by West, Kyle
We looked at each other. It was time to make good on our side of the bargain, but Makara and the others still needed airlifting out of Oasis, if they were still there.
“Augustus,” Ashton said. “We...have something to take care of, first. It won’t take long.”
“What?”
“We’ll...be back to help soon. It has to do with our friends.”
“Your friends?” The dash was silent for a moment. “You mean...Samuel?”
“We didn’t want to say anything. But they are alive. We know, because the cargo bay of Gilgamesh was empty. There was a Recon stored there, so we know they got out. We think they’re in Oasis, and Oasis is under attack. We have to save them.”
It took a while for Augustus to react to these words. I could only imagine his shock.
“I...can hardly believe that, Ashton. Even if it’s true...how do you know they are there?”
Ashton looked at me. “I think we might have a lead. Don’t ask me to explain. It should only take thirty minutes extra.”
“Thirty minutes?” Augustus asked. “Do you know how many of my men could die in that time?”
“This is important,” Ashton said. “And it’s not something we can argue about. It’s something we must do.”
Augustus said something in Spanish, likely a curse.
“I went through all this trouble to provide you with a spaceship, and this is how you repay me?”
“It won’t be long for us to pick them up,” I said. “If we wait, they’re going to die, and we can’t let that happen. We don’t have time, especially if they have flyers. Your men can hold on that long.”
Augustus was silent for a long moment.
“I don’t like this, but I see I have no option. You have your extra thirty minutes, but after that, you must help me with the Reapers.”
“Agreed,” Ashton said. “We won’t be long.”
We sped west over the Great Blight.
***
We stayed high in altitude at first, but once we were halfway over Arizona, Ashton lowered the ship in preparation for descent into Oasis. Once we broke through the layer of thick, red clouds, we saw a fraction of what we’d be up against.
The entire fungus-ridden ground boiled with wave after wave of crawlers, all speeding east in a blur. Above them flew dragons – at least a dozen of them. Behemoths lumbered across the plains at a run while other strange, nameless creatures scampered in their wake.
I realized where they all were headed. Los Angeles.
“Opening fire,” Sparks said.
“No!” Ashton shouted. “Hold your fire!”
But it was too late. A trail of bullets blazed from Orion’s turret, entering the back of one of the dragons. The dragon gave a high shriek that pierced the ship’s hull. Its wings folded as it spiraled to the ground, crashing into a startled Behemoth.
Immediately, the rest of the dragons changed trajectory, aiming upward toward us. Their white eyes blazed in fury.
“Lose them in the clouds,” Ashton said. “And hold on. This might get bumpy.”
The ship angled upward. The onrush of G-forces pushed me against my seat. The LCD revealed Orion lagging behind, two xenodragons clipping at its thrusters.
“Faster, Sparks!” Ashton said.
“I’m trying!”
We broke through the clouds, and Ashton kept climbing. From behind, Orion appeared. Seconds later, two xenodragons pierced the clouds, flying madly to intercept Orion.
“Keep climbing!” Ashton said.
“I can’t go any faster!” Sparks said.
Ashton looked at the LCD, shaking his head in frustration. “Your retrothrusters are facing the wrong way, you idiot! Point them aft!”
Below, Sparks struggled to control the ship. All the while, the xenodragons closed the gap.
Ashton turned Perseus around. “We can’t trust them to save themselves.”
“Target acquired,” Anna said. “Fire?”
“Jonas, out of the way!”
“What?”
“To port, to port!”
Finally, the message seemed to connect. Orion surged to the left, almost executing a barrel roll. The ships weren’t meant to fly upside down while in the atmosphere, and the move could have caused Orion to go down. But Sparks managed to right the ship, giving us the opening we needed to take a shot.
“Both targets acquired,” Anna said.
Instead of haranguing Jonas again, Ashton merely shook his head. “Fire.”
Two missiles streaked from beneath Perseus. One zoomed to left, toward a xenodragon chasing after Orion, while the other surged to the right, where the other dragon raced to cut off the Orion’s escape.
