Gears of War

by Jason M. Hough

  “No, no. I have to push this damn thing myself most of the time. Doctor’s orders.”

  “Oh. Well, okay,” she said. “It was nice meeting you, Colonel Hoffman.”

  “And you, Ms. Diaz.” He took her hands in his and smiled up at her. “We’ll speak again, Kait.”

  “I’ll hold you to that.”

  “Count on it.”

  6: A TRUE OUTSIDER

  The first Minotaur truck labored up onto the rock-strewn plateau and trundled along a poorly maintained path toward the village wall.

  “Stop here,” Kait ordered.

  The driver complied, but did not cut the engine. Kait glanced at him.

  “We’re exposed here,” he said. Then added, “Ma’am.”

  She eyed him, but held her tongue. She had yet to take the rank Jinn had offered her, but had to agree that pretending to wield that slight bit of authority had its uses.

  “Exactly,” Kait replied. “Arrive with open arms and weapons visible. That’s how Outsiders do it. You look like you’re hiding something? They assume you are, and that you have a reason to do so.”

  “But—”

  “Are we hiding something, Private?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Then kill the engine and get out.”

  He looked uncomfortable, but complied, and she stepped from her door at the same moment. Gravel crunched under her boots. A thin sheen of ice had accumulated on the larger rocks, melting in places, making the road slick and treacherous. A light drizzle of rain just made it worse. Kait moved carefully to the side of the Minotaur and rapped with one knuckle.

  Del emerged a moment later, stretching.

  “Are we there yet?” he asked. Then he looked past Kait. “Oh, shit, we actually are. I was kidding. How long was I out?”

  “Three hours,” Kait replied. “And then another three.”

  He yawned one more time, then shook his head in an attempt to banish the last vestiges of sleep.

  “Damn,” he said, taking in the surroundings. “This place is creepy.”

  “It’s okay,” Kait replied.

  Del wasn’t having it, though. “Wish we could have brought Jack.”

  “A robot like that, following us around, wouldn’t be the ideal start to a meeting like this.”

  “I know,” he replied, “but I’d still feel better if he was here.”

  Kait could feel eyes on her from the village wall, but the Outsiders weren’t showing themselves. No surprise there. She turned her back on the village, walking toward the approaching Minotaurs that made up the rest of their convoy. Making a slicing motion across her neck, she pointed at the side of the path.

  “You sure?” the nearest driver asked through his window.

  “I’m sure,” she replied. “Don’t come up unless you hear from me. No one gets out until I give the all clear.”

  “Copy that.”

  Satisfied, she kept walking, farther and farther from the village. There were probably four sniper scopes trained on her back, but no one shot. She was unarmed, after all. The Outsiders would be jumpy—a fleet of COG vehicles had just rolled up to their gates, after all—but not that jumpy.

  “Uh, Kait?” Del said over the comm. “Village is over this way.”

  “I know.”

  “Then where—”

  “Just trust me, okay? I’ve got this.” Passing the last Minotaur, she strode on through the misty precipitation. Kait had spotted the place on the way in, studiously ignoring it as they drove by. Now she made straight for it. She had thirty seconds, she figured.

  Stepping off the path, she weaved between several large boulders until she reached the fossilized old tree. Leaning against the nearest rock she folded her arms, trying to look casual.

  The first of them emerged only seconds later.

  He didn’t see her.

  It was an older man with a long gray beard. Impossibly thin, and though he was fifteen feet away Kait could smell him already. The old-timer blinked as he emerged into the sunlight, and checked the rifle he held. Then he turned and ushered four more Outsiders out of the hollowed tree trunk. It was only when all five were clear and organizing themselves that Kait cleared her throat.

  “Hey there, Pasco,” she said.

  The group froze. The old man, their leader, turned and squinted until he finally spotted her against the rock.

  “Who the hell…” he said. “Reyna Diaz? That you? Holy—”

  “It’s Kait, actually.”

  He stepped closer. Looking her up and down.

  “So it is. Holy shit, so it is!”

