Virtue of War

by L O Addison

  “But Lio’s next!” Matteo protested.

  “Get out!” Beck snarled. “Now!”

  Matteo backed hesitantly toward the exit, clearly not wanting to leave the fight. But Kaylin turned and shoved him sharply in the shoulder.

  “Listen to him,” she snapped. “We can handle ourselves.”

  Matteo nodded and darted for the door, and Kaylin turned back to Marin, firing perilously close to her feet to ward off the shadow creatures. Kaylin vaguely registered that Adrien was counting down again, although she couldn’t keep track of the numbers. Her entire focus was on Marin and the creatures swarming her. One of the shadow creatures seemed to hit her in the shoulder, and she doubled over, nearly crumpling to the ground. Bloody scratches opened up on her arms and cheek, as if claws were tearing into her skin, and the shrieking of the creatures grew louder.

  Kaylin whirled back toward Red, checking on him. Her gut dropped. Long scratches covered his hide, each of them dripping dark blood. He continued snapping and snarling at the creatures, and his tail lashed out just as fast as before, but it didn’t seem to be doing any good. New scratches kept appearing on his hide, no matter how many of the creatures he fended off.

  Red looked toward her, and for a split second, their eyes locked.

  His eyes were red. Not silver, but red. It took her a single, baffled second to remember why: the night vision goggles. They distorted the color of things.

  A desperate idea struck her. Marin had said the glasses changed the way eyes perceived light, so if they could turn shadowy darkness into brightness... Maybe the opposite was also possible. Maybe they could turn light into shadow.

  Kaylin reached up and ripped the glasses off, letting them dangle from the slim cord around her neck.

  And there they were. The creatures.

  Without her night-vision glasses in place, Kaylin could see the alien creatures scuttling across the pitch-black room. Their bodies were translucent, but they pulsated with a dim, bioluminescent light that had a strange purple hue. The aliens had the long, shelled body of a scorpion, but with at least twice the number of legs.

  The clicking suddenly made sense. Each of them had large front pincers, like a scorpion’s, except sharper. They snapped them open and closed, seeming to use them for some sort of communication as they circled Marin and Red. Without the glasses, the room was nearly pitch-black, although the creatures’ bioluminescence cast enough shadowy light for her to make out the forms of her companions.

  “The glasses!” Kaylin screamed. “Take off your glasses! You can see them!”

  Her spirits soared as she realized she could finally aim at the creatures. She fired off three rounds, striking two of the creatures scrabbling at Red. Red roared in triumph as they both fell dead, and then whirled around, striking another two with his spiked tail. They slammed against a shelf of bones and crumbled to the ground, their scrabbling legs twitching feebly.

  Then Kaylin turned toward the mouth of the tunnel and saw the rest of the creatures. They were lined up along the tunnel leading into the chamber, marching along the ground and creeping along the walls, their scrabbling legs clinging to sides of the tunnel like insects.

  “Holy shit!” Adrien called from outside the room. “There’s hundreds!”

  “Just keep counting!” Beck called back to Adrien, although Kaylin could hear an edge of panic creep into his voice.

  Kaylin started to step closer to Red to help him, but then Beck called out, “Remember the mines!”

  Kaylin cursed and weaved toward the left, taking a roundabout path toward Red that was far from where she remembered seeing any mine flags. Still, her heart thudded desperately with each step she took in the darkness.

  The creatures seemed to have identified Red as the main threat in the room, and their swarm was thickening, crowding him with slicing, scrabbling legs. Red’s angry roars began to turn to panicked shrieks that made Kaylin’s gut drop. In the pitch blackness, she could no longer see the cuts on his hide, but she could hear the pain in his wild cries.

  A sob rose from deep in her chest as a sense of helplessness slammed into her. Red was going to die. Her best friend was going to die, and it was going to be all her goddamn fault for dragging him down into this hellhole.

  Red let loose another roar, higher and louder than before. The clicks of the creatures paused for just a moment, and they hesitated in their attack, allowing Kaylin to quickly pick off a few of the ones swarming Red. But as soon as Red’s cry died off, their clicking started up again, along with their attack.

