Evonne handed Riot her helmet, as well as a Villain Pulse Rifle. “I brought your normal gear; however, now that I understand the mission is to be a recon trek, perhaps I should have brought a rifle with a more powerful scope, such as the Longshot 1000 Corporal Vetash seems to prefer.”
“This will be fine,” Riot said, accepting the weapon. “Our helmets will be able to zoom in for us, and Vet has the sniper rifle. We can use his scope if we need to.”
“Understood,” Evonne said, stepping back from Riot now that she was fully clothed.
“All right, Wolves,” Riot said, placing herself in front of her crew. “I know it’s not really our style, but we’re going to do this quietly. Into the jungle, gain intel, and then we’re out. Oohrah?”
“Oohrah!” Vet and Wang said at once.
Rizzo pounded his right fist against his chest.
From around the corner of the building, Ketrick appeared, with Rippa right behind him. The larger Trilord held his signature staff blaster weapon in his right hand, face smeared with blood-red paint.
Rippa wore light combat armor with a heavy blaster in her hands. The weapon looked like a rocket launcher on crack cocaine.
“In and out, no fighting, we were never there,” Riot repeated for Ketrick and Rippa’s sake.
“My middle name is stealth,” Ketrick said while he twitched his eyebrows up and down.
Rippa rolled her eyes as the group headed down the hill for the city gates. All around them, human, Trilord, and Grovothe were working side by side to prepare the city for an attack.
Grovothe mech pilots ran to their twenty-foot suits of armor, making last minute checks. Trilords stored water around the city in strategic places to put out fires.
Marines manned the walls and fixed stationary weapons on the battlements and on the tops of buildings and structures to repel the attack.
Nods and waves were exchanged from nearly everyone who saw them pass, regardless of their alien species. Word had spread through the ranks of both aliens and Marines about the insane Riot and her War Wolves.
“This is how it should be, right?” Wang said out loud. “I mean, everyone working together, regardless of background, race, or religion.”
“It should be this way,” Ketrick agreed. “But it seems only in the very worst of times will beings be willing to put aside their differences. It takes a catastrophic event such as this before we can see through the veil of hate and judgment.”
“If we could always work like this, imagine what we could accomplish,” Vet said.
Riot took a moment to reflect on their words and agree. They were right. It seemed not only Earth, but also the universe was a distrusting and judgmental place. How far could they come if they put that aside and judged people on their actions instead of on the preconceived notions of what they must be.
“All right, guys. You’re all getting too deep for me,” Riot said, placing her helmet on her head. “Eyes open. Here we go.”
93
The dense jungle interior was made worse with the time of day as evening advanced. Riot led her unit with Wang. Ketrick, Rippa, Doctor Miller, and Evonne walking in the middle, while Rizzo and Vet brought up the rear.
Strange sounds in the jungle soon took precedence over the sounds of the booming coming from the Karnayer troops. A dozen smoke curls still lifted into the sky, but the constant noise that had heralded their arrival had finally silenced.
Alien chirps and howls drifted to Riot’s ears from the jungle night life. Some animals had gone to sleep, while other nocturnal creatures were only beginning their day.
Aided by the night vision option in their heads-up display, Riot was able to see into the darkness like it was as bright as day.
“Do you think we can rename them?” Wang asked as he traveled by Riot’s side along a rarely used trail Ketrick knew. “Why do we have to call them Abominations? Let’s ratchet down the creep factor and just call them Smoochies or PLDs.”
“What does PLD stand for?” Riot asked.
“Poor Life Decisions,” Wang explained. “I mean, come on, we can call them whatever we want, right?”
“I guess,” Riot said with a shrug, her mind less on the conversation and more on the jungle around her. “Whatever floats your boat.”
“Maybe I should wait to see them before coming up with a cute name,” Wang said, speaking more to himself than anyone else. “Or I could just call them bit—”
“Projected distance to the smokestacks is just under a mile,” Evonne said via the units’ comms. “We should be able to get a visual on them soon.”
