Hell Divers Series | Book 8 | King of the Wastes

by Smith, Nicholas Sansbury

  Everything out here could kill you if you weren’t careful. She didn’t even want to think about what those clacking mandibles would do if they caught up with her. And to be stung . . .

  But the insects were merely a distraction. What mattered more was the strong reading from Jo-Jo’s beacon.

  The creatures finally stopped their pursuit just as she came upon a clearing. The trees around the edge were shriveled in what appeared to be a dead zone.

  She switched off her NVGs and turned on her helmet light for a closer look. The beam went straight down into darkness. It explained why nothing grew in the clearing—there was no ground for anything to grow on.

  A hole had opened in the earth, and everything around it was dead—not a single tree, bush, or vine left alive.

  “Jo-Jo,” Ada whispered.

  She stepped up to where the monkey should be according to the tracking beacon.

  It occurred to Ada then: the monkey had gone below.

  What would drive you underground? Or did something take you?

  Ada looked over her shoulder to check for the huge ants, but they were all gone now, apparently spooked by the dead zone.

  Heart thumping, she stepped up to the edge of the crater and peered over the other side. The pit wasn’t too deep, maybe twenty feet.

  Ada slipped back into the trees for cover, trying to figure out a game plan.

  “Edgar, Magnolia, do you copy?” she whispered into her headset.

  White noise filled her helmet.

  She cursed and closed her eyes.

  You’re good. Jo-Jo is fine. You guys will get through this.

  But Ada wasn’t sure she believed her own little pep talk. Tendrils of dread wormed through her insides as she recalled the horror and loneliness of her exile into the wastes.

  You’re stronger than you were then, and Jo-Jo needs you.

  One thing was certain: Ada wasn’t going to leave her friend.

  She uncoiled a rope from her gear and tied it around a tree. Clipping it through her rappel device, she crouched over the hole and scanned it a second time with her light.

  Seeing the route was clear, she shut off the beams and started down. Seconds later, her boots hit the bottom. She brought up her rifle and turned her helmet back on.

  Three different passages led out of the crater. She set off down the likeliest one according to her HUD, but underground it was hard to tell.

  Her helmet beam swept over curved, ribbed walls that looked like the gut lining of some monstrous beast. The passage opened into a cavernous dirt chamber.

  Ada halted in midstride, eyes flitting over carcasses of various animals. Some were nothing more than bones and fur. Others were fresher kills.

  Her eyes locked on a black, furry mound.

  “Jo-Jo,” she whimpered.

  Ada ran to the body. Crouching down, she put her gloved hand on the cold, bloated flesh of a dead monkey.

  “No,” she sobbed.

  A whimper answered, and she raised her laser rifle at two big, shiny, black saucer eyes.

  “Jo-Jo . . .” Ada whispered.

  Lowering the rifle, she ran over to the corner of the chamber to find her friend hiding in a rocky alcove, shivering in fear.

  “It’s okay,” Ada said. She stroked the animal on the head and reached out to embrace her. Six months ago, Ada could practically cradle the monkey. Now the monkey could cradle her.

  “You’re okay,” she said. “We’re okay.”

  Ada looked over at the monkey body that she had mistaken for Jo-Jo. The question was, what had killed it along with everything else down here?

  “Come on, we have to go,” Ada whispered.

  She pulled on Jo-Jo, but Jo-Jo pulled back.

  Frustrated, Ada said, “Jo-Jo, move, now.”

  A shriek answered her raised voice, and she turned back in the direction from which she had entered the chamber. Her helmet beam flitted over the carcasses. That was when she saw the Sirens. Two of the hairless, eyeless creatures lay sprawled, their pale, leathery skin drawn tight over their limbs.

  Now Ada knew why Jo-Jo was so frightened.

  She had blundered or been pulled into the lair of a beast so terrible, it could kill and feed on Sirens.

  The shrieking resonated for a few seconds before fading back to silence.

  Ada took Jo-Jo gently by the hand.

