November 11, 2111 - November 12, 2111

  James Stone

  Moonlight shined through the clearing and revealed the creatures to us. They were dark brown, furry, and had natural armor from their scalps down to their backs. Claws extended from their front and back paws, sharp and long. They were half the size of bears but looked just as intimidating. They were borjers, the same creatures that had attacked the other legionnaire squad earlier in the day.

  Brad, Frost, and I waited. The monsters growled and snarled at us as they took small, methodical steps towards us. In the cave, my allies were in a wrestling war with the beasts; whichever side gave an inch would surely lose.

  “James, what’s the game plan?” Frost tapped his middle finger to his thumb repeatedly in itchy anticipation.

  “Valiic, what’s your situation?” I asked him over the cyberwatch.

  “I’m holding the borjers back while the others fire. If these beasts let up their ranks, we can push outside to you guys.”

  “We are surrounded and losing dirt to the borjers. Our only seeable option is to make a hell-dash towards the city. I’ll activate my beacon. You guys push your way towards us. Copy?”

  “I copy,” Valiic acknowledged with his rocky voice. Since Valiic is the lieutenant of my squad, he assumes leadership in my absence.

  Borjers surrounded us on all sides. Rocks were rolling and tumbling down the cliffs above the entrance to our cave as the result of the fighting inside. Behind us, a cliff down a ways was barely visible through the trees. That direction was where I believed the city was, and that was where we were going to go.

  “Frost, Brad. On my command, get ready to make a break for the cliffs.” I popped on my stasis shield and pulled off my sidearm. “Frost, build us a step.” Frost lifted his hand and focused on the dirt. Ice began to materialize. The creatures noticed and moved on us faster. “Frost--”

  “Now!” Frost yelled.

  “Run!”

  The creatures were on our asses. Frost dashed up and jumped off the step first and splashed out a sheet of ice to slide an extra distance. I jumped on the step and held out my hands. Brad hopped on them, and I launched him over the creatures. I was last. Just as I jumped, one of the creatures slashed at me with its black claws. I felt the claws dig into my calf as I lifted into the air. I hit the dirt and rolled awkwardly.

  “Ergh!”

  I stumbled up. The blood trickled down my leg and into my boot. I began to sprint, with the creatures on my scent. Frost and Brad were a few meters ahead.

  “You still in the game, baby?” Frost called back to me.

  “Other than my wound, I’m bright as dandies.”

  The blood in my boot swooshed with each painful step, but I powered on. Between us and the cliffs was a field of long grass, weeds, and orange blossom trees. Weeds tickled my legs as I raced on; trees dripped sap like blood or wine. We could hear the crunch of leaves and sticks with each step.

  The borjers pursued us all the way to the cliffs. “Should we jump?” Frost yelled back to me. He and Brad were ahead of me and coming up to the edge of the cliff.

  “We have no choice,” I called from behind.

  Suddenly, more of those monsters clawed their way out of the dirt, cutting me off from my allies. Frost began to form an ice slide and was the first one to jump. He slid down, followed by Brad. With no way to get to the slide, I had to make a butt-puckering decision and take a leap of faith. The only opening was off the cliff, so I grabbed the cross around my neck and prayed it wasn’t too steep. I jumped forward with all my power and cleared the ledge.

  “James, what in God’s name are you doing?”

  I heard Frost’s grim yell, looked down – and the adrenaline kicked in when I saw I was a few stories high and headed straight for a tree. The wind howled in my ears and tickled the inside of my nose. I braced for impact but knew there wasn’t shivf I could do.

  Crack! Snap!

  I took a face full of leaves. A branch bashed me in the gut and sent me spinning, hitting branch after branch. I reached out for a branch but couldn’t grab anything.

  “Ergh!” I shouted as another branch smashed my hand. Finally, after more crashing, I grabbed a branch and stopped my fall.

  “James! You still hangin’ in there, baby?” Frost called from below.

  I collected myself. A blend of pain soup sizzled through my body. I was dizzy and nauseous from the spinning, holding back vomit.

  “Yeah… I-- Just give me a minute. I need to put my brain back in place.”

  After a minute, I jumped down to the dirt and joined Brad and Frost. “Da borjer-bitchez ain’t givin’ up. Buncha stubborn shitz,” Brad reported. I looked up the cliff and saw the beasts clawing their way down its side.

  “Man! These creatures are on ass!” Frost cursed.

  Again, we found ourselves on a mad dash into the dark trees. Dirt clumped up as we sprinted through the forest. The borjers were gaining on us. Bird creatures chirped. The trees whistled. However, there was another sound, faint and far away. What could it be? I turned my head and listened; it was water brushing up against land.

  “Let’s path that way.” I pointed to where the water was. “I can hear--”

  I was cut short as a paw tripped me from below. I balled up and braced for landing. My body rolled against the sharp rocks and dirt. Dazed, I placed my palm into the dirt and heaved myself to my feet. I shook my head out of its funk.

