The Americans: Apex Trilogy, Book 2

by Jake Bible

  “They have really fucking sharp teeth! How else do you think they’re doing it?” Melissa shouted, watching snake blood fly about as the Ghosts still left standing took the opportunity to make a break for the HAVs. Melissa grabbed the com. “Get the ramps open! We’ve got people coming for cover!”

  Melissa and Beth watched as the mongooses dispatched the remaining cobras. The high-pitched whistles sounded again and were in turn answered by the deep chirping, but this time the girls could see that the chirps were coming from the animals themselves. They immediately settled down and began to tear apart the dead cobras, eating the flesh in large chunks.

  From the tops of the hills, several cloaked figures descended onto the scene, each holding a long metal stave.

  “Looks like we have company,” Beth said, indicating the figures. “Think they’re friendly?”

  “Does anything around here look friendly?” Melissa responded.

  ***

  Colonel Owens stood panting, his foot propped on a dead snake’s head, his arms covered by circular blades that dripped blood. Around him the mongooses began to circle and move in.

  “I’ll fucking take you all!” he yelled at the animals. One ducked in and he swiped at it, barely missing the mongoose’s snout. “Come on! Try it!”

  “They want to make sure the beast is dead,” a thick voice said from one of the cloaked figures. “They have to know for themselves. They will not hurt you.”

  Owens looked at the approaching strangers. “They sure look like they will,” he stated, focusing on the blood smeared muzzles of the animals. He raised his arms and braced for an attack, but a whistle brought the animals to a stop and they all laid on the ground, heads alert and eyes focused only on the cobra corpse. “Nice trick.”

  “As I had already stated,” the lead figure began, “they are not after you, only confirmation that the snake is dead.”

  Owens retracted his blades, changing his suit’s composition so instead gun barrels extended from each forearm. “How about you stop right there also?” All figures halted. “Perfect. Now, care to tell me who the fuck you are and what the fuck these things are? They look like giant spitting cobras, but those shouldn’t be here.”

  “They are a mutated version of the King Cobra,” the lead figure stated. “Their venom is corrosive, no longer containing any neurotoxin properties. They developed the mutation over the past several hundred years in order to fight the Aghori.”

  “To fight the what?” Owens asked.

  “You okay, sir?” Beth asked over the com. The Colonel nodded slightly. “Alright. Should we stay put?” The Colonel nodded again.

  “The Aghori—demons sent from Kali to devour the living of all species,” the figure answered. “What was once man, now is not. The Aghori ravage our lands, killing without mercy. All that want to stay alive, whether snake or human being, has developed a way to fight the Aghori. It is the way of Nature.”

  The figure removed his hood and Owens whistled in surprise. The mongooses perked up at the whistle, but didn’t move. “Is that your real skin?”

  “Yes,” the man answered. “The human beings that survived the Agni-Hotra cleansing fires have changed as Nature dictates. We are now thick skinned so the Aghori cannot bite us and eat of our flesh.”

  Owens stared at the thick, dark brown scales that covered the man’s neck and bald head. “Evolutionary armor. Interesting. And the dogs?”

  “They are mongoose,” the man responded. “Not dogs. Dogs did not survive the Agni-Hotra. We have bred the mongoose to achieve such size. Each village must have a mongoose pack to keep the cobra and other threats away.”

  Owens looked about. “Other threats?”

  “Many creatures survived the Agni-Hotra and were changed by it. Most are not friendly. Some worse than the Aghori themselves.”

  “Good to know,” Owens nodded. “Well, as much as I want to keep chatting….” He waved his hand in a circle above his head and the HAV ramps instantly opened. “…we still have people stuck in that fucking hole and need to get them out.”

  The man looked at the hole then back at the others. All shook their heads. “Your people are dead. That is the main nest for the Cobra. None can survive down there, not even mongoose.”

  “Well, I’d hate to take your word on that and be wrong,” the Colonel said, moving towards the hole. The cloaked figures started to shout and wave their arms at him. Several Ghosts ran and surrounded the Colonel, their weapons at the ready. “Whoa there! Sudden movement is no one’s friend. We’re going to drop a few sensors down that pit and see what we can find. If you wouldn’t mind calling your dogs back, that would be great.”

