At first, she thought the jungle had been cut down, cleared from the ruins, but then she realized the open space was natural, not artificial. There were no tree stumps, no bushes. For some reason, nothing grew within this space, which was a perfect circle dozens of paces wide.
She turned, staring in wonder at the Gateway through which she had just come. All of the soldiers were through now; the jump had only taken moments. The end of the tube now simply hung in the air, floating a foot off the ground. Stepping around it, to the side, she saw that it simply disappeared, existing only when faced head-on. What would happen if she were to stand directly behind it and move forward through where the opening must exist—would she be in two worlds at once?
“This is unbelievable,” she said in wonder, reaching out her hand to touch the end of the Jump Tube.
Someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her away. “Don’t.”
It took her a moment to recognize Alex, who was also wearing his GPNVGs over his face.
“Why not? How do we go back?”
“It’s not that the Jump Tube itself is dangerous. It’s just that—”
The opening collapsed in on itself, winking out of existence in a moment. It happened so quickly that Cassie fell back into Alex.
Alex sighed, helping her upright. “It’s just that it’s only there long enough for us to come through. The power to keep it open is… well, you just wouldn’t believe me.”
She turned to stare at him, feeling overwhelmed. “But how do we—”
“We have a keying device.” Alex pointed to a flat-black cylindrical piece of equipment with carrying handles sitting between two of the soldiers.
She had seen them carrying it in line but hadn’t had the opportunity to ask about it. It looked, she thought, like one of those atomic bombs you see in the movies, with a sophisticated keypad and monitor. “What does it do?”
“The Gateway isn’t truly closed… well, it is and it isn’t. Don’t ask me to explain the string-theory physics; ask Helena—Dr. Simmons. She’d love to go on and on about it. But the keying device will open the Gateway again or at least shift it back into this dimension at a time when it was still open, linking both worlds.”
“I have no idea what you just said.”
“It opens the Gateway on command for us, so we can go home when we want to.”
“Oh, okay then.”
Clyde began barking furiously. She had never heard him do that before.
“What is it?” she asked him. He jumped in place, growling and barking.
One of the soldiers swore in disgust. Cassie turned to see what was wrong. Two soldiers stood near the forest edge, staring at something hanging from the trees, something that didn’t quite reach the ground. She squinted, not understanding what she was looking at. At first, she thought it was moving, then she realized it was covered in a living carpet of insects. Despite her revulsion, she edged closer to see better. There was something…
“Cassie, don’t,” said Alex.
Clyde went crazy, barking like mad. He smashed against her leg, almost knocking her down, as he rushed in front of her.
And then she understood what she was looking at. In a moment of perfect clarity, she saw a human face, or at least what was left of the face, now frozen in a rictus of terror and pain. She recognized the shreds of torn green clothing—a uniform. This was a member of Task Force Devil.
“Oh, Goddamn,” she whispered, feeling sick.
Someone moved past her, bumping into her. Buck, she thought, from his size.
“Cut him down,” Buck ordered, staring up at the body. Clyde was hopping in place, still barking furiously. “Somebody shut that damned dog up before I shoot him myself.”
“He’s onto something,” said Cassie. “It can’t just be the body, can it?” She reached out and grabbed Clyde’s collar, holding him in place with both hands.
One of the soldiers stepped forward, pulling a knife from his webbing.
“Wait,” said Alex. “The LZ is compromised. We need to—”
Alien screams of rage erupted as the jungle came alive around them. Cassie spun about. From everywhere, monstrous figures, vaguely man-shaped but wrong somehow—with too many arms—burst out of the jungle from where they had been hiding, charging at them with spears and swords. Their faces were bestial with huge all-black eyes. Projectiles whistled through the air; one brushed past her ear. They’re trying to kill us.
The soldier who had been about to cut down the body staggered back and fell to the ground, a shaft—an arrow—protruding from his throat. Cassie stared, dumbfounded, her limbs locked in place as the man grasped feebly at the arrow. Someone grabbed her and threw her roughly to the ground. She landed atop Clyde, still holding onto his collar for dear life, but the dog pulled free and leaped forward at the attacking creatures.
