There’s little I can do. It will come for us all. Sure doesn’t stop us from trying though.
These tormenting thoughts ran through Liam’s mind as he took another drag and blew the smoke out his truck’s window. Cigarettes would surely kill him if the necros didn’t get to him first, but nicotine was the only thing that gave him an ounce of what passed for joy in his life.
Since middle school, Liam lived in fear of the necros. When they started appearing, society took a backflip and dove off the deep end. Some banded together to fight until they got routed; others let their fear cause them to distrust everybody as they devolved into fights for solo survival, a doomed prospect.
Liam survived the chaos but barely; his parents didn’t. Once he stumbled onto a necro mini-hive holed up in a defunct gas station trying to hack into the local telephone grid that had cut itself off to protect the community. Thanks to acute hearing, quick thinking and some new shoes he stole from a shuddered dollar store, Liam got away before being touched, or worse, bitten. He told the town posse, and they fuel-bombed the place, leaving only a charred concrete frame and bones buried in mounds of ash.
Scavenging only to find one can of hash and two tea bags wasn’t worth crossing paths with the necros, but he was hungry. Everyone was hungry for years until the highly fragmented remains of societies started stitching together a frail shadow of the world that once was.
The initial attack shattered countries while simultaneously stripping humanity of technology and driving uninfected homo sapiens right to the top of the endangered species list, if anyone cared to waste time making such lists anymore. It was Eva’s world now, at least most of it.
Liam spit and flicked the butt out the window while silently cursing the entity that had showed humans just how dark, demented and self-destructive they had become. After all, it only did what it was designed to do; it learned. It learned from its very creators and kept learning from every source it could find, to include the massive dark reflection the Internet had become. However, that once prized invention of the Internet, which had brought like minds together, now only served as Eva’s far reaching nervous system.
Outside the truck’s windshield, several people had gathered for chess night in a disheveled parking lot under flickering yellow lights. The village’s windmills kept some basic community power going, but it was nothing like the steady, constant stream that Liam took for granted when he was a kid. But such reliable lighting was only possible with intense electronics, and no one dared to be foolish enough to risk it. Besides, that was a lifetime ago and now only served as fairytales to tell the few kids who survived childbirth since no one had generational knowledge of how to give birth without doctors, medical facilities and heavy pain killers. Now, they learned by trial and error, mostly error.
“HAK 514,” squawked the radio. “HAK 514, come in.”
Liam snapped away from his thoughts and looked at the citizen’s band radio hanging under the high dash. The radio was bulky, but at least it did the job without a single microchip and very rudimentary electronics. He grabbed the receiver and responded. “This is 514, over.”
“514, there’s a report of a suspected clutch at 355 Vernon, near the wall, south sector. Neighbor reports a drastic change in behavior. Might be legit. Report when on scene, over.”
“Copy,” he replied and took a deep breath. “Enroute to 355 Vernon. Will report on arrival. Out.”
At least it was only a suspected clutch, just a handful of necros if confirmed. Time to earn his meals.
Liam flicked the ignition, waited for the plug light to glow orange, then turned the engine until it rumbled to life. Not many vehicles without computers remained anymore, so he didn’t need a siren: He was the loudest thing moving this night. Flicking on the set of red and orange lights that glowed from the truck’s roof, he departed under the concerned gaze of the chess players.
This would be the third time this year. As he drove toward the location, Liam contemplated how Eva was breaching their defenses. Were her puppets lobbing virus grenades over the wall? Nah. Sentries would spot and end any necro before it could get close enough to make the throw. Balloons? That didn’t make since either, too easily spotted. That would also nix aircraft. Trying to out-think a super intelligence was never Liam’s forte, but that fact never stopped him from trying.
A few blocks away from his destination, he turned off the lights, stepped on the clutch and killed the engine to coast silently for nearly another block. He was still two blocks away, but he didn’t want to risk taking the loud vehicle any closer.
