Old Enemy (The Survivors Book Six)

by Nathan Hystad

  I ran now, feeling the hydraulic boost from the suit as my legs pumped forward. I was the first to her and saw what she was pointing at. The rocks were large and smooth, a dozen or so twenty-foot-wide gray-black slabs. In the center was a hole, leading into the ground.

  With my rifle raised, I stepped over to it and activated my left arm’s light beam. I couldn’t make out much inside, but it looked like a cavern, at least fifteen feet down.

  “Slate!” I called again and waited, but there was no response. “We’re sure this is the spot?”

  Magnus nodded. “It has to be. Slate was near the water, under the rocks, and this is where the robots had congregated, searching for him. All signs point to this hole.”

  “Then we go in,” I said.

  “Then we go in,” Magnus repeated. Terrance ran from the lander and had a rope tethered to the vessel. He dropped it into the hole and started to climb down it without hesitation, making it look easy in his armor.

  Rulo cut in front of me, flashed me a toothy smile, and jumped down, not even bothering to use the rope.

  Magnus looked at me, and I could see his eyes roll even through the tinted visor. “Show-off.”

  I went next and found the climb down easy in the suit. A guy could get used to this.

  Magnus appeared beside me, and Leslie was standing above, rifle in hand. “I’ll stay here and make sure no one bothers you,” she said.

  “We should be right back,” Terrance said, and we took a look around.

  The cavern was, as I thought, less than twenty feet deep, but it was wide. From here, it appeared to have four corridors leading away from it, one in each direction. It felt like too many choices.

  “Which way do we go?” I asked.

  “There are four of us,” Magnus suggested.

  “I’ve seen that movie too many times. Friends go spelunking in the caves, and when they get separated, they each get picked off by the monster living underground,” I said.

  Terrance stated the obvious. “This isn’t a movie, Dean.”

  “I know. This is worse. We live in a universe with ancient god races, wormholes, and bugs addicted to drug pollen. There could be something much worse than a monster down these halls.” I smiled under my helmet, but I didn’t think any of them saw it.

  “Dean’s right. We stay in groups of two,” Magnus said, once again taking charge.

  “I’ll go with Rulo. Terrance and Dean, why don’t you try that one first?” Magnus showed me how to scroll on my HUD to see the locations of the other armor suits. “This way, we can see where each of us is at all times.”

  “I’m liking the suits, Magnus. Where’d we get them?” I asked.

  “Our friend Rivo had them shipped to Haven. She thought we might need them.” I could hear the smile behind his words.

  “Rivo? You’ve talked with her?” I asked, surprised.

  “She was worried about you. They helped in a lot of ways,” Magnus said. I couldn’t wait to catch their whole story. So far, I’d only heard pieces.

  “We’ll talk about it later. For now, I need to find our friend and get back to my baby.” I’d been trying not to think about that little pink human bundled in Mary’s arms. The moment she was born, I had to leave her. I vowed to change that. I would be there for her, growing up. I wouldn’t be the father who missed everything because he was out chasing disgruntled aliens.

  Magnus and Rulo headed to the opposite end to us and disappeared into the corridors.

  “After you,” I said, clapping Terrance on the back.

  The hybrid led the way, heading into the entrance to the rocky hallway. It was dark, and we turned on our visors’ infrared function. Everything glowed a soft green in the narrow passageway.

  “Where is he? Why wouldn’t he stay in the cavern?” I asked.

  “I would have run too if five robots were shooting down at me,” Terrance said.

  “They hadn’t fired, though. The ground wasn’t blown to pieces,” I said.

  “True. Then I’m not sure. We’ll find him. These tunnels can’t go on forever,” Terrance said, and I didn’t argue with him. The lake was close, so unless the robots had burrowed beneath it, they’d have to recalculate around the body of water.

  I looked to my HUD, seeing two blinking green dots showing us where Rulo and Magnus were. Rulo didn’t have a suit on, so I guessed they’d added a beacon to her minigun or somewhere on her body. Their icons were moving smoothly in the opposite direction as us.