“Clyde, no!” she yelled.
A moment later, her vision was washed out by the muzzle flash of gunfire. The sound of the silenced weapons was not what she had expected—they were far louder than movies would have had her believe. Moments later, more soldiers began firing. She lay on her stomach, terrified. The optics of her GPNVGs adjusted to the gunfire around her, and she saw the attackers cut down, shredded by the withering impact of subsonic fire. Clyde leapt for the throat of one of the creatures, latched onto it, and dragged it to the ground. Another of the attackers danced back, one of its long arms spinning through the air, severed by a bullet.
All around her, the fighting intensified as the members of Task Force Devil each dropped down onto one knee and began firing in short, controlled bursts. She knew she should do something, help somehow, but all she could do was stare in horror. It was so violent, so quick, so overwhelming.
The trees and bushes behind the attackers disintegrated under the impact of the bullets. The sweet smell of jungle rot was gone now, instantly overpowered by the stench of burning cordite. Empty brass casings flew through the air.
She started to climb to her knees to help.
“Get your ass down!” Alex yelled from behind her.
Bullets whipped over her head, and she dropped down again, trying to bury herself into the earth.
The attackers never stood a chance. Those closest went down first, cut apart by a wall of gunfire. Their odd, four-armed bodies just… came apart under the onslaught. The ones in the rear staggered into the dying front ranks, no doubt stunned by the carnage of modern firearms. But then a massive form burst through the stumbling attackers, knocking several down as it rushed at the soldiers. Cassie gasped, unable to believe her eyes. It was a creature out of a nightmare, more than twice the height of a man and wearing pieces of dangling metal and chain mail over its giant bloated body. Piglike tusks extended from its huge, tooth-filled mouth as it howled in rage. She recognized it from a lifetime of children’s books and movies. It’s a troll.
Rifle fire hit it, staggering the troll and slowing it down, but it kept coming, wounded perhaps but still dangerous. It was going to reach them. The bullets weren’t stopping it.
Lightning arced across the clearing, washing out her GPNVGs again as a bolt of white-hot electricity struck the troll in its armored chest, picking it up and throwing it back to smash into the trees as though it had been hit by a truck. When her optics readjusted, Cassie saw Elizabeth standing her ground, the Brace on her hand crackling with electricity.
The troll didn’t get back up. The other creatures, those that still lived, stood in stunned silence then tried to flee. Gunfire cut them down. “Pour it on, pour it on,” Buck yelled. “Take ’em down. No survivors.” He stepped forward after them, firing short bursts into the backs of the fleeing creatures.
The soldiers kept up their withering fire, now rising to move forward after Buck and putting down the attackers with aimed shots. Elizabeth stood in place, staring at the smoking corpse of the troll. Cassie climbed to her feet, her senses and emotions wild, dumbfounded at the carnage around her. What had started as an ambush had become a massacre fo
r the attackers. None of the creatures had even gotten close enough to use their weapons.
No, that wasn’t true. Cassie’s eyes darted to the soldier who had been struck in the throat by the arrow. He was alive, still thrashing, and had dislodged his GPNVGs; it was Marcus, she saw with horror. His bloody fingers grasped feebly at the arrow in his throat. His eyes were wide with pain and fear. She ran to his side and fell to her knees next to him. Putting her hands over his body, she drew in mana and prepared to channel. So much mana, she thought and then felt immediately guilty. She needed to concentrate, needed to heal Marcus. How is he even still alive?
She channeled, sending healing energy into him. He reached up, grasping her, pulling her closer, trying to say something. She ignored him, concentrating on saving his life. She could feel his flesh reknitting, but the tissue damage was so severe—and that damned arrow! Every time she healed him, it cut him again.
She needed to get it out, and then she could heal him properly. This was pointless!
“What can I do?” asked Elizabeth from behind her.
“It’s the arrow. I can’t heal him.”
