"Look out!" Cleaver yelled.
Emily turned back toward the cavern in time to see the first of the new wave of mutants drop into the remains of the doorway, eyes flashing its murderous intent, teeth bared. Then it went reeling away as Cleaver shot it between its two sets of eyes. When Emily turned back to the check the two survivors, they had redoubled their efforts, but they still weren't moving anywhere near fast enough to stand a chance of eluding their pursuers.
"Come with me," Mac said to Cleaver and Bishop. Together they sprinted to catch up with the two men, Mac's free hand pressed against his ribcage, wincing in pain from his damaged ribs. As they approached, the two injured survivors turned and stared at the three hulking soldiers with terrified eyes. Emily could see that they weren't sure whether they were going to kill them or leave them for the mutants; either way their terror was heartbreaking.
"One apiece," Mac ordered. Cleaver and Bishop nodded, slung their rifles over their shoulders, then picked the survivors up in a fireman's lift across their backs as though the emaciated men were children.
"Emily and I will cover you. Get them back to the main team," Mac said.
Emily nodded. "Just follow the corridor up, we'll catch up with you in the cavern," she said quickly.
Cleaver and Bishop took off at a jog, the survivors hanging on for dear life, while Emily and Mac turned back toward the doorway to the cave, just in time for the horrifying visage of another mutant-human to appear. It sprang to the ground on the other side of the doorway, landing on its multiple legs, its eyes quickly focusing on Emily and Mac, then it rushed forward at a sprint, spittle flying from its mouth as it roared and bellowed.
Emily raised the shotgun, lined up the sights, and pulled the trigger. The charging mutant was all but split in two as the shotgun slug ripped through its body. The bloody remains rolled off to the side of the tunnel, limbs twitching in its death throes. Another mutant appeared at the entrance, then another next to it. Mac put a round between the eyes of one, dropping it where it stood. Emily pumped and fired, killing the second before it could even take a step into the corridor; it fell next to the one Mac had killed. She pumped another round and shot the next mutant just as it crossed the doorway's threshold. It fell, partially blocking the entrance. Four more mutated heads appeared around the edge of the doorway, then snarling and spitting, the creatures simultaneously launched themselves toward the humans like a pack of rabid dogs...and jammed in the doorway. Limbs flailed as they tried to force their way through the gap, but they were too large and too eager to get to the humans, their thrashing only succeeding in wedging themselves deeper into the space, effectively blocking it. At least for now, Emily thought. If luck was on their side, it would hold the mutants and the thing that had once been Valentine back long enough for her and Mac to reach the survivors and get them out of this godforsaken place.
Emily felt Mac's hand on her arm. "Time to beat our feet," her husband said.
Emily waited a few more seconds, just to be sure, while she reloaded her shotgun with her dwindling supply of shells, then she turned and sprinted away with Mac.
•••
Perspiration peppered Emily's forehead. Rivulets ran down her face as she and Mac sprinted along tunnel after tunnel back toward the cavern. They rounded a corner and saw Bishop, Cleaver, and the two survivors they had rescued about forty meters ahead of them. Both Cleaver and Bishop had dropped the men. Ahead of Mac's men was the rear line of the survivors they had freed from the cave.
"Boss," said Cleaver, seeing Mac and Emily approach "Major Djupvik is at the front of this lot. He's having a hell of a time keeping everyone in the tunnel."
Emily, breathless and sweat-soaked, ran her eyes over the crowd. Their panic had subsided significantly, now they milled around uneasily, their eyes wide with shock rather than the blind terror she had seen earlier.
"Are...are you going to get us out?" a woman asked.
Emily smiled at her, squeezed the woman's hand. "You bet we are."
"Hand me your radio," said Mac. Cleaver did as he was ordered.
Mac keyed the microphone. "Petter, do you copy?"
The major's voice crackled a reply. "I'm happy to hear your voice, Mac. We need to get out of here quickly, before this crowd overwhelms my people. Do you have a—" Djupvik's words were cut short as the sound of gunshots exploded through the radio. The ghostly echo of the gunfire rolled down the tunnel to Emily's position a second later.
"Shit," Mac mumbled.
"Mac! Mac!" Petter's voice, loud now as he tried to talk over the sound of gunfire exploding around him. "We're under attack. We have to move, now."
"We're on our way," was Mac's reply. He turned to Cleaver and Bishop. "Stay here and cover the rear," he ordered, then took Emily by the hand and began pushing his way through the crowd toward the cavern.
•••
The sound of gunfire grew louder as Mac elbowed and kicked his way through the crowd, Emily following in his wake. The survivors—more like refugees now, Emily thought—had stopped just short of the opening out into the cavern, those at the front trying desperately not to get pushed out into the open space of the cavern.
The sound of gunfire faded away.
"Make a space! Move!" Mac demanded, as he and Emily finally reached the front row of the survivors. "Let us through." Mac came to a standstill, the exit just a couple meters ahead of them. Emily stopped alongside him.
