Might's Odyssey (The Event Book 2) (8 page)

Nephilim

The hazmat suit was heavy and bulky. Might discovered that it made his movements a bit restricted. Other biomechanical suits hung in the room where he had discovered this one. They were exactly like the one he found at the abandoned military base. Those were lighter and easier to move in. The only snag was, Eleyon had specifically asked him to wear a hazmat suit. Why, he did not know.

The large bluish hover cycle he found that still worked hovered beside him. It was a monster of a thing, with a red skull engraved on the handlebars.

Weapons poked out of the pouches and pockets sewn into the sides of the suit. In his hands, he carried a heavy looking gun, which looked a lot like a minigun with a massive barrel, and a box like container attached to the end of it that was the mechanism where the ammunition generated.

He sighed as he looked at it, his eyes drifting to the twin metal doors seven feet away. Raising the gun slowly he released a short burst at them. White flames spat out of the barrel tearing towards the doors at breathtaking speeds. They ripped into the doors, turning them to a cloud of ash in milliseconds. Shaken by the sight he examined the gun carefully.

When he was done with his examination, he strode to the hover cycle and strapped the mini gun to its side with a bulky looking chain. Securing it, he climbed on the hover cycle and gunned the engine. It started with a roar.

Revving it twice for good measure, he streaked towards the disintegrated doors and vanished through them. Beyond these doors lay a vast expanse of open space with more than two dozen pod like structures lying fifteen miles to his left.

This area was beyond the housing section of B1 twelve alpha. What this area was for was a mystery to him. Glancing back at the large sack strapped to the back of the hover cycle, a sense of satisfaction filled him. A protective layer of sterilized cellophane covered this sack. It contained the food he had been able to find.

He did not carry many perishable items. Most were canned. Through Eleyon’s guidance, he had stumbled on a machine that converted fresh fruit and food into canned substances.

With the food he had on him, he was good for several weeks at least. A light suddenly appeared in the far distance; a faint flickering light, which grew brighter as he approached.

It formed a box like shape that widened until it became a large door. He was close to the exit. He increased speed hurtling towards it at breakneck speeds. It opened about four seconds before he reached it, sliding into a small recess in the wall.

The hover cycle burst out of the side of the biosphere heading in a northwards direction, deeper into the irradiated deserts of Nephilim.

A gruff mechanical voice barked out the word
coordinates.
He paused startled looking around to see who was speaking. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that the voice came from the hover cycle.

This had to be a more sophisticated type of hover cycle. Much better than the type, that had brought him here.

A frown roughened his brow as he thought this. What good did that do him if he did not even know where he was headed?

“Rikley’s communication base__ dark sector.”

His frown deepened. Eleyon had a penchant for speaking suddenly. He could not help wishing the voice would give him warning. Every time it spoke, it startled him. He took a deep breath and spoke.

“Rikley’s communication base____ dark sector.”

There was a pause and the machine responded.
“Confirmed.”

The seat of the hover cycle sank lower; the suspension beneath him became firmer and twin exhausts burst out of the sides of it, directly behind the metal plates/pads his feet rested on.

With a roar, thick bursts of flame erupted from these exhausts making the hover cycle shoot forward at almost ten times the speed it was going before.

The desert landscape became a blur as he hurtled forward at mach seven speeds. Looking at the indicators on the cycle’s onboard computer, he realized he was covering hundreds of kilometers in seconds. The numbers began to climb until it rose above a thousand and still his speed increased.

By now, it felt as if he had a huge hand pressed down on him. The pressure was not debilitating yet, but it was quickly becoming uncomfortable. Unable to bear it any longer he spoke, barking out his words.

“Is there a particular reason why we are traveling at these speeds?”

The mechanical voice he had been expecting to hear did not speak. When it eventually did, it surprised him. He had almost given up hope of getting a response.

“We travel this fast for two reason__ the first is the many miles we have to cover before we reach the Rikley’s communication base. The second reason is to escape the notice of the darkling’s.”

That word pulled Might up short.

“Darkling’s? What are darkling’s?”

