Earth Unrelenting (Forgotten Earth Book 2)

by M. R. Forbes

  They saw the creatures coming and pulled up suddenly, realizing they weren’t going to make it to the horses in time. The animals seemed accustomed to the sound of gunfire and the sight of the trife. They lifted their heads with only minor interest before resuming their grazing.

  Two more of the creatures fell, hit by Doc’s gunfire from across the street. The nomads had realized someone was shooting, and the woman and child fell into the grass, while the man stood over them, shotgun ready.

  Nathan finally had a clear shot, and he fired the rifle while he ran. Three quick bolts knocked down three of the demons, and also drew the attention of the nomad. He spun around, finger on the shotgun’s trigger. His mouth opened, his eyes somehow gaining a greater expression of fear than the trife had caused.

  “Wait,” Nathan tried to say, firing the plasma rifle past the man and into another trife.

  The man pulled the trigger.

  Nathan dove to the side right before he did. He still felt a few of the buckshot balls clip his leg, smacking against the bodysuit beneath his fatigues and failing to make it through. He hit the ground, rolling back up, taking in the scene in an instant.

  There were only a few trife remaining, but the man’s distraction because of Nathan’s presence had left the woman and child undefended. The creatures were rushing toward the woman, while the child started screaming.

  “Move!” he shouted at the man, pushing off and reaching out.

  The man froze in the middle of trying to get the shotgun open and a new shell inserted. Nathan shoved him to the side and dove toward the trife bearing down on the woman and child.

  He shoved his rifle into the first creature’s mouth, pulling the trigger while yanking it hard to the side. Its head exploded, its body thrown into the creature beside it. Nathan landed beside the woman and her child, turning on his knees and firing into another creature at point-blank range. It hissed and collapsed.

  Doc hit the third from her position. The fourth lunged at the woman, claws slashing down. Nathan managed to get the rifle between it and her, catching the blow and lifting, redirecting it and throwing it off-balance. He grabbed his sidearm from its holster and fired, shooting it in the head and ending the threat.

  He knelt in the field beside the woman, blowing out a heavy sigh. That had been too close. He looked down at the child in the woman’s arms. A girl, no more than three or four. The woman was looking back at him, shaking in fear, her eyes pleading.

  Something warm pressed against the back of his head.

  “Freaking General Stacker?” the man said. “You’re a damn fool to be out here without that metal can of yours. Must be my lucky day.” He pressed the barrel of the shotgun harder against Nathan’s head.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Doc said, her voice closer than Nathan was expecting. He shifted his eyes, finding her coming in through the entrance to the field. “I hit those trife from a hundred meters; I can hit you from six.”

  “So what?” the man replied. “You kill me? If I kill the Iron General, I can help a lot of people.”

  “That isn’t him, you idiot,” Doc said. “Just like you said, he wouldn’t come out here without his armor.”

  “You’re wearing their colors. Liberator colors. Liberator logo. Even if you ain’t him, you’re freaking Liberators.”

  “Yes, we are.”

  “You ain’t taking them.”

  “You kill my man, and I’ll do worse than take them,” Doc said.

  Nathan could feel the barrel of the shotgun vibrating against his head. The man’s hands were shaking so hard he would probably drop the weapon if he tried to use it. He breathed in, and then slammed his head down and back into the barrel, hitting it with enough force to point it toward his back. He spun at the same time, getting his left hand on the top of the weapon and his right on the man’s throat. He stood up, lifting the man off the ground.

  “I could kill you,” he said calmly.

  A line of urine ran down the nomad’s pants and onto the grass. The little girl started crying again.

  “General, please,” the woman said.

  Nathan lowered the man, releasing his neck and his weapon.

  “But I have no interest in hurting you. I was trying to help you.”

  He glanced back at Doc. He had no idea why these people were so angry and so frightened of James.

  What had he done to them to make them that way?

  “Liberators don’t help nobody but themselves,” the woman said. “Everyone knows that.”

  “Today, we do,” Nathan said. “We’re looking for someone. Help us find him, and you’ll have no trouble with us.”

  Chapter 37

  “My name is Grayson,” the nomad said. He motioned to his family. “That’s Shanna, and little Shanna. We call her Filly.”

  “Nathan. And that’s Doc.”

  “Nathan,” Grayson repeated. “You know you look just like the Iron General? What’s his name, Shanna? The general?”

  “Stacker,” she said.

  “General Stacker. That’s it. You have the same face.”

  “I’ve heard that before,” Nathan said. “But I’m not him.”

  “That’s for truth. He’s too much of a pansy to come out here without his metal box.”

  Nathan smirked at the comment. He was sure James could do almost as much damage without the powered armor as he could with it. Half his body was mechanical.

  Grayson glanced at Doc. “Doc, huh? You a doctor?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “But you’re with the Liberators?”

  “We are.”

  “How do you even sleep at night?”

  “Look, I understand why you might be upset. I know our methods aren’t always the kindest. But we’re trying to do what’s best for everybody.”

  Nathan had no idea what she was talking about, but it was obvious Grayson did.

