Xenofall (The Wasteland Chronicles, Book 7) (2 page)

“That’s a long swim,” Ruth said.

Makara dropped her binoculars, allowing them to rest against her chest, held by the strap.

“There’s more,” Michael said. “Look.”

Michael was right. Two, and then three more crawlers, appeared from the xenotrees bordering the far side of the lake. They slid into the ichor, almost
floating
in the direction of the iridescent glow. The original crawler was now halfway across the lake.

“Yeah,” Makara said. “We need to fall back.”

She rose at a crouch, the rest of us following suit. Together, we turned and headed up the slope.

“Makara,” Anna’s voice came. “We have two Behemoths heading for the top of the hill.”

Makara reached for her radio to respond, but paused when a massive shadow, darker than even the night sky, materialized on the hilltop. A moment later, another large silhouette appeared beside it.

Everyone fell to the ground. I knew we wouldn’t go unnoticed for long; with the glowing xenofungal floor, those monsters would see us eventually.

“Two Behemoths,” Makara said, nonplussed. She lifted her radio. “Anna? Can you take them out?”

“Standing by. Acquiring targets...”

I glanced over at my shoulder back toward the lake.
Hundreds
of crawlers were now entering the lake’s ichorous surface, which was now frothing and bubbling like a witch’s brew. They paddled with their spindly legs toward the radiant ichor, now covering almost half of the lake. The first crawler had made it there and was now bathed within that glowing liquid. A deep buzz thrummed from the lake, in even pulses. The strange sound made my hair stand on end. The crawlers’ glowing white eyes no longer just focused on the lake – they scanned the hills, searching...

“They know we’re here,” I said.

One of the Angels suddenly screamed, bolting to our right.

“Quiet!” Makara hissed.

But it was too late – something had caused the man to become unhinged. The Behemoths at the top of the ridge, once silent statues, sprung to life. They charged for the fleeing man. He continued to scream, leading the Behemoths away from us.

“Anna,” Makara said. “Fire.”

“They’ve disappeared behind the hill,” she said. “I’d have to leave the extraction point.”

Makara said nothing as the man continued to run and scream. Several crawlers appeared from the shoreline, cutting off his escape path. He swerved right into the mandibles of a waiting crawler. His screams were shrill and bloodcurdling.

The Behemoths caught up with the fleeing Angel, joining in the carnage.

“They’re gone,” Makara said. “We need to move.”

We stood and ran up the hill full speed. The hum of the swarm behind intensified as Makara lifted her radio.

“Anna. On our way to extraction.”

From the ridge top came two more crawlers. With twin shrieks, they charged toward us.

“Fire!” Makara yelled.

Men in the front knelt, unloading their rifles into the approaching monsters. Other Angels remained standing, focusing their fire on the lead crawler. The monsters stumbled to a stop under the hail of bullets.

From the sky,
Perseus
descended to the top of the hill, its landing lights scanning the ridge. From the lake below, crawlers had gathered and were now scuttling uphill. Meanwhile, we ran past the crawlers that had taken the bullet fire, continuing to shoot at them as we passed. One made a feeble attempt to pounce on a passing Angel before going still.

We reached the top of the rise. On all sides, the glowing fungus revealed the crawlers ascending from the lake below.
Perseus
was now landed about fifty feet away. The boarding ramp extended.

We ran toward the ship as the crawlers pressed in from behind. Once there, we ascended the ramp in a line, Makara staying at the bottom and ushering everyone on board. She took a few shots with her handgun at the approaching mass of monsters.

Once in the wardroom, I looked back out to see that Grudge was still running from the swarm, three crawlers clipping at his heels.

“Grudge!”
Makara yelled.

She took a few shots, but quickly ceased her fire upon seeing how close those shots came to hitting Grudge. When he was still twenty feet from the boarding ramp, the lead crawler leapt mightily, the sharp tips of its legs stabbing Grudge in the back and bringing him to the ground. His face contorted in pain. The other crawlers tore into his flesh, and he let out a horrible, cracked yowl.

