Broken Arrow: Navigator Book Four

by SD Tanner

  “If we die then we die together. It’s all I asked for.”

  She’d said her greatest fear was to die alone and he was determined she wouldn’t. In the time he’d known her, she’d always thrown herself into whatever crazy situation he’d sent her into and her courage had earned his respect.

  Hurling her body onto the next level, she added breathlessly, “But I’d rather live. I can imagine us being together for a long time. You’ll lead the army.”

  Leaping to the next level and throwing his body to the left, he skidded against a critter that suddenly appeared by his side. Slamming it the ground, he ran to where Lexie had disappeared and jumped, piercing the gooey skin covering the hole in the ceiling of the tunnel. On the next level, more critters were clawing their way from the ceiling, clearly intent on making their way down the nest. Lexie had her weapon on auto fire and he ran to her, pushing her aside as he fired over her shoulder.

  “They’re coming back,” he said dourly.

  “Yep, I’m guessing Steve worked out that Boris was lying.”

  If that were the case then Boris would also know that Steve was onto them, meaning they had very little time before Jonesy would blow the nest. “How far is it to the surface?”

  Bashing into a critter, she jumped and disappeared inside of the next hole in the ceiling. “I can’t see the surface.”

  He couldn’t even begin to guess how far they’d travelled. Leaping from one hole to the next, he hadn’t bothered to keep count, and could only hope they were near enough to dig their way out once the nest collapsed. No matter what they did now, it would be a matter of luck if they survived. With the critters pouring back into the nest and Jonesy about to blow it up, they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

  When he reached the next level, Lexie was firing again. Along the entire length of the tunnel, the critters were nimbly climbing down the holes in the ceiling. Obviously, they had been recalled and the higher they went the more critters they would find. Facing the other end of the tunnel, he fired bullets down the corridor, painfully aware he was running low on ammo.

  “Keep going, hon, I’ve got this.”

  “Don’t leave me, Ark, I don’t wanna die alone.”

  “I won’t. I’ll be right behind you.”

  She wouldn’t leave him and he knew it. If he didn’t appear on the next level, she would simply come down again to find him. Although they didn’t agree, Lexie was convinced there was an afterlife and she’d told him to meet her there. It seemed like an odd request, but she’d been adamant and made him promise that he wouldn’t ignore her in heaven. When he’d asked why she was so sure it existed and that’s where he’d be going, she’d simply laughed, assuring him that he wouldn’t be sent anywhere else. Her view of him wasn’t one he shared. In her mind, he was a good man who deserved an eternity in paradise, but in his more simple view of the world, death was final and there was no reward to be had.

  Every level was becoming congested with critters and his heart sank when Lexie said, “I’m out of ammo.”

  “Just shove them outta the way and keep going,” he replied, knowing it wouldn’t take long before they would be overwhelmed.

  With another leap, she appeared above the head of the critters making their way along the tunnel and he ran into them, firing rapidly as he went. He was down to his last magazine and soon they would have nothing left other than hand-to-hand combat. With her smaller size, it wouldn’t take long for Lexie to be lost and he would quickly follow. In his head, he began bargaining with the God that he didn’t believe existed. If Lexie lived then he would gladly die. Making all sort sorts of promises to burn in hell providing she survived, he continued to fight his way towards the next hole.

  He was so busy arguing with a non-existent deity that the explosion caught him by surprise. The earth beneath his feet bucked so sharply he was thrown to the ground, feeling the thump of hard objects crashing into him as the tunnel began to collapse on top of him.

  “Ark!”

  Her voice wailed through his earpiece and he gasped, “Lexie! Where are you?”

  The ceiling collapsed and he found himself pinned under the soft dirt. When the crashing earth subsided, he switched to advanced viewing, desperately looking for the outline of her body. She must have fallen from the tunnel above them and he could see her frame outlined on the screen, no more than six feet from him. Lying on his back and using the strength of his hydraulics, he clawed at the ground, pulling his body towards her.

