Page 11 of North (Hunter Squad #2)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

North

T he Talon flew through the night darkness. Everyone was quiet and tense. We knew we were heading into a shitty situation.

Five adults gone. Shit . A muscle ticked in my jaw.

I glanced at Jess. Her face was set, focused.

Picton was inland of Dawn. Pre-invasion, it had been a small town surrounded by hills and farms that despite its close proximity to Sydney, still had a country feel to it.

Now, Picton was a fraction of its former size. The walled township sat in the center of the ruins of the larger community.

I looked out the side window of the Talon. It was too dark to see much more than glimpses given by the Talon’s flying lights. All I saw were the shadows of uninhabited buildings below.

“Picton’s dead ahead,” Colbie said.

I glanced forward. Through the cockpit window, I spotted the circular walls of the town, which were all lit up. It vaguely looked like an old castle set in a wasteland of rubble.

Colbie flew over the walls, and I saw heavily-armed guards standing in one of the guard towers. They were on high alert. We landed on one of the landing pads inside.

As soon as we touched down, a group of three people strode toward us—two men and a woman.

We all climbed out of the Talon.

“I’m Jameson Steele, the leader of Hunter Squad,” Jameson said, holding out a hand.

The youngest man nodded. “I’m James Pitt, the leader of Picton. This is Arabella Spencer, our head of security.” The older woman nodded. “And Daniel Legge. He was on duty on the wall during the attack.”

I glanced at the dark-skinned man. He was probably my age. His head was wrapped in bandages.

“Tell us what happened,” Jameson asked.

Daniel swiped a shaky hand across his mouth. He still looked rattled. “Monsters attacked the west wall.”

“We’re doing some rehab work there and there was some scaffolding set up,” Arabella added. “They’d never paid any attention to it before.”

I sucked in a breath. The monsters were smart enough to aim for a weak spot.

“What kind of creatures?” Jess asked, pulling out her communicator and widening the screen. “Can you describe them?”

Daniel shook his head. “That’s the thing. It was a big mob of them, but they weren’t all alike. I mean, I’d seen packs of similar monsters before, but nothing like this.”

“Anything you can describe about them would help,” Jess said.

The man pulled in a shaky breath. “There were three different breeds. Some were big, walked on all fours, and had a long tail. Others walked on two feet, but I didn’t get a good look at those ones. The third type were small and fast, jumping everywhere. I reckon they had some possum in them. Never seen anything like it before.”

A cold chill skated through me. Jess blinked, then got busy taking notes.

“We managed to kill a few, but then they snatched some of the guards. They got Chris and Marina first. They killed Stefan.” A spasm crossed Daniel’s face. “Then they took Gus, Harry and Kitt. They retreated. Carried them away.”

Shit .

“Which direction?” Jameson asked.

Daniel rubbed the side of his head. “Um, north. They went north.”

“Okay, Daniel.” Jameson nodded. “We’re going to get your people back.”

“Please.” He grabbed Jameson’s arm. “They’re all good people.”

“We’ll bring them home,” Marc said.

“Thank you,” James said before his face crumpled. “Kitt’s my wife. Our three children are asleep, and I don’t know what I’m going to tell them when they wake up.”

Sympathy filled me. I wanted to reassure him, but I couldn’t make any promises that I couldn’t keep.

Jameson nodded and turned to face us. We jogged back to the quadcopter, and a second later, we were back in the air.

“We’re heading north, Colbie.” Jameson stayed standing, holding a handgrip above his head. “Sasha, I need you searching for heat signatures.”

“Acknowledged,” the comms officer replied. “We already have a drone in the air.”

“It was a group of monsters working together. They took the guards alive, so we’re working on the assumption that those humans are still breathing. Let’s find them.”

“I’m scanning now,” Sasha said.

“You think they were taken like the two boys?” I asked Jess. “To put in cocoons?”

“Maybe.” A groove formed on her forehead. “It’s all so strange. These different breeds of monsters working together. To what end?” She tapped a boot on the floor. “How are they communicating?” She looked lost in thought, then tapped on her communicator again.

“I reckon maybe the cocoon thing is like a fridge to them,” Marc said. “Keeps their snacks fresh until they need them.”

“Gross,” Zeke said.

“I have some heat signatures on screen,” Sasha’s excited voice filled our earpieces.

Everyone straightened.

“Did they head toward the forest?” Jess asked.

“No, they’re still tracking north through the ruins of Picton. They’re moving fast.”

“Can you pick up the five humans?” Jameson asked.

“No, they’re all too close together. The heat signatures are overlapping each other.”

“What’s north of here?” Jess asked.

“As far as I know, more ruins of the surrounding towns,” I said.

“Nothing of interest,” Sasha said. “Wait. I do see a larger, industrial building and…it looks like an orchard. Wait, yes, it’s an old apple orchard. They used to manufacture cider.”

“I like cider,” Marc said.

“It’s been abandoned for decades,” Sasha said, “but…”

“Maybe the monsters are using it,” Jameson said. “Keep tracking them, Sash.”

“Hell.” Sasha’s voice was taut with tension. “Jameson, the monsters just split into two groups, dammit.”

I leaned forward and dangled my hands between my legs.

“One group is continuing north,” Sasha said. “The other is milling around. Dammit, I can’t see where the humans are. They could be with either group.”

“Why did one group stop?” Kai asked.

“They’re waiting for us,” Jess said.

Heads whipped around to look at her.

“What?” Kai asked.

“They know we’re coming. They’re waiting to stop us.”