  “They don’t have eyes!”

  Matteo’s voice called out over the cacophony of clicks and shrieks and firing guns. Kaylin peered closely at the attacking horde and realized he was right. Not that it mattered. Being blind obviously wasn’t hindering the creatures.

  “So what?” she called back to Matteo.

  “They’re bioluminescent and don’t have eyes!” Matteo said, his tone excited, as if he was piecing something together as he spoke. “They’re cave dwellers! That’s how they’ve survived down here.”

  “Is there a goddamn point to this?” Beck hollered.

  “The clicking! It’s echolocation. That’s how cave dwellers can see.”

  A jolt of surprise struck Kaylin. It actually made sense. That was why the creatures froze when Red roared. Something about the pitch of his cry was messing with their ability to echolocate.

  “You’re a freaking genius!” Kaylin called to Matteo.

  “Zero!” Adrien yelled, finishing the countdown. “Send someone else through!”

  “Kaylin!” Beck called through the darkness. “Go!”

  She shook her head frantically. “Get ready to carry Marin to the exit,” she said.

  “I can’t!” Beck yelled. “There’s too many around us!”

  Kaylin fired at the creature digging into her leg and kicked its corpse off. Her instinct screamed at her to keep firing at the creatures swarming Red, but she forced herself to lower her pistol and search her supplies belt for a new weapon.

  In the darkness, her fingers closed around a small, metal box with a pin in one end. A jamming grenade. She always carried one, just in case she needed to jam a communication channel. She quickly pulled the pin and tossed it toward the entrance of the tunnel, right into the mass of creatures.

  Kaylin heard the tell-tale clink of the grenade hitting the floor. For two long, painful seconds, nothing happened. Then a burst of electricity lit up the air, surging up in a plume, and a keening noise exploded through the air. The keen rose in pitch until Kaylin couldn’t even hear it and then dove into a low, rumbling tone. The grenade undulated between the two extremes, its pitch rising and falling in intense bursts that made her head feel like it was about to explode.

  The effect on the creatures was immediate. They began stumbling blindly around, crashing into each other. Some of them surged toward the grenade, while most of them tried to escape, fighting to retreat back into the tunnel. A traffic jam immediately formed, with half the horde trying to break into the chamber, while the other half frantically tried to claw their way against the rushing tide of flailing pincers.

  Kaylin put her night vision glasses back on, allowing her to see the details of the room again. The creatures turned back into strange shadows, but for the moment, they weren’t a threat.

  Kaylin glanced over at Red, and a fresh surge of rage hit her. His hide was covered in long, bleeding scratches, and he was limping heavily on his front left leg. Despite his injuries, he was still whirling around, chomping and crushing every creature in his reach.

  Kaylin wanted to run to him, but she worried he’d accidentally slam into her if she tried. So she rushed over to Marin, kicking the shadowy creatures out of her way and shooting when she felt them get too close to her. Marin was hunched over, blood dripping from her shoulder and legs. Lio was using one arm to support her and the other to fire his pistol at the creatures crowding around their feet.

  His pistol was g
oing to run out of charge any moment. All of theirs were going to. They’d been firing practically non-stop for minutes on end. Kaylin had already chewed through all her bullets and was only left with her weak, backup laser blaster, which was quickly running out of juice.

  They needed to get the hell out of there. Immediately.

  Beck began clearing a path toward the exit, shooting and kicking the confused creatures out of his way. Kaylin wrapped her arm around Marin’s other shoulder, helping Lio support her, and they dragged the bodyguard toward the door.

  “No!” Marin cried out. “Lio needs to go!”

  They ignored her, and Kaylin helped Lio shove Marin through the exit. The sensor light flashed, and Marin shrieked something angrily at them, but her voice was hoarse and weak. Matteo leaped forward and caught Marin before she could collapse, guiding her a few steps back from the door.

  Adrien immediately began counting again, and Kaylin whirled back around to check on Red. He was slowly retreating toward the exit, crushing every creature in his way. But the creatures seemed to be figuring out how to function with the jamming device, because they began to swarm him again.

