Reclaim: Books 1-3

by J. A. Scorch

  Hoang and his team of armored guards took no chances when they escorted Teve back to his room. Binding his arms with zip-lock cuffs and chains, they made a small circle around his body as they pushed him through the facility. Hoang stayed within earshot, babbling away about Teve's impressive results and the potential they might yield for the war effort.

  Teve didn't want to listen to how he had been transformed into an unholy weapon despite knowing in the back of his mind how efficient he would now be at killing Zeal. All he could think about was the escape.

  According to Mish's note, she had managed to arrange a plan, executing it tonight with the aid of Corporal Dorsey. Teve wondered why the guard wanted to help or if he was being coaxed into action. He figured the man couldn't be trusted until he actually came through.

  After a supervised meal and shower, Teve got sent back to his cell for a long night of rest. Midnight was a long way off. He had no way of setting an alarm, so he did what he could to stay awake while resting in bed.

  The events of the day claimed him, pulling his mind and body into a deep sleep after a short time. The nightmares began on cue.

  With the latest batch of the doctor's poison in his system, Teve couldn't help but drift back to the Zeal base. His mind found itself inside the tall alien structure, staring up at walls covered in human misery. Arms and legs twitched as one, adding to the alive sensation the building possessed. He saw their faces: the soldiers he failed.

  Adams, Vargas, Kline, Thomas. The list went on as each face closed in on Teve, breaking through the barriers he kept in place to stop himself from caring. It was the only way to lead men and women to their deaths, fighting an unsinkable enemy.

  X shoved through the crowd of dead soldiers—his blades shimmering in the purple light.

  "Join us. Become one with who you are."

  "You can't fight it, Sergeant," Hoang said from behind X. "You are here to change the very future of this war."

  "No," Teve yelled as he stumbled backward. "You can all go to hell. I'm nothing but a soldier in the UEF. This is not my destiny."

  "Don't fight it," Mish said, holding his hand to the side as she came into view. She ran a hand over his cheek as the rest of the noise canceled itself out. X and Hoang slipped away along with the faces of the dead.

  "Don't fight what?" Teve fell to his knees.

  "You can't win two battles at once. You must choose. "

  "Choose? I don't know what my choices are. Tell me. "

  Mish continued to stare and ignore his pleading. Her hand ran over his jaw until she gripped his chin in her tight hand.

  "You must choose."

  Her other hand came up and slapped Teve across the face. A white flash struck his eyes. When he turned back to face her, a gas mask stared back at him from the night.

  "Wake up, dammit," Dorsey said, shaking Teve's shoulders. "Time to go."

  Teve gazed around the dark room as only the light from the moon revealed Dorsey's gas mask in front of him. In a quick flash, he swiveled his head toward the camera.

  "Don't worry. The feed is in a loop of the last hour of you fast asleep. They won't suspect a thing until it's too late."

  Teve gave him a nod and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

  "We need to go now," Dorsey said as he stood up straight. "Are you ready?"

  Teve's eyes darted around the space. "What's the plan?"

  "You're my prisoner. I'm transferring you to another facility. As long as we don't run into Hoang, we should be fine." He held out a pair of cuffs.

  "Smart," Teve said as he jumped up from the bed. "Where's Mish?"

  "She'll meet us later. She's busy escaping with the others. Face me so I can cuff you. It needs to be convincing if anyone's going to believe I'm transporting a Corrupted."

  "Corrupted?" Teve asked as they reached the door.

  "Sorry. That's what they call infected soldiers. I'm going to need you to stay quiet from here on out. Now keep your head down and don't look anyone in the eye." He placed the cuffs on Teve's wrists. "These won't be locked. If we run into trouble, just press the button in the middle to release the magazine."

  "Okay, let's go. I'm ready."

  Dorsey turned Teve to the front and guided his head down as he leaned forward to open the door. The pair walked through and out into the main facility.

  They shuffled along as Dorsey set the pace. Teve allowed him to lead his body around as he did his best to ignore the other staff members floating around.

