“E vonne, get Vet and Rizzo.” Riot leveled her Villain Pulse Rifle and opened fire on the Abominations surrounding Ketrick. “Wang, get Rippa out of here .”
Her aim was perfect. She hit an Abomination between its green eyes with a burst of fire and took another one in the chest with a shot that should have been enough to kill anything .
Instead of her targets falling over dead, they redirected their attention from a bloody Ketrick at their feet and moved to intercept Riot .
“Run!” Ketrick screamed, spitting blood from broken lips. “Riot, run !”
He was only wasting his breath, and somehow, Riot thought he knew that. She wasn’t going to leave him or any of the soldiers under her command. If they were going down, then they were all going down together .
The Abominations ran at her, corpses that were part decaying alien and part machine. Riot pressed her finger on the trigger, going full auto. Red weaponsfire splashed across her targets. Her weapon opened up charred holes when she hit a portion of the Abominations’ flesh and was absorbed when it hit their armor. Still, they came .
No screams or cries of war left the lips of the Abominations. Only the same dull hum of constant energy. Riot wasn’t sure if that was actually scarier than hearing the grunts or roars from her enemies .
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Evonne and Wang having more luck than she was at the moment. Evonne had managed to free Vet and Rizzo, who fell gasping to the ground. The AI was using pure strength as opposed to a weapon to overcome the Abomination .
Wang was up against a pair of dark-armored Karnayer soldiers that could actually be killed. Two well-placed bursts from his weapon and they were corpses smoking on the jungle floor .
Riot said a silent prayer, grateful that at least her counterparts had succeeded. The Abominations running at her moved out of the way for those among their order who carried blasters. The weapons had been fitted into the machine parts of their bodies on their arms or up from their shoulders. These weapons seemed to be nothing but random fittings of blasters or blades .
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM !
Riot sent a salvo of red rounds into any and every section of the charging figures she thought may be susceptible to fire. She hit one in the neck, another in the kneecap, and a third in the eye .
Her attempt seemed to only piss off the Abominations as they continued toward her. Those enemies with blaster-equipped weapons fired at Riot. Green rounds struck her in the abdomen and her left leg .
“Rrrrrrr…” Riot grunted as she went down to one knee. The entire time her gaze never left the targets rushing toward her. Despite her best efforts, the most she managed was to make one stumble as a round collided with its left ankle. “Die, you sons of biscuits !”
They were about to reach her. Knives, blades, and claws extended toward her, along with a dozen different alien appendages that reached for her face .
Here we go again. Riot dropped her Villain Pulse Rifle and reached for her warhammer that sat in its place across her back. Why can’t anything be easy ?
The steady hum coming from their bodies was the only thing heralding the charge of the Abominations .
“Come on!” Riot screamed, doing her best to get herself psyched for the fight. “Get some !”
Mere feet from colliding with the Abominations, a stream of searing hot fire erupted in front of Riot. A wall of flames burst to life, separating Riot from the dozen Abominations in front of her. A handful of the half-corpse, half-machines were even caught in the flames, their organic parts melting off their steel frame .
Riot looked up as a whoosh of wings reached her ears. Vikta’s massive figure was on an upward swing before the dragon turned back for another pass .
“I had them!” Riot yelled at the dragon. There was nothing but joy in her voice despite her words. “I had them just where I wanted them .”
Ketrick was limping his way around the wall of fire on Riot’s left. Wang and Evonne were doing the same thing on the right. Rippa was the only one who seemed to be fine. Evonne was carrying Rizzo, and Wang had an arm wrapped around a limping Vet .
More and more Abominations, as well as Karnayer soldiers, were running toward their position. Vikta let out a roar, sending another line of flames alongside the already burning fire wall .
For the moment, the only thing the Abominations and Karnayers were concerned about was the colossal dragon shooting flames at them. Enemy weaponsfire was solely concentrated on the dragon for a moment .
“We should go,” Ketrick said, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “Vikta’s buying us the time we need to get back to the city .”
“Good, let’s — ”
“Riot!” a scream from someone on the other side of the flames interrupted Riot’s next words. “Riot, you coward! I know that’s you !”
Riot didn’t have to wonder who was calling her by name from the Karnayer forces. She recognized Alveric’s voice. Her eyes searched through the flickering fire wall separating the two factions. She finally found the tall, blue-skinned Karnayer on the opposite side of the flames .
“What? Who is it? Alveric, is that you?” Riot shouted. She cupped her right hand to the side of her helmet. “It’s hard to hear you above the sound of all of your Abominations humming. You’re really going to have to speak up. How’s the wound on your face healing, by the way ?”
