by Minton, Toby
Images flooded Nikki's mind—government war ships closing on them, Ace and the others outside overrun, warrant bulletins for each and every one of them—
She got it. Time to go.
She'd lost her com early in the fight though, if it would even work now. Kate wouldn't have reached out the way she did if the coms were working. Speaking of which, how had Kate—not important right now.
Michael started to release control but Nikki stopped him with a quick, No. Stay where you are. You're better at explaining than I am. We don't have time to fumble.
"Nikki are you—"
I trust you, she said. You've been living like this for months. I can handle it for a few minutes. Just go.
Nikki focused through eyes Michael was controlling, seeing the battlefield with a clear mind for the first time. It didn't look good.
A mass of creatures rose in front of her, piling up in a growing mound on top of Savior's shield. It was hurting them though. They were falling off as fast as they climbed up. She caught a brief glimpse of Savior's calm face when one fell away, then the gap was covered up again. They were swarming him, and he was letting them. He was drawing them in to finish this fight with one massive pulse like he'd used on the dome. At least, that's what she would have done in his place.
She couldn't see Elias or Cole anywhere. She hoped they were inside Savior's shield. She hoped he was continuing to protect them. Maybe he didn't know about his partners heading this way. Maybe this trap was for him as well. Maybe.
Regardless, she couldn't get to Savior, Elias, and Cole to warn them. Not without a gruesome fight that would take up too much time.
Then Michael turned her eyes toward the Gateway.
Ace
They were off the ramp before the transport touched down, moving across the deck plating toward the Gateway, covering every angle. It was a clean debus—by the numbers—the kind that made Ace proud.
She kept her rifle in continuous motion, scanning for tangos as she and Mos hustled to the Gateway. She panned across the com module and hesitated for a fraction of a second. Not yet—the timing had to be perfect. Every part of this plan had to go by the numbers.
She finished her sweep and took up a position against the right strut of the Gateway. Mos took cover against the left, taking one last look behind them before swinging his gaze through the Gateway.
"Sweet mercy," he breathed.
Ace agreed, wholeheartedly. The scene through the Gateway was straight out of a nightmare.
Creatures were everywhere, shifting and moving in fluid patterns. They didn't rush in blindly, or not all of them did. A few at a time charged forward to draw attention while those behind sidled, flanked and looked for weaknesses. They weren't mindless in their rage, frenzied, like Ace had imagined. Instead they were coordinated and cunning, which made them much more dangerous.
As lethal as their tactics were, however, they were no match for Savior and Nikki.
Savior they couldn't reach. He stood in the center of the black-armored maelstrom, calm, cold, at ease inside the shield creating a circle of clear space around him. As Ace watched he raised his hand and released a focused pulse that tore several creatures apart.
Nikki had no shield, no protection of any kind, yet she too was untouchable. Ace had seen her fight enough times over the past few weeks to know what to expect. She'd seen flashes of the animal inside Nikki more than once. But she'd never seen her like this, not in person. As fast as the creatures were, Nikki was faster. She danced through them like a force of nature, every movement sure and powerful, every blow sending creatures flying.
Ace barely had time to wonder how before she saw the answer. Savior released an almost casual pulse into Nikki and the creatures around her, and Nikki surged, attacking with renewed vigor.
He could feed her power. He probably could all along.
Ace would have liked to feel surprise at this development, or gratitude for what she knew this meant to Nikki, but dread was all she could feel hardening her stomach under her battle focus. Nothing about Savior could surprise her anymore, and as happy as she was for Nikki, a tie this strong to their enemy could only lead to trouble.
A dark streak shot across the red plain behind Nikki and Savior and slammed through a handful of creatures in the distance. They were part of a smaller group that Ace's eye had passed across, but Impact was focused on them. Instead of building up speed after hitting, he hung back and waited for several of them to rush toward him before he moved away, slowly at first to keep them coming.
What is he doing?
