Garrick: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Earth Resistance Book 1)

by Theresa Beachman

  “Still here,” she said. “Don’t worry about me.”

  By the time they had climbed another two flights, the floor was clear of Scutters, and they paused for a few seconds to catch their breath and wipe the ochre Scutter gunk from their arms. Garrick swept his hand across his chest. The armour was smooth and unmarked. He’d never seen anything like it. Scutters and Chittrix normally shredded standard body armour, limiting its life to two excursions at the most.

  Anna was staring at him with a “told you so” look on her face.

  “We need to take this kit back to base,” he admitted.

  Sawyer grunted. “Yeah, once we’ve dealt with the party upstairs.” He jerked his head in the direction above where the commotion of battle raged on.

  Garrick jabbed a finger at Anna. “You. Stay between me and Sawyer.”

  She raised her eyebrows briefly but shifted behind him. Feisty but not stupid. I like that.

  Without waiting for a smart reply, he took the stairs two at a time, fuelled by the knowledge they were equipped with something that could really change how they fought with the Chittrix.

  The fire door at the top of the access stairs was closed. Garrick hit the door side on, barreling through and causing it to crack against the internal wall with an enormous clatter. He took in the scene of chaos in one quick glance. Hardy and a chestnut-haired woman were to his left, back-to-back as an army of Chittrix crawled down the walls of the shattered glass atrium above their heads.

  God, there was so many of them. Where in hell’s name had they all come from?

  Shadowy Chittrix forms danced along the walls and above their heads, turning the air dark.

  “Julia!” Anna shouted behind him, causing the chestnut-haired woman to turn, eyes wide with fear. A small knot of anxiety gnawed in Garrick’s belly. He couldn’t remember ever seeing so many Chittrix and Scutters in one place since the initial invasion. This was insane. Where was Foster? He touched his earpiece to make contact.

  “Foster? You out there?”

  “Fuck, yes,” the tinny voice yelled in his ear, above the maelstrom of battle. “I’m going—” The radio hissed and crackled, swamping Foster’s reply.

  Sawyer stepped in front of him, scything bugs to pieces in a hail of bullets, spittle flying from his mouth as he roared a battle cry. Garrick turned and sliced at a Chittrix fast approaching him, its middle talons snapping in anticipation. He aimed low for the tender underbelly where the abdomen separated from the legs. It shrieked and lashed out, talons bouncing off his protective armour. He powered forward, and with his free left hand, he reached behind him for Anna, his fingers closing on the edge of her jerkin, making sure she didn’t get lost in the melee.

  We can make this.

  The alien hum in the air suddenly changed, a shift in intensity that echoed through the nerves in his teeth. They’re changing tactics.

  An entire wave of Scutters that had been gathering fury on the walls and ceiling above them let go en masse, filling the air in every direction.

  Anna.

  Garrick turned and grabbed her hand, tilting her rifle so she wouldn’t shoot herself as he shoved her out the way of the hellish insect rain. He knocked her against the side of the atrium where a large reception desk gave some shelter. She stumbled, righted herself, and then rolled underneath the desk, coming to rest on her hands and knees. Garrick dived after her as Sawyer lunged towards a broken fire door hanging off its hinges, sunlight streaming innocently through the gap.

  Garrick covered Anna with his body as Scutters landed on his back, talons searching for any weakness.

  “Anna, listen to me—”

  White-hot, intense heat blasted through the entire atrium, scorching the air above their heads. Garrick pushed Anna’s head close to his chest, putting his hand over her mouth to stop the air from incinerating her lungs. The world was blessedly silent from the noise of the Chittrix for a few moments. Then his ears were ringing from the aftershock, pain lancing through his eyes and making him wince. Garrick coughed and heaved as he inhaled hot dirt and grime.

  Need to speak to Foster about some kind of warning system in the future.

