Code, p.9
Code, page 9
More screams. Gunshots boomed consistently.
Mitch’s eyes went wild, his arm going skyward, firing away. “Get out, Rhett!” he hollered and then ran back to his team.
Rhett whirled and leaped behind a chunk of cement. Zeke and Cleo hid next to him as something sharp impaled the dry earth. Not a missile. A giant insect about two stories tall. A mix between spider and something else he couldn’t discern with eight legs and eight bulging, nasty-looking eyeballs. A hard shell, like a turtle’s but covered in fine hair, protected its body.
“They do exist?” Zeke grabbed Cleo’s shoulder with his trembling hand. “The girls were right.”
Rhett leaped over the cement, pointed at the abomination, and squeezed his fist. The force of air from his glove shot out. A person would have been thrown far back, but the tank-sized beast only tilted with no damage. Rhett hit it again and again.
The beast screeched in rage, its cry piercing the air. Rhett hoped it wasn’t calling more friends.
“Reyna, Brooke and I got you.” Ozzie’s voice boomed through Rhett’s earpiece. “We’re firing from behind. We’re coming.”
Brooke’s voice came through the chip. “This giant thing won’t go down. Can’t you huff and puff it away?”
She must have been asking Mia and Ella.
In the distance, two smaller hideous creatures were tossed into the air.
“I told you. I warned you about them.” Ella or Mia. Rhett couldn’t tell their voices apart.
Then out from the mist, about fifty yards from where Rhett stood, Tamara thumped on the beast’s back, speeding upward like an ant along its shell. With incredible speed and dexterity, she soared into the air and landed on its head.
With a flick of her wrists, she used her favorite weapons and did what she did best. She speared her pocket knife into its head repeatedly until blood oozed out. Tamara took out the rod shoved inside the back of her waistband, tapped it open, and plunged the sharp edge in the middle of its skull.
Atta girl.
The beast got onto its hind legs, shaking its head, blood spattering out. The knife Tamara had spiked through its exoskeleton held her in place for the time being. When the beast finally collapsed, she somersaulted and landed behind it.
“She’s my hero,” Zeke said.
“Everyone back,” one of Rhett’s men hollered. “Incoming bomb.”
Something flew in the air, coming toward Rhett.
“Shit. Run. No, hide.” Rhett yanked Zeke and Cleo with him and leaped into the nearest section of debris for protection, behind a flipped car.
Rhett had thought they were good as dead until a girl with a diamond stud nose ring stood in front of them, her eyes and fingers sparking with electricity like Coco. She had created a shield with her power. Reyna appeared beside her and pushed her hands up, sending the bomb skyward. The bomb had to have come from ISAN soldiers.
The girl with a sparkling stud nose ring and brown eyes stood in front of Rhett. “My name is Nina, and this is my friend, Cora. Mitch told you about us. He told me to come find you.”
At first, Rhett thought Nina was out of her mind, introducing someone he couldn’t see, until a girl with neatly braided hair—Cora—materialized.
“Sorry,” Cora said, “I forgot I was invisible.”
Rhett reflexively ducked when another bomb went off nearby, uplifting debris and smoke. “This way to the glider. Follow me.”
Only half of the mountain rebels had made it back to the meeting point. Rhett second-guessed his decision to bring his team along. The fog blinded Rhett’s view. He couldn’t tell where the ISAN soldiers were. Mitch said there were too many of them, indicating more than one team.
“ISAN. They’ve found us.” Nina yanked Cora to the side. “We can’t be seen. Sorry. We’ll help you from the side.”
“The ramp is open. Get in,” Zeke said. “I’ll get the glider started.”
“Oz,” Brooke hollered his name in panic.
Ozzie flew skyward, but halted in midair. Mia had exhaled, causing air to wrap around Oz, and brought him down without a scratch.
Brooke’s features contorted. When she planted her hand on the ground, the one without the glove, her body trembled, but her eyes were focused.
Brooke inhaled. “I found out something else I could do when I thought of how much I wanted to hurt Gene.”
The ground quaked and cracked open around her hand, and then a straight line tore the earth, splintering in all directions as far as Rhett could see. Brooke became one with the earth and it listened.
