Nomad's Galaxy

by Craig Martelle

  “No. We have no idea where they are. Please, point out where we’ll be going,” Kim asked.

  Aaron apologized profusely before climbing into a tree with Kim to point out where each target was located.

  “How close do you want to get to them?” she asked.

  “A block or two, no closer?” Aaron sounded unsure.

  “That close?”

  Aaron’s eyebrow shot upward. “Do you have something else in mind?”

  “Maybe we can watch from here. Can you see what you need to see, maybe even smell some things if we get downwind from them?” Kim offered.

  “I’m a bit rusty, you have to admit, and I was never really good at this warrior stuff in the first place.” Aaron deferred to Kimber.

  “None of us are as smart as all of us,” she replied, before pointing ninety degrees to the side. “Over there should be directly downwind from the first few Were you pointed out.”

  Aaron held out his hand for Kim to shake. She took it and pulled hard as she started to lose her balance, slapping her free hand against the trunk to catch herself.

  “Watch that,” Aaron said helpfully. She shook her head and jumped the ten feet to the ground. Aaron followed her down, landing softly and soundlessly.

  “Follow me,” she said quietly, making a chopping motion with her arm in the direction they were going.

  Tac Team Alpha

  Ted and Ramses were racing ahead. Cory was helping Destiny avoid obstacles. The two women ran quickly, but they were limited. In the brush and under the trees, Destiny couldn’t see like a Werewolf.

  “Slow down,” Cory called. Ted shushed her and kept running until Ramses grabbed him by the arm.

  “Ted! We have to stay together. We’ll accomplish the mission, but only if we don’t lose anyone,” Ramses whispered.

  Ted looked at the ground and kicked the dirt. He was singularly focused on reaching the objective. The others were preventing him from doing that, and it was causing him a great deal of grief.

  He remembered how much he didn’t enjoy working with others and now he was forced into close proximity with relative strangers. Ted sat down with his back against a tree, closed his eyes, and rocked back and forth as he tried to think through the problem.

  He kept coming back to the same conclusion. He needed to go it alone. Ted stopped rocking and slowly opened his eyes. When the others looked away, he slipped into the shadows and disappeared.

  Tac Team Delta

  Terry’s group walked to their observation point, the OP that Terry and Char had selected to give them the best view—the abandoned tower at what used to be Midway Airport. It was mostly overgrown now, most of the buildings had collapsed long before. It was no longer prime real estate.

  It was good enough for what Terry and Char wanted.

  “Kurtz. You stay down here and watch, make sure no one sneaks up on us. If you get tired, let us know. Everyone needs to sleep at some point,” Terry said, slapping the young man on the shoulder.

  The private shook his head. “I’ll be fine, sir. Do what you have to do, and I’ll make sure that you aren’t interrupted.”

  Terry nodded, turned, and followed Char to the stairs, stepping lightly as they moved upward, with Shonna and Merrit close behind.

  Kurtz settled in, but didn’t sit, didn’t lean against a wall. He wasn’t going to risk falling asleep. The colonel had trusted him with a job and he meant to do it.

  The private scouted around the building, stopping every five feet to listen and watch for movement. He memorized the area around the tower. When he completed a circuit, he went around a second time, in the opposite direction, taking a different path. When he had built a model of the area within his mind, he dissected it, picking the best fields of fire based on the best avenues of approach. From where would an enemy come?

  His mind worked too much to be tired. He was on a mission and it felt good. He leaned down to look closely at the ground, see what kind of creatures had left tracks. As he studied the dirt, he heard a sound that didn’t belong.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Tac Team Forsaken

  “The middle of the road?” Sarah whispered as she jogged to keep up. The three Forsaken were walking, but quickly. They moved fast, not bothering with stealth. It made for easy going. “We’re not supposed to be seen.”

  “Pish posh,” Joseph replied. Petricia smirked. “Don’t you remember? We own the night. We are creatures of the night, so walking down the middle of the road, striking fear into the hearts of our enemies, is kind of what we do!”

