by Anna Hackett
“You won’t.” Her voice was firm, certain. “I trust you, Sabin. You’re one of the steadiest, strongest people I’ve ever met.” Her lips touched his.
The kiss was slow, deep. The desire twisted hard inside him, but it was tempered by his need to pleasure her, to keep her safe.
He pressed his face to her neck, heard the fast beat of her heart and his own. “Finley—”
Then his communicator chimed.
Sabin cursed the interruption. He didn’t want to let her go, didn’t want to lose this moment. He took a second to touch her face, and flipped her dress down. He yanked out the communicator and Kaira’s face filled the screen. She looked grim.
“Sabin, perimeter sensors in the north went off. The drones spotted something, but it’s blending into the shadows. It doesn’t look native, but it’s hard to tell.”
For a second, Sabin fought to think through his desire.
“I’m on my way.” He ended the call and pulled Finley up.
“I need to—”
“Go. I know. Go.”
He cupped her face. “We have unfinished business.”
She smiled. “I’m feeling great.”
“And I’m hungry for more.” He kissed her. “Now, get inside. I want you safe.”
Chapter Ten
The rugged vehicle bumped along the rough track.
The darkness was thick, and even with his helian-enhanced vision, it was hard to see much. The lights of the vehicle speared ahead, highlighting the rocky ground.
“We’re getting close.” Kaira was in the driver’s seat, driving expertly, her hands clamped on the wheel. Two of the security team sat in the back, one manning the large gun mounted on the back of the vehicle. “Turning headlights off.”
They plunged into utter darkness. Kaira pulled on night vision goggles, and Sabin did the same.
“Anything?” Finley’s voice came from his communicator.
He glanced at the screen. She looked worried. There was no sign of the sweet passion she’d showed him on the rooftop.
“Not yet,” he replied.
The vehicle was electric and made no sound, other than the crunch of the tires on rock. Finally, Kaira pulled them to a stop.
“We’ll go in on foot from here.” She touched her ear. “Pascal, anything on the drone feed?”
“Nothing, Commander.”
“I need to turn the communicator off now,” Sabin told Finley. “I’ll leave audio on.”
Finley nodded. “Be careful.”
Sabin climbed out of the vehicle and formed a blaster with his helian. He followed Kaira and her security officer, Roberts. The final man, Blackwell, stayed back with the vehicle.
They were alert to any sounds or signs of movement.
“I’m detecting several tiny life signs,” Sabin said.
“A lot of the native wildlife is nocturnal. Sensors have been going off a lot in this area.”
They kept moving.
Suddenly, something dropped out of the sky.
Sabin tensed.
“Watch out,” Kaira bit out.
A small animal fell and hit the dirt. It lay there, unmoving.
Kaira crouched and flashed a small light. It was a bird. Sabin saw white feathers and a splash of bright yellow.
“Native bird. Cockatoo. It’s dead.” With the tip of her gloved finger, she tipped the bird over, then sucked in a sharp breath.
Its eyes were hollowed out, and thick, sticky mucus covered its face. It oozed from the dead bird’s mouth.
Roberts made a gagging sound.
“Something’s definitely wrong with it.” Kaira stood. “Kantos?”
“Maybe,” Sabin replied.
With an unhappy look, Kaira jerked her head and they kept moving.
Soon, she glanced at the rugged watch on her wrist and then stopped. “We’re at the location.”
The three of them fanned out. There was no movement. Sabin didn’t detect anything.
He turned in a slow circle, and then felt a faint ping on his senses. His helian flared.
“East,” he murmured. “I’m detecting a larger lifesign.”
“Form up,” Kaira murmured.
The three of them moved together, staying close. Sabin heard a skitter of rocks and shadows moved.
They all whipped their weapons up.
“I can’t see a thing.” Kaira crept forward. “You?”
“No.”
There was a burst of movement in the shadows.
“Left!” Sabin yelled.
Something large darted away.
Cren. Was it an assassin? He couldn’t tell.
He leaped over the rocks and skirted a tree. Kaira’s officer tripped and cursed.
Sabin slowed to a walk. There was no movement, but something was watching them. He felt it.
Suddenly, a creature burst out from some rocks, bounding across the ground.
Kaira let out a low laugh.
“What the cren is that?” Sabin asked.
“A wallaby. A native animal.” The creature bounded on its strange legs and disappeared into the darkness.
“What the fuck?” Kaira muttered.
Sabin swiveled. She was looking into a shallow gully. The younger officer caught up with them. The young man was panting.
Sabin followed Kaira’s gaze. He saw more dead cockatoos first. They littered the ground.
Then he stiffened.
The bottom of the gully was filled with…eggs.
They were large—twice the size of his head. They sat upright, and looked to be a dark brown, but it was hard to tell in the darkness.
“Jeez, it’s like a sci-fi horror movie,” Roberts whispered.
“How the hell did they get here?” Kaira said. “We should have seen them.”
Sabin glanced at the birds. “They used the birds, somehow. Your sensors detected the birds, but that didn’t raise any red flags. The eggs probably haven’t been here long.”
“Recommendations?” Kaira asked.
