by M. R. Forbes
“Or any people?”
“That’s what I heard, sir.”
Hayden jumped out of the truck. Isabelle was already standing there.
“Do you see it?” he asked.
“Pozz. It’s attacking the ones who are shooting at it.”
“So don’t shoot at it?”
“That would be a good first step.”
Pyro and Gus reached them, hopping down from the truck. Zenith and the other Liberators were right behind them.
“What do we do?” Pyro asked. “It seems we can’t avoid trouble today.”
“Story of my life,” Hayden muttered.
He looked into the fort. He could see the various buildings past the truck on the left and the open tarmac of the bases’ former runaways to the right. Further beyond that, he could make out the trees they had originally planned to sneak in through and the fence that ringed the entire base. There were guard towers out there too, spaced every thousand meters or so. The guards in the structures were all firing at the Hellion.
He didn’t see it right away, even though it was daytime and the thing was somewhere out in the open. He grabbed the HVRG and made his way to the front of the truck. Pyro, Gus, Isabelle, and surprisingly enough the four Liberators they had taken prisoner all followed him.
He made it to the front right fender of the vehicle, raising his rifle and following the screams. His body came to a sudden and complete stop, a sharp tingle tracing its way from his head out to his extremities.
The Hellion was closer than he thought, less than fifty meters away. It’s back was currently to him as it pounced on the back of a soldier who was trying to escape, lifting them up and tearing them effortlessly in half.
What the hell?
Tinker made weapons. Tinker made robots. Tinker made viruses. Tinker also made monsters?
He knew the USSF had run a research program to genetically alter humans into something more, to make them stronger and tougher than the trife. He had seen a video of one of the experiments once, where they had enhanced a soldier to make him smarter and faster and stronger than any human or any trife. He had watched the man dismantle the aliens with little effort. The scientist he had spoken to claimed the man had died a short time later, consumed by the same alterations that had given him supernatural abilities.
Then there were the Goliaths, the massive creatures that roamed the western side of the former United States and fed on the trife, eating them by the dozen. They had been born of the human genome and human test subjects, created after the war against the xenotrife had already been lost.
Had Tinker found remnants of the USSF’s research? Had he carried it forward in an effort to improve on it? A man of his apparent intellect with such a strong drive to end the war would know not to count on one method of victory. The guns, the machines, the virus, and now the Hellion. He was trying everything the USSF had tried, only more advanced, with the education of history to help guide him.
Looking at the back of the Hellion, Hayden both despised and respected him for it.
He could kind of maybe see the remnants of human in the thing, but it was a stretch. It was bigger than a person, nearly three meters tall, with what looked like a thick hide covered in sharp protrusions. It was almost like an exoskeleton in its composition and appeared hard enough to stop most of the firepower directed its way. That wasn’t the most interesting thing about it. The hide seemed alive, reflecting the light in a way that seemed to make parts of it invisible, cloaking it a segment at a time as it finished with the current victim and searched for the next.
He couldn’t see the face from the back, but he saw a thick neck leading into a large humanoid head, and strands of dark hair spilling out from the top, draping around it. Its hands were massive. It's muscles powerful. Its legs and feet were the same. It was naked and outwardly sexless, even the space between its thighs covered in spiny bumps. He could picture the trife jumping at the thing, trying to breach its hard skin with their claws or bite down on its thick neck, only to wind up punctured by the thorns until the thing had a chance to rip its attacker apart.
“Disgusting,” Gus said behind him.
Hayden put his finger on his railgun’s trigger. Were the high-velocity flechettes powerful enough to breach the Hellion’s hide? The thing had to have a weakness, one that made it unsuitable for deployment. Because it killed people as well as it killed trife? That wouldn’t stop Tinker from using it.
It screeched, finding its next target, a Liberator who had seen them by the truck and decided there was safety in numbers. This one didn’t look like a soldier. She was wearing a white coat over her green fatigues. A doctor or a nurse, maybe? She was running in their direction, desperate to escape the Hellion.
He watched it jump, crossing the distance in one powerful lunge. The woman screamed when she saw it coming toward her.
Hadn’t Isabelle said it was only attacking the soldiers shooting at it?
Hayden swung out from behind the truck, aiming and firing. The burst of flechettes whipped from the HVRG, crossing the distance in milliseconds and hitting the Hellion in the side. Some of the rounds did puncture its armor, cutting into its hide and sinking beneath the flesh. It forgot about the woman in that instant of pain, howling as it twisted to find its assailant.
Distressingly human blue eyes locked on Hayden. They were the only thing human about the creature’s face. It had a catlike nose and mouth, with a short muzzle and long teeth, sharp cheekbones and tiny ears, again all of it covered in the variable length thorns and spines. It landed awkwardly, cutting its jump short and turning on its feet to face them.
“Sheriff?” Pyro said.
“Isabelle, you said—” Hayden started.
“I was wrong,” Isabelle replied. Of course, there was no emotion in the statement. She didn’t even try to fake it.
At least the HVRG was able to pierce its hide. He moved out from behind the truck, putting distance between himself and the others. The Hellion watched him, and then screeched again. The guards on the towers were still shooting at it, even though their bullets were useless.
