Orion Protected

by J. N. Chaney

  I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I slumped back onto my harness, and a smile touched my lips that no one could see but me.

  “Hey—hey, you guys?” Tong’s voice came through the channel hesitantly. “I didn’t mean to connect to your channel. I was going to say something, but the conversation was so intense, I didn’t want to butt in. I don’t know how I joined the line. I’m trying to figure out how to leave.”

  “Me too,” John said, swallowing so hard I could hear it via the comm unit. “I wasn’t going to say anything and just figured out how to get off the line once you two ended it, but since Tong’s being honest, so will I.”

  “Lucky for you two, I’m too tired to be embarrassed and too happy to care,” Stacy said with a laugh.

  “Yeah,” I added. “I guess it’s not really a secret anymore anyway.”

  “You two are wonderful together,” Tong said. “I know everyone will be happy for you.”

  “Man, that would have been really awkward if she shot you down,” John said with a whistle. “I mean, I can’t imagine how awkward that could have been.”

  “I wouldn’t have said anything if that were the case,” Tong said. “It would have been better for me to just stay quiet and let you stew in your shame as opposed to letting you know I was witness to it.”

  “Well, okay, guys,” I said, rolling my eyes. “She didn’t say no, so we don’t have anything to worry about.”

  “Still,” John said. “We all dodged a bullet on that one.”

  The way John said those words made Stacy laugh, then Tong joined in, and eventually a laugh burst from my lips as well, breaking the tension of the awkward moment. I couldn’t help it. We were all exhausted, and to be honest, laughing didn’t just feel good. It felt great.

  We spent the next few hours talking about the dumbest things, like how we missed our favorite places back on Earth. We explained to Tong what bowling was, the rules of pool, and watching our favorite holo films. He thought it was all so confusing and asked us several times what the purpose of these things was. I didn’t think he understood fully even after we explained, and he must have thought Earth was the most bizarre place.

  It turned out John was a fan of ancient westerns as well and we went off on a tangent about actors that had existed so long ago.

  When the power armor units exited the canyon, the sky was barely turning a shade lighter. Tong didn’t have to give us a warning to look at the small screen in the lower right-hand corner of our power unit screens. We all saw it together.

  Tong had moved the low-flying satellite ahead of us to get us a view of the Orion as soon as possible. Thus far, the stragglers Legion had infected were a mix between random humans, Rung, and native alien creatures, all heading to the Orion.

  What we saw now gave us all pause. I heard Tong suck in a deep breath.

  The satellite showed fires all over the Orion. Sections of the wall looked like they had been bent but not broken.

  A horde the likes of which I had never seen crowded the outside of the wall. Humans and Rung had to have numbered in the thousands. The alien creatures that were there counted for at least a quarter of Legion’s power.

  “How can there still be so many?” John asked. “How can there still be so many?”

  “Can you—me?” Iris’ familiar voice reached our channel. “Can the —me?”

  “Iris.” Stacy was the first to speak. “Iris, this is Stacy. I’m with John, Tong, and Dean. We’re coming back from the east in four large power armored suits.”

  “Stacy, I’ve been trying to reach,” Iris said. “I’m going to patch you through to Elon right away.”

  “Stacy, Dean, is that you?” Elon asked. His voice sounded tired and strained.

  “It’s us,” Stacy answered. “We’re coming to you from the east. We’ll swing around the south wall. We’re in powered armor suits. Tell everyone on the wall not to shoot at us.”

  “Hold on,” I added. “The cavalry’s arrived.”

  “It’s so good to hear your voices,” Elon said with so much emotion, I thought he might be crying. “I’ll let them know. Hurry, the walls are nearly breached.”

  Seeing the overhead satellite feed through the screen was one thing but getting a look at it in front of us was another matter entirely. My stomach twisted at the sight. Fires had broken out inside the Orion’s walls. Portions of the walls were battered and scorched. Other sections still burned.

  The army of infected that Legion controlled moved away from our approaching power armor suits instead of racing to attack. This was a move that surprised me. It did more to put me on edge than give me a sense of relief.

  If Legion was retreating now it was for a reason. We didn’t surprise him or catch him off guard. He knew we were coming.

  What are you up to now, Legion? I asked myself. What are you up to now?

  “Defend the wall near the front gates and spread out from there,” Stacy advised us. “Be careful. Legion is up to something.”

  The tide of infected continued to recede like waves back into the ocean as we approached. There were at least a thousand of the infected. Most were human or Rung that didn’t really pose much of a threat to the power armor suits. A few of them held blasters, but I felt sure enough that none of them would be able to penetrate the armor’s exterior.

  The only animals that looked strong enough to take on the armor units were the large alien creatures I had first seen in the jungle. Their hides were black and red. Two hooked horns came together on either side of their mouths while another sprouted from their forehead.

  They were thickly built like overgrown rhinoceros. Their horns would come chest level with the powered armor suit. What was worse was that there were a lot of them. Too many for me and the others to take head on. I would want to avoid them at all costs, preferring to go up against the humans and Rung infected. I was unsure if the weapons we had would penetrate those thick hides of theirs.

