Enemy Lines: Navigator Book One

by SD Tanner

  “It’s appalling! How dare they ignore me?”

  “They’re not ignoring you. They’re dead,” he replied amiably.

  “How do you know that?” Dunk the Skunk asked contemptuously.

  When Tank had returned from helping Amber bring her family back to the site, Dunk had collared him and was dragging him around like a disobedient puppy. Tank was still fully armored and his shoulder weapons were loaded. With his face helmet flipped up, he couldn’t see his eyes behind the visor, but the straight line of his lips made it clear he was angry. Tank wasn’t the kind of guy who was easily annoyed, nor was he the sort of man you wanted to get offside.

  In response to Dunk’s question, Dom had loaded more satellite images of corpses piled high in the streets of one of the cities. Flicking his thumb at the pictures, he said, “Because this is what’s going on out there.”

  “They could be faked.”

  “Why would anybody fake that?” He asked in surprise.

  “I’ve been out there, and believe me, they’re faking nothing,” Tank said bluntly.

  Dunk whirled and glared at Tank. “I know what you’ve been doing and I’ll deal with you later.”

  Tank had clearly reached his limit with being bullied, and calling him by a name that acknowledged their once common rank of Sergeant First Class, he said blandly. “Just say the word, Battle.”

  Without needing to be told, he knew Tank was prepared to put the man down and hold him by the throat. He was proposing a coup, and he had to admit he was tempted. Lexie and Donna were on their way to CaliTech with an armed squad, and once they arrived there was no way Dunk would be left in charge. It was only a question of whether he and Tank took control of the site now, or they waited for the squad to arrive.

  Despite the obliqueness of Tank’s offer, Dunk had finally sensed their collective mood towards him. Narrowing his eyes, he straightened his back and said angrily, “Don’t even think about it.”

  Leaning back in his chair, he asked amiably, “Why not?” He waved his hands at the screens displaying the burning cities. “Think about it, Dunk. What if these pictures are real? What if the government has really fallen and there’s no military left?”

  Dunk replied sharply, “There’s always military left. Even if you lose the troops, then the equipment and weapons are still around, and there’s plenty of people who’ve been through the military who know how to use them.”

  “I think you’re missing the point,” he replied with slight shake of his head. “Think a little harder, Dunk. What could possibly have brought our country to its knees without firing a single weapon?” When Dunk didn’t reply, he waggled his finger at him and added with a wink, “Now, that’s one smart fuckin’ enemy.”

  Finally, their situation seemed to be sinking in and Dunk asked, “Do you have any pictures of this enemy?”

  “Yes and no,” he replied.

  In response to Dunk’s question, Dom began to pull up short video displays of people being attacked. Most of the footage showed people attacking other people, and it looked like a savage one-sided bar brawl.

  Dunk looked surprised. “Are you telling me we did this to ourselves?”

  “I don’t think so,” he replied. Pointing at the screen next to him, he added grimly, “Watch this.”

  Dom had loaded the footage from Lexie’s encounter at the hospital. Being blind and confined to her visor style vision, she couldn’t see what the green blobs attacking her really looked like. Once she’d made it onto the roof, they’d managed to get images of the critters in clear daylight. The name critters made light of what was actually a terrifying new monster. Dom had slowed the speed of the footage as Lexie was bursting through the door on the roof. As she slowly made her way through the door and onto the roof, spindly legged, black rubbery creatures were following her. They moved in rapid jerking motions, scuttling slightly left and right as they propelled themselves forward.

  Isolating several, Dom enlarged them on the screen. One had twenty skinny, knobby legs emerging from a fat rounded torso that was at least three feet wide. Its head was tiny in comparison to its body and no bigger than an orange. The other enlarged picture was that of a taller, more humanoid looking creature, but it had long spindly limbs with lethal claws at the end. Its head was more in proportion, but it had a spout with a hole in the end where its mouth should be. Even in the slightly blurry footage, something seemed to be dripping from the end of the spout, and he had a nasty suspicion it probably spat some sort of poison or acid.

  While Lexie continued across the screen in slow motion, the creatures were following hard on her heels, almost on top of her and clawing wildly at the back of her armor. He wasn’t confident she would have survived if they’d managed to overwhelm her, and he’d told her to jump from the building for good reason.

  “What are they?” Dunk asked flatly.

  “They were people, but I don’t know what they are now.”

  “What the hell has happened?” Dunk asked, almost in disbelief.

  “I think we’ve been invaded.”

  “By what?”

  “A disease maybe. Something that’s changing people into these monsters.”

  “How many people have changed,” Dunk asked warily.

  He shrugged. “Hard to say, but it’s at least fifty percent of the population, plus it seems it can happen to anyone at any time.” Giving him a friendly smirk, he added cheekily, “It could even happen to you.”

  “What’s happened to Northern Command? Why haven’t they issued orders to the Army? What about NORAD? If the satellites are still up, then they must be operational.”

