Marcus, page 12
Marcus drove slowly through the debris-strewn remains of the once-vibrant area. Once, there would have been a steady flow of planes arriving and departing every day. Now, he saw broken aircraft strewn against the fence by the side of the road, like ruined carcasses caught in a net.
His usual crystal-clear calm that allowed him to function at peak performance wouldn’t come to him. Instead, Elle’s presence made him feel something he rarely felt on a mission. Fear.
“Where are the raptors?” Claudia asked across the comms.
Marcus stared at the street ahead of him and wondered the same thing. He felt like a small animal being led into a trap.
Soon, they pulled up to the warehouse Elle had found. They parked the Hunters inside the cavernous space and hid them between the forklifts and trucks.
“All right.” Marcus checked his weapon and pressed the button that had his combat helmet sliding into place. “Let’s get to the train station.”
It was a short walk. The team kept alert and Marcus watched for any sign the raptors were watching them. Before long, he saw the single-story station building, with its now cracked blue sign proclaiming “AirportLink.”
Inside, the once-modern station was coated in a layer of grime and dirt, and filled with leaves, trash and other debris. They pushed through the turnstiles and descended the stairs to the darkened platforms below.
The squad flicked on their tactical flashlights attached to their carbines. On the platforms, it almost looked as though the alien apocalypse had never happened. Except that a train sat on the track halfway into the station, and it looked like someone had once sheltered on the opposite platform. Marcus moved his light around. A pile of blankets and a few other scavenged goods lay in a heap on the tiled floor.
“It’s spooky down here,” Elle whispered, the dim glow of her comp screen casting a pale light on her face.
“Which way?” he asked.
She pointed. “That way.”
Into where the train lines ran into the darkened tunnel mouth.
Then she froze. “I saw something.”
Marcus tensed, felt his team sharpen around him. “Where?”
She shook her head, peering at the opposite platform. “Maybe just a shadow.”
Then Marcus saw it too.
Something moving in the darkness.
Chapter Fourteen
Marcus shone his light in a steady sweep across the platform.
Elle started to think that perhaps her nerves had gotten the better of her and she’d imagined the movement. Until she saw them.
A couple of humans huddled together near what might have been a vending machine. She gasped. Kids. They looked to be about fifteen, if they were lucky.
“Hey, we aren’t here to hurt you,” Marcus called out. “You can come out.”
The teenagers didn’t move.
Elle shook her head. “You’re too intimidating, Marcus.” She leaped down onto the tracks.
“Elle!”
Too late. She was already scrambling up onto the other platform.
Behind her, Marcus’ deep voice rasped, “Stay here, Hell—Squad Six.”
“Because we’re too intimidating?” Shaw’s voice was ripe with amusement.
As Marcus growled, she hid her own smile, and a second later he was moving up beside her with a lithe leap.
She approached the boy and girl slowly. “How long have you been down here?”
The boy kept a tight arm around the girl. Both were painfully thin. “Not sure. We’ve lost track of time. Months, I’d guess.” His wary gaze swung from her to Marcus. “Who are you guys?”
“We’re from Blue Mountain Base,” Marcus said.
The girl looked at him with wide eyes and pressed closer to the boy’s side.
Elle held out a hand. “My name’s Elle Milton and this is Marcus Steele.”
The boy hesitated for a second. “I’m Leo and this is—”
“Clare,” the girl whispered.
“Nice to meet you. Have you heard about Blue Mountain Base?”
They shook their heads.
“It’s a base west of the city. Full of survivors. We have food, clothes, medical help, books, even schools. And these tough guys here—” she pointed at Marcus, then the rest of Hell Squad “—they protect us. They go out and fight the aliens.”
Leo’s eyes grew so large they overtook his face. “You fight them?”
“Yeah,” Marcus said gruffly.
Clare pulled away from Leo and grabbed Elle’s hand. “You have food? And books?”
