Nathan’s shoulder blades automatically clenched when he looked up. The jungle seemed to be sentient, growing even as he stared at it. The light was grainy at best, just flickers that occasionally cut through the canvas of tangled gloom. Vines drooped down in serpentine fashion, seemingly eager to seize someone. The humidity was nearly overbearing. His shirt was drenched, and beads of sweat trickled down his legs. He sucked in a lungful of thick, damp air.
“This is hell, people.” Blackwell’s grin was maniacal. “The place where nightmares come alive. And it’s up to us to stop it. I don’t think we can afford to turn down any helping hands right now. “
Skepticism etched across Chen’s face. “So you’re telling us we have to trust this guy? How do we know he’s not running some game on us? He could be a part of this whole thing.”
“He’s not.”
Everyone turned to look at Michael, who stood slumped with a resigned look on his face. “Look, if anyone knows, it’s me. I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for Guy. He… knows about these things. He’s been fighting them for a long time.”
Charlie Foxtrot gave Guy a curt nod. “So, what — you some kind of super-soldier or something?”
Guy’s mouth quirked. “Or something.”
“All right, cool.” She patted her rifle. “That means you lead the charge, right? Tell us how this shit goes?”
“If you do what I say, you might live.”
“Works for me.” She glanced at Chen, who gave a rueful shrug.
“Whatever. This is crazy, though.”
Blackwell rubbed his hands together. “Anyone else have a problem with it?”
The rest of the squad eyed one another, but no one said anything. Blackwell nodded.
“Then it’s settled. What now, Guy? Where are we going?”
Guy turned to Michael. “Do you feel it?”
Michael exhaled a heavy sigh, wilting under the chorus of stares. “We have to go that way.” His finger pointed the direction.
Guy confirmed it with a nod. “Right.” He slung his rifle over his shoulder and unsheathed the machete strapped to his side. Without further comment, he hacked his way into the brush. Damon and Blackwell followed closely behind before the others fell into single file behind them.
Nathan turned to Michael. “You can feel the source of the Aberration. Just like the samples I had you pick out. You selected only samples collected from Aberration sites every time, without fail. Somehow you’re attuned to them.”
Michael nodded reluctantly. “I guess. I didn’t know why you kept having me do that. But you knew the whole time, didn’t you?”
“It was a theory. But you proved it correct. I just can’t figure out how you do it.”
Michael frowned when he looked around. “Doesn’t matter much now, does it? Not with Guy here. I haven’t seen him since the mill explosion. I spent all this time wondering if he was even real or not.” He paused. “He’s different now. Changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Last time he was confused, like his memories came and went. But like he said at the hotel — that’s all over now.”
“Well, that has to be a good thing, right?”
Michael’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure.”
Nathan nearly tripped on a thick tree root. “What?”
“I don’t know. The look in his eyes, like he sees things we can’t. Almost… alien.”
“Alien?”
Michael shook his head. “Hard to explain. You’d know what I mean if you knew him before.”
Elena clapped Nathan on the arm. “You guys want to pick up your step? We’re falling behind.”
He looked up in alarm. The group ahead of them was several yards away. Their figures were blurry silhouettes in the haze of fog and steam that curled around them as if vented from the damp soil.
Michael voiced what was already in Nathan’s head. “This isn’t natural.”
“Natural?” Elena held her rifle at ready, the muzzle swiveling at shapes in the fog. “What the hell is natural in this place?”
“Keep close.” Ariki had stripped to a sweat-soaked tank top. His brown arms were knotted with heavy muscle, appropriate for the massive machine gun he toted. Nathan didn’t know much about firearms, but he was sure it was meant to be mounted on a Humvee or helicopter. Ariki hefted a bulky pack on his back as well, filled with what Nathan assumed was ammunition for the metallic beast of a gun.
“That’s right, ladies.” Lurch Davies squinted and spewed cigar smoke while talking. “Step lively. Don’t wanna get lost now, do you?”
“Hey.” Nathan peered over Lurch’s shoulder. “You’re taking up the rear guard, right?”
“Yeah. So what?”
Nathan’s pointed at a moving shape behind him. “Then what’s that?”
Lurch pulled his revolver from the holster under his arm, and in one fluid motion turned and fired a single booming shot. The hazy figure twitched and dropped without a sound.
Nathan jerked back at the casual act of lethal violence. “Hey… what if that was—?”
“If it ain’t us, it ain’t friendly.” Lurch strode over to the body for a closer look. His mustaches twisted in revulsion.
Nathan approached hesitantly, curiosity overcoming his apprehension. The others shouted questions, but he could only concentrate on the hideous corpse lying at his feet.
It had the appearance of a wet raw chicken, if a chicken were the size and shape of a man. The skin was pale, glistening in the dim light. The limbs were mostly tightly stretched tendons, the bones jutting, the veins dark and distended. Worst of all was the creature’s face.
There was none.
The skin on the head was smooth as an egg, with only the faintest semblance of bone structure, hinting at a visage that barely pressed against the vein-riddled membrane. A massive hole disfigured it even further, courtesy of Lurch’s expert shot. Pale, wriggling insects erupted from the cavity: oversized cockroaches, centipedes, earthworms and spiders. They covered the immediate vicinity by the thousands, pouring from the corpse as if they would never stop.
“What the hell is that?” Hayes stumbled over, his eye wide and mouth ajar. “No. Don’t tell me. I don’t wanna know.”
“It’s an Other.” Michael peered into their hazy surroundings, ignoring the insects that wriggled over his boots. “They don’t appear alone.”
“What are you saying?” Hayes’ fingers visibly shook as he tightened his sweaty grip on his rifle. “There’s more of these freaks out there?”
Ariki turned and shouted at them. “Incoming!”
The mist came alive with silent, gangly creatures. They sailed through the fog as though weightless, their limbs jerking in exaggerated motions. The surging sensation of ravenous hunger that swelled from them was nearly overwhelming.
Ariki’s machine gun erupted with reverberations powerful enough to vibrate Nathan’s chest. The nearest attacking figures simply exploded from the barrage. Wriggling insects fanned across the group, spattering across faces and showering down on their hair and skin.
The others joined in; Hayes screaming, Lurch cursing around his cigar, Elena kneeling and firing steadied shots. Muffled retorts rang out yards away, audible proof that the other group was engaged with the Others as well. Nathan couldn’t even see them anymore. The fog was thick and heavy, a swirling blanket of adulterated white that unleashed obscenities from within its maw. Something rolled from the mist, bouncing across the rocky terrain to land against Nathan’s boot.
It was Sergeant Chen’s head. His eyes bulged from the sockets, seemingly staring up at Nathan in horrified shock. Nathan backpedaled, stumbling as he retreated from the grisly display.
The sound of harsh cawing erupted as hundreds of ravens exploded from the branches. They attacked the Others with a ferocity Nathan had never seen in birds, ripping and tearing with beak and claw. The Others flailed and fell in complete silence, scrabbling across the ground on severed limbs, still trying to seize and pull down the human party.