As Impact streaked away, drawing a couple of creatures off, the sound of Elias's archaic M4A1 snapped Ace's attention back to the group. She raised her rifle, sighting through her scope. The pack shifted as one of their number went down, and Ace saw what had them clustered. Elias was on one knee, dark blood staining his side, shifting his aim from one creature to the next to keep them back. Cole was with him, striking out at any creature that came within range, but they were wary of his reach. Enough of their number were lying dead around him for them to have learned their lesson.
"Damn you," Ace cursed Savior. He was supposed to be protecting them, all of them, while they dealt with the creatures. That was the plan, albeit the one part Ace had known in her heart would not go by the numbers, but talking Elias out of going through had been impossible.
Savior didn't even glance in their direction as they struggled to keep the small pack at bay. His attention was all on Nikki as he strolled slowly closer to the Gateway. Elias wasn't firing, just threatening, which meant his ammo was running low, which meant their time was running out. Cole didn't need ammo—not for how he fought—but he was slashed and cut in a dozen places, and one arm wasn't moving the way it should.
"Mos!" she called. "Two o-clock long. Friendlies close. Make them count."
She heard Mos swapping the CX-9 for his long gun as she planted her elbow on her knee to form a more stable position. She steadied her aim and searched for a clean shot. Two creatures danced back from a slow swipe from Cole, and Ace fired, catching one in the side. It staggered and fell, and its partner darted away.
Mos began firing as well, and between the two of them they managed to thin three more off the pack before they drew hostile attention.
Ace saw them first in her off eye between shots—three creatures bounding toward them from the side, red eyes blazing.
"Contact left!" Ace snapped, and two weapons responded. Coop had joined them after securing the transport. Their combined fire dropped the two in front, but the third used its falling brothers for cover. By the time they could put rounds on target, it was almost on top of them.
These things were too smart. They were working together, regardless of distance and sight lines, with no communication that she could see.
Ace sighted the pack around Elias again, but as soon as she did, two more creatures broke from the mass around Savior to charge. Mos and Coop took them down, and Ace searched for a clear target, but the pack around Elias was tightening up, despite the threat from Cole and Elias's pistol. His rifle had run dry. Ace had to act now.
"Coop, Mos," Ace said. "Hold this ground. No matter what. Understood?"
"We got it, boss," Coop said, firing into another string of creatures swinging wide left toward them.
"Yes, ma'am," Mos said, less enthused. He knew what Ace was doing, and he didn't like it, but he knew better than to question her in the thick of it. This was a good crew, the best she'd ever worked with.
Ace dropped her mag even though it had a few rounds left and reached for a fresh one. The hell she was about to run through wasn't the kind to afford reloading mid-stride. Savior had stopped moving and attacking, and the creatures, sensing blood, were swarming over him, right next to Ace's path.
A single creature broke from the mob and started moving toward Ace with increasing speed. Mos and Coop were preoccupied with the group on the left, but she didn't bother calling for help or rushing her reload.
Smooth and steady gets it done, she thought. Rushed and shaky ends your fun.
The creature opened its mouth in a silent snarl and leapt.
Ace charged the rifle's action and aimed, but checked her shot at the last instant.
Nikki dropped onto the creature's back, driving it into the ground in front of Ace. She rolled, yanking the limp creature with her, and kicked out, sending it flying into one of the others charging Coop and Mos.
Ace started to move, but Nikki spun back into Ace's path and held up her hands.
"I need you to listen to me," she said. "This is Michael talking."
Ace was confused, but she didn't have time for clarity. Elias and Cole didn't have time.
"Go. Speak," she snapped.
"Kate says this whole thing is a trap," Nikki—or Michael—said. "The base is compromised and Savior's partners are on the way to secure the Gateway. Government war ships, dozens of them, converging right now. We need to go."
Ace no longer cared who was speaking. She just wished she didn't have "I told you so" running through her head. Of all the times to be right—
"Coop, fire up the transport and get ready to bug out," she ordered, then shifted her focus to Mos. "Man the door for me, Mos. You got it?"
