Extinction (45 page)

“Grape”, the Shirka said as he
held her up to his nose and began to sniff. “A boy put something in your hand
not too long ago. Where is he?”

“Du-nnnn-nnno,” Jenny barely
squeaked.

He put her down and began to
sniff the air. “That way.”

The lieutenant followed as he was
led towards the back of the school. He had seen several of the kids running in
haphazard directions but a few had run with purpose. He was sure at least one
of the fleeing kids was sounding whatever alarm they had for intruders.

Both men were armed but neither
felt the need to pull their weapons. Before their assignment on this planet
began, they had been briefed on the local criminal element, including these
mini-gangs that mostly used kids and non-violent means to run their games. The
kids probably weren’t armed but they were prepared to deal with the adult they
would eventually find who most certainly would be.

A few kids did try to block their
progression, probably an immediate action drill put in place by their leader. A
passive move to slow down the cops, or cannon fodder if the invaders happened
to be a rival gang. The kids were easily moved by the men as they continued to
follow the scent through the hallways.

As they were reaching a stairwell
that led up, a loud noise could be heard from a few floors above them. The
sound was unmistakable.

“Security door.” The lieutenant just
shook his head. This was going to take a little more time.

~

Zinner sat at his desk and looked
over at his two personal runners. “Don’t worry kids, we’ll be fine.”

In front of the desk, he had a
platoon of kids waiting to fight for him if needed or greet the cops with
smiles. It just depended on who was coming up the stairwell right now. The
runner who brought the alarm wasn’t sure whether the two men were cops or other
bad guys. And with a lack of cameras or other technology in the school, Zinner
wouldn’t be able to tell what the two men were until they reached the door and
made their intentions clear.

A loud knock announced their
arrival at the security door.

Using a hardwired intercom,
Zinner asked, “May I help you?”

“Yes, you may. I’m looking for a
child. He stole my wallet.” The lieutenant waited for a response.

“I’m very sorry to hear that.
Unfortunately, I don’t know whom you are speaking of. If I did, I would most
definitely send them and your wallet out to you. I suggest you file a report
with the police; they are an extremely helpful bunch.” Zinner was glaring at
the kids, letting them know he would beat whichever of them had brought this
problem back to the hub.

“I appreciate your very helpful
attitude. However, I have a Shirka with me, and he’s telling me that the boy
and my wallet are in fact in that room with you. Would you like to come out
here and tell him he’s wrong?” The lieutenant was watching as his partner looked
for weak points in the security door.

Zinner clenched his teeth. “A
fucking Shirka?! Are you kidding me?!” Turning to the kids in his room, he
exploded. “Which one of you little fucks is he talking about?! I swear, I will
start breaking fingers and hands until one of you speaks up.”

Zinner was trying to decide which
kid he was going to start with. He looked through the small group to see whether
there was one in particular he didn’t like or whether he was just going to have
to grab one of them at random. “Last chance, shit heads. Someone needs to start
talking. Now.”

“It’s me. They’re looking for me.”
Mouse stepped out from the shadows in the back of the room. “I think you are,
too.”

Zinner turned away from the rest
of the group to face the boy addressing him. “First off, if those men are
looking for you, we can fix this. Give them the wallet back and whatever else
you took. If we have to pay them off, it will just come out of your wages until
you pay me back.” Taking a measured step towards Mouse, he added, “And second,
why would I be looking for you? I didn’t even know you had gotten yourself in
trouble.”

Mouse reflexively stepped away
from Zinner’s slight advance towards him. As he listened to Zinner’s words, he
wondered whether he was wrong about what happened earlier. He sounded so
sincere when he spoke. No, he wasn’t wrong: he could see it in Zinner’s eyes,
could see what couldn’t be heard in the words. And there was no mistaking the
wad of money with his picture on it along with what took place in the tool
district earlier. Zinner was just putting on this show for the other kids, to
make them feel safe, to keep their faith in him as their protector.

“Bullshit.” What else could he
say?

“I don’t follow.” Zinner was now
slowly moving towards a pedestal against the wall.

