Earthfall (13 page)

‘Come on, through here,’ Sam said as the others hurried into the room. Nat went first, crawling on her belly, quickly followed by Rachel. From the other room, there was a groaning crash as the steel shutter finally gave way under the combined assault of the Hunters and the shock wave from the explosion.

‘You first,’ Jay said, raising his rifle and pointing it at the storeroom doorway, the buzzing of the Hunters grew louder.

‘No,’ Sam said, pulling the last C4 charge from the backpack. ‘Go. I’ll be right behind you.’

Jay hesitated, just for a moment, and then dived through the hole in the wall, dragging himself over the still-hot rubble. Sam watched Jay’s boots disappear and set the timer on the charge for five seconds before tossing it back towards the door. He threw himself through the hole, scrambling out into the cool night air. He dragged himself out of the narrow opening and took cover a split second before there was a deep, muffled thump from the other side of the wall and a fireball roared out of the hole. He climbed to his feet and set off after the others who were already sprinting down the broad ramp that led away from the stadium. He knew that the final explosive charge would probably only have bought them a few seconds’ head start. As if to confirm his fears, he heard a buzzing behind him as the first of the Hunters began to follow them outside. He didn’t look back; knowing how close their pursuers were would make no difference. He just ran for his life.

As the sound of the Hunters grew louder and louder, Sam looked at his three friends running ahead of him and with a sudden, cold certainty he knew exactly what he had to do. He stopped running, turned and raised his rifle, aiming at the swarm of Hunters that were now only twenty metres away. He’d never be able to stop them, but he might slow them down. When the swarm raced towards him, he could have sworn he heard their angry screams
inside
his head. He squeezed the trigger, growling through gritted teeth as he emptied the rifle’s magazine into the silver-skinned creatures, sending spurts of viscous green blood spraying into the air. Despite the hail of bullets, the swarm hardly slowed as it bore down upon him. The other three members of the Ops Team slowed, turning and looking back to see what was happening.

‘Sam!’ Rachel screamed. ‘No!’

At the base of the black spire in the centre of the stadium a digital counter hit zero.

Sam heard a distant explosion and felt a tremor run through the ground underfoot. The Hunters all screeched in unison and then fell out of the air, hitting the ground and sliding and tumbling towards him, their tentacles flailing uselessly. Moments later, the ground in front of Sam was covered with the fallen creatures. Sam lowered his rifle, staring in amazement at the dead swarm. The sound in his head was gone. The others ran back towards him, Rachel in the lead, with a furious expression on her face. She ran up to Sam and punched him hard on the shoulder.

‘You bloody idiot,’ she said angrily. ‘What the hell do you think you were doing?’

‘Ow,’ Sam said, rubbing his shoulder. ‘I was just trying to buy you some time.’

‘That’s not how this works,’ Rachel snapped. ‘We’ve already lost one person tonight. There aren’t enough of us left for you to just go throwing your life away like that.’

‘Hey, Rach, chill,’ Jay said as he walked up beside them. ‘He was trying to do the right thing.’

‘Whatever,’ Rachel said, turning and marching off with an exasperated sigh, heading back towards the tunnel access.

‘Thanks,’ Sam said to Jay as they watched Rachel walk away.

‘Hey, don’t thank me,’ Jay said with a smile. ‘I agree with her. You’re an idiot. Brave, but definitely still an idiot.’

‘What happened to them?’ Nat asked, crouching down and poking one of the dead Hunters with the muzzle of her rifle.

‘I have no idea,’ Sam said, shaking his head. ‘The charge in the stadium blew and then . . . well, see for yourself.’

‘Are they dead?’ Nat asked.

‘I don’t know. It certainly looks like it,’ Sam replied with a shrug.

‘Come on,’ Jay said. ‘We need to get out of here.’ He pointed to the east where three points of green light could be clearly seen, growing steadily larger as they headed towards them.

‘Looks like we’ve caught their attention at least,’ Sam said.

‘Not sure that’s a good thing,’ Nat said before standing up and jogging after Rachel.

‘This might sound crazy,’ Sam said, ‘but I think we should take one of these things back for Stirling.’

‘You’re right,’ Jay said with a nod. ‘That
does
sound crazy.’

‘Seriously,’ Sam replied. ‘I bet he’s never got his hands on one that’s dead but undamaged. It could be useful.’

Jay stared at him for a moment and then let out a long sigh.

‘Just remember that this was your idea,’ he said, shaking his head.

‘Come on, give me a hand,’ Sam said, taking hold of one side of the upper carapace of the nearest fallen Hunter.

‘Why do I get the feeling that I’m going to regret this?’ Jay said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and taking hold of the other side.

‘Mind the stingers,’ Sam said as he lifted the Hunter off the ground. It was surprisingly heavy for its size.

They walked quickly after the girls, carrying the Hunter between them. In the distance they could now hear the throbbing rumble of the approaching Threat drop-ships.

‘What on earth are you doing with that thing?’ Rachel asked as the boys entered the enclosed courtyard with their prize.

‘Sam thought Stirling might cheer up a bit if we brought him a new pet,’ Jay said. ‘I suggested a puppy, but then we realised it might be difficult to take it for walks.’

‘Very funny,’ Rachel said, frowning. ‘I suppose you geniuses have considered the possibility that it might not actually be dead?’

The boys looked at each other and then down at the Hunter.

