Revelation

“We’re on our way,” Makara said.

Makara ran out of the conference room, followed quickly by Anna. Within minutes, the ship was in the air, flying east.

And all I could think was — Samuel was not dead. He couldn’t be. A single crawler couldn’t do this to him. It had to be another false alarm, like what had happened to Makara in the Coleseo.

A couple minutes later, we found Marcus far below, standing above a figure sprawled on his back. The twisted corpse of a crawler lay nearby on its side, facing the east. Sam’s bike lay sideways in the sand where it had crashed. All was just as Marcus had described.

When we landed, we all ran outside. The cold wind blew, stinging me with dust. In the distance, I could hear high-pitched screams. Marcus had been right on that count as well. More crawlers were coming.

Makara ran to her brother, grabbing his shoulders. His forehead was bleeding, and a giant black welt was forming there, even as Makara held him.

Char knelt beside Makara, feeling for a pulse. For a few, terrible seconds, he said nothing. Finally, he nodded.

“He’s not dead. Not…yet, anyway. He has a head injury, so it could be very bad. It’s hard to say now, but it looks like he hit his head on a rock or something during the impact.”

Makara did not react. She didn’t have the strength to. “Let’s just get him on the ship. Do what we can for him.”

Char, Julian, Michael, and I lifted Samuel, doing our best to keep his body even. He did not stir the entire time. We carried him to the ship. Once inside, we carried him to the clinic, laying him on the bed. Still, he did not move.

Char and Makara came in. “Give him some space. Everyone besides me, Makara, Marcus, and Ashton, clear out.”

“Take us back to the army, Anna,” Makara said, her voice thick.

Anna nodded, turning to me. “Come on.”

Before leaving, I took one last glance at Samuel. His eyes remained closed, and he had not moved a muscle, other than in the almost imperceptibly small breaths he took.

Michael, Anna, Julian, and I walked to the bridge in silence. It was not looking good. Boss Dragon and Rey stood in the galley, watching us, their faces unreadable. They said nothing as we passed through the galley, into the main corridor, and to the fore of the ship.

“Will he be alright?” Julian asked, after Anna had settled down in the captain’s chair — a place I had never seen her sit before.

Anna shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe he gets better. Maybe he doesn’t.”

Slowly, Anna took off for the hill we had left behind. It wasn’t until we were gone that I remembered we had left both bikes, including Marcus’s, in the dust. It was too late. As the ship spun away, the last view I had was of crawlers overwhelming the position. They were just a few miles out from the army’s camp.

“Julian, go tell Makara that we’ve got contact with crawlers,” Anna said.

Julian nodded, and turned down the corridor.

Samuel was hurt, and maybe dead, and an army of crawlers lurked just miles away from two thousand people. And even if we survived those two things, it was only the beginning.

* * *

Anna landed in the camp. As we rushed off the ship, Makara met us in the galley.

“Char and Ashton are going to stay with Samuel,” she said. “There’s nothing I can do there besides worry. We have to get everyone on the hill immediately and set up whatever sort of defense we can. There’s no time to run.”

We ran out into the cold. Evening was coming on, and in the oncoming dusk, hundreds of people were already fleeing toward the hill and the safety of the ships, many of them women and children. Any who could took up arms, pointing them in the direction of the east, where already I could see the teeming mass of the Blighters swarming. There were so many of them — hundreds — maybe even thousands. If they surrounded this hill, there was little chance of any of us living to see the dawn. We didn’t have any sort of perimeter set up. We hadn’t thought we’d be staying here this long.

Both ships sat pointing toward the east, meaning the turrets could be aimed at any oncoming threats. That had been intentional. But even with hundreds of men and women armed with rifles, it wasn’t going to be enough.

We were all going to die, right here on this hill.

The first of the crawlers broke into the camp, ripping through tents and shoddy shelters, canvas and rubble flying through the air, in their mad search for something living to rip into. Still, the people flooded up the hill, screaming in terror. Those who were not armed ran up the boarding ramps and into the ships for shelter. It wouldn’t be enough space for everyone — not by a long shot.

In the madness, we all just tried to get anyone with a gun to the front — in a protective ring around those who couldn’t fight.

Anna drew her katana, facing the oncoming horde. I stood nearby, raising my AR-15 to my shoulder. I took my first shot into the mass of creatures. I had no idea if I was hitting anything — it was so chaotic, so loud, with both screams and gunfire and alien screeches.

Then, Odin’s turret opened up, followed by Gilgamesh’s. Someone was in those ships, firing — perhaps Ashton, perhaps Char or someone else. The spewing bullets made a dusty line at the base of the hill, where the crawlers charged up.

The frontrunner of the crawlers, a nasty, sizeable beast, shot straight for me. Its white eyes glowed with hatred, and I knew I was the one he was coming after. Maybe these creatures could somehow sense that I was Elekai. I aimed my rifle, shooting at the creature multiple times. My bullets did nothing against its thick exoskeleton.

The crawler was just a few dozen feet away, now. I thought for sure I was going to die. Anna readied her blade for the inevitable impact.

That was when something swooped right in front of me with a beastly roar. Talons extended outward, pummeling the crawler in the side. The crawler screamed in pain, its wide-open mouth revealing twin, forked tongues and long, yellowed teeth. It flew through the air, landing with a sickening crunch far away from the action.

The crawlers hesitated for a moment at the sight of Askal, who was now wheeling around for round two. As Askal entered another dive, the crawlers spread, trying to avoid his sharp talons. One particularly unlucky crawler got the full brunt of the attack, spiraling several times when Askal slammed into its neck. The crawler squealed, its long, spiked tail twitching in a feeble attempt to protect itself.

It was the distraction all of us needed. Although the number of crawlers running up the hill swelled, they all hesitated upon seeing Askal. This gave us the chance to push back. With a yell, I ran forward, taking shots into some of the frontrunners. Others followed my example.

“Aim for the gut!” I yelled.

Hopefully the message would be passed along. Any time one of the crawlers exposed itself, I aimed carefully and shot. Some of the hideous monsters were starting to fall. But for every one we killed, more replaced it in the ranks.

Soon, several of the creatures had broken off, watching Askal’s movements carefully, marking when and where he would next fall. When Askal made his next dive, these crawlers ran forward to that location, readying their long tails to swipe. Noticing this, Askal ducked away at the last moment, before he could be struck.

The battle was in full force now. Red and purple blood hit the ground. Before my eyes I saw a Raider get rent in two from the swipe of a crawler blade, a flood of red pulsing from his torso. Anna, beside me, skewered a small crawler through the side, expertly pulling her blade from the creature’s insect-like form. From around me, gunshots rang out, deafening. The cold air stank with the smell of human blood and the fetid stench of the crawlers.

As time passed, I noticed fewer and fewer human forms among the crawlers. We had retreated to the base of Gilgamesh’s ramp, and the crawlers were forcing themselves on us. We were outnumbered at least three to one.