Contents
Title Page
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Other TItles
RIOT DAWN
Attack of the Space Druids
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters and events are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
No part, section or chapter from this book may be reproduced in any capacity outside of the original work without author’s written consent except where brief quotes are used for review.
Copyright © 2018 Anthony Thackston
FIVE YEARS AGO
The glass barrier splintered and cracked behind the grotesque monster’s attack. Fortunately for those on the other side of the barrier, it held. Still, it wouldn’t take many more hits like that before the thing would be on top of them.
Sergeant Riot Dawn glanced at her team. “And that’s three-inch-thick, diamond pressured ballistic glass, lady and gentlemen. This stuff can take twenty, fifty-cal. strikes before shattering.”
“It cracked it like a brick through a car window,” a tall and broad-shouldered man said. His voice revealed an uncommon fear, considering the uniform he wore. Members of his brigade rarely showed any weakness.
“You keep that in mind, Lino,” Riot said. “Cuz there’s hundreds of these things in that egg.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Lino said quietly.
“Was it really necessary to capture one?” a tall but wiry man asked. His tone was indifferent. “I burned through an entire vial of Dragon Sage to get this thing here.”
“You enlisted of your own volition, right, Weaver?” Riot asked, as impatient with the complaints of the magic-wielder as with any of her other soldiers when they got snippy.
Weaver scowled. “I don’t see what that has to do with—”
“You follow orders. That’s what it has to do with it.”
The hideous creature backed away from the glass, snarling at the team. It walked on two red and black legs with visible veins that seemed to track along the outside of its body. Even the blood that flowed through them was visible. Its hands ended in jagged and chipped fingernails. And those were the fingers that still had nails. A few looked like they’d been ripped off, leaving the bloody nail beds behind. Its posture and attached limbs suggested that the thing could have been human once. The one tell that it wasn’t human was the single, elongated eye that wrapped around its head from one side to the other. Even the pupil was elongated and constantly moving. It reminded Riot of a goat’s eye.
“That explains how it sees so well,” a woman said. Her demeanor was more curious than afraid. She neared the glass with far more confidence than she should have had.
“Jessica?” Riot warned. “Keep your distance.”
“Yes, Sarge.” Jessica, the only other woman on the team, backed off a few paces.”
“So, it’s strong,” a man with a mohawk said, walking toward the door next to the window. He drew a Beretta from his holster. “But is it tough?”
The creature rushed to the glass, driving its head into the protective barrier. Just as before, the glass cracked, adding a second, splintered circle.
Riot motioned to the mohawked man. He smiled, a little too eager for what was coming next. Then he opened the door and stepped through, disappearing on the other side as he closed the door behind him. Seconds later, another door opened into the monster’s cell.
“Hey, ugly!” the man said, aiming at the creature as it whipped around to face him.
It snarled at him and took one step forward before a bullet ripped through its skull, splattering whatever brain matter it had across the wall.
The thing’s head rocked back and the rest of it followed, dropping to the floor. Another bullet hit its body, followed by another.
“That’s enough, Hick,” Riot said.
The order went unacknowledged and Hick fired two more rounds into the dead creature.
“I said, that’s enough!” Riot yelled.
Hick continued firing with a gleeful expression as blood splattered the floor.
Riot slammed her fist against the glass, knocking off a few of the cracked pieces. “Dammit, soldier!”
Finally, Hick stopped his assault. He shrugged his shoulders, grinning ear to ear. “Sorry, Sarge. Couldn’t hear you.”
“Just get your ass back in here.”
“Well, that’s good to know,” Jessica said. “On the off chance that we fail, these things can be killed just like a normal human.”
“We’re still not taking any chances,” Riot told her. “See-SID wants this done in one. We go in, plant the charges and we get back. Understood?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” the team shouted.
Numerous vehicles lined the Central Supernatural Intelligence Division garage: Jeeps, armored personnel carriers and SUVs. There were even Warp Windows and Summoner’s Platforms. But only one transportation system was covered to hide it from view.
Riot stared at the tarp, uncertain about what was underneath it. She was familiar with everything else in the garage but the fact that this thing was covered made her a little uneasy. What was the CSID keeping hidden…and why?
A man in a suit and tie stood in front of the covered object. The look on his face was tense. Riot could tell it was from more than just the coming mission.
“Director Sinclair,” Riot said to the man. “This is my team. Strategist Jessica Freeman, Tech specialist Lino Perez, Gatherer—”
“Warlock,” Weaver said.
Riot pursed her lips, agitated at not only the interruption, but Weaver’s refusal to fall in line. He maintained his active role on the team but the man also liked to consider himself as separate from it as possible. It was a defense mechanism Riot had yet to understand— maybe something to do with his magic skill level. Not many humans admitted to possessing powers like his. And his had proven valuable more than once.