“Right,” Riot answered before she began doling out orders. “Vet, take Rippa, Ketrick, and Rizzo along the right. Find a spot to hole up and gather as much intel as you can. Remember, do not engage. We are here, observing only.”
“Roger that,” Vet said over the comms as he and those with him peeled off to the right.
Ketrick caught Riot’s eye and gave her a wink before he followed Vet.
“Let’s get off the trail and head into the bush.” Riot looked over to Evonne and Doctor Miller, who followed behind. “Wang, you bring up the rear; Evonne and Cupcake in the middle.”
Wang immediately turned to take up the rear position as Riot led the group deeper into the jungle. The brush was so thick at times, Riot had to turn sideways. Vines hung down from trees whose roots travelled over the ground like a swarm of snakes.
Leaves ranging from the size of raindrops to cymbals made seeing harder than Riot imagined. At this point, they would be able to hear the enemy before they saw them.
Riot was right. Within a few more minutes of travel, a dull hum met their ears. It sounded as out of place in the jungle as an elephant at a high school. Only then did Riot realize the sounds of animal life in the jungle had completely died; only the hum remained, and with it, a sense of despair.
It sounded like an overpowered electrical grid teaming with energy. Riot lifted her hand to the others following behind her, then gave the sign for them to stay while she went on.
“I don’t understand those hand signals,” Doctor Miller whispered over the comms. “What do you want us to do?”
“I want you to be quiet and stay here,” Riot growled.
“Oh, right.” Doctor Miller and the others squatted down on the jungle ground. “Sorry.”
Riot focused her attention on moving forward. With her Villain Pulse Rifle out in front of her, she carefully crossed the terrain. She made sure to keep her feet off any branches or leaves that would sound a crunch. She came around a massive tree as wide as Ketrick and as tall as Vikta. On the other side, she got her first look at the Abomination horde.
Riot’s stomach clenched. She hunched down, making herself as small a target as possible. A newly made clearing had opened up in front of her. Jungle trees littered the ground, while others had been carted away, creating a staging ground for the Karnayer army.
Large transport ships lay in a line at the rear of the gathering, with an army of creatures lined up in front of them. These aliens had to be the Abominations Admiral Tricon was talking about.
They were stationed in a dozen square uniformed ranks right in front of the transport ships. The smoke that still rose into the air was due to what looked like chimneys in the center of each transport ship. The smoke rose high into the sky, as noises like hammering came from deep within the bellies of the ships.
Normal Karnayer soldiers dressed all in black patrolled the perimeter here and there, but the real threat was the Abomination soldiers. They were what looked like corpses from dozens of alien species. Some were short and thick like the Grovothe, others were tall like the Trilords. Some were huge beasts built like bears, while other were short with six arms.
Despite their different organic appearances, they had all been equipped with metal appendages. Some had metal parts covering their heads and torsos, and others had steel arms and legs, while still others seemed as though they were almost entirely machines save for a s
ingle eye, an arm, a leg, or a shoulder.
The inhuman hum came from the standing Abomination army. Not a single one of the soldiers moved, but the sound still emanated from the centers of their bodies like some kind of inhuman choir lending their voices to a macabre hymn.
Each one of the Abominations shared the exact same green glow that came from their eyes. Whether their eye was machine-made or organic, a dull, green glow Riot had become familiar with emanated from their eyes.
Magic is controlling them somehow, Riot said to herself. These Karnayer sons of biscuits have figured out how to meld machines with the dead and bring them together using magic.
“Are you seeing this?” Vet’s voice came over the comms. His tone was one part wonder, one part determination.
“I’m seeing it.” Riot’s eyes roved over the gathered horde. “There has to be thousands of them.”
“Thousands of zombie terminators,” Vet breathed. “Check out their skin. The organic parts that are left are decomposing and rotting into their machine hides.”
