Jack Strong: Dark Matter
Prologue
The ice bears swarmed over the ice, dragging the man deeper and deeper into the snow, claws scraping, teeth gnashing.
Canines and molars sank into flesh and grated against bone, hungry for blood, hungry for him.
It couldn’t end like this. Not now. Not after they were so close.
A swipe of his hand and one of the bears crumpled to the ground, its skull a bloody pulp.
A mouthful of teeth lunged out at him from the darkness, eyes lit-up like fire demons. He stopped it inches from his jugular, its rough fur stiff in his knuckles. He squeezed, twisted, yanked hard. Something snapped.
Flinging the carcass away, he spun round as another of the beasts came howling out of the shadows, all teeth and claws and bloody sinew. He grabbed it under its sternum, before crashing it back down onto the frozen snow, a stream of dark liquid filching from its ears.
He turned around again, ready for another attack, only to see three dark shapes scatter off into the night. He’d survived. For now.
What had happened to the blankets he’d been carrying? He looked everywhere, frantic. Nothing but the blood-red snow and the howling wind.
“Thomy! Tomen!” he cried at the top of his lungs. “Can you hear me? Where are you? Stay where you are… I’m coming for you!”
He rummaged around, twirling through ten foot snow drifts, desperate to find them, for a sight of their furs, anything. His body stung all over and begged for rest, but he carried on regardless. It couldn’t end now, not like this, not after all they’d been through, not after what had happened to her, to them all.
Still the snow continued to fall, covering the ground in a white carpet of frozen death.
One foot, two, three, six, ten. More followed.
It was relentless, like a flood. His beard froze, his hair too, snapping off with gusts of the wind. His fingers tingled, burnt, till he couldn’t feel anything at all. His toes went numb. He slumped to the ground like a great purplewood, snow matting his nose and cheeks.
The snow was all around him now, falling over his head, submerging him, encasing him, burying him alive. A white tomb. There was no hope, there never was. There was just the freezing cold, starvation, then death.
Sanctuary…
The thought fluttered into his head like a whispfly before the ice storms killed them all. Could he make it? Would they be able to help?
Thrusting aside a layer of partly frozen snow, he looked into the horizon, wincing as the snow stung and swiped at his eyes.
Darkness.
He spun around and looked in the other direction. Nothing but endless night and the blizzard’s wrath.
Which way to go?
The cold continued to seep into his veins like a poison. He couldn’t last much longer. The thought made him think of Thomy and Tomen. How were they doing in these sub-sub zero temperatures? The children always fared worse than the adults. Damn their young blood, damn the visitors…
He kept on going, it was all he could do. He didn’t have the energy to turn round. Not now. Not after that last attack. So cold…
Hours slithered by like ice snakes.
His right foot snagged on a frozen tree root, causing him to crash headfirst into a snow drift. He looked up. Snowflakes blew into his eyes like razor blades. Darkness shrouded the land. Where was Sanctuary? If he was headed in the right direction then he should have seen it by now. He was running out of time. They all were…
Suddenly the night sky in front of him was lit-up like Star City on World Union Day. It had to be hundreds of miles wide. Then the apparition started to float, rise.
A huge beam flicked on and arrowed in his direction, bathing him in golden light.
He was saved.
Chapter One: Into Battle
The sky shattered as a thousand steel spheres exploded over Jack’s head. He watched like a rabbit searching the clouds for a buzzard as a mass of twirling figures plummeted to the ground like iron rain.
He took out his space pistol and fired. There was a loud orange burst of flame.
He fired again. Closer this time. More sparks. More smoke.
The sky erupted with noise and light as he flicked his pistol to rapid fire. A soft, putrid hail dashed the ground around him.
He was about to raise his pistol again when a large shadow pierced the clouds, slamming into his head.
Jack winced as his nose was bent in the wrong direction, warm liquid oozing down his face. He spun around just in time, taking the dreadnut’s head off with a single shot below its chin.
Jack looked up as another soldier of death plunged out of the clouds, its right arm aiming for his head.
Jack looked-up into two red eyes red and put his laser bolt straight between them.
Its head was still a smoking ruin when the rest of the dreadnuts poured down on top of him, all teeth and fire and fury.
The instant they landed on the snow-covered roof Jack pressed a button on his holo-watch. Suddenly the sky flickered with light as a hundred drones uncloaked themselves, eviscerating the dreadnut horde with a rain of laser fire.
As soon as the last dreadnut fizzed to the ground, Jack flicked his shield back on immediately. The dreadnuts never could resist fresh meat. How were Vyleria and Grunt doing?
Jack scanned the rooftops, trying to shield his eyes from the incessant snow. How can a civilisation live in the middle of an ice age? he thought, zeroing in on Grunt as he ripped two dreadnuts to shreds with his bare hands.
He found Vyleria further down the street. She was stood on the tip of a huge steel and glass spire that towered a mile above the city. There were dreadnuts all around her, firing and twirling, buzzing their death song. They were going to capture her again, they were going to turn her and make her into one of their own. Fear rippled through him like electricity.
Jack ignited his rocket boots and shot-off across the roof-tops, heart speeding like a race car.
