WAITING FOR THE DEATHBRINGER

As Marie emerged into the forest, certain now that she was not being pursued, she had time to think. Twice now, she reflected, she’d let Rose escape her, maybe Darlimg had been right when he’d told her she still had much to learn. But that was something she’d have to consider later, right now her intention, as Munroe had suspected, was to return inside the complex via one of the other entrances. And that was what she would have done, were it not for a faint sound that caught her attention. It was the sound of motor vehicles, and Marie stopped to listen. Undoubtedly they were getting closer, making her consider the possibility that Munroes words had been true. It didn’t seem possible to her that Darling,s whole operation had been set up by the Americans but someone was driving towards where she stood. She stepped into the vegetation where she would be hidden and waited, and when the vehicles came into sight on the forest track she had no doubt they were American. Though they had  no markings on their camorflaged exteriors, they were military vehicles of US forces, she was sure. The possibility, or now probability, she thought, that Munroe had told her the truth meant that her dreams of undreamt of wealth could be over, as presumably the Americans would have the intention of killing herself and all the others in Darling,s complex when they took control. But she still had an ace to play, that of the Deathbringer, which should be arriving at any moment. And she didn’t have to wait much longer, for as the small convoy of vehicles reached her she heard the loud crashing of the mechanical monster approaching through the undergrowth. Right on cue, she thought.

Lieutenant Jones was in the front vehicle, a jeep, sitting beside the driver. Aware they were nearing Darlings complex they were wary and alert, yet could not react quickly enough to evade the terrible blur of the Deathbringer as it emerged from the forest and crashed into the jeeps side, the force of its impact raising that half of the vehicle off the ground. As it skidded on two wheels one of the machines huge, claw like hands clasped the drivers head, and in seconds had decapitated him. The jeep now fell onto its side, with Jones thrown out of the metal monsters reach, the headless body of his colleague falling on top of him. Immediately behind the jeep the next vehicle, an armoured personnel carrier, came to a halt, the driver staring in schock at the events in front of him. Some of the men in the vehicle jumped out and began firing at the Deathbringer, which turned and advanced on them, with its huge strides quickly covering the ground and  a blow from its metal hand then smashing the skull of the nearest soldier. There were two more personnel carriers, each of which stopped and men disgorged from them, while lieutenant Jones, who had managed to get out of the overturned jeep, screamed at them to get the grenade launcher. One soldier had already done just that, but as he prepared to fire it a short salvo of bullets smashed into his chest, bloodily ending his life.

Rose and Munroe had watched the battle between human beings and the metal monster, unable to do anything to intervene till now, but they had seen that the bullets had come from the forest, and both shot several times into the area the shooting had come from. “That must be Marie” exclaimed Rose, “Do you think we got her”?
Munroe replied that he didn’t think so, as they’d not heard a scream.

For their part the soldiers were unaware who had shot one of them, and some were close to panic as another of their number was slaughtered by the Deathbringer. Lieutenant Jones, deciding that if they didn’t stop this machine right now none of them would survive, took it upon himself to run to the greanade launcher, ignoring the possibility that he might to be shot by the unseen marksman. His movement caught the machines attention, and as he grasped the launcher, for a second he froze as he stared at the monstrosity that bore down on him, with blood running from the metal hands it had used so lethally. Then he fired. His colleagues had jumped under or behind their vehicles to avoid the blast, closed their eyes for a second then looked anxiously to see if the grenade had destroyed the beast. All the soldiers stared at it, as did Rose and Munroe, as it staggered slightly, and though it appeared undamaged, it barely moved for a few seconds. Then, just as Jones was about to get another grenade from one of the personnel carriers, the Deathbringer turned, and moved toward the forest.
And now Marie revealed herself, stepping out into the open, and standing directly in the its path. “No!” He voice was a shrill scream, her expression one of desparation as her metal warrior moved away from the fight. And it clamped a metal hand round her neck, lifted her, squeezed, and as her head and body were separated, both falling to the ground, it disappeared into the forest.

