Rash'Tor'Ri (Soulguard Book 4), page 16
I grinned as they fired. The recoil would slam the trucks which swerved or lurched forward with the shots. Those were the new wall mount guns we had been putting in China. The Humvees were firing into the Kresh but there were a lot of them. The Kresh jumped into the second semi just as I opened fire on the pack closing with the pickups. The recoil slammed me back like getting kicked. I expected that, having done this many times.
Rash'Tor'Ri! Boomed through the minds of the Kresh and Humans alike. I kept firing my disk launchers into the packed numbers of Kresh'Far, or soldiers, as we commonly referred to them.
Lyrica and I both unloaded on the Kresh in front of the semi as it got a little ground covered. Then I slammed into the ground with a crunch of asphalt.
***
Jinx fired the cannon and the whole backside of the truck slid sideways. Gary Corvina was laughing like a maniac and cut the wheels into the slide. It lurched forward again.
"I love this thing!" Jinx screamed as he fired again. This time it swept across the Kresh that were trying to pile into the second semi. The first one hadn't gotten turned all the way around before the Kresh reached it. Jinx could say one thing for the National Guardsmen in the guns. They didn't stop firing as the Kresh boarded the trailer. The fired until they were dragged out of the seats by Kresh. They were brutal, these Kresh and Jinx was doing his best to keep the bastards out of the second truck.
"Barrel's getting hot," Dodge said.
"Don't have any extras," Corvina growled. "Fire 'em till they melt."
"Gonna happen sooner than we'd like, Gary," Jinx said.
"Can't let these bastards get any more of those guys," Gary answered.
"I know."
"Rear! Six o'clock!" Dodge yelled. "Incoming!"
Kresh poured up the northbound road and they had no obstructions. Northbound traffic had sped away as the southbound traffic had ground to a halt.
Jinx spun the cannon back to the rear and opened fire as the others in their convoy of Humvees fired with both Source cannons and fifty calibers. The Kresh poured through the fire and kept coming. There were a lot of Kresh killed but there just weren't enough guns.
Jinx's eye twitched as a roar sounded in his mind, Rash'Tor'Ri!
"Boys we're on a dead end road!" John yelled. Traffic is covering the interstate ahead and we ain't got an off-ramp!"
"You guys get up there and abandon the vehicles. We're soldiers. You're civilians," came from the coms as the Humvees slowed.
"Oh, hell no!" John and Corvina both returned.
Jinx grinned, and triggered the cannon with a solid burst. The Kresh closed on the vehicles and one grabbed the end of the cannon. Jinx fired right into its face. Another closed from the side and reached for Jinx. Jinx drew the .45 he carried everywhere and dived straight inside the Kresh's reach and pushed the .45 into its mouth. He pulled the trigger three times as he felt a burning pain in his side where the claws ripped deep gashes. He and the Kresh tumbled to the ground but Jinx staggered back to his feet. Gary stepped up beside him and both of them unloaded their pistols in the face of two others.
Jinx growled as two others rushed forward at the pair. He jerked in surprise as both heads exploded, along with a bunch of others. Then there was an explosion of power in front of them and two forms crossed in front of the National Guards. Kresh dropped in pieces as the swords of both Soullords moved like lightning.
Then there were ten more forms slamming through the ranks of Kresh. More fell to the snipers if they got near.
"You said you had some portables?"
"Yeah I do."
"Now would be a good time for one," he said and touched his bloody side. "And some duct tape?"
Gary reached into the truck and pulled one of the one man units with another helmet and a roll of the familiar grey tape. Jinx quickly tore several pieces of tape and taped the wounds closed. Then he swapped helmets and strode forward to open fire with the smaller source weapon.
***
We ran across the front between the Kresh and the soldiers. The snipers were taking out any close in to the men and we cleared a swath with swords and disk launchers. Trent, Mattie, and ten mages hit the field right behind us and cut loose with launchers. Then they followed Lyrica and I right across the front of the army of Kresh.
"Right behind you, Boss."
I grinned and turned to face the Kresh still closing from the south. I felt the beast inside me clawing to get out.
"What's next?"
"Kill them all," I returned and I let the beast out of its cage.
I let out an inhuman roar and the world slowed to a crawl as I charged into the Kresh. The Mages formed a V formation and we ripped them apart. Richarz' Mages arrived and joined the melee. Any that tried to move around our formations were burnt by the National Guard gunners.
The city attacks we had been involved in before were anywhere from five to ten thousand Kresh. This new clan had put close to fifty thousand Kresh into Atlanta. The Soulguard forces had gone south, below them, while the National Guard had met them on the northern front. When the northern Kresh couldn't advance and the southern route was also blocked, they began to spread into the city. It seemed that I wasn't the attraction I had been to those clans that had heard of me.
It took two rough days of hunting after the Main battle to clean Atlanta out. The Kresh stayed to the streets for the most part, but they followed humans into buildings in some places. Those were the worst. We'd find forty or fifty Kresh in a building, still eating what was left of the inhabitants.