  “Lexie, talk to me.”

  She was also lying on her back, completely prone, making him wonder if she was dead. The explosion must have thrown critters into him and they’d damaged his helmet. Sharp spikes were flashing across his screen and he worried his visor might shut down completely.

  “Lexie!”

  When she finally answered him, her voice sounded thick with what he thought might be blood. “I’m hurt.”

  Still clawing his way towards her, he asked, “How are you hurt?”

  Now sounding vague, she replied, “I don’t know…sort of numb...”

  When she coughed, it sounded wet and he was convinced she’d punctured a lung. “I’m right next to you. Can you see me?”

  It took a moment for her to reply and she muttered, “It’s so dark.”

  Clearly, her visor had been damaged as well. Managing to grab her by the hand, he asked, “Can you feel my hand?”

  “You should go…”

  “I’m not leaving you.”

  “I could see the surface.”

  His visor was still flickering, but he scanned the area above him, seeing the outline of moving bodies. “I can see people.” Laughing sharply, he said loudly, “We won, hon, we won. The nest is down and there’s still people alive up there.”

  If he could have, he would have punched the air. They’d won. Steve was dead, more nests had already been taken down, and there were still people alive above them. The aliens had tried to kill them all and yet they were still here, albeit in lesser numbers, but with enough to start again.

  When Lexie didn’t reply to his gleeful declaration, he asked uncertainly, “Lexie? Are you still with me?”

  Her hand felt limp inside of his, making him wonder if she’d died. If she had then he should leave, but he didn’t want to. What would happen if she were still alive? It would mean she would die alone and he’d sworn that would never happen. His visor was telling him that he had twenty minutes of oxygen left before he would suffocate to death. If he moved now he would have just enough air to dig his way to the surface, but if he waited much longer then the cardio demands of clawing his way out would burn through the last of his oxygen before he made it to safety. He probably had barely enough air to get himself to the surface, so dragging Lexie with him wasn’t an option either.

  Squeezing her limp hand, he asked again, “Lexie? If you can’t speak then just squeeze my hand.”

  There was no response and he felt the muscles in his stomach contract. She was probably dead and he should leave, but for some reason he felt immobilized. Ever since he’d stepped on the bomb that had blown him apart, he’d lived on borrowed time. He should have died that day and maybe the only reason he hadn’t was that he’d still had one more thing to do. Perhaps he’d survived his wounds so he could lead the Navigators to defeat the critters, but that didn’t sound right to him.

  Turning his head slightly so that it was facing Lexie, he said, “I didn’t know why I survived my injuries, but I do now. I’m here for you, hon, and I’m not going anywhere. We’ll die down here together.”

  With the decision made, he let go of her hand and clawed his way until, although he was still buried under the dirt, he was lying close to her prone body. She hadn’t moved since he’d found her, and struggling under the weight of the dirt, he pushed his arm through it until it encircled her head and shoulders. His visor finally failed and his world went black, making him lose sight of the bodies still moving around above them. The fight left hi
m and he closed his eyes, steadying his mind while he waited for his oxygen to fail.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: I do or I die (Hood)

  Clawing his way along the corridor, he pushed Alice and Mark ahead of him. When the bomb exploded, the floor under his belly had rocked, bringing slabs of goo down onto him. The walls were literally collapsing and their only chance of survival was to get away from the epicenter of the explosion. While the walls and ceilings continued to fall, the goo held the dirt together, allowing them to claw their way further from the chamber beneath them. Where they’d taken a direct path to the bottom of the nest, now they could only hope the tunnels at the outer limits would still be intact.

  “Keep moving!”

  Neither Alice nor Mark replied, but their feet kept shifting in front of him as they clawed through the narrowed tunnel. After what seemed like forever, the tiny tunnel widened until it became possible to crawl on his hands knees, eventually becoming tall enough for him to stand. The walls no longer glowed and the tunnel was pitch-black and he switched his visor to advanced viewing.