He took out the first dreadnut with a shot to the back of its head. He adjusted his pistol to rapid fire, dispatching several more. Pieces of metal and charred tissue rained down to the ground. But still the tide came, its hunger unrelenting. There had to be hundreds, thousands, millions.
“Vyleria!” he shouted, almost slipping when he landed on the icy metal surface. “What are you doing? They almost got you then.”
Vyleria’s face was like stone, her eyes focused on the lead dreadnut as it poked its head above the glass parapet. “Vyleria…”
Its head exploded as a red beam of light shot out from her pistol, killing it instantly.
“Vyleria, it’s me Jack. You’ve got to get out of here. We need to...”
Still she ignored him as another dreadnut fizzed away before his eyes.
“Vyleria! The plan…”
“I know!” shouted Vyleria, turning on him. “What do you think this is?”
“I… I was just trying to save you that’s all.”
“Some rescue,” she said as she aimed her pistol at a dreadnut that had slipped behind Jack, decapitating it at the shoulder. “It’s me rescuing you now.”
“But Vyleria there are so many, and where’s J’orge? He should be helping you. That was the plan.”
“I sent him back to the spaceship.”
“You did what?”
“He said he wasn’t feeling well. Something about the cold…”
“But that doesn’t make sense…”
“You still don’t trust him, do you?”
“Vyleria, that’s not the point.”
“What is then?”
“These,” he said, spinning around and taking out a platoon of dreadnuts that had clambered up the spire.
&nb
sp; “Jack, I can take care of it.”
“Can you? There are thousands down there. Maybe tens of thousands.”
“I know, Jack. That’s my plan.”
“Your what?”
“You didn’t think I was going to let myself get turned again, did you?”
“Well…”
“Look, I’ll show you,” she said, peering over the edge.
Jack followed her gaze. Thousands of dreadnuts were crawling up the spire like an army of robotic ants. They were going to overrun them any second.
“Now!” shouted Vyleria, tapping away at her holo-watch. A fleet of drones suddenly swooped out of the clouds, bringing death and mayhem to the horde below.
The dreadnut army was annihilated in seconds. Ten thousand smoking, melting corpses piled together at the bottom of the spire.
“I had to get as many of them together and out of the buildings as soon as possible,” said Vyleria. “Otherwise we’d be digging them out for days.”
“But the danger…”
“Was acceptable. Listen Jack, we are going to have to take a lot of risks if we are to win this war.”
“But…”
The air rumbled with explosions. Several of their drones plummeted to the ground. Then the buzzing started.
Out of the blurry white horizon streamed a dark tide of death that infested every street, every house, every office block, every park.
“There have to be…”
“Millions,” said Jack, as the first ten thousand streamed up the spire towards them, eyes promising death and destruction.
Chapter Two: Checkmate
Jack pressed down on the trigger as quickly as he could – the dreadnuts erupting before his eyes – but it wasn’t enough, the metal tide continued to clamber up the spire, inch by blood-soaked inch.
“Vyleria! We’ve got to go. We’ll be overrun.”
“No wait. Just a little longer,” said Vyleria, carving a hole through the swarm.
“But it’s not necessary,” said Jack, seeing the gap instantly filled in. “Padget…”
But Vyleria didn’t listen to him, she just continued to stare wild-eyed at the dreadnut horde, firing as rapidly as possible, her weapon set to one of the highest settings.
The dreadnuts erupted, exploded, their eviscerated carcasses plummeting to the blood-soaked ground below like acid rain. But still they kept on coming, their anger insatiable, their numbers limitless. They were being overwhelmed.
Suddenly one jumped on top of the spire, a flurry of metal darts pinging against Jack’s energy shield.
His armour still holding, he swiveled round like a kickboxer or a ballet dancer and kicked the dreadnut square in the chest, sending it cartwheeling over the edge. One down one million to go.
Then another one jumped up, and another and another. There were too many of them. He punched, kicked, wrenched one off his back, flinging another over the top. It was like an intergalactic wrestling match. More punches, more kicks, firing wildly now.
He couldn’t last much longer like this; he had to try something else. He thrust a dreadnut to the side, half its head missing, and drew his lightning sword. Like a ghost in the night he moved amongst the dreadnuts, cutting and slicing. Bits of metal and body parts rained down all around him, his sword slicing through bone, steel and cement.
He killed ten, twenty, thirty in a whirlwind of movement but still the tide kept on coming, its murderous waves lapping up the shore towards him.
“Vyleria, there’s too many of them,” he said, in between sword strokes. He was almost out of breath now. So tired. How much longer could this dance go on? “We’ve got to evacuate. Vyleria!”
“Wait, there he is,” said Vyleria, pointing up at the snow-filled sky.
Jack looked-up to see a bright, silver object streak out of the clouds and swoop over the wide boulevard beneath them.
Suddenly a torrent of lava spilled out from underneath their spaceship, crashing down onto the army of dreadnuts, melting and burning everything in its path. It was like all the world’s volcanoes combined and then some. Then their spaceship turned on its axis and zoomed back towards them, destroying the dreadnuts that were still climbing up the spire with a hail of sonic cannon fire. It was over in moments. Their victory was total, complete.
