The Eightfold Book Two : Blood and Shadow

Not far enough to matter.

The impacts sent brown dust over the rocks until the whole landing zone disappeared for several seconds.

Bulwark raised his weapon and waited for the haze to thin.

Cinder emerged from her pod thirty meters away.

Anvil came out behind her.

Crater's pod opened almost sideways after hitting uneven ground.

He climbed out and looked at the angle.

"I'd like to file a complaint."

Razor stepped from the next crater.

"With the planet?"

"With whoever put that rock there."

Miasma emerged through the dust without comment.

Volt's pod opened beside him. Skylark rose from behind the armor as soon as the drone cleared the hatch.

Skylark was last.

Her pod had landed beyond a short basalt shelf.

She climbed over it instead of walking around.

Cinder looked at her.

"Of course."

Skylark dropped from the rock.

"We landed."

"That was the requirement."

"Then we're already succeeding."

Bulwark looked around the eight-man formation.

They were within a hundred meters of one another.

No injuries.

No lost equipment.

The drop was the easy part.

A low screech came through the dust.

Anvil raised his launcher.

Razor raised his rifle.

Cinder's flamethrower pilot light ignited.

Bulwark checked the motion display.

"Light contact. North-east."

The first Scavenger came over the rocks.

Razor killed it.

Two more appeared behind it.

Cinder fired once.

The flame caught both and drove a third creature sideways.

Skylark moved to the open lane.

Anvil lowered his launcher before she crossed it.

"Keene."

"I saw you."

"Then why did you cross?"

"Because you weren't firing."

"Because you crossed."

Skylark looked back at him.

"See? Coordination."

Anvil's helmet turned toward Bulwark.

Bulwark ignored it.

More movement appeared.

Hunters.

Warriors behind them.

Nothing the Eightfold had not seen before.

That was part of the danger.

Familiar enemies made people impatient.

"Form on me," Bulwark said.

The team spread instinctively.

Too instinctively.

Everyone took the position that made sense to them.

Cinder moved left for a clear burn lane.

Anvil drifted right for distance.

Razor advanced instead of settling into the center.

Skylark climbed the shelf behind them for elevation.

Miasma chose a lower position where the rocks narrowed the approach.

Crater immediately began studying the same rocks.

Volt remained just behind Bulwark, tracking electrical paths and Terminid movement.

Eight good decisions.

One bad formation.

Bulwark noticed it a second before Cinder did.

"Too wide," she said.

"I know."

The Hunters reached them.

Razor moved first.

He fired on the lead creature and closed distance with the second.

Anvil had already raised the launcher toward a Warrior behind them.

"Razor, clear."

Razor shifted.

Not enough.

Anvil held the shot.

The Warrior continued forward.

Cinder burned across the left approach.

A Hunter changed direction to avoid the flame.

Straight toward Miasma's position.

Miasma released a cloud of chemical agent into the narrow passage.

The creature slowed.

Crater looked at the same passage.

"I can close that."

"No," Miasma said.

"Why?"

"I'm using it."

"You're filling it with poison."

"Exactly."

Crater looked at Bulwark.

Bulwark had no time to answer.

Volt called out.

"Arc path right."

The discharge cracked through the dust.

One Hunter locked rigid.

The electricity jumped into a second.

Then grounded against the metal edge of Crater's charge case.

Crater jerked backward.

"Sol."

"Contained."

"It touched the explosives."

"The case is insulated."

"That isn't an apology."

Razor killed the Warrior Anvil had been waiting on.

Anvil lowered the launcher.

"Vale."

"What?"

"I had that."

"It was walking toward us."

"That is normally when I shoot things."

"It stopped walking."

"That is not the point."

Cinder fired again.

"Less arguing."

Bulwark listened to all of it at once.

The enemy was not overwhelming them.

That almost made it worse.

The Eightfold was doing exactly what he had feared.

Each member was winning a separate fight.

No one was losing.

No one was helping enough either.

The last Warrior entered Miasma's gas cloud.

Crater saw it disappear behind the green haze.

"Now can I close it?"

Miasma checked the approach.

"Wait."

"How long?"

"Wait."

Crater's thumb hovered over the detonator.

The Warrior emerged.

Razor began moving toward it.

Miasma said, "Now."

Crater triggered the charge.

The rock shelf collapsed.

The Warrior disappeared under stone.

Razor stopped two steps from the blast.

Dust washed over his armor.

He turned.

"You could've said you were doing that."

Crater stared at him.

"I did."

"You said nothing to me."

"I said it on team comms."

"I was moving."

"That sounds like your problem,"

Cinder turned toward Bulwark.

He knew what she was thinking.

Say something.