  Shrugging again, he replied, “Maybe so, but they’re not gonna talk to us. It’s not like we can just phone them.” Shaking his head, he added, “You’re forgetting that anyone can turn. Why would anyone in the bunkers at NORAD or even Camp David be immune? The only reason we can protect CaliTech is because the visors can detect them. The first sign anyone else gets that someone has turned is when they try to kill them. Based on the images we’ve seen, every city has been hit, and something like half the people have turned into these freaks.”

  “Don’t forget the ones that changed have killed a helluva lot of people as well,” Tank added dourly.

  Grinning at Tank, he replied, “True story.”

  Dunk glared at him. “Do you think this is funny?”

  “Of course it isn’t funny, but we’re in the right place at the right time.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “Fifty cal weapons can kill them, plus the nav armor is effective and so are the hydraulics. We need to do a lot more testing, but there’s an army squad on its way here now.”

  Dunk looked confused. “Why are the army coming here? I thought you said there was no army.”

  “There isn’t, but we’ve got seven navs here trained to use the gear, plus the techs. We need to train more people, preferably ones with combat and weapons experience.”

  “And then what?”

  Tank snorted. “Then we kick ass.”

  “I’m not handing my gear over to the army,” Dunk replied in disgust.

  “Why not?”

  “They haven’t paid for it.”

  He and Tank had talked it through. According to the inventory manifest, there were at least a thousand full sets of gear in the warehouse and a range of visors. Through the visors they could detect anyone who’d turned, and Navigators were already monitoring the staff on the site. Initially anyone who’d turned had been sent home, but now they were holding them in a secured building on the grounds. Since seeing the footage from the hospital, he now thought the small building was like a garden shed full of spiders. Tank had suggested they destroy the building, but he wanted to keep the critters. They could be used to analyze their enemy, so they could learn how to destroy them. Both he and Tank had agreed they could train the incoming squad, and then they would go into the cities and learn as much as they could. Providing at least one satellite stay
ed functional, they’d be able to get more footage of what was happening. Lexie was on her way to the desert location where they’d seen hundreds of thousands of people. The satellites might be orbiting, but they couldn’t control them, and he needed her to take a look in person. They still didn’t know what the people were doing there.

  He and Tank had a plan, and he leaned back in his chair so he could look Dunk in the eye. “The situation has changed and this tech is needed. You can sort out the bill later.”

  “I’m not handing over billions of dollars in equipment and research to anyone without being paid,” Dunk replied angrily. “It’s taken me fifteen years to put this in place and I own it!”

  “I’m sure you’ll be paid very well once the problem is sorted, but right now there’s no one to pay you.”

  “I don’t care. The site is safe and we’ll wait it out.”

  Tank was giving Dunk a grim look and had positioned himself behind him. They’d agreed they would ask first, but either way they would take control if Dunk wasn’t cooperative.

  “You need to see the bigger picture,” he said amiably.

  Quickly turning and seeing Tank behind him, Dunk asked, “Or what?”

  “You know what.” Spreading his hands in a reasonable gesture, he added, “Look, you can go back to your fancy office and leave this to us, or we can put you in the shed with all the other critters, but I don’t rate your chances.”

  Whirling back to look at him in shock, Dunk asked angrily, “Are you threatening me?”

  “No, I’m advising you.”

  Clearly Dunk hadn’t built an empire by being a stupid man and his shoulders slumped. “Fine.”

  Without saying another word, Dunk walked to the door and Tank asked, “Should I let him go?”

  He shrugged. “What can he do?”

  “I think we should kill him.”

  “Other than being an asshole, he hasn’t done anything wrong.” Giving Tank a wry smile, he added, “But if he ever does, then you can kill him.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Earth redefined (Leon)

  He still wasn’t happy about his discussion with Bill and was trying to work out why. On the one hand, there was no army for him to report to, but old habits die hard. Bill was his commanding officer and he’d left the man with nothing.

  The truck was bumping along the desert track and he asked Tuck, “Do you think we should have left like that?”

  “We’re following our orders.”

  “No, we’re not. We only agreed to come here because Ark wants to know what’s here. You and I both know that. I mean, who the hell are we working for?” Tuck shrugged and he continued. “If there’s no army then I should be looking for Amelia in Seattle, not hacking around the desert.”

  “How are you gonna get to Seattle?”

  “I dunno. We could just go there now.”

  Trigger kicked his boot. “No way, dude. We need that nav gear, otherwise we’d be fucked. And anyways, you’re wrong about command.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Leaning closer, Trigger replied, “The point of the military is to defend the country. We build weapons, train soldiers and have equipment for that one purpose. It’s not the organization that counts, the important bit is the ability to defend our country. If what we’ve got doesn’t do the job, then we find something that can. Improvise and adapt, dude. You know the drill.”

  He nodded. “I guess that’s what we’re doing.”

  “We’re doing what we’re trained to do. These fuckers are hardcore and we need better weapons.”

  Tuck nodded, and Jenna said through their radios. “We’re about three miles from the last known position of the people. We should go by foot from here.”

  As the trucks came to a stop, he asked, “Lexie, what can you see?”

  She was sitting next to Donna, still in her under gear, which consisted of the black webbing filled with wires and sensors, and her heavy boots looked enormous against her long, lean legs. She was still able to control the screens using the sensors in her gloves, and she began moving her hands rapidly across the air in front of her.

