The woman with the bright scales on her neck came around the corner first. Her heavy breathing was loud, a hollow sound that indicated a larger set of lungs, but she appeared mostly human otherwise. She dragged her feet like she was almost ready to collapse with exhaustion.
The armored Enforcers came into view as soon as she passed. Unlike the woman, they weren’t winded at all. They must have been equipped with some kind of endurance tech. Either it was tech, or their bodies had evolved to sprint at top speed for countless hours.
Skrew made a little sound of joy, but I let it go. I didn’t have time to scold him, and I didn’t want to give away our position in the bush behind the biggest tree on the trail.
As soon as the first armored brute neared, I pushed hard against the tree, and it snapped at the trunk with a deafening crack. The Enforcer didn’t even see it coming before the tree flattened him like a pancake.
The other Enforcers immediately halted, but I didn’t give them time to get their bearings. I rammed my shoulder against another tree, and the second alien looked up just in time to see what his own insides looked like as the falling tree crushed his helmeted head deep into his torso. The final Enforcer tried to stop but stumbled over the splintered trunk and scrambled to get back up.
“Jacob missed one,” Skrew noted.
“Yeah,” I said as I drew my sword.
The Enforcer saw me, rolled backward to put some distance between us, and tapped a red gem on his armor near his throat. I heard a powerful forcefield materialize around him. Unlike regular forcefields, which sometimes sparkled when struck, the Enforcer’s sparkled all the time. And it was a sickly shade of red, darker than blood, but crawling with electricity-like spiderwebs of an intense yellow.
It felt like a furnace door had just been opened, exposing the entire front of my body to dry, scorching heat. Although I felt the sensation of heat, I didn’t get burned. The red-hot field continued to suck the moisture out of the air and set nearby leaves ablaze. The tech seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place where I’d seen it.
I needed some time to think, so I leaped five yards to my right and placed the big tree between us. From there, I started backing up slowly.
The girl was gone. I hoped Skrew had also made himself scarce because when the Enforcer came for me, it would be around the side of the tree where he was hiding. The other way was about 40 yards further, and Enforcers didn’t seem to be the kind of creatures who—
A crackling hiss sounded from the other side of the tree. Acrid smoke began to fill the windless path, then I remembered what I’d heard of such forcefields.
It was in training I’d attended years ago. They were called “plasma fields.” They could burn everything that got within range. But our scientists couldn’t make them work. Someone, it seemed, had.
I glanced at the void-black blade of my sword. I had no idea what material it was made of, but it was tough. Plasma, however, didn’t care how “tough” things were. It melted, burned, or otherwise destroyed everything it touched. It was the ultimate small-scale weapon. All the Enforcer had to do, once the field had burned its way through the log, was walk close enough to me.
I’d be turned to ash in a second, maybe less.
If I could poke the button, the one at his throat, with the tip of my sword—no, that was ridiculous. Sure, the Enforcer would have to drop his guard and reactivate the shield, giving me a few seconds to show him what his brains looked like, but such a precision shot at such a small target… it was a low-percentage move. But against tech like this, I had to improvise.
Worst case, I’d go for the quick kill. If my blade could survive 30 seconds, maybe it would be enough time.
I had to change my plans again about five seconds later when the Enforcer emerged from the burning hole he had created by walking through the trunk, flicking his wrist, and producing a three-foot-long plasma blade. It was the same red and yellow as the rest of the forcefield.
Impressive.
I must have made a face because something caused the Enforcer to growl. I couldn’t help it. For as intimidating as he looked, his growl was so high-pitched, it made me think of some kind of Saturday morning cartoon for little girls.
“Do it again,” I jeered. “That was cute.”
I couldn’t see his eyes due to the blue helmet visor, but I saw his mouth swing open, revealing dirty teeth and a pink tongue.
Good, I thought. Flesh. That means he bleeds.
The Enforcer marched forward, and I kept my sword pointed at the ground until I was certain he was within range. I snapped the blade up and across the creature’s face. He flinched as sparks crackled off his forcefield.
When I lifted my weapon to see if there was anything left of it, I was a little surprised that it was unharmed. Any normal metal would at least be glowing from the heat. The weapon I’d pulled from the dragon wasn’t just another blade. It was something special.
The Enforcer looked just as surprised, both by the unharmed blade and the blood dripping from the cut between his bottom lip and chin. He licked the blood away and smacked his lips like I’d done him a tasty favor. The Enforcer produced a little howl, almost like a disgruntled puppy, and swung his plasma blade.
The swing was sloppy, telegraphed, and easy to intercept. At least, it would have been easy to intercept if my sword had done anything except harmlessly pass through the Enforcer’s plasma-blade as if it wasn’t even there.
I saw it happen and managed to throw myself backward, tucking into a ball at the last moment. I landed on my feet and instinctively