  “Since when?” Sarah rebutted Joseph’s claim.

  “Since hundreds of years ago when we used to be somebody who other people didn’t mess with. We struck terror into the hearts of the unwitting,” Joseph said, following it with an evil laugh.

  “Uncle Joe,” Sarah replied. She started to laugh. “That is bullshit.”

  “I told you,” Petricia said softly.

  “I used to be somebody!” Joseph cried dramatically, throwing his hands out and looking upward.

  The other three watched him. “You’ve never had the pleasure of the greatest movies known to mankind—the works of Boris Karloff and Vincent Price. You have no idea what you’re missing. My best humor, wasted on the ignorance of youth.”

  Sarah put her fists on her hips to deliver her best look.

  “We’re not alone,” Joseph said. Sarah started to shake her head, but he stopped her with a raised hand. Petricia and Andrew tensed as they looked into the night. Sarah could see, almost as well as in the daylight, but she couldn’t catch any movements.

  The Forsaken must have been looking into the other dimension, where Sarah couldn’t see. She crouched and waited for direction. She knew her shortcomings, and she knew why her grandfather had put her with Joseph. He could sense more than the rest of them, including reading minds. His gifts would help keep her safe.

  “There,” Andrew whispered and pointed, then added for Sarah’s edification, “a small pack of Werewolves, in Were form.”

  Sarah nodded.

  Joseph waved the tac team forward, and they started to run, picking up speed as they rounded a corner. Four Werewolves were there. Small as far as Were went.

  The pack stood their ground, snarling and snapping their jaws at the intruders. Joseph slowed.

  “Begone!” he bellowed, making a cross with his fingers.

  The others didn’t think he was taking it seriously. Petricia slapped him across the arm.

  “Fine,” he conceded before looking more closely at the Were. He was unable to get anything he could understand from the animal minds. “We have to catch one or two and force them back into human form.”

  Andrew waved for Sarah to join him as he walked wide to the right. Joseph and Petricia moved to their left, giving each pair space to work. The Werewolves showed the fangs, continuing to stand their ground.

  Joseph dashed forward, punching as he lunged and connecting with the side of a shaggy beast’s head. It rolled away with a yip, coming back onto unsteady feet. Petricia darted at the second wolf, jumping high as Joseph went low. The big male leaned back, ignoring Joseph to focus on the Forsaken coming from above. She couldn’t turn.

  He caught her arm in its jaws and surged into her, knocking her backward before her feet touched the ground.

  Joseph dove, hammering on the creature’s back with his fists. It let go, vaulted over Petricia, and raced down the road.

  ***

  “I’ll take the one on the right,” Sarah said.

  “Sure,” Andrew agreed as he angled left. Sarah crouched and stalked forward. The adrenaline surged through her body. Her senses sharpened and time seemed to slow down. She worked her way forward, taking two steps to the Were’s one. Sarah closed the gap quickly.

  The jaws. Watch the jaws, she reminded herself, crouching lower and keeping her hands loose and in front of her.

  It charged her, snapping for her face. She slapped the side of its head to redirect the j
aws, then caught it by the scruff of the neck with her other hand. She pulled herself around to get behind the bitch’s head. It pranced and bucked.

  Sarah didn’t know how it happened, but she found herself straddling its back. The she-wolf ran. Sarah tried to get an arm around its throat, but was hard-pressed just to hang on.

  Choke it until it passes out, she thought. Sarah wrapped both arms around its neck and let herself be thrown off. She hit the ground with a grunt, but hung on tightly, twisting the Werewolf’s head sideways. It dragged her forward until it fell, huffing and scrambling with its paws as it tried to get back to its feet.

  She pulled harder against the neck, no longer twisting as she compressed the soft tissue. The beast’s breathing became ragged as it struggled and tossed its head. The Werewolf’s skull smacked against her face repeatedly as it tried to beat her until she loosened her grip.

  Sarah tucked her head into the neck fur and continued to squeeze. The Werewolf went limp. Sarah pushed it off and rolled way. She stood, panting and gasping for air. She smiled and nodded as she turned back. The Forsaken and the other Werewolves were nowhere to be seen.

