by D A Rice
“Better to get it over with sooner than later. Analiesse is in a mood today,” Dr. Keenan’s quiet voice reached me from my left. I side-glanced him with a smile. If anyone knew how my mother was, it would be him. A gentle palm on the small of my back gave me strength, and with a quiet, but deep inhale, I strode over to my mother.
She didn’t even glance at me as she said, “is the sword really necessary in here?”
I shrugged. I had cleaned it before coming into the lab, caring for all my equipment in a deeply meticulous way. We cared for our armor much like one would normal leather. We had specialized soap and a softly bristled brush. I liked to wipe mine down first, scrub it clean with the brush, and then wipe it clean again before polishing it. I reached over to the table beside me, fingers running down a notebook there, the scribbling barely legible, “I brought your samples from this morning, Mother. I would have brought them sooner, but apparently, someone thought a shower and some rest were in order first.”
My mother nodded as she handed the petri dish to a colleague beside her before she finally met my gaze, her hands coming up to take off the glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Her eyes appraised me, before analyzing Isaac behind me, “at least Abadi has the sense to hide his weapons.” She turned away from me again and I rolled my eyes, taking another deep breath as she strode to another table and I followed. “Are the samples in good order?”
I nodded, “no seals were broken, and we felled quite a few demons in the shadows. The sunlight barely touched them. I think that you’ll find the specimens we were able to gather quite adequate,” I held my hands loosely behind my back, my voice professionally cool. My mother knew how hard it was to collect samples during battle, and that it was equally as hard to fell Corrupted in a way where samples could be taken in the first place. It wasn’t as if we chose where the battles took place. Some bolt holes were more obscured by the shadows than others, and those were usually the hardest battles to win with few casualties. The Corrupted loved the darkness--they thrived in it. The darkness was their ally as much as light was ours.
There were some battles where samples on a scientific level, were just way too hard to acquire. My mother knew this, but her work was also her life. All of this Corrupted activity was making her just as nervous as it was me. To her, finding a way to stop them was everything. What my squad and I did was only a band-aid. We needed something more permanent, something only she had hope of giving us. My mother leaned over the counter on her elbows, her head in her hands, “I wish you could bring back more.”
I gritted my teeth as Isaac tensed behind me. I could feel him readying himself to pull me out of the lab if necessary. My eyes narrowed as I clenched my fists, “five good people died for the samples we got today alone,” I growled, my voice low. My mother’s hands tugged her hair more tightly as she breathed in, then out, preparing herself for the battle to come with me.
“And yet, how many more will die if we cannot stop them?” she asked, turning to face me with a cool expression. I took a step forward and Isaac’s hand shot out, gently touching my upper arm. I halted. My mom barely flinched, but the lab itself had gotten eerily quiet. I was still emotional. I knew that. It was always hard on me when members of my team died in battle. Hell, it was hard enough watching the injured get carried out of battle. Total, the day had cost me eight members of my team that may not be coming back, skilled warriors that we were growing increasingly short of these days.
“I cannot bring you anything back if the cost is too great. Warriors we can use in battle are growing fewer each night. There may come a time, mother,” my voice was low in my throat as Isaac gripped my arm harder, pulling me back, “when we will not be able to bring you anything. Be grateful for the little you get from us.” I turned on my heel and marched out of the room, breaking from Isaac’s grip and letting the door seal shut, its soft hiss echoing behind me on the way out.
“Well that could have gone better,” Isaac commented as he helped me buckle the leather straps on the back of my Holy Armor. The sun was beginning to set. I paused with my gauntlets, then pulled them tighter with an angry yank.
“She should know better than to say that. She knew the numbers. I told her before I went to shower off their blood this morning.” I pulled my hair off my neck, allowing Isaac the room to tie my breastplate to my shoulder straps in the back, then wrapped my hair up in a messy bun. I would need to braid it before we went out but for now, I turned to face him, “I could get her the samples she wishes so desperately to have if she would just sign off on smaller parties tasked specifically with that purpose. Why do we need to have such a big group? We always scout the bolt holes first before we charge them anyway.”