“Warlock,” she catered to him, not wanting to get into an argument about it. “Weaver Johannson.”
“Does that mean I get to be called a ‘Door Breaker’?” Hick asked.
“That’s Hick,” Riot said. “I point, he attacks.”
Hick smiled at Sinclair. “Like a dog. Woof, woof.”
Sinclair took a good look at Riot and her squad. They were unconventional to say the least. Lino and Jessica seemed to be the only ones who had any semblance of military decorum. He glanced down at the files in his hand.
“I wouldn’t bother with those,” Riot told him. “Between you and me, I’ve fudged enough personnel files in my career to know they can’t be trusted. You wanted a group with experience in this sort of thing, you got one.”
“Very well,” Sinclair said. “I understand you’ve all been briefed on what you’ll be dealing
with.”
“Up close and personal,” Hick said.
“Then it falls on me to tell you how you’re getting there.” Sinclair grabbed the tarp and pulled.
As the covering slid down, a mirror framed in black metal emerged. The frame was ornate, adorned with various reliefs of humanoids and unfamiliar creatures. Some of the human forms looked enraptured by something while others looked to be in complete turmoil. Lino stepped closer but jumped back as a few of the forms morphed into something different.
“What is this?” Jessica asked, frowning over Lino’s shoulder.
“Something to be taken very seriously,” Weaver warned.
Everyone except Hick looked at him. Even Riot was surprised. It was the first time in a while that Weaver had voiced any real concern or emotion about anything.
“A mirror in a freaky frame?” Hick asked. “We gonna get seven years bad luck for touching it?”
“I’ve read about these,” Lino said.
“Let me tell you, what you’ve read is true,” Sinclair told them. “As you said, Sergeant Dawn, I wanted a group that had experience with scenarios like this. This is the reason you all are here. Why you were chosen. No one else has the constitution for this sort of thing.”
“Why can’t we just teleport?” Lino asked, clearly afraid of the mirror. Riot wished she knew why. What was it?
“Because there’s no receiver on the other side,” Sinclair answered. “The egg is in an underwater cave in the Marianas Trench. If we could get a teleporter down there, we could blow the thing ourselves.”
“I’m not clear,” Riot said. She motioned toward the mirror. “What is this?”
“After you, Lino,” Sinclair said.
“It’s called a Soul Slide. You just have to know where you want to go and it will take you there.”
“So what’s the problem?” Riot asked.
“Nothing if you don’t mind traveling through your true reflection,” Weaver answered.
“True reflection?” Jessica asked.
“Most mirrors show you what you want to see. Or at least, that’s how they work with your eyes. This one—” Sinclair pointed at the Soul Slide. “—shows you what you really are.”
“They say, test subjects have gone mad passing through,” Lino said. “Like they can’t handle the real truth.”
Riot sneered at the notion. “Sounds like a full load.”
“I would agree, Sarge,” Weaver said. “But I’ve studied enough to know that Soul Slides are not to be taken lightly.”
Riot’s eyes flitted from Weaver to Lino. She was not the type of woman to back down from a problem but she didn’t get to where she was by not listening to the smartest people in the room. And when it came to technology and magic, she had those two on her team.
“And this is the only way to get there?” Riot asked.
“Correct,” Sinclair reaffirmed. “It’s the only way in.”
“What about the way out?”
“Each of your belts is integrated with a Tether. You hit the button on the buckle and you’ll teleport right back here.”
“We’re wearing the teleport receivers,” Riot said.
“Affirmative. Now, there should be plenty of oxygen in the cavern. The bubble keeps the water out. You won’t be down there long enough to use it all up, anyway.”
“Well, boys and girls,” Hick said. “I guess it’s time to do some world saving. Let’s go fry us up a Hell Egg.”
“Good luck and God speed,” Sinclair said, stepping away from the arcane mirror.
Riot was the first to approach it. She first took note of the shapes on the frame. Some of the shapes pointed in the direction of the mirror while others pointed away from it, their faces urging her not to step through. Riot’s brow furrowed at the sight. But it wasn’t just the figures on the frame. Her gut was screaming at her as well. She shook it off. Regardless of what happened, they had to do this. An egg hatching with hundreds of those creatures in it was not an option.
Her eyes shifted back to the mirror. At first, her reflection looked normal. But then she saw that her right arm was missing. Riot cocked her head to one side. “Anyone else see this?”
“Only you can see your true reflection,” Weaver told her.
Riot moved her right arm toward the mirror. The sleeve of her uniform moved with no arm in it. It was a ghostly sight. But outside of the mirror, her hand was clearly visible.
Riot’s instincts took hold of her again, screaming at her not to enter the mirror. But she shoved them down and took a deep breath before stepping into the Soul Slide.
Lino approached the mirror and saw nothing more than a single data memory cell in place of his reflection.
“Look at me,” Weaver said. “Why would I be asleep?”
