Post Apocalypse

By Elle Mckay

They came, creatures from another world, to take what they wanted and leave the planet bare. They bought with them the tools to achieve their end.

Humanity is on the brink of total annihalation and only a few are strong enough to save what is left of a damaged and scarred human kind.

Changed and isolated from those left, these powerful few struggle to save the planet from destruction as they struggle to come to terms with what they have become.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Oct 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514440971

Elle Mckay

Born on the 21st day of March, has always had an interest in all things science fiction. She has lived a simple life raising her child in a rural setting. Her passion for books and english litrature has spawned this, her first book, enjoy.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

S HE WAS WOKEN from the best sleep she’d had in days, cold sweat, the feeling of fear. Something had woken her, not a dream. She reached her mind out to find out what it was. There again was an overwhelming wave of fear and desperation, urgency and panic, the time to act had arrived. Something was happening.

Getting out of bed to throw on her battle gear, she ‘pathed’ the rest of her team telling them to be ready to go ASAP. People were already dying; time was of the essence.

As she got ready, she pondered the turn her life had taken since the planet had been invaded by these creatures. Once a simple farm girl living in the middle of nowhere to hide from the life she hated and had fled from. A life of violence and pain, domination and cruelty.

Now, she was possibly humankind’s only hope for continued existence. Wow, what a crushing weight. Best not to think about it. Besides, surely if the ‘slime’ as it is so affectionately called mutated her in such an extreme way, then surely she wasn’t alone, surely…

She was disturbed from her pondering by the commotion caused by her team’s preparations, and as she crossed the room, she reminded herself that she wasn’t technically alone. Her team was mutations also. However, she was the only one to have survived the mutation process that was powerful enough to fight these uninvited guests that now roamed unchecked like a plague across her world.

She threw open the door to her room to find her ragtag team assembled. They were ready to depart from what used to be her private retreat, what was now the common area in her hastily formed mutant refugee camp. She wouldn’t have it any other way. These guys were her extended family and she loved them. The isolation that she moved out here to enjoy just wouldn’t be the same anymore without this lot.

‘What’s up, boss?’ asked the ever optimistic Jess, her lovely best friend and her biggest help on these missions of mercy.

‘I just got woken up by a blast of fear. Those things have found a stronghold and are attacking as we speak.’

‘Well… let’s get going then, huh?! Wait, where are we going?’ said Nathan, one of her tech guys. The tech guy actually. He was never one for patience. Maybe that’s why they get along so well.

‘American west coast, not sure exactly. I’m hoping that I can pinpoint where when I get closer.’

Pete unrolled a map of the western seaboard of the USA and said, ‘Okay, boys and girls, we have two domes in that area. One over naval base Kitsap in Silverdale, Washington, and one over the centre of Salem. Who do we want to drop in on? Who do we like more?’

Tash and Kym, who along with Jess were her main line of support during these battles, all said almost in unison, ‘Salem is nicer but Kitsap has some really nice scenery!’ They proceeded to giggle.

‘Scenery, my ass! You just want to ogle the big sailor boys, you cheap pervs!’ said Nathan with a grin.

‘Well,’ Kym replied. ‘They are very pretty, you have to admit, Nathan!’

‘Yeah, they are at that!’ sighed Nathan.

‘So Kitsap it is then. Round up the gear. When we get to Kitsap, Nathan will get me a line into the surveillance systems. Pete, you find me someone in charge who knows what’s going on. Hopefully Michaels and I’ll see if I can get a fix on these poor people before it’s too late,’ she said, holding out her hands for the others to grab. She ‘ported’ them all halfway around the globe to try and save a group of people they had never met before. In the split second before ‘porting’, she heard Pete say, ‘God, I hope they did what they promised and kept our landing pad clear or this is going to suck!’

Arriving at Kitsap was without dilemma. The landing pad (the unused corner of a conference room) was clear as was promised and even had a lone sentry standing guard should they decide to drop in. Needless to say, he was quite stunned to see them simply materialise right in front of his eyes. He proceeded to hastily radio in that the mutants had arrived on base. Pete didn’t even make it to the conference room door when it burst open to the welcome face of Fleet Admiral (FADM) Michaels. The man in charge of the entire base and someone who truly appreciated her talents. Without her direct intervention, he would have died four months ago.

‘What brings you here this fine day, my beautiful white warrior?’ he started to say but paused when he saw the look on her face. ‘What’s wrong, pretty lady? How can we help?’

‘Those things are attacking a stronghold somewhere on the western coast as we speak. Hundreds of people, maybe more. I need to pinpoint it. Nathan needs to find somewhere as close as possible for us to land. They won’t make it otherwise.’

Without hesitation, FADM Michaels said, ‘Nathan, do your thing, bring up whatever you need. Everyone clear out, give our lady in white here some room to think!’ All the while Pete was rolling out his precious maps of the west coast.

The next time she felt it, she reached out her mind. She locked in on all the mixed fear and emotion and found a location. With a distant, distracted, faraway look in her eyes, she walked over and pointed in the direction of San Diego. She said aloud, ‘San Diego, naval base Coronado is under full attack.’ She shuddered and grabbed at her head. Deliberately locking onto that much emotion, opening your mind to so much, unprotected, was painful and disturbing to say the least.

‘Easy, boss, don’t split your melon,’ said Pete in an attempt to lighten the mood although her reaction had clearly worried him.

‘Not funny, Pete, can’t you see she’s in pain!’ said Tash as she rushed to her side to offer help if she needed it.

‘Well, if she is annoyed at me, she isn’t focused on her sore head now, is she?’ retorted Pete.

‘Nice try, dumb ass!’ snorted Nathan while still busily sifting through satellite images, new and old, to find a close enough and remote enough spot to ‘port’ into safely. Suddenly he cried, ‘Jackpot… I think I have a place but it’s still just over three clicks out from our target area. Just gotta hope it’s still as clear as this photo makes it out to be.’

