Necrosiac 25 (740 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: Necro
Rating: 2 on 25 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Snark << snarkk.at.gmail.com (View user info) at 2004-11-16 11:16:08 EST
The first 24 Chapters are here:
http://www.ubersite.com/u/snark
NECROSIAC 25
"When can we go home dad?"
Leland Smithy looked down at the broad freckled face of Barbara, his daughter, and did his best to smile reassuringly.
"I can't say for sure Babs. I think we'll probably be spending the night at least"
"You're not going to escort me to the washroom every time I have to go are you?"
"No, of course not, I just wanted to show you where it is..."
Momentarily he found himself caught in a familiar feeling of guilt but was pulled from it by the sound of shattering glass from the direction of the lobby.
"What was that?"
Smithy looked at the double doors at the end of long plush carpeted hallway and opened his mouth to answer, only to be cut off again by the sound of muffled screams followed by a loud ring as the lobby security alarm sounded out.
"Honey, go to your mom. Tell her to find Jameson and Preston and send them out here to me"
"Dad..."
"No arguments, this is serious. Now, what did I just tell you?"
Barbara looked from her dad to the end of the hall and back again, pointed the wide soft brown eyes he'd fallen in love with at birth at him, and gave him the answer he knew she would.
"Find mom, tell her to send out Preston and Jameson... should I be scared?"
"No" Leland gave his her his time tested "Do as I say" look, and then watched her square, solid frame hurriedly cross the space from the washroom door to the crowded auditorium and push its way in.
"What now?" he asked himself as a familiarly annoying sensation reached through his jacket pocket to his ribs.
He reached inside and retrieved his maddeningly vibrating phone, then flipped it open and brought it reluctantly to his ear.
"Smithy? This is Wong!"
"Wong, have you heard anything from the security desk?"
The Security Chief's voice came back fast, barely under control, as if from an auctioneer on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"Smithisdead!"
"What?!"
"We got a request from her to take Agent Anaka into custody. I was on my way up with a couple of my men to do it, but then I got a call from Burke at the monitor desk. He said she looked like she was dead. I'm in her office now... She's got an agency issue combat knife sticking out of her forehead. The name on the handle is Anaka!"
Smithy pulled the phone away from his face and looked at it in shock, then glanced from auditorium to the doors at the end of the hall. He did his best to weigh his priorities and decided stay put. Whatever was happening in the building came second to the safety of his brothers in arms and their families.
"Wong, Leave her. Get on your radio and have whichever men you have close, join you at the wonder room. Get the rest that aren't already here to meet at the Auditorium. Have you heard from the lobby security desk?"
The security Chief replied almost angrily.
"What about Anaka? If you think I'm just going to let her get away..."
Suddenly the door at the end of the hall burst open as a frantic security guard came running towards him.
"We'll see to her later... We have trouble in the building. Just do as I ask. I'll be in touch"
Smithy hurriedly replaced the phone in his jacket and stepped in front of the portly guard he recognized as Todd Burke.
"Whoah! Burke, what the hell is going on out there?"
Burke stopped in front of him and blinked as if trying to clear his head then looked back at the Lead Inspector and replied dazedly.
"They're all dead. They're dead and they're eating the security team at the entrance"
Smithy reached out to give the man in front of him a shake but Burke saw him coming and took a step back as he continued his monotone rant.
"So many of them... They're dead and they'll be coming for us. They came from outside and they killed them all and I need to hide"
Almost without thinking Smithy removed the pistol from his holster and worked the slide to chamber a round, then turned towards the doors to the auditorium as the two agents he'd requested stepped through.
"Boss? What's up?"
Smithy motioned the men over and did his best to speak calmly and clearly so as not to panic them.
"We have Shufflers in the lobby" Once again he turned back to the Burke "How many did you see? Were there any casters with them?"
Burke let out the kind of high pitched giggle that is born from the edge of sanity and glance back the way he'd come.