Elle stifled a smile. Trust the girl to be more worried about books than medical help. “Yes. And you can both come.”
Clare’s lips trembled. “Really?”
“Really. But I need you to be brave a bit longer.” She hated doing this. “We have a mission to complete first. Then we’ll come back and get you.”
Leo’s eyes turned dull. “Right. Sure.”
Elle gripped his hand, too. “We will. Our vehicles are hidden aboveground. That’s how we’ll escape after we blow up the raptor communications hub.”
Leo considered her words, then nodded. “Okay. But you should know, down there—” he nodded toward the tunnels “—there are so many aliens. Tons and tons. I’ve snuck down there, seen them.” He shivered. “Heard them.”
“Thank you, but we know.” She squeezed his hand again. “Our mission is very important. And we’ll be back. My team here, they’re called Hell Squad. There’s no team tougher and no team better at taking down raptors.”
Leo pulled Clare to his side again. “Good luck. We’ll be here.”
“Stay hidden,” Elle said. “We will come for you. I swear.”
Marcus was watching her with bemused eyes. As they joined the rest of the team, he tipped her chin up with an index finger. “You were good with them.”
“They’re tired, hungry and afraid. I remember what that feels like. They just needed some honesty and compassion.”
“We’ll come back for them,” he promised.
And she knew Marcus always kept his promises.
“All right, Hell Squad.” Marcus eyed his team. “How about an evening stroll through alien-infested tunnels?”
“Oh, yeah,” Shaw responded.
“I’m ready,” Gabe said.
“Bring it,” Claudia added, lifting her carbine.
Cruz gave a nod.
Elle dragged in a breath and nodded as well.
Marcus leaped back onto the tracks. “Let’s go start some fireworks.”
But as the dark tunnel swallowed them and the team flicked their night-vision lenses over their right eyes, Elle felt the dense black push in around her.
She clutched her thermo pistol and tried to relax. The night-vision lens felt foreign, and the green glow it gave everything was eerie. And there were still too many shadows for her liking.
She felt like the tunnel was closing in around her.
Suck it up, Elle. She lifted her chin and kept moving. They had a mission and she was going to get the team there.
Marcus gripped her arm and made the “okay” sign for with his fingers. She nodded. His presence calmed her jittery nerves. She consulted the map on her wrist and led them deeper into the tunnel.
Her steps made the slightest scuffing noise on the ground. The rest of the squad moved with a ghost-like silence she envied. Claudia and Cruz were ahead, carbines up, staring down their sights. Marcus was with her in the center and Gabe and Shaw were bringing up the rear.
They should be in the map encryption range soon. Then, the final part of the encryption would fall and she’d be able to pinpoint the exact location of the hub. She eyed the backpack Marcus was carrying. Crazy to think it held a bomb and that such a small thing could cause so much destruction.
Something flickered to her right. Elle slowed her steps and turned her head.
Nothing.
Giving her head a shake, she started moving again.
Another movement. Deep in the shadows. Maybe it was more survivors? Elle stared harder. But all she saw was darkness.
Great. Now she was seeing things.
“Anything?” Marcus murmured through their earpieces.
“Nothing,” Cruz replied. “Quieter than a bachelor at a bridal shop.”
Shaw snorted.
They moved on but again, a minute later, Elle saw something else move in the shadows. Something low to the ground. Too small to be a raptor, surely?
She stopped and kept staring.
“Elle?”
“There’s something moving over there.” She nodded her head.
Like a well-oiled machine, the team moved as one, weapons up.
“I don’t see anything,” Cruz said.
Elle bit her lip. Maybe she’d imagined it. Claudia would have a field day.
“If Elle said she saw something, she saw something.” Marcus was staring down the sight of his own carbine. “Gabe?”
Gabe shifted, his head cocked. “I can hear something breathing.”
Elle blinked. There was no way he could hear anything that soft.
Gabe moved forward, his big body flowing like a panther on the hunt.
