Eden's Children (Earth Exiles Book 2) (18 page)

Rob smiled at Matki, “That, my friend, is a stellar idea.”

They snagged their canteen cups and handed them over to Matki.  He arranged the kindling and made a small fire.   Matki arranged the cups close to the fire.  He poured the herbs into the cup, and then poured water over them.  He stirred it with a plastic MRE spoon that had mysteriously survived the past six months.  The water bubbled in the canteen cups, and when it began to overflow, he moved each canteen cup a little further away from the fire.  He stepped the tea until he judged it to be perfect, then he started passing out the cups.

“Matki, what would we do without you?” Everett asked.

“I think your expression is, that you would have to ‘embrace the suck,’” Matki replied.

Everett almost spit his tea back up, and started laughing, “I think you’re right, my friend.”

Tom brought his tea up to his lips, and then stopped, and turned his head to the side, almost like he was trying to remember something.

Mike caught the strange movement, “Hey, what’s up Tom?”

Tom held up his hand to silence Mike.  The other guys looked over at him, questioning looks on their faces.  Tom leaned forward, and picked up his rifle.  The questioning looks became looks of concern.  Tom saw the looks.  He smiled, “Don’t worry.  I think I just felt a breeze.  I’m going to check.”

He walked over to the window and looked out.  He turned around, “I think we have a breeze.  The fog seems to be moving.”

Mike looked at him, “Don’t get my hopes up.”

Minutes passed, and the fog seemed to be thinning.  Part of that might be the sun rising higher in the morning sky.

Tom lifted his rifle, sighting through the scope.  They watched as he took it off safe, and began to squeeze the trigger.  Mike sat down his canteen cup and covered his ears.  The other four did the same.

Tom’s rifle barked, and he continued staring through the scope.  He turned to them with a smile, “Fog’s clearing.  I just got another one.”

Rob surged up, “Hell yeah, let’s go kill something.”

Mike smiled, “Take a chill pill, Rob.  They’ll still be out there.  Let’s finish the tea.  Hopefully the fog will lift some more.  Then, maybe we can see how many are out there.  Once we know what we’re up against, we can go out and do some damage.”  He took a sip of his tea, “Remember, there are old soldiers, and bold soldiers, but no old, bold soldiers.”  He waved for Rob to sit back down.  Tom walked over, sat down, and grinned at Mike.  He sipped his tea.

Soon, they were finished, everything was packed, and Matki put out the fire.  Mike walked over to the window, and looked out at the street below.  The wind was whistling past the window, the fog breaking up, and what the wind wasn’t dispersing, the heat from the sun was.  Wisps of fog faded into nothingness as they drifted past.

Mike could see packs of the robots waiting down the three streets.  He turned to Rob, “Hey, Rob, I’ve got something for you.”

Rob walked over, “Yeah, what’s up?”

Mike pointed at the three packs, “Think you can shoot them all with the ‘203 before the first grenade hits?”

Rob’s Sig 716 had been modified so that a M203 grenade launcher could be attached to it.  The M203 was an indirect fire weapon that shot a 40mm grenade round that was slow enough that you could watch it as it flew out to hit where it was aimed. 

Rob smiled, “Probably not,” the smile turned into a grin, “but I can try.  Nothing like a little fragmentation to ruin their day.”

Rob opened the breech of the M203 and fed a 40mm into it.  He closed the breech, then pulled out two more and handed them to Mike, “Feed them to me.  It’ll make reloading go faster.”

Rob was well practiced with the ‘203, and he had a good estimation of the ranges involved.  He aimed down the street to the left, shot the first round, opened the breech, and held out his hand for another round.  Mike slapped it into his palm, and Rob fed it in, slammed the breech closed, and aimed as the first round exploded.  The second round flew down the street straight ahead.  Again, Rob slammed the breech open, Mike slapped the third round down, and Rob aimed down the street to the right, as the second round exploded.  A second later, the third round exploded.  Rob looked out, then turned to Mike and grinned. Mike looked out and saw robots lying in the streets, hydraulic fluid leaking out.

Mike turned back to the team, “
Now
, let’s go kill something.”

