Reclaim: Books 1-3

by J. A. Scorch

Teve stared out at the creature as it stopped for a short moment to scout out its next victim.

  With no bullets and a locked gate, Teve couldn't take his eyes off the hybrid as it charged straight at him.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  "You can't be serious?" Briggs asked Porter as he prepped himself to go down into the Zeal Cyclone.

  "Afraid so."

  Porter brushed past his wingman and grabbed a scanner and a breaching kit from Murphy.

  "Why? The Marines are here for this very reason. Let them do their job."

  Porter closed both of his eyes for a moment as Briggs continued. He couldn't take another word of it. "Stop, okay? I can't just stand around while this mission falls apart. Now you can either get on board or get out of my way." He moved up to the hole and stared down into the depths of the Zeal ship.

  "What's the sergeant's name, Murphy?" Porter asked.

  "Sergeant Jones, sir."

  Porter switched his comm channel. "Jones. This is Captain Porter. I'm coming down." He turned and faced Murphy. "Jones and I will scout ahead and see what's happened to Zina. I need you to seek out more access points. We need as many ways into the ship as possible."

  "Yes, sir," Murphy said. In less than a few seconds, he rounded up a team and headed out in search of another way into the Cyclone, leaving Briggs standing alone.

  "This is crazy. You know that, right?" Briggs asked.

  Porter screwed up his brows. "Of course I know this is crazy. But I'm not going to stand here and wait for those pilots out there to die one by one." He turned back to the hole. "I'll see you soon."

  Briggs huffed. "Hold up. I'm coming, too. Can't have you taking all the glory."

  Porter gave him a silent nod. "Good. Grab some gear from the Marines before they move too far away. Tell one of them to stay behind. We need someone up top for comms relay."

  "Yes, sir," Briggs said as he scuttled over to the closest Marine and grabbed their gear. He requested the soldier to climb inside his X90S at Porter's suggestion.

  A few minutes later, the two pilots were heading down to Sergeant Jones in the null gravity space. After traveling a fair distance into the ship, Porter found the edge of the gravity well and began to feel the pull of the ship's internal systems yanking him down toward the center of the carrier. After a slow decent using their magboots and gloves, the pair arrived to find Sergeant Jones aiming his laser rifle ahead as he watched out for the Zeal.

  "Sergeant. What do you see?"

  "Not much. Just more tunnel." Jones half turned around and glanced at the two pilots. "Why did they send you down, sir?"

  "I made the call. We couldn't risk losing our limited team to this access point. I sent the rest of the Marines out to find other ways into the ship. Unfortunately for you, we're all you've got."

  Jones did little to hide his concern but kept to protocol. "Yes, sir."

  "Just thought we'd keep you company, Jones," Briggs said. "Hate for you to get bored down here." He squeezed past the sergeant in the wider tunnel. He shined his flashlight ahead. The cone of his light vanished into the dark giving them no information on how far the passage traveled.

  "Let's move out," Porter said, following Briggs. The group of three shuffled their way through the shaft, moving slowly. Porter attempted to keep the noise to a minimum considering they were about to drop inside a ship that made the entire MAF fleet seem insignificant.

  After ten minutes of movement, Porter tried to contact Murphy and only received static in return. "Not sure where we are, but all communication to the surface is blocked."

  "Great," Briggs said. "Just what we need. Even if we do manage to find a way in, we'll have to head back to the tunnel to relay the message to Command."

  "I'll keep that in mind," Porter said as he shook his head.

  The group had continued for another five minutes before Briggs blurted out the obvious. "How could she have gone this far? It doesn't make sense. She fell from who knows what kind of height and knocked herself out. They must have taken her."

  "That's one theory," Jones said. "I mean, why haven't they come for us yet?"

  "Best not to know," Porter said. "All we can hope is she woke up and decided to keep going forward. Maybe her comms broke in the fall, and she couldn't radio us back."

  "A lot of maybes getting thrown around today," Briggs said.

  The three carried on, shuffling through the tunnel. A few more minutes dragged by when Briggs found the end of the line.