  “The goo is dead.”

  “Does that mean the thing inside of the nest is dead?” Alice asked.

  “I guess so.” Looking up at the ceiling of the tunnel, lighter patches of greyness indicated some areas were not as densely packed with dirt. Guessing they were once holes covered by goo, he said, “Alice, get on my shoulders.”

  “Why?”

  “You need to find the holes in the ceiling and climb to the next level. Once you’re there you can pull me up and then we’ll both grab Mark.”

  Extending one knee for Alice to step onto, she placed a boot on his thigh and swung herself until she was sitting on his armored shoulders. Running her hand across the ceiling, she called, “Got one.”

  Grabbing her under the thighs, he heaved her upward and her legs disappeared from his grasp. When her head popped back through the hole, he raised his arms to be lifted. Grunting, she pulled him upward and he grappled with the dirt around the hole until he could pull the rest of his body onto the ground. Turning, he peered down the hole, extending one arm to Mark.

  Without taking his hand, Mark looked up at him. “This isn’t gonna work, Hood.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m never gonna make it back to the top. I’ll only hold you up. You two should go without me.”

  Climbing one level at a time wasn’t going to be easy. The goo that had been holding the walls together had died, meaning the packed dirt was becoming unstable. With the walls and ceilings of the tunnels shuddering around them, it was only a question of time before gravity would collapse the nest. If they moved quickly enough, they might stay ahead of its inevitable fall, but there was still a good chance they could be buried alive. If that happened then their Navigator suits would fail them. With the armor and the oxygen, they could be trapped under the dirt, still alive while they waited for their air to run out. It would be a slow death and with every breath, they would know they were dying.

  Faced with the prospect of being buried alive, he said sharply, “I’m not leaving you and arguing about it will waste time we don’t have.”

  “Seriously, Hood, I’ve lost a lot of blood. I’m barely on my feet.”

  Kneeling next to him, Alice stuck her head through the hole. In a sharp tone reminding him of a long forgotten drill sergeant, she shouted, “Get your ass up here! Nobody is left behind!” Putting her arm through the hole, she added, “Grab hold. We’ve gotta go now.”

  Seeming to forget they could hear him through their earpieces, Mark muttered, “Man, she’s bossy.”

  Once Mark joined them on their level, he again bent his knee so that Alice could climb onto his shoulders. It was going to take a long time for them to make their way to the top, and dirt was trickling down the walls on either side, making it clear just how unstable the nest was already becoming.

  When he reached his hands up for Alice to grab him, she asked archly, “So, did you mean it?”

  Scrambling onto the next level, he asked, “Mean what?”

  They both leaned into the hole to pull Mark through it. “That if we survive you’ll marry me.”

  Having completely forgotten about his promise, he tried to think of an answer that wouldn’t make her try to kill him again. “Umm…”

  As Mark scrambled onto the level, he said, “For fuck’s sake, Hood, just say yes. This one’ll kill you if you don’t.”

  While Alice looked for the next hole above their heads, she said, “I will not. I just think he’s not appreciating how lucky he is.”

  Considering he was stuck inside of a collapsing nest, likely to be buried alive, he wasn’t feeling especially lucky. “Things could be better, Alice.”

  As she pulled him through the next hole, she replied, “I can cook and I’m great in bed, so what’s the problem?”

  “I just never thought about getting married. I’ve been kinda busy.”

  As they each grabbed one of Mark’s outstretched arms, together they hauled him through the hole. “So, what’s stopping you now?” She asked irritably.

  To make it back to the surface they would have to cover anywhere up to a quarter of a mile. They’d brought plenty of power packs with them, but the nest was continuing to rumble. It was clear that they didn’t have much time before more of it would fall in on itself, plus he wasn’t sure how far the outer reaches of the nest went. There was a good chance they would have to move closer to the center of the nest the higher they went.

  Worrying wouldn’t improve their chances and welcoming the distraction, he replied, “Well, I’m still pretty busy. There’s a very real possibility we could be buried alive down here.”

