by Marcus Sloss
I had to tear my eyes off the screen to look out the windshield. The crack of .308 carbines unleashing death from the front of the convoy caught my attention. I immediately vacated my booth seat for the loft and transitioned to the roof. My eyes absorbed the situation while I twirled a rapid spin. The suicidal roaches were not swarming in numbers. They were spread out, caught off guard by our rapid arrival. Three hundred trained marksmen and women fired ruthlessly. I joined the death-dealing. The snap of carbines belching chitin-piercing rounds was joined by my sizzling teal orbs.
I swiveled the long rifle from target to target without burying my eye into the scope. Aim, fire, and adjust. Aim, fire, and adjust. The dead roaches scattered the grounds of the elite neighborhood. I glanced at the million-dollar homes. Most were in pristine shape, with vehicles abandoned in the driveways. Doors were burst open, windows smashed, and items chucked onto the lawn from past looters. Still, I had a feeling the vital stuff we needed would be inside. I let the thought slip as my team leaders began clearing the tallest home on the block with the best view into northern Denver.
I slid off the RV, using my arm to slow my descent. My feet smacked onto the flawless private road. A few long bounds and I was into the house.
“This way, boss,” Mclain shouted to me.
I followed in his wake up a stairwell. The crack of his .308 told me there was trouble. I caught up to him no problem. I saw five roaches crashing down the stairway with their mandibles aggressively trying to get to Mclain.
“Duck!”
I unleashed my ball of death, praying he would obey.
He did. The round missed him by an inch. The teal static ball of death washed over the roaches. The spray of the splash hit our shields. A few were slow enough to create pockets of burns over Mclain’s body. I saw the man holding in a scream of pain.
I had killed the roaches but destroyed the stairs to the third floor. I retreated to the second floor desperate for a balcony. I found one behind the third door. A single step onto the ledge let me leap to catch the third-floor balcony. When I pulled myself up, Torrez was already on the roof scanning the area. Another jump and my hand caught the lip, Torrez hauling me up onto the scratchy roof.
I peered down into northern Denver. The divine-ape was being surrounded. A crackling white ball smashed into its side. The rhinotaurs were mere dots from this distance. Shit, we must be three miles away.
A ladder slammed into the side of the roof. My radio crackled. “Buildings clear, conducting second sweep. Stay alert,” Jevon said into the radio.
“Torrez, spot,” I said.
I shouldered my long rifle. My scope lined up with the divine-ape fighting desperately now. The littered dead were big in my enhanced scope. The scope was blurring and focusing on the rapid, distant motion of the big creature. I swiveled until I found the divine-ape prisoner in my sight. The optic highlighted red when I aimed at the beast. When I dragged the dot to the chain it went yellow. Red dead, yellow not so dead, I guessed. I fired the weapon.
My optic did not move. The round was not in sight until it crashed against the chain in a firework display of blue. The chain link was not destroyed, only deteriorated. A second small round belched forward.
“Uh, I am going to shoot. That landed with precision. Want us on chains or on rhinotaurs or the big divine-ape?”
“Put the rhinotaurs on their proverbial back feet. Sniper fire should throw the command into chaos. Pick out targets in fancy gear first.”
The second round landed with less splash. Whatever outer coating the chain had was gone. There was a clear break. The divine-ape under the metal squirmed when the round continued into its skin. My grin spread wide. I found a different chain link. Fire, breathe, fire. New chain. Fire, two breaths, fire.
I watched the second link break. The first did not, as the rounds were too close together. The crack of a fifty-caliber rifle sent birds fluttering away from us in a wide circle. I continued to fire. By the eighth chain, I had not only enraged the divine-ape, I had broken enough of its containment. I lowered the rifle in perfect timing to see the massive monster burst free. Chains snapped before they were flung outwards in a dramatic display.
A fully empowered roar crashed into our ears. The first divine-ape was bleeding from many wounds and staggering from the electro shots. The rhinotaurs realized they were doomed. With two monsters on the field, they were maybe capable of winning. When you added in a new set of long-ranged snipers cracking shields and eliminating leaders, well, that meant it was time to go home. I watched the retreating rhinotaurs get torn apart as they fled with haste.
