by Scott Moon
Rickson walked in circles, touching his armor. “This changes everything!” he said.
Ogre jumped on the shepherd and wagged his tail.
Kin walked toward Dog and discussed the final details — the timeline after Dog and his small entourage entered Macy’s Bowels until he could open the blast doors and get control of the security cameras. The most dangerous part of the operation would be moving the bystanders to safety before the battle blew up. Kin didn’t think it could be done, but Dwarf insisted it was possible and Dog vouched for his ability to handle the locals.
Macy’s Bowels lay a mile inside of Meridian Canyon, high along the floodplain of the pass and surrounded with radiation-monitoring posts. Jojo explained how they worked and that maintaining them had been a high priority task since Earth Fleet abandoned the place. None of the equipment had come with the prisons. Whoever dropped the criminals, political dissidents, and refugees on the planet hadn’t cared enough to staff a science team or provide labs and hospitals. Everything that kept the people in Macy’s Bowels alive had been scavenged from failed military missions.
Dog’s skill at foraging and looting paid off. Dwarf, despite his bad attitude and generous stockpile of hate and discontent, proved to be a first-class organizer and a people person.
“He likes telling people what to do,” Dog said. “He’d be a terrible officer. Good social-worker-cop, though.”
Kin exchanged a trooper’s handclasp with Dog. “Get in, let us in, and keep an eye out for the Rage. I have a feeling he won’t just sit back and watch.”
“Roger. Be ready when we call you,” Dog said. “I still think we should kill the Rage first, then the Omega.”
“Won’t work.”
“So says the mighty Kin Roland.” Dog turned toward his work as he said the words.
Laura stepped forward, threw her arms around Kin, and gave him a long kiss. She pressed her body close and held tighter than she ever had.
“Fucking Kin Roland,” Dwarf said, shaking his head. “We have a mission, or have you forgotten?”
Laura let him go, then attacked him with a shorter but equally fierce kiss. “Your girlfriend might have to kill me when this is over.”
Kin laughed crazily. He was afraid he would never see Laura again. “We can cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“You never know,” she said. “It could be fun. I never had competition before.”
“Sure you did.”
“Not real competition.”
Kin smiled, looking deep into her eyes and realizing he was glad for his time with her, even if he wished she was someplace safe. “You’re nervous. You get chatty.”
“You have never seen me nervous,” she said.
“Until now.”
She laughed. “Fair enough. Just don’t wait forever when we call. Keep that sword ready.”
Kin touched the weapon but never took his eyes from her or the others. He watched Dog, Dwarf, Jojo, and Laura work their way up the trail to Macy’s Bowels. It was a slow process. Anxiety drove him to leave his observation post several times to pace back and forth where he couldn’t be seen by anyone in the prison.
Trak joined him as he peered between two rock spires to watch their final approach. “They are moving too slowly to avoid the Reapers.”
“I know.” Kin felt their presence and saw narrow slits of eyes gathering in larger and larger groups.
Trak shook his head, disappointed. “Our plan will fail before it begins.” He pointed at the Rage as it stalked a hundred paces behind Laura and Dog’s team.
Ninety paces behind.
Eighty paces behind.
Dog stopped at the blast door and leaned near a security panel to give his name and password.
The Rage ran forward. Dwarf shouted something — it looked like he shouted something — at Dog.
“That is the Rage,” Trak said. “Servant of the false Emperor.”
“It is, and he used us.” Kin sprang to his feet and started forward, only to be pulled back by Rebecca.
“We are too far from them,” she said.
“I can make it,” Kin looked at Rebecca, Ceana, and Trak, then attempted to break the grip of Rebecca’s Mech.
“Look at the ridge, Kin.” Once he had stopped fighting against her superior strength and mass, she dropped him.
Kin adjusted his balance with practiced agility and realized he’d been hoisted off the ground like a child. Moving forward, checking all the FSPAA-IIA optical sensors, he saw what had his friends paralyzed with dread.