Lyrica had stopped fighting and started working on the injured National Guardsmen as soon as Richarz had hit the field with her Mages. The Guards had been torn up pretty bad, as well as a certain Marine in a Hellboy costume. He had refused to stop shooting until Lyrica picked him up and took the helmet off of him. As soon as she had walked away after healing his wounds as much as she dared, he retrieved his helmet and rejoined the effort to clean out the city.
Chapter 32
"We lost a hundred and twenty five thousand people."
I looked at the Major who was speaking. His statement felt like an accusation but his Soul showed none of that. Perhaps it was my own feeling of guilt that we couldn’t stop them quickly enough.
"They didn't follow the pattern the others did," I said. "The other clans driving motivation was to kill me. I used myself as bait several times. This time it didn't work."
"That's not something you can blame yourself for, Sir."
"I know but it was much better for others when we could depend on that happening. Before, even the cities I didn't fight in were cleared by others pretending they were me to bait traps."
"Reports say that it was worse in New York and Baltimore. Close to a million dead from the two combined. And Pittsburgh is literally gone. They hit the west coast in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. But we had more forces there and took fewer losses. They were hit harder in Europe and China than we were, here, and the death toll in Tokyo was worse than any of the attacks."
"The Kresh were killed in every attack but they are killing a much higher ratio of humans than we are of Kresh."
"And they haven't fielded anything higher than a Wraith," I said. "Not many of those. There was just the one here in Atlanta. You can bet somethin' big is about to happen. I bet he's usin' every small gate they have to flood the cities. But the big gate is still gonna open somewhere and I doubt it will be Kansas. If we're lucky it'll be China. They have more guns now than we have in Kansas. Let the bastards poke their heads out there."
"Very true," Major Branson returned.
"Thank you, Major," I said, taking the paperwork he offered. He turned and strode from the room. I looked down at the pages in my hands. The list of my dead grows and grows. The civilians on the list I kept were just as much my dead as the soldiers.
You cannot blame yourself for all of them, I heard inside my mind. Pelin was never far from me, hardly ever within sight, but always present. She or Lee would shadow me at all times. Sometimes, with one or two of the others.
I could shut the gates to Earth, permanently, I returned. Yet, I choose not to.
A necessity for the greater good, Master, she projected. Can you sacrifice fifteen worlds to close off this one? Without what is happening here, those of yours on these other worlds would not be able to stay unknown. If they are discovered they will be destroyed. Along with any future where the Kresh can be anything but the monsters they are thought to be. We must buy them the time needed to survive. Then we can take the war to Kresh and away from Doran.
I know, I sat back in my office chair. But how do I not blame myself for all of this?
There is a heavy price to pay to be in command. Sometimes the choices are hard. You will make the right decisions, Master. We can see it when we look inside of us at your Mark. It is who you are.
I wish I could muster the faith in myself that those around me seemed to have. I shook my head. There was no time for self-loathing, I needed to get the troops ready to move to Europe. The Great gate wouldn't be here in America, it would be somewhere over seas. We knew the locations of five gates, leaving two uncharted. Three of those gates were blocked from use. One was Kansas and they'd discovered what would happen if they came through, there.
China had more guns set up already than Kansas had and they were adding to the defenses at an alarming rate. But there were still two unknown gates. I felt that moving to Europe would put us closer to the event when they opened up one of those Gates.
I saw Prada's Soul as she approached the building I was using for a command center. She was grinning as she entered the room.
"You have a visitor, Boss," she said. "Important visitor, at that. Samuel Deacons will be here in less than an hour."
"What's he doin' here?" I wondered aloud.
"He announced he was coming as soon as he heard we were here. The Kresh hadn't even been cleaned out."
"Just odd he would come here when he needs to distance himself from me."
"Do you honestly think he would distance himself from you?" she asked. "His son is directly involved here, not to mention the history you have with the man."
"I figured Alan would do that."
"Not if Deacons knew he was doing it," she said.
"That was the idea. He wasn't supposed to know it."
"Well you're not getting out of it this time," she laughed. "He specifically asked for you to meet with him."
"Well, I guess I better be there, then."
She laughed again, "I also have a little news from Kansas. Do you remember that restaurant we had the little incident at?"
"Yeah, I remember it."
"It seems that it's under new management."
She was enjoying this way too much. There was something she was building up to.
"The name has changed to Nightwing's."
"She didn't," I said. "I knew she was pissed, but I didn't think she was that pissed."
"Oh yes she did. And Soulguards are very welcome at the place."
"Kind of surprised she didn't burn it down when she bought it."
"Oh, she made some changes to the place. First thing she did was vet the staff. Some were sent on their way."
I shook my head, "Gotta love her."
It wasn't much longer before Samuel Deacons entered my office.
"How are you, Colin?"
"Pretty good, Sam," I answered. "How's the campaign?"
"I hate to even say this, but the Kresh hitting again has boosted my polls immensely. The thing that bothered me the most was the fact that my schedule kept having me at the opposite end of the country from where you were at during any given time. Then the old kanuckle head figured out what was up. I'm just a little pissed at Alan for doing it, and a little pissed that you helped."