Isaac’s hands found their way to my shoulders, “I understand your passion, Z, but the Corrupted are too much for a small group to handle. The nests we’ve been finding…” he paused, shivering with the memories. I closed my eyes with a shudder of my own. I knew what he was saying. The nests themselves had been far bigger than we thought possible. It was no wonder they were breaking through the Angelic steel. Where were they all coming from? His eyes opened, finding mine, “I think your mother is wise to have the Warriors set up as they are.”
“Warriors of Adonai,” I scoffed, turning away from him as I pulled my sword up, strapping it to my back, “where is Adonai in this?”
Isaac hesitated behind me, “isn’t it about faith that someday he might return?”
I glanced back at him, “the Angels left us to this mess, why would Adonai care?” I pulled my hair down and threaded it between my fingers, braiding it quickly in my agitation.
Warm arms wrapped around my waist as I finished, and Isaac’s breath tickled my ear as he whispered, “shalom, Zakiya.” He kissed my neck just below my jaw line and I turned to him, feeling my heart calm with his words, despite my best efforts to be irritated.
I smiled at him gently, cupping his face in my gloved hands, “what did I do to deserve you?”
His own lips twitched up as his eyes held mine, “just keep being the warrior you are, Z. You deserve much more than me. You are a leader, you always have been. For you I would lay down my life, for there is no greater honor.”
It was the Warrior motto among my people, that there was no greater honor than to lay down one’s life for a friend. I had no idea where it originally came from, but the Warriors of Adonai had turned it into a creed. I kissed Isaac on the corner of his mouth, smiling there as I said, “and there is no greater honor than to live for yours.”
The first bolt hole we found was in the eastern section of the city. It had long since been evacuated, and it was a known hotspot for the Corrupted. We usually started our patrols somewhere within the vicinity. We had sealed it up many times, but every few months, the seals would start to rattle. We were running low on Angelic steel to replace the busted pieces we kept finding and reusing as scrap. Bolt holes were the best places to find said scrap, but this wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Sasha, our engineer, was endlessly creative in how she sealed up the holes we found. One day soon, however, even I knew that it would not be enough.
I could hear the rhythmic bangs as we drew closer, Isaac signaling to our scouts to go on ahead. We needed to know what we were in for. Our scouts were trained to have the best senses among us, and they were far stealthier on their own. Isaac and I were the only others who could even compare. It was what they specialized in. Their boots and armor were laden with blessings by the Angels for this task specifically, and not just handed out to anyone. The imbued armor allowed them to blend in with their surroundings, in sight and in sound.
I did not have their blessings, but my boots were imbued for a different task entirely. Mine were equally silent, and tasked to keep me light on my feet, not just in stealth, but in all things. Mine were the boots of a leader, strong as a leader should be. One wouldn’t think that clothing could match its owner, but the Angels were intentional with their armor and weaponry. My boots were no different. Th
ey looked simple, brown and leathery like the rest of my armor, but I would trust my feet with nothing less. Even in civilian clothes, my boots were always on my feet and my sword on my back.
Isaac halted beside me and we crouched low, waiting to hear back from our scouts ahead. We were silent but for the banging we could hear of the corrupted before us. We all held our breath in anticipation. A shadow materialized between us. I did not flinch; I knew better. “All is clear, but Harishima, that steel is about to blow any minute,” came a soft male voice.
I nodded in thanks, “understood, Cofher, thank you for the update,” and with that my scout disappeared into the shadows. I glanced at Isaac here, “what do you think, Abadi?”
He shook his head, his grip tightening on the coppery metal rise beside us, sheltering us from view of anything that may come out of the hole. He focused on what he could see in front of us, it wasn’t much even for our scientifically enhanced eyes. One of the many perks of having the Organization’s lead geneticist for a mother, super soldier endurability and incredible eyesight. “I don’t know, Z. Something doesn’t feel right.”
