Hell divers x fallout, p.14
Hell Divers X: Fallout, page 14
That rough voice was X.
She heard a hatch whine open, then clank shut.
“Commander, you have to relax,” said a voice she remembered from earlier.
Magnolia recalled she had radiation poisoning, but why were the alarms from her dream still . . .
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Monsters,” someone said. “Monsters are trying to come aboard the ship.”
TEN
“Giant bugs and cyclops lizards,” X muttered. “What’s next? Kangaroos with ten-pound inflatable testicles they bounce on?”
General Forge let out a nervous laugh. He stood beside X in the observation tower on the highest deck of the Frog, scanning the choppy sea with a pair of infrared binos. The king didn’t need the optics to see the lizard tails and spiked heads poking out of the water. The monsters were swarming around the vessel, having chased the salvage teams back here. Large single eyes homed in on the ship, watching. Waiting for a chance . . .
Beneath the waterline, the giant bugs that X had yet to lay his eyes on were clamped onto the hull.
“The defenses are all in place,” said General Forge. “Now we get ready to fight.”
X was ready. Dressed in his Hell Diver armor, he held his helmet under his arm. His hatchet hung behind the pistol on his belt, and his laser rifle was strapped over his back armor. A blaster was holstered on his left thigh. On his right thigh, he had a sheathed knife mostly hidden under a dangling cutlass.
He was ready to fight, though he wasn’t sure his weapons were going to do much against the giant water bugs or even the cyclopean lizards. It wouldn’t be long now before they assaulted the ship.
X radioed Captain Two Skulls. “How are the tests coming?” he asked.
“We ran into muchos problemas, but we turn the engines on muy pronto,” replied the captain.
“Good. Get us the hell out of here.”
X took the binos from Forge and centered them on the bow weather deck below. Two Cazador warriors manned the mounted machine guns at the port and starboard rails. Turning to the stern, X checked the other two guards, posted on the weather deck with mounted machine guns.
Gran Jefe was also down there, carrying a large flamethrower that looked like a child’s toy in his huge paws.
“Tell everyone to hold their fire unless we are attacked,” said X. “We can’t afford to waste any ammo. We’re going to need every bullet for when we get back to the Vanguard Islands.”
If we get back . . . Right now that seemed less likely by the minute.
The last of the Vanguard military were thousands of miles from home, surrounded by an army of mutated creatures and about to face the worst radioactive fallout since the world ended.
On top of all that, Magnolia was fighting for her life belowdecks with several other soldiers who had also gotten severe doses of radiation.
X tried to put the injured and dead out of his mind. He had removed all distractions, even Miles. The dog was safe with Valeria and a security patrol in the cargo holds belowdecks.
The comms flared with a message from Captain Two Skulls to all hands, first in Spanish, then in English: “Engine tests have been completed. Prepare for departure. All hands to their stations,” he said.
“Finally some good news,” X said.
The wind howled, slamming the glass viewports. X remained behind the reinforced panels, watching the waves and the spiked backs of monsters with Forge.
“Why aren’t they striking?” X asked. “What are they waiting for?”
“I’m not sure, but we’ve done all we can, King Xavier,” he said. “Our fate is in the hands of our warriors now. We should get back down to a safer area of the ship.”
“Yeah . . .” X said. He remained another moment at the window, studying the storm clouds. He still had an odd feeling about whatever they had picked up on the radar earlier.
Could someone really be out there with an airship or other aircraft?
He had pretty much ruled out this being the airship Vanguard. No way in hell would Rolo return after already getting away with the seeds—especially if he thought X was dead.
Still, X couldn’t help but wonder as he studied the raging storm.
“Something’s out there, though,” he said.
An alarm blared.
X hurried down the ladder after General Forge, to the CIC. They were greeted with panicked chatter and one stern, calm voice amid the sea of shouting.
“Sensors have detected damage to the orlop deck,” said Corporal Tiger. “We have a team heading down there now.”
“From those bugs?” Forge asked. He looked to Captain Two Skulls.
There was a pause from the corporal, then, “If I had to guess, yes.”
Two Skulls grunted.
Clearly the captain didn’t buy it, but X wasn’t in the mood to argue. If there was even a gnat’s ass of a chance that the monsters could get through the hull, he had to stop them. A single beast inside put their fragile equipment at risk. Losing anything crucial would put them dead in the water, and not just in a figurative sense.
“Send in our fire teams. If the bugs get in, they can’t get to the engine room; we must protect it at all costs.”
“Yes, sir,” said Forge.
Another alarm chirped, drawing X over to monitors where Tiger stood with his staff. Before X got there, he heard the trumpeting call of a cyclops in the distance. It seemed to be coming from the bow of the ship.
X hurried to the only porthole that wasn’t sealed off by boards or paneling. He tried to look out through the sheeting rain. Through the blur, he saw a lizard tail whip above the bow rail.
Both machine guns fired, blasting the creature back into the churning waves.
Another tail slapped over a railing near the gunner on the port side, knocking him down. He fell to the deck but quickly got up and thrust his cutlass, impaling a meaty body that had climbed up over the railing.