‘Over three? We’ll never make it in time on foot from that distance to make a difference! There’s nothing closer, Nat?’ she asked. Nathan sadly shook his head.

‘I may have an idea on that front, ma’am. Leave it to me. I’ll be back in a moment to let you know if it’ll be a go… You guys can handle any type of vehicle offered, can’t you?’ asked FADM Michaels.

‘Yes, sir!’ replied Jess.

‘Back soon then,’ FADM Michaels called out over his shoulder on his way out the door.

Kym looked at her and asked, ‘Where’s Mitch and the science nerds? I expected they would be here by now!’

‘I pathed Mitch to let him know we have a mission. He said he’d get them and meet us at our destination. He’s standing by in the lab with them and the rest of my gear. He’s waiting for me to send him a landing location.’

‘So as soon as Fleet Admiral Michaels gets back with his big plan, we’re ready to get going then?’ asked Kym.

‘Appears so, although we should probably suit up, cover our whiteness,’ she said disdainfully. This was met with a unanimous snort of laughter from the group. Nonetheless they all began donning their gear. Heavy boots, thick gloves, big-ass jacket almost to the floor, heavy pants, and flak jackets. Not only did this hide their skin tone but it afforded them some measure of insulation. Protection from the creatures and their weapons. Not much though.

As they were almost done gearing up, FADM Michaels returned. He let the group know that he had managed to requisition four fully operational and fully fuelled motorbikes and weapons. ‘They’re at your disposal should you require them, ma’am.’

‘Michaels, as always you’ve come through for me when I’ve needed you to. Thank you, they’re most definitely required, you brilliant man!’ And she kissed his cheek. FADM Michaels who was very rarely flustered blushed the deepest red. He proceeded to usher them down to the bikes and their fully loaded and nasty-looking automatic weapons.

‘Ohhh look…,’ said Pete.

‘If you’re going to make some lame-ass Rambo or Terminator reference, then I’m soooo going to kill you,’ interrupted Kym.

Tash and Nathan burst out laughing while Pete sulked.

FADM Michaels asked, ‘Now you guys know how to use these, don’t you?’

Tash picked up one of the guns with two pinched fingers and thumb gingerly. ‘Which end do the bullets come out of again?’ Then she smirked cheekily. ‘Yeah, we can handle them, big guy!’

‘Anything else we here can help you with today, my lady?’ asked FADM Michaels with a smile for Tash’s smart remarks.

‘Thank you, Michaels, you’ve done plenty and may have saved the lives of many today.’

‘Coronado is under attack. Those are my fellow navy men and women there, missy. Whatever I can do.’

‘You’re a good man, Michaels. Glad I saved your ass all those months ago!’ she said affectionately.

‘Oh wow, the Kawasaki ZX-14R! Nice rides, Michaels, nice indeed. We needed fast, this is fast!’ gushed Nathan as he climbed on.

‘And pretty,’ said Jess, climbing on behind Nathan.

‘One does not simply refer to this much raw power as pretty . . . It’s gorgeous!’ drooled Pete, claiming a bike of his own.

‘Down, boy,’ laughed Kym as she took her place behind him.

As she and Tash claimed their own bikes, she said to her team, ‘Secure your weapons for teleportation. When we get there, no one do anything rash or impulsive. I’ll shield you until we get there. When we arrive, you guys take shelter with the main population. Jess, Pete, find whoever is in charge and try to make them understand what we’re there for, who and what we are. Nat, Kym, get a space clear for Mitch and the nerds and get your stuff set up. Make sure Mitch has my full kit and has it ready for me. This is going to be a big-ass battle and I don’t want to mess around.’

‘Yes, boss,’ was quipped back at her as the bikes were started.

‘Thank you again, Michaels. You’re a lifesaver, literally! Wish me luck?’ Before he could utter a ‘Good luck, pretty lady’, she and her team were gone in a blink. So he settled for saying it quietly to the empty space she left behind.

CHAPTER 2

C APTAIN N. LEUKOV of the US Navy, formerly Coronado bases head SEAL trainer, sat on the edge of his bunk, in the room that he shared with his three other teammates, men he had grown to trust over the years they had been teamed up together. Fought together, trained together, lived together. Through the many missions they had endured together. The good times and the bad they had shared them all.

But for Captain N. Leukov, Nick as his friends knew him, things were coming to a head. Nick’s life had been one train wreck after another since he was 14 years of age and his entire family were killed in a terrible motor vehicle accident. All except him. Orphaned, his life became one bad foster home after another. One dysfunctional relationship after another. No one to trust, no one to miss, no one to care. His life was filled with abandonment, mistrust, loneliness, despair, and lately anger. The closest thing he had to a family was his three teammates. His only friends were his three teammates. With the world in the state it was in, he didn’t see that anything was likely to change. It was only a matter of time before they were all dead.

His body, like his soul, was torn and scarred. And so it was in this frame of mind he sat. His Beretta M9 in hand with only one bullet in the chamber. He positioned it under his jaw, he was damn well going to make sure he did this right. He sat there, contemplating, poised to pull the trigger. No regret, no guilt. All of a sudden it sounded like all hell had broken loose and with the current state of the planet. With these goddamn intruders scurrying about, he could pretty much assume that if it sounded like all hell had just broken loose, it probably just had!

He reluctantly fully reloaded his weapon and holstered it. He grabbed all his gear, threw on his vest and kit, and left the room. Maybe this would be the encounter that ended his painful existence. If so, he would take a few of these sons of bitches with him. If not, he could always finish what he set out to do when this whole thing is done with. But for now, he needed to find his boys, Tony, Ben, and Marcus.

Halfway between the barracks and the sound of hell being unleashed on the compound, he found his team. They were geared up and hunting for him, their senior, their commander in battle.

‘Report,’ he barked.

‘Enemies in the compound, Captain. Too many to count. All of them, I think! Coming in from multiple directions. We’re holding them out of the main buildings for now but not sure how much longer that’ll stand,’ reported Ben.

‘We’ll probably be of most use at the front of the main building, Captain. Seems to be where they’re massing the most forces,’ chimed in Tony.

