by Marcus Sloss
The drive time was two hours. We were going to bypass every little community on the way to Five Parks. If we couldn’t obtain a full load, we would loot on the way home. I knew those self-storage lots and upper-middle-class suburban homes would be teeming with rare metals ready to be broken down.
My gaze shifted to watching the road streak past while the convoy maintained a high speed. This corridor was cleared and monitored nonstop, so we had no reason to take it slow. Watching the outside zoom by revealed spring was in full effect. A bird perched in a tree flickering water off its body with a twist. Chipmunks darted between the wet grounds, happy the rain stopped. The growth of usually mowed grass was getting tall as it went unchecked. Bountiful flowers were blooming with white arrays breaking up the endless green. The sun crashed through the overcast clouds in golden rays.
I checked my Gpad. No alerts. I glanced over my shoulder to see Willow watching the drone monitors with Nancy. They were chatting in hushed tones. We smiled with little waves when our eyes met. A message arrived on my Gpad.
“Three families leaving for Salt Lake. They want to loot to buy the virum cure and forge into the new world without it. They are jamming into the white Bronco. That Boulder family was spooked. They thought we were too accepting of the virum, and there were a few women terrified of more children that gave into lust. Oh, well. We can’t control everything. You should be losing Gtower soon. I love you.” - Queen 1
“Thanks for the update. Be back tonight. We love you.” - Captain King
I left my seat on the RV. We would patch the drone feeds into the main display screen when our little Gnet was broken. I performed a last-minute radio check before we crossed the line. The convoy slowed dramatically until we stopped.
The halting motion woke Jevon. He gave a morning groan and opened an eye from the loft. His sleep was over and now he was an extra set of eyes on the monitor.
“Did you get my report?” Jevon asked. He had swapped command early this morning so he could get four hours of sleep. His changeover included the fact that the squibbles had fled to home.
“Yeah, not much to do. We could not maintain guarding the Xgate forever. I think a mechanic like a moving Xgate is pretty ingenious,” I said while running my hand through my hair; it had felt so full since the virum. “If you had it stationary, it would be simple to cement a box around it. I also saw Harvard’s report. The Xgate has no pattern besides a massive roaming location.”
“Major Ulander pretty much said the exact same thing. Then we got into a theory debate on if it is possible to build a wall outside the zone or if the Xgate would expand its roam. That led to talking about building a wall to Denver to move the Xgate.”
We both chuckled. That was the exact kind of thing we did in Saudi Arabia to pass the time.
“I am glad they are friendly. Our new world would be far less vibrant if our neighbors were enemies,” I said, rising from the booth to fist bump my friend.
“So, I read the plan. Bouncy houses. I got to admit, even my shriveled heart likes the idea. Where are we?” Jevon said while propped up on his elbows. He studied the video screens.
I held a single finger up to him.
“Okay, Peterson, get me eyes down the road, please,” I ordered. “Dedric, have convoy lead slow-rolling.”
The drone team had grown to six. Our video screen was covered in multiple feeds around our convoy. Gone were the displays on every Gpad; it was all linked to this one view screen.
“Right outside Gtower range. You ready?” I asked.
“I have command,” Jarod said.
“You have command,” I replied with a smirk.
Willow glanced at our exchange with confusion. She looked to Nancy for help, who nudged her head to me. I saved her from asking.
“What is the difference between Jevon and me?”
“Besides me being more handsome and black,” Jevon said with a cocky tone. I rolled my eyes, chuckling.
“You both have years of command experience. You always run the show when Cap is off to regen or rest. The arm is one thing. You have a standard .308. That has to be it. You are weapon light for a reason,” Willow said confidently.
Nancy pounded the table in salute. I joined her.
“We will make a fine officer out of you yet, Willow. I have a much better gear set. Jevon is not leaving the RV today and will run command. I have the best shielding, and instead of hunkering down to call the shots, I will fight. Sure, I will not be the first man into the breach, but in the thick of it if needed,” I said with my winning grin. “Care to join me on the roof for a rendezvous?”
