Proxy War

by Adam Sampson

  Peter knew this one though and said, “They have been doing this for years, if we could overpower them, they would have been overpowered long ago. Maybe that is why they gave us such crappy weapons.” He gestured at what everyone was holding, then continued, “No, if we want to make it out of here, we need to play by their rules,” he turned to the Korean woman and said, “What else can you tell us?”

  “You saw the zergling and where its weak spots are, yes?” She said to nods all around. “We must hit there and nowhere else. Their armor is too strong everywhere else.”

  Everyone was getting back on the flatbeds at the urging of the guards. Instead of getting in the cab like last time, the guard stood at the front of the flatbed where everyone could see her.

  “Soon we will start moving, the bus will start moving slowly and we need to jump off on the outside of the anthills. The movie said that the middle is for cowards and the dead,” she said.

  Peter looked around as everyone got back on. He had a sudden thought and said, “We need to tell everyone not to stay on the flatbed till the middle, pass the word.”

  The hiking boots guy turned to the rest of the people on the flatbed and shouted, “Die mitte ist für der Feigling und dort sterben alle. Wir müssen vorher springen,” he paused then shouted, “The middle is for cowards and everyone dies there. We have to jump before then.” He turned back to Peter and smiled.

  “Thanks, uh,” Peter trailed off as he realized he didn’t know anyone’s name.

  “Jonas,” Jonas replied.

  “Thanks, Jonas. My name is Peter,” Peter said.

  “No problem, mate,” Jonas replied.

  “Mate? Where are you even from?” asked Peter.

  Before Jonas could answer, the flatbed started moving. They suddenly grew focused and stared at the mounds of dirt they were approaching. All five transports were moving slowly in from the edges to the middle. They were just about to the first mound of dirt. The soldier that stood at the front of the transport started waving to the passengers, indicating that they should get off.

  Peter was the first to stand up and said, “Come on, let’s get off here.” He started shuffling down the aisle before anyone started following him. Soon more and more were standing. It was about five feet down from the flatbed to the ground, and Peter jumped with Jonas right behind him. After a moment, there were 13 people standing in a group near the outermost mound of dirt. Although they had been warned, the rest of the passengers were slow to jump off, with the majority getting off halfway to the middle.

  Looking around at the group at his mound, Peter said, “We need to spread out, half of you go to the other side of the hill.” No one moved. He gestured to Jonas to back up and took a step back himself. He waved the Korean woman over and then started looking at the remaining ten people. Peter saw the tall heavy-set guy from his train section, the one he thought of as the fridge, and locked eyes with him. With a subtle jerk of his head, Peter indicated he should come over to his side, the man shrugged and came over. The younger German woman from earlier walked over to his side without any need to encourage her over. That was five, and he felt like he needed to follow the Korean woman’s advice and get six on the team. A heavyset older woman with a pike in her hands stood closest to their group, and Peter decided she looked competent enough. “Come on,” He said to her and waved her over. She looked nervous to do anything but came over anyway. That left seven of them in their group.

  “Ok, we will take this side of the hill. You guys take that side. Any monsters that come out on this side, we will take. You guys take the monsters on that side,” Peter said.

  They stood staring at him for a few moments until a short guy waved to his team and said, “Wir gehen,” and walked off.

  Oops, I probably should have said that in German. The train was headed to Germany, I bet more people speak German than they do English. Shit, why am I doing this? I am no leader. Peter thought to himself and stood there awkwardly.

  “Soo, my name is Jonas, what are your names?” Jonas said to the others.

  The Korean woman said, “I am Yoon.”

  The fridge guy said, “Dima.”

  “Lola,” said the German woman.

  “Samantha,” said the pike-wielding woman.

  “And I am Peter,” he said.

  They all stood there for a moment, doing nothing, looking to the others. Peter didn’t want to take charge anymore and so he said, “Does anyone know what they are doing? Anyone serve in the army, or know how to fight, or anything?”