Mouse waved his hand towards his
brother. “Zach, get over here, by me, now.”

Zach wasn’t sure what was going
on but he always trusted his brother so he did as he was told. Without even
thinking about it, Zach gently grabbed the other runner who had brought in
Mouse’s satchel with him earlier. The two private runners stood next to Mouse.

“Look, we really need to fix the
issue with the two guys outside before it gets any worse.” Zinner was trying to
be subtle, and maybe he would have succeeded if Mouse didn’t already know what
he was doing.

Zinner was inwardly smiling to
himself. This was going to play right into his hands. He could kill Mouse
himself and the kids would see that he didn’t have any other choice. After all,
Mouse brought trouble into the hub and the kids knew how severe a transgression
that was. Then with Mouse dead, he could give the two men whatever they wanted
to make them leave.

Zinner reached the pedestal and
slid the top back to reveal the secret compartment. The empty secret
compartment that wasn’t supposed to be empty.

“Looking for this?” Mouse was
holding the gun in his hand that Zinner was hoping to find in the compartment. Mouse
was glad his brother hadn’t kept quiet with the secrets he had learned as one
of Zinner’s private runners. Mouse actually smiled. “I tried so hard to think
of something else to say. I mean, that line is from like every movie ever.
Right?”

“Now what? Are you going to shoot
your way out of here?” Zinner wasn’t scared; he didn’t think Mouse would do
anything drastic.

“No. You’re going to open the
security door and my brother and I are walking out of here and you’re going to
let us.” Mouse was walking backwards towards the door.

“You want to take your chances
with those guys out there?” Zinner still hadn’t seen anything from inside his
sequestered apartment; he had only heard the demands from the other side of the
door. “You pissed off some guy who has a Shirka with him. Be my guest, leave.”

Mouse knew what was waiting for
him on the other side of the door and he was ready to be taken into custody if
that’s what the two marines wanted after the lieutenant got his wallet back.
Zinner put his hands up in submission and moved to the button on his desk that
would release the door.

“Whoever is outside the door,”
Zinner began, “I have the kid who stole your wallet. I’m opening the door and
sending him out. I apologize for any hardship this little event has put you
through.”

The door unlocked and one of the
men on the other side pulled it open. Zinner saw the two marines and
immediately realized that he had been played by Mouse, but one thing still
bugged him more than anything at this point. His security had been breached and
he wanted to know how. “Before you go, tell me, how did you get in here without
me seeing you?”

Mouse smiled. “Part of your
protocol is to bring your hall monitors in the room with you, to use as a
buffer. I had already made it past them through the service tunnel and I was
waiting in the locker room. When the first few monitors were retreating back to
the apartment, I just blended in with them and kept my head down. You weren’t
paying attention to the kids coming in, so you never saw me.”

Zinner shook his head. “Mouse?
More like
RAT
. A dirty, filthy rat.”

“Now, I may be new to this situation
and not know everything that’s going on,” the lieutenant began, “but the kid is
the one with the gun. You might want to watch what you’re saying.”

“Fuck you.” Zinner almost spat at
the marines but thought better of it. “Take your wallet and that little shit if
you want, I don’t care. But then get the hell out of my house. You’re not
welcome.” Zinner sat heavily in his chair behind the perceived but unrealistic
feeling of safety that his desk gave him.

Mouse stepped towards the
lieutenant and handed him his wallet. “I’m sorry, sir. I honestly didn’t mean
to put you through this kind of trouble.”

“No worries, kid. Let’s get you
two out of here.”

Mouse turned to look at Zinner
one last time. “Don’t ever come looking for us. If you do, I swear I’ll kill
you.”

Zinner leaned forward with his
elbows on his desk. “Oh, I’m coming for you, kid. If you’re anywhere on this
planet after tonight, I will find you and kill you. Slowly.”

The lieutenant looked at the
Shirka. “Well, I did promise you could kill the next three people.”