I glanced around the rise myself and nodded, “agreed, but I’m not seeing another option.”
He was still as a statue, every part of him tensed for battle, and then the banging stopped abruptly. The silence was eerie. Isaac met my gaze and my eyes narrowed. What were the Corrupted up to? Had they somehow smelled us through the metal? I didn’t want to consider that as an option. If it were true, it meant that the bolt hole that had been about to open, was about to move instead. I glanced around, “Isaac,” I hissed, but he was already signaling our team in a fast-paced conversation, telling them to retreat the nearest vicinity.
That was when the ground exploded, throwing everyone back as Corrupted burst out of the ground on which we stood. I could hear screams and the low growls that haunted our nightmares. I backed away, skidding on my butt. I could feel pain in my leg as I tried to stand, then Isaac was there, lifting me up and slinging my arm over his shoulders as he shouted at our team to get back. I could hear more than see how that was ending. Gurgling and slurping noises echoed with scuttles and screams as my people tried to fight off the horde that had, quite effectively, taken us by surprise. How had this happened? Where had they come from? How had we missed the weak Angelic steel under our feet that caved into a new hole? We would not survive this onslaught.
I screamed in agony and frustration as a pair of glowing red eyes sought me out, smelling blood on me somewhere. Isaac pulled me up higher before yanking out his two short swords as he turned, meeting the demon head on. I fell back, letting him go to battle as he tried to protect me. I pulled my leg up, willing it to stop hurting enough for me to join him. Unsheathing my sword, I summoned the effort to rise. I would not let my warriors fight alone, injured or not. I swung low as Isaac swung high, and together we both landed death blows. “We can not let this horde past us!” I yelled into the night, and I could hear my squad respond with a roar.
There were still many of us left, then. Would it be enough? I could not yet know. I took another breath in as I slid in between the Corrupted’s legs, Isaac twirling around it on the other side. The demon fell with a loud thump and hiss as his last breath escaped him. “It is the greatest honor,” I started, and I could hear many voices- including Isaac beside me- join in as I cried out the rest, throwing myself into the fray once again, “to die for one’s friend!” I could no longer feel my leg hurting. It was likely fractured, but as long as the adrenaline lasted, I would fight until my last breath.
3
I do not remember much of what happened next. My eyes could only see a red haze as we fought for our lives. I remember surviving, and then collapsing as my leg finally caved underneath me. I remember Isaac taking over, trying to figure out how many of our comrades had survived with us. We had replenished our ranks of the eight who had been injured or had died the night before, but now we were down by over half. We would not be able to finish our patrols like this, if we even survived the next ten minutes.
I was numb, and I was angry. I could not move, even as I felt the tears stream down my face. I had not saved them.
We would not have lost so many if there had not been so many of us here in the first place but then again, could we have even driven them back with less? I could not stop my mind from reviewing how this night had started off so wrong. How had so many Corrupted gotten through in the first place? How had they known to change their entrance point, and where the entrance point would be weakest from where they had started? I could not bask in the reprieve. We had not killed nearly as many of them as they had of us, and I knew they would be back before the night was over.
Isaac knelt before me, his thoughts aligning with mine, “they will be back. We cannot leave, and yet we cannot stay here.” His hand massaged his jaw as the few warriors we had left rapidly secured our injured in an effort to move them before their blood drew even more Corrupted. Sasha, who was thankfully still alive, was working in overdrive, trying to figure out how best to seal up not only the hole they had used, but the one they had been working on coming through when we had gotten here. I prayed she would be blessed more than any of the rest of us. She would be tired, but she didn’t let that stop her, or the grief she was undoubtedly feeling as I did. She did not have much time and neither did I.
My eyes found Isaac’s. “We send everyone we can back. We keep what is left of our scouts, the rest take the injured to my mother and tell her to send reinforcements. If we can’t drive the horde back here, we may well be overwhelmed.” I took stock of the situation again, “we already were,” I whispered. Isaac nodded, his fingers caressing my cheek before he stood and signaled the team. They picked up the pace. We could all feel it, that calm before the storm. This night was not over yet. We needed to set up a perimeter. I moved to stand, but Isaac was there, pulling me up with his strength before I could put pressure on my foot again. “You should go back with the other injured, Zakiya,” his tone was gentle and filled with worry as he sized up my injury from beside me.
