by SD Tanner
“I think there’s someone in there.”
“Why?”
“The curtain on the main window just moved.”
Miranda was five months pregnant, and he worried that if he managed to get her outside, she wouldn’t be able to climb the chain link fence quickly enough. The gate on the driveway was closed, but if he opened it, Jas could reverse the police cruiser into the yard. All he needed to do was get Miranda into the car, and then they could drive away from any critters that might attack them.
The curtain gave another noticeable twitch, and this time there was a flash of dark hair he recognized well. “That was Miranda.” Relief flooded through him. “I’m gonna open the gate, and then you should reverse onto the driveway. I’ll help Miranda into the car.”
Opening the car door, he stepped onto the road holding his Desert Eagle ready to fire. If they were lucky the critters wouldn’t notice them, and he moved slowly and quietly across the road to the gate. It was a simple latch, and he gently moved it aside, pushing the gate open. Jas was slowly moving the cruiser to reverse onto the driveway, being careful not to rev the engine loudly. He was again reminded of the good instincts she had for this type of situation, and wondered whether she should train as a Navigator.
Moving at a low crouch, he padded across the dry lawn until he was under the main window. Peering over the ledge, the curtain moved slightly again, and he found himself staring into the wide, teary eyes of his daughter. She silently mouthed, “Dad.”
When he pointed to the door, she glanced worriedly in the direction of his hand and shook her head. Clearly, the house had critters in it, and she was hiding from them inside of the room. He lifted his handgun until she could see it, and she shook her head again. It meant there were too many critters inside the house and he wouldn’t be able to shoot his way through them. Frustrated, he pointed at the window. Tears were beginning to streak down her face and he knew she was terrified. Placing his hand on the window, she put hers against his and they both smiled. Whenever Jenny was angry with her, Miranda would always go to him, and he would assure her she was still loved no matter how naughty she’d been. She would curl up on his lap and smile again in the sad way she was now. His heart contracted, and for the first time since he could remember, he prayed to be lucky.
The window opened by pushing it upward and there was a screen covering the glass. Needing to remove the screen, he stood up and tried to understand how it was attached. Pulling a knife from his belt, he pierced the soft fabric at the edge of the frame and slowly cut along the edge. He only needed to release two sides and, once they opened the window, he could pull Miranda through it. With the wire mesh hanging loosely, he pointed to the window again for Miranda to open it.
The frame creaked loudly, as if it hadn’t been opened in a month, and he suspected it probably hadn’t been. Miranda froze and looked sharply to her left. A piercing static howling came from inside the house, and quickly holstering his gun, he used both hands on the glass pane to try and push the window up. The screeching intensified and was attracting other critters to the house. Despite his efforts, the window didn’t budge. He quickly pulled his gun from its holster again and smashed the butt of it into the glass. Long, wide shards of glass collapsed from the frame, and he reached inside, grabbing Miranda by the arm.
With the window broken, he could hear the door to the room splintering and Miranda’s screams. There was no time to waste, and hooking his meaty arm around her chest, he hauled her through the window. Her legs scrambled awkwardly against the sill, and a thin black arm shot through the curtains, grabbing for her ankle. He couldn’t see the critter through the curtain, but he fired anyway hoping to dislodge it.
The butt of the cruiser appeared behind him and the trunk popped open. Without thinking, he stepped back, pushing Miranda into the trunk as he tumbled inside after her. Hammering the inside of the car, he roared, “Go! Go! Go!”
A critter was climbing out of the window and stared directly into his face, before leaping towards them. It would have landed on him, but Jas hit the accelerator hard and his leg trailed on the grass as she drove through the gateway, clipping the fence as she went.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Civilized critters (Leon)
“Can you get an aerial view of the nest before we get there?”
“Sorry, Leon, but we don’t control the satellites. All we can do is download images, and it depends on what the cameras have been focusing on,” Ark replied.
“What’s the last shot you have?”
“It’s from two weeks ago, and it showed the same pyramid structure you saw a month ago.”
Lexie interrupted their discussion. “With the visor we can see three miles ahead, so we don’t have to get too close.”
“I hear that, Lexie, but these fuckers move fast, and they might be able to communicate with one another. If they see us, they might send reinforcements.”
They were driving into a hornets nest of critters, and after their first engagement at the trailer house, he was now very confident they could be overwhelmed. Dunk hadn’t designed the Navigator gear to fight indestructible monsters, so the kit was no longer entirely fit for purpose. They weren’t experienced enough with how the gear worked and nor could they use it that well.
Thinking hard, he said, “We know they’re attracted to sound and movement. The trucks are too noisy. We should park them at least three miles from their last known position and go in on foot.”
“That’s too far, Leon,” Jenna objected. “If you need an emergency extract again, we won’t get to you fast enough. Remember what happened last time?”
He certainly did recall their last recon of the nest. They’d lost one of their troopers to the critters that exploded from the ground, and had barely made it out alive. If it hadn’t been for Jenna’s swift response to Ark’s call for an evacuation, they all would have died. As it was, the critters had followed them for five miles before breaking off their attack.
