Hell's Own

by T S Weaver

  “Giving up on the idea of resting?” Salla lifted her head as he walked past. “Don’t blame you. A lot going on. Nerves, the background noise, every odd sound is enough to jerk you awake. Makes sense after what we’ve been through. Nerves are stretched to near breaking point. Sooner or later, one of this group will collapse into tears or hysterics. Maybe both.” A small smile flickered across her face. “Come on, no point in hanging around trying to rest when we’ve both given up on it.” She rose and rolled out her shoulders. “Hard to keep track of time down here. Weird, huh? We should be used to the way days work here, the shifts, or whatever.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Was that a part of his problem? The issues with no evening light, no false daylight? The various other factors put in place to help the colonists adapt to the lack of standard morning, noon, and night. “Did you have any problems adapting to the colony? I know most do.”

  “No, it’s the same as staying on a ship. The false rhythms.” A shrug. “You get used to it after a time, use datapads and lighting to form a routine, but it can drive you insane if you don’t have a sleep aid to deal with the worst of it.”

  “You were born on a ship?” She’d never spoken about her time before the colony. Few did. What had his dad said? It was easier to adapt if you didn’t cling to the past.

  “Yes, came here with the first colonists. Well, the first ones after the military. Dad used to tell stories about the military snagging all the best claims until he’d been here a couple of years. One of the only times I heard him admit he was wrong. Who in their right mind would want to dig for minerals when they get paid for sitting on their asses. Or they did. Guess it’s all changed now. They’re struggling, like the rest of us.”

  “Or dead.”

  “Yeah, there’s that.”

  “They might be alive, you know. Could be those things have taken prisoners.” Why did he offer hope when they had no means of knowing what the invaders were up to. “The navy, once they’re here, we’ll be safe again.”

  “Lie to yourself if you want, but don’t lie to me. We’ve no idea how many have been taken, or what else is going on out here. The navy, if they had a chance to fight back, were either destroyed or ran like hell.”

  “How do you know they ran?”

  “Because it’s what any sane man would do faced with an overwhelming force.”

  He wanted to argue, but it was pointless. Odds were she was right. They were dead or had fled. Either way, there was no help coming from the UTG unless they counted the marines heading their way. “I guess.”

  “Not something you want to think about.”

  “Would you?” Dumb question, she obviously had. “Sorry. It’s a lot to take in. Not sure if this will ever make sense to me.”

  “Just because I’ve been thinking the situation through, doesn’t mean it makes sense to me either.” Salla smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes. “My dad, he didn’t trust anyone not bound by blood. Eventhen, he didn’t tell me everything.”

  “I didn’t know your dad.”

  “No one did. Not especially me.” Liquid glistened in her gaze. “And now I never will.” She turned away, her eyes closed.

  Was she crying? He reached for her shoulder only to draw back. Would she believe herself weak? Or be convinced he pitied her? Not a mistake he’d make. He knew Salla, in passing for the most part, and the young woman wore an invisible armor of confidence around her. At least until now. “We’re going to get out of here.”

  “You might, I’m not going anywhere until I know what happened to my dad. He wouldn’t leave me behind. I can’t walk away from him now.”

  He didn’t argue.

  12

  Cora led the way through the remains of the colony. It didn’t matter how many destroyed buildings she saw, they didn’t fade into the background. Each one another scar through her memory of the families, friends, children playing in the squares; older men and women who had sat in the common areas, drinking tea, coffee, occasionally something stronger, as they relaxed with their neighbors. Small parks with brush, shrubs, trees, and grass, all designed to both please the colonists and help with the recycling of carbon dioxide. Now, nothing remained of the peace they had enjoyed.

  Damn aliens.

  They’d pay. One way or another, she’d make sure they’d pay for the damage they’d done, and the lives they’d ruined.

  They’d been forced to stop and wait for the invaders to move three times before they made it to the Rooster. The building, with its distinct crest, sat on the edge of the main square, along with the government building.

