Swarm

by Devon C Ford

  They could delay no longer so with a final equipment check by Geiger; Annie turned off the lights plunging them all into darkness. At a single command from Hendricks everyone hinged their night vision goggles down over their eyes and night turned to the proverbial day. The NVGs they had were the latest generation of military technology and the best that Amir’s factories produced. Not needing any ambient light to work, they digitally enhanced the light emitted from them which was invisible to the naked eye. Not showing the characteristic low green light that the older generation models did, they made us feel completely invisible to anyone else.

  I was in the middle of the column with instructions not to even touch my weapon and let the eighteen trained men do any fighting; I was strictly in self-defense mode only. With Annie giving us directions, we silently followed each other through the corridors, the only sounds were mine and Weatherby’s nervous breaths and soft footfalls.

  Hendricks had chosen to ignore the ones who had descended to the levels below us and only deal with groups or individuals who we couldn’t avoid. The rest could be dealt with later…or not.

  I tensed as Annie whispered in all our ears.

  “Four men, twenty-five yards away around the next corner. Two are sitting, two are lying down. None of them are aware of your approach.” Crouching low as those not fighting had been instructed to do, I watched as Hendricks and six others holding silenced weapons at the ready carefully rounded the corner and disappeared from view. Ten tense seconds later the low, barely audible popping sound of the pistols disturbed the air. The metallic clink of ejected brass making a louder sound than the spitting rounds as they pinged off the hard floor and walls to echo.

  “All terminated. Form up,” Hendricks’ whispered instructions came through our earpieces. Standing silently the remainder of us rounded the corner and approached the figures we could see standing ahead. Stepping over the bodies I saw each one had been killed with a shot to the head.

  Hendricks gave a low, humorless chuckle which made me question what I thought I knew about him. “I think this will be a walk in the park. We got within two feet of them before one sensed our presence. They all looked just about done in; if we carry on as we are, we should be out of here in no time.”

  Only a barricade of men armed with bows and arrows to get through then, I thought silently as the image of the deadly projectiles rattling off the walls and hastily built barricade sprang to mind. I thought about saying something but decided against stating the obvious.

  Thirty muscle-cramping minutes later, Hendricks and his team had successfully neutralized another ten men who either singularly, or in groups were on our route. Another five remained inside the complex but were too far away for us to deal with now. Annie, whispering in our earpieces as we left the stairwell and entered level one, told us we were one hundred and fifty yards from the entrance. The door was still partially blocked by Collins’ body and once we had removed it, she would close the door sealing the remaining ones inside.

  I forced myself not to break formation and run as the entrance got closer, my need to feel the sun on my face and breath fresh, unfiltered air and escape the claustrophobic confines of the complex was very compelling, but I stayed strong. Amir, who was behind me, helped calm me as I could hear him too whispering to himself as he tried to calm his urge to run.

  “It’s okay, Amir,” I said quietly, sounding better than I felt. “Almost there.”

  He grunted in response.

  The door was still opening and closing against Collins’ body. Hendricks, as he passed him, indicated for two others to pull him aside and clear the doorway. Two of the new additions I noted with gratitude treated his body with respect as they moved him. They had been told who he was and why he was there; he was one of us.

  With the lights still off Annie, once the last of us had entered the control room, closed the door. The room looked just as we’d left it after we escaped from Tanaka. Bodies still covered the ground in front of and beyond the rough barrier we had desperately constructed what seemed like a lifetime ago. Spent bullet casings littered the floor and the main entrance door was still jammed open with the rock. The low light spilling through the barely open door was magnified many times in our goggles. I lifted mine up and was surprised that to the naked eye it was only a barely discernable glow.

  A low whistle from Hendricks got our attention and we gathered around him.

  “Well done guys. Now the door is closed our rear is secure.” He looked at me. “Anderson, can you set your laptop up so Annie can send us the live feed from the drone. Then we can plan the next step.”