Creatures screeched and backed away. When the ISAN guards scattered, Rhett got a good look at them. The ISAN team was made up of kids, around Momo’s age judging by their height, but their combat suits were different. Sleeker. Resilient. Perhaps more comfortable and bulletproof.
“Rhett. Oz. Cleo. Get inside,” Reyna demanded. “Let us handle this.”
Rhett ran up the ramp, grabbed Zeke and pointed at the girls. “Look. Your people did this. They sold their weapons to ISAN.”
Zeke lowered his eyes at Rhett’s hand and drew his lips into a frown. “Like I said before, I didn’t. The Imugis don’t know anything about ISAN. They’re just doing their thing to survive.”
Cursing under his breath, Rhett released Zeke and watched the battle before him in awe. Zeke, too, was mesmerized.
Mia and Ella, back-to-back, spun their sticks like windmills. When they blew, the sticks twirled faster.
Brooke cartwheeled to dodge Taser pellets. She used her glove to knock the kids to the ground. Tamara twirled her stick the same way she twirled her knives, and instead of impaling the kid challenging her, she hurled the stick at the beasts that had creeped without a sound behind ISAN’s team.
Too late. Its leg had pierced four ISAN girls’ backs.
“Run!” Brooke yelled.
Rhett dug through the weapon bag in search of something useful. There. The weapon he needed. He took off the glove and grabbed the one Zeke called the bomb.
Rhett bolted out. “Everyone inside!”
The metal around his wrist tightened. As the four disks from the gadget slipped out and hovered over him, he recalled Zeke’s words. When you touch the yellow dot, they track body heat, and you’ll get a hologram image. Tap green, they fire. But you’ll have to be careful at who you aim. These are mini bombs.
Rhett pressed the green one. The throwing stars spun. He directed the stars to the four monsters attacking the ISAN kids.
When the last of Rhett’s band was in the glider, he charged inside as the creatures blew up. He heard the explosion but didn’t bother to look.
“Go. Go. Get us out of here.” Rhett directed Zeke, the aircraft already in the air. He did a quick check of who was present. “Are Nina and Cora in here?”
“Here.” Cora flickered into existence, sitting at the back with Nina.
In the chaos, Rhett had almost forgotten about them. He did a quick introduction and thanked Mitch for the new recruits. Words Rhett never thought he would say. How Mitch had managed to talk the girls into joining the rebels was beyond him.
“What the hell was that?” Brooke slapped the window, gazing out. Panting, she fogged up a section of the glass her nose touched.
“That was insane.” Ozzie scrubbed a hand down his face, sitting beside Brooke.
“I can’t believe that,” Cleo chimed in, clutching her chest. “Maybe they ate a piece of meteor, who knows?”
“Maybe,” Ella added. “Those things didn’t even seem real at first. I felt like I was watching a movie.”
They hadn’t seen all of what had happened to the ISAN teams and the creatures from the mist, but Rhett’s heart went out to those soldiers. ISAN or no, they were just kids.
“Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?” Still standing, Rhett swayed a little from a sudden jerk of the aircraft.
“It’s not me. It’s the turbulence,” Zeke hollered from the front.
When no one said a word, Rhett plopped down next to Mia. Gripping fistfuls of hair, he inhaled a deep breath and exhaled an even longer one. With his legs spread a foot apart, he pitched forward, his elbows on his thighs.
Rhett couldn’t believe any of them had made it back in one piece, though five of the soldiers from the mountain base hadn’t. If it hadn’t been impossible, he would have looked for them in case they were injured. There’d been no time to do anything but survive. But still, he couldn’t stop seeing the faces he’d left behind. Considering how deadly the creatures were, he doubted any had survived.
Then there was the issue of Ava. She hadn’t been there and neither had Zen. Zen hadn’t sent Zeke that message. Then who had? Novak?
“Did you see the ISAN soldiers?” Tamara said.
“Um yeah.” Reyna groaned an agitated sigh. “They were about Momo’s age.”
Tamara twisted in her seat to face Reyna behind her. “Something was different about them. There was no life in their eyes. I didn’t feel anything from those kids. I usually can feel fear or pain, but I didn’t get that vibe from them.”