  “Son of a one night stand!”

  The pack of borjers trampled over the land towards me, their tongues lolling as their stares slashed at me like teeth. They were only meters away.

  “James! Heads up!” I heard Frost yell.

  Smash!

  Pain stabbed me as the leader of the pack bashed its rock hard scalp into my gut. I was lifted into the air as the creature rammed into me, taking me with it. I twisted my body’s center mass and jabbed my feet into the dirt in an effort to halt the creature. It worked, but it was short-lived; borjers swarmed around me and slashed at my body.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “ERGH!” The pain was unbearable as claws ripped skin from my legs, back, and arms.

  Suddenly, ice shards blasted into the crowd of monsters, killing many of them. A fury of explosive bullets laid down piles of the creatures, setting me free.

  “James, I got you, uzzo.” Frost placed my arm over his shoulder and helped me up.

  “Ergh,” I moaned in pain as his body rubbed against some of my cuts.

  Brad’s LMG forced the creatures back. They balled up into defensive positions as Brad unloaded on them. It was our moment to run.

  “I think… I think I can handle moving.”

  I used every ounce of strength to stand on my own. Blood drenched my body, and my armor had been stained a few shades of red. The cuts were deep, and each second I could feel the blood drain out of them like a faucet. I was lightheaded and in no condition to fight.

  “I think--” I felt my legs give, and I tumbled back to the dirt.

  “James, hold on, my man! We gonna get your ass out of this.”

  Frost cuffed his hands under my armpits. Below my ass, cold ice formed and Frost slid me along it.

  Suddenly, leaves crunched near us, sounding closer and closer. I swiveled my head in time to meet the dark blue, glowing eyes of a borjer. It pounced in the air, straight for my neck! Frost let go and shot it with his hand pistol, and it let out a whimper as it whipped backwards.

  “Keep ‘em coming, baby! I can kick ass all day! Whoo hoo!”

  Five more stampeded out of the trees and attacked us. Brad dived between them and kicked up on the other side. Frost fired at two of them as they charged at him. Brad waited for one to make a move. Waited.

  Whoosh!

  One pounced towards him. He spun around and kicked it in the gut before blasting it away with a shotgun. The other two leapt at him. Brad blasted his thrusters towards one, allowing him to dodge the other. He snatched the closest creature by the neck and flung it into the other.

  In the meantime, I reached in my pouch and pulled out a spare revolver round. Frost was handling two borjers, while Brad finished off his two. The crowd of additional borjers were only thirty seconds away. With the bullet in my palm, I twisted off the back and poured the pure airjin powder into my hand. I tossed the worthless bullet aside and ripped the armor off my chest.

  “Brad, look!”

  Frost ducked under a swing and pointed at the pack of borjers headed for us. Brad, now finished with his opponents, marched between me and the stampede. He pulled out a grenade and loaded it into the launcher below his shotgun. Boom! It exploded, and the shockwave knocked me back to my side. The borjers weren’t finished. The grenade had bought us only a few more seconds.

  I sprinkled the airjin powder over my major wounds and pulled a lighter from my pouch.

  “My squad needs me!” I willed myself up to my knees and lit the lighter in my hand. With the flame, I touched the powder in each of my wounds and wailed in pain as they were cauterized shut. By now, the horde of borjers was upon us.

  “Look who manned up.” Brad sidestepped a beast and unloaded a shotgun blast into another one.

  “Frost. Funnel the creatures with a wall.” I picked up my assault rifle as I kicked back the first borjer.

  Frost shot ice at a borjer’s leg, then formed crystals over his arm. He blocked the stronger beast with the ice gauntlets he created for himself. “Is that all you got?!”

  Brad ducked under one borjer’s slashing claws and hopped on the back of another. While on top of that borjer, he swung around its body and reached back with his hands to grab another. He twisted his legs and arms to snap two borjers’ necks simultaneously.

  “Hurry this up, or we will be worms in a bird’s nest!” I placed my assault rifle on its mag lock and popped on my stasis shield to keep another two borjers at bay. Just then, a wall of ice began to materialize.

  “Anybody want to keep Big Daddy safe while I save our asses?” Frost had both his arms raised and was completely defenseless. The creatures noticed this, too. Swiftly, I battled my way over to him.

  Swipe! Dodge! Shot! Block!

  The creatures were everywhere. At every second, I repeatedly engaged with multiple creatures at a time to guard my ally.

  Frost lowered his arms and tossed an ice shard at one of the beasts. “I got it.”

  Behind us was now a wall of ice that could funnel in the creatures. Brad was in the middle of it, dealing cards of death to whatever unlucky beast challenged him.

  Another beast swiped at me. I jumped over it and kicked it to the ground. Frost ducked past me, with a borjer clawing at him. He crafted an ice spear and shoved it into the creature’s rib cage.

