by Mel Odom
The demons appeared to be a group of Gremlins accompanied by Blade Minions and Ravagers. The Gremlins tended to be blunt, squat creatures with flat faces, multiple eyes, and horns crowning their heads and trailing down from their jaws. Blue-white scales provided a thick defense against traditional weapons. They were incredibly dangerous and knew how to work in groups.
Blade Minions stood between seven and nine feet tall. Built like flesh-and-blood tanks, with massive heads on short necks and auxiliary flesh around their features that made a protective hood, they were terrifying opponents. Blades along their forearms allowed them to slash through most armor. Black and gray scaly hide covered them.
Ravagers ran on all fours and possessed the native intelligence of pack animals. However, they could be controlled by handlers and guided psychically. They were built like armored lions, six to ten feet in length, and possessed huge, gaping maws filled with serrated teeth.
As Simon watched, seven flying demons flew in behind the ATV caravan.
“Warning,” the suit AI broke in. “Seven bogeys have been detected by sensor drones.”
“I see them. Center screen and magnify to identify.” Simon watched as the suit AI used the sensor drones to lock on the unidentified flying objects. A glowing orange rectangle bracketed the seven figures. Then the rectangle broke into seven individual rectangles, each marked with its own GPS coordinates.
One of the orange rectangles suddenly exploded and filled the HUD screen. The figure was vaguely and horribly female humanoid, but the addition of two huge bat wings identified it immediately as a demon. Runes marked the demon’s flesh and glowed bright crimson in the darkness.
“There are seven Blood Angels within the potential combat zone,” the suit AI announced.
“Nathan,” Simon called.
“Seven bogeys that are Blood Angels,” Nathan said. “I got them, mate.”
“Weapons,” Simon said softly.
“Weapons ready and standing by.”
“I want a full array of Greek Fire missiles deployed from the forward launch tubes when I call for them.”
The gunner’s mate spun in his seat and loaded the selected missiles into twenty-cylinder firing tubes. When he was finished, he gave a thumbs-up.
The motion was redundant, of course. Simon’s HUD displayed the information that the missiles were confirmed and the loading had been completed.
The distance separating the ATVs from the demon army closed to within a few yards. Simon couldn’t believe they hadn’t been attacked yet. Then he remembered the demon’s face that had materialized back in London.
For a moment, Simon’s mind was filled up with the possibilities surrounding the nature of the demons. Not enough knowledge and too much curiosity often caused problems.
Nathan’s voice brought Simon back to the present.
“The Blood Angels are attacking,” Nathan said.
Simon changed the HUD view into the full 360. The seven Blood Angels dropped from the night sky on a direct attack flight path on the Templar ATVs. Simon shifted from the overhead panorama of the scene to the vid relay from the top of the ATV.
At his vocal commands, the view sharpened and locked on the lead Blood Angel. The demon was a monstrosity. The large, angular head seemed aerodynamically designed for swift flying. As the demon swept closer, wings beating savagely at the air, the red numerals in the lower right corner of the screen spun downward toward zero.
“Impact imminent,” the suit AI announced.
“Brace for impact,” Simon warned. He gripped the seat’s restraints and held on tightly. “Weapons, you have point blank range. Fire.”
The lead Blood Angel dropped onto the second ATV. It crouched there like a great hunting beast, arrogant and powerful. Then the Greek Fire missiles ripped from the launch tubes and slammed into the Blood Angel.
SIXTEEN
G reek Fire enveloped the Blood Angel. Gold and green, with flashes of livid red, the flames charred the demon’s flesh from its bones. It leaped from the ATV and screamed loud enough to be heard over the vehicle’s audio dampers.
The other two Templar ATVs loosed a barrage of Greek Fire missiles. Most of the weapons found their targets. Five of the seven Blood Angels turned into burning comets and shot across the sky in an effort to escape immolation before losing that battle and dropping like stones. One of those two still living landed in a tree in the path of the ATVs.