Hayden aimed and fired again, sending a burst of flechettes into the creature’s chest. It howled as the rounds punctured it. Maybe his gun was the first to pierce its skin and cause pain? It seemed to make the Hellion angrier. It lowered itself and then used its powerful legs to charge.
Hayden stood his ground, continuing to shoot at it. The Hellion put its hand up to block its face, still howling as more small uranium rounds sank into it. It was getting closer and still standing, though there was thick, dark blood pouring from the dozens of wounds Hayden’s attack was creating.
The monster didn’t slow its approach. It drew within a few meters of Hayden before lowering its hand and lunging at him.
He was hoping the damage would stop the Hellion before it could get within range. Now that it was so close, there was nothing he could do but keep shooting.
Something hit him from the side before the Hellion could hit him from the front. He was shoved out of the way, thrown to the ground and rolling to a stop. It took him a second to get his bearings, and by the time he turned back, the Hellion had Isabelle’s head in its hands. They were pressing inward, its muscles flexing as it tried to crush her metal skull.
Hayden drew the compact railgun again and started firing, one round at a time aimed at the Hellion’s head. Its neck jolted slightly each time a flechette struck it, and he could see the rounds sinking into its skull and coming to a stop, jutting out from its hide.
It turned toward him, still gripping Isabelle. She was kicking at it and stabbing with her knife. There was no way the blade could break through its skin, and its hands were getting closer together, successfully pressing in on her head and crumpling the alloy. Hayden couldn’t believe its strength.
He aimed for its head, at the same time it began to lift Isabelle from the ground. He pulled the trigger and watched as it positioned Isabelle between the round and its face, t
he projectile smashing into the robot’s skull, puncturing the metal and hitting something vital.
Isabelle’s head slumped. Her body fell limp. The Hellion made a sound Hayden could swear was a laugh.
Then it threw her at him. He rolled to the side, Isabelle’s dead form bouncing off the ground.
The creature charged behind it, ready to pounce on Hayden. Plasma bolts hit it from behind, powerful enough to burn its back, and bring it to a stop and make it turn around. Pyro was near the truck, firing the plasma rifle, using the last of her cell charge. Hayden dropped the CRG and grabbed the larger railgun from the ground, bringing it up as the enraged monster raced toward the botter.
He loosed a barrage into the monster’s back, digging twenty rounds into it. It stumbled and fell, sliding on the ground and coming to a stop a few meters from the truck.
He noticed now that the Liberators had regrouped. Soldiers were pouring out of one of the buildings carrying rifles he didn’t recognize, probably more powerful weapons suited to fighting the creature. In the chaos and confusion, they probably thought he was one of them, even though his large replacement arm was visible on his side.
They approached the scene. The Hellion was still on the ground, motionless. Hayden got to his feet, grabbing the CRG and tucking it away before cautiously approaching the creature. He spared a glance over to Isabelle, her battered head face down on the cement. She had been destroyed following her primary directive. Protecting his life.
He took two more steps toward it. The Liberators were surrounding it and them now, nearly a hundred soldiers lining up to cover it. As soon as the Hellion was done being a threat, they would realize he didn’t belong.
Then he would be in a different sort of trouble.
He was only a few steps away from the Hellion. He kept the HVRG trained on it. He didn’t know how many rounds he had fired, but he knew the weapon had to be low on ammunition. It wasn’t going to help him against this many soldiers. He looked up at Pyro and Gus, standing near the truck with Zenith, Dix, Cooper, and Sahib. The four Liberators hadn’t thought to try to detain the mongrels yet.
He took one more step.
The Hellion disappeared.
It didn’t completely disappear. Its skin changed, reflecting and refracting the light so it looked like it was almost part of the cement surface, leaving only the faintest outline of itself behind. It jumped up, getting to its feet and springing up in one motion, remaining nearly invisible as it landed on the top of the truck’s cab, denting in the roof before springing off toward its rear.
Then it was gone.
It happened so fast Hayden didn’t have time to shoot. Neither did any of the soldiers. It happened so fast it left them all standing in a near circle, staring at the spot where the Hellion had been. A few seconds passed in stillness and silence before any of them were able to regroup themselves.
“Who the hell are you?” someone said behind Hayden.
“What the hell is that?” someone else said, close to where Isabelle had come to rest.
Within seconds, more rifles than he could ever overcome were pointed at him.
“Whoever you are, drop your weapon.”
Hayden let the HVRG clatter on the ground.
“Put up your hands and turn around. Slowly.”
Hayden raised his hands. He started to turn.
A siren began to blare, from one of the guard towers near the treeline to the east. The effect on the soldiers around him was immediate.
“Trife!” one of them shouted. “Red alert! Red alert!”
Chapter 20
More sirens started blaring as the other guard stations picked up the call of the first. Some of the soldiers in the yard began barking instructions. Squad leaders organized their troops, quickly getting them moving toward the fence. Unlike the Hellion, this was a threat they were trained to react against.
The Liberator who was speaking to Hayden remained in place. He pointed to Pyro and Zenith. “You two, help me with this infiltrator.”