He raised one hand.

"Stop."

The gunfire ended.

For the first time since landing, the team stood still.

Bodies and burning chitin marked the basin around them.

No casualties.

No injuries.

Still ugly.

Bulwark looked at each member.

"Cinder controls left movement. Miasma controls right. Anvil owns the center heavy lane. Razor stays out of that lane until Anvil fires. Crater changes terrain only after Miasma clears it. Volt calls arcs before firing. Skylark stays close enough to hear orders before deciding she has a better one."

Skylark's visor tilted.

"That last one feels specific."

"It is."

Anvil said, "I support it."

"You would."

Bulwark continued.

"We're not eight separate Helldivers anymore."

Crater said, "Technically, yes."

Cinder looked at him.

He raised both hands.

"Spiritually, I understand."

Bulwark pointed north.

"Transit Hub ZP-Seven, move."

They did.

This time, the formation looked almost intentional.

Almost.

*

Zagon Prime had changed since the last time several of them had seen it.

Not enough to make it unfamiliar.

Enough to make old instincts unreliable.

Colonial roads disappeared under dust.

A ridge Bulwark remembered from an earlier operation had collapsed into a shallow canyon.

An old E-710 service route had been cut open by Terminid tunneling.

The enemy did what it always did.

It turned occupation into geography.

Skylark stayed high along the rocks.

Not far.

Cinder watched her without commenting.

Bulwark noticed that too.

The team moved north for twelve minutes before Skylark stopped.

"Movement ahead."

"Terminid?" Bulwark asked.

"Human."

The word changed everyone's posture.

"How many?"

"Five."

Cinder asked, "Condition?"

"Moving. One slow."

Bulwark checked the mission data.

The science team assigned to ZP-Seven had reported missing personnel after the communications relay failed.

"Distance?"

"Five hundred."

"Mark them."

Skylark marked the position.

Then:

"Hunters moving on them."

Bulwark looked at the terrain.

A narrow road between two low ridges.

Too far to reach before contact at their current pace.

Skylark said, "I can get there."

"Hold."

"Bulwark."

"Hold."

She did.

Barely.

Bulwark looked at Cinder.

"Options."

"Skylark moves first. We follow."

Anvil said, "I need a firing line when we arrive."

Cinder nodded.

"Miasma and Crater take the lower route. Razor with Bulwark. Volt with Anvil."

Bulwark looked at her.

Fast.

Simple.

Better than what he had been doing.

"Execute."

Skylark did not wait for the second word.

Her jump pack fired.

She crossed the first ridge and disappeared.

Cinder looked at Bulwark.

"You told her to execute."

"I know."

"Just making sure."

The rest moved.

The scientists appeared through the dust a minute later.

Four were trying to carry a fifth.

Six Hunters were closing from behind.

Skylark hit the ground between them.

Her weapon came up before her boots settled.

First Hunter died.

Second jumped.

She used the pack in a short burst and shifted out of its path.

Cinder arrived from the left and ignited the road.

The flame cut two Hunters away from the group.

Anvil set his launcher on the right.

"Lane."

Volt and Bulwark moved clear.

Anvil fired.

The rocket destroyed the largest cluster without touching the scientists.

Razor reached the last Hunter.

He did not need a rocket.

The creature came at him.

He met it with the blade.

Miasma and Crater arrived from the lower road after the fight was already ending.

Crater looked around.

"We missed everything."

Miasma said, "Good."

"That is not why I carry explosives."

Bulwark approached the scientists.

Their suits carried colonial research markings under layers of dust.

The lead scientist raised her rifle before recognizing the armor.

"Helldivers?"

Bulwark looked at her.

"Evacuation support."

She lowered the rifle.

"About time."

Crater said, "We crossed half a planet."

Cinder's visor turned.

He corrected himself.

"Welcome."

Bulwark looked at the injured scientist.

"Status."

"Broken leg," the lead scientist said. "Suit intact."

Miasma moved in.

He scanned the injury.

"Can walk with support. Better if carried."

Razor already had the man's arm over his shoulder.

Crater looked at him.

"I was going to do that."

"You were going to complain."

"I can carry and complain."

The lead scientist looked at all eight.

"This isn't a standard evacuation,"

"No," Cinder said.

The scientist waited.

No one explained.

Bulwark asked, "ZP-Seven?"

"Three kilometers north."

"How many?"

"Twenty-nine left at the hub."

"Defenses?"

"Bad."

"Terminids?"

She looked west.

"Getting worse."

Volt moved closer.

"How?"

The scientist studied him.

"Hatcheries."

The team went quiet.

Bulwark asked, "How many?"

"Three when we lost the relay."

"When?"

"Three days ago."

