by Dan Decker
Was it just my imagination or had the wings increased in speed?
The lurker pulled ahead in its descent toward the ground and I spread my feet to keep up.
The ground was coming quick, I didn’t know how long we had before I needed to pull up, but it was seconds away.
The lurker pulled forward even further, it wings going so fast I had a hard time imagining how it was even possible.
I hesitated but only for a second before I spread my feet.
The wounded lurker cried out like it was pleading for help. I felt bad for the creature’s plight, but I pushed the thought away because I could not afford to think like that. These things would kill me the moment they had an opportunity.
It was them or me.
I choose me.
The lurker put on a sudden burst of speed, closing a distance of about fifty feet until it was just a few feet away from the wounded lurker.
I hung back, not wanting to get caught in something if these two wound up in a tangle and went down.
The wounded lurker turned so that it’s back was to the ground and its legs were up. The other lurker repositioned so its legs faced those of the wounded lurker. They wrapped their legs around each other and then the lurker started pumping its wings, trying to pull out of their death spiral.
I landed on top of the lurker and grabbed a wing in each hand, causing the lurker to roar. I was perfectly positioned for the maneuver I had done before so without a moment of hesitation, I launched into the air.
Just like before, they didn’t come off easily, but after a couple tries, there was a tearing sound and I managed to altogether remove them from the lurker.
The creature cried out and the remaining wings suddenly increased in speed again. The lurker fought a losing battle now it only had two wings left.
I looked down at the ground and at the lurkers, wondering if I dared go in for yet another move. They were both likely to die at this rate, but I wanted to make sure they did not survive.
The lurker twisted, its eyes focusing on me as I came down and landed on top of him. It tried to hit me with its blasters, but every shot missed. I grabbed one of the remaining good wings and launched myself upward, the wing coming off far easier than I had expected. My guess was the tension of carrying the extra weight of the other lurker, plus the fatigue from moving far faster than normal, had made them more pliable.
It was difficult to describe my feelings.
Elation.
Regret.
I was overwhelmed that I’d managed to do all the things I had done. I hated what I had done, but did not see another way out. I’d had an opportunity to kill these lurkers and I had taken it.
The lurker on the bottom pushed away from the lurker on top, spun, and went into a dive, clearly making sure that the remaining lurker did not try again to save it.
That final wing beat hard, slowing the lurker more than I would’ve expected possible.
The screams of the lurker below stopped when it hit the ground head first, it would not get up again.
Relief flooded through me. The horror was gone. Now that the monster was dead, I did not regret it.
The remaining lurker, for a brief moment, looked like it was about to fly, but then it managed to land in a tumble of claws that ended in a roll.
I came down beside it, landing softer than I had ever done in any of my previous attempts with the anti-grav boots or the suit.
The lurker charged.
I stood my ground, even though we were on an open desert plain with nothing around for me to use as a defense.
I got this.
34
A blast of light came out of nowhere and tore the lurker in two pieces, sending the parts skidding to a halt fifty feet in front of me. It took me a moment to realize what had happened before a sense of unfulfilled expectations flowed through me, which was surprising because the problem had been so easily resolved. I had been confident I could handle this lurker as well, considering how I had taken care of the last one.
It felt like the opportunity to prove myself had been taken away, but I shook it off.
I fought two lurkers and survived, using only my suit and wits, even killing one without the suit’s weapons. That’s not nothing.
“When I said you could fight hand-to-hand with the lurkers, I meant that more figuratively, not literally.”
Relief flowed through me to hear Roth’s voice.
“I really said it to keep you from demanding that I teach you how to use the weapons. They can be tricky, and it’s easy to do the wrong thing.” She chuckled. “I should’ve known you’d take me at my word.”
Irritation flowed through me, but I swept it away. It helped that I had been successful at something she had said just to satiate me.
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you.”
“How did you take down these two lurkers by yourself?”
Roth now hovered above me in the air.
“One. You got the second. How long have you been watching?”
“I just barely got here. I saw that guy over there take a nosedive into the ground and the other guy that came down with only one wing…” She trailed off. “Did you remove their wings? That is impressive. How high up did you go?”
“I have no idea. We fell for quite some time, so probably higher than I thought. I ripped off the wings because I figured that was the only way I could fight them.”
“I don’t know that anybody’s ever tried that.”
“Really?”
“No, but I guess everybody usually has weapon’s training, so there isn’t a need.” Roth shook her head. “The suits are only rated for ten thousand feet, we teach soldiers to not go above five. Did you see a flashing light out the corner of your eye?”
I thought back and shook my head. “Not that I can recall. I was pretty focused at the time.”
“You are one merciless man.”
“It was them or me.”
“Don’t mistake me, you did the right thing. It’s just…” She trailed off again but did not finish her thought. “How did you get into the suit? Didn’t I deactivate it before I left?”
