Orbs (25 page)

She stepped forward and threw her rifle strap around her back. With a few careful footsteps, she navigated the gory remnants of skin and clothing from other victims.

“No!” Overton shouted into the com. “You can't save her, Sophie. Leave her. That's an order!”

Sophie ignored him and continued until she was less than a foot away from the woman. She brought her finger to her helmet, motioning the girl to remain silent. Instead, the girl's eyes grew wide and bulged from her head. Her lips began to quiver and move, splitting open in the process. Blood seeped down her chin, and a scratchy moan escaped her throat.

“No. You have to be quiet,” Sophie said, bringing a finger to her helmet again. But it was too late. The woman erupted into a sub-human scream, the noise echoing off the concrete walls.

Sophie craned her neck and watched the Spiders begin to churn. Their claws slid across the concrete as they woke up.

Scratch, scrape, scratch, scrape.

A wave of fear washed over Sophie as she turned back to the girl. With an audible pop the girl's eyeballs exploded, spraying a bloody mist onto Sophie's visor. Stumbling backwards, she grabbed her rifle. She tried to balance herself, but slipped on a sack of gore.

Her helmet hit the concrete with a thud. Stars filled her vision. Even with the padded support of the helmet, the trauma from the fall sent pain racing down her spine. She lay staring at the concrete ceiling, watching the Spiders crawl across it, their glittering eyes studying her from all directions.

She tried to sit up, but as the blood rushed to her head she was
forced back down, gripping her helmet with both hands. Everything seemed to slow down when the first plasma rounds tore through the air above her. She watched the streaks of fire trace through the air and tear into the weak flesh of the Spiders. Their shields were still down, she realized, recharging from their recent feedings.

Sophie pushed herself up and stole one more glance at the woman, who was now disintegrating in the pool of liquid inside the orb. Sophie watched her disappear, knowing that it was a sight she'd carry with her for the rest of her life—however long it happened to last.

The high-pitched screams of the Spiders ripped through the silence and yanked her from her trance.

“Let's go, Doc!” Overton screamed, squeezing off another few rounds at the rapidly approaching Spiders. Sophie shook her head one last time and sprinted for the stairs, climbing them two at a time.

Overton kicked the door open, and they were blasted with the astonishingly bright sunlight. Temporarily blinded, Overton blinked several times to tint his visor. He closed the door, shoving his combat knife between the two handles. The door shook violently as the creatures crashed into it from the other side. Their shrieks pounded inside Overton's helmet, drowning out the sound of his thudding heartbeat.

Like a robot being commanded by a remote control, he grabbed Sophie by the arm and pulled her into the sunlight. They ran side by side down the tarmac toward two large hangars a hundred yards away. He tried to ignore the sounds of claws tearing through the metal behind him. Every few yards he stopped and fired off another few rounds at the door, sending a Spider or two to its death.

“Go!” Overton shouted between bursts.

The massive hangar doors dwarfed them as they approached. Overton looked between the two buildings, but he didn't see any obvious sign that one held their spaceship.

“Which one is it?” Overton yelled.

Alexia's calm voice broke over the channel. “After downloading the dimensions of the spacecraft, it's only logical that the ship would be in the larger hangar. The second is too—”

Overton cut her off and shoved Sophie toward the sealed doors of the first hangar. “Find a way inside. I'll hold off the horde!” he yelled, throwing himself on his stomach for a steadier sniping position.

Sophie grabbed an extra magazine from her belt and handed it to him. “Take this. You're going to need it.”

“Thanks.” Overton grabbed the mag before firing off another volley of rounds at the heads of two Spiders crawling through a hole in the door.

She took off running, craning her neck around the approaching corner to get a better angle. With her rifle aimed at the metal edge of the building, she jumped around it, ready to fire, but the blind spot was clear. Relieved, she sprinted for the door and fired off several rounds into the lock. The rifle vibrated in her hands and pushed her backwards.

The power of the gun shocked her. It was the first time she had ever fired a pulse rifle, and she had done so without giving it a second thought. Less than a month ago she had been shut in her old lab, trying to solve sophisticated equations on her smart board, and now she was firing a high-powered pulse rifle with a horde of aliens chasing her. Saafi was gone, Emanuel was hundreds of miles away, and everyone she had ever cared about was dead or dying in a blue glowing prison cell.