  “Follow me,” she whispered.

  The monkey stood up, hesitantly at first, and started after her through the darkness, stepping around animal remains and crunching over dried insect shells. An ant the size of Miles lay with its back broken open and the meaty insides removed.

  She chose a different tunnel from the one she had come in. It twisted and snaked under the mutated jungle, taking her deeper and deeper below the surface.

  Stopping to check her minimap, she realized they were heading toward the canal—in the same area where the turtle-crab things had attacked.

  She also checked her HUD for the other beacons.

  Edgar and Magnolia were still online, and their heartbeats were escalated from fear or exertion.

  She wanted desperately to try contacting them again, but it was too risky.

  Keeping her rifle up, she moved down the passage with Jo-Jo right behind her, until a scratching sound stopped her short.

  Ada turned, but the noise didn’t seem to come from behind them.

  She crouched to listen, still unable to pinpoint it.

  A thump followed, shaking dirt from the ribbed ceiling. The noise grew louder, but it was seeing the two beacons on her HUD wink off that made Ada flinch.

  “Oh, no,” she groaned.

  Both Edgar and Magnolia were . . .

  Ada stared in horror at her HUD. No, her eyes weren’t playing tricks. Both divers were dead.

  Filled with dread, she listened. There was no time to contemplate the fate of her friends. A fiery orange glow came from the passage behind her.

  Another thump shook the floor beneath them, and again dirt sifted down from the ceiling as she sprang up to move with Jo-Jo. She flitted her light back and forth over the rocky footing, trying to spot anything that would trip her.

  The light grew brighter behind her, forming an orange halo in the tunnel.

  Then she heard it. A whipping sound, like a strong wind combined with a crackling or hissing. Almost as if something was burning.

  When the passageway widened, she risked a glance over her shoulder, unable to quite comprehend what appeared to be a humanoid figure that was on fire.

  Ada aimed her weapon at a waxy-looking skull with flaming eye sockets and a ruff of horns around the neck. Blackened skin sagged over thick, well-defined humanlike muscles. It staggered along on two feet, almost shuffling.

  Jo-Jo pulled on Ada, but she held her aim. There was no hiding from this abomination.

  Moving her finger to the trigger, she sighted up the flaming eyes and pulled the trigger. The laser cracked into the head, sheering off a burning piece of skull.

  Tight lips moved around the mouth, but the noise that came out wasn’t a shriek of pain or agony. It was a scream of anger.

  Jo-Jo pulled harder on Ada, and this time she didn’t resist.

  Nine

  “You’re going to be okay,” Sofia called out.

  Kade hung back with her and Gran Jefe while two medics worked on Arlo on the launch-bay deck.

  He was breathing but in bad shape, judging by the sheer volume of blood on his armor and suit. He had lost a lot in the air. The medics had removed his armor and were inspecting the terrible gash and open fracture in his arm.

  Sofia bent down. “Come on, Arlo,” she said quietly. “Pull through. I know you can.”

  Kade looked on, wishing he could do something to help. Sofia and Arlo had dived on the mission that
saved his people from the machine camp at Mount Kilimanjaro. Sofia was a kind, strong woman who had recently given birth to the child of a man Kade had never met but had heard many stories about—the famous General Rhino.

  While he was still learning about their past, the fact that Sofia was still diving after giving birth six months ago showed her dedication to the society they were rebuilding.

  It was the same reason Kade had dived when he was a father. Not just for the extra rations it put on the table for his wife and their sons, but because it kept the ITC Victory in the air—right up until the day they were blown out of the sky.

  The launch-bay doors hissed open, and Captain Rolo stormed inside. His white uniform perfectly matched his thinning hair and beard. He had changed dramatically since that fateful day. Once a proud, strong man with a commanding physique, he now walked with a slight limp and slumped shoulders.

  “What the hell happened down there?” Rolo growled.

  His booming, angry voice was one thing that hadn’t changed over the years.

  “We’re not sure yet, sir,” Kade said. “Arlo’s unconscious.”