  “They are not-!”

  The Colonel waved the man off. “Mongoose. Whatever. Call them to you and hang over there please, Mr…?”

  “My name is Jagadbandu and I strongly caution against disturbing the nest further. In fact, you all must leave quickly. The Cobra will not be held back for long and we are going back to our village, so we will not be here to rescue you again.” All the figures whistled and the mongooses responded instantly, springing to their feet and running past the men and up over the hills. “It would be wise for you to leave. You should not be here. This is not a place for the unprotected flesh.”

  The Colonel raised his weapons and grinned. “We are hardly unprotected.”

  Jagadbandu frowned as he surveyed the area and the carnage “Yes, I can see that. Well, then I wish you a good day and much luck.” He turned and walked away, but paused after only a few steps. “Although your ego may not allow this advice, I would hope you heed one more warning.”

  “And that is…?”

  “You need to be gone before the sun has set in this region. The Cobra is not the largest predator the Mehkati has. Nor the most deadly. This area will be overrun by Aghori when the last ray fades.”

  Several Ghosts glanced at the Colonel, but he seemed unfazed. “Thank you, Jag. We’ll keep that in mind.”

  Jagadbandu eyes took on a sorrowful look and without saying another word he raised his hood and followed the others.

  “Did he say we need to high tail it before sundown?” Billy asked from the back of the pack of Ghosts. “That’s in less than two hours! Shouldn’t we be moving?”

  “We aren’t leaving our people behind,” Owens growled.

  “But, sir…”

  “Shut it, Brenton!” Owens roared. “You can stay up here, but we are going down there. We can’t afford to lose anymore Americans! Anyone have a problem with that?” No one spoke up. “Good. Let’s go.”

  Beth and Melissa moved to join the rest and Billy grabbed them both. “What the fuck do you think you two are doing?”

  “We’re going to go help,” Beth said.

  “No, you aren’t,” Billy insisted. “You are staying up here with me.” Before either girl could protest, Billy shouted, “Hey Colonel! I’m keeping the girls up here! They’re too young to be a part of this.”

  “Sound idea for once, Brenton,” the Colonel answered offhand as he consulted with the Techs while they analyzed the sensor readings.

  Billy smirked and Melissa punched him in the arm. “You suck, William.” She stomped back to the HAV.

  Billy rubbed his arm, then cried out as Beth punched him in the other. “Hey!” he shouted after them. “I’m just trying to keep you safe!”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Lieutenant Mathers checked the General’s bandages and shook her head, knowing there really wasn’t anything she could do to help the man.

  When the snakes had attacked she had been able to get the General inside and the HAV sealed up, but other than the two Ghosts and one Tech that had already been in the vehicle, no one else made it. “Still no com?”

  “No,” a Tech said, not even bothering to check the system.

  “Are you sure?” Mathers growled.

  The Tech reached out and activated the com system. Nothing but static erupted from the speakers. “I’d love to leav
e too,” the Tech said.

  “I’m still ranking officer here, Tunis!” Mathers shouted. “So watch the attitude!”

  “Ranking officer of what? The fucking snake food?” Tunis snapped back. “If they were coming, they’d be here by now! You heard the screams and shots from above, right? Those aren’t sounds of a successful rescue, especially when no one fucking shows up to rescue us!”

  Mathers jumped to her feet and closed the distance between herself and Tunis.

  “Whoa!” A Ghost named Welch shoved between the two before they could get violent. “Same side folks,” he said calmly. “Just take some deep breaths and remember that.”

  Tunis glared at Welch then struggled to climb further up in the HAV and put as much space between himself and the rest as possible.

  “You all saw that!” Mathers snarled. “You are witnesses!”

  “We have witnessed nothing but horror,” the other Ghost, a woman named Edington, answered. “Your little spat with Tunis doesn’t even register, so sit the fuck down, Mathers.”

  The Lieutenant puffed up and got right in her face. “Don’t become part of the problem.”

