“At this point, anything is possible,” Carrie replied, cutting off their speculations with a wave of her hand. “We need to return to camp and tell everyone else what we found. Do you think you can land this thing?”
Keller was staring straight ahead, not responding.
“Eric!”
He jumped. “Uh... I don’t know. Maybe? I didn’t think I could take off, but look at us now: we’re flying.”
Val stared hard at Keller. He still sounded strange and distant. At this rate, he was going to fly them into a cliff. She dragged her eyes away. “We need to find my dad and your sister first.”
“So they really did leave,” Carrie shook her head.
“Yes. They snuck out before we left camp. They placed a tracker on one of those predators, and they were going to follow it to the ridge and see where they’re coming from.”
Carrie blew out a breath, but didn’t say more.
Val went on, “I think they could be in danger, not to mention us. Regardless of what Hound is, he’s killed people for revealing his secrets before, and all of us are busy trying to do that now.”
“So where are they?” Carrie gestured vaguely to the shadowy carpet of trees scrolling by beneath them.
“Well—” Val twisted back around, checking the mountains running around the valley. “I can’t tell exactly where they went, but... they were heading that way.” She pointed through the strange viewscreen.
“I might be able to help with that,” Keller replied.
She turned to see him pulling a tablet out of the front pouch of his jumpsuit. “Grab the yoke for a second,” he said.
Val noticed a matching set of flight controls in front of her. Hesitating briefly, she grabbed the yoke and saw the nose tracking up as she accidentally lowered the controls. She hurriedly pushed it back up to keep the nose level with the horizon.
“There,” Keller said, and Val risked tearing her eyes away to check.
The tablet showed an image of the valley, and Keller had zoomed on a specific section of the ridge. “The pass through the mountains is here. That’s where the creatures have to be coming through, and I suspect it’s where your dad is.”
Val remembered like it was yesterday when she’d last been to the mountains. It had been during one of their hunting trips. If she shut her eyes she could almost smell the sharp, fresh tang of pine trees and hear the quiet rustling of her dad’s coat as he shifted his position in the deer blind.
“They’re not far from here,” Keller said, staring at the tablet.
“Let’s hope your guess is right.” Carrie sighed, letting out a deep breath.
Keller sent Val a rueful smile. “You can let go of the yoke now. I’ll take us to them.”
Val nodded stiffly and released the controls. Keller seemed to be snapping out of it finally.
She squeezed her eyes shut, and saw shafts of sunlight slanting through pine trees. Her dad was walking beside her, his rifle aimed away from her and at the ground, their boots crunching through dry, crackling leaves and scattered patches of snow. A few seconds later he pulled her down behind a bush, his breath fogging the air between them as he pointed to a deer standing a hundred yards away, its head bowed, munching away—oblivious to the fact that a bullet was about to crack open its skull.
That memory shattered with the echoing report of her father’s rifle, and Val’s eyes flew open. The deer had never seen it coming. Just a dumb beast caught up in a sick game played by a vastly superior race.
Same as us, she thought. But who are they, and what do they want?
FORTY
Kendra
He’d said it was only two miles an hour ago. In Kendra’s mind, they should have been able to make that in half the time, but they were at least a half-mile from their destination. There were bizarre noises around them as they walked ever uphill, moving toward the rocky line past all the tree cover.
Her legs burned fiercely at the effort, and she wished they’d thought about bringing more medical supplies with them, like a shot of adrenaline or something to keep her alert. At this moment she was positive that if she closed her eyes, she wouldn’t open them again for a full day. If she did that, the loping wolf-monsters would likely devour her in quick order.
She was moving quietly, which meant slowly. Andrew was better at maneuvering through the forest, his footsteps somehow lighter than hers, even though he had to outweigh her by a good sixty pounds or so.
Two miles. They were the longest miles of her life.
She heard a howl and stopped in her tracks, Andrew pressing his back against a tree. He urged her over to him, behind the thick, smooth trunk. Up here the vegetation was thinning, but the trees were old. The ground remained damp, and Kendra suspected the mountainside probably received a lot of precipitation as storms from both edges of the range pounded the peaks. Now it was clear, the wind picking up, sending a chill through her veins. The howling and padded feet snapping twigs a short distance away didn’t help her case of fried nerves.
She was close to Andrew here, his breath warm on her forehead as they waited for the predators to pass. He slid the tablet out when they hadn’t heard any noises for a good two minutes. The red dot was close. They were nearly at the pass.
Relief flooded her. They’d mark the spot, and see if they could do anything to block it while they were there. Otherwise, she and Andrew would be able to return to camp and convince Keller and Carrie to let them bring a crew and a rover the long way around, so they could blockade the ravine between the mountains.
“Let’s move,” Andrew said, his words so soft she had to strain to hear them. She rotated her body sideways as she stretched, the weight of the pack causing it to twinge in pain. If there was one thing she was learning on this adventure, she needed to keep in shape if she was going to survive on this new world.
