“They must have dug a new quarry nearby.” Mills lowered his binoculars. “It must be taking thousands of them to quarry and move those bloody things. The warriors we see here can only be the tip of the iceberg.”
“Well, I don’t know what that twin of Stonehenge is,” Steph said quietly, “but I know very well what those are around it. They’re a perfect match for what Ichiro,” it almost hurt to say his name, “saw during the first contact massacre. They’re dueling arenas.”
Mills and the others shifted their view slightly. Not far from the ponderous structure was a set of five circular rings that the warriors had built from much smaller rough-cut stones. Each ring was perhaps thirty meters in diameter and looked to be about chest high, with pillars that rose to about two meters and were evenly spaced around the circumference. In the center of each ring was a raised dais of stone, and there was a single entrance to each ring that faced the larger structure, with the two linked by a stone walkway. White sand covered the ground in each one.
“Bloody hell,” Mills breathed. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Valentina lowered her rifle and turned to look at him. “Maybe it was lucky we landed here after all.”
“Why?” Steph asked as she filmed both the Kreelans below and the other members of the team. The miniaturized and combat-hardened vidcam that she’d taken from the case she’d brought with her was strapped to her helmet and followed the movement of her head.
“Because we want to find out where the bitches are concentrated,” Danielson chimed in. Glancing at Mills, he added, “I doubt anybody ever would have expected there’d be so many here in a podunk little town.”
Mills grunted agreement. “We were supposed to land near one of the major cities. Or at least as major as they are on this planet, because we expected most of the enemy would be concentrated there. They probably only needed a few dozen to take this town, but there’s at least a thousand, maybe two, in the town alone.”
“You can probably double or triple that,” Valentina said, aiming her rifle at the woods on the far side of the town. “I can’t make out specifics, but I’m picking up a lot of thermal signatures over there through the trees. A few that look like fires, and a bunch that I’ll wager are more warriors. They’re all over the place over there.”
“Look!” Danielson hissed, pointing off to their left. “Down there!”
Along the main road that passed through Breakwater and linked it to two much larger towns to the north and south, a column of figures came into view, marching around the base of the hill the team occupied.
“Oh, my God.” Steph focused on the tiny figures, her vidcam able to zoom in more than even Mills’s binoculars. “Prisoners.”
There were a few thousand people being marched along by at least as many enemy warriors. Men, women, and even children were in the mass of ragged, shuffling figures. She could see their tattered clothes and dirty faces, the helpless defeat in their expressions. The warriors walked along the side of the road, content to leave the humans alone as long as they kept moving.
“We’ve had reports of civilians being rounded up like this, but never had any hard intel on what happened to them.” Mills bit his lip as he looked over the prisoners, his stomach knotting with anger. “We assumed they were killed, but...” He broke off, not sure what else to say.
“Well,” Valentina said woodenly, resisting the urge to take out some of the warriors with her rifle, “now we know what the arenas are for.”
“What are we going to do?” Steph asked.
“Not a bloody thing,” Mills grated, “but take note of what we see and be ready to pass on our information when the fleet jumps in.”
“But we can’t just leave them!” Steph argued. “They’ll be slaughtered!”
“Listen to me,” Mills said coldly, turning to face her. “In case you lost count, there are four of us. Just four. I’d sacrifice myself in a heartbeat to help those poor buggers if it would make the slightest difference, but we’d be throwing our lives away.
“Worse, we’d be throwing away their only chance, which is to make sure the fleet knows what they’ll be facing down here so the Marines coming in behind us can blow these bitches to hell.” Steph turned away, and Mills went on more softly, “Don’t believe for a second that I don’t want to do something, but-”
“Listen!” Danielson hissed, holding his hand up for silence as he turned to look behind them, up the slope of the hill.
They fell silent, listening intently. For a moment, they heard nothing but the gentle rustling of the leaves.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
Then Mills saw dark shadows moving among the trees, coming toward them. With a silent curse, he made a hand signal for Danielson to take point. The comms specialist moved out, heading silently down the hill to the right, toward a burned out barn and farmhouse in the middle of a patchwork of tilled fields.
Gripping her assault rifle, Steph followed close behind him. Then came Valentina, who slung her big sniper rifle, which was unwieldy for close-in work, over her shoulder. Then she drew her pistol.
Mills hung back for a moment, watching the dark figures as they approached. He knew that if his team was forced into a fight now, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Even if they defeated the warriors coming at them, they’d be cornered and wiped out by the warriors now moving down the road.
He’d fight if there was no alternative, but the only real chance they had was to get away.
Hoping the Kreelans weren’t very good trackers, he turned and quickly followed after Valentina.
* * *
Ku’ar-Marekh had been watching the humans for hours when a small group of patrolling warriors stumbled upon their trail.
She could have simply killed the alien animals, of course, but watching them had provided an entertainment, of sorts, in which she chose to indulge herself.
The warriors, unaware of her presence, had been hunting for more humans believed to be in this area when they came upon the tracks of those who had fallen from the sky.