  A cheer from the weary defenders on the wall rose into the air as they welcomed us home. As soon as word spread that the power armor units were on their side, trepidation had turned to joy.

  “The front gates can’t take another hit,” Elon said via the shared channel. “Be careful. They have fire projectiles as well. Legion has taught the infected to use larger weapons. If I had to guess, he got them from the Rung they infected.”

  “Got it,” Stacy said. “Hang back and give us cover from the wall.”

  Movement from the infected ranks halted any other conversation. A familiar form walked forward, holding his hands in the air. A black smile crested his lips. Captain Ezra Harold separated himself from the Legion ranks and approached us.

  “Very impressive, very impressive,” Legion said with a smile so genuine, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end and a chill run down my spine. “I didn’t think you’d get out of the bunker alive much less arrive here in time to try and save your friends.”

  “We’re going to burn you,” I said. “This all ends today.”

  “Maybe, but probably not,” Legion said with a shrug. “I outnumber you ten to one. Even with those fancy Rung suits of yours, you still don’t stand a chance. I have weapons to deal with you, creatures to use against you if the weapons fail. Oh, and I learned a neat little trick I think you might like to see.”

  Legion paused here for dramatic effect. When no one answered, he scratched the underside of his jaw.

  “Okay, you’re not going to ask, I get that.” Legion almost looked disappointed. “So I’ll tell you. I’m always learning and evolving. One thing I’ve been working on is how to not only spread to the living but the dead. And guess what? After years of trying, I’ve finally managed to do just that.”

  “Oh no,” Tong said in our private channel. “He can’t mean what I think he’s saying.”

  “What’s he talking about?” John asked. “He’s going to raise the dead, like make zombies?”

  A panicked sweat fell over my bro
w as I realized what the insane virus was about to do. I felt sick and angry at once.

  “Elon, make sure Arun is tied down. If she’s in one of her blackout states right now, this could be bad,” I said over our private channel. “Tell Ricky.”

  “Why? What’s going on?” Elon asked.

  “Just do it,” Stacy said, picking up my meaning. “Don’t let her hurt herself.”

  “Legion,” I boomed over the exterior speakers of my suit. “Don’t do this. I don’t know if there is anything good inside of you, but you don’t have to do this.”

  “There is nothing inside of me but the need to spread and consume,” Legion said, literally spitting black saliva as he spoke. “The need that others gave to me. Do you think I want this? Do you think I enjoy the itch that I can’t scratch that drives me to spread?”

  He shouted like the maniac he was. He shoved his hands into the air, taking in the scene around him.

  “I hate this! I hate all of this. I hate what I am. I hate what I was born to be, but to try and change would be an act in futility.” Legion shook his head, lowering his arms. “I am what I am. I can’t change that. I’ve accepted that and have embraced moving forward. But I digress. I was going to show you the next stage in my evolution.”

  Legion lifted his right hand and snapped his fingers.

  Every single infected in front of us, be it alien, animal, Rung, or human, turned to one another. Those that held blasters pointed them at one another, while those that did not placed their hands on each other’s necks and heads.

  The alien creatures maneuvered their jaws around necks while the Rung and humans positioned bladed weapons around their own throats.

  “Don’t do this!” Stacy yelled out. There was frustration in her voice, more so than sadness or anger. We all knew we were helpless to do anything but watch.

  “I am your god now,” Legion said with a smirk. He lifted a blaster tucked behind the back of his waistband and pointed it over the center of his chest. “I can raise the dead.”

  With that, he pulled the trigger.

  20

  I lunged forward, not really knowing what I thought I was going to do. Even if I did somehow stop the body of Captain Ezra Harold that Legion controlled, it didn’t mean I could stop any of the thousand others infected behind him.

  I just knew I had to do something. My lunge took me halfway to him, but of course it was too late. Captain Harold’s body exploded in front of me, and I swore I witnessed his humanity return behind his eyes, the ebony fading into brown momentarily before his orbs shut.

  Not only Legion’s shot, but weapons were fired throughout the crowd of infected, necks were snapped, and jaws were clamped shut. In front of me I watched in horrific awe as they all died at once.

  “No!” Tong screamed.

  Some people were crying on the wall, others yelled out in rage. I slumped to my knees in the mech suit causing the unit to do the same.

  Bodies lay prostrate in front of me like so many fallen leaves during the first sign of autumn. They lay on top of one another since they were in such close proximity, they didn’t even have room to fall. Some collapsed on one another while others lay face down, buried by still more bodies.

  “Why, why?” Elon said over the channel.

  Rage boiled inside of me. Anger like I had never known before demanded an outlet.

  “To the jungle!” I shouted, rising to my feet. “Legion’s core is at the base of the stone that looks like a lightning bolt. Lou knew it before any of us ever did. If we kill the spores there, we kill Legion. That’s where he’s hiding.”

  “Dean?” Stacy’s voice broke my rant. “Dean, look.”

  Something in her voice halted my own angry thoughts. I looked over to the horde of dead bodies. I thought it was my imagination at first. Slowly, they rose to their feet, almost as though they were being lifted by an invisible force, an army of marionettes controlled by an invisible puppeteer. Black eyes stared back at me from the army of the dead.

