The Creepers Ch. 02

"Shit!" was all Diamondback could think to say. The snipers opened fire at the Savages on the trees. Cobra was thinking quickly on his feet, grabbing a molotov cocktail from a stunned solider and hurling onto the surface of the Savages' makeshift bridge. While the wood might be slow to burn, that explosion would still make that route impassable for a while. Centipede released the overhead-log-trap. Those Savages that had made it across found a large chunk of wood covered in spikes swinging down at them with a good deal of speed, and they had nowhere to go. The Creepers all developed grim smiles when the Savages were impaled and dragged along the ground until the trap came to rest.

"Get more kindling!" the captain shouted. "You in the back, grab anything flammable that you can find. Start filling up the cracks in this wall or throwing it over the front. Fifteen men did as asked, while the rest manned the top of the barricade, side by side with the Creepers. It turned out that the fire was going to be their best weapon, so Diamondback was going to capitalize on it. This wall would burn longer and hotter, and throwing stuff out front would make it hard for the enemy to navigate their battering rams. When the wall was so stuffed it could accommodate no more and the area in front of it was littered with debris, she sent those men to work on the third wall. And she found herself with the odd feeling that they just might pull this off. The oil from Cobra's last grenade dissipated more quickly than she would have liked, and the Savages began pouring through the first wall. Again the Creepers let fly, dropping a dozen or so of the enemy. The smoke, however, affected both sides, choking the Savages but impairing the vision of the Creepers. So Diamondback called the Seattle-ites up and let them have a quick turn. With shotguns, you didn't need to see that well to hit, and those soldiers dealt a lot of damage. Then they retreated again. The Savages had learned something from their first run, and didn't try to scale the wall until a new set of battering rams got brought up. But the Creepers fired up the wall anyway, and most of the remaining cocktails were hurled at the over, lighting the enemy ablaze and turned the entire area into an inferno. Having no real way of getting any shots off, they went ahead and retreated to the last wall.

Diamondback listened intently. Over the hissing and the spitting of the flames, she heard the howls of anger and pain. "So you little shits, are you simply fucked-up humans after all?" She knew they were trying to get their rams into position. She did a quick ammo count, and the result weren't good. The entire squad was running low on rifle rounds, with maybe sixteen shots between them. They consolidated into two clips, one for Diamondback and the other for Cobra. The two of them stood high upon the third barricade while the rest of the Creepers pulled out their secondary weapons.

"Okay," she shouted down. "We've delayed as much as we can here. We fire, we light, and we run like hell! When the time comes, get to the horses and follow the river! If we can't kill 'em all, we'll make 'em chase us instead of the others! So we want to be ahead of them but no so far ahead that they decide to follow the road instead! Once we've got them after us, we'll try and lose them up north and then make a run for Chicago! We've given our boys and girls another day of breathing time already! If we give them some more time, then this was all worth it! Understand?!?"

"Yes Sir!" They were all nodding and grinning. They were beginning to believe. And then things got really ugly. She heard gunshots from the sides of the bridge. She looked over and saw Savages trying to crawl onto the bridge. Where the hell had they come from?

Red Back yelled up at her, "Looks like a few of them navigated the undercarriage of the bridge when things started getting hot, but not many. We can handle this."

Then the second wall gave way, and the Savages came barreling through. They were too far away to light their bridges on fire like had been done before. So she and Cobra opened fire. And they were cold. It was something to see for the guys on the ground, two silhouettes against the setting sun that were spitting bullets with unerring accuracy. Every shot found its mark, and every shot dropped a Savage in its tracks.

Cobra was first to be tapped, and he made his way down the barricade to let some of the soldier from Seattle get up. But for a moment, Diamondback stood alone on the top of the wall. Several of the Savages looked up and snarled. They knew somehow that she was the one in charge, and they glared at her with almost pure hatred. She used her last rifle round to stifle one of those glares forever. She turned to descend the wall when her heart almost stopped. The soldiers and Creepers not on the wall had gone to one side of the bridge to deal with the Savages that had made it across, so no one saw the two monsters that were emerging from the other side of the bridge. She saw that now familiar lack of sanity twinkling behind their eyes. They spotted Red Back and Malloy, almost instinctively realizing that those were important targets and headed towards them. Diamondback shouted, but no one heard her over the ruckus. She charged recklessly down the pile while whipping out both of her revolvers. She had twelve shots between them and was determined to make them count. But the structure she was on was not the most stable of platforms, and the metal beneath her feet crumbled and gave way. She tumbled downward, suffering some serious cuts and bruises and falling directly into the path of the Savages. Somewhere along the way as she tumbled down the slope, she lost her guns.