----------------------------------------------------

Everett spoke up, “Uh, Mike, I like the idea, but,” he paused looking around at the team, then looked back at Mike, “I’m hoping you have a plan other than, ‘let’s go kill something.’”

Mike grinned, “What?  That’s not a good plan?”  He looked their faces, still grinning, “Of course I have a plan.  You know me better than that, Everett.”

He waved them in closer, like he was going to tell them a secret.  They moved closer to him, and he started his outline.  Mike slapped his hands together, in anticipation of what was about to happen, “Okay guys, we need to do this smart.  I don’t know how many are out there.  I think the best thing we can do is give them a little bait, and lure them back here.”

“Ah, Mike, you don’t think they may change things up on us?” Everett asked.

Mike hooked his thumb over his shoulder, towards the window, “I don’t know, Everett.  Doesn’t look like they’re doing it so far.  I think these robots have some basic programming.  Hunt it, find it, kill it.  That works well if the people you’re hunting can’t fight back.  Not so good if they have rifles and mad skills like us.”

Mickey raised a finger, “Ah, Mike, don’t forget about Murphy.”

Mike smiled, “Oh, I’m counting on him.  I have a few ideas on how to handle Murphy.”

Mike pointed at Tom, “Tom, you’re going to be the eye in the sky.  We’ll go down the street directly in front so that you have good ranged shots.”

Tom nodded.  While the door was offset from the street in question, the second floor window had a straight shot all the way down the street.

He turned to Rob, “Rob, you’re going to have flechette loaded in the ‘203.  If we come running back, I want you to be able to hit a few of them at the same time.  Also, you’ll have claymores aimed down the street.” 

Mike had to stop as Mickey yelled, “Boo Yah!  Claymores, awesome.”  There were smiles and grins around the room.

Mike continued, “If we come running back, and there’s a wave of robots coming after us, I want to hit them with five hundred ball bearings.  There’s no way they’ll see that coming.”

Mike turned to Matki, “Matki, you’re pulling security for Tom so that he can concentrate on killing robots.  You’ll be upstairs with him.  If anything comes up the stairs, you shoot it.  Questions?”

Matki shook his head no.  Tom pulled out his Sig and handed it to Matki, along with two extra magazines.  Matki looked at Mike, “What is the running password in case you have to come up the stairs.”

The team looked at Matki with respect in their eyes.  The man was learning.

“Matki, how’s this?  ‘Matki! Don’t shoot me!’” Rob quipped.

Matki grinned, “That will be perfect.  I promise, I will not shoot you, Rob, if you yell that before you come up the stairs.”

Mike turned to look at Everett and Mickey.  Everett raised an eyebrow, “Yeah, and?”

Mike smirked, “So, Ev, Mick, how you feel about being bait?”

Mickey smiled, picked up his rifle, his deep voice rumbling as he growled, “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this Mike.”

Mike looked at Everett.  Everett nodded, “Get some.”

They geared up, ready to go.  Mickey, Everett, and Mike pulled claymore bandoleers out and checked them to make sure all the equipment was present and ready for use.  They slung the bags over their shoulders, and walked over to the warped door.  Mickey drug the robot off.  Everett and Mike levered up the headboard, and set it against the wall.  Tom and Matki pulled up the door while Rob covered the hole.  They leaned the door against the headboard, so that all they had to do was push it over and it would drop over the stairs.

Rob was lead, and he cleared the steps.  Then he cleared the room as he walked down, Mike right behind him.  When he was sure there wasn’t anything down there, Rob yelled, “Clear.”

Mike, Mickey, and Everett followed him down into the room.  They had their weapons at low ready, and cleared out to the street.  They walked to the door.  Mike yelled up, “Tom, see anything?”

“Nope, everything’s clear so far.”

They pulled the claymores out of the bags, did a check on the wiring, and then ran the wires out the door.  Tom and Rob kept an eye out as they positioned the claymores and aimed them down the streets.  They walked back to Rob, and handed him the claymore bandoleers.

