Nomad's Force

by Craig Martelle

  “This fight could outlast us all. If we don’t win it, then no one will. Akio can’t fight it by himself, because he can’t be everywhere at once. As we grow, we can. So here we are, reinforcing our need and ability to kill the enemy.”

  Cory shook her head. “Can’t we just put them on an island somewhere? Be done with them without having to take a life?”

  “That’s what I love about you, sweetheart. You see other ways.” Terry motioned that it was time to go.

  “They’ll fight back and we’ll have to eliminate them. Andrew and Joseph suggest that we don’t blindly kill them all.”

  “Eliminate. Nice word.”

  Terry waved at her to stay behind him as he rushed through the front door, splintering the wood away from the locks as he rammed into it.

  Char did the same thing as she crashed through the backdoor. Breaking glass told them Kim and Ramses were making their entrance. Terry held his .45 in one hand and his Mameluke sword in the other.

  They met in the middle of the house. Char pointed at a closed door.

  The stairs down.

  “Why do they always have to be underground?” Terry asked, knowing the reason but lamenting it anyway. He preferred a straight up fight in the open, because that was where he was strongest.

  “Ladies,” Terry said in his colonel’s voice. Kimber didn’t take offense. He called all the members of the FDG “ladies” at one point or another. “Stay frosty.”

  Char had both pistols out. The four had their rifles. Cory was so close behind Terry that they were touching.

  That was too close in case he had to swing his sword. As much as he hated to, he nodded for Char to precede him down the stairs. Terry was an old-school man. He thought it was his job to protect his woman.

  As many throw-downs as they had over the issue, Terry still hadn’t learned full equality. He accepted it, but had to openly fight his natural inclination. In this case, the desire to protect his daughter won out.

  Kimber used hand and arm signals to designate the order through the door. Ramses would pull it open, then Marcie, then Kae, and Kim would head down.

  Ramses would follow. She didn’t try to give orders to her parents. She counted down on her fingers. When she hit zero, Ramses yanked the door open. It had been locked, which he was ready for. His enhanced strength tore it from its hinges. He cast it aside as the others headed down, looking over their rifle barrels as they stayed close to each other. Ramses jumped through the doorway, bringing his rifle up to the side so he didn’t point it at his fellow warriors.

  Char followed them down. She knew exactly where the Forsaken were, a benefit that the others did not have. They weren’t far and where she once sensed two, she now sensed four.

  “There are four of them!” she yelled into the darkness. They could see well enough, but the darkness beyond the door was near absolute.

  A rifle’s flash lit the area ahead. Like a strobe, the basement was illuminated, then left as an imprint in the mind’s eye.

  Another flash, then more.

  Two Forsaken were moving quickly, zigging through the basement, heading sideways to the team. They were firing at the Forsaken’s heads, but missing. The enemy were doing everything they could to survive the encounter.

  As would anyone.

  Never underestimate your enemy. Terry knew that and was ready to wade in, but was blocked by the people on the steps. Kaeden charged one of the targets while Kimber headed for the other. Marcie followed Kae and Ramses went after Kim.

  The distinctive bang and slight flash of a small caliber pistol resounded through the basement. Terry and Char heard the grunt as the bullets impacted one of their kids. Terry held out a hand to keep Cory from rushing headlong into the fight.

  “FUCKER!” Kim shouted as she and Ramses lit up their enemy with rapid fire from their M4s. Terry leaned down to see past the floor joists. He saw Kim with her foot on the Forsaken’s neck as she sent two final silvered rounds into its head. Her bolt locked to the rear and she rapidly changed magazines while searching for the other Forsaken.

  She thought Char had said there were four of them.

  A sword thudded against a rifle’s hand guards. Marcie let out her war cry as she attacked the Forsaken with a butt stroke, followed by a slash aimed at its head.

  The Forsaken dodged as Kae fired point blank toward its face. Marcie fired from the hip, hitting it in the legs. It stumbled, but stayed upright, growling at its attackers. Kae’s rifle jammed and he dropped it, reverting to hand-to-hand. With a finger strike, he hit the Forsaken in the throat. It backed up and shifted, trying to keep Kae close and in Marcie’s line of fire.