After learning that some of the critters could fly, Bill and Dunk had grounded the two helicopters at CaliTech, but he realized they still needed to watch the skies. The airborne critters were acting as an alien air fleet and it gave them the upper hand.
“We should have visor eyes on the sky.”
“That’s a good point, Leon,” Ark replied. “We should have rigged cams to the vehicles…and we should do the same at CaliTech.”
They needed someone watching the skies, but he needed every Navigator he had to deal with the critters on the ground. Lexie had the best-advanced vision, plus she could interpret what she was seeing faster than they could. With his heavy automatic freestanding gun, Tank had the best firepower, but using him to monitor the skies was a waste of his capability. Trigger and Tuck were experienced combat soldiers, and he needed their ability to fight. Jenna and her team of four were their extract squad, and he couldn’t distract them from what they had to do if they needed to get out fast.
Once again, he noted that he had too many problems and not enough skilled resources. Sighing unhappily to himself, he said, “Jo, can you put on one of the visors and watch the skies?”
“I can, but I don’t know how to use the gear,” she replied worriedly.
“It’s easy,” Lexie said confidently. “You don’t have to do anything other than look where Ark tells you to, and anything green is a critter.”
They were only five miles from the nest, and he had Jenna stop the convoy while they got Jo into a helmet. He knew the visor vision was disorienting, and the electrical systems in the armored vehicle could interfere with their scanners. Jo would need to stay on top of the truck once they were in position three miles from the location. When they were back on the road, they covered another three miles before the convoy stopped again.
Once his Navigator squad had assembled outside of the two trucks, he said, “We’ll travel on foot in the same formation as we did at the trailer. Put your power on full loading. Tank, bring extra ammo.”
“That’s n
ot a good idea,” Lexie replied dourly. “The gear drinks power and we’ve only got so many power packs with us. We’re gonna need some for the city.”
He shook his head. “I don’t care. If we get too low on the packs, we’ll bug out back to CaliTech. There’s no point conserving power if we’re dead.”
Lexie paused and seemed to be staring at him, but then she moved into position at the front of their formation. There was so much he didn’t know and it worried him. Were they in the right formation? How far apart did they need to be? What were the power demands under combat conditions? Unlike when he was in the army, he couldn’t just ask a more experienced soldier. Nothing was known about using the Navigator gear in real combat, and they would have to learn while their asses were hanging out. Not only was it less than ideal, it was practically suicidal.
With more confidence than he felt, he ordered, “Let’s get it done.”
Despite telling Lexie they would use whatever power they needed, he had them run at six miles per hour. In combat, they could usually call in whatever support and supplies they needed, but he was painfully aware there was no one to back them up. The terrain was dry and barren with only scrubby bushes and, through his visor, the land was overlaid with a grid. The bushes were outlined to let him know they were classified as impenetrable.
They covered almost two miles in twenty minutes before Lexie called, “Stop!”
She was only ten feet in front of him, and he collided into her back, knocking her forward. “Cut it out, Leon. That’s not funny.”
Analyzing his visor screens, and trying to understand what she could be seeing through hers, he ignored her complaint. “What’s the problem?”
Ark replied for her. “There are masses about half a click ahead of you.”
Lexie had dropped to her knees and was crawling along the desert floor. “Lexie! What are you doing?”
Still trying to interpret what his visor was showing him, he used the screen command to zoom half a mile ahead. The terrain looked much the same as where he was, and he fumbled with the options on the screens looking for a more informative spectrum.
Standing, Lexie said confidently, “I can’t see anything, Ark. Can you?”
“Nope. Underground looks clear.”
“What’s half a mile ahead?” He asked.
“I’m not sure. We keep seeing flashes of color and then they disappear. The weird thing is they seem to be suspended in the air.”
“Are they the airborne critters?”
“Only if they’ve taken to hovering ten feet above the ground,” Ark replied dryly.
“What do you recommend?”
“Proceed with caution.”
Taking Ark’s advice, he ordered, “Let’s drop to a walking pace. Tank, take point. Lexie, keep eyes on the ground. Tell me if you see anything that looks even slightly wrong.”
“Yeah, okay,” Lexie replied vaguely.
Stepping forward, he batted her shoulder. “Pay attention! You need to focus.”
Pulling away from him, she replied indignantly, “I am! I’m scanning the ground. Sheesh, I woulda thought you guys would have learned to trust me by now. When have I ever let you down?”
Usually a soldier gave a clear and definitive answer, and he needed to remember Lexie wasn’t one. To be fair to her, she’d fought well by their side, but he was deeply worried about their lack of experience with the Navigator gear. Being told there was something they couldn’t identify in front of them had heightened his need for control over his squad.
“Point taken, Lexie, but understand we’re in a dangerous position. If they swarm us, we’re fucked.”
“Uh huh,” she replied, once again distracted by doing as he’d ordered.
“Tank, I want maximum firepower forward. If you see anything you don’t like, do not hesitate. Everybody stay close. These fuckers won’t be shooting at us, so don’t spread out too far.”
