Braindead Shenyang

The winter has subdued itself this year and the quiet seems to be too much. Every silence before the storm leads to a bigger opening act either from nature or, sometimes worse, in human (or Drombie) form.

They started to activate the D’s with computer chips to control them. Some A.I. experts that survived into the Dark have been subduing the D’s and putting them under to do experiments on them. Turns out the chips worked just like they do in any robot. I mean, the brain is dead, so why wouldn’t it work to just operate it if it isn’t too far gone? They started a new gang that has been going out and catching healthy individuals that are left and turning them on purpose to use for their fucked up army of some sorts. The first one of the controllers we came across was right after the Chinese New Year hit and we were heading out to get some food for the long haul run. Funny thing is most things shut down around the Chinese New Year before the Dark hit, but we have to always prepare for that now. Hopefully the God of Prosperity is generous when it comes to forgiving looting given the circumstances.

I took Lightning and Dave with me, even though Lily begged to go, but I couldn’t risk anyone lagging behind in the cold. Also, she was incredibly strong with certain jobs, but she had a tendency to talk a lot and the loud noise couldn’t be compromised.

We had gotten what we needed for the week minus some nails and an extra wrench, but it could be spared, and our backpacks were chock full with our bounty for the days to come. We started heading back and saw something I had never come across before. There was a lone guy in a broken down Toyota Tercel (I could tell because one of the wheels was blown out) and he was talking on a walkie talkie with some sort of computer set up in the back seats. At first I thought he needed help and told the kids to stay put while I approached him, but then when I walked up I realized it was more of an odd office hideout. We had taken a different way back toward our base today to save time, so it’s no wonder I didn’t see the car before hidden in the brush. If it hadn’t been for the smell of his cigarette smoke, I probably still wouldn’t have spotted it.

It didn’t seem that weird at first, although it should have, and I went up to the car and knocked on the driver’s seat window after making sure the kids were staying put at a safe distance.

He was a bit shook up because he had been talking on his walkie talkie and didn’t hear me coming.

“Fuck!”

He immediately pulled a blanket laying on the passengers seat and pulled it over the computer system with monitor screens in the back, but it only covered half of them. There was what looked like live action footage of D’s walking around San Hao Jie on the other two monitors that weren’t covered.

“Look, bitch. I don’t have anything to give you. You even try to get into this car and I will make you regret it.”

“Whoa, there buddy. I was just making sure you are alright. Sorry for ruining your walkie talkie party. You got the D’s on watch there? That’s pretty smart. I mean no harm. I’m K.”

“And I’m none of your god damn business. I would get out of here fast if I were you. They’re heading up this way.”

“Who the hell is heading up this way?”

“You saw the cameras. Why don’t you watch? You only have about five minutes.”

I looked at him and he started laughing. His teeth had started decaying a long time ago — way before the Dark and his greasy hair had left an imprint on the seat head behind him in an oily disgrace of a person who had given up on his own humanity a long time ago. The amount of body odor was enough by itself to make one vomit, but I had been through enough experiences to gain tolerance. He grabbed his walkie talkie and reached for the computers to start typing with one hand while transmitting with the other.

“Target is about 175 centimeters, red hair, and blue eyes. Facial recognition will be a piece of cake. Saucy mouth. I will send the coordinates now.”

What the actual fuck?

“My D’s are coming for ya. Better run, sweetheart. We have enough to run right now, but you look like you’d be a good candidate for the next litter. I’d hide if I were you.”

“K! They’re coming from the North.”

Dave yelled out for me as I was pulling my backpack into position to head out in full protection mode.

“Plan C! You know where to head. I’ll meet you there and don’t look for me or look back. Go!”

I only waited to have a look at them once, but the pack was well coordinated and they were fresh. It was obvious that the veiled threat was that I could easily be one of these computed Drombies. I may not know a lot about computers, but I’m still here, so I must have something to offer this planet intellectually, and it didn’t take me long to put together what this mongrel with incredibly poor hygiene had been the “mastermind” behind. I still don’t know if he could actually coordinate their own individual actions, but he could control where they were going before their natural instincts took over for their own survival. We already had packs that were starting to think cognitively and now we had packs being controlled like it was some sort of fucked up video game by a sadistic psychopath with Mommy issues.

I got back to our home base and the kids were alright, but had a lot of questions. To be fair, I had a lot of questions at that point too. I had no words. Lily kept raising her hand to speak. Sounds a bit rudimentary, but it was the only way I could think of for us to all have a system to speak.

“K? K, please listen. I can help.”

“I’m not trying to be rude, Lily, but how could you possibly help right now?”

“All I need is a computer with internet. I’ve hacked the CIA before.”

Well, I’ll be god damned. Time to work on my technological side.