"Now?"

"We don't know."

The scientist pointed north-west.

"Enough that Pelican pilots stopped coming in low."

Skylark looked toward the horizon.

"Spore interference?"

"Some."

Miasma asked, "Wind-borne?"

"Yes."

"Density?"

"I don't have current readings."

Volt said, "At the hub?"

"The lab has everything."

"Research focus?"

"Hatchery expansion. Brood movement. Reproductive spread after bombardment."

Volt's helmet shifted toward Bulwark.

He did not have to say it.

Intelligence would want the data.

Cinder heard it anyway.

"People first."

Volt replied immediately.

"Agreed."

Cinder looked at him for a second.

"Good."

Bulwark marked the hub.

"Move."

The scientists joined the formation.

That created the next problem.

*

The Eightfold knew how to move quickly.

The scientists did not.

Bulwark made the mistake of trying to solve that by giving everyone separate responsibilities.

"Razor point. Cinder left. Anvil right. Skylark overwatch. Miasma rear. Crater with civilians. Volt center."

They moved.

The formation lasted less than a minute.

Skylark spotted a blocked road.

Crater saw a demolition solution.

Miasma saw a chemical hazard.

Anvil saw a poor firing angle.

Razor saw movement in the ditch.

Volt saw increasing spore density.

Cinder saw Bulwark trying to listen to all of them.

"Road blocked," Skylark said.

"Can clear it," Crater answered.

Miasma said, "Don't."

Crater turned.

"Why?"

"Spore concentration in the low ground."

Volt added, "He's right."

Razor said, "Movement in the trench."

Anvil: "Then stay out of the trench."

Skylark: "High route is open."

Cinder: "Exposed."

Bulwark stared at the map.

Too many correct answers again.

"Crater. Clear road."

Crater moved.

Miasma said, "Bulwark-"

"Minimal charge."

Miasma stopped.

"Copy."

Crater placed the charges on a collapsed cargo hauler blocking the transit route.

He used less than he wanted.

That alone was progress.

The blast shoved the wreck sideways.

The road opened.

Then the ground beneath it cracked.

Razor raised his rifle.

"Tunnel."

Terminids came through the broken surface.

Crater stared down.

"That was not visible."

Anvil replied, "It is now."

The first Warrior struck the wreck.

The vehicle rolled.

Toward the civilians.

Cinder fired.

Bulwark moved in front of the scientists.

Razor moved in front of Bulwark.

Anvil raised the launcher.

Then lowered it.

"Vale."

Razor did not move.

"I have it."

"You are the reason I don't."

The Warrior hit Razor.

He went down to one knee.

Bulwark stepped forward.

Razor recovered before he could reach him.

The blade entered beneath the Warrior's neck plate.

The creature fell.

Anvil's launcher remained unfired.

Razor looked back.

"Still alive."

"That's not the standard."

Cinder killed a Hunter crossing the road.

"Argue later."

Volt called:

"Arc center-right."

Everyone near the wreck shifted.

Volt fired.

The discharge jumped through two Terminids.

Stopped.

No accidental equipment this time.

Crater noticed.

"Thank you."

Volt said, "You sound surprised."

"I am."

Miasma released gas into the tunnel opening.

More Terminids slowed beneath the road.

Crater looked at him.

"Close it?"

Miasma checked the flow.

"Ten seconds."

Crater waited.

He actually waited.

"Now."

Crater fired the charge.

The tunnel collapsed.

No one got buried.

No gas route was wasted.

No friendly stood in the blast.

Cinder looked toward Bulwark.

One thing worked.

Bulwark noticed.

The lead scientist said, "Is it always like this?"

Skylark answered from above.

"First day."

The scientist looked at Bulwark.

He said nothing.

That was safer.

*

Transit Hub ZP-Seven appeared through the dust near dusk.

A prefabricated colonial facility sat in a shallow basin surrounded by a low perimeter wall.

Parts of the wall were damaged.

The communications tower leaned east.

Emergency lights glowed around the landing pad.

Terminid bodies covered the approach.

The gate opened when the station recognized the scientists.

The people inside began shouting.

The missing five crossed first.

Razor still carried the injured man.

The Eightfold entered behind them.

The gate closed.

Thirty-four civilians and scientists now occupied the station.

A woman in a utility suit approached Bulwark.

She carried a rifle too large for her.

"You brought them back."

"All five."

The relief showed even through exhaustion.

Then it disappeared.

"You need to leave."

Cinder said, "We're here to evacuate you."

"No."

The woman pointed west.

"Leave before the next swarm."

Bulwark looked toward the outer wall.

"We're not leaving without you."

She laughed once.

"Then you're not leaving."