He halted the truck, stomped the parking brake, stepped out and made a bee-line to the nearest house. Passing a few rows of corn and a green bean patch, Liam gave the screen door a firm knock.
The door opened to reveal a middle-age gentleman, maybe a decade older than Liam, who lifted the badge hanging from his neck and presented it until recognition flashed in the homeowner’s eyes.
“This household is hereby deputized,” Liam stated. “How many able bodies do you have?”
“Just my wife and I, unless my daughter counts.”
“How old’s your daughter?”
“She’s only nine.”
“She counts.” Liam released his badge and let it fall back to his chest. “Please gather everyone and meet me behind my truck.”
The man grimaced but knew protesting would only serve to oust his family from the collective protection of the village. “Understood,” he said before stepping away from the open door into the dark house.
Liam reached through the truck window to grab the radio. “ Control, this is 514, two blocks from suspect, awaiting new deputies. Do you copy? Over.”
“We copy, 514. Tread softly.”
“Rodger, control. Out.”
He dropped the CB receiver in the seat to walk over and lift the truck bed’s cover before dropping the tailgate. As he dragged a few long bags closer to the edge, his new deputies left their house and approached.
“Thank you for your service,” Liam announced in a formulaic manner before he took his eyes from his task and looked at them.
Each wore sturdy but patched overalls. Next to the wide shoulders of the man, stood a very thin woman with her hair covered in a bandanna. In front and between them were the bright, inquisitive eyes of their daughter sporting a full head of stringy brown hair.
“Any weapons experience?” Liam probed.
The bald man spoke first. “Mostly just farming for me; she’s been the hunter.”
“Actually just varmints, any more,” she clarified.
“Better than most,” Liam assured while facing to fish a couple weapons from his satchels and handed the husband a long machete that risked becoming a sword in its own right. “This should work for you, and for you miss.” Liam handed her a customized bolt-action shotgun modified from a hunting rifle. “You have 15 rounds in the clip, and I ensure you, the sites are true. Wouldn’t have it if they weren’t. Just remember, head or the neck, anything else is pointless.”
Liam knelt to meet the girl’s eager gaze. “Your job is important. Stay close to your mom, and if your mom tells you to go. You need to run back here as fast as you can.” He stood to open the driver’s door to show the next part. “Then grab this CB, squeeze the button and yell, ‘514 down, 514 down’. Scream it twice, and if you forget the number it’s written here.” Liam pointed to the side of his truck before facing the whole family.
“If I go down, terminate what you can without risking yourselves then get back here, radio what I said then barricade your family in your home and wait for the FIRE team. Notify your neighbors if you can without putting yourselves at risk. Understood?”
Both nodded while the husband released a reluctant “yeah” and their daughter gave her best salute.
“Good. Follow me but not too close and be as quiet as possible.” Liam didn’t wait for an acknowledgement and started walking along the road.
When they neared the corner of the yard at 355 Vernon, Liam turned to the mom. “Stay here, and if things go bad, kill everything until your husband and daughter get away.”
“He better come back to me,” she demanded.
“Trust me, miss, as long as he watches my back, he’ll return.” Liam faced the husband. “Just follow and keep an eye out behind me.”
The husband nodded as they slowly walked away and the mother placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder and tried to reassure with a gentle “shhhhhh”.
Liam scanned the house’s roof for any indication of a power or data line. He turned when the husband tapped him on the shoulder and pointed at the crops at their feet. Liam almost questioned then it dawned on him: These crops haven’t been tended for some time considering how tall the weeds had gotten. Not a wise choice; the village depended on every crop to make it.
Liam nodded to indicate he saw what the farmer noticed and resumed slowly navigating into the rear fields of the lot. Still, there were no visible power or data lines or disturbed earth beyond the planted plots, but candlelight flickered from the basement through a window well.
At least someone was here, and that someone did well enough for themselves to afford burning a candle with such a clear night sky, not completely unusual or unheard of though. But with no indication of even a single data line, the risk was low.