Retreating was always difficult. It rarely was the wise battlefield decision mid-fight. Then again, they never expected a third force to show up.
“Ceasefire,” I shouted.
I watched the scene unfold when the first divine-ape went home. It returned with four smaller versions of itself. The rhinotaur bodies were stripped of their metallic armor and shields before being tossed into the blue. Five minutes went by while they stripped the field of battle. I watched with my weapon’s sight. The children were talking to the parents. I could see lips move, a reply given, and then new actions carried out.
Sixty-foot-tall sapients. I figured as much. My mind started rationalizing how amazing capturing one would be. That must have been what the rhinotaurs were attempting. Trying to convert the beast into a servant. I smirked at the thought. My smirk was turned into a frown when the freed divine-ape turned to me, used a four-fingered hand to cover my distant image, and then motioned for me to join her. I assumed it was a her—she had nipples and no penis.
“Uh, Cap? I think you are being summoned for diplomacy.”
“Yeah, I am too valuable. Not to be conceded. Just true. Mclain is recovering. Nancy, you’re up. Take a steel truck and go say hello,” I ordered.
Nancy sighed but followed my orders.
I keyed the mic. “Command, this is Cap. Delta team leader going to exit convoy for diplomacy.”
“Roger, the chariot awaits. Command out,” Jevon said. A moment later the radio crackled. “Everyone, get to looting while we wait. No sense in sitting on our asses.”
That included me, technically. However, I wanted to watch the situation, not hunt for old electronics. I went for the ladder. Ensuring I planted my feet safely, I stepped down in a slow descent.
The lush, bright green grass I stepped across was in need of a mowing. The rain from earlier left a squishing feel. My distracted eyes caught a dead roach not far from RV3 which forced me to leap. The sound of team leaders giving out orders covered my landing footsteps. Non-sniper teams were slamming vehicle doors and heading into homes. I walked into RV3 to sit beside Jevon.
“Why Lavaun?” Jevon asked with a grimace.
“Not because I want my girlfriend to die. Slister is treating Mclain. Nancy Lavaun is the next in the chain,” I muttered with displeasure.
“Are you going to add Willow to that chain at some point?”
“Not anytime soon. We are an army with a core of veterans. These civilians are no slouches. We give them time, see who excels and gets promoted,” I said while dancing my fingers across the countertop. “Speaking of which, are there any veterans not in a minor role of leadership?”
“A few. Their team leaders are letting them know that when new units stand up they are getting promoted. Since we only need one REM cycle of sleep we should really reorganize. Especially as we expand housing units. Did you read the note from Gary?” Jevon asked with a curious brow raised. I shook my head no and his teeth gleamed when he smiled. I licked the inside of my mouth realizing I forgot to brush this morning. “Longhouse twenty-five will be done today. Twenty-six is going to be a two-story with balconies. Tower one is going up too. As in, the crixxi are getting their first home. We are finally expanding to the point we can spread out without a family to a single tiny space.”
“What about the slaughterhouse, bathhouse, and the kitchen?”
“Eric, you d
o realize we have hundreds of workers, right? Elifer joined this mission and two crixxi males. The rest of them are building like crazy. Gary is adapting like a champion. Clive can only work so fast,” Jevon said, and I reviewed Gary’s report. Jevon peeked over to see my inert Gpad pulling up historical files. “If we are going to keep looting down here, a Gtower would be nice. At least on the RV roof. Hell, just get one so we can see what the Xgate spawns. Next time pigri come out, we abandon Xgate 232 and raid down here.”
Jevon laughed at the thought.