Riot zoomed in. Vet was right. Whatever organic pieces of the Abominations that remained were rotting and withered.
“I’m counting twelve groups of about a thousand each,” Riot said over the comms. “What’s your count?”
“Same,” Vet answered. “Don’t forget the Karnayer soldiers or the hammering coming from the insides of the transport ships. They’re making something in there, and it can’t be good.”
Riot’s eyes drifted back to the open transport doors, where the smoke and harsh rings of iron workers hard at their craft sounded out.
“Riot,” Vet’s voice came through, stressed, “I think—”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The previously quiet night erupted with shots coming from Riot’s right where Vet and his unit peered through the foliage. Bright green and red bolts flashed through the night.
The Abomination soldiers closest to the conflict hummed to life. As if they shared a single thought, they charged into the jungle’s interior toward Vet and the rest of the unit. Rippa’s blue weaponsfire and Ketrick’s yellow blaster rang out with their booms and thumping sounds, respectively.
“Vet! Ketrick!” Riot yelled over the comms. Her yells would have been dampened by the weapons discharging two hundred yards to her right. “Anyone—do you copy?”
“Riot.” Ketrick’s voice yelled over the comms as he struggled for breath. “Run!”
No freaking way, Riot thought. No chance in hell am I leaving them behind.
Riot pushed her way back through the dense jungle foliage, heart beating in a quick deep tempo. She reached Wang and the others a moment later. Her heads-up display painted the waiting trio in a light as bright as day.
“You heard everything over the comms,” Riot told the three nodding heads. “Bubbles, head back to the city and tell them a force of Karnayer and Abomination soldiers twelve thousand strong are on the way. Wang, Evonne, with me.”
Riot didn’t wait to see what their reaction would be; there was no time. Instead of waiting to hear a response, she crashed back into the jungle depths, headed for the location where she had last seen Vet and the others.
The fighting had intensified to the extent that there were no further pauses in weaponsfire, just a steady stream of loud explosions echoing through the jungle.
“Rippa, Rizzo, Vet, Ketrick,” Riot said through panting breaths. “Do you copy?”
No response.
A moment later, the exchange of weaponsfire died.
The turn of events made Riot add speed to her strides. She ripped through vines that tore at her armor and over bushes seeking to impede her progress. She could hear Evonne and Wang crashing through the foliage behind her.
A second later, Riot burst into a clearing still smoking from the fire fight that had taken place a moment before. She was just in time to see Vet and Rizzo caught in a stranglehold by a massive Abomination with meaty hands and a domed head. Rippa lay unconscious, being dragged back to the Abomination lines by a pair of Karnayer soldiers, while Ketrick was on the ground, struggling to regain his feet under the onslaught of a dozen Abominations of varying sizes and races.
94
Evonne, get Vet and Rizzo.” Riot leveled her Villain Pulse Rifle and opened fire on the Abominations surrounding Ketrick. “Wang, get Rippa out of here.”
Her aim was perfect. She hit an Abomination between its green eyes with a burst of fire and took another one in the chest with a shot that should have been enough to kill anything.
Instead of her targets falling over dead, they redirected their attention from a bloody Ketrick at their feet and moved to intercept Riot.
“Run!” Ketrick screamed, spitting blood from broken lips. “Riot, run!”
He was only wasting his breath, and somehow, Riot thought he knew that. She wasn’t going to leave him or any of the soldiers under her command. If they were going down, then they were all going down together.
The Abominations ran at her, corpses that were part decaying alien and part machine. Riot pressed her finger on the trigger, going full auto. Red weaponsfire splashed across her targets. Her weapon opened up charred holes when she hit a portion of the Abominations’ flesh and was absorbed when it hit their armor. Still, they came.
No screams or cries of war left the lips of the Abominations. Only the same dull hum of constant energy. Riot wasn’t sure if that was actually scarier than hearing the grunts or roars from her enemies.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Evonne and Wang having more luck than she was at the moment. Evonne had managed to free Vet and Rizzo, who fell gasping to the ground. The AI was using pure strength as opposed to a weapon to overcome the Abomination.
