Beastmaster: Omnicide: A LitRPG science fantasy adventure (Beastmasters Book 2)

by Kory Shen

  "Where do you think we're going?" Claire asked.

  "Isn't there another military base a few hours to the west?" Mia asked.

  "What if they hit that, too?" I asked.

  "Then, we've lost," Julie said. "If they can attack us that deep inside the Union, the War's over."

  "But they haven't." Stella shifted so we could hear her. "Not yet. They may not have the resources for anything other than a surgical strike."

  "Why did they attack the Academy, though?" Claire asked.

  Shit, what am I supposed to say?

  The truth? They're your squadmates. They deserve to know.

  Dr. Hill said it's classified.

  Dr. Hill may be dead.

  Zoe had a point. But I couldn't just tell them everything…

  "What did Dr. Preston want?" Kayla asked me quietly.

  The others looked on, waiting for an answer.

  "He…he wants to use me. Me and Zoe. Drain our life force to make new Beastmasters, or something like that." I waved my hands, trying to make it sound as vague as possible.

  "We can make new Beastmasters?" Julie asked. "But why would we need to do that? Everyone already wants to be one."

  They don't know about the Chimerics stopping the ships.

  Oh right. Shit. This was opening a can of classified worms. It was too late to back out, now.

  "I'm not supposed to say any of this," I said, taking a deep breath. "No more Chimerics are coming."

  "What?" Julie cried out.

  "What does he mean?" Nikki asked.

  Mia stared at me. "Is that why…" She broke off.

  "Dr. Preston had one way to make Beastmasters. Or the closest thing we can." I swallowed, glancing at Stella. She didn't seem surprised at anything I had said. "Dr. Hill had…other plans."

  Nikki crawled to my side, giving me a hug. "Oh, you poor thing. They wanted to take your life force?"

  "But why you?" Julie asked. "Why not the rest of us?"

  Zoe? What am I supposed to tell them?

  The cat's already out of the bag, as they say. Might as well. Enough people know already.

  I nodded. "Zoe…is different. She's a special kind of Chimeric." I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell them everything right off the bat, though. "She has different genetics or something. It's complicated."

  "Zoe, you a special cat?" Nikki cooed and scratched Zoe's chin.

  Julie shrugged. "Doesn't look that special to me. But that's ridiculous. Draining your life force?"

  "Yeah," Claire said. "I don't like Dr. Preston."

  "Me, neither," Nikki said.

  "Sacrifice is a part of war," Mia said. The others looked at her in surprise. "What if it's necessary?"

  "Draining his life force?" Kayla asked. "Bullshit."

  I shook my head. "Mia's right. But there's more." I looked at Zoe. "Dr. Preston worked with both Cody and Staccato. We've seen how that turned out. It's not so…simple. What he's proposing—what if it makes things worse?"

  Before anyone could reply, Drake burst into the cargo bay.

  "We're landing in ten minutes," he said.

  "Where?" I asked.

  "We'll still be in the mountains, further south."

  "We're not going to another base?" Julie asked.

  Drake shook his head. "It's chaos right now, and our network's compromised. We'll camp out and see how things develop."

  "Camping? Sounds fun!" Nikki said. "We can sleep under the stars—"

  "I want two pairs of eyes awake at all times," Drake continued. "One outside, one inside monitoring the command console. The jet's sensors should pick up any threats, but they can be fooled. The rest of you stay put and get some rest."

  "Oh," Nikki said.

  "Keep a low profile outside," Drake said. "No melding unless necessary."

  How's your night vision?

  Excellent.

  I raised my hand. "I can go outside first."

  Drake nodded.

  Several of the others started speaking, but Stella beat them to it. "I'll watch the sensors."

  "Good." Drake motioned towards the cockpit. "I'll be in there keeping an eye on things as well. Change shift every three hours. You can work out the rotations among yourselves. Any questions?"

  No one said anything.

  "Alright. Good night, hopefully. We'll reassess in the morning." Drake left the cargo bay.

  "I can go out next," Julie said.

  "I'll watch inside," Mia offered.

