Beyond Armageddon: Book 02 - Empire (39 page)

           
Gunfire again.

           
Jon unclipped a radio from his belt. “I need a report! Report!”

           
More screams.

           
Jon and his officers descended the stairs and jogged the dirt path that played the role of
Main Street
. The radio crackled and a panicked sentry reported, “Jesus Christ there must be about a dozen of em’. They’re coming up out of the ground!”

           
A burst of gunfire.

           
Jon and the other two rounded a cluster of homes and stopped at the edge of an open space near the outskirts of the settlement. Three white-clad soldiers raced toward them over the frosted ground, each stumbling as they continually glanced over their shoulders.

           
Behind the trio, Jon saw two grayish fins protruding from the ground. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and realize that, yes, those fins sliced through the dirt as if attached to something underground; like a shark’s dorsal fin on the surface of the ocean.

“Guys! Guys watch out!” Brewer yelled across the clearing.

           
The creatures revealed themselves, leaping from the soil like killer whales performing at Sea World.

           
They were out and then gone in a short second, affording Jon only a quick glimpse and what he did see puzzled his eyes: smooth, glistening dark skin with snouts covered in some sort of mist spraying from holes behind what might be foreheads; slender, long bodies that appeared coated in liquid, hence the glisten.

           
The things leapt out of the ground and dove back in with no sign of digging, no drilling: boring through the solid earth as easily as a fish swimming through water.

           
Jon saw massive, round mouths but no sign of teeth in that first quick glimpse. He did see that more fins covered the creatures, not just the one sticking from the ground but all over. A short, thin tail—less like a shark, more like a manta ray—trailed the main body.
          

           
Two of these ‘Bore-Sharks’ attacked. The first jumped too high and one lucky soldier avoided the strike by sprawling on the ground. The monster went right over the top of her, then crashed into and through the dirt and snow, kicking up a surprisingly small amount of soil in the process. The hole the beast left behind quickly collapsed, covered over in dirt but leaving behind a ring in the Earth with steaming, melted slag around the rim.

           
The second creature jumped from the ground, smashed into the body of a middle-aged human fighter, then returned beneath the surface leaving another steaming, collapsed tunnel behind. It also left behind the head and lower legs of its victim, having carried off everything in between.

“Oh Christ,” Fink said with a delirious chuckle. “It’s a god damn land shark.”

           
The radio blasted, “There’s some kind of things in the ground!”

           
More gunfire from across the town.

           
The two remaining soldiers in the field continued their run. Three more fins appeared in the distance, closing fast on the remaining man and woman.

           
Captain Fink regained his composure and yelled, “Everyone! Freeze! Don’t move!”

           
He then turned to General Brewer and explained, “I saw things like this in a movie once. They are attracted to vibrations in the ground. If you hold still, they won’t even see you.”

           
“You saw it in a movie?” Jon gasped but Fink’s thinking sounded reasonable enough.

           
The two soldiers in the field heeded the advice and stood perfectly still. ‘Bore-sharks’ jumped from underground and killed both people, again carrying away most of the body parts.

           
Jon screamed, “Screw this! Get inside! Now!”

           
They made for the nearest wooden home. As they moved, Jon gave the same order to all his men: “Get inside. Get to shelter.”

           
Two fins pushed through the surface and sped toward Brewer, Fink, and Johnny as they hurried for a nearby homestead. The men barely got inside as the creatures ‘swam’ by.

           
As they passed, Jon noted they barely disturbed the soil. No ground hog like trenches; hardly a line where the fins pushed through.

           
A cold breeze hit the men from behind. They turned around and saw a hole in the side wall of the house.

           
Reverend Johnny whispered,
“They will bury so many bodies in Topheth that there won’t be room for all the graves. The corpses of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals, and no one will be left to scare them away.”

           
In the floor, another hole. Taken together, Jon clearly envisioned one of these Bore-Sharks jumping through the side wall, snatching prey, and diving through the floor into the ground again.

           
Fink said what they all thought, “We’re not safe inside, either.”

           
Rifle blasts sounded nearly continuous around the town.

           
“How do they know where we are? They don’t have eyes above ground. If it’s not by vibration then what is it?” Jon paced as he tried to understand his enemy.

           
“Whatever their fiendish means,” Reverend Johnny said, “they saw clearly through this wall and found their prey even within the confines of this home.”

           
Jon held up a finger and closed his eyes. After a moment of consideration, he found an answer and shared, “They see
us
the same way we’re going to see
them
…”

           
…A grenade landed on open ground and exploded a few yards in front of a fast-moving fin. The explosive mainly scattered useless shrapnel in the air, but the concussion also pushed into the soil, causing the fin to change directions, exactly as Jon hoped. The diversion gave Casey Fink time to reach the command vehicle parked outside City Hall.

           
Reverend Johnny fired M16 rounds in the direction of a second fin. One bullet punched a hole in the appendage and the creature retreated.

           
The same story played out around town. Groups of soldiers barricaded in buildings. The monsters circled outside. In the fifteen minutes since the swarm first arrived, Brewer confirmed five of his men dead. They managed to kill one of the creatures with a lucky burst of gunfire while at least two more of the things suffered serious wounds when they burrowed into occupied homes and met shotguns at close range.