She gritted her teeth and fired another round at the lock. The door broke open and she slipped into the hangar, blinking on her night vision as the darkness consumed her. When her eyes adjusted, she gasped. A large sign that read
Secundo Casu
towered over her, but the massive room was empty.

“NO!” she screamed. “It has to be here!” Sophie collapsed to her knees. The overwhelming feeling of defeat rushed through her as the ringing of gunfire filled her ears. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she didn't bother to remove her helmet to wipe them away.

The sound of footsteps rang out behind her and she quickly turned. In the corner of the room, peeking out from behind one of the Humvees, two children in gas masks and fatigues that were far too large for them were staring at her. She hardly noticed the oversized assault rifles they were pointing in her direction.

“You're too late,” one of the children said, stepping forward but
keeping the weapon leveled at her. “The ship took off right after the monsters came.”

Sophie pushed herself off the ground, staring at the two figures. Behind her a volley of shots rang out, and the high-pitched shriek of another Spider bounced off the hangar walls.

The children hardly moved, unfazed by the terrifying sounds.

“Who are you?” the smaller one asked. “Are you here to rescue us?”

“Shut up, stupid!” the bigger child replied, smacking the other one on the back of the head. “If she was here to rescue us, she wouldn't be crying.”

Sophie stopped sniffling and reached for her helmet, but halted as the larger boy pointed his weapon at her again.

“Watch it, lady! No sudden moves.”

The children sounded like boys, and judging by their frames she assumed the smaller one was about seven years old, the larger one no older than ten. But with the oversized fatigues, it was hard to tell.

“Listen,” Sophie managed to say. “I'm not here to hurt you. We came for the ship. That's all.”

“Don't you listen? The ship's gone!” the larger boy shouted.

“We need to get out of here, they're coming,” the other boy insisted, pulling on his friend's arm.

“Do you want to live or what, lady?”

Sophie wasn't sure how to respond. Finally she blinked the tears out of her eyes and managed to reply. “My friend's outside, I need to get to him.”

The older boy tilted his head, listening to the gunfire, before checking the magazine in his own rifle. “He's not going to last long. Follow me,” he said, taking off toward a ladder hanging on the wall behind the Humvee.

She hesitated before scooping up her rifle. Throwing the strap across her back, she opened the com link. “Overton, do you read?”

“Roger. Things are getting dicey. Not sure how much longer I can hold these bastards off. It looks like their shields are starting to regenerate. Did you find the package?”

Sophie closed her eyes against the pain. “No,” she said. “It's gone.”

“Gone? What the fuck do you mean, it's gone? You said it would be here!”

Sophie could picture Overton's nostrils flaring and his eyes widening with anger. She couldn't blame him.

“Hold tight, Sergeant. I found some survivors,” she said.

Silence filled the channel, followed by another volley of gunfire. “Survivors?”

“Just sit tight.”

On the roof the two children took up positions overlooking the tarmac. Below, dozens of Organics raced toward Overton. Both boys lay down on the metal surface and aimed their rifles. Sophie watched their precise, practiced movements in awe. The reality of the situation finally set in: With the majority of the adult population dead, only children who had managed to survive the first stages of the invasion would be left to fight the Organics.

It was a sobering thought. She imagined most of the children who had been lucky enough to survive in those first few hours would probably perish in the weeks to come, if they hadn't already. But as she watched the two boys take out several of the creatures with a few well-aimed shots, she began to wonder if they had a chance after all. Could the younger generation take up arms against an enemy that had effectively wiped out their parents?

Highly unlikely.

The chirp of high-powered rifles joined the chatter of Overton's pulse rifle, and she returned her focus to the battle below. She watched the slaughter with a grim smile on her face. Without their shields, the Spiders had no chance. Limbs and eyeballs rained down onto the tarmac in all directions, the blue goo washing over the blacktop like the innards of a gutted whale.

Minutes later it was over. The boys wasted no time reloading their weapons and heading back to the ladder.

“There'll be more. We need to move,” the larger boy said calmly.

Sophie nodded and followed them back to the tarmac where Overton waited, his foot tapping, watching the gory mess for signs of survivors.

“If you want to live, come with us,” said the larger boy.

“What the fuck is going on?” Overton said, jamming another magazine into his rifle.

“There are always more,” the smaller boy said. “Please, come with us.”

