RIOT DAWN_Attack of the Space Druids

by Anthony Thackston

  “How come I can’t hear the engines?” Stavros asked, raising her voice above the roar of the wind.

  “Frictionless Drive,” Axel told her. “Riot was right, we can get there in less than five hours. This plane negates all exterior friction. No turbulence and no wind drag. It’s like being on a floating bicycle. The engines don’t have to push against any opposing forces.”

  “Except gravity,” Carlos said.

  “Good thing we’re already in the air then, isn’t it?” Axel said.

  “You’re not dropping us on target, are you?” Riot asked.

  “Unfortunately, no,” Axel told her. “For all the reasons you already mentioned. The last thing we need is Russia spotting this plane and starting up a conflict with the US. We have enough problems with these citadels as it is.”

  “Great. Who doesn’t love waltzing through a war zone?” Riot asked, sarcastically.

  “If you can’t handle it,” Carlos told her.

  Riot ignored the comment and turned her attention to the other two troops. “What do you two do?”

  “Myzer. I’m Tech,” one of them said.

  “Ryan. Magics,” claimed the other.

  Riot nodded. It was starting to feel familiar. They may have not been her squad but they seemed to function the same way. It would have to do.

  “Approaching drop zone,” the pilot said.

  “Okay, this is it,” Axel told them. “After you’ve detonated the charges and brought that thing down, head back to the drop zone. Radio me en route. You’re call sign is Tower Four.”

  The team all stood and moved toward the rear of the plane. Axel hit a lever and the cargo door slowly opened. The night wind being sliced by the wings was even louder than before but there was still no engine noise. It was as if they were in a giant glider.

  Riot noticed that no one had a parachute. “Hang on, where’s our—”

  “Don’t worry, Sarge,” Ryan said. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Riot’s eyebrow arched. She didn’t know what he meant by take care of it but the fact that none of the others seemed worried gave her some sense of calm. As much as was possible when she was jumping from a plane with no parachute.

  “You need to get down there much faster than a parachute will take you. It’s the only way to avoid being seen from the ground,” Axel commented.

  “We have to jump at once,” Carlos said.

  “Ten seconds!” the pilot yelled.

  The team approached the open cargo door and all looked down. The ground was nearly as dark as the sky they flew through. Riot heard a thunderous boom and looked off in the distance, certain she saw the strobe light of an explosion.

  “Two…One!” Axel yelled.

  “I want a chute!” Riot told him.

  “Good luck, all of you!” Axel replied.

  “Go. Go. Go,” Carlos said.

  The team locked writs and stepped off the plane, one after the other. Carlos and Riot were the last to follow behind, with Carlos being more than happy to pull Riot out of the plane with them.

  Stomach churning as she fell backward, Riot watched as the plane turned away from them at a remarkably rapid speed.

  The rush of wind was exhilarating as they free fell through the night sky. It didn’t last long as Riot felt the first jolt rise up from Ryan all the way through Carlos.

  “Hang on!” Carlos yelled up at her. Instinctively, her metal arm reached out to grab Carlos’s just before another jerk hit her.

  Riot finally twisted around to see what appeared to be an entire tunnel of translucent spider webs. She glanced at the soldier leading the fall. Ryan’s arm was moving around in an unrecognizable and erratic pattern. Whatever magic he was conjuring seemed to be a spell that needed constant attention.

  Each line of spider web was as wide as Riot was tall. Every time they hit one, the team’s decent would slow ever so slightly. Once one web snapped, they would free fall about four feet before another would catch them and lower them to the next. It was a little jerky with each web break but it beat slamming to the ground. And it was becoming more and more obvious to her that it was faster than floating down in a parachute. Though she wasn’t sure it kept them from being spotted. If anyone had seen them, the sight must have been strange to say the least: four people falling to the ground only to slow down in weird staggered drops. Still, as long as those who may have seen them didn’t shoot at them, Riot was fine with it.

  The ground finally got close enough that a fall without the webs would have been no worse than a broken arm or leg. Riot grabbed one of the etheric webs to reorient herself to the ground so she would land feet first.

  The last web carried her down below the tree line. It finally snapped and Riot dropped to the ground. Her knees bent with the impact and her skin stung from the bottoms of her feet and up through her legs. She was relieved she’d changed her fall orientation.

  “Need me to take point?” Carlos asked.

  “Negative,” Riot told him. “My team, my lead.”

  Carlos lifted a flap on the sleeve of his forearm and pressed the clear pouch underneath. A paper map shone up at him. “We go that way.”

  “Okay,” Riot said. “I want an inline formation. Stavros, watch our six. Carlos, you’re behind me. Ryan and Myzer, side by side. Let’s see if we can get a look at what’s ahead.” She tried to open the display between her fingers again. This time, it popped right up. “Sat-link,” she said. The screen was blank. “Give me sat-link.”

  “What makes you think one of our satellites is above us?” Carlos asked.

  “Are you kidding? You think the government doesn’t have a satellite above our enemies and allies? Even if they didn’t, I can guarantee the See-SID is patched into all of them.”