“My first thought is a tall tower on the RV will cause issues. I guess power lines will not be a problem since they are all dead. We would still have to cut a path the first time. Actually, Braxton may want the lines for the coating anyway. Use it for his spools of silver. Add it to the folder when we get home. Maybe we can check with Aspen to see what tower they bought and get something similar,” I said. I shifted to watch the drones following Nancy. “The divine-apes… is that right? Hmm…”
“The shit that bothers you, man, fucking hilarious. The family of giant scaled apes with lizard tongues. What about them?” Jevon said with an indifferent glare.
“Why do they want to talk?” I said, continuing to dance my fingers on the counter. “I was not expecting this reaction.”
“Maybe they want to fight, they waved you down for a challenge? That was what crossed my mind. Bruce Lee waving his hand like in the movies. I dare you!” Jevon said with a karate chop to the air. “Go down there and do your worst!”
“I sure as hell hope that isn’t it. Oh look, they are done tossing the bodies in. They are not posturing aggressively. Okay, here comes Nancy. Oh fuck.”
The momma divine-ape slammed a fist into the ground in front of Nancy, forcing her to slam on the brakes. She skidded the truck to a halt.
The radio crackled with additional static. “She said thank you. I may have pissed myself,” Nancy said.
“Aw, my truck,” Jevon muttered which caused me to chuckle.
The divine-ape removed its fist from the crushed roads. Debris rained down while the massive creature shifted to the piled loot of weapons and power generators. The two hands formed a cup to scoop up the expensive parts.
“She is saying as a reward for saving the day, we get half. More importantly, her kind will not attack any more humans on this planet unless provoked. Do you have a reply?” Nancy asked with a few words going broken from the distant radio.
“When is she going to leave? We want to grab items for our young to play.”
The momma divine-ape dropped the loot to give a roaring laugh. Her fist pounded the ground. Her children joined her happy display. At least, I think it was happiness. When she calmed she returned the dropped loot into the bed of Jevon’s truck. We would have to shift some of the weight. The springs were probably already busted as they were insanely compressed. Then again, it was built Tesla tough.
“Tell her thank you. See if there is anything she wants to trade for.”
The divine-ape went from jovial to smashing a section of road. A chunk was picked up and hurled deep into Denver. Damn! That was impressive. The drones tried to track the flying road but failed to catch the surely awesome impact.
Nancy’s voice cracked over the radio, “Gods do not trade with their inferiors. Hurry to retrieve your prized child’s possessions before we become their next target. Umm. Cap, I am being told to leave. I may bust this truck.”
“Nice and slow, Nancy. I think we cannot show weakness here, it might offend. Jevon, get the convoy loaded up. Dedric, get the drivers ready to drive us to the Bounce, Bounce, and More store.”
Both men barked orders on their separate channels. The convoy did three-point turns on the single road to face out. Troops loaded into trucks after tossing loot into truck beds and trailers.
“We can always come back,” I muttered.
“Nancy is slowly retreating with the loaded down truck. Um… Holy—”
“—shit!” I finished the statement.
The Xgate flared alive. Divine-apes arrived from the portal. These ones carried weapons twenty feet long. I gulped. The momma divine-ape swatted a few arrivals who went for Nancy. This was an army. An army of massive monsters. Nancy slowly retreated while we progressed. I was nervous now, very nervous. I would be buying mounts for our vehicles to go with massive anti-monster weapons. We were so underprepared for such a threat.
“So, Cap… this is crazy. I suggest we send most of the convoy home,” Jevon said with trepidation.
“Smart call. We are taking Nancy’s team, so down we go. Halt the convoy and get out. You’re going into RV1. Might as well loot that first community we killed the roaches in.”
Dedric slowed our roll. Jevon hopped out with the vehicle like a boss, running at pace with our forward motion. The convoy proceeded out of the community again when he entered RV1. I watched the display. The number of giant monsters continued to swell. A weapon set was handed off to the momma. I guessed she was a matriarch because she was larger than the rest. I also think her getting captured was a trap we accidentally sprung. A war roar split the air, her troops following her lead. The echoing bellows forced many to cover their ears. The sound faded quickly when the divine-apes dove into the rhinotaur portal.
