“We certainly fell for that ambush,” he muttered, placing his rifle back into its holster.
“Sorry about that. Should have set the scan for motion instead of heat.”
He waved it off. “Not on you. It’s not like you were the only scout here.”
“Speaking of that, how many do you think died?”
“Of the initiates? I think there were around twenty-four of us running through here. We seem to be the only ones still alive.”
The scout wiped the brow of her helmet dramatically. “Man, are we lucky.”
“Or I’m that good.” He chuckled.
“I’m here too, you know,” she pointed out, crossing her arms.
“I’m sure you got a couple.” He shrugged, “But, yeah, good work.”
She sighed before looking at the ridge. “Where should we go now?”
Silas walked over to the clearing, looking down over the mountainside into the vast expanse of jungle and beach that made up the rest of the island. “Looks like there’s some sort of lab or something up a couple miles after we get off the mountain. It’s pretty close to the end zone so we might score a few more points before we get there.”
“Sounds like a—” The scout’s voice was drowned out by a rush of air. The two turned to see a Devil Bird flying toward them. They both pulled their weapons as the mutant avian banked left and flew away, a man clinging to the side of the bird.
“Soooon of a Biiiiiitch!” They heard him scream as the monster flew away.
“What the…who the…” Silas muttered, confused and bewildered.
“Doesn’t seem like he’s having a good time,” Izzy mused, turning around. “Come on, let’s see if we can catch up to that bird.”
“Bonus points?” Silas asked.
“Obviously.”
“Hey, Raul, how much longer we gotta walk through this mess?” Cameron asked.
“I’m a tracker, not a scout,” Raul grumbled. “Besides, you’re a bounty hunter. Shouldn’t you have a doodad or something that could help us out?”
“It’s not like I could shoot a tracer at the end zone from my escape pod on the way down,” Cameron grumbled.
“Quiet down, you two,” Jaxon, the ace and leader of their party, demanded, looking back at the group. “We still have a pretty good lead on the others if I had to take a guess. I don’t wanna risk it by getting into a large firefight because your bickering brought a battalion down on us.”
Cameron sighed. “Understood, Jax.”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” Raul sighed and looked over his shoulder. “Luke, you keeping up?”
“Don’t worry about me.” The titan chuckled, a large hammer on his back and a hand cannon at the ready. “I certainly ain’t lagging. Besides, if something does attack us, you really want me to be far behind?”
“If you aren’t taking bullets then you aren’t exactly useful,” Cameron stated.
“Nice to know you care, Cam,” Luke muttered.
Jaxon stopped and held a hand up for them to wait. “You feel that?”
The trio behind him looked around, Raul shaking his head and Cameron shrugging.
“Don’t feel too much in all this armor,” Luke said
“All you heavies have the same one-liners.” Raul huffed, clearly irritated.
They looked at a group of trees, their branches and long leaves blowing in the wind. “The wind is changing. It’s getting stronger.”
In the distance, they heard a loud, raging screech. The four quickly readied their weapons. Raul took out a rifle, Cameron a shotgun, Jaxon a machine gun, and Luke held up his hand cannon to the sky.
“What do you think it is?” Luke asked.
“Devil Bird, no doubt. My EI has a screech on record that matches that one, and it was in the glossary they showed us before the test,” Raul explained.
“Oh, goodie. At least you can’t blame us for this, Jax,” Cameron noted.
“Just don’t blame me if it rips your head off,” the ace retorted.
With another cry and a rush of wind, the Devil Bird streaked past the four. They weren’t able to get a shot off with the high velocity of the wind almost knocking them down.
As they recovered, they heard a cry as the monster flew away, “Mmooottthherffuuckker!”
“Is that also the normal cry of a Devil Bird?” Luke asked, looking at Raul.
“Not unless they’re adapting to our swearing for some reason,” he said, a hand clutching the side of his helmet as if trying to hold it in place.
“There was someone on the back of it,” Jaxon stated, putting his gun away.
“How the hell did they manage that?” Cameron asked.
