Eden's Children (Earth Exiles Book 2) (6 page)

The mechs’ rail guns sounded, a ripping noise as super-heated iron slapped flesh.  Shattered corpses dropped from the top of the wall.

Jennifer’s voice sounded over the command channel, “Be ready, we can’t stop them.  It’s like trying to dam a flood.”

Mike wasn’t able to divert his attention to check on the security team.  Shots sounded behind him as they engaged the spawn coming in from the back.

The pile of bodies in the front grew higher, the spawn struggling across the mound of corpses to get in.  They clawed, climbed and died as they entered the tunnel.  The rain mixed with gore and blood, creating a slick puddle that spread underfoot.  The smell of slaughter was horrific.  Soon, the press of bodies slackened.  Fewer spawn were climbing the pile of carcasses.  The spawn saw what happened to their siblings and weren’t as eager to step into the path of their own destruction.  There was easily thirty or forty dead animals choking the opening.

Mike stopped to nudge Mickey with his elbow, “Check on security.”

Mickey nodded, placed his weapon on safe, and turned to see what was happening behind him.  They kept a watch toward the front, shooting the occasional spawn that tried the tunnel.  Outside, they could hear more trees falling, interspersed with the sound of the buzz saw rail guns.

Mike heard Ken’s voice as he felt Mickey move up behind him, “Mike, everything’s okay here.  I don’t think we got as much of the spawn as you did.”

Mike called up to Jennifer, “Jen, what’s going on up there?”

“We got some of them, but a lot moved past us,” she replied.

“Define a lot,” Mike said.

“I don’t know, thirty, forty, maybe more.”

That didn’t add up.  “Ken, how many carcasses are over there?”

“Not many, ten to twenty maybe.”

“Where the hell did the rest of the animals go to?”
Mike thought.

“Tech, do you know where the rest of them went to?”

Luis Garcia spoke up from the armory, “Mike, some of them were killed when they tried to get into the tunnels, but a lot of them headed to the smoker.”

“Is there anybody out at the smoker?” Mike asked.

“Matki’s here.  He said he saw Mitchem and Ben out there earlier.”

“Can anybody locate Ben or Mitchem?”

“No, they checked the sleep tunnel, but nobody can find them.”

“Roger Luis.  Ken, did you hear all that?

“Yeah Mike, I heard.”

“What do you think?”

“We can’t leave them out there.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“Everybody hear that?” Mike asked.

A chorus of voices replied in the affirmative.

“We can’t leave Ben out there, we have to go and get him.”

“What about Mitchem?” somebody asked.

Mike paused for dramatic effect, “Well, we’re going out there anyway, might as well pull his ass out of the fire as well.”

Chuckles, and a few out right laughs came over the channel.

“Ken, let’s move out of the tunnel, and then we’ll move in formation over to the smoker.”

“You got it, Mike.”

“You want my team to go out first?” Mike asked.

Murphy spoke, “Mike, we got this.”

“You sure, Murph?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, Mike.  You spec ops types try to keep hoggin’ the spotlight.  Time for us to get some of the glory.”

Ken was in charge of security, but Murph was its heart and soul.  Ken was a great guy, but the security team would cowboy up and ride to hell for Murphy.  Murph knew that, but he didn’t have an ego problem.  Ken was lucky to have a non-commissioned officer like Murph.  It worked out for Murph.  He hated meetings, so he was happy that Ken was ‘in charge.’

Ken took over, “Okay, we have to secure the courtyard first.  I need Joseph and Murph in the lead.”

“Jesus,” Joseph said.

“Okay, since Joseph doesn’t want to be first in the chute, Stein, you’re up.”

Stein replied, “Roger.”

“Wait, I didn’t mean . . .” Joseph started.

“I don’t have time for your crap, Joseph.  Murph, Stein, Joseph, me, Bill, Craig, Scott, and John.  Stack up in that order.  Murph, you go straight out, Stein left, Joseph right, then we alternate as we go.  Questions, suggestions?”

Mike spoke, “Ken, we’ll follow you out, alternating in your pattern.  Don’t forget to watch top side for spawn that may be on the wall.”

