The War For Earth by Arenson Daniel

Author:Arenson, Daniel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moonclipse
Published: 2018-05-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Rowan walked down the dark tunnel, holding Lullaby with both hands. The other marines followed close behind, rifles raised.

The pits of Anubis spread before them—a dark, twisting hive. The place stank. Rowan advanced slowly, the flashlight on her helmet illuminating her way. Her feet scattered old bones—some of animals, others human. A serpentine shape ahead made her start, but it was only a basilisk's shed skin, a husk rustling with insects. Rowan walked deeper, plunging into the darkness.

"Just like the ducts back home," Rowan muttered.

Bay looked at her, and she met his gaze. Unspoken words passed between them. They both remembered that battle in the ducts of Paradise Lost, fighting the bonecrawlers. It had been almost four years ago.

We're both so different, Rowan thought. I was a scared girl then. Now … who am I now?

She gripped her gun tighter, and she knew.

Not a movie director like I thought I would be. Not a writer. I'm a soldier.

A shadow stirred.

Her flashlight reflected off metal.

A basilisk appeared below, hissing, squirming up the tunnel toward the humans.

Rowan opened fire. But her bullets met armor. The snake was wearing thick metal plates. It came lunging forward at terrifying speed, gushing up the tunnel like a torrent. Bay was firing too. So were other marines. The bullets kept glancing off its armor.

Rowan closed one eye. She stood steady and aimed.

The basilisk leaped through the air toward her.

It was a meter away when she put a bullet through its eye.

The alien crashed into her, knocking her down, dead before they hit the ground. She shoved the corpse off.

"Bastard." She spat.

Bay raised his hand. "Nice shot."

Rowan gave him a high five. "Years of playing Duck Hunt finally paid off."

She forced herself to smile. To choke down the horror. They kept walking.

The tunnels kept sloping deeper. The surface of this world was searing hot, but the temperature plunged down here. The tunnels tightened, becoming so narrow the humans had to walk hunched over, then on hands and knees.

Rowan paused, closed her eyes, and felt the vibrations again.

"We're close," Rowan whispered. "I feel them. Humans. And …" She grimaced. "Something large. Foul. Evil."

Bay was crawling behind her. He placed a hand on her back. "You can feel evil through vibrations?"

She shuddered. "The Harmonians can. They evolved in caves. They can sense evil in the depths. They feel the tremors, and they paint a picture in my mind. A vague picture. More a sense than an image. There is great danger ahead."

Bay clenched his fist. "So we'll kill it. Together. That's what we do."

"That's what we do," Rowan repeated, voice soft. "We are killers."

A hiss sounded ahead. Rowan looked up and saw a basilisk wriggling up the tunnel. She fired again and again until it fell down dead. She loaded a fresh magazine.

I will kill everyone in my way. She crawled over the dead alien. Because that is what I do. And that scares me more than all the horrors in these caves.

And as she crawled onward, tears flowed down her cheeks.

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