“Drop through the clouds!” Ashton said.
This time, there was no delay in reaction. Orion dipped, which must have thrown the Praetorians in the wardroom straight to the deck. Before the dragons could react to Orion’s change in course, the missiles connected, igniting in twin, fiery plumes of white and orange. A rush of purplish organic matter and chips of bone exploded outward, charred to crisps from the immense heat released by the missiles.
I looked at the section of cloud below the explosion, where Orion had disappeared.
“You still there?” Ashton asked. “Orion, you have a copy?”
There was no response. Perseus showed the ship to be online. Maybe Jonas had blacked out from the G-forces.
At last, Orion lifted above the clouds at a leisurely place.
“Sparks,” Ashton said, “you nearly got us all killed.”
“I know,” he said, almost sullenly. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s real easy to piss off those dragons,” Ashton said. “We’re lucky only two came after us.”
“I wonder where they’re going, anyway,” Anna said.
“Los Angeles,” I said. “Carin Black picked a hell of a time to start the war.”
“There might be a way to stop it,” Ashton said. “But first, we have to get to Oasis. Our team’s waiting on us.”
Ashton turned the ship, facing it northwest.
“Follow my lead, Sparks,” he said. “And don’t do anything without my go-ahead. Got that?”
It was a long while before Ashton received his answer.
“Roger.”
***
Thirty minutes later, Perseus lowered through the red cloud layer to an Oasis under siege.
Legions of crawlers and monsters writhed outside its wooden stockade. From the ramparts guards shot into the teeming mass, to little avail. There were so many monsters that it would only be a matter of minutes before they broke through – if they hadn’t already. Three Behemoths clobbered a northern section of palisade near the interior farms. One of the giants fell under a barrage of machine-gun fire from a turret in a nearby watchtower. The fallen Behemoth was replaced by another.
On the southern section, the crawlers were so thick that they were piling up. The ones at the top leaped madly, trying to gain a foothold on the ramparts.
There was no way we could rescue everyone inside.
“We’re not going in there,” Augustus said. “It’s madness.”
Ashton hovered a moment above the walls.
“We could at least make a dent in their numbers.”
Ashton swiveled, pointing Perseus toward the main body of the swarm.
“Anna, fire in 3...2...1...”
A missile streaked from beneath Perseus’s hull. In a couple of seconds, it connected with the ground, bursting into bright, fiery plumes. The remains of monsters blasted outward.
There were thousands of them down there. My heart sank at the sight. There was no way we could survive this coming storm once it made it to Los Angeles.
“Look to starboard!” Anna said.
Ashton angled the ship slightly, to see the final nail in the coffin coming in the form of at least twelve xenodragons. They flew from the east in a wide V. They were still distant, little larger than specks on the horizon, but they would be
upon us in minutes.
“We have to get them out quickly,” Ashton said. “Sparks, cover me. I’m landing inside.”
“No,” Augustus said, answering for his pilot. “You’re going to get yourself killed. We must retreat to Los Angeles.”
“Our friends are down there, and I’ll be damned if I’m leaving them behind. Go back to Los Angeles if you like. This is something we have to do.”
Augustus growled, but didn’t argue further. Orion remained hovering behind us, seemingly indecisive.
“Fine,” Augustus spat. “We’ll distract those monsters while you land. But we aren’t fighting those dragons for you. You’re on your own for those.”
At that moment, two missiles shot out from Orion, igniting near the crater where Perseus’s missiles had connected. A trail of bullets riddled the battlefield, tearing into the swarm.
Ashton flew over the eastern wall. Men watched in amazement as we swooped overhead. In the chaos below, I saw no sign of our friends.
We lowered onto the fields occupying the northern half of the town. We set down, crumpling crops beneath the ship’s landing struts.
