The Last Bastion of the Living (The Last Bastion #1)(55)

“We’re looking good. All units are transmitting,” Denman informed Omondi.

The tiny sensors and cameras in their helmets would keep Denman and the SWD informed of their every movement.

Maria adjusted her bolt weapon beside her and glanced up the row of soldiers. The bravado was dissipating in the face of the actual deployment and she saw a few people whispering prayers. Crossing herself, she said her own silent prayer and closed her eyes.

A tremor ran through the personnel carrier as the tiltrotor latched onto the roof. The whine of the engines and the propellers beating the air was muffled by her helmet. Maria opened her eyes and glanced through the front window. As the tiltrotor lifted off, the world tilted to one side and the SWD facility came into view. Every window was filled with people watching the takeoff.

“Into the crucible,” Omondi said hushed voice.

It was early morning on a Sunday. Not many people would be out in the streets of The Bastion. Their passage over the wall might not even be noted. Maria had seen the flight path and knew they were keeping it as low as possible to avoid too many sightings. Despite all the proclamations of the president, the mission was still top secret.

As the tiltrotor continued to angle away from the SWD headquarters, The Bastion came into view, gray in the gloom of the morning. The sun was barely beginning to peek over the summits of the mountains and darkness still filled the city streets. The lights in the government facility seemed to blaze in the darkened city. Maria knew that the president and his cabinet were probably watching the live feed transmitted from their helmets.

She felt eerily apart from the world, separated not only by the empty space below the tiltrotor and its heavy cargo, but by the grayish pallor of her skin, lack of breath, and quiet of her heart. Stillness filled her. Whereas before she would have been fighting her nerves, keeping her breathing regulated, and trying to calm a wildly beating heart, she was now in perfect quiet within her armor and helmet. The faces of her companions were contemplative behind the plastic of their visors. She wondered if they felt the same way, too. The SWD had made sure that the Boon were isolated from the rest of the facility. Even the pilots in the tiltrotor carrying them over the wall had no inkling of what they now were.

“We’re Inferi Boon!” Maria said, her voice thick with passion.

Each soldier slammed one foot down and let out a war cry.

“Nothing can stop us!”

Another stomp and a cry.

“We will destroy the Scrags!”

Boom!

“We will free our people!”

Boom!

“We will not fail!”

Boom!

Cheers erupted and the silence fell away with its stifling deadness. Omondi grinned at Maria and gave her a thumbs up. Chatter started up among the soldiers, smack talk mostly, but it killed the quiet.

Denman glanced over his shoulder at her and nodded his head. She wasn’t sure what he was approving of, so she gave him a quick nod back.

The tiltrotor banked again. Outside of the cockpit windows, the huge Maelstrom Platforms on the wall were an imposing sight. The tiltrotor sailed right between two of them and the world beyond The Bastion swung into view. The crowds of the Scourge were dark waves rippling across the valley.

“Damn,” Cruz muttered. “That’s a whole lot of Scrags to kill.”

McKinney grunted. “I’ll kill half on my own. I don’t need you *s.”

“You better leave the other half for me!” Jameson’s voice was a little high-pitched with excitement. “I’m getting myself a pool with my house!”

“I’m eyeballing a hot tub myself,” Mikado chimed in. “Me and Cruz are going to sit back and soak in a hot tub of champagne when this is all over.”

“Don’t include me in your plans. I’m going to be too busy riding my electro-car around blasting my stereo,” Cruz shot back.

The voices of the forty men and women anxiously waiting to set down filled her headset as they joked and ribbed each other. It was the best way to keep anxiety down before they landed. Soon they would be on the ground and speeding toward the gate.

The roar of the Maelstrom Platforms’ opening fire drew everyone’s attention forward. As the tiltrotor began to descend, the Scourge rushing toward the vehicle were destroyed by the barrage from the wall. Bodies dissolved as they were shredded by the Maelstrom Platform rounds. Blood clouds filled the air and the wipers on the cockpit windows of the personnel carrier cleared the red mist from the glass. Special Constable Jes Cormier, the driver, glanced over at Omondi.

“It’s going to be messy down there,” Cormier stated.

“We knew it would be,” Omondi answered.

“Those guns are f*cking awesome!” Jameson exclaimed as the Maelstrom Platforms continued to vaporize the Scourge rushing toward the tiltrotor and its cargo.

“Tiltrotors going silent in five seconds, Cormier. Get ready to roll,” Omondi ordered.

Maria braced herself for the landing. The tiltrotor released the carrier and flew upward. A second later, the personnel carrier landed in the thick paste of the pulverized Scourge. The engine roared to life and Cormier slammed it into gear. The carrier treads sunk deep into the bloody mud before finding traction and surging forward. Maria quickly swiveled her chair around, summoning her console. It flipped out of the floor and over her lap. The radar and cameras on the outside of the carrier revealed a mass of Scourge heading toward them.