Toxic (56 page)

The female’s eyes closed. The upper flap, a sort of surprisingly mobile skin extension, covered her eye. The sight protection mechanism varied depending on the species.

To appear less intimidating, because of his imposing size, the Lynian crouched down, hoping to reduce the psychological barrier this way, well aware of the effects of his stature on smaller beings according to the Collective’s standards.

“The cure is your only chance. For you and for the human race.”

“The only clue we had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.”

“I saved a sample,” Jave revealed to her.

“Who’s to say that you’re not going to destroy it or give it to the mass of infected to enslave us all? And if the cure is the end of us?”

A legitimate fear, the Lynian thought, moving his four fingers. He put his hand on his metal legs and opened his nasal vents wide. His skin took on a chlorophyll green color.

“Long ago, when your ancestors were chasing game around your icy lands, my people would have loved to have had but the hope of a future, a chance that is available to you and that you just have to seize, and that in the name of my lost people, massacred by the vermin of the Collective, I come to offer you.”

T
he convoy stopped under cover on the edge of the trail. The armed men came out of the vehicles. Masters found himself in the pickup in front, accompanied by Alva. The two captives remained silent, anxious spectators hobbled by the spectacle happening a few hundred meters away.

To the flashes of explosions and the crackling of assault rifles which they heard, the presence of whirling shades unleashing bluish lights was added. The origin of the round forms with insectoid abdomens didn’t leave any room for doubt. The aliens were attacking the kidnappers’ base and visibly, the latter could not agree on how to deal with it: to fight or to run. Their boss was evaluating the situation, AK in hand, whereas behind him, the small troop was getting agitated. Those who wanted to fight were hurrying around the 4x4s. They were checking their guns and stocking up on extra ammo. In their place, the colonel told himself, he would do the same. Battle was often sprung upon people unexpectedly, giving war its distinctive punch. The undecided people were nervous and watched them prepare. One of them hung around just to the side, maybe hesitating between fleeing and fighting alongside his companions. Masters noticed that he was moving incessantly, shifting his weight from one foot to another.

“If Elaine is there...” Alva started.

The colonel squinted and then, his hands joined, touched the window. The kidnapper told him to keep calm with a movement of his gun.

“I want to talk to your boss, right away.”

“Shut up. Now’s not the time.”

“I belong to the Marine Corps. I’ve already faced them. I can help you.”

The argument switched on a light in the grunt’s distorted mind. He disturbed his boss, who was in the middle of talking to his lieutenants and whispered a few words into his ear. Masters raised his fists when the behemoth turned in the direction of the pickup.

“What’s to say that you aren’t going to take the chance to get out of here?” he questioned him once he was beside the lowered window.

“You still have my friends. That makes four hostages. Give me a gun and I’ll go with you. I’ll bring my field experience.”

“Did you beat them?”

The colonel didn’t give in, but he told the truth.

“We were thrashed. I lost three thousand men in a few minutes.”

“And why, then, are you of any use to me?”

“I was their prisoner. I’ve learned one or two tricks since my escape.”

Alva looked at him with surprise. Her mouth opened, but when she saw the soldier’s scowl, she understood that it was better to keep quiet. Masters put his fists through the open window.

“You decide. A few minutes from now, the aliens will have wiped out your camp.”

The boss took a knife out of its sheath and cut his bonds. He called for one of his subordinates. “Give him an AK and two cartridges.”

The colonel would have preferred an M4, but he didn’t object. It was better than nothing and he could defend himself at least, even though he knew that their weapons were useless against the invaders. The singer took her place on the seat.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I don’t
, he almost told her. He might never come back from that battle.

“Take care of Alison and Dewei. Elaine would have wanted us to take good care of them.”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Bruce, who was giving him signs from the second vehicle.

“Go on,” the behemoth authorized him, “but no tricks.”

Masters sat down in the driver’s seat. He explained the situation to the biologist, who was frustrated about staying behind. Alison looked uneasy. She hugged herself against the Asian, who held the notebook out to him.

I hope you find Elaine
, Masters read, before nodding in response.

He then turned to Bruce. “If I don’t come back, don’t try to play tough guy; try to negotiate with them. The ones who will watch you will be the easiest to sway and the least tough.”

“And afterwards?”

“Find Hector.”

“That bastard has set sail,” the scientist objected.

The colonel grimaced. “That’s a possibility, but don’t discard him for personal reasons. The Colombian may be our only chance to escape from the aliens and the L-Ds. On the sea, the four of you will be safe.”

The semi-sub sailed along the coast, its hull shady below the water, making it hard to spot from the shore. In addition, he had stored the mast in its slot so that the batteries would assure the silent propulsion of the boat. Hector preferred to preserve his gas reserves in case he needed to move quickly in the event of danger.

Standing up on the deck, he wasn’t far away, to judge by the bursts of light and explosions that he could hear, which were around four or five kilometers away. He thought about the members of the group, which he belonged to despite himself. He had bonded with them. The chica had saved his live. And of course, there was Alva.

They had found themselves in that bed for the wrong reasons. Him, because she reminded him of Marisol, that lost love, sacrificed on the altar of a drug war which he had decided to join to make money. Her, because she wanted to get back to her old ways. In their respective escapes, they had found one another, like two lovers locked away in a dark room who encounter each other by accident while groping their way around.

The barge that he had followed was tied to a pontoon hidden by the canopy, just in front of him. He had almost missed it.