Jaxon shrugged. “Beats me, but if they survive this, we definitely won’t have the lead anymore.”
“No kidding.” Luke still stared into the now empty sky.
Jaxon looked over to the tracker. “You got something, Raul?”
He nodded. “Got the heat signature. We can follow it up to three miles in any direction.”
“Is it still flying away?” Cameron asked
“It is, but it’s slowing down. Looks like it’s getting ready to land.”
Jaxon looked forward, rolling his shoulders, and beginning to sprint. “All right, double time, boys. Let’s catch up.”
“We gonna take that thing on?” Luke asked, putting his hand cannon away and charging forward with the others.
“Might be worth it for points if whoever is on that beast doesn’t take it down first,” Raul stated.
“Please, like one guy can take down a Devil Bird.” Cameron laughed.
“Well, this has certainly gotten exciting.” Laurie’s eyes remained fixed on the screen. Kaiden thrashed about as the Devil Bird circled the sky. “Don’t suppose this was a master plan of his?”
“Doubtful,” Sasha noted dryly. “It would be quite something if he makes it out of this.”
“Well, it certainly looks like he has backup on the way,” Laurie chirped, looking at the map to see a couple dozen dots converging on his position. “If he wants the points to himself, he had better hurry.”
The doors to the room opened, and both men looked over to see the head of security, Wulfson, step into view.
“What the hell are the two of you doing here?” he asked, his arms at his side.
“A good afternoon to you too, Wulfson.” Laurie sneered. “Commander Sasha here was watching the tests from this room. I decided to keep him company.”
“That’s what I mean. I usually watch the tests from here. Who do you think stocks the bar?” He eyed the drink in Laurie’s hand and looked over to the bar to see a few drained bottles. “Something I see you’ve taken to quite enthusiastically.”
“Bill me later,” Laurie said dismissively.
“I thought you had one of those fancy rooms for Board members to watch the tests, Sasha?” Wulfson asked, grabbing a bottle of scotch before sitting down at one of the screens at the table.
“I am not one of the overseers this year, so I decided to watch from the observatory. My apologies for taking your space, Wulfson.”
“Eh, no trouble, I suppose. Glad to have someone to chit-chat with for a while. Care to make a wager?” the giant man suggested.
“If we do, my guess is the commander already has his pick.” Laurie took a swift drink. “He’s had his eye on a particular student even before he got here.”
“Oh? And who might that be?”
“Initiate Kaiden Jericho,” Laurie confessed.
Wulfson paused, looking from the professor to the commander. “Well now, ain’t that interesting.”
Sasha looked up. “How so?”
“Your pal here had me take your little protégé under my wing. It took a little tough love, but I’ve been training him this past week.”
Sasha raised an eyebrow, looking at the professor who continued to casually finish his second drink. “Laurie, that night at the restaurant, you said you ran into Wulfson.”
“Some dealings may have occurred.” Laurie shrugged. “But I have a vested interest in our boy as well, Sasha. Wulfson seemed to have the right…personality to be more of a hands-on guide for our little initiate.”
Sasha looked back to Wulfson. “And how has that been going?”
“Pretty well, actually,” he boasted, popping the top off the bottle and taking a large gulp “The boy can really work when he puts his mind to it. Took a few rough blows, but med bay does good work. Though I should probably watch out and make sure he doesn’t get addicted to that blend Doctor Soni made. He really likes that stuff.”
“Please do.” Sasha pressed a button on his tablet and Wulfson’s screen turned on. “Currently, Kaiden has found himself in quite a predicament.”
Wulfson looked at the screen for a moment before beaming and beginning to laugh. “Ha! Riding on the back of a Devil Bird—that boy has got guts.”
“Let’s hope he can keep them all inside. It looks like they are going to land.” They watched the action unfold and saw Kaiden begin to climb up the mutant bird’s back. “Although…it seems Kaiden is getting rather impatient.”