  ***

  Joseph stopped to look at the wound on Petricia’s arm. Werewolf bite. That would heal, eventually, but he needed her at the top of her game now. Petricia winced in pain, but stood and looked for the Werewolf. Andrew was dancing in a circle with one of the creatures.

  Sarah was nowhere to be seen. The other two Werewolves were running down an alley. Joseph cut his hand and dripped some of his own blood onto Petricia’s arm. Only a few drops, but with her nanocytes working from within and his nanocytes working on the skin, her wound closed.

  She flexed her hand and smiled darkly. “We have a Werewolf to catch,” she said.

  “Dammit!” Andrew called out as his Werewolf was making its best speed toward the alley.

  “You let it go?” Joseph asked, incredulous.

  “No!” Andrew snapped back. “I was probing for weakness. I was almost ready to put it out of my misery.”

  “Or something like that,” Joseph replied. He closed his eyes as he concentrated. Sarah had things well in hand not far away. “We won’t be long,” he told her, even though she couldn’t hear him.

  ***

  Sarah started to panic, then calmed. What had she been taught?

  Assess the situation, guarantee your own security, and then find a way out. She looked around, using her heightened senses to see the block and build it in her mind. Find where an enemy would be strongest, or weakest, then weigh the mission objectives.

  She was banged up, but she’d heal. She had an unconscious Werewolf at her feet, but that wouldn’t remain for long. Her security depended on the Were not being able to attack her again. She took off her small backpack, removed the short length of rope that Terry had made standard issue, and trussed the Werewolf like an errant calf.

  She looked around again before trying to drag the Werewolf in the direction she’d come. Sarah soon realized that none of it looked familiar. She’d been watching the Forsaken instead of the landscape. She had no idea where she was.

  Sarah hung her head, furious with herself while at the same time feeling like she was going to cry. She patted the communication device in her pocket.

  Using it would be admitting failure. She left it where it was, dropped the Werewolf, and strode up the middle of the street. “Who owns the night?” she asked the darkness.

  ***

  Joseph, Petricia, and Andrew found the building that the Werewolves had gone into. They were still in Were form, but were heading out the back. The block was solid buildings. They would lose them going the long way around. Joseph made his decision instantly, pointing at the open doorway and chopping his hand as Terry had taught them.

  Andrew went in first, then Petricia. Joseph checked the alley one last time before following them through.

  The explosion blew Joseph back out the doorway, across the alley, and slammed him into the wall beyond. He grunted as he hit, rolled to his feet, and pulled himself forward on his way back toward the building.

  He entered, squinting through the dust and smoke, until he heard their moans of pain. They were both alive, but somewhere within the creaking, groaning structure. The first beam fell, clipping Joseph’s shoulder, then another. He ran forward fearlessly, bouncing off debris and falling twice before he reached them, both mostly buried.

  Another beam fell.

  Petricia was buried up to her neck. Andrew’s feet were visible. He’d been tossed upside-down by the explosion.

  Joseph tried to pull Petricia free. Her eyes fluttered. “Help Andrew,” she stammered, trying to lick her dirt-covered lips. She was bleeding. Joseph could smell it.

  ***

  Sarah heard the explosion. She needed to go there, knowing instinctively that it was her people in the middle of it. She ran, her feet hammering the old pavement and dirt as she hit her top speed.

  “I’m coming,” she whispered into the wind.

  ***

  Joseph moved to Andrew and pulled on his feet, but there was too much debris. He started removing it until he could get a good grip. He pulled Andrew free. The Forsaken’s arms were broken and he was unconscious, but alive.

  Joseph started clearing debris around Petricia. He pulled her free and set her down to examine her. A large wood splinter was embedded in her abdomen. “Your nanocytes will be better served without that there,” Joseph said clinically. “This might hurt a little.”

  He grabbed it and yanked. She gasped in pain. Joseph put pressure on the horrendous wound as Petricia passed out.

