Phoenix Rising (Book Two of The Icarus Trilogy) (51 page)

“It makes me want to be better.  Jackson can’t see that kind of thing since he’s such an asshole, but I can see it.  You just want to be the best you can, and now I can see that you’re using that for us.  I’m glad you’re on our team.  Fuck Jackson over there,” Forrest said, smiling underneath his helmet.  Roth couldn’t see it, but he knew it was there.  He felt the tear running down from his right eye and smiled at his comrade.  This was exactly what he was hoping for.

“Forrest, you want to know what changed me?”

“The training?”

“No, the second part.  Why I’ve been different these last few days.”

“Dude, that’s all you, man.  You can tell me if you want, but I don’t know if it’ll mean anything to me,” Forrest said before shifting his weight from one leg to the other.  Roth considered the statement, but realized that he wanted to share this.  It would be selfish not to.

“My dad sent me a message.  First time I heard from him since I came to Eris.  He told me that… well, he told me that I was being the glory hound,” Percival said as he recalled that last message.  “He told me that a man shouldn’t stand alone.  It was something my grandfather used to say.  The best of us can stand alone; the worst of us choose to do so.”  Forrest looked at the hero soldier for a moment before shrugging and turning to face the entrance of the clinic.

“I like that, but I’m sure that means more to you.  Maybe you can get that to be your quote for
War World
,” Forrest said before leaving to join Jackson.  Roth looked after the smaller soldier and wondered how the man wasn't affected by the statement; he ended up shaking his head.  Maybe Forrest was right and it was just pretty words, but Percival couldn’t help but think that it was more important than that.

“Hey, you gonna use that RPG of yours to clear these Crows out?” Jackson called from the entrance.

“Don’t think so.  I might need them in the actual barracks.  I’ll be fine with this,” Roth said as he waved around his pistol.  Jackson rolled his eyes behind his visor and kicked a rock at his feet.

“Figures, you fucking glory hound,” he said before readying his automatic and walking towards the entrance.  Roth couldn’t stop the anger he felt towards the Hammerhead, but it didn’t matter now.  He brought his pistol to bear and walked over to the edge of the doorway.  The hero soldier looked through the windows of the clinic; Roth could only see an empty entranceway.

“Fuck.  Guess we’ll have to go after ‘em.”

                -

Abrams could not believe her luck.  She was pinned down in the dingy hallway and all she had to fight with was her revolver.  She didn’t bother to look over at Feldman, who was doing his best to manage the automatic in his hands.  The warrior woman didn’t blame the giant for trying to abandon his sword, but he was a piss-poor shot with the thing.  She had a hard time not laughing in despair when she realized that Petyr, one of the drones, had better aim than the giant warrior.  During the games she had appreciated being paired with the giant; during a revolution she would have wished for anyone else.

The warrior woman wished that Goldstein would get there soon.

When the four of them had heard the explosion off in the Western Hallway, they were concerned.  There was no response from Corrigan or Warner, which was somewhat disturbing.  The violent soldier always gloated about his kills; his behavior could only be expected to escalate when he was actually ending these soldiers’ lives.  The four soldiers in the North Entrance had only to look at each other for a moment before realizing that someone had to go check on the two Crows.  Luckily Goldstein had volunteered over Comms, so they didn’t have to weaken their position.

It was a tense few minutes as they waited for the merchant to report on what he saw.  For some reason Abrams felt sick to her stomach and almost let herself throw up right there in the hallway.  She pushed it away from her thoughts and noticed Feldman looking over at her in concern.  The warrior woman just shrugged and chalked it up to nerves.  For the last week she had just been out of it.  She was tired when she had no reason to be; she was sick in the mornings.  It was a horrible time for a revolution.

The middle-aged Crow had stumbled upon the pair of corpses in the Western Hallway at the exact same time that three Hammerheads had burst through the Northern Entrance.  Abrams had almost immediately been forced behind cover, as the three Hammerheads were reckless and constantly shot at the positions of the four Crows.  One of the drones, Quinn, had been killed immediately with four shots through his visor.

“Goldstein, you better fucking get here!” Abrams screamed over Comms.  She wasn’t going to risk death just because the merchant was busy examining corpses.

“Jesus, his journal is soaked in blood.  Poor guy,” Goldstein said, still not fully-cognizant of the fight occurring at the northern entrance.

“GOLDSTEIN!”

“What?!” the merchant yelled back over Comms.  Abrams didn’t know if he was just being stupid or just a coward.

“Zachary.  We need your help.  Abrams is the only decent shot, here,” Feldman said over the channel, surprising Jessica with his assistance.  The woman looked over at the giant, who was about to pop back out of cover.  Even behind their masks the woman realized that they were making eye contact, and she knew immediately what was about to happen.  She nodded, and before another bullet flew through the air the two Crows threw themselves into danger.

Abrams could see two of the Hammerheads out of cover while a third was crouched on the ground, probably reloading his weapon.  The warrior woman brought her left hand up from her hip with a grenade already primed and chucked it at the three gladiators.  Even as the explosive sailed through the air she brought around the same hand to steady her shot with the revolver.  The two Hammerheads paused in their attack as soon as they saw the grenade and leapt forward to the next barricades, hoping that the shrapnel from the grenade wouldn’t pass through the metal benches.

