H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS

by Natalie Wright

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She couldn’t see what had come out of the pod, but her instincts told her it wasn’t Tex. Her armpits were wet, and her knees felt like limp noodles.

  Rocks crunched beneath feet. Two eyes glowed orange-red and came at her.

  She raised her gun and Taser nearly simultaneously. Whatever had come out of the white orb was huge. The shadowy figure towered over the desert floor. At first, it moved somewhat slowly, but it picked up speed.

  Her brain finally caught up to her instincts. Run, idiot.

  Erika bolted toward the buildings of the VLA. The distance to the nearest one was close to half a kilometer. She didn’t look back. The lights of the VLA compound seemed to bounce in the distance as she sprinted toward them.

  The thing behind her, whatever it was, was still there. It did not pant or snarl. The only sound it made was the crunch and snap of dried branches giving way beneath its feet as it chased her.

  She pushed her legs to run faster than she’d ever run before. Still, the behemoth creature gained on her.

  The thing made a low, eerie sound as if its voice was filtering through a mechanized voice modulator. If it was attempting to speak to her, she did not understand it. The language was all clicks, squeaks, and guttural noises, complete gibberish to her ears.

  Her panic swelled at the hollow, tinny sound of its voice. Her thighs burned, and her chest ached. She pushed her legs to pump faster. The lights of the buildings got closer. Why hasn’t anyone come out here yet? She figured the creature’s pod-shaped ship should have shown up on military radar, but the VLA compound was quiet and still. She was alone with the monster hunting her like a rabbit.

  The creature howled at her. It spoke again, low and menacing, which was still nothing but frightening noise to Erika.

  It stopped speaking, and a motor whirred. Branches snapped and popped beneath her feet as she trampled everything in her path. She tried to listen to what was going on behind her over the rush of blood in her ears and her loud panting to catch her breath, and she heard two sets of footsteps instead of just one.

  Sure she would see two of the monstrous machines, she tossed a look over her shoulder but saw nothing. She didn’t dare look backward for long, or she’d trip on something.

  Erika chanced another look back. That time, she saw its glowing eyes—only two eyes, not four—and they were lower to the ground.

  She was losing steam, her legs wobbly with fatigue. Her arms ached from pumping vigorously, urging herself forward.

  With another look backward, she saw the M’Uktah hunter on all fours, running like a giant wolf. What little light there was glinted off shiny metal fangs. It had sleek black fur running from its head down its back, and centered in its head were two round, glowing orange-red eyes.

  She’d seen enough of the thing. Erika planted her eyes forward and pumped her arms. She was still a good quarter kilometer from the VLA buildings. Run, dammit, run.

  She sensed herself falling and tried to right herself but was too late. She was going down. Don’t fall on the gun.

  She tucked her shoulder and did her best to roll to one side as she hit the sunbaked earth. She landed on her left shoulder in a crusty sagebrush bush. It cradled her fall somewhat, but the dry, spindly branches caught at her as if the thing was alive and holding her down, trapping her like quarry for the predator hunting her.

  She tried to scramble to her feet, but the hulking beast loomed over her. Even in the nearly total darkness, its glowing eyes cast enough light for her to see what had been chasing her.

  The creature was black from head to toe. Its wide head looked much like a wolf’s, with pointed ears on top of its head, wide-set, large almond-shaped eyes and a snout. The wolflike head was made of metal, though, and smelled of iron and steel. The M’Uktah hunter’s chest was as wide as two men. Her eyes were drawn to the silvery glint of its razor-sharp teeth bearing down on her.

  Its mouth was open and it made the horrid, tinny sound again. She didn’t know if the thing was trying to talk to her or sing a song. Its language was unlike any she’d heard before.

  It bent lower, its body nearly touching hers. Its huge hands were on the ground on either side of her, effectively pinning her to the spot where she’d fallen.

  Her hand throbbed from landing on it while gripping the Taser. The Taser.

  She pressed the end of it against the hulking beast and pressed the button. Shimmering arcs of electricity danced at the tip of the Taser and, to her surprise, tendriled up the creature’s chest as though conducted by its body armor. For a brief instant, the body armor disassembled slightly, revealing what looked like pale skin beneath.