  “How many people have you taken, Doc?” the nomad asked. “How many families have you broken?”

  “As many as we had to. We’re going to do what nobody else has been able to do. We’re going to save this world. Try to understand that.”

  “Understand? How do you propose to save the world when you’re getting rid of all of our women? You need women to populate the Earth with humans, Doc.”

  Nathan’s head whipped toward Doc. “What is he talking about?”

  “It’s nothing, Colonel. A misunderstanding.”

  “There’s nothing to misunderstand about it. You a new recruit, Nathan?”

  “You could say that.”

  Doc’s face was tight, her body suddenly tense. It was obvious to him that this was a conversation she had been trying not to have.

  Maybe James hadn’t lied to him, but he definitely hadn’t told him everything.

  “Grayson, can you give me a minute? I need to talk to Doc.”

  “Sure thing,” Grayson said. “If you didn’t know what Tinker’s people are doing out here, it’s better that you find out sooner than later.”

  Nathan headed across the field to the open gate. Doc walked with him.

  “Talk,” he said.

  “Nathan, I don’t think now is the best time to—”

  “I said talk,” he hissed.

  “Colonel, please don’t ask me to—”

  “Talk!” he shouted.

  She licked her lips and set her jaw. “Fine. The virus is derived from a number of materials. One of those materials is human placenta.”

  “Placenta? Can’t you just take that when a woman gives birth? Why are you taking the whole person?”

  “I said one of the materials. It’s not a simple formula. Forget about that. The end result is what’s important here. We’re talking about destroying all of the trife on the planet. What is that worth?”

  “I don’t know. You haven’t told me exactly what you’re doing.”

  “Damn it, Nathan. We have orders to find Sheriff and keep an eye on him. Everything else is secondary.”
>
  “It isn’t to me. The Trust killed my wife. They took her from me. Without warning. Without reason. They stole the only thing in the universe I valued. And now you’re telling me that James is doing the same thing to the people here?”

  Doc’s face had paled at the quiet outburst. “It isn’t the same thing.”

  “Tell that to Grayson. Tell that to his wife and daughter. Did you see the fear in their eyes? The pain on their faces at the thought that we would separate them? Why do you need the whole person?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  Nathan’s heart was pounding, his anger flaring. His rationality was a switch, and it was on the verge of being tripped. “Why?” he growled.

  “We need to make some genetic alterations before the placenta is formed. We splice human DNA with trife DNA at the root level.”

  “Root level?”

  “The egg, and the sperm.”

  Nathan’s whole body froze, a chill running down his spine. His voice came out meekly. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

  Doc looked at the ground. She nodded. “We impregnate the women with human-trife hybrids. The pregnancies aren’t viable, but they do evoke the changes needed. Term is only a few weeks. The women carry them, we harvest the placenta, and we’re done.”

  “What happens to the woman?”

  “The pregnancy is non-viable.”

  “That isn’t an answer.”

  “They die.”

  Nathan stared at her, his veins icy. “You’re killing them?”

  “We’re killing a few to save everybody.”

  “Who the fuck made you God?”

  “Nathan, it—”

  “I don’t fucking believe this.” He put his head in his hand, rubbing his forehead. He could feel the veins throbbing beneath it, his entire body was cold and angry. “I just don’t fucking believe this. You let me think you were trying to help people.”

  “We are trying to help people.” She looked up, her expression turning to stone. “Fuck you and your fucking judgements, Nathan,” she hissed, getting angry back at him. “It’s easy for you to stand there and decide what’s right and what’s wrong based on the life you knew on Proxima. It’s easy for you to say that we shouldn’t do anything we have to do to get the fucking aliens off our planet. Our planet, Nathan. Humankind’s planet. You look at me like I’m a piece of shit for helping with this. I’m a woman too. Do you think I don’t care about what we’re doing? Do you think it doesn’t affect me? The trife are killing people every day. For the last two hundred years. Every. Fucking. Day. You’re telling me that’s better? You’re telling me that’s okay? That life on Earth should be like this forever? Fuck that and fuck you.”

  Nathan stared at her, furious. His hands clenched, and he struggled to stay under control. “Do you tell them what you need them for? Do you tell them why you’re taking them from their families? From their communities? Do you give them a chance to say no?”

  “Don’t be stupid. We tried that.”

  “Let me guess, no takers?”

  “Most people only see themselves and the people that relate directly to them. Most people can’t see the bigger picture. The farther future. It’s been this way for so long, they can’t imagine a world without trife.”

  “And they don’t want to lose their own lives to make it happen.”

  “I don’t blame them for that. But we need them. Well, needed them. We’re close, Nathan. We’re so fucking close. If this last trial is successful, we won’t need to take anyone else. Ever. What’s done is done. You can’t change it. I can’t change it. But we can make sure it wasn’t for nothing.”

  Nathan kept staring at her. His anger was fading. He was starting to calm. He knew Tinker was wrong to do what he did. But maybe she was right. He wasn’t the one living with the trife every day of his existence. Maybe it wasn’t his place to judge.

  “Then that little girl and her mother are safe?” he asked.