There was a line of purple light rimming the cliffs from the setting purple moon of Hellsbreach. The orange sun rose to dominate the sky, illuminating the horde of Reapers that stared down on Meridian Canyon and the prison bunker.
Kin-rol-an-da, the human place is open. My queens have waited for the feeding to begin.
Shaking his head against the dream-vision communication, Kin found a cluster of Reapers on the highest promontory. He saw Crashdown wolves milling around the figure that had to be Droon. There were several other Reapers like he had rarely seen before; females with long spines and sinuous forms. Warriors surrounded them, screaming and howling at the rising sun.
“Dog, can you read me?” Kin asked. Something wasn’t right with Droon’s war party. Kin couldn’t see Solaa among the queens.
“Loud and clear. The doors to Macy’s Bowels are open. The Rage is bearing down on us. We could use some help unless you want to get ninety percent of the humans left on Hellsbreach slaughtered. There are women and children in here. Kids born on this planet.”
“Tell me what you make of that scene above you,” Kin said.
Silence, static, and a click of the radio mic on Dog’s end. “That looks like your buddy Droon and Solaa, the worst of the Reaper Queens.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Kin said.
“Scratch that. There are queens up there, but I can’t sense Solaa at all,” Dog said.
Kin counted the Reapers and steeled himself for what he needed to do once the Rage and the Omega were dealt with.
“No one will blame you if you run for it,” Dog said. “Dwarf will, but he already hates you.”
“What are you talking about?” Kin asked, aware that they were communicating on an open channel that anyone could monitor.
“Reaper queens never come near each other. Macy’s Bowels is linked underground to all the other prisons and the remaining military structures. Only the way stations are separate. What you are looking at is the entire Reaper nation, and they have been hungry for our blood for a long time.”
Kin thought about the Omega and Admiral Shield’s plot to drive him to Hellsbreach where his death would wipe out the monsters. He laughed because they could never have realized their plan would work so well. He only wished his death would end them all at once.
It was a stupid fantasy born of fatigue and cowardice. Even if he could wipe the Reapers from the planet, there was still the Omega and the Rage. Besides, he had faced this decision once before and wasn’t convinced anything had changed.
“How did they know we are here, opening the place up?” Rebecca asked.
“The Omega is in there. He has Reaper shapeshifters just like he has Wingers, humans, and dogs for all I know,” Kin said. “Spies on top of spies.”
Ogre snorted and looked away from Kin.
“The Omega set this up. He knew we could get into the place with Dog’s help. And he understands that the Reapers can’t resist converging on this many helpless humans. As for the rest, I don’t know.”
“I am shutting the outer door,” Dog said. “I won’t hold it without the interior blast panel down.”
Kin closed his eyes and shook his head. The prison bunker looked ready to resist a nuclear blast. There had been other structures during the invasion. The outer door would stop Reapers, even those with primitive tools, but the armored panels and concrete wouldn’t even slow the Rage.
“I will not die before facing the
false Emperor,” Trak said.
“We have to bring down the mountain,” Kin said.
“Good call, Kin. Any ideas on how to do it?” Rebecca asked, although she was already moving. “Trak, you have to come with me.”
“No!” He stepped toward the closed prison door that looked far stronger than it was. “I must go inside. I must kill the false Emperor!”
“Asshole!” Rebecca sped toward the jagged cliffs that flanked Meridian Canyon.
“Rebecca,” Kin said.
She stopped and faced him.
“Go with Trak. Get everyone inside. You can’t bring that mountain down, but I can.”
His companions stared at him. Reapers swarmed down on the entrance to Macy’s Bowels. The Rage attacked the heavy doors.
“There are nuclear warheads I failed to detonate,” Kin said. “I know the codes. All I need is an access terminal and I can bury this part of the canyon forever.”
Rickson, Dog, and Ceana followed him. He ran faster, tears streaming from his eyes because there was no time to argue with the shepherd boy or the Winger hero.
Ogre bounded ahead of him as though he understood where to go. The sight of the dog darting higher up the trail was surreal, partly because he wasn’t accustomed to being passed and partly because he wondered what the dog thought he was looking for.
