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

sprang forward, grabbing the blaster. Along with Stacy, the two defended the side of the Orion the infected were ascending. Lucky for us, the side of the blasted-out level the infected climbed was only large enough for one, maybe two to very awkwardly climb.

Boss Creed saved the rounds now, striking out with the butt of his weapon, while Stacy used her knife to fend off infected after infected.

I held on to Hannah, who only halfheartedly struggled. The realization of the death of her husband was setting in now, along with shock. Her entire body shook with grief. I made sure my grip around her was only firm, not choking.

“I know,” I told her as she cried. “I know exactly how you feel.”

Pep talks weren’t really my strength. In that moment, I wished I had more to say, better words to comfort her, but I didn’t. When I realized she wasn’t going anywhere, I released my hold. Doctor Allbright came over to comfort her along with Lou. The padre looked at me with mournful eyes.

I wanted to ask him how special his planet was now. I wanted to remind him of the magical energy running through the galaxy that converged here to be so wondrous. Maybe I would another time. Maybe I never would.

I passed Elon, who rested against the side of the cell level with a bandage on his head. He looked at me grimly.

“Concussion,” he said, pointing to his head. “I’ll be fine. I lost my blaster in the explosion.”

I nodded, making my way to the edge of the level, where Boss Creed and Stacy looked down on the infected. The infected Transients were smarter than they first appeared. That fact alone sent another chill down my spine. Their ascent had been brief. With Boss Creed and Stacy raining blows down on them, they lost another handful of their number before they realized this tactic was useless.

If they were going to kill us all, they would have to do it another way. The infected retreated as if a single hive mind had them under its control. There were still hundreds of them lining the water around us and the beach.

For the moment, they remained content to let us be. Whether they were thinking of how to get us or something else was yet to be seen. All I knew was that we had a moment of rest.

The suns in the sky were already setting. The bottoms of the yellow and orange globes touched the edge of the horizon. We had an hour of daylight left. Maybe less.

“We have any flashlights or a fire starter?” I asked, motioning to the setting suns. “I’m not sure what our friends on the beach are waiting for, but if I were them, I’d come at us again at night.”

“I’ve got a flashlight,” Boss Creed said, reaching into the side pocket of his cargo pants.

“Me too,” David said, extending a small handheld device from the belt around the suit of heavy blaster armor he wore.

“I need to know everything you know,” Stacy said almost angrily as she stalked toward David. “What the hell are those things on the beach, because they sure aren’t human.”

David allowed Stacy to tower over him without standing to meet her onslaught. He shook his head, gathering his thoughts. “I still don’t exactly know. None of it makes sense.”

“Tell us what you’ve seen, please,” Elon said.

David nodded slowly and began weaving a tale I would never believe had we been anywhere else.

20

“I landed in a single escape pod when the Orion went down. I disembarked in a grassy field with the jungle on my left, the ocean behind me, and the bulk of the crashed Orion in the distance. I decided to travel through the edge of the jungle for cover.” David paused here to lick at dry lips. “That was the worst mistake I ever made. I came across another escape pod. It must have landed just after mine. A woman was climbing out. She fell in a bush of some kind of black plant I’ve never seen. Before I could call out to her, she started coughing and gagging. Some kind of pollen was coming from the plant she fell into.”

David stopped again, this time not to lick his lips, but to think back on the horrific sight he had been privy to. No one rushed him as he thought about the implications of his next words.

“By the time I had gotten to her, she was already showing those black marks on her eyes,” David continued. “That’s where they start first. She was hysterical and violent. She chased me into the jungle and I’ve been hiding there, living day to day ever since. I found a stockpile of armor that must have fallen from the Orion on impact. It was still in its crate. I put it on, thinking it would protect me somehow, but, well, you see how useless it’s been. I’ve survived this long by staying quiet and out of sight. When the explosion went off here, I knew we were done. You’ve managed to grab the attention of every infected in the jungle.”

“You said there were bushes that let off the spores?” Elon was the first to find his voice. “What did they look like?”

“Kind of like a moldy, black cauliflower that’s soft,” David answered. “It’s spread out all over the jungle. I would have stepped in it unknowingly a dozen times if I didn’t know what I was looking for.”

“They can still talk when they’re infected with whatever this thing is?” Lou asked. “They’re not mindless, it seems.”

“Oh yeah, not mindless. Just freaking crazy and violent,” David answered. “I’m not sure what that alien pollen does to them once it’s in their system, but it messes with their minds to the extent they can’t think straight. I’ve heard them talking to one another like you and I are talking now. Other times, they’re shrieking in the jungle like banshees.”

“We’re not