"I don't know what you're talkin' about," I said.
"Yes, I'm sure," he said. "It seems that Alan has avoided the subject for quite some time, but there will be a time when they'll throw that subject up to try to do what they can to hurt me. The thing is, I don't see our friendship hurting me. And, frankly, don't give a damn if others do. I owe you more than I could ever repay you. This world owes you more than they could ever repay."
"Thank you, Sam. That means more to me than you might think."
"I was in Nashville when this broke loose. I figured I might catch you and clear up the question everyone seems to be dodging. Outside are three news vans. Today I want to show them where I stand with you and where I stand with the Soulguard. Right beside you. I wish I could have done it before the attack but it's too late for that, thanks to you and Alan."
"At least now it shouldn't be as big a problem as it would have been."
"In some ways, true. In other ways it would have been better to do this sooner. Now, some will think it was done because we went back to war. Which is a political move instead of the move of a friend."
"Possibly," I said
"But we'll deal with that when it comes," he said. "So tell me, what's the plan now?"
"My group is about to load out for Romania," I said. "We have to prepare for another Great Gate to open up and I'm thinking it won't be here. The base in Romania is centrally located in case the next gate is over there. If they come back to Kansas, they deserve what happens. If they hit the one in China, they'll have more of the same. The other three we know of are effectively blocked. There are two left unaccounted for."
"Sounds like a good plan," he said. "Will my son be joining you?"
"Yes sir, he will."
"Then I should make time to see him before I go back to Washington."
"I'm sure he'd like to see you."
"What are your opinions on the lady he is seeing, if you don't mind me asking?"
"She's one of my best friends, Sam. She's good people."
"That's what my assessment was but it never hurts to ask someone who can see into Souls."
I chuckled.
"Let's get this photo thing taken care of and we'll see if we can find Trent. Perhaps there is a place we can just sit and talk."
"I'm sure we can find somethin'."
Chapter 33
I felt the Great Gate open and looked to the northwest. I felt the beast inside me clawing to get out. The minds of my Shak'Tar were there in an instant. It was a comforting feeling to not have to fight the darkness inside me alone. I clicked my coms.
"We need to head on a Northwest heading," I said to the pilot. "A gate just opened in that direction. We should hear details fairly soon. How's the fuel situation?"
"We have enough to reach anywhere within another thousand miles. There's a fuel depot in Vaslui, Romania, if we need to go that far."
"I think we'll be going farther than that."
"Then we'll set course for Vaslui for a refuel. Then we have full range again."
"Sounds good," I said. "Notify the other planes and make sure they can all make Vaslui. If so, we're good."
"Yes, Sir."
I turned to Sergeant Hicks, who was seated beside me, "Looks like we have a change in plans."
"We'll fight wherever the fight is, Rourke," he said with a grin.
"We need to work up a plan using both my people and yours," I said.
"True," he said. "I have a couple of suggestions if you don't mind listenin'."
"Lay it on me."
"Ok, here's a mockup of a skirmish," he said and pulled some papers from his pocket. "Say the enemy is here. I would put my guys here and here…"
***
"We can intercept them in Novaya," Rostov said. "They've destroyed Ufa and most of the surrounding area."
His accent was more pronounced with the distress he was feeling. He was born less than a hundred miles from Ufa.
"The largest group of them is working its way west. They overran Avdon and Sanitoriya and continue west. There is no way we can reach them before they take Uzytamak and Arslanovo. Novaya looks to be the soonest we can get there."
I placed my hand on his shoulder, "We'll get there."
He nodded.
It was three hours out and I could feel them all as they spread from Ufa, Russia. The Gate had opened right in the middle of the city and Kresh had poured forth from it. Not just any Kresh. Thousands of Wraiths led the charge and they were damn close to unstoppable. I tried to keep the beast inside calm, and waited for the time when I could let him out. I watched helplessly as the dark souls spread from that gate, and the bright souls in their path were snuffed out like candles. We were the closest force with a chance to do major damage to them. The Russians were closing from the north and more forces from Germany were closing from the west behind us. Our planes would be the first to arrive and it was our job to stall that flood if we could.
"Getting that crazy look in his eyes," I heard Trent. "Thought you guys were helping with that."
"That is just normal crazy," Lee answered. "Worry not, friend, Trent."
Trent chuckled, "I guess we'll know when it goes past that, huh?"
"I'm right here," I said.
"Of course we'd know," Mattie said. "The plane would be crashing, and we'd all suffer a painful fiery death."
"Right here."
"Maybe we should just push him out the back and run."
"All for throwin' him out of the plane," Prada said.
"I heard you got to do that," Trent returned. "I bet that was fun."
I sighed.
"It was great!"
"Coming up on our drop zone, Sir," the pilot informed me through the coms. "Five minutes."
"Thanks," I answered. "We'll be going with the formation Hicks suggested. Once we're on the ground, the snipers will look for high ground and the Marines will begin evacuating anyone who hasn't left already. Soulguards will form on me and we'll head out to meet the Kresh to the east of town. This will give the Marines time to pull as many people out as they can."