There was no way he would survive. Makara ran up the ramp and into the hold. As soon as the door slid shut,
Perseus
lifted off and the boarding ramp retracted.

We lifted into the air, all of us sitting on the deck to avoid falling, until we were far out of range of Askala’s swarm.

“He’s gone...” Makara said, obviously shaken by Grudge’s death.

“There was nothing you could have done,” Samuel said.

I hadn’t even noticed that he fell behind. None of us did in our mad dash to escape. All I could feel was shock and disbelief. How would the few Suns who remained take the news, back in Los Angeles?

The angle of the ship soon evened out, and I found myself still lying on the deck.

“Everyone else alright?” Makara asked.

“We lost Bates, too,” one of the Angels said.

I assumed he was the man who panicked and ran.

Makara nodded, and now that the ship had stabilized, everyone began to stand. Makara lifted herself from the deck, brushing off her clothes. It was hard to tell what she was thinking.

“I know it’s not easy, losing people,” Makara said. “Grudge will be missed. Bates, too. But we’ve learned something valuable about the
Radaskim
today.
Something
was going on with that lake. I don’t know what it was, but it seems important.”

None of the men said anything. It wasn’t easy to brush aside death like this and focus on the mission. I could tell it wasn’t easy for Makara, either. All of the original gang lords of Las Vegas were dead, and Grudge had been the most helpful one of them all. Without him, we would have never survived the Community in Bunker 84.

Now, we didn’t even have a body to bury.

“What’s the plan now?” Julian asked.

“We’re heading back to base,” Makara said. “We might have to come back here, later, to see what else we can learn.”

“I’m not going down there again,” one of the men said.

“We won’t be able to take more samples that way,” Samuel said.

“You got something?” Makara asked.

Samuel raised a vial of glowing, pink liquid. The men shrunk back at it. I didn’t even notice Samuel taking the sample; I was probably too focused on the crawlers.

“I tried to get some of the ichor that was glowing a little brighter,” Samuel said. “The contaminant introduced by the meteor should be in here.”

“So, what do we do with that stuff?” Julian asked.

“I need to analyze it,” Samuel said. “There were labs and a database of xenoviral strains in Skyhome, but that’s gone, now. The only other place with extensive research laboratories is Bunker One.”

“No,”
Makara said. “Absolutely not.”

“I don’t like it either, but we have no other choice,” Samuel said.

“Maybe we do,” Ruth said. “Askal or Quietus might know something about the contaminant. Askal was the one who pointed us here, anyway.”

I had no idea if the
Elekai
could tell us what this was, but it was better than risking our necks in Bunker One. We barely escaped that place the first time.

“We’re not far from the Xenolith,” Makara said. “It wouldn’t hurt to check.”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s worth a shot.”

Makara nodded. “Let’s head there, then.”

It was already past midnight. I knew the men would be ready for their bunks back in Los Angeles, especially after a night like this, but we needed to learn what we could. Those meteors falling, and the lake changing color and the crawlers bathing in it...we couldn’t just ignore that.

Anna entered the wardroom from the bridge. “Holding a party without me?”

It took her a second to recognize something was off.

“Grudge is gone,” Makara said.

“What?” she asked.

She looked around the wardroom, as if she were going to find him here. When she didn’t, she looked at Makara.

“He was caught by the crawlers while we were running here,” Makara said. “He didn’t have a chance.”

Anna nodded, her face pale. It wasn’t an easy death, and it was enough to make even Anna queasy.

“We’re heading for the
Elekai
Xenolith,” Makara said. “We’re hoping the
Elekai
can help us figure out what was going on at the lake.”

“Right,” she said. “Makes sense. I can have us there in under an hour.”

As Anna returned to the bridge, Makara faced everyone in the wardroom.

“We’ll only need a few people to go in there. The rest of you can get some rest.”

Makara left for the bridge as they talked amongst themselves. I could only think about Grudge and his horrible demise. It seemed almost unreal that it could happen so suddenly, and it was a reminder that everything we did was dangerous.