Sabin ground his teeth together. “They need to be destroyed.” This meant the Kantos were here, somewhere. Cren. “I suggest fire.”
Kara nodded. “We’ll get the flamethrowers out of the truck—”
Before they could move, one egg slowly opened with a faint cracking sound. The top unfurled, and a spindly leg climbed out. Then another.
A small Kantos spider, about the size of Sabin’s palm, perched on top of the egg.
“Oh, shit.” There was fear in the officer’s voice.
Another spider climbed out of the same egg.
More eggs started opening.
The first spider leaped into the air and Sabin fired on it. It exploded.
A second one leaped, and Kaira shot it with her blaster.
All around them, more spiders climbed out. Too many.
As a group, the Kantos bugs moved, skittering forward across the ground.
Sabin, Kaira, and the officer all started firing. A spider leaped at Roberts and clamped onto the man’s face. He screamed.
On his other arm, Sabin formed a knife. He kept firing his blaster, and reached out and sliced the Kantos off the man. The creature shriveled and hit the rocks.
The young man stumbled back, panting.
“Keep it together,” Sabin barked. And fired again. “Kaira, cover me.”
The woman nodded, still firing and not taking her eyes off the spiders.
They were heaving along the ground, moving like a living blanket. Sabin ran up a small rocky outcrop. He morphed his blaster into one that cast fire.
A spider leaped at him and he caught it, and crunched it between his fingers. He kicked another.
Then he aimed his newly formed flamethrower into the gully. He shoved the night vision goggles off his face.
“Kaira, you and Roberts stay back. Night vision goggles off.”
Flames spewed, lighting up the night.
The spiders screeched in an eerie howl. Fire poured over the spiders a
nd the eggs. Several of the aliens tried to leap out of the way.
Kaira took them down with precision shots.
Soon, the stench of burning flesh filled the night air. Before long, the egg patch was a smoking ruin.
Sabin leaped down off the rocks.
And in the darkness, he saw them.
Three—no, four—Kantos assassins.
He froze, and saw the stalker bugs restlessly sitting by them. With the flap of wings, the assassins took to the night sky. One remaining assassin from the first team, and a second team.
Their hunting bugs leaped away into the darkness.
They were heading toward the base.
Finley.
“Kaira!” Sabin turned and started sprinting. “Four assassins and their stalker bugs are headed toward the base.”
“Fuck,” the security commander muttered.
“Vehicle! Now.”
The three of them sprinted back toward the vehicle that Kaira called an SUV. They leaped in and she started the engine, yanking on the wheel. Rocks flew from under the tires as they pulled in a tight turn.
“What’s happening?” the officer on the turret called out.
“Kantos assassins,” Kaira yelled back.
They sped down the track, the vehicle bumping along. Sabin almost hit his head on the roof.
Kaira yanked sharply and they came out onto a wider track. She picked up speed.
Sabin grabbed his communicator. “Finley!”
“Sabin?” Her frantic face appeared on screen. “Are you okay?”
“We’re fine. We found the Kantos. Finley, you need to lock down the base. Tell Kaira’s team to lock down.”
“What?”
“Tell them to follow lockdown procedures.” That meant they would get the scientists into the secure underground labs. No one would be able to get in or out. He took a deep breath, just as they hit a huge bump.
Behind him, the turret fired.
“There are four Kantos assassins heading your way,” Sabin said.
Finley went pale. “If we lock down, you won’t be able to get in.”
“We can take care of ourselves. I want you safe. You’re the target.”
“Enemy spotted,” the officer on the back of the SUV yelled. The turret gun fired again.
Sabin looked out the window and spotted the flap of wings in the sky.
Suddenly, the gunfire cut off, and the officer on the turret screamed.
“Blackwell’s gone!” Roberts yelled.
Cren. “I have to go, Finley,” Sabin said. “Lock down and stay safe.”
She pressed a finger to the screen. “You, too.”
Finley chewed on her nail, listening to the gunfire over the communicator.
“We need to get down to the underground labs.” Dr. Gregson was tense. “Once we initiate lockdown procedures, reinforced doors will close. No one can get in or out.”
“But Sabin, Kaira, and the others won’t be able to get in, then?” Finley’s gut churned. “We can’t leave them.”
“They’re well-trained, Finley. The security commander wants you safe.”
Reluctantly, Finley nodded. With one of Kaira’s security officers and the other scientists, they started trudging down towards the labs. Her fingers tightened on her tablet, listening to the fighting.
Please be all right, Sabin.
They walked quickly down the corridor. One more level, and they’d be inside the safe zone.
She looked out the window. All she saw was darkness, but she knew out there, somewhere, a fight was raging.
Then she saw movement and froze. “Something’s right outside.”
Everyone stilled, fear on their faces. Gemma was as pale as a sheet. Finley stepped closer to the window, and saw a stalker bug step into the glow cast by a security light. She sucked in a breath.
“A Kantos hunting bug,” she said. “If it’s close, so is its assassin.”
“Hurry,” the security officer urged.
They picked up the pace, Finley’s sandals clicking on the tile floor.
Suddenly, a large form crashed through the window.
Gemma screamed and glass sprayed everywhere like deadly rain.
