by J. N. Chaney
“You’re lying,” Stacy said, leaving the cover of the corner. She walked out into full view of the Legion horde. “You’re stalling for more time.”
“Maybe I am stalling, but that means nothing.” The Rung lifted her head into the air and laughed. “Your fate is set. I actually have you to thank for waking me from my hibernation. When the Orion crashed, you gave me so many hosts to use and spread. You brought all of this about.”
“You were just biding your time until the Rung and Remboshi came out of hiding,” I said, refusing to let Legion put the blame on our shoulders. I wouldn’t let that leech get to me. “You would have consumed them and then used the craft to travel off-world to another and another and another after that.”
“Ahhh,” Legion’s host said, giving me a wide smile. “Dean Slade, you are more perceptive than you seem.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?” I asked, looking to Stacy for answers.
She shrugged and held one palm up in an uncommitted gesture. “Maybe you just have one of those faces.” We refocused on the host as Legion spoke through her once again.
“So, you know of my plan to take the Rung craft beyond the stars?” Legion asked with a sigh. “It will take some work. Their craft is not yet capable of such a trip, but in time, I will succeed. Once I infect those Eternals of yours and am able to use the Cognitive you call Iris, I should have more than enough information to then turn my conquest to the galaxy. Amazing what we can do when we all work together.” It was as if, in this parasite’s mind, we and the Rung had engineered everything to benefit Legion. It was truly a parasite, a freeloader, in the ultimate sense of the term.
“It’s not going to happen,” Stacy said. “We’re not going to let that happen.”
“It’s too late.” Legion scratched at the underside of its chin. “The fundamental flaw of any species is the inability to work with one another. You, the Rung, and the Remboshi banded together too late. The reason I will succeed is because I am of one mind, of one single need. You couldn’t learn to work with one another, and like I said, now that you have, your window of opportunity has passed.”
Memories of what Jezra said to me of her prophecy, of Lou and his faith, ran through my mind like lightning.
“You’re wrong,” I said, feeling something like anger mixed with conviction rise in my chest. It was time we put this plague in its place. If I could, I was going to give it something to think about. “I’m going to stop you. That’s why I’m here. That’s why all of this had to happen. I’m going to burn you, and my face will be the last thing you see.”
“We will see,” Legion said with a dismissive hand wave to me. “Now go waste your time somewhere else. I need to focus my concentration on bringing down the Orion and infecting everyone in the camp.”
My hands clenched around the Dragon’s Breath I held in my palms as a trickle of nervous, angry sweat ran down my spine, chilling quickly and sending goosebumps to my limbs. More than anything, I wanted to lay into him right there. It would be so easy to squeeze the trigger a half dozen times and turn him into a pile of meat, but that would only kill the one host.
“Soon enough,” Stacy said, placing a hand on my arm. “Soon enough.”
I retreated with Stacy back around the corner and to our forces down the hall.
“Did you mean that back there?” Stacy asked.
“Mean what?” I asked.
“Did you mean that you believe this all happened for a reason?” Stacy asked me with hesitation in her voice. “I thought you didn’t buy into all that mumbo jumbo fate talk.”
I lifted my right hand to the medallion that hung around my neck. I remembered what my dying wife said to me. I remembered the events that took me to this planet and had led to this point. It was hard to explain everything with any degree of rationality. Maybe something else was driving the events that had brought us here.
“I guess I’m starting to,” I answered as honestly as possible. “Maybe Jezra and…and Lou were onto something.” Before I could get into it further, we were interrupted by John.
“Well, the madman’s done it,” John said, coming up to us and throwing a thumb back toward the way he came. “He’s created something, all right.”
I followed John’s line of sight to where the Rung shone their lights down on the ground near where Maksim worked. They had used the inside of a Rung chest plate as a housing for the many smaller bombs the Rung carried. Stuffed into the breast plate were a variety of smaller scrap pieces of metal, knives, screws, and anything else that had been scrounged.
“The smaller explosives will work as a catalyst to ignite one another and send the shrapnel ripping through Legion’s ranks,” Maksim said, looking up from his spot on the floor. “How many of the infected are there?”
“A thousand, maybe more,” I said. “We’ll have to set this thing off and then it’s still going to be a fight to get to the doors.”
“We’ll make it,” Dama said in a hard voice. “We’ll make it, if for no other reason than because we have to.”
16
“You sure you can hit this?” I asked Sulk as I carried the explosive device to the corner of the hall. “I’m going to heave it as far as I can.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll hit it,” Sulk said with confidence, taking a knee as he positioned his rifle around the corner. “Throw it high.”
The explosive felt heavy in my hands. It had to weigh a good thirty pounds. Between the small explosive devices and the added shrapnel, it wasn’t going to be an easy feat tossing this thing for distance.
John came over to me, motioning for the bomb.
“We’ll throw it further together,” John said, taking one side of the weapon.
Stacy, Dama, Tong, and the remaining Rung that were still able to fight stood, ready to sprint forward. Our plan was simple enough. Throw the bomb. Sulk would shoot it to detonate the charges. We then would run like hell to the armory doors before Legion could recover.