  Shadows moved through the square. All three alien types, if there were others, she hadn’t seen them, mingled in the open area, close to the now dead remains of a familiar play area. One of the aliens gestured to a knot of three of the six-limbed creatures, mouth moving, arms waving. If they spoke, she couldn’t hear them, but with the lack of atmosphere, there was nothing to conduct sound. No, that wasn’t entirely right, the planet did, initially, have an atmosphere made up of nitrogen with trace amounts of methane and carbon dioxide. Three months ago the first of the terraforming engines, built by the colonist, had kicked into gear, but nothing except drawing in the gasses had yet taken place. What happened in the process she left to the scientists, as long as it didn’t blow the world up when she was still on it.

  Had they been destroyed?

  She shook off the random question, her focus on the gathering of unwanted visitors.

  Cora indicated for Lackey to stay on watch as she gathered the rest of the group to her, helmets touching. Like this, they could communicate without using the comms. It wasn’t ideal, words could be lost, but it was better than risking the comms this close to the enemy.

  “We have to get into the Rooster, but with the square in use, we’ve got two choices. Wait for them to leave, and we can’t be certain they will, or find another way in,” she said.

  “Why don’t we take them out? I mean, we’re Marines. Shouldn’t we be killing them?”

  “If we had enough people, and there weren’t civilians waiting for us, I’d say yes.” Kill them, burn, destroy, get revenge for the friends she’d lost. Oh, the urge remained, nudging at her, telling her to give the word and go out in a blaze of glory. Her drill sergeant’s voice sprang to life in the back of her mind. Lawbook, you get yourself killed out here without good reason, and I’ll drag your ass back from hell and make you run the gauntlet three times a day until the end of time. “We don’t have the people, weapons, or information to risk going in, guns blazing.”

  Walker ducked his head.

  “Don’t feel too bad, I’d love to kick their asses myself, but we have a job to do,” she admitted. “And our time will come. Earth isn’t going to sit back and let this happen without sending help. Once they join us, we’ll get back to the important stuff and reclaim Pluto. They aren’t arriving tomorrow though, might be weeks, could be months, and until then we’re on our own.”

  Stone rolled his eyes. “Idealistic view. If they still think Pluto is worth the effort, then they’ll send help. Eventhen it’s going to be a while. Weeks before they get off their collective asses and decide who and what they’re going to send. The UTG doesn’t act quickly.”

  Unified Terran Government. She should have protested, stood, and defended the honor of serving the UTG, but why waste her breath. It would be a lie.

  “This is different, it’s not like one of their new regulations they’re trying to push through. Pluto has a representative in the UTG, he’ll speak for the colony.” Walker said.

  “If he finds out what’s going on. I might not like it, Walker, but Stone is right. We could be out here, without back up, for weeks. Odds are they will send help, but they’ll also try to negotiate, to keep the peace. They don’t want to spiral into another war. The last one was centuries ago. And it doesn’t help with the current situation. We still need to get into the Rooster, and soon.”

  “Tunnels?”

  “
They exist, but I don’t know of the one which will get us in. I could bring up the data, but we don’t know if they’ve hacked their way into the system I’d have to access.” Too many unknowns. She swore under her breath, mind racing. There had to be a way which didn’t include taking the open route across the square, right under the noses of the aliens. If they were collecting survivors, she wasn’t going to offer them fresh meat.

  The answer came from the one person she didn’t want to lean on.

  “I know the way.”

  Yeah, of course he does.

  “They’re coming.” Iris whispered. “Don’t let them see you’re afraid. They’ve dragged out the ones who show fear. Not sure what happened to them.” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Maybe don’t look at them at all, it’s safer.”

  Zac frowned and glanced around. If the kid could handle them, so could he. Besides, he’d already had a ceiling fall down on him, and been knocked over by another alien, what did he have to be afraid of? Three eyes, wings, scales. He swallowed. Yeah, maybe not staring at the aliens would be the wisest thing until he became used to their presence. “Thanks for the heads up.” He tried to smile, but at best he managed a weak grin.