We ran off the bridge, me taking the lead. I pulled out my Beretta, stopping by the armory to see if there were other weapons I could use. I slid the door open, revealing various rifles, handguns, grenades, and body armor.
I latched a couple of grenades to my belt, also snatching an AR-15 from the gun rack. I checked the magazine for bullets. It was locked and loaded. I already had additional bullets in my pack for when I needed them.
“Let’s go!” Ashton said, drawing his handgun.
Anna unsheathed her katana in the wardroom, and pressed the exit button to the blast door. It slid open, letting in a rush of cold, fetid air. I nearly gagged at the smell. The thousands of Blighters outside the walls had made this place smell like a garbage heap.
We ran down the ramp and into the flattened wheat crop. The fields appeared to be empty of threats.
That was, until three white eyes stared out from between the stalks.
The crawler let out a primal scream as it shot forward. I lowered my AR against my shoulder, firing a stream of bullets. The crawler screeched and shuddered as it settled into the grain. Its exoskeleton was coated with purple slime. The insect-like corpse twitched, and even though it was dead, its three eyes blinked open and shut. Anna, with a grunt, buried her blade deep into the crawler’s head in the nape of its neck. Its muscles convulsed before it went slack.
“We need to head to town,” Anna said, wiping her blade on the wheat. “Find Ohlan. He’ll know where Makara is.”
We set off south through the fields at a run, Ashton wheezing from behind. We found a wide dirt path leading into town. If there was one crawler inside the wheat fields, there were probably more lurking about. There was an opening somewhere in the walls. Whatever the case, we didn’t have much time.
We entered the outskirts of Oasis. The streets were empty, and the ramshackle wooden and tin buildings creaked in the wind. Inhuman screams sounded from the horde, still separated from us by the fragile palisade.
We ran forward, to where the dirt path forked into two segments wrapping around either side of the oasis for which the town was named. We had a few minutes to find our friends and get out of here. Those dragons wouldn’t be long.
We reached an intersection. A man ran out of a wooden building to our right. He pointed a gun our direction, firing several times.
As we raised our weapons, it became clear the gun was empty of bullets. It just clicked, over and over, as tears ran down his face.
With a wail, the man dropped to his knees. Anna walked forward, placing her blade near the weeping man’s neck.
“Makara. Samuel. Where are they?”
The man continued to wail, uncomprehending.
“Where’s Ohlan?” I asked.
That name seemed to register. The man pointing a shaking finger across the oasis, at a large, rounded building that might have been some sort of meeting hall.
“Thank you,” Ashton said. “Hide somewhere safe.”
We left the crazed man behind and ran around the west side of the oasis. Dozens of shots cracked the air, mostly from the wall. Between the buildings, we got a glimpse of the guards, firing downward into the horde. The piercing wail of a xenodragon carried on the wind from the east, fortunately still distant.
When we reached the other side of the oasis, two crawlers shot forward at a lightning pace from the town’s main drag. Their large mouths were agape and dripping red blood. As we were about to fire, from somewhere in the town came a woman’s scream. Instantly, the crawlers turned from us, and rushed in the direction they had come. It was only a moment later that the woman screamed again, as if in horrible pain.
There was no time to focus on such horror. We kept running, past the main drag. The large building was ahead. Makara and the others needed to be in there; if they weren’t, we didn’t have time to search elsewhere. Above, Orion swooped low over the town as more explosions rocked the east, shaking the ground with their impact.
We arrived in front of the open doorway, and ran inside.
The entire interior was a large circular room with a dirt floor. It was dim, but not impossible to see. At the end of the building, a set of steps led up to a throne. Rows of foldout chairs faced the throne. This might have been a place where meetings were conducted, or sermons given. I remember Samuel having said this place was run like a cult.
“There,” Anna said, pointing to our left.
A set of stairs spiraled downward beneath the building. But in the building’s dimness, she had missed a key detail about that throne.
A man was sitting on it.
Chapter 8
“You bring death to Oasis,” a voice rattled. “I should have killed you in the beginning.”