  “Oohhh, that hurt to watch,” Frost taunted.

  He spun and tossed another ice shard at the borjer I’d kicked. Frost was like an on-battlefield cheerleader, generating hype with his taunts and charismatic personality. He was almost in a completely different rhythm when he fought, like he was playing a game of football.

  “We need something to buy us an hourglass of time!” I shouted at Frost while dodging a swipe. When the creature swiped at me again, I punched its wrist and shattered it. It squealed in pain and retreated.

  “Protect Big Daddy for a moment. I gotta idea,” Frost said, slicing a borjer with his ice.

  “Alright. Brad, did you catch that?”

  I looked over at Brad. Somehow, he’d managed to scale the ice wall, firing at the distracted horde of borjers as they attempted to claw him down. He looked over at me and gave me a smug chuckle in response.

  Frost began to form a sphere. As he did, I fought off the beasts and kept them away from him. One leapt at him, but I intercepted it and tossed it into a group of others. My senses flared, and I threw my chest down to the hard rocks to escape a swipe. Quickly, I rolled up and surprised another borjer with three swift punches to send it to the dirt.

  “I got it!” Frost turned to fight an oncoming borjer. “James, let’s see those bowling skills!”

  “Hold your bets.”

  I was in the middle of a group of three borjers. Quickly, I flipped over one and dashed toward the body-sized ice sphere Frost had created. I lined up my shot and kicked the sphere in-between the two ice walls. The creatures went down like bowling pins, giving us a moment to escape.

  “Now run like the devil himself is chasing you!” I shouted.

  “Whoo hoo! Suck on that ice!” Frost howled in delight.

  As if on a signal, we all took off toward what we believed to be the direction of the city. But during the brawl, we’d lost all sense of direction in the dense woods. The sounds of the brojers drowned out any trace of the stream I’d previously heard.

  “James where to?” Frost asked in-between breaths. We could see only a few meters ahead as we hurried through the dense, dark trees.

  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  We went on for another few minutes before Frost spotted something. “In here.” I couldn’t see where he was pointing, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

  Frost, a meter ahead, leapt into a hole and slid down the steep dirt.

  “Wait!” I called to him, but he was already of out sight.

  Brad didn’t hesitate and hopped inside the man-sized hole. I stopped. Something was pounding in my head, warning me not to jump into the black abyss. Unfortunately, I had no other options, so I leaped into the tunnel full of the unknown.

  The tunnel was narrow, and it snaked steeply downward. Cold dirt brushed my body as I slid, and I crossed my arms over my chest and readied my knees in an attempt to brace myself for anything. The soil that brushed against my back was damp and clung to my bare skin.

  “The tunnel has to open up soon,” I guessed. But it plunged onward.

  Suddenly, a breeze tickled my face, and I felt the tunnel open up. I narrowed my eyes to see only darkness as I continued to slide deeper and deeper. Now with enough room, I reached for my cyberwatch and opened the map. According to it, I was sliding closer to Garatopia.

  The soil and dirt swapped for polished, damp rock as I slid farther and farther into the unknown. Cold, fresh air spilled over me, stirring my orange hair.

  Suddenly, the tunnel curved and I was sent rolling into mud. With a shiver of surprise, the tunnel had opened into an underground cave.

  Splash!

  My body was sent into a deep pool of freezing water. Quickly, I swam upward and grabbed a floor of dusty rock.

  I stumbled up on the rock, my assault rifle still in hand. I activated the brightstone light and gazed around. The walls were stone, too, and a jagged roof arched high over my head. The air smelled of rock and water. Crouching, I wriggled forward. Damp water dripped against my bare back and sent shivers through my body.

  “James, over here.” I swiped my gun behind me to see Frost resting against the rock wall. Brad was near him, inspecting something peculiar. A door!

  Now reunited with my crew, I had time to attach a strap to my AR. Since I no longer had armor, I couldn’t stick it to a mag lock.

  I walked over to them and gazed at the symbol-covered door. The markings looked familiar, though I couldn’t place where I’d seen similar markings.

  “Devisors,” Frost remarked.

  Then the memories all came back. I remembered the amazing ghost town full of untapped technology yet filled with ruin. The image in my head brought a smile to my face.

  Then I snapped back to reality. “Frost. Have you tried contacting Valiic and the others?”

  “Only static returned when I tried. I think our signal is being jammed in these caves.”

  I sighed and gazed at the time on my cyberwatch. “1:13 ARW military time,” it read. “If we can’t contact our squad, we need to find a way out of this place.”

  Frost pulled out a black muscle tank top from one his waterproof pouches and tossed it to me. “No need to go bare-chested anymore.”

  “Thanks.” I put it on; a tight fit, but it was more than acceptable. “Alright, let’s open this door.”

  I placed my hand on the door.

  Flash!

  Blinding light blasted into my eyes.