The Colony Read Free Page B

the ready while adjusting his aim to the general.
    “ Please.” the older man said, holding his hands up a bit.
    Determined to get answers, however, Jack remained dedicated with his weapon. Until he noticed a small child approaching them, followed by several more survivors.
    Finally lowering his weapon but never losing sight of his chilled stare onto the general, Jack nodded a bit.
    “ Start talking.”
    “ We call them demons. Succubus. But the truth is we're not sure what they are.” the general said.
    “ Sounds about right to me,” Bronson yelled, still trembling a bit from fear. “Fuck sakes!”
    “ Bronson,” Jack replied, staring to the man while thinking of the children looking on. “Shut up.”
    “ We were colonizing, doing things according to protocol, and honestly, everything was going smoothly,” the general added. “Then one day, people started missing. At first we suspected our own as though a criminal lived among us, but we began to see this demon. Very tall, very pale. Wings.”
    “ Wings?” Jack asked with suspicion.
    “ Yes wings,” the general replied firmly. “Not made of feathers, mind you, but steel. Sharp as blades.” he confirmed. “I finally convinced the others to pull back closely so we could better watch our people, but then the succubus creatures began come here. They don't fear us, don't fear weaponry. They just come here and murder.”
    “ You said they...how many are we talking about?” Jack asked.
    “ We still aren't sure. Maybe just a handful, maybe dozens,” the general replied. “Maybe more.” he said with regret.
    “ Don't matter how many,” Bronson added, his normal calm beginning to settle back in a bit. “We encountered just one. Chopped Avery up into pieces with its wings and damn near got me.”
    Jackson looked at him for a moment, trying his best to soak up the entire statement, before finally turning back to the general, who now had all of the survivors behind him.
    “And you didn't once try and radio for help?” Jackson asked.
    “ Of course we did. When everything first began, we tried. We did everything we could to get a transmission through this damn rain,” the general responded. “As a last ditch effort, we sent a group out to try and trigger the distress beacon on the far side of the colony. But they never returned.”
    “ Your group did you proudly, our ships picked up your beacon several days ago. That's why we're here.” Jack replied.
    “ We didn't know what else to do, so the general and I moved our children here. We wanted to keep them safe. Their parents agreed to fight the demons long enough for us to get here, and we've been locked in ever since.” the female survivor said, her voice warm but desperate.
    “ Julia, it's alright. I'm sure we are to be safe soon enough.” the general replied.
    “ Well you were right to bring the children here. This building acts as a fallout shelter, and I assume that the general's training served you well in this case.” Jack said.
    The general simply nodded, priding himself with being such a resourceful soldier.
    “The bad news is, however,” Jack said with pause. “Help may not be on the way. At least no time soon.”
    “ I don't understand?” Julia asked.
    “ Well ma'am, the ship we have in orbit is a small marine vessel. What you see in front of you, plus the six aboard our ship in orbit.” Jack replied.
    “ Can't you call for help?” she asked.
    “ No ma'am. Less than a minute after hitting the atmosphere, we lost all ability to communicate with the ship in orbit. The same rain that stopped your calls for help I'm guessing.”
    “ Won't they eventually send more soldiers to look for you?” Julia asked, her concerns growing deeper.
    “ Eventually, yes. But the mandatory time frame is thirty-days, at which point they'll dispatch an Earth Defense Carrier to come find us.” Jack replied.
    “ Any mech units on your ship?” the general asked.
    “ Two, but they're engineering