She managed to regain her feet as they closed in. One of the Savages raised his club. If it connected full on, she was done for. Without thinking, she stepped in, decreasing the amount of force that would actually connect. It worked in that it prevented a killing blow, but the haft just above the thing's hand caught her in the temple. The world seemed to move much slower after that. She grabbed a stone knife out of the Savage's own belt and stabbed the thing between the ribs, puncturing the heart. But the blow seemed to take forever to land, almost as if she were fighting in deep water. She was aware of the other Savage moving towards Red Back. She lurched forward as her last victim fell, clutching the gaping wound she had left. She stumbled but managed to bury the dagger into the second monster's back. She heard him howl, though it sounded gurgled somehow. He spun and swung a primitive stone axe at her, catching her somewhere in the abdomen. She wasn't sure where. She flew about six feet through the air and landed unceremoniously on the ground. Her surroundings seemed hazy all of a sudden, as if she had been swallowed by mist in the firelight. She could taste the blood coming out of her mouth clearly enough, but the rest of the world seemed . . . vague. She saw out of the corner of her eye the last of the barricades being lit. 'Good for them,' she thought absently. Then she saw Red Back turn and grab the Savage that had struck her. He took the thing's chin in one hand and the back of its head in the other, and Diamondback was certain she heard the resounding 'crack' of its neck being broken. And then her friend was beside her.

"Ruh . . . Ruh . . . Run," she ordered weakly. "Get out of . . . of . . ."

His Majesty's Advanced Recon Team was mounting up, but the Creeper's had all rushed to her side. Her gaze moved in a staggered fashion between them. It seemed unusually hard to recognize them all of a sudden. Red Back lifted her in his arms. It was strange, but she really didn't feel anything. And he looked worried. He moved towards the horses with her form dangling in his arms, and the rest of the Creepers clustered around him with weapons at the ready. Didn't they get it? There was nothing to defend her against anymore. Suddenly they stopped. Red Back was looking down the road towards Chicago with an expression of surprise on his face. Had the Savages gotten around somehow? Please let the refugees be all right. Please let Rain be safe. Her eyes closed. Seconds later, or maybe minutes, she heard the strangest sound. The sky had been clear, but she thought she heard thunder roaring . . .

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Some time later . . .

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'What', thought Captain Diamondback of the Third Squad of the Legion, 'is that God-awful noise?' The pain in her head was only slightly overcast by the pain everywhere else in her body. She was afraid to open her eyes, being under the reasonable impression that doing so would simply cause something else to hurt. And to make matters more intolerable, she heard what sounded like a sick chainsaw being used nearby. She heard muttering and mumbling and an occasional shout, but those seemed much further away. After several minutes, she summoned up her courage and opened her eyes one at a time.

Looking up, she instantly recognized the roof of a Legion field hospital, which was actually just a tent with a big red "H" on the side. She had stared at the ceilings of more than one of these in her career. She glanced to her left, though the thought of turning her neck seemed quite daunting. The room was filled with the cheap gurneys used by the Butchers, which was an affectionate name given to the Legion's premiere surgeons. And they were almost all occupied, though none by the actual wounded. She saw Red Back asleep to her immediate right, and other members of the Creepers were scattered around the structure. And Rat was there. 'What the hell?', she thought. 'Isn't he supposed to be on his way to Manhattan? Even he couldn't ride that fast.' And she was sure that she saw Captain Gattling of the Fourth Squad of the Legion (also known as Thunder, the Legion's best heavy weapons squad) leaning against the doorway, nodding his head. She glanced in the other direction. She was fairly close to the edge of the tent, so there was only one person on that side of her, but it warranted her turning her head despite the pain. Rain was curled up on a cot, looking more beautiful than ever. Diamondback found herself crying softly. She had never expected to see the girl again, and she badly wanted to stroke the young woman's hair and caress the flawless skin of her cheek. She tried to sit up, and her body quickly pointed out the error of her ways. It was as if lightning was blasting through her abdomen, almost causing her to black out. Her gasp of pain seemed to stir Red Back from his slumber. He opened his eyes, saw she was awake and looking at him, then lunged to her bedside and hugged her as gently as he could without hurting her. The big lug actually looked like he had tears in his eyes as well.

