The Last Bastion of the Living (The Last Bastion #1)(65)

“…twenty…twenty-one…twenty-two…twenty-three...”

A few members of the squad began to laugh.

“…twenty-four…twenty-five…”

“Stop!” Holm cried out.

Omondi grinned, not winded, not tired, and lifted his bolt weapon over his head in triumph before sliding it back in its sheath. “How many was that?”

“Twenty-five,” Jameson said, impressed.

“Each and every one of you can do that number or better. With the Inferi Scourge packed so tightly together, it makes killing them easier.” Omondi rejoined the group. “There are forty of us. Multiply that twenty-five by forty.”

“One thousand,” Holm said, clearly startled.

“We can kill a thousand Scrags in one minute. One thousand. Let that sink into your minds. A thousand Scrags. In one minute. How many can we kill in one hour? In one day? In one month?” Omondi laughed heartily. “I’ve stunned you. Of course, not every situation around the valley will give us a prime killing ground such as this where they’re packed so close together. Also, we have to salvage what we can from the bodies and burn them. So our numbers decrease significantly. But we can clear this valley in a matter of months.”

The grins and nods of the squad coaxed a smile out of Maria. Omondi was quite good at stirring up good solid morale. The soldiers stood around him as he rolled a screen out on the ground and the holographic display of the valley appeared.

“We work each grid until they’re cleared. We will start in this area since it’s closest to the gate.”

Maria listened as Omondi continued to lay out their mission. She knew it by heart, but she feigned attention. Soon the valley would be dotted with collapsible bins filled with anything of use they discovered on the bodies. They would be stacked neatly for later delivery to the city.

The dead moaned and swayed. In the distance the howling Scourge were still assaulting the personnel carrier. And beyond them, the city walls rose, impenetrable and imposing. There was no going home until the mission was done.

Her conversation with Dwayne the night before still haunted her. She was bothered by the constant breakdowns in the city in the years since the gate failed. Yes, the city was aging and so were the mechanisms that kept it running, but Maria wondered if people were still actively trying to find a way to exterminate humanity. She couldn’t even begin to fathom why humans would actively seek to destroy other humans, yet she had witnessed that very act. Even more disturbing was the realization that after the last known pockets of humanity had been airlifted to The Bastion, other humans had remained alive outside. Was it possible that there were yet humans in the world beyond the valley struggling to survive against the Inferi Scourge?

Gripping her weapon, Maria refocused her attention on Omondi as he finished detailing the plans.

“We have a long day ahead of us. Let’s get moving. Next break is in four hours,” Omondi finished. He deactivated the holographic projection and folded up the screen. Tucking it into his jacket, he gave the squad a brief nod before walking over to Maria. He was taller and more powerfully-built than any of the other soldiers, yet there was an unexpected fragility in his gaze. Maria was learning to read his moods and this morning she suspected he was deeply troubled by their discovery of the gate’s sabotage. She had transmitted the recordings to the SWD, but they had yet to respond. At least not so far as she knew. Omondi had not said anything to her if they had.

“Ready for the day, Vanguard Martinez?” Omondi asked.

“Absolutely, Chief Defender Omondi,” she answered.

“Then let us begin.” Omondi pulled his bolt weapon from its holster on his back.

“I’m right behind you.” Maria echoed his actions and tailed him to a cluster of Scourge.

The first few kills were jarring. Maria hadn’t expected to feel anything but relief at dispatching the creatures that had killed humanity. Instead, she almost felt as though she were betraying them. The creatures were docile when not riled to frenzy by the presence of humans. Their vacant eyes and soft moans gave them the appearance of bewilderment. Their eyes tended to roll about as the bolt weapons were fired, seeking the source of the sound. Maria wondered if they understood in any capacity that they were in danger. Though their eyes shifted in their sockets and a few Scourge looked around in confusion, none attacked.

Gradually, Maria was piecing together the truth about the Scourge. When in an overexcited state, any activity that could be associated with humans was enough to provoke them to attack. The squad had been speaking in very low voices to avoid activating the Scourge into hunting mode. The undead in torpor didn’t even register the squad’s presence. Maria strongly suspected that those attacking the carrier wouldn’t respond in the same manner. She was certain they would attack anything they suspected was human. Hearing a human voice would draw the attention of the rampaging creatures, but not those in torpor.

Her bolt weapon discharged and an old man crumpled to her feet. Stepping over him, Maria pressed the end of her weapon against the base of the skull of an adolescent boy and fired. The boy fell and she moved on to a middle-aged woman. All around her Scourge fell to the ground in final death. They didn’t fight back. They didn’t run. They just died. For so long the Scourge had been the monsters of her nightmares, but seeing them this close, she now also saw them as the sad victims of a devastating virus.