Order of the Centurion by Jason Anspach & Nick Cole

Author:Jason Anspach & Nick Cole [Anspach, Jason & Cole, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781949731002
Goodreads: 41740211
Publisher: Galaxy's Edge Press
Published: 2018-09-20T23:00:00+00:00

***

Twenty minutes passed with nothing to remember them by.

Wash kept vigil on the jungle ahead of him, overlooking the terrain he and the marines had traversed. If the doros were out there and tracking, that’s the direction they would likely come from. Of course, some entirely different element of dog-men could show up, in which case there was no telling where they might appear.

But all four sides of the temple were guarded by vigilant marines that night while their comrades slept, or attempted to. Despite their exhaustion, the men trying to sleep constantly stirred, rolling over and readjusting themselves in an effort to find that magic position that would let their discomforted bodies find rest. Some of them gave up trying and whispered soft conversations instead, their backs pressed against the ziggurat.

Tierney was one of the ones who couldn’t sleep—even though Wash imagined she must be the most exhausted of all of them, given the condition they’d found her in. Corpsman Hellix had wanted to give her a sedative, but she’d turned it down, explaining, “I don’t want to have to rely on someone to carry me if it comes down to it.”

That invited a comment from Denturo. Without taking his eyes off the jungle, he spoke out of the side of his mouth. “We saved your ass from the doros once. No guarantees we do it again.”

That jab effectively killed the small talk on Wash’s parapet, leaving Wash, Haulman, and Denturo to watch the jungle while Corpsman Hellix slept on the stone.

Tierney leaned against the parapet wall, her back to the jungle, arms crossed, head down, seemingly lost in daydreams. Maybe that was why she wouldn’t go to sleep. You can at least control the dreams that happen while you’re awake. After what she’d been through… Wash figured she was due for some nightmares.

The jungle had grown relatively still, as though it sensed the hour required a certain quiet and peace. The pulsing hum of background noise that you stopped hearing once you were in it long enough was still there, but the loud, distinct calls of the bigger animals or birds… insects—whatever—had died down.

That was the case until a sudden fluttering, like the buzzing of a large winged insect, sounded from out in the jungle. The buzzing came closer, and the bug zipped right over all their heads.

“Must be one hell of a big bug,” said Haulman, breaking the silence.

Wash couldn’t count the number of times he’d heard some strange new animal sound during his time on Psydon. This one sounded like an odd mix of a buzz and a whirl. And evidently there were more creatures where that one came from. Another buzz zipped toward them.

Without warning, Tierney collapsed, falling in a heap on the parapet stone.

Denturo was the only one who might have done something about it. Wash and Haulman were too far away, and Corpsman Hellix lay sleeping in between where Tierney and the big marine had stood. Denturo looked down at the passed-out basic, spat a stream against the stone wall, and called out, “Hellix, wake up.

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