Distant animal howls echoed through th e hollow sky, which turned vein- blue as the sun slowly sank towards the shifting horizon.
“Was that a portal?” Sol asked. A great deal of time had passed in near silence. Their feet lifted and fell with a monotonous rhythm. Kane and Ronan led the group with Jade close behind them; Sol had Maur on his shoulders, and they brought up the rear. The sky was dark and thin. They saw by the light of dusk, and that light was fading fast.
Kane’s mind had wandered. He couldn’t even remember what he’d been thinking about.
“No,” Ronan said flatly. “We were…hallucinating, or something.”
The vision. They’re talking about the vision, that shit we saw before we were attacked.
“ Maur thinks it was a portal,” Maur said.
“ I’m inclined to agree,” Jade said over the hiss of the rising wind. “ And I think it’s what the vampires are out here looking for.”
“ Yeah, you said that earlier,” Kane said. “The question is whether you knew that before we came out here.”
“Say what?” Sol said.
“Oh come on,” Ka ne said. They kept walking. “Are y ou trying to tell me you didn’t know about the Gates to Hell back there?”
“No,” Jade said. “Not that we have to explain anything to you, but no: we didn’t know about it. All w e knew was that the vampires were at our borders. You were supposed to help us stop them.”
“And you still are,” Sol said.
“This sucks,” Ronan groaned.
“What, fulfilling your end of the bargain?” Jade snapped.
“Being stuck out in the desert, hunted by vampires, completely lost, knowing there’s a portal to hell nearby, trapped with people I’d just as soon cut open as help survive.” Ronan made a p oint to smile. “Like I said…t his sucks.”
No one really had an answer to that.
They walked. Kane thought he spied lights in the distance, but the windblown waves of black dust made it difficult to tell. He saw the shadow s of giant fliers, but they moved askance, like black paper birds in the dying light.
Wait…
He looked closer. The shapes grew larger. L ights cut through the quiet sandstorm, halcyon strobes and hooded flood light s attached to steel machines, low-flying vessels with curved sails and jagged hulls.
“Do you see that?” Jade asked.
Kane stared.
“Yeah. I do.”
The ships — there were three of them — had clearly seen the m, as well. The vessels had been headed south, but suddenly they veered east on an intercept course. T here would be no avoiding the ships, not with how fast they moved, so Kane readied his weapon and signaled for everyone to move.
As the skiffs drew within a few hundred yards, Kane saw that they were shaped like bladed planks. They had low-dragging rudders that nearly scraped the ground. L arge chainguns and recoilless rifles were mounted on the forward hulls. A handful of human-sized silhouettes stood on the decks of each vessel.
“Those aren’t vampire ships,” Ronan said, and Sol nodded in agreement.
They took cover behind a sharply curved dune and watch ed as the vessels approach ed.
Not like this dune will give us much cover against those chain guns, Kane thought. If they decide to start shooting, we’re screwed, no matter where we’re standing.
The ships accelerated and spread out. Their turbine engines were quiet. S torms of dust trailed in their wake.
The vessels were about 300 yards away when a blast tore through the air. T he lead ship exploded.
Hot wind flashed over Kane, and he had to shiel d his eyes against the light of the flames. Smoking metal and chunks of steel fell to the ground.
The vampire tank roared over the dunes to the north. The two Razorwings accompanied it, slavering razor jaws and armored wings blocking out the sky. They flew in fast and low and mov ed with the grace of swimmers.
“Ronan, right flank!” Kane shouted. “I’ll take left! Sol, straight up the middle!”
“That’s what she said!” Sol laughed, and Kane actually had to restrain himself from turning and shooting the man.
The skiffs turned, caught unawares. Kane was close enough now to see that the crewmen weren’t of any race he recognized — they were humanoid in size and shape, but the ir gre asy grey skin was covered in scales. They wore haphazard scraps of armor, aviation hats and steel shoulder plates, and they were equipped with crude and archaic weapons. Every one of them wore a gasmask.
The chainguns roared with pulsing steel noise as they opened up on the tank.
The Razorwings came in fast. T he chainguns couldn’t track them. The first one swooped in low over a skiff and snatched two crewmen off the deck, leaving a spray of blood and screams in it s wake as it flew past. The creatures still on deck fired at the flying reptile with small arms, but the rounds ricocheted off its scaly hide. The second Razorwing dove beneath the other skiff and swiped at the lower rudders, which crack ed and fell to the ground.
Sol hammered the nearest Razorwing with his M78. The steady stream of bullets echoed like a quiet storm. Jade and Maur retreated back behind the dunes, while Kane, Ronan and Sol moved within a hundred yards of the nearest skiff.
The air was thick with exhaust and the smell of fuel. The vampire tank released another shot, which flew past the skiffs and tore into the desert. Sand exploded like a dry geyser. Kane and the others charged through clouds of dust.
The Razorwing turned towards them. Kane fired at the beast as it charged at Sol. The trio of vampires on the Razorwing’s back fired hand-cannons and a needle rifle, but the speed of their mount threw off their aim. The beast flew in a straight line towards Sol so it could swallow him up in its sizeable jaws.
Kane ducked as the beast flew past him, and he barely d odged the metal-plated wing. He fired a s he rolled and managed to hit one of the vampires, who tumbled off the deck. A mooring wire was wrapped around the vampire’s leg, and he was dragged across the sand behind the Razorwing.
The bladed tail swooped at Kane, and he barely jumped clear of the scythed limb. He threw himself forward and flung a grenade with all his strength before he landed face first in the sand.
The grenade exploded in the air next to the flying lizard. Blood sprayed from a gaping hole in its flesh. S hattered ribs jutted out be neath its damaged wing. The beast fell to the ground with a thunderous crash. Sol and Ronan take position and he ld their ground while they hammer ed the dying reptile with gun fire.
The damaged skiff went down behind them. Metal cracked and flew away as the s ails snapped. The remaining crewmen had secured themselves to the deck with rope s and chain s. S econds after the skiff noisily touched down, the vampire tank destroyed it with another roaring blast. Steel and smoke ripped away as the vehicle exploded.
Kane stumbled backwards. Hot wind scoured his face. A shockwave hit him with the force of a hammer and knocked him to the ground.
M ore explosions. Kane rubbed grit and sweat from his eyes. Ronan and Sol were on top of the dead Razorwing, where they battled its vampire riders in a blur of blades, claws and gunfire.
Kane saw t he second skiff t a k e aim at the advancing tank with its recoilless rifle. Heavy clouds of dust and shadow trailed the vampire vehicle.
“Jade!” he shouted. He looked back and saw her and Maur peek over the dune. “Get that tank’s attention!”
Jade’s spirit spun forward in a lance of ice-blue fire. Frost vapor s scorched the ground white. The spirit tore through the sand and caused an eruption of frozen dust.
“Now get down!” he shou ted. Kane ran towards the tank and bank ed right, firing his M 1 4 as he ran. T he turret turned his way.