by J. F. Halpin
“Wait, you knew that thing was here? The hell were you thinking? It’s the size of a small fucking building.”
Nowak glanced back at Summers, concern on his face.
“Didn’t know they were that big, and it’s not like I had a lot of time to look into it.” Nowak flipped through the book a little too fast; his nerves were on edge. “Worse news, that’s not the only one. Every time I brought it up, they used the word for, uh, herd? That right, Asle?”
“They said there’s lots of them,” Asle agreed.
“Great . . .”
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
The Humvee rolled slowly forward. The windows were down, just in case something big tried to announce itself. Cortez was on the roof with her small arsenal, just waiting for the worst to come.
There was only one problem.
They were burning the incense that was supposed to keep most of the wildlife away. And it smelled. Bad. Frankly, it was the foulest thing Summers had ever had the displeasure of experiencing in his life. It was as if someone had concentrated the essence of a poorly cleaned, heavily used amusement park bathroom, aged it for flavor, and tossed in some rotten meat for good measure.
Summers repressed the urge to gag. He was doing his best to keep his face neutral. From what he could tell, the others weren’t having any issues.
“We still good on gas?” Nowak asked from the passenger’s seat.
Summers checked the gauge. He’d probably need to top them off at the next stop. “For now. Might get us to the coast. Might not.”
“After the main road, if we get to the other side of the canyon, we might be able to coast down in neutral.”
“Sure . . .” Summers tried to clear his throat. The damn smell was killing him.
“The hell is the matter with you?” Nowak looked at Summers with concern.
“Nothing,” Summers lied.
Nowak just kept staring.
“Summers, tell me what is going on.”
“It’s no—”
“It’s not nothing, or I wouldn’t be asking,” Nowak interrupted. He stared at Summers for a long moment before he relented.
“I think the fog screwed with my sense of smell.”
“How?”
“I . . . it’s a lot stronger. And right now, those sticks you lit are making me want to get as far away from this Humvee as possible. If this is what it’s like for the animals, I don’t think anything’s coming close to us.”
Nowak sniffed the air.
“You can smell it?”
“I can fucking taste it. I feel like this is what dogs deal with.”
More silence as Nowak watched him.
He didn’t blame the guy. If Summers hadn’t kept this secret, maybe they would have seen what happened with Adams coming.
“Any reason we’re only hearing about this now?” Logan asked from the back.
“I was hoping it would wear off . . . but after what happened with Adams. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
There was an awkward silence after that, broken only when Summers felt a face close beside his.
“That’s creepy as hell.” Cortez had her head poked in through the driver’s side window. She was hanging upside down, leaning in from the rooftop. “What do I smell like?”
Summers pulled back a few inches, still trying to keep his eyes on the road. “I can sort of tell you guys apart, I guess, but it’s not like I can relate it to anything.”
“Anything else?” Nowak was still looking at Summers, and it was obvious there was something he was leaving unsaid.
“My hands are still kinda fucked up, at least when it comes to fine motor stuff. Anything that’s muscle memory is almost better.” Summers thought. “And adrenaline is more . . . mental than it should be.”
“Like how?”
“Like I get pissed off in a fight pretty easily . . .”
He let that hang in the air, and Nowak didn’t ask him to clarify. They’d already been in more than one fight since he went off the deep end. They knew he could hold it together. At least, he thought they knew.
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
Summers threw the Humvee in park. They’d hit a crossroads, and Nowak wanted to double-check their bearings. Every so often, they’d come across a dirt path the map didn’t account for. Some of them were game trails, while others were just new trade routes the maps didn’t seem to know about. They could have just as likely found a shortcut as some hick town’s driveway.
Summers unslung one of the gas cannisters from the back and started the arduous process of topping themselves off.
Then he smelled something, even through the barely tolerable smog the Humvee was putting out. Summers immediately scanned the horizon and saw another of those small lizards.
Seeing it like that, it occurred to Summers that it was a baby version of the monster he’d seen. At the same time, one twice its size rose up in the distance. Followed by another. And another.
“Guys . . .”
Nowak must have heard the worry in his voice, because his head snapped to where Summers was looking. There were about a dozen dog-sized lizards eyeing them. And more were starting to show themselves through the thick forest.
“Cortez, get on the Humvee!”
The lizards began moving in toward them.
“Screw it!”
Summers abandoned the mostly empty cannister, piling in with the others.
“The incense still burning?” Nowak looked up to the rooftop.
“Yeah, we got more from the south,” Cortez called down.
Summers shifted the Humvee to drive.
“Stay slow. If they’re keeping a distance—”
As Nowak spoke, Summers saw the lizards edging closer, through the smoke.
“Sarge, I don’t think this shit’s working.”
“Cortez!”
Summers gunned it just as gunfire from up top erupted. A lizard twenty feet in front of them exploded into a fine red mist.
As if on cue, a cluster of lizards rushed in from behind. Summers jammed the accelerator in response. Unfortunately, with all the crap they’d piled on, their Humvee wasn’t as mobile as Summers would have liked.