“Monsters__ spirit based monsters, frightfully vicious and extremely powerful. They feed off fear and they suck out the human soul. They were primarily responsible for the destruction of most of the human forces ground troops and mobile infantry. They do not have great visual acumen. They rely more on their senses. At these speeds, we would be nothing more than a blur to them, too fast for them to lock on to us__ until__”

The voice paused.

“Until what?” Might asked leaning forward.

“I do not wish to alarm you.”

“You alarm me now by not being straight with me.” Might spat out impatiently.

There was another pause and the mechanical voice spoke again.

“Until we reach the fire bringers.”

“What are the fire bringers?”

“They are winged creatures, flying incandescent beings called dríe-gons by the US military. They brought down thousands of fighter jets in the first few months of the war.”

“Where are these creatures?”

“About three hundred clicks away from Rikley’s. We cannot avoid being spotted by them.

Might’s face grew weary when he heard the computer’s words. He glanced down at the weapons he carried. He could only hope that what he had would be enough to get him through to Rikley’s.

An hour later

Might fixed his hard gaze on the opposite horizon. The air was less cloudy but it still had a greenish red hue about it. Radiation poisoning was rife here.

Several large landforms came into view. His frown deepened as he looked at them. Directly in front of these hills were shadowy shapes. They were huge and powerful looking, standing at more than twelve feet tall. Their bodies appeared too small for their large limbs. They had three fingers on each hand, each of which had an eight-inch long claw attached to it.

“Those claws are very deadly. They are able to cut through ten inches of steel.”
The onboard computer said quietly.

Might’s eyes grew wide when he heard that. If one of the ether-tome’s minions could do that, what would the ether-tome itself be capable of.

The hover cycle zoomed closer to them. Might leaned down and grabbed the mini-gun wrenching it from the thick chain that secured it to the body of the hover cycle. The chain shattered scattering its links to the four winds.

The darkling’s turned at his approach. Only then did he notice their blood red eyes. The movements of the eyes were unfocused, drifting in an erratic pattern that had no rhyme or reason. He realized that what the onboard computer said was true. They did not have good eyesight.

He lowered the minigun slowly. If that was the case, maybe he could slip by them unnoticed. That thought filled him with relief. He did not much relish the thought of a prolonged battle.

A bright light suddenly lit up behind the hills, at a distance of a hundred and fifty clicks. He raised the minigun once again examining the light with narrowed eyes.

“It’s the dríe-gons. The military believed that the ether-tome forces communicate on a telepathic level. The darkling’s sense your presence but cannot see you. To compensate, they have called the dríe-gons who have superb eyesight to scour the surrounding area.”

“What are you going to do about it? Doesn’t the hover cycle have some sort of camouflage feature?” Might asked aghast.

“It does but it won’t work on the dríe-gons. In the early part of the war it was discovered they see through every form of camouflage or stealth tech we had.”

The light coming from behind the hills grew brighter. Might’s hands tightened around the handle of the minigun. It was almost time to engage.

“Activate the camouflage feature; for what its worth.”

There was a pause and then__

“Adaptive camouflage activated.”

Looking down at the hover cycle to confirm, Might realized that he couldn’t see it. He could not see his limbs or body either. The adaptive camouflage shielded him and the hover cycle from view. He could only wait and see what happened now.

The light exploded from behind the hills lighting up the deserts for miles. Light as bright as this would have been welcome if he didn’t have the threat of Dríe-gons hanging over him. Now however it only filled him with dread.

This light eruption was instantly followed by two dozen flying lizard like shapes. Each one stretched over three miles from wingtip to wingtip, its entire body awash with lava red fire.

Might felt a pulse within the threads of his hazmat suit, a second after this pulse, the surface hardened becoming armored.

The eyes of the dríe-gons turned green like the green light on night vision goggles. The green lights fixed on him and the speeding hover cycle. He knew they had seen him.

Two dozen roars erupted at once seeming to shake the skies; the dríe-gons divided themselves into two groups. Each group took a square formation and hurtled forward. He raised the minigun opening fire immediately.

