by David Peters
Two Workers walked over to Niccole, being careful to give Shade a very wide berth. Niccole struggled to grab at them but the initial adrenaline rush was gone and she had no energy left to fight. They easily pinned her arm against the wall and held it there.
Shade let out one short bark and the three Thrumbers each leapt onto the chest of one of the women. The one that landed on Niccole was surprisingly light and couldn’t have weighed more and a few pounds. Up close it had a vicious narrow cat like face and hissed at her as it bobbed its head around. Shade barked one more time and the Thrumbers bared two needle like fangs. It sank its teeth into Niccole’s shoulder and she felt warmth begin to flow through her veins. For a second she panicked and thought she was being turned but then felt the calming effect of the drug. She was being put to sleep. The Workers released her arm and moved back into their corner. Her body began to tingle and her free arm hung limp at her side. She heard Shade bark one more time and the Thrumbers darted out of the room. The sound of them moving down the hall took on a dream quality.
Shade walked up and spoke quietly into Niccole’s ear in her growly Corrupted voice. It was long with clicks, growls and hisses. She couldn’t understand what was said but by the tone it was something along the lines of Niccole’s not so pleasant near future.
Niccole was at a loss as to what the Corrupted said but Shade laughed quietly after she had said it. A heavy fog was edging over her mind and she knew she wouldn’t be able to fight it for much longer. She felt like she wanted nothing more in the world than to sleep. She wanted to look and see if the other two were sleeping but found she didn’t even have enough energy or control to simply turn her head. She fought for a few more minutes against the poison in her blood but finally lost. Her last thought before walking into the mental darkness was to wonder where Dylan was and if he was ok.
--1--
There were eighteen of them riding single file down the muddy trail to Sumter. The rain had slowed to nothing more than a mist over the last hour giving the rescue team a reprieve from the colder weather. Dylan rode at the front next to Cap-Cap. He was counting on this man’s knowledge and experience to get his wife back. As he looked out over the snow covered trees and fields he thought back to the last time he had been all the way down to Sumter. He had watched his brother die a horrible and unfair death. It was still difficult for him to think about even with the miles and months behind him. He would carry the hurt like a heavy weight forever. Now there was a different hole in his soul. An emptiness that didn’t have an answer yet but it would shortly, one way or another.
He looked at the captain again then over his shoulder to the procession of warriors traveling in silence behind them. He would come back with Niccole or he wouldn’t come back at all. Nearly every person in town had volunteered to join the rescue mission but it was decided early on that it wouldn’t be tactical, using Cap-Cap’s word, to have that many on a rescue mission of this type. Dylan also was not willing to allow the entire town to risk their lives for what was quite possibly the most insane thing he could ever recall doing.
Their plan had been fairly simple and straight forward. Find the nearest entrance to the hive, walk in, and grab Niccole then leave. Nobody was thinking that was how it was going to go down, least of all Dylan. They didn’t know where she would be but they were basing her location off of what Erica had to report. She was near the surface and there were always Workers moving in and out of her room, a kind of holding area. They figured for the most part they would be ignored as long as they didn’t go too deep into the hive.
As Dylan was looking down the long line of horses he caught the glimmer of a smile come and go on Cap-Caps face, “That must have been a pleasant thought. Where did you manage to find one of those at this point in time?”
“Sorry Dylan. Distant daydream I was having.” Cap-Cap looked over his shoulder to see who was riding within ear shot of them. The next nearest horse was nearly ten yards behind them. Having someone walk point had gotten to be fairly habitual for his team and the non-military people on this trip were learning fast from their new friends. “I watched Jen and Niccole make breakfast yesterday morning. It had occurred to me how much pleasure it brought me to see Jen happy. It hit me like a freight train all of the sudden. Seeing her happy was what made me happy. It was funny that something so simple could hit me so hard. Go figure.”
“Does she know that?” Dylan asked.
“I think so. That isn’t good enough for me though.” He looked over his shoulder one more time, “When we get back I’m going to ask her to marry me.”
“Are you serious? That is fantastic Cap-Cap! I’m truly happy for you.” Dylan smiled as he spoke, “She certainly has a shine when you are around. Niccole will be…” His smile failed as the cold reality slapped him down hard.
They rode in silence for another few minutes while Dylan felt a tide of different emotions wash over him. He clenched his jaw hard trying to bit back the emotions struggling to get free.
Cap-Cap saw Dylan’s face go dark with the thoughts of Niccole and the Corrupted, “You feel that Dylan? You feel that pit? Use it. Don’t let it own you. Don’t let it swallow you up. Turn it out on those deserving of the wrath. It’s kept me alive this long. I’ve watched nearly every friend I have get swallowed up by those damn things. I’m done being afraid. I’m done running. I’m done giving anything else away. I will not let those Corrupted take one more thing from me. Not one more thing. I won’t live out my life in fear of them; I will live it out in spite of them.”
