Gas Mask Girls Issue #7
Emlynn Jones
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The gunfire intensified as the settlers desperately tried to return fire. The exchange was pitifully one-sided, the beleaguered defenders only able to answer one in fifty shots with their own. Gamble had never been in a firefight this bad before. The ringing strikes of the bullets against the metal barricade reminded her of that hailstorm outside Austin several months back. She had been shocked by how much noise the impact made. Yellow hail, frozen captain, poisonous ice all around her. This cacophony was even worse. She wanted to peek over the barricade to see what the raiders were doing, but the sheer volume of lead caused her to duck behind her steel cover reflexively.
Doze hit her arm and gestured towards the ladder. It was clear they could not do anything up here, Doze’s pistols were no match for the range of those rifles. They scurried, hunched forward, descending the ladder to the ground.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Doze yelled at her.
“What?” Gamble yelled back, ears still ringing.
“I said, it doesn’t make sense,” Doze repeated, louder. “Why are they wasting so much ammo? Sure it’ll keep the settler's heads down, but they aren’t going to really do much but-”
“Keep our heads down!” Gamble cursed herself for not seeing it immediately. “The question is what are they doing while our heads are down? And why did they attack so quickly?” This had certainly not been an empty ruse. The raiders were clearly intent on breaking into the settlement.
“Well, I would guess when old Raz didn’t respond to the signal, blowing the gates or whatever he was supposed to do, they reverted to plan B,” Doze suggested.
“Yeah, but still this is a lot of hassle just to raid a place. Bloodstorm is expending a lot of resources. How does he even know he’s going to get enough back to justify the expense?”
“Maybe the settlement is the prize,” Doze mused. Gamble watched the settlers trying to return fire, but the exchange was so lopsided it was like throwing sand against an avalanche.
“You’re right,” Gamble agreed. “I mean think about it, this settlement is one of the most secure we’ve seen in our travels. It would make a great base for the raiders, a bit remote, but it’s well placed to hit the caravans to and from Sacramento. Then they’d pull back here, remote, secure…we should have thought of that before.”
Gamble gestured urgently to Michael who also had descended to the floor. He gestured frantically, directing settlers, some to shelters, some to the ramparts. Seeing Gamble, he jogged over, a grim expression on his face.
“Well, they sure seemed determined to get our supplies. How long do you think they can keep this up,” He yelled to them over the continuing gunfire. Was that a loud engine Gamble heard outside the gates?
“I think they want the settlement, not the supplies,” Doze responded. “I don't think-” She stopped as she registered the growing sound. “What is that?”
In a flash of intuition, Gamble grabbed Doze and threw them both to the ground as the world around them exploded. Michael disappeared in the cloud of debris that was thrown up as a large city bus crashed through the gates. What looked like part of a dumpster had been welded to the front, acting as a crude ram plate.
Gamble and Doze lay on the ground shaken, but beyond some minor cuts and bruises, they seemed okay. Michael was nowhere to be seen. Gamble watched as the driver climbed out of a crude hole cut in the top and tore off running down the roof of the bus out of the encampment. One of the settlers took a few shots at him as he ran, but failed to bring him down.
Doze was first on her feet, pulling her guns out. “What was that all about?” she asked Gamble. I mean sure the gate is down, but that bus is almost as good a barrier as the gate. Seems like another waste of resources.”
As the dust cleared Gamble noticed moving shapes in the Bus. “Doze! Raiders in the bus!” She pulled her bat out and looked for cover, expecting a hail of bullets from the new assailants.
“Not raiders!” Doze cried, the panic in her voice scaring Gamble more than anything else that had happened so far today. “Not raiders!”
The last of the debris settled and Gamble was finally able to get a clear view. To her horror, she saw the bus did not contain any of the human raiders but instead had been crammed full of Dancers. Dozens, maybe even a hundred, of the rabid creatures clawed their way to the open side doors or through the windows, recently broken by the crash. Many had clearly sustained terrible injuries when the bus broke through the gates, but with the foul CY-X17 toxin pumping through their veins, they were barely hampered at all. Their hunger compelled them onward.
Gamble and Doze backed up, trying to decide the best course of action. The settlers on the barricades cried out in fear and began to fire into the hordes, but there were so many monsters and so few defenders. The creatures spread quickly, many running for the main entrances to the mines.