  I shrugged out of my pack, struggling a bit as the straps caught on my tactical vest until Weatherby helped me. Pulling the laptop out I opened it and waited for Annie to do her bit. I felt everyone crowding around as we waited.

  “You are now online,” Annie said as the screen blinked and then showed a clear but distant picture of The Source entrance, only a couple of hundred yards from where we were standing.

  Everyone lifted their NVGs so they could see the screen. The light from it cast a small glow around us so we could make each other out.

  “Annie, can you zoom in please?” asked Hendricks.

  “Of course, Jimmy,” she replied smoothly. “I didn’t want the rotor noise to attract attention, so I positioned it in what I calculated to be the optimum position to maintain stealth but still preserve adequate coverage.”

  As the picture zoomed in Hendricks muttered under his breath, “I’m sure you did my dear, I’m sure you did.”

  The scene didn’t inform us beyond what we already knew and expected to see. Figures leaning on the barricade stared at the dark entrance to the cave whilst others carried logs and branches to complete the barricade that stretched fully across the entrance.

  “Numbers, Annie?” asked Hendricks tersely, all business again.

  “Jimmy, there are eighteen men. Most are armed with axes and half have bows and quivers full of arrows. I estimate your chances of a frontal assault would be successful but potentially costly in terms of injury and potential fatalities. I would recommend caution and not to engage in a war of attrition.”

  Williamson spoke up. “Why don’t we just blast the barricade open with our grenade launchers. Job done.” He smiled as he indicated the launcher attached to the barrel of his rifle.

  “Captain,” Annie spoke sternly but with an air of respect, “I would not recommend that course of action due to the risk of further cave-ins.”

  He just nodded while those of us who had been caught in the earlier cave-in visibly cringed at the memories and terror of digging our way through the rocks and soil, expecting at any moment to be buried alive under thousands of tons of dirt. Hendricks, usually very composed, had a look of horror on his face as he blurted out, “No explosives. We can’t risk it I’m afraid.”

  Bringing himself back under control he continued. “We know the cavern will provide us with no cover and the barricade they have constructed looks strong enough to absorb our fire. The light entering it will also negate any advantage we had of working in the dark.” He looked at Captain Williamson. “How about you and I do a little recon mission and see if we can come up with a plan.” The big captain nodded in agreement.

  “Understood,” Williamson replied. Then turning to his men he said, “Hold here, boys. When the shooting starts don’t wait for an order, just hightail your asses after us because the plan might not be going as well as we hoped.”

  “You betcha, sir,” one of the soldiers chimed in. “No plan and all that…”

  Hendricks smiled and in the dim light waved his hands. “Indeed. No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” He patted Geiger on his back. “Look after the shop while I’m gone, old chap?”

  Both men pulled off their packs and after a quick but professionally thorough check of their main weapons and side arms, lowered their NVGs. After carefully and quietly climbing over the barricade they cautiously made their way
through the main door and headed up the sloping tunnel to the cave entrance.

  Halfway up the tunnel the light was strong enough for them to not need the enhanced vision of the goggles and they both lifted them from their faces. Entering the cavern, they both kept as low a profile as possible. Both knew that for those looking into the dark cavern from the outside, the chances of being spotted were virtually nil, but still they exercised maximum caution.

  Reaching a place where they had a good view of the barricade, they both raised their guns and used the optics to study it closely. After five minutes of quiet observation Hendricks tapped Williamson on the shoulder and indicated toward the tunnel. A few minutes later they entered the control room.

  It was impossible to see anything beyond the small glow created by David’s laptop which made planning and organizing anything difficult as everyone seemed drawn to the soft light akin to moths around a flame.

  Hendricks attempted to start the briefing but quickly got frustrated as easily identifying who each of us was whilst wearing NVGs proved difficult. He ripped them off his face cursing under his breath. “Annie?” Hendricks called softly. “Does the main door still work?”