  Everyone looked at each other for a moment before Lola said, “Well, I took Krav Maga when I was at Uni, but I don’t think that applies here.” She gestured at the dirt.

  Dima said, “I was in the Navy many years ago, but I was a clerk. I did numbers all day, not fighting.”

  “Ok, but you must have learned something in boot camp or whatever, right? How do we set up? We got monsters coming at us one at a time, right? So do we stand in a line, or circle up? Should we ambush them? Is there even cover for an ambush?” Peter said, the questions tumbling out of his mouth.

  They all looked around for cover, wondering about cover. They were standing on hard packed light red dirt. The mound of dirt ahead of them was looser, clumps of dirt about the size of a basketball all jumbled together. None of it was big enough to hide a child though, let alone any of the adults here.

  Dima replied, “I don’t know anything about combat, I have never fought. But there is nowhere to hide and ambush.”

  “Ok,” Peter said, defeated.

  “We stand together and fight together,” Yoon said.

  “Yeah, ok, we will make it work,” Peter said. He looked around at all their weapons and said, “Dima, you have an ax, and if you want to be able to cut off its head, you need to come at it from the side. So you go on that end so you can curl in after we have engaged. Jonas, you have a sword, so same thing. Yoon and uh, uh Samantha, you guys can stand in the middle, and blunt its attack. Lola, you have a mace, so you go for the joints on Samantha’s side, and I will go for the joints on Yoon’s side. The monster comes in, to the middle, the pointy things stop it and we all attack at once.”

  “Zerglings,” said Yoon.

  “Huh?” said Peter.

  “The monsters, they are called Zerglings,” said Yoon.

  “Is the name important?” Peter asked.

  “Not really,” Yoon replied.

  “Okay...” Peter said. “Anyway, does that sound good to everyone?” he continued.

  There was a round of shrugs and words of assent as they arranged themselves in a line according to Peter’s suggestions. They stood close together, but still had room to swing their weapons. Everyone brandished their weapons and focused on the top of the hill where the monster would appear. They stood there, silent and vigilant, waiting for the known unknown. The wind blew, their clothes shifted and snapped in the wind and they waited. Looking around from time to time, they could see other groups doing the same thing, waiting at the base of a mound with their weapons at the ready.

  Glancing over to the middle of the field, Peter could see that they must have finished unloading the passengers from the flatbeds. The empty vehicles, all five of them, were slowly drifting straight up. After a moment they were a few hundred feet in the air. An object dropped from the middle of the caravan, but it was too far to see what from this distance. It hit with a whump that they felt more than heard. Shortly after, there was a series of screams from inside the earth. Peter gripped his hammer harder, his knuckles going white. This was it.

  Chapter 3

  A creature crawled to the top of the mound with a swiftness that made it seem like it appeared there. Deep matte black, a kind of black that didn’t reflect light, only absorbed it. It was like a blank spot against the red sky, with only the red eyes and spine there to define it. Four small eyes decorated the head, two on each side, slightly above the mouth. The front two limbs were short and muscled, and the back four limbs were long an
d lean. It opened its mouth in a roar and showed row after row of sharp teeth. It reminded him of a sharks mouth.

  The creature roared again, a scream of a predator with traces of desperation and need. All six legs churning, it raced down the hill, tail held straight behind it.

  Peter’s group stood there in shock, this zergling was far larger and faster than the cartoon indicated. Luckily for them, the first monster went to the other side of the hill. The screams of terror that came from the other side showed that not everyone was lucky. Multiple screams and shouts sounded before it suddenly went quiet. Since the zergling didn’t appear after that, they assumed that it must have gotten killed. The sounds of fighting and dying around them continued though, steady roars and screams from across the valley, sounds from a new direction every time.

  “Ok guys, the next one will appear soon, be ready,” Peter said, “We can do this, work together and we can kill it.” He was trying to convince himself as well as them, but he almost couldn't hear himself over the frantic beating of his heart.