  Something scrabbled at Kaylin’s waist, and white hot heat sliced beneath her ribs. For a single moment, all Kaylin could do was gasp in shock. She instinctively aimed her pistol down and shot the creature that had leaped onto her waist. It struck it right in the pincers, and the creature tumbled to the ground dead.

  Then the pain truly slammed into her, and a scream burst from Kaylin’s throat. She clapped a hand to her ribs, and the sticky heat of blood coated her fingers.

  A roar followed her scream, and at first, she thought it was just the rush of blood thudding through her ears. But then the roar grew louder, and deeper, and more furious. She stumbled, turning to look at Red.

  He was standing with a creature trapped under his paw, violently crushing its shell with his claws. His head was snaked forward, his bloodied jaws open in a roar. His cry suddenly cut off into a deep, throaty cough. It was a gruesome, wet sound, as if he were choking, and it somehow managed to double Kaylin’s terror.

  A spray of metallic liquid erupted from his mouth, splattering across the creatures. Kaylin stared in shock. The liquid didn’t look like blood, but it also didn’t look anything like vomit.

  Light erupted in the room, followed by a wave of heat. Kaylin yelped and stumbled back, throwing up a hand to shield her face. It took her a moment to realize what she was seeing.

  Fire. Whatever Red had spit up, it’d just burst into flames.

  The shrieking of the creatures rose to a fevered pitch, and they whirled back toward the tunnel, scrabbling away from the chamber. Kaylin fired at them as they jammed into the tunnel, killing off as many as she could while their backs were turned.

  She glanced behind her, at the force field. Adrien had stumbled back a few steps from the flames, but he hadn’t given up on his countdown.

  “Three, two, one.” He gestured sharply toward Lio. “Come on. Get through.”

  Lio leaped through the forcefield, finally making it to safety. Kaylin breathed a sigh of relief, glad to have the respirator to keep her from inhaling the thick smoke clouding the room. Red also seemed unbothered by the smoke, but he eyed the flames uneasily, growling deep in his throat.

  ‘Kaylin,” Beck blurted out, his voice thick with shock. “I think your lizard just breathed fire.”

  Kaylin shook her head in stunned disbelief. “He’s not a lizard. He’s a freaking dragon.”

  Red let out a panicked chirp as he watched the flames. He huddled close against Kaylin’s leg, giving her an indignant look as he glanced between her and the fire.

  “Don’t look at me like that!” Kaylin gestured wildly toward the flames. “You’re the one who did that!”

  Red turned back to the fire and snarled, as if he thought that might help extinguish it. It was already starting to burn itself out, with no real fuel in the chamber to keep the flames going. But the fire seemed to have ignited a primal fear in the alien creatures—they continued scrabbling over the corpses of their fallen brethren, desperately trying to retreat back into the depths of the tunnel.

  Kaylin slowly let her pistol lower, realizing they were safe. At least for the moment.

  Something grabbed her elbow, and she whirled toward it. But it was just Beck. He nodded toward the blood stain on her ribs.

  “How bad is it?”

  As Kaylin’s shock faded, the searing pain in her side returned. But she could still move her arms around, and the warm blood flowing down her torso was only a trickle.

  “It’s not critical,” she said.

  Beck let out a relieved breath and nodded. They both stood there for a long moment, struggling to catch their breaths as they watched the last of the creatures flee from the smoke-filled chamber.

  29

  Kaylin

  “Kaylin,” Beck said, his voice quiet with shock. “Only you would accidentally adopt a dragon.”

  She struggled to think of some sort of retort, but all that ended up coming out was, “Yeah. Pretty much.”

  Beck suddenly let out a shocked, giddy laugh. Before Kaylin could stop herself, she found herself joining in.

  Red was a dragon. A freaking dragon. All this time, she’d thought he was some common pit-fighting beast who’d grown a little bigger and a little smarter than usual. But nope. He was a living, breathing mythological creature.

