Warriors

THIRTY-SIX

Magnolia climbed the interior stairwell in what appeared to be an abandoned building. X and Victor followed her, their helmet beams raking back and forth, illuminating a reddish crust that covered the stained walls like warts.

Head pounding from her injuries, she felt like an insect stuck in a web, being pulled in all directions by a family of hungry spiders. Using her body, she burst through a web covering the stairwell.

She hoped that Lieutenant Wynn would be able to protect their home until the Hell Divers could shut down the machines. Not knowing how Les and Michael were doing made her feel helpless. But that wasn’t her only worry. Leaving Miles and a gravely wounded Rodger on the beach tugged on her heart.

At the top floor of the building, she entered a hallway with cracked walls. Switching off her helmet lamp, she used her night-vision optics to scan the passage. The doors were gone, allowing a view into each room.

X and Victor followed her, clearing the spaces one by one. At the final room, Magnolia went inside, sweeping her rifle barrel over the rotted desks and rusted chairs. Broken windows looked over the refinery.

Keeping low, she spotted a figure on a silo.

The skinwalkers weren’t hiding anymore. Several walked on the round rooftops, watching the ground and the air for hostiles. She counted five of them, and on the ground another two patrols of four men each inside the fenced-off compound.

X and Victor took up position along the wall, sneaking glances out the missing windows. Magnolia checked out the compound.

Two fences sealed off the main buildings inside. A third barrier, of brick and mortar, surrounded the buildings. Weeds and bushes with stubby branches grew inside the fenced zone.

Something moved in the purple foliage, parting it like a dorsal fin cutting through the water. An eyeless head emerged, and a spiked back. A prowling Siren—another layer of security around the outpost.

And not just one Siren. She spotted several of the creatures. All were males, their wings sheared off, leaving jagged stubs protruding from their bony backs.

X saw them, too, then raised his binoculars to the ocean. Magnolia aimed her night-vision monocular in that direction, looking for Shadow. The remaining Cazador warship was nowhere in sight, but she could see another vessel.

Zooming in, she confirmed that it was Raven’s Claw, sailing about a mile out to sea. This warship was different from the ones she had seen in the Cazador fleet. Several modifications had been made over the years, but it was the ribs of some gigantic sea beast mounted along the gunwales that caught her attention.

On the bow, the skull of the largest shark she had ever seen bared its teeth at the darkness. Raking the scope over the deck, she spotted several sailors, though not as many as she would have expected.

X stood beside her, scanning with his binoculars while Victor stood guard.

“I don’t see Shadow,” he said.

They turned back to the view of the outpost buildings. The skinwalkers were hunkered down, and Magnolia had a feeling she was seeing only a small portion of their fighting force. They also had the people they had woken from ITC’s cryo chambers, not to mention the Sirens.

Horn and his men weren’t just evil. They had to be insane.

“How are we going to get inside?” she asked X.

He kept his binos on the industrial buildings inside the fences. The structures were mostly metal warehouses built on concrete foundations. Like the Raven’s Claw, they had been reinforced with plate steel. Bars covered the shaded windows.

Train cars, no longer on tracks, served as barracks. Rusted containers also stood inside the compound, probably containing more horrors.

“Three against thirteen men,” X finally said. “I’ve faced worse numbers.”

Victor didn’t seem to understand.

“Plus the Sirens,” Magnolia said.

“Exactly,” X said.

Magnolia gave him a puzzled look.

X flipped up his face shield and spat on the ground.

“You take out the guards on the rooftops, and Victor and I will take the patrols outside the outpost,” X said.

“You want me to sit here and snipe?”

“Victor’s injured, and as you know, I can’t shoot for Siren shit with this damn toothpick arm.”

X was right, but she wanted in on the action when they found Moreto. She had a feeling the woman was hiding in the buildings directly in front of them.

“Once shit hits, meet on the west side of the outpost,” X said. He pointed to the boatyard with its motley fleet in various states of decay, then to a cargo ship laden with containers.

“There,” he said. “We use the chaos to pick off anyone coming outside; then we enter the outpost to mop up any survivors.”

“Got it.”

“Good luck, Mags.”

“You too.”

The two men left, and Magnolia unslung Rodger’s assault rifle. She rested it against the wall, then laid out the magazines.

Getting on one knee, she trained her laser rifle at the silos that X and Victor crept toward. The skinwalkers had spread out on the tops. They must have night-vision goggles, because none were using flashlights.

