Complex Three (The Savage Horde Series Book 3)

by Chris Bostic

  Leisa shared a glance with Joe. He nodded, and told the others, “If Jade doesn’t see savages or other threats, I’m willing to try.”

  “It’s all clear. I still hear those machines, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around.”

  “Okay.” Connie waved them forward. “Follow me.”

  They left the security of the woods to enter a huge grassy field. Scattered individual trees offered hints of security, like children might use when trying and failing miserably at a game of hide and seek. Only this was far more serious.

  Despite the obvious weakness, they tried for stealth. Connie took them to the nearest tree and hunkered down long enough for everyone to catch their breath. Then, wordlessly, he took them at a sprint to a larger clump.

  Joe’s calf threatened to seize up on him again. He barreled into the next cluster with a pronounced limp. Rather than put his hands over his head to force some air into his lungs, he collapsed to the ground.

  “You done already, slacker?” Connie chided.

  “Find me a healer,” Joe said.

  Connie slung his coilgun over his shoulder, then rubbed his hands together the way they had seen the savages’ shaman act on several occasions. Joe would have done anything to feel the warmth of their healing touch surge through him, not that he wanted to be anywhere near their actual soldiers. Only the healers seemed to have the instinct to help the wounded. The enemy soldiers would’ve just as soon caved in his head with the butt of a rifle, or used their bayonets to poke holes into him like he was a pincushion.

  “I can try it,” Connie said, and pushed up his sleeves to further mimic the savages’ healers. He flexed his knuckles. “Give me a crack at it.”

  “No. Let me,” Leisa said.

  “You already had your chance,” he said. “That massage was a little more than I bargained for.” Joe held up his hands to ward off Connie too. “I think I’ll pass on both of you.”

  Connie laughed, but it quickly evaporated. He turned to Jade. “Maybe he’ll let you, seeing how you could speak to the healers.”

  “I am fluent in all of the neighboring languages,” she said.

  Even those that sounded more like the clucking of chickens, with some tongue pops and clicks thrown in for good measure, Joe remembered—not that he could ever forget the savages infernal racket.

  “Do you know how the healing works?” Connie asked her.

  Joe lifted his head. “Yeah, I’d really like to know that.”

  The idea they could patch up all variety of cuts, reset bones, and ease pain through a simple, albeit rough, touch of their boney hands was more than he could contemplate.

  Jade nodded. “I do, but we’d better save that for later.” She swiveled to look across the rolling pasture to a new burst of flames billowing from the nearest house.

  “Someone’s putting more fuel to the fire,” Connie said. “We need to get moving.”

  Joe answered his sergeant’s questioning glance with a weak thumbs up. Grasping his coilgun in his hand, he used it to lift himself to a crouch, saying, “Let’s go.”

  Connie kept the lead, eager to lead them away from the flames. Though farther out of the way, at Jade’s direction, they easily skirted the bonfire without trouble.

  “Keep going that way,” she pointed. “There’s a big barn tucked back at the edge of the woods, across the creek.” She shaded her eyes again and stared. A sigh of relief followed. “Looks like it’s unharmed.”

  After a short sprint through more grasslands, they reached a thin ribbon of vegetation. It thickened the farther they went, hiding a narrow stream at the base of a slope.

  “We can cross up ahead,” Jade noted, and let Connie keep leading them toward a dam of rocks that plugged up the stream until a mere trickle escaped at the downstream end.

  The water looked tantalizingly clear, but Jade was quick to warn them off when Joe sank to his knees and cupped his hands.

  “I wouldn’t risk that, babe.” She gestured with her head toward the east. “If there’s still water left in the barn, it will be safer to drink.”

  Joe stood to follow her gesture. From the bottom of the ravine, his head poked over the top of the bank. A decrepit red barn sat off to their right, with a crescent of trees wrapping around the backside of the structure.

  “Very secluded,” Joe remarked to no one in particular.

  “It’s a quiet spot,” Jade agreed. “We can hide out in there if you want to wait until dark. It’s not as rough as it looks.”