  “He’s the only diver who made it back?”

  “Aye.”

  Rolo shook his head. “I feared this would happen, but Magnolia insisted on—”

  “I think he’s coming to,” said Sofia.

  She slapped Arlo on the cheeks.

  “Despiértate, amigo, come on,” she said. “Wake up.”

  Arlo fluttered his eyelids and looked around as if trying to focus. He let out a grunt and tried to sit up, wincing in pain.

  “Take it easy,” said one of the medics.

  “What happened?” Arlo muttered. “How’d I get back here?”

  “We were hoping you could tell us,” Sofia said.

  He blinked and looked at her as if he was trying to remember something.

  “Where’s . . .” He looked around him in the launch bay. “Where’s the rest of my team?”

  “You’re it,” Kade said. “The only one that came back.”

  “Arlo,” Sofia said softly. She put a hand on his chest. He looked down at her hand, then at the bandage the medics were wrapping around his arm.

  He groaned in pain.

  Kade hunched down in front of Arlo, wanting to see the wound up close. The gash had a nasty orange color around the openings and already looked infected.

  “Can you continue this convo in the medical bay?” asked the lead medic. “He needs stitches and antibiotics, pronto.”

  “Hold on,” Rolo said, holding up a hand. “Do you remember anything?” he asked. “Anything that could tell us what happened to the other divers.”

  Arlo closed his eyelids, his lips quivering. “I remember landing at the canal and feeling this tremor through my boots . . . There were some kind of turtle things,” he continued. “They came out of the ground and attacked us.”

  “What happened to the other divers?”

  Arlo slowly wagged his head, his long locks swinging out with each shake. “I . . . I can’t remember. I’m sorry . . .”

  “It’s okay,” Sofia said. “We’ll find them.”

  She looked to Captain Rolo.

  “We’re ready to deploy,” she said. “Just give us the word, Captain.”

  Rolo appeared to consider it as the medics carried Arlo away on a stretcher. When he had left the launch bay, Rolo shook his head.

  “We can’t risk it,” he said. “We have no idea if the other divers are already dead. If they are, I don’t want to risk the rest of you.”

  “But what if they’re alive?” Kade asked.

  “Buckley’s chance of that,” Rolo said.

  “What’s that mean?” Sofia asked.

  “It means chances are slim and none.”

  “Then you don’t know Magnolia.” Sofia sounded confident.

  “I know that a lot of hard-to-kill divers never came back from missions in yellow zones, let alone red zones,” Rolo said. He eyed Kade. “And he knows it, too.”

  “Aye,” Kade said. He had many memories of dives where the strongest and fastest of his teammates never made it back up to the airship. He was one of the lucky ones, and not because he was the best.

  Sofia walked over to her launch tube. “We’re not leaving them down there, Captain.”

  “Yeah, we didn’t come to sit on our asses,” Gran Jefe said.

  The man with a massive head and impossibly wide shoulders lumbered over in his custom armor. He pulled a hatchet from his duty belt. Tapping the hammer face against his palm, he said, “The tortuga Arlo spoke of. Tastes good. Muy sabroso, like dolphin.”

  “You’re sick,” Sofia said.

  Rolo glared at Gran Jefe as if he were psychotic.

  “The answer is no,” the captain said. “You’re all staying put, and we will wait to see if anyone else comes back. Got it?”

  When Sofia didn’t respond, Rolo walked over to her.

  “Do you understand?” he asked firmly.

  “Yes, sir,” she snapped back.

  Rolo held her gaze. “Good.”

  On the way out of the room, he stopped at the weapons crate. He pulled a silver chain out from his collar and took it off. A key hung off the chain. Bending down, he used it to lock the crate.

  “Seriously?” Sofia said.

  “Don’t make me send the militia in here.”

  The captain went to Kade next.

  “Keep an eye on these wank . . .” Rolo looked over Kade’s shoulder. “This bunch of drongos. They seem to have a death wish.”