That cyclops stood up on its hind legs, roaring in agony. It snatched the man’s armored wrist, crushing it and forcing him to drop the sword as he too screamed in pain.
The other machine gunner fired a long burst, stitching half-inch holes in the thick hide. Bleeding from multiple wounds, the beast raised two arms above its head and let out a screech.
X knew it wasn’t a roar of agony. This was a tactical call to its comrades.
Three cyclopes skittered over the rail, onto the weather deck.
The Cazador swung the machine gun around and fired into the head of the shrieking beast, blowing off a horn and chunks of skull. It slumped to the side as the three newcomers slithered toward the soldiers.
The Cazador with the crushed wrist fired a pistol while his comrade kept laying down fire with the mounted machine gun. Bullets pounded the fast-moving cyclopes, disabling legs and shearing off patches of thick, armorlike scales.
But the three beasts kept coming.
“Get the gunners out of there,” X said to Forge.
Both soldiers abandoned their guns and fled toward the hatches.
To cover their escape, three more Cazadores ran across the weather deck with rifles blazing.
“Send a message for all troops to prepare for battle,” X said to Forge.
He stepped away from the window, where two crew members waited with a sheet of metal. They placed it over the glass.
The whine of power tools sounded behind X as he crossed the room with General Forge calling after him. “Sir, wait!”
X slowed, drawing his cutlass as he turned toward the general. “No one sits out this battle today,” X said.
“I will fight by your side, King Xavier,” said Forge.
X gave him a single nod and turned to Captain Two Skulls. “Keep an open line of communication and let us know where the monsters penetrate our defenses.”
The captain nodded his tattooed head.
After securing his helmet, X left the CIC with General Forge and both men’s guards. More warriors in the hallway followed X and his team. Pulling them from this position wasn’t a worry for X. Everyone in the CIC was armed and knew how to fight.
And if the monsters made it this far, everyone was royally screwed anyway.
Heavy footsteps echoed as a fast-moving Cazador strike team in light armor crossed through an intersection ahead. X and company followed them all the way down to the cargo hold, where the cyclopes were now trying to break through. Their scaly bodies slammed into the hatches, thudding with their trumpeting calls.
When X got inside the sprawling hold, the steel hatches of the sealed-off quarantine space were already dented. If the monsters got in, the plastic sheets wouldn’t stop anything.
A group of twelve Cazadores waited with spears and shields.
Gran Jefe was there, too, along with Sofia, Tia, and Edgar.
They all knew they had to hold these beasts back here. To make things worse, the warriors had to make their final stand with just swords and spears. Bullets and laser rifles were just too damned risky—too easy to do irreparable damage to the ship.
X holstered his blaster and unsheathed his cutlass. The group followed him through the plastic door, closing it behind them.
“Everyone, get ready!” X shouted. “We can’t let them get past us! We hold them here!”
A beast trumpeted on the other side of the hatch as it pounded against the dual doors. The battering continued, echoing louder and louder.
Everyone around X kept focused on the door, but he noticed the fear in some of their body language—including Tia, who held a shaking crossbow.
The left side of the double hatch finally gave way, breaking inward and disgorging the first monster. It burst inside, halting in front of the small human army. The single eyeball flitted back and forth at the enemy.
It blinked as if it was confused, or perhaps terrified.
The front line of soldiers attacked, thrusting their long spears into the scaly hide. The creature roared as the sharp blades found weak points, including the eye, which popped in a burst of gore.
The creature collapsed to the deck, making way for the next one to join the fray. The second beast lurched inside, sliding across the deck right in front of the line of soldiers. Spears lanced into its side and belly, impaling it over and over. It took three warriors to bring it down, and only after repeated thrusts of spear and sword.
In a final roar, it swiped out with a clawed arm, breaking the leg of a soldier stabbing it. He fell to the ground screaming as his comrades pulled him back behind the shield wall.
“Hold the line!” X yelled.
He moved up in the throng of warriors as two more cyclopes squeezed through the broken hatch. The right side of the hatch fell, and a third and a fourth beast barged into the space.
Their tails whipped, one snagging the foot of a Cazador holding a shield. It pulled him from the line of warriors as spears jabbed forward. The monster yanked the soldier backward, out through the missing hatch and onto the deck, where two more of the abominations waited.
Within seconds, the man was ripped in two, his screams ending in a clap of thunder. When it passed, a message surged over the comms.
“Orlop deck has been penetrated. Repeat, orlop deck has been penetrated.”
The trumpeting of the beasts drowned out the rest of the report, but X had heard enough. They had to get the hell out of here.
X bumped on the command channel. “Get us moving!” he roared.
“Engines are online. We are sailing,” Captain Two Skulls said.
It didn’t feel as if they were moving, but X couldn’t tell.
Two more monsters shambled into the room and rammed into the shield line. The Cazadores kept them back, making calculated spear thrusts to maim the beasts, using their shields to deflect blows from clawed hands and whipping tails.
A raucous trumpeting call rose above all the screams, both human and monster. X was near the shield wall when he saw a behemoth creature lurking in the rain on the weather deck outside. This giant was twice the size of other cyclopes and had a mohawk of spikes over its oval eye.
