Both tanks pulled under a warehouse wall that had fallen over some rubble, creating a foot-thick lean-to of reinforced concrete.
X knew exactly what the general had planned. They were going to take the beast out with their cannons when it came back around for another pass.
“Seal up!” Forge shouted.
This time X ducked into the vehicle, but before he pulled the hatch shut, he used his binos to zoom in on the beach. At least a hundred soldiers had made it there and were fleeing to the boats. Three of the APCs and two of the cargo trucks were thumping across the dirt and debris.
X didn’t breathe a sigh of relief, but seeing half the army almost back to safety gave him a measure of hope.
Closing the hatch, he moved up to the viewport and watched the monster circling.
“Wait until you get a clear shot,” X said.
“I’ve got this bastard right where I want him,” Slayer replied.
Bromista clutched his crossbow and spoke in Spanish.
“No,” Slayer said, shaking his head.
“Pero—”
“No.”
“What’s he asking, to go out there?” X asked.
“Sí, sí,” Bromista said, pointing.
“No,” X said.
He leaned back to Miles, who was barking. The dog wasn’t scared—he was angry. Either he wanted out, or he was mad at X.
Not that X blamed him.
He had brought the best warriors of the sky people and the Cazdores to this place, hoping for an easy victory to secure the canal, and now almost half of them were dead or injured. Factor in the loss of the Ocean Bull and their vehicles, and the future looked grim.
He shook away any hint of regret. They had no choice. If humankind wanted to survive, they had to expand, and they had to fight.
“Here it comes,” Slayer said.
X turned back to the viewports. Lightning illuminated the winged monstrosity sailing toward the destroyed city blocks.
A thump came from the tank next to them. The shell exploded against the creature’s side, blowing out a hunk.
Slayer fired a moment later, but the monster swerved upward, avoiding the shell as it flew off, screeching in rage.
X’s heart skipped at the thought of what it could do to the airship.
He opened a command line back to Rolo.
“Captain Rolo, that thing is heading your way, over,” X said.
There was no response other than static.
He prayed this was because they were in the storms now, hiding. Despite protests from Miles, who continued to bark and nip at his boots, X climbed back up into the hatch. He popped it open to search the skies with his binos.
“Where are you, you son of a bitch?” he muttered.
In the tank next to him, General Forge emerged in the turret, binos to his visor. He suddenly pointed toward the shoreline.
“Oh, shit,” X grumbled.
The beast had dived behind them, heading right for the Immortal, Raven’s Claw, and the Octopus.
A crackling sounded, and he looked over the edge of the tank as a pack of creatures swarmed into the warehouse.
X grabbed the machine gun and aimed it at the human-size crabs, turtles, or whatever the fuck they were. The rounds punched through the shells, and the creatures skidded on the ground, where they squirmed until X finished them off with shots to the head.
General Forge fired his machine gun at the skittering beasts, making quick work of them.
When they had finished, both men turned to the beach.
Tracer rounds and rockets streaked away from Raven’s Claw, pounding the monstrous wings and tearing holes in them. But the beast continued its bombing run, right toward the Octopus. The jaws opened and dumped three bright-green blobs.
“We have to do something,” X said.
Forge agreed with a stoic nod.
They aimed their machine guns and let fly with the rest of the ammunition, drawing the creature’s attention. With a screech, it rolled away from the ships.
X ducked back into the tank. “You’re up, Slayer.”
“I got this, King Xavier.”
“Might only get one more shot.”
“No offense, but please give me some room.” Slayer looked over his shoulder and X backed up.
“Right,” he said. “Sorry.”
Peering through the viewport, X watched it come closer, only seconds away. The flaps opened again, the glowing flesh pulsating.
Both tanks fired at almost the same moment.
One shell blew away the mouth. The other streaked right into the folds of flesh, bursting on impact.
A deafening shriek sounded, and X pushed back in his seat as the creature fought for altitude, swooping over them.
A sizzling noise filled his ears.
X popped open the hatch when he realized what was making the noise. The tank beside them was burning under the melting concrete slab, which had taken the brunt of the blast from above.
The concrete wasn’t the only thing melting. Metal dripped like candle wax as the light armor of the tank dissolved from the green sludge of the monster.
General Forge opened the turret and jumped out, hitting the ground as the top and right side of his helmet warped in the heat. X hopped out of his turret and down to the ground. Another massive explosion came as the creature slammed into the ruins of the city.
X crouched beside General Forge, who had collapsed in the dirt. He used his good hand to remove the hot armor plates, but it was too late for the right side of Forge’s face. The flesh sizzled all the way to the bone on his right cheek.
Slayer rushed over carrying a medical kit while Bromista stood guard with his crossbow.
“We have to get him in the tank,” X said. “Help me.”
“No,” Forge grunted. “Leave . . .”
“Not a chance, General,” X said. “This is going to hurt like hell, but we need you to live.”
* * * * *
The chatter on the comms got Magnolia’s heart rate up. Every passing second they were stuck on the ship, more Vanguard soldiers perished.
