The walkway was partially buried in sand. The rest of the buildings appeared to have once been shops and restaurants, but were mostly hollowed-out shells that had kept their original shapes. The construction of the buildings was a step above the norm in this area, which was likely why they were in better condition than the structures they had been passing by and through. Still, Keira would have been amazed if anyone had made the resort their home. Like the entire area, the resort itself was mostly a wreck.
Vex was studying the ground before them carefully. The park was rounded on their side, with a street that ran along its edge. Numerous buildings had been built along the street. The park was easily a kilometer across and two wide. Several broad avenues, each lined with buildings, fed into the park.
Covered in sand, the park had likely once had gardens and paths for walking, strolling the day away. Keira tried to reconstruct the park in her mind and failed. Too much time had passed. It was now a shadow of what it had once been.
The stations in orbit over Asherho had similar spaces for recreation, but those were much smaller. With live trees and plants, they were always pleasant spots. Keira had loved visiting them when she was stationside. So too had everyone else, for they had been crowded whenever she had gone.
“I think we should go left”—Vex pointed with a hand—“work our way along the edge of the park, and stick close to these buildings. It gets us a little closer to the resort.”
“That’s a lot of open ground out there,” Keira pointed out. “Eventually, we’re going to have to cross it, and when we do, we’re gonna stick out like a sore thumb.”
“Yeah, we will,” Vex said, sounding unhappy. “Well, no time like the present.”
The marine began moving again, making her way to the other side of the street and out into the open. Keira and MK followed. Skirting the park, they worked their way to the left, along the buildings that bordered it, edging their way closer to the crumbling resort. There were no shots, no cries of alarm. Keira kept expecting them to come.
They passed several half-buried vehicles on the street. One had been turned over onto its back and clearly burned. Some of the metal had melted.
The wind gusted strongly, picking up the sand and dust. Keira was forced to stop and close her eyes against the spray until the gust lost its strength, more than a minute later.
She glanced up at the rapidly darkening sky. The storm was getting closer, and it looked to be a bad one. Soon the wind would be blowing nonstop. Without protective gear, Keira would be unable to continue. Worse, she would be in physical danger from not only the sand, which could strip flesh from bone when it blew strong enough, but also flying debris. She would soon need to find shelter and hoped they were able to reach help before the storm arrived.
Keira started forward again. On her left was an overly large brick building. A faded sign told her it was the Hotel Decatur. Just past it, Vex had stopped, waiting for Keira to catch up.
“This is as close as we’re going to get without making a break in the open and across the park.” Vex eyed the open area before them warily. “We’re gonna have to make a dash for it now.”
The wind gusted strongly again. The hotel sheltered them from the blowing sand.
“All right,” Keira said, resigned to what was coming. “I’m ready.”
“See that sand berm about one hundred meters away? It was likely some sort of wall. We’re going to run to that and then take cover, assess things. If it’s all good, we’ll continue the rest of the way.”
“I will remain behind to provide cover,” MK said, “and then when you two are safely behind the berm, I will join you.”
Vex gave a nod. “Let’s go.”
They ran, Vex keeping pace with her. Running through sand was not the easiest of things to do, and more than once, Keira stumbled. Though she was sore and battered, Keira ran as hard as she was able. Vex, for her part, watched their right and moved easily enough. She had her weapon pointed that way.
Halfway there, a shout sounded out from the right.
“Keep running,” Vex ordered, moving ahead of her. “Don’t stop. I don’t think they see us yet.”
Behind them came the crackle of rifle fire as MK opened up. Return fire rang out a second later. Keira ran faster. She did not hear any buzzing or cracking, which was good. It meant the enemy were not shooting at them yet.
The berm inched closer. Then they were on it and she was climbing up the shifting sand as more fire erupted from the right. Cresting the berm, Keira threw herself down the other side and went flat.
The berm only rose a meter on this side and was steeper on the other side. Vex was already lying down with her head and rifle just up over the top of the berm. Her rifle cracked. The action kicked up sand around her.