  “That’s probably true,” Myzer said.

  “Then it’s just user error,” Carlos jabbed at Riot.

  She kept her mouth shut and closed the screen. In all likelihood, he was right. As much as she hated to admit it.

  “Then we go in blind.” Riot moved forward.

  Each troop had their eyes staring down the sites of their guns. None of them knew what to expect in the forest they walked through. All of them hoped it stayed quiet. Their uniforms ensured that they blended with the darkness fairly well but getting caught was still a very real possibility.

  Riot stopped at the sound of nearby machine gun fire. “It’s coming from up ahead.”

  More gunfire sounded, followed by a series of explosions.

  Riot gritted her teeth as her face was lit up by the fire light of a vehicle blowing up just past the trees. “I guess we’re not far now.”

  The team dropped formation and hurried to the tree line where they crouched down. It was total chaos in the open. Russian and Georgian forces were at each other’s throats. Fights on an actual field of battle were unusual. They were colonial war and World War One type conflicts. The majority of the fighting in modern wars were fought from distances. But here they were, two enemies, face to face. There was no doubt when a kill shot was made. And beyond the fight was the tower, lit by the fires of the battle, like the beacons of a store’s grand opening. Riot squinted, gauging just how many soldiers there were between her team and the goal.

  “Timer,” she said. This time, her arm worked as it should have. The timer appeared with no problems. It read five and a half hours. Plenty of time. Of course, that didn’t account for how long it would take them to traverse the roughly two-hundred-yard-wide battlefield they still had left to the tower. A battlefield that didn’t put them behind enemy lines. It put them right between them.

  Chapter 7

  Riot could practically hear Carlos’s smile. Even with the looming issue of two countries at war right in front of them, the Marine just couldn’t help himself. The prospect of poking fun at her ability to lead their little group through enemy combatants and come out unscathed and be victorious in their mission was just too good.

  “You got something to say?” she asked.r />
  “I just think it’s ironic, you’re gonna get us all killed before we even make it to the target. I’d say that’s an improvement on your record five years ago.”

  Riot spun toward the offending Marine, combat dagger at his throat. The move was faster than anyone was ready for, and they all froze.

  “You wanna dance with me, again?” Riot asked, leaning in closer. “I’m all for it. But after we get out of this. Until then, you follow my command.” She raised her voice. “That goes for all of you. We clear?”

  Carlos swallowed. He could feel the blade near his throat, not quite touching it but another few centimeters and it would have no doubt drawn blood. Whether or not her move was an empty threat, he didn’t know. His eyes shot to Stavros who shook her head. The look in her eyes pleaded with him to not push the matter.

  “We’re clear,” Carlos said.

  Riot sheathed the knife as fast as she’d drawn it. He watched as she stepped back. The cyber arm— defective as it apparently was— still maintained its most basic of uses, albeit far improved over normal human limbs. Its dexterity and speed were superior. How often Riot employed that sort of function was unknown. But Carlos did not want to be on the other end of it, again.

  “How are we gonna do this?” Carlos asked.

  Riot refocused on the battle in front of them. The field was full of soldiers shooting and stabbing each other. It was unclear who had the upper hand. All she was certain of was that if they were spotted for any longer than a couple of seconds, the US would be drawn into the conflict.

  She looked left than right. It was the same sight as far as she could see. “You got any stealth spells in your bag of tricks?” she asked Ryan.

  “None that would work the whole way.”

  “How long?”

  “Ten yards? Maybe fifteen. But we’d have to move fast.”

  “Then what’s the plan after fifteen?” Stavros asked.

  Riot pointed to a transport truck laying on its side amidst the warring soldiers. “There. That’s our target. We stay invisible to that point then plot the next course. We ready?”

  Riot could see the troops nod affirmative in the firelight.

  “Do it!” she ordered Ryan.

  Ryan gestured and mumbled something in a foreign language. The effect was almost immediate as a silver shimmer fell all around them.

  “Go!” Ryan yelled.

  There was no questioning the order as Riot dashed out from the tree line, followed by the others.

  They snaked through the battlefield, hopping over dead soldiers and running around others locked in hand to hand fighting. Riot kept her eyes moving in search of anyone or anything that might obstruct their path. Or worse, kill one of them.

  The fighting was everywhere. And neither side seemed to have any noticeable advantage over the other. Riot didn’t know what the war was about but the fact that they were right on the border between the two countries, suggested it was a land issue.

  A streak of light caught her eye.

  “RPG!” Riot yelled as the projectile streaked toward them.

  The team dropped to the ground, letting the explosive fly over them. The following explosion came from the same tree line from which they had just run.

  Stavros’s jaw dropped. “That could have been—”

  “No time!” Riot shouted, already back to running.

  The shimmer of the invisibility cloak had started to lose its cover as small holes began fading throughout it.

  Riot’s metal arm burst between two soldiers fighting, shoving them aside. There was no time to go around. They both fell to the ground, confused at the invisible force that broke them apart.

