by J. N. Chaney
“I’ll lead them in a predator right into Legion,” I answered. “Once we’re in, I’ll turn off the signal, letting them go back to the mist land.”
“And they’ll just return home?” Arun looked over to Jezra for a consensus.
“If they do not, then we can always lead them back using the same signal to call them,” Jezra suggested. “They know me. I do not think they would attack your walls if they saw me on top of them.”
We all waited to hear what Arun would say.
Stacy shook her head like she didn’t like the idea.
“Stacy, let Elon know what we’re going to do. Have them ready to open the gates,” Arun said.
“Arun?” Stacy asked like she was about to argue.
“We’re not going to be able to get through on our own,” Arun told her. “Do it.”
Stacy didn’t seem excited, but she walked back the way we came to get a signal through to Elon and Iris.
“How long until the sawg can get here?” Arun asked Jezra.
“The beasts are surprisingly swift over land if they have a desire to get somewhere,” Jezra looked down on her glass pad. “I’m sending out the signal now that will call them. They’ll be here in a few hours. I should be able to track their progress with the low-flying satellite.”
“So we have a few hours to prepare,” Ricky said.
That was exactly what we did. We ate, hydrated, and rested while our giant escorts traveled toward us. Jezra was right. We were able to track the sawg as they lumbered toward us. There were half a dozen of the massive creatures. Four looked as though they were full grown, and two were adolescents.
While we waited for them, we hatched our plan.
“Elon and the colonists inside the wall will open the gates for us when they see us coming and provide whatever fire support they can to cover us,” Stacy informed us. “I told them not to shoot the sawg.”
“I’ll take the first predator with Jezra’s glass table,” I volunteered. “As soon as you’re in, I’ll switch off the signal and get into the gates myself.”
“I should take the tablet,” Stacy said. “I remember how you drive. Did you think we forgot about that head-to-head collision with the rhino?”
“I did that on purpose,” I said indignantly.
“Uh huh,” Stacy said.
“I’m taking the signal,” Arun said, silencing us both.
“Arun.” Ricky shook his head, starting to protest.
“This,” Arun said, taking in the landscape of the planet around us. “All of this is my doing. Elon and I were in charge of the Orion. We crashed and now we are surviving. This is on me.”
“The crash wasn’t your fault,” Ricky said. “You can’t blame yourself for lunatic Disciples willing to blow themselves up to bring it down.”
“I don’t blame myself for the Orion being blown out of space.” Arun clenched her jaw. “I blame myself for not stopping it. That is on me. I’m doing this now. I’m leading the sawg. End of discussion.”
I knew enough about Arun to know that look in her eyes meant business. She was going to take the lead on this one no matter what the rest of us said.
I stood silent as Ricky and Stacy tried to argue with her. Like I thought, it was no use. The Eternal wouldn’t be swayed. This one was her fight.
When Ricky and Stacy couldn’t get through to her, Arun looked at me. “Are you going to try to convince me you should be the one to do this?”
“Would it help?” I asked.
“Not in the least,” Arun answered.
“Well, there you go,” I said.
The suns began to lower past the horizon as we prepared the predators to move. Jezra showed Arun how the glass pad worked and gave her instructions on how to turn off the soundwave calling the sawg.
Tong, Stacy, and I unhitched the trailer from the predator Arun would take to make it lighter. We placed it on one of the other three predators. It was decided Ricky would drive the predator with the dual trailers in the middle of my and Stacy’s vehicles.
Jezra would drive the predator with Stacy manning the weapon, followed by Ricky. Tong and I would bring up the rear with me as the gunner. Arun would be on her own, leading the herd of sawg in front of us.
“We should prepare ourselves,” Jezra said, looking down at the glass pad one more time before handing it off to Arun. “We’ll be able to hear them anytime now.”
“Helmets on for this one,” Tong reminded us. “There is a night vision feature in them if you require it.”
“I’ll see you inside the wall,” I meant to say to everyone, but my eyes found Stacy.
“Not if I see you first.” Stacy winked at me.
“Be safe, everyone,” Arun said. “Don’t take any unnecessary risks.”
Ricky and the others looked like they were going to chime in but they were stopped when the ground started to shake.
Earthquake? Or I guess Genesisquake? I thought to myself for a split second. No, Sawgquake.
“In the predators!” Arun shouted. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
I jumped into the back of the predator last in line. Tong secured his helmet and entered the driver seat.
The ground was practically rolling now. I fumbled with my own helmet, barely managing to secure it on my head. It wasn’t dark enough to use the night vision mode just yet. The twin suns still showed half of their brilliant orange and yellow over the tops of the forest trees.
All the predators were lined up to the right of the path. Last in line, I had the perfect vantage point to look behind me at the charging behemoths.
29
The sawg didn’t care about crashing into trees or even staying on the path. Along with the ground shaking under their mighty feet, cracks from trees splintering filled the air.
These trees weren’t saplings either. Thick, full-grown forest trees were nothing more than speed bumps to the creatures lumbering toward us. That deep wail came with them now, not of sadness but excitement this time.