Keira moved up the berm, making sure there was some separation between her and Vex, at least a meter and a half. Chris had taught her that. She felt a stab of pain at his loss. The pain shifted to anger as Keira looked out across the park, first back the way they had come. MK was no longer in view. She supposed he had moved inside the hotel.
To her left, about one hundred and twenty meters away, a regulator broke from cover on one of the main avenues that led to the park. He was darting across the street, heading for a broken-down vehicle half buried in sand. Keira swung her rifle over and aimed, tracking her target as he ran and leading a little. Vex fired again and Keira almost jumped. She did not see what the marine had shot at. Still, Keira tracked the enemy and felt her anger rise. She squeezed the trigger and the rifle recoiled into her shoulder.
The regulator stumbled as the bolt round hit him dead-on in the chest. A moment later, he fell, tumbling to the ground. Keira ducked back down. Several rounds sprayed sand down upon her from where she had just been.
“Good shot,” Vex said as she popped up and fired off a round. She ducked back down and, leaning upon her back, looked over at Keira. “All we need is to get to the resort and we’ll be fine.” She rolled back onto her belly and poked her head up briefly. “Though how we do it, I don’t know.” She jerked a thumb in the direction of the firing. “They’re in the process of occupying those buildings over there that border the park. They’re gonna have elevation, along with easy fields of fire from the second and third floors.”
“Are you sure they’re doing that?” Keira asked.
“It’s what I would do.”
The wind gusted again, howling around them. The firing fell off with the wind and flying sand. After it subsided, Keira glanced at the rapidly darkening sky. The temperature was dropping fast. Wishing she had her hazard suit, Keira shivered. Actually, what she really wanted was armor like Vex’s. She knew she would feel safer wearing it, instead of Lee’s old sweats.
The firing resumed, a scattering of shots from the enemy, before they stopped, oddly petering out. Keira poked her head up to look, just as Vex did. She saw two regulators dragging the man Keira had shot under cover.
“Down,” Vex shouted immediately and with urgency. “Keira, get down.”
There was a violent ripping sound, like someone tearing a thick piece of fabric. The area just ahead of them erupted in a column of sand. Keira threw herself flat. The world around her exploded and come apart as it was hammered repeatedly and rapidly by something hard.
A moment later, there was the unmistakable earsplitting roar of engines. Keira had a flash of something shooting overhead. She looked up and saw two UPG fighters banking away, climbing. They were clearly preparing to come around to make a second pass.
Out of the corner of her vision, MK stepped from the ruined hotel’s entrance and out into the open. There was a flash and a missile shot away from him. Almost immediately, both fighters separated, each banking away and jinking violently.
The missile doggedly followed the fighter on the left as the pilot attempted evasive maneuvers. Flares shot forth from the aircraft, raining down behind it in a cascade of light. They did not help. A heartbeat later, the missile reached the
fighter, almost seeming to touch it. There was a brilliant flash of light, followed by a solid-sounding boom, and with it, the fighter came apart in midair, breaking into hundreds of smoking pieces. As the remains of the aircraft began to fall toward the ground, Keira gave off a primal scream of victory.
“Yes!” she shouted. “Yes.”
She ducked back down as there were more shots, then looked around. The regulators were shooting at MK, who had ducked behind a vehicle. At least a dozen of the enemy had come out from cover. Keira brought her rifle to bear on one, aimed carefully, and pulled the trigger, firing a single shot. Her target dropped, as if he were a puppet who had just had its strings cut. Keira found another target and pulled the trigger. She missed, as her target moved at the last moment, and cursed herself.
To her left there was a groan. Keira glanced over. Vex was lying upon her back. Her armor was pitted and holed from the air attack. Keira’s heart sank. She hurriedly moved over to the marine. It was clear to her almost immediately that Vex was injured, and badly. Blood leaked from a large hole in her side, near her hip, flowing out of the suit, staining the gray sand underneath burgundy.
Eyes wide from shock and pain, Vex looked up at her, as if at first not seeing Keira. She grimaced, closed her eyes tight, and then opened them. Gritting her teeth, she focused on Keira.