‘Ummm, no,’ Jay said, suddenly sounding nervous. ‘We hadn’t actually thought about that to be honest.’

‘Well, let’s just make sure, shall we?’ Rachel said, raising her rifle and pointing it at the Hunter.

‘No, don’t,’ Sam said, holding up his free hand. ‘The whole point of this is to bring one of these things back undamaged for Stirling.’

‘He has a point, Rach,’ Nat said. ‘Stirling’s never had a chance to look at a Hunter that’s not been blown up or shot to pieces before.’

‘OK,’ Rachel said, lowering her rifle, ‘but if that thing so much as twitches, I’m emptying a clip into it. Understood?’

‘Understood,’ Sam said with a nod.

‘OK, now that’s settled, can I suggest we get underground?’ Jay said as the rumble of the Threat ships drew nearer. ‘Because any minute now those things are going to start dropping Grendels, and I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather not still be here when that happens.’

‘Fascinating,’ Stirling said as he gently lifted the section he had cut out of the Hunter’s shell and inspected what lay beneath, ‘absolutely fascinating.’

‘Glad you like it, Doc,’ Jay said.

‘Are you certain it’s dead?’ Jackson asked, eyeing the Hunter warily, his rifle lowered but ready.

‘As certain as I can be with a creature with such an alien physiology,’ Stirling replied. ‘It really is quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. A seamless hybridisation of the organic and the mechanical. It’s hard to say for sure if it was constructed or
grown
.’

‘I don’t care if it is dead,’ Rachel said. ‘Damn thing still give me the creeps.’

‘You say the Hunters all deactivated simultaneously,’ Stirling said, still staring at the creature.

‘Yeah,’ Sam replied, ‘as soon as the transmitter inside the stadium blew, they all just hit the ground.’

‘It sounds like some sort of catastrophic signal feedback loop,’ Will said.

‘Just what I was thinking,’ Jay said, rolling his eyes.

‘Either that or the transmitter was required to send instructions to the swarm,’ Stirling said, frowning slightly. ‘Which would suggest that there is a finite limit to how far they can travel from the Threat Mothership without the control signal being boosted in some way. I suspect that the signal would normally be relayed by Threat drop-ships in the area, but these new ground-based transmitters would provide a more permanent solution. It’s hard to be certain since we have never managed to bring down one of the drop-ships and see what effect that might have on any Hunters in the area, but it would explain why we have not seen any of these transmitters before now.’

‘Which means that we could take down every Hunter within range if we destroy the transmitters,’ Rachel said.

‘In theory, yes,’ Stirling replied.

‘Assuming we can find them,’ Nat said.

‘You were lucky not to take more casualties this time,’ Jackson said. ‘We had no idea we were sending you into a Hunter nest. Not to mention the fact that the Threat are bound to have increased security around any other transmitters they’re putting up after what happened last night. That may have been our first and last chance to hit them like that.’

‘I agree,’ Stirling said. ‘I cannot justify another operation like that, no matter how tempting the target may be. However, there is another option. Now that we know that the transmissions from these towers are so vital to the control of the Hunters, we can try to find a way to block them.’

‘Easier said than done,’ Will said. ‘It was the strength of those signals that led us to that transmitter in the first place. To jam even one of them would require . . . well . . . a lot more power than we have available.’

‘Yes, William, you’re quite right,’ Stirling said with a nod, ‘which is why we won’t try to block the transmission of the signal; we block its
reception
.’

‘Limit the range and lower the power consumption,’ Anne said, nodding enthusiastically. ‘If the electromagnetic interference ratio is reduced . . .’

‘And this is where they start talking science at each other,’ Jay said with a sigh. ‘I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry.’

‘Yeah,’ Nat said, ‘let’s go and see what delights Toby’s prepared for breakfast today.’

‘If it’s tinned grapefruit again, things could get violent,’ Jay said with a grin as the pair of them walked out of the lab.

Sam and Rachel watched in silence as Stirling, Will and Anne continued their examination of the dead Hunter.

‘Listen,’ Rachel said quietly after a minute or two, ‘I’m sorry about losing my temper with you back there. I appreciate what you were trying to do. It was just . . . you know . . . with losing Tim like that. I just . . .’ She trailed off.

‘Hey, don’t worry about it,’ Sam said. ‘You were right. It was a stupid thing to do. I’m just so sick of running from the Threat, I wanted to stand and fight for once. Jackson’s right, though – we can’t fight them like that. If that charge hadn’t detonated when it did, I’d have ended up just like Tim. It’s like Jackson always says, frightened but alive beats brave and dead every time.’

‘True,’ Rachel said, ‘but I know what you mean about wanting to fight back. We can’t go on living in holes underground for ever.’

‘Maybe these guys will come up with something we can use to level the playing field slightly,’ he said, gesturing towards Stirling, Will and Anne, who were deep in conversation. Jackson stood to one side, never taking his eyes off the Hunter on the bench.

‘Well,’ Sam said, ‘I don’t think I’m going to be much use here, so I’m going to hit the mess hall for breakfast before Jay cleans the place out.’

‘Yeah, I’ll come with you,’ Rachel said, ‘but, I tell you, if Jay starts going on about bacon again, I’m going to shoot him.’

Sam thought back to the incident when Jay had spent five minutes talking with such passion about the smell and taste of bacon that it actually still made his mouth water just thinking about it.

‘Oh, if he does that again,’ Sam said with a grin, ‘you can use my gun.’