Dylan fell silent again as they continued down the narrow trail. Thoughts of Niccole, of Daniel, even Williams face would occasionally mentally flash by the in the myriad of mental images. There were too many things turning, crushing him from the inside and making concentration nearly impossible. He felt the captain staring at him and turned away knowing he was being read like a book.
“Tell me about the inside of the hive again Dylan; you are the only one here that has gone in.” Cap-Cap said absently.
“I thought I already did,” Dylan’s own voice sounded distant and distracted. He didn’t want to talk. A small but growing part of him didn’t want to exist at all.
“You did. You actually went over it in detail. Now do it again. And when you are done, you are going to tell me again. I’m sorry to be this way Dylan, but I need you here. Not somewhere thinking about shit that has already happened. Things you can’t change. We will talk later but life isn’t giving you the time right now to worry about decisions you can’t change. It’s time to put on your big boy pants and get your head where we need it.”
He nodded as he stared into the older man’s eyes. Cap-Cap sounded like he was being short with Dylan but he knew otherwise. The captain needed him in the here and now. There was a wisdom there he hadn’t noticed before. They may very well be marching off to their own deaths right now but he could see no sign of fear in the man. He could see now the experience brought about by combat and war. Cap-Cap was a natural leader of soldiers and was in his element now, “Ok. Our first issue is going to be any patrols. Our scouts rarely see them on this trail so that shouldn’t be a problem. They had a big old Guard at the door when I…” he corrected himself quickly, “we, when we were there last time.”
“We’ve seen them, tell me about the inside. Give me details, don’t leave anything out.”
Dylan could feel the things he was worried about getting pushed to the side. Worries for another day, another day when there was more time. “It’s dark but once our eyes adjusted it felt kind of like being in a hornets nest, or an ant hill, very bug like. The tunnels are narrow but high. Two men might be able to stand shoulder to shoulder but we will have a good four or five feet above our heads.”
He continued on with every detail he could recall until they crested the final bluff and started down into the city of Sumter.
--2--
Dylan rode his horse out of the heavy brush and onto the same gravel road they had used when the
y fled Sumter after their last attack. The hive was monstrous now and covered the entire waterfront from one side of town to the other. The single central stack towered over the area now, easily the tallest building Sumter had ever had. The humming coming from the stack would easily mask their arrival. They dismounted and left the horses to graze on this hillside beyond a row of thickets. They gathered outside the fence that surrounded the huge lumber yard storage lot. Their entrance would be made through the hole in the lot fence where the bus they escaped in last year had torn out a large ragged gap in the chain-link fencing.
The sounds of the weapons being checked and ammunition verified moved down the line without a word being spoken. The trained soldiers were doing what had now become habit. Those that had never been in the service were learning by observing and doing. Dylan watched as one of the guardsmen pulled the magazine out of his rifle and tapped it on his helmet. The man behind him that didn’t have the same training mimicked the same activity. The man didn’t know why military guy had done it, but he knew there had to be a reason.
Dylan had just finished his checks and was putting the hammer on halfcocked when Travis appeared beside him. The young man put a friendly hand on his shoulder, “Worked all night on these Boss man. They probably won’t hurt people, but stay out of the smoke just to be, like, safe. It’s blue dude and it’s totally awesome,” Travis was using his shirt to hold the grenades.
Dylan smiled as Travis pulled two of the grenades out and handed them to him. He rolled the military issue smoke grenades around and saw that the bottoms were crudely soldered back on. They were about the size of a regular soup can with a grenade type pin and spoon sticking out of the top.
Cap-Cap smiled as Travis handed him two, “Is this what you and Whitey were working on yesterday son?”
“Ya man, that dude is spot on with the explosives and stuff. My kind of people. Later boss type dudes.” Travis moved back down the line handing out the remaining few smoke grenades.
Dylan watched him walk away, “That man’s mind scares me sometimes.”
Both men watched as Travis stopped next to Whitey. Something was said that was too quiet to make its way down the line and both Travis and Whitey stifled laughs. Whitey was wearing a t-shirt that boldly declared ‘Everything I learned about people was through the crosshairs of a scope’. Cap-Cap sighed then smiled as he spoke, “The fact that he and Whitey get along should scare you more.” Whitey pulled this sniper suit up and finished with the zippers and Velcro. He then helped Travis with the one he would wear. Once done he held his hand up and flashed five fingers twice.
“Over watch is ready Dylan, let’s get moving.”
Cap-Cap made a circular hand movement above his head and was all business. Whitey and Travis moved over to the hillside and lay prone in the wet grass. Once they pulled the camouflaged hoods over their heads they became all but invisible. Two of Cap-Caps men ran up the line and through the wrecked fence into the lumber yard beyond. Both took up positions behind piles of lumber with their rifles aimed towards the hive. The rest of the team moved up to follow. As they closed on the first two, two more of Cap-Cap’s people ran ahead of the first two. During the impromptu meeting in the early morning darkness Cap-Cap had called this as a bounding over-watch. Using this way to maneuver through the large cluttered lumber yard they crossed quickly to the entrance but had covering fire ready if needed the entire way. A reverse of the process would be used to exit the hive, providing they got that far. The key was to not alert the hive they were there until absolutely necessary. They knew they couldn’t fight their way in and if they were too far in when discovered they couldn’t fight their way out either.
