It isn’t normal to kill other people. It’s hard to do. We’re wired to survive, but as to killing, that’s something that takes will. I have it. My people have it. I expected the riders to have it, because there was nothing tame about sitting atop a massive Konnodar and crossing open desert to attack an unknown force.
I respected the riders, but I would kill as many as I had to until they understood. I would teach them—one death at a time, if need be—that the wilderness of a fallen world was past. We would be civilized, even if the land itself was not.
“Movement,” came Aristine’s voice from my comm unit.
“I see. Neve, do you have them?” I asked.
“I have them. Range 1300 meters. Orders?” Neve asked on the channel.
“When the center attacks, begin selected targeting. Do you see officers?” I asked her.
“I do. They’re wearing silver sashes. Very noble of them,” Neve said with a chuckle.
“How kind. Target the officers first when I engage at the center. Any snipers you see go down without hesitation. All shooters on this channel, I repeat, any snipers on their team get put in the dust. Shoot to kill, not wound,” I said.
There was a chorus of assent across the channel, and I knew we were ready. The sun was well up in a sky broken in the west by high cirrus clouds. It was warm and getting warmer, with a light breeze from the southeast. The Konnodar would smell every aspect of the battle, and I made sure to never forget their tendency to go wild at the scent of hot blood.
“I have scouts,” Yulin said on the channel. “Breaking out for a sweeping move. Orders?”
“Take the leaders first, see what their fallback orders are,” I said. Dust was beginning to rise from so many massive lizards. The battle hadn’t even started, and already I could taste grit in my mouth.
I heard two rifles crack in unison, then a third fired three times in a fast whamwhamwham. The bellows of Konnodar came over the open channel; I knew they were riderless from the panic in their bugling tones.
“Five down,” Yulin said, then the invaders began firing on the flank. “We have losses. They’ve got a second group even farther out, set up for sniping.”
“Put the Daymares on them. Engage close if necessary. I’m going to the middle,” I said.
With that, the battle broke out into madness. The center mass of riders—nearly two hundred strong—began galloping toward our first berms. I don’t believe in massive static walls for a battle, because walls can be breached and once the enemy is over them, you’re fucked. I do believe in fields of fire and the redoubt, so that’s what Aristine and Yulin had built, along with the Daymares and my people. Free Oasis shooters began firing at superb angles as the massed Konnodar streamed forward, their riders firing with good control as they closed the gap with each passing second. In two minutes, the Konnodar were among the berms, their riders and my people so close that hand to hand became necessary.
I saw a Konnodar pull one of my shooters from her position, shake her like a rag doll, then bite her head off in one cavernous snap. The rider leaned down to fire a sawed-off shotgun at another Free Oasis fighter, but he rolled to the side and unloaded with a pair of pistols, shredding the invader’s midsection with three perfect shots. The rider pitched forward only to be pummeled by his beast’s feet, splitting him like an overripe melon. Steaming guts sprayed high as the Konnodar whirled to seize the shooter, but he was already falling back to a second hole, guns blazing as he sent the lizard to the ground with a howl of pain.
Yulin’s voice came over the channel again, and this time she wasn’t nearly as calm. “Some pressure here. Breakthrough in two minutes if we don’t have more long guns. The lizards are a lot faster than—wait, breakthrough now. Send Neve and her team. Breslin is engaging, but we need—” Yulin’s report broke off and then I was charging forward at a dead run, streaking along the front line to reach the collapsing flank.
A Konnodar slammed into me from the side, sending me flying into the dust. My blades snapped up and over without thinking, taking the rider’s foot off and biting deep into the flank of the lizard, which reared back with its maw open and spitting rage. I rolled further under the beast, firing both blades up and scissoring out. The Konnodar’s guts fell out in a torrent as it shrieked and fell to the side, pinning the wounded rider, who went for his sidearm. With a backhanded swing, I took his head off cleanly, not stopping to admire the cut as I was already hard pressed by another pair of riders and beasts.
I threw my first blade as the left rider fired at me with his rifle, the round scoring my scalp like a line of fire. The blade squealed as it came out his back, and he stared down in shock at the handle before falling backward off his saddle. I drew my shotgun and fired twice at his partner; the first round erased his lower leg, the second missed but struck another lizard in the leg, causing the beast to stagger and throw its rider to me like an unexpected gift. I caught the man as I ran toward him, twisting his head all the way around before he could raise a hand in defense. The center was collapsing despite my effort, and I bellowed for support as two more Oasis fighters were cut down by rifle fire.
The group commander was just ahead—a tall man with lanky hair and a silver sash. He waved people around in a manner that was too calm for my taste, so I fired at him with my shotgun and then skittered behind the corpse of a Konnodar to reach his flank.
He was waiting for me, but his eyes were too far back. I’d vaulted the dead animal’s neck to surprise him, and it worked. Wheeling hard, he snapped off a shot that thundered in my right ear, but I was inside his defenses and close enough to use my hands.