She crawled through a utility tunnel from the room Yejun had locked them inside. It was a narrow passage, and only Magnolia and Sofia were small enough to fit, but Magnolia had ordered Sofia to remain behind with the rest of Team Raptor.
It was too dangerous, and this was Magnolia’s fault. She had trusted Yejun.
You should have chipped him.
But putting a beacon on Yejun was not something anyone had thought about before the mission. As she crawled through the utility tunnel, she checked the beacons of Team Wrangler. Their finding Jo-Jo was good news, but for some reason, Kade had left the team underground and was on the surface.
She considered turning on the comm channel to see why but didn’t want to make any more noise.
After a few minutes of crawling, she found a grate. Looking down, she searched the deck below for any sign of the glowing beasts.
Carefully she pulled back the grate and lowered herself. Her boots hit the deck gently, making almost no noise.
Bringing up her rifle, she cleared the left side of the passage, then the right.
Keep moving, Mags . . .
She started back toward the freezer, looping through the passages with only one helmet light on. The beam speared through the darkness, over rusted hulls and ladders.
Magnolia stopped at an intersection to listen. Hearing nothing, she kept moving into a corridor where electrical wires hung down. The entire middle section of the overhead had collapsed outside the exit hatch, dumping the wire runs into the hallway, where they hung like vines. There were so many, they would be hard to get through.
She considered pulling out one of her sickle blades, then decided on an alternative route. A hatch opened t
o a ladder that went up a level, right outside the mess hall.
Magnolia stopped to listen again . . . Still nothing.
She shouldered her rifle and moved toward the mess hall. A quick sweep cleared the space, and she hurried to the hatch.
The pipe they had used to free the spin wheel was gone.
Magnolia let her rifle hang from the strap and tried twisting it.
After bumping on the comm channel, she tried Edgar.
“You guys okay?” she asked.
“Fine, and that glowing thing’s gone, far as I can tell,” Edgar replied. “Radiation spike went down, too.”
“Try going out that way, then. I’ll meet you topside.”
“Be careful, Commander.”
“Yeah, Edgar. You too.”
Magnolia hurried out of the mess hall and back to the ladder. She took it up a level, to the same passage with the electrical wires. The hatch to access the deck was right beyond.
Pulling out one of her sheathed blades, she started hacking her way through. Slicing copper wire was not easy, and she had to tease the thicker bundles apart, cutting only two or three strands at a time.
She was making slow but steady progress when a chirping caught her ear. Her eyes flitted to her HUD, which signaled a sudden spike in radiation. Next came a beeping from her wrist monitor and bioscanner.
The motion detector was picking up three contacts.
She double-checked the position of Team Raptor and was surprised to see they were already topside.
This was something, or someone, else.
Magnolia shut off her helmet beam and stared into darkness that gave way to a bright incandescent glow. Golden light flickered at the end of the corridor.
She turned back to the wires and cut through another section. The severed lengths fell to the deck as she worked toward the hatch, visible in the mysterious glow.
A loop of cable hooked Magnolia’s ankle, and she fell into a skein of wires.
Moving made it worse, and she became entangled just an arm’s reach from the hatch. She squirmed around onto her back, to face the source of the glow.
Two naked humanoid features staggered down the passage. Their skin looked hard and rough, like bark. Between the grooves, a yellow light pulsated, illuminating their naked bodies.
Magnolia stared for a moment, in equal parts astonishment and fascination.
But terror quickly got the upper hand, and she fought like a demon to free herself, using the curved blade to cut through several wires.
Around the corner came a third figure, stumbling like a possessed person. All three moaned and shuffled toward her. Bright yellow eyes burned in their orbits.
Magnolia struggled harder, trying to free herself.
“Help!” she said over the team channel. “I need help!”
“Hold on! I’m on my way,” Edgar replied.
The three glowing creatures reached for her with clawed hands. Their bodies pulsed with light, as if their hearts were sending luminous blood through their veins.
Hearing a clank above her, she glanced at her HUD. A fourth contact showed up on her minimap. It seemed to be directly above . . .
The ceiling panel suddenly gave way, and a person fell to the deck, gripping a sword. Rolling up to its feet, the shadowed figure thrust the blade into the chest of the first beast, right through the heart. The glowing flesh dimmed as the creature let out a ghastly shriek before slumping to the ground.
The sword wielder was slightly built but fast, and before Magnolia knew it, the blade went through the heart of the second humanoid creature.
Magnolia finally managed to extricate her left arm from the tangled cords, just as the two fatally injured creatures on the deck shriveled and flaked away into piles of ash.
The third beast screamed and ran toward the sword wielder, who met it head-on, stabbing deep into the monster’s glowing, pulsating chest.
Turning on her headlamp, Magnolia centered the beam on the swordsman.
“Yejun,” she mumbled.
The young man lowered the sword and backed away. Then he turned toward her, still holding the sword. He darted over, holding the blade up.
“No, not like this,” she said. “Please, not like . . .”
She closed her eyes as he swung.
