by C. G. Hatton
He moved to get to his feet and Sienna helped him up, holding his arm and holding one hand against the back of his head until she was sure he was steady.
“They’re incoming, now. We’re not going to make it.” He reached desperately for Hal Duncan. ‘Send a drop ship. Get Sean and Edinburgh out of here. Go. Go now and jump. Send a drop ship for us. The library roof.’ He couldn’t breathe. ‘We’ll get to the library roof. They can land there.’
He got an affirmative back from Duncan and turned to Hilyer. “The library roof. Go on ahead. Take as many of the kids as you can.”
Hil shook his head. “No way, we stay together.” He shouted out to the older kids, hustling them to move, picking up a couple of the little ones and saying something to Sienna that LC missed.
“Damn right,” she muttered. “Come on.” She leaned close and whispered in his ear, “Suck it up, LC.” She pressed an ampoule into his hand. “We’ve made it out of worse.”
When it came, it sounded like thunder. The sun had dropped below the horizon, night closing in fast, the city strangely quiet once they were away from the main highways. LC was struggling, walking with Sienna on one side and Spacey back on the other. He doubled over as a dark, dire dread pressed against his mind, squeezing, choking, pinning him there, as a deep rumble reverberated before there was an ear-splitting bang out in the direction of the space port, black clouds billowing up.
Sienna cursed, looking upwards, spinning around.
LC didn’t need to look to know what was inbound. “We need to get into cover,” he mumbled, the sound of his own voice echoing loud in his ears, making his eyes sting. He felt like he was going to throw up. Or pass out. Shit, it hadn’t been this bad when they’d dropped planetside to infiltrate the Bhenykhn command post. But that had been a victory party. This was a full on hunt and he could sense the bloodlust, the anticipation as the battle drew near.
He couldn’t say it any louder but Hil started shouting, steering the kids ahead of him into an alley, yelling Sienna to get LC’s ass off the street.
More and more explosions began to echo around the city. They were targeting the space port, landing fields, military bases, columns of smoke rising into the darkening sky, the lights of the city blinking out as power plants were hit. The dark shapes of troop carriers appeared in the sky, descending out of orbit and starting to circle like buzzards, the guttural roar of the engines resonating deep in his chest. The aliens had Hanover flagged as a breeder unit so they wouldn’t destroy everything but he could feel them wanting to be on the ground, wanting to hunt.
A gunship roared overhead as Sienna grabbed his arm. It was one of theirs, close. LC flinched aside as the heat of its engines billowed over them. It banked hard, circling round, weapons firing at another ship that dropped fast out of the sky behind it, dog fighting, except the Bhenykhn fighters had energy shields and even with the hastily upgraded technology, the human ships didn’t stand a chance. The gunship exploded, flames and chunks of burning metal spinning out as it crashed in a ball of fire into the buildings opposite.
LC ducked back, grabbing Spacey and throwing his arms around her, turning and shielding her from the blast as he was hit hard by the hammering punch of void as the crew died. The Bhenykhn fighter banked round and opened up, strafing fire that raked the wreckage and kicked out a shower of white stone fragments from the walls all around.
Hil was yelling, Sienna was yelling, the kids were screaming. And LC stood in the centre of it. He knew what was coming.
The noise of the incoming ships was an increasing drone from above, getting closer.
“We have to get off the streets,” he shouted, backing away as the noise and heat from a troop carrier flew right above them.
The sound of the pods releasing sent ice into his stomach, throwing him right back to the FOB, dark twisted trees…
Four pods dropped into the street in a perfect line. They burst open on impact with a hiss, huge, dark figures emerging.
The shard of ice in LC’s stomach turned.
“Go,” he breathed and they ran, ducking into the darkness of the alleyway, Sienna virtually dragging him along, Hilyer running on ahead and thumping on doors until one opened. They followed him into a cool and dusty atrium, abandoned, potted plants wilting. They ran through, out of that building, across a courtyard and into the next, the ragged line of kids about done. Hil was busting open locks fast, leading them from one house into the next and the next.