I locked his arm in mine and snapped it backward, tearing the tendons without mercy as he opened his mouth not to yell, but to issue an order. He was a consummate pro, so I gave him the courtesy of quick death by crushing his skull with a murderous left hand. When he fell, his men began to circle me as the reality of our battle space became apparent. I was covered in blood, dust, and what could only be the snot of a Konnodar who’d blown out a last, defiant lungful of hate at me as I’d struck it down. There were fifteen men around me, and none of my own people in sight.
“Jack, we have a problem,” Aristine said.
“I think you’re right. Where is everyone?” I asked. The men around me didn’t move. They just held their weapons at the ready, in an uneasy kind of truce.
“The left is in freefall, and the right isn’t much better. They’ve got reinforcements in the form of foot soldiers. They picked them up in the desert, and we never saw. We’re outgunned four to one,” she said. She sounded tired, and the battle had just started, or so I thought.
“Can you hold?” I asked.
“Yes. But you can’t. There are a hundred men and riders around you. Neve and the snipers have killed at least a hundred, but they’re just making a dent, and we have to fall back to the last positions. You’re too far out in the middle,” she said.
“Where are you?” I asked her. The men still watched me, their weapons never moving. Behind them, two dozen Konnodar stood, flanks heaving. Their breath was rich with blood, even at my distance.
“On your left. We’re setting up three guns here. If we take out a path, can you make it through that gauntlet?” Aristine asked.
I thought about my new ‘bots and what they could do. “Yes.”
“Good, we’ll—”
She fell silent, and I heard a metallic click. “Aristine?” I asked.
“She’s here,” answered the man.
My gut went to water, but I forced myself to ask him. “Who are you?”
“Calibrus, but my name isn’t as important as what I want.”
“Tell me,” I said. Now I knew why no one was moving.
“The Chain, the Cache, and the Oasis. Nothing less or she dies, along with the other prisoners. We have, in number, fifty-one. Stand up and look around the battlefield, Jack. I think you’ll find it a bit empty,” Calibrus said.
I stood upright and took a good l
ook. There was no fighting at all, then I heard two rifles crack in the distance. A Konnodar fell, bellowing, and I knew that not all of us were in control of the enemy.
“How?” I asked.
“Desert fighters were already in place when you arrived. We flanked you before the sun was up, and now we begin the real killing. My masters cannot allow you to interfere with their process, Jack, no matter how noble your ideas. Kassos serves a purpose. All of you people serve a purpose, and recreating some sort of fallen world isn’t in the plans. Drop your weapons and step to the left. You won’t be touched.
“I’m not going to surrender,” I said.
A distant gunshot rang out, then Calibrus spoke over the comm unit again. “Tell him.”
Aristine’s voice came through the channel, rippled with pain. “He shot me. I’m okay.”
I lowered my head as a sickened rage began to boil in my guts. “Andi?”
“Yes, I’m still here,” she said. Her voice was low, like she was in danger of being overheard. I knew she was close to the front.
“Put them down,” I said.
“Good, Jack. Laying down your weapons is the right move here. You’ll find that some survivors are better than none,” Calibrus said, but he was interrupted with a high whine as the Condors began their first combat run.
All four of the drones began lacing the Konnodar and their riders with high-velocity darts, punching through leather armor and hide alike to deliver a chemical knockout. Lizards and men began falling over, limbs gone soft and eyes fluttering as the drug took effect.
“Nice shooting,” I said. The men around me staggered, but there were still seven of them standing, their eyes wild with fear as the entire battlefield turned with the pass of our drones. A nearby Konnodar began to snore, massive snot bubbles rising and falling in its snout. Its rider slid to the ground, unconscious, and my decision was made.
I struck forward with my remaining blade, tearing the throat of a fighter open before he could twitch. Without reversing my course, I jumped onto his torso, using it as a launching pad, my arm slashing down and out at the next rider, who was raising his pistol to fire. My blood screamed with speed and power, every beat of my heart pushing me faster and higher as I descended on the remaining five fighters like a black plague. I stabbed, tore, and shattered with my blade, using my open hand as a vise to break bone and hurl men into each other, their bodies breaking with wet thumps as the circle around me vanished and I could see, on the hill, Aristine and the rest of my people.
Aristine shot up with a booted foot, kicking the guard’s weapon high in the air. Her own ‘bots were thrumming, because as I ran to her, she lashed forward with a knife hand that split the skin of a man’s face, shearing him to the bone. As he fell, Neve stomped him harder into the earth, and the Free Oasis prisoners erupted into chaos as they attacked their guards with hands and feet. Shot after shot rang out, but the cloud of dust kept rising as my people refused to quit.
I crested the hill, leaping from a broken stump toward Aristine, who was locked in a wrestling hold with Calibrus. He wrenched her arm to the side and kneed her in the chest so hard I heard the wind leave her. He had ‘bots, and as I descended to strike him, I knew he could kill me if I missed.
I hit him on the point of his right shoulder, shattering the bone into dust. His howl of pain was cut short as the sonovabitch bit me, sinking his teeth into my neck like a rabid dog. I felt my skin tearing away as his hands scrabbled for purchase on my scalp, then his shoulder failed and he was jerking my head back with a savage twist. His knee exploded into my stomach as we fell, me under him and his arm flopping wildly. I fought the urge to vomit, won, and stretched my arm up and over him, bringing my elbow down with a savage crack. His body shuddered from the force of my blow, so I did it again, breaking my own arm with the force of my second hit.