“Roger Mike, I’ll take center, and watch the top of the wall.”

Ken did one more check of his team, “Alright, go, go, go!”

Mike and his team were still watching the front opening.  He couldn’t watch what was going on, but he heard one shot, two, and then three.  More shots rang out, and the pattern intensified as the security team dealt with the threat in the courtyard.

Mike felt Mickey move away, and then felt a smack on his shoulder as Mickey let him know that he was moving.  Mike moved back, smacked Everett on the shoulder, and turned to head back to the courtyard.  Mickey’s bulk blocked Mike’s vision beyond Mickey’s back.  Suddenly Mickey was outside, turning left.  Mike ran out through a curtain of water, turned right and walked into chaos. 

Carcasses of spawn sprawled across the courtyard, blood and water slicking the cobblestones.  Drapier was down, possibly due to the slick surface, though there were dead spawn around him.  Joseph and Yee were standing over him, shooting at spawn coming down the steps.  The spawn leaped toward the three Airmen.  Drapier started cursing.  There was yelling and more shots rang out among the howls and snarls of the dragon spawn.

“Bad Idea, Mike,”
he thought.  He was running and gunning, shooting to take down the spawn that were still coming at the Airmen.  Something came out of the dark and slammed into him.  His feet couldn’t maintain a purchase on the wet cobblestones and he went down, tumbling across the courtyard.  He slammed into the legs of another person, and they went down also.

He rolled to get away from the other person, worried that being tangled up would foul his capability to protect himself and fight back.  He separated, and two of the dragon spawn launched onto him.  The only thing that saved him from being ripped apart was his body armor.  One of the spawn went for his throat from the side, but the high collar kept it from getting a grip.  Mike couldn’t bring his rifle to bear, so he pulled his pistol, rammed it against the ribs of the one trying to rip his throat out, and started pulling the trigger until it collapsed.  The other one was trying to get a grip on his skull, hot saliva dripping between Mike’s collar and helmet.  He started punching it with one hand, dazing it, and he was able to grip the tentacles along the side of its head.  He grabbed it, pulled it in close, and jammed the muzzle of the gun into its maw and pulled the trigger several times, the back of its skull exploding.

He rolled to his knees, and saw Murph, the person that he had knocked down, with three spawn on top of him.  Mike took careful aim, double tapped one, and then shifted his aim to another and pumped several slugs into it until it went down.  Murph grabbed the last spawn in a hug, and started stabbing it with a knife until the beast collapsed.

Mike stood up, scrambled to Murph, and helped him up.  Mike got him to his feet then Mike turned and scanned his area for hostiles.  There were still a few, so he kept shooting until the slide on his pistol locked back.

“Empty, changing,” he yelled.  Mike slammed another magazine into the magazine well.  He re-holstered his pistol and regained control of his rifle.  He looked around and only saw a handful of spawn left.  Other grunts were handling those few, so he helped two other guys up.

“Guys, you’ve attracted more attention.  The pack that went out to the smoke house is headed back your way,” Luis warned.

“Fall back to the tunnel!” Mike yelled.  The two teams scrambled through the heavy rain to get to the tunnel.  Only a few people were able to get in before the spawn caught up to them.  Mike saw three silhouettes standing in front of the tunnel, hammering out shots against the tide of spawn.  Men went past, trying to get to the tunnel.  A guy fell in front of Mike. Mike grabbed his combat vest by the handle across the back, lifted him and helped him to his feet, then pushed him toward the tunnel.  Mike turned to see a wave of spawn headed towards him.  He saw movement from the corner of his eye.  There were two guys behind him, so he stopped and started shooting, giving them cover so that they could get to the tunnel. 

Five of the snarling spawn launched towards him.  Mike’s focus narrowed to his own small portion of the world.  He went into kill or be killed mode.  He killed one and the others overwhelmed him.  His feet flew out from under him on the wet cobbles.  He didn’t think there was anybody down range of his rifle muzzle, so he kept pulling the trigger until the bolt carrier locked to the rear.  He pulled his pistol and killed one of the spawn.  Another one went down, killed by somebody else’s bullets.  He emptied his magazine into another.