  “How are you, Salvador?” she asked, using his actual name. This caused a stir from the group behind him. No one called him that, except Reyna. Kait was playing her best card early. Why not? She pushed off from the rock and readied for the other shoe to drop.

  Salvador Pasco was a true Outsider, as Reyna told it. A hermit most of his life, living in the wilds, occasionally stealing supplies from the COG and Outsiders alike. Until, again as Reyna told it, loneliness finally got the better of him. He’d rescued a lost child, wandering in the forest, and taken care of her until her parents had shown up. That day, Reyna had almost killed the scrawny old bastard on sight, but Gabe had seen something in him—or maybe in Kait—when he’d put a hand on Reyna’s arm and convinced her to lower her blade.

  Kait had been too young to really understand what was going on, or what “hermit” even meant. From her perspective, aged four, she’d wandered off and met a “wizard” in the forest. Any feeling of danger she should have gotten from him was vastly outweighed by the relief that she was no longer alone, and she’d followed him like a stray dog back to his little hovel deep in the woods.

  They might never have found her if Kait hadn’t convinced the man to make her some tea. The curl of smoke from his camp stove had been what Reyna and Gabe had spotted.

  “Been a long time,” Pasco muttered, and he came over to embrace her. He stopped, though, when he finally caught a glimpse of her COG armor under the parka she’d pulled on.

  “The hell?” he said, glancing up at her and taking a step back, suddenly wary. His eyes, still keen despite his years, immediately darted to the tops of the boulders around them. With his left hand he made a gesture behind his back, and instantly the other Outsiders spread out, taking defensive positions.

  “It’s not a trap, Sal,” she said. “You can relax.”

  “Like hell I can.”

  “We’re here to talk. To help.”

  “Don’t need any help,” he said. “Didn’t ask for any.”

  “I know, but the truth is, you do need help.” The light drizzle suddenly became something more. Big drops that hit the ground like tiny bombs, splashing off the rock-strewn landscape. “Can we go inside and talk? Maybe make me some tea, for old time’s sake?”

  It was the wrong thing to say. Salvador frowned.

  “You’re not four anymore, Kait. Any ability you had to get ol’ Pasco to do your bidding is loooong gone.”

  He was lying, though. She could see it. Finding Kait, caring for her for three days until her parents had found her, the subsequent friendship he’d enjoyed with Reyna and Gabe—and later Oscar—had not totally drained away. He still had a soft spot for Kait Diaz, the little girl who’d ended his days of isolation. Now he ran a village himself. Maybe not the most successful village, nor the prettiest one, but a village all the same.

  It had been at least fifteen years since she’d seen him, though, and the change in her circumstances would be a tough pill to swallow. She’d have to take this slow. Play the game the Outsider way.

  “Tea?” she asked again, affecting a childish tone that dripped with sarcasm.

  “Ahhhhh, fuck. Alright then.”

  * * *

  “Sal, meet Del,” she said. “Del, this is Sal.”

  “Everyone calls me Pasco,” the gruff man said, “including you. Only Reyna gets away with Sal. I’m still deciding if Kait can get away with
it.”

  Del extended a hand. The Outsider hesitated, then took it. They were standing next to the Minotaur that had brought her there. The rest of the Gears were still in their trucks, watching nervously and, in some cases, with open skepticism at the man’s appearance.

  “Why don’t you join us, Del?” Sal asked. “As usual, Kait wants tea, and I can’t say no to her. Might as well make it a party, eh?” He burst into laughter and marched by. His contingent followed, one of them deliberately shouldering Del as he passed.

  Del glanced at Kait and mouthed, “What the fuck?” She shook her head at him, trying for, “Relax, I’ve got this.” Del seemed to get the idea and stepped aside to let her pass.

  He quickly fell in beside her, one hand on her arm, slowing her to let a bit of distance grow between them and their hosts.

  “You know this guy?” he asked out the side of his mouth.

  “From a long time ago,” Kait said, nodding. “Arguably I’m the reason he became an Outsider.”

  “He used to be COG?” Del couldn’t quite keep his voice from rising.