  "Nikki and I can go afterwards," Claire said.

  "That's nine hours," I said. "If we need more, I can start the next shift with Kayla." Kayla nodded.

  Stella walked over to the command console and tapped away. "It's almost 21:00," she said. "We'll start the next shift at midnight."

  The cargo bay opened. Zoe and I headed outside.

  We were in the middle of a forest, the stars shining clearly overhead. It was too dark to make out the details of where we were.

  You sure you can see in this?

  Zoe responded with a mental image of our surroundings. Everything had a grayish, colorless hue, but I could make out the individual trees around us clearly.

  I'll keep an eye out. You can get some rest. The mental image vanished.

  Isn't that cheating?

  I have superior sight and hearing.

  I reached down until I touched Zoe's fur, letting her guide me. She led me to a small hill about twenty feet from the vectorjet. I sat down on the damp leafy ground with Zoe at my side.

  Fine. But wake me up if anything moves. Even if it's a mouse.

  I shifted and leaned backwards, using Zoe's warm body as a pillow. Sleep welcomed me.

  ***

  Dustin! Dustin!

  My eyes snapped open. I didn't dare move a muscle.

  Something's approaching.

  Where?

  From the ship. But it's not one of the girls or Drake.

  Show me.

  Zoe shared her sight with me. Something was moving towards us from the ship. It was…floating. The object was about the size of a soccer ball.

  That's Mekanic technology! Zoe screamed at me.

  I melded instantly, the ground around us lighting up softly with the golden glow we generated.

  My sight improved, even beyond Zoe's ordinary night vision. The approaching object was metallic, with a fine structured surface. A small light started blinking. Then, letters appeared on its surface.

  HI DUSTIN.

  Shit. Not again. Not here. Had the others detected anything yet?

  Doesn't look like it.

  Should I attack it?

  It could be calling others.

  I hesitated, unsure what to do. I could pump it for any information, then get rid of it.

  "Is that you, Vikki? How did you find us?" I asked.

  YES. I RODE YOUR VESSEL.

  A stowaway?

  "What do you want?" I asked.

  TO END THE WAR.

  "That's what you said last time, before you attacked the Academy," I growled. "And killed who knows how many people." I paused. "Are you coming here again?"

  NO.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. More words scrolled across the front of the sphere.

  OTHERS ARE COMING.

  Fuck!

  THEY'LL BRING YOU TO ME.

  "I don't think so." I slashed at the floating orb, splitting in in half with my claws. The broken pieces fell to the ground.

  I raced to the vectorjet and banged on the cargo bay's door. "It's me! Dustin!" I shouted. "Open up! Hurry!"

  The door creaked open. I waited impatiently, pacing back and forth. I unmelded to make myself smaller and slipped into the opening as soon as there was enough room.

  The others rushed forward. "What's going on?" Stella asked. "I didn't detect anything, other than you."

  "Get Drake!" I shouted. "We were tracked by the Mekanics."

  Mia dashed towards the front of the ship. Moments later, she came back with Drake.

&n
bsp; "What is it?" Drake demanded.

  "There was a Mekanic thing," I replied. "A floating metal ball. It said it was on the vectorjet, like a stowaway."

  Drake frowned. "You spoke with it?"

  "Briefly. It's outside. The only other thing it said was that others are coming. That's when I cut it in half."

  "Show me."

  Drake jumped outside the open cargo bay doors, melding before he landed. I did the same.

  I trotted over to where the fragments of the metal ball had fallen. Drake came over and poked at them with a talon.

  "Shit. It didn't even trigger any of the sensors." Drake looked around. "My night vision's not that great. You see anything else?"

  Zoe?

  Nothing yet.

  "Nope," I said. "Just the first one."

  Something's moving above us!

  I pointed with a paw. "Incoming!" Another metal sphere floated down, this one from the skies above us. "I'll take care of it."

  "Hunter, wait—" Drake began.

  I swiped at the orb with my claws. It dodged my attack and instead responded with a laser beam.

  "Shit!" I screamed at the burst of pain, Phase Shifting and rolling away.