He nodded back without question. He was a good soldier. He knew what she meant, and he would do what needed to be done—everything that needed to be done.
She turned and started forward, but Nikki/Michael was still in her way.
"What are you doing?" Nikki's voice said.
"They won't make it out on their own," she replied, sidestepping.
Nikki caught Ace's arm in a grip that wouldn't budge and followed Ace's eyes to the creatures closing on Cole and Elias. She shivered, then looked back, and something told Ace that Michael had left the building.
"You need me for that. I'll blaze a trail. Just stick to my twelve," Nikki said, pointing a thumb at her back.
Ace narrowed her eyes but nodded hurriedly without saying a word. Michael must have commented though.
"Fine, my six. Whatever," Nikki said. "Ace and I both know mine's a twelve." She gave Ace a wink, but the focus behind it never wavered. "Just stay behind me, and try to keep up."
Then she was moving.
Chapter 43
Elias
Both battles were slipping away from him—the one against the creatures and the one to stay conscious. The one against Savior—that one he'd lost the second he put his life in that madman's hands.
The creatures circling him blurred, and Elias shook his head. Sweat or blood ran into his eye, and he blinked against the sting, grateful for the pain shocking his mind back awake. He couldn't feel the wound in his side anymore, which he hoped was due to the morphine but knew was due to shock.
His finger tightened on the trigger reflexively, but Elias forced it back. The creatures didn't want him, or Cole. He'd figured out too late that they were content to keep them separated from the real targets. If he didn't fire, they wouldn't pounce. Not that it mattered. The wounds he'd already taken would finish him before the battle ended.
Cole hadn't reached the same conclusion about not attacking. He continued to lash out whenever a creature came close enough, sometimes when they didn't. Elias didn't bother trying to hold him back. This was what Cole wanted, after all. This was what he'd been after for decades—an honorable way out—not that it mattered for him either.
He'd taken worse than Elias. His wounds would have killed any other man already, but he was still standing, and if any breath was left in his body when the battle ended, he would heal. He always healed, as much as he didn't want to. He'd lost his battle with Savior long ago.
The creatures roared as Impact raked across them again, taking one out with his pass. He wasn't giving up on them, despite Elias's orders.
You can't always lead from the front, boy, his old drill instructor's voice shouted in his head.
His DI was right. Elias was a distraction to Impact and Cole, and he was no good to Nikki. But watching her walk into this with only Savior to protect her would have been impossible. He'd abandoned her enough for one lifetime. He wouldn't do it again. She was his little girl. A father was supposed to protect his little girl.
The creatures roared again—first one, then what sounded like all of them—but it wasn't Impact this time. The shifting ring around Elias and Cole broke as Nikki charged into them. She sent two creatures flying and kept moving, but not far. She stopped ten meters out and roared a challenge right back at the creatures. They bounded toward her in a fury.
Elias tried to fire, but his pistol was empty. He hadn't even noticed.
Cole leapt over him, falling on the trailing creatures from behind, crushing one to the ground with a hand around its neck.
The report of an automatic rifle cut through the dull buzz in Elias's ears, felling a creature wide of Nikki, and Elias turned to find his 2IC dropping to a knee beside him, in direct violation of her orders. He tried to stress the gravity of such a breach, but Ace cut him off.
"Bigger problems, Major," she said as she prepared to haul him over her shoulder. "Besides, I'm more worried about what Nikki will do to me if I don't get you out of here. Up you go."
Nikki
Nikki rode the edge of control as she covered Ace on the way back to the Gateway. She couldn't let go completely, not like she had before, not with Ace and Elias counting on her.
Control wasn't exactly her strong suit, but Michael helped. He was with her so strongly he saw things through her eyes she would have missed. When a creature broke away from Savior's mosh pit, Michael spotted it while Nikki was still slamming her clasped hands down onto the back of the creature she was fighting. Michael called out, and Nikki responded.
