Suddenly, a creature burst out from some rocks, bounding across the ground.
Kaira let out a low laugh.
“What the cren is that?” Sabin asked.
“A wallaby. A native animal.” The creature bounded on its strange legs and disappeared into the darkness.
“What the fuck?” Kaira muttered.
Sabin swiveled. She was looking into a shallow gully. The younger officer caught up with them. The young man was panting.
Sabin followed Kaira’s gaze. He saw more dead cockatoos first. They littered the ground.
Then he stiffened.
The bottom of the gully was filled with…eggs.
They were large—twice the size of his head. They sat upright, and looked to be a dark brown, but it was hard to tell in the darkness.
“Jeez, it’s like a sci-fi horror movie,” Roberts whispered.
“How the hell did they get here?” Kaira said. “We should have seen them.”
Sabin glanced at the birds. “They used the birds, somehow. Your sensors detected the birds, but that didn’t raise any red flags. The eggs probably haven’t been here long.”
“Recommendations?” Kaira asked.
Sabin ground his teeth together. “They need to be destroyed.” This meant the Kantos were here, somewhere. Cren. “I suggest fire.”
Kara nodded. “We’ll get the flamethrowers out of the truck—”
Before they could move, one egg slowly opened with a faint cracking sound. The top unfurled, and a spindly leg climbed out. Then another.
A small Kantos spider, about the size of Sabin’s palm, perched on top of the egg.
“Oh, shit.” There was fear in the officer’s voice.
Another spider climbed out of the same egg.
More eggs started opening.
The first spider leaped into the air and Sabin fired on it. It exploded.
A second one leaped, and Kaira shot it with her blaster.
All around them, more spiders climbed out. Too many.
As a group, the Kantos bugs moved, skittering forward across the ground.
Sabin, Kaira, and the officer all started firing. A spider leaped at Roberts and clamped onto the man’s face. He screamed.
On his other arm, Sabin formed a knife. He kept firing his blaster, and reached out and sliced the Kantos off the man. The creature shriveled and hit the rocks.
The young man stumbled back, panting.
“Keep it together,” Sabin barked. And fired again. “Kaira, cover me.”
The woman nodded, still firing and not taking her eyes off the spiders.
They were heaving along the ground, moving like a living blanket. Sabin ran up a small rocky outcrop. He morphed his blaster into one that cast fire.
A spider leaped at him and he caught it, and crunched it between his fingers. He kicked another.
Then he aimed his newly formed flamethrower into the gully. He shoved the night vision goggles off his face.
“Kaira, you and Roberts stay back. Night vision goggles off.”
Flames spewed, lighting up the night.
The spiders screeched in an eerie howl. Fire poured over the spiders and the eggs. Several of the aliens tried to leap out of the way.
Kaira took them down with precision shots.
Soon, the stench of burning flesh filled the night air. Before long, the egg patch was a smoking ruin.
Sabin leaped down off the rocks.
And in the darkness, he saw them.
Three—no, four—Kantos assassins.
He froze, and saw the stalker bugs restlessly sitting by them. With the flap of wings, the assassins took to the night sky. One remaining assassin from the first team, and a second team.
Their hunting bugs leaped away into the darkness.
They were heading toward the base.
Finley.
“Kaira!” Sabin turned and started sprinting. “Four assassins and their stalker bugs are headed toward the base.”
“Fuck,” the security commander muttered.
“Vehicle! Now.”
The three of them sprinted back toward the vehicle that Kaira called an SUV. They leaped in and she started the engine, yanking on the wheel. Rocks flew from under the tires as they pulled in a tight turn.
“What’s happening?” the officer on the turret called out.
“Kantos assassins,” Kaira yelled back.
They sped down the track, the vehicle bumping along. Sabin almost hit his head on the roof.
Kaira yanked sharply and they came out onto a wider track. She picked up speed.
Sabin grabbed his communicator. “Finley!”
“Sabin?” Her frantic face appeared on screen. “Are you okay?”
“We’re fine. We found the Kantos. Finley, you need to lock down the base. Tell Kaira’s team to lock down.”
“What?”
“Tell them to follow lockdown procedures.” That meant they would get the scientists into the secure underground labs. No one would be able to get in or out. He took a deep breath, just as they hit a huge bump.
Behind him, the turret fired.
“There are four Kantos assassins heading your way,” Sabin said.
Finley went pale. “If we lock down, you won’t be able to get in.”
“We can take care of ourselves. I want you safe. You’re the target.”
“Enemy spotted,” the officer on the back of the SUV yelled. The turret gun fired again.
Sabin looked out the window and spotted the flap of wings in the sky.
Suddenly, the gunfire cut off, and the officer on the turret screamed.
“Blackwell’s gone!” Roberts yelled.
Cren. “I have to go, Finley,” Sabin said. “Lock down and stay safe.”
She pressed a finger to the screen. “You, too.”
Finley chewed on her nail, listening to the gunfire over the communicator.
“We need to get down to the underground labs.” Dr. Gregson was tense. “Once we initiate lockdown procedures, reinforced doors will close. No one can get in or out.”
“But Sabin, Kaira, and the others won’t be able to get in, then?” Finley’s gut churned. “We can’t leave them.”
“They’re well-trained, Finley. The security commander wants you safe.”
Reluctantly, Finley nodded. With one of Kaira’s security officers and the other scientists, they started trudging down towards the labs. Her fingers tightened on her tablet, listening to the fighting.
Please be all right, Sabin.
They walked quickly down the corridor. One more level, and they’d be inside the safe zone.
She looked out the window. All she saw was darkness, but she knew out there, somewhere, a fight was raging.
Then she saw movement and froze. “Something’s right outside.”
Everyone stilled, fear on their faces. Gemma was as pale as a sheet. Finley stepped closer to the window, and saw a stalker bug step into the glow cast by a security light. She sucked in a breath.
“A Kantos hunting bug,” she said. “If it’s close, so is its assassin.”
“Hurry,” the security officer urged.
They picked up the pace, Finley’s sandals clicking on the tile floor.
Suddenly, a large form crashed through the window.
Gemma screamed and glass sprayed everywhere like deadly rain.
The assassin landed in a crouch in front of them, its wings flapped open.