  "Keep your head down. We've got several checkpoints to push through before we're in the clear."

  "Got it."

  "Don't speak, either. Pretend you've had a lobotomy or something."

  Teve wondered about the significance of Dorsey's thought. He wouldn't put it past Hoang to somehow utilize the ancient practice to keep his super soldiers in line. If not dumbing his patients down, then some form of mind control.

  They came up to the central checkpoint guarded by three gas masks. Teve kept his head down low as Dorsey tried to work his magic.

  "Terry. How's it going? Haven't seen you for a good month."

  "Hey, Dorsey. I'm okay. Just the same old shit. You?"

  "Can't complain. How's the family?"

  "Always around," Terry said with a laugh.

  Dorsey matched the man's enthusiasm. "Tell me about it."

  "So, what are you doing in my neck of the woods?"

  "Gotta a late-night transfer. Need to get him over to Building C."

  Teve couldn't see the guard's face, but he could hear the apprehension in his voice.

  "There's nothing on my list about a transfer. I'll have to run it by Hoang first."

  "Is that necessary? I don't want to bug the man. I've just managed to get on his good side. Wouldn't want to ruin that, you know?"

  Teve glanced sideways at Terry. He couldn't see through the gas mask, but the man paused. The plan was quickly falling apart.

  "You know what, go on through. I don't feel like pissing off the boss, either."

  A buzz rang out as Terry disengaged the magnetic lock on the thick, barred door. Dorsey pulled it open with two hands and guided Teve along.

  "Thanks. I owe you one."

  The pair walked through and progressed a few steps before the gate locked. A few moments later, they arrived at the other end of the narrow hall and waited for the secondary door to unlock.

  "Terry? Need you to open up the buffer."

  "I won't be doing that, Dorsey."

  "What? Why?"

  Terry leaned his head on the metal bars of the gate. "Because you're trying to leave with the one patient Doctor Hoang told me never to let out of Black Forest."

  Chapter Thirteen

  With one day left before the fleet hit the final Cyclone, the Andromeda and the remaining carriers had been shifted up as close to the alien craft as possible. The Zeal ship didn't launch a defensive, possibly realizing it was surrounded.

  Porter decided only to train the cadets for six hours, granting them a bit of freedom before the heavy push. He acknowledged many of them wouldn't survive the battle, so he gave them the time needed to put their affairs in order.

  The average pilot on the front had to make sure they had everything in place in the probable event of their death. A small payout would be sent on to any family left alive on Mars. For those who had been in the service for a long time, a pension would show up in their next of kin's bank account. For Porter, there was never any point in directing his death money as every member of his family was on Earth.

  With the knowledge that his brother was still alive, Porter decided at that moment to make a few changes to his file. Presently, his funds were being funneled back into the MAF. At the time, it made sense to help the service, but now he wanted it to go to a new cause.

  Sending money to Earth had been a pointless task since the Zeal showed up three years ago. More than anything else, they needed physical materials and resources over digital numbers in an account. Earth's eco
nomy shattered in two the day the Zeal arrived, breaking down the system of faith that had been in place for thousands of years. What good was money when aliens had overrun the planet?

  Pulling up his file on a tablet assigned to his quarters, Porter made arrangements for all his Martian coin to go to his brother in the event of his death. If Teve survived the war and one day decided to track Porter down, he would find out he had been left a decent amount of money to start a new life on Mars. Given the state of Earth, it wasn't a bad idea.

  Porter dropped back into his bed and thought about what to do next with his rare allotment of free time. Briggs opened the door and interrupted his thoughts.

  "Got a minute?" Briggs' face seemed to be flushed with sweat.

  "What's going on? You just get back from the gym or something?"

  "No. I've got a bit of a problem on my hands."

  "What?" Porter huffed, ready for the worst.

  "I scored a whole case of Martian Brews and have no one to drink them with."

  Porter let his brows relax. "I guess I should lend a helping hand then."

  "Damn straight, Captain. A bunch of us are having drinks on Deck C. I thought I'd invite you down in person. Oh, and don't worry, Cannon is already there in case you were gonna run off and find her."

