Warriors

THIRTY-THREE

“We have to retreat!” Magnolia yelled.

Mac’s recon team fought their way around the silos, trying to escape. Several of his men laid down covering fire toward the machine guns on the tanker truck and a shipping container.

Magnolia had frozen during the ambush, but the adrenaline snapped her free of the shock.

She ran around a silo and fired off three bolts at the shipping container, peppering the side with glowing red-orange holes.

Ton and Victor ran over to help shield X. Bullets kicked up puffs of black ash, and one hit Ton’s shield, knocking him to the ground.

Rodger fired a burst at a silo and hit a skinwalker sniping at the fleeing Barracudas.

“Go, King Xavier!” Victor yelled. He helped pick up Ton, and the two men held their shields up as a protective wall.

“Move!” Magnolia shouted.

X ran with Ton and Victor while Magnolia took aim at another silo, where a new sniper had popped up. The rounds hit a Barracuda soldier standing next to Mac. Magnolia took the sniper down with a bolt, removing his leg at the knee.

They had set a perfect ambush, but how had they known?

She suppressed the burning question and took off after X. The only way to escape was back the way they had come in. Mac was already guiding the team that way.

X stopped at Felipe’s corpse and bent down despite Victor’s shouts to hurry. Magnolia felt X’s sorrow. The young Barracuda had fought with him and helped him kill Colonel Vargas, only to die here at the hands of even worse men.

She and Rodger caught up with X and his guards behind a wall. A helmet covered in what looked like bloody patches of skin emerged on an adjacent silo. She fired a bolt, and even through the blurry NVGs, she could see the top of the soldier’s head come off.

“Let’s go!” she shouted.

Ton and Victor held up their shields and darted with X between two silos as Rodger and Magnolia laid down another field of fire.

One of the enemy machine guns went silent, either to change ammo or because the gunner was out of action.

Four silos remained between X’s group and the relative safety of the shipping containers. Six Barracudas were already there, firing bursts downrange. Bullets whizzed past Magnolia, one actually grazing her leg armor.

She rounded a corner, taking cover with the others behind a silo. Bullets pounded the side she had just cleared. Mac ran toward them, waving his prosthetic hand.

Four skinwalkers darted into the corridor between Magnolia and X’s group and Mac. But instead of gunning the warrior down, the four men drew swords.

The old Barracuda did the same and charged.

Magnolia got up and ran after Ton and Victor, who were trying to keep up with X.

Bullets chased them, pinging off the silos and lancing into the dirt. She came up alongside X as he fired a flare at the four skinwalkers. It hit a man in the back, igniting the skin draped over his armor. Flailing and screaming, he burned.

Something hit Magnolia hard in the back, slamming her to the dirt.

“Mags!” Rodger yelled.

She looked up as X raised his spear arm and the captain’s sword. The three skinwalkers continued to slash and jab at Mac, who deflected their blows.

“Yo, fuck-face!” X yelled.

A skinwalker turned, brandishing his sword.

X slid, jabbing upward with his prosthetic spear. The blade crunched through the groin and deep into the abdominal cavity. He crumpled, and X got to his feet just as a skinwalker’s blade struck Mac’s prosthetic hand, breaking it in half like a twig.

Magnolia pushed herself up off the ground with Rodger’s help. He turned to fire at hostiles approaching on their six while Ton and Victor ran to help X.

But X didn’t need help. He jammed his spear through the helmet of the skinwalker who was about to finish Mac off with an axe. He tried to pull the spear out, but it was stuck in metal and bone.

The remaining skinwalker swung a cutlass, but X used the skewered man as a shield, turning him toward the blade. Mac grabbed the cutlass wielder by the shoulder and spun him around, then jammed a knife up under the man’s chin, through the hard palate and into the brain, with a crunch that Magnolia could hear.

“X!” she shouted.

He braced a foot against the skewered man’s head and finally yanked his bloody spear free.

“You hurt?” he asked.

She wasn’t sure what had hit her, but she didn’t feel any blood or pain.

The group fled with Mac, finding cover in a scrapyard of containers. After a half-minute’s rest, they ran back to the field with the wind turbines. Several Barracudas waited there, reloading their weapons.

Less than half the recon team remained—only five including Mac. He spoke in Spanish to his men. Magnolia picked up the name “Felipe.”

“I’m sorry,” X said. “He’s gone.”

Mac hesitated, then looked toward the turbines. “We can’t hold here,” he said. “We have to go back through the field. You go first, King Xavier. We’ll cover you.”