  “Yes, Jimmy. The motors control system cut the power and shut it down to save damage when the door kept hitting the rock. Shall I reactivate it?”

  “Yes please. If we clear the rock, we can shut the door, get the lights on, and start planning properly without any fear of us being discovered. But Annie?”

  She bleeped her up-tone, indicating she was listening. A thought came to me on hearing the bleep. I hadn’t heard her bleeps indicating she was active or not for a while because she was always just there, ready to comment on, or add to a conversation or just help us out; sometimes even beating us to it and doing what was required before any of us thought to ask. But more recently I realized, she seemed to have dispensed with it and just joined in or spoke to us without using the sound cues I’d programmed her to respond with. I stored it away as another question to ask her when the time was right. No doubt though, her answer would make complete sense and make me question why I bothered in the first place.

  “Yes, Mister Hendricks?” she replied.

  “Can you make sure the motor can move the door both ways, I’d hate for you to close it and find out it won’t open.” He left the rest unsaid. There was no way any of us wanted to try the Dragons’ cave again.

  “Of course. I had already planned to open it fully once you clear the obstruction.” Her tone even sounded like she was really saying, “Do you think I am stupid?”

  Before Hendricks directed two of the soldiers to move the rock, he looked at me and raised his eyebrows as if blaming me for her sass. Picking two soldiers at random they willingly stepped forwards, picked their way through the piled-up bodies and easily pushed the rock aside. We all watched as the door silently and slowly rolled open before reversing direction and rolled closed. Annie, without being asked, turned the lights on the moment the door gave its final clunk as it locked into place.

  It took all of us a few moments of blinking and shading our eyes with our hands before our eyes became used to the unaccustomed glare of artificial light again.

  Smiling at us all, Hendricks began again. “That’s better isn’t it?” We gathered around. “As you’ve seen they’ve built quite a wall out there. What I propose is quite simple.” He waved his arm toward Williamson and his men. “We have with us the best trained men on the planet, so let’s get it done.”

  The men all nodded with wry, confident smiles. “I reckon we can do that boys, don’t you?” Williamson asked rhetorically. “We can show our limey boss here how we get a thousand years of sleep out of our systems.”

  Low growls of affirmation burst involuntarily from eager throats.

  Harrison thumped his clenched fist against his cured, rawhide armor, the dull sound silencing them. “We can fight too.” Pulling one of his machetes from the sheath on his back he brandished it in the air. “You have your guns which kill from a distance, but when you get over the wall, it’s these that you’ll need.”

  A few of the men stepped back, staring open-eyed at the tall, scarred warrior—scarce more than a boy—from another age as he fixed them all with a look of pure fervor. “I have been fighting them since I was a young boy. I cannot let you battle them alone, to do so would bring shame on me and my people, and I couldn’t call myself their leader if I skulk at the back and let others do the fighting.”

  Harrison stared at them all until Hendricks approached him and laid his hand on his shoulder, saying with a smile, “I’ve seen you fight. You’re right, we will need you and your blades once the fighting gets up close and personal. You too, Tori.” She nodded, standing straighter and stepping closer to her lover.

  Hendricks looked at Williamson. “You haven’t seen this pair fight yet; trust me you’ll need them at the front when it matters. No matter how good you think you are, once they start wielding their weapons, it’s enough to strike the fear of god into any sane man.”

  Williamson looked dubious until he saw the look Hendricks fixed him with. “Sure thing.” He turned and addressed the two warriors. “You stick close to me; we’ll get you close enough for some wet work.”

  “What about us?” Weatherby asked, including me in his statement with a wave of his hand as I stood next to him. I took an involuntary step back as though disinviting myself from whatever he was trying to involve me in.

  Williamson chuckled as he turned to us—the multimillionaire businessman and self-confessed man of limited physical abilities when it came to the fight, and the computer geek.