"So many, so many, so many... more than a hundred"
Immediately Smithy recognized what they were up against. It would take more Necromancers working in tandem than he'd ever seen to command that many undead. That and the fact they had somehow breached the protective symbols inscribed into the front of the building and the walls of the lobby, told him it had to be the work of at least one of the Necrosiacs.
Not good.
"Burke, go inside with the women and children. Preston, grab five Agents and go raid the armory. Use the entrance to the cafeteria and the stairs. Stay the hell away from the lobby elevators"
Smithy watched as the tall lanky agent nodded then left unquestioningly to do as he was told.
Quickly he turned to the concerned face of his most trusted agent and issued the remainder of his orders, while silently praying they had time to prepare before the horde in the lobby found them.
"Jameson, go round up the rest of the agents from inside and return to me. Let the security detail inside know what's going on, but no one else. Do it quietly but quickly. We don't want a panic situation... oh and tell Neufeld to stay behind. Have him ward the doors once you're all out. Tell him not to un-ward them unless he gets a call from me or Wong"
Jameson nodded his head in confirmation then left in the same manner as his peer.
Smithy turned back towards the hall before him then pulled his phone, called control, and issued quick orders to recall the strike teams from wherever the late Director had sent them. After a moment he grunted affirmation and hung up.
He frowned at the phone in his hands for a second and wished he could somehow send back the news he'd been given and ask for a refund.
20 minutes for the first team to get back. Not good.
With great effort he pushed away visions of his wife and child at the hands of the undead and instead focused on what he must do to keep them safe.
He guessed there were close to thirty five agents within the auditorium. Five of those would soon be on their way to the armory which should still leave him with more than enough men to fend off a hundred or more Shufflers. Each man would be carrying at least two clips of ammunition plus their knives if it came down to it.
"No" he told himself "No need to panic" if there was any real threat it would come from the Necrosiac themselves and he doubted even a casters as powerful as them, could withstand the wall of lead him and his men would unleash.
They'd cut the bastard into little pieces if need be.
He was confident in their ability to handle it yet the voice in his head told him he was forgetting something, something important... something Terri had told him earlier. He did his best to recall everything they'd discussed but, try as he might, he couldn't put his finger on it, so he instead turned his mind back to planning their defense against what was to come.
Behind him the doors opened again and he glanced back then gave a nod to a sandy haired, stone faced Preston, as he and his men quickly exited through the service entrance towards the cafeteria.
Over a hundred undead in the lobby and not a single one had yet appeared.
The thought was strangely disturbing as the feeling that he was missing something else began to burn in his guts. Once again, he turned his thoughts inward as opned his phone again and hit the speed dial to call Wong.
The security chief's voice sounded out almost immediately. Thankfully, it sounded to him like Wong had regained his composure.
"Wong here"
"It's Smithy. I just talked to Burke we have undead in the building and probably at least one of the Necrosiacs. I've recalled the Strike Teams but they're going to be awhile getting back. I am going to take care of things down here"
Wong's reply came back as a grunt.
Smithy glanced back down the empty hall then continued "Chief, I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but if it's a Necrosiac we're dealing with, he's going to be here for the Casters. I suggest you make their safety your priority"
"Everyone in the building is my priority... regardless... I agree. You think you can handle things down there?"
The door at the end of the hall began to open slowly.
"Yeah. Gotta Go. I'll be in touch"
Smithy snapped his phone closed and wondered where the hell his men were, then brought his weapon to bear on the small girl who had just squeezed through the opening.
Behind him came the familiar tread of shoes on carpet as Agents began to file out of the auditorium.
"Boss?"
Smithy glanced quickly back at the group of concerned men un-holstering their weapons and flinched slightly as the electric cackle of the warding spell sealing the door shut momentarily echoed down the hall.
"Boys we got a fight coming. I want two groups..."
A high pitched gurgling scream from the direction of the girl caused him to turn around in time to see her charge down the hall towards him. Her red hair and dress billowed behind prettily, in stark contrast to the bloodthirsty snarl on her face.