“No,” X said. “We’re all going.”

Bullets dinged against the containers, and voices called out in the distance.

Another parachute flare streaked into the sky.

“Once that fades, you go,” Mac said. He gripped a bloody sword. “Rhino told me to guard you with my life before he died, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Rodger fired off a burst, the crack echoing off the containers.

“Fuck you!” he yelled.

Ton and Victor brought up their shields, ready to move. The remaining Barracudas moved to the sides of the containers and down on their bellies.

“Go, Immortal!” Mac yelled.

X clearly didn’t want to move, but Ton and Victor urged him on. Magnolia and Rodger followed them out into the field, keeping low. They kept to the path Felipe had swept for mines on the way in.

It was hard to follow the tracks in the ash, especially while under fire.

Ton went down with a muffled cry. X helped him back up and Magnolia noticed Ton was bleeding from his shoulder.

“Come on!” Rodger yelled, running ahead to take point.

Victor picked up Ton’s shield and took rear guard, using both shields to cover their retreat. The thick metal deflected the lower-velocity bullets, but some of the bigger-jacketed rounds punched through. One hit Victor in the arm.

He cried out, dropping one shield but keeping the other up.

Magnolia was focused on the ground, looking for mines, when Rodger vanished in an explosion. The blast knocked the entire team down, and something stung like a hot needle in her side.

Ears ringing, she lay in the ash for a moment. Lightning tendrils forked across the skyline. Smoke drifted away from a crater ahead of her.

She tried to yell for Rodger, but all that came out was a gasp.

Someone grabbed her and helped her up.

She could hear distant wails of pain. They sounded familiar.

“Mags,” said a gruff voice.

X stood over her, searching. Rodger was curled up on the ground not far from the crater.

Victor helped Ton to his feet. Both men raised their shields and moved to protect X and Magnolia.

“Rodger,” she managed to say.

X helped her up, and they stumbled over to him. His right foot was mangled. The armor was dented in places but appeared to have saved his limbs.

“Grab him!” X shouted. “We have to get out of here!”

Victor grabbed Rodger under the arms, and Magnolia lifted his knees. X wrapped Ton’s arm over his shoulder, and the group continued toward the turbines, following the tracks from earlier.

Moments later, they reached the huge turbine blade that stabbed the earth like a giant’s arrow. The ringing in Magnolia’s ears faded, replaced by the sound of gunfire. Mac and his men held back the skinwalkers, but it wouldn’t be long before they were overrun.

Magnolia bent down next to Rodger and grabbed his hand.

“I can still fight,” he growled, trying to sit up.

“Rodger, hold still.” She pushed down on his chest, but too late—he saw his foot.

“My toes!” he said. “My toes are gone!”

Victor had a medical kit out, and X was unwrapping a dressing. Ton gripped his shoulder, blood dripping between his fingers.

“Mags,” Rodger said.

She looked back down at him. “It’s okay, Rodge. You’re going to be okay.”

“You have to kill her for me if I can’t do it,” he said. “Promise me.”

“I promise. Now, try and relax. You need to be still.”

He tried to look down at his feet again, but she blocked his view.

“I love you, Rodge,” she said to distract him.

It worked. His helmet turned upward, and she bumped her visor against his.

A massive explosion bloomed out on the horizon. She saw it mirrored in Rodger’s visor. She turned toward it, her heart skipping a beat.

A message broke radio silence over the comms in her helmet.

“Renegade has been hit!” someone yelled.

X got to his feet and shouted in a crazed voice that didn’t sound like his.

“miles!” he screamed.

The sailboat rocked in sloppy seas. Ada sat at the control panel in the cabin, keeping an eye on the radar. She had shadowed the ship for a day now, keeping her distance. She still didn’t know who was on it, but one thing was certain: it was heading for the Vanguard Islands.

The chances of this being another ghost ship were slim, and while she couldn’t see it yet, she had a feeling there were Cazadores aboard. Who else could it be?

Luckily, her boat hadn’t attracted their attention. Yet.

Ada yawned and took a sip of water. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she slept for more than an hour straight. She slapped her face twice and blinked her heavy eyelids.

Her new little friend slept peacefully on her lap, and she stroked its bristly hair. Jo-Jo had clung to her since she came back inside from the storm.

But she must go back out there soon. They were only four to five hours away from the boundary of the Vanguard Islands. If this was an enemy warship, it was her duty to warn King Xavier.