LC was running on fumes, caught between needing desperately to switch off to preserve what little control he had and wanting to scout ahead to know what the hell they were running into. On Erica and at the FOB, the Bhenykhn had sensed them, knew what they were, what they were doing. And they’d hunted them. Actively and viciously hunted them down. At the victory banquet, he’d kept his head low, done nothing to trigger anything in them and they’d treated him just like any other prisoner. Until he’d turned on them.
There on the streets of Hanover, he felt trapped, caught between the old rock and a hard place. He couldn’t help because if he did anything, he might as well have lit a flare and waved it over his head.
Except as they ran through building after building, he couldn’t help but sense them up ahead. The roar of the troop carrier was distant but he could feel them. His skin was crawling. Even shutting it down as hard and fast as he could, he could still feel them up ahead.
He slowed, shouted, “Wait. Hil, wait,” and sagged against a table, leaning on it, head bowed.
Sienna was at his side in an instant.
“Not that way,” he said softly, head pounding so badly he could hardly think.
They were going to get cornered, trapped.
He glanced around. “Keep them quiet,” he muttered, chest heaving, the fear emanating from the children escalating and he knew he was making it worse. “We’re surrounded.”
Sienna tugged the flask off his belt. “There has to be a way out,” she said, unscrewing the cap and pressing it into his hand.
He took a sip, the moonshine burning his throat and the krakn in it giving him a kick like a shot of adrenaline to the heart.
He sucked in a deep breath. “Out the front and across the main street. We’ll be wide open for a few seconds but it’ll give us a chance. We can’t stay here. The buildings that side of town have basements that link in to the old air raid tunnels. They don’t like tunnels.”
They. Christ. The kids were all staring at him, listening in with no idea what or who he was talking about. He didn’t know what was more terrifying, knowing or not knowing.
He could feel the alien ground troops getting closer. “We need to move.” He checked his rifle, looked around and placed the weapon on a table, taking off his jacket and starting to strip off the body armour he was wearing, fast. He gestured to Spacey.
Sienna and Hilyer guessed what he was doing and started to do the same, kitting up the older kids with at least some protection.
“What are they?” Spacey whispered as he tied the neck guard around her throat.
He didn’t know what to say, shrugging out of the vest and dropping it over her head.
Hilyer looked up. “How much have you heard?”
“They’ve been telling us it was Earth and Winter, that the war had started again but Hanover was safe,” she said, “but the news feeds have been restricted and censored for months. There were rumours, stories…”
One of the older boys interrupted defiantly, “Aliens. Freaking aliens. Is it true?”
Sienna turned the kid around and dropped her armoured vest over his head. “Yep.”
“Who are you?” the boy said, with attitude LC couldn’t really fault. “You don’t have any patches or rank. What the hell army are you from?”
“We’re not army,” Sienna said, shoving the kid as she tied the vest tight, and moving into position by the door to watch.
“So who are you?”
LC kept quiet, handing over more kit to some of the other kids and
putting his jacket back on. It had light armour, it would be just as good, meaning next to no good. Spacey was watching him, looking at the scar on his cheek, the scars on his neck, thinking he looked the same and not, older and not just older, but experienced like he’d done stuff and she wanted to know what, she wanted to know everything.
It was Hilyer that answered. “We’re Thieves’ Guild.”
There was a general hush, a mix of awe and disbelief, the older kid swearing under his breath like it was the most amazing thing he’d ever heard.
“And you know what?” Hil said. “No one messes with us.”
They moved out. The streets were echoing with gunfire, distant shouts and a fizzle to the air that set everyone’s nerves on edge. LC loosened off his jacket, too hot, skin prickling.
Hil took point, the Hailstones scouting ahead, flying high and wide. They had no way to communicate so they were down to hand gestures, trying to shepherd scared kids across the open killing ground of a main road.
