RIOT DAWN_Attack of the Space Druids

by Anthony Thackston

  “Great, now we can—”

  “Amerikantsy?” A Russian troop suddenly trained his gun directly at Riot. “Chto ty zdes' delayesh’?”

  “Hold on, now,” Riot said.

  “Dawn?” Carlos asked.

  “Skazhi mne seychas!”

  “We’re not here for this,” Riot said, calmly trying to diffuse things.

  “Vy pomogayete gruzinam!”

  Riot’s fist tightened.

  “Dawn, don’t,” Carlos warned, as if he knew what she was thinking.

  “I don’t speak Russian,” Riot said. Her metal arm came up fast. First it knocked away the gun then it knocked out the soldier holding it. Both hit the ground at the same time.

  “Dammit!” Carlos said, ready to reprimand her but it was too late. Riot had already rushed out from the coverage of the tank.

  The last leg to the tower was easier than they could have hoped for. The few troops that had been fighting in the open space had lessened even more. Riot couldn’t tell if it was from kills or if it was just that the fighting troops had moved deeper into the thick of the battle. Either was acceptable.

  Her metal arm hit the wall of the Druid structure, helping her to slow down. Carlos slammed into the wall right behind her.

  “Good of you to join us,” Stavros said, keeping guard of the door to the tower.

  “You get much resistance?” Carlos asked.

  “Not as much as it looks like you two got.”

  “At least you weren’t hit,” Myzer said, favoring a wound on his calf.

  “Let me see that wound,” Riot ordered Myzer.

  “It’s nothing Sarge. Non-fatal.”

  “Can you walk?”

  “I got this far.”

  “Good soldier,” Riot said.

  “That was reckless. You should have finished him,” Carlos scolded Riot, referring to the Russian soldier she’d knocked out.

  “I made a call,” Riot told him. “You wanna rectify it, be my guest.”

  Carlos looked back out at the battle. It seemed less heavy now that they were on the other side of it. But he knew better.

  Riot didn’t say it but she was glad to see that all of them had made it. Though they still had to get inside the tower. At least now, they were less concerned about being shot.

  “Why aren’t we inside this thing?” Riot asked.

  “It has a barrier lock on it,” Ryan said. “I just need a few more seconds.”

  “Can you unlock something from a different world?” she asked.

  “That’s the thing about magic. Unlike technology, magic is pretty standard across all realms.”

  Memories washed over her. ”Weaver said things like that.”

  “Who’s Weaver?” Carlos asked.

  “Got it!” Ryan shouted before Riot could reply.

  A heavy lock thunked from inside the door to the tower and a single handle jutted out from it. Stavros grabbed it and pulled the large door open. It was surprisingly light considering its size.

  Riot went in first, gun up. She was fairly confident there were no soldiers from either country inside the thing but that didn’t mean there wasn’t something worse.

  “Keep that door locked up,” Riot said. “I don’t want anyone getting in behind us.”

  Following her inside, Carlos surveyed the creepy space. “Or anything getting out.”

  Riot glanced knowingly at him. He was right.

  The inside of the tower was like something out of a fantasy movie about the dark ages.

  Ryan created a barrier at the door. Its magic light glowed faintly, giving out a little light in the dim space, adding to the otherworldly green glow that dotted the stone walls every few feet.

  Riot stepped closer to the middle of the space and looked up. It was roughly a seven-story tower. She could make out the bannister rails around each floor.

  “We going up each floor?” Carlos asked.

  “Negative,” Riot told him, walking back to the team. “We set charges on this floor, only. Let the weight of the top crash in on the rest.”

  “This place is giving me the creeps,” Stavros said.

  “Me, too,” Riot told her. “Let’s get this over with. We still gotta get back through that battle field.”

  “I say we go around it,” Carlos suggested.

  Riot nodded in agreement. She pulled up the data display in her arm and scanned the floor. “Show me weak integrity.” The screen flickered as lines crisscrossed along the walls, highlighting areas that were best suited to place the explosive charges.

  “You sure that thing is working right?” Carlos asked in all seriousness.

  “Nope,” Riot told him in the same tone. “Just the risk we have to take. Stavros, go to the other side and start there. Place one charge directly in line with us then another every eight to twelve feet along the wall until you run out. We’ll do the same.”

  “On it,” Stavros said as she rushed to the other side of the floor.

  “What about me?” the wounded Myzer asked.

  “You sit tight. Nurse that wound,” Riot told him. “We can handle this part.”

  “You know I gotta report that when we debrief, right?” Carlos asked.

  “What, you’re gonna tell on me, Diaz? Cuz I didn’t put one in that soldier out there? You want us to run back through all that so I can?”

  “That action can easily—” Suddenly, Stavros screamed, her voice echoing throughout the tower.

  “What was that?” Ryan asked.

  “Focus on that barrier!” Riot ordered.

  “Stavros!” Carlos yelled.

  The only response he got was that of a low growl somewhere in the darkness.

  Chapter 8

  “Can someone tell me what that was?” Ryan asked.

  “Worry about your job!” Riot yelled, although she was also startled by the unexpected animal sound

  “Stavros!” Carlos called to her one more time.

