The Plague Forge [ARC] Read Free Page A

another assault rifle and thumbed it to explosive rounds.
    “Do it,” he said to Ana.
    She yanked the handle and pushed the door open.
    Skyler stared down a “road” of flattened trees and crumpled foliage. To his left and right, enormous aura towers lumbered along in the same direction the APC headed, knocking over everything in their path as they made their way back to the space elevator.
    Off center, but on the path, a black-armored subhuman sprinted toward him. The creature moved with inhuman speed, augmented no doubt by the strange material that coated its entire body.
    One of Ana’s bombs went off a few meters to its left, and the creature stumbled but hardly broke stride.
    Skyler aimed, a pointless endeavor in the bouncing, jostling vehicle. He pulled the trigger anyway and held it down. The rifle chattered, followed a split second later by a myriad of small flashes around the feet of the creature. Some of the shots went high and exploded into the trees at the side of the carved road. Splinters of wood filled the air behind the subhuman like confetti.
    Finally Skyler got the weapon under control and swung it back toward his target. A round exploded off a clump of dirt just beside the creature, and it dodged left.
    A fatal mistake.
    Just as it stepped one of Ana’s bombs went off, right beneath it. The subhuman cartwheeled into the air, limbs flopping with sickening lifelessness. It landed in a splash of mud, unmoving.
    Ana hooted in victory and rattled off a string of words in Spanish that needed no translation.
    Skyler kept the gun trained on the body until it faded from view. Two more of Ana’s bombs went off before they passed the point where she’d started to drop them on the way in.
    Vanessa weaved the vehicle around a few more aura towers, and then they were clear. The towers were all behind them, making their slow journey back to camp. Skyler guessed it would take them half an hour to reach the base of the Belém Elevator. By contrast, the towers released when he’d picked up the object in Ireland were still weeks away.
    He left the rear door open and set his weapon on the side bench. “Vanessa, let Karl know we’re en route, and to get everyone ready on those barricades.”
    “Already done,” she said. “He said the cord shook a few minutes ago, like before.”
    The second object we’ve picked up, but the third time that’s happened. He didn’t like what that implied.
    The camp had drilled four times in the last two days for the possible return of the aura towers. Portions of the barricade around the camp had been placed on wheeled pallets, and the expected path to the center of camp had been cleared of structures, tents, and vehicles. No one wanted a repeat of the mess their departure had created.
    Skyler leaned under the roof turret, squinting as he looked up. “Pablo, you all right up there?”
    “Uh huh.”
    “You can come down if you want.”
    “I’ll stay. Just in case.”
    “Suit yourself.”
    A moment later Vanessa turned them hard left and gunned the motors. Teeth-rattling bumps turned into a gentle sway as the vehicle transitioned into the potholed road.
    “Help me with this,” Skyler said to Ana. He tugged at the heavy armor on his chest and Ana stepped across the cabin to assist. Together they lifted the bulky plated mass over his head and dumped it on the floor with a deep, dull thud.
    “That’s better,” he said, and leaned his head back against the wall. The rush and chaos of battle behind them, Skyler’s thoughts turned almost immediately back to Tania. The sacrifice she’d made so that he would have enough air to survive. The sight of her drawing that last tiny breath before her oxygen ran out.
    He felt the sting of tears and willed them away. A familiar hollowness slithered into his gut, something he’d foolishly hoped would fade with the distraction of a mission.
    Ana, uncanny in her ability to sense the shifts in his mood, took a seat next to him on the bench,