Five remained back on Earth. At first, that might seem insignificant, then you merely glanced at them. My reaction was fright. The whole scene we witnessed was a ploy. I could only imagine something so devastating happening to us. One thing did come to mind: do not fight running battles near an Xgate. There were far too many variables. Hell, I started thinking of our fight yesterday with the squibbles and realized the super quiet gate or the lurrols could have arrived in force if we got into a heated battle. The what-ifs played out in my head.
A pat on my shoulder pulled me from my thoughts.
“Nancy is outside. Want me to drive the truck home? Someone needs to,” Willow asked.
“No, I will command her platoon and you will be my second,” I said, leaving the RV.
Teams were trying to rapidly shift some weight out of the truck. The problem was, the generators that were piled into the truck bed were insanely heavy. We snagged a few of the weapons off easily.
I walked to Nancy’s window. The thick glass rolled down when I neared.
“I dislike you right now,” Nancy said with a stern glare. “I get you cannot show favoritism. I get I am a squad leader. And I understand you needed someone you could trust for negotiations. I am not it next time.”
Her finger wagged at me while pointing at my chest.
“Go link up with Jevon. I am going to loot the bouncy supplies and the Gpad repair store next door. Then we will be hauling ass back to home. Maybe we can go west down the Rockies into Utah to loot. I don’t know. Some days I think I am blessed with luck. Others, cursed. We need items to trade for the next golden portals,” I said with a sigh. A generator was removed from the bed of the truck. “Okay, you should be able to get uphill and make it down our dirt road. Off with you, Queen Lavaun.”
“Nancy to you, my handsome lover,” Nancy said with a smile. The anger lines on her youthful face vanished with my playful banter.
The truck rolled up the hill. Getting the generator onto another truck was a few-minutes process. Those things were heavy. I wondered what Braxton would find when he studied them. When we were loaded up, our team of one RV and six trucks rolled down into Five Parks.
CHAPTER 13
My team heading into Denver was down to RV3 with five support trucks with trailers. The drone operators were just as anxious as Dedric was to be getting closer—not further away—from the divine-apes. A few XLroaches charged out at us while we hurried down the partially blocked road. This caused a trigger reaction. My troops opened fire. A single divine-ape bounded our direction with massive leaps. The trucks rocked with each earth-shattering thud created by the divine-ape’s movements.
“Halt your fire!” it bellowed. “I will eat them alive. Carry on with your missio
n to get your child toys. I happen to have a baby at home myself.”
A roar peeled the XLroaches out of hiding from numerous locations. A second, then a third divine-ape joined the first in their feast. A loud gurgling noise akin to laughter escaped the trio as they picked roaches off their bodies. I watched them gorge themselves as we were ignored. The roaches had a target in sight they were suiciding into.
“So yummy, get in my tummy!”
“I love it when the hive mind dies. Makes for the best buffet ever. The others are going to be so jealous.”
I chuckled because they validated my earlier assumption. I was surprised we could hear their conversations so clearly. I somehow expected massive creatures to talk at a human-level scream at most. I was so very wrong. Their voices boomed across the landscape. The translator somehow made the noise into audible English at volumes that gave me a headache.
“ETA one minute,” Dedric said, crunching a roach under the tire.
“Still defend yourselves,” I ordered over the radio.
When we screeched to a stop I burst out of the RV. The thud of an approaching divine-ape caused me to spread my arms while bending my knees for stability. The volatile ground stopped quaking when a shadow cast me into darkness.
“I will whisper to avoid damaging your weak bodies. I am Lilith. I had the opportunity to pick a name. It seemed fitting, based on how she is a mighty demon,” Lilith said while gazing beyond her forked tongue at me. I aimed my weapon at the door of the Gpad repair shop. The glass shattered with the discharge. “What is your name, human?”
“Eric. my friends call me Cap. I got the—”
“Captain Moostache. Hilarious. Oh, the matriarch will love to hear that a villain rescued her. You are so delightfully evil. When you shoved those people off your boat… A classic. Aw, the story is so short,” Lilith said with a tone of sadness.