Unslinging his laser rifle, X tried to move into position to get a shot through the open hatch, but every time he got close, a Cazador helmet or shoulder plate would block his shot.
He reslung his weapon and pulled out his hatchet.
The creature lowered its shoulders and charged, knocking two of its own brethren aside. The smaller beasts clambered away, fearful of what had to be the alpha beast.
The gargantuan creature swiped through two spears, snapping them like the old frail herb sticks from the Hive right before it slammed into the center of the shield wall.
The impact knocked the front-line soldiers in all directions. Several on the outer edges managed to hold their ground, including X, who threw his hatchet at the eye.
The blade missed, hitting the spikes on its skull and caroming away.
He went for his cutlass, then decided that protecting the important gear from an errant shot didn’t matter much if this beast killed everyone.
Reaching down, he unholstered his blaster as the monster punched and kicked at the fallen Cazadores. It slapped others with its tail, launching them into the air. One of those hit X, knocking him to the deck.
As he got up, he saw a blur of motion heading toward him. It hit him, knocking him back down hard.
He pushed himself up on his prosthetic arm, dazed.
All around him, soldiers had broken off into groups to fight the smaller monsters, of which there were at least six now. The larger beast continued its powerful attack, crushing all challengers.
A voice called out to X. He found Nicolas bending down to help X up. The young guard was suddenly slapped away by the tail of a smaller cyclops.
Sebastian hacked at the tail with his cutlass, barely penetrating the scaly hide. The beast grabbed him and made to pull him apart.
X fired the blaster into its head, blowing off the upper half. It dropped Sebastian to the deck, beside X. The Cazador pushed himself back up, dazed but apparently unharmed.
A warning beeped on X’s HUD, and he saw another problem: radiation ticking higher. He stole a moment to take in the battle raging around him—Cazadores and Hell Divers fighting a free-for-all in the cargo hold against the ugliest abominations he had ever seen. Blood flew, and agonized voices filled the air as warriors fell to the terrible claws.
How had it come to this? Maybe Rolo was right. Maybe he didn’t deserve to be king. Maybe his people would be better off without him.
“Protect the king!” a voice boomed.
Sebastian and Nicolas crowded around X to fend off a beast that had sneaked up behind. They screamed as they slashed with their swords at the monster, opening riven gashes in its legs and belly.
Familiar howling came over the enraged trumpeting call of the beast as they cut it down with X. He finished it off with a slash of his sword across the neck. When it crashed to the ground, he turned to see Valeria with a grunting Jo-Jo. They were moving over to help a group of three soldiers who had one of the monsters down on its side.
It suddenly broke free, and the tail lashed outward, sending all three soldiers sprawling. Valeria got there before it could kill them, and hacked into an arm with her cutlass. Then she ducked another arm and swung the blade in a wide arc, opening the belly.
The beast headbutted her even as its guts were falling out. She crumpled to the deck, not moving.
“Valeria!” X shouted.
Somehow, the mortally wounded creature managed to remain standing. With its insides squirming out, it picked Valeria up with both hands.
It pulled on her feet and head, stretching her unconscious body in what seemed like slow motion.
Time seemed to bend around X. He holstered his blaster and unslung the laser rifle again, only to be knocked back to the deck. He could only watch as the beast gripped Valeria in its attempt to pull her apart.
“No!” he yelled.
From out of nowhere, something black and furry slammed into the cyclops from the side, pulling it down to the deck. Valeria rolled away.
X got up to see Jo-Jo hammering the deformed monster’s skull into mush with both fists.
With Valeria safe for now, X turned back to the battle near the broken hatches. Gran Jefe shouted for people to get back. He slung the flamethrower straps over his arms and raised the nozzle at the huge monster in the center of the room, past a trail of dead or injured Cazadores.
Gran Jefe unleashed a torrent of flames at the abomination as it strode toward him, right into the blast. It swiped at the flames with one hand and held the other hand over its single eye as it gave an enraged cry.
The group around X formed another shield wall, advancing on the four beasts remaining throughout the room. He picked up the dropped blaster and shot a cyclops’s legs out from under it.
The Cazador phalanx advanced as one, stabbing the smaller monsters as Gran Jefe sprayed the alpha beast with flames. The leathery hide finally caught fire, forcing it back toward the exit hatch as it held up its arms and let out a high-frequency shriek.
X winced at the horrifying noise but kept his focus on the monster. It was only ten feet from the weather deck when the spiked tail whipped out at Gran Jefe. The spike hit him in the side, but he somehow kept on his feet.
A second slap knocked him to the deck. Flames sprayed up into the overhead before Gran Jefe released the trigger. He turned onto his back as the monster charged at him, its clawed hands ablaze.
X flipped open the breech of his blaster and fumbled for shells. He dropped one, picked it up, slotted it. He went for another but could tell he was going to be too late.
The beast was almost on Gran Jefe.
“Shit, shit,” X said. He closed the breech and aimed the blaster just as a furry body rushed across his field of fire.