Rob rummaged around in the bags, and pulled the three M57 firing devices, commonly called clackers, out.  He looked at Mike, Mickey, and Everett, and grinned, “Good hunting.”

Mike nodded, “Yeah, you too.”

Tom called out from the window, “Hey guys, you’re getting some interest.  Multiple shapes in the street out front.”  A shot rang out, “One less, now.”  Another shot, “Two down.”

Mickey yelled up at Tom, “Tom, save some for us.”

Another shot, “Three down.”

Mike looked at Everett, and gestured towards the street in front of them, “After you.”

Everett made a show out of taking the magazine out of his rifle and checking the bullets.  He slammed the magazine back into the rifle.  He pulled the bolt carrier group back just enough to do a press check and make sure there was a bullet in the chamber.  He felt for the two fragmentation grenades, then checked the extra magazines for his pistol, “Yeah, I think I’m ready.”

Another shot rang out, “one more down.”

“Okay, if you two are finished screwing around, can we go kill something before Tom shoots them all?” Mickey asked.

Grins played across Mike’s and Everett’s faces.  Mike turned to walk down the street, “Oh yeah, let’s go.”

Everett and Mickey fell in on either side of him.  Rob walked back to stand just inside the door, tossing the claymore bags into the room behind him.  He leaned against the door jamb, waiting for the chaos to start.

The sun was up now, and the wisps of fog dissipated.  The sun heated the air, creating a breeze that whistled through the buildings.  Ahead, they could see robots trotting down the street, about three hundred feet out.  The robots clustered, with at least ten of them ready to chase down the three men and kill them.  They heard the dull thump of the M203 behind them.  A moment later, they saw the grenade fly overhead and slam into the group of robots, exploding, the fragmentation scything through the mechanicals.  Six of them dropped, the others knocked aside.  The few that were left stood up, staggering as their internal mechanics tried to compensate for the damage the fragmentation had done to their bodies.

The trio walked towards the constructs.  The constructs that were still capable, started walking towards them.  Two tried to crawl.  Rifles went up, set into shoulders, and then shots rang out.  The constructs went down.  Two more shots rang out and the ones crawling stopped moving.

They heard the sound of a rifle shot.  They turned back to look.  Rob was dealing with robots on the side streets.  He shot three more times, then waved as the threat was dealt with.

“So far, so good,”
Mike thought.

They kept walking down the street.  Behind them, they heard more shots, Tom and Rob were taking care of more threats.

Then, the ground shook.

“What the hell was that?” Everett asked.

The ground shook again.  Then once more.  A pattern emerged.  Something very big was walking towards them. The ground shook in steady rhythm.

Everett looked into the distance, staring down the street, “Footsteps.  Something big is coming.”

Mickey looked at Mike, “What did you do?”

“I couldn’t help it, the thought just popped into my mind.”

Everett stared at Mike, “What the hell are you talking about?”

Mike tilted his head toward Mickey, “That question’s from ‘Ghost Busters.’”

Everett shook his head, “God bless.  The nerd essence surrounding you is palpable.”

Mickey frowned, then sighed, “Mike, when are you going to learn?  Don’t piss off Murphy.”

“How the hell did I piss off Murphy?” Mike asked.

“Mad skills, you had to say we had mad skills,” Mickey replied.

“We do have mad skills,” Mike replied.

Then, the giant automaton appeared.  It was huge.  It was at least as big as the mechs they’d left behind back at the compound.  It was wider, and the legs were built different, the knees bent backwards like the legs of a bird.  The head was different than the Mechs, an oblong shape on top surrounded by sensors.  Unlike their mechs, the head swiveled.  The mechanism that mimicked a neck was protected by a collar rising from the torso.  Mike couldn’t see any weapons on it.  Still, it would have no problem dealing with them.

“Uh, guys,” Mike started.

The giant robot saw them, and slowly started picking up speed.

Everett didn’t take his eyes off of the robot, “What?”

Mike lifted his rifle, “Shoot.”

Three rifles barked.  The sound of a shot from Tom’s rifle sounded at almost the same time.  The bullets didn’t faze the robot.  It was bulky, so it took time to accelerate.

“Uh, guys,” Mike said.