Six of Petter's Jegertroppen troops had formed a cordon across the mouth of the tunnel. The women held their rifles in both hands, using them to push back the crowd, keeping them within the tunnel, but only just. Petter stood near the entrance, covering his comrade's backs from anything that might come their way from the cavern.
"Oh, no," said Emily, looking past Petter into the vast cavern beyond. She estimated there were fifty or so bodies scattered across the glass-smooth floor, bloody and broken and still. The bodies of five constructs lay mixed with the human dead, the smoke still rising from the barrel of Petter's assault rifle proof of who had helped put them down.
"Petter," said Mac. "What the hell happened?"
Petter turned and looked at Mac, his brow was creased with concentration, or worry, Emily couldn't tell. "I did as Emily told me when you did not return in time. I went to place the cube where Emily said I should, in the depression near where the first Locust was. The constructs ignored me as they have always done, but then people began to run from the tunnel. When they saw me, they ran toward me. I think it triggered a reaction in the constructs when they sensed so many people getting near the Locust, because they attacked without warning, dropping from the ceiling and killing everybody. My people were pulling me clear when the rest of the survivors showed up and we've been keeping them here ever since."
"The cube," Emily said, unable to keep the panic from her voice. "Tell me you still have the cube."
"Of course," said Petter. "Here." He pulled the cube from his backpack and handed it to Emily.
Emily sighed with relief, slipping the cube into her backpack.
"We need to get these people up to the surface right now," said Mac.
From somewhere in the cavern, a man had begun screaming. Emily quickly homed in on where he lay, close to the center of the room, near the concavity that contained the recently birthed Locust. The man was dragging himself back toward the tunnel opening where Emily and the rest of the human race now hid within the relative safety of the tunnel. The man's left leg was destroyed, twisted at an unnatural angle just below the knee, and flopping uselessly behind him. He left a trail of blood behind him as he pulled himself hand-over-hand toward them, his face imploring Emily, anyone, for help.
A shape skittered down the opposite wall, then quickly crossed the floor toward the man.
Emily started to move forward, instinctively wanting to help, then stopped herself because she knew it was already too late for him. The construct grabbed the man with its front legs and snapped him in half as though he were mer
ely a twig. His cry of terror died instantly. The alien dropped the limp body and began to turn away...then stopped, its head tilting left and right as it regarded the large group of humans cowering in the tunnel.
"Ah, shit," said Mac.
The alien gave a high-pitched ululation of its own and bounded across the open space toward the humans.
All hell broke loose.
Mac raised his rifle and poured a stream of bullets into the construct, severing one of its legs. The construct crashed into the floor, spun and skidded to a stop, fluid leaking from multiple bullet wounds along its flank.
Emily and Mac stepped into the cavern, their weapons sweeping the floor and walls looking for any other targets that might be heading their way.
"I've got to get the cube to the concavity," said Emily.
"I'll escort you," said Mac.
"No," Emily said. "You need to get these people out of here."
Gunfire erupted from the direction of the main tunnel. The rest of the assault team had emerged from the opening, their weapons pointed upward at the aliens that now swarmed toward the ground.
Petter called out to the line of Jegertroppen holding back the survivors. "Malin. Silje." Two of the female soldiers broke away and ran to where Petter stood with Emily and Mac. "I need you to escort Emily to the center of the cavern."
The two Jegertroppen nodded and took up positions on either side of Emily.
Mac looked torn, but before he could say anything, Emily turned and began to sprint for the center of the room, her two escorts running alongside her.
"Everybody, move!" Mac yelled.
Emily glanced momentarily back over her shoulder. She saw her husband ushering the front row of survivors out of the tunnel. "This way. Move! Move!" Mac was directing the survivors along the side of the wall in the direction of the main tunnel that would take them back up to the surface. Pushed forward by the people behind them, the front row began shuffling out of the tunnel, then in the direction Mac indicated, toward the rest of the assault team. "Faster!" Emily heard Mac yell as she turned her eyes front again.
Automatic-weapon fire rattled around the cavern. There were screams, human and alien. Bullets zinged as they ricocheted off the wall. Emily's heart pounded in her chest. She focused squarely on the concavity. When they had first arrived at this cavern, she had witnessed the horror of the newly born Locust feasting on an unfortunate soul. The Locust had been led back to the ring of depressions encircling the central concavity. It had been the only occupant at that point, but now, as she and her two escorts drew closer to the concavity, Emily saw two more Locusts had joined the first.
There was a scream from Emily's left. She turned in time to see one of her Jegertroppen escorts—Malin, she thought the woman's name was—skewered by a construct. Emily stopped and began to raise her shotgun, but the alien bounded away, carrying the unfortunate Norwegian soldier with it.
"Fuck!" Emily spat. She looked to her remaining escort, Silje. The woman's expression was one of pure shock. "Come on," Emily said, as she grabbed the Norwegian soldier by the material of her tunic and pulled her away. "There's nothing we can do for her."
Emily took off sprinting, trying to cover the remaining twenty meters to the center of the room and the concavity. A construct dropped to the ground ahead of her, but it disappeared in a haze of blood a millisecond later as rounds from Silje's assault rifle shredded it.