           
At the partially assembled command module, Casey Fink retrieved a large case and a small box. Unfortunately, the vehicle could not be driven; the caterpillar tracks had not yet been affixed and the fuel tank lacked gas, although several large barrels of petrol stood nearby.

           
Fink—case and box in tow—rejoined General Brewer and Reverend Johnny. The three climbed the slope of the mountain at the back end of the town.

           
Meanwhile, the rest of the expeditionary force remained in small groups at various hard points throughout the settlement. Of course, when an enemy can move through the ground as easily as a person moves through air, no point could be considered particularly ‘hard.’ Nonetheless, the soldiers concentrated fire at any approaching fin, discouraging the predators, but not chasing them off: the creatures circled the ‘streets’ waiting for an opportunity to feed.

 
“Did you get the scope?” Jon Brewer asked Fink.

“Yes, I got the scope,” Fink answered as he hoisted a .50 caliber sniper rifle from its case.

Their elevated position on a rock outcropping afforded a good view of the entire town.

Captain Fink removed the telescopic sight and replaced it with a thermal scope. A moment later, he scanned the ‘streets’ of Qaanaag which appeared dull white through the heat-sensing sight.

“All units, do you copy? Who has eyes-on any of the things?” Jon Brewer radioed.

“Sir, Cooper here, Sir. We’re held up in the southwest quadrant in two homes. Got three of the damn things circling us.”

Fink swept that area with the sniper rifle. He saw the heat signatures of the men inside the buildings. Then he saw a yellow and red blob moving around outside.

He took careful aim, anticipated the creature’s movement, and fired.

The .50 caliber round could penetrate armor, so it easily penetrated several feet into the tundra. Nonetheless, Fink’s first shot missed, as did his second. Fortunately, the creatures did not appear to realize the bullets aimed for them.

Finally, his third shot hit a fast-moving Bore-Shark. Its momentum through the hard dirt obviously contributed to its demise as the thing broke into three big pieces.

 
“It sees us from our body heat,” Jon started and Reverend Johnny finished, “Turnabout is fair play. You are a clever man, General.”

Fink picked off two more.

“All units, if you’ve got infrared use it to track these things,” Jon radioed.

Only a handful of the men possessed any type of heat-sensing sights or devices, but those who did directed grenades and rifle fire. The odds of the battle finally started to turn.

Meanwhile, Fink picked off another one, dwindling the
school
of
Bore-Sharks
to five.

However, his success drew attention. Captain Fink watched through his scope as the remaining creatures formed a wedge and ‘swam’ across the town…in
his
direction.

“Um…I think they’re on to us.”

“Then keep shooting,” Brewer said.

Fink, prone on the side of the slope with the rifle balanced in a small tripod, drew a bead on the approaching group. He fired a series of semi-automatic shots from the big gun.

“That’s one…,” he reported as the school closed to one hundred yards.

Casey carefully aimed and pulled the trigger.

Then again.

“That’s two…three to go”

Seventy yards.

“Casey, are you going to get them all?”

BLAM.

“Shit. Missed.”

He pulled the trigger again but nothing happened. No bullet fired.

“Oh you gotta be friggin’ kidding me!”

“Jam?” Jon shouted. “It jammed? Jesus Christ! Fix it!”

Casey went to work on the weapon, struggling to remove the huge clip.

Reverend Johnny acted. He grabbed his M16 and descended the slope, directly toward the trio of closing fins.

“Reverend! What the hell are you doing?”

“The Lord is my Shepherd!”

Reverend Johnny ran down the rocky slope toward City Hall and the non-operational command vehicle, but would need to outmaneuver the bore-sharks to get there; all three adjusted their course as they locked on to his body heat at fifty yards.

He fumbled with his utility belt as he ran and found a flare.

“Let…me…have…your…undivided…” the flare sparked to life, “attention!”

He could nearly feel the sharks roar in hunger as the sparkling heat signature beckoned like a siren’s call.

The creatures closed to twenty yards…ten…five…

Johnny cut hard and changed directions like a halfback heading for the end zone. As he swerved, one of the attackers leapt from the ground, hungry for a new meal. For an instant, Johnny stared directly into its round mouth. He saw no teeth, only pinkish gums dripping with liquid and he understood: the creatures did not chew their prey; they dissolved them. Dissolved them with the same acid that allowed them to ‘swim’ through rock and earth.

In the next instant, that Bore-Shark disappeared into the ground again.

All three creatures circled around for another attack.

“Get that gun going!” Johnny yelled to his friends on the hillside. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this!”

The Reverend’s nifty dodging bought him enough time to reach the snow-covered dirt road outside City Hall. He aimed specifically for the cluster of fuel drums by the partially assembled command vehicle.

Johnny set the flare on top of one drum, bear-hugged the container, and found the strength to move it—in hops—thirty feet away from the other two barrels.

Behind him, the three remaining Bore-Sharks completed their circle and found his heat signature again. They ‘swam’ through the ground in his direction. When they closed to fifteen yards, they accelerated for the kill.

           
“And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? The LORD shall trouble thee this day.
 
And all
Israel
stoned him with stones, and burned them with FIRE…”

The Reverend ran, leaving the flare atop the fuel drum.