The idea was nothing fancy, but anyone who has ever been in a stressful situation understands things rarely go to plan. There were a number of things that we hadn’t thought of that could go horribly wrong, but like I mentioned before, our options were pretty limited.
“We throw this and we get behind cover,” I told John. “On three.”
We started to swing the bomb between us, counting each swing as we did.
Legion, for his part, remained content to stand there staring at us, like he was almost daring us to try and break through his lines.
“One, two, three!” I yelled in unison with John.
John and I sent the bomb sailing through the air. As soon as we let go, both of us dove for cover back around the corner.
The resounding boom was deafening. True to his word, Sulk had nailed the explosive, setting it off around the corner. I hoped we didn’t lose our hearing from the reverberation. We needed to be able to communicate.
John and I were just getting back to our feet as the others rushed forward. Our window of opportunity was already closing and we couldn’t afford that happening. With each passing second, Legion was getting his troops up and ready for a fight. And after this fight, we still needed to get home and check on the colonists.
I grabbed my Dragon’s Breath and followed at the rear of the line. In front of me, everything was smoky and dark. Once again, I was assaulted with the stench of so many bodies in a single room and now the acrid tang of the smoke. Although my helmet filtered out some, I still could smell it and taste it too.
Dama and Stacy, who were in the lead, were already discharging their weapons on Legion. Our plan was working for the time being. Our throw had been perfect. Sulk hit it right when it was over the center of their numbers.
Bodies were everywhere, some not moving and others trying to get their bearings. We were off like a shot, sprinting through the smoke. We bullied past most of them, firing at those who got too close. A sense of terror gripped at me as I saw the amount of destruct
ion the bomb had caused.
Not only that, we were willingly diving into their ranks, headed for the armory door. If they recovered sooner than we wanted them to, we would be trapped, and then what would we do?
John and I brought up the rear, firing on any of the infected who showed too much awareness. Hands grabbed for me. Those infected who carried weapons leveled blasters or swung their blades. Fortunately, their aim was wild as usual. I supposed that was a challenge for Legion, to fire in many directions accurately. It showed that his control was not absolute or at least coordinated.
“Hey, we’ve got to go now!” I yelled to those in the front.
“Almost there!” Dama yelled back. “The control panel is on the right side of the wall. Hurry!”
“Kill them!” Legion yelled in one voice as all the infected opened their throats. “Kill them all!”
What happened next was something I could only describe as mayhem. Our small group made it to the control panel, but Legion was pissed.
Dama worked frantically, putting in the code to allow us access to the armory hangar. It was a square device about chest high for the Rung. She placed her hand on the pad first then began to punch in a series of numbers.
“Dean!” Tong shouted in a panicked voice.
I looked back in time to see Tong enveloped by a wave of infected that looked like they were trying to tackle him to the ground.
I lashed out with the butt of my weapon, afraid I’d hit the Remboshi if I fired.
Stacy was beside me a moment later as we fought off the infected and lifted Tong to his feet.
“Tha-thanks,” Tong said, clearly shaken and taking in deep breaths.
“Thank me later,” I told him. “Fight now.”
What remained of our number formed a protective half circle around Dama as she worked on the door. While the explosive had worked wonders in clearing a path, there were still hundreds of infected pressing in on us.
I saw a Rung fall to my left with a blade stuck in his head, while another to my right was grabbed by the infected horde and pulled into their smelly ranks. The anguished scream he gave off was something I knew I would never be able to forget.
“Got it!” Dama yelled from our rear. “Don’t let them in the hangar!”
A grating mechanical sound vibrated through the floor under our feet. The massive hangar doors that had to be at least two stories tall began to slide open from the middle. First a slit and then an opening large enough to squeeze through appeared.
“Move to the doors!” Stacy screamed to us.
Legion let off a wail so loud, strident, and long, I winced, wanting to cover my ears. Some in our party scuffled to the door, firing, slashing, and striking out in the process.
Tong was limping from a wound to his leg. Dama’s helmet had been ripped off, and a wound had opened over her right eye, leaking blood down her face.
Maksim was the first to the opening doors. He disappeared inside the large room, much to my dismay. My gut twisted inside my stomach. If he closed the doors on us from the other side, it was all over. We were still keeping the infected at bay as we tried to get inside.
“Hurry, get in!” Stacy called out, seeing the same thing I did. “We have to get to him before he does anything stupid.”
I finally made it to the doors, where those who remained made a valiant last stand to try to keep the infected out.
The massive hangar doors that had been sliding open a second before grinded to a halt then began to turn the opposite way and close again.
Right now, there was an opening in the hangar doors about ten meters across. By the second, that opening was closing. We had to get over there fast.
“Inside, get inside!” Sulk yelled out.
We walked backward, putting ourselves inside the hangar while ensuring the infected stayed out, still slashing out at them with blades and me swinging my Skull Splitter. It was less about Legion using his troops to attack us now and more of a shoving match to keep the infected out of the hangar. It was becoming a bigger challenge each moment that passed.