‘I don’t care where we go as long as there is some chance of shooting me some critters!’ joked Marcus.

‘Main building it is then,’ ordered Nick and they headed off to do as much damage as they could manage.

‘We’re going to need to detour and pick up some more destructive supplies!’ said Tony, almost as an afterthought.

Armed with all the firepower they could carry, they arrived at the entrance of the main building overlooking the quad, which was surrounded by buildings on three sides—the main building that Nick and his team were currently standing in and two lesser buildings running up either side of the main. The open side directly in front of Nick and his boys was where these things were focusing their main attack.

‘On the plus side, this is a far more defensible position than others they could have chosen to take!’ said Ben, ever the optimist.

‘Goddamn silver lining you are!’ muttered Tony as he opened fire on a big-ass critter. ‘Yeah, winged him.’

‘Save the enthusiasm, big fella, he ain’t down yet!’ yelled Marcus as he unleashed hell on the enemy.

‘And he marched forward into the belly of the beast,’ muttered Nick as he too took cover and opened fire on the enemy at the gates.

The fight was hard. There were heavy casualties but they were doing the enemy some damage, holding them out of the quad for the moment but for how much longer Nick didn’t know. Ammo was in short supply, as was leadership. That’s not to say there wasn’t any, just that he wasn’t much of a leader.

A pompous offensive little man who liked to be called Rear Admiral Stimes. Only one rank above Nick’s and half the computational power. The man was an idiot. Looking at him now, Nick could tell he was flustered, panicked at the fact that this battle was one of futility. That very soon there would be no more bullets, no more grenades, nothing to stop those things from coming through these doors and ending this battle once and for all. His orders made no sense, he was second-guessing himself and falling apart at the seams. Nick wasn’t the only one to notice it either.

‘Look at Rear Admiral Jackass over there pissing his pants. Can’t even hold it together and do some damage on his way out the pussy,’ scoffed Tony in annoyance.

‘Aww, give him a break, Tony, he doesn’t have his mummy here to hold his hand. It’s scary!’ joked Ben, evil in his eye despite their situation.

‘Knock it off, you two clowns. We have a job to do,’ said Nick in mock annoyance at them but they could both see he was struggling to stop himself laughing. Meanwhile Marcus was listening and laughing from behind the rifle sight.

That’s when they heard a sound they couldn’t possibly be hearing. They shouldn’t be hearing. The sound of motorbikes—heading in their direction if their ears were not mistaken. Jeezus! Who in their right mind would be heading here now with this going down?

‘Hang on,’ said Marcus who was cut off by Tony’s ‘What the—’, cut off by Ben’s ‘Why the—’, cut off by Nick’s ‘Who the hell is heading here with these assholes on our doorstep!’

They appeared, four bikes in formation. Two in centre taking point. Both with single riders and flanked on either side by another bike carrying two riders each. They all appeared to be taking heavy fire but had some kind of energy shields. Or something protecting them. Nick hadn’t seen anything like it before. Whoever they were though, they were sure making a mess of the enemy. So as far as Nick was currently concerned, they were welcome to join in the fun.

‘CEASEFIRE!’ he bellowed. ‘Don’t fire on the newcomers. Not until we’ve established who or what the hell they are!’

Three bikes broke off and headed straight for the main building, right for the doorway that Nick and his boys had set up shop in. They were showing no signs of slowing down.

‘Clear the entry!’ Nick shouted. His boys weren’t dumb. They were already on the move. The doorway was cleared in time for the three bikes to blow through and come to a stop in the centre of the room. Bike number 4 appeared to be holding the enemy fire and making somewhat of a mess of them in the process. Whoever this guy was, he seemed to know just where to aim to bring these bastards down with a minimum of firepower. Nick liked his style.

Overhead a shadow loomed. Nick looked up to see an attack glider sail overhead. Suddenly the biker changed tack. He headed straight for an improvised ramp of rubble and debris, throttle at full. The bike hit the ramp at tremendous speed and was suddenly airborne. The rider threw himself backwards, pulling the bike around with him. He let go before he got too high, hit the ground on his back, and came skidding to a stop by the front entrance. He stood up, dusted off, and looked up just in time to see the bike fly straight through the front of the glider, bringing it careening to the ground amongst enemy forces before blowing up. Another significant blow. The stranger dusted his hands together in a ‘job well done’ gesture and headed towards the door where Nick was standing.

Nick had been so intent on what was going on out there that he turned to see his boys looking over in stunned silence at the newcomers. Something had shocked them. They were never at a loss for words. Especially not Tony. But there they were, for lack of a better word, speechless.

His eyes took a moment to adjust to inside light. When they did, he saw the Glider Killer move past him to join the other still helmeted riders. They were in the centre of the room, by the bikes, setting up computer equipment. The other two were over talking to Rear Admiral Chicken Shit.

There was a male and a female. There was something very different about them. They were ghostly white. They had these kind of shimmery spots above their left eyebrow trailing down the outer side of their eye. The same shimmery spots could be seen at and just under the hairline framing their faces running down behind their ears and the side of their necks. They ran to the base of the neck and circled around to meet up in the middle at the front of their bodies and trailed down from there to disappear beneath their clothing. The female’s hair was dark blue almost black with red highlights; the male, dark purple with pale blue tips. From the back Nick could see spots trailing from their hairline straight down their spine disappearing under their clothing.

Nick made a direct line to the other helmeted group at the same time as the other two were heading back with the rear admiral. As they got closer, Nick could hear the female clearly say, ‘We can win this for you, sir, you just need to trust our leader. Permission to bring in the rest of our unit, sir?’

Rear Admiral Stimes replied, ‘Granted, little missy.’ What an ass! He was only going along with it because he was shit scared of his own imminent death. To be so condescending in his reply to this girl—what an ass!