Now we both had one good arm.
Calibrus spat in my face and rolled hard to the left, trying to shake me like a flea. “The Procs will drain you dry, pigfucker.”
“Doubt it,” I ground out, but the notion gave me pause. If the Procurators actually did that, it meant they were working on improving ‘bot tech. I fought to gain the upper position and lashed out with the point of my skull, slamming full force in Calibrus’ nose. There are a lot of things the human body can take, but having your nose splattered like a meat pancake isn’t one of them. His arm fell limp, then it came up to grasp my neck, his fingers weakened by pain and nerve damage. The tips pressed against my skin but did nothing more, and I knew he was fading.
“Where are the Procs?” I asked him, raising my fist for the killing blow.
He tried to laugh, but his teeth were a bloody mess. The color was off—too dark, and too thick. “They’re in me. In all of us, at least until we lose.”
“What the fuck do you mean?” I asked him, loosening my grip.
His eyes began to roll, so I slapped him as softly as I could with my good arm. He woke with a jolt. “They told us the blood machines were permanent, but it’s a lie. They only work if you win. The only—”
He died, and his blood began to run thick and dark with corrupted nanobots, their mechanical presence a silvery taint in his blood, turning black as they died.
I looked up to see a circle of faces. My people. Bloody, wounded, but free. Around them, Konnodar and their riders dozed on, oblivious of the change in desert power. The Free Oasis was in control now, but at a cost I couldn’t begin to fathom.
Aristine and Neve crouched next to me, their eyes taking in the ruin of my arm, my wounds, and the smile of victory. “It hurts to smile,” I said. “What a beating.”
“We won, Jack. We have something, too,” Aristine said, lifting a black communicator. “Took it off a dead scout. If I’m guessing, there’s a Procurator on the other end.”
I started at the comm unit then let my head fall back against the ground. “Take me home, please. I’ll call those bastards from my house.”
“You heard him. Gently, now,” Yulin said as Aristine and the Daymares began barking orders. We had dozens of wounded, many dead, and the battlefield was littered with dead or sleeping Konnodar and riders. It was unmitigated chaos.
“What about all them?” Aristine asked as I was lifted on a litter.
“Find an officer who’s alive, and give them this,” I said, pulling a folded paper from my leg pocket.
“Will do,” she said, raising her brow. She walked off toward a massive Konnodar and its rider, both of whom were still dead asleep. The female rider had a silver sash, and Aristine tucked the letter inside where it couldn’t be missed. “Home!” she barked, and the sun finally came back out as the dust of battle began to fade.
Epilogue
It took three days to heal, four to eat normally, and five before the skin on my neck was something more than a series of torn teeth marks.
“You look better, dear. Almost human,” Silk said. She’d been close while I healed, but the grief on her face was still fresh and deep. There were thirty-nine graves past Derin’s craftworks, all huddled around a small pond that would serve as the center of our own military graveyard. I hated that it existed, but there was a certain peace to the place. We could not bring back our dead, but we would give them dignity and a place of reflection. The trees were planted in a circle so that as they grew, we would always have the first graves hemmed in, protected from the desert by our will and collective memory.
“Someone approaches, Jack. I know you feel like shit, but I think this one’s for you,” Breslin said. He loomed over me, his brow furrowed with worry. He had a bullet wound through the massive muscle on his upper arm but was otherwise unscathed from the fight.
I nodded. “Where?”
“Main gate. Right ahead,” he said. Silk pulled up in a four-wheeler, and I got it with a wince. Calibrus had been strong, and my stomach and ribs would be some days healing before I was complete again.
We drove to the open space beyond our smallest trees, and there stood
a woman, clad in a simple shirt and riding pants. Her boots were dusty, her hair pulled back in the manner of someone who dressed for purpose, not show.
In the distance, a massive Konnodar stood, tongue flickering in nervous motions as it watched me approach his rider.
As I came within a meter, she held out her hand. My letter was in it.
“Do you accept my terms?” I asked. The letter had been clear—surrender, join The Oasis, and live.
“I do. Not all, but some. Will you have us?” she asked. She had a good voice. She was in her later thirties, strong and pretty, with dark hair and olive skin. She knew the sun and wind as companions, and her freckles were a spray across an elegant nose. “Things are dangerous out there. Beasts are moving because of the Procs and their unholy medicine, and I think things will only get worse.” She waited for me to speak, unsure of what to say.
“Your name?” I asked, not unkindly.
“Junette,” she answered, relieved to be talking again.
I put out my hand. “Welcome to the Oasis. How many are with you?”
“Sixty-one, with Konnodar in tow,” Junette said.
I whistled low. “We’re going to hunt the Procs, but in the meantime—are your beasts hungry?”
“They could eat,” she said, her lips curling hopefully at the corners.
“Good.” I waved to the Oasis, and people began to approach. I pointed to the center and mimicked starting the fire. “Hope you like barbecue.”
“Love it,” Junette said.
“Excellent. I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
Future Reborn Box Set Page 75
