RIOT DAWN_Attack of the Space Druids

by Anthony Thackston

“Children,” Hick broke in, playfully.

  Riot shrugged the remark off and cautiously stepped forward, feeling around in the dark. She gauged how many steps it had been relative to Jessica's tumble off the platform. I must be off it by now, she thought. “Everyone still there?”

  “Awaiting orders,” Lino said.

  “Good.” She activated her arm’s scanner display. “Sonar scan.” The visual stayed blank. Riot banged her hand on the metal arm and the screen finally popped up, showing her an outline of the dark tunnel they’d found themselves in.

  A hand reached out and rested on her shoulder. “You know, your android can do all that,” Carlos said. “I don’t know why you insist on using that thing when it barely works half the time.”

  “You never know,” Riot said. “With my track record, a time might come when it’s just me out here.”

  While Carlos hung back, apparently puzzled by her dark humor, Riot was the first out of the tunnel mouth. Her eyes immediately lifted skyward at the clouds above them. Jessica took note of the dried, cracked and dead looking ground. The environment looked like something from a medieval fantasy movie. There were no trees. Just dark stones jutting from the ground like jagged spikes, waiting to impale someone. It was a gloomy place full of zero hope and total foreboding.

  “This could be Earth,” Jessica muttered, following Riot out of the tunnel.

  Riot took note of her tone, as if the young woman had already lost her will to go on. And if the place ever did fully merge with Earth, she would share that feeling. But there was still time.

  “I dunno,” Hick said. “It’s not so bad.”

  Riot ignored what she hoped was a joke. She looked back at the tunnel entrance. The space looked as if it had been a citadel, reasserting the notion that it was now on Earth.

  Carlos pointed at something in the distance. Riot could see the tops of more towers every fifty yards or so. It was as though the team had appeared just outside of a city.

  “Everyone stay here,” Riot ordered.

  Riot made her way toward the towers to get a better look at what they were up against. As she neared them, it became clear that she was at the top of a cliff. Riot dropped to her stomach and crawled to the edge.

  Peering down, she saw something she had hoped not to see. If it had just been the towers it would have eased her mind, somewhat. Instead, it was like rush hour in a major Earth city. Space Druids were amassed at the bases of the citadels. Those who weren’t surrounding them, were on their way to doing so.

  “I can’t imagine a plan not involving a nuke would work here,” Carlos said, sidling up next to her.

  “How about several? And these are just the druids we can see. Somehow I doubt a few bricks of C4 are gonna cut it,” Riot told him.

  “It’s like a whole city down there.”

  One of the towers began fading away, slowly replaced by an apartment building.

  Two of the residents rushed out of their homes, wanting to know what just happened. They were met by an instant stream of fire from the druids below.

  “We have to help them,” Carlos growled, already rising.

  “It’s too late,” Riot ordered. “I don’t like it any more than you but us going down there right now is total suicide.” She backed away from the cliff to join the others. “There’s no way we can win this the same way as we won on the meteor.”

  “No killing them all?” Hick asked.

  “We don’t have that kind of firepower. Not five troops against a planet.”

  “You think Lino can do that big blast thing again?” Carlos asked.

  Riot shook her head. “Even if he was recharged, he’d have the one shot then they’d be on us.”

  “What’s the plan, Sarge?”

  “I’ll be honest with you, Jessica. I know you don’t wanna hear this but I don’t have one.”

  Chapter 24

  Lino dropped to the ground, placing his hand on it.

  “Lino, what is it?” Riot asked.

  “I am using a sonar pulse to discern the distance between us and the center of the planet.”

  “What for?” Hick asked.

  “To calculate its size, thereby approximating our level of resistance.”

  “It’s a planet, I can tell you how much resistance we’ll get,” Carlos said.

  Lino pulled his hand off the ground. “Curious. The planet is missing its core.”

  “What’s that mean?” Riot asked.

  Hick looked back toward the towers, apparently uninterested in the conversation.