Behind him someone muttered "Oh No"
Smithy raised his weapon and fired but his target was small and disturbingly fast and his shot went wide. He brought himself into a controlled stance, took aim and fired again as she reached the half way point between them, this time catching her in the shoulder and sending her into a pirouette like spin to fall to the carpet.
Confident the Redeemer had found its mark he started to turn towards his men to issue their orders then stopped as his target scrambled back to its feet with an inhuman growl.
"What the hell?"
Almost desperately he fired off another shot, but his target was much closer now and luck was with him. A bright red hole appeared in its throat as it fell backwards arms flailing then, to his horror, once again began to scramble upright.
Behind her the doors flew open as a teaming mass of howling spitting fury came for them.
For a second he found himself frozen in disbelief at the mob before him as a wall of everyday people screamed their hunger for his flesh, trampling one another in their frenzied advance, their faces twisted into wretched masks of hatred.
"Oh my god"
The sound of Jameson's voice jarred him from his shock and he instinctively dropped to his knees.
"Front row kneel! Back row fire when we change out!"
Almost too late he fired at the girl again then realized what he'd forgotten as the top of her head disintegrated and she fell lifelessly at her feet.
"Their heads! We have to hit them in the brain!" he yelled, followed by "Mages, ready yourselves!"
He knew even as he yelled his orders that their odds of survival were nowhere near as good as he'd originally suspected. The mob seemed never ending and was just too chaotic to target accurately. Try as he might he couldn't escape the reality of the overwhelming number of undead before him and he found himself doubting that, even with the array of casters at his disposal, they could hold out long enough for Preston and his men to return.
He knew the odds weren't good at all, but then wondered when he had ever started playing the odds.
Defiantly he snarled back, then switched to a one handed stance and did his best to make each shot count as he channeled the Enchanter ability within himself, readying a spell to send into the carpet before him.
The chaos of the mob in front of him worsened as men and women alike fell to the steady fire of his men and were trampled.
Beside him, he heard Jameson yell "Not enough, it's not enough!" but he did his best to maintain his self control, while trying to judge the optimal distance of the mob for the groups casters.
"I'm out!" the yell came from the other side of him almost simultaneous with the dry click of his own weapon. The mob was almost half way and he inwardly prayed he'd accurately calculated his Mages abilities, as he closed his eyes and released his power to flow into the plush green floor at his feet and outwards. He focused his thoughts on it alone, reaching out with it, melding it to the essence of the material and the concrete beneath, willing it to change, to soften.
Almost as if from somewhere far off he could hear the crackle of gunfire resume as the second line took over the fight and he forced his eyes to open and focus.
Behind him an agent yelled almost triumphantly "They're slowing!" and through the fog of his release he managed to make out the front rank of encroaching dead stumble, their feet sinking into the fuzzy green mud beneath them, then falling as the pressure from the horde behind pushed them down.
"Mages Go!" his intended yell came out more like a weak croak but despite the constant booming of gunfire it was enough. Almost immediately he felt the air sucked out of his lungs and his ears pop as a loud "Whump" sounded out from Jameson's implosion spell.
With morbid relief he saw that his hasty calculations had been correct, as several of the undead in the front rank were instantly sucked into a ball of flesh, clothing, and carpet. The grizzly ball seemed to be caught in time, hovering in the air for a moment before falling into the shallow crater below with a wet "Plop".
Another loud "Whump" sounded as a Mage from the back row added to the carnage, followed shortly by another, then a fourth and fifth, as more flesh, wall, and floor compacted together then fell.
The crowd before him had become a twisted writhing mass. The mages had done their jobs well and decimated them, but where two fell he could make out four more charging through the doors to take their place.
"Too many!" The tired yell came from somewhere else behind him but he didn't bother to acknowledge it. A new kind of screaming had found its way through the fog of his magical exertion and he let his spell fade as the horror of what it was made itself clear.
