Savage Hills (Savage Horde Book 1)

by Chris Bostic

  His earpiece crackled to life when he pressed the power button.

  “We’re moving back down the slope,” Connie was saying. “Dig new holes a couple hundred yards downhill. Danny’s gonna wait at the ridge top to keep watch and cover us until we’re ready.”

  “Hurry,” Kayla said, once again anxious.

  After the short reprieve, the squad seemed overdue for another mass charge. Then again, Joe wondered if the savages weren’t rethinking their costly strategy of near futile, frontal assault. If they were anything like the barbarians, it would take a while longer for them to learn their lesson.

  Joe knew the Regulators never wasted so much manpower on charge after charge. Any organization that had to recruit children for battle was clearly not in a position to suffer such loss of life, even if he sometimes felt like his life was expendable.

  We win by being smarter, better armed, more mobile, Joe thought. His smirk turned even grimmer as he thought how much more technologically advanced they were than the savages, not that it would take much. Yet, they had nearly gotten lucky enough to take out Laura.

  “Dig in here,” Connie ordered, pulling Joe from his thoughts. “Fan out again, and watch our flanks. We don’t know what happened to Fifth.”

  Not only did Pete and Danny have to hold an unsecured left flank again, now the girls on the right were likely exposed too. As he dug, Joe thought it seemed like a foolhardy position, but he didn’t have any idea where else they could fall back to. It was too dark to know, and Connie was still out of communication with the other squads.

  At least we’ll see the savages slipping over the ridge, Joe thought as he watched Danny silhouetted against the night sky. He sank his shovel into the ground again and lifted out another meager spoonful of gravelly earth.

  The boom of grenades falling against the evacuated hillside erupted. The reverberations carried through the mountain and settled in Joe’s tight chest.

  “They don’t know we’ve moved,” Danny said over the communicator, apparently watching as the horde swarmed into the old foxholes.

  “Danny, pull back,” Connie said. “We’ll cover you.”

  Joe gripped his coilgun and slid into a foxhole that he’d barely scratched out. He might as well be lying on top of the bare earth.

  Danny scrambled down the hillside toward a green laser Connie flashed. The savages didn’t follow.

  Joe took rapid breaths, trying and failing at staying calm. He kept waiting for basketball-sized heads to pop over the hilltop, but nothing came. Then the grenades fell.

  “Stay down,” Connie commanded.

  Joe thought he heard Pete whine as the hillside lit up around them. The ground shuddered, and pebbles rained against his helmet as the earth tore apart.

  They’re hitting us with everything they’ve got, Joe thought. His stomach churned. He chanced a quick look up the hill and momentarily froze as a multitude of shadows jumped over the ridge top.

  “They’re coming!” he screamed into the mouthpiece, but his squad mates had already opened fire.

  Joe jerked his weapon into position and sprayed a full magazine into the waves skimming down the hill. He grabbed another magazine and slammed it home. Then another.

  “Cover your eyes,” Connie commanded, and the LED-AD lit up.

  Broken bits of colored staccato light sped into the savages. Joe pinched his eyes shut in time, but the muted lights blaring through his eyelids suddenly went dark. The ground shook to his right, and the gunshots didn’t stop.

  “Crap! It’s blown!” Connie howled. “Shoot!”

  The horde kept coming uninterrupted. One of the girls shrieked again. The wave of inhumanity broke against the hastily dug foxholes, and the walls crumbled.

  Joe shot through another magazine, staggering a figure right in front of him. Two more jumped around the injured savage with bayonets menacing.

  Voices screamed from everywhere. Joe ducked a slash and slammed the butt of his coilgun into the savage’s ear. The attacker dropped.

  The other lunged, bouncing his blade off Joe’s armored stomach. The force pushed Joe backwards. He tumbled out of the foxhole. He rolled downhill like a snowball, bouncing and picking up speed.

  His helmet smashed against the ground repeatedly. Still, he didn’t slow.

  Throwing his body to the side and jabbing with his gun, he finally came out of the roll. But there was too much momentum to stop completely. He slid headfirst down the loose rock, his helmet and armor fortunately preventing the worst of the gashes. His gun came loose from his grip and slid alongside.