Elizabeth grabbed her shoulders. In an instant, she felt the other woman sending mana into her, linking with her and augmenting her powers. Marcus gripped her hand. His eyes reflected his pain, his terror. His lips kept moving, but now he was only making unintelligible, wet grunts.
Someone knelt beside her. “Cassie, what do you need?” Alex asked.
“Get that fucking arrow out.”
Alex grasped the arrow shaft, holding it tightly in both hands. Marcus stopped trying to talk and removed his hand from Cassie’s, placing it on top of Alex’s instead. Alex and Marcus stared at one another. Marcus nodded. Alex yanked the shaft, and Marcus went spastic with pain, but the arrow remained lodged in place, unwilling to come free. Someone else dropped down in front of Marcus’s helmeted head and gripped it tightly between his knees, holding him in place. Cassie looked up, feeling helpless.
“Again,” said Buck, the man holding Marcus’s head. “Try again. Wiggle it this time.”
“He’ll die,” said Alex.
“He’s already dying. Do it.”
Alex leaned over Marcus and pulled again. This time, as he pulled on the shaft, he rocked it back and forth. Marcus thrashed, but Buck leaned in, holding him down.
The arrow still wouldn’t come free.
“I think it’s barbed,” said Alex.
“Again, Newf—do it!” yelled Buck.
Marcus had stopped screaming. Now, he was only making a pathetic mewling noise.
“Goddamn it,” cried Cassie. “Please.”
Alex swore and yanked again. This time, the arrowhead ripped free. Blood sprayed in Cassie’s face, running down the lenses of her GPNVGs, obscuring her sight. Alex threw the wicked-looking barbed arrowhead aside with disgust. Now, Cassie channeled with everything she had and every little bit that Elizabeth lent her. She could feel the magic working, feel Marcus’s flesh pulling back together.
Then, the healing just… stopped. The mana was no longer having any effect. Everyone stared at her.
Alex put his hand on her forearm. “Cassie. It’s—”
She screamed in rage and tried again, redoubling her efforts. Nothing.
Elizabeth let go of her shoulders and stopped channeling. She’s given up. They’ve all given up. Marcus stared at her with unmoving eyes.
Cassie stopped channeling, sat back, and pulled her knees up against her chest, wrapping her arms around them as she finally accepted what the others already had: she couldn’t heal the dead.
Chapter 47
Cassie watched the soldiers wrap Marcus’s corpse in a poncho and tie it closed. They cut down the desiccated corpse their attackers had left hanging—perhaps as some kind of macabre warning, perhaps only as a distraction—then wrapped it in another poncho, laying him, whoever he had been, beside Marcus. They left the bodies of the creatures—the four-armed, fish-faced monsters— where they had fallen. Up close, they looked even more frightening even in death. Their giant, saucerlike black eyes reminded Cassie of sharks as did their double rows of jagged teeth. Their skin was blue and covered in thick bristles. Two of their four arms were shriveled, weak little things that jutted out from just beneath their pectoral muscles. The other two arms, though, were long and strong with thick cords of muscle. Their necks were almost nonexistent, with bulbous, fishlike heads sitting on the shoulders. Even their legs were angled wrong—backwards—and they had cloven hoofs. They were clearly intelligent because they wore chain mail and iron helmets. They were armed with crude-looking but dangerous two-handed swords and axes. Several had also been armed with crossbows; a crossbow quarrel, not an arrow, had killed Marcus. Up close, their stench was gag inducing. No wonder Clyde had been losing his mind.
Alex stood staring down at the two poncho-wrapped corpses.
“Did you know him?” Cassie asked.
He nodded, looking strange under his four-eyed optics. “His name was Eric. Eric MacDonald. He went through selection with me. He was a friend. So was Marcus, although Marcus was one of the US Deltas. Too many dead friends these days.”
The men and women of Task Force Devil were more like a family, she realized, than an ad-hoc grouping of Americans and Canadians. Is it because of shared dangers, the crucible of combat? Or maybe that’s just how soldiers are.
Lee would fit right in, she knew. Lee knew where he belonged in the world. Cassie wondered what that felt like.