  "What the hell?" Porter blurted. "How is this possible?"

  "What?" Briggs asked.

  Porter pointed to the wall. "We’ve reached the end of the tunnel. Zina should be here."

  "Oh shit."

  "Exactly," Porter said, nodding his head.

  "This is weird," Jones added.

  Taking a moment to think, Porter closed his eyes. They flashed open as his mind tried to comprehend what was happening. "Maybe these tunnels aren’t as static as we think."

  Briggs let out a long breath. "That can’t be good for us. We better keep moving." Using the depth scanner, Briggs soon discovered the block to be thin enough for them to cut a hole through with one of the portable laser torches.

  "Jones," Porter said, "cut it open. We'll cover you."

  "Yes, sir. Here's hoping we haven't landed in the middle of a Zeal army."

  "Only one way to find out, I guess. Start cutting."

  Jones shook his head as he readied the gun. He messed with a few settings and activated a fine laser, aiming it at one of the corners of the wall. He increased the output to maximum and began slicing through the relatively thin layer of alien metal.

  Briggs gripped his laser rifle tight as Porter aimed his sidearm straight through the middle of the wall. In a few minutes, the plating would come away, and the three of them would have to face whatever they found on the other side of the layer.

  Jones had his rifle set on the ground, ready for him to pick it up and fire the second he finished cutting. He came down to the last few inches and stopped. "Okay. Are we set?"

  Porter let out a slow breath. "Do it."

  Jones gave him a nod and picked up his laser rifle. "Here we go." With a big lunge forward, he kicked the metal plate and snapped it off in one sweeping motion. The freshly cut square flew out and clanked around on the ground, rattling away as it made more noise than a burst from an MAF rifle.

  The three of them stared out of the cramped space, each aiming their weapons out at an unknown sight.

  Jones couldn't move.

  Briggs stumbled back.

  Only Porter had enough courage to lower himself into the room and step closer to the view that had stunned all three of them.

  "What the hell is this?" Porter asked out loud. He gazed out at a vast area that flowed down into what he could only imagine was the depths of the ship. They had arrived at the top edge of a broad cylindrical expanse. The layered space glowed purple and appeared to house the Zeal in their purest, unarmored form.

  "This can't be real," Briggs said as he climbed down and came to the edge.

  "Sure looks real," Porter replied. He stared down at thousands of small sections embedded into the walls of the cylinder he could only describe as tanks. Each tank held a small alien creature that had no arms, legs, or face to speak of. The only reason Porter knew they were the Zeal was because of the powered armor suits that sat by the pods. This was a sleeping army.

  Jones came down from the tunnel and gripped the edge of the wall that prevented them from falling into the open hole to their deaths. "What is that?" he asked, pointing down to the bottom of the drop.

  Porter's eyes followed Jones' finger and landed on a giant glowing ball centered in the lower part of everything. Something about the familiar object seemed to draw him in, forcing him to think about Teve while at the same time causing his temples to flare. "Don't look at it," he said. "There's something wrong with that thing."

  "You're right," Jones said. "I can feel it sensing me like it
knows I'm here or something."

  Jones continued to stare until Porter pulled him away from the edge. He broke out of the trance and shook his head. "What the hell is that?"

  "No idea. But I'm guessing it's the source of the ship's power or at the very least, the brain."

  Briggs and Jones continued to shake their heads trying to regain control. Briggs finally asked the one question none of them had the answer to. "What do we do now?"

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Teve raised the butt of his rifle into the air as the hybrid barreled down toward the gate. Letting out weeks of frustration in one grand swing, he brought the empty weapon down hard on the electromagnetic lock and felt the energy coursing through his veins as the thick metal snapped off.

  With no time to waste staring at the minor achievement, Teve raced through the open gate and slammed it shut as the hybrid pounced on his previous location. Its head crashed hard into the metal. Blades instantly stabbed out to protect the already dense skull of the creature as Teve held the door shut with every bit of strength he could muster. The hybrid fell to the ground, absorbing the impact of the crash.