My peripheral vision caught Arun’s predator speeding off the side of the road to get in front of the herd and lead them into Legion. I couldn’t bring myself to look away from the beasts. They were passing mere meters to my left. With one false step or a macabre thought, they could crush me with a single stomp of their massive legs. Heck, not just me; they could crush half the predator if they wanted.
It seemed like Jezra had been correct. They didn’t care about us or seem to give us a second thought. They were solely focused on Arun and the high-pitched frequency we couldn’t hear.
They passed us in a rush, sending the predator rocking back and forth. I had to bend my knees and grab on to the hand grips of the blood shot mounted on the rear of the vehicle.
“Let’s go!” Stacy shouted as Jezra gunned their predator to life. She maneuvered their vehicle back onto the road, right behind the sawg. Ricky followed and Tong was right behind him.
I adjusted my grip on the weapon in front of me, making sure to keep my thumbs off the buttons. I gripped the two handles that ran up and down for support. Button depressors rested by both my thumbs. The Blood Shot was on a turret, allowing me to move the barrel of the weapon right and left, up and down, and a V-shaped sight rested on the end of the barrel.
“Short bursts will work best on the blood shots,” Tong yelled into the comm unit in our helmets. “The ammunition container holds a thousand rounds. You shouldn’t need more.”
I filed this information into my data banks. I was too concentrated on staying upright and working on calming my breathing to answer. My heart hammered in my chest. The familiar feeling of adrenaline came fast and easy.
My senses were at an all-time high as we barreled through the darkening forest. In a few minutes, we were through and on the plain headed toward the Orion itself.
Communication with the Orion kicked in at the same time.
“We see you!” Elon shouted through the comms. “My stars! Those creatures were in the mist?!”
&nbs
p; The chatter over the channel was something I ignored for the time being. My focus was on Legion. I always got the creeps when the symbiotic virus moved its infected as one body.
Right now, every infected human or creature swung its head, looking at us in awe. I had to admit I didn’t blame it. It must have been terrifying to witness Arun barreling toward them like a battering ram with a herd of sawg behind her and three more assault vehicles behind them.
Arun was still a good kilometer away when Legion finally moved into action. It didn’t react like we thought, sending the infected rhinos after us first. It moved everything to intercept Arun.
Thousands of infected humans along with the rhinos and the centipede creatures made a rush for Arun’s predator.
“Arun, kill the sawg signal!” Stacy screamed. “Pull back!”
I knew Arun wasn’t going to obey the command in the slightest. I’d seen her eyes. She still blamed herself for the Orion. She was ready to sacrifice everything if it meant getting these supplies into the gates.
“Arun, don’t!” Ricky yelled.
“Take care of each other!” Arun yelled.
Arun’s predator slammed into the front line of Legion’s infected like a rocket. I couldn’t see much since we had the view of sawg butts in front of us, but one second she was there, the next her predator was swarming with infected both under and on top of the vehicle.
“No!” Elon and Ricky screamed. Stacy’s voice was somewhere in there as well. Hers was more of a roar of rage than a scream of sorrow.
The mass of infected beings struck the sawg next. Unlike the predator, Legion wasn’t able to take down the massive beasts.
The sawg created a lane for us, just like we thought they would. Bellowing their war cries, the sawg waded into the infected. They swung the tentacles coming from the sides of their mouths from side to side, sending infected humans and animals flying through the air.
Even the large rhino-like aliens had no chance. The sawg hammered into them, sending them reeling. Enormous sawg legs crushed anything that got in their way.
The next thing I knew, we were traveling through the opening created by the giant beasts.
Stacy opened fire first. Her weapon sounded nothing like our own or even the weapons the Rung used when they ambushed us. The sound the blood shot made was one of its own.
Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat
Her weapon discharged, sending metal cylinders into those Legion controlled. Although the sawg cleared a path for us, that lane was quickly closing as Legion sent in even more infected after us.
“We have to get her,” Ricky screamed over the comms. “We can’t leave Arun out here.”
A moment later, I was within firing distance of the infected. I aimed down the sights, pressing both thumb buttons as I locked on to a group of infected centipede creatures crawling toward us on a hundred tiny legs.
Dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat-dat
The blood shot went off, sending shockwaves through my arms and into my chest. If Arun wasn’t in trouble and the hour so dire, I would have enjoyed firing the weapon.
I was the first to admit I wasn’t the best with a blaster, but the weapon took away a lot of the guesswork. I tore into the centipedes without remorse. The steel bolts penetrated their thick hide, sending up a shower of gore and blood.
I tracked my rounds, keeping those infected dumb enough to come for me at bay.
I cleared one side then swung the blood shot over to the other and swept that side. We were making amazing progress amongst the bulk of the horde.
The sawg peeled off, going in their own direction away from the wall. Arun’s signal had gone down with her.
The defenders inside the Orion swung the gates open. A firing team led by Boss Creed and JB formed a line at the entrance to the wall and let loose on Legion with a hose of red blaster rounds.
We were going to make it. The entrance to the wall was less than a click away.
I knew he was going to do it before everyone else.
“Ricky! What are you doing?” Stacy yelled over the comms.
“I’m not going back without Arun!” Ricky yelled.