“Son of a…mutant…featherless…whore,” Kaiden growled, stabbing his blade into the Devil Bird as he climbed his way to the head. The monster screeched and howled, thrashing about in pain as Kaiden reached the apex.
“Deep breaths, partner. You fall now, and I’m pretty sure this thing will disembowel you.”
“You think it wasn’t going to before?” Kaiden yelled, gripping the predator’s large neck as it tried to throw him off.
“Might have let you off with a beheading, but I’m pretty sure you hurt its feelings and pissed it off.”
“I’m going to do a hell of a lot more than that,” Kaiden declared, reaching the head and holding his knife up in the air, readying it to bring down on the crown.
“You sure you don’t wanna wait for it to land?” Chief exclaimed.
“Fuck that.” Kaiden drove the knife into the skull of the beast, which roared in pain and shook its head wildly. He could feel the knife burrowing down but not far enough. Knowing he had little time, he yanked it out and began thrusting indiscriminately, sometimes stabbing, sometimes slicing, trying to get to the brain.
“Let’s upgrade that to pissed off and furious,” Chief yelled.
Kaiden could feel the blade cooling. He couldn’t trigger it again so soon or he’d risk breaking it entirely, but it was enough. He had made a hole in the dome of the Bird, and as he pushed the knife into its sheath, he grabbed a thermal from his belt.
“How the hell did I get stuck with your crazy ass?”
Kaiden ignored him as he activated the thermal and slotted it in the hole.
“Bail!”
Kaiden threw himself from the Bird. He turned in mid-air to see it staring straight at him, then the explosive went off, taking the beast’s head as its body tumbled from the sky.
Right toward him.
“Shit! Barrier—now!”
Kaiden dragged the barrier out and activated it to create half of a sphere in front of him. The Devil Bird’s carcass bounced off it and knocked Kaiden back, rocketing him even faster to earth.
“Face the ground with the barrier. It’s our only hope to not splatter.”
Kaiden did so, turning to the jungle below as a mass of trees came into view. He collided with them, bouncing as the barrier absorbed most of the impact, but damn, his chest felt ready to burst.
The device deactivated as he slammed into a branch, and he tumbled for a few more seconds before stopping. As he looked up, pain shot through him and his mind thumped in agony he looked over to a clearing. The Devil Bird’s headless corpse sprawled on the ground.
He stood up wearily and walked over to it. Placing a hand on the body, he scowled a mixture of satisfaction and discomfort. “Gotcha, you big bastard.”
The corpse lingered for a moment, then disappeared, morphing into a wire-frame before vanishing completely. Behind it, Kaiden saw a large group of soldiers in full view.
He moved a shaky hand to the holster. “God, I hope they’re friendly.”
The crowd was silent for a moment before excited yelling and claps erupted. It was somewhat surreal as the cheering crowd was all decked out in armor and weapons, their faces hidden behind various styles of masks and helmets, but it certainly felt nice.
“Well, I’ll be… I think this is the first time I’ve ever had so many people excited about me killing something.” Kaiden chuckled.
“Just take it all in and don’t say anything stupid to spoil the moment,” Chief ordered.
“I’m a bit too tired to do even that much.” He sighed.
“Bloody phenomenal, Kaiden.”
Kaiden turned to see Flynn and his partners run up. “You really took that thing down all by yourself? I’ll be damned.”
“Well, wasn’t gonna let your boy get killed like that without a little vengeance,” Kaiden said, nodding to Marlo.
The demolisher snorted. “Wish I could’ve done it, but I’ll certainly take the comeuppance.” He looked at the spot where the bird had been before it vanished. “It could’ve stayed a minute longer. I wanted to kick it, at least.”
Kaiden started to feel better. He could feel the pain subside rapidly and his muscles relax. He looked over to see Amber moving a device over him. “That’s a nice trick.”
“Battle medic, remember?” She finished and held the device up, a white gun-like apparatus with some vials of green liquid. “Stim Ray. A battle medic never goes into the field without one.”
“Works pretty good, but talk with Doctor Soni in the med bay. She’s got this blue stuff that is amazing.”