I scoffed, “but you know that I won’t.”
He growled softly, “I could make you.”
I smiled, “I would love to see you try, Abadi, injury or not. I will run you through with my sword if you even think about it.” I glanced out as the squad began to evacuate, all but the few scouts who jogged up toward us, as well as Sasha, with her arms crossed. I could see from here the steel she had moved to form a makeshift blockade.
“I do not know how long that will hold. What is the plan, Harishima?” she asked as the rest of the scouts fanned out around us. I could already hear the scuffling coming from underneath the hole she had just covered. The banging would be back within moments.
I surveyed our surroundings, “how long until first light?”
Cofher shifted his weight as he thought. He was lean and small, with dark hair and tan skin, and he was one of the best scouts we had. I was glad to see him alive. He was studying the night sky pouring in through the opening in the dome, judging the night and how much of it we had left, “I would give it no more than five hours.”
I nodded as the banging began again. They had smelled us before, so I didn’t trust the banging to stay in the same place. Judging by how they had surprised us once already, it wouldn’t be wise to take any chances. “Here’s what we will do: pair up and spread out. We need to give them a wider target. We will attack as partners, just as we did when training.”
“Going back to the basics?” Isaac asked with a grin.
I nodded, “yes. We are going back to the basics. Now go.”
Everyone split off, disappearing into the shadows without a sound. Isaac tensed beside me, pulling out his swords as I eased my weight off him, testing out my injured leg. He shook his head as he watched me, kneeling down in a prepared fight stance, “you should have gone, Z,” his voice was quiet again, but I did not miss its intensity.
“Shut it,” I pulled my own swor
d up, eyes peering out as the banging increased in volume. It was only a matter of time. There was no way Sasha could have made the seal as strong as it should be with what little time she’d had. “I am not about to let you fight alone. I am the leader of this team. I will not go while there are still warriors fighting.” I could feel Isaac take a deep breath beside me, but he did not countermand me either. I nodded as I shifted, my muscles tightening for the fight ahead. It wasn’t as if we hadn’t fought with one of us injured before. He knew how to counteract my weakness with his strength, and I him. We could do this as long as we didn’t get sloppy.
The banging stopped, and Isaac hitched a breath beside me, “here we go.”
The hole opened with a final bang, Corrupted pulling themselves up, sniffing as they heaved their large bodies up into the darkness. Once again, we weren’t on ground level, but we were a lot closer to the surface than I would have liked to be. We needed to hold out until dawn or drive them back far enough that Sasha could get a better seal in place. This required fewer injured who needed care; especially now that we had fewer warriors.
Bolt holes like this one didn’t happen often, but when they did, we lost too many we couldn’t easily recover into our ranks. My eyes closed as I breathed, listening as the Corrupted moved beside us. When I opened my eyes again, Isaac was watching me. I nodded, and he signaled for us to move, one on each side of the barrier we hid behind. We would do hit and runs. It required lethal strikes on the first hit from each of us, and then quickly moving. With so many of us doing the same thing, the goal was to confuse the enemy, causing frustration and chaos.
We moved together, turning back to back and shuffling away from each other without making a sound. I could see the Corrupted spreading out as their noses and instincts led them to our warriors. I crept forward, my sword ready in my hand. A Corrupted skulked close to where I had been. I could see his rib cage ripped open with bits of his insides hanging out. I filed that away as I moved, keeping in mind each Corrupted’s location to the best of my ability. These demons were strong, it wasn’t that they moved particularly fast, but they could jump long distances or heights. It was why our dome walls needed to be so high. The only reason that they didn’t jump straight out of the bolt holes we found them in was because of the Warriors of Adonai. Why work for your food if the food came to you?