  Mark had joined them on the level and Alice was again on his shoulders looking for the next exit. “She has a point, Hood. She’s young and pretty and pickings out there are gonna be slim. There are just not that many women left.”

  Pulling herself through the next hole, Alice said sulkily, “I don’t want him to marry me just because there isn’t much left to choose from.”

  Making his way onto the next level, they both pulled Mark through the hole. Walking along the corridor with Alice on his shoulders, his boot hit something hard. “What the hell is that?”

  As Alice disappeared into the level above, he ran his hands over the hard object, learning it was a downed critter. “They’re dead.”

  Chuckling, Mark thumped his shoulder hard. “We did it.”

  If the critters were down then they’d succeeded and all that was left to do was to get themselves out alive. Alice stuck her head through the hole. “Stop congratulating yourselves. We have to move.”

  Eventually they reached a level where Alice couldn’t find a hole in the ceiling. Dumping her back onto the floor, he said, “End of the line.” On one side of him was a dead-end and on the other was a collapsed tunnel, but it was made of softer dirt and should lead them back to the center of the nest. “We need to dig.”

  Mark’s energy was clearly starting to fade, leaving him and Alice to pull away the soft earth until a small tunnel opened ahead of them. “Alice, you’re gonna need to crawl through the dirt and find the exit.”

  Her body disappeared until all he could see were the soles of her boots. His visor showed the outline of her shape as she crawled deeper into the soft narrow opening. Grabbing Mark, he said, “Follow her.”

  “Seriously, Hood, I’m not doing well.”

  Fumbling through a pouch, he pulled out a shot of adrenalin. “Take this.”

  “That’ll only get me so far. Even if I make it to the top there’s no medical support.”

  Grinning to himself, he replied, “Yeah, there is. Dayton got the medics from the hospital into the helis. When you make it to the top we’ll radio for help.”

  Hearing that there was medical support available spurred Mark on and he took the shot from his hand, administering it through the neck on his suit. Mark disappeared next and he waited until he’d made it into the
narrowed tunnel before following him. The earth beneath his hands and knees was soft and, with his extra weight, he sunk into it. Surrounded by dirt, he should have felt suffocated, but the suit was shielding him from the fact he was actually crawling through a grave. Alice and Mark’s suits were outlined above his head and she stuck her hand through a hole that was filled with crumbling dirt.

  They were literally crawling through the softened earth, finding holes where the ceilings of the tunnels and chambers had once been. Although the frame of the nest was slowly filling with soft dirt, it had yet to completely collapse, but it would only be a matter of time before gravity and the weight of the dirt would break down the walls and floors. The higher they went, the less damaged the tunnels were and the more critters they found. Not one of them was moving and they had the flattened appearance of dead spiders. Crawling through the dirt to climb each level was more exhausting than falling down the holes, and adrenalin would only carry a person so far before fatigue would overwhelm them.

  Scanning the earth above his head, there was an outline of a truck, but that didn’t make any sense to him. “How did a truck get down here?”

  “It’s not,” Alice called excitedly. “It’s parked above us.” The outline of her body began to move faster and then she appeared above his head, standing tall. “I’m out.”

  Following her path, he found himself bursting from the earth where the dawn sky was shining down on them. Alice reached her hand to his and she pulled him to his feet. Looking around, he asked, “Where’s Mark?”

  She began scanning the ground, moving frantically from one foot to another. “I can’t see him.”

  Pinkish bodies were moving around the area and he called, “Help! One of us is still trapped underground.”

  At the sound of his cry, the pink bodies began to run towards them. Alice shouted, “I’ve got him. He’s about twenty feet underground. We need to dig him out.”

  All around him, people ran towards Alice and began frantically clawing at the ground, calling to one another as they did. Alice was in the middle of the crowd, using the power of her hydraulics to rip into the earth. His radio crackled to life. “This is Dom. Well done. Your region is clear of critters.”