“Reload,” Danielle ordered calmly as she swung and searched for targets.
“Reload complete,” the gunner’s mate called.
Nathan steered immediately for the tree with the flaming demon sitting in it. “Hold on,” he warned.
“Impact imminent,” the suit AI warned.
For a moment, Simon wondered if Nathan had been too ambitious in his attack. Even with the ATV’s momentum and mass, it was possible that the vehicle would be blocked or receive damage.
Or get jammed up. That particular thought was chilling. The demons would cover them like ants on prey.
Then the ATV hammered the tree and knocked it over. The vehicle clambered over the collapsed tree, then ran over the Blood Angel while the flaming demon tried to scamper away. Nathan roared in triumph.
Simon took control of the large Spike Bolter mounted on top of the ATV. He tracked the Blood Angel’s panicked run through the forest, brought the gun to bear, and opened fire. The palladium spikes ripped through the Blood Angel and dropped her in shreds to the ground.
At his command, the HUD displayed the locations of the other two ATVs in relation to his. Both vehicles ran closely behind his.
Without warning, the remaining Blood Angel landed on the nose of the ATV. It hunkered down and tried to peer through the reinforced observation window.
“Simon,” Nathan called. “There’s a—”
“I’ve got it,” Simon responded. He adjusted the Spike Bolter and opened fire just as the Blood Angel punched the observation window with a knotted fist. The impact-resistant glass shattered but held. However, Simon was pretty sure that it wouldn’t withstand another such blow.
Palladium spikes filled the air and the Blood Angel. Pieces of the demon ripped off and blew away as the ATV raced through the forest. The dead body toppled over to the side.
“Close call, mate,” Nathan said.
Simon didn’t respond. They weren’t out of it yet.
Less than a minute later, they engaged the main body of demons. The creatures stood thickly packed in the middle of the route Nathan had laid out. More than that, they had piled fallen trees across the narrow gap. The walls on either side were ten or fifteen feet high.
“Hold on,” Nathan warned. He accelerated and steered to the left.
The realization of what Nathan was about to attempt turned Simon cold. It was a risky maneuver at best, but under the circumstances possibly the only thing they had open to them. Stopping would have left them open to immediate demon attack, and the probability of getting through the barricades was slim.
The ATV’s NanoDyne electromagnetic engines, which weren’t standard on the British military versions, whined at a higher pitch. A glance at the speed indicator readout on Simon’s HUD revealed that the ATV was traveling at 148 KPH, and still accelerating.
The Gremlins opened fire and bathed the ATV in corrosive acid, explosive toxins, energy discharges, and fiery blasts. The impact-resistant windscreen shuddered under the attack but thankfully held.
“Warning,” the suit AI stated simply. “ATV armor has sustained damage. Integrity levels down to eighty-two percent.”
The armor was holding up better then Simon had hoped. Given time, they had the tools to repair the armor and the supplies to get it done. But time was a rare commodity on the battlefield.
Then the ATV roared up the left hillside and went almost perpendicular as a shot over the barricade. Only the centrifugal force caused by the high speed held the vehicle into the hillside. Even then, the wheels on the ATV drifted dangerously close to losin
g traction. Simon felt the positrack transmission shift to drive only the wheels on the right.
Someone cursed, but Simon didn’t know who it was. He thought it might have been himself.
Just as it seemed that the ATV would inevitably flop over onto its top like a turtle, Nathan cut the wheels sharply and guided them behind the barricades. The luckless Gremlins in front of them were mown down like wheat before a thresher. Their bodies bounced from the front of the ATV.
One of them exploded through the weakened windscreen and sent shards of Plas-glas spinning. If the crew hadn’t been armored up, some of them might have been mortally wounded in the barrage.
Simon checked his HUD and pulled up a quick medical report on the team. No one had been injured.
Incredibly, the demon caught in the window remained alive. Only its head and one arm were inside the control compartment. It reached for Nathan at the controls.