  Joe reached out frantically for any kind of handhold to stop the slide. He tweaked his wrist but found a tentative handhold. With all the strength his fingers could muster, he righted himself and dug in with his heels.

  His coilgun bounced past, and he kicked out a foot to stop it as the hillside erupted in flame above him.

  Joe was sure his uniform was in tatters. He tried to suck in a breath but couldn’t force in any air between the pounding of the fall and fear’s tight grip on his chest.

  Without thinking, he reached into his cargo pocket and pulled out a fresh magazine. He retrieved the gun and rammed it home. In an instant, he was ready to return fire, all without having taken a breath.

  He blinked, ready to be staked to the ground by a savage’s bayonet, but found the fighting still raging above him. He’d tumbled at least a hundred yards down the hill.

  It was his chance to slink away, to hide in the hills and escape life in the Regulator’s ranks, but Joe couldn’t do that. He had a brotherly connection to his mates, no matter how much he’d tried to fight it.

  As the savages’ outdated rifles barked and grenades flashed, Joe climbed to scraped hands and bruised knees. But that was the worst of it, and his squad needed him back in the fight.

  Joe patted his other pant pocket, confirming he had one more magazine handy. Finally, forcing a deep breath into his lungs, he ran straight up the hill.

  Stray bullets whipped past his head. He stayed low, breathing labored as he climbed. Shrieks and shouts crackled in his earpiece, but he couldn’t make out the words.

  “Where’s everyone at?” he said, but no one replied. He wasn’t sure if his earpiece was broken, but he knew his bones should’ve been. Other than not preventing bruises, the full-body armoring never ceased to amaze him.

  He charged forward and in the darkness nearly ran into Kayla. He dropped to avoid surprising her and watched as she slowly backed down the hill, firing off bursts before scrambling a few steps lower and firing again.

  He scooted to the side to give her a wide berth. When she was about even with him, he rose to a crouch and fired into the swirling blackness that had to be savages. He watched her head turn to him upon his shots, and saw an approving nod. If she said anything, he never heard it.

  Joe fired off another burst, keeping the savages well away from him. He chanced a look to the left and right, hoping to find the rest of the squad. He prayed they hadn’t been overrun. Capture would be the one thing worse than the Republic’s prison, and he vowed to never let that happen to him.

  In that moment, he noticed the swarm grow around Kayla while he remained untouched. She dropped to a knee and fired, mowing down a line of savages in front of her. But they closed from her far side where Joe couldn’t risk a shot.

  He ran to her, knowing he’d be too late.

  CHAPTER 6

  “Kayla!” Joe screamed. He hoped his presence would at least slow the advance of the savages. But they were on her in a second.

  Her weapon empty, she swung the coilgun to the side like a club, catching an attacker on the chin. It went flying, but another savage grabbed her from behind.

  Joe launched himself into the melee.

  He jabbed a thug in the side with the muzzle of his coilgun. The stunned savage recoiled, and he fired. From the corner of his eye, he watched Kayla slump down next to him. Three more attackers closed on her. Joe spun to the right and cut t
hem down with the rest of his ammunition, then kicked to dislodge the one from her back.

  Her assailant fell over and scrambled to its feet, brandishing a knife. The blade gleamed wet in the darkness. Joe’s stomach clenched and he strode forward, swinging his rifle over his head like an axe. The savage raised an arm to block, but the force of the blow brushed it aside, landing with a satisfying crunch on the top of its unprotected head.

  With a wobble, the savage fell over backwards. Joe whipped around while shoving his final magazine into the gun. The attackers had fled.

  Sweat boiled up inside his helmet, and he lifted the visor to scan the woods. Still nothing. He dropped to a knee to the unmoving Kayla, and heard a man’s voice rising from the earpiece inside her shattered helmet. His squawked with static, and he beat on the side of his helmet to quiet it.

  Joe rolled Kayla over to find a chunk smashed out of the side of her visor. Her face was unmarked, but unmoving. Open eyes, cool blue in daylight, stared back at him.

