by Craig Allen
You wish them to go as well?
“Nobody gets left behind,” Deveau said.
Cody’s suit detected magnetic activity as the fliers spoke to each other. They turned to Deveau and gave a collective nod.
“Great, let’s—”
A rumble echoed down the hall. The creatures in the hall scurried around. The rumble came again. Sonja darted toward the passage leading out of the chamber that held the Kali. “Sir, it sounds like they’re shooting their way through.”
“Time to leave,” Deveau said. “We—shit.”
The mantis and blob creatures charged for them. Bodin and Sonja raised their rifles.
“Wait!” Cody waved his hands at them. “They’re just running away.”
“Stand down,” Deveau said. “And step aside.”
They stepped aside as the creatures passed, rushing straight for the upward opening. They pushed each other aside, fighting to get out first. In less than a minute, the few dozen or so creatures had fled through the opening. The beetles followed closely. Only the fliers remained behind with the group.
“I guess they think it’s every man for himself,” Bodin said. “So to speak.”
A muffled whump carried through the corridors and into the main chamber.
“We’re out of here,” Deveau said. “Bodin and I take point. Monroe and Salyard are on the drag end, but leave a surprise for our toad friends first. Doc, you and the fliers are in the middle. You’re handling communication.”
Everyone, including the fliers, nodded.
Bodin and Deveau walked up the roof of the ship. The fliers went next, with Cody behind them. Sonja and Anne brought up the rear. Partway into the tunnel, Sonja spoke over the comm. “We should pick up the pace before they get here.”
“Understood.” Deveau entered the opening above the ship. “Leave another surprise in the tunnel, too. I want to make a lot of trouble for these guys.”
The fliers inched along the tunnel ahead of Cody. The tunnel was large, but they still had to keep their wings close to their bodies as they hopped up the shaft. Cody detected sporadic magnetic activity—probably the equivalent of talking quietly. The shaft inclined upward a good twenty degrees. Cody stumbled in the steep shaft. A flier stopped, turned, and held out its wing. He grabbed hold of it, and the flier pulled him up.
“Thanks.”
The flier dipped its head in a nod and then turned forward again.
“We mined the shaft, too,” Sonja said. “Hope we’re not going back.”
“We’re not,” Deveau said.
“Wonder what this shaft is for,” Anne said. “Seems kind of convenient.”
“It’s not very long, either,” Deveau said. “I see the entrance about twenty meters ahead.”
Light filtered in from above. The shaft was straight, but not comfortably wide enough for the fliers. It must’ve been designed for something else.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Deveau said. “There’s a straight drop-off here. It’s… shit.”
The rapid report of gunfire erupted over the comm set. The fliers crouched as low as they could, as if they’d heard gunshots before.
Deveau’s optic showed four toads on the ground. They’d set up a gun emplacement of some kind and were firing on the opening. Deveau ducked back in a second later.
“Fuck this.” Deveau twisted the safety off on another grenade. He took a quick peek out of the tunnel. Gunfire erupted but missed him. Deveau lobbed the grenade out of the opening. A few seconds later, the explosion echoed through the tunnel. Deveau stuck his head outside. His optic showed a crater where the gun emplacement, and the toads, used to be.
“We’re clear,” Deveau said. “We have to climb down. Be careful.”
“It’s a long fucking drop,” Bodin said.
Cody pulled up Bodin’s optic. It was a good eighty meters down.
“No choice, Sergeant,” Deveau said. “We—hey!”
Cody switched back to Deveau’s optic. One minute, he could see the edge of the tunnel. The next moment, the ground rushed up on him.
“Major!” Sonja pushed past Cody. “Christ, what the fuck just happened?”
“Wait, wait,” Cody said. “Look.”
Deveau fell, but the ground should have come up a lot more quickly than that. Instead, he drifted to the ground as if held aloft by a parachute.
“Oh, fuck,” Bodin said. “Not me, too.”
Cody pulled up Bodin’s optic as he took to the air.
“The fliers are carrying them,” Cody said. “Get ready.”
“Oh, I hate flying,” Anne said.