  “I see something moving!” Myzer said.

  “Everyone quiet down!” Riot ordered. She took a single step forward and stopped at the sound of something sliding across the floor. She cracked a glow stick and dropped it just in front of her.

  The light hit the stone floor, lighting up the small space in its green glow just as a gun slid to a stop against the glow stick.

  Riot crouched down to study the weapon. Holding on to the grip was Stavros’s hand, severed at the wrist.

  “Son-of-a-bitch!” Riot yelled. She stepped backward, gun held out. “Form up!”

  Carlos and Myzer moved on her and the three of them positioned themselves back to back.

  “What was it?” Carlos asked. “What did you see?”

  “Stavros is dead.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Trust me on this one. She’s gone.”

  “How? What got her?” Ryan asked.

  “Unknown,” Riot said. “But I wanna keep it from getting us. You see anything that ain’t us, you drop it.” The situation was quickly reminding her of a similar incident from five years ago. Only this time they had the added benefit of not traveling through the Soul Slide. And more, this team— much as they may have not cared for her— wasn’t trying to kill or eat her.

  Another growl echoed in the dark. It gave Riot the distinct impression that while her new team might not be interested in feasting on her, it was highly likely that whatever got Stavros was.

  “Where is it?” Carlos asked.

  “Who’s got eyes on it?” Myzer replied.

  “I can’t see anything in this weird light,” Riot said, bringing her metal arm to her face. “Give me flares.”

  “Flares unavailable,” the arm said.

  “Silent mode. Give me flares,” she said. The arm remained inactive. “Damn this— Flares!”

  Suddenly, the arm lifted up over her head. Riot heard the panel in her palm slide open. She looked up just as the orange glow of the flare lit up the metal fingers before shooting up. The orange ball flew
toward the ceiling and entered into the mouth of a large beast as it crashed toward them.

  “Break formation!” Riot yelled, pushing off the other two.

  Carlos dove to the floor and popped back up, spinning around to lock eyes with a monster.

  The creature stood on all fours, like a dog. It was completely unaffected by the flare in its mouth. It had white fur-like strands of hair all over its back. Each strand seemed to move on its own, like sea-weed in the ocean. A single spike pointed down from the side of each of its legs. It reminded Riot of a viper’s fang. The beast gnashed its teeth, crushing the still burning flare. Its jaws were not hinged like most living things. Instead the lower jaw moved up and down like an adjustable wrench. Each tooth in its mouth fit perfectly amongst the others.

  None of them knew how strong such a bite could have been or how strong the monster was but judging by the severed hand, Riot figured it wouldn’t take much for that thing to kill any of them.

  “Fire!” she ordered.

  The three of them opened up on the beast, putting round after round into it. The monster howled in what Riot hoped was pain. More likely, it was anger. It turned on Myzer who seemed to have trouble firing—probably from the pain of his own wound. The beast rushed at the man, its strange jaw clamping down on the Marine.

  “No!” Carlos yelled, running after the monster as it carried his teammate away.

  Ryan lowered his concentration to fire at the monster as it fled into the darkness.

  “Keep that barrier up!” Riot ordered. “Diaz, get back here!”

  Carlos ignored the order as he tried to save one of his own. Riot activated her data screen and tried to scan the dark that surrounded them. The only visible shape was Carlos as he fired on the monster.

  The beast roared with each shot. Even though Riot couldn’t see the monster through her scanner, she knew Carlos had to have been hitting it.

  The sound of panting and feet hitting the floor took her attention away from the scanner. Riot raised her gun and fired at the creature as it made its way toward the door. She dove out of the way. The beast’s fur-like hairs were covered in a dark liquid. Riot couldn’t tell what color it actually was but she was sure it was the thing’s blood. Carlos must have emptied a full load into it, she thought. Her mind was instantly diverted when she realized the beast’s true target.

  “No!” Ryan cried out as the thing clamped down on him.

  Riot heard the grotesque sound of wet sloshing against cracking bones. She fired on the monster but it was far too late. That was one more of their team gone. Worse, now the barrier that Ryan had created was down. Any one of the soldiers from outside could get in and that beast could get out. A fact it quickly realized.

  The monster ignored her shots and leaned back on its hind legs. Riot saw the fang-like spike as it rose farther outward. The thing suddenly snapped back to its original position and the hind legs launched the beast into the door, splintering it. And with that, the monster broke free.

  Carlos slowed to a stop just inside the open doorway. “Let’s go! We can’t let that thing run free.”

  “No choice,” Riot told him. “That thing ain’t our mission.”

  “It killed my team.”

  “My team,” Riot said, hoping to end the matter.

  Carlos glared at her. “Yours?”

  “We don’t have time for this. I can sympathize with your need for revenge but right now we have to bring this whole place down or there’s gonna be more of those things and who knows what else. We wounded it pretty good and there are two whole armies going at each other’s throats out there. They’ll handle whatever that was. We still got a job to complete.” Riot went to work setting the first charge.

  Carlos hesitated. He didn’t like letting such a creature escape, especially since it did kill his team. But he also knew that she was right. They needed to deal with the tower, preventing more towers from appearing and more beasts from being released on Earth. He shook off his doubts and assisted with the other charges.