  “I peeked at them, through my hands,” Iris admitted, her voice pitched low. “Still scared me though.”

  Doors opened and closed with a hiss of metal against metal, and he tensed. He lifted his chin, straightened his back, and he tried not to peek outside of the cell. He could do this, he wouldn’t stare directly at them, no matter what his instincts demanded. His mouth dried as he sat and listened until the shadow fell across his seated form. Don’t look.

  Matthew stood, facing the alien. Or was it aliens? His head turned, and he stopped himself. He wasn’t ready to meet their gaze. Not with the memory of the shadow the first time, the winged creature standing over him, weapon in hand ready to strike him. Cold sweat traced trickling lines down his back.

  The noise, when it came, wasn’t what he’d expected. Not words but chirps and clicks.

  Of course, why would they speak English or any other old Earth language, when they were from God alone knew where?

  The alien lifted one limb, gesturing with its digits and Zac turned to glance at the creature. His stomach protested, nerves running through his body as it threatened to void itself of anything not required to keep him alive. Tall, winged, though the scale-covered wings were folded behind its back. Three almond shaped eyes watched him from the other side of the clear wall. It tipped its head to the left and chirruped again.

  “They think we can understand them,” Iris whispered.

  It turned its attention to the child and tapped one of the multi-jointed digits against the wall.

  Iris ducked her head.

  “Children should be seen and not heard, I think,” Charles explained. “Anytime Iris speaks when they visit, they do the same thing. I don’t believe they have any real experience with children outside of their own species.”

  “Oh, you can understand them?”

  “Not really, more of an educated guess. Going by their reactions when we speak. Watch him, he’s watching, head-turning any time one of us speaks.”

  “Him?”

  “Sounds better than it, doesn’t it?” Charles grinned.

  “I guess.” It wasn’t human, assigning human genders to the creature made no sense.

  The winged alien tapped the wall again, then pointed at Zac and gestured for him to approach.

  “Oh, never seen them do that before.”

  Zac rose but didn’t turn toward Charles. Maybe it was his civilian uniform? Or the fact he’d been caught with Matthew? How the hell would I know what it’s thinking? Uncertain he took a step toward the creature, then stopped.

  It made an odd zerrrrp noise and pointed to a spot. Gestured to Zac and indicated again.

  “Alright, what is it you want?” Zac asked as he stood where the alien wanted him. “Not going to be a good conversation here. We don’t know your language.” Up close, the thing wasn’t as scary as he first thought. “You’re an ugly looking thing, but I’m guessing you’d say the same about us.”

  Iris giggled, though she tried to muffle the noise.

  The alien inclined its head then moved to the left and gestured to Charles. This time they knew what he wanted, and the older man took his place. Matthew grunted but did as he was told when his time came, leaving only Iris behind.

  “Maybe they’re going to feed us?” Charles mused.

  “Or they want to see our differences, height, weight, coloring,” said Matthew.

  A hiss was the only warning given before walls slid up from the floor, closing each man in his own cubicle. If the being had moved, Zac hadn’t seen it, not with his attention caught between the others in the prison.

  Iris screamed as the wall behind her opened up, and an alien claw reached through to grab her by the back of the neck as Zac turned to glance at the girl. She struggled. He slammed his fists against the clear walls now holding him in place, but the structures remained in place. Iris kicked, twisted and sobbed as she was dragged out of the cell by the second alien until a loud zap silenced the child and she went limp in her captors grasp.

  “Let her go.” Matthew demanded as he lashed one clenched fist at the small cell. “You piece of shit, she’s a child, no danger to you.”

  He wanted to protest, to scream at the aliens, but his throat threatened to close. This wasn’t happening. What did they want with the child? With the rest of them?

  “I’ll kill you. If you hurt that girl, I’ll hunt every last one of you down and kill you,” snarled Matthew. “She’s done nothing to you.”

  The alien made no sound but lifted it’s left upper limb and touched a control on a small brown and green colored sheath on the limb. The front sections of their individual holding room moved, closing in on the men, forcing them to stand against the back wall.