  Edington laughed and gently placed a hand against Mathers’s chest. “Back away slowly, LT. You may outrank me, but you know I can whip your ass in a heartbeat.”

  Mathers glared, but didn’t argue. She angrily removed Edington’s hand from her chest and sat back down with the wounded General.

  ***

  “Blades, people!” Owens ordered in a firm whisper over the com. “We know their skin can be pierced, so form your suits appropriately.”

  Those Ghosts that hadn’t already done so did at once and all proceeded to rappel with caution, halogens trying to pierce the inky blackness of the snake nest.

  “Movement to the left,” a Tech whispered, wedged between two Ghosts for safety.

  All eyes shifted to the left.

  “Movement on the right,” another whispered and all eyes shifted to the right.

  Nothing.

  “Gone,” the first Tech whispered. But the whisper turned to a scream as a three meter wide head shot from a hole in the pit wall and grabbed the two Ghosts and the Tech in its jaws, piercing all three clean through with its fangs. The snake jerked back and the three were yanked out of sight, their screams still filling the com.

  “Free fall! Now!” Owens shouted and he loosened his grip on the BC cable and began to slide at a rapid speed. Other Ghosts did the same, adjusting their gloves on the fly to compensate for the heat that built up from the friction.

  Snake heads all around shot from the sides of the pit. Two more Ghosts were pulled screaming into the pit’s side. Three Ghosts and a Tech were struck, but able to fight the snakes off.

  “I see the HAV!” a Ghost shouted. “It’s on end, but looks sealed and intact!”

  Those left, five Ghosts and two Techs, slammed down on the HAV and secured their lines to the vehicle, prepping them for an immediate extraction. Those that were bitten on the way down hung limply from their cables.

  “Get that back hatch open!” Owens yelled, keeping his eyes trained above for more attacks. “Get the wounded inside right away!”

  The hatch flew open and Lieutenant Mathers poked her head out. “Oh, thank God! The General is in bad shape! We need to get him out of here and up—”

  She was interrupted as a cobra struck, grabbing a Ghost and pulling him off the HAV.

  “IN! NOW!” Owens yelled, shoving Mathers out of the way so he could get everyone inside. The Colonel was the last in line and barely got the hatch shut before another strike. The sound of the snake’s head slamming into the HAV reverberated through the hold.

  “Where’s the General?” Owens asked.

  “Down here!” Edington shouted from below.

  Owens carefully made his way down to the General and shook his head once he saw the state the man was in. “Is this everyone?”

  “Yes, sir,” Mathers responded from above. “We’re all that were able to get inside. The rest were taken by those things.”

  “Colonel Smithfield and his team didn’t make it down here?”

  “They made it down here, sir,” Tunis said, looking at the others and activating a surveillance holo. The image showed Colonel Smithfield’s body plummeting from above and slamming into the HAV. Other bodies followed and all were swooped down on by snakes, snatched up and whisked away into the darkness. “They just didn’t make it alive.”

  “Bad taste, Tunis,” Mathers scolded.

  “Don’t start again, you two,” Welch warned.

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Owens said. “We have cables attached to the HAV. Can we get any com signal out of here?”

  “No, sir,” Tunis replied. “There’s something in the walls that’s blocking all signals.”

  “Guess we have to open the hatch,” Owens sighed.

  “But those things!” Mathers cried.

  “Don’t worry,” Owens insisted, pulling a flare gun from his pack. “I just need to get one shot straight up. You folks cover me, and we’ll be out of here in no time.”

  ***

  “There’s the signal!” Melissa cried, slapping Desmond on the back. “Move this thing and pull them up!”

  “Who the fuck put you in charge?” Desmond snapped.

  Melissa back handed him upside the head. “I did! Shut the fuck up and drive!”

  Desmond grumbled, but couldn’t help a smile at Melissa’s assertiveness. He gave the signal for the other HAVs to reverse and pull back on the cables.

  Billy stood behind the girls, staring at the dwindling sunlight on the horizon. “Man, we aren’t going to make it.”