  His timing was good, a zergling appeared shortly after and turned towards his group. With a roar it raced down the hill, red eyes shining. As it got there, Yoon and Samantha struck out with their spears, causing it to rear back and stopping its charge. Everyone surrounded the monster. Peter and Lola swung at the knees of its forelegs, Peter missing and Lola connecting. Dima tried to slice down with his ax, but his powerful swing just glanced off the back of the zergling because he was too far back. Jonas hesitated, looking for an opening, then stabbing in with his sword, just under the leg that Lola had injured. The Zergling screamed and turned towards Lola to bite at her.

  At that moment, Yoon had been stabbing forward, aiming for the eyes, and the sudden turn of its head meant that its neck was exposed. Her stab went deep into the neck, severing an artery. It jerked back, gurgling and taking the spear with it in a spray of deep red blood. Yoon just stood there empty-handed. Everyone else took the opportunity to attack while the zergling was distracted. Peter and Dima made ineffectual strikes against the hide, and Lola missed altogether. Samantha got one of its eyes, but the wide blade of the pike prevented it from sinking in deep. Jonas reached around with his sword and stabbed it in the neck near where Yoon had stabbed. More blood spurted out and everyone backed up for a moment. It twitched twice more and lay still. Jonas was about to stab it again when a light blue orb formed in the middle of its belly and started floating up.

  The orb was bright, but with a soft hazy quality that made it easy to look at. The edges of the orb were poorly defined, almost making it look fuzzy. Everyone drew closer to take a look. As soon as Peter drew within three feet of the orb, it zoomed straight at him. And in him. Peter glowed bright blue for a second, then dimmed. He still glowed slightly, but not enough to cast any shadows. Peter held out his hand and stared at it intently.

  “Wow. That was intense. Wow. I am glowing,” said Peter.

  “Do you feel any different?” asked Jonas.

  “I don’t know, maybe? I think I might feel a little stronger and faster. But maybe that is just because I just expect something to happen? I don’t know,” Peter said as he rolled his shoulders and hopped around.

  Just then a softly glowing man ran by their hill, heading for the transports that had landed on the edge of the zergling field. They watched him run, aware again of the noise all around them, screams and roars that they had been blocking out. It was a constant background noise they had been ignoring in their focus to survive.

  “Did he abandon his team, or did they all die?” asked Jonas. They watched him run past several hills and stop at the Troll acting as gatekeeper. They all turned towards him.

  “Don’t worry, I am not going anywhere. Our team isn’t moving until we are all glowing,” Peter said, “Come on, let’s do this.

  They all stood in a line and raised their weapons. Dima turned towards Peter and said, “Can we switch? I tried to cut where I stood, but no. I must be closer to the head.”

  “Yes, of course,” Peter replied.

  They swapped, and Lola and Jonas swapped. They turned back to the hill and got ready for the next zergling.

  The next zergling bounded down the hill, and instead of going for the middle, this one went directly for Peter. He yelped and jumped back at the same time as he brought his hammer down on its head. Peter had actually flipped his war hammer around on accident and it was the spike end that ended up hitting the zerglings head. Right between the eyes. It was dead instantly, only inertia kept it sliding forward, knocking over Peter and Dima. They both jumped back as soon as they could, still expecting it to counter-attack. This time when the orb formed, it was Yoon that got it. After a flash, they now had two glowing team members.

  Before they could discuss it, another zergling was already racing down the hill. This one went straight for Samantha and had its mouth on her leg before anyone could get to her. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground as the zergling whipped her around, leg still in its mouth. Jonas leaped to the rescue but was batted away with a negligent claw swipe from two limbs on its left side. The zergling stopped to stare at Jonas with Samantha still in its mouth, her blood running freely from its teeth. At that moment Dima’s ax came down, a perfect cut to its sweet spot and almost decapitated it. It was killed instantly and Dima absorbed the orb it generated.

  They had to pry the zergling’s jaws open to release Samantha’s leg. It was shredded to pieces and broken in many places. The blood loss left her pale and Peter was surprised she was still conscious. Samantha groaned in pain as Yoon and Peter tried to help staunch the bleeding. Peter took off his suit jacket and tried to press it into the wounds.