These particular warriors had not yet seen battle, and they were eager to prove themselves against some humans to bring glory to the Empress.
Ku’ar-Marekh held back as the warriors excitedly began to follow the trail, and was curious now to see what the humans would do.
* * *
“Follow the creek.” Mills pointed as they reached the bottom of the hill. “If we can move along it far enough, it should cover our trail.”
“It’s going to slow us down,” Danielson cautioned, looking at the water that was running shin-deep.
“Yes, but it’s either that or make a break for it across the open fields to the barn over there.” Mills nodded toward the burned-out structure. “If we can make it around to the woods behind the barn, maybe we can-”
“Down!” Valentina shouted as one of the Kreelan flying edged weapons came whistling through the air at them.
She shoved Steph aside and Mills dropped flat into the water. Danielson tried to dodge the thing, but it clipped his left arm, slicing deep into the muscle. With a grunt of pain, he fell into the creek, which began to run red with his blood.
Four alien warriors emerged from the woods, moving toward them with swords drawn.
Mills raised his assault rifle, but never got a chance to fire. He heard a sound like a mechanical cough that came four times in under a second.
One after the other, all four warriors collapsed into the creek, each with a hole drilled neatly between the eyes.
Whipping his head around, he saw Valentina, still aiming her pistol at the woods in case any more aliens appeared. The weapon now had a large cylinder attached to the muzzle. A suppressor.
“Good God, woman,” Mills said, the amazement plain in his voice. Aside from her incredible shooting, he had no idea how she’d gotten the suppressor onto the weapon so quickly. “That was a neat bit of work.”
Before anyone could say anything else, a groan got their attention.
>
“Danielson!” Mills got to his feet, soaking wet now, and went to where the other man was trying to sit up in the creek.
Danielson was holding the wound in his arm with his free hand, but blood was streaming from between his fingers and his face had already turned pasty white.
“Come on, mate, it’s only a scratch.”
But when Mills pulled Danielson’s hand away to take a quick look, he saw why the man was going into shock. The Kreelan throwing star, which is what it was called sometimes, had cut Danielson’s arm right down to the bone, almost completely severing the biceps muscle.
“Here,” Steph said, kneeling next to Danielson and wrapping a field dressing around the wound. “I got some basic first aid training before I deployed for the Keran operation,” she explained. “Don’t expect me to take out your appendix or anything, but I can apply a field dressing with the best of them.”
“Thanks.” Danielson gave her a weak smile after she’d finished wrapping his arm.
“I think we’d better go.” Valentina knelt behind them, her pistol held level and steady. While she didn’t see or hear anything unusual in the woods behind them, she felt certain there was someone there.
“Capital idea.” Mills hauled Danielson to his feet. “Can you move?”
“Yeah,” Danielson rasped, grasping his assault rifle in his right hand. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“I’ll take point,” Mills said. “Valentina, cover our asses, if you please.”
Mills turned around to start moving along the creek again when he found himself staring at a teenage girl, peering at him from around a rock near a bend in the creek a few yards away.
All four of the adults just stood there, dumbstruck with surprise.
“She’s following you,” the girl said cryptically, just barely loud enough for them to hear over the gurgling water of the creek. “I can’t save you from her if she wants you. But if you come with me, the others won’t bother you.”
Then she turned and disappeared along the creek toward where the wrecked farmhouse stood.
Still stunned speechless, Mills and the others followed quickly behind.
* * *
After the adult humans had followed the young animal, Ku’ar-Marekh stepped from the shadows of the trees to where the four warriors had been slain by the single human female. That one, she knew, would be worthy of her personal attention. But Ku’ar-Marekh had decided that she would save these particular humans for later.
In the meantime, the first batch of survivors of the larger population centers were being brought here. There was no special reason for her having chosen this place over any other for the Challenges soon to be fought; it had merely been convenient.
Soon, the humans and her warriors would fight and die in the arenas for the glory of the Empress.
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
“Lord God.” Mills sat back against the cold concrete wall, unable to keep the awe from his voice after Allison Murtaugh finished her tale.
They were in the shelter under the barn, where Allison had taken him and the others after the encounter with the alien warriors. He looked at the dozen children who were clustered around him and his team. Neither the adults nor the children could quite believe that the other was actually real.
“And you not only survived, but gathered up these other children here and saved them.” Steph stared in rapt fascination at Allison, her vidcam having captured the girl’s every word. While Steph didn’t really care anymore about such things, she knew that what she was recording now would be in the running for the next Pulitzer Prize.
Making the grand assumption, of course, that she and the footage survived.
“Yes,” Allison answered simply, nodding her head while offering Steph a shy smile.
The other children voiced their assent, and one by one told their own story of how Allison had saved each of them. By the end, Mills and the other three adults were in tears.
One thing still wasn’t quite clear to Mills. Allison had explained it, but he still couldn’t quite believe it. “Allison, you said that the Kreelans don’t come here to your little hideout. I’m still not clear on that.”
“They don’t bother us because she seems to like me.”
