Deathwatch (The Faded Earth Book 1)(15)
Eshton lashed out suddenly, thrusting the staff into the chest of the Pale at the far right of the line. It tried to react, to save itself and find its balance, but its stumble took it off the slightly raised section of path. Its arms wheeled in the air as it fell backward and flopped down the hill a dozen paces.
The rest of the pack didn’t react at all. They stood. They watched.
That wasn’t right. The Fade made a host of biological changes happen to the infected, one of which was a ravenous attraction to the pheromones of healthy humans. It maddened them with hunger. Eshton’s suit was a closed system, but it only went one way. Unless it was in full containment, the vents pushed out waste gasses. These things should be smelling his scent and losing their minds with hunger. He’d seen it enough on one wall or another.
Yet they waited. A few of them fidgeted, pure white skin tightening around the eyes and mouth as if under great strain. What reason could they have for holding back? If death was something Pales had the capacity to fear, they would never come near members of the Deathwatch. Certainly these wouldn’t have climbed the hill.
Eshton moved forward cautiously, holding his staff in both hands. Melee weapons were always the best first option since the greatly enhanced strength of his suit would allow him to sweep aside a handful of enemies with one attack.
The Pales moved with him, keeping a space open as he tried to approach.
“That’s just bizarre,” Stein said from her perch observing from above. “Hmm. I have a thought. Try to move straight through them, like you want to get down to the ruins.”
Eshton complied, surging forward and bringing the staff in a wide sweep ahead of him. The enemies directly in front of him leaped to either side, but the rest of the group closed in at once. Dirty fingers clasped his armor at shoulder and elbows, favorite places to gain leverage. The unnatural strength slowed him considerably and reduced his range of motion nearly to zero.
“Oh, no,” Stein said in a voice filled with so much fear that he was unsure if she even meant to broadcast the words. “They’re trying to keep us here.”
Eshton, still calm as he slowly peeled off the grasping hands by snapping fingers, was about to ask why they would bother when the emergency channel on his HUD flashed red and a broadcast slammed into his ears at full volume.
The other teams, the ones searching for the Pale nest. They were under attack.
*
Stein, Perkins, and Green moved down the hill at speeds dangerous for their bulky forms. Stein swept through the line of Pales without slowing, blade thudding into—and through—chalk-white bodies as she rushed forward.
“Come on!” she said over the team channel. “Knock them aside if you have to, and stay on my ass!”
Eshton obeyed, cranking his suit up to full strength and swinging the staff with everything he had. The Pales, suddenly aware they were facing four determined killers bent on moving through them no matter what, parted.
The team hustled down the ramp and toward the marker indicated on their map. Eshton mentally berated himself for not realizing sooner that it was a delay. How many of the other teams had given in to their curiosity to do the same?
“All units converge on the distress beacon if you aren’t already,” Stein said over the common channel. “We have Watchmen down.”
It was true. Two of the eight dots on Eshton’s map were red and flashing. His blood ran cold. Compromised armor could mean anything from a hairline crack to the people inside being scooped out in bloody chunks. Judging by how tightly they were clustered, he wasn’t putting any bets on this all being some hilarious misunderstanding.
They reached the ruins and ran between buildings, all colors and materials rendered a uniform pale orange by accumulations of dust. Stein led them down an alley between what had once been two large storage facilities for the military installation here. The walls were rent in places, rectangular blocks missing where men or Pales had knocked out sections to search the inside.
Stein passed one such hole and a white body lurched from it to clamp onto her armor, beating on it furiously. She rocked under the weight; Pales already weighed twice what they should for their size and this one was a monster nearly six and a half feet tall.
Eshton tried to jab the enormous beast in the head with his staff but even latched onto Stein it ducked and weaved with remarkable dexterity. Its massive hands gripped her helmet and squeezed, the metal and carbon fiber faintly keening as the material strained to hold together. The Pale slammed its forehead into her face once, twice, then a third time, causing a wide crack to form from the top of the helmet down to the chin.
The move cost the Pale its maneuverability. Perkins stepped in and thrust the tip of her blade beneath the Pale’s ribs, shoving up and in viciously. For all their density and stony skin, the things were still human adjacent. They could no more suffer two feet of sharp steel wandering through their internal organs than the next man.
The massive body dropped. Stein fell back against the wall, pawing at her ruined helmet.
Eshton stepped up and gently pushed her hands away. “Ma’am, let me help. Without your HUD, you can’t see the indicators.”
Stein lowered her hands and nodded. Eshton pushed the emergency release triggers and twisted slightly before lifting the helmet up. The Warden was unhurt, but naked fury etched lines in her face. “These fucking things have been planning this. I need a helmet.”