Sophie grabbed Overton's arm, silently persuading him to follow instead of argue. He pulled free and snorted into his com. The boys jogged at a steady pace toward the smaller hangar. Inside was a room furnished with modern desks, holographic consoles, and rows of monitors. NTC labels on metal crates revealed it to be the portable command center for
Secundo Casu
.

The two boys strolled through the equipment and stopped at a metal desk. The larger boy threw his rifle strap over his back and, with a short grunt, began pushing the desk across the concrete. Before Overton had a chance to help him, a hidden circular latch was revealed, similar to the one they had used to enter the train tunnel back at the Denver Airport.

“Get inside,” the boy said, opening the lid and motioning them forward.

“I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the fuck is going on!”

“Suit yourself,” the boy replied, climbing down the ladder. The other boy shrugged and followed him.

“They just saved our lives, Sergeant, and I don't see any other option. Do you?” Sophie asked. She knew that sometimes the best way to convince a hard-headed person to do something was by putting the question back on them. If he didn't have an answer then he would have no choice but to agree.

“Shit,” Overton said in a defeated tone. “You go first, I'll close the lid.”

She didn't argue, and began the descent. Overton watched her go, stealing a glance over his shoulder. “I don't fucking believe this,” he mumbled under his breath. “Saved by ankle biters.” He chuckled and shut the lid, blinking his night vision back on as he descended into the darkness.

CHAPTER 29

T
HE
boys led Overton and Sophie down some sort of maintenance tunnel that jutted out in several directions. They followed one of the passages to what appeared to be a dead end. It wasn't until the larger boy trained his flashlight on a door clearly marked
Storage
that Sophie realized this was where they had been hiding.

The room was littered with empty cans and trash. Several filthy blankets sat bunched up in the corner next to a stack of bottled water.

Sophie eyed the precious liquid curiously, wondering how the children had survived so long without being captured by the Organics.

They had beaten the odds—odds so stacked against them that their survival was more miracle than luck. In a mathematical equation, their chances would have been called statistically insignificant.

Overton shut the door behind him and broke the silence. “Who are you?”

“You first,” the larger boy said. He rested his flashlight on the ground and slid his gas mask off, revealing a face no more than nine or ten years old.

“I'm Marine Sergeant Ash Overton, and this here is Dr. Sophie Winston with the NTC.”

The boy eyed them both suspiciously before turning to help the smaller child remove his gas mask. “I'm Jeff, and this is my little brother David.”

“Are you here to rescue us?” David asked, his brown eyes full of hope.

“Actually, we came here for another reason,” Sophie said. Checking the radiation gauge on her HUD, she unclasped her helmet straps and pulled it off, managing a smile. “We came for the spaceship.”

“I told you, it's gone,” Jeff snapped.

“Yes, you did, but do you know where it went?”

“What's it matter?”

Overton slid off his helmet and approached the boy, stopping less than a foot away. The Marine towered over him. “Just answer her question.”

The boy held his ground. “You don't scare me.”

“Really? Because this is me being nice.”

Sophie put her hand on Overton's shoulder and gave him a slight tug. “They saved our lives.”

“That doesn't give him a free pass to show me attitude,” Overton said, but he retreated a few steps.

“Yeah, whatever, you're all the same,” Jeff said, running a hand through his matted brown hair. He paced over to the corner and grabbed two bottles of water, tossing one to David.

“NTC, the military—they left us down here to die. Our dad was the only one that tried to save us,” the boy said, his voice sharp with anger.

“And he's gone now,” David whimpered.

“I'm sorry about your dad, and I'm sorry you were left down here, but we aren't going to leave you,” Sophie insisted.

David erupted in a fit of coughs and sat down on the concrete, pulling one of the dirty blankets over his legs. Jeff joined him and opened a can of peaches with a small knife.

“You need to eat,” he said, handing his brother the can.

Jeff looked up at Overton, and then at Sophie. In that moment, something in his eyes changed from angry to pleading. “He's sick. You're a doctor, so help him, lady.”

Sophie sat next to the child. His face was pale and covered in grime. She reached to wipe off some of the dirt, but he pulled away.

“I can help him, but not here. We need to get you back to our facility, where we have medicine.”

Jeff stood and placed his hands on his hips, studying her through
narrowed eyes. “Where is your facility?”

Sophie paused. She didn't want to tell him the truth. He was old enough to know they were more than a car ride from Denver.