  “Nobody out here is safe. That’s my whole point.”

  “Safe from Tinker?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I promise. But you shouldn’t have such a soft spot for them.”

  “Why not?”

  “You don’t know anything about them. His people, the horse nomads? They’re thieves. They’re murderers. They’re liars and rapists. They aren’t poor innocent survivors who need a big, strong Spacer to save them, no matter how they might look right now.”

  “Maybe the others aren’t. Grayson is harmless.”

  “Nobody out here is harmless. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”

  Nathan glared at her for a moment, and the headed back to the nomads.

  “We’re looking for a man and a woman on a motorcycle,” he said. “Have you seen them?”

  “No,” Grayson said. “Shanna?”

  “No,” his wife replied. “We’ve been here most of the day. We didn’t think there were any trife around.”

  “What about your people? Other nomads?”

  “It’s possible someone saw them,” Grayson said. “It would be hard to get through the whole city without one of ours laying eyes on them.”

  “What would happen if they were spotted? Would your people follow?”

  “That depends on the people. I wouldn’t, but someone like Hi-Top might.”

  “Hi-Top?”

  “He’s one of our rangers. He travels further away from the main camp than most. The Liberators took his wife, I would say, ten years ago now give or take. He’s had fire in his blood over it since. If he thinks they’re with you, I don’t know what he would do.”

  “Do you think he may have seen them?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “Do you know where we can find him?”

  “Any other day, I would tell you to go screw yourself, but you did save my wife and daughter. And you are damn polite for a Liberator. I can bring you back to the camp.”

  “Gray,” Shanna said. “I don’t think that’s a good—”

  “Did I ask you?” he snapped back. “He saved your life. Besides, we help him find these people, maybe we can get in the Iron General’s favor. That helps everybody.”

  “I can guarantee helping us will benefit your community,” Doc said. “The man we’re after killed a bunch of our people.”

  “I’m sure they didn’t deserve it in the least,” Grayson replied sharply. “You in, Nathan?”

  Nathan nodded. “Yeah. We’re in.”

  Chapter 38

  “You can’t trust these people,” Doc said.

  They were walking together behind the two horses carrying Grayson and his family, heading north along a wide street. They had spent the last twenty minutes in tense silence, keeping their attention focused on the landscape around them, using the threat of trife as an excuse to ignore one another.

  Nathan had taken the time to try to come to terms with what he had learned about Tinker and his virus. He didn’t have to like it, but it would be better if he were able to accept it. Doc was right when she said he had no idea what it was like to live here. If he were still on Proxima, he would have no idea what was happening on this planet. And if he had been made here, like James, would he be the one in the powered armor, taking women from their families in an effort to save the entire planet?

  If he was honest with himself, he couldn’t say for sure he wouldn’t.

  “Who said I trust them?” Nathan asked. “They’re tools, right? Just like the Trust.”

  “I don’t like the idea of going to their camp. There will be hundreds of them there and only two of us. It won’t be hard for them to make us disappear.”

  “They’re too afraid of James to go that far. For as angry as he was about your so-called trials, he still wants to be on the general’s good side.”

  “I hope you’re right. This isn’t how I was planning on dying.”

  “How were you planning on dying?”

  “I wasn’t.”

  Grayson looked b
ack from his mount. “We’re coming up on the outer perimeter. It starts at that marker there.” He pointed to a line of faded yellow paint on a half-crumbled wall. It looked relatively fresh compared to everything around it. “Stay close, let me do the talking.”

  “Is there going to be trouble?” Nathan asked.

  “The Liberators have done a lot of damage over the years. If you can give us a chance to end things, to wander freely, it will go a long way for most. But not all.”

  “Understood.”

  Nathan picked up his pace, positioning himself between the two horses. Doc joined him there a moment later. He still couldn’t quite get over the creatures. They had smaller animals on Proxima, dogs and cats and rats, but nothing nearly as substantial. He reached out toward Grayson’s horse’s head, wondering what it felt like. The horse whinnied and shifted its face slightly, and he drew back in surprise.

  Grayson laughed. “You run towards trife, but you’re afraid of Biggie here? Haven’t you ever seen a horse before?”

  Nathan shared a look with Doc. They had no idea.

  They passed the yellow marker. Nathan wasn’t sure what he was expecting to happen, but nothing did. Not for another two blocks, when the first of the guards appeared, moving out on horseback from inside the back of an old box truck.

  “Grayson,” the man said. He had a hunting rifle in his hands, held across his lap. He didn’t see Nathan and Doc at first, but he lifted the rifle into firing position when he did. “What the freak is this?”

  “Whoa, hold up, Hector,” Grayson said. “You want to die, man?”

  Hector kept the rifle aimed at Nathan. He paled once he got a better look at his target’s face. “Shit. Is that the Iron General?”

  “No, man. But he is a Liberator. You freak with him, and you might as well turn that rifle on yourself.”

  Hector lowered the gun. “So… Sorry, sir. No harm done, right?”

  Nathan looked over at him but didn’t speak. It was better if they remained afraid.