  Dima shouldered them out of the way saying, “No, I do it.” He ripped up the jacket and created a tourniquet and tied it high on her leg. This made her cry out, but Dima seemed pleased with the work. He turned to the others and said, “She will live for now, but we must get her to a hospital now.”

  Everyone looked around at the desolate land and declined to comment about the availability of any facilities, let alone a hospital. Samantha seemed out of it, deep in pain and not making any coherent words, just moaning.

  Jonas had been tended to by Lola, but there wasn’t much to do. He had two shallow cuts across his chest, and they slowly seeped blood. His shirt had been cannibalized into a bandage, re-covering just his midsection. Jonas looked pale, but he raised his sword with both hands, his face a mask of determination.

  “Shit, ok. We need to get her to the Troll, maybe he has a healing serum,” Peter said and glanced back at the Troll in the distance. He wasn’t sure if they had healing serums or any medical facilities, but it was Samantha’s only chance.

  “No. We cannot take her, she is not glowing,” Yoon said.

  “Yeah, the Troll, oh shit!” Jonas said and looked up. A zergling had appeared at the top of the mound and was facing their direction.

  They all jumped into action and formed into a line, Peter in the middle this time. They had to leave Samantha on the ground behind them, still moaning.

  This zergling seemed smarter than the last two, instead of rushing headlong into combat, it feinted at them, searching for an opening. It would jump forward and back, just out of range of their weapons. They slowly climbed the mound, trying not to stumble over the chunks of deep red dirt. After a few attacks that hit only air, Peter jumped forward when the next time the zergling jumped back. He hit its snout with the spike end of his war hammer, but it glanced off the thick hide, not hitting any weak spots. This still stunned the zergling long enough for the rest of the team to move up and attack. Several hit the zergling, but none did any real damage and the zergling jumped back again. This happened two more times before Lola got a lucky hit to its side mid-air with her mace, flipping it over. Before it could flip back over, Dima, Peter, and Yoon stepped forward, all hitting its belly at once. It flipped itself back over but quickly died before it could take a step. They all took a step back to let Jonas absorb
this orb.

  They turned around to find Samantha gone.

  Besides the four zergling bodies, there was nothing there for hundreds of feet. She was just gone. If she had been crawling or dragging herself, they certainly would have seen Samantha. Peter raced down ahead of everyone and stood where they had left Samantha. The rest of the team stayed where they were.

  “What, where... we need to find her,” Peter said urgently. He whipped his head around, trying to see if she had crawled behind one of the zergling bodies. His hammer hit the ground when he realized what had happened. A second zergling must have come by and taken her away while they were distracted by the first.

  “Peter, help!” Lola yelled.

  Peter looked up to see another zergling had already come down and attacked his team. He scooped up his hammer and raced up the hill to join them. This zergling was attacking fiercely and his team was being driven downhill. Just as Peter got there, the zergling bit down on Yoon’s spear and tore it out of her hand. The zergling seemed to smile, knowing that it had a defenseless morsel in front of it.

  Crunch. Peter had lept and brought the point of his weapon directly on the correct spot in the zergling’s head, killing it. Peter stood over the body, panting, and the orb appeared. Instead of going into Lola, the only team member not glowing, it went into Peter, who was standing the closest.

  “Scheisse,” the redhead said eloquently.

  “Oh, sorry about that,” Peter said, realizing she was the only one not glowing now, and he had just stolen her orb.

  “Es Macht nichts, I mean it doesn’t matter. Can you stay for one more glow ball?” Lola asked.

  “Of course, I am not leaving until we are all glowing,” Peter said and looked around him for assent. The rest of the team nodded.

  Yoon retrieved her spear with a frown, obviously upset that she had lost it. She turned to the others, “Can we attack it at the top? Where it comes out?”

  “Yeah,” said Jonas, “It might be easier if we can attack it before it is all the way out of the tunnel.”