“Completely incompatible hosts. He uses them as slave labor.” A man in front of us started to push up off the ground. I was a step closer than my Kwia. I shoved the man down with my boot and dropped a single shot into the back of his skull. I stepped over the body, leaving the extraction for another Ci’in.
Casey hesitated by the body and I felt Beth squirm inside my brain. “Zombie. You’ve got to remember that.”
Casey stepped around the body, as if the larvae might come after him. “They don’t like women?”
“Nope.” The combination of my ancient and modern knowledge pulled together an explanation. “Think of it as an extreme case of Hostile Womb Syndrome. When a woman gets pregnant, her body naturally starts producing antibodies to kill the invader, until it recognizes it as a fetus. For some reason a larva triggers this same syndrome, but HWS doesn’t stop until it kills the larva. At the same time killing the host. Happens every time.”
I stopped by another body. “In men’s bodies the larvae only have to overcome the normal immune system.” I gave this body an extra bullet too.
“So even if the zombie looks dead, kill it again.” The Kwia fired into the next body we passed. “Unless a Ci’in has done her thing.”
“This is insane.”
Casey sounded horrified, but I didn’t give in to Beth’s desire to comfort him. “If you can’t handle it, return to the SUV, because it’s going to get a lot uglier. These were only the younger minions. We’ll encounter the older ones when we get into the mine.” I spared him a bit of sympathy. “This is our war, not yours.”
“Maybe, but it’s my planet, my people.” Casey firmed up his resolve, pulling his shoulders back. “Even if you got a thousand Ci’inkwia backing you up, you’re not facing this without me.”
CHAPTER
32
Casey kept whatever other objections he had to himself as we made our way to the mine entrance. Chucky joined me at the edge of the demolished building. He tapped at his ear piece. “Daniel confirms the extractions we’re making are all less than fifty years old. Maxa’xak must have his older offspring down there with him.”
I could see the shaft where it entered the mountain. “Escape possibilities?”
“Joey’s rerouted the scanner arrays and they’re watching for any movement. Says it was all pretty sophisticated.”
“Maybe, but doubt there’s an escape tunnel.” Frankie joined us. “I went on a lot of the mine inspections. Those old miners were paranoid. It’s easier to hide one entrance than two.”
My father nodded. “It’s hard to dig in this area. Best he could have done, without massive equipment, was shore up the old mine.” He looked back to the alluvial ramp. “He’d have to dispose of the debris, which might have contributed to the ramp, but any other piles would have drawn attention.”
Daniel joined us, letting his sonic charger slip back between his shoulders. “Got a few answers from the women. There’s cells carved into the tunnel walls, where they’re holding the rest of their people. They don’t know what else is beyond those points, but they know the Maxa’xak lives down there. You ready?”
All eyes turned to me. “As I’ll ever be.” I turned back to the killing field, shutting my ears to the screams. “We have innocents down there. If we can get them out, we need to try. If we run into any that have been newly infested, we should leave them for last. Concentrate on the ones that can fight back.”
“We have teams arranged for this phase.” My father stepped close to me, taking my hands. “You concentrate on the task in front of you and be careful. You haven’t had as much time as we did to adapt to what we are and our mission here. Listen to your brothers.” He leaned down and gave me a kiss on my cheek. “Listen to yourself. You are very much loved and we want you to come back from this.”
“I love you too, Papa.” I embraced him. It wasn’t often he displayed emotions and they cut through the rigidness of my Spirit side, touching my heart. Him reaching out, at this moment, made what was about to happen all the more serious. “I’ll listen to them.”
I got another kiss on the cheek, before he slipped out of the circle. Everyone else was quiet, giving me a moment of quiet so I could recompose myself. Even Frankie was subdued. Casey stroked my back, easing off as Din’ah finally came back to the surface.
Another breath and she was back. “Get the tunnel crew together. We head down now.”
Daniel and Chucky split out. I heard their orders over our com. A group of Kwia started clearing the tunnel entrance, under the cover of Frankie and several more Kwia. I waited to the side, reloading my Sig.
No one fired up on us. Daniel’s charge had taken out two mercenaries near the entrance. Their bodies were dragged out and the larvae extracted. Frankie took his team and advanced into the tunnel ahead of us.
I waited a few minutes with my group. “Remember, we check every nook and cranny. No one leaves without being checked twice.”
Some of the Ci’in in this group were well-blooded from extractions. “Team one, your Ci’in needs recovery time. You’ll remain on the surface and rest. Team two, you’ll do the final check of anyone leaving the mine. Make sure no one comes up without an escort. Prep victims for relocation and rotate down as we need replacements. Team three, you are all fresh, so you come with me now.” They all nodded.
I gave everyone one last long look. “Then let’s go.” I led them into the dark. “You see anything that slithers, kill it.”
Hands went to white-bladed knives. More than ritual. Made from the materials of the Maxa’xak escape ship. Strong enough to bring them
