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

“Lou, Tong, on the Blood Shots,” Stacy instructed. “Dean, don’t let anything happen to our Rung friend.”

We all moved to obey without asking questions, though I balked at calling Sulk a friend.

I donned my helmet, which fit snugly on my head.

More of the screaming came from the woods. We still couldn’t see anything, but it was getting closer.

“Legion saw us leave the Orion and what?” John asked. “It took him this long to find us and gather a force to send here?”

“Tong,” Stacy said without answering John’s question. “Time to fire up access to the satellite Jezra gave you. Tell me what we are dealing with here.”

“Searching now,” Tong said, going for the data pad that hung on a carrier around his shoulder. “I can access the HUD in your helmets and let you see in real time what the satellite is seeing. Jezra has it following our movements.”

A moment later, a small square popped to life in the lower right-hand corner of my visor. It showed an aerial view of our predators. We were tiny dots on the ground. Further into the forest showed not just dozens but hundreds of infected coming our way.

The forest was full of the infected beings rushing our position like a dam that had burst and the ground began rumble with their stampede-like movement.

“Stacy,” I said as calmly as I could.

She knew the same thing I did. As much as we all wanted to stay and tear into Legion, this was not a fight six people could win.

“There—there have to be hundreds of them!” Lou gasped in awe. “How are there so many?”

“Talk later,” John said, already heading quickly for his predator. “We have to move now!”

As if a spell was lifted from us, we all jumped immediately into action. I went for my predator with Tong and Sulk, while Stacy, Lou, and John jumped in their vehicle.

“Here they come!” Stacy shouted.

The sound of her weapon firing lit up the air. The Blood Shot rang out loud and clear as it peppered the first wave of infected humans.

There weren’t only infected humans I found as I got a good look at them. Mechanically enhanced Rung bolstered their numbers as well. In fact, there now seemed to be more Rung than humans, which made sense as we’d been killing off the infected humans and hadn’t really encountered the Rung on this level yet.

I only got a glimpse of them, but from what I could see, they were the stuff of nightmares. Half alien, half mechanically enhanced, and totally consumed with the Legion virus, they swarmed us. Black matter oozed from ebony eyes. The dark liquid came out of the holes in the sides of their heads they called ears.

“Ahhhh!” I heard Tong roar over the sound of his Blood Shot as I urged our predator away from the mob.

8

Tong’s uncharacteristic roar was one I understood well. It wasn’t one of fear, but a rally cry. He needed to do something to harness his own fleeting courage. It was something common in men and woman preparing for a fight to psych themselves up. The roar was primal, something even animals understood.

Right now, I didn’t blame him. The amount of infected sprinting at us from the forest was an intimidating sight. I had never seen so many in one place.

Legion had been busy this last month, turning hundreds, maybe thousands of the Rung. No wonder Sulk had been sent to us. It was a last-ditch effort on the Rung’s part to avoid being completely wiped out.

Weapons fire from the infected hammered across the predator. I ducked, surprised. Last I checked, infected were hungry, mindless beings controlled by Legion. A few of them carried the occasional blunt object, but none of them had wielded a weapon like a blaster.

“Are they shooting at us!?” Stacy yelled over the sounds of her own Blood Shot ripping across the lines of infected.

Another spattering of rounds hit my predator as I fought to gain control of it, trying to hold the steering wheel steady.

“They’re shooting at us,” I yelled back. “They’re definitely shooting at us!”

“Since when did Legion learn how to fire weapons?” John asked, echoing my previous thoughts.

Driving full out, we were just about leaving the infected behind when I chanced a look in my rear-view mirror. Sure enough, Legion was chasing after us, but without vehicles, the infected had no chance.

“Does our new ally care to weigh in on the fact that Legion can fire weapons now?” I asked Tong while staring daggers at Sulk. He couldn’t tell since I was wearing my helmet, but I think he understood he was in trouble by the sound of my voice.

The echoes of weapons fire died behind us as we sped forward over the dry dirt terrain.

Tong and Stacy eased off their vehicle when the infected were far enough behind us. The former exchanged a quick conversation with Sulk in their native language.

“He says he doesn’t know when Legion became smart enough to have those he controls use weapons,” Tong explained. “A week, maybe two weeks ago, it started.”

“Tell our mechanical friend here that any other information like this would be greatly appreciated,” Stacy said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “What happened to our eye in the sky, Tong?”

“I didn’t think Legion would be able to catch up to us so quickly,” Tong said. “I’m sorry, no excuses. I will monitor the satellite feed more regularly. Before I went down for my sleep, we were clear for miles in every direction.”

“We couldn’t know he had turned so many or that they could move so quickly,” Lou said, trying to calm everyone in the charged moment. “We do now. We won’t make the same mistake.”

“Keep the feed from the satellite live in our helmets,” Stacy instructed, losing the bite in her words without sacrificing their strength. “If Legion gets within ten miles of us, I want to know.”

“I understand fully,” Tong said, contritely. “I’m