The cords released her, and she fell to the deck. But there was no pain.
Opening one eye, she saw Yejun cutting through the rest of the wires. When she was completely free, he sheathed the sword and reached down, speaking quietly.
Footfalls came from the other end of the corridor.
Edgar, Arlo, and Sofia all approached with their weapons aimed at Yejun.
“Back! Get the fuck back!” Edgar shouted.
“Shoot him!” Arlo yelled. “What are you waiting for?”
“Wait!” Magnolia held up her hands. “Hold your fire!”
Sofia pushed her barrel up, but both men kept their weapons trained on Yejun.
“Everyone take a breath, I’m okay,” Magnolia said. She pushed herself up in front of the piles of ash and then looked at Yejun. He had trapped her again, and this time used them all as bait.
Yejun reached into his pocket, and Edgar leveled his blaster.
“No,” Magnolia said, stepping in front of the drawn weapons.
She eyed the tip of a scroll he had stuffed in his vest.
Slowly, Yejun pulled it out and handed it to her. Then he went over to the piles of ash and bent down in front of them.
Arlo pressed his wrist monitor. “The radiation spike is gone,” he said. “It must have been them all along.”
Magnolia tried to make sense of what she had just witnessed. These beasts weren’t like anything she had encountered in the wastes, and Yejun seemed to know them. He also knew how to kill them.
And right now it didn’t matter, she realized.
What mattered was getting the map and the Hell Divers safely back into the sky.
She opened a line to Team Wrangler.
Kade replied right away.
“Commander, I’m on the surface, watching a massive beast that flew out of the tunnels and headed toward the front lines,” he said. “We have Jo-Jo, but we can’t get into the air until that thing is dead.”
“We’ll come to you. Stand by.”
Magnolia tapped her wrist computer to study the map of the terrain between them and Team Wrangler.
Yejun spoke again, waving them forward.
The Hell Divers all stared at him and then looked to Magnolia for orders.
She definitely didn’t trust him, but she wasn’t going to kill him or leave him behind again. He had saved her life and given her the map.
“Let’s go,” she said.
Edgar and Arlo stayed close to Yejun, their rifles at his back as he passed the little piles of ash. He looked down at the piles, whispering something again.
“This is going to be one hell of a story once we get back home,” Arlo said.
“If we get back home,” Sofia said. “There’s still a war going on out there.”
Thirty-One
“It’s going to be okay, Jo-Jo.”
Ada stroked the thick hair on the animal’s head, just as she had when it was small. Fighting for survival together in the wastes had bonded them in a way that only King Xavier could understand. For some humans, an animal could be just as important as another human. And screw anyone who judges that.
She bent down and placed her helmet against Jo-Jo’s chest, listening to her heartbeat through the speakers. The strong thump-thump soothed Ada.
“I love you, and I’m so sorry,” she said. “I would never have left if . . .”
The monkey stirred, and Ada pulled away as it struggled to open one eye.
“I think she’s waking up,” Ada said quietly.
Tia and Gran Jefe hovered near the hill of dirt from the cave-in.
“How’s she doing?” Tia asked.
Jo-Jo groaned and closed her eye.
“She should be sleeping,” Gran Jefe said. “That was a strong dose—muy fuerte.”
Ada was still angry that he had shot Jo-Jo with the tranq dart, but she understood why. The creature had clearly been in shock when they discovered it in the pit.
Gran Jefe peered up the shaft. “Where . . . is the cowboy?” he asked.
“The commander said hold here until Team Raptor comes and we can figure out how to get back to the airship,” Tia said.
“Sí, pero hace mucho tiempo,” Gran Jefe said. “Long time ago. Maybe a monster ate him.”
“If you think that’s true, you don’t know Kade.”
“I want to get out of here, too, but orders are orders,” Ada said.
“Funny for you to say,” Gran Jefe said.
Ada raised a brow. While no one knew exactly why she was here, they knew that King X had conscripted her to serve for disobeying orders in the past.
Then again, she had disobeyed two jump orders now. She had put an entire team at risk to find Jo-Jo.
“You guys feel that?” Tia asked.
“Yeah—bombs,” Gran Jefe said. “My people is dying, I get sick of waiting down here like some pinche vago.”
He walked over to the rope. “I’m going up.”
Tia looked to Ada, but Ada wasn’t going to argue with Gran Jefe again. The guy was an asshole and wouldn’t listen anyway. She called the commander on the team channel.
“Kade, do you copy?” Ada asked over the comms.
Nothing.
Now she was starting to worry.
“Don’t leave us down here,” Tia said to Gran Jefe.
Ada felt a sudden vibration. She searched the walls with her beams.
Dirt crumbled down the side.
She raised Cricket for a scan. This one came back with something faint. The readings seemed to be coming from inside the walls and ground.
“Stay alert,” she said to Tia. “I think those crab things are tunneling around us.”
Tia brought up her rifle.
“Gran Jefe,” Ada said. “Gran Jefe, get back here.”
Hell Divers Series | Book 8 | King of the Wastes Page 40