“It's in a safe place, but I can't tell you where. It's classified,” she lied.

Overton shot her a confused look but recovered quickly, realizing her strategy.

“There are other kids there, too,” he added. “Kids who survived like you two.”

David sucked a peach into his mouth and looked up at his brother. “Can we go with them?”

Jeff narrowed his eyes even further. After several seconds of silence, he reached down and patted his brother on the head. “Yeah, David, we can go with them.”

Bouma finished cleaning the gore out of the hallway with one final push of the mop. He eyed the broken ceiling tile where the Spiders had emerged. He'd spent as much time as he could cleaning up after the attack, but he couldn't put it off any longer.

“You're really going up there?” a voice said from behind him.

He turned to see Holly leaning against the entrance of the hallway.

“I don't have a choice.”

“You could wait for the others to get back.” Her voice was different. Holly's normal sweet tone had hardened, something he'd heard in soldiers before, after deployments. He didn't respond. Instead, he unfolded a metal ladder and positioned it under the hole.

“They
are
coming back,” Holly insisted.

“I know,” Bouma said. “Where are the kids?”

“With Emanuel.”

“Okay. Now, do you remember what to do if something happens to me?”

“Hunker down in the med ward with Emanuel and the kids, and shoot anything that moves.”

“You got it,” Bouma said, grinning.

Holly fixated on the man's crooked teeth. For a second, they
reminded her of the sharp teeth lining the jaws of every Organic she had seen.

“Can you give me a hand with this?” Bouma asked as he started climbing the ladder. She gripped the ladder tightly, and watched the Marine reach for the vent cover. “I guess this means we have to postpone our walk.”

“Yeah, but it will give me something to look forward to,” he said, hoisting himself into the duct and staring into the pitch-black tunnel. A sudden chill of fear gripped him, and for a moment he had second thoughts about clearing the vents. He peered back down and saw Holly's wide eyes staring up at him. She smiled, and the fear faded. He had a mission to finish, a squad to avenge, and a group of civilians to protect. And, best of all, a pretty girl waiting for him.

“Good luck,” she said as Bouma's feet disappeared in the darkness.

The trip back to the train was painfully slow, providing Sophie with plenty of time to think. With
Secundo Casu
gone, her hope of seeing Mars was dead, and her hope for survival had diminished considerably. With every step she grew more anxious to get back to the Biosphere—back to Emanuel and the rest of her team.

By the time she reached the train, she had accepted the fact that the facility was her home for the foreseeable future. But was it really all that bad? The death toll worldwide could very well be in the billions, an unfathomable number. The Biosphere had virtually everything they needed to support their little band of survivors, and it was, to her knowledge, the safest place to ride out the invasion.

“Wow, cool,” David said as they rounded the last corner and the train came into view. “We get to ride on that?”

Overton hushed him with a finger. “Quiet, kid.”

The boy ignored him and rushed toward the automatic doors of the first cabin.

“Wait up,” Jeff shouted after him.

Their voices echoed off the concrete tunnel walls. Sophie smiled as Jeff chased his brother onto the platform, stopping him before he
could enter the train. The boys wrestled playfully at the doors, David squirming in his brother's grasp.

A shadow danced across their path.

Overton saw it at the same moment Sophie did. She froze, her stomach tightening as the blue glow washed over the dimly lit tunnel.

“Oh my God,” she whispered into her com. From her angle, she could vaguely make out the shape of the shadows approaching, but there was no mistaking the thin and bony legs of the Spiders. The black shadows raced across the platform. They extended their monstrous claws, reaching for the children.

Scratch, scrape, scratch, scrape.

The sound drowned out the boys' arguing voices and they froze. Slowly, they tilted their heads and saw it—a tunnel overflowing with monsters, an entire army of them.

“Run!” Overton screamed, holding the trigger down on his rifle. Conserving ammo was no longer a concern. If he didn't push the horde back quickly, he wasn't going to need the bullets later.

Shocked into motion, Jeff shoved David forward, but the train's automatic doors remained shut, and the boy crashed into the side. He bounced off with a bang and immediately started whimpering.

Sophie watched, horrified. She distinctly remembered leaving the train's power on, just in case they needed to make a quick getaway, which meant the connection to the power source had been severed.

“Alexia, any suggestions on how to get this train started?” Sophie barked into the com.

“Yes, Dr. Winston. There should be an additional power interface in the engine car. My fuel cell should provide adequate energy.”