  The Forsaken and Kae parried and jabbed, too fast for the eye to follow in the dim light. They both knew the fight was to the death. Kae didn’t slow down and the Forsaken’s attacks slowed and then stopped as it found itself only capable of defending.

  Terry was ready to jump over Char to get into the basement, but she wouldn’t let him pass.

  Kae hit the Forsaken repeatedly, whose leg wounds hampered its ability to counterattack. He drove it backward.

  When it was within arm’s reach of the steps, Char fired once, sending the Forsaken’s brains out the large exit wound. Kae stood straight up, breathing heavily.

  “You beat him,” Char stated for the record.

  “Over here!” Kimber called. Char, Terry, and Cory walked cautiously to her.

  “What the hell, Kim?” Cory said as blood streamed from where she’d been shot. “Come here!”

  Kim didn’t move as she pointed with the barrel of her weapon.

  Two sleeping Forsaken.

  Kim braced the weapon into her shoulder and aimed.

  “Stop,” Terry ordered, firm enough that she knew it wasn’t a request. He looked at the Forsaken. How come they didn’t wake up? There was a firefight in here, for piss sake!” Terry held his pistol at the ready as he put his sword away.

  “Let me see that,” Cory told Kimber. “Come here and sit down. Holy crap!”

  “Watch them,” Terry ordered, looking at the remaining three. He and Char joined Cory and Kim on the steps. “We shoot them in the head, they die. They shoot you in the head, you die. Why weren’t you wearing body armor?”

  “You never wear it,” Kim replied with her jaw set as she fought the pain by keeping her adrenaline pumping. Cory placed her hands on Kim’s chest and abdomen, the two bullet wounds. She pressed tightly as her nanocytes charged in to repair the damage, which included pushing the bullets out.

  When Cory removed her hands, she had a bullet in each and they fell from her limp fingers. The effort to remove the bullets was greater than usual. Cory’s eyelids fluttered, and she almost fell over. Terry caught his daughter with one arm as he rammed his pistol into its holster. He put her over his shoulder in the fireman’s carry, freeing one hand that he used to get out his comm device.

  “Akio-sama. We have two sleeping Forsaken.” Terry didn’t elaborate. He wasn’t sure if he was asking for help or not.

  “A sleeping Forsaken can awaken, can he not, Terry-san?”

  Terry should have expected that he would receive philosophy and not guidance.

  “What happened to the last one we captured, and that ambassador?”

  “Terry-san. Do you really want to know the answer to that question?”

  Terry thought carefully before choosing his words. “I guess not,” was the best response he could give. “I’ll take care of these two.”

  “Everybody upstairs,” Terry ordered, carefully handing Cory to Char, who enlisted Kimber’s help to carry her sister.

  The other kids stood their ground.

  “I said get the fuck out of here!” he roared, reaching for Kaeden, but stopping himself. He forced his way between them and the Forsaken and pointed at the stairs.

  Kaeden looked angry. Ramses looked confused. And Marcie looked indifferent.

  Terry’s anger melted. “Sometimes, it’s a father’s duty to protect his ch
ildren from the horrors of life, by carrying those burdens all by himself. This is one of those times. Please. Go upstairs.”

  Something grabbed Terry from behind. He shook off the hand and turned while jumping away. A shot blasted away the uncomfortable silence. Then a second shot. With combat slings, Marcie let her rifle fall from her hands and it nestled under her arm, ready for the next time it was needed.

  “Hmmm. Just like a ripe melon,” she said, leaning close and finally turning on a flashlight to examine her handiwork. Small entrance wound in the face, massive crater out the back.

  She looked at Terry with the same indifferent expression. The mother of his grandchildren motioned for the others to head upstairs.

  “Marcie,” Terry said softly.

  Everyone stopped.

  “If anyone is going to be a cold-hearted killer, it needs to be me.”