  Before the abomination climbed back to its feet, Teve found a metal sign post near the gate. He snapped off the pole, pulling it up from the concrete. A few seconds later, he bent the pole over and shoved it through the chain link fence to make a new connection to hold the gate temporarily shut.

  Teve stumbled backward as the hybrid leaped out and smashed into the barrier, causing him to fall to the ground. The makeshift link stretched to its limits and prevented the monster from penetrating through to the other side. Teve let out his held breath and scrambled to his feet before charging back up the ramp to the surface. More hybrids arrived in the distance and bolted for the gate.

  "Hoang," Teve yelled up the ramp, his voice croaking away.

  Rifle in hand, he finally noticed how much blood he was losing from the huge gashes in his bicep. The warm, red liquid seeped and flowed down his arm, causing him to feel woozy and slow down. "I'm coming for you," he whispered.

  He shuffled up the ramp, feeling the gradient suck the life out of him as he climbed to the surface. He had no idea if he would survive the trip up or what would be waiting for him outside. All he cared about was seeing the shrimp of a doctor get what was coming to him.

  As a fuzzy haze kicked in, Teve realized he would need to stop the bleeding if he wanted to keep going, so he shouldered his rifle and ripped his shirt off, pulling out both sleeves a moment later. One was coated in blood while the other was about to be.

  After a few more minutes of stumbling, he finished wrapping his arm tight with the temporary bandage and put what was left of his shirt back on. Blood continued to seep from his wound at a reduced rate, giving him the will to keep moving.

  "Hoang," Teve yelled as he reached the surface. "Where are you?" He stumbled around in a circle, seeking out the one man who owed him more than any other person. The Zeal might have been the ones to invade the planet and infect people with a virus of unknown consequences, but Hoang was the one to take the situation to the next level.

  "Doctor," Teve shouted. "Show yourself."

  "I'm right here," Hoang said as he dropped down from one of the trucks. Teve pulled the rifle from his shoulder.

  "Now what are you going to do with that? By my account, you should be empty."

  Teve felt his nostrils flare up as his face twisted out of shape. He lowered the rifle, letting it drop to his side. In a single motion, he flipped the weapon over and held out the butt of the gun like a baseball bat.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Hoang said.

  Teve ignored the words and focused his gaze before moving toward the man, both shoulders flared.

  "Not so fast, soldier," Hoang said with a pistol in hand. He lifted the weapon up and trained it on Teve's face. "Don't make me use this. Drop the rifle."

  Teve came to a stop as soon as he saw the gun. He let go of his own, not knowing what the doctor wanted or why he hadn't just killed him the second he emerged from the facility. He let out a huff of forest air and stepped forward. "Aren't you sick of always hiding behind that thing?"

  Hoang lifted the pistol up a few more inches. "Stay where you are. And to answer your question, no. Wielding power is not something I take lightly. It is a gift to be utilized instead of being squandered away by some washed-up UEF sergeant."

  Teve shook his head and could no longer contain his anger. "You don't utilize your power, Hoang. All I've ever seen you do is abuse your authority. These goddamn experiments gone wrong are beyond control." Teve grabbed at his bicep. The wound had stopped seeping blood.

  "Let me see that," Hoang said. "I want to show you something." The doctor walked over and instructed Teve to drop to his knees and raise his arms up behind his head. Hoang crept behind him once he was on the ground and quickly pulled the cloth bandage off.

  "What are you doing?" Teve asked as he spun around and stood back on his feet.

  "See for yourself. Take a look at your injury."

  As Hoang backed away to a safer distance, Teve stared down at his arm to find the slashes suffered by the hybrid had completely closed. It was as if several weeks of healing had gone by.

  "You understand what I mean now, Sergeant. You belong to a select group of soldiers who have abilities beyond any other before them. Yet I can sense in your eyes that you will never appreciate that fact." Hoang holstered the pistol as he reached for something inside a zipped-up pocket of his biohazard suit. He pulled out a long-barreled CO2 dart gun with several clear dart vials filled with a purple substance Teve knew all too well.