They heard a faint noise from outside almost like the sound of air being displaced. Suddenly there, looming in the doorway, was a big white figure. Not Caucasian white, stark, snow white. Nick guessed him to be maybe an inch or two taller than his 6'7" height but no more than that and he was solid. Almost as solid as Nick was. Accompanying him were two nerdy-looking scientist types. They appeared completely human. Also a real mean-looking white guy, he was a little different looking to the others. He didn’t have the spots above his left eye and the others were more sparse, not as prominent. Nick didn’t get a good vibe of this guy, didn’t trust him.

When they were all gathered in the centre of the room, Stimes said, ‘This is it? This is your unit? You expect to beat all of them with just this?’ He swept his arm around to include all of the newcomers.

The big white guy replied simply, ‘No!’ Now this whole time Nick had been watching Glider Killer closely. He was in the background during this brief exchange of words, unclipping his helmet, unbuckling his gloves, and unbuttoning his jacket.

The big white guy proceeded to say, ‘With just that!’ and pointed to Glider Killer. At that moment he removed his gloves. Then he reached up two very small delicate hands to remove the helmet covering his head. He had his back to them at that point.

The first thing Nick noticed as the helmet was removed was the great big shock of pale blue waist-length hair with purple and silver streaks and pink tips. As the jacket was removed and Glider Killer turned to face them, it dawned on Nick that this kick-ass critter killer, the glider destroyer was a female. Wow! And as she turned to take everyone in, her eyes locked on his for only just a moment in time. He was frozen in that glance. She was stunning. The most beautiful being he had ever laid eyes on.

Her eyes were captivating. Standard black pupils. The iris was almost white blue in the centre trailing out to the deepest blue outer edge. Where the eye should be white was the palest of purple shades. He noticed that Glider Killer, Big White Dude, and Creepy White Dude all had these delicate vine-like patterns all over their exposed skin. They were very intricate and beautiful. The others didn’t seem to have the markings.

Tony, standing beside him, could see she had affected him and said in a quietly amused tone, ‘Breathe, Cap.’ It was then that he realised he’d been holding his breath and grinned slightly at Tony. Marcus and Ben, who had been watching the Nick and Tony exchange, both snorted in amusement. Nick was never interested in anything. Least of all women. This was new to them and amusing to see.

‘That! That slip of a… a… a thing is going to defeat those monsters? I mean what the hell is this? Who are you people? What the fuck are you?’ ranted Rear Admiral Moron.

Jess calmly introduced herself to those listening. ‘We refer to ourselves as Biomorphs and like you we were born completely human. Those things out there sent down all that pretty glowing slime stuff months before they themselves visited as you may all recall. That slime as all of you should know kills almost everything it comes in contact with. However, there are a few of us who came in contact and changed into… well… this,’ she said, indicating herself. ‘Humans with enhanced capabilities. That slip of a thing!’—Jess pointed—‘is possibly the most powerful being in existence.’ Glider Killer paused and looked at Jess with an odd expression. Jess looked right back at her, shrugged, and turned back to her audience. ‘She’s a powerful empath, telepathic, her teleporting abilities are off the scale as are her regenerative capabilities. There really is too much to explain to you here and now. You’ll see for yourself soon enough. She’s humankind’s most valuable possession.’

Glider Killer snorted and shook her head at that statement.

All the time this was going on, after rolling her eyes at the rear admiral’s rant, Glider Killer (he had no other name for her) proceeded to roll out and start gearing up with all sorts of arms—daggers, knives, swords. Suddenly there was the sound of enemy fire. Nathan (or that’s what Nick thought he heard him get called) said, ‘Guess they recovered from the glider then eh, boss?’ Damn! Still no name to call her by. Glider Killer smirked at Nathan. Her expression changed when a device rolled through the doors. Nick had seen one of them before. They made a big bang and a bigger mess. There was a small child over in that direction, directly in harm’s way. Glider Killer bolted for the kid, scooped her up, and kicked the device back towards the door in one fluid, graceful movement. She turned and ran to get free of the blast.

Judging by the look on her face and her body language, she didn’t quite make it clear. She got hit by something painful.

The debris from the blast settled and Glider Killer placed the child carefully down. The kid looked her dead in the eyes for a second, then nodded, hugged her around the neck, and scooted off God knows where. She stood up and Jess approached. She lifted her hair off her back to reveal a giant shard of metal poking out of her back about six inches. It looked as if it went at least that deep into her flesh. Nathan came around behind her; Jess moved to the front and braced her. Still holding her hair up out of the way, she seemed to steel herself for the inevitable pain of the shard’s removal. Nathan grabbed hold of it and quickly and cleanly removed it. The cut was about five inches long and jagged looking. It had to hurt but she didn’t cry out. Nathan stood aside as one of the science nerds inspected the wound. As everyone watched, it healed and faded away. Not even a scar to show it existed. Now Nick was really intrigued. Could she really pull this off after all? They heard another blast of enemy fire, followed by an explosion. Then the falling debris of what used to be part of the main building’s front wall.

A sentry yelled, ‘They’re moving in!’

Upon hearing this, Glider Killer’s head tilted slightly and sparks jumped on and around her fine self. She looked over at the other guy that arrived with her. He locked eyes with her for a moment and blinked a few times. ‘The entire building is shielded from those things, get everyone back inside now. The boss is going to battle!’ Meanwhile she was in the final stages of preparation. Her hair tied back out of the way. Kinetically he assumed as she never actually touched it. One of the science nerds approached her. She turned her back to him and he placed a little round black device to the back of her neck. The second it contacted with her skin, it flattened out. Little spidery arms came out of it and bit into her flesh. She turned back to face him and he looked embarrassed, uncomfortable. Then Nick realised why. He needed one of those things placed near her heart, he would assume. She was put together very well. He could see how this prospect could take a poor science nerd out of his comfort zone. She must have realised it also because she reached out and steadied his shaking hand, took the device, and placed it as required, much to the relief of the nerd guy!

