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

The sounds of scratching from the other side stopped altogether.

“Firing lines,” Dama told her warriors.

As one, the twenty Rung soldiers formed two lines, one in front of the other. The first line knelt at the ready, aiming their blasters at the door. The second line stood behind the first, also lifting their weapons to fire.

Maksim stood alone, slowly forcing the doors forward. Sweat dampened his brow as his already weakened body tried to force the doors open. He didn’t make much progress.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” I said, going over to him and placing my finger in the opening space between the door. “I can’t believe I’m helping you.”

“Broth—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I said, shaking my head and rolling my eyes. “Brother, two swords facing away from each other and all that. “Come on, let’s get these doors open and get the heck out of the way before we’re turned into Swiss cheese by those Rung blasters.”

Maksim nodded, forcing his fingers into the tiny opening.

“One,” I said, bracing my feet on the ground.

“Two,” Maksim said above the returning sounds of the infected scratching at the opposite sides of the door.

“Three!” I yelled as I threw my weight into the doors.

My muscles burned from my shoulders to my back. The steel doors opened slowly but steadily. Almost instantly, macabre thoughts of clammy infected hands reaching around the door and pulling me inside played through my mind, but I ignored them.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Stacy, John, and Tong take up a position to the left of Dama’s firing line. This gave them an angle view into the stairwell so they’d be able to cover me as I retreated. If the infected came at me, they couldn’t see my team, who would then be able to counterattack.

The door finally gave way and swung open with a resounding boom that echoed through the quiet hall. Maksim and I ran back to our lines, expecting a rush of infected. What we got was a dark, ominous room we couldn’t see more than a few feet into.

“Lights,” Dama said, motioning with her own weapon.

Dozens of lights pierced the darkness, and with them came a nightmare, the likes of which I hoped never to encounter again.

There was more than a dozen infected in the stairwell. Ten times more.

They came at us in a sprint, most carrying some kind of blunt or bladed weapon. A few of them even carried blasters. They were all infected Rung, their alien bodies covered with mechanical enhancements, from steel tails to metal hands.

Coupled with their augmentations was the black liquid characteristic of the infected that oozed from their eyes, noses, ears, and mouths. I thought I knew horror, but right now, I was reminded of what a true nightmare Legion really was.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one caught off guard.

Dama hesitated for the slightest second. “Fire!” she finally screamed, recovering from her initial shock.

The wide wall lit up with weapon fire coming from the Rung firing lines. Maksim was on the left with the rest of the group from the Orion colony. I was on the right. As one, we let them have it, full blast, with all we had.

The Dragon’s Breath in my hands went off with heavy thuds that rocked my arms and threatened to force me back every time I pulled the trigger. The weapon was a piece of art. Red fiery blasts of pellets shredded the Rung rushing forward, practically exploding them into bits wherever they were hit.

Those that did get shots off with their blasters were sporadic at best. In true Legion fashion, he’d relied on his numbers instead of tactics. His army was not trained and was very disorganized. The scene was a light show as our blasters cut through the darkness, piling up the Rung dead.

“A dozen, huh!?” I heard John yell at Maksim over the sounds of the fight.

I wanted to say the same thing, but I was too busy with my Dragon’s Breath. The Rung dead piled so high in front of us, those still coming out were having a hard time climbing over them. They would scramble clumsily over their fallen brethren, then attempt to fire on us with limited success.

Part of me felt sorry for them. These Rung were infected and controlled by Legion. If we could kill him, then we could free these creatures from his hold. The only problem was the armor we needed to kill Legion was below and these poor souls stood in our way.

“Cease fire!” Dama yelled to her soldiers.

As one, we let up, taking in heavy breaths. The Dragon’s Breath felt hot in my hands. The barrel of my weapon smoked, sending curling tendrils up to the ceiling.

“Is everyone whole?” Sulk asked, looking around at the Rung soldiers first and then to us.

“We’re good,” I said.

“I think you need to relearn how to count.” Stacy fixed Maksim with a glare. “A dozen, huh? There has to be triple that.”

“They must have called in more. How was I supposed to know that?” Maksim swallowed hard. “I don’t know how he knew.”

“Well, it’s done now, and he knows exactly where we are,” Dama said looking to one of her Rung soldiers. “Let’s hurry up and get down to the lower stairwell and—”

Loud blaster fire cut her off. The Rung that Dama was speaking with took a round to the face. His skull exploded, pieces of brain and bone showering Dama as he was taken off his feet. Dama looked on in shock and horror, but quickly recovered.

A round slammed square into my chest, causing me to lose balance and fall onto my back on the floor. The air was forced out of my lungs with a whoosh. Still, somehow, I managed to inhale and coughed. My head had been slammed against the floor, but thanks to my helmet I avoided any serious head injury, though my ribs felt like I had taken a straight kick to the torso. I lay