  “Unknown, Sarge,” Lino said.

  “It’s not a problem is it?”

  “Judging by the lack of negative impact to the atmosphere or gravity, no,” Lino said.

  “Did you figure out how big this place is?” Jessica asked.

  “The Space Druid home world has a diameter of two thousand-five hundred and fifty-nine point two miles and a density of—”

  “We have to fight over two thousand miles worth of those things?” Jessica interrupted.

  “Correction,” Lino said. “The surface area is twenty point six million square miles, equaling our total field of combat.”

  Hick whistled. “Think there’s enough of us?”

  “So, it’s not much bigger than Earth’s moon,” Riot said.

  “Well, I’m more comfortable in that knowledge,” Carlos said as he slowly turned to glare at Riot.

  Suddenly, a large cracking sound, like the world breaking apart blared into the air. The team turned their attention to the cliff edge to see one of the towers rising off the ground, pieces of the planet still attached.

  “That thing’s heading to Earth,” Carlos said.

  Seconds later, the newly formed space rock shot upward at a blistering speed.

  “That makes three of them,” Riot added in reference to the trade they’d made to get there and the one they’d seen trade places with an apartment. “And there’s gonna be more if we don’t move.”

  “I’m still waiting for your plan, Sergeant,” Carlos leaned on her title as an insult.

  Riot clenched her fists. “What’s your problem, Diaz?”

  “My problem is I got a washout who’s got no business leading a team. Especially not after she already got my team killed.”

  “They were soldiers. They knew the risks just like you did when you signed up.”

  “I didn’t sign up to be led by someone who doesn’t know how to do simple transportation recon.”

  “How the hell were we gonna get here, Diaz? Did you have an answer?”

  “And you still don’t have an answer for what we’re gonna do now that we are here.”

  Riot stared at Carlos. He was right. The moment they saw what kind of numbers they were up against, all traditional forms of planning went out the window.

  “We find their leader and force a surrender,” she said.

  “So either way, we march all over this planet, looking for a leader when every damn one of them looks the same. Great plan.”

  “Or we could just find the central citadel,” Hick said as though the answer was obvious.

  “What makes you say that, Hick?” Riot asked. “How do you even know there is one?”

  Hick tapped the side of his temple and winked at Riot. “Voices in my head.”

  Riot only glared at him. It wasn’t out of character for Hick to make light of bad situations, but since his resurrection, his reactions to nearly everything had become suspect.

  “That still means walking all over this place,” Carlos said.

  “Not if Lino, here, has a topography scanner,” Hick offered.

  Riot turned to Lino. “Do you?”

  “Affirmative. Though I am unable to scan the entire planet from a single point.”

  “Do what you can,” Riot ordered.

  “Scanning.”

  She turned back to Hick. “You been acting weird since the meteor, Hick.”

  “Whatever do you mean, Sarge?” Hick smiled. “I’m j
ust doing my part to help all of us.”

  “Us?”

  Hick glanced around at the other members of the team. “Yeah, us.”

  “Alert,” Lino said. “Three life-forms detected.”

  “Where?” Riot drew her gun.

  “Targets approaching,” Lino replied.

  Three druids appeared, walking up the path toward the cave. Carlos and Jessica wasted no time. They took positions on either side of the path and started firing. The bullets passed right through the druids, chipping away at some of the stones that jutted up from the ground.

  “Keep scanning!” Riot ordered. “Find the central tower!” She joined Carlos and Jessica in the shooting.

  None of the druids attacked. Instead, two of them rose into the air, positioning themselves three high as though standing on each others’ shoulders.

  “Save the ammo!” Riot shouted.

  “I don’t think that’s gonna be a good idea, Sarge,” Hick said.

  Suddenly all three druids pulled toward each other, merging together and forming into one, much larger, druid.

  “Of course, I dunno that shooting that thing would do much good, anyway” Hick added.