“Won't that cause the RVM to fail?”

“Does it look like we need it right now?” Overton yelled.

Sophie risked a glance over her shoulder and watched what appeared to be hundreds of Spiders spilling out of the tunnel. Terror gripped her, but she forced herself forward and fired two shots into the closed train door. They hissed open and Sophie ordered both of the boys inside.

“Stay away from the windows,” she yelled before returning to the platform.

She raced to Overton, and with one swift tug she pulled Alexia's fuel cell free of the device on his back. “I just need a few seconds,” she said.

Overton finished his magazine. The shots bounced off the creatures' shields harmlessly. They were getting close, now only a few hundred yards away. A brilliant blue glow filled the tunnel, making the scene beautiful and eerie at the same time.

Sophie retreated to the rear of the train. She had almost reached the doors when a shadow consumed her. This time it wasn't from a Spider. It was something different—something larger.

Her stomach sank as she turned to see a Sentinel towering over her. It wasted no time cracking its mouth open and releasing a deafening roar. She turned to run, but the creature lunged at her with its spiked tail. The impact penetrated her armor and sent her sailing through the air. She landed with a thud a few feet away from the train.

Farther down the platform, the Spiders surrounded Overton, clawing at the ground and shrieking like predators trying to intimidate their prey. He fired the last of his rounds and threw his rifle at the closest one before retrieving his pistol. “Come on, you bastards!” he screamed, squeezing off several shots, which ricocheted harmlessly off their shields.

Sophie watched him fall to his knees, overwhelmed by the creatures closing in around him.

Scratch, scrape, scratch, scrape.

Soon the sound would be replaced with tearing flesh and human screams. She couldn't bear to watch. The sound of Spiders' claws was drowned out by the scraping of the Sentinel's tail as it dragged its spikes across the concrete.

Defeated, she watched the ugly creature slither toward her.

Good-bye, Emanuel. I tried.

Tears crept down her cheeks just as a brilliant flash of light washed over the platform, killing her HUD. Sophie blinked, struggling to see through the fuzzy display. She heard gunfire, the chatter of high-powered rifles. When her vision finally returned, she saw Jeff step out of the train and fire a round of shots at the Sentinel. The bullets sunk into the alien's chest, blowing several melon-sized holes out of its back.

The boy grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into the belly of the train. He then raced back outside and began firing at the Spiders that were still circling Overton. His shots were surprisingly accurate, dropping several of the creatures.

Overton scooted back across the concrete and managed to push himself off the ground. He took off running, the bullets from Jeff's gun whizzing dangerously close to him.

“Why didn't you tell me you had electromagnetic concussion grenades?” he shouted, jumping onto the train.

“You didn't ask,” Jeff said. He pried the fuel cell from Sophie's numb grasp and ducked into the conductor's cabin. Scanning the dashboard, he quickly located the power interface and shoved it home. The display panel glowed to life.

“Now my HUD's dead and I can barely see shit,” Overton said. He slipped into the compartment and shoved the boy out of the way. “I got this.”

With a single click of a button, the train flared to life. It rolled forward, picking up momentum. Overton watched the Spiders and several Sentinels racing across the tracks toward the train, and with a grin hidden behind his helmet, he engaged the autopilot.

“Watch this, kid.”

The train picked up speed and raced forward, splattering the Organics in its path all over the tunnel.

Overton returned to the second car to check on Sophie. He found her spread out on one of the benches, David kneeling next to her.

“She's hurt bad, mister,” he said.

“Don't worry, kid, she's going to be all right,” Overton said. But his eyes had already found the foot-long gash along her side.

“Shit,” he whispered. “Hang in there, Sophie. I'm going to get you home.”

Somewhere inside her head, Sophie could hear Overton's voice, but as the adrenaline in her system was replaced by pain, she slipped into shock, closed her eyes, and drifted into unconsciousness.

Bouma strained his ears. Somewhere in the distance, a series of metallic clicks rang out, followed by the ambient sound of the ventilation system turning on.

He continued on, wriggling through the tight ductwork. Checking his HUD first for heat signatures, he blinked his night vision back on. The passage was clear.

Stopping at an intersection, he managed to push himself onto his knees, first looking to his left and then to his right.

“Damn,” he muttered. He had only been crawling through the guts of the system for fifteen minutes, and he was already lost.