  “No. God, no. He was outside even the Outsiders. A loner, a survivalist in every sense.”

  Del digested that, watching the group in front of them.

  “How’d you know they weren’t inside the wall?”

  Kait shrugged. “Remembered something Mom had told me about this place. A tunnel beneath the front approach. Sal’s favorite gambit is to let people think the gate is poorly defended, then strike from behind, silently. Because I knew that, I also spotted the place they’d emerge.”

  “Damn,” her friend replied. “Good thing you’re here. I never would have seen it.”

  Kait elbowed him. “Keep on your toes, okay? That little tidbit is the beginning and end of my knowledge of this place, and Sal’s got a reputation for being crafty. He’ll have other tricks up his sleeve.”

  “Heard that!” the old-timer said from the front of the group, extending a middle finger in their direction without looking back.

  Del shook his head.

  “Marcus is going to stay with the trucks?”

  “Yeah. If Sal knows him it’ll be by reputation, and that’s a distraction we don’t need.”

  Del let out a breath.

  “This is going to be… interesting.”

  * * *

  Kait sat in silence, sipping the strong tea as her father and Reyna spoke with the man who’d found her.

  It was grown-up talk, but she listened. A lot of the words were strange to her, but some she knew, and she knew faces. If it had just been Mom here, Kait thought maybe the old man would be dead already.

  Just a month earlier, their trade caravan had been attacked on the road by some raiders. One had grabbed Kait by the arm and pulled her close. Said something implying the girl would die if supplies weren’t handed over.

  Reyna had drawn and thrown her machete before Kait could even blink. The sound had been like a whisper, only inches from her ear, and then the bad man’s iron grip had slackened. He’d crumpled to the ground. Soon there’d been a pool of red soaking into that grit, and Kait had stared at it as others died all around her.

  “That’s what happens when a stranger touches my daughter,” Reyna had said that night at the campfire, to roars of approval from her fellow villagers. Kait had smiled at that, but she wasn’t smiling now.

  Sal was different, she thought. He hadn’t grabbed her, hadn’t done anything bad. He smelled, yeah, and his clothes were just rags, but his eyes were kind and he’d made her tea. It was sweet, honeyed, and had slivers of fresh ginger in it. He’d brought her in out of the rain, too, and made a fire for her to sleep by.

  So Kait sat by her mom’s side, pressed up against her not out of love or comfort, but to make the drawing of the knife harder to do. She didn’t want to see blood on this dirt floor. Dad didn’t either, apparently. He seemed to sense Sal’s good nature, even though Mom still didn’t.

  Whenever Reyna’s voice turned angry or suspicious, or when the graybeard said something that made him sound a bit odd, Dad would say just the right thing. He was keeping the knife in Reyna’s scabbard as much as Kait was, she realized. It was like teamwork, and it felt good.

  When they left, Sal was still alive. He waved at Kait when she looked back. They’d left him with his life, and an invitation to come to Fort Umson should he ever need shelter or a warm fire to sit by.

  Sal had scoffed at that. He’d done just fine on his own for most of his life, he’d claimed.

  A year later he showed up. Brought a gift for Kait. Herbal tea made from mountain wildflowers. He said he’d stay long enough to drink some with her. She was five, then, and he stayed not for an hour or a night, but for two whole years.

  * * *

  Sal watched her as she sipped the tea.

  “It’s just like I remember it,” Kait said, smiling.

  “You’re a terrible liar, Kait Diaz.”

  “Didn’t say it was good.”

  “I know it’s not good!

  It’s also not how you remember it. No honey up here in this wasteland, and no one’s trading any these days. In fact, no one’s trading anything.”

  “That’s sort of why we’re here,” Del said.

  Sal ignored him. His eyes remained firmly on Kait, watching her expression with those squinty, keen eyes. It would have been unnerving if she didn’t know him. His eyesight was terrible, unless he really put an effort into focusing. This in turn meant he could only get about an hour of decent vision before a raging headache would force him to relax.