“The children!” Gambled cried out gesturing with her bat. “They’re in there, we have to-” Doze pulled her back to keep her from running into the large group of Dancers between them and the entrance.
“I’m with ya, Gamble, but we gotta survive long enough to help them. Running into that gang of Dancers ain’t going to help anyone.” With pinpoint accuracy, she began to cut down the mutants loping towards them.
Gamble stood still, the horror of the situation and her impotence shocking her, freezing her. This felt like a betrayal so much greater than the many evils she had witnessed since the End. Releasing Dancers to ravage children, could the raiders truly be that far gone?
“Gamble, I think I’m going to need your help here. Shake it off! I only have so much ammo.”
Gamble came to herself. Rage hit her hard, as hard as it had ever hit her. She screamed, stepping forward and swinging her bat. Gone was the quiet voice of her sensei’s advice, gone were the graceful moves she had practiced for hours, only rage filled her and she harnessed the anger. She fought more like the fabled Viking berserkers of old, no thought for her safety, just red-hot fury. Every swing connected to a Dancer’s head, the sickening wet crunch a sweet melody to her ears. She could barely hear Doze’s shots behind her, but more than once she saw a foe drop just as they were about to flank her.
“Gamble, Gamble!” Doze screamed in fear as her friend moved farther into the horde. “Don’t go so far, I can’t get them all! Comeback!”
Blind rage could only take her so far, and slowly Gamble began to realize the danger she was in. A Dancer was hanging on to her left leg with determination hampering her movement. Gamble had broken its legs but not fully destroyed the monster. Two more came at her from both sides. She swung the bat, but the hobbled Dancer yanked on her leg, throwing her off. The bat smashed into one of the assailant’s shoulders, the dull crack of bone echoing in the yard. But a broken shoulder was not going to slow the creature incensed by hunger.
Gamble stumbled again as the persistent crawler pulled even harder. Off balanced she fell with a cry, her bat falling from her hands. A shot rang out striking the uninjured Dancer, but Gamble knew her situation was dire as she hit the ground. She tried to roll as she struck, trying to remember her old training. She hit hard, the majority of the impact against her right side. She grunted in pain as her head hit the ground, stars flashing in her vision.
Two, there were two, her mind screamed at her. She had to get both quickly, she had to get back on her feet. Doze would not be able to help her, not tangled up as she was with her attackers. Her left hand found one of her belt knives and she pulled it from its sheath, kicking out with her left foot in an attempt to free her leg. Without intending to, her kick connected with the face of the Dancery holding her leg. Teeth shattered, shoving the creature back for a moment.
The Dancer with the injured shoulder pounced on her, jaws distended, madness and hunger glowing in its eyes. She lashed out, slashing the creature's face. Any human would have flinched, any normal animal would have reacted in pain and shied away from the knife. The Dancer only responded by sinking its teeth into Gamble’s right arm. Its teeth could not tear through the heavy clothing she wore, but the jaws still crushed her arm, the pain was incredible.
She reacted instinctively, the only thought was a primal urge to end that terrible pain. Her left hand swung with all her strength and the blade plunged into the Dancer’s skull, deep. It fell on top of her, the knife stuck in the corpse’s head. She pulled on it, but the blade would not budge. She tried to shove the dead weight off her but her right arm felt weak, and she struggled.
To her horror, she felt hands on her leg. The other Dancer had recovered enough to resume its attack, it pulled itself up and sank its remaining teeth into her leg. She screamed out in panic. This was bad, this was bad. A shot of adrenaline gave her strength and she was finally able to shove the dead body off her. She kicked out with her right leg, repeatedly striking the biter in the face. Each time she could feel the bite ripping more, feel the hot blood on her leg.
The Dancer seemed enraged and frustrated, it could taste the blood seeping through Gamble’s pant legs, but the cloth was thick enough that so far it had not been able to get a mouth of flesh. Meat was what it wanted, it was what it craved. The maddened creature pulled itself farther up Gamble’s body, its yellow eyes fixed upon Gamble’s uncovered hands and the exposed skin of her neck. It saw its desire and frantically pulled itself to its prize!