Hil signalled back and LC sent two of the older kids across with two of the little ones, scurrying across the road like they were playing hide and seek. It felt like they were going to make it, sending them across three or four at a time, racing across the dark space and disappearing into the buildings beyond.
LC turned to Sienna. “Ready?”
She had the kid with attitude, he had Spacey. Everyone else was clear.
Sienna nodded. “Now or never.”
They took one step out into the road, left the safety of the building, and a fighter screamed overhead. It banked round fast, lit up the street and pinned them in the beam of its searchlight.
LC yelled, “Run,” and shoved Spacey forward, grabbing her arm, trusting that Sienna was doing the same with the other kid.
He ducked down as the huge mass of a troop carrier flew low overhead, the deep thrumming of its engines echoing around the street. He held onto Spacey and ran.
Four pods landed, less than ten feet in front of them, cutting them off from the others, the pods bursting open on impact.
LC skidded to a halt, chest heaving, raising his rifle and opening fire as massive figures stepped out, cloaks whipping around their shoulders, that dank musty air releasing into the warmth of the night like a blast direct from his nightmares.
Sienna was shooting, Hilyer was shouting, shooting from the far side. It wasn’t enough, every round disintegrating against their energy shields.
The huge carrier banked round. LC glanced over his shoulder as another four pods dropped, pounding into the tarmac to the left, more hulking figures looming.
The Bhenykhn warriors stepped forward as one, some hefting axes and knives, others lifting massive guns.
“Go back,” he yelled to Sienna, turning and shouting to Hilyer to go, get the others clear, and backing off, pushing Spacey ahead of him while he was still firing out to the side.
The Bhenykhn were hunting. Not just invading. Not just killing. They were playing. It was chilling.
They were ten feet from cover. Ten feet from a doorway that would give them a chance to hide. Eight feet. Five feet.
A huge shape stepped out in front of them. The beams of the searchlights glinted off a gleaming machete in one of its hands, a jagged knife in the other, its squad spreading out to either side, trapping them in the open.
LC stopped, reached for Spacey, pulling her behind him, and he stood there, shielding her and the other kid, back to back with Sienna.
He raised the rifle, and turned slowly, aware that Sienna was doing the same.
They couldn’t take out them all.
They were surrounded.
A troop carrier hovered low overhead. More of the huge alien warriors were landing. LC turned, feeling their intention, seeing the glint of a knife flash. The Hailstones were flying at them but it was too late. The knife flew. He shoved Spacey out of the way and twisted, shielding her and trying to get clear but he couldn’t move fast enough. The blade bit deep into his shoulder, sending him down, his knees going as the heat of the poison flared.
More Bhenykhn were moving in on them.
He closed his eyes.
He had no choice.
He sucked in a deep breath and blasted them, blasted all the aliens surrounding them, simultaneous bursts of energy into their rifles, overloading the powerpacks and triggering massive explosions. The Bhenykhn didn’t stand a chance, chitinous armoured skin rupturing, bodies blown apart by the immense force.
The shockwave was huge. LC tumbled backwards, rifle fire resounding in his ears, the backlash in his mind overwhelming. He rolled, lost his grip on the gun and sprawled, curling up against the pain, left arm numb from the shoulder down, ears ringing, eyes and ears bleeding, more than a trickle. It felt like his heart was going to burst.
He felt the attention of the hive as if the entire galaxy had stopped, turned and looked at him, lying there, a flash of recognition followed by a growing sense of bloodlust, the thrill of discovery.
He couldn’t move, couldn’t block it and felt, more than heard, a rumbling of immense satisfaction deep inside his mind.
They knew he was there.
Chapter 9
He let that sink in, that Luka had attacked the Bhenykhn direct, watching the Man, seeing no reaction on those alien features but reading the emotion and empathy that hit deep inside, satisfying to get such a reaction. “The boy was a fool to think he could take on the entire hive and survive.”