Setting off at a steady walk, they stayed within six feet of one another, ready to form a tight perimeter if they needed to. Lexie was in the middle of the formation, but she was clearly distracted by monitoring the ground beneath them. He knew Ark was at central command with his eyes glued on the screen. From his position on point, Tank could unleash hell at anything that came for them. It was as much as he could do as they stepped into the unknown.
Once they’d covered the next half of a mile, they finally saw what Ark had been seeing. When he used reality viewing, it became clear why central command couldn’t work out what they were. The desert ahead of them was dotted with ten-foot high mounds of dirt that blended into the sandy surface of the land. Giving off no signal, the visors wouldn’t see them as anything other than the dirt they were made of.
“Halt,” he ordered. “Ark, what are they?”
“I don’t know. Lexie, take a look at those mounds.”
If he could have, while he waited for Ark to report back, he would have tapped his foot impatiently. With his heavily armored feet and shins, all he could do was stand still, but he tensely played his tongue over his chipped tooth. The sharp edge was cutting into it, but he welcomed the distraction.
“Woah, did you see that!” Lexie exclaimed.
“Yeah, I did, but where are they going?” Before Lexie could answer, Ark muttered, “Dammit, just how fuckin’ deep are they?”
“Somebody talk to me,” he ordered sternly.
“We don’t know what to tell you,” Ark replied steadily. “We’re seeing flashes of critters inside the mounds, but they keep disappearing. Lexie’s monitored the ground for the last half click and there’s nothing under it.”
“What does that mean?”
Sounding impatient, Lexie replied, “It means they’re too deep for the scanners, but there could be tens of thousands of them under us.”
Switching to reality viewing, he stared across the flat plain, and there were at least a hundred similar mounds scattered as far as he could see. Each was ten to fifty feet from the next, and with a sharp jolt of adrenalin, he realized where they were.
“Shit. It’s a city.”
“Critter city?” Tuck asked skeptically. “Since when do cockroaches build cities?”
“Just because they look like over-sized insects doesn’t mean they are,” he replied tersely. Continuing to scan the desert, he added grimly, “We have to get outta here.”
Even as he spoke, the mounds became a frenzy of movement as critters poured from the top of them. Some burst from their homes, exploding upward and into the sky. Others scuttled rapidly down their hilly home and onto the flat plain, sprinting towards them.
“You’ve got boo-coo movement topside and below,” Ark said steadily. “Evac is on its way.”
“Fire! Fire!”
He didn’t really need to tell them. Tank had already opened fire with his freestanding gun and was unloading a storm of bullets. Critters were exploding with the impact of his controlled bursts. Tuck was allowing the on-board computer to control his left arm to fire, while using his right to fire his freestanding gun at anything that neared their position. On his left Trigger was doing exactly the same. Lexie had both arms raised above her head and looking at the sky he saw why. Critters were swooping and circling above them.
With critters continuing to stream from the mounds closest to them, he called, “Tank! Use your grenades on those mounds.”
When Tank fired grenades at the mounds, they burst into a cloud of dust, temporarily sealing the entrance to what must have been a deeply buried nest.
“Pull back!”
On his orders, the squad began to step backwards, steadily pacing and continuing to fire. The trucks were on their way, but he didn’t want them anywhere near the nest. They needed to create some space in the attack so they could turn and run.
Firing at anything on his left and right, he shouted, “Lexie, take point to the trucks.” She stopped firing above her head, and he ordered, “Auto-target on. Fire above.”
He wasn’t sure his computer would
know what he meant, but his arms began to move rapidly, sweeping the horizon, and firing at anything near and above their position.
Tank was stepping backwards while still firing forward, and they slowly began to pull away from the city of critters. When he turned around Lexie was ahead of him, still firing at anything on her left and right. If they used auto-targeting, the computer wouldn’t shoot them, but trying to turn in their heavy gear while still firing was a tricky proposition. His screen flashed he was low on ammo and he reloaded without thinking.
“Leon, you need to outrun them. Go,” Ark said calmly.
“Roger that.” He shouted over the gunfire he could hear even through his thick helmet, “Pull back! We’ve gotta intercept the trucks.”
On his orders, Tank, Tuck and Trigger turned their backs on the city and began to sprint. Tank’s top speed was only ten miles per hour, but as mid-level Navigators, they could run as fast as twenty miles an hour. He didn’t want to leave Tank behind, but the critters could move just as fast as he could. Without being asked, Tank used his fast release to drop his shoulder armor and picked up his pace. Now running at fifteen miles per hour, the trucks appeared on his visor screen one mile ahead of them.
“Jenna, turn the trucks around and wait, we’ll catch you up,” he panted.
The oxygen demands of running at even fifteen miles per hour in full armor were intense, and he ordered his computer to feed his helmet with a continuous stream of oxygen. The more he used the gear, the greater his respect for Lexie became. She’d said the kit was buggy and hard to use, and she wasn’t wrong. It had never been designed to deal with this type of enemy, and he wondered if it was good enough to mount an effective attack against a well-defended critter city.