Calmly, but quickly, Nathan fisted the Spike Bolter holstered at his hip and shoved it into the demon’s face. When he pulled the trigger, the Gremlin’s face and head crunched and fell to pieces. Still driving by instruments, Nathan holstered his weapon and shoved the Gremlin back through the window.
A quick check of the HUD showed Simon they were through the worst of it. He linked with the Spike Bolter and targeted the nearest demons.
At the same time, Danielle unleashed the Blaze Cannon mounted on the front and rear decks. Greek Fire spewed over the demon army and turned them into burning pyres.
Simon watched as the second ATV on the right hillside to negotiate the barricade. The tires dug in and threw rooster tails several yards behind the vehicle. Liquid fire in energy bursts caught up to the ATV. Several of the trees along the ridge line caught fire.
The ATV returned fire with blistering accuracy. Then it suddenly sailed free of the hillside and shot through the air. Simon watched in dread as the ATV rotated in midair, obviously out of control. He pulled up the comm-link to the other vehicle.
“Jennifer,” he called.
Jennifer Mapleland was a friend from Simon’s childhood days. Only a year apart, they’d grown up together and trained together. She’d only recently left the Templar Underground to join his group as they actively sought out survivors in the city. Both of her parents had died at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
“Carnagor,” she called back. “Came up from the ground. Sensor drones didn’t detect it.”
Simon saw the Carnagor then. The huge demon reared on two legs from the hillside as if in triumph. Its efforts only served to dislodge it, though, and it tumbled down onto hapless Gremlins below.
Jennifer’s ATV hit the ground on its side then rolled over onto its top. It spun in a loose circle as it tilted back and forth. The demons started for it at once.
“Simon,” Jennifer called, “we’ve got to abandon the ATV.”
“No,” Simon replied. “Stay with it.” They’d never make it out of the engagement alive if they left the vehicle. “We’re coming back for you.”
“Thank God,” Nathan said. He cut the wheels sharply and brought the ATV around in a tight turn. “I’d have had real trouble with you if we’d bailed on them, mate.”
Simon hailed the third ATV. “Borden.”
“Yes.” Borden was an older Templar who was seasoned as an ATV commander with the British armored units.
“We’ll need covering fire.”
The third ATV roared up the same hillside Nathan had chosen.
“You’ve got it, mate,” Borden replied grimly. “Whatever you’re going to do, you’re going to have to be bloody quick about it.”
Simon silently agreed.
Danielle, lock on the Carnagor.” Simon watched the demon gather itself and start for the overturned ATV at a distance-eating lope. With its speed and proximity, it was going to reach the trapped Templar before Simon’s vehicle could reach them.
“I have target lock,” Danielle said.
“Fire at will.”
Immediately, missiles bearing Greek Fire launched from the forward tubes. Simon tracked them for only a second and knew they were on target. He turned his attention to the overturned ATV.
“Borden, see if you can slow up the ground forces,” Simon suggested.
“I’m on it,” Borden replied. His ATV’s guns erupted and spilled death across the demons’ frontline.
“Nathan—”
“Ram Jennifer’s ATV and hope we can right her, right?” Nathan asked.
Inside the suit, Simon nodded then caught himself. “Yes. We’re only going to get one attempt at this.”
“I know, mate. No prob, right?”
“No prob,” Simon repeated, but his words were more hope than declaration. He bracketed the Carnagor—already on fire from Danielle’s marksmanship—in his sights and fired.
The demon stumbled and Simon thought he might have mortally wounded the Carnagor, but Danielle’s next salvo of missiles removed all doubt. For a second, the demon vanished in the huge sheet of twisting flames. Then it stumbled through the fire and stretched out on its side, skidded several feet, and lay prone within inches of the overturned ATV.
“I thought it had us,” Jennifer said.
The demons may still have you, Simon thought before he could stop himself. He pushed the thought of his mind and concentrated on the effort they were about to make.
“Brace yourself,” Simon suggested.