“You’re a space marine, Private,” Sonja said. “You fly between worlds.”
“That’s different, Gunny.” She pointed down. “You can’t see the ground.”
“It’s just like an orbital drop,” Sonja said. “Right, Doc?”
The flier in front of Cody didn’t bother to ask permission. He simply pushed Cody forward and out of the tunnel. A second later, the flier caught Cody by the shoulders and carried him out of the tunnel. The yellow sky blinded him for a moment as he floated to the ground, but his eyes adjusted quickly. He fell about as quickly as he would have during a drop.
The flier set Cody atop a rise not far from the cliff face where they had emerged. Deveau stood nearby. No sooner had it released him than it beat its massive wings and took to the air once more. Sonja and Anne were close behind, hanging from the claws of fliers.
“Oh, fuck, not again.” Deveau’s voice sounded harsh as if something were in his throat. He coughed loudly, worse than before. “We got bats.”
From the east, the bats approached. They flew a hundred meters off the ground, heading straight toward Cody’s group.
“That’s what the tunnel was for,” Cody said. “The bats.”
Anne landed next to Cody. As soon as the flier released her, it took to the air. Without hesitating, she grabbed hold of Cody and pushed him behind the small rise.
“Here they come.” Deveau pointed his rifle in the air. “Watch out for the fliers.”
Sonja landed last and then ran for the rise. She barely made it before Deveau and Bodin rattled off coil rounds into the approaching swarm of bat creatures. Anne and Sonja joined soon after. Cody pulled his coil pistol and fired. Three of them fell, but Cody couldn’t determine whether he had taken any down. The rest broke formation, flying in a zigzag pattern. In the thick air, maneuvering was as simple for them as walking was for a human. And it made them harder to hit.
“They’re dodging us,” Bodin said. “Shit. They’re learning how to avoid gunfire.”
“We can’t take them all,” Anne said.
“Maybe we won’t have to,” Cody said.
From the west, the fliers raced directly for the bat creatures, flying in wedge formations. Everyone ceased fire as the two species clashed above, chasing each other down like planes in an old-fashioned dogfight. At first, it was a stalemate, but then a bat fell from the sky. Another followed, and then another. More fliers appeared and joined the battle. The bats soon found themselves massively outmatched as the fliers took them out one at a time. As deadly as the bats were, the fliers truly owned the air. But even the fliers weren’t perfect.
One bat creature spun in midair and seized a flier by the wing. The flier screeched as it spiraled downward with its opponent. The flier jutted its beak and spewed digestive fluid all over the bat creature. The acid sizzled as it ate through the bat’s flesh. It released its grip on the flier and tried to get away. Instead, it spiraled and crashed. Bodin finished it off with a rattle of gunfire.
The flier, now freed, struggled to gain altitude with a broken wing. It continued to spin, falling instead of rising. It managed to avoid a complete crash landing and slid across the ground, tumbling end over end, but still alive. The bat creatures dove toward the wounded flier.
“Cover me.” Anne leaped from behind the rise and charged forward.
“Goddamn it, Private.” Deveau fired into th
e approaching bats, taking one down. He turned to everyone else. “Well, cover her.”
Anne reached the flier in seconds. She took up position and opened up on the descending bat creatures. Panic ensued, and the bats struggled to reverse their courses and head away from Anne. Coil gun rounds, from Anne and the others on the rise, chopped the bats to pieces. The wounded flier scooted toward the rise as best as it could. Anne adjusted her position accordingly. None of the bats got very close.
The remaining bats seemed to assess the tactical situation, then turned tail and fled east. Fliers managed to vomit their digestive acid onto the fleeing bats. The bats flew a few meters before falling from the sky. Many burst open on impact. The rest of the bats did their best to escape.
“Did we do it?” Cody asked. “Did we win?”
“Not yet.” Sonja pointed to the cliff face.
Cody zoomed in on his suit’s HUD. From the east side, more toads appeared. Cody’s HUD highlighted the outline of rifles.