The assassin landed in a crouch in front of them, its wings flapped open.
Gemma screamed again.
“Get back,” Finley yelled.
Ian grabbed Gemma. Her group started walking backward.
The assassin lifted its head. Its many eyes seemed to look right at Finley.
“Run!” she screamed.
She spun and ran. She sprinted down the hall, the others stumbling along. The security officer aimed behind them and fired.
Together, they turned a corner.
The assassin’s wild screech echoed off the walls.
Finley glanced back. The alien turned the corner, moving fast.
Dammit.
She looked around. A plant in a large, ceramic pot sat against the wall. Its leaves were brown and crispy, so she guessed no one had been looking after it.
She snatched it up. As the Kantos rushed at her, she tossed the plant.
The pot hit the assassin in the head, and the creature staggered. The security officer fired on it again.
Finley tried the nearest door. Locked.
Come on, give us a break.
She tried the next one, and it opened.
“In here!” It was a lab. There were several experiments lined up on the benches.
Her group hurried in and she slammed the door shut. “Quick, help me move this.”
She gripped a cabinet that was shoved against the wall, and Ian and the security officer moved up beside her. Together, they all pushed. They shoved it in front of the door.
Suddenly, the door shuddered under the weight of the impact of something massively heavy.
“Oh, God.” Gemma sagged against a bench. “It’ll slaughter us all.”
“Gemma, there will be no slaughtering.” Finley swallowed. The pounding on the door increased. It wouldn’t hold up much longer. “It’s after me. All of you, lock yourselves in the office.” She pointed to an open door on the other side of the room, through which they could see the corner of a desk covered in papers.
“No,” Ian said. “We aren’t leaving you to be bait.”
“There’s no need for all of us to die.”
“Fuck that,” Dr. Gregson bit out. “We need some weapons.”
“I’m out of ammunition,” the security officer said.
The door burst open, the cabinet crashing to the floor.
The assassin stalked in, wings snapping open.
Gemma whimpered.
Finley backed up, her hand running over the bench, searching for anything that she could use as a weapon. There were beakers, test tubes, a chunky machine for testing that was far too large to lift, a Bunsen burner.
Shit. The assassin leaped, its wings flapping.
Finley ducked and scrambled under the bench.
She leaped up on the other side, and spotted several scalpels and some other tools resting on the bench. She snatched them up and threw them at the Kantos assassin.
One scalpel pierced the creature’s wing, and it jerked.
“Hey, asshole.” Ian leaped up on top of a bench, clutching a bottle in his hand. He tossed it at the creature.
The glass smashed, and some sort of liquid chemical sprayed the alien.
The assassin screeched. The liquid was eating into the alien’s wings.
“Ian, more.” Finley grabbed all the vials she could. She pelted them at the assassin. The rest of the group started grabbing bottles and beakers, and throwing them at the alien.
“We’re probably going to kill ourselves,” Dr. Gregson yelled.
“Better to explode than death by that thing,” Ian answered.
The Kantos screeched again and slipped, crashing to the floor.
Gemma grunted. “Help me.”
Finley saw the younger woman pushing against the large testing
machine. Finley raced to help her. If they tipped it off the bench, it would land directly on the assassin. The others rushed over to help. Together they all shoved hard, and the machine inched toward the edge of the bench.
“More,” Gemma urged between gritted teeth.
Finley strained.
The machine reached the edge of the workbench, and then gravity took over. The heavy machine dropped off the edge, right onto the assassin’s torso.
The creature went silent, its legs twitching, then it stilled.
Finley pressed her hands to her thighs, sucking in air.
“We did it,” Gemma said, incredulously.
Ian laughed. “Oh, my God.”
“We did it,” Dr. Gregson cried.
They all started laughing and hugging each other. Finley slapped Gemma on the back. Then she heard the sounds of screams and gunfire. Sabin. She yanked out her tablet.
“It’s right above us,” Kaira yelled.
“Kaira, look out!” Sabin shouted.
Finley’s heart leaped. Then she heard the crunch of glass and metal, and a man’s scream.
“Sabin? Sabin?” There was no answer. “Where are they?”
Dr. Gregson blinked. “I don’t know—”
“You have drones. We need the footage. Now.”
“Hang on.” The woman raced to the nearest computer, tapping some keys to wake the screen. She started clicking away. “Got it!”
The screen filled with aerial footage, tinged green by the night-vision setting. Finley’s pulse pounded madly.
The footage zoomed in, and she spotted the overturned SUV. It was on its roof.
“No.” It felt like the floor beneath her caved in.
She couldn’t see any sign of Sabin, or the others. Something flew between the drone and the SUV. An assassin.
“They’re five hundred meters away from the main building,” Dr. Gregson said.
Finley pressed a hand to her head, trying to think. Then she saw something move out of the darkness.
One of the stalkers. Then another. And another. They advanced on the wrecked SUV.
“We have to help them,” Finley said.
“Finley, it’s too dangerous,” Gemma said.
“Sabin wanted the base locked down,” Dr. Gregson added.
“Then you guys lock down. I’m going to help them.” Fear was alive in her belly, but she wouldn’t abandon Sabin, or the others.