  Joe thought she seemed excited about finding the place still standing, though it was certainly nothing to look at. He certainly didn’t expect to find a drink inside.

  She continued rambling on, saying, “It’s a terrific place to hide. Perfectly secluded. On the inside there’s some great-”

  Connie shushed her with a noncommittal, “Maybe.” He gazed across the pasture to check on the fires. Heavy smoke continued to rise in the distance.

  “Let’s go,” he finally said and waved for them to cross the little ravine. They stepped over below the dam and hustled up the short riverbank back to flat ground. From there, they ran across a shallow incline toward the broadside of the large barn. It leaned hard like a sinking ship.

  On the more exposed side, the barn’s red paint had been baked on by the sun, but cracked in many places to reveal gray, seasoned wood. Joe peeked through gaps in splintered boards, but all was dark.

  “Catch your breath,” Connie said as he leaned back against the barn. Leisa slumped next to him, with Jade on his other side.

  Down from Leisa, Joe spotted a narrow door like the one on the shed in his family’s backyard. This one appeared to be sealed rather insecurely with a simple metal latch.

  Joe snuck over to lift it. “Let’s check it out.”

  “Forget that,” Leisa said, suddenly jumping back from the rotting boards and brushing frantically at her sleeve. “Get away!”

  Connie ran a hand through his shaggy hair and smirked. “What is it, princess? Get your shirt dirty?”

  “I hope they get you,” she muttered under her breath, and continued giving the barn a wide berth.

  Joe followed her eyes up to a massive wasp’s nest tucked underneath the overhang. It was papery on the outside, and as big around as a basketball.

  Connie was looking lower. “That black snake won’t bother you,” he said, pointing his coilgun at the head of a thick snake poking out from underneath the disintegrating boards. “That’s what’s the matter with women soldiers. You get all afraid of every little thing.”

  More wasps exited the nest and circled as Joe lowered the latch back into place. He watched them, unable to speak at first. He finally managed to squeak out, “Uhm, Sarge…”

  His voice was quickly overwhelmed by buzzing. That got Connie’s attention.

  “Whoa,” he said, and knocked into the boards as he spun around to look up. A rattle echoed through the old barn, agitating the wasps.

  “Now who’s scared?” Leisa shot back from twenty yards away and growing, as the big man stood there horrified.

  Connie made a break for it, running faster than Joe had ever seen him move. He bumped into Jade, who watched as the wasps poured out of the nest.

  “Get outta there!” he screamed, and headed back down the hill. He blew past Leisa, swatting all around his head at insects that didn’t show much interest in following him very far.

  “Sarge!” Jade called after him. “It’s okay.”

  But he wasn’t listening. He hit the ravine at full speed, splashing into the deeper water on the upstream side of the dam.

  “Get under water!” he screamed back.

  “Why?” Jade said, jogging over toward him along with the others.

  “They’ll sting your…” Connie paused suddenly and looked up. “They didn’t follow me.”

  “That’s a no,” Leisa deadpanned. “Hard as you tried to make ‘em, they didn’t go far.”

  “Great.” Connie waded back out of
the stream. His pants were soaked to the thighs. He dripped muddy water all over the ground as he stood there.

  “Nice, tough guy,” Leisa said. “And you wanted to make fun of me.”

  “Whatever.” He pulled off a boot to dump it out. “That felt great. Cooled me right off.”

  “Yeah,” she laughed. “Real cool, Sarge.”

  “Them things coulda killed me,” Connie protested.

  “Yeah, right,” Joe scoffed. “If you’d been more careful, they never would’ve bothered us. But you had to go all bull-”

  “I suppose wasps could kill you,” Jade interjected. “If you get stung too many times, or even a single sting if a person is allergic.”

  “You don’t have to stick up for your man,” Leisa said.

  “I’m just saying that wasps make good guards. Anyway, isn’t sticking up for you guys what I’m supposed to do?” Jade replied. “Not that I would know, but I thought there was something about how you treat your significant other, and support them, and-”

  “Of course you are, darling.” Connie wrapped an arm around her shoulder and glared at Leisa. “Not that I need you to stick up for me. Just don’t listen to her.”