Anne put herself between the wounded flier and the toads. She opened fire, cutting into the toads and the nearby hillside that hid the Kali. They scurried back behind the hill. Anne fired a few shots into it as a warning.
“Salyard, heads up,” Bodin said. “You got buzzards incoming for medevac.”
Two fliers glided toward their wounded comrade. Anne stepped aside, firing occasional bursts into the hillside every time the toads tried to show themselves. The fliers slowed briefly, grasping the fallen flier at the base of its wings. They launched themselves into the air, heading west with the rest of the fliers.
Something whizzed past Cody’s head. His HUD tracked the path of the coil gun rounds coming from toads stationed around the hillside. More of them appeared and fired on the crew, holding coil rifles with their central arm that jutted from their back. Sonja returned fire, cutting one of them in two.
Anne maintained her rate of fire. Her suit broadcast her voice while suppressing the hypersonic cracks from her rifle. “Major, blow it.”
Deveau sent a barrage of bullets toward the toads. “Get your ass back here, and I will.”
Anne turned and charged for the hill, firing a few more rounds behind her. They bounced erratically off the hillside. The toads charged.
“Hope we’re far enough away.” Deveau held up hand. “Big fucking fire in the hole.”
He tapped the controls at his wrist. At first, nothing happened. Cody had a split-second fear that they had failed before the blast lifted the top half of the hillside. It hovered for less than a second then collapsed inward. The shockwave came next. It split the mountain apart as it caved in on itself. The noise followed shortly after.
From behind the small rise, Cody’s suit sensors registered the massive shockwave. Its dampeners blocked out much of the high-decibel blast. A wave of air rushed over him. Bits of debris rained down on him, but most of the bigger chunks missed the crew. Clods of dirt and debris bounced off his helmet, and he instinctively covered his head even though the transparent alloy would protect him from most minor debris.
After a few seconds, Cody risked a glance. Whether the toads had died or run off, Cody didn’t know. Nor did he care. They were nowhere in sight, which suited him.
“Doc…”
Cody peeked over the rise. Anne lay just near the top, staring up at him.
“Anne?” Cody scrambled over to her. “Anne, are you okay?”
She tried to smile as she looked up at him, her lips quivering. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words didn’t come. She seemed unable to catch her breath.
“Anne, what—”
Cody froze. In her right hand, she held a cherry. The red light at the top of the grenade flickered, indicating it was hot.
Finally, Anne did manage to smile. Blood poured from the corners of her mouth. Behind her, a bat creature enveloped her lower half. Before Cody could reach for her, the bat creature launched into the air, carrying her—and the grenade—with it.
~~~
Cody’s form disappeared beneath her. The impact gel in Anne’s enviro-suit kept the sharp teeth of the bat from completely cutting her in two, at least for the moment. The ground was so far below. She couldn’t catch her breath to save her life, which was well beyond saving. That didn’t matter any longer. It was too bad. Gunny liked him. She could tell. If only…
Her back snapped as the creature pulled her inside itself. There was a split second of pain, and then everything below her chest went numb.
Anne released the button, and the holographic spiral above the fusion grenade shrank. She struggled to hold on to it as the three-dimensional indicator spiraled downward. When the light disappeared, so would she, along with this goddamned bat-shaped mother—
~~~
Cody’s helmet polarized against the blinding flash. The shockwave rolled over him, but he didn’t react. When the flash disappeared, there was no evidence of either the bat or Anne. Nothing but empty sky. All that was left of her were atoms.
“Cody,” Sonja said. “We have to go before they come back.”
Cody turned. “Shouldn’t we—”
“Let’s go, Doc.” Bodin stared at the place in the sky where Anne had been. “Survive now. Mourn later.”
Sonja put an arm around Cody’s shoulders. He let her guide him down the rise.
She was so young.
Sonja squeezed his shoulder. “Sergeant is right. Mourn later.”
At the base of the hill, the beetles waited and converged on Deveau, bouncing up and down when he approached. He simply stared at them for a moment before pressing on without a word.
Chapter Eight
Rallying at the patrol base was no longer an option. The toads had ransacked what little was there. They then broke into groups of five and searched in circular patterns away from the base. At least one in every group carried a coil gun.
