Yellow eyes with stretched black pupils eyed me before the beast lunged forward with open jaws, both hands reaching for my throat.
The obvious and most immediate threat was to avoid the massive open mouth arched toward my face. I drove the knife in my left hand upward, catching him under his chin and penetrating into his mouth. The creature’s left hand caught my wrist as I swung the axe sideways toward him.
I was out of appendages while the Croc scraped its right clawed hand over my helmet and armor.
Thank the Lord of the Way for that armor.
All of this happened in a matter of seconds. I prepared my next move when Sergeant Toy and his Titans fell on the beat. Most of the Shadow Praetorians carried a bladed weapon of some kind. The few who didn’t used the butts of their weapons.
Their attack was so fierce, the Croc didn’t have a chance.
Under a flurry of stabs and blows, the Croc fell to its knees. Cassie showed up back into the fight, driving her twin blades through the back of the Croc’s skull. It sank to the ground a moment later in a heap of its own blood.
“Well,” I panted, looking down at the deep scratch marks in my armor. “That wasn’t so bad, right?”
The window exploded inward in a shower of stone and mortar. Behind us, the roof that was already partially collapsed caved in, in the corner. Crocs streamed in, easily outnumbering us.
Those deep clicking guttural sounds came from all of their throats at once. Without any kind of order from a leader or so much as a war cry, they fell on us in a flurry of snapping teeth and claws.
Twenty-Seven
“Stay together!” I warned, putting my back to our group as the Crocs charged. At such a close range, I knew any target would be hard to miss. I hurled my axe, taking one of the Crocs in the throat. It fell, grabbing at the weapon, dark blood soaking its chest.
I switched my knife to my right hand and also hurled the weapon. It struck a second Croc in the left eye. As soon as I used both weapons, I beckoned with my hands. The hilts my axe and knife ripped free from their victims, sailing in the air back to me.
I grabbed them just in time to turn and deal with a third Croc, who lunged for my legs with open jaws. I jumped, missing the maw of the beast, who closed its teeth so hard, an audible crack joined the cacophony of noise in the small stone building.
I came down on the Croc with both weapons slamming into the top of its skull. I felt my blades grate against bone. I jerked them violently back, coming away with a pop that severed the creature’s skull from its vertebrae.
All round me, Titans struggled with their opponents. At times, it was easy for me to forget that I not only had enhanced strength but speed as well compared to my counterparts.
Major Valentine pushed Ramil and Rival into the middle of our group. She lashed out with a curved knife in one hand and the butt of her pistol in the other. Laine fought by her side. The alien woman might have been the nimblest out of all of us, dodging blows and giving ground, only to strike out with the end of her own blaster.
“Laine!” I yelled, tossing her my knife as she turned.
The woman snatched the blade out of the air and impaled a Croc’s right palm with the weapon.
I saw a Titan get torn apart from my left with a brutal scream that silenced prematurely. The Crocs coming in through the destroyed window were fewer, but those that caved in the corner of the roof were still gathering as if they were strengthening their numbers for an all-out attack.
“Cassie, watch the window,” I said, looking over to the Cyber Hunter.
Cassie’s black cape flew behind her as she used the edge of her shield to break one Croc’s throat then plunged her blades into a second.
“Got it,” she yelled back.
Is there anything she can’t do? I thought to myself as I joined the opposite side of our small circle where Sergeant Toy bled from a wound to his head. Somewhere in the short fight, his helmet had been ripped off. A shallow gash by his hairline bled profusely.
“If I had known we were getting into a knife fight, I would have brought bigger knives,” Sergeant Toy said to me without looking over. “And shields too.”
“You and me both,” I answered.
There was no more time for talk. As I suspected, the Crocs on this end had only paused their advance to swell their numbers. Eight of the brutes communicated with one another in their guttural tongue then lifted their meaty throats skyward. They let out another deep rumble I imagined might have been a war cry.
In the middle of the chaos, Rival had removed his helmet by lowering his head to the ground and shaking it back and forth. He stared around the room with an open mouth.
“I can help. I can help,” Rival said, pleading with anyone who would listen. “Just release me from the cuffs. You can keep this stupid collar on me. But I can help.”
“You’ve done enough!” Ramil shouted at him. “Haven’t you already done enough?”
As much as I would have enjoyed watching the two argue in the center of our lines, violence was once again on our doorstep. The group of Crocs in front of us surged forward.
I soon realized these opponents were different. Unlike the other Crocs, these actually wore pelts of scaled armor. A few of them even carried clubs. It was obvious now these were the actual warriors of their race. The armor and weapons even showed a level of intelligence I had not granted them before.
They rammed our lines in a straight single line of their own. The Croc in front of me lowered his left shoulder, using it as a ram. His right hand held a club the size of my torso. I stepped back, nearly knocking over Rival and Ramil.
“Careful, we’re having a reunion here,” Rival chided me.
I ignored the maniac, dodging a blow to my skull from the Croc’s club in front of me. A second Croc I didn’t see caught me with his own weapon. Pain exploded, first in my left side, then in my head as I was thrown to the side of the fight, landing against the far wall.