X and Victor neared the area where the Barracudas had been ambushed. Blood from fallen soldiers darkened the soil. Spotting the area where Felipe fell, she aimed at the skinwalker who had killed him. Flaps of bloody skin draped the sides of his helmet. Magnolia noticed the dark tattoos on the patches.

He was wearing Felipe’s face and scalp.

“Bye-bye, ass wart,” she whispered.

A bolt flashed through his mouth and out the back of his head. He crumpled to the silo roof, out of view. Seconds later, she dropped another skinwalker with a bolt through the chest. She could see through the glowing orange hole in his middle as he teetered and fell.

The other three soldiers seemed oblivious.

She used the lag time to take off a third skinwalker’s arm at the elbow. Before he could cry out, his head slid off and rolled against the severed forearm.

The fourth guard turned, looking around wildly as he raised his rifle. Magnolia took his hand off, then blew through his helmet with a second bolt.

Seeing his comrade drop, the fifth and final soldier swung his rifle toward her. She vaporized his chest armor before he could squeeze the trigger.

Victor and X had advanced toward the first patrol of four skinwalkers. The men all carried rifles and had bows slung over their backs.

X took up position behind a low concrete wall and pulled the other half of Rhino’s spear from the sheath over his back.

Victor stood with drawn cutlass, hugging the wall of an adjacent silo. Even from here, Magnolia could see that the blood had soaked through the bandage on his arm.

The skinwalker patrol marched toward the ambush until the leader, a hulking man sporting a human jaw on his helmet, stopped and held up a hand. He looked up at a corpse hanging its head and arm over the edge of a roof.

Magnolia aimed right at the jaw on the bulky skinwalker as he raised an arm. Before she could pull the trigger, X materialized from behind a concrete wall. With a swift jab, his prosthetic spear pierced the man’s helmet. With his left hand, he drove the other half of the spear into another soldier’s chest.

Victor had flanked, bringing his cutlass down on the back of a neck, severing head from spine. By the time the fourth soldier knew what was happening, both X and Victor had stabbed him twice.

He dropped to the ground, and X finished him off with a spear through the eye slot.

The patrol was dispatched in less than a minute, and Magnolia hadn’t even fired a bolt.

The king and Victor took off for the final patrol outside the fences.

Gunfire cracked in the distance. Magnolia looked back toward the wind turbines. The noise seemed to be coming from that direction.

Rodger… Miles…

More shots popped toward the beach west of the compound—where the other Barracuda team had gone to flank the outpost. Trying not to think about what was happening out there, she focused on finding the last patrol.

X and Victor ran down the dirt road, following streaks of blood toward the fences and the area where she had last seen the other patrol.

She moved to another window but still didn’t see the four warriors.

Where the hell did they go?

Magnolia went back to the window where she had rested her assault rifle. Using her night-vision monocular, she combed the ground, finally spotting boot prints.

She followed them to a silo, where they vanished from view. Panning left, she finally saw part of a soldier. Just an arm and back of the helmet of a man who had stopped behind the silo.

X and Victor were walking right toward the skinwalker patrol.

If she didn’t do something, they would be the ones ambushed.

She aimed at the exposed helmet, but the angle was tricky. And even if she made the shot, there were still three more.

Acting quickly, she swung the barrel to X and Victor and sent a bolt across their path.

They both retreated and looked up at her position. She pointed at the location of the patrol. X nodded and started to flank with Victor, each moving around one side of the silo. She kept her rifle barrel aimed at the still-exposed helmet of the soldier standing sentry.

The distant pop of gunshots came again, but it was more sporadic. Voices drifted in the lull.

Magnolia took her visor away from the scope for a moment, looking east, toward the field with the wind turbines. It took a moment of scanning to see movement. Figures marched across the ash-covered field. The ITC slaves were returning with their masters.

Shit, shit…

She panned back to X and Victor. Both men were inching around the silo from opposite sides, preparing to strike the final patrol.

The voices of the skinwalkers guarding the workers grew louder, but neither of her friends seemed to notice.

Again she moved her night-vision monocular to the slavers. She counted six. They were heading right for the refinery. She couldn’t take them all out before being spotted.

When she turned back, X and Victor had moved around the silo. A scream rang out, then a gunshot. Metal clanked on metal.

She tried to get a shot but saw only a blur of armor.

A skinwalker flew backward, limp, already dead. She still couldn’t get a clear shot, and the slaver soldiers were about to reach the refinery.

“Come on, X,” she whispered.

Zooming in, she saw another skinwalker hit the ground. Someone grabbed his boots and dragged him out of view. Victor emerged and did the same with the other dead men.