“They cannot help but fight,” the Man murmured.
“They can’t help but die. By the billions. And still you do not help them as much as you could. You think slightly better shield technology, toys that can rain down their anti-matter annihilation, that have been adapted by the AIs, I might add… you think these trinkets will change the war?” He stood. “They’re dying. The Bhenykhn are revelling in the hunt. And still you hide.”
“And still,” the Man looked up, “I fail to understand why you care.”
Sebastian wandered across the command centre to the comms system. It was as dead as everything else. He’d killed the commander of this base, from distance, a ship in low orbit, doubling up with Nikolai to overcome the hive and blast the huge Bhenykhn in charge with enough energy it had no chance.
He nudged the pile of sludge on the floor with his foot. There was no kill token. Nikolai had taken it. Not usually one to collect trophies, but for some reason, this had resonated deep enough that he’d felt the need to kneel and pry away the shiny amulet from the hulking body of this enemy. It had taken both of them, teaming up, to kill it. Now Anderton, on his own, was quite happily zapping aliens with no regard for the consequences.
“You should be impressed,” the Man said.
“No,” he said. “Don’t be so hasty to judge that little bastard so favourably.”
•
More pods were landing. He was vaguely aware of Sienna shouting, screaming at Spacey to run and yelling at him to move his butt and get the hell out of there.
He felt a hand on his back, a tug as the knife was pulled out of his arm and he flinched as the mass of a ship thundered right overhead, coming in low, slewing to a stop on the road. It was guild, he could sense the crew.
Hil screamed at him to get down and he ducked low, Sienna holding his head down as a wave of pure energy emanated from the ship. He felt the crackle of it against the back of his neck as the wave skimmed overhead and spread out, disintegrating the fresh wave of Bhenykhn in a flash of punching void.
LC rode the darkness and pain of that void, sucking it up and riding it out, waited a heartbeat then raised his head.
Hilyer was shouting at him to move.
He dragged himself to his knees, only too aware of the Bhenykhn fighter ships closing in from above, more squads of alien warriors moving in behind them. Sienna grabbed his arm and pulled him into a run towards the cover of the building as energy weapons strafed the street.
He couldn’t help but glance sideways as the guild gunship lifted,
banked and exploded in a fireball that sent a shockwave billowing into them, knocking them off their feet. He’d lost track of who was where, couldn’t coordinate his limbs to move and gave in to whoever it was helping him up and forward.
They made it into the cool interior of a building before he could gather himself to look up. Spacey was staring at him. He couldn’t see the other kid.
Hilyer was reloading. “Where do we go?”
LC looked around. They were all looking at him. He was shaking. He fumbled inside a pocket to pull out the injector he had stashed there. It was the last one he had but he didn’t think he could move another inch without it. He looked around, sensing the Bhenykhn moving in, keeping his hands low as he pressed the injector to his wrist.
The warmth of the krakn punched into his bloodstream.
“South,” he muttered, clenching his left fist and shaking out the tingles running up and down his arm. “Quickly. We have to get into the tunnels.”
He took his rifle back from Sienna, trying to look okay as she squeezed his shoulder, trying to ignore the blood running down out of his sleeve and trying to shift his mind back into neutral. The Bhenykhn knew he was here and that was never going to end well.
He shut out the cold dread prickling at the back of his neck, pushed through the kids and led the way through the building and down stone steps into the basement complex.
He didn’t stop until it felt clear, until he was sure there were no hunting parties still pursuing them, as if the Bhenykhn had surrounded them and were content to wait them out.
It was dark but he found some candles and lit them with a snap of his fingers, handing them out and ignoring the stares.
Hil gave him half a smile and herded the kids away, fielding a million questions. They were asking about the guild. Was it real? What did they do? What were the aliens? What were they going to do?
LC turned to Sienna, taking his helmet off and popping it on Spacey’s head as she passed.
“Sit down and let me look at your arm,” Sienna said.