Spawn grabbed his arm, trying to crush the bone.  Mike felt intense pain as the spawn started shaking its head.  Other spawn were trying to bite his legs.  He kicked one in the head.  Mike couldn’t reload, so he holstered the pistol, and pulled his knife.  He lifted his arm, and jabbed the knife through the spawn’s throat, stabbing over and over until the spawn died.  He had to kick another one as he sheathed his knife and pulled his pistol again.  The spawn’s head exploded from a shot made by someone at the tunnel.

Mike couldn’t make it to the tunnel, so he scrambled to the wall.  He pulled another magazine and seated it, then hit the slide release and started shooting.  Two more went down.

The tide dwindled.  As more of the spawn died, the team started walking back out of the tunnel, shooting and killing.  The slide on Mike’s pistol locked to the rear, he hit the magazine release, grabbed the magazine and dropped it in his dump pouch.  He felt for a replacement, and didn’t find one.  He hit the slide release, re-holstered his pistol, and grabbed his rifle.  He started shooting, and felt the bolt lock to the rear.  He dropped the magazine, and reached for another one.  He only had one full magazine left, and he slammed it into the magazine well.

He looked for another hostile.  There weren’t any.  His world expanded, stretching from his narrow focus to the the broader world around him.  He took in a deep breath, and let it back out.

Mike called out, “ACE Report.”  The ACE report was Ammo, Casualty, Equipment.

“Mike, this is Everett, Red, Amber, Green.”

“This is Mickey, Amber, Green, Green.”

“This is Rob, Amber, Green, Green.”

“Mike, this is Tom, Amber, Green, Green.”

Rob and Tom were watching the tunnel, making sure nothing came out to attack them from behind.

Mike had to think.  He’d been battered, but he was still in one piece, “This is Mike, Red, Green, Green.”

“Bullshit Mike,” Everett said.

Mike reconsidered, “Red, Amber, Green.”

Everett didn’t say anything.

Mike listened as Ken received status reports from his team.  Lot of people battered, but nobody critically hurt.  Sounded like Scott Kendrik had a broken hand, and Bill Drapier might have a twisted ankle.  The new body armor had saved everybody’s lives.  Mike was going to let the techs know that when they were finished.

“Luis, are there any other spawn out here?” Mike asked.

“Can’t tell right now.  Not seeing any thermal signatures behind the wall.  That doesn’t mean that there aren’t more out in the valley.  I can’t send the drone up, too much rain.  The rain is decreasing sensor capabilities as well.”

Jennifer’s voice sounded over the channel, “Uh, Mike, I think you need to get up here.”

“What’s up Jen?”

“The big dragons are coming out of the forest.”

Jennifer’s voice didn’t reassure Mike.  “Why’s that a problem?” he asked.

“The trees.”

“Jen, you don’t have to worry about the trees.  Rob says they won’t hold a dragon’s weight.”

“What if they’re stacked on top of each other?” she asked.

Mike started cursing, “Rob, I need you to join me up top.”

“Roger Mike, lead the way.  I’m right behind you.”

Mike turned to the right to run up the steps.  Four bodies peeled off to run after him.  Evidently, the entire team was coming.

Mike got to the top of the steps, and had to stop.  The destruction was incredible.  The compound wall was intact, but there were branches, leaves, and shattered tree trunks scattered across the landing.  Some trees had been cushioned by others, and their intact tops projected over the chaos.  Spawn bodies and entrails were strewn across the landing, cut in half by the rail guns of the mechs.  The steady rain added to the chaos.

The Mechs were arrayed at the front of the landing on the other side of the destruction.

Mike started towards the front of the landing, “Jen, I’m coming in.”

“Roger, I’ve got you and the rest of the team on the display, Mike,” she replied.

“Good Lord!  It looks like a tornado in a trailer park,” Everett exclaimed.

Mike stopped at the edge and looked over.  The trees that hit the wall had shattered, dropping down to lay in the clearing.  The clearing was just as chaotic as the top of the compound wall.  Tree boles lay haphazardly across each other, creating a ramp of sorts to the top of the wall.  The dragons were already at the jumble of trees, testing it to see if it would hold their weight.