Chapter 2
I
stood at attention in front of Colonel Anderson’s desk, waiting for him to
finish reading the report on the screen in front of him. My eyes began to wander around the room,
noting the changes since my last visit.
Not much had changed. He’d had
the walls scrubbed since I was last here; the mold smell was much weaker—the
Colonel probably couldn’t smell it at all—and there was a strong disinfectant
smell instead. Being in the tunnels
beneath the university, his office had a tendency toward humidity and
mold. Besides that, his jacket was
hanging in its usual place on the wall, his weapon sat on a rack behind him and
his furniture had not changed—desk, his chair and two others, and two file
cabinets. Aside from the usual computer
monitor, keyboard and mouse, he now had a small framed photo of his wife and
son on his desk. It held the smell and
texture of an old-school photograph, not a color printout of a digital
picture. Those were rare; for a
‘non-essential purpose’, it must have cost him a month’s salary for that one
print.
When
I glanced back toward the Colonel, he was watching me over steepled fingers. I snapped my eyes forward, reddening slightly
at being caught slacking my stance, but he only smiled. “So, what’s new in my office then?”
I
reddened again. He knew me too well if
he could even tell what I was thinking with only my eyes moving. “The picture sir. Your family is looking well. Is it recent?”
“Last
month.”
There
was something in his voice…almost is if…I looked at it again, Pushing slightly
to see it clearer. “That was last year
sir; your coat in the picture has a small tear on the cuff. You had it fixed within a week of it
occurring.”
“Excellent,
sharp as ever. How long ago did the crew
scrub down my office then?”
I
inhaled deeply, Pushing my sense of smell.
The disinfectant smell was strong, as though it had been done no more
than a few hours ago, but the mold smell would have lingered still if that were
the case. He must have had them add
extra detergent just for this. I smiled
inwardly; he liked to try to stump me, but rarely could anymore. “Twelve hours ago sir; some time last night.”
“Ha! I thought I had you this time. Well done Master Alpha Hunter, at ease.”
I
relaxed a little, spreading my feet and putting my hands behind my back rather
than rigid at my sides. “We have got to
shorten that title, it’s a mouth full.
It had more syllables than the rest of the sentence combined.” This was an old joke between us,
“Well,
when Prime James sees sense we’ll talk.”
“Father? See sense?
I won’t hold my breath, and I can hold it for a really long time, sir.”
“Well,
to business. Brief me on our newest
pups.”
“You
called for me before I had a chance to meet the new soldiers—I can have a
report on them on your desk this evening if you require—but the hunters look
promising. If they are as good as their
Master Hunters say, we have some truly exceptional candidates this time. Their senses are very keen, even for a
hunter. If that’s any indication, they’ll
be able to Push like few others. Other
than that, only time will tell.”
“Good,
we’re going to need them. We lost a
squad today. They were exceptional
too. We’re receiving footage transmitted
from the incident but it is so chaotic it’s hard to piece together. One thing is clear though, the ferals have
evolved again. The men ran into
climbers.”
“Climbers? Feral climbers?” I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. It was like learning that dogs had started
climbing trees like cats.
“Just
watch.” He turned his monitor around.
On
the screen was a frozen image of the wasteland.
The street was crumbling and strewn with rubble. Weeds poked out of the cracks and grew
everywhere. Several soldiers were frozen
in the act of running toward a building ahead.
It too was crumbling and ruined, with clinging plants spidering along
its walls and out the empty window frames.
Colonel Anderson pushed a button and the soldiers kicked into motion.
“Go,
Go, Go! Up, Up. They’ll be here in ten seconds. Climbing formation.”
We
were watching from the sergeant’s helmet-cam.
In spite of the urgency, he gave the orders in hand signals and whispers
over the laser-radio—he must have feared hibernating ferals were near as well. He singled out three hunters to protect the
men still on the ground and the fourth to take the rope up. The soldiers took up positions against the
wall, rifles pointed back the way they came, while the three hunters crouched
in front, waiting. The fourth hunter
fitted climbing spikes to his gloves and darted up the side of the
building. The sergeant watched him
leaping from one gaping window to another and scrambling up intact portions
with the spikes.
“Heads
up.” It was the whispered voice of the man beside the sergeant. He nodded back the way they had come and the sergeant
turned to look. A hoard or ferals was
charging out of an alley across the street, bunching up momentarily in
confusion while the ones in front paused to search for the humans.
They
would be beautiful if they weren’t so horrifying. They looked like wolves with thick grey-brown
fur reminiscent of a timber wolf’s. Except,
these wolves had once been human and walked on two legs, eight or ten feet
tall, and dropped to all fours only when they charged. They had hands with opposable thumbs, but
seemed to have forgotten their use, relying instead on their large claws to
grip, slash and rip their prey. The most
horrify thing, though, was their bite.
It was worse than rabies, causing nearly instant madness. Hunters could hold it off for a time, but
even we succumbed in the end. Always.
“A
werewolf incursion, even a minor one, on the new moon? Unheard of.”
I watched for a second, thinking.
“They couldn’t win, but they might survive if they got up the wall
quickly enough,” I whispered.
