Posted by Extranjero on May 14, 2007 at 11:01:24:
STORM SISTERS (Part 5)
The speeding snowcat clipped a tree and tilted over sideways. Leilani lost her grip and tumbled off. She ploughed into the snow and lay there, gasping. The vehicle upended with a crunch.
In the queasy hush that followed – through the stillness of the forest – she heard the mournful howling of a wolf.
Leilani’s doe eyes widened and she struggled to sit up. The fall had left her shaken but unhurt. She was almost nude beneath the bulky parka, but its lining kept the cold from biting through. Her legs were still uncovered, though. The snow scalded her thighs. The dead girl’s panties that she wore were damp with melting frost.
Climbing stiffly to her feet, she straightened the big coat. It covered her to just above the knees. She squinted nervously into the gloom between the trunks. Moonlight filtered through the firs and made a ghostly cloud out of her breath.
The howling came again. It sounded closer. She reached into her pocket, and remembered that she didn’t have a gun. She darted over to the cat. It lay in buckled silence. Leilani glanced around again, and thought that she heard panting in the dark.
She scurried off between the trees, her heartbeat hammering. The formless cries were hard to place, but she hoped this was the opposite direction. She heard the wolf again a minute later. It sounded further off. She paused for breath.
The air was prickling with ice. She pulled the fur-lined hood around her face. The cold seeped in through every gap. Despite the chill, she realised she was sweating. Another lonely howl went up behind her. And this time it was answered by another creature somewhere to her left.
Leilani’s heartbeat surged again. She took off at a tangent. The howling lingered in the air. It was like being stalked by ghosts. She slid and waded down a slope. The snowy branches rustled. She looked behind herself, alarmed, but the eerie, bluish half-light showed no movement.
The ground levelled out and the trees began to thin. The moon grew brighter. Leilani pushed on, panting, till she came to the wood’s edge. A lumpy snowscape opened up before her. She thought she saw the outline of a track.
The sky was almost fully dark, but the fields were luminous. She hesitated on the snowbound road. There were jagged spars protruding from the whiteness all around, like obstacles in front of an old rampart.
The next howl sounded very close. She felt her fine hairs bristling. Crossing the road, she picked her way between the barricades. It was like a frozen No-Man’s Land. She must be close to the restricted zone. There were coils of barbed wire in the snow, and twisted girders that could stop a tank.
Then she saw a square of yellow light ahead of her. She peered at it, and made out a small building. It looked to be a checkpoint, with a barrier down across the road ahead. Leilani hugged herself and moved towards it, but circled further out so she could come at it unseen.
She risked a backward glance and felt her stomach tightening. A lean grey shape had ventured from the trees. It stood and glowered at her from the far side of the road, then melted back into the gloomy firs.
Leilani wondered briefly why it hadn’t followed her. She carried on towards the sentry-hut. The road came snaking round and she rejoined it at the barrier. Peering left and right, she made her way down off the verge.
The road seemed long disused. It was deserted. Beyond the barrier she saw a wintry valley with no sign of life. But the window of the concrete hut looked warm and welcoming. She sidled round towards the metal door.
A warning skull and crossbones had been stencilled on the barrier. The seal of the Commanders was displayed beside the road. VP7 KURGAN said a sign next to the doorway. She’d reached the edge of the Forbidden Zone.
She banged her fist against the door and took a few steps back. The hut remained as silent as a tomb. Reaching up, she gripped her collar, both hands in plain sight. There was a pause, and then the scrape of bolts. Leilani stiffened as the door creaked open, and yellow light spilled out across the snow.
A girl stood on the threshold with a lantern in one hand and an Uzi sub-machine gun in the other. She wore a vest and combat pants. Her muscled arms were bare. She had a haunted-looking face, with spiky, punkish hair and soulful eyes.
The biceps of her right arm rippled as she raised the Uzi. “Who are you?” she asked. “This Area’s permanently closed.”
“I’m an officer with the Command Guard, on attachment to the Field Brigades ...” Leilani heard the shiver in her voice. “We attacked a rebel stronghold on the far side of the wood, and now I’m separated from my unit …”
The girl looked pouty and suspicious. “Let me check you, then.” She gestured with the chunky sub-machinegun. Leilani hesitated, then unzipped the bulky parka. The cold began to chew her nipples as she held it wide.
The sentry thumbed her Uzi and a laser beam came on. It cast a red dot on Leilani’s skin. Leilani stood unmoving as the beam moved down her belly and focused on the jewel in her navel. Members of the Guard wore coded bellybutton studs. The laser scanned Leilani’s and the red dot turned to green.