“
Y ahora ¿qué vas a hacer?
”

The flashes lit up the night sky. An orange glow marked the center of a battle which he preferred to keep away from. His courage had limits. At the same time, waiting here constituted an agreement with his conscience which wasn’t yet ready to abandon the others even when their situation seemed hopeless. Did he really think that the gringo was going to appear on the barge with the whole group?

A part of him could have bought the scenario.

A movement caught his attention. He put the binoculars to his eyes. The shape, which resembled a large insect, was flying over the swamps. A burst lit up the reddish cabin. There was no doubt: it was an alien ship. Hector lowered his arms. The miracle return of his friends wasn’t going to happen, he thought.

The boss of the kidnappers was called Dan. Once the short presentations had finished, they had set off on board two pickups, leaving behind the third vehicle and the men who stayed hidden. Masters gave Bruce and the group one last look. They were sitting at the foot of a tree under the surveillance of a quartet of guards.

They drove for a good ten minutes before continuing on foot. They moved along on each side of a grassy trail, on the lookout. Calm reigned in the ranks despite the uproar of the battle which was coming to them. Masters glanced at the serious faces, which were surprisingly peaceful. The entrance to the farm appeared one hundred meters past a turn. His first impression was that of an incomprehensible chaos where explosions, shouts and the bursts of automatic weapons of all types were mixed together. His second opinion was that the defenders weren’t handling the situation properly. The aliens were moving around the sky like vultures ready to dive at their prey. The behemoth had decided to divide his tiny troop with the goal of finding and extracting an individual called the Reverend. The colonel had raised an eyebrow without asking for an explanation. That wasn’t his problem. He had the intention of pursuing his own objective: Elaine.

Upon arriving close to the camp ravaged by the flames, he realized how much more complicated this task was going to be than he had thought. People were screaming and running around in all directions. Others were shooting in the direction of targets which they certainly weren’t hitting, without any coordination. The buildings were burning one after another and the marine, an expert when it came to explosives, understood that the explosions weren’t being created by the aliens which, in reality, were holding their fire. He saw a woman flattened in mid-step by a blue light. The invaders were just neutralizing them. They always worked that way.

“We booby-trapped the farm with Claymore mines and the underground with dynamite.”

Masters shook his head.

Less than one hundred meters away, a farm burst into pieces. The planks of wood were projected into the air and a geyser of materials fell on them. Their heads between their shoulders, crouching behind a fence, they waited for the end of the downpour of projectiles. Getting up, the colonel then saw the “slow-motion bodies.”

“L-Ds?”

Dan told him that they locked them up in enclosures. Intrigued, Masters showed himself to be more curious this time. He got a negative answer.

“I thought you were here to give us advice, not to ask questions.”

The situation seemed clear to him: the alien ships were flying over the chaos created by the men. The affair seemed comprehensible and as for the defenders, they had already played their hand and had lost before even having started.

“Don’t take cover near the shacks if they’re booby-trapped. You said there were underground tunnels?”

“It’s a former air force base, with missile silos transformed into alligator farms for tourists. The buried complex likely dates back to the sixties.”

“Cuba’s close to here,” the colonel reflected.

“For sure; that was no laughing matter at the time.”

“OK. The aliens are not getting their hands wet. They’re keeping their distance and using drones to do the dirty work. The drones use a sort of paralyzing beam. So, to go and find your friend, it’s better to go underground to reach the area.”

Dan thought about the information and then pointed to an entrance. One by one, the men descended a ladder and took a tunnel. The marine followed them. They heard other explosions. The ground shook and dust fell from the ceiling with each burst. The walls, which were crumbling after so many years, risked caving in on them. Masters prayed that they would get out of there as quickly as possible.

On the way, they ran into two dazed fighters, their clothes covered in plaster dust. They were coughing a lot.

“The Reverend’s crazy. He’s blowing everything up,” one of the men told them, sporting a face as white as flour.

“Where is he?”

“Near the pit. The aliens came during the middle of the show.”

Dan pointed to a passageway and his troop followed it.

A show?
Masters told himself, following them, drawing up the back of the modest group. What was happening in this camp? The half-dozen men gathered around a staircase which led to the surface. The noise of the guns and explosions came to them clear and terrifying: they were getting ready to emerge in the heart of the chaos. Dan repeated his orders: find the Reverend, get as many people as possible out of harm’s way, preferably underground, and retreat. Masters suggested that they avoid contact with the aliens, stay hidden as much as possible and protect themselves. As an example, he grabbed a metal sheet from a pile and put it above his head.

“This is enough to shield you from the paralyzing shots from the drones.”

A man replied that by doing that, they wouldn’t be able to defend themselves.

“Believe me, no bullets or grenades will break through their force fields. In fact, your weapons are useless up there. Think more about keeping safe and avoiding contact.”

His speech didn’t receive a warm welcome.

They looked at him with determined faces, expressing what the colonel understood very well. They didn’t think for a moment about leaving behind their precious weapons, which they undoubtedly considered their best protection. Only three of them went out into the fire with a sheet as a shield. Masters emerged in turn.

Outside, he was welcomed by a series of explosions and the familiar crackling of AKs, but also the more deafening noise of M16s. The smoke and dust reduced visibility, which, added to the confusion, allowed him to put distance between himself and Dan’s men. He crouched behind a barrel, with the intention of reviewing the situation before moving. Looking around him, a scene seized him with fright. Two infected were devouring a corpse in the middle of two rings of smoke-flavored powder. An apparently healthy woman in a panic passed just less than two meters from the macabre picture. One of the creatures plunged its bloody fingers into the victim’s entrails to rip out intestines, which it chewed wholeheartedly.