  Kait wondered if maybe the promise of a pair of glasses might get him to agree to come back to the city, but she discarded the idea right away. It wouldn’t be gifts or the “better way of life” that would convince him. She’d get him the glasses no matter what, as soon as they arrived, because it was the right thing to do.

  “It kills me a little bit to see you wearing Gear armor, Kait,” he said. “Not sure what surprises me more—that you joined, or that they let you.”

  She shrugged, going for nonchalant.

  “I didn’t… I’m more like a liaison.”

  “Well,” Sal said, sounding unimpressed, “get to the damn point then, Ambassador. Say your piece, then piss off. We don’t have the supplies to entertain your little caravan, and no offense, but Gears aren’t exactly welcome here.” His eyes drifted to a point over her shoulder. The caravan outside his wall, the soldiers milling about.

  For the first time since arriving, she felt guilty for this. Using her relationship, her credibility as an Outsider, as an icebreaker to achieve this meeting at all. It didn’t feel right, but, deep down, she knew it had to be done.

  “How is Reyna, anyway?” Sal asked abruptly. “Haven’t seen her in, what, two years now?”

  He saw the answer instantly in Kait’s face.

  “Oh, shit. I’m sorry, Kait.”

  She managed a nod. For some reason it hadn’t occurred to her that news of Reyna’s death might not have spread out here. It made sense, though. With Sal at least. He ran his village like he ran his own life. Isolation and independence were in his blood.

  He leaned over and put one hand on Kait’s shoulder.

  “Forget what I said earlier. You may call me by my first name, as your mother did.”

  Kait nodded. “Thank you.”

  The tender moment passed as quickly as it had begun. Sal leaned back again and studied her with fresh eyes.

  “How’d it happen, if I might ask?” Sal then turned to the woman seated beside him. His wife or just the highest-ranked person here after him, Kait wasn’t yet sure. “Can’t imagine what could take down Reyna Diaz. Never met anyone with as much grit as that woman.”

  “That’s… also… sort of why we’re here,” Del said.

  Sal eyed him then, and the gravity in Del’s tone finally registered.

  “Go on then. Time you explained.”

  With the occasional extra comment from Del, Kait went throu
gh the brief history of the Swarm as matter-of-factly as she could. Sal was keenly interested in the telling of what happened at Fort Umson and, later, South Village. His face became a mask when she told him of Reyna’s death, though his eyes glistened with tears. He’d always been more a friend of Gabe’s than Reyna’s, but his respect for Kait’s mom was bottomless.

  “Other villages have fallen since,” Kait said. “Along… along with COG settlements.”

  “So what the hell are these things?”

  “Locust,” Del said, “sort of. They came out of the old burial sites. They’re like… an evolution, or something. We’re still not really sure.”

  “What we do know,” Kait added, “is that they’re growing, multiplying, and they’re relentless. So far they’ve avoided cities and the larger COG bases. They’re content with places like Fort Umson, or… like this.” She cast her gaze up at the sky above them, and the lean-to shelters all around.

  “Easy pickin’s?” Sal asked.

  “Well, yes.”

  “I’ll take my chances.”

  “That’s exactly what the other villages said. Before they vanished.”

  Salvador glared at her, the pride and defiance in his eyes faltering a little.

  “If you ever left this place, you’d see,” she added. “The villages near here… Holstead Croft, Five Pines… they’re all empty. Everyone taken.”

  “Taken for what?”

  “How do you think the Swarm is growing?” Del asked him.

  “I want to hear it from her, soldier.”

  Del raised his hands in defeat. “I’ll shut up then.”

  “Good.”

  “The Swarm…” Kait started, and she couldn’t stop the image of Reyna in her final resting place, that disgusting growth holding her upright, worming into her skin. “They take people and… convert them, somehow.”

  “Convert them? You mean…”

  “Into more Swarm, yes.”

  For a long, silent moment he simply stared at her, his keen hard eyes inscrutable. Kait held the gaze.

  After a time, Sal flicked a sidelong glance at Del, then returned his stare to Kait. “Is that what happened to your mother? Is she—”