  "Shut up," Porter said with a laugh.

  "We all know you two are hooking up again. Now hurry up and move your ass down to Deck C with me. These brews won't drink themselves."

  Porter grabbed his jacket and headed for the door with a smile. The two made it down to the gathering and were instantly given a bottle each. Everyone was there: Cannon, Porter's cadets, even Garcia was out with a beer in hand. They were all celebrating life before a mission that would see at least half of them dead, and they knew it. That was the MAF in a nutshell.

  "Thought you could hide out, sir?" Rodriguez asked, clinking his bottle against Porter's fresh drink. A few of the other cadets stood by his side taking swigs of their own.

  "I was thinking about getting a good night's sleep, but what the hell. Let's do this." Porter slammed half of the bottle's contents down in a few seconds. He spilled some of the drink down the front of his jacket and let out a long breath the second he finished.

  The cadets all yelled out in surprise. Rodriguez had two wide eyes and hooted at his CO. "No fricking way, sir. I must be dead and in heaven. I never thought I'd see the day."

  "Don't get used to it, Cadet. I still need my wits about me for the big mission tomorrow. I recommend you all keep those drinks down to a few at most."

  "There's the CO I know."

  Porter slapped his bottle against Smith's along with a few of the other cadets' drinks. Briggs placed an arm around his shoulder and took a swig.

  "So, just one night to go," Briggs said. "One night until we rid Earth's orbit of these damn alien assholes. It's kind of sad. Who will we have left to fight?"

  Porter knew Briggs was joking, but deep down, pilots and soldiers like him needed war to function. The two met in flight school, both attending the same MAF facility. They each showed a natural talent toward flying fighters and set out to compete with one another for the top spot in the class. Porter narrowly won that battle when Briggs made a slight error in their final test, enough to cost him the lead he commanded over the academy throughout most of their training.

  "To the killer pilots of the Mars Armed Forces," Porter said, raising his bottle. "Let's kick some Zeal ass and make it home in one piece." The group clinked their bottles together, spraying some alcohol on the floor. Cannon came over and grabbed Porter's hand, taking it into his own.

  "Come here, Captain," she said, pulling him around. "Stop blowing smoke up these guys’ asses and give me some attention."

  "I'm here for you. Let's go somewhere."

  Her brows raised at the suggestion as Cannon glanced over her shoulder at Garcia.

  "Hey, don't worry about the cranky commodore. She's too busy entertaining the troops. Let's go to that spot."

  Cannon let a smile form on her lips as she bit down on the corner of her mouth in thought. "Okay," she said. "Lead the way."

  Porter pulled her along by one arm and crossed through a group of hooting pilots, doing his best to ignore the intentional stares. He even caught Garcia raising her bottle toward them. He returned the gesture with a firm nod. That was when all hell broke loose.

  An explosion rang out through the core of the ship, boiling through the decks with a swift force strong enough to knock everyone on Deck C over.

  "What was that?" Cannon asked. Her answer came in the form of the ship's incoming alert system firing off a few minutes too late. Bright yellow beacons spun for attention from the ceiling, their coloring splashing chaos over the impromptu party.

  "Action stations. Action stations. Incoming Zeal fighters." The message repeated over and over, doing little to fill anyone in on the finer details of the attack.

  "We need to get in the air," Porter said to Cannon, still holding her hand.

  She gave him a blank nod and shook her head to pull herself back to the moment.

  "Briggs, Smith, Rodriguez. Anyone who can fly: suit up. We are launch—"

  A new explosion burst out through the area, cutting off Porter's speech in an instant. The blast wasn't on the deck, but it was enough to knock him off his feet along with the rest of the people.

  "I don't think we're going to get into our Stalkers," Cannon said as she looked at her appointed tablet. "We've got Zeal soldiers inside the ship. They've boarded us."

  Porter stared at the screen as Cannon showed him various camera angles of dozens of tall yet skinny Zeal soldiers breaching the ship's walls and charging through the Andromeda, weapons raised.