“Oh, a dashing man asking a pretty young woman to expose herself to the elements. If only I had an empowered shield, a kickass rifle, and an attitude to go with it… Oh, wait.”
We climbed up the loft and onto the roof. There were always contingencies to any and every situation. We tried to have backups for the backups. When plans went sideways, the most basic, simple plan went best. If ambushed, you want two things: speed, or to hunker down. Since we were slow-rolling, any combat would result in a convoy halt and defense. Which meant I could free-walk the RV roof while we inched downhill toward the Denver outskirts. The front and back hatches were left open so we could hear any callouts from the interior.
Willow arrived on the roof behind me. She was wearing a peeblenator slung to her right hip. Her shielding was active, nitrogen power plant strapped to her back. She was ready for war. She stepped into my personal space to give my cheek a kiss.
“That was for inspecting me like an equal and not a lover,” Willow said.
“Can’t you be both?”
“Yes, Eric. Now, you lost me. Why out here and not watching the monitor?”
“Being inside a bulletproof RV makes it hard to shoot bullets out at your enemies. And the air was fresh. Shit, I forgot my coffee,” I said.
“Hey, dipshit, you forgot your coffee,” Jevon said from the interior. “Nancy is coming with it.”
My thermos plopped onto the roof. Nancy shimmed out of the opening to join us.
“Here you go, stud. The first set of abandoned cars are up ahead. Drones are swapping from the naked eye to thermal. Nothing is living out here besides birds, furry rodents disguised as cute things, and bunnies,” Nancy said. She handed off my thermos with a brief hug. “I know I shouldn’t, but Perci told me this morning that Jill moved out.”
I wanted to sigh or roll my eyes, but I held it in.
“Great lady; my bed is full,” I said.
“You are the warlord supreme. King of the mountain. You should get a bigger bed. Eventually, your conquests, wives, queens, or whatever our term is, we need to figure out what is going on. You have been liking the changes to our bodies. Jill was a middle-aged soccer mom with no tits or hips. Now,” Nancy said, letting out a whistle. “Well, now I can say I am glad you picked me before everyone became their sexiest versions. Then there is Daphne. She has been telling us if we absorb tribes like theirs, unions help ease the transition a lot. Mitchell with Elifer will go a long way. All the sexy bodies, virum is amazing. Speaking of which, Eric, you turned into a movie star hunk.”
“I had to sort through clothes to find a set that would fit. Enough about Jill; she will figure her internal dilemma out. Focus on the woods, please. And Nancy, I always found you beautiful on the inside.”
“What!? So not fair to get the last compliment in,” Nancy said with a wink. “Aye, aye, Cap.”
I watched her fake pout. She was loving the attention. We had a twelve-hour mission that just started. My love life’s twists and turns could wait back at Stronghold Mansion for me. I saw two flipped cars a few hundred feet in front of us. They were tipped downhill and formed into a mini wall.
I had not been this far down the mountain, ever. We flew up on our initial ascent, so all the scenery was somewhat new, not that the signs of blossoming spring were that much different as we descended. I was looking for shell casings or any sign of a fight when I was hi
t with a diabolical odor. The only thing I had ever smelt worse was bulldog farts.
I scanned the flipped vehicles for dead bodies. Maybe someone had poured buckets of shit into—
“I think we found where our sewage is going. We dump it over the low section of the eastern wall. South wind. Yeah, that is Stronghold Mansion’s stench,” Willow said while mapping out the area with her hand.
We plugged our noses until five minutes later we escaped the smell. The RV doors popped open to vent the permeating stench. Ten minutes later we crept slower while approaching the community Nancy raided over a week ago. It went about exactly how I expected it to.
A static hit my radio for a microsecond before “Incoming!” belted out.
A small swarm of XLroaches skittered out of the community’s busted gates. I smirked in satisfaction as they tried to climb over each other to get to us. I planted my feet while aiming the big shotgun weapon. A massive nitrogen ball belched out in all its teal glory. The air shimmered around the energy. There was so much power packed into it, it brightened the day. I was thrown back and almost off the roof.