This time Mickey asked the question, unable to take his eyes off of the robot, “What?”

Mike yelled as he turned and broke into a sprint, “Run!”

Everett and Mickey didn’t even wait to hear what he said.  As soon as Mike turned, they were on his heels.  Rob was standing outside, shooting down one of the side streets on full auto, three to five second bursts.  He shifted from the street on the left to the street on the right and kept shooting.  Things were going downhill quick.

Rob looked at them, the expression on his face changing to one of panic as he saw the large robot behind the trio.  He gestured, waving for them to move faster, screaming, “Run, run!”

They hit the intersection with the sound of pounding growing louder behind them.  Mike glanced to his left.  It was filled with robots tearing down the street, so thick he couldn’t see the surface of the street underneath them.  Rob stepped back and they cleared the doorway.  They moved away from the door, and Rob took refuge next to the wall.  He picked up the first initiator, and yelled, “Claymore!”

He clicked the handle, and the claymore exploded.  Out of habit, he clicked it two more times, dropped it and picked up the next one, “Claymore!”

The second claymore exploded and he was about to click it two more times, when something hit the side of the building, knocking him forward.  He landed on the ground in front of the door.  One of the smaller robots burst through the door, the fabric shredded, the mechanicals torn.  Mike didn’t know how the damn thing was still moving.  He and Everett both shot double taps into the head.  Rob looked into the door and started moving his hands and feet frantically to back pedal away from it.  A giant hand moved into the room, grasping for Rob.  Mike dropped his rifle and jumped forward, landing on the floor, sliding forward to grab the last initiator.

“God, let this still work,”
he thought.  He clicked the handle, and the claymore exploded.

The hand slammed down, short of Rob, the explosion knocking the robot off balance.  Mike didn’t know how much, if any, damage had been done to it.  Rob scrambled to his feet and ran back, towards the stairs.  Mike rolled away from the door.  He pointed at the stairs, “Go, go, go!”

Rob was already moving so he got to the stairs before anybody else.  He started yelling, “Matki, don’t shoot me!  Don’t fucking shoot me!”

Everett and Mickey were right behind him.  Mike was the last up the stairs.  He felt the impact as the robot started hammering against the wall.  The repeated impacts weakened the masonry, and its fist slammed through the wall.  The noise was deafening as the corner of the building collapsed from the heavy impacts.

Mike leaped to the top of the stairs.  Tom had retreated from the front of the room, and was shooting continuously at the sensors on the head of the giant robot.  He glanced at the team boiling up the stairs and saw Mike.

“Great fucking idea, Mike!”  He turned back and kept shooting at the giant robot.  One of the arms moved into the room through the shattered wall, and Tom had to dodge to keep from being swatted like a fly.

The chest of the giant automaton was level with the second floor.  It was trying to crawl up the shattered remains of the wall, but more of the building gave way.  Mike was desperate to get his men out of this situation.  He looked around the building.  The only way out was the back window.

Mike pushed Everett in that direction, yelling, “Quick, everybody out the back window!  It’s the only way out!”

Everett ran over to the window and looked out.  He pulled a fragmentation grenade out, dropped it out the window, and stepped back, “Grenade!”

The grenade exploded.  Everett looked out the window again.  Whatever had been out there wasn’t a threat anymore.  He crawled over the sash and dropped out of sight.  Rob looked out, turned back, and yelled, “Throw me the rucks!”

Mike ran over to his backpack, dropped his rifle next to it, and flipped open the top.  He pulled out two cylindrical grenades, dropped them in his pockets, and then closed the bag.  He stood up, “Rob!”

Rob turned, and Mike threw the backpack to him.  The other backpacks followed.  Rob levered the backpacks through the window. Rob followed them out, hanging his body, then dropping the rest of the way.  Mickey grabbed Matki and pushed him towards the window.  Matki and Mickey went out quickly.  Mike grabbed Tom and pushed him towards the window.  The floor shuddered from repeated blows as the robot destroyed the front of the building.  It was getting closer.  In a few seconds, the back window would be in range of its arms.  Tom clambered out, and dropped to the ground below.