  “C’mon, Sarge. You would’ve given me a lifetime of trouble if I’d scampered away like a little bitty ‘fraidy cat.” Leisa harrumphed. “Don’t give me that crap.”

  “Fine,” he relented. “I’m just kidding. You obviously manned up a bit more than I did back there.”

  Joe was surprised at the way his gruff sergeant acquiesced. Earlier, it would’ve been totally out of character for Connie to have ever admitted that he’d been anything less than the ultimate alpha male. And he would’ve tried harder to turn the tables on the antagonist.

  As the others seemed to sink into a bit of self-reflection, and as Connie squeezed at his pant legs to wring out some of the creek water, Joe’s mind drifted back to the dark interior of the barn.

  “What we really need to do is see if there’s anything useful in that barn,” Joe suggested. “I can go look.”

  “Let me do it,” Jade volunteered immediately. “I know my way around. Besides, I’m pretty sure those wasps won’t bother me in the slightest.”

  Joe wondered if she could be their secret weapon, but wasn’t totally convinced. “Are you sure?”

  “I don’t smell funny, or have bright colors, or do anything that would tip them off to run me away from there. They won’t bother me because I won’t attract them.”

  “You’re plenty attractive, darling,” Connie said, and patted her on the butt.

  “Thank you,” she answered. “But that’s not what I meant about-”

  “He knows,” Leisa said, still glowering at Connie. “He’s just a soggy-panted perv.”

  “I resemble that remark.” Connie smiled at Jade. “We’ll wait here if you want to go check on that barn. Just be careful.”

  “Of course. What else would I do, especially with the fires blazing out there…and all that noise you’ve been making?”

  “Ouch,” Joe whispered under his breath. “She cut him right down.”

  Leisa smiled. “I have to admit I kinda like what she’s done for him. Other than that little tirade, he’s really mellowed out.”

  “It is nice to be out of the line of fire,” Joe agreed.

  The three of them sat back in a line of shrubbery along the creek while Jade advanced on the barn. She watched the wasps’ nest, but never slowed as she worked her way toward the side door.

  It creaked open loudly enough that Joe could it hear from where they sat. As best as he could tell, the wasps showed no signs of stirring.

  “That place is gonna fall down,” he whispered.

  “True story,” Connie said. “Better on her than me.”

  Joe shot him an icy look, wondering if maybe he hadn’t changed that much. “Say what? That’s not cool.”

  “I’m just saying, she’s probably built out of titanium or something. I might be a big guy, but I don’t want that thing falling in on me.”

  “That’s, uhm…harsh,” Leisa said softly. She looked at Joe with a raised eyebrow.

  He nodded in reply. Whether Jade was an actual person or not, she was still part of the team. A fairly indispensible one, in his estimation. He didn’t want to risk losing her.

  Joe turned to unload on Connie only to find that their sergeant was already back on his feet.

  “C’mon,” the big man ordered over his shoulder as he marched off toward the barn.

  “You seriously going back over there?” Leisa asked him.

  “Well, not all the way. But we might as well get close enough that she doesn’t have to yell.”

  No cover was available between the creek and the barn. The gentle, grassy incline stretched the entire distance back to the structure. Off the corner of the building, a gnarly old tree provided a little shade from the afternoon sun. The woods quickly filled out behind it, and Connie began to steer them that way.

  “Bet those pants are warming up now,” Joe told Connie when he caught up to him.

  “They’re chafing a bit, but the cold does feel kinda good. You should try it.”

  Joe thought back to his time in the northern hills when they’d filled their helmets in the creek. “I should’ve taken a bucket of water over the head.”

  “Yeah, that was nice,” Leisa added. “Maybe a little shampoo.”

  “The minty stuff,” Joe said, and bumped her with his shoulder. Carrying coilguns in one hand, the fingers of their free hands locked together. “That wasn’t so bad.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever have stuff like that again.” Leisa frowned. “We seem so far away from normal life now, like there will never be makeup and perfumes and sweet smelling soaps.”