  The structure creaked. The upper floors started crashing into the floor below as it started to come down. A thousand tons of brick and steel was coming their way.

  “NO!” Joseph screamed.

  ***

  Sarah heard Joseph’s cry from up ahead. She could run no faster, only listen to the sounds of a building’s last gasp.

  She slowed as bricks and debris fell into the street, and the upper floors disappeared, falling into the interior.

  The rumble froze her in place as the building collapsed into itself.

  ***

  Joseph looked at the two, grabbing Petricia and tossing her over his shoulder as he ran for the doorway. The building was coming down. Bricks rained on the unconscious form of his wife, but he couldn’t protect her. He couldn’t shield her.

  He wasn’t even sure he could save her.

  ***

  Sarah watched in horror as the building fell, exploding against the foundation and showering rubble over its neighbors as it succumbed to its death throes.

  Two figures were thrown across the alley, splattering against the wall and sliding down.

  Sarah shouted as she ran. When she reached them, she found Joseph struggling to get back to his feet. Petricia was injured, bleeding profusely from wounds all over her body. Joseph was bleeding as well, but his injuries were far less serious.

  Sarah knew what to do. Stop the bleeding was always first. She put pressure on Petricia’s abdomen where the worst wound was slowly healing. Sarah maintained pressure with one hand while she fought with her pack to free a flask.

  It was taking too long, but Sarah didn’t let up. Joseph sighed heavily as he was finally able to raise his head.

  Sarah uncorked the flask and poured water on Petricia’s lips. Joseph appeared next to her, a knife hovering over his arm. He slashed into himself, and his blood poured over Sarah’s hand.

  She recoiled in horror. “What the fuck are you doing?”

  Joseph didn’t answer. He shook his arm to hasten the flow, then prepared to slash into his other arm. Sarah caught his wrist and fought with him. “NO!” she screamed, ripping the knife from his hand and throwing it across the alley.

  She returned to putting pressure on the worst of the wounds, but Joseph’s blood was doing the trick, healing the exposed and damage organs, lacing the muscle back together and knitting the skin closed.
<
br />   Joseph stumbled two steps away and collapsed.

  Sarah pulled her comm device. There was no hesitation. She knew that she needed help.

  ***

  Terry closed his comm device and thought for a moment. “Call Cory and tell her team to go to Joseph’s sector. They need her help. We’ll be waiting for her.”

  Char made the call as Terry descended as far as he needed to before jumping to the ground floor. Shonna and Merrit followed his lead. They didn’t need to say a word. They waited for less than ten seconds before Char appeared.

  Terry was already outside. “Joseph’s sector. We’ll meet you there,” Terry told the private. When Char left the building, Terry took off. He ran as fast as his enhanced body could go. Char was by his side, but the other Werewolves where challenged to keep up.

  Kurtz had never seen anything like it. He sprinted as hard as he could and yet, in under a minute, he couldn’t even hear which way they had gone. But he remembered the map. He pushed himself hard, but he was on his own.

  ***

  “Team Forsaken was in that explosion we heard,” Cory said as she looked around for Ted. She shook her head. “Let’s go.”

  Ramses saw that Ted had disappeared. He knew Uncle Ted well enough. “The mission is yours, Ted. Good luck,” Ramses said before running after his wife and Destiny Chase.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Chicago

  Terry didn’t slow down as he approached. He crouched and slid to a stop, checking on Sarah first. Her face was bruised and battered.

  “What happened?” he asked her.

  “Building blew up, I guess,” she ventured. Tipping her chin toward Joseph, she added, “He hasn’t said anything.”

  “Where were you?” Char asked, not able to envision what had taken place.

  “I was fighting a Werewolf, back that way, but when I heard the explosion, I came as fast as I could.”

  “Where’s Andrew?” Terry interrupted. Sarah shrugged. Terry moved to Joseph and more firmly repeated his question. “Where’s Andrew?”

  Joseph looked up with tear-filled eyes. Terry had the Forsaken by the shoulders and was shaking him.