"Ouch. Pain . . . bad! My . . . everything . . . hurts," she said. Suddenly, the massive man was almost thrown off of Diamondback by Rain, who had awoken as well. Nothing was going to keep the girl from showering the Captain with a multitude of kisses, regardless of the scene she was making. Soon, everyone in the tent was awake and trying to crowd around her. She was sure they were all trying to say things to her, but it all kind of ran together into a stream of excited babble. But regardless of how many people tried to butt in, Rain kept her small hand around the soldier's and wasn't moving for anyone.

All of the Creepers had stupidly excited smiles on their faces and they were all trying to talk at once. Captain Gattling had made his way over, and his expression was one of happy amazement. Then she saw Captain Warhorse of the Seventh Squad of the Legion, also known as the Stampede, shoving some people aside to get closer. 'What on earth . . .?'

"Hey," she said weakly, but her voice was drowned out in the din. "Hey . . ."

"QUIET!" shouted the much healthier Red Back, and the tent fell into a much quieter, but still excited, lull. And all eyes were on Diamondback.

"What, exactly, is going on? Where did you boys come from," she said looking at her fellow captains. "And . . . hold on a moment." She turned her head towards Rain, who face had lit up with one of her famous smiles. "Come here for a second," she whispered. The young girl leaned in and the two exchanged a brief but electric kiss. "Just had to make sure this wasn't a weird hallucination," she said lovingly. Rain just smiled and held her hand a little more tightly. It made her wince a bit, but Diamondback exerted what strength she could to squeeze Rain's hand as well.

"Now, someone explain what happened? Are the refugees okay? And . . ."

"Yes," said Gattling, "they're fine."

"How did you . . ."

"Maybe," he interrupted, "Rat here should start."

Rat was smiling like a kid in a candy store. His story began when he and Lisa (the cute blonde rider from Seattle) left Bismarck. They made excellent time for the first several weeks, and even picked up some rested horses at towns along the way. But rather than ride all the way to Manhattan, Rat remembered that the Stampede, the Legion's only all-cavalry squad, was stationed in Pittsburgh. He had figured that the refugees could really use more horses instead of a mandate from the officials in Manhattan, so he figured he could ride down there, get Stampede to come up and help, and send Lisa on with another rider to headquarters. That way, he could turn around and head back to help his squad, and it saved many weeks of travel time. It just so happened that Thunder was moving through the Pittsburgh area while on the way to establish their new base in Charleston. When they heard about the plight of the folk from Seattle, they wanted to see if they could help. Of course at the time, none of them knew that the Creepers and their charges were actually being pursued. There hadn't been any raider activity for a while, so the Stampede basically emptied out the Legion stables, bringing a literal herd of horses with them and hauling the boys of Thunder along with them. With all the horsepower they had, the crew had made it to Chicago ahead of the refugees. They got worried, so they decided to ride on down the road and see if something had happened to delay the crew. When they encountered the group from Seattle, Rain had told them exactly what was happening and had personally led them back to bridge.

This last got a smile from Diamondback and a blush from Rain. They both knew it had been a foolish thing to do, and the soldier loved the young woman all the more for doing it.

They had come charging up just as Diamondback went down. The sound of thunder she thought she had heard turned out to be quite accurate. The Stampede boys dropped the guys from Thunder off at the foot of the bridge, then the riders themselves proceed to beat the holy hell out of the Savages that had made it across. When the third barricade had fallen, the Savages didn't meet a small, poorly armed group of militiamen from Seattle. Instead, they wound up charging into the teeth of one hundred bullet spitting, tri-pod mounted and fully automatic weapons.