During this whole interchange, Tony was standing right by Nick’s ear saying things like, ‘What are you waiting for, little man?’ And, ‘Don’t hesitate, she ain’t fighting!’ God, he’s got a twisted mind! It’s just lucky for the rest of humankind that he’s all talk. Nick had known Tony for six years and he trusted the degenerate with his life. There was no one he would rather stand beside in battle than the three men he was teamed with. They had all risked their lives to help each other out of a bad situation many times over.

Glider Killer walked with the nerd guy to his computer terminal where he brought up a screen with what appeared to be bio readouts. Nick assumed from her, from those devices, the nerd guy now back in professional mode. ‘Now can you give me a flex, please?’ She took a breath and one of the bio charts went wild. ‘That’s fine, thank you. I don’t want you to burn yourself out before you get this done,’ said the nerd guy with a little grin at her.

She snorted. The other nerd guy said, ‘What was the reading?’ He looked over at the screen and said, ‘Pfffft, that’s not even a stretch. She’s being conservative!’ and winked at Glider Killer who smiled back slightly. A sad smile and will someone please say her goddamn name!

She gave herself a stretch, checked her equipment, adjusted as required, and started for the door. The big white guy said, ‘Hey! Stay focused out there and watch your back, girl!’ She looked smugly over her shoulder at him and proceeded to walk out into the quad, teeming with enemy forces, alone.

This was madness, thought Nick as he rushed forward to find a good viewing point for this confrontation. God, he hoped this woman knew what she was doing. The last thing he wanted was to see her get cut down out there. Nick grabbed a private and gave him the order to see to it that all weapons and ammo were rounded up and brought to his location ASAP. He was going to damn well see to it that his men were ready to assist should it be needed.

She walked out through whatever the shield was that she had in place. They saw her, one of the critters. They moved at her and she reached to her side. She removed a large bladed Bowie knife from its sheath and ran forward, slicing at its throat. It fell to the ground, motionless, dead with just one move from this tiny little woman. Another one came at her. She turned herself, coming around to its side, bringing her knife hand up under its arm and twisting. She removed the alien’s blood-soaked hand. Another dead with just one blow. Three came at her. She armed herself with a blade in each hand and stood there waiting for them to come. One was gutted stem to stern. Another’s throat cut to its spine. The third ended up back to her and had its spine severed, quickly and cleanly. This woman was lethal! Nick was impressed.

The weapons and ammo he had ordered to be gathered had arrived. He ordered anyone with sniper training or marksmanship skills front and centre. Once assembled, he said simply, ‘I want all of you to choose your weapon of choice and take a position. We’re going to pick off some of these bastards from the outer edges of the fight. ANYONE caught shooting ANYWHERE near our new ally will be dealing with me in short order. That you do not want. IS THAT CLEAR!’

‘YES, SIR!’ was the unanimous response.

‘Then get to it,’ Nick ordered.

At that point, Rear Admiral Stimes came up to him and pulled him a little aside. ‘Captain Leukov.’

‘Sir?’

‘I have an order for you that I expect you to keep to yourself. I trust you’ll follow it to the letter if necessary.’

‘Yes, sir!’ Ah, what bullshit assignment was he getting saddled with now?!

‘If this goes as well as they’re claiming it will, I want you to keep a close eye on these things. I don’t trust them. Find out as much as you can about them, their weaknesses, etc. If they seem like they’re becoming a threat, then you take steps to eliminate that threat. Am I making myself clear, Captain Leukov?’

‘Yes, sir, Rear Admiral sir.’ A precaution maybe. He didn’t feel them to be a threat though.

‘Good man, Leukov. Carry on.’

He never took his eyes off the lethal white woman and her graceful dance of death. She was so elegant, her movements so fluid, so effortless. She made it look easy. She didn’t appear to be even breaking a sweat and San Diego was hot this time of year.

Now that she could see he was free, little Jess broke off from her group. She approached him and said, ‘You really don’t need to do this for her, you know.’

Nick snorted. Ben chirped in with, ‘Hey there, pretty one. You don’t think we are all just going to sit back and let her take all the glory for this fight, do you? Not a chance in hell, girl!’ He grinned broadly at her.

‘Target practice for my men, ma’am,’ replied Nick.

She smiled gently and said, ‘Okay, just don’t feel you have to. She’s fine going it alone. It’s what she does.’

‘She shouldn’t have to, ma’am. Not when these men are capable of bringing it to the enemy. However ineffectively compared to her obvious skills,’ said Marcus over his shoulder after taking a very nice shot and eliminating another of those sons of bitches. ‘Ha! How do you like that shit, boy?’

Nick leaned in towards her ear and said quietly, ‘We have a lot of refugees here, ma’am. Civilians, some of which are not so desirable at times. If you or your crew feel in danger at any time, you come find myself or Marcus, Ben, or Tony here, okay?’ Each of his team raised their hands as their names were said. ‘We’ll protect you.’

Jess reached out her hand to take his and said, ‘Thank you. That may well be needed before the day is out. Against those things, she’s an unstoppable force. When it comes to fellow humans, however, she has no defences. As I said, she’s a powerful empath. This prevents her from protecting herself against humanity. To hurt them hurts her, but they can destroy her. Tear her mind apart. Cause her intense pain with a single touch. The most powerful being alive but also the most delicately fragile. Your protection may be necessary… soon. On another note, please call me Jess. Ma’am makes me feel old!’ She smiled charmingly at him and released his hand. She was about to turn and leave when she frowned and said, ‘What do I call you, sir?’

‘Not sir that’s for damn sure! By military ranking, Captain Leukov. But you can call me Nick.’

‘Okay, Nick, I’m sure we’ll be talking again very soon.’ And with that she returned to her little group. He really wasn’t getting a threat vibe off these guys. One thing he did know was he would happily follow Stimes’s order to get to know them better. Glider Killer in particular.

Nick, still thinking over the information Jess had just imparted, picked himself up a sniper rifle. He took up a position to join the fun.

‘What did Rear Admiral Ball Sack want this time?’ asked Tony.

‘I’ll fill you in on all the details when this is over and done with,’ he said.