  “They’re just worried about their comrades, sir,” Kade said.

  “This is what happens in red zones. They should know this.”

  Rolo left the room, leaving Kade alone with Sofia and Gran Jefe. They were both staring at him.

  “He’s an asshole,” Sofia said. “No offense, Kade.”

  “We call them bastards,” he replied.

  “So, you gonna try and stop us?” Sofia asked as soon as the doors closed. “Because I’m not going to leave my friends down there.”

  Kade scratched at the perpetual five-o’clock shadow on his square jaw. “Captain Rolo trusts me and always has. If I help you, I break a trust built over decades.”

  “I get that, but there are divers on the surface that need our help,” Sofia said.

  “If they are alive,” Kade said.

  He walked over to the weapons crate.

  “What are you doing?” Sofia asked.

  “Lock the doors,” Kade said. “And let’s get on with it, then.”

  Sofia took off, and Gran Jefe grinned, showing off his sharpened teeth.

  “You bad man, Cowboy Kade,” he said. “Muy malo.”

  Kade bent down to the crate and unlocked it with his own key, which Captain Rolo had given him when he boarded.

  Inside were the laser rifles from the ITC Ranger, as well as assault rifles, grenades, and other explosives.

  Gran Jefe reached down and grabbed an assault rifle with a grenade launcher attachment. He then pulled out a bandolier of grenades.

  “We need these,” he grunted.

  Sofia came running back from the doors. By the time she got to the crate and pulled a weapon, the pounding started.

  “Hey!” shouted one of the guards. “Open up!”

  Kade put on his helmet and finished securing his gear.

  “You ready?” Sofia asked.

  “I’m not here to fuck spiders,” he said.

  “¿Qué?” Gran Jefe said.

  “It means let’s get on with it,” Kade said. “Old saying my dad used.”

  The PA system crackled through the space.

  “Kade, what the hell are you doing?”

  It was Captain Rolo, and there was anger and shock in his
voice, reminiscent of the day the machines lured them to Tanzania.

  “We’re searching for Team Raptor,” Kade replied over his headset.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Rolo said. “I’ve locked the launch tubes.”

  Sofia had already moved past them and was standing in front of the wide hatch that they often used to bring in supplies—something the captain had clearly forgotten about.

  Suited up, with their weapons loaded, the three divers lined up at the hatch.

  “Ready?” Kade asked.

  “I’m not here to fuck spiders, either,” Sofia said.

  Gran Jefe pumped his hips and laughed.

  Sofia hit the launch-door button, prompting a siren and red lights throughout the room.

  “Fair go, Kade,” Captain Rolo said. “I’m warning you.”

  In his mind, Kade was being reasonable. For his entire career as a diver and then at the machine camp, he had followed the captain’s rules and orders. It had kept them alive, but it had also gotten several of their comrades killed.

  He blocked out those memories, keeping them in the past where they belonged.

  “We dive, para que la humanidad sobreviva,” Gran Jefe said in broken English.

  He was the first up to the edge. It was his first dive into the wastes, but the Cazador warrior didn’t hesitate. He walked right out, falling into the darkness.

  Sofia leaped into the storm next.

  “Sorry, Captain,” Kade said. “But we can’t sit around idly like we did back at the camp. We have a second chance, and it’s time to extend that to the people that saved us.”

  Arching his back, he jumped into the darkness.

  Kade thought back to the dive that Captain Rolo had sent him and his comrade Johnny on when they arrived at the source of the beacon at Mount Kilimanjaro. It was a day of hope—a day that all the passengers on the ITC Victory had waited their entire lives for—a day that they could set down.

  But that day was not to be.

  Kade owed it to the divers who had made the journey across the sea to save what remained of his people. He was diving for them now. He was diving so humanity would survive.

  He speared through the darkness, hands to his sides, his body an arrow of muscle and grit. The laser rifle strapped to his chest clanked against the armor covering his dead heart—a heart that, on that fateful day, had lost everything he held dear.