RIOT DAWN_Attack of the Space Druids

by Anthony Thackston

  She faced her only remaining companion as she pulled a small explosive device from her belt. “Lino, why?”

  “It’s safe inside,” Lino said, still chipping with his knife. “They can’t get me, inside.”

  With no warning, dozens of arms burst through the egg, all grabbing at and tearing into Lino as they pulled him closer to the rocky container.

  Riot set a single charge for fifteen seconds then tossed it at the egg. “I’m sorry,” she said before hitting her own Tether.

  More pieces of the egg broke off from the inside as Lino’s body was ripped apart by the horrific creatures. Swarms of them moved out into the rest of the cave as Riot faded away.

  Chapter 1

  Five Years Later

  Light rays shone from orbs above the bar, directly into the eyes of those bar patrons who cared to watch whatever program they wished. The devices that created the little piercing lights looked like simple decoration to anyone not directly in their line of sight. It was a nice way of providing entertainment for those who wanted it and silence for those who just wanted to enjoy their drink and have a conversation.

  Riot stood at the bar, directly in the beams from one of the orbs as it played a newscast.

  “And it was five years ago, today, when Hell was literally unleashed on the city of Los Angeles,” the news anchor said.

  The image changed from him to a montage of edited footage from those who had been brave enough to film the creatures from the egg as they tore through city streets, killing anyone they could get their hands on. “It was the most horrific and brutal three days humanity had ever encountered. And while we still don’t know where these creatures came from—”

  “Load of crap,” Riot said.

  “We do know it was our very own United States Marines who brought the terror to an end. To those brave men and women, you have our sincerest gratitude. In the studio today, we’re joined by United States Senator Reed Myers to discuss—”

  Riot waved her hand in front of her face and looked away. The maneuver deactivated the orb and served to bring the bartender back her way.

  “What do you need?” the barkeep asked.

  “Another Fine Ass.”

  “I’d say you’re doing all right,” a rough voice from behind her said as a meaty hand slapped and grabbed her butt. He squeezed it just a little. “Now I know you’re doing all right. But I got something that beer can’t give you.”

  Riot lifted her empty bottle. “Somehow I doubt you’re even half the size of this long neck.”

  The man quickly removed his hand. Riot could tell his whole mood had changed from her remark.

  “I ain’t afraid to hit a dyke!” the man shouted.

  “Good for you. Too bad I’m not one.”

  “Stupid—” The gruff man swung his fist at Riot but she caught his wrist well before he could hit her.

  Metal fingers tightened their grip around the flesh, bruising the bone at the wrist joint.

  “Let go!” the man yelled, in pain.

  Riot kept him locked in then reared her left arm back.

  The cracking sound of her fist on the man’s nose was loud enough to snap other people away from their orb viewings. The second crack across his jaw must have been more interesting than whatever they were watching as they turned their attention to the very one-sided fight.

  Riot finally let the moaning man go and took a relaxed stance. She knew what was coming. Men like him weren’t the type to walk away from a fight. Especially one they’d clearly lost.

  His left hand massaged his jaw while his right massaged his wrist. “You ain’t even a real woman!” he shouted.

  Riot grabbed at her own breasts and put her hands on her rear end. “I don’t know. Feels pretty real to me.”

  The man pulled out a thirteen-inch hunting knife from the holster on his hip. “I’m gonna gut your cyborg ass.”

  “Is that what you think a beer can’t give me?”

  The first knife swing was the only knife swing as Riot’s metal arm blocked the swipe. She spun around, positioning herself behind the irate man and thrust her real hand to the back of his head, shoving it down on the metal bar top.

  A small echo reverberated from the surface of the bar and shook a few of the other bottles and glasses before the man bounced off and fell to the floor.

  “Hey!” another man shouted from the pool table in the corner. “That was my brother!”

  A fourteen-inch blade slid out from Riot’s metal forearm as she glared at the pool player.

  The pool player held his hands in front of himself. “He wasn’t any good, anyway. Probably best I just get him to a hospital.”

  The pool player and one other man picked up and dragged the unconscious ass-grabber out of the bar. Riot turned her attention back to the bar where her next drink was already waiting for her in addition to a shot of dark green liquid.

  “From the lady.” The bartender pointed at a woman in a red skirt a few feet down the bar.

  “That’s for knocking that creep out,” the woman said before downing a shot of the same.

  Riot held hers up and knocked it back. She gingerly set the shot glass down and moved to her beer. The blade from her arm was still out. “Retract,” Riot said. The blade did nothing. She shook the arm and still the blade stayed exposed. She banged her fist on the cyborg arm but the blade stayed out. “Stupid piece of junk,” she said, defeated.

  “Army issue, eh?” a man said, sliding up to her on the nearest barstool.

  Riot glared at him but didn’t bother answering.

  “You know, I watched that whole thing,” the man said. “Don’t worry about it, he had that coming.”

  “Do I look worried about it?” Riot asked before taking a gulp of her beer.

  The man looked at the label on the bottle. “Fine Ass. Any good?”