“Kin!” Rickson shouted.
The Hellsbreach sun rose higher. Mountain shadows stretched across the canyon before vanishing abruptly. The chain guns of Rebecca’s Mech roared to life. Captain Trak’s Executioner Mech echoed her violence. Reapers swarmed down the mountainside like he had never seen. As he picked trails that were beyond the battle, he realized Droon was at least slowing the Rage with swarms of Reaper warriors.
The sound of that conflict could not be described.
“Kin, where are we going?” Rickson caught him as he paused to consider which of three paths to take. Ogre circled, sniffing the air excitedly.
He looked at the young man in his FSPAA-IIA armor. Like most novices, the untrained shepherd over-corrected and wasted motion in all but the simplest tasks. “I dream of the nukes I left undetonated. So far as dreams can be trusted, I know exactly where each of them are hidden.”
“Let me help you look,” Rickson said.
Ogre and Ceana joined them.
“Yes, let us assist you,” Ceana said.
Kin shook his head. “No need. I know the way. Keep going over the mountain’s summit. I don’t need you for this and I can’t waste more time arguing.” He started down the left most path that cut into scrub trees with fleshy, scab-covered leaves.
Rickson, Ceana, and Ogre followed him.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Detonation
KIN wanted to stop and watch the Reaper onslaught but understood time was running out. By now, the Rage was already inside stalking his friends, civilians, and the Omega. He needed to set the ten-year-old nuke to detonate, then get Rickson, Ceana, and Ogre inside before it detonated.
“What do you want us to do?” Rickson asked from the top of the ladder.
Kin descended as he talked. “Guard the entrance. If there is time after I set the nuke, we can try to get back to Macy’s Bowels.”
Kin hated himself for offering false hope. Survival at this point was impossible. If the Omega and Admiral Shield were to be believed, his death would solve more problems than it created. He was extraordinarily tired. The temptation to sit down and let the world go up in a fireball around him called like a siren song. It is time to rest, Kin.
The access tube was small, barely accessible for a man in armor. He forced his way inside of a dark cubbyhole and used the lights from his helmet to see his work. The FSPAA-IIA scavenged from Eagle’s dead troopers felt haunted in the eerie light but strong and more flexible that he had a right to expect. Dust covered the controls and the displays panels on the nuke but did nothing to slow the computers when he called them online.
Only the best equipment for world destruction. He was relieved and horrified that the weapons were so easy to activate.
Just blow it. Forget the timer. Do the right thing for once.
“Kin, are you almost finished? Something is happening at the prison.” Rickson’s voice was too loud over the communication link.
Lay down your head and rest, Kin Roland. You have come far enough.
He wasn’t sure if the voice in his head was his own, but it dominated his thoughts as he crawled from the access tube. Behind him, a real monster slowly awoke. Detonation could not be stopped. He hoped it would cook off before the Reaper horde slaughtered the people of Macy’s Bowels.
Where are you, Kin-rol-an-da?
He ignored the voice, running down trails and sliding on loose rocks with his friends close behind. When he reached Meridian Canyon, there were Reapers fighting to get inside the prison. The doors had been torn open by the Rage, who had moved deeper into the structure to hunt the Omega. Human defenders fought to drive back Reapers and build barriers in place of the missing blast doors.
He studied his options.
Kin-rol-an-da!
Kin growled under his breath and cursed. What?
Kin-rol-an-da and Droon must fight the Burning One.
The orange sun of Hellsbreach climbed high. Nightmare sounds climbed out of Meridian Canyon as waves of Reapers assaulted Macy’s Bowels.
Droon’s queens will stand aside for Kin-rol-an-da, Droon said. When the Burning One is destroyed, Kin-rol-an-da must leave Betatoin. He must not meet his end among the Kindred.
Kin took a deep breath and calmed his heart rate. The battle before him was the most important of his life, and to win, he needed to fail. Save his friends or destroy the enemy of his race — the enemy his race had created as a weapon against the Mazz eons ago.