Nancy gripped my hip with her off-hand while firing into the growing swarm that was ignorant to my massive ball of death racing their way. The round orb smashed into the mass of insects. The teal washed over them with incinerating effect. The front wave sizzled with shrieks, yet death continued as the ball soared forward. Every consumption of energy from the dying reduced the round’s size. It carried forward until it was a tiny dot with a huge splash radius. The entire first half of the enemy was dead or dying. The second wave faced increasingly accurate fire from my troops.
I went to slow, single shots, trying to pick off those in the very back. The furthest ones were only a few hundred feet away, making our defense somewhat an act of desperation. The enemy stopped charging when the last one died. So far, every engagement had been an all or nothing.
“Fill me in, Cap,” Willow said. She was starting to be able to read my expressions. I was pondering on these suicidal drones and she nailed her prediction. Damn, the woman was a natural. “Please!”
“You continue to impress me. Think of the golden Xgates. What did we not see? And more importantly, what did we learn?”
“These big roaches without wings. We didn’t see any aliens we had seen on Earth the entire time,” Nancy said.
“She has a point,” Willow mentioned.
“No, she does not—no offense, Nancy. There is one of two ways these aliens get access to an Xgate. One is placed on your planet because you can travel across space…” I said, and let the sentence hang.
“These idiots cannot travel without help. I guess the other way would be where these were a subspecies that was probably controlled until Xgates arrived on their home planet due to some other species. Then they got out of containment and have been ravaging the portal system ever since,” Nancy said. She adjusted her balance. Jevon had us rolling again. “We aren’t going to loot that? And Cap, you need a strap to secure you when you fire that big load of yours.”
I bounced my eyebrows with a confident smirk of awesomeness.
“It was an epic splash. You’re right, though, I almost flew off. Thanks for the save. Okay, ready for it? There are probably more than three. But my third hypothesis is that they are part of a hive mind without the hive leader. I bet some cop, school teacher, or random grandpa killed the big brain. The one that could use these retards to collect resources to build spaceships,” I said, pointing to the pile of dead roaches we crept away from. “I believe the controller died. Think about it. These fuckers aced Denver. I mean, fully aced the entire city besides some tiny pockets. I doubt they even multiply to that size in days. If they do, how? We have not found eggs. There are too many things pointing to a queen or something. Anyway, war happens, leaders die, and then you blast waves of roaches until they are gone. I bet other aliens showing up in the Xgate between Boulder and Denver see these things and immediately play defense. If Xgate 232 spawns a fantastic world of amazing tech and I see these fuckers on that planet, I am going home and calling it a day.”
“You almost sound scared,” Torrez said from the back of the RV as he climbed up.
“Well, yeah. I am. Name another alien we’ve met yet that could kill Denver in a few days. Buxen? Fuck, no. The gargoyles if they had enough, but they would have stopped to feast. The only reason the wormipedes were able to bust into houses was because they had a running lead. Put them in a city and the gangs will shoot them. Actually, if we get a single charging roach, shoot a 9mm into it and I doubt it punctures the chitin.”
Torrez awkwardly laughed, seeing that I had tensed. “Easy, boss, I agree. They are evil and deadly. I came over to see if you need any supplies. Pebbles, batteries, shaping plasma?”
The ladies inspected their weapons quickly before shaking their heads no. Torrez smirked. He loved being in high places with his legs. His long bounding gait allowed him to leap over the next slow-moving vehicle. He landed with a lot of forward momentum—his cybernetic legs may have absorbed the impact, but he was forced into a roll. When Torrez was upright he did an elaborate bow.
“Eh, the large sploosh was more impressive,” Willow said softly.
We shared a light round of laughter.
“You don’t think the controller—if there is one—is still in the city?” Nancy asked.
“Real life isn’t a video game or a great science fiction book. Real life is a random series of chaotic events based on so many factors you can never predict with certainty what will happen next. You don’t journey down the road slaying little monsters until the big one pops out and roars.”
