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

of them. The trees helped block out the hot twin suns overhead. Every time we passed a shadow or a tree branch moving in the gentle breeze, I looked closer.

My senses were on high alert. I didn’t think Maksim would be bold enough to attack all of us, but if Legion was still in the area, well, who knew what it would do.

We traveled on the overgrown road with bushes and trees pressing in on us from both sides.

“There are no animals,” Stacy observed. “Like when we first landed. That first night. There were no animal noises.”

She was right. An eerie silence covered the forest floor. The air was thick and hot, with even the breeze coming in warm.

Our scale armor was equipped with an internal temperature gauge, and for that, I was thankful. Despite the armor’s best attempts, a line of sweat gathered at my brow.

“We should stop soon,” Tong warned us after another hour of traveling through the forest. “The Orion is going to be in front of us soon. We need a plan.”

“To have a plan, we need to coordinate with the Orion,” Stacy said. “Maybe we pull off the road and two of us go by foot until we can get a signal and word to Elon and Iris.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Arun answered. “I’ll g—”

“I’ll go,” I said, cutting Arun off before she could volunteer.

“Great, Dean and I will go on foot to see with our own eyes what’s happening and establish communication with the Orion,” Stacy said.

I heard Arun mutter something, but she didn’t argue. The simple fact was that I was expendable. Arun and Elon were our leaders as far as I was concerned. In chess, you protected the king and queen. As menacing as the queen might be, she was your best chance of winning.

We pulled off the overgrown dirt road in a clearing to the right. I could see the edge of the Orion poking out beyond the trees. We were close.

Everyone hopped out of the predators to stretch or grab a bite to eat. We all met in a circle, checking our gear. Stacy was decked out like some kind of super soldier with a judge on her right hip, and a ray blade on her left. She even removed one of the heavy bloodshot machine guns from the turret in the rear of her predator.

She muscled the thing over, placing the barrel over her shoulder.

I gave her a quizzical look.

“What?” she asked. “I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

“Hey, you do you,” I told her, grabbing a pair of ray blades as well as one of the judges. I rounded out my gear with a Farsight.

“Don’t go far,” Arun ordered us. “Just as far as you need to see and establish communication.”

“You got it,” I said, already heading for the Orion.

Stacy and Arun exchanged a few words I couldn’t hear. I didn’t mind. I made sure my helmet was clipped to my belt with the magnetic hold and moved forward.

Mutt trotted beside me.

I let him come. He was well-behaved and I didn’t think he’d make a run for the Orion if he saw the infected.

Stacy caught up to me a minute later. She trotted along, carrying the Blood Shot like it was a sack of groceries over her shoulder. The chick was stronger than she looked. I liked that about her.

“Everything okay back there?” I asked.

“Yeah, Arun just gave me instructions on what to tell the Orion, depending on what they say to us,” Stacy said, shrugging her shoulder in her scale armor. “Let’s get eyes on the Orion first and then see if we can talk with Elon or Iris.”

“Let’s do it,” I said.

Together, we wound our way through the forest, heading for a short hill that rose half a kilometer in front of us.

“There,” Stacy said, pointing. “If we get to the top of that hill, I bet we can see what’s going on.”

We jogged together the rest of the way. I was going to offer to carry the blood shot for her, but she didn’t look like she was struggling at all. Mutt loped beside us with his pink tongue hanging out the side of his mouth.

In no time, we were climbing the sloping hill. At the top, we went down to our hands and knees and then our bellies in an army crawl. We chose a spot between two lush trees and peeked out from beneath the branches.

The scene in front of us seized my gut. The view from Jezra’s low-flying satellite had been deceiving. A horde of infected survivors completely surrounded the Orion. I was bad at guessing at these things, but there had to be twice, maybe even three times the number of our own survivors inside the wall. Added to that were the alien creatures Legion infected.

“Can you read us, this is the Orion.” Iris’ familiar voice sounded in the comm units inside of our earpieces. “We need help. Can you hear us?”

28

“Iris, this is Stacy,” Stacy responded. “Iris, can you hear me?”

“Yes, Stacy, it’s good to hear your voice,” Iris said. “I’ve been running this message on a loop in all frequencies trying to reach you. Where are you now?”

“We’re close, just to the border of the forest to the south,” Stacy answered. “We’ve brought supplies and vehicles, but I’m not sure how we’re going to get them to you. Has Legion made a move? Any move at all?”

“Yes, Legion has given us an ultimatum with twenty-four hours to decide—either we join him or die,” Iris said. “I’m patching Elon into the line now.”

“Stacy, is that you?” Elon asked.

“Yes, Dean and I are here,” Stacy answered.

“Thank goodness. We’re overdue for some good news.” Elon breathed a sigh of relief. “Is everyone okay? What did you find out?”

“We found the second expeditionary unit. They’re dead,” Stacy said. “We ran into the Rung and ran. Next we found the