  “You don’t need makeup,” Joe said.

  “I notice you didn’t say anything about the perfume.”

  “It wouldn’t hurt to clean up a little,” he replied with a grin. “I don’t know about you, but prison showers weren’t really cutting it.”

  “Thanks.” She huffed, and pulled loose of his hand. “How about you wait here then?” She edged off toward the barn while Connie seemed intent on staying closer to the woods.

  “I’ll come with you,” Joe said.

  “Seriously. I’m just kidding. Stay with Sarge while I check on Jade.”

  “Fine, but…what about the bees?”

  “It’ll be okay. They just surprised me before. I can sneak past ‘em.” She turned back to wave him off. “Wait with Sarge.”

  Joe lingered behind with Connie. They both took a knee as Leisa crept forward.

  A gentle breeze brought over the smell of smoke. Joe wrinkled his nose at the pungent odor, which seemed to be the worst possible mixture of burned rubber and plastic.

  “Nasty,” he whispered.

  Connie gazed across the pasture at the flames in the distance. “Not much of a campfire, is it? Good thing there’s enough bare dirt or whatever around those houses that the whole prairie didn’t catch fire.”

  “Hadn’t thought of that.” Joe went from watching Leisa slowly enter the barn to look at the hard ground underneath his knee. The long grass of the pasture somehow remained green in the heat, though coverage was spotty. Plenty of dry, cracked earth showed through.

  “It’s a warm season blend,” Connie said, plucking a blade of grass. “Jade could probably tell us more about it, but I know enough about cattle farms to tell you this stuff will make excellent hay.”

  “What do you know about cattle?”

  “About twenty years of firsthand knowledge.”

  “You’re like a rancher or something?” Joe asked.

  “I prefer cowboy, though not everyone seems to appreciate that. Apparently that’s not politically correct anymore. You know, cow-boy. Besides, cowboys are way too independent for their own good.”

  “You are that. Who would’ve guessed?”

  “Hopefully no one,” Connie answered cryptically. “Let’s go find out
what’s taking the girls so long.”

  Joe wanted to know more about young Connie but shrugged instead. “Why not?”

  They got back to their feet and walked through the shadows from the overhanging trees. Making it all the way around to the far side of the barn opposite of the wasps’ nest, there wasn’t a door to be found.

  Connie called out softly, but no one answered.

  “Must be something good in there,” Joe said.

  “Could be.” Connie pressed his face up against a wide gap between a couple boards. “I can’t see a dang thing.”

  Joe lingered behind him and shaded his eyes as he looked into a clear blue sky. “Weird seeing how it’s the middle of the day.”

  “Something’s fishy about this,” Connie said, and pressed his coilgun between the gap in the boards.

  “What the heck are you-”

  Connie slammed the weapon sharply to the side, cracking one of the boards in half. The bottom piece fell aside. As the top hung limply, he pulled the coilgun back out and knocked the board free with the stock of the weapon.

  “There. That’s better.”

  Joe thought for sure the girls had to have heard them. A muffled voice carried to him, but he couldn’t make out the words.

  “You trying to scare the crap outta them?” he asked.

  “Just wanted to make a new door. I’m not going anywhere near those wasps.”

  “That’s one way to do it,” Joe quipped as Connie kicked out another board.

  His sergeant struggled to get his big frame through the opening, and had to knock out a third board. “Much better.”

  “Huh. It’s big as a door now.” Though not a skinny guy, Joe stepped through without having to turn sideways. “Wow, it’s dark.”

  He looked back at the exterior wall. Though daylight streamed through the cracks in the boards, it seemed to evaporate like a black hole once inside.

  “Where you guys at?” Connie called into the blackness.

  “Over here,” came Jade’s muffled, but excited, reply. “You need to see this.”

  CHAPTER 6

  “I can’t see a thing,” Joe told Connie.

  Hands stretched out in front of his face, Connie stubbed his fingers into solid metal. “What the heck? There’s a false wall.”