“Except,
there were climbers too.” Colonel
Anderson shook his head.
“No
wonder we lost them.”
The
ferals in front spotted the humans and charged in mass. “Open fire.”
The sergeant’s voice was calm.
The soldiers began picking off the ferals with their laser rifles,
burning holes in their skulls. Anywhere
else wouldn’t even slow them down.
“Sgt,
heads up.” The voice whispered through
the com and the image swung up as a rope uncoiled from above toward the camera. The sergeant caught it and signaled three men
to start climbing while he joined the men firing into the ferals.
“This
is where it starts to go south. The
sergeant was watching the enemy rather than the rope, so he didn’t see the
climbers,” Colonel Anderson said.
Just
before the ferals reached the human lines the hunters darted forward and
engaged, the hunter on the building above dropping down beside his brothers at
the same time. They were all excellent Wolf
Pack members, both hunters and soldiers, and handled their weapons with expert
precision, the soldiers reverting to gunning down any beasts that made it past
the hunters. The lines were holding, for
now, though the hunters were slowly being forced back. The soldiers were slowly filtering up the
rope, but if the ferals managed to force the hunters back to the soldier’s line
the formation would break. The ferals
would be able to attack the gunners, who would not be fast or strong enough to
hold them off for long at close range.
It
never came to that. There was a shout
from above and the camera swung up, revealing a half dozen ferals clumsily
jumping from window to window, very like the hunter had before only far less
gracefully. The ferals would be no match
for hunters on the wall, but the soldiers on the rope had only their laser pistols. The lasers weren’t strong enough to drop the
ferals in time and soon they had converged on the men. “Hunter Carter, get back up there.” The voice was muffled and almost
unintelligible, but the hunter heard.
So
did I, though I din’t think Colonel Anderson could. I stiffened at the name, it couldn’t be. Maybe I had heard wrong; the colonel wouldn’t
hide something like that from me.
The
hunter disengaged and hurtled back up the wall, if anything, faster than
before, Pushing even harder. The soldiers
on the ground hunkered down holding as long as they could. The Sergeant sent a few more up the rope but
more ferals jumped onto the walls after them and dragged the humans into the
hoard.
The
view switched to a camera darting rapidly up and down the walls, ripping ferals
away from the humans on the ropes. The Hunter’s
view. One of the ferals clamped its jaws
onto his arm.
I
clenched my teeth but refused to look away.
A bite was death, even to a hunter.
Even if you survived you had to be euthanized afterward.
There
was a spurt of crimson and the hunter shouted in defiance as he slashed its
throat with his hunter’s claw. The beast
let go and fell. The camera momentarily
followed its decent and the chaos below was momentarily visible, a writhing hoard
of wolves. The rest of the squad was
just gone.
Three
hunters, four with that bite, and the better part of fifteen soldiers
lost. Only four soldiers had made it up
the wall.
“A
retrieval unit will be sent after survivors, but their chances aren’t
good. Suggestions? How do we deal with this latest development?”
I
stared for a few more seconds at the paused video, still showing the mass of
ferals where the squad had been moments before.
“The climbers were slow and clumsy, no match for hunters on the wall,
but still a great threat to soldiers limited to pistols while clinging to the
rope. It seems to me that a vertical
escape is still a viable option.
However, the climbing formation will need to be modified.”
He
nodded. “Agreed.”
“We
cannot spare enough hunters to handle the climbers, so it will have to be the
soldiers. However, the current formation
does not lend well to this. From their
current position in the formation, the soldiers will not have an angle on the
climbers until they are several feet off the ground.
“What
do you suggest?”
“Snipers. Take a few soldiers, depending on how many
ferals are encountered, and send them up immediately with the hunter climbing. Once they are well out of feral leaping range
they can find sniping positions and deal with any feral climbers that appear. Once they are in position, they will be able
to defend themselves adequately if engaged, unlike the soldiers caught on the
rope. They will also have a better angle
on the ferals below once they reach the hunters. If there are no climbers to
deal with, the snipers would be able to continue firing into the crowd, over
the hunters, with no danger of us taking friendly fire.”
“The
hunter climbing will need to be even more adept in order to help the snipers in
their ascent at the same time.” Colonel
Anderson pointed out.
“True,
it will require further training for both snipers and hunters, but I believe
this can be done.”
“Very
well. Start training with the pups, use
the climbing wall at the Fitness
Center
I
saluted, fist over heart and bowed. “Yes
sir. Permission to use the footage?”
“Granted. I’ll have the section you just viewed
transferred to your account.
Dismissed.” He turned the monitor
back toward himself and just as I was reaching for the doorknob, he added, “Oh
yes, I need you to return as soon as you finish with the pups, son. There’s more to the footage I need to show
you. But that can wait till later.”
Son? Yah, ‘cause that’s not at all ominous. As I made my way back to the gym I tried to
focus on the assignment instead of…other things. As soon as I returned to the gym, I called
the pups and Command Sergeant Taylor to the conference room.
Taylor
had the men doing running knee highs down the halls to the conference room and
I had a momentary pang of guilt for leaving them alone with here for so long. I suppose I should be grateful they could
still walk at this point.