  “You get as grabby as he was and you’ll find out,” she warned.

  “Well, I can tell you that standing at the bar instead of sitting will get you that kind of attention. Especially a woman like you.”

  “A woman like me?”

  “What? You didn’t look in the mirror before you came here?” the man asked in disbelief. “I mean did someone pour you into those jeans?”

  Her metal hand clenched, breaking the bottle and suddenly the blade slid back into her arm.

  “Relax,” the man said. “It was a compliment. Maybe we should start over.” He reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a card. The business card was simple, somehow making it more pretentious since no one had used business cards since well before she joined the service. There was simply a name and a phone number.

  “Axel Lynch?” she asked.

  “And you are former Marine Sergeant Riot Elizabeth Dawn.”

  She stepped back, unsure of how this newcomer knew who she was.

  “I’ve been curious,” Axel went on. “Is Riot your first name, or did you switch it with Elizabeth?”

  She motioned to the bartender for another as Axel continued with whatever he thought he was doing.

  “If it is, I’m surprised no one ever called you Red. But I guess if I had a first name like Riot or Havoc…what do you think of Chaos? Maybe spell it with a K.”

  “What do you want, Lynch?”

  “Oh, are we at that point, already? Where we call each other by last names? That’s exciting. Hmm, let me think. You know what, I’ll have a Fine Ass, too. Barkeep, bring one of those for me and put hers on my tab. You know what? Just put her whole tab on my tab.”

  “This how you pick up women, Lynch? Swoop in with your fancy suit and spend loads of money on them?”

  “Well, it’s not my money.” Lynch smiled. “No, you can thank the taxpayers for your rounds.”

  “A government man, huh?”

  “Not the one most people know about.”

  Riot’s demeanor changed as she stared down Axel. “What branch do you work for?” Her voice had a slight shake to it because she was afraid she already kne
w the answer.

  Axel turned to her. His face had become granite, a clue to how serious things were about to get. “One you are very familiar with, Riot.”

  She swallowed hard. “Your from See-SID?”

  Chapter 2

  The hushed voices were easy to hear, even in the dimmer corner of the bar. Riot downed the last of her beer while Axel continued to sip on his. Riot could tell he didn’t particularly care for the taste.

  “You’re a wine man, aren’t you?”

  “Margaritas, actually,“ Axel said. He slid the rest of his beer to her.

  “I enjoy a little Sangria every now and then,” she said before guzzling the rest of his beer. She set the bottle down and leaned back in her seat. “I take it, this is the part where you tell me what you want.”

  Axel scanned the bar for any prying ears. Whatever it was, she could tell he didn’t want anyone else hearing.

  He finally said, “The Central Supernatural Intelligence Division needs you back.”

  “Too bad.”

  “Riot.”

  “No. I got no desires to go through anything like that, again. Besides, I can hardly call myself useful with this garbage attached to me.” She held her metal arm up. It made a clicking sound as if it was an engine that wouldn’t turn over. “That’s a new one,” she muttered.

  “The See-SID can take care of that.”

  “I’ll bet they can. Why me?”

  “The same reason you were needed five years ago. And every other unconventional mission prior to that. Your success rate is—”

  “A failure, Lynch. Five years ago, not only did I fail in blowing up that Hell Egg, I got all but one of my team killed in that failing.”

  “I joined the See-SID two years after all that but I read up on—”

  “Did you read up on how I even left one of my own in the Marianas?”

  Axel said nothing.

  “Do yourself and the whole world a favor. Find someone else.” Riot started to rise. “I’m gonna find another bottle to crawl into.”

  “This is bigger than a Hell Egg, Riot.”

  “You don’t think hundreds of demon-looking jerk-offs slashing up humanity ranks at the height of bad things?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Axel told her. “But that was nothing the Marines or even the local police couldn’t have taken care of. And they did. This is much different, I promise you that.”

  Riot looked the man up and down, gauging his sincerity. The boyish attitude he’d had earlier was gone. And in its place was a man of total conviction. Even if she didn’t think herself worthy of saving the world, he did. She eased back in the chair, one leg out in case she didn’t like what he had to say.

  “They’re called, T’rfn—”

  “Code word,” Riot interrupted. “I’m sure that whatever they’re really called takes too long to say. And that’s assuming you’re even saying it right, which you probably aren’t, so what’s See-SID calling it?”

  “Fair enough. We’re calling them Space Druids.”

  Riot launched from her chair, nearly tipping it backward. “You gotta be kidding me.”

  “Riot, wait! Look, it’s a stupid name— I know— but they’re very real and they are coming. They’ve already shown up more than once.”

  “And how did you fix that?”

  “We sent in a tactical team.”

  “Send in another.” Riot turned to leave.

  “They all died.”

  Riot stopped in her tracks and surveyed the bar. Most of the people there were enjoying alone time. Others were laughing and carrying on in their respective groups. She didn’t know the lives of anyone in the place but she did know they were lives. And if the CSID was involved, they were lives that were at risk.

  She faced Axel. “So you’re telling me that these Space Druids are already here?”