"It was cool," said Gattling with a goofy grin. "They just kind of evaporated! We totally red-misted the bastards!"

"Boys with their toys," muttered Diamondback. "Did you get them all?"

"We even shot the pieces that were left!"

"What about us?"

Red Back fielded that one. "The Creepers all made it. Malloy lost a couple of guys on the last wall, Cobra lost an eye, and there's lots of stuff broken. But it could've been a lot worse."

Diamondback looked over at Cobra who had a patch over his right eye. "Don't worry," he said. "I really wasn't interested in seeing anything on that side of my body anyway. And I aim with the other one."

"Anyhow, it turned to be even better that these guys showed up than we initially thought. There was another couple hundred of those fuckers bringing up the rear. Our initial count was a bit off. But they were no match for three Legion squads and some really pissed off Seattle-ites."

"How long . . ." She had to pause to cough.

"Captain, you've been out for four days. You were drifting in and out the whole time."

Warhorse piped in with "I'm thinking of adding more medics to my squad after seeing your team in action." The Creepers made sure everyone in the squad had at least basic first-aid knowledge, and Widow, Centipede and Copperhead were all certified surgeons. Apparently when the reinforcements arrived, the entire team set everything else down and started stitching her back up.

Copperhead, the most experienced of their medical people, gave her a rundown. "You've got a concussion, severe lacerations from your tumble down the scrap heap, a sprained knee, and extensive bruising. The axe to the torso missed the vitals, but you would have bled out if we hadn't gotten to you right away. You lost a lot of blood as is, which is why you've been barely holding on. But as most of us expected, you're going to be okay. We all know you and plans, and since you probably hadn't planned on dying yet, no horde of mindless zombies was going to be able to kill you." That got a laugh out of the crowd. "And since Thunder had been on their way to establish a new outpost, they happened to have a field hospital. And now, here we are. But you need to rest. I know you're going to object, but you're going to feel wiped out pretty soon. So everybody else," she yelled at the crowd, "get out! You can talk to the Hero of the Bridge tomorrow during regular visiting hours." She started ushering people out until only Diamondback, Red Back and Rain remained. Rain was going nowhere, which everyone kind of accepted.

"What the heck was that about," asked Red Back.

"You mean 'Hero of the Bridge?' What did you think, that you were going to pull off one of the greatest feats in the military history of the Legion and people were just going to forget about it? People have been talking about the Battle of the Bridge since the moment it was over. It has already spread to the surrounding areas. And they're all talking about you. There are even songs about it, or so I'm told."

Diamondback was blushing furiously. "Anyone could have done that."

Red Back looked down at her patiently. "No, 'anyone' couldn't have done that. And not everyone would have even tried. All you were ordered to do was investigate the group moving east. Rescuing them was entirely your idea, your plan and you were the one who pulled it off. Hell, if they could get away with it, the runaways from Seattle would elect you God Almighty. They're going to be staying in Chicago while Stampede and Thunder head up to Seattle to help out against any remaining Savages. Apparently, running helter-skelter across the country is now Legion policy, thanks to you."

"General Anderson is going to be SO pissed. But we should help. Find me a gun and help me out of here."

"We," he said slowly, "aren't going anywhere." He placed one gigantic hand gently on her shoulder to restrain her, though it didn't take much considering her weakened state. She found it astonishing that those hands, which she had seen break someone's neck, could be so delicate. "The Creepers are beat up and exhausted, and you aren't getting out of that bed until Copperhead says it's okay. And she and I've agreed that you aren't to be given a firearm of any variety until you're ready for active duty. The rest of us are going to help look after the refugees, but I'm not sure from what. There isn't a raider band for miles thanks to us. Now get some sleep." Before he left, he took her other hand in his own massive paw, his eyes shimmering with emotion. "And don't think for a second I'm going to forget that you saved my life back there. Malloy isn't going to forget either. So get well soon."

Then, it was just the Captain and her lover. Rain pulled another bed up next to where Diamondback was lying and climbed onto it before once again taking the soldier's hand.