Earthfall: Retribution (12 page)

She was just about to head back off the base when the hangar doors on the opposite side of the landing pad began to rumble slowly open. She watched as a second helicopter, identical to the one in which Sam had just left, was towed out on to the pad by a small tractor-like vehicle. Mag frowned slightly as two soldiers walked out of the hangar, flanking a figure wearing wrist and leg shackles, with a black bag over their head. The soldiers pushed the prisoner up the loading ramp and a few seconds later the helicopter started to lift off. However, instead of pulling away it hovered in place above the pad. Then Mag noticed the cables dangling from the cargo hook on the machine’s belly.

A moment later the tractor reappeared towing a trailer with a large steel crate on the back of it. As the trailer drew to a halt beneath the helicopter, more soldiers ran out from the hangar and attached the cables to mounts on top of the crate. Suddenly there was a loud metallic clang from the crate as something slammed against the walls inside.

Mag felt a cold sensation in the pit of her stomach as the scent hit her nostrils.

The unmistakeable animal stench of the Vore.

The soldiers quickly finished attaching the cables and one of them gave a thumbs-up to the pilot, whose head was just visible, poking out of the cockpit window above them. A moment later the crate lifted up off the trailer, swinging beneath the massive helicopter like a pendulum as it began to climb into the air. Mag made a split-second decision as the helicopter began to turn towards her, heading for the perimeter fence. She leapt to her feet, sprinting across the gravel roof of the building, picking up speed. The crate passed by three metres above her and she leapt with all her new-found animal strength, slamming into the side with a bang, her claws fighting for purchase on the hard surface. She grabbed desperately for the top edge of the crate as the helicopter cleared the perimeter fence and began to pick up speed. There was a moment of panic as Mag felt herself starting to lose her grip, and she gave a low bestial growl, using every ounce of her strength to pull herself up. She flattened herself to the top of the steel box, holding tight on to the cable mounts as the wind speed increased. She realised she had no idea where the helicopter was headed or why they were transporting live Vore, but her gut told her that it was no coincidence that they had taken off straight after the helicopter carrying Sam. She closed her eyes against the stinging high-speed winds, praying that she would have the strength to hang on long enough for them to reach their destination, wherever that may be.

Rachel squeezed the trigger, the butt of her rifle kicking hard against her shoulder. The short burst tore a neat hole in the centre of the paper target at the other end of the firing range. In her mind’s eye the target was one of the nightmarish creatures they’d discovered in Edinburgh, charging towards her and then cut down in the hail of her bullets. She had finally given in to Dr Stirling’s repeated requests for more information about the things, but reliving the memories of that night had left her feeling angry and frustrated. She had always found the firing range an excellent means of stress relief, but even that wasn’t really working today. Nat approached as Rachel emptied her clip and placed the rifle down on the wooden counter in front of her, a tiny curl of gun smoke rising from the barrel.

‘Not lost your edge, I see,’ Nat said with a slight smile as she looked at the tightly grouped bullet holes in the target at the far end of the range. Rachel had always been the best shot of any of them, much to Jay and Jack’s frustration.

‘Just keeping my eye in,’ Rachel said. ‘Never know when the shooting’s going to start again.’

‘Yeah, I suppose,’ Nat replied. ‘Though I’ve kind of got used to things being quieter. Can’t say that I was ever a massive fan of the whole bullets and explosions side of things.’

‘Don’t tell Jack that – he might lose interest,’ Rachel said, raising an eyebrow.

‘I wish he would,’ Nat said with a laugh. They all knew that Jack had a crush on her, mainly due to the fact that he seemed to lose the power of coherent speech when she was around. Unfortunately for him it was also painfully obvious that Nat didn’t feel quite the same way.

‘I suppose Jay asked you to come and talk to me,’ Rachel said, picking up her rifle and walking towards the armoury.’

‘He’s just worried about you, you know,’ Nat said. ‘You all went through hell up there.’

‘We’ve been through worse,’ Rachel said. ‘Sam’s not the first person we’ve lost after all.’

Nat looked at her friend’s face. She was right, of course. They had all experienced more than their own fair share of tragedy over the past couple of years, but that didn’t change the fact that some losses were felt more acutely than others.

‘I know,’ Nat said, ‘but . . .’

‘Chosen of the Illuminate,’ the Servant said from behind them, and the two girls turned to see the golden-skinned woman walking towards them across the compound. Theoretically the former Voidborn could simply manifest anywhere she wanted out of thin air, composed as she was of a swarm of countless billions of networked nanites, but Sam had quickly made it clear that doing so made the humans around her uncomfortable.

‘Please, can we just stick to Rachel,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I don’t need the grand title, thanks.’

‘As you wish,’ the Servant replied. ‘My sensors have detected a human aircraft approaching at high speed.’

‘What?’ Rachel snapped, frowning.

‘Should I dispatch drop-ships to intercept?’ the Servant asked calmly.

Rachel’s mind raced. None of them had seen a non-Voidborn aircraft since the first day of the invasion.

‘You’re certain it’s not Voidborn?’ Rachel said.

‘Initial sensor mapping suggests it is a twin-engined rotorcraft of rudimentary design,’ the Servant replied. ‘It is significantly less advanced than Voidborn technology.’

