Page 44 of Doom

“I will expect an encore on a regular basis,” I said, my voice slurring as sleep began to claim me.

“As often as you want, my love,” Doom said in a purring voice against my ear.

Chapter 15

Doom

With all of Canada and half of the United States finally cleansed and reclaimed by the human population, we’d spent the past couple of days sweeping through New Mexico. Finding only small pockets of bugs that we dispatched in a blink, our unit decided to split up to cover a greater distance in less time. After many more hours of scouting, with little action to get excited over, Fury, Stran, and I elected to set up camp for a few hours of shut-eye by a mountain range southeast of Alamogordo.

Having already slept alongside us two days ago, the Creckel wouldn’t need any rest for another couple of days. As was his wont, he took off to patrol the area and to potentially find some prey to eat, preferring fresh, raw meat to our Warrior rations.

Fury gestured for me to go ahead and unwind while he set up a security perimeter for us, not that we really needed one with Stran keeping watch. I gratefully accepted his offer, which was in fact his way of saying to psychically poke my wife and child as he knew I did every chance I got.

Despite Victoria’s inability to soulcatch, her telepathic abilities had grown enough to allow us to remain in contact no matter how far I traveled within North America to wage battle. My Little Red was my drug. Only the adrenaline rush and bloodlust of battle could temporarily push my longing for my mate’s presence at the back of my mind. And now, our son had become just as big an addiction.

For a soul so young, his brain still underdeveloped, his psychic abilities were already off the charts, way beyond my brothers’ and my levels in the final stages of our incubation. We didn’t know if it was due to his mother taking the enzyme treatment, the almost constant psychic interaction he benefited from with all of my brothers vying for a chance to touch minds with him, or the fact that he was the first to experience a full, natural gestation in the womb after his soul has sparked, surrounded by the nurturing love of his mother. I suspected it was a mix of all of the above. Whatever the cause, it allowed me to communicate with him, even this far away.

After spending a few moments mind-speaking with my Red and telling her how much I missed her, I brushed minds with our son. I would never tire of the explosion of love and happiness that he always projected my way whenever I did. As he would not get to grow up on Earth, I’d taken to showing him images of the places I visited as part of the war—at least whenever they hadn’t been turned to ruins. I transmitted images of the nearby mountain range, the valley surrounding it, and the purplish hue of the sun setting on the horizon.

The persistent cawing of a crow in the distance drew my attention. No, not a crow, a raven. The sound was deeper and more musical than the scratchy caw of a crow. The bird—correction, birds—were bigger and diving in a way that spelled aggression before soaring and attacking again.

Frowning, I gave my son a gentle psychic caress before disconnecting from his mind. My short-range scanners didn’t indicate the presence of any creature big enough to pose a threat to the birds. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but seeing nothing on the scanners could mean an active disrupter.

“Stran, there’s something fishy over here,”I mind-spoke to my companion, projecting the image of the ravens still attacking on the other side of a small mound, preventing me from seeing their target.

Just as I was reaching for Fury, he mind-spoke to me, having noticed the unusual behavior as well. Turning on my cloaking shield, I shifted into battle form moments before I caught up to Fury who had already been close to our destination while setting up the perimeter alarms.

We circled around the rock outcropping only to freeze in place, stunned by the sight of a young Kryptid Soldier collapsed on the ground, his body shaken with spasms as the ravens dove to stab at him with their beaks and claws. From where we stood, it appeared one of the birds had gotten a lucky shot at him early on, striking him at the base of his spine, thus paralyzing him.

“What the fuck is he doing here?”Fury telepathically asked, echoing the question that had just popped into my mind.

The rock formation led to a slightly recurved dead-end where the ravens had built their nest on top of the cliff. Our scanners still showed nothing, confirming there was a disruptor in the area—which probably meant a Swamp.

Right on cue, a pair of Kryptids seemed to walk out of the rocky façade of the cliff, energy shields up to parry the attacks of the birds as they rushed to drag their wounded companion to safety.

“Fuck me!”Fury muttered, drawing his weapon.

Dropping our stealth cloaks, we opened fire on the two Kryptids who had left themselves vulnerable to us by holding their shields above their heads, not realizing that the biggest threat didn’t come from above but from fifty meters in front of them. Their squeals of both pain and surprise alerted their companions inside the cave, cleverly dissimulated by an optical illusion from the rock face of the cliff. But only one more Kryptid came out to investigate the cause of the ruckus. I doubted he ever realized what hit him as Fury shot a well-placed mouth dart through his eye, which punched right through the back of his skull.

The ravens immediately stopped both their cawing and their attack. It was eerie watching them settle on the cliff and silently stare at us with their beady black eyes. Known as one of the smartest birds on Earth, fiercely protective of its young, and loyal to a single mate for life, they seemed to recognize us as allies against the bugs.

Treading carefully, we approached the entrance of the cave under their intense watch just as Stran came rolling in. Immediately understanding the situation, the Creckel set himself on all fours and advanced in a non-threatening fashion. He spit some acid onto the faces of the first three Kryptids still writhing on the ground to finish them off.

Only a few steps in the cave, the rotten smell of a Swamp still in its early stages slapped us. The cliff creating a natural barrier and the relatively strong wind outside had kept it from reaching us. Sure enough, a disruptor sat near the entrance of the poorly lit cave, not that it was any problem for us with our perfect night vision. As soon as I turned off the device, the short-range scanner on my bracer lit up, outlining the sizeable cave within and fifty or so Drone eggs.

There were no other Kryptids within, only two dozen humans and a mix of pets and wild animals all implanted with Mexlar. This Swamp reeked of desperation, the Kryptids having scraped to set it up, mindless in continuing to execute the last order they’d been given before General Khutu abandoned them. We didn’t know whether there were other Krytipds out there scavenging for more victims to feed the Breeding Swamp. If they returned, we’d greet them in an appropriate fashion.

“Tina, we need transport to evacuate some humans,”I mind-spoke to my Soulcatcher.

Along with Soulcatchers of the other Warriors of our unit, they were hovering in a stealth ship at a central distance from the four teams of three we’d split into.

“Sending a shuttle,”she replied.

Our girls were still a long way from being able to join us on the battlefield, but they were paving the way for the next generation that would follow in their steps and helping us refine the Soulcatcher program.

While Stran began working on hauling the eggs at the back of the cave, Fury and I went to work on removing the implants in both the human and animal victims.

“No fucking way!” Fury whispered, making my head jerk up.

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