She raced toward Ace, sliding at the last second to knock the legs out from under the creature. She clipped Ace on her way past though, knocking her to her knees.
Nikki stood, backhanding the rising creature as she did so, stunning it. Then she kicked out into its chest, sending it flying back toward the mosh pit.
Ace pushed to one knee with a grunt, struggling to keep Elias in place.
"Up, Ace," Nikki said, mimicking the other woman's PT voice. "Almost there. Push!"
Nikki helped Ace rise but she couldn't stay with her as she started toward the Gateway again. Charged up as she was, she drew creatures to her. Several were heading toward her already.
Cole slammed into the closest before it could reach her and bore it to the ground with a sickening cracking sound. Only Cole got up.
How he was still able to stand Nikki didn't know. His body was a wreck. She couldn't even look at him. The sight of furious, slathering creatures was easier to stomach than countless wounds and clothes blackened with blood.
She risked a glance back toward the Gateway. Ace was almost there, and Mos was rushing out to meet her. They were going to make it.
Nikki spun back, ready to deal with the closing creatures, but they'd turned away. They, like all the others Nikki could see, were headed for Savior.
Whatever Savior was doing, it was coming to a head. The creatures surrounding him were in a full frenzy, clawing and crawling over each other to get to his shield. The once-invisible barrier was now coursing with blue-white energy, expanding and contracting like a heart beating against the power Savior was forcing into it.
Impact streaked into view, angling across the edge of the mosh pit. He clipped two creatures, sending them cartwheeling into the air, but none of the others seemed to notice.
Impact changed direction toward Nikki and Cole, but he lost his balance as he tried to slow. He covered the last forty meters in an unsteady slide on his knees, kicking up dark dust as he stopped in front of them.
He slumped forward onto his hands as his charge dissipated, his breathing ragged and shaky, sweat glistening on his bald head, but his eyes were glued to Savior and the frenzy around him.
Nikki had almost forgotten how long he'd been running—bac
k and forth out in the Wasteland since dawn, luring the creatures into a single pack, and now this.
"Move it, people," Mos shouted. "We are leaving!"
Nikki looked back to see him alone at the Gateway.
"Hustle!"
"Get him up, slip," Cole rumbled beside her.
He didn't need to tell her twice. He didn't need to tell her once, really. She was already helping Impact to his feet.
Impact waved Nikki off as soon as he was up. "I just need to build a charge again," he snapped. He was moving before Nikki could reply.
"You're welcome," she said to the dust trail he left as he raced through the Gateway.
Nikki followed, feeling her strength building as she closed on the Gateway. She was smiling when the explosion behind her took the ground out from under feet.
Chapter 44
Ace
By the time Ace made it back to the deck, Mos was already climbing back to his feet. He looked stable despite having been tossed halfway across the deck by Savior's pulse. He gave her a thumbs-up before she could ask.
Ace rounded the edge of the Gateway just as Nikki stepped through carrying Cole in her arms. Behind her, Savior was walking toward them across what was left of the creatures, which wasn't enough to recognize.
Nikki looked dazed, but she was unharmed as far as Ace could tell.
"He needs to be all right," Nikki said, her voice distant. "Savior said he could tell me… He needs to be OK."
"We've got him, kiddo," Ace said. "Coop!" she shouted over her shoulder.
"Stupid hillbilly tried to shield me from the pulse," Nikki mumbled, easing Cole to the ground, where Ace and Mos both knelt to check his vitals. "It wouldn't have hurt me. He wouldn't do that. He couldn't."
Ace looked up at the odd tone. She didn't like the look of wonder in Nikki's eye, or the fact that it was directed back at Savior, who was stepping through the Gateway.
Ace's hand twitched to pull the pistol at her side, but she knew it would do no good. She could see the dust pushing away from him on the deck between them. He was safe inside his shield, as was the Gateway, no doubt as he'd planned.