  They were going to die, all of them. Squashed for the amusement of a giant bug.

  The material holding them in place shifted behind him as a cool liquid wrapped around his wrists, ankles and throat. It flowed into place, washing over his skin before it returned to solid form, creating bands around his limbs and throat.

  “Fucking alien piece of shit. What do you think we are?”

  They could coach it any way they wanted, but the collar said it all.

  They were slaves.

  Stone listened as the sergeant filled in the rest of the group, an idea forming as she continued. The tunnels. He knew the ones leading into the government building, and the ones connected to it. Including the turn off which should, in theory, get them into the Rooster building. He smiled. She needed him. He had the information she wanted. For a moment, he enjoyed the knowledge.

  “I know the way in.” He didn’t hide his smile.

  “We can’t leave the kids trapped there. Sooner or later, their presence is going to be noticed.”

  “We won’t,” she replied, casting a glance at Walker. “Not if Stone is telling the truth.”

  “I have no reason to lie, not in this, sergeant.” His jaw clenched. Was this how she planned on punishing him? How she would continue on with her vendetta against him? Anything he said brought into doubt until he eventually gave up? No, it didn’t fit with what little he knew of the woman. This wasn’t a vendetta, she was making her team aware of the doubts which lingered in regards to him.

  “Glad to hear it, because if you do, I’ll leave you to rot or be found by our new neighbors. Whatever happens first.”

  Not a threat, a promise. One he might have made himself if the roles had been reversed.

  She didn’t look at him, didn’t need to with the way the helmets touched and assisted the transmission of their conversation. “Trust me, sergeant. I have no reason to lie, and every reason to speed up our escape. Hanging around here for any real length of time isn’t on my to-do list.” It didn’t matter what she thought of him. He wasn’t here in the name of the greater good. Busine
ss, but if he wanted to continue building his contacts, then it meant finding a way to stay alive.

  “Then lead the way.”

  No thanks, no words of encouragement, nothing but another order. He didn’t snap at the sergeant, no matter how he wanted to. It wouldn’t help, and an argument out in the open would only draw the attention of the creatures hunting for them. “Keep low, keep close. Once we’re in the tunnels, step where I step. A couple have protection installed, and there are turns you don’t want to take. I don’t know if we’re going to run into problems, but it’s best to be prepared.”

  “Got it. Walker, grab Lackey, we need to move out.”

  Lackey, Walker, Lawbook, names he hadn’t known when he’d entered the bar. God, the bar. Jones and the others. He frowned. Why was he worried about them? They’d be safe enough; besides, it was his job to take care of himself, not allow concerns for others to get in the way. Business came first, it was the nature of the beast. The two men returned, and he waited to see if Lawbook would say anything else before he spoke.

  A figure moved close to the hidden group. It lifted the weapon in hand then swept the area before it turned and fired at the remains of the structure twenty meters to the left. Shrapnel exploded outward, striking ground, buildings and rubble alike, but they didn’t move. Didn’t dare. The alien lifted the weapon above his head and turned back to join its friends.

  Play? Letting off steam? He’d seen mercs behave in a similar fashion.

  They waited, watching, listening for signs indicating the return of the enemy, but something else had caught their attention, and the small group continued their search on the far side of the rooster.

  Lawbook lifted her left hand, her right resting on the rifle, parted her fingers to indicate a countdown.

  He nodded. They were going to do this. He glanced at the other civilian, pointed at him, then to the left, indicating the man was to take position. His heart raced, mouth dried, adrenalin rushed into his system. When the five count finished, he broke into a run, bent low, gaze continually moving as he made his way into the rubble which covered the entrance into the tunnels. He didn’t stop, didn’t glance back as he slid to a halt and grabbed the edge of a large piece of plastiboard. The two men grabbed and shoved, clearing the section away. The second piece had four sets of hands working on it, and by the time they reached the entrance, the entire team was in place, silently working together.