Wang was up against a pair of dark-armored Karnayer soldiers that could actually be killed. Two well-placed bursts from his weapon and they were corpses smoking on the jungle floor.
Riot said a silent prayer, grateful that at least her counterparts had succeeded. The Abominations running at her moved out of the way for those among their order who carried blasters. The weapons had been fitted into the machine parts of their bodies on their arms or up from their shoulders. These weapons seemed to be nothing but random fittings of blasters or blades.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Riot sent a salvo of red rounds into any and every section of the charging figures she thought may be susceptible to fire. She hit one in the neck, another in the kneecap, and a third in the eye.
Her attempt seemed to only piss off the Abominations as they continued toward her. Those enemies with blaster-equipped weapons fired at Riot. Green rounds struck her in the abdomen and her left leg.
“Rrrrrrr…” Riot grunted as she went down to one knee. The entire time her gaze never left the targets rushing toward her. Despite her best efforts, the most she managed was to make one stumble as a round collided with its left ankle. “Die, you sons of biscuits!”
They were about to reach her. Knives, blades, and claws extended toward her, along with a dozen different alien appendages that reached for her face.
Here we go again. Riot dropped her Villain Pulse Rifle and reached for her warhammer that sat in its place across her back. Why can’t anything be easy?
The steady hum coming from their bodies was the only thing heralding the charge of the Abominations.
“Come on!” Riot screamed, doing her best to get herself psyched for the fight. “Get some!”
Mere feet from colliding with the Abominations, a stream of searing hot fire erupted in front of Riot. A wall of flames burst to life, separating Riot from the dozen Abominations in front of her. A handful of the half-corpse, half-machines were even caught in the flames, their organic parts melting off their steel frame.
Riot looked up as a whoosh of wings reached her ears. Vikta’s massive figure was on an upward swing before the dragon turned back for another pass.
“I had them!” Riot yelled at the dragon. There was nothing but joy in her voice despite her w
ords. “I had them just where I wanted them.”
Ketrick was limping his way around the wall of fire on Riot’s left. Wang and Evonne were doing the same thing on the right. Rippa was the only one who seemed to be fine. Evonne was carrying Rizzo, and Wang had an arm wrapped around a limping Vet.
More and more Abominations, as well as Karnayer soldiers, were running toward their position. Vikta let out a roar, sending another line of flames alongside the already burning fire wall.
For the moment, the only thing the Abominations and Karnayers were concerned about was the colossal dragon shooting flames at them. Enemy weaponsfire was solely concentrated on the dragon for a moment.
“We should go,” Ketrick said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “Vikta’s buying us the time we need to get back to the city.”
“Good, let’s—”
“Riot!” a scream from someone on the other side of the flames interrupted Riot’s next words. “Riot, you coward! I know that’s you!”
Riot didn’t have to wonder who was calling her by name from the Karnayer forces. She recognized Alveric’s voice. Her eyes searched through the flickering fire wall separating the two factions. She finally found the tall, blue-skinned Karnayer on the opposite side of the flames.
“What? Who is it? Alveric, is that you?” Riot shouted. She cupped her right hand to the side of her helmet. “It’s hard to hear you above the sound of all of your Abominations humming. You’re really going to have to speak up. How’s the wound on your face healing, by the way?”
“Run! Run back to your city and supposed safety,” Alveric screamed in anger, ignoring her question. “We will kill you there within the hour. Run! Run, human! You and your allies will burn together before the sun rises!”
Vikta did another pass, barrel rolling through the enemy fire that was peppering her. The flame wall came to life again. As much as Riot wanted to stay and trade words with Alveric, every moment she forced Vikta to remain and defend them was another chance that a Karnayer round could wound the dragon. Riot wasn’t willing to bet on Vikta’s safety. Not like that.
War Wolves: Boxset 1-3 Page 48
