The other divers inserted their battery units, and cool blue light glowed across the hallway. Warm relief flooded through X as his heat pads kicked on. He took a piss that burned like acid. Grimacing, he sucked down more of the chem water.
Only minutes later, X felt surprisingly refreshed. He patted the vest pocket that held the paper fortune Tin had given to him, and remembered the final sentence: Face your future without fear.
X motioned for the other divers to come closer, and they crowded around, lit by the glow of their batteries. Murph was holding back a cough. X could see it in his shaking chest.
“This is it,” X whispered. “We’re almost to our objective.” He threw the strap of his rifle over his back and punched the screen on his minicomputer. A map with their location emerged on his HUD. He fingered the nav marker of the supply crate they would use to send their cargo back to the Hive.
“Once we retrieve the cells and the pressure valves, we haul ass to the crate. Looks like it’s about a quarter mile from here.”
“Got any idea where the loot might be?” Katrina asked, looking at Weaver.
He shook his head. “Like I said, I’ve never been in here before.”
“Only one way to find out,” X said. “Let’s move out. I’ll take point. Katrina, you got rear guard. Weaver, keep close to Murph. Magnolia, with me.”
“I think we should split up,” Weaver said. “This place is huge.”
X considered the suggestion. The building stood ten floors high, with dozens of rooms on each level. The cells and valves could be anywhere. He didn’t like it, but Weaver was right and they were running out of time. It could take hours to search the building.
“Okay,” X said. “Magnolia’s with me. We’ll take even-numbered floors. Katrina and Murph, you’re with Weaver. You got odd-numbered floors.”
He checked the hallway a second time. The doors were unmarked, the labels lost to time. He unslung the rifle from his shoulder and gripped the stock. Frost ran down the length of the barrel. Magnolia raised her rifle, and they started down the passage. X bumped his comm pad and opened a private line between them.
“You’ve done well, kid,” he said. “Still think this beats prison?”
She shot him a quick glare. Their glowing battery units provided just enough light to show the worry lines around her electric-blue eyes. “I’m scared, X.”
“I’m scared, too. But we’re going to make it through this. Just keep breathing.”
She acknowledged him with the weakest of nods.
X took another sip of water and ran his tongue along the roof of his mouth. The hallway ahead curved with the tower’s elliptical floor plan. An open door led to an old stairwell. By the time they reached the entrance, X could feel the blood tingling in his extremities again. He took a cautious first step into the stairwell, aiming his rifle up toward the first landing. It looked clear, and he waved the other divers up the steps.
“All right, this is where we break off,” he said. “We’ll start on the second floor. You guys clear this one.”
Weaver and Katrina nodded, but Murph simply stared ahead.
“Good luck,” Katrina said.
X caught her gaze in the blue glow from their battery units. In that moment, he felt something he wasn’t sure he understood.
“Good luck,” X said after the briefest pause. He continued up the stairs without looking back. Magnolia followed closely, her footfalls ghostly silent. Even with the heavy armor, she moved like a shadow. He considered sending her ahead, then remembered how she had frozen every time they got attacked. She was good at sneaking into places, but he didn’t trust her in combat.
“Should we use our headlamps?” Magnolia whispered.
“Negative,” X said. He stopped at the next landing to listen before creeping around the right edge. The faint blue light from his pack showed the passage clear. He hustled up the next flight and stopped on the landing.
Placing a hand on her armor, he said, “You good?”
In a shaky voice, she said, “I’m the goddamn best.”
TWENTY-SIX
Ash cringed as the edges of the storm expanded on the main display. With both hands on the wheel, she stared at the weather monstrosity racing toward them. The clouds in the center swelled and surged outward.
The Hive was at twenty-five thousand feet now, and she still couldn’t see an end to the storm racing after them. She didn’t need navigation to tell her they weren’t going to clear it. She had to take drastic action.
Ash felt as if she had a gun to her head as she tilted the bow into a fifty-five-degree angle upward. It would push the ancient ship to its limits, but she needed the precious few seconds it would buy them to sail above the storm before it gobbled them up.
“Thirty thousand feet!” Jordan called.
“Brace yourselves!” Ash shouted. She risked a glance over to Tin. The safety harness formed an X over his chest. He flashed a weak smile, as if giving her the go-ahead to do what she must to save her people.
The outer edge of the turbulence caught the stern before she could pull them above it, and the Hive lurched forward as if it had been rammed. Ash lost her grip on the wheel, and a second jolt knocked her to the deck. In her mind’s eye, she got a glimpse of what was likely happening belowdecks. She could even hear the frantic screams of passengers and imagine the crackle of random fires breaking out under her feet.
There was a voice shouting at her now, but it took her a few seconds to comprehend the words.
“Captain, are you okay?”
“I’m fi—” Wailing sirens drowned out her response. She reached up and grabbed the wheel with her left hand and fought her way to her feet. Her eyes instantly locked on the display. “Come on, old girl, I know you can do it,” she said, unsure whether she meant the ship or herself.
“Almost clear!” Ryan yelled. “Thirty-two thousand feet and climbing!”