Elizabeth shuffled beside Cassie, holding her rosary beads. She had been noticeably quiet since using the Brace to stop the troll. “You’re not going to just leave them there, are you? Not like that on the ground?”
Her voice was strained, Cassie realized, and filled with pain as though she were crying beneath her GPNVGs. Clyde, standing next to Elizabeth for some reason, rubbed himself against her leg. She dropped down on one knee and hugged his large head tightly.
“For now, yes,” Alex said. “Later, when we come back with McKnight, we’ll take them home with us.”
“But—”
“We have a job to do, Elizabeth. We’ve only got about eighteen hours to find the colonel and activate the keying device. There are limitations to how long the keying device can work. After that… well… we don’t want to find out.”
And with that, he turned away and approached Buck, who even now knelt by himself, studying a map he had placed on the ground. Alex dropped down on his knee beside the other man and moved his rifle, hanging from its sling, out of the way.
Cassie moved closer and looked over their shoulders, leaving Elizabeth to her solitude. If she wants to talk, she’ll talk.
The map looked hand drawn, reflecting only the local surroundings, incomplete. “That’s the best you got?” she asked.
“Yes, and it’ll have to do.” Buck traced what looked like a river with his finger.
“And where are we going?” she asked.
“Here.” Buck let his finger rest on a bend in the river.
Alex looked up. “There’s a settlement of some kind along the river. That might be where the dark-elf woman came from.”
“How do you know that?” Cassie asked.
“Well… we don’t,” said Alex. “But that’s all we have.”
“No, we have Clyde,” she said, glancing back to where the dog still sat next to Elizabeth.
Buck paused, watching her. “I let you bring that mutt, but what now? ’Cause I don’t have a clue.”
“I brought this.” Alex pulled a green sock out of his pocket. “It’s McKnight’s. Maybe the dog will take the scent and just… you know, work on autopilot.”
“That’s a big maybe,” said Buck. “And what the hell are you doin’ with the colonel’s dirty laundry?”
“I took it from his quarters.”
Buck snorted. “Well… good then, good for you, Newf.” This time Buck actually smiled, a big, gap-toothed grin. “How we doin’ for ammo, 2-IC?”
It only took a moment for Cassie to figure it out. 2-IC: Second in command. She was starting to speak army now.
“We’re in reasonably good shape,” Alex said. “Went through a mag or two each. They weren’t expecting our firepower.”
“Maybe,” said Buck. “But now they know we’re coming. Advantage gone.”
“Not necessarily.” Alex leaned over the map and ran his finger from their LZ to the river. “The river makes a lot of noise, and we’re at least three klicks away. That’s a lot of distance in a jungle. With silenced weapons? I don’t think anyone near the river could have heard the fight. And I’m pretty sure we got them all. We may still be good.”
Buck sat upright, put his hands against the small of his back, and arched his spine, grunting. “Unless there’s other patrols out there that are closer.”
“This wasn’t a patrol. They were here for us in case we came back. They’ve figured out this is where we show up. This was an ambush, but how long have they been waiting for us? It’s been weeks since the last mission. If these things had known we were coming for sure, or what kind of heat we were packing, there would have been a whole lot more of them.”
“Maybe,” Buck said. “But for all we know, McKnight is already dead and in some monster’s stew pot. We lost men back at the base, a lot of men. We just lost Marcus. How many more? And for what? This is all on me now, and it’s starting to feel like a really bad idea. I’m thinking of calling it.”
“The colonel’s not dead. If that elf woman was going to just kill him, why go to all the trouble of bringing him here? The basilisk, the hellhounds? They were just cover so she could get onto the base and identify McKnight. He’s still alive.”
Buck shook his head. “I don’t know. If they were waiting for us here, then…”
“We kicked their asses here,” Alex said.
“Did you not see that fucking troll thing? Bullets didn’t even slow it down. Had it reached us—”
“Elizabeth handled the troll,” said Cassie. “She’s tough. And I can heal anyone who gets hurt.”
“You couldn’t heal Marcus,” Buck snapped.
Starlight (The Dark Elf War Book 1) Page 37