Primal Link 2

by L Bowers

  “I… I can’t. They are too strong.” Aspen sounded small, but she was talking.

  “No, Aspen. They’re not. What they are is fast. Strong is you and me. Together, there are no machines that can stand against us. Together, we are the strongest hunter, and every metal-clad monstrosity is prey. Will you hunt with me?”

  I felt a stirring in her. Part of my great bird longed to sail the winds and strike from above. I was reaching her. “What do you say? Will you help me teach these abominations the error of their ways? Let’s show them what a hunter looks like.”

  “How?”

  I had her. My Aspen was coming back. So I sent her my plan, and she agreed. There was a lot of reluctance, but I reminded her of who she was and what she could do.

  A machine lunged, then dropped back when I feigned a move toward it. Aspen left me for the first time in a long while. Her body was huge in her emerald green form. She moved too fast for the flier behind us to get out of the way.

  I watched from her perspective and smiled as her beak pierced its metal hide. She continued forward as the energy that made up her body cut through the bird and opened it up to accommodate the new Aspen-sized opening. Then she was out the back of it and flying. Her target hit the ground. The places where she touched the metal glowed red hot, and it no longer moved.

  Aspen circled in a tight turn at a speed that should make the maneuver impossible. She hit the next bird with the same result. The last one rose as it tried to flee, but Aspen was there before it made it another foot higher. She smashed through it, then into me.

  I felt no pain as my great bird returned home. My wings appeared, and I rocketed up into the sky.

  “That was… So incredible,” Aspen said. Her elation gave way to shame and pain. “Ray, I’m—”

  “Let me stop you there,” I interrupted. “I understand, Aspen. You were traumatized by your death. I don’t see how you couldn’t have been. I should have been ready for what might happen if we ran across those things. I let you down, and I’m sorry.”

  “I wasn’t there when you needed me. For that, I am sorry.”

  “You were,” I replied. “If you weren’t here, I would never have been able to manifest the wings and talons I needed to fight. If you weren’t here, you wouldn’t have smashed those last three. You were dealing with some things, and I understand. Now, let’s go help the people we care about to make sure they don’t have to deal with the trauma of death you’ve had to endure.”

  “I am with you, Ray.”

  “I never doubted it, Aspen.”

  The fight had taken us a long way from the enemy camp. The HUD in my armor pointed me in the right direction.

  “Ray,” I felt the hurt and need for forgiveness in her.

  “There’s no need,” I said. “I know how you feel.”

  “Of that, I have no doubt,” Aspen replied in a stern tone. “That does not change what I have to say, and you will listen, young man.”

  “What? I… Sorry. Go on.”

  “Thank you. I failed you back there. When you needed me, I gave in to the fear I hadn’t realized lived in my heart for so long. For that, I am sorry, Ray.” There was a long pause, but I felt she had more to say, so I waited.

  “For reasons which I do not understand, you didn’t give up on me. Instead, you found the reasoning side of me and implored it to listen. You pulled me from the despair that tried so desperately to break me, and you gave me hope. More than that, you gave me the mechanism to destroy the source of my fear. Ray, I am yours from this day on. As long as you live, I will remain your faithful companion. Should your offspring become warriors, I will help them until there are none left, or one of them dismisses me.”

  “What if I dismiss you?”

  “Matters not,” she replied. “As long as you live, I am here. Dismissal from you will always fall on deaf ears.”

  “Thanks, I guess.” It was probably one of the weirdest things anyone had ever said to me, and I wasn’t sure how to react.

  “I understand the strangeness of my statement, but I will not take it back. Is there anything else you wish to say or ask?”

  “How about…” I let a minute pass. “Let’s go kick some ass.”

  “As you say.”

  26

  Goshawk

  When we reached the enemy camp, we came upon a scene straight from my nightmares.

  Angela and her team were engaged in a desperate firefight. The rest of the squad ran up the hill to crest the ridge and join them, but I wasn’t sure they would arrive in time to help.