  The two of them went in opposite directions of the tower floor, setting the blocks fairly equal distances apart until they finally met on the other side.

  “Okay,” Riot said, pulling out a timer remote. “Three minutes. Mark.” She started the timer.

  “We going back to the drop point?”

  “Not through all that, we aren’t.” She made her way to a staircase and rushed up it, two steps at a time.

  Carlos dashed after her, unsure of her plan. “Why are we going up?”

  “This is our evac point.” Riot said. She pulled her radio and activated it. “Lynch, this is Tower Four, do you copy?”

  “I read you, Tower Four. What’s your status?”

  “Not the best. Lock in on my location and get us out of here.”

  “I read you at the Citadel,” Axel said. “That’s negative on evac. Report to drop zone.”

  Riot and Carlos rushed along the walkway of the second floor, narrowly missing the next stairwell.

  “Negative on that. It’s a war zone between there and us,” Riot said. “Plus we might have let something out.”

  “Repeat that!” Axel yelled.

  “Just get to our location and get us out of here.”

  The third floor of the Citadel was a little thinner than the second. Riot glanced out into the open space of the tower. It was like that all the way up. The whole thing was like a funnel more than a cylinder.

  “Dammit, Lynch!” she shouted into the radio. “This timer is counting down. There’s no way we’re getting clear of the blast if we go back!”

  “Fine, we’re inbound. Hang tight.”

  The two of them took the next flight of stairs as high as they’d go. There were only two more floors left and being thinner than the others meant they’d have less running to do.

  Riot looked at the timer. They had a minute and a half left. She stepped into the last stairwell. The stones were uneven. Some stuck out more than the others, making it hard to find their footing.

  Finally, the sounds of gunfire echoed from below them as Riot stepped up onto the roof of the tower.

  Joining her, Carlos leaned his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. The two hundred yard run plus chasing the monster and capping it all off with a seven-story jaunt had caught up to him. Riot didn’t want to admit it but she was just as tired.

  She looked down at the two armies below. Some of the fighting had stopped as a handful of soldiers from both sides investigated the strange monster lying dead on the ground. “That takes care of that,” she said.

  “Where is he?” Carlos asked in reference to Axel.

  “I’m wondering the same thing.” Riot looked at the timer. “Forty-five seconds.”

  “We’re not gonna make it outta this,” Carlos said. “I’d say it’s been an honor working with the great Riot Dawn but we both know that ain’t true.”

  “Stow that talk. We’re getting outta this.”

  An explosion went off beneath them and the tower shook.

  “What?” Riot looked at the timer. They still had ten seconds left but that bomb triggered the next, setting off all the charges, one after the other like falling dominos.

  Chapter 9

  Even with the resumed sounds of gunfire from the Russian and Georgian armies, there was an eerie calm after the last of the explosive charges went off. Riot could see a light dust float up above the top of the tower.

  A creaking sound, like stones rolling downhill, rose up from beneath them and the whole tower began shifting.

  “Where’s my evac?” she yelled in the radio.

  “There!” Carlos pointed toward a pair of glowing blue lights in the sky not far from them. Underneath them was a strange shape of alternating rainbow colors.

  “What is that?” he asked.

  They both stumbled as the stones under their feet moved, threatening to fall straight down and take them along.

  “Spectral Net!” Riot shouted. “We gotta ju
mp!”

  Carlos didn’t argue, which Riot appreciated. He knew as well as she did that a seven-story drop could be life threatening. He also must have known that whether they leaped to the ground or fell with the tower, the outcome would be the same. At least jumping gave them some form of control in how they fell.

  The bright flame of the plane’s thrusters and the glow from the Spectral Net cast light on the two of them.

  “Now!” Riot yelled, running away from the incoming plane.

  Carlos took off after her, the roof of the citadel finally starting to cave. They both managed to stay about two feet from each stone as the stones fell. Finally, they reached the edge of the tower roof and shoved off as hard as they could. The roar of the plane cutting through the night air was already above them.

  Riot and Carlos fell as a cloud of dirt and dust rose to meet them. She thought it was surely the end till something that felt like cotton clung to her back, gently carrying her away from the falling tower.

  She looked over her shoulder, and pleasant multicolored light cascaded over her face. Beyond that, she watched the citadel as it crashed to the ground. Even more of the fighting from the countries at war had stopped as the implosion, like the beast from the tower, generated a cease fire. Most likely a temporary one.

  Riot looked at Carlos whose gaze met her own. The look in his eyes revealed disappointment and hurt. Riot knew the reasons for both and was sure she would hear all about them once they were on solid ground. But she also knew that, regardless of Carlos’s opinion, they had accomplished their mission.

  The net began to fade from behind her and Riot noticed she was fading as well.

  The open sky in front of them began switching places with the inside of the plane. Riot could see Axel become more and more solid. He was saying something but the whoosh of air from outside was still too loud in mid-fade.

  She took note of the feeling. It wasn’t like the pull of teleporting or even the push of rapid transport. It felt more like waking while still at the end of a dream. Where both realities happened simultaneously