  “Kayla,” he said frantically, knowing there would be no reply.

  He shoved his fingers under her helmet to the side of her neck, hoping to find a pulse. Hot liquid greeted them, and he pulled dripping fingers back quickly. Where the helmet met her armored shoulder, blood ran heavy, soaking into the dark earth.

  “They’re gone,” Connie said through the communicator, which was unexpectedly crystal clear to Joe’s ears.

  “So is Kayla,” Joe mumbled, fighting to keep from losing his composure.

  “What?” Connie barked through a quick surge of static. “Come back.”

  Joe pulled off his helmet and shouted into Kayla’s face to make sure he would be heard. “The savages got her!”

  “Where you at?” Connie replied. “Everybody form up to withdraw.”

  Joe could barely force the reply out. “Farther down the slope.”

  “Kayla?” Laura said over the communicator. As she started to wail, Kayla’s headset went dead.

  Joe crumpled in the moment, and found himself agonizing over how much worse the girls might take this. Connie always made it sound like the emotional creatures would bawl like babies.

  “Man up,” he whispered to himself. He couldn’t let the others see him like this. He had to be strong. Jumping to his feet, he yelled up the hill. “Down here!”

  Scattered shadows silhouetted against the night sky. Joe tried to count them, but was only confident of four. Counting himself and Kayla, that meant one was missing. He agonized over that too as they closed on his position.

  Connie arrived well before the others. Joe stepped away from Kayla to meet him.

  “How’d you get down here?” The sergeant seemed to pay little attention to Kayla’s prostrate form off to the side.

  “Knocked down the dang hill.” Joe said defensively. He pointed to his stomach and massaged a sore spot. “Savage jabbed me in the gut, and I went rolling.”

  “Long way, huh?” Connie turned to look back up to the ridge top, and waved over the rest of the group. “How’d she get here?”

  “Holy fire, they were all over her. She was falling back. She took a bunch with her. I just couldn’t get them…”

  “Don’t beat yourself up about it.” Connie stepped past Joe to go to Kayla, and silenced his mouthpiece to say, “Keep the others away, okay? They don’t need to see this.”

  Although he didn’t really understand why, he simply replied, “Sure.”

  Joe met up with Pete first, then hurried over to cut off the retreating Laura and Leisa.

  “Over here, guys,” he said, and Leisa shot him a curious look.

  Joe ignored the initial questions and waved them off to the side to a spot where the girls had their backs to Kayla.

  “Is she really gone?” Leisa said, surprisingly calm.

  “Yeah.” Joe paused uncomfortably. “It was so quick. We got a bunch of ‘em-”

  “We?” Laura asked.

  Joe nodded. “The savages were all over us, and she fought like a tiger. It was…amazing. Like a…” He sighed and shook his head. “Tragic, but amazing.”

  Laura took off her helmet, and Joe was surprised to see clear, tearless eyes.

  “I don’t care what Connie says,” she announced. “She was the toughest girl I’ve ever seen.”

  “Toughest anything.” Leisa pulled off her helmet too, and inhaled sharply. “We’ve gotta stop that male female crap. We’re a team.”

  “You got that right,” Joe agreed. “A team that’s down one more.” He hoped Connie would figure that out, but the odds seemed slim. All Joe knew was that they surely couldn’t leave the two girls on their own now, not with Kayla gone. He’d volunteer to stay with them if Connie wanted to keep splitting them into two teams.

  The group threw a couple more questions at Joe. He sidestepped the messier answers as well as he could. Finally, Danny joined them, and the whole group was accounted for. He kept his helmet screwed down tightly, and gazed constantly uphill. A twitchy trigger finger seemed ready to fire the second a shadow moved.

  “This is insane,” Pete said, perhaps forgetting he was still talking into his communicator. “We’ve gotta get outta here.”

  “One more charge from the savages and we’re done,” Danny said without turning around to look.

  Connie didn’t reply with his usual bluster about no retreats and holding the line. Joe wondered if he’d even heard, and looked past the girls to check on him.

  With his helmet resting off to the side, Connie was on one knee next to Kayla. His head was bowed. As Joe watched, he lifted his head and stood still for a moment before finally walking back to the group.