  “Ark, what the hell is that?” Lexie asked.

  Ark’s calm voice spoke through his headset. “I don’t know, but it looks like a lot of green lifeforms about a mile and a half north of you.”

  “What’s your guess, Ark?” He asked.

  “Tens of thousands of critters.”

  “Shiiit,” Tuck said unnecessarily.

  “What happened? Did all of the people turn?” He asked.

  “I’m guessing so, but can you get Lexie closer so we can get some decent footage?”

  “I have no armor or hydraulics, Ark. Do you wanna get me killed?” Lexie complained. “I thought you liked me.”

  “Stop whining, Two One,” Ark replied sternly. “You have troopers with you. You’ll be fine.”

  “You all suck.”

  Climbing out of the truck, he checked their weapons. They had two Barrett Sniper rifles, a Desert Eagle, Trigger had his sawed-off Mossberg shotgun, and Jenna had scrounged four M26 shotguns from the base. The gunners had M2 .50-cal machine guns mounted to the top of the trucks, but the .50-cal bullets were huge, and the gun and ammo were too heavy to carry across the desert. It meant they’d have to make every round count with the weapons they could carry, but he’d prefer to avoid any engagement. If there were as many critters there as Ark suspected, then they’d lose no matter how good their weapons were. They simply didn’t have enough firepower, and he wished they could call in an airstrike.

  “We can only arm six of us and still leave the two trucks defended, so only six of us can go,” he said. “Jenna, stay with the trucks and deal with these guys.”

  Jenna nodded, and he turned to Tuck. “Trigger, Lexie, you and two others will recon the site with me.”

  It took them twenty minutes to load ammo and check one another’s gear. There was very little cover in the desert, and he hoped they wouldn’t have to get too close to the actual site. “Ark, how close do you need Lexie to be?”

  “It depends on what’s there. To see anything above ground, two hundred yards should be close enough to get a very detailed scan, but to see anything underground, she needs to be within at least fifty yards.”

  “Underground? Why would you need to see underground?”

  “Last time we saw the site, there were about two hundred thousand people there, but I’m not seeing enough lifeforms for that.”

  “Maybe some of them died?”

  “Maybe.”

  The trek across the desert was tedious. They were weighed down by their equipment, and Lexie was clumsy without her hydraulics. She was a slight woman under all the heavy gear she wore, and her body was lean thanks to the excessive cardio needed to run and leap in her armor. Half her face was hidden under the visor and her cropped blonde hair was plastered flat to her head. Watching her slide in the sand, he put his hand in the middle of her small back and pushed her forward. The loose sand was sitting on the surface of the harder ground beneath it, but it made it difficult to move at any speed. Next to where they were walking was a wide trampled area that looked like it could be easier to move on. Waving his hand at the squad, he indicated they should follow the path.

  “What the hell caused this?” Tuck asked.

  “Two hundred thousand people,” Trigger replied.

  Once they were on slightly firmer ground, they picked up their pace. They were less than half a mile from the cluster of green blobs Lexie could see through her visor, when Ark said, “You need to proceed with caution. There are lifeforms moving around half a mile ahead of you.”

  Waving to the squad, he said, “Tuck, Trigger, Lexie, you’re with me.” Nodding to the two troopers he didn’t know, he added, “You two stay here and watch our six. Stay out of sight.”

  The other two troopers moved away from the battered path they were following, and set up the sniper rifle against a slope hidden by low, dry looking bushes. He and th
e others proceeded forward, holding their weapons ready to fire. Night was just beginning to fall, and the light around them was greying. On the more solid ground, Lexie was sure footed, but he was all too aware she was unarmed. He’d wanted to give her his Desert Eagle, but Ark had said no. Apparently her marksmanship was so poor, she was more likely to shoot them. He didn’t like auto-targeting weapons, and had no doubt that was all Lexie could use.

  Creeping forward as quickly and quietly as they could, he became aware of movement around them. They were two hundred yards from the site, when he stopped and indicated they all needed to get down. Flattened against the earth, he looked in disbelief at what was sitting in the middle of the desert. He was pretty sure it hadn’t been there before, and it blended so well against the background, they were almost on it before they realized what it was. Rising out of the sand was a mound that peaked like a rounded pyramid. Amid the sandy walls, were dark holes, pitted in an almost organized way in rings around the mound. Even stranger, was the movement across the entire surface. It seemed to be humming with activity, and he realized black critters were running along the walls. He couldn’t work out why they weren’t falling down the hill the mound created. It had to be five hundred feet high, and a third of a mile around, making it roughly the size of a large pyramid. With its sharp sloping surface, gravity should have been pulling the critters to the ground, but instead they were clinging effortlessly, and sprinting nimbly along its walls.

  “What the fuck is that?” Tuck whispered hoarsely.

  Suddenly Lexie gave a sharp shriek and leapt to her feet. “Oh crap, they’re everywhere!” She was dancing from foot to foot, as if trying to avoid any contact with the ground.

  Launching to one knee, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to the ground again. “Shut up,” he whispered urgently.