Til Valhalla by Richard Fox

Author:Richard Fox [Fox, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Triplane Press
Published: 2019-07-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Rain pattered against the Armor as they made their way through palm trees and thick underbrush that came up past their knees. They filed one after the other so their tracks would mask their numbers. Lightning cracked across the darkening sky as a storm rolled in.

“Something was dragged through here.” Digger motioned to their right. “Big. Cargo pod maybe. Temperature variance in the soil…plants don’t sway right in the wind either.”

Sigmund stopped a dozen yards from the base of a steep incline. “This is the place,” he said. “Now we hurry up and wait.”

“How long we going to play ‘I have a secret’?” Digger asked. “Roy. Cut the bull and tell us what this is.”

“I don’t know either.” He tilted his helm up as fat drops of rain pelted against his optics. “Must be above my paygrade.”

“It was above my paygrade until we took off in that damn box,” Sigmund said. “The locals may be skittish.”

“Locals? No one lives on this rock but colorful birds and lizards,” Digger said. “I didn’t plan on surviving the Damocles, but if we’re going to get Lord of the Flies out here, we might as well—”

Tink tink

Digger looked down at her feet and to a man in camouflaged power armor. The suit was bulky across the shoulders, thick plates of graphenium armor molded over the layer of pseudo muscles that augmented the wearer’s strength to nearly superhuman levels. Anti-armor grenades were mag-locked to the man’s chest, and he held a gauss rifle in one hand, pointed toward the ground. A dark visor looked up at Digger and the man gave her a little wave.

“Friendly,” he called up.

“Fuck me running! How did you sneak up like that?” Digger’s hands curled into fists.

“Lieutenant Ken Hale, Atlantic Union Strike Marines.” The man pointed to the mountainside. “Love to chat, but Captain Acera sent me out to make positive ID—can’t be too careful out here—and get you inside before Chi-com can pick you up. Let’s go, yeah?”

The Marine shouldered his rifle and hurried through the brush.

“Hale,” Roy said as the Armor followed. “Small world.”

“I know that voice.” Hale did a double take over his shoulder. “Hey…you made it. Got your plugs. I got my globe and anchor. All’s right with the world.”

“Old home week can wait,” Sigmund said.

There was a rumble through the ground and a section of the rock wall pressed back from the face and slid to one side, revealing a dark tunnel.

“You’re kidding me,” Digger said.

“You Yanks built a secret base…in a volcano,” Payne said.

“Dead volcano,” Hale said, raising a finger. “Important to note. You might have to duck a bit to get to the dock, but you’ll manage.”

“Dock?” Roy was the last through the entrance.

Hale punched keys and the door slid back into place.

“Good thing the hydraulics are working. Real bitch to move back into place without them, even with my suit,” Hale said and slid the visor of his helmet up to the top of his head. He was young, barely into his twenties, and with mixed Asian features.

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