  Her laughter was cut off by a fresh twinge of pain in her side, which brought her crashing back to reality. The alien creatures may have been retreating, but they weren’t safe. Not even close.

  Adrien finished his countdown yet again and waved for them to come through. Beck turned to Kaylin, but she shook her head. “I’ll go through last.”

  Beck hesitated a moment, but then he nodded and stepped through the forcefield. He knew better than to waste time arguing with her. Kaylin aimed her pistol back toward the retreating creatures, although most were already far down the tunnel and out of range.

  As soon as another thirty seconds passed, Kaylin turned to the exit and pointed to it sternly. “Go,” she commanded Red. Beck started to protest, insisting Kaylin come through, but she ignored him and repeated to Red, “Go.”

  Red hesitantly peeled himself away from her side and padded through the forcefield.

  “What are you doing?” Beck demanded.

  “Sealing off this exit,” Kaylin replied, fishing in her supplies belt for what she was looking for. Her hand closed around a small metal cylinder. A timed explosive grenade.

  “An explosion is going to draw attention,” Beck protested.

  Kaylin shook her head. “We’ve already drawn way too much attention. If I blow this place and we get the hell out of here, any guard who finds the wreckage is going to assume we set off a mine and all got killed.”

  Beck hesitated, but Adrien spoke up. “It’s a good idea,” the boy said. “Do it.”

  Kaylin tapped at the small screen on the grenade. A timer popped up, and she quickly entered in a single minute. She waited another ten seconds, letting a full thirty seconds lapse and the forcefield reset. Then she pulled the pin on the end of the grenade, starting the timer, and carefully rolled it into the corner of the room with the mines.

  The faint clicking sound of the alien creatures came from down the tunnel, making the hair on her neck stand on end. But she just muttered, “Oh no you don’t,” and leaped toward the exit. The forcefield sensor blinked as she passed through, and relief flowed through her as her feet struck the ground.

  Red leaped forward and shoved his nose against her hip, and Kaylin stroked the scales on his forehead, relieved that he was healthy enough to demand attention.

  “We need to move,” she said, nodding toward Adrien. “I’m not sure if that forcefield will be able to contain the whole blast.”

  Adrien nodded and immediately took off at a jog, waving for them to follow him. Beck and Lio supported Marin from either side, and they followe
d right behind the boy, with Matteo and Kaylin guarding the rear of their group. Kaylin carefully examined their new surroundings as they jogged forward. The tunnel they’d emerged into was wider and didn’t have any bones in it, so Kaylin assumed it was a newer section that wasn’t a part of the ancient catacombs. She also didn’t spot any mine flags, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.

  They reached a small alcove, and Adrien ducked into it, the others following closely behind him. Kaylin pressed close to the wall and held her hands over her ears. A moment later, a sharp boom pierced the tunnel. The grenade. A larger, rolling series of booms immediately followed as the mines went off. Tremors ran through the walls, rattling Kaylin’s teeth and shaking dust free from the roof.

  A sudden silence filled the tunnel. Then Beck said, “Guess that’s the end of those things.”

  Kaylin nodded, although she couldn’t bring herself to feel any kind of triumph. They might have escaped the alien creatures, but not before their attackers had managed to do a good deal of damage. She turned to Red, looking him over more closely. Gashes crisscrossed his hide, running up his legs and along his chest. Most were fairly minor, but some of them reached deep into his flesh, drawing steady streams of blood.

  Panic filled Kaylin’s chest, and she reached out to rest her hand on an uninjured part of his neck. He trembled under her palm and let out a low whimper, staring up at her with wide, fearful eyes.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered, although her voice was tight with panic. They still had miles to go before they reached the base, and then they still had to make their way back out. There was no way Red was going to make it that far, not with these kinds of injuries.

  A groan came from beside her, and she turned to look at Marin. The bodyguard was sitting on the ground, her back against the wall. Wide gashes marred her skin, and her pale hands pressed weakly against her side, her fingers trembling as she struggled to hold back the rush of blood. Lio knelt in front of her, murmuring something in their native language.