The girl flicked off the laser and her Uzi tilted skyward. “Come in, Miss,” she said. “Before you freeze!”
Leilani did so gratefully, and wrapped the parka tightly round her breasts. The hut’s main room was heated by an old wood-burning stove. Pushing back her hood, she let her hair come spilling out, and peered around the building’s cramped interior. The furnishings were Spartan, just a desk and terminal. The sentry had been eating while she worked. Restricted-looking documents were pinned up on the walls. Leilani saw a large-scale map of the Forbidden Zone.
“I shouldn’t let you look at that …” the girl said awkwardly. She put the Uzi down beside her plate. “It’s lucky that you came here, Miss. This sector’s always live. Your rank wouldn’t have saved you if you’d wandered further in.”
“Call me Leilani, would you? I’m not one for ceremony.”
The sentry shrugged. “I’m Alex, then. Would you like something to eat?”
“Oh, please,” Leilani said, and Alex managed a coy smile. She padded through into another room. The kitchen must be back there, and her sleeping quarters too. Leilani wondered how long she’d been stuck here.
The fuggy heat was welcome, but she didn’t want to take the parka off. Resting her bum against the desk, she glanced at the screen-saver. What network was the girl receiving? Might she be in touch with Nikola?
She opened her coat a little way, and massaged her cold fingers. A sudden pang of worry made her pause. Out there in the snow, she’d been intent on sheer survival. Now that she had time to think, her heart and mind went fleeing back to Lena.
Had her friend been captured? Killed? She shifted anxiously. The mouse picked up her movement and the screen-saver dissolved. Leilani glanced around and blushed bright pink despite herself. The sentry had been viewing lesbian porn.
“Potato soup all right for you?” called Alex from the kitchen.
Fuck, Leilani thought and tried to reset the screen-saver. “Yeah, that’s fine,” she answered between clicks. The image disappeared again. Leilani wiped her brow. She was standing well clear of the desk when Alex came back in.
The smaller girl unfolded a map table and put the steaming bowl of soup on it. “You’re looking a bit flushed,” she said. Leilani gestured vaguely. She sat down on a metal chair, still huddled in her parka, and started spooning soup into her mouth. Alex took her own seat by the desk and watched her eating. Her wistful eyes were pale and hard to read.
Leilani wiped her mouth. “So what’s your job? Or can’t you say?”
Alex shrugged. “I monitor the area. Check any traffic passing in or out. Not that I see much of it. This region’s locked down tight.”
“How long will you be out here?”
“Till it thaws.”
“Jeez,” Leilani said. She took another gulp of soup. There was something creepy in the girl’s composure. Her eyes flicked to the map again. “Is this a testing range?”
Alex hesitated. “I don’t know what’s further in. This is the defensive belt. There are forces sited here for when they’re needed.”
“And what about the rebels? Do they sniff around this way?”
“Nah. They keep their distance.” Alex smiled sardonically. “Even the wolves don’t like to get too close. I heard the shooting earlier – I thought it was an exercise or something.”
“They were using an old convent as a hideout ...” Leilani felt the rush of an idea. “I had to leave a friend back there. She might be still alive. Your forces could go in and rescue her.”
“No way.” Alex shook her head. “Besides, they’re not my forces. And you wouldn’t want to meet them on a moonlit night like this!”
Leilani raised her eyebrows, but the other girl didn’t elaborate. An awkward silence filled the room. The spoon scraped on the bottom of the bowl. Leilani licked it thoughtfully, aware of Alex watching. She sensed the neediness behind the sentry’s nonchalance.
Casually she pulled her zip a little further down, revealing the beginnings of her cleavage. Alex shifted in her seat, like a schoolgirl trying not to leave the room. Leilani smiled with friendly innocence and licked her lips. “I don’t suppose there’s anything for afters?”
Now it was Alex’s turn to blush. “Sorry, no. It’s pretty basic here.”
Despite Leilani’s calm, her heart was pounding. Lena’s face was in her mind. The Cossacks might be torturing her now. She cleared her throat. “So you just mind the shop, I guess,” she murmured. The sentry glanced away and chewed her lip.
Leilani’s inward smile was sly. She knew that Alex wanted to impress. “You’ve got a quiet life,” she went on lightly. “I bet there’s not much gossip around here!”
Alex wavered, then stood up. “There’s power out here that people haven’t dreamed of.” She leaned towards Leilani. “Come and see.”