Rose and  approached  the soldiers, Munroe just behind her.
“Rose Mcdonald?” Lietenant Jones asked, and as she nodded, he continued, “Carl Jones. What the hell was that?”
“That was the Deatbringer, obviously you hadn’t been warned about it. I‘m sorry you lost some of your people“, she replied.
“Me too.Excuse me a moment“ and he turned to check all survivors were uninjured and to arange for the bodies of the dead to be placed in body bags.
Rose now spoke to Munroe, “Its been damaged by the grenade, that must be why it took off,” and leaning down by Maries headless body she picked up a necklace that would have been around the  womans neck. Attached to it was the transmitter that would have instructed the Deathbringer not to attack, and Rose spoke again. “And its not recognising the transmitters anymore.”
“But its still in the killing mode,” Munroe observed.
Rose called to Jones, “Lieutenant, are there any towns or villages in the general direction that thing took?”
Jones told one of his men to check, and after disappearing into one the vehicles for a moment, where he consulted their satelite navigation system, the soldier reappeared. “Nearest town that way is La Paza, population nearly a thousand, about forty miles away.”
“Can it travel that far?” Rose asked Munroe.
“Its solar powered so it can keep going almost indefinitely,” was his response.
“Hell! Lieutenant Jones,” he walked back to where she stood. “I’m commandeering one of your vehicles, the grenade launcher and one of your men to go after that machine. While I’m gone Mr Munroe here will be in charge. You and your men are to obey his every instruction without question. Understood?”  He nodded.
“And,” she continued, “you are to kill everyone in this establishment, apart from some locals who helped us. Some may still be alive, their easy to recognise by their ragged clothes. But everyone else must die.”
“Our orders,” Jones replied, “are that priority one is securing the safety of American and British scientists in there.”
“Thats changed. The scientists death is now priority one.” Rose stopped to think for a second. “They’ve all sold out to the bad guys,” she lied, “if they weren’t already in cahoots with them. Whats being created in there is worth billions on the black market and they were all corrupted by the chance for wealth beyond their wildest dreams. Their traitors and must pay the price.”
“All of them? Are you sure?”
“Certain.” Seeing that Lieutenant Jones  didn’t appear very certain, she continued, her voice gentle but firm. “Lieutenant, are you questioning my authority?”
“Absolutely not,” he replied.
“Good. I presume you have a map of the complex, so ensure all exits are guarded so nobody can escape. Oh and and there is one more person you should avoid killing, he’s a guy called Tommy. He’s youngish, a bit fat, Frank will point him out if he see’s him first. I’ll leave it to you to organise your men.”
As Jones left to organise the assault on Darlings complex Munroe spoke to Rose. “I doubt if you’ll catch the Deathbringer, even though you’ll be moving faster in the personnel carrier than it, as you have to follow the tracks through the jungle, it just ploughs straight through it. And even if you do manage to confront it, well, that could be the last thing you ever do.”
“I know,” Rose’s voice was flat, unemotional, “but that horror has been visited on the people here by America, I’m American, so its my duty to stop it, or at least do my best. And you do your worst, don’t let any of the scum who created the abomination we’ve seen here survive, then blow the place up, burn it down, whatever, but destroy it.” Then Rose placed a hand behind Munroes head to pull it down and kissed him, very quickly, but full on the lips. And she smiled at him, more warmly, Munroe thought, than at any time they’d been together. “I promised you that a little while back, and I think you’ve earned it.”
Surprised, and very slightly disconcerted, he smiled back at her, then punched her on the shoulder. “Make sure you come back to us Rose.”
“Right.”