“Impact imminent,” the AI reported in her cool voice. “Altering course.”
The safety systems. Simon cursed himself for forgetting those. Even when the ATVs were on manual control, there were defensive safety overrides in case the driver couldn’t see a disaster looming under battlefield conditions.
The ATV started to slide away from Jennifer’s vehicle.
“Abort safety overrides,” Simon ordered.
Immediately, Nathan recovered control of the ATV and drove into the other vehicle. Even though he was braced for the collision and was in his armor, the impact jarred Simon soundly. If not for the seat restraints, he would have been hurled forward and possibly through the broken window.
Nathan had hit the other vehicle a glancing blow on the side. Simon’s ATV rocked up as if it was going to overturn, then settled back to the ground. A brief glance at his HUD revealed that Jennifer’s vehicle was slowly swinging up. For a moment, it seemed to hang and Simon was afraid that it wouldn’t flip back onto its wheels. Then the apex passed and the ATV dropped right side up.
A brief cheer carried over the radio frequency, and it was coming from all of the ATVs. The celebration was short-lived because the pressing matter of survival was once more quickly at hand.
Nathan’s course took him into the demons. Simon had his hands full for the next minute or so burning through ammo in the Spike Bolter. Most of the demons went down before the palladium spikes and the Greek Fire missiles.
The exterior vid showed that the ATV was on fire as well. The tires were pretty much fire-resistant but Simon knew they weren’t completely so. Having a blowout—or multiple blowouts—would leave them stranded and as vulnerable as Jennifer and her team had been.
The ATV bumped and shivered as it rode over demons. Blade Minions leaped to the attack as Nathan downshifted and cut sharply back toward the open area. The demons’ sharp forearm blades grated against the ATV’s palladium armor. Simon knew the vehicle was taking damage that would have to be repaired at some point. Left to their own devices, the Blade Minions would have peeled the ATV open like a tin can in spite of the armor.
“HARP shield ready and standing by,” Danielle said.
When Simon switched to an exterior view of the ATV, he saw that it was swarming with demons. Inside London, he wouldn’t often get caught like this. The countryside was far too open to provide adequate cover for a small group of warriors outnumbered by a larger force as they were now.
The HARP shielding would blanket the entire ATV but seriously drain the batteries. Another charge couldn’t be ready for another eig
ht to ten minutes. By then they could all be dead.
Using the shield was his call.
“Energize shield.”
“Energizing,” Danielle replied.
A distinct keening whine echoed throughout the control compartment. For a moment, when the HARP discharged, Simon’s HUD went blank. The charge was powerful enough to temporarily take the HUD and comm offline. Only a second afterward, though, the AI brought the HUD and comm systems back up.
Nathan had kept the wheels churning through dead demons and broken landscape. A moment later, he burst through the line and raced to the other two ATVs.
The demons followed and fired volley after volley that lit the surrounding forest on fire and scored intermittent hits on the ATVs. They weren’t going to be able to keep up.
Simon ran a quick aerial reconnaissance with the sensor drones but no airborne demons were detected. For the moment, they were free and running safe.
“We could dog them for a bit,” Jennifer suggested. “Take down a few more of them.”
Knowing they had the upper hand, even if only for a short time, made the idea attractive. Simon give it consideration. They hadn’t had a truly decisive victory against the demons in months.
“It would be foolish to pursue that course,” Borden said. “We’ve got a job to do it we need to see it done.”
Almost regretfully, Simon agreed. But he knew that it wouldn’t take long for the demons to call in reinforcements. Then the battle advantages would change again. They were lucky they had been able to handle the seven Blood Angels.
“Withdraw,” Simon said. “Let’s stick with the game plan.”
SEVENTEEN
A n hour and seventeen minutes later, they reached the rendezvous point at Dover. Simon positioned the ATVs in a triangle with his own vehicle heading up point. Sensor drones swept through the surrounding mountains and even out over the English Channel.