  “Angela,” I said over our channel. “Remember the magnets on your rifle. Use them if the enemy gets too close.”

  “About time you joined us,” she responded. “How far out are you?”

  “I have visual, but it’ll be a minute before I’m close enough to help.” I hoped that minute wouldn’t cost me everything. It wasn’t a long time, but it could be a lifetime on the battlefield. “Can you hold?”

  “Ha,” Angela barked out a laugh. “I can hold until the end of time, sweetie. The real question is whether or not there will be any left for you when you get here. You better hurry, ’cause the prognosis isn’t good.”

  “I’m glad you’re so confident. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Focus on the task at hand and stop all the gossiping.”

  “Copy that,” Angela replied. “And you will pay for the gossip remark.” I sincerely hoped so. The feelings Aspen endured when she lost her bonded were there for me to experience. That was the closest I wanted to come to losing someone so important to me.

  With that in mind, I focused and formed my ankle wings. Then I tapped the reservoir and shot forward with a jolt. Thanks to the extra boost, a minute turned into twelve seconds. I used the HUD in my helmet to keep track.

  The circle around the recon team remained in a constant state of flux. Its boundary grew as more machines attacked. My Marines gained enough space that they could keep the creatures back and kill them at an ever-growing distance. Due to the debris that littered the ground around them, I wasn’t able to touch down in the circle. I wanted to be close to them. Who was I kidding? I wanted to fight alongside Angela. For that to happen, I would have to land outside the circle and behind the ring of machines. Then a fight of epic proportions would follow as I stood alone against the large group close to me.

  There was a better way. It meant not getting up close and personal with my main squeeze, but it also meant helping to end the battle sooner. I decided to go with my tried and true tactic and hit them from above as I passed. It worked great on the first pass. The addition of the energy from my inner reservoir gave my talons an extra six inches. I put the length to good use as I slashed machines and destroyed their innards.

  One pass was all I got out of the move. Pairs of the big cats with the laser domes on their backs moved through the crowd and spaced themselves out evenly around the ring. On my second pass, a barrage of orange beams the width of my pinky finger reached up to touch me. The run went from a slash-and-dash to an all-out dodge for my life.

  When I thought I was about to get clear, a beam at the edge of the ring lanced the outer wing on my left ankle. The metal of my armor warmed but didn’t get hot enough to burn. The wings were gone, though. So was my equilibrium as the sudden shock of it sent a spike of pain through the right side of my brain. That, coupled with the imbalance of having so much thrust from one side but not an equal amount on the other, sent me into a horizontal spin.

  Before I could react to the nauseating situation, the ground welcomed a new guest—me. All the emerald green manifestations winked out as I slammed down hard enough to ring my bell. Then the momentum of flying at near Mach One kicked in. I rolled and tumbled as I moved along the ground at incredible speed. There were objects in my path, which l didn’t see, but felt. If not for the alien armor, I would have shattered like a glass figurine.

  But I did have the armor. So when I stopped in a mound of dirt pushed up and around me by my forwa
rd motion, I was whole. Every part of me ached, and I wanted nothing more than for something to come by and do me the mercy of knocking me out. The helmet did too good a job of protecting my head and neck, so it hadn't happened.

  At the thought of my head and neck protection. I felt the stiffness around my neck. I couldn't turn my head or rotate it up and down since the armor locked in place. For that matter, I couldn’t move anything.

  Then I could. Every stiff joint became pliable, and I was able to move, not that I wanted to.

  “I’m pushing everything I have into, well, your everything,” Aspen said. “You should be all right to move in a moment.”

  “Pull from the reservoir,” I muttered. The pain clouded my mind too much for me to send the message in my head.

  “Reservoir? What’s this now?”

  “My power is stored up. There’s a lot of it. Use it to help. Follow the conduits.”

  “I don’t… Oh. I see. Yes, that should help considerably.”