“I’m a mess.”
“You’ll be fine,” Keira said, not quite knowing what else to say, or what she could do to help.
“You’re a terrible fucking liar,” Vex said. “Now, hand me my rifle. This isn’t over yet.”
“MK,” Keira screamed, looking round, toward the Hotel Decatur. “Vex is hit.”
He was already moving to them and halfway to the berm. Under fire and shooting back at the enemy, the mech reached the berm, climbed up it, and then dropped down the other side, going almost flat so he was not exposed. He moved over next to the wounded marine and examined her for several long moments.
“Can you help her?” Keira asked.
“I am afraid her injuries are grave,” MK said. “Without a higher level of care, they are likely terminal.”
“Give me some good news, will you?” Vex gritted her teeth against the pain. She coughed, and with it, blood spattered against the inside of her visor. “Do you have any nanos left?”
Several shots hammered into the sand berm, sounding like dull thuds.
“I do,” MK said. “They will not fix your condition. The nanos will only serve to mask your injuries and may make them worse, especially if you engage in strenuous activity. You need care, and fast.”
“Hit me with them,” Vex said. “They’ll allow me to function a little longer”—she glanced over at Keira—“perhaps long enough to do some good.”
A violent explosion sent Keira ducking. Something had hit the other side of the berm hard. It threw an intense shower of sand up into the air, which a moment later cascaded down over them.
“Fucking hell,” Vex said. “They’ve deployed that rocket launcher again. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate rockets?”
MK began to work on Vex’s suit. Keira turned away and poked her head up. The enemy were advancing, beginning to move out from cover and the buildings, and into the park. She counted five, with more behind them emerging into view. She drew a bead on one and fired a single shot. She missed, and with it, her target ducked aside, throwing himself behind a wrecked vehicle. She shifted her aim to another regulator and squeezed the trigger.
The rifle butt drove into her shoulder. A fraction of a second later, the bolt hit her target square in the upper body, spinning him around and to the ground. The others took cover after that, then returned fire. Keira scooted back down.
“That’s much better,” Vex said to MK and rolled over onto her stomach, reaching slowly for her rifle. “I almost feel as good as new.”
“You are not,” MK said. “I must caution you in your exertions.”
The firing at them suddenly fell off completely.
Keira peeked over the top. She didn’t see any regulators out in the park. Where had they gone?
“Seek cover,” MK said firmly and raised his rifle skyward. Vex rolled to the left as MK let loose a long burst of fire. There was a loud ripping sound again. Keira threw herself down, hugging the sand, wanting to burrow into it. The ground around her hammered with hard impacts. The roaring of engines screamed as the fighter peeled away.
Keira didn’t even bother to track the fighter. She looked over to make sure her friends were okay. Vex was moving and seemed no worse than a moment before. MK, however, was a different matter. One of his arms had been ripped clean off, the one holding the rifle. Where it had gone, she could not see. His chest plate had also been holed, and he had been knocked down. A wispy stream of smoke came from his chest. He struggled to right himself. She saw that one of his legs was also damaged.
“How bad?” Vex asked the mech as he rolled himself over.
“Bad enough.” MK’s voice came slower than normal. “I am nearly combat ineffective.”
Vex gave a sick laugh. “That makes two of us, then. Don’t we make a good pair?”
“My power systems have been damaged. Energy levels are falling rapidly. It is only a matter of time until my reactor goes into shutdown. Sadly, it will be unable to generate the residual energy required to maintain me in sleep mode.” The mech paused for a heartbeat, as if realization had slammed home. “I will shortly die.”
Vex gave a groan of pain. Her breathing heavy and labored, she was silent for a long moment.
“Everyone dies.” It came out as a whisper. Then Vex’s tone hardened. “Do you have enough in you for one more go of it? To lay down some suppressing fire? To buy some time?”
“I believe I do,” MK said. His head gave a slight twitch. “I am sorry, Keira, I will be unable to play a game with you later. It is more important that you escape and—live.”