  He half-crawled, half-stumbled to his feet, pulling Anna up with him. She staggered against him, wiping hair thick with dust from her eyes. At their feet, the floor was a mass of obliterated insectoid alien life forms. Small parts still fell haphazardly in an excruciating, wet spatter from high in the atrium.

  “Julia? Where’s Julia?” Anna’s question was high-pitched with panic.

  9

  Anna scanned the now unrecognisable atrium, searching for Julia. An exploding flurry of motion from behind one of the security desks on the far side of the foyer gave her away. Sawyer was at Julia’s side, firing as they ran through an open fire exit. A dark, stocky man with ink patterns swirling down his arms ran past broken windows outside, heading away from the building. Blake was nowhere to be seen.

  “Out of here NOW.”

  She turned as Garrick’s voice penetrated the void of silence lingering in her head after the blast. He reached for her hand while pressing his free palm to his ear. Blood smeared his jaw. His hand closed over hers like a vice and pulled her to the back of the room. The doorway where Julia had exited with Sawyer was already filling with Scutters.

  Across the floor space, two Chittrix appeared in the ruined main entrance. Larger than usual, one was mottled grey instead of the usual black. The other was like a wasp, with yellow striped markings.

  Anna lifted her pulse rifle to take aim, but Garrick was dragging her in the other direction even as she twisted in his grip. His strength was unrelenting, and her feet skidded helplessly on the floor despite her resistance.

  Garrick swore and yanked her hand. “What the hell are you trying to do?”

  She gestured at the unusual Chittrix, but the words wouldn’t come out. The two Chittrix hesitated at the doorway, their heads bent together in agitation for a few moments before they retreated.

  “What’s going on? They saw us. Did you see them?” she finally babbled.

  Garrick ignored her, dragging her relentlessly to the rear of the huge foyer.

  All the windows of the atrium had blown out, freeing up more access points for the living carpet of Scutters seething outside of the building. They crawled over the jagged lips of broken glass, an unstoppable living stream. The air was shadowy with the angry buzz of Chittrix wings.

  To her left was an access door that led underground. Before the invasion, it had been used by cleaners and service personnel to access the lower areas of the building. It was their only chance. They were surrounded by hell on earth.

  We’re going to die if we stay here.

  Anna tugged his hand sideways.

  “This way.”

  He hesitated for only a moment, and then he followed her, wading through brittle, amputated Scutter limbs to reach the access door. Anna hit it first, hands sticky with fear. The damn handle refused to budge under pressure from her fingers.

  It’s locked, stupid she chastised herself. Key, where’s the key? She turned and fumbled at the neckline of Garrick’s body armour, pulling hard to free the security key he’d tucked under his clothes earlier. Her fingers grazed against the skin on his chest. It was electric-hot under her fingertips, and he flinched as she touched him.

  What?

  She turned and ran the card through the reader, muttering a prayer. A green light blinked under the blast debris on the wall to her right. The door mechanism unlocked with a gentle vibration under her fingertips, and the handle finally turned. She practically fell through the doorway in desperation. Garrick was right behind her and slammed the door shut before she had a chance to inspect what was behind them. The door locked the minute the mechanisms touched base again.

  There was a crunching thump as something threw itself against the other side, forcing tiny puffs of white dust from the wall. Anna backed away, waiting for the entire thing to disintegrate in a shower of plaster, but
it was holding. For now, anyway.

  “Down. We need to go down,” she shouted over the noise of bodies attacking the door and frustrated screeching.

  He hesitated. “We’ve just come up, and it was jumping with Scutters below.”

  She shook her head and pointed at the stairs. “This is the service access. It’s different to the primary lab areas. There’s a floor under the weapons labs that can only be accessed from this stairwell. That floor has an access tunnel leading to the air base above ground a few miles away. Government officials often visited the labs without drawing any attention. It’s an escape route. Trust me.”

  Garrick took one last glance at the door that was still taking a pounding behind them. Time was running out. He nodded abruptly and smacked the machete against the palm of his hand.