Even Andrew seemed uncomfortable, but he wasn’t complaining about it. She thought he must be thinking about his daughter, and how his love for Valeria drove him to do immeasurable tasks, like wanting to find Hound, and now preventing the local predators from attacking their little village.
All her life, she’d never felt in control, not until she’d accepted that Carrie was gone, and she’d joined the agency. Being here, Kendra was once again playing in someone else’s sandbox, and she was tired of it.
When this was said and done, and they returned to camp, things were going to change. She was no longer going to let there be white and blue jumpsuits; they were in this together, and she considered that an elected town council might be a good way to kick it all off.
They moved from tree to tree, trying to stay out of sight from the ridge, in case a group of the predators was watching for easy prey from above. So far they hadn’t seen much in the way of animals around, other than the enemy they were tracking, so Kendra doubted they were being watched, but it was better to be cautious than stupid.
“Our guy is just ahead,” Andrew told her, and they stopped at the end of the tree line. Past this spot there was nothing but a few shrubs, growing through cracks in the rocky outcropping leading to the peaks. The predators were clearly utilizing the V-shaped opening between the highest points along the ridge, and from here, Kendra saw it was narrower than she might have expected. The mountainsides were steep, jutting upwards at close to ninety degrees.
If they found a way to close this pass, the predators might not be able to access their valley. For the first time tonight, Kendra felt optimism coursing through her. They could do this. Maybe they were actually going to make it.
“Can you show me?” she asked, reaching for the tablet. The red dot had slowed its pace, right smack dab in the center of the passageway. She thought this might mean the trek was a difficult one.
“I need to see the other side,” Andrew said.
“But we might be able to wait for them to pass, and block it from this end,” she told him, not happy he was changing his plans.
“Kendra.” He grabbed her, holding her by the
shoulders. “This doesn’t add up. There are too many damned questions, and if we’re being told not to cross the boundary, there might be a reason.”
“Yeah, because there are probably thousands of angry man-eating creatures ready to devour us,” Kendra told him.
He shook his head. “I don’t think so… although it’s possible there could be more. You can stay here if you like, but I have to see. I need to find out what’s across this ridge.”
His eyes were piercing, even in the dark, and she nodded, trying to push her pain inside to worry about later. There was no way she was letting him venture into that pass by himself. “I’m with you.”
Their footsteps sounded louder as they began crossing the span of rocky open terrain. Kendra nearly tumbled over as she stepped on a pile of rubble. The ground sloped unevenly, but began leveling off as they traveled the first hundred yards. The high peaks rose around them, blotting out the moonlight, making the visibility lower.
Andrew didn’t use a flashlight, and she left hers turned off too, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. Within a few minutes, they entered the path, and Kendra thought she could smell the musty animals. The walls rose around them, and she peered up, suddenly feeling claustrophobic.
Andrew glanced over his shoulder, gave her a grim smile, and kept moving.
* * *
Roland
“Look what we have here,” the reverend said. “Step in line, Roland. And Sergeant Harper, I expected more from you. Isn’t it your job to keep this colony safe?”
Harper’s right eye was already swollen, bruised from the butt of a rifle as she’d tried to fend off their captors outside Eden Twelve. Roland had to give her props. She’d put up a hell of a fight, but in the end, the big dumb oaf had managed a lucky shot.
“Safe from the likes of you,” Harper muttered, and the reverend walked over, past the rows of the colony’s inhabitants, to face her.
To Roland, it appeared the entire colony had been uprooted and brought to the center of town. This was the area where they’d had a bonfire not so long ago. Now that moment of celebration felt like a lifetime had passed. People were crying over the lost lives, but it was clear that even the bravest of the colonists knew they stood no chance, not with the amount of armed guards Shelley Morris had managed to accumulate.
“We are the Saints of Mary, here to do his bidding,” the reverend said, her voice amplified and powerful. She stood straighter than Roland had seen before, and he wondered if she’d been putting on an act to gain sympathy before: playing the ‘old lady’ card when she was more youthful than she’d let on.
“And I suppose the great He is Hound?” Roland croaked out, gaining the newly-appointed Mary’s attention. If Roland were religious, he’d have been offended at their blasphemous beliefs.
“There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea… Does this sound familiar?” she asked, and Roland felt the hair on the back of his neck rise at her words. She continued. “People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”
“You might be reading into this too much,” Roland said softly.
Reverend Morris kept talking, finishing her scripture with a smile spread over her face. It was dark outside, the bright LED floodlights casting a strange glow around her. “At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
Roland didn’t know what to make of it, but at least a hundred people throughout the camp echoed one word after she spoke. “Amen.”
“We found this one sneaking around at the edge of camp.” A man shoved Tony forward, and the boy fell to his knees at the front of the gathered crowd.
The reverend clutched a handgun, and Harper struggled against her bonds, ready to defend the teen. Morris pointed the barrel at the boy. “Stand up, and find the line with the others. We don’t have time for this. I have foreseen His arrival, and it’s imminent.”
