by Michael Todd
“And getting shredded as a result,” he muttered quietly before he took their conversation to open comms when he noticed one of the men break away from the formation to approach them. They’d formed a circle around a small hill which gave them a clear view of the death on legs—and wings—that was inevitable once the animals decided that their reprieve had lasted long enough. Five wounded members lay in the center of the circle with no one to assist them. At that point, everyone who could aim a gun helped to hold the line.
“Heavy Metal, I presume?” the man asked. “I’m Lieutenant Alberts, the highest-ranking officer here.”
“A pleasure, Lieutenant,” Kennedy replied. “I’m Kennedy, and this is my associate Jacobs. We’re Heavy Metal. What’s the situation here? What are your casualties and why aren’t you guys heading out of the damn Zoo right now?”
“I—” The lieutenant started to speak, obviously accustomed to obeying orders when they were voiced in that tone, but quickly remembered that he was supposed to be the person in command. “Look, I’m the officer in charge of this mission, and if you join us, you’ll need to obey my instructions at all times.”
“I’m not here to measure dicks with you, Lieutenant.” She opened a private comm line that included only her, Sal, and the man in charge. “That said, to stay here and wait for the animals to continue their attack will merely condemn your squad to a long, drawn-out death. It’s time to change that.”
The man didn’t answer for a moment, and Sal realized that he had taken control of a situation that was well beyond his capabilities and simply did the best he could with what he had. He felt bad for the man but the soldier quickly realized that he now talked to someone who was not only a good deal more experienced in this kind of situation than he was but was also willing to move them out without completely emasculating him in the process.
“What do you suggest, Kennedy?” the lieutenant asked in a soft voice.
“Get your men to form up in double file,” Kennedy said. “Sandwich the wounded and those helping them in the middle and keep moving. Where are your extraction vehicles stationed?”
“About…ten klicks southeast,” the man replied.
“Okay, get them moving.” She closed the private line and moved away to scout the perimeter. Sal followed her.
“That was a classy move on your part,” he said as the lieutenant shouted orders. “I can’t say I would help the man keep his dignity in front of his soldiers after he doubted us like that.”
Kennedy shrugged. “Satisfying a grudge isn’t worth getting everyone here killed. Besides, it doesn’t seem like he meant any harm by what he said. He’s a newbie. This is probably his first time dealing with a situation like this, so there’s no real need to lay into him. He’ll learn his lesson and maybe next time, he’ll make the right decisions and get his team out without needing to pay us for the trouble.”
“Aren’t you feeling optimistic today?” he teased as the men formed up and began the retreat toward their vehicles.
She grinned and shrugged, retrieved a couple of smoke grenades from her pouch, and handed him one. “I’m a regular Mother Teresa out here. If she made her living gunning down alien animals for profit, that is.”
“I have to say, I’d watch that movie,” Sal said as they pulled the pins on the grenades. The animals noticed that the group had begun a hasty retreat and gathered quickly to push toward them again. The duo threw their grenades within seconds of one another. His arced out to the little hill where the group had previously taken a stand and where it would hopefully cover their tracks, while Kennedy waited for barely a second and dropped hers at her feet. The air was almost instantly filled with a heavy white fog of smoke and the team pushed on as rapidly as they could. The Heavy Metal team took position at the back of the line to protect the flanks and gunned down any of the creatures that tried to attack them from behind.
“So, Lieutenant,” Kennedy said and opened a line to the man whom she could only see through her motion sensors, “you never did get around to telling me about the casualty situation. Or how you guys were caught up in here in the first place.”
“Right,” he said and it sounded like he helped to carry one of the wounded men. “We started out as a team of seven on a standard run looking for the Pita flowers. A couple of panthers attacked and we had two men dead and another wounded before we were able to kill them. We stuck around and tried to get our bearings, but they continued to come in waves. At that point, we sent out the distress call, and a couple of other teams in the area tried to help us. They took heavy losses too.”
“Give me a headcount,” she demanded.
“All three teams?” The man took a moment to gather himself. “We had twenty-five total, all stated.”
She looked around and made a quick headcount. There were thirteen left, plus the five wounded.
“Shit,” Sal muttered and sounded almost awed. “And they say we have a body count.”
“Let it go, Jacobs,” she cautioned. The animals attacked in a constant ebb and flow now, which forced the two of them to walk backward to retreat with the rest of the team and keep the rear and flanks covered. The Zoo beasts took heavy losses, but a seemingly endless tide swept in and around them. They were a mixed bunch too—locusts, hyenas, and many other insect-like creatures. A couple of the panthers used the advantage of their ability to stay up in the trees and swooped down for an easy kill whenever they sensed a weakness in the line.
It was difficult to shoot them as they descended, but the precision of their strikes made it a kill or be killed situation. Sal found himself on the former side of that logic five times out of five jumpers.
