by Dan Decker
“You have a will to live,” Roth said, “I’ll give you that much.”
I looked at her, breathing heavily, wanting to rip into her, but knowing that was the last thing I should do even though it would have been gratifying to give in to the urge.
I inhaled deeply. “What do we do next?”
Roth gave me a curious look as if she had expected a different response from me. “It’s time for us to procure the package.”
She hopped off the building, I followed her.
49
I kept a close eye on the battle all around me while I fell, trying to figure out if we were winning or losing. The soldier I had run into had made it clear that we were withdrawing, confirming something Roth had said as well, but judging by the battle that did not look like it was happening yet.
A ship from our side appeared in the sky, entering through the atmosphere. It was far smaller than the great lurker ships, and it hardly slowed while suited soldiers hopped out. It was surreal to see them hopping out of a ship without a parachute even though I had done the same thing not so long ago. They were each spaced out by a second, putting them hundreds of feet apart from one another as they descended. Moments after leaving the plane, they activated their anti-gravs. It appeared they were organized into squadrons of four because after four had joined up, they flew towards the back of Camp Myers. The next four went somewhere towards the other side, making me think they had assigned areas they were supposed to target.
The suited soldiers flew like small squadrons headed towards their various battle objectives, using the propulsion system I’d seen Roth use.
“What’s going on here?” I asked as we fell. “Why are more soldiers being dropped in? I thought we were abandoning this place.”
“Not without a fight, we’re not. This place is burned now as a training ground, so we have to evacuate all the recruits and find a new world where we can activate and train new soldiers.”
You mean kidnap the dead.
“That does not mean we’re giving up this place as an outpost,” Roth continued. “We are going to fight tooth and nail, and we are going to win.”
She said this last part is if trying to convince herself, and I supposed that she probably was because even with the addition of the other suited soldiers, it looked like we were fighting an uphill battle. Our people were vastly outnumbered, a detail I had missed when first approaching the camp.
From the corner of my eye, I caught a glance of some soldiers without suits. One popped up momentarily using their anti-grav boots but then disappeared a second later after using a large weapon to fire a laser at a nearby lurker, sending the creature down into a smoking heap.
“How many soldiers do you think are out there? Suited and unsuited?”
“Not nearly enough,” Roth said with a tone that made me think she thought I was asking too many questions. Perhaps it helped that our suits appeared to do a better job of protecting us against their weapons than their armament did of protecting them against ours. Our suits were unnatural, whereas they were born with theirs as far as I could tell.
“The lurkers seem to go down easy enough, is there something I’m missing here?”
“The suit you wear is an expensive thing to make. Most of our soldiers don’t have them. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s many men on the ground fighting without a suit. It is just because of a happy set of circumstances that you got trained on one when you did and that you currently have one in your possession. Don’t make me regret giving it to you.”
“Will do,” I said as we cleared the last level. I came to a stop while hovering a foot off the ground. I noticed another handful of soldiers who only wore light protective gear. They had large weapons on their shoulders that they aimed at the lurkers. They were far more careful than those in suits. If they missed, they would have a mad lurker coming their way with little for protection.
A soldier—possibly the one I’d seen before who had been successful in taking out the lurker—hopped up into view again, hovering just above to take a shot at a lurker that headed directly towards us. The lurker flipped in midair and fired off a volley of blasts, obliterating the flying man, his light armor having done nothing to protect him.
The lurker was still coming our way when it was taken out by another laser, I did not see who fired it.
Roth deactivated her anti-gravs, so I did the same. The unsuited soldiers who I’d seen a moment ago had already disappeared. I had not noticed whether they had gone into the building or around. The street had several dead lurkers that I kept a careful eye on while pointing my hand in their direction, afraid they might be playing dead to catch us unaware.
When Roth came to a set of double doors, rather than trying to open them, she just bashed them in and entered, having to duck so her head could clear the doorway. As I followed her, I ducked as well, but my head still hit the top of the door frame and broke free a piece of metal that clattered to the ground.
Roth turned back, a wry smile on her face. “Careful. Not everything in here is made for a man your size.”
I looked around the room. Was anything here made for a man my size? Even without the suit?
We were in a long hallway. I stopped at the first door and looked in while Roth went on. It appeared to be an administrative room. There were rows of desks with the same type of computers I’d seen back in my training camp.
The room was empty.
I quickly caught up to Roth as she turned into another room that was outfitted with desks and computers. This room had several offices along the far wall, all of which were empty.
“I would’ve expected somebody in here to oversee the battle,” I said.
“It is typical for marauders that all leadership is in a suit and out among the soldiers. It inspires greater confidence.”
Marauders?
Roth strode to the back of the room where there was an elevator, she pushed the button.