Volt moved toward the station console.

"Show us."

The administrator hesitated.

Then activated the local tactical display.

The western basin appeared.

Red organic zones filled the map.

Three markers.

Then five.

Then seven.

Two deeper signatures beneath them.

The lead scientist came beside Volt.

"Those were smaller."

"When?"

"Three days."

Anvil looked at the scale.

"How much smaller?"

The scientist adjusted the overlay.

The old hatchery boundaries appeared.

The new ones swallowed them.

Crater leaned closer.

"That grew in three days?"

"Yes."

Miasma opened the atmospheric layer.

"Spore concentration runs straight across the landing approach."

The administrator nodded.

"That's why Pelicans stopped coming down."

Skylark said, "They can still land."

"They can try."

"Different thing."

"Not if you're inside the Pelican."

Cinder looked at the hatchery map.

"Destroy the source."

Anvil asked, "Support?"

The administrator pointed at them.

"You."

Crater said, "That's happening a lot today."

Bulwark ignored him.

"Swarm cycle."

The administrator checked the station log.

"Last major contact fifty-two minutes ago."

"When's the next?"

"Hard to say."

Volt looked at the activity graph.

"Not hard."

Everyone turned.

The brood signatures were changing.

Not moving.

Growing.

The nearest cluster had increased while they were standing there.

Volt enlarged it.

"Something is accelerating activity."

The scientist looked at the display.

"That can't be right."

Miasma said, "It is."

Volt looked at him.

"Agreed."

Cinder said, "Useful explanation."

Volt tried again.

"The hatchery mass is changing faster than the last observation set."

Anvil asked, "Meaning more bugs."

"Yes."

Crater said, "See? Useful."

Bulwark studied the map.

This was supposed to be a rescue mission.

Now the rescue could not happen until the hatcheries were cleared.

The hatcheries were expanding.

The station had thirty-four people.

Pelican access was compromised.

The Eightfold had already spent the first hour stepping on each other's tactics.

He looked at the team.

Cinder stood nearest the map.

Skylark watched the exterior feed.

Anvil studied the likely heavy approaches.

Miasma examined spore movement.

Crater traced structural routes into the western basin.

Razor looked at the gate.

Volt looked at the growth data.

Everyone saw a different problem.

That was why they had been chosen.

It was also why they were not ready.

Bulwark said it aloud.

"We're not ready."

Skylark looked at him.

"For the hatcheries?"

"For each other."

Nobody argued.

That bothered him.

Cinder stepped closer.

"Then stop trying to command eight separate fights."

Bulwark looked at her.

She pointed at the map.

"Give us one problem at a time."

That was not how he usually commanded.

Bulwark built lines.

Assigned sectors.

Controlled the battlefield from the center.

Cell VIII did not need seven sectors.

It needed seven people who understood what came next.

He looked at Cinder.

"Defense plan."

She moved immediately.

"Anvil, heavy lanes."

Anvil joined her.

"Miasma, spore and chemical control."

"Already mapping."

"Crater, you work with him."

Crater looked at Miasma.

"See? Partnership."

Miasma said, "Don't touch anything."

"Less partnership."

Cinder continued.

"Razor, perimeter response."

"Good."

"Skylark, close reconnaissance only."

Skylark said, "Define close."

Cinder looked at her.

"Visible on my tactical display."

"That's not a distance."

"It is now."

Skylark nodded.

"Fine."

"Volt. Data collection only when it does not interfere with killing what needs killing."

Volt said, "Reasonable."

Cinder looked toward Bulwark.

"And you?"

Bulwark looked at the hatchery basin.

This time he did not claim every part of it.

"I decide where we go."

Anvil said, "Good start."

Bulwark looked at him.

Anvil shrugged.

"You wanted honesty."

A station alarm sounded.

Everyone turned.

The outer sensor line had detected movement.

The administrator looked at the display.

"That's early."

Red contacts appeared west of the perimeter.

Dozens.

Then more.

The hatcheries had not waited for the Eightfold to finish learning.

Cinder raised her flamethrower.

Anvil lifted the launcher.

Miasma opened his chemical feed.

Crater checked his detonators.

Razor drew the blade.

Volt brought the arc emitter online.

Nine rose over his shoulder.

Skylark's jump pack began to whine.

Bulwark looked at the seven people around him.

Not strangers.

Not yet a unit.

Something between.

Thirty-four people behind them did not care about the distinction.

Bulwark raised his weapon.

"Cell VIII."

Every helmet turned.

"Let's try this again."

The outer gate opened.

Dust rolled into the station.

The Eightfold stepped through the gate and met the swarm,

End of chapter one. 11 more chapters and about 49,064 words in the full book.