The ship groaned and creaked, slewing violently from port to starboard. The flash of fire and death belowdecks raced across Ash’s mind. She closed her eyes, snapped them open again, and gripped the thick wooden spokes with both hands, pulling slightly to starboard. The aluminum guts of the ship screeched in protest as the Hive split through the clouds. They were almost above the storm, but she could feel it pulling the ship apart. She had never pushed it this hard before, but like Captain Willis, she was doing what she must to save her people—to save the last people on Earth.
For a moment, Ash reflected on the fear Willis must have felt in his final moments. In her experience, there were two types of fear: the fear of death and the fear of letting others down. The latter was worse. She was afraid now, not just of letting the Hive down, but also of letting down every human who had ever lived. The future of her species depended on her. The Hive was treading along the edge of extinction, and Ash was terrified she couldn’t stop it this time.
“We’re going to make it,” she whispered over and over again. “We’re going to make it.”
* * * * *
X inched the door open with his palm. He searched the passage’s green-hued walls and ceiling first, then the floor. Something lay on the dusty tiles, but it wasn’t big enough to be a nest.
Thunder rumbled throughout the building, sending flakes of ash wafting down from the ceiling. He propped the door open with his boot and wedged his body halfway into the hall.
“Come on,” he said to Magnolia.
There were more of the frozen, reddish-black things halfway down the passage. He continued cautiously, keeping his rifle muzzle trained on the mysterious objects.
“What are those?” Magnolia whispered.
X paused and bent down for a better view. It looked like frozen flesh, meaty and thick. He took a guarded step forward, squinting. Another step, and he froze.
“Look away,” X whispered.
“Why?�
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“I said look away, kid,” X repeated.
He had thought the team had endured everything Hades could throw at them: first the dive, then the snowstorm, then the Sirens. He hadn’t thought things could get any worse. As he stood there shaking, he realized he had been wrong. He couldn’t stop staring at Cruise’s ruined body. His helmet was gone, his mouth frozen open in a scream. Both eyes were wide and dead beneath icy eyelashes. The creatures had torn him apart. Broken ribs protruded from his sundered chest, and the frayed coils of frozen intestines hung from his belly. Only one stump of a leg remained attached to what was left of his body.
Magnolia whimpered. “Is that … oh, my God.”
X reached back for her and took her hand. “Close your eyes, kid.” He guided her down the hall, looking away as they passed Cruise’s remains. He didn’t want her to remember the man this way.
The next body was so badly disfigured, X didn’t even know whether it was male or female. It wasn’t one of theirs, though. The armor was green, not black like those from the Hive. The third corpse was in even worse shape. He had assumed that the divers perished from the electrical strikes, not at the claws of the Sirens, but the mask of horror on Cruise’s face told X he had still been alive when the Sirens found him. He had survived the jump only to be brought to this place by the monsters and torn apart.
X halted a few feet from the double doors at the end of the hall to check on Magnolia. Tears streamed down her face, making her black eye makeup run in spidery lines down her cheeks. “Was that Cruise? It was Cruise, wasn’t it?”
“He was probably already dead before they got him,” X lied.
“But their bodies … We can’t leave them like that.”
“We can’t do anything for them now. We have the living to think about.”
Magnolia sniffled and nodded.
X had never realized how much Cruise meant to her, but he had been her lead before she joined Team Raptor. Seeing Cruise like this had her rattled—hell, X was rattled, too. He needed Magnolia to keep it together, and he considered his next words carefully.
“I haven’t told many people this, but when I lost my wife, I felt like the whole world stopped. I drank until I blacked out, picked fights, took risks on every jump. I think I wanted to die. But you know what kept me going?”
She stared at him blankly, more tears welling around her eyes.
“My duty to the Hive. I dive …”
“So that humanity survives,” Magnolia finished.
“So you with me? Can I trust you to have my back?”
She nodded. “I’ll be okay. And the next time I see one of those fucking things …”
“Just stay focused,” X said.
Once past the corpses, he approached the doors slowly. The left was open just a hair. He propped a shoulder against the wall and peeked through the round window at shelves stocked with cases.
X chinned his comm. “Katrina, do you copy? Over.”
“Roger,” she replied. “We found the valves!”
“Excellent. We have eyes on cells. Regroup on second floor.”
“Roger that.”
“Wait,” X added. “We found Cruise and two others. They’re pretty torn up—better prepare yourself.”
“Roger that.”
X looked back through the window and noticed a hole in the ceiling at the other end of the room. Two of the bulblike nests hung from the exposed joist. Now he knew where the Sirens were that had fed off his friends.
“Shit,” X breathed.
Magnolia quickly peeked around his shoulder and pulled away. “I don’t see any movement,” she said. “Maybe I can get in there and grab a few cases without them ever knowing.”
“Those things weigh thirty pounds apiece,” he said. I’m coming with you.”
“No,” Magnolia insisted. “I’m faster and quieter. I can do this. I didn’t come all this way to have my hand held.”
X took another look inside. There was no hint of movement. He checked his mission clock. Fifteen and a half hours left. It was a lot of time, but they still had to make it back outside, avoid the Sirens, and launch the loot into the sky.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll cover you.”