White tracer like bursts exploded from the barrel hurtling towards the approaching horde. The dríe-gon directly ahead took one in the chest and dissolved in a fiery cloud of ash.

The others opened their mouths wide and blew out a burst of searing red flame. The wall of flame streaked towards the earth and struck hard causing massive mushroom cloud explosions.

“Activating shield cover__”
The onboard computer barked out.

A thick shield covered him and the hover cycle, generated from the five-inch super Amoled screen directly in front of Might. Yanking the wheel from left to right, he managed to avoid the brunt of a five-mile explosion.

He squeezed the trigger of the minigun, shooting out two dozen white flame bursts, spraying them in a wide arc. The shield over the cycle vanished to allow the bullets through. Five of the dríe-gons vanished in puffs of white smoke with the rest still firing long bursts of flame.

The darkling’s now made their move. Might’s eyes widened in surprise at that, until he looked down and realized that the adaptive camouflage had fizzled out and died.

They rose to their full heights slamming their fists into their chests like a pack of aggressive gorillas and lunged forward, their distended mouths opened in loud roars with six-inch fangs exposed.

Might’s expression turned grim. There was nothing else for it. He pressed the button marked high-speed halt on the touch screen of the onboard computer. The almost three thousand mile per hour speed ground to zero in less than a kilometer flinging him from the seat and throwing him two dozen feet forward.

He hit the ground hard his large feet digging deep furrows into the loose desert sands. He hadn’t quite halted when he leaped forward, taking long bounds, racing towards the darkling’s tearing his way with their long claws extended.

The speed at which he moved made it impossible for the darkling’s to have enough room to drive their razor sharp claws into his side. Bracing himself, he raised his left shoulder like a linebacker and rammed it into the midsection of the darkling closest to him.

The impact threw sand ten miles in every direction, flinging the darkling backwards where it smashed into the others coming behind it. They fell like skittles, hitting the ground hard with dull thuds.

Another loomed on his left. Might tightened his grip on the minigun and drove his left fist into the distended jaw of the darkling in a vicious back hand blow. The blow flung it backwards slamming its head into the sand where it dug a deep hole into it.

He sidestepped a huge fist, spun around in a half circle and fired a long burst from the gun in his hand.  The white flame cut down three of the darkling’s opening deep gashes in their backs and legs.

Three more bore down on him from the front. He crouched low leaping into the air, driving an armored knee into the face of the one in the middle. The head dissolved into black paste. Landing, he dodged another blow with a speed and grace that made him seem like nimble dancer. Before the darkling could withdraw its extended fist, Might grabbed it by the wrist with his left hand. He pulled it down hard slamming its face into the dirt, swinging it around twice, he flung it at the two others coming behind him.

From the corner of one eye, he could see the dríe-gons circling for another attack. He did not have much time. Leaping into the air, he slammed his weight into the stomachs of the darkling’s he felled with the body of the one he threw.

Reaching down, he grabbed the head of one with his left hand and tore it off. With his right, he rammed the barrel of the gun into the neck of the other and opened fire. Black paste filled the air splattering on his hazmat suit.

The dríe-gons were twenty feet away and closing. Digging into his massive pockets he brought out a fusion grenade yelling out the word “come” as he did so.

Tossing the grenade into the air, He raised the minigun taking careful aim as he fired a short burst and leapt on the hover cycle, which streaked past him summoned by the voice command ‘come’. The blast ripped into the fusion grenade causing it to explode creating a massive explosion that engulfed the dríe-gons shattering them into millions of pieces.

Punching a darkling aside, he amped up the hover cycle’s speed hurtling across the desert chased by the rain of fire falling from the sky. An overwhelming fury surged on his insides; it was so great that he felt like screaming. Unable to quell the urge he roared, his body shaking with the rage he felt.

“I AM MIGHT__” He roared. “AND I WILL NOT BE STOPPED.”

The silence that followed him was absolute and all consuming. In the space of five minutes, he’d wiped the darkling’s and dríe-gons out of existence.