Kyle stopped and turned, leaning to look out the slightly bubbled front window of the bus. Vathoss wanted to move, to get clear, but Ravenheart's barrier was still up, though flickering dangerously. Beyond it, obvious to his still astral senses, Kyle could see the ward that was being erected around the grounds of the power plant. Seeks-the-Moon was right; the energy lattice was nearly ready, nearly complete.
Kyle keyed his communication link. "Anne!" he shouted unnecessarily. "The hive's ward is nearly completed!"
"I know." Her voice was ragged with stress. "I'm releasing my barrier… now!"
The gray and blue barrier, barely existent and now crawling with bugs powerful enough to resist the burning arcs of power, exploded in a flash and spray of energy. Bugs, dozens of them of all types were tossed aside by the dissolution of the barrier. Immediately, grenades began detonating in the midst of the swarm of insects that had fallen back from the exploding barrier. The grenades did little damage, but it did scatter the creatures. Both Kyle and Seeks-the-Moon threw explosive spells of their own into the chaos.
"Go! Go! Go!" screamed Ravenheart. "We're out of time-I'm sending the drone in!"
Vathoss's body jerked as he heard the words, and he turned to look at Kyle. If Ravenheart had ordered to drone in, they had maybe a minute, maybe slightly more, before it exploded.
The headset in Kyle's helmet crackled. "Negative! Negative!" it was Quess' frantic voice. "My key isn't here and the hot-wire won't jump it!"
Kyle flexed his finger to respond, but Ravenheart's was faster. "No choice!" she yelled. "Run if you have to!"
Ahead of them all, the first bus lurched forward, turning hard to the right. A whirring, keening, skittering mass of bugs rushed it, climbing madly over the front. A barrage of magical darts of power rained down on them from Ravenheart; Kyle was amazed that her position across the street was still safe.
"Rockets!" she yelled over the open channel, and Kyle saw four flashes of light from the darkness beyond the of the plant grounds, followed quickly by three barely visible streaks. The four high-explosive rockets shot through the regrouping mass of bugs, probably a dozen in that area alone, and continued on toward the front of the building.
The rockets struck the large metal doors as Ravenheart's shield was dropped. They detonated in rapid succession, sending Shockwaves through the building and out across the open ground, where it rocked the buses.
Vathoss slammed the transmission of Kyle's bus into motion, jerking forward and crashing into the rear of the second bus. The throttle was wide open, and its tires spun for a second on the concrete, but then it began to push the other bus forward.
The first bus was covered in a wall of bugs; there was no way Douglas could see past them, but he only needed to head toward the outer fence or gate. His helmet system displayed a compass bearing; if necessary he could navigate by that, turning right after he struck the fence. Assuming the bugs didn't tear the bus apart first.
"I will help them," Seeks-the-Moon said, flashing through astral space toward the first bus. The writhing swarm of bugs on the bus was so dense that Kyle wondered if the spirit would be able to find a way through them. Then, Kyle could hear the sound of tearing metal despite the distance and the roaring of the bus engines. The bugs were peeling the heavy plastic and metal sides and top of the bus away.
Another wave of missiles arced in through the now blasted open doorway. This time, their path unimpeded, they exploded deep inside the plant. Kyle saw the flashes in the building's upper windows.
Almost immediately, dozens of the bug spirits began to leap from the first bus and rush toward the building: the queens were under attack, they must be defended. It wouldn't be too long, however, before either the queens themselves or any human insect shamans inside would realize the true nature of the threat and respond accordingly.
Kyle's bus lurched, and window to the rear shattered in a spray of safety glass. He turned as the powerful mandibles of a beetle thrust inside, catching a man who was springing away, tearing his head and shoulder completely off. Kyle called up and released a missile of magic power that struck the bug in the head and made it pull back, squealing. He felt a slight twinge in his neck muscles, his body beginning to protest the strain.
The translucent skylight and emergency exit on top of the bus were torn free, and a pair of ants tried to thrust their way in simultaneously. Their odor was unmistakable, and Kyle unslung the hypervelocity assault rifle he'd been given. He stepped under the skylight as one of the ants finally made room for the other, and fired before the other's head was clear. The weapon fired, spraying twelve quick rounds of exploding ammo at the ant spirits. Most of the shots hit the first, the bug that was trying to push inside, but some also hit the second. Neither was badly hurt, but each was thrown off enough that as the bus lurched again and sent Kyle sprawling, both insects slid from view. Kyle thought he saw their bodies tumble off outside as he fell hard against his shoulder.
Hands immediately reached down to help up. As he stood, leaving the rifle behind and his upper arm throbbing in pain, Kyle saw that his bus had turned away from the second bus and was beginning to accelerate. Kyle stumbled forward and practically collapsed against the safety cage that protected the drive.
"What are you doing?" Kyle yelled at Vathoss. "What about Quess?"
The sergeant shook his head, cursing. "I can't push him! Some of the fraggin' bugs are jammed up in his wheels!" Kyle leaned down to look back toward the second bus as a group of ants, apparently unable or unwilling to run after the moving buses, turned on the unmoving one. Kyle rushed to the back of his bus, pulling a powerful spell to mind. He cast it, and it lanced out in a series of white-green bands that wove into a loose web and flashed over a group of rushing bugs. They lurched to a halt, pinned to the ground beneath the web of energy, and then began to attack the strands that held them.
He realized that he had not heard a message from Quess in nearly a minute, but a quick check of the heads-up display projected on the inside of his helmet faceshield showed that only the command circuit, the channel to Ravenheart, was active. Using her remote command ability, she had, for some reason, locked him out of the channels the other-
The rear windows exploded inward, showering Kyle in a spray of rapidly fragmenting safety glass. A black and brown roach, Kyle's height and twice his width, thrust itself through the broken window. Its front legs dug into the metal and plastic, as its long antennae whipped nearly two meters into the bus. Kyle was knocked back onto the floor, landing flat on his back.
The roach, reeking of something foul, pulled itself forward, and dug one of its front legs into Kyle's abdomen, pressing down sharply against his-body armor. Its mouth clicked open and shut as it leaned down toward him. Kyle kicked up with his right leg, wincing against the pain in his abdomen and shoulder, catching the creature in the soft, wet part just below its mouth. The roach yanked back, letting up on the pressure and Kyle rolled to one side. Just as he did, a wild burst of automatic weapons from inside the bus tore into the bug. Kyle looked up and saw a man, his eyes huge and mouth wide, holding down the trigger of the assault rifle. Stray rounds tore into the rear of the bus, clipping the bug and another passenger.
The roach thrust forward, whipping a feeler across the man's face, leaving a long, bloody cut. The man spun away, the gun still firing wildly across the side windows, blowing them out. Most of the roach was in the bus, its legs braced, pushing and tearing at the screaming passengers. It reached the man and slashed into him with his front legs, then bringing him toward its mouth. Kyle heard a loud crunch and the man's body began to jerk even more.