‘What exactly is going on here, man? I mean what the hell is this?’ said Ben. ‘Who are these fucking people?’

Tony pointed at Ben and nodded his head in a second to that statement.

‘Dunno, Ben, my boy, but I like their style. That warrior chick kicks ass!’ Marcus laughed.

‘You know as much as I do at this point.’ He pointed out the hole in the wall. ‘Focus, aim, and shoot. Support our new ally now. Worry about the details later. I’m as curious as you are, man.’

He looked out the massive hole that used to be a wall no more than half an hour ago. She was near the shielding now, very close to their location. She had a long thin bladed sword in each hand, cutting a path of destruction in her wake. She was outnumbered. Six of them surrounded her. This didn’t seem to worry her as she sliced into them. All of a sudden her body lurched forward. Her eyes went large and round. A look of pain streaked across her face. Another lurch and a blade pushed out through the front of her chest. It can’t be over. Could she regenerate from this? There were horrified sounds going up around the room from all onlookers. Nick looked around at the newcomers and they looked worried. He had an uneasy feeling building in the pit of his gut.

As he watched on helplessly, the look on her face changed, focused, hardened. The creature withdrew the sword and she fell face down to the ground, motionless.

‘She’s flat-lined!’ one of the science nerds said.

Big White Guy was standing looking intently at her, fists clenched. ‘C’mon, girl, get up,’ he said several times, each time with more intensity, looking concerned.

It seemed like an eternity passed but it was only seconds in reality. She stirred, positioned her hands, and pushed up off the ground to rise. As she stood, she had her head hung low. She staggered a step and then the gaping wound in her chest healed. She raised her head and had an almost angry look on her face. She sheathed her two swords and produced the mean-looking Bowie knife again. She turned and headed straight for the one that ran her through. She climbed up its back, drove her knees into its shoulders and her knife into its neck slicing deeply. She grabbed the thing’s head and threw herself backwards, dragging the knife down its spine as she went. She hit the ground and backwards somersaulted away from it to a standing position. Glider Killer walked away head and spinal column in hand while the thing’s body crumpled to the ground. She tossed it aside and moved on to the next kill.

‘Guess you don’t piss her off then, huh!’ Ben said with some amount of awe in his voice.

‘Yes, remind me not to do that, won’t you?’ added Tony.

‘Hmm!’ mused Nick.

Marcus was just sitting there open-mouthed, pointing.

The battle was long and gruesome. There were only a small handful left now and none of them would come in close to the building. It was almost as if they were afraid of her. This Nick liked!

As she closed in on a couple of the stragglers, Big White Guy, Nathan, and the other guy that arrived with her all picked up mean-looking, obviously alien, cannons. They slipped a strap over their shoulder and head and made their way out to the quad. The rest of her group made their way to the hole in the wall to get a better view of what was about to occur.

Jess and one of the science nerds were standing right by him and he heard the science guy say, ‘Man, this bit never gets old, does it!’ Jess just shook her head and smiled.

She had dispatched the couple of critters she went for and turned to head to the centre of the quad.

Her three cannon-wielding teammates were standing in a line across the front of the quad near the building. Nick couldn’t believe what he was seeing. They all raised their cannons and aimed them at her as she reached the centre of the quad! She stopped and appeared to be waiting for them to make their move.

All three of his guys said in unison, ‘What the hell are they doing?’

Nick turned to Jess, confusion on his face. ‘What’s going on? They’re going to shoot her? Why?’ This he didn’t want to see.

Jess smiled softly. ‘She’ll be okay, it won’t hurt her.’

Now he really was confused. ‘They’re going to shoot her but she won’t get hurt?’

‘The weapon is energy-based. She channels energy, bends it to her will. She intends to set up a safe zone here for you and your people. It requires more energy to establish than what she can draw normally from her surroundings. They’re boosting, amplifying her if you will. No matter how many times I see this, it never fails to blow my mind!’

‘This should be interesting then, huh?’ Marcus pondered out loud.

Nick watched as she stood, feet slightly apart, arms a couple of inches off her sides. She began to throw off sparks but they didn’t fly off at random like you would expect them to. They began to coil themselves around her tiny frame, sliding over her skin, spinning faster and faster joined by more and more. Then Big White Guy opened fire and the threads of energy became too many to keep track of. They just blurred into this silver, white, and blue mass of swirling energy. The other two opened fire on her and it was massive. A massive energy tornado! He had no other way to describe it. Her face was calm, relaxed, then she threw her head back and her arms out from her side. A huge pulsing energy beam surged out of her. Upwards. It was awe-inspiring. It got to a certain height and started to spread out across the sky and curve off into the distance towards the ground again in all directions. The guys stopped firing on her when the dome was almost to the ground. After touchdown occurred, she let off this electrical discharge with a high-pitched screech that spread out along the ground like a shockwave across the entire dome space. The last four critters were vaporised when this wave contacted with them. The purpose of that action was clear to Nick.

Nick quietly said to Jess, ‘Can she hear you from here?’

‘Yes, she can.’

‘Tell her to head to me. Fast,’ he whispered.

Jess stood squarely in front of Nick and said softly, ‘Boss. To me now. Run!’ Still no damn name.

She was standing there. Breathing heavily, head hung low. Until Jess spoke. She ran hard straight for them. Nick signalled his boys and they sprang up after him as he bolted out the gap in the wall straight for her. She was flanked by her crew by the time Nick and the boys reached her. When they did, she faltered. Could she trust them? Were they safe? She looked from their faces to their weapons at the ready and back again. Her expression uncertain.

She could feel the mood of the people shift from panic and fear to the realisation they had just been saved from slaughter. They were grateful but they wanted answers and she knew she was going to be the one they sought them from. They all rushed out towards her and her people.

Jess came around from behind Nick and reached out to her. ‘Boss, it’s okay. He said he’ll protect us!’

She looked him in the eye and he nodded slightly as he said, ‘Stay between me and my men at all times, ma’am.’ She seemed to accept this. Her people surrounded her and in turn were surrounded by Nick and his team.