“Now that we’ve got that over with…” said Vyleria, before she launched off into the air with her rocket boots.
“Vyleria. Wait. Where are you going?” yelled Jack, following her through the smoldering skies.
“To find him,” she said, increasing her speed. “Our victory won’t be complete until lava man is either dead or our prisoner.”
“But Vyleria, don’t you remember what happened to me last time on Europa?” said Jack, matching her speed. “He blinded and crippled me; I only survived because he let me. How are you going to defeat him?”
“I’ll think of something.”
“What kind of plan is that?” he asked, snow and smoke blowing into his face. “Vyleria, this is serious. You could die, or worse. If he turns you…”
“Relax. Padget and I have an idea. We’ve been working on it for weeks.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your sword?”
“I… err… it was going to be a surprise. I thought you’d be impressed; I’ve been designing it for weeks.”
“Some surprise,” she said, face as cold as the snow. “You almost took my eye out down there.”
“What? I never… I was trying to save you; if you hadn’t been so intent on killing dreadnuts we might have got out of there sooner.”
“Look, let’s not argue.”
“Who’s arguing?”
“I don’t have time for this, Jack. Not now. Not here. I just want you to do what I say for once, is that understood?”
“Fine. Whatever.”
“Good,” she said, cheeks purpling. “If this works then the Scourge is finished. If we can take out their leadership, the dreadnuts won’t be able to function. And without the dreadnuts…”
“They’re toast,” said Jack, doing his best to smile. Why was she always arguing with him these days? It had been like this ever since they’d broken up; one stupid argument after another.
“Exactly,” said Vyleria, not even looking into the distance. “Come on, let’s find lava man.”
Jack and Vyleria swooped over the huge stadium like a pair of peregrine falcons, their spaceship following swiftly behind.
“What took you?” said the tall figure in the centre of the lightning ball pitch. His skin was black and cracked, like cooling lava.
“We…”
“It’s over!” shouted Vyleria. “We beat you. Surrender or accept the consequences.”
“Care to elaborate?” he said, looking round at the mass of dreadnuts behind him.
“Or else we’ll destroy you,” she said, looking at their spaceship as it hovered behind her menacingly.
“With that thing,” said the lava man, his eyes as bright as comets. “I doubt it.”
“Fine. Have it your way,” said Vyleria. “Let him have it, Padget.”
A flurry of sonic cannon fire suddenly erupted from beneath their spaceship cutting the dreadnuts into a million charred fragments. They smelled like an odd mixture of barbecued meat and burnt paint.
“There’s more where they came from,” said the lava man.
He sounded cool. Too cool, thought Jack.
“Vyleria…”
“This is my last warning,” said Vyleria, ignoring him.
“You think that thing can hurt me,” said the lava man. “You cannot even conceive of my power, what I can do, what we all can.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” said Vyleria, cheeks a savage purple. “Padget, open fire.”
No sooner had the words leapt from Vyleria’s lips before a stream of white lightning zipped from the nose of their spaceship, hitting lava man in the middle of his chest. He lurched backward
s, tottered slightly, swayed and then…
Nothing.
He stood there like a bull in the middle of the ring, eyes primed for maiming and butchery.
It all happened so fast. One moment the lava man was standing about twenty feet away from them, then in one fluid movement – all magma, ash and pumice – he had closed the distance, coming up under Vyleria’s right arm, his left grabbing her by the hair as he pulled her close.
Her skin singed and burned. Her skin sloughed off her, cheekbones exposed. She smelled awful, like a sausage that has been left on the barbecue too long.
But she didn’t cry out. Not once. Not even when her eyebrows caught fire, then her hair. She was burning up, sizzling away into nothing. He had to do something. And fast.
“Let her go,” shouted Jack. “I’m the one you want.”
“You?” said the lava man, his eyes a mixture of hate and the fire that consumed them.
“Yes, I started this. On Europa. I attacked you first. Take me instead. Just let her go. Please.”
“Europa…” said the lava man, his eyes dimming noticeably.
“Yes. After the attack on Earth.”
“Of course. That explains… a lot of things,” said the lava man, looking first at Jack, then at Vyleria and then finally their spaceship. “I’m not the one you seek. Your vengeance rests with another.”
“It doesn’t change… a thing,” gurgled Vyleria. Her teeth had melted away now, one of her eyes too. Skin was oozing from her bare neck. There wasn’t much left.
“Vyleria, stop please.”
“Okay, my little dreadnut, have it your way,” said the lava man, tossing Vyleria back towards Jack. She crumbled into his arms. She was a mess. She looked more like a melted candle than a person.
“This doesn’t change a thing,” said Jack, trying not to look at Vyleria, trying not to see what she’d become, what the lava man had done to her. “We’ve won the battle. Your army has been defeated.”
“But you haven’t won the war,” grinned the lava man, looking back towards the horizon.
Jack followed his gaze to where he was looking. There were four distinct flashes as bright as sun flares. The ground shook, trembled, then went still. There were four new clouds on the horizon now. Each of them shaped like grey, elongated mushrooms.
Jack Strong: Dark Matter Page 1