Zinner’s face changed from smug
and predatory to scared and regretful. He had mistakenly thought the marine uniforms
meant he was safe and the two men wouldn’t—couldn’t—hurt him. But as the
Shirka’s face turned to an evil grin and he began to move towards Zinner, he
knew he had been wrong. “Wait, no, you can’t. Please, you can’t. I won’t hurt
them, I swear. I’m sorry. I won’t ever come after you. I swear!”

The living embodiment of so many
human horror movies slowly walked to the desk and in one swift movement jumped
on top of it and landed in a full squatting position. As Zinner wet himself,
the Shirka sniffed the air and knew his prey was weak. The alien lifted one of
his werewolf-like paws and stretched his fingers and claws out in front of
Zinner’s face so he could see what was coming.

“Okay, he’s going to do this one
slowly.” The lieutenant began to usher the kids out of the room. “Everyone out.
There isn’t enough therapy in the galaxy to fix any of you if you stay to watch
this.”

After the last kid was out, the
lieutenant closed the door as he was saying, “I’ll wait for you out front. Me
letting you do it this way counts as three, you know.”

The Shirka smiled as he tossed
his prey a sharp knife. “At least put up a fight.”

~

Once they were in the hallway, the
lieutenant looked at the boy who had stolen his wallet. “Mouse, huh?”

“Yes, sir.”

“After what I saw in there just
now, I’d say Snake was a better name.”

“Sir?”

“A mouse sneaks and hides in the
shadows and is weak. You are not weak. You used the shadows to hunt from, to
attack from. You are a predator, not prey. You are a cunning snake, silent and
deadly.”

“Snake. I like that, sir.” Snake
looked directly into the man’s eyes. “If you want to turn me in, I’ll go with
you to the police. I won’t try to run.”

“Oh my boy, I want to turn you in,
all right.” He looked at his wallet and smiled from ear to ear. “I want to turn
you into a marine. You’ve got skills we can use. With the right education and
the right guidance, we can make you more than you ever thought possible.”

Snake thought for a moment. “I
won’t go anywhere without my brother.”

“Of course not. I wouldn’t want
to break up a family.” They stopped as they reached the front of the school,
waiting for the Shirka to finish and come out to meet them. “Look, I’ll make
some calls tonight and get you two enrolled in the school on base. I’m sure we
can find a military family who would love to have two foster boys to raise. If worst
comes to worst, I’ll pull some strings and get you two situated with a regular Colony
foster home. Together, I promise.”

“Then what?” Snake hadn’t thought
much past retirement so this new direction sounded like a good beginning.

“Then you go to school, be the
young men you’re supposed to be.” The lieutenant looked up and saw the Shirka
coming towards them. “I’ll check in on you from time to time and make sure you
don’t need anything. When you graduate, we’ll talk some more and then go from
there. How does that sound?”

Snake looked at his brother, who
just nodded his approval. Snake put his hand out to the lieutenant. “Deal.” The
two men shook hands.

The Shirka walked up and just
snorted at the group, his way of saying, “Let’s go.”

The lieutenant reached up and
pulled a piece of clothing and skin out of the larger alien’s fur. “How many
times have I told you—don’t play with your food.”

Dig Site One – Almost
There

Daria crouched in a covering position as
Snake took the lead on point. Davies was behind her, waiting to leapfrog to
point after Snake took a covering position of his own. Hood stayed back as rear
guard protecting Bloom, who had maintained a position in the rear where he
controlled the sled.

“We’re almost three-quarters of the way
to the core.” Bloom was looking at his instruments. “I can’t believe we haven’t
met up with any traps.”

Snake took up a position about fifty
yards ahead of Daria and signaled for Davies to move up.

“Don’t get complacent,” Daria warned. “We’re
not there yet.”

Almost on cue, an explosion rocked the
hallway they were traversing. When the noise was gone, each member of the team
followed the immediate action drill they had planned for in just such an event.
Everyone sounded off so Daria could get a head count and make sure everyone was
all right.

“Two here.”

“Three here.”

“Four here.”

And lastly, Daria, “One here. Bloom,
report.”

“One of the crates the sled is pulling
seems to have set off the defense system and made all of the security defenses
come on line.” Bloom continued tapping keys to gather more information.