Rose then got into a personnel carrier, and the soldier who was to accompany her started the vehicle. Munroe, meanwhile, was joined ny Lieutenant Jones, who told him he and his men were ready and asked what precisely they would be facing.
“There’s about two hundred people inside, of whom around fifty are security staff. The latter are armed with automatic rifles. And they’ve got cameras on the exterior so they’ll know what happened out here and will be expecting us. There are also cameras throughout the interior, so until we take the communications room all their people will be informed where we are.”
“Ok,” Jones replied, “we’ve got forty two people now, not including yourself.” He swiftly gave instructions to his men, and they entered Darlings complex.
“You’d better stay back with me for the moment Mr Munroe, my men have heavier weapons than you do. But you’ll get your chance to join in the fun. I’m looking forward to seeing you in action, you have quite a reputation.”
“So do you guys,” replied Munroe.
“Yea,” Jones said with a grin, “we’re bad!”
Two of his men threw grenades through the door way of the entrance into the corridor that led off from where they stood in the area the vehicles were parked in. They then advanced, and seeing no one, signalled to the other soldiers to follow, and they all began to disperse into the complex. Munroe saw the door leading to where he and Rose had encountered Professor Ross, and he turned to Jones.
“Lietenant Jones,”
“Carl,” the other man interrupted him.
“Ok Carl, and you might as well call me Frank,” Munroe continued, “I sense your still a bit unsure about Roses instruction to kill everyone, so  come with me, I’ll show you something that will convince you.”
He led Jones up the stairs and then to where he and Rose had seen the pit containing the dying people who had been subjected to the treatment that had been developed in Darlings establishment, and the lieutenant stared, open mouthed with shock, at the seething mass of rotting humanity before him. For a few seconds he couldn’t speak, he just gazed at the blank eyes that stared up at him, listened to the faint, whimpering sounds emanating from the occupants of the  pit.
“What in hell?” he gasped.
“Hell is a good choice of words,” responded Munroe, “This is what they are doing here. These wretches are the victims of their research.”
Jones noticed Ross because of his white laboratory coat, and seeing he wasn’t affected by the same decay as the others, asked Munroe who he was. Munroe looked at Ross, and saw he was unconscious, probably from blood loss, he thought. “He is one of the scientists who developed the treatment that produces the effect you see here.”
Jones aimed his rifle at Ross, his face white with fury as he prepared to fire. But  he then lowered the gun. “Let him die in the midst of his own diabolical handiwork.” He smiled as he spoke, and then turned to face Munroe, his composure having returned, his voice firm as he spoke. “We were given orders to kill everyone here, lets do it!”

Jones was receiving a constant stream of information on his radio as to the fortunes of his troops, and he assured Munroe that the news was overwhelmingly positive. It was what both had expected, that K Divisions soldiers were quickly gaining control of the building.  They among the best warriors  in the world, thay were better armed than the security staff, and the latter, with Marie and Darling dead, no longer had a leader. So after advising Munroe he should stay back for the moment, the Lieutenant went ahead to supervise his troops. Before leaving he grinned at Munroe, “If you see anyone, shoot ‘em.”