X waved up to her and then set off with Victor. Side by side, they ran for the fence and disappeared around a shipping container.

Magnolia slung her rifle and set off to join them when a footfall made her freeze. With no time to unsling her rifle, she unsheathed one of her crescent blades.

Whirling, she raised it, only to have it smacked away. Her blade flew across the room, clanking against a wall.

A hand grabbed her around the neck and lifted her off the ground. She kicked at armored legs as she stared at the helmet of a massive skinwalker holding an axe.

Several more soldiers in bulky armor adorned with bloody skin flanked the warrior. He squeezed tighter, cutting off her airway.

She kicked and grabbed his wrist, but nothing worked. The man held her up higher, and she saw the horn on top of his helmet.

It was the last thing she saw before the red border of her vision encroached, turning everything dark.

Les had abandoned the idea of hiding and ran through the jungle with the other divers, not even trying to cut down the barbed branches and spiky blades in his path. Laser bolts singed the air, raining bark and leaves down from the canopy.

He was trying to put all the distance he could between his team and the machines.

Lasers punched into tree trunks, bursting out the other side in bright streaks that seemed to reach infinity. An artillery shell whistled overhead and streaked into the jungle, exploding in a brilliant orange glow. Leaves and branches fell blazing to the ground.

Another shell sheared the top off a tree to his left. The blast shot out hundreds of little splinters that punched into his armor, leaving spikes like the bristles on a caterpillar. Pain lanced down his arm where one of the slivers jabbed through an interstice between armor plates.

He gritted his teeth and plucked it out, only to trip over a root and fall flat on his stomach.

“Captain!”

Michael waved from what looked like a drop-off in the jungle. He ran over to Les, yelling something that Les couldn’t make out over the ringing in his ears.

Smoke whirled around them as flames lapped upward, igniting the dry bark of towering trees. Embers fell like flakes of burning snow.

Les turned to see Edgar helping Lena through the labyrinthine foliage. They took off for the area Michael had waved from, but Arlo and Sofia were nowhere in sight.

Another flurry of laser bolts strobed through the forest, slicing through everything in their path. He had a feeling the two young divers were already cut to pieces by the bolts.

He pushed at the ground but hesitated when he saw pulsating light through the trees. Michael started moving, then froze.

Bumping off his NVGs gave Les a clearer view.

A platoon of orange visors strode into the forest, looking like old-world soldiers. But these soldiers would not show mercy. They would not take prisoners or lay down their weapons if surrounded. They would fight to the end and kill to the very last machine.

They had one purpose: to end humanity.

Bolts sprayed from their guns. Branches fell, and a monstrous tree split at the crotch, both halves knocking down many of their neighbors.

“Let’s go!” Michael said. “Stay low.”

Les pushed himself up on his knees, trying to stay close to the ground as he crawled. A cracking sound came from the advancing army, and he got his first view of one of the beetle tanks.

The six segmented legs were taller than the defectors, probably even taller than Les. The turret rotated with at least six long tubular weapons. He got only a glimpse before the tubes opened fire, raking through the forest.

As the machines and tanks entered the jungle, the barrage from the distant cannons stopped. Les started moving in a crouch, listening to the mechanical joints of the tanks as they strode into the forest.

A figure came running from about halfway between Les and the machines. Dozens of bolts cut overhead, and he held a breath as the Hell Diver zigged and zagged, ducking under branches and darting between two trees.

“Help!” the diver screamed.

Les could hear the nasal voice over the ringing in his ears. It was Arlo, and here he came, screaming and diving to the ground between Les and Michael. He rolled onto his back, gasping.

“What the hell do we do?” Arlo yelled.

“Stay down and follow me,” Michael said. “There’s some protection behind those trees.”

“Where is Sofia?” Les shouted.

Arlo shook his head. “She fell…”

“Come on!” Michael commanded. He started crawling under the spray of bolts, and Les and Arlo followed. They moved around a tree, and Michael got up to lay down covering fire.

“No!” Les said. “That’ll tell them where we are.”

Michael nodded and pulled something off his vest. “Get down; then run.”

The final EMP grenade. He pushed a button and lobbed it at the wave of approaching robot infantry.

Les shook Arlo, who lay trembling on the ground.

“Run when I tell you,” Les said.

Arlo managed a nod.

Michael raised his rifle again, his back to the tree, and sneaked a glance.

“Go now!” he shouted.

Les grabbed Arlo and pulled him up, and they ran together, zigzagging as low as they could go. The stream of laser bolts had all but stopped.

