The Marine's Queen (13 page)

Callie walked backward, watching the marines running up the slope. Just before Joe reached the top, he slid to a stop and pulled one of the weapons he’d slung over his back.

A wave of black rolled over the hill like a tide of oil on the white sand. Joe opened fire, lighting the darkening sky with colorful bursts of orange and red light. The black inundation broke around him, faltering and splitting in spots.

Vin and Mak started firing before they reached Joe, helping turn the wave. To Callie’s horror, Joe’s weapon sputtered and failed. He tossed it down and pulled a smaller gun from his belt.

A small creature from the black wave leaped at Joe’s chest. Vin fired at it, his laser igniting the beast so close to Joe, Callie thought the flames would engulf him also.

“
Callie, please get inside.” Roz tugged on her elbow. “Now.”

Yalo took her other arm and pulled her toward the door.

Callie resisted until she assured herself Joe was still firing at the mass. Then she turned and ran with others, daring a look over her shoulder. “What are they, Roz?”

“
We don’t have a name for it.” Roz pushed her in the door. “They’re some kind of giant rodent, and they’ll eat anything in their path.”

He closed the door and joined Kam somewhere outside. Webb urged the women to climb up into the small loft. They tossed the things stored there to the floor and crowded around the small lookouts cut into the lumber.

Glory cried softly against her mother’s shoulder. Callie fought her own tears. The deepening twilight gave the scene outside a surreal quality, like a light show at a carnival.

“
Spirit Father, protect them,” Riba prayed. Sally fussed and mewled as if feeling the fear swirling in the loft.

“
Pray for Tar,” Webb whispered.

The barracks vibrated as the black death neared. They could hear Kam and Roz firing from their positions outside. Callie could discern individual animals now. They looked like thigh-high rats. Their tails were short and hairless, their snouts long and pointed. Sharp fangs overlapped each other in front and their eyes reflected red in the flash of laser-powered weapons.

Hellish squeaks and squeals came from the wounded and dying rodents. The boarks roared, but whether in fright or challenge, Callie couldn’t tell.

The stench of blood and burning flesh and hair drifted in the peep holes, but none of the women pulled away.

“
I can’t see Mak,” Acacia said, her voice quivering with fear as it hadn’t done even when they’d thought themselves doomed in their crashed ship.

“
They’re attacking the rear of the herd,” Yalo said.

Callie strained to see through the wisps of smoke rising from smoldering carcasses. A few of the rats tried to break away, but the marines shot them as they did. The men pushed them into an ever tightening circle of slaughter.

“
Ladies,” Webb said. “I think it’s safe to go down. The bites of these animals are foul. We’ll need to treat some wounds.”

The doctor gave them efficient instructions, keeping them busy as the sounds from outside slowly quieted. Webb’s eyes wandered to the door, but he warned them not to open it. “Sometimes they lurk in dark places and wait to pounce. Joe will make sure they got them all before he opens that door.”

Glory and Sally slept on Callie’s bed while they all waited. The children mumbled and tossed in their restless sleep. The disruption of their peaceful paradise reminded everyone of their vulnerability and the dangers of this alien world.

After another hour passed, Kam opened the door and slipped inside. He closed it firmly and leaned his back against the wall. His tired gaze searched for Riba first. “All clear.”

Nobody relaxed.

“
Where’s everyone else?” Callie asked.

A large gash seeped blood from Kam’s left forearm, though he didn’t seem to notice. His large, gloved hands clutched his activated weapon across his chest.

“
Let me take a look at your arm, Kam,” Webb said quietly. “Give Yalo the gun and sit down here.”

Kam obeyed, still looking a bit dazed. He handed off the weapon and shuffled over to the bench Webb pointed to. Only then did they all see the larger wound across his back.

By the time they removed Kam’s gloves and shirt, blood puddled on the floor beneath the bench. A tinge of gray showed through the marine’s tanned face, but not so much as a sigh escaped him.

“
Where are the others?” Callie asked again as she handed the hot fortified drink to Kam that Webb had had them prepare. She couldn’t help but imagine Joe’s body covered with gaping wounds like Kam’s.

“
They went to find Tar.”

“
All of them?” Yalo asked.

Kam nodded slowly. “In case they have to carry him.”

No one said anything for a long moment.

“
Is anyone else injured?” Grace finally asked. She sat on the bed with Glory who was watching Webb clean Kam’s wound.

“
Roz is fine,” Kam answered.

“
And Vin?” Yalo asked, her face turning red.

“
Nothing vital.”

“
Mak?” Acacia asked.

“
They never touched him.”

Silence filled the room again except for an occasional soft curse from Webb as he scrubbed at the edges of the ragged wound.

What about Joe? Callie wanted to scream, but to ask was to admit to all how much she cared. The other women stared at her with questions in their eyes, and Webb looked away from Kam long enough to give her a dark glance. Even little Glory frowned at her.

Only Kam didn’t turn his gaze to her. His eyes were closed and his lips pressed tight together in a grimace.