The
conference room was a small wood paneled nook overlooking a second, larger set
of basketball courts. It had decent
chairs, though after all the years the upholstery was history of course, but,
more importantly, it had a working big-screen and an attached computer. I pulled up my account on the computer and
readied the footage.
“We
lost a squad today. Many soldiers and
hunters won’t be coming home. It was an
incursion. We lost them because the
ferals have evolved again. They have a new
trick and it is the Wolf Pack’s job to develop new tactics to counter them. So, today you get to be the first to train
for feral climbers.” I hit play on the
video.
When
the hoard appeared, awed murmuring broke out among the recruits. “Silence, dog meat! You’ve all seen action already. This is no different, there’re just more of
them.” Taylor shouted. The muttering fell away into tense silence.
As
the footage reached its conclusion, I turned once more to the pups. “A moment of silence for our comrades, our brothers
and sisters.” We lowered our heads. I closed my eyes. After a moment, I looked back up. The others were waiting, Taylor looking curious. “We are altering the climbing formation to
include snipers. Follow me back to the
courts. We’ll be using the climbing
wall.”
I
explained the new formation as we walked.
“Everyone is to suit up in their enviro-suits with full climbing harness. Each hunter pup will take a turn as the
climbing hunter, and each soldier will take a turn as a sniper. There are five times as many soldiers as
hunters, so the hunter pups will get to practice as our climber five
times. The extra Push practice will be
good for them. The hunter pups not
taking their turn as our climber will
simulate feral climbers—that’s four feral climbers each turn.
Soldier
pups not taking their turn as the sniper will be evacuees—that’s fifteen
evacuees. Snipers will be equipped with
a laser rifle set to flash only. When a feral
climber is hit, head shots only obviously, your suit will seize up and your
climbing harness will lower you to the ground.
Evacuees will have their proximity detectors active; if a feral climber
gets within one meter of you, the feral kills you and you will be removed the
same way. The exercise is over when all evacuees either reach the running track
above or are dead. Command Sergeant
Taylor and I will demonstrate first
When
you manage to save everyone, you’ll get a chance with me as a feral
climber. Ferals appear quite clumsy on
the wall, for now anyway, nothing like what our hunters can manage. When you can take us down before we reach your
evacuees, ferals will be no problem. Once
you have this drill down, we will practice with multiple snipers and continuous
feral climbers—the hunter pup’s enviro-suits will unlock five seconds after
they are hit and they will be coming back up.
Everyone suit-up and form-up by the climbing wall. You have two minutes. Move, move, move!”
The
enviro-suit was a self contained environmental light armor very like a wetsuit
with a six hour air supply and an air purifier and scrubber to refill the
tank. The helmet was completely sound
proof so com chatter wouldn’t wake nearby ferals, but it also meant that
communication was only possible through the laser-radio or sign language. It also sported an onboard computer with a
wireless connection suit-to-suit to track squad mates, a biometric scanner to
keep track of the wearer’s physical condition, a homing beacon, and a helmet
cam. They also had GPS trackers, but
with the satellites down, those didn’t work anymore.
The
climbing wall was set up with several nooks large enough for Taylor to stage
from, so, once the pups had all formed up, I looked to her, eyebrows razed.
“Middle
one?” I asked.
“Middle
one.” She nodded.
I
fed the rope through the loop on my harness and handed it to her, then looked
to the hunter pups. “Ten second head
start, that’s all the squad we lost had, then come for us or the evacuees.”
I
began climbing, pulling up, and immediately felt the rope catch below me as I
took most of Taylor’s weight. Being sure
to keep the pace steady so she wouldn’t loose her footing and pull me off, I
surged upward, Pushing my strength slightly to handle both our weight, and my
agility to keep us even and steady. A slight
burning tingle spread to my arms and legs at the Push.
After
three seconds she shouted, “Clear” and her weight vanished. Two seconds later I heard the scramble of the
Hunter pups coming up at us. They
started early, but Taylor
was in position; they didn’t stand a chance.
I lunged, Pushing a little more and leaped ten feet, snagged a hand hold
and leapt again clearing the last few of the thirty feet to the top. Glancing down, two of the hunter pups were
already on the ground, but the other three were being more careful.
I
looked toward my evacuees. “Climb! Three
at a time. The Ferals still on the
ground would overwhelm your team if everyone climbed at once. Move.”
Once three of the soldier pups were on the rope, I Pushed and brought
them up hand over hand, while they did the same from below. Then I threw the rope back and pulled up the
next set. Taylor was having a hard time sniping the
pups since the three had taken cover behind an outcropping on the wall, but
that also kept them away from the evacuee.
They became frantic, however, upon seeing the first group reach the top
without a single casualty and darted out of cover after the second group. Three quick shots and they were all down.
“Don’t
relax dog meat evacuees!” Taylor shouted. “You still have three dozen ferals down there
to contend with. Anyone not up that rope
in two minutes is getting raped by an enormous, fat, rat-faced feral!”
Oh,
the image. I shook my head trying not to
laugh.
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