  ENERGY: 504/700

  "I just lost two hundred energy!" I shouted.

  Drake wasted no time attacking the orb, swinging his razor-edged wings at it, then lunging for it with his jaws. But the orb was too small and agile.

  "Get the others!" Drake growled.

  I raced back to the open cargo bay, but some of the others must have heard the noise or seen the laser blast. Julie's Beastform was crouched on top of the vectorjet. A glowing red streak shot into the sky.

  "We're under attack! There's this ball of metal—"

  Dustin! Incoming!

  I glanced backward and saw the metal orb approaching us. A blue streak collided with the orb with pinpoint accuracy. Despite the huge difference in size, Stella's Beastform bounced away, while the orb proceeded towards me unperturbed. I raced away from the vectorjet, back towards the open forest.

  What the fuck is that little thing? The other one wasn't this tough.

  Don't judge a Mekanic by its appearances. This is at least a Grade C, judging from its combat performance.

  Damn it.

  I ran towards Drake. "It's at least a Grade C!" I yelled.

  Drake growled. "Never seen anything like this." He stepped in between me and the orb, covering his body with his wings as the orb opened up with a salvo of laser blasts.

  "Now!" Someone shouted. A red streak slammed into the orb from above, while another blue streak smashed into it from the side. The orb still didn't budge, but it stopped attacking Drake for a moment. It fired a laser beam into the sky, and another one into the forest. There were cries of pain.

  Nikki's white laser beams struck the orb, but they didn't have any effect, either. Mia lumbered forward, presenting herself as a distraction to absorb the attacks. When the orb didn't respond to her, she charged and snapped at it with its beak. The orb easily dodged her, then began circling her, peppering her with laser beams.

  "Hurry!" Mia screamed. "I can't take this for too long!"

  Shit, Zoe. How do we beat this thing?

  Drake can probably destroy it, if he can connect with a solid hit or bite.

  But he can't catch it. It's too fast.

  Drake attacked the orb again, launching a blast of fire. The orb levitated higher to avoid the blazing flames. Some of the surrounding trees caught fire.

  The orb was ignoring everyone's attacks but Drake's. Drake was too slow, though. I would have to be the bait, then.

  It was going after me, wasn't it?

  Possibly.

  To test that theory, I jumped out in front of the orb.

  "Hey, metalhead? You still want me?" I jumped and did a little spin.

  "Hunter! What're you doing?" Drake roared.

  "It wants me. I'll slow it down so you can deal with it." I searched the forest for Julie but couldn't see her. I had to trust that she was around, waiting. "Julie!" I yelled. "I need a bunch of webbing across these trees!"

  I jumped and bounced off several of the nearest trees. When I glanced back, a black shape was scuttling over the trunks. Julie.

  I stopped to send a Sonic Screech at the orb, making sure I had its attention. The orb ignored my attack and zoomed closer to me. I turned and ran deeper into the forest.

  Something red was flying above me. Claire was tracking me from above. "Claire, I'll bring this thing back to Julie's web. But I need everyone to distract it. And tell Drake to get ready."

  Claire didn't say anything, but she did a U-turn and flew back to the others.

  I screamed as another laser beam glanced off my back leg.

  ENERGY: 327/700

  Damn it. Half my energy gone. I jumped onto a tree and started climbing. The tree exploded in a burst of splinters behind me as I leaped onto the next tree, then the next. I was leaping from tree to tree, now, turning to head back to the others.

  I risked a quick look backwards to find the orb in hot pursuit. It dodged some of the tree branches, bulldozed its way through others, or simply fired its laser at anything between us.

  Up ahead, I could make out the colored glow of several Beastforms. I adjusted my course, heading towards them.

  A laser beam struck the branch underneath me, shattering it.

  "Shit!" I toppled to the forest floor but landed on my feet and kept running.

  To the right more. Julie's web.

  I veered to the right a little at Zoe's suggestion, then spotted something hazy in the distance between the tree branches. Now I had to hope that the orb didn't notice what was happening.