He was experienced enough to understand the difference between the howls before him and the screams from within the Auditorium behind him. He'd heard it enough times in the past to understand it was the born of the pain of living people.
He didn't have to turn to know the other agents would understand it was the screaming of their families, that somehow the fight had been lost before it had even begun.
Numbly he changed out the clip in his pistol, unsure as to whether he would use it on the advancing crowd or himself, and all at once understood the mistake that had doomed them all.
There before him, in the twisted mass of undead, a familiar face.
Security guard Todd Burke.
"OH MY GOD!!!"
User Reviews
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-06-14 20:07:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
but the way the good guys are dropping like flies is really worrying. how can they salvage a victory from this?
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-06-14 20:06:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2004-11-16 11:40:07 (#)
Ranking: 2
How did I miss this series about the undead?
Have an interim +2 till I catch up on the backstory. Back in a week.
====
So I said a week. 7 months later, I am very glad I got round to it.
Submitted by Revolutionman (user info) at 2005-05-06 18:49:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Charred (user info) at 2005-03-31 16:45:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Seriously?
Find a publisher.
Submitted by Malificent (user info) at 2005-03-25 11:19:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jo_of_the_golden_P (user info) at 2004-11-29 21:30:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Benny (user info) at 2004-11-24 21:54:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
As usual this is brilliant.
I couldn't help but think of the line "They're coming to get you Barbara" from the Night of the Living Dead when you introduced Leland's daughter.
Submitted by munkeypants (user info) at 2004-11-19 21:08:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Cryopaul (user info) at 2004-11-19 17:51:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
awesome...just awesome
Submitted by Circe (user info) at 2004-11-19 09:34:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I missed two of them?
Submitted by Falconer (user info) at 2004-11-17 18:45:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Is a comment really necessary?
Submitted by AshK (user info) at 2004-11-17 09:39:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Woo!
Yes, I am acutally reduced to "Woo!"
Submitted by catatonic (user info) at 2004-11-16 18:36:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Amazing, as always.
This has been my favorite series by far.
Keep 'em coming.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2004-11-16 17:35:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Cows,
Thanks!
I guess it's time to let the cat out of the bag regarding my plans for this series.
I have two seperate story lines for Necrosiac.
One story line for posting on uber, another fuller more developed (and varyingly different) plot for it is also done / being worked on.
I have already completed my first re-write on the real Necro.
Do I have plans to publish or have I been picked up?
Honestly I'm not ready to say.
What I will say is thanks, to everyone who has reviewed and enjoyed this series. You're excellent reviews have turned me into a complete and utter Review Whore.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2004-11-16 17:28:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
GIVE ME BRAINS...
Oh yeah, and the next chapter/installment.
Submitted by cowstastegood (user info) at 2004-11-16 17:01:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I said it way back, and others have said it too, but you seriously need to consider getting this published. Whether as a short story, or in a Fantasy/Sci Fi magazine or maybe even a novella. This is really good stuff.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2004-11-16 13:11:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Oddity,
Yep this is it.
Thanks for the cudos.
Submitted by oddity420 (user info) at 2004-11-16 13:07:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I take it this is the beginning of all hell breaking loose. So far, this is my favorite chapter. The others were kick ass too though. Well, keep up the good work.
Submitted by wazzawazzayo (user info) at 2004-11-16 12:45:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Thanks for another great post. Once again you've made my lunch, I mean day.
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2004-11-16 12:41:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
It deserves nothing less
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2004-11-16 12:12:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks Engine.
Submitted by engine13 (user info) at 2004-11-16 12:08:16 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Amazing that you can keep up this sort of quality.
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2004-11-16 11:40:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
How did I miss this series about the undead?
Have an interim +2 till I catch up on the backstory. Back in a week.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2004-11-16 11:26:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
You're too good for Ubersite.
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2004-11-16 11:22:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
As with Necro 23, this one will be broken up into two or three pieces.