  As one, they began to walk backward into the jungle interior just north of our position.

  “I told you,” Legion said, still using Ezra’s somewhat destroyed body as his mouthpiece. “I told you, I am a god. I am beyond death. I control the dead.”

  My eyes saw it, but I still couldn’t comprehend what was happening in front of me. Every infected that had been killed, be it by a blaster to the chest, having their neck snapped, or another means, was on their feet. Black blood spilled from their wounds.

  Some had their head twisted to the side, others gaping wounds in their bodies, but still they walked into the jungle as if nothing was wrong.

  “You come for my heart?” Legion asked. “Well, come, then. You think those suits of steel will protect you? I control the dead. Everything that has been dead or will die is mine. Come into the jungle and see how far you get. I will—”

  I had had enough of Legion’s talking to last me a lifetime and then some. I clenched my right hand into a fist and pressed the button allowing the five-foot blade to recede from its sheath.

  In a single swipe, I took the head of Ezra Harold. There was no point in holding back now. It wasn’t like we could save the dead. Ezra’s head fell from his body in a shower of black liquid. The body stayed upright, bent down, picked up the head, and trotted off into the jungle, still oozing the black substance.

  “We kill him now,” Stacy said, stalking forward as she made her way to the jungle.

  “I’m with you,” John said, following in his power suit.

  “There are too many of them,” Tong said. He sounded sick over the comm. “I want to kill him too, but the jungle is his playing field, and with those numbers, we wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “I’m not going to stand here and let him infect or kill anyone else,” I said, following Stacy. “This comes to an end now.”

  Tong followed resignedly as the four of us made our way to the edge of the jungle. Legion wasn’t bothering to hide his plan well. Just inside the dense foliage, I could see him. He stood with thousands of his infected, looking at us with smiles as if he were inviting us in. Even Harold’s head, which Legion still held, had a smile on it.

  If this is the way I go, then this is the way I go, I thought to myself. No more running.

  “Stay close together and watch out for those larger animals,” Stacy warned. The rotating weapons on her shoulder popped up, ready to be fired. “If one of us goes down, then the other covers for the wounded. Watch each other’s backs.”

  “I’m with you,” John said.

  “Let’s buy the survivors at the wall as much time as possible to regroup,” Tong added.

  “The rock shaped like a lightning bolt,” I reminded them. “The plant where Legion remained for so many years in hiding, the one that holds the oldest spores is there. Burn it.”

  “Maneuvering the satellite there now,” Tong said, his voice dying in his throat.

  We all saw what he did. An aerial view of the jungle showed us the lightning bolt rock a few kilometers in. That was not what caught our eye. There were so many figures in the jungle between us and the lightning rock, we’d be wading through a sea of infected.

  “I’ll take the lead. Follow me,” I said, shrugging my shoulders as I brought my own cannon up. Pressing my shoulder back, I opened fire.

  Both hands clenched into fists as my right hand brought my blade and the left bellowed a stream of fire.

  Infected of every kind as well as trees and underbrush were cut down as the four of us opened fire on the infected dead. They fell by the dozens. Return fire came from those that held weapons in the form of rockets, heavy blasters, and their own flamethrowers.

  The smaller caliber rounds pinged off our armor without causing harm. The larger rockets and grenades were what we had to worry about.

  Legion threw his infected at us with total abandon. As we stalked forward, they didn’t wait and rushed us with everything from blades and weapons to their bare hands.

&
nbsp; I kept the cannons firing on my shoulders and used the flamethrower on any who cot within its reach. The stench of burning flesh and something else I couldn’t identify permeated the air. I was sure the armor muted the odor somewhat, but enough of it came through. I could just imagine what it smelled like in the actual outdoors.

  Incoming rockets and grenades did more damage to the infected horde than to us, but Legion had numbers to spare. He had no worries at all about losing a few lives. Particularly since he could bring them back to life if he chose. What kind of chance did we stand against that?

  I took a rocket to the chest and another to my shoulder. The impact spun me around in time to see the power armor unit to my right go down hard.

  “Son of a—” John said with a grunt. “Watch out for the heavy artillery. “I have smoke in my suit.”

  John’s voice turned to panicked coughs.

  I put my back to him, going down on a knee. I focused my fire on any infected going for John.

  Stacy and Tong did the same, cutting through wave after wave of infected.

  “John, get out of there,” Tong shouted. “We’ll cover you, get out!”

  More missiles and grenades peppered our area, creating more smoke, stink, and confusion.

  My heart sank. We were barely a dozen meters into the jungle before John’s suit went down. At this rate, we would all be dead and infected in minutes.

  The ground shook and an alien bellow reached our ears. To the left, a herd of the infected animals that so closely resembled oversized rhinos charged our position.

  “Dean!” Stacy yelled.

  “I see them,” I shouted back.

  Together, we focused fire on the crazed animals with ebony eyes and dark liquid pouring from their mouths.

  One, two, then three of the creatures stumbled and went down. There were still more descending on our location like battering rams.

  There are just too many, I thought to myself. The idea of giving up knew better than to ever present itself, but the odds didn’t lie. We were outnumbered by thousands to one.