A roar pierced the morning air that was so loud we all flinched. The sound was distant but still deafening.
“Fuck my life. Jevon, what is that?”
“Drones are shifting… It’s a monster, a big one that just popped out of the gate between Denver and Boulder. Cap, that gate is not far from our target area of Five Parks. It is a divine-ape fighting rhino warriors. Cap, you better get down here,” Jevon shouted.
I used my cybernetic arm against the edge of the roof to swing below into the RV’s open door. Willow tried to repeat my epic maneuver. Her wrist twisted, forcing her to let go. I caught her by the bra and yanked her in. She gave me a “don’t do it look” and I held in wanting to snap the garment. This is one reason why I never dated any soldiers before.
Jevon raised an eyebrow. I shrugged at my friend to focus. I snagged a seat to study the screen. The big animal was a rustic red. It indeed walked and fought like an ape. Longer upper-body limbs, crouched lower limbs with knees bent. Scales covered the vital regions of the chest, neck, and head; I noticed more protecting the feet and hands. For sixty feet tall it was fast—frighteningly vicious too. The opponent species it combated was equally intimidating.
They were another species with an upright torso but the body of a four-legged animal. Rhinotaurs. A device radiated green in spurts of light. Long, bulky weapons belched a green goo that reminded me of exaggerated snot globs. They had human torsos covered in metallic armor. The rhino part was their gray leathery tail and a single large, curved horn where the belly button went. A rhinotaur was flung hundreds of feet by the massive divine-ape deep into Denver. For the briefest of moments, I saw a shield flicker as it tried to repel the mighty attack. There was no stopping a creature unleashing that much kinetic energy.
I watched the battle unfold. The well-organized rhinotaurs were caught unprepared. A second divine-ape was bound to the ground. Hundreds of thin metal chains strapped the body down.
“Peterson, I want—” I shouted but she cut me off.
“Already on it. We would need to take this curvy road. Turn left into a housing complex and then use a roof,” Peterson said, knowing my desire.
“Dedric, get the convoy there. Everyone is to go hot. We are expecting to maybe charge into roaches,” I ordered.
The convoy lurched forward, picking up speed.
“
Go hot?” Willow asked.
“Fire at will, good point. Thank you, Willow. We have many nonveterans in this force probably asking the same thing.” I punched the mic detent to the convoy radio. “Fire at will from this moment on. Snipers, we are going high to the rooftops to see if we can't win a fight down below. The divine-apes spared Boulder. We will help them.”
I noticed the trees zooming by from the front windshield. We would be there soon. I shifted to watch the battle. Additional rhinotaur squads hopped onto Earth. A logical guess was the lockdown time was on cooldown. The divine-ape smashed, kicked, and leaped onto the foes before him. I was shocked. The rhinotaurs were defending their captured prize without much care for their losses. Then I understood why.
Rhinotaurs in the dozens arrived behind the first squad. I continued to watch, enthralled by the epic battle unfolding. The green goop was not slowing the divine-ape. A new gravity sled arrived with the reinforcements. This one crackled white energy on the tip of the lance. The divine-ape reacted by rolling out of battle and behind the Xgate for cover. The crew of the new weapon raced to get to the divine-ape. I realized the divine-ape was not some massive idiotic creature when it countered the big weapon flawlessly.
“No, you idiots,” Willow said with hands in the air.
“So going to die,” Jevon mentioned with a huff.
“They're done for,” Nancy commented with a scoff.
I snickered. Even the rhinotaur commander on the field was hollering for his bold troops to fallback. Nope. The divine-ape scaled the Xgate. I marveled at how the construct never shifted from the added weight. A leap from one corner to the next was followed by a high jump onto the new weapon. The turret unleashed a massive chaotic ball of what looked like electricity. It was not even close to being angled right and fired in desperation. The divine-ape roared defiantly as it crashed into the sled. I watched the weight of the beast squish the machine and its crew. A new vigor cascaded through the monster, who roared a second time before charging into the rhinotaurs’ growing numbers.