Munroe did not move far and stayed alert, but after a few moments was begining to relax, assuming that none of the aremed security staff were in his vicinity, when he heard shouting from close by, and there was no mistaking the voice, it was that of Tommy. Entering  the room from which the voices emanated,  which turned out to be an office, he saw one of Jones soldiers, his hands raised, his rifle on the floor, and Tommy pointing a gun at him. The American, seeing Munroe, whispered “Shoot him!”
“It’’ll be ok,” Munroe assured him, then turned to speak to Tommy. “Tommy, put the gun down.”
“Why?” Tommy was frightened, angry, and, thought Munroe, close to hysterical. “These people are going to kill me, just like their killing everyone else. Why shouldn’t I take one of them with me?”
“Their not going to kill you, you can walk away from this place. Trust me.”
“Why?” Tommies voice raised in volume, “Why should I trust you? You betrayed uncle Eddie.”
“Shoot him!” the soldier growled at Munroe.
“If I shoot anyone it’s gonna’ be you,” was Munroes response. Turning again to Tommy, and trying to keep his voice calm to reassure him, he continued. “Yes I did betray your uncle, but face facts Tommy. He was an evil man, many, many people suffered because of him, you know this. And you’ve been a prisoner, you’ve never had a life. But now you can, unless you shoot this man. Then his friends will kill you.”
Then Munroe did something he was later to wonder about, to try and explain to himself why he acted as he did, but could never think of an answer. He placed gun back into his shoulder holster. The American cast his eyes upwards and mouthed some expletives. Munroe ignored him and spoke to Tommy again.
“If you want to you can shoot me, but I don’t believe you do want to do that. I’m trusting you.”
A few seconds passed, Tommy was crying slightly as he still held the gun aimed at the soldier, his fingers sweating and trembling. Then looking at Munroe he smiled  through his tears.
“Ok Frank.” As he spoke he lowered the gun.
What Munroe intended was to tell Tommy to give the gun to him but before he could do so the other man dropped the weapon, and on hitting the floor the impact made a single bullet fire from it, Tommy screaming as it entered his abdomen.
“If you’ve got a medic get him,” Munroe ordered the soldier.
“On it,” the man replied as he quickly left the room.
Tommy had fallen to the floor, and looked at Munroe, who had knelt beside him. “I think I’m going to die.”
“No, your going to live, you won’t believe what these medic guys can do! It’s going to be alright.”
Tommy was clearly in terrible pain, and his hands that he clutched at his stomach with were rapidly being covered with the blood streaming from the bullet wound. “I feel so cold,” he gasped, “and tired.”
“Stay awake Tommy.” Munroe squeezed his shoulder, “Help will be here soon and your going to be ok. For the first time you going to live your own life, away from this evil, your going to really live.”
Hearing people coming Munroe looked up and a few seconds later the soldier returned with the medic.
“See, told you it would be alright,” Munroe said. Then with a smile he looked again at Tommy, and saw the others eyes were wide open, not looking at him, not moving. He was dead. “Or maybe not,” he added with a sigh. The medic checked Tommys pulse then used his fingers to close the dead mans eyes.
“Who was he?” he asked.
“Who was he? Nobody really, just someone who didn’t deserve to die before his time. Like a lot of others.”
Munroe rose and saw Lietenant Jones had returned. “Tommy?” Jones asked.
“Yea.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s ok. I expect you’ve lost a few here to.”
“At least six dead,” Jones replied, “But we are in control now. Most, possibly all, of the security staff are taken care of, it’s just a matter of wiping out the rest now. Care to join us? Work out your frustrations!”
Munroe took his gun out. “I’m in just the mood.”
Jones  first spoke to the other soldiers who were with them, telling to go to where Munroe had shown him the pit of victims of this establishments work. “’Case you got any reservations about the slaughter of unarmed people we’re now about to engage in. After you’ve seen what’s down there you won’t have any pity for the people who did it.”
As he and Munroe went out into the corridor he mentioned that  though they had a map of the layout of the whole complex they couldn’t be certain of catching everyone. “Some may hide in closets, air ducts, that sort of thing.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Munroe replied, “We’re going to burn the place anyway.”
“Then why bother hunting them down?” Jones asked.
It’ll be fun,” Munroe replied with a grin.
Jones laughed before he replied. “You’re an evil bastard! But then, so am I”

Throughout the building there was now a reign of terror, not like before when local peasants had been subjected to the terrible treatment that been developed here, now it was the perpetrators who were being terrorised. Scientists, technologists and their support staff were now trying to find an escape. Some,assuming the American soldiers had come to escort them away warmly greeted their executioners, only to be immediately killed. When it had become apparent to all that these men were here to murder them, they frantically sought to find a means of escape. Some tried for the exits, only to be shot by the men waiting there. Others tried to hide, in the sort of places Jones had guessed they would, while others just ran.

It wasn’t long before Munroe and Jones encountered some. They first heard gunshots, screams, and then people running toward them, coming into their sight as they turned into the corridor the two men were in. There were three men and one woman, all dressed in white laboratory coats, all looking terrified. They were fleeing from soldiers who were close behind and now, seeiing the two men in front of them, they realised they were trapped. “We’re American, for Gods sake!” one of the men screamed at Jones, who responded with a cry of “Then have a nice day,” as he unleashed a salvo of bullets into the mans neck that almost decapitated him.
“Nice shot,” Munroe, with a grin, complimented him, “I’ll show you what I can do,” he added, and with that he shot one of the other men straight through the skull, killing him instantly.
“Not bad,” Jones said, also grinning, “but get a load of this.” And with that he fired a shot into the last mans ankle, and as he began to fall, screaming in agony, Jones let off a salvo into his shoulder that propelled him backwards until he hit the wall. He again began to fall until Jones fired another burst of bullets into his other shoulder that bounced him off the wall, and as he began to sink to the floor  again a final volley of shots from Jones rifle went through his head, spinning him through a full circle before he hit the ground.
The woman made a last effort to escape, turning to a door that she knew was that of a room from which there were no other exits, but she was  acting in pure desparation. And she never made it even that far, for with her body now side on  to Munroe he fired a single bullet that went through both of her breasts, her blouse instantly filling with blood as she fell, screaming, to the floor.
Laughing loudly Jones slapped Munroe on the back, “Right through the jugs! Like I said, you’re an evil bastard!”
Munroe joined in the laughter.