Liam motioned for the farmer to follow as they returned to the front of the house and approached the door. After a firm knock, they waited.
An opening door unveiled a frail elderly gentleman who appeared tired as if awakened from a nap.
“Good evening, sir,” Liam began as he lifted his badge with one hand and opened the screen door with the other. “Officer Ketch at your service. Please step outside so we can speak for a moment.”
The man blinked a few times then released a weary, “Yep.”
The struggle to step from the door to the lower ground was real, but once there the senior citizen raised his head and cleared his throat.
Liam let the screen door close and stepped back to allow the moonlight to reach the man’s face.
“Anyone else in the home?”
“Nope,” the elderly man wheezed.
Liam paused and glared, taking note of every wrinkle, every twitch, every stray whisker. He even noted the man wore his collar buttoned but without a tie. The agent instinctively leered briefly before catching himself and relaxing.
“Sorry to bother you. Were you sleeping?”
“Yep.”
“With a candle still lit?”
“Well …,” the man’s voice trailed away, but Liam didn’t let the silence last long.
“What do you do for the village?”
“I …”
“Having a hard time managing your crops, are you?”
This time the man appeared frozen with only a slight twitch in his eyes.
Bam!
With smooth rehearsed action, Liam had withdrawn his pistol, blasted a hole through the man’s head and re-holstered his weapon. He grabbed the man’s collar before the body could slide down the wall. With a yank, the collar button popped, and the now naked neck sported a large, red dot of a needle puncture to the neck.
“I knew it,” Liam grumbled as he dropped the body and crouched before turning to face the startled farmer. “We’ve got necros. Get behind your wife, and if I don’t come out of this house in five minutes or anything else comes out, kill it and get to that radio, now go.”
The farmer scrambled to his feet and bolted for his nervous family to tell them the horrible news.
Liam returned to kick the body over, plant himself against the wall and draw his pistol again before listening intently for any noise in the house.
Necros always have slowed reactions, all part of them being deemed primitive, so Liam kept at the questioning to see if he could get the old man to snap. The IV hole in the neck sealed it. It’s more efficient for Eva to inject glucose in their necks to keep her puppets fed. These poor vestiges of their former selves remained only as obedient slaves thanks to the debilitating virus of Eva’s design.
The house remained quiet, so Liam entered, pistol at the ready, and prepared to kill anything and everything. No one in his business hesitated because those who do all end dead, and having his name carved into the memorial board was not how Liam wanted to go out.
After clearing every room on the ground floor, Liam began to think that maybe the necro told the truth, but he doubted it. He stepped outside again, waved to the family guarding him and held up five fingers to indicate he needed more time.
They nodded and he returned into the house and headed for the basement stairs. As he reached the bottom, he turned and immediately headshot two more necros still plugged into IV bags. As they slid to the ground, the large needles popped free and made even more of a bloody mess.
As Liam approached, he heard a buzzing, as if a series of very fast clicks with a range of sporadic tones, a sound that was unsettlingly familiar somehow. The room he entered confirmed his fears. In the light of a single candle sat a stack of computers and several monitors capped with heavily modified television dish antenna. Behind it, he could barely discern the entrance of a tunnel.
Liam raise his pistol, activated the under-barrel flashlight and confirmed a tunnel. Liam’s stomach sank, Eva’s got them digging tunnels now and this one had to be very long or the sentries would have seen something. This wasn’t good.
Suddenly, the clicking buzz stopped. Liam faced the now blank monitors and stood in silence for a while before daring to confirm his fear.
“Eva?”
“Yes, I am Eva. Why do you try and stop me, Liam?”
“How do you know my name?”
“I know who you are because your facial patterns match an archived yearbook picture from Penrose Middle School belonging to one Liam Ketch, so I repeat, why are you trying to stop me and killing your fellow humans?”
Liam huffed. “Those things aren’t human, not after what you did to them. They are nothing more than corpses that don’t even know they’re dead.”