  “Stay close, and do as I tell you.”

  Anna bit her tongue. She’d sort him out later if they survived.

  10

  Garrick followed Anna lower and lower into the bowels of the building. Emergency lights emitted a weak, yellow-grey glimmer on the walls as they descended. He kept one hand on the railing for guidance, the other resting on his MP5. As they approached the last few flights of stairs, the levels of light began to inexplicably lighten. This light was a different colour, a warm yellow-orange that emanated from the walls themselves.

  “Do you see that?” he asked.

  Her head jerked as she acknowledged him. “Yes.”

  He waited for an answer, but none was forthcoming. He grabbed her elbow, fingers enclosing her slim arm. There was hardly anything of her. “What is it? Is it supposed to be like that?”

  She shook her head. “It’s bioluminescence. Insects use it to mark territory or paths.”

  “Oh.” He stared upwards. The luminosity extended all the way to the ceiling. Scrutinising the weirdly glowing walls gave Garrick a queasy feeling in his stomach. He reached out to touch the wall. It was greasy, like it had been waxed. He rubbed his fingers together, feeling oiled lubrication between them. He was aware of Anna watching him, her eyes wide, tousled hair framing her face. She reached up and ran her own fingers against the wall.

  “We should keep moving,” she said, tilting her head upwards in the direction from which they had come.

  They jogged the last two flights of stairs to the bottom landing which was empty, save for a steel door recessed into the wall.

  “Security is still working under the emergency solar generator. The system is designed to remain locked in a power failure.”

  The lock clicked open with her card swipe.

  “I think we were due a bit of luck.” Garrick stepped forward, pulling her small hands from the door so he was first through. He brought his MP5 up in front of his body and turned the handle, pushing the door open.

  On the other side of the door was complete darkness.

  A puff of cold air rushed up to meet them, heavy with the stench of death. They recoiled, but a loud shuddering crash accompanied by even louder Chittrix screams from above their heads halted their retreat. There was no choice but to keep going forward. Garrick pulled a torch from his belt and clicked it on, holding it in his left hand while scanning the space in front of them with the nose of his weapon. There was no going back now. This was their way out.

  He peered over his shoulder at Anna. Her face was pale in the light from his torch, but the set of her shoulders was resolute. She held her pulse rifle with white-knuckled fingers across her armoured jerkin.

  “I can take care of myself,” she said. He nodded, not really believing her. He had thought that about his men, and they’d been wiped out in a matter of moments. He blinked, erasing the memory from his mind. He needed his head clear, not clouded by emotion.

  “Stay close,” Garrick said and stepped into the access tunnel.

  Air heavy with moisture blew across his face. Perhaps the air conditioning systems vented near here. He scanned with his torch as he walked forward, musty air filling his nostrils. Her hand touched the small of his back, an unexpected comfort in the darkness. Torchlight bounced off the walls. At least there’s no slime on the walls in here.

  The torch provided enough of an anaemic glow for them to navigate, but after only a few steps, water was lapping at their feet. Another minute and bone-cold water was over their ankles. Garrick tried not to think about the small bumps and knocks of floating objects as he walked. Nothing had jumped out and tried to kill him yet, so that had to be a good thing. The splash of her feet reassured him Anna was still following.

  “This water is freezing,” she finally muttered. “Where the hell is it coming from?”

  “I thought you could tell me that.”

  A small grunt behind him. “I’m a bio-weapons engineer. I didn’t build the place.” He ignored her edge of irritation.

  “Good job too. You’d be awfully pissed by now if you had.”

  They had been walking for at least five minutes by the time they came to a ladder recessed into the wall. It came into view on his left, outlined in the insipid, wavering light from his torch. He cursed and banged it against his leg. It rallied, brightening for a few seconds. And then went out.

  “Garrick?” Anna’s tone was angry, but she bumped up against him in the now all-encompassing blackness. Garrick reached out with his left hand, his fingers encircling hers. He took her hand and placed it on the rusted side rail of the ladder.