  I may be a computer geek, I thought as I jumped to my own defense, but I was also a proven hardass bug-killing champion.

  “Heroes one and all.” He paused at his own joke. “I was coming to you two next. We’ll need every one of us for the plan to succeed. If you two join Geiger here, he’ll find you a nice spot where you can take shots to support the main assault.” I looked at Weatherby who gripped his weapon tighter and seemed pleased to be included and not forgotten.

  “Any questions?” Hendricks asked. When no one responded he continued. “Captain, this is your show now. We’ll all have open comms, so try to keep the chatter down to business calls only. If Annie turns the lights off before opening the door, we’ll get into position at the tunnel entrance. Once in position it’s up to the captain when to begin.”

  He went around each of us individually—at least those not part of his original team fresh from the icebox—to make sure we all understood the plan before indicating to Williamson that he was now in command.

  “NVGs on, people,” he said curtly and then a little more unsure as he spoke to Annie directly for the first time. “Annie? Can you switch lights off and open the door?”

  “Of course, Captain. Lights off in five, four three...” It took me a few seconds of reorientation to once again get used to the artificial view created by the goggles. I picked out the form of the captain standing by the door as it gave a barely audible metallic clink as the locks disengaged and squeaked slightly as it began opening.

  Chapter 25

  A Cry for Help

  The goggles flared slightly as they adjusted to the increasing light levels the closer we got to the cavern. At a silent command from Williamson’s hand we hinged them up and waited for a few minutes for our eyes to adjust to the light seeping through the mouth of the cave. My eyes must be worse than the others because I could hardly see my hand in front of my face when Williamson’s voice whispered in all of our ears for us to start moving again. Putting one foot carefully in front of the other I moved forwards following the barely visible back of Jones in front of me.

  As we entered the cave, Williamson went to each of us and whispered instructions as to where he wanted us to position ourselves. I found myself with my back to the wall of the cave where I had a decent enough view of the barricade.

  Williamson silently formed his soldiers into two groups. He p
lanned for them to use the sides—I think these guys called them flanks—leaving us in the middle ground clear as like a free fire zone. In the low light, which was getting better so I guessed my eyes were adjusting, I checked my weapon. With my limited experience that meant checking it had a magazine attached and reminding myself where the lever was so I could turn it from safe to fire. I didn’t want a repeat of last time. I tensed and rested my finger on the lever when Williamson broadcast to us all in a whisper.

  “Fire at will.”

  Hendricks, Jones and Geiger immediately began shooting controlled single shots toward the heads I could see looking over the barricade. They all ducked from view—at least the ones who weren’t already dead—as soon as the first bullets were fired. Pushing the lever to take my weapon from ‘no bang’ to ‘bang’ mode, I raised it and looked down the sights to begin firing in the general direction of the barricade. I knew the chances of me hitting anything on purpose were remote but I understood the tactics of needing to keep our enemies’ heads down to help the assault teams, so I kept a constant rate of fire up. We’d restocked with ammunition from the stores in the bunker so all of my magazines were full, and we carried plenty more in our packs so running out wasn’t exactly my biggest worry.

  The teams on both sides of the cavern were moving fast, alternating between crouching and firing and advancing in a well-choreographed display that distracted me. I’d seen no arrows, or anything else being fired or thrown at us, so my guess was that the defenders were too busy avoiding our incoming fire to be able to do anything else.

  Now, I liked to consider myself a realist which most people saw as me having a real downer on everything, but this whole thing seemed to be happening much easier than I expected it to which told me that something had to go wrong sooner or later.

  Karma is kind of a dick like that.

  ~

  Tanaka ran at the head of his men through the dense forest, his desperate need to return to The Source pushing any thought of a cautious approach aside as he did the low branches and foliage that blocked his path. Sixty warriors, breathing hard on the lung-bursting sprint, kept pace with him as he crashed recklessly through the forest intent on violence, driven by a bloodlust he hadn’t experienced before.