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

week before to the virus, standing behind me, hands on her hips. “Crawler’s still down. We going to pull it out?”

“I guess so,” I said with a shake of my head. “We’ll have to use chains, maybe secure them around the horns.”

I got a whiff of the creature’s carcass. It made my eyes water.

I spat on the ground next to me.

“That’s truly wretched,” Hannah said, raising a hand to her nose. “I’ll grab the chains and some help.”

“Thanks,” I told her.

Hannah nodded and was about to turn away. Over the last few days, I’d wanted to talk to her about her husband’s death. I knew what she was going through on a first-hand basis.

“You know, if you ever want to talk about what happened, Mutt and I are good listeners. Mostly Mutt,” I added.

Hannah already had her back toward me. She stopped in her tracks. I couldn’t see her face, but I knew she heard me.

“Thanks,” was all she said before she continued on.

I didn’t expect anything to be honest. I knew she was hurting from the inside out—the numbness, and how she was throwing herself at anything she could to take her mind off of everything.

“You inhale too much of those fumes coming off that thing and you’re going to kill what brain cells you have left,” Stacy joked, fake gagging as she reached my side. “You should really get a scarf or mask or something to put around your mouth and nose.”

Stacy reached into her own cargo pants pockets and pulled out a white handkerchief. She tied it around the lower half of her face.

“Your suit’s good?” she asked, taking a step back from the aroma of death coming from the creature. “That big guy, Bowers, seemed pretty pissed.”

“Yeah, well, no one’s happy having information kept from them, but most of them understand. Arun and Elon are still fielding questions from anyone who has them. I think that will go a long way now.”

I nodded, deep in my own thoughts.

“You have that look again.” Stacy lifted an eyebrow in my direction.

“What look?” I asked.

“The look, like you’re about to get in trouble. Like you’re up to no good,” Stacy said.

“That’s just my face,” I protested, feigning innocence.

“Yeah, right,” Stacy answered back. “If it helps, we’re probably thinking the same thing.”

“What’s that?”

“That we’re not going to survive an attack if Legion comes at us in an all-out assault.” Stacy’s eyes made their way to the gates that were under construction. “We need more and better weapons. And we need to take this fight to Legion.”

“I’m not arguing with you there, special agent,” I agreed with Stacy. “Or do I call you captain or something now that you’re in charge of all the suits?”

“I’m temporarily overseeing them until another officer can be selected,” Stacy said. “After Captain Harold went missing, it’s a short list of anyone who has any rank around here.”

We stood in silence thinking over how accurate her words really were. So many lives were lost in the crash. Those few who survived were still in the fight for their lives. Every day we were losing numbers.

Motion to my left caught my eye. I looked over to see Hannah with a heavy chain wrapped over her shoulders. A small army trotted alongside her. No doubt recruits she enlisted along the way to help us move the alien corpse. Meenaz and David walked with her, each shouldering some of the long chain.

It was good to see familiar faces. People I knew who wouldn’t back down from a fight. Because, like it or not, a fight was coming our way.

“Oh my, sweet gingerbread boy,” Meenaz said, souring at the smell. “What is that?”

“Smells like someone burning tires.” David grimaced. He unshouldered the chains he carried.

“Come on; let’s secure the chains around the horns and get this over with,” I said, holding my own breath. I took one of the two long chains they’d brought and went to work.

The chains themselves were nearly as thick as my forearms. They would be able to hold for sure. We just needed to make sure we would be able to provide the moving power to drag the carcass out the gates.

All around me, people were gagging as they helped to secure the chains. To the survivors’ credit, when others saw what our small group was doing, they came to help.

Someone started passing out torn strips of white canvas to people to help with the smell.

“Here,” someone said behind me. A cloth was pressed into my right hand.

“Thanks,” I said, not looking at it. I was in the middle of securing the second chain around the alien’s horns.

I stepped back, examining my work as others began to pick up the chains and form a line. I looked down at the cloth in my hand, ready to secure it around the lower half of my own face.

But the cloth in my hand was crimson. Not bright red or pink, but a very specific color of deep, dark red. I’d seen the color twice before. Once when we apprehended the Disciple named Maksim, and then again when the second Disciple blew herself to kingdom come, taking the Orion with her.

Cold goosebumps raced down my spine. I turned immediately, aware of everyone around me. A throng had come out to help move the carcass from inside our walls. Trying to tell exactly who handed me the handkerchief was impossible. Dozens of people secured the chains while others moved to the opposite side of the alien corpse, ready to pull.

I felt the material in my hand, looking down at it again to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind. No, it was the very same one Maksim wore. I’d bet my life on it.

“Hey, Dean, you good?” Hannah called from her place with the rest of survivors preparing to haul the animal.

“Yeah,” I lied. It seemed I was doing a lot of that these days. “Yeah, I’m good. It’s secure.”

I made my way to the end of one of