  “We’re moving out,” Connie announced as he rejoined the others.

  “Finally,” Pete said, drawing a sharp look from the sergeant.

  While Joe worried about going back up the hill to find his lost backpack, Laura gestured toward their fallen comrade and asked, “Are we gonna bring her with us?”

  “No time for that,” Connie said curtly, and Joe noticed how he seemed to be avoiding looking Kayla’s direction.

  “We gotta at least bury her,” Laura insisted.

  “Then you do it. You’ve got two minutes and nothing more.” Connie stood next to Danny and gazed up the hill. “Good luck finding dirt for the job.”

  Joe thought Connie made another good point, but kept silent. When Leisa went with Laura to try to make a shallow grave, he found himself compelled to help out.

  “C’mon, Pete. Let’s give ‘em a hand.”

  Pete looked at Joe curiously but didn’t object.

  “The quicker the better.”

  Joe grabbed his helmet in one hand, and led the way with coilgun in the other. By the time the two friends met up with the girls, Laura was already plunging her shovel into the hard dirt.

  “I don’t have a shovel,” Joe told the girls. “Let me have yours.”

  Leisa waved him off. “Just cover us.”

  “I don’t have much ammo either,” Joe mumbled, but dropped to a knee to aim his rifle uphill.

  “Then what good are you?” she replied, and Pete chuckled inappropriately.

  Joe was taken aback and couldn’t reply. He obviously hadn’t been any help for Kayla.

  Leisa looked up from digging. Her teeth sparkled in the blackness as she flashed a quick, apologetic smile.

  Understanding she’d meant no earlier insult, he nodded and turned his attention back to the slope. Off to his left, in between the crunches of the shovel, he heard whispers traded between Danny and Connie.

  “It’s not deep,” Laura said, eventually breaking the silence.

  “We’re out of time.” Pete stood tall and stretched his back. “It’s all we can do.”

  “Yeah, I’m beat.” Leisa cast her shovel aside. “You want a turn now?” she asked Joe.

  “I would but Pete’s right. Connie’s gonna lose it if we don’t hurry.” He rushed over and surveyed the shallow grave. “Heck of a place to leave her.”

>   “That jerk won’t let us bring her home,” Laura said, pointing a thumb at Connie.

  “I know. It’s too far though,” Joe said, thinking about how remote they’d gotten since the last forward operating base. “We’re twenty miles from nowhere.”

  “Why couldn’t we call in a hover?” Laura asked as she kept digging. “Get us all out of here.”

  “You’d have to ask Sarge,” Pete said. “But I overheard him say something earlier today about how the birds are grounded. Some kind of bug.”

  “Huh?” Joe said. That was news to him. “How’s that happen?”

  “Something about a virus in the system, and all the whole unmanned fleet is shut down ‘til they work it out.”

  “What about the manned ones?” Laura asked.

  “Maybe they don’t fly this high. I dunno why. Too rocky? Might get shot at? Not enough birds or pilots to go around?” Pete shrugged and quit digging too. “There’s a bunch of theories.”

  “Either way, it looks like we’re stuck,” Joe said, still surprised at the revelation.

  “Then let’s call this good.” Laura quit digging and took a tentative glance at Kayla. “I’m ready to get outta here.”

  “Yeah,” Leisa agreed.

  They dropped their shovels and walked over to Kayla. Each grabbing an arm or leg, the four of them quickly carried her over to the hole. Joe closed his eyes as they lowered her inside. It was barely deep enough to cover her, but he pushed that thought aside to grab Leisa’s shovel to help bury her lifeless form.

  Dust swirled in a rare breeze. Despite the heat, Joe felt clammy and dead tired as he shoveled earth over their companion along with Pete and Laura. Leisa came to his side and held out his coilgun as he emptied the final scoop.

  “Let’s go.” She took her shovel back and stashed it in her pack.

  He hefted the rifle and looked back one last time as the others moved toward Connie and Danny. Leisa waited behind with him as he took his time pulling his helmet on. A solitary tear formed, and he scrubbed at his eyes before lowering the visor.