From the larvae, I call a digger and a spinebearer. From the
larvae, I call the many-ones.
I hold them with my wil , and I send them. Agony.
* * *
The lift doors opened on the barracks hallway, A level, which was
underground, but not far
enough for any of their liking.
"Everyone out," Dax said. "I need space to work."
"What was Sergeant Bayton talking about?" Vallen said as they piled out. Kellmoved farther
along the hall and hunkered against the wall.
"Well, that resocialization I went through?"
"Yes?"
"Didn't actually happen. I got caught hacking into the Ministry of Finance's records. Was
trying to fix something for a friend," he said, tearing a panel off the wall. From the recesses of
his suit, he pulled a handheld device that didn't look like standard marine-issue hardware, and
hooked it up to the wiring within.
"They were going to resoc and enlist me as punishment. They told me that, and then left me
alone in the room with the resoc console for ten minutes."15
"You mean you—"
"Hacked the console. Thrashed around a lot in the tank to make it look good. "
"Let me get this straight," Hanna said. "I've spent all this time feeling sorry for you, and you
weren't brain-panned? How the hell do you expect us to ever trust
you again?"
"Whatever," Dax shrugged. "Mind if I save your asses anyway?"
"Please do. Women everywhere wil thank you," Vallen said, turning to the medic. "You're
not going to say anything, are you?"
"If he can get us to safety, I'l nominate him for emperor," Sawn said dryly.
Caston walked over to Kell. He'd been ready to hit the man for
something that wasn't his
fault, and he needed to—
"I know," Kell said, raising his head. His eyes were red-rimmed. "I was always joking around
when we trained, joking when you were trying to warn us. They're
dead because of me. I
know."
"That's not what I wanted to say. Look, the overlord came
because I—"
"Would you two girls shut up for a second?" Hanna said, striding past them down the dim
hallway. Lights flickered. The recruits had stayed in the rooms
nearest the lift, but the barracks
had been built to house hundreds of ghosts and ghost recruits.
The halls were long and dark,
and full of echoes, and now...
... something was scratching.
"I hear it too," Kell said, pushing off his feet. "What do you think it is?"
"I hope rats," Hanna said.
Around the nearest bend, something screamed.
"But probably not," Hanna said, unlimbering her rifle. "Dax, hurry up!"
"Feel free to jump in anytime you figure out how to disarm an
Omega-class facility
lockdown."
Two zerglings scrambled around the far corner, nipping and
clawing at each other. Seeing
the marines, they screamed again, and charged.
Vallen, Caston, Kell, and Hanna opened fire. Gauss rounds tore
blood from their backs,
ripping at their wings, and stil they came, oblivious to the pain. A lucky shot smashed the skull
of the nearest, and it skidded to a boneless stop. Caston's rifle
clicked dry, and this time he
didn't have any more magazines. The remaining zergling leapt
between the marines, heading
for Dax and the unarmored Sawn...
... who leaned Dax's rifle against the elevator wall, braced her
legs against the recoil and
fired a single shot.
The zergling burst apart.
The marines stared.
Kell laughed first, and Caston and Hanna joined him when Vallen
flinched at the unexpected
sound and dropped his rifle. Vallen snickered as he awkwardly
bent to retrieve it. Even Sawn
snorted her amusement while massaging her aching shoulder.
Glancing over his shoulder in annoyance at the interruption, only
Dax saw the other six
zerglings round the corner.16
Insectoid wings fluttering, they struck Vallen all together,
squealing and slashing. Wide
ribbons of blood arced up the walls and over the ceiling. Vallen
went down without another
sound.
With a running start, Kell kicked three of the zerglings off Vallen, and fired, screaming
wordlessly. They evaporated in clouds of blood and claw beneath
the barrage. Hanna tried to
pull Vallen clear, recoiling when a zergling shrieked and took her
suit's mechanical hand off at
the wrist. She cursed, stomped it flat against the steel beside the spreading pool of Vallen's
blood, and fired a burst one-handed into its skull.
Her rifle went dry just as the zergling stopped moving.
Caston stood motionless. He was failing again. One by one, he
was failing.
Then he grabbed the nearest zergling by the tail and swung it
against the wall again and
again until nothing was left but featureless flesh.
Distantly Kell's rifle fired an extended burst and clicked dry.
Caston turned to see Kell kick
the last zergling off Vallen's chest.
Claw wounds marred Vallen's armor in the dozens. The neosteel
floor was visible through
his body. Sawn hissed and shook her head.
"Dax," Hanna croaked, staggering back towards the lift.
"I know," Dax said. "Almost done."
"We're not," Kell said, staring back up the hallway.
The hydralisk's crested head nearly reached the ceiling. With a
metallic slithering sound, it
surged forward, twitching and shuddering as if stung by millions of invisible insects.
"Corporal!" Hanna said, storming back towards the lift. "The rifle!"
"Save the ammo," Kell said, and charged.
Caston should have yelled, should have told him that he didn't
need to redeem himself. It
wasn't his fault.
But the words froze in his throat, and he couldn't move.
"Caston! Get the hell out of the way!" Hanna roared from behind him, but Kell had already
leapt in, grabbing hold of the creature's crest and hauling its head down as the insane hydralisk
raked long gashes on his backplate. The hydralisk focused on
Caston, tusked jaws slavering with
hunger and recognition. It hunched over, exposing the glittering
darkness between flesh and
carapace, and armor-piercing spines flew at him.
It couldn't miss at this range if it was aiming for him. It wasn't
aiming for him. The spines
hissed past, nicking his armor, and Corporal Sawn screamed
behind him. Meat slithered onto
the floor.
The hydralisk leaned backwards, thrashing its serpentine tail, and
rammed its claws into
Kell's gut clear through his armor, over and over. Reaching up
with trembling hands, Kell seized
the bottom and top jaws of the hydralisk, and wrenched them
apart with a wet crack.
They fell together.
Kell's faceplate irised open. His mouth worked, but only blood
came out. He smiled.
"It wasn't your fault," Caston said, dropping beside him. "It was mine. Do you hear me? It
was mine."
But Kell'ssmile was fixed, and his eyes were empty.17
Staggering back to his feet, Caston turned, dreading everything
that was waiting there for
him.
Sawn must have