Breathless, Emily reached the depressions that surrounded the central concavity like petals around a flower's pistil. She slowed, staring at the huge bulks that occupied three of the depressions. They were far larger than she had thought, their leather-like skin glistening with a sheen of liquid. Each of the Locusts' single eyes were closed. They did not breathe, did not show any signs of being alive as Emily would have defined it, and yet, she felt a dread that was almost paralyzing as she moved among them, inching her way across the half-meter of space separating each of the depressions. She motioned to Silje that she should wait where she was, just on the perimeter of the depressions. The Norwegian fighter took a knee, her eyes moving left and right as she scanned for threats. Emily had to hand it to the Norwegian, her attention barely drifted from her overwatch to the three Locusts lying just a matter of meters away from her.
This close to the concavity and the powerful shaft of energy it directed up to the ceiling of the cavern, Emily felt the heat of the energy stream. Not for the first time she wondered whether there would be any kind of detrimental effect of being so close to such raw power. She pushed the thought from her mind, shrugged off her backpack, loosened the flap, and pulled out the Caretaker cube.
The concavity was deeper than it had seemed from a distance, dropping down around two meters below the level of the surface. If she lost her footing and slipped in there, it would be next to impossible to get out on her own. She got down on her knees, then to her stomach and began inching forward, the cube held out in front of her like some offering to an ancient god. She felt a throbbing pulse run through the ground. It grew stronger the closer she got to the cavern's center. When she reached the lip of the concavity, Emily stole a glance back in the direction of Mac and Petter.
A steady stream of humans ran or jogged or were carried from the tunnel along the wall toward the second team and freedom. Mac was positioned at the midway point between the two tunnel mouths, urging people to move faster. Emily returned her attention back to the concavity, she took a deep breath and allowed the cube to slip from her fingers. It dropped slowly into the concavity, following the curve of the floor, then steadily began to move in a counterclockwise motion like a leaf caught in a storm drain. Gradually, the cube began to descend toward the center of the concavity and the energy beam. She watched, mesmerized, as the cube began picking up speed the closer it got to the beam. Closer. Closer. Then it vanished, sucked into the energy beam.
There was no flash.
There was no explosion.
There was, however, a subtle change in the vibration she felt running through the ground beneath her. A stuttering. It was a change that Emily was sure she felt only because she was lying flat on the ground and felt its passage emanate out from the concavity. The energy beam changed from swirling reds and purples to a deep luminescent green. The color began to spread up the column and out across the ceiling into the fissures containing the growing Locusts. Whatever was happening, it did not appear to have any effect on the energy feeding into the concavity, only the column running to the ceiling.
The ground again trembled beneath her. Emily pushed herself to her feet and began to move back in the direction she had come.
Something was different, she thought, as she made her way back over the narrow bridge of ground that separated two of the three sleeping Locusts. It was only when another, more violent tremor made her pause to keep her balance that she realized the Locusts' eyes were open. And they were staring right at her.
•••
"Run!" Emily yelled at Silje as she sprinted past.
The Jegertroppen must have read the barely restrained panic in Emily's eyes because she did not question the command, easily keeping up with Emily, despite being kitted out in full battle-rattle. Every few meters, Emily stole a look back at the recumbent Locusts, expecting to see them rise from their recesses and pursue her, but the aliens had not moved. Perhaps, she reasoned, the eye opening had been a mere reflex, and meant nothing. Better not wait around and find out.
The battle still raged across the cavern. The bodies of fallen constructs littered the ground, no match for the concentrated fire power Mac and his team were able to bring to bear. There were still casualties amongst the humans, though. Across the cavern, a group of five Jegertroppen guided survivors along the wall to the main tunnel. A construct dropped from the ceiling to the floor. It dove at the last soldier who had made the mistake of focusing forward instead of covering her team's six. Emily yelled a warning, but it was of no use, she could barely even hear her own words over the commotion around her.
She saw the look of surprise on the Norwegian soldier's face as she was suddenly yanked from her feet, impaled by a construct's front leg, then smashed against the next soldier in line, crushing both to a pulp. The construct released the tangled, bloody bodies and moved toward the line of survivors who cowered and screamed as it approached. The next soldier in line must have sensed something because she turned, then ducked, barely avoiding being stabbed herself. She managed to get two shots into the construct's head, killing it. She took a moment to check her two fallen comrades but must have seen that they were beyond help as she immediately turned back around and ran to catch up with the remaining members of her team.
Emily, breathless and soaked in sweat, came to a stop next to Mac. "It's done," she said.
Mac took his exhausted wife by both shoulders, steadying her. "Here," he said, taking his canteen from his belt and placing it in Emily's hands. "Drink."
Emily drank deeply, then spilled some of the water over her head. "Better," she said.
"How long do we have before Adam does..." Mac let his words drop away because he was well aware that neither he nor Emily had any idea of just what exactly it was they should expect from their son.
"I don't know," said Emily, she handed Mac his canteen back. "I think we need to just get everyone out of here as fast as we can."
Extinction Point: Kings (Extinction Point Series (5 book series)) Page 19