I shrugged, but I doubted that it came through while in the suit. “I activated it.”
Roth shook her head. “Just when I think you’re too big of a screwup, you do something like this that makes me want to keep you around.”
“Terrible shame, that. What comes next?”
“What happened to the ship?” Roth asked as she landed.
“I dunno.” I pointed in the direction it had gone. “Last I saw it was still going that way. Unless it ran into more lurkers, it’s probably still going that same direction. Do you think we can catch it?”
“Not without me teaching you to use the full propulsion system, and I’m not gonna do that. We don’t have enough time.”
“You’ll have to teach me sometime.”
“Yes, it’s far trickier than your suit’s antigravity. It seems like you have managed that well enough, so it bodes well when I do have an opportunity to teach you. We’re talking about hours, not minutes.”
“You saw what I could do with the bare knowledge you imparted. Do you want real help when we go into Camp Myers?”
“Yes, but we don’t have the time it’ll take for me to bring you up to speed. That was gutsy of you to jump out of a moving ship. Did you have any problems?”
I thought back to how difficult it had been to activate the suit and was tempted to make a snarky remark but resisted the desire.
“It was okay once I got into the suit. I didn’t really have much choice. I had to bail out. One of the lurkers had fastened on top of the ship, and it kept the ship from making evasive maneuvers. I tried to access the ship’s controls, but it looked like you locked them out.” She nodded to indicate my assessment was correct. Her suit head didn’t move, it was the projection on her helmet. “It was cutting in with a saw.”
“That happens from time to time.”
“You still haven’t told me where you’ve been.”
“The last one I fought was a tough sucker, I’m not quite sure I killed it, but at least it’s temporarily down.” She jerked a hand back toward the mountains where I had been frolicking with the lurkers. “I was back there. The thing was talented, I’ll say that much. Okay, are you ready?”
“No.” I shook my head emphatically. “Teach me how to use the weapons.” Roth hesitated like she was gonna say no. I stepped towards her. “Doesn’t it count for something that I managed to take two down with my bare hands.”
“One, I got the other.”
“I was about to finish it off, you know it. I think you can trust me with a weapon. It doesn’t have to be all of them, just teach me one simple weapon. I need the ability to point and bring them down. Wouldn’t you rather I can point and kill instead of having to jump on their back to pop off wings. That’s gonna be a far worse distraction and maybe even cost us more time in the long run.”
“I suppose I owe you that much.” She brought up her right hand. “I told you not to touch any of the buttons that were in front of your hand. Did you try any of them?”
“Maybe once or twice.”
A sly smile crossed her face. “I never activated them, so even if you pressed them, nothing happened.”
I just nodded without saying anything, remembering the frustration and anger I felt at having to fight the lurkers without anything I could use to destroy them.
“I will activate one of the weapons. There is a trigger in front of the index finger on your right hand. Point it at one of the dead lurkers and pull it.”
“You mean just aim my hand?”
“Yes.”
I brought it up and held it in the direction of the severed body of a lurker, the legs of which still moved, and then pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
“Are you sure you activated it?”
“Yes. You have to hold it down for five seconds.”
I thought you were in a hurry, why didn’t you mention that before?
I depressed the trigger again and held it down, there was no visible indication that I was doing anything. I had expected a beam of light, similar to what she had used to tear the nearly wingless lurker in half, but nothing came.
A moment later a high-pitched screeching came from the lurker’s body. The hardened shell I was pointing at began to smoke before it burst into flame, an explosion coming right afterward.
“Can I kill them on first contact without having to wait five seconds?”
“No, but if you aim for the head it will mess with their mind until their skull explodes. They probably will not hold still long enough for that. You still might have to jump on their back and rip off wings.” Roth leaped into the air. “We have wasted too much time, let’s go.”
I gritted my teeth as I jumped and followed her.
35
The forward movement of the anti-gravs seemed to increase our speed the longer we used them. We were only several hundred feet in the air, so the ground speeding beneath our feet seemed to pass far faster than it had in the transport. Before too long, we were over the spot where I had abandoned the ship. It came and went in a blur.
If I’d have known that the longer I held this position, the faster I would go, I might’ve just tried to outrun them. Perhaps in this instance, ignorance had been to my benefit.
It would’ve been a mistake to run, so I was glad I had not tried. The experience I had just come through was valuable, and I had survived without a scratch. Not only was it a confidence builder, but there was nothing like first-hand experience to truly learn something.
Roth maintained radio silence for most of our journey, I didn’t know if this was for a strategic purpose or just because she was focused on getting to Camp Myers.
Even though we had moved faster on the ship, I preferred how we currently traveled. For one, I felt far more secure because I was not putting my life solely into Roth’s hands. For another, it was far more engaging, so I was fully alert. If we encountered more lurkers, I was in a better position to deal with them in every way possible.
