We crowded around the computer monitor to check the surveillance images. The nano-swarm was moving around the building in a zigzagging pattern. It reminded me of a hound dog sniffing a trail.

“It’s tracking us,” Daniel whispered.

From outside we could hear the familiar hissing sound.

“I think we should back away from the windows,” Daniel said.

“How does it know we’re here?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Daniel answered as he brought the walkie-talkie up to his lips. “Kenji, I think you should come inside.”

No response.

“Kenji, are you there?”

Again, no response from Kenji, but Jack answered instead. “Daniel, are you sure the sentinels are disabled?” he asked.

Daniel checked the computer to make sure. “Yes. Why?”

“I’ll lead the nano-swarm away with the Humvee. This will give you a chance to turn the EMP field on. But I don’t want to drive out there if I’m just gonna get blown away.”

“Good point,” Daniel said.

“Wait,” Maria said. “Jack, what are you doing?”

From downstairs in the garage we could hear Jack turn the key in the ignition as the Humvee’s engine roared to life.

“You can’t let him do this,” Maria pleaded. “That thing, it’ll kill him.”

“It’s just a diversion,” Daniel said. “As soon as we get the EMP field back on he’ll be fine.”

The hissing noise of the nano-swarm grew louder.

Jack revved the engine and then put the car into gear. The tires screeched on the concrete of the garage. We watched on the security system as Jack then floored it and smashed through the roller doors. Metal flew in all directions as the big vehicle sped off into the desert.

Jack even managed to swerve and steer into some of the remaining infected, running them over.

Classic Jack, I thought to myself, smiling.

But my smile soon disappeared as I saw the black cloud of the nano-swarm chase after Jack with amazing speed.

Faster than the Humvee.

Faster than a damn Formula One car.

In a matter of seconds it had caught up to the Humvee.

In a matter of seconds it had completely engulfed the Humvee.

The big military vehicle was swallowed whole, disappearing and reappearing in the black smoke.

The car swerved again. Jack had lost control. It flipped over. Somersaulting.

“Jack!” Maria screamed.

The Humvee must’ve flipped over five or six times before it eventually came to rest on its roof. The nano-swarm swirled around it, engulfing the massive vehicle once again.

Maria pushed Daniel repeatedly and beat him with clenched fists. “What did you do? Why did you let him go?”

“We had no choice!”

Maria shook her head. She looked at Daniel in disgust, like he had betrayed her or something. Like he was the enemy. Before we could stop her, she ran out of the room and down the stairs that led to the garage. I tried to grab her but she was too quick.

Daniel swore. “Kenji, cover us! We’re doing this right now.”

He checked his rifle, made sure it was loaded. “Come on,” he said to me. “We gotta go.”

***

We leapt down the stairs, past the armory, into the garage. The roller doors of the garage had been completely destroyed. But there was no time to inspect Jack’s handy work. We ran out into the hot desert sun. It took a second for my eyes to adjust to the harsh orange light.

The sun was low in the western sky, making it nearly impossible to look in that direction.

When my eyes finally adjusted, I spotted Maria. She was way out in front. Damn she was fast.

At school she had always been a good runner. Didn’t matter if it was a sprint race or a long distance race, she was always in the top three at least. It also didn’t matter that she never actually trained for any running events.

“Maria!” I yelled to no avail, as my voice was swallowed up by the desert.

She was too far away from us. And at that moment she had an infected man chasing after her. She didn’t seem to notice, or care. She just kept running. Faster and Faster.

Luckily for us, Kenji had sprung into action. It took him a few seconds, but eventually he lined up the infected man that was chasing Maria.

He fired.

One shot was all it took. The bullet completely destroyed the infected man’s skull. He fell to the ground, head over ass.

Another bit of luck was that it appeared most of the surviving infected were concentrated on the other side of the compound. This would buy us a few minutes. Although we all knew it wouldn’t be long until they figured out there was fresh meat on offer.

Up ahead, the Humvee was still in the middle of what appeared to be a black tornado.

“You have to get Maria before she does anything stupid!” Daniel shouted to me.

“What are you going to do?”

“If I can get this EMP generator online, it will take out the nano-swarm. Maybe it’s not too late.”

As we ran further away from the compound, we had to be careful not to trip over the scattered corpses of the infected that had been taken out by the sentinels. Somehow, a lot of them were still moving. I even had to jump over a few, as they held up their arms, reaching out for us.

Meanwhile, Maria kept running towards Jack.

I had no hope of catching her. But I noticed she had something in her hand. Whatever it was, she threw it. A second later, a bright purple flash of light ignited inside the black tornado. Like a lightning bolt inside a storm cloud.

It was an EMP grenade. Clever girl, I thought.

The EMP grenade had stunned the swarm. Just as before when I had used one, the grenade seemed to confuse it, make it sluggish. Half of the black cloud turned limp, as though all those little nano-bots suddenly became uncoordinated, separate from the rest of the swarm.

Maria had bought us some time. But she wasn’t done yet. She let off another grenade. There was another flash as she dived head first into the swarm.

For the Humvee.

For Jack.

A heartbeat later, she had disappeared from view.

I skidded to a stop. Was it too late?

“It’s in a state of shock!” Daniel shouted to me. “But we don’t have long. I need you to cover me while I get this thing online.”

“But what about Maria?”

“She’s already inside the Humvee, she’s already inside the swarm. You can’t do anything to help her now. Except get this EMP online.”

I sprinted for the Humvee with the satellite dish on its roof.

Lucky for us, the dish was pointed in the general direction of the black smoke. So basically, all we had to do was turn it on, and that would be the end of the swarm.

Or so we hoped.

Daniel was already in the driver’s seat when I got there.

The inside of the Humvee was covered in a type of foil.

“Faraday box,” Daniel said.

“What?”

“Insulates against the EMP.”

“Oh.”

Up ahead, the nano-swarm still seemed to be in a state of shock. It actually looked like it was drunk or concussed.

“This better work,” Daniel said as he typed on a small keypad attached to a monitor on the dashboard.

He fired it up.

Punched in some commands and hit ‘execute’.

And nothing.

No noise. No explosion.

Nothing.

Silence.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but this is the nature of an EMP. It’s a fairly silent and understated weapon. Nothing like a machine gun or a heat seeking missile. But boy oh boy is it effective.

The nano-swarm tornado that had engulfed the Humvee lost its shape completely. It fell to the desert floor in a heap. It was now just a pile of useless, black dust.

Daniel and I both cheered.

“It freakin worked!” I shouted.

I hugged Daniel. We were just about to get out of the car when suddenly, something crashed loud and heavy into the rear of the Humvee. The back windshield had been smashed in. It was the infected. They had finally caught up to us.

Daniel opened his door and climbed on to the roof of the Humvee. A split second later, he unloaded with his rifle.

The infected fell where they stood.

But unfortunately, as I looked back towards the outpost, I could see more infected were coming. Lots more.

“What the hell is Kenji doing?” I asked

“I guess he’s got his hands full,” Daniel answered.

Daniel jumped back in the driver’s seat. “Damn, no keys. No time to hot wire. Come on, we’re on foot from here.”

“So it worked, right?”

“Did what work?”

“The EMP!”

“I’m pretty sure it did. Either way, we’re about to find out for sure.”

We sprinted towards the overturned Humvee, towards Jack and Maria.