Every rib on my left rib cage felt broken. Fire exploded in my chest when I tried to take a breath. For the space of a heartbeat, pain rendered me motionless.
The fight in front of me was not going our way. With the most recent push of trained warriors, our meager defense was crumbling. The only thing that kept us in the fight now was the Titans with Cassie that had defended the entrance from the window. They had managed to kill all of their opponents and were now turning to help us.
Get back up, I told myself in my head. Always get back up, that’s who you are.
I pushed myself to my feet, already feeling the level of pain subside in my chest. My healing ability that set me apart from everyone else began to kick in high gear.
I realized the Crocs would never have a chance against us if we used our rifles and blasters. However, that would doom us all once more to another run of whatever monster flew through the mist.
How to use my MK II at my hip without causing sound was the issue. A plan so painful that I knew it had to work entered my mind. I wasn’t going to stand around and let others die if saving them meant only pain for myself.
I holstered the MK II, gripping the cold handle with my right palm. My thumb pressed the gauge on the handle, selecting steel rounds as the projectile in the drum.
Axe in my left hand and MK II in the other, I charged into the fray.
Ramil, who was now forced to fight with a rock he had picked up from the ground, saw me first.
“No!” he yelled. “The sound!”
I ignored him, heading for the Croc who had sent me flying across the room. The Croc smiled as he saw me approach. As least I think he smiled.
He came at me with an open mouth. Perfect.
I slammed my right hand forward, giving him my right arm. The beast crunched down on my hand like a steel trap. Pain lanced through my arms as he bit down to my bone.
I focused on what I had to do in that exact moment for the plan to work. Hand trapped against his tongue and the roof of his mouth, I stroked the trigger twice. Tre
mors from the weapon told me it fired along with a dull “thunk” sounds as skull fragments and brain matter blew out of the rear of the creature.
We both fell to the ground, my arm still painfully lodged in the animal’s mouth. With my axe hand, I wedged the jaw open. My arm was a mess of bloody armor and flesh. That didn’t matter. My plane worked. If I could endure the pain a few more times, it would be enough to turn the tide of battle.
Along with my right arm being bloodied and in so much pain it nearly felt numb, it was wet with the saliva of the creature. Drool dripped off the end of my hand cannon.
I refused to give in to the agony I felt or dwell on the idea of doing it again and again, again for as long as it took to see the end of our enemy. Without hesitation, I jumped on the back of the next Croc, shoving my arm around and into the side of his mouth.
The Croc turned confused as his jaws came down on my arm. Apparently, he wasn’t used to anyone voluntarily shoving their arm in his maw.
As soon as the jaws closed, I double-tapped the trigger, blowing the steel bolts out of the side of his head.
A cheer from the Titans went up as they say me quickly and efficiently take out two of the eight armored creatures. I moved to the third one next and then the fourth, until the remaining Crocs realized what I was up to and refused to bite down on what was left of my arm.
The armor on my right arm was really what saved the entire limb from being chewed off. Although every chomp the Crocs’ powerful teeth serrated the armor, they all didn’t bite in the exact same spot, thus allowing the Galactic Government armor to space out the damage across the length of my forearm.
I turned to deal with the last four soldiers of the Croc attack when they seemed to have decided that enough was enough. Bodies lay strewn across the ground around our rough circle. Three more of our own were down with nearly everyone wounded to some degree or another.
The largest Croc in armor croaked something to his counterparts, who immediately moved to disengage and retreat. It might have been the fatigue, pain, or lack of food and I needed to regenerate, but I thought I saw a nod of respect from the creature.
Before I could think about it more, the animals were gone, leaving their dead behind without a second thought. I crumbled to the ground, cradling my right arm close to my chest. With my left, I removed my helmet, breathing in the icy night air.
The simple press of the mist on my face felt like a cold and welcome kiss.
“You’re crazier than I am,” Rival muttered. He looked around to everyone else. “He’s crazier than I am.”
Ramil fell to the ground, grabbing his stomach. Somewhere in the fight, one of the Croc’s talons had ripped him sideways, opening up four giant slash marks in his torso.
“Doc,” Sergeant Toy ordered immediately.
I jumped to my feet, ignoring the throbbing in my arm, and went over to kneel alongside the Titan medic. Ramil lay shaking on the ground, both hands pressed to his gut as if he were trying to keep his insides from falling out.
“Easy, let me take a look,” the medic said. He was a wide-shouldered man with a Mohawk and beard when he removed his helmet.
Ramil looked at me, blood dripping down the corners of his mouth before his eyes shifted over to Rival. “Don’t trust him.”
“I won’t,” I promised him.
“Your AI holds the key to the location of so much more than a Relic,” Ramil gasped past the pain. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see the Titan medic shake his head.
“Listen to me,” Ramil ordered as if he too knew he had seconds to live. “The AI you know as X holds information you’ll need. The phrase is: The Knights of the Way will herald in a new world. The gate must hold fast.”
“Okay, okay, I got it,” I said, not understanding any of it but committing the phrase to memory.
“Say it,” Ramil ordered with the last of his strength.