  “Why you?” Marcie wondered. “It’s not cold-hearted. They are just things, until they’re friends. They shot Kimber. If they would have surrendered, we could have talked. They knew we were coming for them. They have to know who we are. It was their choice not to surrender. They were Forsaken, the evil plague upon the earth, isn’t that what you called them?”

  Terry had no reply. He was hell-bent on scouring the earth clean of the infestation.

  “What do you think Akio did with those two prisoners? They weren’t there when we were. There is no prison on Akio’s compound in Japan.” Marcie never raised her voice. She spoke calmly and rationally. “I tore a man’s throat out with my bare hands. I offed a couple Forsaken. Some people just deserve to die.”

  “It’s a slippery slope when you’re judge, jury, and executioner,” Terry replied.

  “Isn’t that what you were going to do? The great Terry Henry Walton. You couldn’t have us see you kill them in cold blood, could you? If that’s what it takes to look yourself in the mirror, so be it. Tonight, I’m going to sleep just fine, probably after some good sex.”

  She winked at Kaeden. He smiled without showing any teeth. He understood Marcie like the others didn’t. Kae believed her moral compass was as true as his father’s. She didn’t wallow in introspection or retrospective. She did what needed to be done and moved on.

  Terry leaned close, exhaling before whispering to reduce the sound where no one else could hear. “The world needs people like you and me. We can’t let the Forsaken get the upper hand. Ever.”

  He squeezed her shoulder and with one last look at the Forsaken, he turned to leave the dark confines of the basement. The walls seemed to be closing in on him and he’d had enough of dead Forsaken smell.

  “Grab that pistol,” Terry said over his shoulder. Char and Kimber worked their way up the steps with Cory balanced between them. Char could have carried her alone, but felt she’d be less likely to bounce off a wall with both of them maneuvering her up the stairs.

  At the top of the steps, Terry waited. Marcie was the last one up. She stepped across the threshold and hesitated as she locked eyes with Terry. They were both out of words, and neither said anything.

  Terry broadcast over the comm device. “Mission accomplished. Return to pod. All hands, return to pod immediately. It’s time to go.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Cancun

  “They diverted to take care of a couple Forsaken that popped up in Vancouver. I hope that doesn’t mean they’re tired of sleeping,” Merrit said, happy with his own joke.

  “This isn’t funny. We’ve got great tans, but we aren’t quite ready to go to war. Who would run the food industry if we leave?” Shonna replied, pacing in their luxury suite on the top floor of the hotel. What would make it more luxurious would be if the elevator worked more often than not.

  Even with Shonna’s engineering skill, they simply didn’t have the parts to fix it anymore. They weren’t lazy, but when it came to creature comforts, there was a lot to be said for an elevator.

  The balcony doors were open, letting the ocean breeze blow in. Merrit took a seat on the balcony. “I need to think.”

  Shonna knew what he meant, so she joined him, because she needed to talk.

  “I really like it here!” Shonna was making herself more and more agitated.

  Merrit closed his eyes and tipped his head back.

  “Can they make us leave?” Shonna asked.

  Merrit pried his eyes open and looked at her. “Can they make us leave? Did you actually ask that? If Char says get on the pod and you refuse, what happens?”

  “I get my ass beat upside-down and backwards.”

  “I think that answers your question.” Merrit leaned back and closed his eyes again.

  “I think I’m done making war. I’ll take a beating if that means I don’t have to go.”

  Merrit leaned forward and cocked his head. “You’re serious,” he said in disbelief.

  “As a heart attack.” She removed her communication device. No time like the present.

  When Char answered, Shonna recited her short speech. “I don’t want to go to war. You can beat me into the ground, but it won’t change my mind. I’m done fighting. I’m an engineer! I build things and keep things running. We’re doing a lot of good here. I don’t want to go.”

  “What happens when they see you aren’t aging? At some point, you will have to leave. It’s our way and you know it. I’m not going to force you to go anywhere. The war hasn’t renewed. These were just some losers who popped up in Nowhereville.”