  A cooling sensation hit me like a tidal wave. The screaming pain dulled to a whispering ache. It wasn’t perfect health, but it was good enough. I rose to my feet, which took more effort and time than I liked. When I was finally up and feeling winded, I started walking. Flight would happen again soon, but I needed a moment with my feet under me.

  “How did you come by so much energy?” Aspen asked.

  “Not sure. I was looking for a way to win when…” How did I say, “when you were crazy and unresponsive” without sounding like a dick?

  “I understand,” Aspen said. “Please, proceed.”

  “Okay, I was looking for a way to overcome the obstacles arrayed before us. In doing so, I found the reservoir. It didn’t take long to figure out how to use it. The conduits were a happy accident.”

  Aspen chuckled. “I hope you discover more happy accidents that grant us so much in return. Why are you still walking?”

  I sighed. “It felt nice to feel my feet on the ground and have my legs moving under me.” My wings manifested, and I was up and away. “Oh well, I guess there will be plenty of time to take a stroll when I retire.”

  The battle had raged on while I was gone. Reinforcements in the form of mechanical monstrosities had arrived and bolstered our enemy’s numbers. They crawled over their dead in an attempt to get to my team.

  Not that I had time to dwell on it. The moment I reached the outer perimeter of the ring, orange beams came for me. I was ready this time. My wings clasped tight to my body, and I dropped. At the last second, they snapped out and kept me from playing the part of a meteor. I continued forward while pouring on the speed. Placing my talons out in front kept me from running headfirst into a machine while flying inches from the ground. Not needing to flap my wings was a good thing at times like these.

  As we passed through the ranks of machines, my talons and wings sliced into any not fast enough to move. In the confined space the press of mechanical bodies created, that made for most of them.

  I’d made my descent facing a specific direction. That decision paid off when the machines cleared enough for me to see my target. The big laser cat liked to have room to move, it seemed. The other mechanicals gave it a wide berth, which translated to it seeing me before I hit it.

  The laser cat jumped. I moved faster once there was no resistance from slicing into metal bodies. My wings hit the laser cat’s legs at the knees, and I kept going. The cat landed hard on its stumps as it impaled the ground and effectively became crippled.

  I performed a tight turn using a few tricks I picked up from Aspen to manipulate my wing positioning. Orange beams shot my way, and I kicked off the ground with my hands and feet going above the rays. I slammed into its face, talons-first. My wings beat frantically to keep me moving forward as I tore through the machine.

  I burst out the rear and let out a whoop of joy. You have to celebrate the small victories in life. No way did I stop there, though. I hit the next machine and tore it apart. I didn't stop until I had cut a swath of destruction twelve feet wide all the way to where my Marines fought.

  “It’s about damn time,” Angela shouted. “Now get up and give us a hand.”

  Stopping meant falling on my belly. So after Angela got her verbal licks in, I pushed myself up and stood. “Have you guys seen any of the dark rocks?”

  “No, but if you want to take a few minutes and look, that might be helpful.” If not for the threat of imminent death, I would have come back with a smart remark.

  While I knew the rocks would go a long way in helping us to get this fight done, I also knew we had to survive. So I went back to swinging my wings around like some crazed hell’s angel on a mission.

  The long emerald wings gave me a much greater reach, so Angela and her team moved away and left me with a wide section to be responsible for. That was fine since I was having fun. To help with the fight and my accuracy, I pulled the bird’s head over mine and allowed the sharper vision to aid in placing the edges of my wings where they did the most damage.

  A dog sentry fell at me from above. Its trajectory made it seem as if the beast was thrown. I spun and let the bisected machine fall to the ground. Then another came, and two more. Soon, machines as large as the stags were being chucked at me. One or two at a time was no problem, but when four headed for me in a staggered column, I knew I was in trouble.

  Instead of attacking the airborne menace, I dove out of the way. My wings vanished as I completed my somersault and came back to my feet. Once up, my wings were back. Good thing too, since I had to use the side of one to bat aside another stag.