I looked up from firing on a group of infected that approached from our right flank. Ricky kept his predator on a direct line to where Arun’s had gone down. He never deviated to go for the safety of the wall for a moment.
“Cover him!” Stacy ordered.
I was already on it. Tong followed Ricky toward Arun’s downed predator without hesitation. Jezra circled Stacy’s predator around.
Arun’s predator was on its left side. A mound of infected scurried over it like a colony of ants over some kind of larger bug.
Stacy sprayed Arun’s predator with weapon fire.
I didn’t trust myself to shoot into the mess and not hit Arun by accident.
Tong pulled our predator beside Ricky’s as he struggled to get down out of the driver seat. Still wounded, he moved slowly.
“Rick!” I yelled, jumping down from my Blood Shot and running toward him. “Ricky, I’ll get her. I have a better shot.”
Ricky pulled away from me like a man possessed. He stumbled toward the downed predator. I grabbed on tighter, forcing him back toward the predator I had dismounted.
“Ricky!” I screamed into his face. I slammed my helmet into his to get him to focus on me. “Rick, trust me. I have a better shot of wading in there and getting her. Think about it. You cover me from the blood shot on the back of Tong’s predator. You’re the better shot. Be smart!”
“You bring her back!” Ricky yelled right back into my helmet. “You bring her back, Dean. You promise me!”
I didn’t know if she was even alive in there, but I knew what Ricky needed to hear if we were going to live through the next few minutes. Stacy and the rest of the survivors from the wall were doing a great job keeping the infected off us, but it wasn’t going to last forever.
“I’ll get her,” I said, shoving Ricky back toward Tong’s waiting predator. “Get the blood shot up and keep them off me!”
I didn’t wait for an answer. I waded into the infected around Arun’s upturned predator. There were bodies everywhere, both human and alien animals. Hands grabbed for me from infected pinned beneath the predator.
I shook them off and searched for any sign of Arun. All around me weapon fire erupted. Both red laser fire from those inside the colony as well as the blood shot’s rounds rained down on my position.
I heard the rhythmic dat-dat-dat of a second weapon. Ricky had gotten the other Blood Shot up. I had one shot of getting out of this alive, but I had to be quick. I couldn’t let myself get overrun.
Infected grabbed on to my helmet, arms, and legs as I searched for Arun in the mound of twisted metal and bodies. My movements were quick and violent. I struck out with brutal accuracy at Legion as it tried to bring me down.
Then she was in front of me. Arun was still strapped into her seat, unmoving, unresponsive.
“Arun!” I yelled as I felt a hand grab the back of my helmet, then something ripped the hand off a second later. I looked back to see Stacy behind creating a wall of rounds around me. That chick was nuts. She could have killed me. I might actually be in love.
“Arun, let’s go!” I shouted again, reaching in to unbuckle her strap and drag her from the predator. She didn’t move.
It wasn’t until I pulled her out that I saw the lenses in her helmet were both broken open. A mixture of blood and dark ooze fell from her sightless eyes.
I wasn’t a freaking doctor, but I didn’t have to be one to know Legion had infected her. If it was even possible to infect an Eternal. If Arun was even still alive.
I swung her body over my shoulder and made a run back to Ricky’s predator that now sat empty. Screams from Legion, roars from the infected, and shouts from our own survivors added to the mayhem around me. I focused on getting Arun into the passenger side of the predator and hopped into the driver’s side.
The predator roared to life under my directio
n. We headed for the safety of the Orion wall.
You’re going to be alright, you’re going to be alright, I repeated in my mind as Arun slumped forward in her seat.
All three remaining predators made it within the safety of the wall a minute later. The gates closed behind us. We’d made it, but at what cost?
Epilogue
Once we were inside the wall, Legion fled. Not the running-for-your-life kind of retreat, more of a regroup-and-rethink kind of retreat. That had me worried, but there were other more pressing things to consider at the moment.
Ricky and Elon, along with the others, attended to Arun. She was still breathing but just barely. Multiple fractures and a punctured lung would have been enough for her to bounce back from if she hadn’t been infected with the Legion virus.
They were all with her now, trying to figure out what she needed, how she could be helped if at all.
I found myself on the wall in the hours after our return to the Orion. I looked out over the dead bodies lying on the field of battle. The sawg were gone, but to where I had no idea. Maybe they traveled back to the mist land, maybe they decided to make a new home for themselves in the jungle.
I shuddered when I thought what an infected sawg would be able to achieve under Legion’s control. Those beasts were massive. It was difficult to comprehend how Legion would be able to overcome one of them no matter how great its numbers.
“I think they’ll return home,” Jezra said, reading my thoughts and joining me on the wall.
“What?” I asked.
“I think the sawg will make it back to the mist lands,” Jezra answered. “They are creatures of habit. I mean, that’s what you were thinking, right?”
“Yeah,” I said, shaking off the feeling the old bat could read my thoughts. “So you must feel like a fish in a glass bowl at the moment, huh?”
“Yes, Tong and I have received our fair share of stares,” Jezra answered, looking down the catwalk along the wall. A pair of suits who were staring at her immediately looked away. “It will take time for your kind to accept us, but they will.”