I could only wonder when the next death would come.

W
e landed at the Xenolith thirty minutes later. Anna, Samuel, and I were the only ones going inside.

We left the ship behind and went down the familiar path into the Xenolith. Before long, we stood before the ichorous lake.

“Askal?” I called out.

The surface of the ichor was calm and still. Askal, along with other dragons, was off somewhere else. All the same, I heard Askal’s response resound in my mind.

Elekim.
You have returned.

From one of the further caverns, Askal swooped across the lake. His wings outspread, he glided above the surface of the ichor and settled on the shoreline before us.

We went to one of the impact sites,
I said.
The meteor seemed to change the
Radaskim’s
ichor. You know what might be going on?

Askal blinked.
I have no idea,
Elekim.
Show me what happened.

At Askal’s request, I transferred my memory of watching the crawlers enter the lake. I felt Askal’s unease heighten at the image.

I don’t know what it is,
Askal said at last.
It can’t be good.

We brought some of the ichor back. We were hoping you could tell us what was in it.

And you brought this here?

Yes. Is that bad?

There was a long pause, but at last, Askal answered.

No. The ichor will not harm us. It is only...distasteful.
He gave a flutter of his wings.
These meteorites – did they fall elsewhere, or just in this lake?

I assume they’ve fallen all over the world, or at least in the Great Blight.

Samuel and Anna were both looking at me, wondering what Askal was saying.

Perhaps there is some new power in the lake,
Askal said.

What power?

You ask me,
Elekim?
I know not. But perhaps we can read the contents.
He paused.
Set it on the ground.

“He wants the sample on the ground,” I said.

Samuel nodded, placing a vial of the glowing ichor at Askal’s feet. As Samuel backed away, Askal extended a long, sharp claw to pull the vial toward him. He lowered his head until his nostrils were right above it. He gave the vial two hard sniffs.

“What’s he doing?” Anna whispered.

I shrugged.

Then, Askal chomped on the vial, cracking the vial and spilling the
Radaskim
ichor all over the fungus. Some of the ichor was absorbed by the fungus while Askal lapped up the rest with his tongue.

Askal!
I said.
What are you doing?

The dragon looked at me, his white eyes glowing.
With luck, I might discover its contents this way.

You’re risking your life!

Askal stood on his haunches, waiting a moment. All the
Radaskim
ichor was gone – either absorbed by the fungus below or eaten by Askal. He closed his eyes, as if in meditation.

What are you doing?

Askal didn’t respond. He merely sat there, eyes closed, waiting for...something.

The three of us exchanged confused looks until, a moment later, Askal opened his eyes again.

It’s a new strain,
he said.
A new sickness.

A new strain?
I asked.

Yes,
Askal said.
There are additional codes...instructions. These strains will change the
Radaskim
as we know them.

Additional codes?
I asked.
Like what? There’s more than one strain in there?

New evolutions are imminent,
Askal said.
I...cannot say what they are. But if Askala’s swarm is entering that pool, they are probably doing so all over the Great Blight. When they are exposed to the new ichor, the
Radaskim
will undergo a transformation.

What kind of transformation?

That’s all I can say,
Elekim.
The codes are like another language to me, but I can sense that much.

“What’s going on?” Samuel asked.

Samuel and Anna had missed the entire exchange, so I had to bring them up to speed.

“Askal thinks it’s a set of new evolutions,” I said. “The ichor contains new genetic codes to modify the
Radaskim.”

“How so?” Anna asked.

“He doesn’t know,” I said. “But something big is coming. We just need to figure out
what.”

Samuel and Anna went quiet, thinking. Over time, the virus evolved to become more dynamic, adaptable, and more able to create bigger and deadlier monsters. At first, the xenovirus had only affected microbes, bacteria, and relatively uncomplicated life forms

Just thinking about this progression made me wonder – what could be next? Or were the new strains only going to affect the forms of
Radaskim
xenolife already present?