Page 17 of Doom

Doom

Ishouldn’t have kissed her. Not so soon, and especially not in such precarious circumstances. Even now, as I prowled the abandoned streets, I couldn’t stop thinking about the soft fragility of her body against mine, the sweet taste of her lips, and the enchanting sound of her moans in my ears.

My beautiful Red.

Such courage and devotion to the welfare of others. Most people would have jumped at the opportunity of getting evacuated to a safe area but not my woman. I could see her fear, but her compassion and dedication overrode it.

I needed her safe and far from here. My more developed sense of smell had alerted me the moment we pulled up to the ‘hospital’ that there was at least one big Breeding Swamp in the vicinity. That the Kryptids had not bothered defending the smaller swamp in that hospital made me believe they wanted to use it as a diversion if we got close enough. But the steadily rising stench of rot and putrefaction confirmed the worst of my suspicions. My scanners continued to say there were no humans or Kryptids nearby—aside from Victoria’s place—but I knew it to be a lie.

Grateful my woman had insisted I take the cloaking bracelet, I ran stealthily towards the large, oval building located four blocks away. According to the local map, it served as a sports venue. Considering the low number of residents seen fleeing the city when the invasion began, we had every reason to believe the Kryptids had gotten to them first. Trouble was, we only had forty-eight hours to find and destroy all the Breeding Swamps before the larvae turned into killing machines that could obliterate us. Individually, the Drones weren’t a big threat, but as a Swarm, they were nearly unstoppable. The large human population required our troops to be stretched too thin to cover the planet. The vast majority of our troops had been sent to the Asian continent where the high concentration of people provided the ideal breeding ground for the bugs.

My fears were confirmed as I crossed the last intersection to the stadium. A dozen Kryptids were milling about the building, some unloading humans from a shuttle onto a hovering platform. Judging by the clicking sounds coming from beyond the walls, this Breeding Swamp had been started at least two or three days ago. Which meant this big invasion north of the city had been a diversion to keep us away until it was too late.

“Legion, how are things progressing on your end?”I asked, telepathically.

“Slow. Every time we clear an area, they send more troops behind us, forcing us to backtrack. It doesn’t make sense. There are no humans left for them to capture. Wrath is running some deep scans to figure out what they might be defending in this area.”

“It’s a diversion. There is a massive Breeding Swamp right in front of my current position,”I said, sending him my coordinates through the interface of my bracer.“They have disruptors preventing me from detecting their presence. But the stench is unmistakable, not to mention the number of humans they are hauling in. The larvae have hatched. I can hear their clicking from here. There is no saving the victims. We need to cleanse this immediately.”

I felt Legion curse more than I actually heard it through our mental link. We didn’t have the numbers to spread ourselves thinner, having underestimated the intensity of the attacks in this seemingly small town. We hadn’t expected to spend more than twenty-four hours here, forty-eight at most.

“Something isn’t right,”Legion said.“Even if they are creating a diversion, General Khutu knows we will just bomb any massive swarm he unleashes. So, why the fuck is he sacrificing so many troops up north?”

“I don’t know,”I admitted.“But judging by the size of this stadium and the noise emanating from it, even a bombing will not suffice. The Drones will scatter, and you know how fast they reproduce once they’re set loose.”

“All too well,”Legion grumbled.“I can only spare Rage and Chaos. And even then, it will put us in a tight spot. Wrath won’t be able to give you more than a couple of men. He’s overwhelmed with all those evacuations, and the Terran governments are in too much of a mess to take over the care of those displaced. Wrath is sending some shuttles to that church you found. But he’s not getting to your woman’s hospital tonight. At best, all of us will be with you a little after sunrise tomorrow.”

“Let’s hope it isn’t too late,”I replied.

“Indeed. Legion out.”

I scouted the perimeter to get a better sense of what we would be facing in the morning. It didn’t look good with the access points strictly controlled by design, making it easier for the Kryptids to create choke points for would-be intruders.

But that also means choke points for the Drone Swarm getting out.

That thought gave me a sliver of hope. My hearts went out to the humans still being brought in. They would be devoured alive within minutes of getting dumped inside. But that the Kryptids continued to feed the Drones gave me hope they were still at least a day away from reaching maturity.

A quick look at my armband indicated I’d already been gone an hour. Victoria would be beside herself with worry. Turning on my heel, I hurried the four blocks back to the makeshift hospital. I disabled my cloak right before opening the door. No sooner had it closed behind me than Victoria threw herself into my arms.

She was trembling, the beautiful colors of her aura slightly tarnished by fear. Guilt gnawed at me that I had caused it.

“You’re back,” she whispered into the crook of my neck, as if to convince herself that I was real.

“I promised you I would return,” I said softly.

Victoria nodded, her hold tightening for a second before she released me.

“Sorry to be so clingy,” she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “This whole thing has me kind of freaked, and knowing you were alone out there with all those monsters freaked me out even more. I’m usually much better at handling stressful situations.”

“Do not apologize, my Red,” I said, caressing her fiery mane, which she had finally loosened from its braid. “You are handling it with the courage of a Warrior. Under the current circumstances, most people would have sought shelter for themselves. But you put the welfare of strangers before your own, even after barely escaping capture. You even relinquished the cloak to keepmesafe when it is my duty to protectyou.”

Victoria blushed prettily and averted her eyes, embarrassed. “It was only common sense,” she said with a shrug. “You needed it more than I did. I hope it helped at least.”

“More than you know,” I admitted.

Despite my reluctance to disturb her current sense of peace, Victoria deserved to know the truth of what was brewing nearby. We settled in the recreation area of the retirement home turned hospital where Victoria made us some tea. I gave her a watered-down version of our current situation while eating one of my energy rations. Although he preferred raw meat, Stran also settled for one of my rations. He listened intently then went to park himself by the entrance.

“Do not worry, Victoria,” I said in an appeasing tone. “My brothers will be here in the morning. I have placed motion detectors along the way so that we’ll know immediately should the bugs start moving in our direction. Stran will stand guard for the night. Creckels only need to sleep once every three or four days. We can sleep with the cloak on to be even safer.”

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