“Shit!” Nowak blurted while readying his gun. He angled the barrel out the window, firing into anything that got too close.
Then it appeared in front of them—a thirty-five-foot-tall monster Summers could only assume was the alpha of the pack. No doubt it was the same one he’d run into earlier. And they were heading right for it.
It roared, and the other beasts surged forward. Only vaguely, Summers realized they were herding them toward it.
“Cortez!”
“I fucking see it!”
Summers heard the thump of one of their MAAWS, followed by an explosion that resounded in his teeth. The monster rocked back, but still managed to stay on its feet. It was distracted just long enough for Summers to blow past it.
Not fast enough, as it turned out. Some of the lizards must have caught up; Summers could feel something on the Humvee tear loose. One of the smaller creatures managed to cling to the window frame with its teeth, and Logan fired, killing it and leaving a hole in their previously pristine Humvee.
Summers was having a hard time hearing over the ringing in his ears.
Vaguely, he saw Nowak gesturing and took the risk of turning his head, only to see a minivan-sized lizard charging in from their right. It wasn’t as big as the first one, but he was certain it could fuck up their day just as easily.
Summers jammed the brakes just before the creature would have slammed into them, and saw Cortez flip head over heels onto the hood.
“You fucking asshole!”
“Less yelling, more shooting!” Nowak responded.
Cortez flipped onto her back and finished priming the rocket in her hands.
Thump. Boom!
The backblast cracked the windshield as the creature took the hit to its head. It fell to the ground w
ith a resounding crash and lay there, unmoving. Cortez was already crawling up to the roof again as Summers accelerated, ignoring the damage to their already run-down Humvee.
Cortez fired another rocket. Considering what was behind him, Summers was hoping it hit its mark. He swerved around a cluster of lizards, and then saw where they were headed. A road wound up and around a mountain pass. It seemed to be the only way through the steep cliffs up ahead. Hopefully, it would bottleneck anything that tried to follow them.
Cortez fired from the roof almost nonstop. They were getting some distance between them and the creatures now, just as an odd sputtering noise resounded from the engine.
Summers was halfway up the first stretch of the mountain pass when he realized they were running out of gas.
“It’s not going to make it up the hill!”
Summers didn’t waste time fighting with the machine. He grabbed his gun and stepped outside, helping to cull the first wave of lizards that charged up the hill after them. What was with these things?
“Are you serious?” Cortez yelled from the roof.
“Buy me enough time to gas it up!” Summers was already heading to the back when he saw the claw marks where their last full cannister was supposed to be. “We’re out of gas.”
“What?” Nowak responded.
“We’re not moving!” Summers yelled.
Nowak glanced at the empty spot beside Summers. It didn’t take him long to catch up.
Then another roar interrupted their conversation. The big one was back. It had a huge chunk taken out of its side, but it was looking more pissed off than hurt.
Summers saw Cortez line up a shot with her final rocket, and then fire.
The creature charged, avoiding the rocket with an agility that belayed its enormous size. It splashed harmlessly onto the cliff beside it.
“Shit . . .”
They had nothing else that could kill something that big. Nothing that Summers could think of, anyway. Grenades? No. The C-4? There wasn’t enough time to rig it up.
They needed time.
“I’ll try to lead it away!” Summers yelled. He only took a second to grab something from the back. The Humvee would block the creature’s charge, at least long enough for them to get some distance, maybe even set up a trap. They just needed someone to distract it.
Summers fired his weapon, charging at the still approaching creature. It didn’t even seem to register the gunfire, or maybe it was too pissed to care.
“Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit!” Summers watched as the creature barreled closer, far faster than he would have assumed it capable of.
It didn’t pause for Summers. It didn’t even try to attack him. From the monster’s perspective, Summers would either be trampled underfoot or killed by the growing horde behind it. That’s why Summers had grabbed the jar of fog. As it approached, Summers fired a 4mm grenade toward its head. As it hit, the creature stumbled, and Summers tossed the jar at its face. It shattered, and the creature stopped.
To Summers’ surprise, the monster made no move to stop him as he sprinted by. Much like his own experience, its entire body seemed to seize, if only for one brief moment. Summers reloaded and took the chance to look back to the top of the road.
His friends hadn’t run.
They hadn’t even moved. From what he could tell, they were trying to push down the crap on top of the Humvee.
The creature turned on him. He could already see the fog taking effect as it looked down on him hungrily.
This might not have been the best idea.
He’d hoped one of the bigger lizards would have followed this thing, that way this bastard would have had a target other than him. But so far, nothing had made its way up the road.
The creature roared and changed directions. At least he’d bought his friends a few seconds. As the creature was nearly on top of him, he fired another grenade into its head. It reeled back only for a moment, slamming its head into the canyon wall, shattering a good chunk of rock. He had no doubt it would recover fast.
Then he heard a horn.
Summers turned to see the Humvee rolling downhill, directly toward him. Cortez bailed from the driver's side, detonator in hand. Summers immediately understood what was about to happen.
