The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(60)

Lindsey glanced over her shoulder as the screen revealed a dummy wearing the stealth suit. The armor gave the dummy the appearance of water contained in the shape of a human when it switched on, then blended into the surroundings. Inferi Scourge were dispatched into the testing room a few seconds later. The Scrags were slightly riled from being transported, but soon stilled while letting out mild, questioning screeching noises. The dummy’s legs and arms started to move slowly, gradually picking up speed to imitate the gait of a person. Abruptly, a Scrag let loose a shriek and attacked the dummy. The others instantly followed.

The squad members stared intently past Lindsey and Torran at the screen. Lindsey let them absorb what they’d seen, then said, “If the Scrags somehow manage to remove a part of your armor, you’re dead and a Scrag.”

Torran stepped in front of the screen as it went blank. “The suits were made for the sole purpose of resisting bites and keeping you hidden from the Scrags should you end up in close proximity to them, so you’re not bullet and shrapnel proof. Remember that.”

“It’s not like the Scrags will be shooting us,” someone muttered.

Lindsey and Torran exchanged looks. As far as anyone knew, the Abscrags were now all dead. The valley was close to being completely cleared for resettlement and there had been no sign of the clever variation of Scrags.

“No, not likely, but we should remain vigilant,” Torran finally said. “We will need to clear each food facility before transport of the supplies can begin. If the facility is breached, then you will activate your stealth suits.”

“Your weapons will have the same cloaking ability. A small electrical charge begins the cycle of invisibility. You will be trained on how to use this tech.” Lindsey set her hands at her waist and regarded the group, studying each face. She was satisfied to see they were attentive. “Our goal is to not make the natives too restless. Once the squad dispatches from the tiltrotor, we will immediately secure the depot. Once the storage area is cleared, we will extract as many food containers as possible before the situation becomes too perilous.”

“And it will become perilous very quickly.” Torran pointed to the screen as it flashed to life and showed old footage of a food depot that had been an evacuation point. Despite the concrete and fortified fences, the perimeter collapsed and the depot was swarmed, thousands of evacuees being lost in a matter of minutes. “This is what we can expect. We are talking about hordes of Scrags that number in the hundreds of thousands. Gates and walls will not hold against them for long. Most of the food depots were built to keep out marauding humans, not creatures that don’t give a care as to whether or not they’re crushed to death in a stampede.”

For the first time, Lindsey saw the squad reacting with frightened looks. Maybe it was memories of their own skirmishes with the Scrags that made them uncomfortable, or maybe it was sympathy for the long lost victims, but they looked disturbed and maybe a little afraid. “Do not waver from your assignment. We must work like the intricate pieces of a machine. Dependent on one another to make all the forays into the dead world a success.”

Stepping closer to Lindsey, Torran said, “Forget the SWD and Constabulary rivalry. This is about more than petty squabbles. This is about saving humanity. The Inferi Boon Special Ops were both Constabulary and SWD and they’re the reason we’re about to finally start to resettle the valley. Soon, farmers will be harvesting crops because of the sacrifices of the Inferi Boon. We honor their memory by making this mission a success. By ensuring humanity survives.”

There was a solemn silence among the squad members. No sarcastic comments or mocking looks were exchanged. It was a nice shift from the usual hostile atmosphere that existed when Constabulary and SWD were in close quarters.

“Training begins tomorrow at 0800 hours. We’ll see you in Training Room Five. Dismissed.” Torran’s Scottish accent was heavy, and the usual twinkle in his eyes was missing.

Lindsey stepped aside to observe the departing squad. The faces of the soldiers of all genders and various races were sober and thoughtful as they filed out. When the doors shut behind the group, Torran pivoted toward Lindsey.

“Fuck, they look young,” he groused.

“Or maybe we’re prematurely old,” Lindsey suggested with a wry smile.

Torran pulled his pad out of his pocket and irritably stabbed at it with one finger. “At least they were all attentive. I didn’t see any wandering eyes.”

“I’m concerned about the Sci-Techs though. Did you see them shifting uncomfortably during the discussion of the armor?”

“Yeah, but that could be based on the fact they’ve never had to wear armor before. Or because they’ve never been in any sort of battle. Tomorrow will give us a better idea about how they’ll cope.” Torran shook his head. “We’ve got six days to make it work.”

Tugging her own pad out of her pocket, Lindsey called up the preliminary reports gathered for the mission planning. “I hate that we’re going to Beta City first. There’s going to be a high concentration of Scrags around the depot due to it being near the final evac site.”

“There will be two fence lines between us and the Scrags. It’ll slow them down.”

Lindsey’s fingers glided over the slick surface as she ran various time estimates. “The fences will come down for certain.”