They stood defensively, their backs to the Biomorphs as people rushed to surround the group all talking at once. They were all thinking at once. The proximity was too much. Her head felt like it would split in two. She doubled over grasping at her head. She needed out now! Jess knelt by her side, reached out, and tilted her head so she looked Jess right in the eyes. ‘Boss, look at me, focus on me, breathe!’ She kept saying it over and over again. Nick had been ordering people to back up, return to their assigned posts, clear the area. He couldn’t be heard clearly enough over all the people and the noise to be obeyed.

He looked down at her. She looked to be in pain; her breathing was really shallow. She looked scared. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Ironic he thought. To come here and destroy the monsters threatening these people only to be destroyed by the very beings she came to save. He wouldn’t let that happen! He didn’t know what it was about this woman but he felt compelled to protect her. No matter what the cost. He grabbed his sidearm and aimed it skyward firing two shots into the air. At the same time, Big White Guy seemed to create a ball of energy between his hands and launch it upwards. It discharged with a loud high-pitched screech.

Silence fell! Nick yelled out at the top of his lungs, in his most authoritative voice, ‘Right all of you listen to me. Navy personnel. Each and every one of you has a post you need to be at right now. I suggest you get to it, NOW. As for the civilian population, find somewhere quiet to be or something helpful to do and go, NOW. I know you want answers and you shall have them when we have some to give. Now MOVE. That’s an order!’

The crowd broke up. Everyone started to disperse. When the coast was clear enough, Nick turned to her. She was crouched down on the ground, breathing deeply now. She seemed to be calmer, more in control again. He knelt beside Jess. Her eyes seemed unfocused, distant, haunted. ‘Can you stand?’ he asked her softly. Her senses seemed to strengthen a little more as she focused her eyes on his and nodded. God she was beautiful. She closed her eyes, took in a deep steadying breath, and stood. He noticed she was tall, six feet easy. The crowd had vanished but he wasn’t risking harm to her. He stuck by her side. She headed for her support guys, the science nerds.

As she got there, one of them stood beside her and she reached up to the device in her neck. She ran her finger over its surface and it ‘let go of her’ and dropped into the science nerd’s hand. He came around in front of her; she ran her finger over the surface of the one in her chest. It threw off sparks, smoked a bit, but didn’t let go. Seeing this, she looked at it accusingly. She reached down to her belt, grasped a dagger, and used the fine tip of the blade to pry open the device and tinker with its innards. It finally let go, dropped to the floor, and sparked again. ‘Well that’s useless now!’ remarked what appeared to be the head science guy. She turned her head to face him and gave him a look. ‘No, that was not an accusation. You did what you had to, to get it off.’ He looked down at the offending device and he said quietly, ‘It must have been damaged when that thing put a sword through your chest.’ She put her arm out and grasped his shoulder. He reached up his hand to cover hers just before she let go.

‘Now,’ he said. ‘Time to make sure they didn’t break you, my lovely.’ Again she gave him a look. ‘Yes, yes, you say you’re fine. But you always say you’re fine and that’s not always the case is it now?! Come on, sit down here for me, let me hook you up.’ He guided her to a seat.

She sat down reluctantly and the head science nerd placed a kind of skull cap over her head. It appeared to be comprised of a network of wires and sensor discs. He also put a couple of electrodes on her chest. The science nerd 2 was bringing up a screen on the computer that had vital signs graphs and a brain schematic. ‘We’re good here,’ he said. ‘Vitals all look good across the board.’ The head science guy came over and reviewed the data. ‘All look fine. Give me a brain work-up please, boss.’

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and the brain schematic on the screen lit up like a Christmas tree. ‘There’s still an area of inactivity there, girl. Everything okay? . . . Whoa, shit! Okay, you’re fine.’ The exclamation came when he just seemed to levitate off the ground. By the time he finished talking, however, he had been neatly placed back down.

She had a smugness about her while she sat there. Her arms crossed over her chest. Her head was tilted slightly and a wide-eyed stare was aimed at the head science guy.

‘Yes, okay, you said you were fine. I just had to be sure.’ A pause followed. ‘Yes, you can unhook yourself if you want. Stay put though, I’ll get your shot ready.’

‘What the hell, Captain? He’s talking like he’s having a goddamn conversation with her but I ain’t heard her say a damn thing, sir!’

Jess stepped in between them. ‘I told you she’s telepathic. Times like this, she doesn’t actually speak out loud much. She’s doing so much in there it’s often just easier to directly link and chat straight into your noggin.’ She grinned, tapping her forehead.

‘Bullshit!’ quipped Ben.

‘No, sir!’ Pause. ‘Okay, here’s the full telepathy disclosure statement. We will never pry into another’s mind without full permission ever. But she is powerful. Scary powerful. Against the laws of physics powerful. She’s still learning about what she can do. If you offer your hand to her’—she gestured a simple handshake scenario—‘you are implying permission to access your mind, because as much as she tries to shield herself and those she contacts from unintended access, it can happen. Some people’s minds are… loud, for lack of a better description, and she can’t block it out. So if you are not prepared to risk unintentional access, don’t touch her. Also direct skin-to-skin contact with anyone, everyone causes her pain of some sort. The level depends on the individual in question. Don’t be offended if she avoids contact with you. It’s nothing personal, she’s simply avoiding pain. The rest of us are nowhere near as strong. So not as sensitive or high risk. We just ask if we can talk to you directly and form a link. I think that’s about all.’

‘Don’t buy it, girl, this telepathy stuff,’ replied Ben.

‘Want proof? I can link with you and show you,’ she said and held out her hand to him.

‘Fine!’ he said, clearly not believing this was going to happen. He held out his hand to grab hers.

She grasped his hand, took a breath, and Ben’s eyes widened. He felt a slight pressure in his temples and heard her say, ‘After everything you’ve seen today, this you cannot believe!’ He heard it but her mouth didn’t move and he could tell he didn’t hear it from his ears. It was definitely in his head. So now he believed! She laughed and let go.