The group spent the next few hours running. Their camo helped, but was ineffective if the toads came too close. When the sensors on their suits detected a toad patrol, the group changed course. Cody zoomed in on one group he’d spotted in the distance. His HUD recognized and highlighted the gun held by one toad. The suit identified it as a modified version of a coil rifle designed a decade before.
“Don’t look right,” Bodin said, examining the analysis of the toads’ coil rifles. “Barrel’s too short. Coolant coils don’t look right, either.”
Sonja nodded in response. “Bet they overheat all the time.”
“It doesn’t make sense.” Deveau coughed several times. It didn’t sound good. “The factory contains the plans for building coil guns. Why didn’t they follow that?”
“Maybe the plans were damaged,” Cody said.
“Don’t think so.” Deveau shook his head and blinked as he shook off a sneeze. “They got more right than wrong. It’s almost like they were just designed badly.”
Sonja took point as they marched single file, each keeping an eye on a specific sector. They continued west, walking along the tops of the ridges that lined the hills. “Ravines are nice places for ambushes,” Bodin had said. Cody didn’t question it. He didn’t care at that moment. So much death. This world bathed in it.
After a while, the toad patrols disappeared, but it didn’t stop Cody from keeping an eye out for any black shapes darting in and out of the clouds or anything approaching on the ground. The beetles kept up with ease, continuing their complex perimeter sweeps around the group.
“We need to rendezvous with the fliers somehow. I’m not—” Deveau went into a coughing fit. “Goddamn it, I think it’s getting worse.”
“What’s your suit say, Major?” Sonja asked.
“Just that it’s an unknown infection,” Deveau said. “I don’t know why the nanos can’t nail it down.”
“Give it time, sir,” Bodin said. “I had a bug on an outer world a while back. Took the nanos in my power armor three days to kill it.”
Cody stopped, throwing his hands in the air. “I don’t get it. We l
ost Commander Wallace, Jim, and now Anne. Not to mention all those poor people on the ship.” He thought twice about what he said next, but he couldn’t keep it in. “I know you’re not heartless, but it sure seems like it.”
“I am heartless,” Bodin said. “At least I am right now.” He pointed at his chest. “I got ’em all locked up in here. I hid the key away, and I don’t even reach for it. When I’m out of here, when I’m safe, I’ll unlock it.” He shook his head. “I ain’t ever gonna forget any of ’em.”
Cody stared at Bodin. He regretted everything he’d said, but he didn’t have the courage to admit it.
“Contact,” Deveau said. He coughed. “See it?”
“Yes, sir,” Sonja said. “Shit, it’s on our flank.”
Cody’s motion detectors picked up an object approaching at high speed, moving along the ravine behind them.
“It’s got elevation,” Bodin said. “Hope it ain’t a bat.”
“It’s not a bat.” Sonja pointed.
It glided through the ravine, easily maintaining its altitude. But its silhouette didn’t have the continuous wing of a bat creature. It was a flier, and there were others close by.
Cody shut off his camo field. The others did the same. The fliers altered course and pumped their wings, gaining altitude quickly. Cody could make out the reddish haze across their bodies as they glided directly toward the group’s position. At the last moment, they flapped their massive wings to level themselves with the hilltop. The fliers came to a halt not five meters behind them.
“Hello,” Cody said.
The flier nodded briefly, hobbling forward. It held up a viewer in the claw of its central arm.
We take you to our home in the sky where we will be safe even from Provider’s people.
“Hell, I hope so,” Bodin said.
~~~
The flight terrified Cody at first, but only at first. The fliers flew in formation not unlike that of geese, probably to reduce wind resistance. Periodically, the lead flier switched with another. Cody’s altimeter registered about five thousand meters above the ground at the highest point. Once they hit the higher altitudes, the high winds carried the fliers at terrific speeds. Their strength and endurance amazed him. Every hour or so, they traded off, passing their loads to another flier. Every time they did, Cody was certain the fliers would drop him, but they handled the humans like newborn babies.