Another mountain range slowly grew up ahead until it took up most of the horizon. Roth headed straight for it.
“We must keep a low profile from here on out. While I am tempted to just hop over the mountains, I think we should go through while staying as low as we can go to avoid detection. Camp Myers is just on the other side. Stay close.”
We hurtled into the mountain range at full speed. I had no idea how fast we were going, but it felt unsafe. I had never been much of a speed demon back on earth, but my experiences here had started to bring on an adrenaline rush. The full protection of the suit helped me enjoy the experience. This was far better than when we had relied on the transport to take us through the mountains.
Roth turned a corner around a cliff and leaped up in the air. I followed on instinct before I saw that a hill was coming our way. It seemed like the bottoms of my feet were going to scrape, but I cleared just fine.
I gawked at what I saw on the other side.
For the first time since coming here, I actually saw a stream of running water at the bottom of a canyon. It was small and no more than several feet wide. Judging by the surrounding area and vegetation, it did not look like it had ever been any bigger. Green grass and small plants grew beside the stream. I even saw a creature that looked like a deer, but it came and went so fast I did not have time to fully appreciate it.
It was difficult to not stare at the running water, but I kept my eyes forward, continuing to glance down every now and again to be sure that it was still there. It was strange how such a little thing could have an effect on me.
A few minutes later, after we’d zipped around several other cliffs and hopped over some low hanging peaks, a vast, impossibly tall cliff emerged ahead of us at the end of the ravine we currently traveled through. The cliff ran in either direction with a rock wall on the opposite sides, forming steep canyons to our right and left. At first, I wondered if this was a man-made wall, but then as I looked closer, I saw the distinct breaks and crags in the rockface. Based on what Roth had said earlier about keeping a low profile, I expected that she would turn, but she went straight forward toward the cliff.
“We have to go up,” she said a moment later, “despite the fact the cliff is tall. Once we get near the top we are going to slow down. We can’t afford to be seen now so follow my lead.”
We stopped twenty feet back from the cliff and began to climb. Rather than shoot up like Roth had before, she took this at a steady speed.
As we moved, I began to grow uncomfortable, though I could not explain why. It felt like somebody was watching us. I kept my eyes peeled, scanning the area around us as best I could, but saw nothing to indicate there was anything to my fears.
When I saw movement to the left, I turned, afraid that a lurker was about to attack, but instead, I saw the tip of a grenling’s head peeking out from the mouth of a cave deep in the cliff. Then I saw another, peeking around from a rock outcropping a hundred feet away from where we were. This one looked small, like it was a child.
“We’re not alone up here.”
“No.”
Her tone told me she already knew this and that there was more than she had said, but she did not want to get into it. I turned at a movement on our right, but it was gone before I could make it out. I did not need a good look to know it was another grenling.
“This is a grenling colony,” Roth said as she turned and flew to the right. “We will be past it momentarily. No need to panic.” After going several hundred feet over, she started to climb again.
She had known about this beforehand? Why hadn’t she told me? I ground my teeth at the withheld knowledge but kept my mouth shut. Hadn’t I already proven myself?
She could trust me with necessary information.
There was scraping on the rocks down below, and Roth pushed faster. I was happy to follow h
er lead.
We were only halfway up the cliff when a grenling came out above us, peeking its head over the top of a protruding ledge, it’s helmet glinting in the light of day.
“How hard is it to kill a grenling compared to a lurker?”
“A little bit easier. They are not nearly as menacing, nowhere near as smart, and the weapons, as you’ve seen, are primitive. But that isn’t the problem. If we fight them, it will give away our presence. Camp Myers is just on the other side of this mountain. This might not be an issue if the battle is still underway, but it might be that everybody’s either dead or evacuated, and that will immediately draw the lurker’s wrath.” She glanced over, the image looking weird as it was projected against the side of her helmet. “That’s why we didn’t go around even though this place is infested with grenlings, our best shot is up and over. Camp Myers keeps a watch around the clock to make sure grenlings don’t invade the camp, but something tells me they’re out of commission today.” She shook her head. “All the activity must’ve woken the grenlings, they tend to be nocturnal.” She went to the left a hundred feet, I followed after.
I looked up at the towering cliff and saw nothing. The grenlings were there, they were all just hiding. I looked down and saw a dozen climbing up towards us. When I looked up again, there were five heading down.
Others came from all directions.
36
Jeffords had mentioned that grenlings were terrific climbers. I saw now that this was the case as I spread my toes and pushed back from the cliff on instinct, while Roth did the same. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go much further back than fifty feet because of the other rock wall right behind us that ran parallel up to almost the full height of the cliff we were climbing.
Roth and I continued up along the wall as the grenlings closed in. The ones from above were the closest and within seconds were parallel with us. These creatures were astonishing, hopping around on the rocks like they were mountain goats with hands and opposable thumbs.