‘A helicopter?’ Nat said, sounding unconvinced. ‘Are you sure?’

‘The drop-ships would allow us to make visual confirm­ation,’ the Servant replied. ‘The aircraft’s estimated time of arrival at the Mothership is seven minutes.’

‘Do it,’ Rachel said. She wasn’t prepared to take the chance that it was some kind of Voidborn trick. ‘And get Stirling out here, please.’

The Servant gave a nod. Moments later, far above them, the twin black triangles of two Voidborn drop-ships shot out of one of the numerous hangars that covered the upper surface of the Mothership, racing towards their target.

Mason stared out of the cockpit window of the Chinook. They were thirty kilometres from the centre of London, but even at that range the vast shape of the Voidborn Mothership was clearly visible floating above the city.

‘Sir,’ one of the pilots said, tapping the radar console between the two pilots’ seats, ‘we have two fast movers closing on us from the direction of the Voidborn ship.’

‘Hold your course,’ Mason said calmly. ‘We couldn’t outrun them if we wanted to. Let’s see how this plays out.’

A minute or so later the two triangular aircraft shot past the helicopter, one on either side. They banked back round, taking up flanking escort positions.

‘Stay on this course,’ Mason said. ‘Let’s not do anything to spook our new friends.’ The drop-ships looked identical to the ones that Mason had covertly observed flying above Edinburgh before the Voidborn Mothership had departed. The only difference that he could see was the colour of the light that seemed to dance just below the crystalline surface of their skin, which glowed yellow instead of green. A few minutes later the helicopter passed into the shadow of the Mothership and Mason turned back to the passenger compartment.

‘Mr Riley, would you please join me up here,’ Mason said.

Sam stood up from his seat and walked between the seated soldiers and up to where Mason was standing.

‘We’re approaching the area that you indicated was your base of operations,’ Mason said. ‘It would appear that you might actually have been telling the truth. You’d better tell the pilot where we should put this thing down.’

Sam felt a growing sense of relief as he saw the lights of the compound in St James’s Park glowing in the pre-dawn gloom. They were back on his territory now. He directed the pilot towards the clear area in the centre of the compound that was usually used as a landing site for the drop-ships. A minute or so later the helicopter hit the ground with a slight jolt and the ramp at the other end of the cabin whirred to the tarmac, the light from outside flooding into the dimly lit passenger compartment. The soldiers marched down the ramp, fanning out around the rear of the Chinook in a curved defensive line, weapons raised. Sam followed them outside and saw Jay and Rachel with their weapons raised, flanked by a pair of Grendels.

‘Oh my God,’ Rachel said, her eyes widening as she saw Sam walk down the ramp.

‘It can’t be . . . Sam?’ Jay said, his mouth dropping open with surprise.

‘Tell your friends to lower their weapons,’ Mason said.

‘As long as you tell your men to do the same,’ Sam replied.

Mason thought for a moment and then nodded.

‘Stand down,’ Mason said to his men. The reality was that even that much concentrated firepower would do little good against the Grendels anyway.

Sam walked past the soldiers and Rachel ran towards him, wrapping him in her arms and hugging him. When after a few seconds she pulled away from him, her eyes were wet with tears. She sniffed and wiped her face with the back of her hand, staring at him as if she couldn’t quite believe he was real.

‘We thought you were dead,’ Rachel said, shaking her head in disbelief.

‘If it’s any consolation,’ Sam said with a grin, ‘so did I.’

‘I don’t believe it,’ Jay said, grinning as he too hugged his friend. ‘How the hell did you survive? There were thousands of those things out there. There’s no way that –’

‘It’s a long story,’ Sam said. ‘I’ll tell you later.’

‘Who’s that?’ Rachel asked, nodding towards Mason, who was watching their reunion with interest.

‘That’s who we went up there to find in the first place,’ Sam said. ‘His name’s Mason and he and his men have been trying to keep the Vore from spreading outside the city.’

‘The what?’ Jay asked, looking confused.

‘Sorry, that’s what the creatures are called,’ Sam said, suddenly looking serious. ‘I have to speak to Stirling – he needs to know what those things really are.’

‘What do you mean?’ Rachel asked, suddenly worried by the expression on Sam’s face.

‘The Vore aren’t like the Hunters or the Grendels,’ Sam said with a frown. ‘That’s why I couldn’t sense them in Edinburgh before they attacked. They’re . . . or at least they once were . . . human. The Voidborn didn’t take the Sleepers with them – they turned them into the Vore.’

‘You mean . . .’ Rachel paused for a moment. ‘That’s obscene.’

‘We . . . we killed dozens of them,’ Jay said, feeling bewildered.

‘I know,’ Sam said, looking down at the ground, ‘but what choice did we have? It was kill or be killed. They were dead long before we got there.’

Sam noticed movement behind the Grendels and then Stirling appeared with William, Liz, Adam, Nat and Jack, all looking just as stunned to see him alive.

Mason watched for a couple of minutes as Sam reunited with his friends. Stirling glanced over in his direction and nodded. He walked over to Mason and extended his hand.

‘It’s good to see you again, Iain,’ Mason said, shaking Stirling’s hand. The pair of them had only met a handful of times in the decade leading up to the invasion.