Her pale blue eyes shone eagerly. Leilani gave her an indulgent look. The sentry took a fur-lined leather jacket from its hook. She shrugged it on and jerked her head. “Come on!”
Leilani rose unhurriedly, a quizzical expression on her face. “Bring the lantern, would you?” Alex said. She picked her Uzi up and slung it over her right shoulder. Leilani followed her into the night.
The cold went for her cleavage and she pulled her zip up quickly. The snowy ground was bathed in bluish light. Alex led her round the hut and down the silent road. Leilani followed cautiously. The sense of trespass made her hackles rise.
The landscape here was broken up by hillocks, like ghostly mounds on both sides of the track. The white slopes of the nearest one were half-obscured by trees. Leilani peered at it, and saw some kind of concrete gateway. Beneath the massive lintel was an armour-plated door.
“These are the silos,” Alex said conspiratorially. She thumbed a handset at the steel wall. There was a pause, and then a muffled clanking. The sound was ponderous and full of threat. The door began to lower like a drawbridge, hydraulic pistons sliding out like bones. The space that it revealed was clogged with darkness. Leilani raised her lamp. It shed no light.
Alex led the way towards the entrance. Leilani felt a growing chill that seemed to emanate from the interior. As they reached the lowered door, the sentry flicked her handset and a string of muted lights came on inside. They gleamed on bulky armoured shapes that lurked like sleeping monsters. The concrete cavern was a nest of tanks.
Leilani stopped abruptly as a jolt went through her nerves. She’d faced machines like this before. The fear of them still lingered. Black Recluses, they were called – computerised and wholly pitiless. Four of them were squatting in the bunker’s barn-like space.
Alex saw her eyes grow wide, but thought that it was awe. “Impressive, huh?” she said with satisfaction. “The Commanders took these ancient hulks and made them come alive. See how wide the tracks are? They can move at high speed, even over snow ...”
Leilani moistened her dry mouth and scanned the murky shapes. The turrets were slope-sided and positioned near the front of the long hulls. The wheels looked big enough to crush a tree-trunk. “What kind are they?” she breathed uneasily.
“Snow Wolves,” Alex murmured back. “T-34s. If the rebels ever tried attacking the Forbidden Zone, these brutes would simply roll right over them.”
Leilani nodded, frowning now. Her gaze had fixed on something further back. Something lurking in the deeper darkness. Something indistinct but monstrous.
“Careful,” Alex said as she stepped forward. “They’re dormant, but their sensors are on standby.”
Leilani took a smart step back. She almost sensed the black tanks watching her. The cold in here was glacial and she sidled up to Alex. “So what’s that thing behind them?” she asked faintly.
“A Royal Tiger,” Alex said, as breathless as a girl sharing a secret. “They found it frozen in the ice - just like a mammoth, only made of steel. Seventy fucking tons of it. I’d hate to be around if that wakes up.”
Leilani chewed her lip and thought of Lena. If only these beasts could be unleashed, they’d wipe the smile off Nikola’s prim face. She stepped away reluctantly as Alex aimed her handset. The blast doors creaked and then began to rise. The sentry seemed to hesitate, then glanced at her and blushed. “There’s something else out here … I’d like to show you ...”
“Yeah?” Leilani said. She hugged the parka round herself. Better humour the poor girl. She might yet change her mind about the tanks.
Alex led the way towards the sentry hut again, and round it to a lean-to at the back. The kitchen window cast a square of light across the snow. The sentry beckoned timidly. Leilani joined her, feeling curious now.
“Look what I’ve got here,” said Alex hoarsely.
A camouflage tarpaulin had been spread across the ground. Leilani hunkered down and drew it back. Then she sprang up with a gasp, one hand against her mouth. Her eyes grew round with horrified dismay.
A pair of naked girls were lying face-up in the snow, their bodies snuggled close as if for warmth. One of them had long blonde hair and a yellow scarf still knotted round her throat. The other was a small brunette with tits like melons even in repose.
Leilani made a mewling sound. She recognised them both. Zoey and Rebecca, whom she’d sent out on patrol the previous day. Their bodies were half buried and their skin was waxy pale, their lips and nipple-halos tinged with blue. The bloodless flesh was punctured by a dozen bullet holes. The girls looked sulky from their dying pain.