Elle’s heart was pounding. Suddenly, a quiet growl filled the tunnel.
Gabe stiffened but kept moving.
Please, be a dog. Please, be a regular, normal dog. Elle bit her lip.
Three canids leaped out of the shadows, snarling.
Gabe fired, but the canids were on him in seconds, knocking him to the ground.
“Stay here.” Marcus brushed past her. The others were running forward as well.
She realized they couldn’t fire with the alien dogs so close to Gabe. Marcus ripped his gladius from its sheath and plunged it into the closest creature. Claudia did the same with the second animal.
The third canid leaped off Gabe, its claws red with blood, and rushed at Cruz.
Cruz dropped his carbine and stayed still, arms raised.
Elle took a stumbling step forward. What was he doing?
The canid hit him. Cruz grabbed the creature around the neck, using its motion to spin and with a firm twist, broke the canid’s neck.
With a yelp, the dead canid dropped to the ground.
“Fucking hell.” Gabe pushed to his feet, shaking his head. Blood soaked his shoulder.
“How bad?” Marcus asked.
Gabe snatched up his weapon, double-checking it. “Not bad. Got a claw in under my armor. It’ll stop bleeding soon.”
Claudia grabbed a med-patch from her first-aid kit. “Here.”
Gabe nodded his thanks and slid the patch under his armor.
Scratching noises from behind Elle reached her ears. Heart kicking her ribs, she slowly turned around.
Her mouth dropped open and she stumbled back toward the team. “Marcus.” She kept her voice low, calm.
“What?”
She bumped into him and pointed.
“What the hell?” he murmured. “Hell Squad, weapons hot.”
Dozens of alien…creatures were slinking toward them from the depths of the tunnel. Some on the ground and others scurrying along the roof and walls.
Elle lifted her pistol. Her hand was steady. Mostly.
They looked like canids, but their bellies glowed with a sickly red color. Like their insides were filled with something hot and nasty.
“Shit, what are these things?” Claudia said.
“Some kind of mutant canids,” Marcus murmured.
Suddenly, the creatures swarmed, racing forward with snarls and growls.
The sound of carbines firing echoed thunderously in the confines of the tunnel. A huge, glowing canid landed in front of Elle, its jaws open, slavering as it stalked closer to her.
She raised her pistol. When the creature’s muscles bunched, she didn’t hesitate to fire.
Elle kept her finger on the trigger. The thermo bullets ripped open the belly of the animal. Red ooze splattered everywhere and the canid fell on her. She slammed into the ground, the air knocked out of her, the dead mutant canid on top of her legs.
The scent of something burning filled her nose. She kicked at the alien and looked down.
Oh, God. The red goo was sizzling, eating through the metal train tracks beneath them and through her cargo trousers.
She kicked, trying to get the animal off her.
Hands gripped her under her arms and yanked her back. She craned her head and saw Marcus holding her.
“It burns.”
His face was grim. He grabbed the water bottle off his belt and upended it over the bottom of her trousers.
It hissed as it hit the acidic fluid, and the burning stopped.
“Must be like what they put in their weapons.” Marcus yanked her up. “Come on—”
An enormous, glowing canid slammed into Marcus’ back, its claws sinking into his armor and the backpack containing the bomb.
As they crashed to the ground, Elle almost fell backward. She looked around frantically for help. But the rest of the team were all still firing at the continuing mass of mutant canids swarming them.
She spotted Marcus’ carbine on the ground. She snatched it up and jammed it against the canid’s thick neck and fired.
The weapon’s kick was more than she expected and she stumbled back.
The canid jerked, then slumped forward. With a massive heave, Marcus threw the body off him.
“Thanks,” he said. “Not just a pretty face, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
He tugged her close to his side and took the carbine back. He quickly felt the backpack. “The bomb’s still there.”
“And it didn’t blow up,” she added.