“I don’t see anything,” Jessica said, stepping next to Weaver.
“Me, neither,” Hick told her. “Guess it doesn’t work on us,” he said before stepping through the mirror.
Jessica shivered from the sight of her companions vanishing through the glass. She took a single breath and followed behind them.
Riot stepped into a pitch-black space. She didn’t know if she had exited the Soul Slide or if she was still inside of it, caught between her world and another. She pulled two glow sticks frothier belt, cracked them and tossed the little green lights into the void of darkness.
The sticks landed on what looked like rocky ground several yards ahead of her. She switched on the flashlight on her gun. It lit up nothing more than rocky surfaces all around her. She was standing in a cave of some sort. A strange boulder sat in the middle of the cavern, unattached to any wall or ceiling. “That’s gotta be the Hell Egg,” she said.
“I don’t like this,” Lino said as he stepped into the cave.
“You don’t like what?” Riot asked.
Jessica was the next through. “I’m not here!” she blurted, her voice growing more frantic. “I’m not anywhere! I’m not! I’m not!”
Riot frowned at the other woman. “Jessica?”
The strategist didn’t answer. She just jogged to the opposite wall of the cavern while Weaver stepped through and immediately collapsed to the rocky floor.
“Weaver?” Riot rushed to the self-proclaimed warlock and checked his pulse. It was normal. His breathing was calm and his eyes were open but unresponsive. She shook his shoulder. “Weaver!”
“How can I be here when I’m not?” Jessica asked, sounding even more panicked than before. She dropped to the rocky floor, her knees tucked under her chin as she rocked back and forth.
“I don’t like this!” Lino yelled, taking out his knife. He immediately started chipping away at the boulder. “I have to get inside. It’s safe inside!”
Riot rushed to Lino, grabbing his arm. “Are you trying to open that thing?”
The larger man swung his arm at her, knocking the Sergeant to the floor. Riot looked back and forth at her team members as both Lino and Jessica continued spouting nonsensical words. There had been no warning. Everyone was fine before they stepped through the Soul Slide.
“This can’t be right,” she muttered, rising to her feet. “Lino, Jessica! On me! That’s an order!” she barked. But it was no good. The two didn’t even flinch.
She looked at her right arm. It was still there. “Then how come—”
Suddenly, Riot screamed as teeth clamped down on her shoulder, knocking her gun from her grasp. She could feel warm liquid— her blood— on her neck as those same teeth tore into her skin. Her left hand rose, trying to push the attacker off. Terror gripped her as her fingers brushed through a mohawk. Hick had a solid bite on her. One that she knew pushing against would have been useless.
Lino and Jessica finally turned their attention to her. The looks in their eyes were not those of familiarity but of crazed aggression. They launched toward her, joining Hick in what seemed like a feast on the rest of her arm.
“Weaver!” Riot yelled.
No movement came from the ma
n on the ground.
Riot managed to finally push Jessica off but the strategist came right back in. Riot kicked at her but Jessica caught her leg and moved to start biting on it.
The pain in her right arm was unlike anything she’d felt before. Had their teeth been sharper, they would have pierced right into her flesh. But the rounded tips of the canine teeth coupled with the thin shovel-like front teeth and the flat ones in the back were like slow torture as they sloppily pushed into her skin while crushing the muscle underneath.
Riot’s vision started to blur as she pulled her side-arm. Her aim was off on the first shot but her second shot hit Jessica right in the temple, dropping the girl before she could get any more out of Riot’s leg. She shifted her aim to Lino’s gut. The shot knocked the larger man away from her. To her surprise, he ignored the gut-shot and turned his attention back to the egg.
Hick still had a good grip on her with his teeth, and the pain intensified. Roaring, Riot pushed backward, slamming Hick into the jagged wall. The collision barely loosened his vice-like bite. She tried again. But Hick continued feasting on her shoulder like a deranged animal. Finally Riot took aim at his head and fired twice, dropping Hick just as she had Jessica.
The knife chipped at the egg while Lino continued to crazily shout about needing to get inside. He still didn’t even acknowledge the bullet in his gut.
“Lino,” Riot said weakly. She aimed the gun at him but her good arm was too shaky. She looked down at the shredded sleeve of her right arm. The faint green glow of the glow sticks made the blood appear darker. Whatever damage the bites had caused, it was enough to render her right arm useless.
The egg finally cracked.
Riot watched Lino step back as the crack widened. A single spindly arm burst through. Followed by another. Then another.
Riot gathered what little strength she had and hit the Tether on Hick’s belt. Sections of the dead man started fading away as the Tether drew him back to the CSID hub. Riot stumbled to Jessica and did the same thing before making her way to Weaver, the only person who hadn’t tried to eat her. She hit his Tether and watched the last of Hick and Jessica disappear from sight, followed by the unconscious warlock.
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