“The Knights of the Way will herald in a new world. The gate must hold fast,” I repeated. As I did so, I saw the light in Ramil’s eyes die.
Twenty-Eight
I sat there on my knees for a moment looking at the husk that used to be Ramil. In the short time I knew the man, I felt like I had gotten a good look at his life. I’d seen him perk up as he talked about the advances in technology, the shadow he had become from a life long stewed in working for private initiatives across multiple corporations. I’d seen him stand and fight when it mattered.
“Doc, we’ve got other wounded that could use your help,” Sergeant Toy said, joining us. He ran a gloved hand over Ramil’s open eyes, closing them.
“Yes, sir.” Doc rose to his feet and went to see what he could do for the others.
“We should get these bodies out of here and get a perimeter set up as well,” Sergeant Toy ordered, already setting out to ensure we had a protected base and were not caught unaware again.
I rose to my feet, already deciding that throwing myself in whatever task needed to be done next would be the best way for me to get my mind straight.
I hefted the hulking corpses of the Croc through the broken stone window, depositing them a full block away with the help of Cassie and the Titans. Laine acted as a scout along with Creeves and Dion, setting up a three-point perimeter as we worked.
Outside of the two Titans being taken by whatever winged serpent lived in the mist, three more had fallen to the Crocs. This in and of itself was a true testament to how fierce and well-trained the Titans really were. Outnumbered and using only knives and rifles as clubs, we had managed to kill three times our own number.
Something bothered me about the phrase used to unlock the information X had inside. I knew what the Way was. I knew the followers worshiped the Lord of the Way, but I had never heard of any kind of Knights of the Way, much less any kind of gate.
“You look worried,” Cassie told me as she picked up one of the dead Crocs like it was a pillow. “Your arm recovering okay?”
I nodded, looking down at my arm, which was already halfway healed. Most of the pain had stopped and all the bleeding. A fresh new layer of pink flesh wrapped around the bone.
I grabbed a dead Croc by the tail and threw my back into it, dragging it away from our new base. The last thing we wanted was another wave of scavengers coming for the carcasses.
“It’s just the phrase Ramil gave us to unlock the hidden information inside of X,” I answered. “Have you ever heard of the Knights of the Way or this gate?”
“Not the gate,” Cassie said as she walked and I struggled with my Croc next to her. “But I have heard stories of the Knights of the Way. They’re supposed to be the military arm of the Way religion. There are not many and I’ve never met one, but I’ve heard a few exist.”
We worked in silence along with the few Titans who weren’t being healed or on perimeter duty. Where Cassie could easily lift one of the Crocs and I could manage one, the other corpses took at least two Titans to carry and deposit them a safe distance from our camp.
We found a roofless corner building a block away to deposit the bodies. The mist swirling around us was losing its power, thanks to the rising sun. We had battled through the night and my body was feeling it.
We all needed food and rest soon or no one was going to survive whatever came at us next, be it more Crocs or the winged serpent through the mist.
When the Crocs were finally dealt with and we returned to the base, we were greeted by a frowning Major Valentine. She stood over Rival Mercer, who had once again been ordered to done his sensory-dampening helmet.
“You look like you did something bad.” I tried to tease the major to get a smile.
She didn’t smile.
“Grab some food and head over,” Major Valentine said. She held a data pad in her hand. Whatever she read on the pad wasn’t good.
I grabbed a protein pack from our supply along with a box of water. The protein paste wasn’t going to satisfy the part of me that wanted to bite into something, but this one was flavored meat paste, so I wa
sn’t going to complain.
Cassie joined us in the corner of the room as Major Valentine showed us the data pad in her hands. The Galactic Government shifted the satellite over Earth and located Aleron and his Grimm Reapers.
They were tracking him now.
Major Valentine’s data pad showed the overhead view of a series of vehicles traveling over hard-packed ground. There were so many vehicles, I gave up counting. More detail than that was too difficult to make out, even with the enhanced aerial view.
“It looks like Aleron has been recruiting along the way,” Major Valentine pointed out. “I make his number out to be a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty.”
“When will he get here?” I asked.
“If they continue traveling as they are, a day, two at the most,” Major Valentine answered grimly. “It’s time to make a hard call. Do we call in for reinforcements or not? If we call for more aid, they can get here in time. With that, we risk the Galactic Government asking more questions and the possible loss of more life.”
“I don’t know if getting the GG further involved is the answer,” Cassie chimed in. “They’ll keep the Relic for themselves if they can and definitely experiment with the fountain of youth and eternal life story that goes along with it.”
“If we try and fight a force that size head on, we’ll lose for sure,” I answered. “What we do have is time to prepare and the element of surprise. No one else on our side has to die. I have an idea.”
Both Cassie and the major looked at me with deadpan stares.
“What?” I asked, throwing up my hands. “I have good ideas.”
“Ehhhh,” Major Valentine cringed as she weighed my words.
“Your last idea was to stick your arm in the mouths of mutated crocodiles and get bitten,” Cassie pointed out. “You can understand our hesitancy.”
Nemesis: A Near Future Thriller (Forsaken Mercenary Book 6) Page 17