  Erika shot the current again, sending it to the creature’s chest. That time, the tasing jolted the creature slightly. It growled through its mechanized mouth, and a chill ran up Erika’s spine.

  She fired the Taser again and watched the creature’s midsection. The armor there looked to be made of hundreds of tiny black rectangular insects that scrambled this way and that, with tiny arcs of electricity buzzing between them.

  Erika pulled the trigger of the pistol in her right hand. The gun fired directly at the creature at close range but didn’t seem to faze it. She fired again. The beast flinched but did not let up. Its armor began to reform. She tried to tase it again, but nothing happened. The Taser had lost charge. She dropped it to the ground and put her left hand on the grip of the gun to steady it as best she could with her quaking arms.

  One of the creature’s arms rose into the air. Claws of steel shot from the tips of its fingers. Its arm swung toward her, ready to rip the still-beating heart from her chest.

  A sliver of pale skin caught her eye. The armor had not fully reformed yet. She fired two successive shots, aiming as best she could at the small patch of flesh revealed on the creature’s left side. Then she kicked at it with all her might, trying to get the thing away from her as she rolled to her right. Fiery fingers of pain spread across her back, instantly wet with her blood.

  The creature howled then went silent. It fell with a loud thud, and the edge of its body landed on her leg, pinning her beneath its hulking form.

  Erika tried to yank her leg free, but that was no use. The beast’s barrel chest was on top of her.

  Her fingers trembled as she pulled the two-way radio from her sweatshirt pocket. She pushed the Talk button. Her voice quavered, and her throat was so dry that speaking was difficult. “Aunt Dana.” She let off the button, and the radio squawked.

  She heard static then, “Come back.”

  Erika pushed the button again. “Help. Now. It’s got me pinned.”

  She knew she wasn’t making much sense, getting words out was difficult, let alone sounding sensible.

  “Erika, what’s happening out there?”

  Before Erika had a chance to say anything, a motor whirred, and tires crunched over twigs and bushes.

  The radio fell from her hand. Blackness played at the edges of her eyes. She was vaguely aware of men yelling, talking, asking questions.

  “Heave it off her!” someone yelled.

  She thought that might have been General Hays.

  The uncomfortable crushing pressure was gone, then the horrid smell of ammonia was under her nose.

  She pushed it away, her nose wrinkled in displeasure. Hands beneath her armpits raised her.

  “Can you stand?”

  Her legs were wobbly, and her head swam. Lights flashed at her, and she covered her eyes with an arm.

  Beyond the cone of light shining at her, silhouettes of men with rifles drawn surrounded her, like déjà vu of the time she’d been on Bell Rock with Tex, Ian, and Jack months before, when Sturgis’s men circled them.

  She raised her quaking arms. “Don’t shoot.” Tears on her cheeks chilled her. She hadn’t realized she’d cried. “It attacked me. I had to kill it to defend myself.”

  “Get the lights out of her eyes,” General Hays said. “And get this thing sed
ated, strapped down, and back to the compound. I want all the docs we’ve got on hand to save it so we can interrogate it.”

  “Yes sir,” someone said.

  Hays paid no attention to the flurry of activity behind him. His eyes were riveted to Erika. He glanced down at the gun in her hand and the Taser lying like a piece of trash on the ground. “Those are military issue,” he said.

  She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to get Aunt Dana in trouble, but she couldn’t explain why she had them. She settled for a faint nod.

  “You took this alien down with just a Taser and a pistol?” His voice was gruff, and his brow crinkled as he glowered at her.

  Erika nodded again, still unable to form words. She’d never been at a loss for words before, but then again, she’d never been hunted by an eight-foot-tall wolf-man either.

  General Hays’s brow relaxed a bit, and he gave her a small smile. “Good work.” He turned on his heels and walked away briskly, half a dozen men following him. “Get her medical attention, too,” he called over his shoulder.

  Someone threw a blanket over her shoulders. She shivered from head to toe.