‘Holy shit, Cap, that’s cool, they really can do it. That’s so cool, girl, I’m a believer,’ gasped Ben.

Nick shook his head and smirked. ‘Clown.’

The head science geek meanwhile had opened a case, removed a hypo spray gun and two vials of a brownish liquid. He inserted the vials into the hypo spray and walked over to Glider Killer who had removed her weapons and the skull cap. He waited patiently while she finished unhooking the electrodes from her chest. Then he positioned the hypo spray on her jugular and fired it off, emptying the contents of both vials directly into her bloodstream.

‘What the hell was that?’ asked Tony.

‘A combination of enzymes and proteins the science department has been working on. It helps her remain strong. Keeps her refreshed… to a point,’ replied Jess.

‘Well, if it helps her remain strong, can we use it to strengthen our soldiers?’ asked Rear Admiral Stimes who had silently approached from behind and overheard the last part of that conversation.

‘No,’ replied Jess. ‘Biologically incompatible.’

‘What do you mean, little lady?’ demanded RA Stimes.

The creepy mean-looking white guy was standing next to RA Stimes. He said, ‘Allow me to demonstrate.’ And with that, he surged forward, his left hand kind of glowing, heading straight for her.

‘Oh no! Boss!’ called Jess desperately.

She turned slightly but not soon enough. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and lifted her off her feet. He walked a few steps and slammed her face down onto an empty table surface. Nick went to move towards this creep but Jess stopped him.

‘You can’t help her. He’ll kill you. This needs to play itself out… son of a bitch!’

She was fighting hard to get free. ‘You regenerate, I’ll fry your brain. Try any of your bullshit and I’ll make you so very sorry!’ he said menacingly. She continued to struggle.

‘Geek, vial!’ the creep yelled. ‘And one of her blades while you’re at it.’

Geek looked at Jess who nodded and he complied.

‘Now get me that,’ the creep demanded, pointing at a burned and severed arm, probably all that remained of one of the poor men that didn’t make it that day. ‘Put it on that chair and bring it next to me here, boy!’

Jess cursed under her breath. ‘Mitch, where the hell did you go? We need you here, now. Paul’s gone bat-shit crazy again. He has her and he has a knife. He’s giving a demonstration! Get back here now!’

That was when Nick realised Big White Guy was missing. His name was Mitch then.

Paul seemed to be set up and ready to demonstrate. He had knife in hand and allowed her to see it. Her eyes widened in fear and she redoubled her efforts to free herself.

‘Mitch, goddamn it, where are you!’

Paul drew the knife across her back, from the top of her shoulder to almost her spine across the top of her back. It went deep, bone deep. Her fingers bit into the wooden table top in pain. ‘Observe!’ said Paul as he poured half the contents of the vial into the cut he had just made. Upon contact with the wound, the liquid seemed to stimulate regeneration. It was much slower than what they had seen her do for herself though.

Jess cried out and put her face in her hands. Nathan came over and hugged her, trying to calm her. ‘Son of a bitch! Pouring that into a raw wound is agony! Someone needs to figure out how to neuter that mongrel!’

Nick was currently fighting the urge to shoot this prick in the face.

Paul then poured the other half of the vial of this stuff onto the severed end of the arm. The skin and flesh bubbled and melted away. ‘Get the picture?’ he asked condescendingly.

The hand that was holding her down stopped glowing then and a kind of shockwave emanated off of her. It blasted him off of his feet and sent him flying out the building and across the quad. She pushed herself off the table and turned, throwing off sparks. She looked mad. She raised her left arm high and brought it down fast and forcefully. As she did so, Paul was brought back down to earth with bone-crushing force. She staggered backwards against the table and took a few deep breaths. She was hurting. Her wound still looked red raw and angry. Her arm was lifeless at her side. She looked at Nick, down at his sidearm, and then to Jess. ‘She wants to know if she can borrow your sidearm?’ Jess asked Nick.

‘Yes, of course!’ He went to reach for it to give to her, but before he could do anything, his holster was unbuckled and the gun flew across to her hand. ‘So cool!’

She stood shakily. Paul was back on his feet heading straight for her. She emptied half a clip into his chest. He fell to his knees and she emptied the other half into his forehead. He fell backwards and she tucked the now empty gun into the back of her waistband.

‘MITCH!’ yelled Nathan into thin air.

Jess made to move towards her but she signalled her not to. She stood motionless, watching Paul for signs of movement. He got to his feet and ran at her. He got to half a meter away when she unleashed bolts of energy from her left hand. It stopped him in his tracks and lifted him off the ground. Then out of nowhere Mitch materialised right behind Paul. He slapped on this collar thing and disappeared with Paul in tow.

The three girls rushed to her side as she fell to her knees and rocked back onto her heels. She slumped head on Jess’s shoulder, breathing heavily. He could see she was shaking.

One of the other girls said out loud, ‘Please promise me that when the science boys figure out how to put him down, I get a front-row seat to his execution!’ Then she threw her arms around Glider Killer and her cheek on her head.

The third girl put a glowing hand on the still raw wound on Glider Killer’s back and held it there. She had a pain spasm and took in a couple of deep hissing breaths. The hand was removed and the wound was gone.

She put both arms around Jess as she helped Glider Killer to her feet. They sat her down on a chair that Nathan had dragged up. She sat, meekly, looking haunted and sad.

Nick wanted to do something but didn’t know what.

‘What the hell is that guy’s deal? I don’t ever want to see that again!’ said Tony in a horrified voice.

She looked to the ground. ‘Ah, girl, it’s okay, he’s gone for now, it’s okay!’ said one of the girls, gently pushing her hair out of her face.

‘What did she say?’ asked Ben.

‘She said, Neither do I.’

‘God, son of a bitch!’ exclaimed Marcus.

‘She okay?’ asked Nick. Glider Killer removed his sidearm from her waistband and handed it to him butt first. He checked it and sure enough she’d emptied the whole clip into