He couldn’t help but remember the first time he’d trudged his way out of the jungle. Back then, he’d been fitted with one of those useless government-issued specialist suits with no weapons other than what he’d scrounged from the dead. Worse, he’d carried a pack almost as heavy as he was—that was how it had felt, anyway—as he ran for his life. He’d been sore for days afterward and while still in the Zoo, spent the whole time wondering exactly how he would survive. That raw focus and a sheer need to live despite everything had never returned in all his future visits. While that was a good thing, there was a small part of him that wondered if he would ever be faced with those kinds of odds again.
Sal shook his head and brought his mind back to the moment. He was surprised that he’d had the chance to wander off like that, all things considered. The constant gunfire had been replaced with the sound of people who forgot to turn their sound filters off and panted like they’d jogged through a jungle in half a ton of combat armor. He realized that the animals had backed off from their relentless assault, and people now slowed in response.
“No, no, no, bad idea,” he admonished them as he checked his rifle and scanned the trees around them. “We can’t slow down. They’ll come back, you can count on it. The scent of blood is on us and they won’t let up until we’re out of their territory—or dead. We have to keep moving.”
One of the soldiers looked at him and scowled deeply. Sal realized that there was a break in his armor and he was limping. It didn’t look like anything had gotten through the heavy plates, but physics dictated that any impact absorbed by the metal had to go somewhere. Something had crashed into the man’s leg and left him with what could be a career-ending injury if he pushed himself like this.
“Come on,” he said and drew the man’s arm around his own shoulder to help him keep his weight off what he believed was a broken leg.
“I’m fine,” the soldier protested softly but seemed grateful for the help.
“I know,” Sal replied with a small smile and focused on the treetops. “This is only for my own peace of mind, believe me.”
“You wouldn’t need it if these motherfuckers hadn’t plucked a fucking Pita plant,” the soldier confessed as they moved on. Kennedy pushed them at a good pace, even if they had slowed a little.
“You’re one of the rescue team?”<
br />
“Oh, yeah.” The man nodded. “Corporal Brian Telser at your service. We were doing a security patrol in this area when the message came in and arrived in time to save their asses, but at a heavy cost. These fucking first-timers don’t know what the hell they’re doing out here.”
“How do you know that they plucked a plant?” he asked.
“They denied it, of course,” the soldier said with a shrug. “But why else would the animals attack them this relentlessly? And why else would they offer a cash reward to help them get out of this?”
“I’d say that they have a big take and didn’t want to risk it,” he responded but kept his voice down. “But plucking a Pita plant? Nah. I survived a couple of those. It’s like the whole jungle suddenly decides to go to war with you. Even the trees. We wouldn’t have any respite at all if that was what happened, and the longer it took to kill us, the bigger and meaner the animals would get.”
“Why are the fucking things chasing us, then?” Telser asked.
“Sometimes, shit simply goes bad. The hyenas are a real problem since they travel in packs, but animals respond first to the sound of gunfire, and the smell of blood riles them even more. You have to stay on the move at all times or they’ll find you, and eventually, more and more will come until you get out or they finish you off. That’s how the Zoo treats people out here.”
“So you don’t think they have a Pita plant in their possession?”
“It’s not impossible,” Sal responded thoughtfully. “It’s not like this place abides by anything resembling rules, but from my experience, I’d say it’s highly doubtful. You’ll still be paid, though.”
“Thanks,” Telser said with a chuckle. “What’s your name again?”
“Sal Jacobs. No rank. Freelancer. Nice to meet you.”
“Right back at you, Jacobs.”
The group came to a halt at the lieutenant’s command and everyone paused gratefully for a rest.
“I managed to make contact with our people guarding the Hammerheads and they’re on their way in to pick us up,” Alberts said. He sounded calmer than he had been earlier and a lot more confident. The sentiment seemed to be shared by the rest of the men in the teams, who looked around with expressions of dawning relief. Their eyes all told the same story as they immediately set up a defensive perimeter once again.
They might actually get out of this after all.
“I don’t like this,” Kennedy said. She shook her head as she walked over to where Sal stood guard. The footsteps of her heavy armor made the ground shake slightly with each step. “To sit here and wait for the fuckers to come and get us gets on my nerves. We know that there’s nothing the animals would like more than to chow down on us.”
“The animals aren’t what I’m worried about,” he said softly, his gaze fastened on the trees once more. “Something is up there tracking us. It’s not an animal but has moved consistently with us. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it was those damned tentacle vine things, but… I can’t think of a reason why it hasn’t attacked us yet.”
Her gaze shifted to the trees that towered over the little group. She remembered those tentacles very well. The thought that something that wasn’t an animal or anything like that was out there and could track them was entirely unnerving. It meant that the very trees could be determined to annihilate them too. Any tree could kill them, and they were in the middle of a fucking jungle.
“And you still have no idea where they come from?” she asked. “There’s no sign of a source for those things?”
Sal shook his head. “There’s still too much that we don’t know about this place, and with the way it constantly changes, that could be the case for however long we stick around here. Despite the millions poured into research, we have no idea where these trees and bushes obtain sustenance, and nobody can make out the psychology of the animals either.”