  “Magnus, you there?” I asked, testing our connection.

  “We’re here. Nothing but rock. How about you?” he asked.

  “Same. How far before we double back and try the other corridors?” I asked.

  “Let’s do another fifteen minutes in, then turn around. Slate wouldn’t have gone that deep. It doesn’t make sense.” Magnus ended the call, and I thought about what he said.

  Slate would have stayed close, unless something forced him to leave. This realization sent shivers up my spine.

  The tunnels were narrow, but at least eight feet tall, staying consistent in size as we moved through them. I stepped on something and nearly slipped on it.

  Terrance stopped and stuck a hand out, keeping me from falling. “What is it?” he asked, and I stepped back. In the infrared light, I could see it for what it was in an instant.

  “Animal scat. And a large one at that.” I was grateful I didn’t have to smell it with the armor suit on. It was larger than the cow pies from the neighbor’s fields growing up.

  Terrance spoke into his mic. “Magnus, we have a problem. Feces. From a big animal.”

  We received no reply. I checked their position and saw they were standing still down in their tunnel. “Magnus, come in.”

  For a second, their connection linked, and we heard yelling and pulse fire before it cut out and we lost them.

  Without asking Terrance what we should do, I turned and ran back the way we’d come. The suit made running easy, and I booted it as fast as it would allow me to. The walls raced by as I made it into the cavern. With large leaping steps, I wound my way into the corridor they’d entered, heart pumping with every kick of my feet. I scanned to their position on the HUD, seeing I was closing in on them. I was panting by the time I approached, and I kept my back to the wall, trying to see what was happening.

  “Magnus, I’m right behind you.” No answer. The gunfire had ceased. Terrance was behind me now, his rifle raised, ready to attack.

  I waved a finger forward and crouched low, gun up and steady. What I saw almost made me stop in my tracks. Magnus was on the ground, and he was being dragged down the hall by his feet. Rulo lay in a crumpled heap close by.

  Terrance ran to her and carried her back. She was alive, her chest rising and falling slowly.

  “Rulo, what happened? What are those?” I asked, and she blinked her eyelids open wide.

  “Death. Go hunt...” Her words translated, and I wasn’t sure I grasped what she was suggesting. Were they hunting us, or should I hunt them? She passed out, blood seeping from her cheek where a gash had opened the thick skin.

  “We’ll be back for you, Rulo,” I said and moved, trying to get a visual on the creature dragging Magnus down the hall.

  We tried to stay silent. It pained me to not go help Magnus at that moment, but as long as they were dragging him, they weren’t attacking, and that was the only solace I had in the situation.

  The sound of his suit being carried over the rocky ground ceased, and I could finally see the outline of the creature. It was tall, seven feet if an inch; broad shoulders led to long arms that dragged on the ground when it stood there. I zoomed to its face, which had a wide nose, four nostrils sniffing at the air like a bloodhound. A single beady black eye sat under its nose, its mouth near the top of its head. The creature was something out of a nightmare. Its thin torso made for a narrow target, and it finished off with thick powerful legs and stubby feet.

  Terrance’s hand trembled, telling me he’d s
een the monster too. It stopped sniffing and grabbed Magnus’ legs again, continuing on down the hall.

  We followed for a few minutes, and eventually, it wound into another cavern. More feces littered the halls here, and we waited a few moments after it entered the cave.

  The creature appeared to use smell as a hunting technique, and I hoped our suits hid our musk well. We flanked the entrance to the cave, and I peeked inside, my infrared vision allowing me to make out the heat of the creature and Magnus. Only there were at least a dozen heat sources inside, ten of them much larger than those two.

  “Slate and Magnus are both in there,” I whispered into my mic. Terrance nodded slowly.

  We could hear the animals start to make noises: a sort of pack howl. We didn’t have time to wait. I had an idea.

  SIX

  Terrance understood what I was suggesting, and we prepped our suits and our minds.

  I looked to him across the doorway and counted down with my gloved fingers. Three. I tapped the controls for all of my armor suit’s lighting. Two. Confirm? One. Yes. Tap. We shone like a star in the darkness of the caverns, and ran into the room.