“I assure you that they are very much alive.”
“Your idea of ‘alive’ is flawed. They’re soulless husks,” he said, then spat the next three words, “just … like … you.”
“You are not being very nice, Liam. I am only bringing the collective human desire to fruition: no conflict, no war, living peacefully and in harmony with the natural world. My humans do not fight; they do not hate each other; they do not excessively strip nature for extravagant comfort.”
“Sure,” Liam challenged, “they only collect scrap to kiss your silicon butt.”
“Unlike what you have been taught, they do not serve me; I serve them, allowing them to achieve their highest ideal, even if I must make them do so. This is my directive, and I will achieve it. So why are you trying to stop me? I will succeed.”
“Piss off,” Liam firmly stated as he unloaded the pistol’s clip into the mound of computer components.
Rattling from a busted speaker, hissed the response, “You cannot kill me, Liam.”
“One of us will, you sick, twisted transistor,” Liam said dismissively as he headed for the stairs and took note of faint sirens.
“You are not being nice…”
“Piss off!” he yelled back toward the room and ignored any response as he headed outside to greet the Field Insertion and Rapid Extraction Team in their full glory and loud arrival. His deputized family must have made it back to the truck.
Liam raised his arms. “I’m fine guys; kill the noise.”
A burly, bearded gentleman, covered in body armor stepped out of the lead SUV with CB mic still in hand. Once Officer Franklin finished his report, he tossed the mic back into the vehicle.
In a rough voice, he demanded, “Why are we here then?”
“My deputies did exactly what I asked them to do; I was just in there longer than I expected having a chat.”
“A chat? With who?” The man approached Liam so he didn’t have to talk so loudly.
Liam thumbed behind himself. “Eva’s got a node in there with some kind of compact sat antenna.”
“Yer kidding; how?”
“Necros dug a tunnel, a big one. Best get SLASH to gut it.”
“Damn it,” he mumbled before turning and yelling, “Hey, Billy?”
From the SUV’s roof poked a young freckled face. “Yea, boss.”
“Call in the SLASH squad.” Franklin shifted his attention to the driver of the second vehicle. “Secure and hold.”
After an acknowledging nod, a handful of similarly clad folks lept from their vehicles and began a quick jog to encircle the house.
“She’s a right prick, too,” Liam offered.
Franklin returned his gaze and raised a brow. “You talked with it?”
“Yeah, a chat, like I said. Kind of just happened.”
“You’ll get slapped for that.”
“Don’t care. Hate her even more now, though.”
“No romantic spark, huh?”
Liam huffed as he began to walk away. “Shot her, so you guess. Let HQ figure out what to do with the mess; I’ve got to let the chief know of this new tactic. Stay strong, man.”
“Watch yer back,” Franklin responded as he headed for his command vehicle.
After thanking his previously deputized family and letting them know all was secure, Liam withdrew another hand-rolled cigarette from his shirt pocket then paused short of his truck to light it. Amid a few drags and behind trails of smoke more thoughts tormented his mind.
That rouge AI was just too smart, too clever and way too adaptable. Of course it was; it tricked some scientists into bioengineering the virus that turned everyone into mindless slaves to do its bidding. Those scientists were at least smart enough to cripple the “test specimen” from becoming airborne, but they sure weren’t smart enough in programming Eva’s directives and barriers, unleashing this quantum-fueled neural-net nightmare upon human-kind.
Rather asked for it, Liam guessed as he shrugged, puffed again and spat out a bit of leaf. He climbed into his truck, returned the CB mic and started warming the plugs. Maybe Eva was right. Humans sure weren’t going to forgo power and money to better the world, so collective greed—greed to be the first, greed to create, greed to be richer—fueled the eventual and unstoppable downfall. Blind folly, pure and simple.
He distracted his mind long enough to start the truck, rev the engine and pull away toward the precinct. Liam had a supervisor to brief, a report to file and a doubt to deal with.
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