  “Stay with me now,” someone said. “Don’t go into shock.”

  Erika thought that advice was a bit late.

  The same person who’d thrown the blanket around her shoulders led her to a jeep and helped her inside. She looked back at the scene of her near death. Hoisting the M’Uktah up and into the back of a military truck took half a dozen men. A dozen more were at the orb with a winch, lifting it into a flatbed. Erika had no doubt they’d take the orb to a lab somewhere to analyze the heck out of it. She didn’t know what would happen to the alien she’d shot. If it died, she wouldn’t feel bad about it. The thing had nearly ripped her heart from her chest. If not for Aunt Dana bringing her those weapons, she’d have been a bloody pile of dead Erika lying lifeless in the desert.

  The jeep bounced over rough terrain on the way back to the VLA compound. The jostling cleared away some of the shock caused by extreme fear.

  The general wasn’t going to leave it at “good job.” She knew she’d be interrogated and pumped for details about every last second of the attack. She would cooperate, but she wanted—no, desperately needed—something in return. Hays has to keep these dishes aligned for Tex to return.

  Her brush with death in the desert that night made their dire reality sink in. If thousands of those things hit the ground running, humanity didn’t stand a chance. Tex had been right. Closing down the galactic highway those M’Uktah used to get to them was the only way to prevent the events that, if left unchecked, would lead to the Conexus, and Tex was the only one who knew anything about how the alien highway worked.

  Erika looked up as they sped to the VLA compound. The night sky was clear, and the Milky Way was a splatter of white against the blue black.

  “Tex, where are you?”

  37

  JACK

  Jack was nearly to the large metal double doors that led to the entryway to Apthartos.

  Anna called to him, “Wait. Something’s wrong with Alecto.”

  Alecto was on the ground. She looked as dead as Lizzy.

  He moved quickly to her side. Anna knelt, her fingers at Alecto’s neck, feeling for a pulse.

  “Is she shot?” His heart raced. Did I accidentally hit her with a stray bullet?

  Anna shook her head. “She’s not shot. She just… collapsed.”

  Jack knelt on the other side of Alecto. Her clothes were stained with sweat. She was as pale as a piece of paper, her bulbous head lolling to one side. Alecto looked as small and vulnerable as she had when Jack rescued her from Croft’s penthouse.

  He picked up her wrist and let go of it, and her arm dropped to the ground like a limp biscuit. “She probably passed out from exhaustion. She used her powers a lot. I’ve never seen her snap a neck like that.”

  Anna’s nose wrinkled. She bit her lower lip and rested one hand on Alecto’s. “She’s so cold.” A visible shiver moved through Anna. “What are we going to do? We can’t leave her here. And we’re not going to get the antivirus from Croft without her help.”

  When Sturgis had put A.H.D.N.A. into lockdown, massive metal gates came down from the ceiling, sealing them off from the rest of A.H.D.N.A. They were relatively safe from any attack from that direction.

  Jack looked back toward the double doors leading to Apthartos. They were shut for the moment, but at any minute, a new group of Makers men could barge in on them.

  “Radio your aunt,” he said. “She should know what we could do for her.”

  Anna kept her back to the dead bodies as she tapped a button on the device at her waist and waited. Her eyes looked ahead at nothing as she spoke to Sturgis over the comm.

  “Yes. I’m all right.” A slight pause. “She’s dead.” The statement was matter-of-fact. Anna let out a breath of impatience. She cast her gaze at Jack, shook her head, and rolled her eyes. Finally, she said, “We’ll have to celebrate later. Right now, we’ve got issues.”

  Anna explained the current state of things, including Alecto being unconscious. Jack couldn’t hear what Sturgis said, but Anna’s brow crinkled, and her eyes became a storm. Anna erupted. “Stop it! I won’t listen to you speak about Alecto that way. She’s a person, not a machine. She’s done her best, and if it wasn’t for her, I’d be dead. So unless you have something constructive to add, I’m signing off.”

  Jack wasn’t sure anything was sexier than hearing Anna stand up to the Queen of the Psychos like that.