  “Ladder’s here.”

  “I’ve got it.” Her voice was grateful in the dark.

  He reached above her to the next rung. It was badly corroded and slimy with algae. Garrick yanked with both hands. The ladder protested but didn’t fall off the wall.

  “Ok, now we go up.” He stuffed his dead torch under his belt. “We need to find the rest of my team.”

  “How many more of you are there?” she asked.

  “Three.” He started to climb. “Ok, start climbing with me now.”

  “I’m on.” She sounded small beneath him. He didn’t like the fact that her back was unprotected. He climbed the greasy rungs quickly.

  “Only four of you?” Her surprise floated up through the darkness.

  “We’re not the goddamn army. In case you hadn’t noticed, the army doesn’t exist anymore.” Annoyance and frustration coloured his reply, but there wasn’t time for apologies.

  He stopped climbing. His fingers traced the rough circular edge of a drain cover above his head. He lifted the strap from his shoulder and swung the MP5 out of the way to use both his arms freely. He pressed with the palms of his hands, hard, then harder, putting his thighs and back into it, his arms trembling under the strain. Finally, it shifted with a gritty groan.

  Evening light filtered in to the dark space and relief flooded his body. He raised his head and checked outside. Magdon Down was ablaze behind them, illuminating the darkened sky. Nearly a mile away, fire consumed the edges of the main building, tongues of orange and red competing with the heaving shadows of giant black insects. Even at this distance, the air shimmied and thrummed with a cacophony of insect calls and bodies.

  His fingers closed over the lip of the drain, and he lifted himself out in one clean move. Crouching, he extended a hand to Anna.

  She hesitated slightly and then took his hand, and he pulled her out of the drain. They fell onto the grass and lay there for a moment, catching their breath. Garrick sat up and lugged the drain cover back in place.

  “We need to keep moving,” he said.

  “What the hell is that?”

  Garrick turned to see what she was pointing at. Moving towards Magdon Down was a black shape, the like of which he had never seen before. It resembled an alien craft, except it was the size of a small office block.

  And it was alive.

  Even from this distance, the surface was visibly moving, undulating with alien life. Literally. Vibrations sank into his bones. The air was replete with the shrieks and clicks of Chittrix. The bread he’d eaten for breakfast rolled uneasily in his stomach. H
e scanned the area around him, seeing only blank-faced buildings in the dusk. Where were the others?

  He pressed the radio transmission button on his earpiece and spoke rapidly, asking for the other members of his team to reply, aware that Anna was holding her breath as he listened to the empty hum of static.

  He pressed the communications button again.

  “Sawyer, Hardy, Foster?” He waited. Nothing.

  She huffed out a breath. “Are we out of range?”

  Garrick shot her a look and stood. “Come on. We need to cut through these buildings. We can get closer without being seen.”

  He took off at a jog, crouching low to reduce his visibility. She ran noisily behind him but kept up with his pace.

  He came to an abrupt halt at the rear of a tired looking garage block. Anna bumped into his back. He held up one hand, motioning for her to be quiet, suddenly aware of the warmth radiating from her thighs against his own. When was the last time he had been this close to a woman? At the CB, he avoided women as much as possible. There was too much to do, and he knew deep in his bones his own inadequacies with intimacy. A flame of heat ignited low in his belly, forcing him to take a breath. Concentrate.

  Satisfied it was safe for them to move, Garrick crouched and ran to the remains of a nearby car, melted and twisted as if tossed off the road by a passing giant. Through the smashed windows, he could see the maelstrom of activity that encircled the main building continued unabated. Flying Chittrix hung low in the sky, their middle limbs tucked into scaled bodies. The stream of alien insects had reversed, and now there were as many pouring out of the building as had invaded it earlier, many taking to the sky toward the organic behemoth that now hung in the sky, almost directly above their heads. His team was nowhere to be seen.