  He slowly lifted his head up to her eye line. "We have to get to the armory."

  Chapter Fourteen

  Teve stood completely still as Dorsey held his hands up in defense of his actions. Terry, the guard who saw through the pair's escape attempt, remained standing behind the thick bars of the gate as Dorsey approached. Two other guards came over to see what the commotion was about.

  "What the hell are you talking about?"

  "I’m talking about that guy you're supposedly transferring. He's the doctor's number one asset. We were all told not to let him out of this place unless we all wanted to be fired. So don't ask me what the hell I'm talking about."

  Dorsey lowered his hands toward his belt. Terry didn't approve and reached his finger up to his headset. "I'm calling you in."

  "Hey, stop," Dorsey said. "I'm just reaching for my e-slate to show you the transfer notes."

  The idea wasn't a bad one. Some of the guards kept their tablets on their belts instead of their wrists. The intention was to possibly prevent them being damaged from wild inmates such as Teve.

  Terry half-lowered his hand, waiting to hear more through the thickness of his gas mask.

  "It's right here. Doctor Hoang's signature is at the bottom there." Dorsey slowly raised the tablet screen from his belt as Terry leaned through the gate. The guard's half-exposed neck was the perfect recipient for Dorsey's shock stick as he rammed it up hard into him and held the trigger flat. The other two guards reacted, each reaching for their batons a second too late to stop the traitor grabbing Terry's keycard from his belt. Dorsey tossed it toward Teve.

  With both hands cuffed forward, he caught the card and got to work unclipping the pair of steel restraints. They fell to the ground in a heap, clanging about on the concrete surface.

  "Go now," Dorsey shouted as he struggled with the half-conscious guard. Terry had managed to get a decent grip on him. The other two guards advanced on their target and shoved their prods through the open gaps in the gate to zap him multiple times. Dorsey's armor stopped the shocks from issuing their full consequences as he tried to dodge each attack.

  Not wasting any time, Teve fumbled with the keycard and opened the magnetic lock on the gate behind him after tapping the control panel. He'd seen the system enough tim
es in the past few weeks to understand the process.

  Three guards met Teve on the other side of the door. He stood there weaponless, wearing only a thin layered, white jumpsuit. He rolled up his sleeves and focused on what he would need to do to survive.

  The three guards, each donning black gas masks, bared their non-lethal weapons in Teve's direction. One of the three stepped forward, deciding in the moment that she would be the one to stop the escape. With a big overhead lunge, the guard charged.

  Sidestepping the attack in less than a second, Teve followed up his low-energy counter move with a kick to the guard's back, sending her crashing down. Her armor took the brunt of his power as he sensed the Zeal virus surging within. He dropped down and grabbed her shock stick, spinning it around to show the world he knew a thing or two.

  The other two guards didn't wait long to respond, one of them clearly distraught by the sight of his comrade on the ground, yelled at Teve. The two corporals both made the same mistake their downed partner made and gave the prisoner an easy opportunity to stop their attack by rolling to the side. Their strikes hit empty air, coming within inches of Teve's head.

  After recovering from his evasive move, Teve took two long steps toward the nearest guard and slammed him down with a blow from the shock stick. He didn't need to engage the electric prongs, relying instead on the blunt force of the hardened plastic to crack open the guard's gas mask. The man cried out once he realized what had happened. He clutched at his face, trying to stop any air from penetrating his inner hood as if Teve carried the world's deadliest disease.

  The drama unfolding in front of him distracted the last guard long enough for him to push through and sweep the man's legs. A cracking of the guard's helmet sang out from the concrete. The man let out a huff and gave up.

  With a scoff, Teve said, "Don't ever take off your armor, guys. You need it." He took off back toward Dorsey and found him unconscious on the ground, succumbing to the two shock sticks being constantly prodded into his back. Then the alarm started to blaze overhead.

  From every corner of the building, a siren sang out for attention, forcing its way into Teve's mind. The lights cut out, soon replaced with flashing red beacons. It was as if the emergency procedure was designed to mess with anyone left inside the facility.