  Chapter 25

  An orange shockwave blasted out from the giant druid, knocking Carlos and Jessica on their backs. Riot leaped over the wave, diving to the ground and popping right back up. Lino braced for it and remained standing as its struck him.

  “The hell with this,” Carlos said, launching back to his feet. He took aim at the druid’s head and fired.

  “I said—”

  Jessica interrupted Riot, following Carlos’s lead and returned to firing.

  “Fine!” Riot said, joining the fray.

  The bullets were finding their marks easily enough as the druid waved its arms around in an inhuman way. Whatever it was up to, its movements seemed to affect its ability to phase.

  Riot rushed toward the left side of the giant, trying to catch it from another angle but a sudden wind stopped her in her tracks. A thin cyclone rose from the ground in front of her.

  “Get back!” Riot yelled to her team. A drop of water hit her face. It was followed by several more drops as a stream of water swirled around the twister. It was as if the druids had summoned a whirlpool in mid-air. Riot fired at the druid’s moving arms, hoping a direct hit would stop whatever they were conjuring. Unfortunately, the giant was too big for the bullets to do any real harm.

  Suddenly the whirlwind of water moved forward, carving up the ground as it did. Riot tracked its path as it headed straight for Hick. Hick didn’t even notice as he remained staring down below the cliff.

  “Hick!” Riot yelled. She started toward her teammate but was relieved when Jessica tackled him to the ground.

  The vortex of wind and water passed the cliff edge and faded away.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Jessica asked Hick. She didn’t wait for an answer and rejoined the fight.

  Riot reloaded her gun and fired a steady stream of shots. Two of them hit the druid’s fingers, blasting them clean off. A stream of blood flowed out from the open wounds. The druid roared in pain and clutched the damaged hand to its chest.

  “Keep pressing!” Riot shouted.

  Carlos switched his aim from body shots to joints, first taking out one of its knees and dropping the druid to the ground. He switched to the other knee but was knocked backward by an unseen force.

  The druid said something in an unfamiliar language and an explosion of fire burst directly in front of it. The flame shot toward Carlos who dodged it by leaping to one side.

  “There’s more!” Jessica yelled.

  A series of fireballs erupted from the druid, all of them rocketing toward Carlos, keeping the Marine on his toes. There were too many of the projectiles flying toward him to even try and aim. Carlos ducked and side-stepped to avoid being hit by the passing flames that licked at him. It seemed like the druid could keep the attack up indefinitely while they were sure to run out of ammo, not to mention stamina. Neither of which they could afford to be without.

  Riot sized up the situation, guessing that the druids used their hands for more powerful attacks while the weaker ones, like numerous fireballs, were more of a mental thing. It was a good observation to note. There had been no time to study their enemy beyond what they were and what they were doing. Riot took aim. This time, right for the druid’s eye.

  She fired and hit her target. The druid reared back, launching the fireballs upward and finally giving Carlos a break.

  The next shot entered the giant’s throat. Any normal human or druid, for that matter, would have been dead but this one stumbled backward and reverted to the original three that had formed it.

  Two of them dropped to the ground dead. Riot put one more in each of them while the third struggled to stay on its feet. She trained her gun on it.

  “You think you can stop me and us?” the druid said in Sarc’s voice. “I and we will merge this world with yours. You cannot stop this from transpiring.”

  Riot pulled the trigger but Sarc phased, letting the bullet pass through. Then he rose off the ground and flew toward Hick.

  “Hick!” Riot yelled.

  The mohawked Marine turned slowly, as if completely unaffected by the firefight that had just occurred. Riot saw the look on his face. He wore a slight smile, like he knew what was going to happen next.

  Sarc flew straight into him, grabbing the Marine and carrying him off the cliff.

  Riot dashed after them but Carlos tackled her to the ground.

  “Get off me!” she shouted. “Hick!” Her cyber arm reached out for her abducted teammate.

  Carlos kept her pinned as Hick and Sarc faded away in mid-air. “He’s gone,” Carlos said, hoping the realization would calm her.