“I found them over by the ridge,” said Alex in a rush. “A Brigade patrol got ambushed. There were other bodies there. I had to bring a couple back to keep me company. It gets so lonely here, Leilani. Sometimes you believe that you’ll go mad …”
Leilani couldn’t answer. She was staring at the girls. Rebecca’s pussy had been packed with snow. “That’s something you’ll have to try,” said Alex from behind her. “You fill them up, then let it freeze and pull it out again. Lick it and it tastes so sweet. A pussy popsicle …”
“Oh my God,” Leilani said. She swung around. The sentry’s gun was aimed. Behind it, the pale eyes were almost yearning. “You’ll stay with me Leilani, won’t you?”
Leilani slowly raised her hands and backed away a step. “Of course I will …” she said, and kicked a spray of snow into the sentry’s face. Alex reared back. The Uzi cracked into the darkness. Before she could renew her aim, Leilani pounced on her.
Struggling fiercely for the gun, they reeled against the wall. Leilani almost lost her grip as the impact with the concrete winded her. The sentry’s eyes were blazing now, her madness clear to see. “I’m keeping you forever,” Alex hissed.
Leilani tucked her feet against the wall and powered forward. They lurched across and struck the lean-to’s post. A glitter caught Leilani’s eye: a slender icicle. The shelter’s roof was lined with them, like frosty stalactites.
Alex grunted, trying to force her Uzi round again. Leilani strained against the gun, then made a quick grab for the icicle. It came free with a brittle snap and she plunged it like a dagger, the sharp end piercing Alex through the hollow of her throat.
The sentry gargled, saucer-eyed, and let her tongue poke out. Leilani jammed the icicle in deeper. Alex bucked with pain and squirmed against her. The sub-machine gun thudded to the snow.
“You’re relieved,” Leilani said, with a kind of bitter pity. The sentry gave a croak and slithered down. The buried icicle had started melting in her blood, but soon it would be frozen hard again.
Leilani watched her dark head slump, and shuddered with reaction. She glanced at the two corpses in the snow. For a moment she stood motionless, her doe eyes almost haunted. Then she picked the Uzi up, and took the handset from the dead girl’s coat.
Padding quickly back towards the silo they had left, she felt a nervous tightness in her chest. She fumbled with the buttons and the door began to open. The Snow Wolves waited in their darkened lair. She came up to the threshold and her courage almost failed her. Their sensors were on standby – but how sensitive were they?
The whine of the hydraulic rams fell silent. The tanks loomed over her but stayed inert. She took a step towards them, then another. The armour-plated sphinxes didn’t stir.
“Come on then, you heaps of junk – you’re needed.” She felt frustration vying with her fear. Impulsively she unfastened her parka and held it wide to let them see her breasts. The cold air bit into her flesh and made her grit her teeth, but the tanks remained as lifeless as before.
Shivering, she closed the coat again and turned away, moving back into the moonlight to examine all the buttons on the handset. Maybe one of them was red and marked Press Here to Activate or something. As she studied it, she heard a wolf howl in the distance. And then a coughing roar from right behind her.
She spun round with a little squeal. The nearest of the tanks had started up. Its engine clattered in the vault. A small red dot was glowing like an eye. Then the one beside it scraped and snorted into life. Leilani skittered back, then turned and ran.
She reached the barrier and looked back as the tanks began to lumber from the silo. They had a lean and hungry look, despite their solid bulk. The leader rolled onto the track and slewed to point at her. The moonlight made them look quite black against the virgin snow.
Panting, she ran on along the road. The Snow Wolves followed. Still sluggish, as with any creature roused from hibernation, but their weapons systems would be active soon. The snarl of engines drifted off across the empty landscape. She heard the squeal and clatter of the tracks.
The road curved on around the wood. She reached the corner and saw distant flames. It had to be the convent, fallen prey to Nikola. She almost whimpered with her need to be there.
Scrambling up the roadside slope, she waited in the treeline. The file of tanks came prowling in pursuit. As they rumbled past and round the corner, their scopes picked up the source of light ahead. Their computer brains identified a target. The convoy clattered on along the road.
As the last one passed, Leilani leaped onto its deck and huddled up behind the monster’s turret. The engine housing reeked of fumes. The tank kept moving, unaware of her. Glancing back the way they’d come, she felt her stomach tighten. Another, much more massive beast was clanking in their wake.
This must be the Royal Tiger Alex had described. It had grey armour, sloping sides and a turret like an elongated skull. It was slower than the Snow Wolves, but it moved inexorably.
I’d hate to be around when that wakes up.
She hoped it wouldn’t sense her on the back of her own tank, but there wasn’t time to worry either way. Raising herself, she peered ahead towards the glow of firelight: a beacon for her pack of iron wolves.