“Me?” Pyro said, unable to catch herself. Only the hand on her replacement arm was showing. Either the Liberator hadn’t noticed yet or didn’t think it was out of the ordinary.
“Yes you, soldier,” the man said. “Bring him to the brig. I want to question him once the trife are repelled.”
“Yes, sir,” she said.
“Lieutenant Hong,” Cooper said, getting the man’s attention. “She’s with him. They—”
Gus grabbed Cooper with his replacement hand, throwing him into the side of the truck with enough force to knock him out.
Hong went for his gun. Hayden lunged at him, getting his large arm up to block the first rounds the Lieutenant fired. The bullets ricocheted from the thick plates, and then Hayden backhanded Hong, knocking him to the ground and out cold.
He spun quickly, ready to deal with Zenith, Hix, and Shahib. The three soldiers put their hands up. They were still unarmed and not eager for a fight.
“Sir, don’t,” Zenith pleaded. “I have a good heart.”
Hayden eyed them for a moment. The alarm sirens had silenced. There was no point taking the risk of drawing more trife in now that the base was on alert and the soldiers were racing to defend. He motioned to Pyro and Gus.
“Come on,” he said. He looked at the Liberators. “Stay off our backs. Stopping us isn’t worth dying for.”
“Yes, sir,” Dix agreed.
They had other things to worry about. Hayden looked across to the trees again. The trife probably stayed away from the base most of the time, but the commotion the Hellion created had brought them to investigate, and that investigation had revealed a human camp in chaos.
It was the perfect opportunity for them to strike.
They were massing near the fence, covered by the trees. He could see their inky black flesh in the shadows, shifted among the trunks and other foliage. They had shown up so quickly after the Hellion’s attack, it couldn’t be what drew them in the first place. Maybe they had noticed the activity in the camp. The preparations to leave. The creatures weren’t smart, but they weren’t stupid either. They were made to kill humans, not let them escape.
They didn’t want to miss what might be their last chance.
It was perfect cover for the three of them to sprint into the base, and across the grass and cement to the campus on the left side. The armory was easy to identify because he had seen the soldiers coming out of it. But that wasn’t their first stop. He eyed the other buildings as they got closer. The barracks was beside the armory. He identified the field hospital by the cross over the door. The command center stood out too, thanks to a thick wire that stretched from its side toward the tower a dozen meters away.
He was tempted to head there first. The path was clear, and he wanted more than anything to try to send word to Natalia that he was alive. She said she understood and wouldn’t worry, but he knew that wasn’t completely true. She was more than strong enough to survive without him, but she would be concerned all the same.
He cut to the left, to the forward most building. The hospital. He didn’t care if the gash on his face healed ugly, but he wanted it to heal faster, without infection, and medicine would help. It would help Gus too.
They only passed a few soldiers on the way. Gunfire erupted in the background, the fort’s defenders opening up on the invading trife. There were enough soldiers to make short work of the aliens if the numbers weren’t heavily in their favor, and from his single glance into the trees, he guessed there were close to a thousand.
He didn’t think it would be enough to break the fort’s defenses.
They pushed through the door into the hospital. It was cleaner than most of the buildings Hayden had seen. The damage to the walls had been repaired, the broken tiles patched, the floors scrubbed and the overhead lighting functional. A woman was standing near the doorway, the one he had saved from the Hellion. He came to a stop in front of her.
“Doctor,” he said.
“Nu
rse,” she replied. She looked at his arm. “You aren’t one of ours.”
“No, but I saved your life,” Hayden said. “All I want is medicine, and patches if you have them.”
“Patches?”
“You know what I mean.”
He wasn’t entirely clear on how it worked, but between his run-in with the Bennett replica, Isabelle’s construction, and General Stacker being a replica too, he was sure Tinker had some sort of arrangement with someone on Proxima. The Trust, maybe? If they were sending supplies, healing patches were sure to be part of them.
She was hesitant. She looked past him to the fighting outside. The gunfire was loud and strong, making quick work of the invading trife. They didn’t have time to linger.
“Can you help me?” Hayden asked.
She made her decision. “This way.”
She led them away from the entrance, up a flight of stairs and down a long corridor. She entered a key code to open a secured lock, bringing them into a supply room. She went to the shelves and grabbed a box, handing it to him.
“Patches,” she said. “Only because you saved my life.”
“Thank you,” Hayden replied.
She crossed to the other side and grabbed a bottle, tossing it to him. “Painkillers, if you need them. Now please, go. We’re going to have wounded coming in any second now.”
“Thank you,” he repeated. He shoved the bottle in a pocket of his jumpsuit and held the box cradled under his arm.
The mongrels retreated to the entrance. Hayden expected the fighting to be calming somewhat, the superior human forces overcoming the trife. A few of the demons had managed to get over the fence, and as the doctor had guessed, a few injured soldiers were making their way to the hospital.
They were halfway across the field, but they stopped moving suddenly, their eyes shifting from their destination to the western gate.
“Trife!” one of them shouted. “Trife on the west wall!”
The guards in the western towers had been watching the action to the east. Now they spun around, simultaneously sounding the alarm and beginning to shoot down at the creatures.