The men of K Division slaughtered everyone they could find, and as the news spread of the nature of the research that had been carried out at this place they became more vicious,  the killing becaming an almost orgiastic exercise in murderous sadism that ended only whem they could fnd no one else to kill. At this point Munroe told Jones they should find a way now to destroy the building, and after speaking to some of his men by his radio the American said the generators had been discovered, which , apparently, were powered by oil. “So,” he said to Munroe, “it’ll be easy to make them explode, which should take the whole place with it.”
“Then let’s leave,” Munroe replied, “Get some of your guys to arrange that, then we all get out of here.”
“We can use their communication equipment to let the Pentagon know what we’re doing first,” Jones added, but Munroe said that could wait.
“Are you sure?”
“Yea, I have my reasons,” Munroe replied.
“Ok, lets do it.”

At the same time that Munroe and the troops of K Division entered Darlings complex Rose and the solidier accompaning her drove toward the town of La Paza. He’d introduced himself as Corporal Shaw.
“What’s your first name?” she asked.
“Nicky.”
“I’m Rose. Drive fast and stay alert. You’ve seen what that thing called the Deatbringer can do.”
“Yea.”
Their journey was uneventful until they neared the town, at which point Corporal Shaw slowed the vehicle,as, before them was a car, crashed against a tree at the roadside. Its roof was smashed, and they could see inside it a man, his head split open.
“It’s got here,” Rose grimly observed. “Drive slow Nicky.”

As they continued the sight of the Deathbringers work was overwhelming. All around them were bodies, and parts of bodies, severed heads, legs, and arms. Rose said they should stop, and they disembarked, Shaw holding the grenade launcher, ready to fire. They walked on, both silent as they took in the carnage. Rose wondered how many had survived. Some must have managed to flee into the forest she thought, the Deatbringer couldn’t pursue them all. But she couldn’t help but notice how many bodies were children, adults often beside them. She suspected that many had failed to escape because they tried to save their families and carrying young children had slowed them sufficiently for Darlings mechanical monster to catch them. She saw the remains of a large dog, beheaded, by a woman and child, who’d suffered the same fate. Poor animal must have tried to defend its owners.
Walking on they found themselves outside the towns school, the road littered with the dismembered bodies of children. Rose saw Shaw was grimacing, and a tear just beginning to appear from one of his eyes. “It’s alright for a soldier to cry Nicky.”
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” His voice was croaking as the emotion made it difficult for him to speak.
“Neither have I. And I think we can assume the Deathbringer has moved on, to where we don’t know.”
For a second she closed her eyes, tried to take herself away from this awful scene, then she spoke again. “What will your colleagues do after attacking Darlings place?”
“Um, assuming the attack was successful they’ll go back to the hideout in the jungle we’ve been based at, and notify the Pentagon.”
“Go and join them, radio ahead first to let them know what we’ve seen here and that the Deathbringer is still on the loose.”
“Aren’t you coming?”
“No. I’ll stay here.“ She sighed before addressing him again. “Nicky, do you always obey orders without question?”
“Yea, ’course.”
“Maybe in future you should think about questioning them.”
Seeing the puzzlement on his face she added, “Forget it, I shouldn’t be saying this sort of thing to you.” She then took a pen and notepad from her inside jacket pocket. “When you get back,” she wrote on the notepad as she spoke, “give this to Mr Munroe.” She tore off the page she had written on and handed it to him.
“Is it confidential?” he asked.
“No, but only he’ll understand it. Now have a safe journey.”
“Ok, er, I’ll see you later.” And with that he left.

After he’d gone she looked around her, at the shattered, torn bodies lying on the ground. A few feet from where she stood was the body of a boy, probably about six years old, his head lying a few feet away, and for a moment she stared at it.
Then Rose sank to her knees. “God damn you Uncle Sam!” she screamed, her clenched fists beating at the earth, “God damn you to hell!”  Then she cried,  she didn’t know for  how long , but she sobbed until her body hurt.