  “Yes—No—It’s…” Axel regathered his thoughts. “The teams that went in succeeded in their missions. They just died doing it. There are these things called citadels. They’re towers and they just, kind of, appear. From nowhere, and they’re full of druids. We blow up citadels or knock them down in some way and the Druids don’t show up.”

  “Is this an invasion or just a regular attack?”

  “They’re one in the same, aren’t they?”

  “Usually,” Riot said, looking at her metal arm.

  “How’s that thing working for you?”

  “It doesn’t,” she told him. “Thing went screwy on me about two years after getting it.”

  “It was an outdated model before you got it,” Axel told her. “That’s what the military does for you. But I’ll make you a deal. The See-SID has joint dealings with MIT and DARPA. You do this mission and save the world, I’ll make sure you get something that never goes obsolete.”

  It wasn’t the kind of thing anyone would take long to think about. Not because of the arm. But because of saving the world. Still, Riot took her moment. Five years and countless bottles and the failed Hell Egg mission still had her shaken. And it didn’t help that the CSID had shown up on the five-year anniversary of that failure. Worse, they knew where she was. Meaning they’d been tracking her and purposely waited until that day to approach. It could have all been for dramatic effect. Either way, it wasn’t going to matter if there was no world left.

  “Fine,” she said, leaning her real arm on the back of her hair. “But on one condition.”

  “A brand new arm isn’t enough?”

  “If this is going to work, it has to be done right. And with the right people.”

  “Of course. There’s a team waiting—.”

  “I want my team.”

  Axel furrowed his brow, confused at the request. “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “It’s like Sinclair said, five years ago, no one else has the constitution for this sort of thing. And I figure if you’ve already sent in squads that couldn’t make it out, what makes you think another one can?”

  “The difference is that they’re led by you.”

  “Exactly. My team, led by me.”

  “I’m not real clear on what you’re asking for, Riot. Your team died. They’re gone. It’s work with what we have or go it alone and I know for a fact that this is not a solo mission.”

  “You work for the See-SID, Lynch. Even three years in, I’m sure you’ve seen some stuff.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  She straightened away from her chair. “You haven’t been to the lower levels, yet, have you?”

  “I’m a level five.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I figured.” She stepped close to him and, taking his arm, lifted him out of his chair. She put her arm around his shoulders. “Come on, level five, I’m driving.”

  “You sure you’re okay to drive?”

  “Well, if I’m not, then I guess you and me won’t have to deal with Space Druids.”

  Chapter 3

  The CSID hub possessed the latest technological advancements in countering global threats from both normal means and those of a more mystical nature. It was a government entity that few outside of its walls knew about. And that was just how they liked it. If the world knew about the kinds of threats the CSID faced, there would be global panic and anarchy.

  “As you can see, a lot has changed in five years,” Axel said, leading Riot through a corridor.

  The hallway had displays built into the sterile looking walls. Each exhibit looked like a historical timeline of the Central Supernatural Intelligence Division, from weapons to defense and all the way to transport. So many of the items were not known to the general public.

  “Can you imagine if some of this information got out?” Axel asked.

  “Didn’t it, already?”

  Axel stopped at a door and swiped a keycard. “Well, you’re not wrong. The Hell Egg fiasco turned a lot of eyes and minds to what could be going on. But these Space Druid citadels?” The heavy security door slid open, into the wall. “That’s just not something we can’t keep h
idden much longer. We’ve been lucky so far that they’ve popped up in extremely rural areas.”

  “How are you getting to the citadels before anyone notices them?”

  “Like I said, a lot has changed since you were last here.”

  On the other side of the door was another hallway. People in laboratory attire and some in office clothing hurried about. All appeared to be discussing the various activities of whatever their job functions were. Riot tried to clue in on any one thing but the constant sound traveling in different directions only gave her bits and pieces to work with. None of it seemed pertinent to anything in particular. They were just folks doing their jobs.

  “Sorry if I seem in a hurry,” Axel said as he brushed past a small group of people. “There’s no telling when the next tower will show up and the sooner we get you fully briefed, the better.”

  “What happens if one shows up right now?”

  “Well, then, we send in another squad on a suicide run. I can’t tell you how heavy that starts to weigh on your conscious.”

  “I think I can guess,” Riot said, solemnly.

  Axel led her to a set of clear double doors. This one had no key-card lock. The doors just opened as he stepped in front of them.

  Inside the room was a five-man crew of scientists pouring over computer data. None of them acknowledged Axel or Riot as they moved quickly between each other, sharing whatever information they were gathering.

  “What’s all this?” Riot asked.

  “Calculations and formulas for the next citadel appearance. We haven’t found any specific patterns yet, but these guys are working to change that. We’ve tried times of day, night, solar and lunar positions—nothing lines up.”

  “You ever think, maybe, they’re just random events?”

  “These Space Druids are magic in nature. Nothing about magic is random.”

  “Sergeant Riot Dawn,” a male voice said. “Good of you to finally show up.”

  Riot turned to find four armed, uniformed soldiers tucked away in another section of the room.