Edgar fired his sniper rifle from a prone position between two trees just ahead.

Les and Arlo made it to the drop-off Michael had found earlier. Unable to stop, Arlo yelped as he tumbled down the side. Les tried to grab him but almost went over with him.

Digging his boots into the dirt, Les watched helplessly as Arlo pitchpoled right past Lena and banged into a tree twenty feet below.

Lena went after Arlo, and Les turned to help Edgar.

“Where’s Tin?” Les yelled.

Edgar took his shot, then pointed.

Following Edgar’s finger, Les saw a figure advancing toward the machines disabled by the EMP grenade, firing laser bolts so they would never walk again.

The blast had taken down half of them, but others advanced through the curtain of smoke.

Michael fired calculated shots, destroying several of the machines.

“We have to help!” Les said. He got up, but Edgar yanked him back down.

“You nuts, Cap?” he asked.

Chest heaving, Les watched in horror as Michael fought his way deeper into enemy territory. But it wasn’t simply the urge to kill that was driving the commander mad. Les saw where Michael was heading.

Sofia was slouched against a tree, holding her shoulder. The armor glowed red where a bolt had singed the plate.

A crack from Edgar’s rifle refocused Les. Another machine went down from an armor-piercing round to the skull. Les aimed his laser rifle at the defectors closing in on Michael. He had gotten to Sofia and reached down to help her up.

Two defectors burst through the bushes to the right of the tree. Edgar took one down, and Michael reached up with his robotic hand and slapped the other machine’s laser muzzle away. Then he punched it in the chest with his robotic hand, breaking the exoskeleton and shattering the battery.

The machine toppled to the ground.

Les fired more bolts into the machines trying to flank the two divers. Several went down from well-aimed shots, but more came. Les had no idea how Michael and Sofia could make it to the drop-off without being cut down.

There had to be at least twenty more machines in the jungle, plus the two tanks pushing their way through burning trees.

Les and Edgar fired over and over, doing their best to help. The staccato crack of automatic gunfire joined the din, and in his peripheral vision Les saw Lena pull out another magazine and palm it into her assault rifle.

Return fire kicked up dirt in front of the rock and then found the boulder. The three divers hunkered down under the flurry of lasers.

“What do we do now?” Edgar asked.

Bolts pounded the rock and blew limbs off trees as Les crawled around the boulder to sneak a look.

Michael and Sofia were trapped behind a massive tree. Ten or more orange visors homed in, unleashing an onslaught of bolts into the tree.

The lasers broke through like a chainsaw until it cracked in the middle.

“Michael!” Les shouted.

Michael gripped his laser rifle to his chest and looked at the boulder. Then he waved at Les, motioning for him to retreat.

“We have to go, or we’re all going to die,” Edgar said.

Lena crawled backward as bits of rocks pattered down, mixing with the bark and foliage from the trees.

Edgar grabbed Les, but Les pulled out of his grip.

“I can’t leave them,” he said. He reached into his vest and pulled out the device containing the virus. “Take this, and complete the mission with Lena and Arlo if I don’t make it.”

“Sir, you…”

A bolt flashed by their helmets, cutting Edgar off. Then came what sounded like multiple shells screaming through the sky. Both men looked up as detonations filled the night.

Rockets descended like destroying angels from the clouds, ripping into the jungle canopy and making the ground rumble.

Les got up as defectors cartwheeled through the air like thrown rag dolls. An entire infantry column vanished in a wave of fire.

“run!” he yelled to Michael.

Michael was already on his feet, helping Sofia up.

Les and Edgar fell back into firing positions to cover their retreat.

The entire jungle seemed to light up in a bright glare of the missile blasts.

Timothy was giving the machines much more than just a distraction. The AI was giving the other AIs a beating.

Michael and Sofia made it to the boulder, and they all slid down the hill.

Arlo was at the bottom, standing now.

“This way!” Lena said.

The team headed into the ravine and toward a slope up. As they climbed, a view of the white-capped mountain rose in front of them.

It took a few minutes to work their way up through thick bushes and spiky plants. At the crest of the hill, they could see the burning jungle and the ground scorched between it and the fortress. Twisted remains of machines littered the smoking dirt.

A humming sound came from above. It wasn’t a drone.

Les looked up and saw the outline of Discovery. He raised a hand, knowing that Timothy couldn’t see him.

As if in response, another salvo of missiles tore through the clouds and slammed into the fortress wall, opening gaping holes.

“Now’s our chance!” Michael yelled. “Let’s go!”