“I can do this,” she repeated.
He wasn’t sure whether she was trying to convince him or herself. He patted her on the shoulder and slowly inched the door open. She slipped through the gap and disappeared into the shadows.
An impressively short time later, she was back with the first case of cells. She set it down at his feet.
“See?” she whispered.
“We still need more,” X said.
She moved back into the room as the other divers made their way down the hall. Weaver and Katrina gingerly placed the forty-pound pressure valves on the floor, next to the cells. He glimpsed their faces behind the visors. They had seen the bodies. Murph stood a few feet behind them. He was still holding on, but X could see the life slowly ebbing away from him.
“Weaver, Katrina, you two hold security,” X whispered.
They raised their rifles and took a few steps down the hallway to stand guard. Magnolia returned a few moments later with another case.
“One more to go,” she said. Then she was gone, melting into the darkness of the room. She was good; he’d give her that. Fast, sneaky, and cocky—the perfect thief.
Hearing a thump, X turned. Murph had collapsed to his knees. He pawed at his visor and flipped it open, cupping his mouth with one hand to hold back a cough. Fresh blood oozed from the gash in the midsection of his suit. Murph wheezed into his hands. His lungs sounded as though they had fluid in them, and he struggled to breathe.
“Weaver, help him,” X said.
Weaver crouched down by him and pulled something from his vest. It was a foil packet about the size of a credit voucher. Tearing it open, he shook out a couple of pills and offered them to Murph.
“Here. I was saving these. Strongest painkillers aboard Ares.”
There was a hint of reservation in his voice, and X wondered whether he had actually been saving them to end his life should it come to that.
Murph held the pills in his palm, eyeing them skeptically.
“It’s okay,” Weaver said. “They’ll help.”
Murph knocked back the pills and took a swig of water from his helmet straw. A moment later, the tension in his face eased.
“You’re going to be okay, Murph,” Katrina said. “It’s almost time to go home.” She massaged one of his arms softly.
X winced at her words. There was little chance Murph would ever see the Hive again. Whatever Weaver’s pills had done to dull the pain, they couldn’t fix the internal injuries. Even if they could get him back, he would endure a slow and painful death from the radiation poisoning. With as many rads as he had been exposed to, there was nothing the ship’s doctors could do to save him.
When X moved back to the window, Magnolia was carrying the final case across the room. But something else was moving, too. Blurred flesh, bristling with spikes, climbed out of the wall nests and plopped to the floor. The pair of Sirens perched there and let out angry squawks.
Magnolia’s luck had finally run out. The creatures darted after her.
“Run, kid!” X yelled. He kicked the door open and followed the monsters through the sights on his rifle. One of them climbed onto a shelf and tilted its deformed skull in Magnolia’s direction.
X pulled the trigger and sent the creature whirling into the darkness. A second lurched up to take its place, and he took off part of its head with the next shot. More came from the left, knocking over shelves and trampling the contents.
The flash from his gun lit up the room for a split second, illuminating long limbs and spiky prominences. Magnolia was halfway to the door, but her hands were full and the heavy crate was slowing her down
. A Siren lunged from the shadows. X waited for her to get clear, then squeezed off a shot that sent the creature crashing into a wall.
“Come on!” X yelled. He squared his shoulders and squeezed the trigger until his gun clicked empty. Magnolia burst through the open door and spun as X punched in his last magazine.
“Duck!” she shouted.
X dropped to the floor, and Magnolia vaulted over his back and slammed the case of cells directly into the face of the Siren that had crept up on them. The metal crate shattered the creature’s teeth, and it let out an agonized shriek. She dropped the crate, pulled her pistol, and shot the monster through its scabby skull.
Two more Sirens had perched behind a fallen shelf. They swooshed talons through the air, testing Magnolia. These were smarter. Behind them, two others lurked.
X threw the strap of his assault rifle over his shoulder and drew his blaster. “Turn off your night vision!” He flipped his off, aimed at the floor between the first two monsters, and fired a flare. It whistled and exploded between them, sending the creatures screeching away.
He had bought some time, but not much.
In a few minutes, every Siren in the building would be out of its cocoon and searching for them. X rushed over to Murph and bent down to help him up.
“No! I’m not coming with you,” Murph wheezed. He fought out of X’s grip. “I did what I came to do. Now it’s time I joined my family. My girls are waiting for me.” He cracked a painful grin and pulled a small bundle from his vest pocket. “Still got one more trick up my sleeve.”
A screech directed X’s eyes to the open door. The flare had fizzled out, and the distorted shadows of the Sirens were creeping closer.
X eyed the explosive that Murph held in the crook of his arm, and nodded. A moment of realization passed between the two divers. No other words were needed.
Murph jerked his helmet toward the exit and shouted, “Now, get your asses outta here!”
It was the only time X had heard the man raise his voice to anyone. Swallowing his emotions, he scooped up two cases of cells. Magnolia grabbed the third. Katrina and Weaver picked up the pressure valves and cradled them in their arms, and they left Murph there to die, just as they had left Tony in the street.
Hell Divers Page 30