He fired several shots at the Psidead as Grizzly, Billy, and Lily ran past him. As soon as all four of them were within feet of the Frameway and the portal had expanded to encompass them, Mackland watched Jerrington and two of the zombies lurching toward them in a last ditch attempt to prevent them from escaping. He knew they were too far away to stop him; he just hoped they wouldn't make it through the portal with them before it closed.

* * *

The Frameway field pulled them through and as the kaleidoscope tunnels stretched out in front of him, disorientation broke over Mackland like a wave. He fought to keep from pressing the button that would deactivate the Frame. After their last trip through the portal, Mackland knew that time was more fluid here than in the real world, he prayed that they would exit the portal with enough time to deactivate it before Jerrington and his creatures made it through. After what could have been days or minutes in the rainbow colored tunnel, he suddenly found himself dumped out unceremoniously next to Billy and Lily on a sidewalk covered in snow and ice in the middle of some type of industrial park, with warehouses on all sides and a train rumbling by less than a hundred feet away. As soon as he hit the ground, Mackland pressed the deactivation button on the Controller and sighed with relief as the portal shimmered and winked out.

Billy coughed and spoke up, "Ummm...guys? We have a problem." He pointed a finger toward the railroad track as the caboose of the train sped away.

Walking toward them from the other side of the tracks was a group of men dressed in plain homespun robes, each holding a staff with a glowing orb which was currently pointed at Mackland's group. As they approached, a tall man with a black beard peppered with gray who was the apparent leader of the group called out, "I don't know where ye come from, but don't be tryin anythin' tricky, and just stay where ye are while we secure ye. I'll be needin to bring ye to the Druidic council, and they can figure out what to do with ye."

Mackland looked at his friends, and all four slumped back as the group of men approached with ropes made of vine ready to tie them up.

* * *

Jerrington lunged for Mackland and the others as the portal field encompassed them. He mentally drew every Psidead zombie within the vicinity to him with orders to capture and kill Mackland's group no matter what happened to him. He was having trouble focusing as he was forced to use most of his mental abilities to repair and animate his extremely damaged body. Torn flesh, blood vessels, and bones knitted together at a fantastic pace under his cellular manipulation, but the mental exertion was forcing him to only issue basic commands to the Psidead around him.

He watched as Mackland and the others seemed to shimmer for a split second, before simply winking out of existence. Jerrington tried to scream in frustration, but his still damaged throat did nothing more than emit a gargling cough. He lunged forward, trying to make it through the portal before it could close, but an instant before he crossed the event horizon the field winked out. Before he could realize his failure, a point of light like a miniature sun erupted from the far corner of the room, and instantly expanded over a mile in every direction in a nuclear maelstrom of explosive light and heat. Jerrington and every other creature and structure within the blast radius was instantly reduced to piles of carbonized ash that blew away in the hellish winds that swept across the new crater in the middle of Pueblo.
Find out what the druids have in store for Mackland and the others in

Nexxus Of Shadows

Available for pre-order now!
About the Author

Born and raised in Northwest Indiana, E.M. McDowell first started writing in high school, consisting primarily of sappy poems aimed at impressing girls. A four-year stint in the Marine Corps pushed literary endeavors to the background, where they remained for the next twenty-odd years, until they were uncovered by a mild mid-life crisis.

In the intervening years, he has worked in various technology jobs, and is currently the technology manager for a small county government.

Married for twenty-two years to his best friend, and blessed with two wonderful daughters, he works to balance his writing while living in a house full of women.