I walked a few steps forward, pointing my AR-15 at the throne.
“Where are they, Ohlan?”
From outside, screams penetrated the walls. We didn’t have long until these monsters had completely broken through. But first, I had to deal with the monster sitting on this throne.
“Where they should be. They are downstairs, locked in the cell. They were due to be executed this morning, in fact.” He gave a bitter, mad laugh. “It looks like that will be the fate of us all.”
“I should kill you,” Anna said. “But maybe I should let the crawlers do it for me.”
I thought I saw Ohlan shrug in the dimness. “So be it. Death comes for us all, in the end. It is useless to resist.”
“Come on,” I said.
“Mark him, Ashton,” Anna said. “Alex and I will go downstairs.”
Ashton nodded. Anna and I went left, never turning our backs to Ohlan. Slowly, we descended the stairs.
My AR had a battery-powered light on it, which I clicked on. Underground, it smelled of must, mold, and sweat.
“Makara?” I called out. “Samuel? Anyone...?”
“Alex?”
It was Makara – unmistakably Makara. My heart swelled with happiness at hearing her voice.
Everyone else called out. They were all alive.
“We have to hurry,” I said. “You’re locked in?”
“How did you survive?” Samuel asked. “How did you find...?”
“There’ll be time for all that later,” I said. “Right now, we have to...”
“Ohlan has the key,” Michael said. “Did you kill him?”
“No, he’s...”
Already, Anna was turning around, charging up the stairs. I ran up after her. When we surfaced, we found Ohlan, still sitting on his throne, Ashton steadily pointing his handgun at him.
“The key, Ohlan,” I said.
Ohlan gave a small smile. Quickly, he reached downward, pulling on a small, round object that most definitely was not a key.
“Grenade!” I yelled.
The grenade was lobbed to the center of the floor. Ashton backed away for the stairs. I grabbed Anna and pulled
her in that direction as well. Ashton tumbled down, falling several steps. I dove inside with Anna in tow. We landed with a thud in the center of the steps just as the grenade split the air, deafeningly loud. Bits of metal shot into the wall, several of the fragments sprinkling onto the steps from above. Several of the sharp edges cut my skin.
I got off Anna, allowing her to get up.
“You alright?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah. You?”
“Fine. We have to get that key.”
We walked back up the stairs. We found Ohlan’s corpse lying in the center of the floor, blood pooling around his remains. As we neared, I saw grenade fragments sticking deeply into his skin. The sounds of battle raged outside, reminding me we couldn’t stay here long.
Anna searched Ohlan’s pockets. A few seconds later, she came away with a large, metal key.
“Got it.”
We ran downstairs. I pointed my AR-15’s flashlight ahead into the darkness, revealing the forms of our four friends. They ducked out of the way; I realized I was pointing my gun right at them.
“Sorry,” I said, pointing the gun toward the floor.
Anna stuck the key in the cell door, giving it a twist. With a squeal, the metal-barred door swung open.
They ran outside, and we all made our way upstairs and into the meeting hall. Ashton was first to speak.
“We need to get moving,” Ashton said. “I don’t even know if we’ll make it to the ship in time.”
“So there was a ship,” Julian said. “I knew it.”
“We’ll explain everything later,” I said. “Augustus is waiting.”
All of their eyes widened in surprise, but I didn’t have time to explain anything. I ran toward the door.
“We have no weapons,” Makara said.
I handed Makara my AR. “Take this.”
As Makara took the weapon, I withdrew my Beretta.
“Let’s go. The ship is in the northern fields.”
With Makara’s nod, I charged forward into the red sunlight.
Only to be greeted by a large Behemoth standing twenty feet ahead.
***
The Behemoth was at least twelve feet tall, with blue-gray skin. The skin had the splotches of pink coloring more typical of xenolife. Hollow white eyes stared from its flat face. Upon seeing us, the Behemoth frowned and made a fist with its massive right hand. Knuckles cracked.