The team was still firing and the canids were still coming. The walls of the tunnel looked like they were painted in red acid.
“There are more headed this way!” Cruz shouted.
“We’re barely making a fucking dent,” Shaw called as he wielded two weapons at once, his carbine, and a deadly-looking pistol.
Cruz grabbed a grenade off his belt and glanced at Marcus. “Destroy that hub and look after her. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you, amigo. She makes you smile and soothes those very rough edges of yours.” He yanked the pin off and strode into the oncoming canid swarm.
Elle felt Marcus tense, and panic welled in her. They couldn’t lose Cruz. She struggled in Marcus’ grip. “No!”
But Marcus held her back.
“Ah, fuck no.” Shaw cursed in a low, steady stream.
Cruz pulled his arm back and tossed the grenade deeper into the mass of red canids. It exploded with a fierce bang. Many went down, but the surviving creatures all turned and began loping toward Cruz.
He fired his carbine.
The squad fired too.
But Elle could already see there were too many alien animals. They closed in on Cruz.
“We have to go,” Marcus said, voice grim. “Now!” He forced Elle ahead of him.
Elle choked on a sob. Her last glimpse of Cruz was of him being surrounded by the mutant canids.
Chapter Fifteen
Cruz
Cruz waited for the aliens to rip into him.
He closed his eyes. He felt strangely empty. He’d been running on empty for far too long. Most days, he couldn’t remember why he was fighting anymore. And since Zeke had died…
Suddenly the tunnel filled with high-pitched yips and yowls.
His eyes snapped open.
Deadly black bolts whistled through the air, hitting the lead canids.
His gut hardened at the sight. Familiar black bolts.
The first bolt exploded on impact. There was a hissing noise as the bolt sprayed a mist into the air and across the alien beasts. Their cries turned to pained howls. Some dropped to the ground, writhing. The rest, as one giant mass, whirled and ran back into the darkness.
“What the hell?” Cruz felt the fine spray coat him, too. It smelled like…green trees?
Sudden shouts from his teammates echoed in the tunnel as they ran back toward him.
“Cruz?” Marcus raced forward. “You okay?”
The substance clung to him, giving off a faint glow, and he smelled like a fucking forest. It didn’t seem to burn or hurt him in any way. “I’m fine.”
“You are a crazy son of a bitch,” Shaw yelled. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”
“Saving your life,” Cruz snarled back.
“Well, someone sure as hell saved yours.”
“Yeah.” Cruz turned, eying the blackness where the bolts had come from.
A figured emerged from the shadows, walking toward them. Tall, slim, dressed in black cargo trousers and a hooded black top. His savior had twin Shockwave laser pistols holstered on narrow hips and held a modern tactical crossbow at their side.
Cruz couldn’t look away. He felt like every cell in his body was paying attention.
“It’s you,” Cruz said. “You helped us before. At the library.”
The figure nodded, then pushed the hood back.
Cruz barely contained his jerk of surprise. A woman.
She had a long fall of black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. Her face was typical of the melting pot that was Australia’s races but from the fine features and caramel-brown skin, Cruz guessed she had some Indian heritage. Her eyes were a unique pale green.
“I suggest you move fast.” The woman toed the body of dead canid. “These things hunt in large packs. They’ll bring reinforcements.”
“What are they?” This from Gabe, who was crouched beside one of the creatures, eyeing the red-stained belly.
“Another alien abomination. I call them hellions.”
“You’ve encountered them before?” Marcus asked.
“Yes.”
Cruz stepped closer. “Who are you?”
“Santha. Santha Kade.”
Santha. “My name’s Cruz Ramos. You live here?”
“In the city.”
He tugged at his damp collar. “What was the spray?”
Her lips moved in a small smile. “Sometimes the simplest things work the best. It’s a mixture of several items but the main ingredient is cedar oil.”
Gabe straightened. “We used to use cedar mulch back home to keep snakes out of the yard.”