Jameson checked his carbine. “Then they’re in for a nasty surprise. Hunter Squad, let’s do this.”

“Fuck, yeah.” Marc lifted his own weapon. “Time to take down some monsters.”

I met Jess’ gaze and nodded. She nodded back.

Jess

“There they are,” Colbie said from the cockpit.

I stood, and gripped an overhead hand hold, and looked out the side window.

A spotlight beam from the Talon illuminated the monsters below.

They were milling in a park bounded by an old subdivision, whose houses were now all rubble. I sucked in a breath. Smaller monsters were swarming around, interspersed with larger ones.

As we all strapped on our rappel cables, Jameson slid the side door open. We were assaulted by grunts, moans, and yowls coming from below.

“Jesus,” Kai muttered.

None of us had seen monsters congregate like this. Hell, I’d seen larger monsters eat smaller ones before.

Not work together like a team.

A chaotic, bloodthirsty team.

“Let’s do this,” Jameson said. “Kai, man the turret and take out what you can from the air.”

Kai nodded. “You got it, Jameson.”

“Everyone else, let’s go.”

“Hell, yeah,” Marc yelled.

Jameson turned and jumped. Zeke leaped right behind him.

I glanced out and watched them whizz down.

“After you,” Marc said.

I jumped next. The night air was cool on my face and my gloved hands gripped my carbine. My boots hit the ground, and I disconnected the line.

Instantly, a small monster leaped at me.

I got the impression of gray fur, huge eyes, and claws. Big claws.

I whipped my weapon up and fired.

A second later, North landed beside me. Then Marc.

Zeke and Jameson were back-to-back, their lasers lighting up the night. I stayed close to North and Marc, spraying the closest creatures.

“Fuck,” North muttered.

There were so many. My throat was dry.

A larger creature, about the size of a large dog, bounded at us, its jaws snapping.

We both fired on it, then Marc joined in too. The creature went down, and Marc leaped over and kept firing.

Something hit the back of my legs and I stumbled. North spun and fired.

I turned and saw one of the gray possum-like creatures. It lay twitching on the ground, black blood oozing onto the grass.

North advanced, his carbine up and his face like stone.

I moved up beside him, firing on more monsters. The creatures darted away.

There was a loud squawk. To our left, a monster darted out of the trees in the park. It ran on two long legs and had a long neck, and sharp beak. It aimed right at North.

“North!” I yelled.

At my warning, he spun and fired. The bird-like creature was quick, darting side to side and avoiding the laser fire. I pulled my knife and waited, waited…

I tossed it. It hit the monster in the face, and it went down, squawking. North stood over it and fired. It slumped to the grass.

“What the hell was that?” I retrieved my knife and wiped it on the grass.

“Looks like it has some emu DNA in it,” he said

I shoved the knife back in its sheath.

The others were fighting close by in the middle of a mob of monsters.

“Take that, you assholes,” Marc yelled.

The Talon flew overhead. A large laser fired from the turret, cutting into the largest monster in the group. Its big body shuddered.

“Help me.”

The faint voice made me turn. I scanned the darkness and trees.

“Please, help.”

“North, do you hear that?”

“Yeah, come on. The guys have got this.” He broke into a jog.

I followed. “Be careful. I don’t like this.”

“I don’t think monsters can speak.”

“Not as far as we know,” I muttered. My nerves were tight. This really didn’t feel right. I touched my ear. “Sasha, we hear someone calling for help. North and I are going to investigate.”

“Acknowledged. Watch yourselves.”

We came out on a street on the other side of the park. There were no monsters, just mounds of rubble from destroyed buildings, and several overturned cars.

We walked cautiously down the street.

“Hello?” I called out.

“Help! I’m over here.” A gruff male voice.

I spotted a shadow on the road. As we got closer, I saw that it was an older man lying on his side.

Gasping, I ran toward him, still scanning our surroundings for monsters.

The man looked like he was in his late fifties or early sixties, with gray hair and, oh God… My stomach revolted. Something had chewed on his legs, leaving them mangled.

“Hi, there.” North crouched beside the man. “I’m North. This is Jess.”

“Hunter Squad?” the man asked in a shaky voice.

“That’s us.”

“Thank God.” Air shuddered out of him. “You’ve got to help the others.”

“What’s your name?” North asked, opening his backpack.

“Gus.” He coughed and winced. “Fucking monster dragged me here. Attacked Kitt first. She has kids. I leaped in front of it, and it got me instead.”

“So you’re a hero,” I said.

He looked up at me. “Just a guy.” He grimaced again.

I knew that he had to be in agony.

North quickly gave him a shot with the pressure injector. “Hang in there, Gus. We’re going to get you out of here.”

A snarl echoed down the street.

I whipped around. Three heavy, muscular monsters prowled toward us on four legs. Their bodies were covered in armor plating, and each had a heavy tail, topped with a round ball of bone on the end, whipping around behind them.

Great. Just great.

“That’s…what dragged me here,” Gus said.

Dammit . It looked like they’d used Gus as bait.

“North…”

“Let’s take them down fast. Gus needs medical attention.” North rose, lifting his carbine. “Hold tight, Gus.”

“Light those abominations up,” Gus gritted out.

One of the creatures roared.

“They look like those bony dinosaurs that had a club-like tail,” I said.

“Ankylosaurus.”

“You were a dino geek?”

“Maybe. I thought dinosaurs were pretty cool when I was a kid.”

Then the three monsters rushed at us, gathering speed, powerful bodies moving fast.

Steeling myself, I aimed my carbine.

North and I opened fire.