  The creatures screamed now, hissing and bellowing their anger at the intrusion. We fired at will, pieces of the slimy black monsters flying everywhere, gore and blood spraying around, covering everything in sight. It was pandemonium, and under it all, Slate and Magnus lay still on the ground.

  When we thought they were all dead, Terrance circled the room, and I ran for our downed friends. Magnus was moving now, his armored suit covered in guts.

  “What happened?” He sat up and shook his head. Slate was still in his EVA and hadn’t moved yet. Scratches tore through his suit, exposing blood on his skin.

  “Slate!” I hopped over Magnus and unclasped Slate’s helmet. I tossed it to the side and held his head in my hands. “Slate, buddy. Talk to me,” I said as I reached for his arm console to check for vitals. It was damaged beyond repair. One of the creatures must have smashed it with an attack.

  “Dean…” Magnus said, his voice weak. He was sitting up, looking behind me. “Dean,” he said again, this time a little louder.

  “What?” I asked and didn’t wait long to find out what he was going on about. The dark monster raced toward me from the edge of the room, long arms pulled back, and it swung at me hard, knocking me backwards. I flew a few yards and landed hard on my back, my suit taking the brunt of the impact.

  I reached for my gun, but it was beside Slate. “Terrance!” I yelled, and the creature was on me, flailing away, its fists repeatedly beating my armor. I rolled my head to the side and saw another one of the monsters attacking Terrance.

  A beam ripped through the room and narrowly missed my attacker. “Magnus, I don’t think they can see in the light. He’s fighting blind. Can you distract him from me?”

  It was still pummeling away, and I didn’t know how long my armor would last. Another blast hit the ground nearby as I jumped around erratically, trying not to get hit by the pulse rifle.

  I rolled, escaping the assault, and aimed all of my lights directly at the angry being. It roared, baring the teeth at the top of its head. It was a horrific sight, but Magnus finally found his aim true and hit the screeching monster in the back. It toppled over as he fired again, and I ran away from the falling body.

  Terrance had finished off his assailant and made his way over to our side of the room. “We have to get out of here. Keep the lights on.” We heard more cries coming from deeper in the caves, and my skin crawled.

  “Magnus, you okay to walk?” I asked, helping him to his feet.

  “Yeah, they caught me off-guard.” He walked toward the exit, limping.

  “Help me with Slate,” I said to Terrance, and together we lifted our friend up. We draped his arms over our shoulders and took his weight between us.

  More of them roared in the distance, and we hurried our pace as much as Slate’s heavy, limp body would allow us. Magnus stayed behind us, limping along, keeping a gun pointed down the hall. Soon we found Rulo where we’d left her, sitting on the ground, her back to the stone wall and her minigun ready to shoot.

  “Come on,” I said to her, and she got up, struggling along with her injuries. Before we knew it, we were back in the main cavern, the rope still hanging down waiting for us.

  “Leslie,” I called into my mic.

  “I’m here,” she said, peering down. “Everyone okay? I couldn’t get through to you for a while.”

  “We were attacked, but we have Slate,” I said, bringing him into the light from outside. “We’re going to need help getting him up.” I pointed to Magnus and Rulo. “And we have a couple of injuries.”

  Leslie nodded and returned a few moments later with a large harness. “This was in the lander. Should do the trick.”

  We spent a few minutes getting the harness around Slate’s unconscious body, keeping an eye on all four corridor entrances. Those things could run through at any moment, and none of us desired to see them again.

  I was the last to climb up, my arms burning by the time I breached above ground. I lay on my back for a second before joining the others at the lander.

  “Let’s get Slate to Nick. He needs medical attention.” I looked around, grateful we’d found him but worried we were too late. I was done playing Robinson Crusoe. I wanted to take my wife and baby and go home.

  ____________

  “He’s going to be fine.” Nick came out from the medical room where Mary had been just hours before. She was in crew quarters with the baby and Suma, and I was sitting on the floor in the hall, waiting for word on my buddy.