“What are you talking about?” Keira asked, looking between the both of them. “I can’t leave you two. You’re all I have left in this world.”
“You must,” Vex said, grimacing with pain. “This—cannot be for nothing.”
Keira felt the tears running down her cheeks. This wasn’t happening. It just wasn’t.
“No.”
A light froth of blood bubbled up from Vex’s mouth as she spoke. “When we open fire, you run. Run for all you’re worth. With any luck, there will be friends at the resort. They will help you. Trust them. They’re good people.”
“I’m not going.” Keira was agonized, torn. “I’m staying with you.”
“You must.” Vex coughed raggedy. She spat up a gob of blood into her helmet, then gave a soft groan. “If you stay—they’ll either get you, or you die.”
“I don’t want to go.”
“I know.” Vex reached over with a hand that trembled. She patted Keira’s arm. “I know. I don’t want you to go either, but you must. You can make a difference, make our sacrifice worthwhile. You must go. Understand? Go.” The last was said with force.
Keira gave a miserable nod and wiped tears from her face with the back of her arm.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m done for anyway.” Vex smiled weakly. “I’m going to shortly be with my Wash.”
A series of incoming rounds stitched across the top of the berm.
“Are you ready?” Vex asked, looking over at MK.
A rocket ripped by overhead, just missing the berm. It impacted the ground fifty meters behind them and exploded with a deep thudding blast, spraying the dry fountain with shrapnel and carving holes in it.
“I—I am—ready—as I will ever be,” MK said.
“Let’s make the bastards pay the bill that’s due.” Vex looked over at Keira and pointed toward the resort. “Go, before they reload that rocket launcher.”
Vex pulled herself back up, aiming at the enemy. The marine began shooting. MK raised himself up above the berm. His light lance flashed as it fired. Vex tossed a grenade. After a slight del
ay, there was a bang on the other side. She tossed the last grenade.
Crump.
“Fucking go,” Vex screamed at her again and returned to shooting. “They’re charging and are almost on us. Go before it’s too late.”
Grabbing her rifle, Keira stood and ran as fast as she could. Her breathing was quick and hard, her lungs burning from the effort. Her tortured muscles cried out in pain. She was sure she would be shot from behind as the volume of firing rose to new levels. Still, she ran. The fountain came closer and closer. Then she was there. The resort was just ahead.
Instead of continuing on, she stopped on the back side of the fountain and glanced back. The enemy had begun cresting the berm. Vex shot one. He toppled backward and over the side. MK lunged forward, stabbing with his gravity sword at another. Vex climbed to her feet as more of the enemy appeared over the top, seeming to rise right up out of the ground. The marine fired rapidly as she backed up a step, limping as she gave ground. A number of regulators fell or tumbled back down the other side of the berm. Vex jerked several times, clearly hit.
Keira knew she had to run, but couldn’t go. Leaving them, abandoning them, was wrong. They were both family. From behind the fountain, she raised her rifle, aimed, and fired. A regulator fell. She fired again and dropped another of the enemy.
Vex staggered as she was hit by multiple rounds. The marine fired one more shot, then dropped her rifle and pulled out her pistol, still backing up and limping badly. The weapon banged repeatedly, dropping several of the enemy in rapid succession. Keira took another shot and hit her target. There were so many of the enemy, too many.
There was a powerful bang as a grenade went off next to Vex, kicking up a shower of sand. As the sand cascaded down, Vex fell face-first to the ground and did not stir. A few meters away, MK was a blur of motion. He took down three of the enemy with his sword in rapid succession, cutting one in half, lopping a head from another, and stabbing the third deeply in the chest. Then, he was hit by something that exploded and flung the mech backward to the ground on top of the berm. MK struggled to get up, only to be hit again, hammered by repeated fire from a heavy gun. Keira spotted the gunner perched atop a building across the park. He was firing a large caliber weapon at the mech. Tracers flew through the air, hitting the berm and MK, and bouncing off, shooting in all directions.
Fallen Empire: A Military Science Fiction Epic Adventure (Born of Ash Book 1) Page 34