Her mouth dry, her throat tight, Callie tried to speak. Only a barely audible croak emerged from her mouth. She swallowed and tried again. “Is Joe…?”

Kam still didn’t open his eyes. “I don’t know. He took off ahead of the others so he’s well enough to run.”

Webb sprinkled a powder on Kam’s open wound. The marine’s posture stiffened, and his eyes popped open.

“
Joe always feels so responsible for the men,” Webb said without looking up.

Callie understood Joe’s feelings more than the others ever could.

“
Why did they attack?” Acacia asked.

“
We’ve only seen them twice before,” Webb answered. “They don’t live on this area we’ve claimed. We believe they live west of here at another fertile area. They’re ravenous when they arrive in a massive swarm across the sands. Perhaps when their population reaches a certain point they try to migrate to a new habitat.”

“
We’re just another morsel of food for them,” Kam said in a flat voice.

“
Do you think Tar got out of the way?” Riba asked as she helped the doctor wrap a bandage round Kam’s chest and back.

“
He wouldn’t have moved out of the way,” Webb answered. “If he was lucky, they went around him.”

Kam finally sighed but not with physical pain. He hung his head. “They killed two of us the first time they swarmed.”

No one spoke after that. When Webb finished with him, Kam stood vigil by the door. He accepted water from Riba but all his attention was directed to his duty.

The night had reached its darkest before they heard voices outside. Kam opened the door only enough to slip out and then closed it behind him.

“
Aren’t they freezing out there?” Callie asked.

Webb picked Kam’s torn shirt off the bench and held it out to her. “Why don’t you take this out to Kam? Joe won’t give you hell like he would me.”

Callie read the challenge in the doctor’s gaze. She snatched the shirt from him and marched out the door. The cold air took her breath.

“
Get back inside,” Joe ordered. The marines stood in a circle near the boarks’ pen. The cold moonlight shined on a small bundle at their feet.

“
I brought Kam his shirt.” Callie stepped closer. She could see their faces were dirty, a bit bloody and even grimmer than usual.

“
Thank you.” Kam took the tattered shirt.

“
Go back inside, Callie,” Joe said again. “Please.”

“
Where’s Tar.” Something about the still night made her whisper.

Joe gestured at the bundle near his feet. A pile of rubble lay on a dirty camouflage scrap. Callie took one step closer. A long bone and bits of white tendons stood out against bloody strips of flesh. Tar!

Chapter Seven

“
They’re burning his remains?” Callie shaded her eyes against the rising sun. Her stomach still quivered and rumbled. Why hadn’t she listened to Joe when he first told her to go inside?

“
They’ve always cremated their dead since I’ve known them. Kam mentioned something once about being used as laboratory specimens if they took the bodies back with them,” Webb explained. “Are you feeling better, Callie?”

“
I’ve never seen anything so horrible.” Callie swallowed bile rising in her throat again. She had emptied her stomach until there was nothing left but a bitter mouthful of clear fluid.

Webb put a comforting hand on her shoulder as they stood together and watched the men surrounding the flames a hundred yards away.

“
How do they get used to it?” Callie wondered.

“
They don’t get used to it. They were forced to hide their emotions as children. Any boy that cried was culled. They learned fast.”

“
Culled?” Cold flowed over Callie’s skin as if someone had dumped ice water on her head.

Webb nodded. “The reports I read said six of their group were lost that way. Others were culled later.”

“
Later?” Callie could barely form a thought over the horror of it.

“
They did away with two boys who apparently grew to care too much for each other during their teen years. Another boy hesitated to kill and one didn’t take orders so well. I think the last one didn’t deal well with space travel.” Webb’s matter of fact rendition of the murders made it more horrifying.

“
How many were there originally?”

“
Fifty super babies, all created in the same lab. None of them exactly the same, although certain physical parameters were designed for each one. They strove for the most efficient body build and height.”

Callie studied the marines, nothing how only Kam varied widely in their physical structure.

Webb’s tone became pure mockery. “They hired women to carry them and kept the pregnant ladies in strict conditions. Their diets and exercise routines followed exact specifications. Three of the newly born infants were considered inferior. They were destroyed the first week.”

“
Who made these inhumane decisions?”

“
The same monsters that created our boys. Perhaps these early casualties were the lucky ones.”

“
How can you say that?”

“
If you had seen the data on how they trained those young boys, you would agree. I’m constantly amazed at how normal they can be at times.”

Before Callie could probe for details about the training, the marines started back toward them.

The men were still dirty and bloody from the previous night. Nothing could be read from their faces. Despite their lack of sleep, their posture and steps were as military smart as ever. They began to drag the bodies of the dead rats away from the barracks.

“
We can help with that,” Callie said.

Joe froze as he bent toward another rat. He straightened slowly. “No.”

Something about the one word answer, reminiscent of their first days together, pierced Callie’s heart. “Yalo, get the others.”

The women must have been watching because they hurried outside before Yalo could summon them.