It was the Hive.
I stepped over the dead bodies of two Hive Scouts, identifiable by their smaller size. The Scouts were hard to deal with. The Soldiers were damn near impossible unless you had the high ground or a group of Atlan warlords fighting on your side.
I had neither, but I rushed for the main entrance. Ruk had chosen the doorway to make his stand. With the narrow entrance, he could control how many of the Hive he had to fight at once.
“How many?” I yelled.
“Twelve,” Ruk yelled back moments before crouching low to dodge a blaster shot. Claws extended, he swiped at the abdomen of the Hive Soldier nearest him. By his angular features and copper-colored skin, I knew that Soldier had been a Prillon warrior. No more. The Soldier’s armor gave way, and his gut ripped open at the force of Ruk’s attack. The Hive Soldier didn’t even blink. It was as if he felt nothing. No pain. No emotion. Nothing. He just kept coming.
By the gods, I fucking hated fighting these things.
I moved to position several steps behind Ruk, my rifle pointed at the doors. I was an excellent shot. When Ruk ducked or moved to either side, I would take out as many of them as I could.
I had my opening before I even had my feet set on the floor. I fired.
Direct hit. The bright energy from the ion blast enveloped the Hive Soldier’s entire head. As quickly as the light exploded, it was gone. The Hive Soldier remained. Completely intact.
Again and again I fired. Head. Chest. Legs. Nothing worked. It was like I was simply shining a light in their direction.
They should have gone down with the first hit.
“Fuck!”
“New armor!” Ruk shouted. “Blasters won’t work.”
“New armor. New fucking armor.” Dropping my blasters at my feet, I pulled my knives free from their sheaths, one on each thigh.
“Cormac?” Abby’s panicked voice filled my helmet. “Cormac? Are you all right? What’s happening?”
I didn’t dare tell her the truth. Ruk and I were facing off with the strongest fighters the Hive could produce, and we were down at least six to one.
But I had adaptive armor, too. Their blaster shots would hurt, but they wouldn’t take me down. And Ruk? Those ion blasts would do little more than make him angry.
Six to one. I liked those odds.
“Everything is fine, Abby. Our arrival must have triggered a sensor.”
“A Hive sensor?”
“Yes. Stay put. Ruk and I are handling it. I’m turning off my comms. I’ll come get you when it’s over.”
I couldn’t afford to be distracted by her voice at a critical moment. I had to kill these fuckers as quickly as possible and get her out of here before more of them showed up.
* * *
Abby
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I paced in front of Enzo’s prison cell. I knew that if I had to, I could release him. I was fairly confident he would protect me. Not one hundred percent, but like ninety-five. That was pretty good.
Stryck, aka Thumper, was still going strong. Thethump, thump, thumpdid absolutely nothing to calm my frazzled nerves. The elevator ride had been bad enough. I’d grabbed onto anything I could find as the freefall to the lower levels had almost buckled my knees. I’d forgotten what it was like riding in that stupid thing. And it was damn near impossible without Cormac there to help hold me up.
“What is happening?” Enzo asked.
I saw no reason not to tell him. “Apparently we triggered some kind of Hive alarm. Cormac says there are twelve of them, and they have some kind of new armor that he’s not too happy about.”
“Free us, Abby. Do it now.”
“You know I can’t do that.” Not unless it was the only way to save Cormac. Then I would do it in a heartbeat and take my chances, promise or no promise. I would not allow Cormac to die. No way. He was mine. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. None of it.” I fought back tears and knew I was going to fail miserably. “Not the stupid bomb or the escape pod or you guys or the stupid Hive. None of it.”