Corporal Shaw walked back the way they had come until, reaching the Personnel Carrier he entered it and used its radio to send a message to Lieutenant Jones, who, accompanied by his men, had now left Darling,s establishment, having first started fires in the generator room. Munroe was close enough to hear as Shaw recounted what he’d seen at La Paza, he and Jones grim faced as they listened. Shaw concluded by saying that Rose had ordered him to return to base, while she was remaining at the town.
“Why would she stay there?” Jones asked Munroe., who replied by saying he didn’t know.
“Well whatever she’s doing there’s no doubt what we must do. And that is to alert the local authorities, tell them about that thing and they must bring the army in to deal with it. There’s no point us hunting for it, as it travels straight throught the forest the only chance of catching it is from the air. No doubt the Brazilian army has some helicopter gunships, they could find and destroy it.”
“You might want to consider speaking to the Pentagon before you do that,”  Munroe said.
 Jones stared at him for a few seconds before replying. “Are you serious? That thing could kill hundreds, thousands, it must be found pronto!”
“Alright, but we’ll say it was my decision. I’m less likely to get into trouble than you are.”
Again Jones stared at Munroe, the puzzlement he felt evident on his face. Then he called to one of his soldiers, who spoke Portuguese, and instructed him to send out a message on the police frequency about the Deathbringers last known position. Still looking at Munroe fixedly he said they’d now return to base.
This turned out to be a series of tents in the forest, skilfully camouflaged. Inside they were fully equipped for the soldiers living needs and operational requirements
Jones mentioned to Munroe that the policeman they contacted by radio didn’t believe them. “The fact that we couldn’t tell him who we were probably didn’t help to make the message convincing.. I guess if anyone at La Paza called the cops they got a similar response. But from here we can contact the Pentagon and they should be able to convince someone to deal with Darlings machine.” He then showed Munroe the radio and asked him what he wanted to say. Munroe was initially surprised but then remembered he was in charge, and addressed the radios operator, who typed his words into the encoder the radio was equipped with.
“Mission accomplished,” Munroe began, “Darling,s establishment completely destroyed, probably no survivors. Frank Munroe placed in tempory command by CIA operative Rose Mcdonald. Her last known location the town of La Paza, which has been attacked by a powerful robot called the Deatbringer, which is programmed to kill. Fatalities are substantial and current location of said machine is unknown. Request you alert appropiate local authorities to arrange its destruction.”
A moment later the reply appeared on the screen of the communication  equipment. It was brief,
 
‘All personnel are to remain at current location. Senior staff will arrive in the morning. There is to be no further contact by yourselves with any local people, under any circumstances.’

The last three words were underlined.

Jones looked thoughtfully at the screen before speaking to Munroe. “Does that mean they are going to get some action taken about the Deathbringer?” he asked.
“They’ll take some action,” Munroe replied, “but I don’t know what.”
Jones was getting angry. “What is going on? Are we going to do nothing while innocent peoples lives are threatened? Frank, you aren’t telling me everything, so give me a straight answer to this. What the hell is going on?”
“The straight answer is ask your superiors in the morning.”
“I’m asking you!! Jones shouted
“And I said ask your superiors,” Munroe replied, then added, “I don’t know the full story myself anyway.”
“Ok,” Jones replied, after pausing to gain control of his emotion.“We’ll see what Corporal Shaw can tell us when he gets back.”

It was not long before Shaw arrived, and having now regained his composure he gave a detailed account of what had happened at La Paza, all the soldiers listening in grim faced silence as he described the horrors he had see.n
“To hell with the Pentagon,” it was one of the soldiers who spoke, “Why don’t some of us drive to the nearest large town and try and convince the police to call in the airforce, army or whatever it takes to stop that thing?” There were murmurs of agreement from the others.
“No,” Jones voice was firm, though his anger still showed on his face, “We have orders, we obey them.”
“Mr Munroe,” it was Shaw who spoke now, “Ms Mcdonald gave me a message for you.” He handed the paper she’d written on to him.

‘Frank, we’re responsible for what’s happened here, you, me, all of us, and I can’t be part of it anymore. Thankyou for your help and goodbye.
Rose’.

“I have to admit I read it,” Shaw spoke again, “but it makes no sense to me. Do you know what she meant?”
“Yea”. Munroe screwed up the paper and tossed it into a litterbin. “Thanks for passing it on.”
“Ok, lets get some sleep, I think we’ve got a long day tomorrow,” Jones told his men.