The elevator door dinged and opened. Roth stepped inside before turning and holding out a hand. “Wait. Take the next one. This will only hold one suited person at a time. We are going down to the fifth level.”
The door shut and she disappeared. I waited for several seconds, and then assumed that this would function like elevators from back on earth, and pressed the button to go down so that it would come back up once Roth got off.
The elevator light lit up.
Then the wall behind me caved in.
50
The lurker appeared to have crashed into the building by mistake, coming through at an angle that put it almost parallel with the wall. It took out the first row of desks. I brought up my hand and pressed the trigger while counting before it rolled out and disappeared into the sky.
I pried my finger off the trigger but kept my hand pointed in the same direction, afraid it might come back for me. I could hear its wings buzzing outside as if it were lurking, waiting for an opportunity to attack.
The buzzing disappeared, so I figured it had left.
Just as I was about to turn back to the elevator, it came in head first, blasters blazing, partially crashing through the wall again, sending pieces of brick and debris at me. I already had my hand back up with my finger pressing the trigger, but before I could get off a shot, the first three blasts from the lurker’s weapons went right into my chest, lighting up the suit each time. I had a red flashing light in the corner of my eye by the end.
Cursing, I activated my anti-gravs without thinking and put my toes down, shooting up through the ceiling.
I went straight up to the next floor, tearing through rafters and floorboards as if they were only made of cardboard and paper. I stopped my upward momentum the moment I was through the floor, and hovered a foot above the hole I had just created.
I was in a conference room.
I flipped the conference table out of the way as I moved out from over the hole and turned, expecting to find the elevator right behind me so that I could go down while just i
gnoring the lurker below, but it appeared the lift only went down because there were no doors up here. I heard the lurker and looked down through the hole in time to see its jaguar like head looking up to see where I had gone.
It roared as I pressed the trigger. I was glad the creature’s body kept its weapons away from me, but then it turned and brought up its blasters, firing blindly into the room.
I ducked out of the way.
I was a little surprised at how easily I’d gone through the ceiling. I looked at the wall and figured I could do the same. I couldn’t remember if it had been brick, wood, stucco, or something else on the outside. I went through the small window. The wall was made of sterner stuff, but I still broke through with ease, taking much of it with me.
I landed, deactivating the anti-gravs. I held down my trigger as I entered through the hole the lurker had created.
It looked right at me while twisting in the small space to get its blasters angled back towards me. I brought up my hand and shot the laser through its bundle of hands, the beam going out it’s back and harmlessly hitting the far wall.
My move had not killed it, but it had severed a couple arms and a leg.
The lurker spun and hit me with a clawed leg, sending me careening into the wall like I was a ragdoll. I went through and landed in the office space I had stopped to look at when first entering the building. As I got up, the lurker came through the wall after me. I had already pressed the trigger but was forced to release it as I dove out of the way to avoid a volley of blasts.
I was back on my feet and activated my anti-gravs. I spread my heels and zoomed into the other room as the lurker spun and followed.
Cursing, I went up the hole in the ceiling and skated backward, so I was looking at the hole while holding down the trigger.
It’s head popped up and my laser went off.
This time it was dead.
I counted to five while holding down the trigger and shot it one more time, just to make sure I had really taken care of it, then I floated down through the hole and went over to the elevator.
When I pressed the button the door opened.
Just as I was about to get inside another lurker entered the building through the hole created by the previous one.
I slid over and pushed my toes down so that I shot through the ceiling as it launched something that looked like a bowling ball. I was already through the first floors ceiling and kept going through the next.
The blast wave was barely discernable in my suit, but the building rocked and started to collapse.
51
Fearing that I was about to get pinned down, I spread my toes, and shot through the wall, back first, trusting that the suit would protect me through this maneuver. Contrary to what I’d thought, the building appeared to be holding up just fine, at least on the outside.
“Anders, are you there?” Roth asked as I emerged on the other side.
“I’m here, just dealing with a little bit of—” My suit lit up like it had just been hit by a blast. I turned to see a lurker coming straight towards me from the sky. I pressed the trigger, pointed up, and zoomed out of the way while trying to keep my hand level on the lurker. When it finally fired, it tore the lurker in two.
Finally, a spot of luck.
“Say again?” Roth prompted.
“A pocket of lurkers attacked.”
“I’ll give you a couple minutes to get it sorted out.” Roth seemed irritated by the distraction, but what else could I do?
I opened my mouth to encourage her to go on without me, but I desperately wanted to know what the classified mission was about and had been surprised when she had invited me to join her below.
I was going down if I had to kill every lurker to do it.