Do you understand what happens if I die here? Kin thought.
Hesitation preceded Droon’s dream response. All of the Kindred die with Kin-rol-an-da. Maybe not if Kin-rol-an-da is far away.
“I’m not sure how I should feel about that,” Kin said aloud. He stepped from his hiding place to face more Reapers than he had ever seen. The entire floor of the canyon was a sea of monstrous bodies. For every thousand Reapers, there was a long-spined queen with bloodthirsty bodyguards. Some were mounted. Others had Darguul beasts on long chains. Kin saw groups with lighting whips and others with swords and spears crafted from the bones of Hellsbreach creatures.
A path formed down the middle of the horde. Droon stood near the door, waiting. Someone from inside the prison fired at him, but an angry swarm of his warriors and wolves kept them busy as he waited for Kin.
Droon, Kin thought.
His longtime nemesis grunted and clicked a reply.
Kin hesitated, unsure of his motivation. There is about to be an explosion that will kill all of your Kindred in this canyon. They should flee.
Sadness radiated through the dream link as Kin crossed the final distance to Droon. They will not flee fast enough, Kin-rol-an-da. Many will die today. It is your fault.
“Droon,” Kin said. “They will not open their defenses.”
“Just for Droon and Kin-rol-an-da and friends of Kin-rol-an-da,” Droon said.
Kin nodded, checked the timer in his armor, and walked to the barricade. “Dog, are you inside? Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear, Kin.”
“Droon and I are going to fight the Rage. Let us inside,” Kin said. Rickson, Ceana, and Ogre followed close behind.
“It’s too late. Rebecca and the others are already engaged deep in the lower levels where the Omega is holed up.”
“Did Rebecca explain the new plan?” Kin asked.
Radio silence greeted his question for several long heartbeats. “Yep. Get your ass inside. We already have too many Reapers breaking past us. What is one more and a busted up Earth Fleet trooper who should have incinerated the entire planet ten years ago?”
Kin rushed in, part of him hoping they would block Droon from en
tering. Dog, Dwarf, and a squad of fully armored and tough-looking Earth Fleet troopers met him with weapons raised.
“Why didn’t the Reapers kill him?” one asked, weapon aimed at Kin’s face-shield.
“They think that when Kin dies, they will all die with him,” Dog said.
The veteran troopers laughed, paused, then laughed even harder. “And we let him inside?”
“You want that giant freak to die or not?” Dog asked. “Hold this door until I send you the signal to go deep, then get to the lowest level you can reach. Meridian Canyon is about to get buried.”
“Roger that,” a trooper said. The squad moved to the barricade and fired at Reapers as they advanced.
“Stay here,” Kin said to Rickson and Ceana. “They need help. Be sure to get below as soon as the barricade is welded across this entrance.”
“We’re coming with you,” Rickson said.
Ceana flared his black wings slightly.
“Of course you are,” Kin said. He moved fast, trusting Dog to lead the way. For once, he decided Rickson was right. The deeper they were before the explosion the better.
“Watch your head,” Dog said as he ducked through a series of doors. “Keith and his boys will have to close these as they follow.”
The passages shook for several minutes. Kin wondered what happened to Keith and the rear guard Dog had assigned to keep the bulk of the Reaper force outside. He wondered if the blast had scoured the canyon of Reapers, doubting any of them could have put enough distance between themselves and the blast even if Droon had commanded them to flee. He wasn’t sure why he cared. They were Reapers and would slaughter every human they caught.
“Roland to Rebecca, do you copy?”
“How many times are you going to ask that?” Dog led the way deeper into the tunnels as lights flickered and dust drifted down from the ceiling.
Behind them, Droon made clicking noises and refused to communicate with Kin aloud or by dream link.
“They are dead,” Dog said. “I saw what that freak can do. If I can’t kill it and you can’t kill it and your buddy Droon can’t kill it, then it might live forever.”
“Let’s hope you’re wrong.”