There were now far too few of us to keep the infected out. Inch by inch, they pushed forward, forcing us to give way. If it weren’t for my armor, my body would have been a canvas of bruises and scrapes as they clawed their way into the hangar bay.
“We can’t hold them!” Sulk cried out, losing some of the confidence he usually exuded and beginning to sound defeated.
And I knew he was right. The doors were closing but much too slow. Eight meters and growing narrower. There wasn’t much we could do to keep them out. Already they had gained the threshold, and in seconds, they would be inside with us, able to either access the power armor or keep us from using it.
“Help me!” Maksim appeared out of the dark hangar room, struggling to carry a long metal sheet.
I had no idea where he’d gotten it from but immediately understood his plan as he maneuvered the barrier between us and the infected.
“Grab the metal sheet!” Stacy roared, also picking up on his plan. Together, the few of us that remained maneuvered the steel barrier between us and those that Legion controlled.
I shoved my shoulder against the metal, sweat pouring into my eyes.
I had a brief moment to look at Maksim, who also fought to keep the barrier in place, his face bloodied and bruised, his hands soaked in blood. He had come into the hangar to try and close the doors behind us. He came back with the metal barrier in an attempt to help. Perhaps he was changing from the subversive assassin he had been to a team player. I felt for the first time that he might actually be on our side.
My feet slid across the hangar bay as I struggled to find a solid hold on the floor beneath us. It was difficult, as the floor was smoothly constructed in a material that was made for vehicles to move on, not for traction for the armored boots I was wearing.
The doors narrowed the entryway into the room to a six-foot gap, then five. It looked like we might actually make it. There were only seven of us left on our side of the hangar, but we were going to do it. Against all odds, we were going to hold them back.
The gap closed to four feet.
“Hold them!” I yelled, trying to encourage the few of us that had survived. My muscles burned from my arms to my back and legs. I could only imagine how the others felt with far more injuries than I had sustained.
John let out a roar, more than likely from the pressure on his shoulder wound. There were grunts up and down our meager line of defenders.
“Almost there!” I yelled again, trying to do my best to spur them on to make their bodies give more than they ever had before.
Tong slipped on the blood-soaked floor and went down hard. He struggled to gain purchase on the ridiculously slippery surface.
“Get up, get back up!” I yelled. The hangar bay doors closed further. There couldn’t be more than a slim two-foot gap in place.
Then the worst sound I’d heard in a long time echoed into the room. The rhythmic clanking the hangar bay doors made when they were closing stopped. The doors shuddered then halted their progress altogether.
There was still a two-foot gap between the hangar bay doors, enough for a body to slide through.
“They’ve jammed the doors somehow!” Dama said over the shrieking of the infected. “Hold them!”
Dama took off at a run toward the side of the door and the control panel.
There were six of us still holding the door: Tong, Sulk, Stacy, John, Maksim, and me. It wasn’t easy, but six people holding a two-foot gap was much more manageable than one that was spread over eight feet.
I pressed my back into the steel plate, my feet anchored into the ground. For the first time, I got a look into the armor room. The same blue lights shone in the walls, giving off an ethereal glow to the place but not much visibility. I couldn’t make out details or see the power armor.
What I could tell was that the room was a massive chamber that went on further into the dark. The ceiling had to reach two maybe e
ven three stories tall.
“You thought I left you,” Maksim said to me on my left.
“I didn’t say that,” I grunted.
“But you thought it,” Maksim continued. “I told you. It’s us against Legion now. I will not let him get off this planet. I am on your side now, my brother.”
I saved my breath for breathing, not sure how to respond to him anyway. Sweat dripped down my face and my helmet was a heated, humid box. Back still pressed against the door, I pulled my helmet off. A cool, refreshing rush of wind greeted me.
“Dama!?” Stacy called out from the other side of the steel barrier where she stood between John and Tong. “What’s the holdup? Why won’t the door close?”
“There’s nothing wrong on this end,” Dama said frantically. “It’s Legion. Most likely, he was able to wedge something between the doors. I don’t know what. Weapons, steel. It doesn’t matter. The doors won’t close.”
I could see the defeat on the faces of those beside me. My mind raced for a plan. We couldn’t remain there, that was for sure. We had to do something and fast. We could hold them off for a few more minutes, but eventually Legion would outlast us and push through. We were so close to the armor, but with this one hurdle in our way, it was almost like we were back to square one.
“The power armor,” Sulk called out. “Dama, we need to get a power armor up and running.”
“Two,” Stacy corrected, looking over at Sulk. “You and Dama already know how they work. We’ll hold the door shut while you get the armor and hurry back.”
Sulk nodded then let go of his spot on the steel barrier. He and Dama disappeared into the darkness of the room a second later.
The five of us still on the steel sheet pressed even harder.
“I still don’t like you,” John said to Maksim, pressing his good shoulder and the side of his head against the steel sheet. “But you did good.”