“I’ll look into it.” She chuckled.
“Not bad, I must say.” Kaiden looked over to see a man in dark green medium armor and a wide visor like his but with a full helmet with spikes protruding from the back. He was followed by three others—a large fellow with heavy silver armor, another with blood-red medium armor, and another with camo light armor. “My name is Jaxon. This is my team—Luke, Cameron, and Raul.” He gestured down the line. “Nice to see another ace in action. I think I’ve seen you in the workshops.”
“Yeah. I keep to myself mostly, but you’re right. I don’t see too many other aces.”
“Not too many have what it takes—like taking down a Devil Bird by yourself. Not really normal criteria, but I would say it counts.”
“That was pretty damn vicious,” Kaiden heard another voice say as he felt a hand clap onto his shoulder. “Good show, too. Call me Silas.” Kaiden turned to see a man in brown and green medium armor and a full-face mask and visor but nothing in the back, revealing long dreadlocks.
“Nice to meet you, but if you could let go for a moment, that spot isn’t healed quite yet.”
“Oh, right,” Silas said and stepped back. Kaiden turned, and Amber continued to run the Stim Ray over him.
“This is my partner, Izzy.” Silas motioned to a woman walking up to them in dark purple light armor.
“Isabella. Nice work on the Devil Bird. Probably gotta lot of points for it, huh?” She offered her hand.
Kaiden shook it. “I sure as hell hope so,” he stated dryly.
“Damn straight you did. Got thirty-five thousand for the monster! We’re at forty-six thousand total. Pretty safe to say we’re probably in the lead so far.”
“Bitchin’,” Kaiden answered. “Guess all we gotta do is get to the end…which is where now? Kinda got off course.”
“About three miles that way.” Izzy pointed west.
“All right then.” Kaiden took his Raptor out of his holster and looked back at the ground behind him, “We’re close to the end, guys. Let’s bring it home,” he yelled, earning more cheers as the others walked toward them.
“Feeling all celebratory, now, are we?” Chief asked.
Kaiden smiled under his mask. “No reason not to be. We’re almost to the end with plenty of time to spare, and there’s like
thirty people here. Looking like the end of the road.”
“The game is still going. You should stay on your guard.”
“I guess, but for once, I don’t feel like there’s anything I gotta worry about.”
Kaiden felt a rumble, then heard the loud crack of a laser. He heard screams from behind him as an explosion went off, knocking him and the group around him back.
He cursed as he slammed into a tree, then scrambled hastily to his feet as the light from the sun went dark. The rumbling continued. Kaiden looked to see at least a dozen soldiers disappear. He heard what sound like the humming of an energy core and felt the tremor of impact. Bewildered, he looked over the thicket to find out what was coming as the others recovered.
His eyes widened as he saw something knock the trees down and enter the clearing.
“What the hell is that?” Chief yelled, astonished.
Kaiden loaded another clip of ballistic rounds, his last.
“Chief…activate Battle Suite.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“What is that machine?” Sasha asked, watching the chaos unfold onscreen.
“I think I have an idea.” Laurie sighed, looking at Wulfson who simply continued to down the bottle of scotch.
“Did you design it, Professor?” Sasha inquired. “I certainly don’t remember it from any previous tests.”
“I did, but I wouldn’t implement it, certainly not for a test,” Laurie stated. “It was a droid based off old Asiton designs. I made some modifications—improvements—and added my general flair. It was supposed to be a defensive unit, built to deter opposition and give us an edge if any…galactic issues arose.”
Sasha raised an eyebrow. “A World Council contract, I assume?”
The professor nodded. “Until they shut me down—or rather, the Academy Board did. But since the Council wanted the project secret, I had to play along and sent the prototype away to be disassembled at a different facility. I did, however, keep a digitized copy for use in the Animus, to continue testing…until I got bored and left it in one of my folders to collect artificial dust.”
Animus Boxed Set 1 (Books 1-4): Initiate, Co-Op, Death Match, Advance Page 26