But it was more likely just another Cazador vessel like the Lion, and if that was the case, she would just keep her distance and follow them in.

But something told her she was sailing back to a war. She just hoped she wasn’t too late to help her people.

Waves slapped the starboard hull of her craft. She checked the skyline through the portholes. Lightning blasted the clouds, though she couldn’t hear the thunder over the breaking waves. The storm was closing in.

“We’re going to have to sail through that, Jo-Jo,” Ada said.

The monkey opened one big black eye.

Ada leaned forward to check the dashboard monitor. The sailboat was gaining some distance on the ship she tracked—too much distance, she realized.

She studied the radar to see whether the ship had changed its heading at all, but if it had detected her, it didn’t appear to be acting on it. It was still on the same course for the Vanguard Islands.

As the sailboat drew closer to both the ship and the home of her people, Ada felt her heart thump a little faster. After so long at sea, she couldn’t wait.

“You ready to see sunshine?” Ada said.

The monkey sighed and went back to sleep.

It amazed Ada that a creature that could survive in the wastes was so dependent. Anything born into this harsh new world would need natural survival skills.

Then again, she herself didn’t have many survival skills, and she was still breathing despite many things that had almost killed her.

Ada just watched for a few minutes, taking comfort in the innocence of the miracle she had found in the wastes.

Growing up, she had always wondered what the Hell Divers encountered on the surface, but they never spoke about it. She couldn’t help but think they had come across many creatures that weren’t hostile. Her journey had taught her that many forms of life had found a way after the apocalypse, and they weren’t all dangerous.

Ada put her helmet back on, then grabbed her gear and headed topside. She could operate the sails from inside the cabin, but she needed to see better.

Light rain pattered on her suit. The wind gusted, though without its earlier ferocity. Still, it was just enough to power the sailboat through the water faster than the ship she was chasing.

Unlocking the wheel was trickier this time and took some fiddling. When it was free, she steered toward the northeast, hoping to avoid the brunt of the storm.

For the next hour, she stood there, her excitement growing as she drew closer to the Vanguard Islands.

The sky opened up, and thunder boomed closer now as the lightning illuminated the way back to the islands.

A half hour later, she spotted something through the rain. At first glance, the ship was far larger than the Cazador warships like the Lion. Even bigger than their largest, Elysium.

Curious, Ada pulled out the binoculars and waited for the next lighting bolt.

When it came, what she saw in those split seconds was unlike any ship she had seen in the Cazador fleet. It had a landing strip like the old-world aircraft carriers she had seen in photos.

But that made no sense. She had never seen this ship in their fleet when she arrived at the islands, nor did she know of an aircraft carrier at any of their outposts.

Ada scoped the horizon again, looking for aircraft, but in the next flash, she saw nothing on the runway. That didn’t mean there were none belowdecks.

She swallowed at the implications. If this was a craft X didn’t know of, it could very well be a serious threat to her people. There was only one way to find out: get closer.

With only a few hours before she reached the barrier, she must act fast.

Returning to the cabin, she moved quietly past the sleeping Jo-Jo and sat at the controls. After a few false starts, she managed to raise the secondary sails.

The wind caught in them, and as the sailboat picked up speed, she guided it northeastward, away from the storm.

For the next half hour, she waited belowdecks, eyes fixed to the porthole. The ship seemed to be growing in size.

But how?

The sailboat had already made up so much ground that…

“Shit!” she shouted.

The sailors must have spotted her boat.

She hurried back toward the hatch, scaring Jo-Jo off the bunk.

“Stay put!” Ada yelled.

Grabbing her rifle in one hand, she opened the hatch, then shut it behind her to seal the monkey inside. She climbed up to the deck above the cabin, with a round chambered.

The rain slanted down in sheets now.

She trained the rifle scope on the ship and groaned with relief—it wasn’t turning.

Ada steered away, then raised her scope again. She was so close, in the lightning’s glow she could see small figures moving on the deck. The scope went dark, and she waited for the next strikes to show her who these sailors were.

An overhead bolt lit up the deck, and she spotted several armored figures. But something about them was off.

The view darkened. Ada cursed as her boat dropped farther away.

Holding the scope as steady as she could on the heaving sea, she glimpsed a faint orange light glowing on the deck. A figure walked out to join the armored soldiers.

But this was no Cazador. It wasn’t even a man. The figure she was looking at had a glowing orange visor.

These weren’t Cazadores. They were machines, and they had found the Vanguard Islands.