Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

way that rhino alien animal was looking around the courtyard before you rammed it?” Boss Creed asked, joining me. “It was like something was controlling it.”

“And why didn’t they attack?” I asked. “There had to be hundreds of them. They might have been able to overrun us right now.”

“If I had to guess, this feint was only to gather information,” Boss Creed said with a weary shrug. “Maybe they wanted to test our defenses and see how we would react to an attack.”

“We need more guns,” I said. “And stronger walls. But definitely more guns.”

“Not arguing with you there,” he replied without looking at me. His dark eyes still scanned the horizon.

“Defenses are going to be a temporary solution,” Ricky said, joining us at the gates. “Eventually, they’re going to kill us or we’re going to kill them. It’s the way things are out here.”

Boss Creed and I looked at one another, then both of us looked to Ricky.

“What?” Ricky shrugged off our expressions. “I can be thoughtful too.”

“Well, let’s all be thoughtful as we get back to work,” I said, examining the gate, the alien carcass, and the still-smoking crawler. “We have work to do.”

5

Boss Creed took the lead on fixing and reinforcing the gate while Ricky led a team in wheeling back and fixing the crawler. Yours truly was left with the job of getting rid of the giant alien carcass in the middle of the courtyard.

Before I tackled the task, Doctor Allbright insisted on seeing to my hand. The fall from the crawler had left me with a few nicks and cuts, but they were all manageable beside the laceration on my left palm.

“You seem to have a knack for getting yourself in trouble,” Doctor Allbright said, using the Heal Aid to clean then close the wound on my hand. It stung, but the pain was manageable to me by now. I was familiar with the tool like an old acquaintance.

“Yeah well, I guess trouble just seems to find me,” I said.

“I ran into Lou today,” Doctor Allbright casually said. “He was looking for you. Said he found something he wanted to show you.”

My mind went to the padre. Our little excursion together to find the prison section of the Orion ended in our first run-in with the infected. He had pulled his weight and done well.

“Did he say what it was he wanted to show me?” I asked.

“No, but he seemed excited to share,” Doctor Allbright continued. “You should see if you can find him. I think he’s one of the few who still likes staying inside the Orion.”

“I don’t know how people are still doing that,” I said, shaking my head. “Trying to live in a craft that’s on its side day in and day out messes with your mind. The walls are the ground and the floor and vice versa. No thank you. I have enough issues without thinking I’m drunk every time I wake up.”

Doctor Allbright chuckled then stepped closer to examine her handiwork on my palm. There was a long lightning-bolt-shaped scar on my hand. We both took a second to examine it.

She had done a great job repairing the wound. The bleeding stopped and only a dull ache came from my hand when I opened and closed my fist.

“Thanks, doc,” I said. “So, you have any kind of bone saws or drill or anything else around here I can use?”

“No, certainly not for that.” Doctor Allbright gave me a disapproving stare. She turned in the confines of her tent with a whirl from her white coat. “I can’t believe you would even ask.”

“What?” I asked innocently.

“You want to use the few medical tools I have to cut open that alien-infected beast and move its body parts outside the wall?” she asked.

“You catch on quick.” I gave her a rueful smile.

“Well, thank you, but the answer is still no, absolutely not,” Doctor Allbright said again. “You’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”

“Which is?” I asked.

“Burn it,” Doctor Allbright continued. “You’ll have to drag it outside of our gates and burn it.”

“Drag it?” I screwed my face up in disbelief. “That thing has to weigh a solid ton. The crawler is out of commission for the time being. We’d have to do it by hand. It would take a few dozen able bodies to make that happen.”

“I saw chains in the supply tent,” Doctor Allbright volunteered.

I stood up from the medical table, still flexing my hand. I was thinking over the idea of getting a saw from the supply tent meant to cut metal when Doctor Allbright’s warning removed that option as well.

“Besides, if you cut it open, who knows what kind of toxins it could be carrying from the virus or even in its natural biology. We know nothing of these beings,” she said.

“Right.” I bit back a smart reply and made my way to the animal corpse at the center of the courtyard.

There was a small gathering of people still gawking at the creature. I didn’t blame them. The alien corpse looked like some kind of weird hybrid between a dinosaur and a rhinoceros, its black and red hide pocked-marked by blaster fire.

In that moment, staring down at the impossibly beautiful creature, I felt sorry for it. A new wave of anger toward this virus or Legion or whatever you wanted to call it swelled in my heart.

Here was an animal who just wanted to live. Who would have kept on living had the virus not infected its body and drove it to pure madness. I knew what I had to make my number one goal as soon as I disposed of the body. I had to find a way to take out this Legion, starting with another sit-down with Tong.

Hopefully, another day or two would see his English improve even more.

“How are we going to get this thing out of here?” I turned to see Hannah, the woman who had lost her husband only a