“You’re only saying this because you overheard Carrie and Keller,” Harper spat out. “Let us go. What do you expect to happen when the others return? You can’t hold this camp hostage forever.”
“I won’t have to. When they see I was right about Hound, they will fall in line,” Morris said, her face contorting into a sick grin.
Tony managed to get to his feet with his hands bound behind him, and he came to stand next to Roland. The reverend left their side, moving to the main group of the colonists, rambling about how things would be different from now on. Roland didn’t pay attention. He needed to know something. “Tony,” he whispered.
“I’m okay,” the boy said, and Roland felt a stab of guilt at wanting to ask a different question.
“Good. And the…”
Tony understood. “Buried right before the barrier, across from Eden Ten.” He spoke so softly, no one else could have heard.
“Okay.” Roland had the tablet tucked into the back of his pants, and they had weapons stashed. Now he needed Kendra and Andrew to return so they could formulate their plan.
As he stood watching the reverend address the crowd, his wrists tied and guns pointing at them, he couldn’t help but feel he somehow had the upper hand.
FORTY-ONE
Andrew
Dark, glistening walls of rock rose swiftly to either side, forming a narrow but ever-widening chasm at the top of the ridge. Andrew ran his left hand along the rocks, while keeping a firm grip on his rifle with his right. His palm came away wet with moisture.
The night’s sky was clear, and the stars were a sparkling river overhead. Three-quarters of Eden’s crimson moon blazed down above the horizon with ruddy light, but its silver counterpart was nowhere to be seen.
The slender path smelled dank and gamy. Andrew suspected the glistening rocks crunching underfoot were wet with more than just a recent rain. The acrid stench of alien urine made his nostrils flare, and that smell set off alarm bells in Andrew’s head. This would be the perfect place for an ambush. Pulling out the tablet, he checked their range to the animal they were tracking. Less than a hundred meters. He held it steady for a moment, but didn’t slow his pace. One hundred and five meters...
One hundred and eleven...
He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
“What?” Kendra whispered.
“It’s moving faster now. We’re losing ground.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Yes. It means that it hasn’t caught scent of us, and it’s not lying in wait somewhere up ahead.”
“Right.” Kendra was breathing hard behind him. They began hiking up a steep incline again. Making matters worse, they had to have reached a substantial altitude already. Even in the valley, the air on Eden was much thinner than it was on Earth, let alone up here. Andrew could feel his head swimming from the lack of oxygen, but he pushed through it. He could see the end of the incline up ahead... and the ravine was starting to widen out. Soon the cliffs fell away completely, and Andrew’s feet touched the top of the rise, a jutting gravel-lined cusp of rock. He paused there for a moment, sucking in deep, ragged breaths and observing the other side of the ridge. Kendra appeared beside him, doubled over and leaning hard on her knees, her head bowed to bring blood and oxygen to it.
Andrew would have dropped his head between his knees too, if not for what he saw on the other side of the ridge. A grassy hill sloped down and away—a much easier path than the one he and Kendra had just hiked up. And at the bottom of that hill was another valley with a lake at the bottom, surrounded by mountains: a crater valley identical to theirs, except that this one was glittering with dark red lights glistening from a cluster of strange cave-like dwellings that surrounded the lake. Those structures were all low to the ground and rounded, with smooth brown sides that could have been made of
mud or clay.
Andrew jerked his chin toward it. “What does that look like to you?”
Kendra peered up, still breathing hard. “I’d say... nests? Burrows? A primitive village of some kind.”
Andrew nodded along with that assessment. “So who or what is living there?”
“Natives?” Kendra suggested.
“Yeah. Seems like. They can’t be too primitive, though. Those structures are emitting light, and it’s too bright to be from fires.”
“It could be some type of natural phosphorescence,” Kendra said. “Maybe it’s not a village at all, but some kind of fungal growths.”
“Maybe.” Andrew caught a flicker of movement below them and tracked it to a lithe black-furred creature creeping over the hill toward the valley.
“There he is,” he whispered, pointing with the barrel of his rifle. “We have to kill it before it reaches that village.” He stowed the tablet in the front pouch of his jumpsuit and took the weapon in a two-handed grip. Jamming the stock against his shoulder, he sighted down the barrel and lined up the shot.
“Wait.” Kendra’s hand stayed him. “Look.”
Andrew lowered the weapon to see Kendra pointing to something else. A group of four identical creatures was weaving up through the grass to greet the one they’d tracked. Those four were coming from the direction of the field and the village.
“A hunting party?” Andrew suggested.
“I don’t think so,” Kendra replied. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing? Or am I hallucinating from oxygen deprivation?”
“Where?”
“The village,” Kendra replied. “Look between the structures.”
Andrew’s gaze skipped to the glowing red lights of the village. It took a second to focus his eyes, but when he did, he noticed tiny black specks meandering between those rounded mud huts. At this distance they seemed no bigger than sugar ants, but they were moving, and they were black—just like these alien wolves.
Final Days: Colony Page 29