  "What are you doing with that Zeal crap?" Teve recognized the goo that had infected him in the first place. The material had entered his brain and forever changed him. It was the same goo that would eventually kill Mish.

  "Completing your training. Now, hold still. This won't hurt a bit." Hoang sneered as he said his words and raised the dart gun.

  "I'm not going to let you turn me into one of those things. You won't get within three feet of me before I snap your neck."

  "Oh, I know. That's why I always use this." Hoang aimed the tool at Teve and fired off a dart full of the purple goo in his direction. Teve managed to swivel in time for the flechette to shoot past him and land in the distance.

  For a split second, the two men stared at one another until Teve bolted sideways and ran for the nearest Humvee. Hoang fired more Zeal darts at him. Each shot lagged behind his charge and stuck into the ground, wasting the doctor's ammunition. Teve dived past the first Humvee and took a moment to check his body for darts.

  "Dammit," Hoang said. "Stop making this so difficult. Accept your fate, soldier."

  "Kiss my ass, Doc," Teve said as he tried the door on the far side of the Humvee. He opened it as quietly as possible and rummaged around for anything he could use as a weapon.

  "Looking for something?" Hoang asked as he came around the back of the vehicle. Teve jumped inside the truck as a dart zipped by where his legs were standing. He scooted across the Humvee and out the other side as the doctor came running up to the open door.

  "Look at these games we play. Can't you see the bigger picture? Don't you want to win the war?"

  "Not like this. We'll end up becoming the Zeal if we take this path."

  "That is our path. We can no longer fight using our pathetic, selfish human egos. We must come together as one mind and flush the Zeal from the system by growing to more than we could ever aspire to be."

  The doctor's rant allowed Teve enough time to move down to the next Humvee. He opened the driver's door and climbed in looking for the keycard to start the engine. If he could at least fire up the truck up, he could drive the hell away from Hoang before he hit him with a dart.

  As his hands patted around searching the usual places soldiers left keycards, Hoang continued his rant, yelling out louder and louder as he closed in. Teve gave up on the truck and jumped back out to spot the doctor standing r
ight in front of him with the dart gun aimed at his chest.

  With a smile on his face, Hoang pulled out his pistol and squeezed the trigger. A sound Teve never expected to hear rang out as a bullet sliced through the air and struck him in the chest.

  Teve fell to the ground and clutched at his body, gasping to speak.

  "Hard to fathom, isn't it? I'll bet you're wondering why would I shoot you." Hoang slowly strolled over and stood over Teve. He put away his pistol and held up a syringe full of goo. "Ran out of darts. Still got plenty of the good stuff for you, though, Sergeant. I figured your system could take a bullet." Hoang leaned down as Teve tried to resist. His mind begged his body to react, but the metal lodged in his chest had other plans.

  The needle was only an inch away from his neck when several shots rang out from less than 100 feet away. A burst of rounds hit the truck, startling the doctor enough for him to trip over on his back.

  Teve glanced over to witness Pocket holding a smoldering rifle as she made her approach to his location.

  Hoang scuttled back to his feet as a few more shots came from Pocket's weapon. She was too far away to hit him. Each bullet missed by half a foot, splashing dirt up into the air. Hoang let out a long yell and began to run back toward Pendle.

  Teve slowly pushed himself up through the subsiding pain as Pocket arrived to help him up to his feet. She leaned him against the truck and aimed her rifle at Hoang as he ran into the building.

  "Go," Teve said. "Kill the bastard."

  She gave him a nod and took a few steps before stopping. Hoang came running back outside with two hybrids on his tail.

  "I don't think we need to chase him down," Pocket said. "We need to go, right now." She hoisted Teve's arm over her shoulder as the two hybrids barreled down on the doctor and lunged at his biohazard suit. The first hybrid ripped open his helmet, slicing his head in the process as the second began to maul his body to pieces. The two creatures slashed and shredded the man apart over wailing screams as Teve and Pocket faded into the forest.

  After fifteen minutes of fast walking, Pocket set Teve down behind a tree. Red and Romeo came out from a distance.