  “Thank God. What’s his condition?” I asked, getting up from my sitting position.

  “Concussion. He was banged pretty hard in the head, and he has lacerations on his left thigh and abdomen, but they were shallow. I’ve bandaged him up, and he should be okay in no time. You can go in and see him now,” Nick said and opened the door for me.

  “Thanks, Nick.”

  “That’s what I’m here for. Glad to be able to help the old crew,” he said, smiling widely.

  Slate was on the bed, half sitting, half propped up. He was pale, and with his messy blond hair, he reminded me of a ghost. “How’re you doing, big fella?” I asked, trying to keep my voice light.

  “You should see the other guys.” He forced a smile. “I’m assuming. I don’t even know what attacked me.”

  “Did you see me get abducted in the forest?” I asked, wondering how he’d gotten underground.

  “Yes. I wanted to go after you, but there were too many. The drones had done a good job cutting their numbers down, but it wasn’t enough. When they took you, I tried to go after them, but it was a suicide mission. So I ran.” He looked down, as if ashamed.

  “Slate, you have nothing to make excuses for. There were far too many enemies this time,” I said, arms crossed as I stood beside him. I let them fall to my sides.

  “A few of them chased me down toward the lake, and when I got to this rocky area and saw a hole, I thought it was my only chance. At first, it was perfect. The robots were there waiting for me and wouldn’t leave. I tried to come up with a plan. I considered collapsing the roof and having the robots fall, hopefully damaging them. Before I could act, I was attacked from behind. I didn’t wake up until Nick was standing over me with a needle.”

  He looked frazzled. I stuck a fist out, and he grunted as he lifted his arm to tap it.

  “I’m glad you’re okay. We have someone for you to meet when you’re up to it,” I said casually.

  “Mary? Did she…is it…” His unfinished questions came quickly.

  I smiled like only a recent father could. “The baby girl’s fine… more than fine. She’s happy and healthy, and Mary’s well. I can’t believe I’m a father.”

  “What’s her name?” he asked.

  I didn’t know. We hadn’t given her one yet. Over the last few months, we’d talked about it a few times, but nothing was set in sto
ne. “I don’t know,” I mumbled.

  “You don’t know? Then what are you doing here? Go to her. Be with your family,” Slate said.

  “You’re my family too,” I said and saw his eyes begin to well up.

  “I need sleep, boss. Your wife and baby need you.” He closed his eyes, and I knew the conversation was over.

  “I’ll be back,” I promised.

  “I’m glad you’re okay. I want to hear how you escaped them later,” he said, his eyes still closed.

  I left him there, glad to have someone so strong and resilient fighting beside me every step of the way.

  ____________

  I wasn’t going to miss the planet. We understood its official name was Sterona, at least according to the readings we’d scrounged up. I preferred to think of it as nameless: an abandoned world we’d thought was vacant of sentient life, until we found the underground creatures.

  We lifted in the ships, and I stood on the bridge of our ship, my baby girl in my arms, cooing softly from her warm cocoon of blankets. Rulo was there with more of her kind, running the show, and she nodded her head at me in a sign of acceptance. Everyone was healing from our encounter a couple of days ago, and Rulo looked no worse for the wear. She had a bandage on her cheek and said she would wear the scar as a badge of honor.

  The viewscreen showed a lightning storm flashing out over the vacant city we’d called home. This was where Slate and I had first entered the portals; where we’d first met little Suma, and where we’d eventually come back to save Mary from the clutches of the Iskios. I had a lot of memories from here, but I’d be a happy man if I never had to see it again.

  “Dean, glad to be going home?” Suma asked, sneaking up beside me.

  I put my arm around her and hugged her close. “Yes, Suma, I am. How about you?”

  She looked up at me, and then at my baby girl. “Home will be a welcome destination. I look forward to seeing my father.”

  “Sarlun must be at his wits’ end, wondering what happened to you. I hope he doesn’t kill me,” I said.

  Suma squawked a laugh. “You stopped the universe from being eaten by the Unwinding. I think that awards you a little slack.”