I landed again beside where the lurker had created a hole and went through with my finger depressing the trigger. I looked around, but the lurker had disappeared. The building might not have fully collapsed, but most of the walls on the first floor were severely damaged.
My heart sunk when I saw the elevator. It was now twisted metal and broken brick.
Cursing, I slammed the crushed elevator doors with my fist and was surprised when I nearly knocked them free.
Of course.
I reached for the first door and found that I could pull it out with minimal effort. I tossed it back and pulled out the other door as well, heaving it behind me as I looked into the shaft. The elevator itself was gone, I assumed it had gone down to the bottom. The inside of the shaft was caving in. If Roth was going to escape, she needed a way out just as much as I needed a way down. I activated my anti-gravs and slid into the elevator shaft, moving carefully to avoid loosening any more debris before I stopped and hung there, studying the crushed ceiling. It looked like it would hold, but I didn’t have high confidence that it would hold for long if the building were to be hit with another bomb.
There was no way the elevator would work again.
I opened my mouth to tell Roth about the damage but decided if I did, she might go on without me. It was best to deliver it in person. I spread my feet and sunk into the shaft, going down as fast as I dared. As I descended, I kept count of the floors and stopped when I got to the fifth. I floated there, thinking at first I should just try to bash my way in before I decided to give Roth warning that I was there.
I tapped on the elevator door, forgetting my own strength and causing the doors to buckle.
“Is that you?” Roth asked over the radio.
“Yeah, there were some difficulties, but I’m here now. I probably have to knock the door down to get in.
Roth cursed. “I take it the elevator is down?”
“Affirmative.”
I heard her swear again.
“What did you do up there?”
“Survive.”
“I’m out of the way,” she said in a brisk tone a moment later. “Do it quick.”
I could tell she was frustrated at the delay and the loss of the elevator, but there was not much I could do about any of that now. I kicked the door, and was surprised that it flew into the hallway. It had been more challenging to remove the doors on the first floor.
I entered and looked at Roth.
“I’m here.”
Roth stalked away. “Finally.”
She stopped at a set of doors at the end of the hallway.
“I would have gone on, but I wanted you to stand guard,” she said as a disembodied voice told her she needed biometric identification before she could proceed.
“Look alive,” Roth stepped out of her suit and turned to me. “I set up the radio between you and me so that it is always on when suited, but you can talk to people who are not in your suit, just press the button by the pinky of your right hand. Also, you always lock up your suit whenever you get out of it in a combat zone, understand?”
So she could hear me the whole time and just responded when she wanted.
I nodded as she turned to her suit and muttered something, closing it.
I pressed the button. “Are you getting back in your suit before you go inside?”
“No. Don’t follow me, at least, not until I give you the go-ahead. Got it?”
“Sure.”
Roth frowned at my tone before she put her face up to the door. A bright red light scanned her eyes. A screen to the side flashed green. A rod protruded from the wall that requested a saliva sample, which it processed before the doors opened to let her in.
I was tempted to disobey her order and watch, but she had a tendency to leave me behind without warning, so I decided to not test her. I waited while straining my ears to overhear what was going on inside the room, but heard nothing.
A minute passed, then it was two. I thought I could hear something up above and went towards the doorway, listening at the elevator shaft, but heard nothing more.
Roth called out.
“Be right there.” I studied the top of the shaft, wondering what was happening up there.
I realized
that I had forgotten to press the button so she could hear me. I pressed it.
“Be right there.”
A moment later I stood outside the room. Roth had come out to meet me and muttered something about how I should be out of my suit for this, then shook her head and said something else about not having the time.
“What I’m about to show you is highly classified. I will kill you if I ever hear you mention this. I will knife you in the back with no warning. I won’t even think about it afterward and certainly won’t feel guilty. Got it?”
I nodded.
“Okay.” Roth turned towards the door. “Come here, honey.”
A little girl walked out, she wore pink pajamas.
52
To: Brigadier General Katrina Roth
From: Lieutenant General Regina Adams
Log date: 00429.211-18:57:17
Re: The asset
General Roth,
Has the asset been evacuated or not?
I have heard from a little bird that you are undertaking a rescue mission in Camp Myers, I just hope that that you evacuated the asset and did not bring him with you on this ludicrous mission.
Lieutenant General Regina Adams
53
I looked at Roth and had a hundred different questions, but knew I should not ask them in front of the girl. Hope fluttered in the back of my mind because the child made me think of my own son that I had left behind, perhaps it was not so far-fetched to think I might find my family.
A pipe dream.
The thought cut me off guard.
I would not give up.
I will find them.
Another thought occurred to me. Why did they activate a little girl?
“I have a hard time understanding why a child would be kept classified.” I folded my arms, or at least I tried to, it was not comfortable in the suit, and I soon put them down by my side.