The Humvee slammed into the creature—and exploded.
It was a good thing Summers was on the other side of the monster’s enormous mass, because otherwise, he might not have survived. The creature was lifted off its feet and tossed back. As it fell, Summers saw the hood of the Humvee lodged into a gaping hole in its chest.
Even with most of its head and chest caved in, it still struggled for a solid two minutes before he saw it finally lay still.
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
The rest of the lizards were a shooting gallery for Summers; nothing big enough that he couldn’t handle them alone. They must have realized what had happened to their alpha, because most didn’t bother making the attempt.
When he was done, Summers stood among the wreckage. Before them were the bodies of the dead lizards, the smoldering corpse of the big one, and the burning wreckage of their Humvee that seemed to stretch on for miles.
Summers was breathing hard, trying to comprehend how he was still alive.
“Son of a bitch . . .”
His gaze finally landed on all the cargo Cortez and the others had managed to save. It stood in a neat pile at the side of the winding path. Months of food, clothing, and supplies. Not to mention their ammunition. And they had no way of moving it up the mountain.
Cortez stood beside the assortment of crap, looking annoyed.
“Would be nice if we had a cow, don't you think?”
Chapter 14: Old Friends
Synel stared out at the road in front of her. It was the third day of their travel in the pass, and the expedition had gone well so far. They’d avoided losses in their travel to the north and had even managed to harvest the spring water without issue. The only problem had been this road, and it was not the problem she’d expected.
Death. That was what Synel found on the road that day. She was surrounded by death.
The bodies of the rajin littered the horizon. That in itself was not a strange occurrence. They were a violent, often territorial species. Perhaps even more so now that it was their breeding season. But this was far beyond what she’d consider natural, or even reasonable.
There were hundreds of them, some of them full-fledged adults. Even Synel’s untrained eye could pick out the strange wounds that littered the corpses. They were almost identical to those that marred the trophy atop her carriage.
It was as though the gods of death themselves had descended on this valley. Dozens of men gawked at the sight of a beast the size of her wagon lying dead in the distance, its head cracked open somehow. Even the young, reckless traders that had threatened to brave the road on their own refused to go near the bodies. To brazenly claim the kill of whatever had done this . . . well, she didn’t want to think of the consequences.
“Madame, there’s something up ahead.”
Synel glanced at the man beside her. He’d been one of those who had pressured her to move on this deal.
“Stay the course. I think I have an idea of what we’ll find.”
Those merchants, surely, had to be behind this.
Looking out at the sea of bodies before her, Synel understood just how foolish she’d been. She’d enlisted dozens of men for this trip, each ready to gamble their lives for a chance at fortune. But this . . .
Had they made this trip just a few days earlier, their caravan would have been destroyed. Utterly destroyed. Toslo had offered her a small fortune in exchange for her services on this trip. She’d thought them to be desperate. With the Gray Nation’s army at their doorstep and their own men all but scattered to the winds, she would swoop in, make her coin, and leave before things went truly bad. Now, it was clear they’d sent her on a suicide mission.
The caravan rolled to a stop. In
the distance, she saw them. They sat atop one of the largest, most terrifying beasts Synel had ever seen. And they appeared to be . . . drinking?
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
“Shit. Heads up. We got company.” Nowak looked over at the road behind them. Dozens of wagons were coming into view, carrying hundreds of people.
They’d decided to rest. With the alpha dead, none of the other lizards dared to even come close. Summers had been trying to rig up some kind of makeshift wagon from the remains of their Humvee, but so far, he’d been unsuccessful. It was starting to look like they’d be leaving with only what they could carry, so they’d decided to try lightening their load, starting with the crate of booze Synel had gifted them.
Which was why it took Summers so long to register the procession that was edging closer and closer.
“Right. Uh, masks?” Summers said, looking for the balaclava he’d stashed somewhere nearby.
“Think they’re from the city?” Nowak worked the action on his gun.
“You think they’d send an army after us? Kind of overkill, don’t you think?” Cortez cradled her rifle in hand as she spoke.
“To be fair, that’s probably what it would take.” Summers looked through his scope at the procession.
He spotted a silver-haired woman moving to the front; it was the trader they’d met, Synel. She held up her right hand up, palm facing toward her. Summers remembered that was a type of challenge the elves used, so she probably wanted to talk. Or she wanted them to get close enough to stab. Either way.
“That’s our trader, yeah?” Logan asked.
“Yeah.” Summers looked over to Nowak. “What’s the call?”
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
It was an awkward thing to walk with so many eyes on you.
Synel stood at the center of the road, hands folded in front of her. She looked as placid as any other elf Summers had seen, but there was a definite tension in her voice, even if Summers didn’t understand her words.
“She says it’s good to see you well.” Asle looked up to Summers. They’d decided he’d run point on the negotiations, if only because Synel seemed fond of him.
Now that Summers was in front of the woman, though, he wasn’t so sure that was true. She was nervous. Actually, given the standards the elves used to socialize, it probably meant she was two seconds away from losing her shit.