“That’s this other warrior you mentioned at the creek when you found us?” Valentina asked. “The one who you said would get us if she wanted to?”
Allison visibly shivered. “She looks the same as the others, except she has more of the jewel or bead things hanging from the collar around her neck. Oh, and there’s some sort of round or oval thing on the front of her collar that none of the others have, and some fancy bright blue design on her chest.”
Mills and Steph simultaneously stared at one another. They had both seen another warrior with a special collar and a bright blue design on her chest armor. The warrior had beaten Mills twice, apparently purely for entertainment, and had killed the woman he loved.
“Is she big?” Mills clenched his huge fists to focus his rage. “As big or bigger than me, much taller and stronger-looking than the others?”
Allison shook her head. “No, not at all. Other than those two things, you couldn’t tell her from any of the others.” She paused. “Well, except for her eyes. They’re dead.”
“What do you mean by that?” Steph asked.
“Since the night she landed, the night she did...whatever it was that she did to me, when I felt like she was driving ice picks through my heart, I’ve seen her a number of times. She’s followed me around, watching what I do.” She wrapped her arms around herself as if to ward off a chill, even though the shelter was quite warm. “One time, when I was hunting for food in town, I went around a corner and she was right there.” She held out her arm and touched Mills on the chest. “That close. I thought, ‘That’s it, Allison. You’re dead.’
“But she just stood there and stared down at me. And her eyes, her face...she’s not like the others. The others have expressions, you know? I don’t know what all of them mean, but their faces change, a lot like ours do when we’re happy or sad. But looking into her face is like looking into nothing, like her eyes are empty wells that just go down forever, but there’s no water in them. I don’t know how to explain it.”
“And she just let you go that time, too?” Valentina was having as difficult a time as Mills believing it.
Allison nodded again. “Yes. I figured that I was still alive, so I’d better get moving. I could’ve just run back here, but then figured I may as well still get the food. I knew she could find me whenever she wanted. She followed me all night after that, even when I came back here, and she’s followed me around other times, too.”
“Oh, great!” Danielson blurted. “So you lead us back here so the enemy knows exactly where we are? Brilliant!”
“She already knew where you were,” Allison told him bluntly. “She was in the forest, following you.”
“How do you know that?” Mills asked her.
“Because I was following her when I saw you escape down to the creek, and I came to help you,” Allison explained. “I’ve followed her before.” Mills and the others exchanged a disbelieving glance. “No, really! I think she enjoys it, like I’m a pet or something, trotting after her.
“Don’t get me wrong, she terrifies me, but after she followed me that first time and didn’t do anything, I decided that fair’s fair.” She paused, looking defiantly at Danielson. “I don’t like being bullied.”
Valentina covered up her smile with one hand and Steph suppressed a giggle as Danielson turned red.
Mills shook his head. “You’ve got some guts, girl. I’m not so sure about your smarts in following a warrior around like that, but I’m glad you did. You saved our lives.”
Allison beamed at the big Marine’s praise.
“But now I’m hoping you can help us solve a little problem we’ve got.”
“If I can,” she told him eagerly, nodding her head.
“Is there anywhe
re in town where we might find some communications gear? An electronics shop or network node, anything like that? The kit we need to talk to the other ground teams and the fleet when it comes in was lost when our ship was destroyed. We’ve got to find another way to get in touch with them about what’s happening here.”
“Sergeant Mills?” A girl, Vanhi, Mills remembered, interrupted quietly. “Just what is happening here? What about all those people on the road that you saw? What’s going to happen to them? You’re here to help them, aren’t you?”
Mills exchanged an uncomfortable glance with the other members of the team. “Yes, love,” he told her, avoiding the question of what was going to happen to the prisoners. “We’re going to help them. But to do that, we’ve got to get the gear we need to talk to our friends.”
“The communications exchange?” Amrit, Vanhi’s brother, suggested.
Allison shook her head. “The exchange building is still there, but almost everything inside is burned and wrecked. I think our soldiers tried to destroy it.”
“That would make sense. They wouldn’t want the enemy to get access to it.” Danielson glanced at Mills, who nodded agreement.
“There’s a gadget shop in town,” Allison said slowly, her face a mask of concentration. “A place that has the kinds of things you might need. Comm units and stuff. But it’s along Main Street, right across from the town square and whatever those things are the Kreelans are building.” She looked up at Mills. “I could get there...”
“But you won’t know what we need,” Danielson finished. “And I’m in no shape to go with this fu...um, messed up arm.”
Allison scowled at him, making it clear that she wouldn’t want him with her, anyway.
“I’ll go.” Valentina smiled at Steph. “I’m the real backup comms specialist, anyway.”
Mills nodded. He knew she was the best choice in any case, even had Danielson not been wounded. “All right, then, we’ll go in tonight. In the meantime, we’ll start keeping a lookout. If that warrior knows where we are, it’s only a matter of time before she comes for us herself or sends her dogs after us. I don’t want to be caught without any warning.”
In Her Name: The Last War Page 94