“It’s like the Zoo is running its own experiments,” Kennedy said softly. “And nobody knows why.”
“Right. Ever since the start of all this, nobody’s ever returned from a visit to ground zero—where they first implanted the soil with the goop. Or if they have, I’ve heard nothing. If I were to hazard a guess regarding a place that might have some answers for us, I’d say that’s the place to go.”
“It sounds like a suicide mission,” she retorted as the familiar and welcome growl of Hammerhead ATVs headed their way.
“Or a career-making mission,” he replied, “for someone like me. To see and document what’s happening to the areas that have been exposed to the goop for the longest would make my name legendary in the academic community—and yours too. If that doesn’t interest you, maybe the amount of money people would be willing to pay for that documentation should be. You could buy an island, make it your own country, and become a petty dictator.”
Kennedy smirked. “Don’t think I haven’t considered it.”
“Well, it’s food for thought,” Sal said as the Hammerheads came into view. “If we ever want to talk about a job to end all jobs—one way or another.”
They stopped talking when the lieutenant approached.
“We really appreciate your support out here,” Alberts said with a firm nod. “I don’t think we would have made it without the two of you.”
She nodded. “We try to help humans in the Zoo as much as we can. We would have done it for free, but don’t think that we won’t charge you guys for the assist.”
“No worries, I’ve already transmitted the currency exchange files for you to sign,” he asserted with a grin. “You turn them in to the commandant’s office for your paycheck. That aside, do you guys need a ride out of here?”
“We have a Hammerhead of our own parked just outside the Zoo’s confines,” Sal said. “We wouldn’t say no to a quick ride over there. It shouldn’t be more than an hour out of your way.”
“We’re happy to help,” Alberts said and gestured for them to clamber aboard the vehicle.
Chapter Nine
She had been right, of course. They had been too chickenshit to fire her outright. It was a simple fact that she knew too much for them to simply let go like that. They also knew her too well to think that she would take that shit lying down. What she knew could be used to hurt them, either legally or economically, and they couldn’t have that. The members of the board all had names that spanned centuries of old money in the US, and they’d done that by carefully keeping their names in the shadows. Any company that they affiliated with would be closed down, either through investigation or the simple act of being outsmarted by any of the hundreds of companies that would get on their hands and knees to help them out. It was simple economics. Anything that would hurt their market shares was bad news.
She was off the board, admittedly, but she didn’t really mind that. It was all political ass-wiping anyway, and her time was better spent elsewhere. She’d been given a meaningless title and a corner office and basically told to stay quiet and treat her time there as an early retirement. Nobody cared how late she came in—or if she came in at all—so long as she spent the last few years of her tenure at the company without causing anybody any trouble.
It was like they didn’t know her at all, she mused, and sat at her desk. The office was pleasant, though. The view over LA was something she knew people would murder for, and the fact that she had a seven-figure annual salary plus benefits and full retirement guaranteed was supremely appealing. She could enjoy her life now, take up a hobby—maybe writing self-help books that would get her on book tours or cameos in TV shows. The world was her oyster.
That was what people thought Covington would do, anyway. It was what anybody in their right mind would do in her circumstances.
It wasn’t entirely personal, Andressa thought to herself. There had been a reason why Carlson had insinuated her into this company. He wanted any and all studies made into the Zoo to be connected to him. Unfortunately, with Little Miss Heiress’ stunt, she was left with no other alternative than to u
se brute force measures to shift things so they went her way again.
Monroe had ended up being more complicated to deal with than previously anticipated. That wasn’t much of a problem in itself. She could handle police investigations, litigations, and all kinds of legal problems with a wave of her metaphorical magic wand. It was when the woman had decided to take things into her own hands that things became difficult. First, she had gunned down the useless goons sent to kill her as if she’d done something like that before. After that, she’d refused to press charges or even cooperate in the police investigation. Finally, she’d broken into Andressa’s home and left a cow’s head there as a warning—in her bed, for fuck’s sake, while she’d slept through it. All the while, she’d used her newfound clout to push Covington out of the spot on the board that she had spent so many years cultivating.
So yes, it was a little personal. Under any other circumstances, she would have admired the sheer mass of Courtney Monroe’s balls in taking on something like that. She was right. The Zoo changed people.
In actual fact, Andressa felt a little cowed by the woman’s presence—a little insecure about her own standing, which was both unusual and uncomfortable. And more than a little scared for her own life. Everything she did now was simply a response to that.
Huh. What a psychological breakthrough. Her therapist would be proud.
That didn’t change the fact that when business and personal life mixed, a mess was bound to ensue. Andressa didn’t care. She merely wanted Monroe out of her life for good, one way or another.
Her gaze turned to the lovely oak desk as the phone rang. She could have sworn that she’d told her assistant to filter all calls.
“What?” she snarled into the receiver.
“There’s a Rodrigo on the line for you,” her assistant said and kept her voice low and soft. “You said to put his call through if you remember?”