The final stand of lumber left an open gap of nearly one hundred and fifty yards to the entrance. Dylan peeked around the corner and could see two of the massive Corrupted Guards standing statue still. Dylan leaned against the lumber and held up two fingers to Cap-Cap. The captain held his hand against his chest with two fingers out. A quiet ‘crack’ sound was the only indication that a bullet had just flown over their heads. The high-tech sniper round struck the guard standing to the left of the entrance. The bullet entered right between its narrow beady eyes and detonated on impact. The headless corpse fell to its knees them slammed chest first into the muddy ground.
The remaining guard slowly turned and moved towards the fallen Corrupted as it tried to assess where the attacker was. As it lumbered across the entrance a round impacted in its neck leaving a gaping wound and causing the beast to turn towards the direction the attack had come from. As it started walking towards the team another quiet ‘crack’ passed overhead and impacted the Guards right eye. They could feel the ground vibrate as the thing fell forward dead.
Without another spoken word the team ran to the entrance and hugged against the exterior wall before entering. Dylan made a quick down motion with his hand. As one the team flipped down their night vision goggles and two by two entered the hive.
Dylan walked in through the dark opening a few paces and knelt down. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and pulled his father’s old Colt forty-five pistol out of the old leather holster. The military goggles narrowed his vision but bathed the inside of the hive in a bright green light. The last time he had been in here was with his brother Daniel. They had noticed glowing blue designs on the wall that looked suspiciously like writing. With the goggles the writing was bright as day and left no doubt that it was a design of intelligence. Dylan looked to his left for Cap-Cap and found him looking all over the walls. They were in a room about the size of a racket ball court with a fifteen foot high ceiling. There was one tunnel that led away from the open lot behind them. The writing was at waist height and about three inches tall. It ringed the entire room and continued down the tunnel. Above the tunnel entrance was a large glowing symbol that looked unlike any writing they had ever seen and about the size of a human hand.
They had discussed entering the hive in detail. Their primary concern was how deep they may have taken Niccole. They relied heavily on Erica’s experience and her descriptions. She had been just below entrance level when she was taken. The few reports they have gotten back had said similar things. They figured they would be ignored as long as they didn’t go too deep. Dylan walked over to where Cap-Cap was tracing the writing with his fingers, “It’s writing as far as Daniel and I could tell,” he whispered to the man.
“No doubt about that. Your description didn’t do it justice. It’s beautiful but creepy as hell,” he whispered back. “Let’s get down to business and get your wife.”
Dylan nodded and took the lead. He was the only one in the rescue team that had any knowledge of the inside of these hives. He was seeing so much more than when he had been in last time. It was quite clear looking at the floor through the goggles which passageways were the most heavily traveled. He kept his head down and moved down the center of the main passageway. They were about fifty feet in when they reached a junction. The main tunnel led off to his right with a lesser used smaller tunnel off to his left that angled sharply down and appeared to spiral to the right. Dylan started down the larger passageway then stopped. He paused as a nagging feeling overtook him. Something was tugging at the edge of his mind and he couldn’t put his finger on it.
He turned and nearly knocked the captain off his feet, “She’s down deeper.” Without another word he moved down the narrow passageway. After moving another hundred feet the tunnel leveled out and made a sharp turn to his left. As Dylan rounded the corner he walked headlong into a Worker and sent both the Corrupted and Dylan crashing to the ground. Cap-Cap brought his sub-machine gun up to kill the thing before it could warn others.
“No!” Dylan said in a loud whisper, “Don’t shoot! It won’t even acknowledge us. Just let it pass.” The Worker picked itself up slowly but with a purpose. Once it was standing again it began walking back up the passageway as if nothing had happened. With the team lying flat against the sides of the tunnel it left mere inches between the
m and the Corrupted. It continued up the ramp until it was out of site never once looking back.
“For some reason they don’t do anything until something has been classified as a threat. Even if you knock one on its ass.” Dylan whispered to the team. There were several nods of understanding. He began moving down the tunnel again.
“You’d said it, but I didn’t believe it. I stand corrected.” Cap-Cap motioned down the tunnel with his gun.
After a short distance they came to what appeared to be a hub. There were six tunnels branching out from a single large room. Dylan looked at Cap-Cap who simply shrugged back. “Where are you Niccole,” he whispered to himself. As he looked down each tunnel his thoughts kept coming back to one. It looked no different than the other five but it was the one he wanted to go down. He pointed the direction confidently and the team followed without a word.
At the very end of the line Jokester was placing the modern military version of bread crumbs. Plastic markers about the size of a small hard candy but only visible through their goggles were dropped on the floor every ten paces in order to find their way back out. In the center of the room he left a line pointing from the tunnel they were entering back to the tunnel they had just left.