  “Hush,” Beth scolded. “We’ll make it.”

  The HAVs geared down and struggled against the weight of the one below. Physics was not on their side. Suddenly a cable snapped, sending the HAV it was attached to speeding backwards into the HAV behind it, snapping that cable and sending it flying backwards also.

  “Hold tight!” Desmond yelled and Melissa, Beth and the others braced themselves as their HAV struggled against the new weight. “This is going to put a hurt on the mag drive!”

  “And…that…would…be…sunset!” Billy announced. “Anyone see anything?”

  The last rays of light faded from the sky, and the landscape became nothing but dark shapes set against a black sky.

  “How close is the HAV?” Beth asked quietly.

  “Why are you whispering?” Melissa asked in a mock whisper.

  “Because it’s fucking spooky out there,” Billy answered for her.

  The driver rolled his eyes and checked his gauge. “Only about twenty meters to go before the HAV crests the side of the pit. Maybe five minutes.”

  “What’s that?” Billy asked, pointing out the windshield.

  “A lit up pit and then darkness,” Melissa asked, annoyed.

  “Fuck off! Look past the pit. Do you see silhouettes on the hills?”

  “I don’t see anything,” Beth answered, squinting her eyes. “It’s too dark.”

  “How can none of you see that?” Billy shouted. “There is something moving up on that hill!”

  “If I switch on all the halogens will you shut up?” Desmond asked.

  “What’s your name again?”

  “Desmond. Private Desmond McHale.”

  “Yes, Desmond, turning on all the lights would be great,” Billy answered. “Thank you.”

  Desmond tapped at the console and the HAV’s halogens lit up the landscape. Billy squeaked out a less than manly scream and Melissa, Beth and Desmond gasped.

  “I really wish you had been wrong,” Melissa whispered.

  On the far side of the pit, shapes moved. Large shapes. Shapes that didn’t seem to fit reason or any known animal. The shapes shrunk away from the light, but didn’t completely avoid it.

  “What are they?” Beth whispered. “What the fuck are they?”

  The creatures were twice the size of an elephant, some with long
arms tipped with pinchers or claws, some with flailing tentacles that ended in more tentacles. Most looked as if they had been fighting, their rough skin was covered in open, oozing sores, many at least a meter across.

  “I think I’m gonna be sick,” Billy choked, rushing back to the lavatory.

  “The HAV is almost out of the pit,” Desmond said quietly.

  The com crackled to life.

  “This is Colonel Owens! Can you read me?”

  “We read you, sir,” Desmond responded.

  “Great! As soon as we are on solid ground we’ll need all available medics over here right away!”

  “Sir? This is Beth. There’s a situation up here.”

  “Situation? What? More snakes?”

  “No, sir. Looks like the bigger predators that Jagadbandu warned about.”

  “Are they attacking?”

  None of the creatures moved closer, they just gathered at the far side of the pit, waiting.

  “No, sir, they aren’t moving right now.”

  The HAV’s end crested the pit’s edge and began to tip towards the ground. Instantly the creatures pounced, their speed surprising everyone, considering their size and that most of them seemed to lack legs.

  “Sir! Colonel Owens?” Desmond shouted activating the HAV’s weapons system.

  It was over in a blink of an eye. The creatures converged on the HAV, ripped its hull apart and yanked the screaming Americans out, jamming them into open mouths that were filled with rows and rows of teeth.

  “WHAT THE FUCK?” Owens screamed. “FIRE! DON”T WORRY ABOUT US! JUST FUCKING FI—”

  The com went dead.

  Melissa, Beth and Desmond, now joined by everyone in the HAV, watched in horror as all personnel from the rescued HAV were devoured. Their screams cut short by a million sharp teeth.

  “What do we do now?” Desmond whispered.

  “We keep the lights on and slowly back away?” Melissa suggested.

  “Who’s the ranking officer now?” Beth asked.

  “You are,” Desmond responded. “We lost everyone else. All that’s left are drivers and Techs. None are above Private” Desmond turned and looked at Beth and Melissa. “You’d be the closest thing to command rank we have.”