Nina and Cora were quiet but listening.
“So what’s the next plan?” Ozzie said. “Because we’re not going home. Not without Ava.”
Rhett stood to get a better view of everyone. “First, we’re going back to the mountain base to drop some of you off. Zeke needs to go back to the black market. As for me, whoever wants to join me, I’m going back to get Ava.”
“But you don’t know where they’ve taken her,” Reyna said. “I want to go with you, Rhett, but we can’t waste our time. It’s like chasing your own tail.”
“Go where, Rhett?” Oz said. “You sound like she’ll materialize wherever you go.”
Rhett looked at Tamara, only because no one else would understand what he was about to say.
“My heart is my map, and it will lead me to her.”
Everyone looked at Rhett like he was crazy, but not Tamara. She offered a soft, understanding smile and then stared out the window.
Chapter Fourteen — Abort
Mitch
Mitch shot at the creature clawing into the dirt, who was salivating and ready to eat Rhett for lunch. He fired like there was no tomorrow, and then ran back to his team.
“Abort. Abort. Abort this mission,” Mitch yelled into his com. He spotted his team near a beat-up school bus, about a hundred yards from their glider.
Russ spun around Mitch to cover him.
“I thought we here for the rebels. I don’t understand.” Justine fired her Taser, barely nicking the giant insect. Her feet scuffled in the dirt as she moved around Mitch and Russ.
“I’ll hold them off,” Mitch said. “At the count of three, run back to the ramp.”
“It’s too hard to see in the fog. Which way is our glider?” Tessa swung her arm from left to right when the beast squealed.
The roar pierced Mitch’s eardrums. Mitch trembled, his heart racing. In all the years of training and all the missions, he’d never been so scared for himself and his team.
“The creatures sound close,” Russ shouted and turned on a mini flashlight he must have taken out of the emergency pack. “Follow me. I’ll guide.”
“Mitch, where are Nina and Cora?” Justine bellowed, bumping into Mitch.
“I told them to find you when the three of us scouted ahead. They didn’t come back?”
“No,” she said.
“Shit. I don’t know.” Mitch tried to sound genuinely worried. “I’ll go look for them.”
Justine grabbed his arm just as he pivoted. “No. You and Russ go in. Tessa and I got this. We can buy them some time to find us. Go.”
Mitch had never seen Justine act like a leader, and she had never put his safety over hers. He liked this side of her. Mitch ran, Russ beside him.
Inside the glider, Mitch turned on the transporter’s headlight, a beacon for his team, long enough to give them direction, and then turned it off before it could attract the creatures’ attention. As he waited, he watched in terror as one giant creature made its way toward Justine.
Justine somersaulted and hid under the monster’s belly. As the beast continued to stomp through the dirt and at the bus, she fired her Taser in rapid succession. Tessa climbed on top of the bus, jumped on its head, and pulled the trigger. The monster collapsed. Dust lifted like clouds, the dried earth soaked up the blood, and the girls ran toward the light.
“Hurry,” Mitch murmured, his fists curled. “Hurry.” He pounded the dashboard.
“There’s another one.” Russ spoke into his com, his voice frantic. “It’s behind you, Justine.”
The wounded monster behind Justine dropped, kicking up a dust cloud, providing more view of the perimeter. Five assassins geared in head to toe high-tech suits that might as well have been from another planet appeared beside the creature.
Mitch realized they were not only ISAN assassins, but they were kids—like maybe thirteen years old. The monster wailed a high-pitched sound, most likely calling for aid.
Five kids surrounded the beast. Two assassins held up their fists and the gadgets they wore made the beast stay still. An invisible ray of some sort. Each took out a short rod and tapped it on their hip. When they hurled the weapons at the creature, they lengthened into long spears, impaling the beast.
One girl touched a gadget on her wrist and something small and airborne went spinning toward the creature. When it attached to the beast’s leathery skin, they ran for cover.
The monster exploded, crimson liquid spewing like rain. Organs and body parts thumped on the ground and on the bus. Flesh, muscles, bones, and guts laid out for a scavenger buffet.