  Finally, Riot slammed into the truck. She crouched down, trying to make herself as imperceptible as possible while the others dropped into place behind her. They were just in time as the rest of the cloak faded away.

  “Now what?” Carlos asked.

  Riot poked her head around the front of the truck. Ten yards was small in the scheme of things and after only running that far, the tower might as well have still been two hundred yards away.

  She grimaced at the sight of a Russian tank rolling over two soldiers. War was never pretty and it was even worse when up close and personal.

  “We’ve gotta split up,” she said, turning back to her team, “It’s gonna look suspicious with five of us running in a straight line and not fighting. Carlos, you’re with me. Stavros, you take the others straight to that tower. You run like Hell to get there.”

  A series of bullets clanked against the other side of the truck, making all of them flinch. They couldn’t stay there much longer. They were well hidden from those on the other side of it but there were still troops who had a clear line of sight to them. It wouldn’t be long before they were spotted.

  “Are we weapons free on this?” Stavros asked.

  “Negative,” Riot told her. “Shooting at foreign forces might cause an international incident. And that is not an option unless you have to defend yourself. Keep your heads down and use anything like this for cover.” She banged the side of her cyber hand on the truck. “There’s plenty of it out there. Now, go!”

  Stavros and the others rushed out from the back of the truck while Riot and Carlos kept their eyes on the fighting.

  “We give them five seconds, then we follow,” Riot said.

  Carlos nodded.

  Time seemed to slow as the gunfire and explosions went off all around them. It was the longest five seconds imaginable and more than enough time to see three deaths happen only a few yards from them. Two of those deaths were mutual. A Russian shot a Georgian in the gut, a wound that Riot was sure would prove fatal in the coming hours. There was no way a medic was getting to him in time. But the Georgian got his revenge with a headshot. Riot’s teeth ground together, hoping the same thing wouldn’t happen to them.

  “Let’s move!” she shouted, rushing around the front of the upturned truck.

  Their boots dug into the dirt while they pushed as hard as their legs would carry them. Sprinting just one hundred yards was no easy task for anyone. Even a football player’s breathing would be labored after such a run. But they had twice that length to go, while carrying gear.

  Riot rushed around the rear of a Jeep as it screeched to a halt. Her hand went to her side-arm, just in case, as two Russian troops hopped out of the vehicle and began firing on their enemies. She and Carlos ducked down behind the Jeep, letting the Russians get farther away.

  “We should take this thing!” Carlos shouted over the gunfire.

  Riot nodded her head. Speed was, after all, the order of the day.

  They both rose up but they hadn’t taken one foot forward before a grenade dropped on to the hood of the Jeep. They both dove away from the vehicle, covering their heads.

  The grenade went off, destroying the front end of the vehicle. Both troops glanced at each other. Carlos nodded and they both launched back to their feet.

  The looming citadel grew larger as they got closer to it. Riot wondered why it was that none of the warring troops had turned their sights on to the other-worldly structure in their war zone. A nearby explosion quickly dismissed the thought.

  Both Riot and Carlos were sent flying sideways in the shockwave of the blast. She hit the ground first and skidded to a halt in the dirt.

  Her eyes widened several times as she tried to focus them. But the ringing in her ears was too loud and too constant. She had no clue what the blast came from. In all of the chaos it could have been any number of things. Whether it was Russian or Georgian didn’t even matter. There was probably all kinds of friendly fire going on.

  She looked for any sign of Carlos and breathed a sigh of relief as he was already getting to his feet a few yards away. He stumbled a little, undoubtedly just as dazed as she was.

  “Diaz!” she yelled. Even her own voice sounded muffled. She doubted he could hear her. Her metal arm slammed into the ground and she pushed herself up.

 
“Diaz!” she yelled again, this time placing an arm on his shoulder.

  She was met by his side arm, swinging directly in her face. The cyber arm grabbed it, moving the pistol aside before it went off.

  The two of them locked eyes and she saw Carlos recognize her. She shook her head, heading off his explanation. She was actually surprised it hadn’t happened sooner.

  She motioned to him to keep moving.

  A tank with a blown-out cannon sat motionless just ahead of them. It was a terrible waste in such a dangerous area. Riot and Carlos rushed to it then ducked behind it to regain their breath and take in their surroundings. It wasn’t much farther to the tower. If they could avoid any other obstacles or explosions, they could finally get to a place where they could stop running and stop watching their backs.

  “I figure it’s twenty more yards!” Riot yelled.

  “How much time we got left?”

  “Plenty!” she told him. With so much going on around them, it had felt like they’d been out there for hours. But the truth was it had only been a few minutes. “I wanna make a beeline straight for that thing. No more stops!”

  Carlos peeked around the tank at the citadel in front of them. “I think we’ve used up all our cover!” he said.

  Riot looked out and, sure enough, he was right. The tank was going to be their last waypoint. Between it and their target, there was nothing to hide behind. Just an empty space. But in that empty space were few fighters. It was a reasonable trade-off. The fighters would be too focused on each other to worry about two Marines who weren’t even firing at each other.