“Run! Run back to your city and supposed safety,” Alveric screamed in anger, ignoring her question. “We will kill you there within the hour. Run! Run, human! You and your allies will burn together before the sun rises !”
Vikta did another pass, barrel rolling through the enemy fire that was peppering her. The flame wall came to life again. As much as Riot wanted to stay and trade words with Alveric, every moment she forced Vikta to remain and defend them was another chance that a Karnayer round could wound the dragon. Riot wasn’t willing to bet on Vikta’s safety. Not like that .
“I’ll look for you on the battlefield,” Riot yelled back to Alveric. “I’ll be the one holding a warhammer with a pile of dead Karnayers at my feet .”
Riot turned back to her team. The nanites were already hard at work in everyone’s bodies. Even Rizzo was already moving in Evonne’s arms. Evonne still held the wounded pilot like a groom ready to walk over the threshold with his wife .
“Let’s go,” Riot ordered her unit. “Double time, back to the city. They won’t be far behind .”
Riot fell in line with her squad as they ran back through the jungle to the city. Riot hated having to try to carry on a conversation while running, but she had to be sure Doctor Miller had gotten the message through to the city .
“Evonne, patch me through to General Armon,” Riot panted as she concentrated on where she was placing her feet .
“Done,” Evonne responded back in her calm, non-exerted voice despite the fact she was outpacing them all .
“General,” Riot gasped as she urged her team on. “We have an enemy force, maybe thirteen thousand strong, made up of soldiers that’ll need heavy weaponsfire and incendiary rounds to be taken out .”
“Roger that,” General Armon’s voice came back over the comms, clear and calm. “Doctor Miller gave us a report. We’ll be ready. Just get you and your team back safe .”
“Roger.” Riot forced herself to breathe past her burning lungs .
Vikta flew above them in circles, dipping back every so often to light another flame wall and protect their retreat .
I’m going to have to get Vikta a treat or something to say thank you. Riot’s mind started to wander as she pushed her body to the limit. Do they even make dragon treats? If they did, would they be the same shape as a dog treat, only bigger ?
“There it is,” Vet huffed over his comms .
Through the thick foliage, Riot could see glimpses of the city walls. She wondered how long they had been running while she’d allowed her mind to wander. Riot was at the rear of the group, constantly looking behind her into the jungle depths. She was lucky that, thus far, she had not seen any signs of pursuing enemies. She had a sneaking suspicion she had Vikta to thank for that .
Riot and her team came to a skidding stop in front of the Trilord walls. Riot removed her helmet as the gates to the city swung open. The warm night air hit her face. Whereas helmet’s heads-up display painted the darkness as bright as day made her eyes blink to give her pupils time to adjust .
The night on Hoydren was still warm, but a cool breeze touched her sweaty face and sent her short hair into a frenzy. Riot followed her unit into the city grounds, already barking orders to her team .
“Is everyone okay?” Riot looked from one face to the next. A series of nods returned her question. Not only were these the toughest men and women she had ever served with, but the addition of the nanites also made them that much harder to seriously injure .
“We’re good to go,” Wang said from his spot next to Rizzo. “Where do you want us ?”
Riot was about to start going over the plan, when Colonel Harlan appeared with a force of heavily armored Marines behind him. “Glad to see you all back in one piece. General Armon and Admiral Tricon are taking the fight to the sky. I’ll be coordinating our defense on the ground. I’d like Killa and her Trilords to defend the south wall facing the jungle, and you, Riot, to defend the east gate .”
They both knew what he was asking without having to voice their thoughts. The south wall would be the first area to receive enemy contact, sure, but the real fight would be for the main entrance to the city—the east gate .
“Done.” Riot looked to the colonel through the darkness. Torches set into the walls near the gates sent shadows playing across his face. “We’ll hold the gates .”
“I know you will,” Colonel Harlan said with a nod. “Admiral Tricon is leaving us his mechs for the defense. They’ll be air-dropping in soon. You’ll also have a division of Grovothe shock troops at your command. I have Killa’s Trilords placed across the wall with her and the Marines, but if you need additional help, let me know, and I’ll re-route a reinforcement class to your position. We’ll use Ketrick and his dragons as a roving support band where the fighting is the worst .”
“Understood,” Riot said, thinking back to how difficult it had been to take down a single Abomination soldier. “Colonel Harlan .”
“Yes, Riot?” the colonel asked .
“Tell everyone we’ll need to only use the weapons capable of making the biggest booms in this fight. Small arms fire and blaster rounds just glance off these new soldiers .”
Colonel caught the intensity in Riot’s eye. “We’ll roll out the big guns. What were you thinking: mines, grenades, mortars, rockets ?”
“All of them,” Riot said, and nodded along with each item on the colonel’s list. “We’ll need them all .”