  I jumped and let the green ribbons of light shoot me into the air. Orange beams immediately came at me from all around. To keep from being hit, I had to fall back and open my wings at the last second, then land on my knees. The pain was real, but there wasn’t time to feel it. An orange beam fired from too close came at my chest. Instinct kicked in, and my wing moved to intercept. The beam hit and shattered my wing in a vicious explosion that launched me.

  “What the hell?” Kopf shouted. I looked up from where I lay on my back, expecting to see him, but there was no one. I realized his voice was in my helmet and not over me.

  “I think something exploded.” I grunted as I pushed myself onto my elbows.

  “Yeah, I would say so,” Angela replied. “Take a look at what you did.”

  I looked around and wondered where everyone went. Then I saw them in the distance. Marines helped each other to their feet. It looked like smoke rose from some of their uniforms, but it was hard to tell from where I lay.

  “You need to snap out of it,” Aspen said. “The explosion was far greater than you suspect. Get up and see it from above.”

  I wasn’t sure if flying was a good idea considering how I felt, but I decided to go with her recommendation. She hadn’t steered me wrong yet. Getting to my feet so I could manifest my wings wasn’t as easy as it should have been. It would have taken me longer if not for the sudden screams in my ear. I looked over, ready to let them know how much of an asshole they were being when I figured out why they were screaming.

  A bipedal machine with long arms galloped toward me using its arms as much as its short legs. The sight of the smooth black face with no features bearing down on me turned out to be a great motivator. I leaped up and went into the sky faster than I could think about doing so. The machine also jumped, but its trajectory fell short, and it traveled under me before heading back down.

  As soon as it hit, the gorilla machine tore a tree from the ground and spun, then used the momentum to fling it at me. My eyes went wide at the display of raw physical power.

  “Move!”

  I dodged to the side but took a bunch of leaf-clad tree branches to the face. The impact sent me flying sideways, but it wasn’t enough to knock me out of the sky. The carcass of the laser cat it threw as its follow up would have, though.

  I dove at the lifeless machine. Aspen shot out from me to hit it head-on. Without her, the wings on my back vanishe
d, but that was fine. I was on my planned path. The machine blew apart as Aspen tore into it, then spread her wings wide. The opening allowed me to pass through with minimal contact from debris. Aspen snapped back into me before I reached the gorilla.

  I would like to think my sudden appearance behind the vanished bird startled the machine. Since it didn’t have a face, it was hard to gauge its reactions. Instead of worrying about it, I manifested my talons and pinned the thing to the ground using my body as the nail.

  Getting free took a fair bit of work since I not only punched a hole through the machine but was buried up to my shoulders in the ground under it. Pulling from my reservoir allowed me to grow my talons until they were almost scimitars. Then I made short work of the machine around my torso and pulled myself free.

  “Are you all right?” Angela asked as she crouched beside me.

  “What the hell happened back there?” I asked. My head still spun from the explosion although I felt Aspen pumping energy into my brain.

  “You blew up half the robot army and almost took us out with it. You don’t know what happened?”

  “A laser cat attacked me.” The words came slowly as my memory struggled to show me. “An orange beam came at me, then I put my wing between me and it. That was it. The beam and my wing colliding caused the explosion.'' I looked down, expecting to see the armor I wore blackened and charred, but it was fine.

  “Yeah,” Angela said as she followed my gaze. “I have to get one of those.”

  “If we find one, it has your name all over it. Promise,” I said.

  Angela helped me to my feet where I was able to see the last of the battle. The most interesting thing was Kopf. He popped into existence behind a stag, thumped it on the head with a big black rock, and it fell to the ground and stopped moving. Then he vanished and appeared next to another machine.

  “I see Kopf managed to find a big enough magnetic rock,” I said.

  “It’s a lot easier to do when you can go invisible,” Angela replied. “Most of the time I had no idea if he was in the shit fighting or off on a break sipping from his canteen. He seems to be doing his part though, so I won’t give him shit over it.”