“That is one messed up motherfu—” Mitch snapped out of the movie-like scene, back to reality. “Justine. Tessa. Where are you?”
“We’re coming,” Justine said, panic in her voice. “Did you see what they did? Why don’t we have those weapons? The girl told me they’re from ISAN South. They’re just kids, Mitch.”
“I know. Get here, now. Do not speak to them.”
“Okay. Flash your headlights again. I’m disoriented from the blast.”
Mitch did as he was asked but caught one of the beast’s attention.
“I see them.” Russ pointed at two figures appearing and vanishing between the mist coming their direction.
The creature that had been curious about the light tailed behind them.
“Take the reins. Get ready to fire when I say,” Mitch said to Russ and dashed out of the glider. He stood guard at the front. “Justine. Tessa. Don’t look back. Keep going as fast as you can. I’ve got your backs.”
Mitch fired, kept firing, wishing he had cool toys like the south girls. Bullets rained down on the beast but it wouldn’t die.
“I see you,” Justine said out of breath.
“I’m right beside you,” Tessa said to Justine.
“Don’t talk, just run.” Mitch didn’t mean to sound mad, but the creature was right on their tails.
The beast hollered a mighty roar. Must be the queen. It was bigger than the others. One giant impaled a leg through Tessa’s head. Mitch’s blood turned to ice and brought a mouthful of bile into his throat. And for the first time, he didn’t know what to do.
“Mitch. Get Justine. Get Justine,” Russ’s voice rang urgently.
Mitch snapped out of it and rushed toward Justine, but he was too late. One of the legs whipped her aside and she smacked into a crumbled building.
“Now, Russ. Fire,” Mitch shouted and ran in the direction Justine had fallen. He searched frantically through the debris.
Mitch shoved the chunks of concrete he could lift aside, one after the other. Come on, Justine. Where are you?
“Hurry Mitch. More are coming.”
“I can’t find her.” His breath left him in spurts, sweat beading his forehead, his mask fogging. Then finally a hand. He moved more pieces of cement, revealing an ISAN combat suit.
Justine was unconscious in the amidst of chunks of concrete, wet blood coating her head. He released a sigh of relief, hefted her over his shoulder, and sprinted. Getting back to the glider wouldn’t be easy. Mitch stayed low to keep out of Russ’s firing range and avoid attracting the creatures’ attention.
Every step seemed impossible, the roars sounding closer. He trusted Russ to watch his back and kept going.
“We’re in, go,” Mitch said, out of breath. He laid Justine across the seats with trembling hands. He held on to her as the transporter soared to the sky.
Out of danger, Mitch’s heart ricocheted, his adrenaline still pumping hard. He opened the cabinet above him and rummaged through the medical bag. He took out a needleless syringe and shot her up with a dosage of painkiller.
When they reached the clouds, Russ put the glider on autopilot. “How badly is she hurt?” he said.
Mitch looked her over from head to toe. “Blood on the side of the temple. No broken bones as far as I could tell. She’s resilient. Her body is different than ours, so I think she’ll be fine, but Tessa is dead.” He couldn’t get the image out of his mind.
He didn’t mean to sound stone cold and uncaring, but he was used to seeing agents killed during the missions. Mitch couldn’t let his emotions get the best of him. He would not break in front of Russ—or anyone for that matter.
“I know. I saw.” Russ’s shoulders sagged.
Mitch slumped on the seat, stared at the wall, and breathed ... and breathed. Another one of them, dead. Another life gone for Novak. Tessa hadn’t been with them long, but a life was a life. She’d deserved better. They all deserved better.
“Why was the rebel team there?” Russ asked, breaking the silence, sitting across from him.
Mitch shoved his palms to his face, then let go. “Rhett was told Ava was there.”
“She’s not, is she?” Russ paled.
“No,” Mitch said, stretching his legs. “I gave Zeke the coordinates. Ava found the secret base. Novak has to be behind it. He sent Rhett’s team into an ambush, hoping these creatures would do his job. That’s my guess.”
“Lydia is on the line,” Russ said. “Novak wants an update. What should I tell her?”