  “I’m not losing them again! Get the hell off me!”

  “Dawn, it’s over. There’s nothing we can do, now,” Carlos said as Riot struggled underneath him.

  “I don’t care!”

  “Sarge?” Jessica asked. “Sarge, please. We have to move.”

  Riot cracked Carlos across the jaw with her real fist, knocking the Marine off her. He fell onto his back. Riot shifted on top of him, her metal fist raised.

  “Riot, don’t!” Carlos protested.

  He shut his eyes, tight, as the cyborg arm bore down on him. The sound of metal and stone clanged in his ear and Carlos opened his eyes to find her fist next to his head.

  “Don’t ever disobey my order, again.” She got up and moved away.

  Carlos sat up, slowly. Even though Riot had made plenty of room between the two of them, it was still a tense moment. “What happened to he knew what he signed up for?” Carlos asked.

  “I gave you a direct order to save the ammo,” Riot retorted.

  “That’s what you’re mad about? Cuz I fired on that thing? What else were we supposed to do?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Lino broke in. “I have completed scanning the topography.”

  “And?” Riot asked.

  “There are five towers surrounding one citadel. It is the only structure of its kind.”

  “That’s gotta be it,” Carlos said.

  “How far is it?” Riot asked.

  “It is approximately two miles away from this point. However, the surrounding terrain will increase travel time by significant amounts.”

  “Then I guess we’d best move fast,” Riot said.

  “Really fast,” Jessica added, staring down the cliff edge.

  “What is it?” Carlos asked, stepping close to her.

  Below them, a crowd of druids were pointing upward while others were already moving in their direction.

  “They must have been alerted by the fight,” Carlos said. “Which way?”

  Lino pointed down the same path the three druids had come from. The team wasted no time waiting for Riot’s order and she wasted no time giving one. They made their way past the dead druids and down the path.

  Just like Lino h
ad said, the terrain slowed them down. The large jagged stones and uneven surface not only kept them from an even pace but some of those stones could have hidden enemies just waiting to ambush them.

  “Listen,” Carlos said to Riot. “I’m sorry about your man. Obviously, I didn’t know how close you were with your people.”

  “We don’t have time for this, Diaz.”

  “This whole mission has been nothing but screw-ups and unknowns. The one thing we have while walking toward more uncertainty is that we have some time.”

  “I don’t get you,” Riot said as she stopped and turned to him. “One minute you’re down my throat about my methods and now you’re apologizing?”

  “I’m just trying to clear the air.”

  “Sarge?” Lino broke in. “Perhaps this could wait till we are back at the CSID hub?”

  “No,” Riot said. “Diaz thinks we have time so let’s have it out. You got cards? Put them on the table.”

  “Fine,” Carlos said. “You really wanna hear this? Alright. It was a mistake putting you in charge. Especially after getting my team killed.”

  “There it is,” Riot said.

  “You asked for my cards. There they are. You couldn’t cut it after failing one mission five years ago. Now you’re back, acting like the last five years didn’t happen. Like nothing’s changed. I think that you’re reckless and that you’re unfit to—” With no warning, Carlos yelled out in pain. The whole group stepped back at the sight of a small beast with its crescent wrench-looking jaws clamped down on the Marine’s leg.

  “Get this thing off!” Carlos yelled, kicking his leg around, trying to shake the monster off.

  Riot tried aiming at it but Carlos was moving too much. Finally, she dropped down and pried at the beast’s jaw with her metal arm. Even with the cybernetic limb it was difficult but she finally opened it enough to free Carlos’s leg.

  The little monster’s strange jaw clamped down on Riot’s metal fingers. She didn’t even flinch. Her gun pressed to the monster’s head and she fired. Blood erupted as the bullet shot through its brain. The jaw slacked immediately and Riot flung the dead thing away. She turned back to Carlos.

  “How’s it look?” Riot asked.