“Negative,” the suit’s AI said.
Accessing Elizabeth’s suit’s AI was impossible suit-to-suit. That had to be done back in the safety and security of a lab, with fullauthorization from the suit’s wearer. Or it could be done once the wearer wasdead.
Simon figured he’d know soon enough what had happened to the two Templar. Helooked at Danielle, who knelt beside the second Templar.
“Who’s that?” he asked.
“Justin Fitzgerald.”
“Do you know him?”
“No.”
“What House?” The Templar were divided up into eight different Houses thatadministered the needs and the edicts of the Templar Order.
“Sumerisle.” Danielle’s voice held a note of reverence.
The House of Sumerisle always found favor and respect among the Templar. The last Grand Master, Patrick Sumerisle, died fighting the demons on All Hallows’Eve. Simon had known and respected the man.
“So he’s one of the royal nephews,” Simon said.
“Grandnephew or great-grandnephew is more like it,” Danielle replied. “He’sonly seventeen.”
Simon shook his head. “What were the two of them, as young as they were,doing out here on their own?”
“We were that young,” Danielle said softly. “Not so long ago.”
“They might not have been out here on their own,” Walter added. “This couldbe all that’s left of a group.”
That sobering thought struck Simon sharply. He didn’t like wondering if therewere a line of dead Templar that led to this place.
“Simon.” The voice came from one of the Templar outside the Taylor & Loftusbuilding.
“Yes.”
“There’s movement inside the building.”
“What?” Simon stood.
“Zombies, mate,” the Templar said tensely. “The parking garage is full ofthem.”
They decided to leave the Templar trussed up in the spider webbing. Walter and Kevin carried the unconscious warriors slung over their shoulders while Simon and Danielle led the way back up the stairwell.
By the time they reached the second landing, the zombies had crowded in after them. Hideous and disfigured, the zombies lurched after their prey, bearing down on them inexhaustibly.
Blood covered the zombies in the stairwell and promised all manner of infectious diseases with any contact on an open wound, eyes, nose, or mouth. Remnants of clothing clung to them and hinted at what they might have been before their lives had been snuffed out and their bodies claimed by the demonic spell that brought them back.
Simon pointed the Spike Bolter and fired. The palladium rounds chewed through undead flesh and tore limbs, heads, and pieces from the bodies. He swung his arm like club and battered them out of the way. His pace slowed from steps to inches.
“Simon,” Danielle said, “my Shockwave is prepped.”
With a lunge, Simon grabbed one of the zombies in the midsection. He felt its flesh tear and its ribs snap as he held it. The undead creature flailed at him with decomposing fists that shattered against his faceplate.
“Do it,” Simon ordered.
The Shockwave was another handheld weapon the Templar carried in their arsenal. It operated on HARP (Harmonic Resonance Projection) technology, which had been developed under Templar guidance. HARP technology used electronic and sonic generators to emit a static field thatconducted sonic waves.
Designers intended HARP technology to help in mining operations and search and rescue efforts. The sonic waves generated by the HARP blasters shattered nonorganic items by altering frequencies too fast for those things to survive. Wood, stone, and steel items in the path of the sonic blast ruptured under the assault. Caves survived the punishment because they were too large to lose their integrity. But loose debris went to pieces.
Living matterplants and animalshad their neural systems disrupted. Plantssometimes went into shock, but animals and humans blacked out under the assault.
Danielle triggered the Shockwave. It was a cut-down version of the HARP rifle. In order to get the reduced size, the designers had sacrificed room for the electromagnetic pulse gatherers and capacitors which had lengthened recharge time considerably. The area of effect was also cut back to fifteen to twenty feet and there was no way to aim the weapon. It discharged in a radius burst that went in all directions.
The Shockwave clicked loudly, then hummed. A moment later it fired. The sound even affected the ambient light. Particle waves became brighter and blistered in a blinding blue-white flash.
Simon’s HUD adjusted to the light assault immediately. He experienced only amomentary discomfort and blank screen because the suit’s AI was programmed tocompensate for the Shockwave’s effect His vision returned in time to see whathappened to the zombies.
In life, the zombies had been composed of living organic matter. In death, that composition changed. Blood no longer flowed and the body’s internalrhythms were silenced. Inert corpses suffered the same fate as inorganic materials struck by the HARP waves.
The zombies froze like statues for a moment. The ones behind those affected by the Shockwave kept struggling to get to their intended victims. A moment later, the zombies shook and quivered, then flew to pieces and disappeared as they were reduced to energy waves. Some of those dead a short time were only blown back into the others.
Simon’s right hand suddenly grasped nothing but empty space. He surgedforward at once and barreled into the next line of zombies. The Spike Bolter leaped and howled in his hand. Palladium rounds chopped the zombies to pieces. He lowered his shoulder and slammed into the knot of undead trying to fill the vacuum at the doorway.
He tripped over a tangle of dead limbs and rolled forward to take advantage of his weight and momentum. Adroit as an Olympic athlete or not, the armor still had a lot of inertia to account for.
The undead buried him before he could get to his feet. Their combined weight threatened to crush him to the ground.
These are the quick ones, Simon thought. Even though he was outnumbered and outmassed, potentially looking at death, a savage joy hummed to life inside him. No matter what happened, no matter how the fight ended up, he knew he was where he was supposed to be. He’d trained all his life for the battles ahead ofhim.
He pushed himself up to his knees with his right hand. The suit