  Char looked at the device and then up at TH. He shook his head. Sending the pack into the world was a risk, but he assumed from being isolated, not that they would all start separate lives and decide that they didn’t want to return.

  Char struggled. She considered them all to be traitors to the pack. Traitors to the way of the Were. When they changed, they lost the ability to live in the real world like normal people.

  “Fuck,” Char snapped. “Fine. Next time I call, we will be coming to pick you up. Keep yourselves in shape. Don’t be like those stupid fuckers in New York City.”

  Shonna didn’t respond. Butch and Skippy had been alone for decades before joining Char’s pack. She hadn’t given them any choice. It was no surprise that they’d returned to big city ways as soon as they’d gotten the opportunity. They never developed the loyalty to the alpha that the rest of the pack had.

  And it made Shonna feel like shit.

  Char clicked off without saying anything else. “That sucked. I know it’s what I want to do, but why do I feel so bad?” Shonna said.

  “Because you never asked me. I don’t want to stay here. This place is fine, but I’m tired of the smell of fish. I’m tired of sand in every crease of my body. Paradise? Not when it’s every day. You feel lousy because you condemned us both to rot in this place. And even if we go, Char will never trust us again.”

  Merrit stormed off, slapping Shonna’s hand away when she reached for him.

  Shonna put her head in her hands and wept.

  San Francisco

  Boris limped from the pod, sending the others from San Francisco to the barracks. He stopped to shake the colonel’s hand.

  “Anyone want a ride back to North Chicago? Who knows how many chances you’ll get,” Terry said.

  “No, sir. I think we’re pretty set here. At least this bunch got a little taste. I wish I could have shown them what dead Forsaken look like.”

  “That wouldn’t help them at all. They need to retain the mystique of the unknown enemy. Seeing them dead might make the warriors less wary. They all saw the holes and blood on Kim’s shirt. That was the attention-getter we want. Wear your gear and take combat seriously. If you don’t, you die. It’s pretty simple.”

  “Yes, sir, it is. I’ll try to keep them on their toes for whenever the baddies come out to play.” Boris saluted and limped away.

  Terry wanted to tell him to train his replacement, but didn’t want to insult the man. He was still riding the high of a combat deployment, even though he saw nothing and barely heard the gun
fire.

  At least some of the warriors had deployed and that would be good fodder for barracks stories for months. Even though they’d only been gone for a grand total of an hour and a half.

  Sue apologized to Char repeatedly for being an ass. After the blowup with Shonna, Char had to look at herself more than the others. She’d only been the hard-ass alpha on rare occasions.

  “It’s okay, Sue. It is an Unknown World and our role as Were has changed. We have taken a greater responsibility to see humanity return to civilization. Look at all of you! Gene is the mayor of his town. Butch and Skippy are running the steel mill, making it possible to rebuild New York City. They’re building a mass transit system right now! Shonna and Merrit have taught the people of Cancun how an industry works by simply being good leaders. And then there’s you two. San Francisco. What a gorgeous place.”

  Terry took Char’s hand and smiled at her. Her purple eyes sparkled. Next to her, Cory stood, eyes glowing blue and hair tucked behind her wolf ear.

  “We’ve replaced Forsaken with Were,” Char continued. “Future historians will tell the tale of how one dictator was replaced by another, only to find that the new people weren’t dictators at all, but helpers, those folks who showed the way, and then disappeared to let the people govern themselves.”

  Sue nodded. Char hugged her, removing the last bit of tension.

  “Shopping?” Cory suggested hopefully.

  “I’ll join you!” Sue said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

  Terry saw the latest development as a dangerous turn. He looked about frantically for support, but found none. Kim and Marcie handed him their rifles as they walked past to join Cory, Char, and Sue.

  Terry looked into the pod to find Akio sitting cross-legged on the floor in a mediation pose.

  “Terry-san. Sometimes when we are swept away by the tide, we must relax and go with the flow. At these times, simply keep your head above water for when you can swim once again.” Akio’s lips barely moved as he talked, maintaining his posture solidly relaxed.