  Right on cue, Kayla's green Beastform dropped from the branches above as I ran past her. I glanced backward and saw the orb weave its way between Kayla's body, continuing uninterrupted.

  Mia suddenly emerged in front of me. I hopped onto her shell and pushed off. She snapped at the orb with her beak as it followed me, but Mia was too slow.

  Julie would be waiting with more webbing, I hoped. That left the three fastest ones.

  I could see the webbing clearly, now. I was closing in on it quickly, the orb right behind me.

  Three Beastforms appeared in front of me, red, white, and blue.

  First, Nikki shot forward, her laser beams firing. At the last minute, she somersaulted, leading with her powerful feet.

  I Phase Shifted, letting Nikki's attack pass through me.

  A blue streak zipped through me before my Phase Shift had finished. Stella.

  Claire dove towards me as well, turning into a blazing fireball at the last second. I Phase Shifted again, jumping to leap through her and the webbing beyond.

  I hit the ground and dragged my claws in the soft earth to stop myself. I turned to see the orb crash into the webbing behind me.

  Julie immediately showered the orb with a large swath of more sticky dark fluid.

  For a moment, the orb stopped moving. Then, it began glowing a bright orange color, as if it was burning through the webbing.

  But a large pair of silvery jaws descended from the skies to swallow the orb. There was a loud crack.

  Drake landed and spat out broken pieces of metal.

  "Hunter, you have the night eyes. I want a visual inspection of the entire vectorjet. The rest of you, get back on board."

  Five minutes later, we were flying through the night skies again.

  CHAPTER 13

  "A tracking device?" Julie asked. I had just explained to the others what had happened.

  "Something like that," I replied. I fidgeted at the thought of the tracker Dr. Hill had made me swallow. Should I take it how? How would I even do that? Surgery?

  "But how did it get there?" Claire asked. "Are we safe now?"

  "It's as if they knew we were going to take the vectorjet," Stella said. "They were ready."

  "Drake was right," Mia said. "The Academy was compromised."

  "S
o we'll be camping for longer?" Nikki asked.

  We were heading further south, hugging the Appalachians. Drake hadn't wanted to risk leading the Mekanics to a population center. They had been more bold with the Academy attack than usual. Who knew what they were willing to do now?

  The other bases were still suspect, too, if the entire military network was breached. We had no other option but to stay on the run.

  "I guess," Claire said with a yawn. It was late now, past midnight. Her eyes darted to the lone bathroom.

  I wasn't sure what was going on, but the girls except Stella and Mia all rushed towards the bathroom at once.

  Nikki was going to reach the bathroom first, but Kayla's snake, Squeeze, tangled itself around her legs, tripping her.

  "Sorry, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," Kayla said as she stepped over Nikki.

  Kayla shrieked as Pecker, Claire's red bird, beat its wings in fury at her head. Claire dashed into the bathroom, turned to stick her tongue out at the others, then slammed the door shut.

  The remaining girls jostled for position outside the bathroom.

  Oh. You could have warned me, Zoe.

  I prefer to bathe myself. She sat down and started licking her fur.

  I guess I was last, then. There was no reason to stand in line. I hopped onto a closed footlocker to the side.

  Julie smirked. She was now third in line. "Ladies first, Dustin."

  I could make out the faint sound of running water for a while. I tried to take a nap while some of the others chatted off. Then, the water cut off. Kayla, who was next in line, stood.

  The door opened, and Claire stepped out wrapped in a large white towel. Her hair was wrapped in another towel, but strands of wet red hair peeked out from underneath. I idly wondered whether there were more spare towels.

  "Don't use all the towels, Claire," Nikki chided, apparently having similar thoughts.

  "Sorry," Claire giggled. "Here, you can have this one."

  She casually unwrapped the towel around her body and threw it to Nikki, who caught it with one hand.

  I made a noise of some sort, halfway between a cough and a hiccup.

  It was more of a strangled cry.

  Thanks, Zoe.

  Claire took the towel off her head and began wiping down the rest of her naked body. That was when I discovered something amazing about the metallic surface of the footlocker beneath me. I studied the footlocker religiously.