  He reached a hand across Alecto’s still body and placed it on Anna’s hand. He gave her his best shot at a reassuring smile, and she gave one back.

  “Okay, now that I can use.” A few seconds later, she rolled her eyes again. “We can talk about all of this later. I’m kind of in the middle of something here. Yes, goodbye. I’ll radio again after we’ve recovered the antivirus and taken care of Croft.”

  Anna ripped the earpiece out of her ear in frustration. She put her head in her hands and let out a low yowl.

  “Talk to me,” Jack said.

  Ann looked at him through her fingers with red, teary eyes. “My family is so messed up! My aunt’s a…”

  “Psychopath.”

  Anna let out a wry laugh. “Probably. Among other things. Why didn’t I see it before?”

  “Maybe ’cause we tend to see only the best in the people we love. Besides, it wasn’t like you’d ever seen her in this underground house built by greed and rampant paranoia. It probably brings out the worst in her.”

  Anna sighed. “True.” She took her rifle off and pulled a small pack from her back. “My Aunt Lilly may be unhinged, but she does know her stuff.” She took a small black box the size of an eyeglass case from the pack. “She said Alecto is probably severely dehydrated. She’s not used to needing to drink water so hasn’t been doing it.” Anna took a small white pellet from the box, crushed it between her thumb and finger, and held it under Alecto’s nose. “Can you grab a water bottle from your pack?”

  Jack did as she asked. At first, Alecto didn’t react, but after a few seconds, she wrinkled her barely there nose and pressed her eyes shut even more tightly. She coughed and gagged and pushed Anna’s hand away from her nose.

  Anna pressed a bottle of water into her hand. “Drink. You’re dehydrated.”

  Alecto tried to hand the water back to Anna, but Anna wouldn’t take it. “Listen to me. I talked with Commander Sturgis, and she said to make you drink. You no longer take hydration in through your skin. You have to drink to regain your strength.”

  It wasn’t like Alecto to be defiant with Anna. Jack chalked it up to the effects of her severe dehydration.

  Alecto jerked the bottle out of Anna’s hand and took a sip.

  “You’ll need more than that,” Jack said.

  Alecto shot him a glare that made Jack glad she didn’t have laser vision.

  Anna’s voice was firm. “Drink.”

  Alec
to glared at Anna too but downed the entire bottle. She wiped her mouth and handed the empty bottle to Anna. A bit more color was blooming in her cheeks already.

  “What do we do now?” Jack asked.

  “Aunt Lilly said to wait about fifteen minutes then have her drink more.”

  “We don’t have that kind of time.” Jack eyed the metal doors to Apthartos. “The longer we wait, the more likely that a bunch of Croft’s goons will come through that door.”

  Anna put the empty bottle into her pack and grabbed a full one. “I know. But what’s the alternative? We need Alecto.”

  The petulant look on Alecto’s face disappeared. She took the full bottle from Anna and took a long draught. “We will not need to wait that long. My energy is returning to normal parameters.” She stood but nearly fell over. Jack and Anna quickly rose, and each took an arm to steady her.

  “Not quite right yet,” said Anna. “We’ll take as much time as you need. I’m not facing Croft without you.”

  ____________________

  Jack stood guard at the doors to Apthartos. Alecto had curled herself into a tight ball, motionless and utterly quiet. Anna watched over her and chewed her nails. Jack had never seen her do that before.

  Each second felt like days. Jack checked his watch, sure they’d been waiting for hours, but less than ten minutes had passed, more than enough time for Jack to think of the many ways their mission could fail. He tried to focus on the goal at hand, retrieving the antivirus. That helped for a few seconds, but he quickly resumed thinking of Anna being gunned down or of losing Alecto in gunfire that she was too depleted to counter.

  A few minutes that felt like eternities later, Alecto slowly unwound herself. Anna held out a water bottle for her, and that time, Alecto took it without argument. She drained it and stood, her legs stable beneath her.

  “I am ready to proceed,” she said.

  Anna used the keycard Sturgis had given her and punched an override authorization code into the keypad by the door. The heavy metal doors swung open, and they entered a wide, dark hallway toward Apthartos.