The third soldier was not lucky enough to be in a position to avoid the explosive.  He watched the grenade flying towards him and panicked.  The Hammerhead was about to die and he knew it.  The slave soldier did the only thing that he could think of and grabbed his own grenade.  It was hard to choose which one of the Crows would be more dangerous, but eventually he chose to throw it towards the giant holding the automatic machine gun.  The slave soldier was about to let the grenade fly when he felt a hot piece of metal burst right through his chest plate.  The Hammerhead didn’t even think about the grenade in his hand as he fell in pain, but the momentum had already been started.  It didn’t fly with enough force to find its way to the giant, but it didn’t matter to the Hammerhead anymore.  He would try to do better in the next game.

Abrams cursed as she realized she was too late.  She watched the black shape lazily fly towards Feldman, but realized that it wouldn’t reach her compatriot.  That realization was quickly followed by another; it would land right next to Petyr.  If she had looked to her left she would have seen Feldman trying to warn their comrade, but his deep voice was completely overshadowed by the explosion from Abrams' grenade, which had split the Hammerhead into four pieces. 

The pair of Crows watched as their fellow revolutionary looked back at them while reloading his weapon.  Abrams was about to scream at him again before seeing the black grenade burst just beside the soldier’s knee.  Parts of the drone splattered in all directions, but Abrams did not have enough time to get back behind cover before the explosion.  The leg of the corpse slammed into her gut, relieving her of air, but she was more concerned with the shrapnel that had torn through her right elbow.  She had been completely unguarded and as she tried to recover from the shock of her teammate’s death. she realized that her right arm was useless. 

She
was useless, now.

“Jessica!  Jessica, are you alright?” Feldman asked from across the hallway.  She looked over at the giant and realized that there was nothing she could do.  The giant attempted to reach her side but then felt the air rushing past him as the two Hammerheads restarted their assault.  Abrams could hear the great man growl at the event and then threw a grenade from his belt towards their opponents.  The gunfire stopped again for a time as the two slave soldiers ducked behind cover and the titan was able to rush over to his wounded teammate.

“How bad is it, Jess?” Feldman asked in a hushed voice.  He didn’t want them to know that one of their strongest opponents was wounded.  Abrams couldn’t help but feel despair for herself and her teammate.  She looked down at her right arm and wondered if it would be the very thing that killed her.

“I’m done, Feldman.  We’re dead.  I can’t use the revolver anymore,” she said as she looked up at the giant in front of her.  The man merely shook his head.

“You’re not dead, Jess.  You’re getting out of here.  When I throw this last grenade you get up and you run back to Zachary.  I’ll be damned if you die here from just a little shrapnel,” he said as he grabbed the last grenade at his belt.  It was just a chaff grenade.

“Feldman…. Greg… I’m not leaving you alone,” Abrams said, not comprehending the giant in front of her.  She didn’t want this for him, but he grabbed her shoulder with his other hand and she could feel his eyes burning into her.

“Yes, you are.  I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be dead, Greg…”

“Maybe so, but I’m gonna try to avoid that.  Go,” he said before bullets started to pelt the metal bench shielding them from their opponents.  He nodded and chucked the chaff grenade down the hallway.  The giant turned briefly and pulled the woman to her feet with a single hand.  “Now.”

Abrams ran as fast as she could.  She didn’t bother to turn back; she wasn’t going to waste Feldman’s gift.  The warrior woman cried as she flew down the hallway, her arm in extreme pain from the metal that had passed through the joint in the armor.  She almost didn’t feel it as she rounded the corner and headed for Goldstein’s position.  The pain in her heart was overwhelming.

Feldman scrambled for the training room as Abrams sprinted down the hallway.  He sighed, realizing that she was probably right, but he wasn’t going to let her die like that.  He had seen and heard too many men die today; he wasn’t going to watch his friend die just because she wanted to stay with him. 

The chaff burst into light and he wasn’t able to shield his right eye from the intense explosion.  He was half-blind and his visor was scrambled in front of him.  The giant tore at the clasps attached to his helmet and threw the piece of plastic and metal from his head.  He gathered his breath and realized that he wasn’t going to be able to see out of that right eye again in this lifetime.  The giant cursed his luck, but realized that he didn’t have time for this.  He had to act; the Hammerheads would be on him in just a moment.

The giant’s steps reverberated throughout the room and Feldman had to wonder if he had noticed that before in his countless hours of training.  He had torn through innumerable holographic soldiers, honing his skills with his blade, but he didn’t know if he had ever paid attention to the sounds of the room.  He laughed as he realized there was so much he hadn’t noticed.

The Hammerheads found the giant just as he was turning to meet them.  One was arrogant enough to laugh at the Crow without his helmet, but the smile disappeared as the giant started towards them.  The slave soldier raised his weapon up to the revolutionary in his confusion, but was unable to fire a single round before the bright plasma of the sword tore upward from just above his left leg and through his torso, breaking free of his body just to the right of his neck.  As he fell to the ground, the Hammerhead had enough time to experience the pain but lost consciousness before landing.

Feldman felt a burst of bullets bury themselves into his midsection.  He had hoped for better but realized quickly that it was a foolish prospect.  While the one Hammerhead had been taken by surprise, the other had seen the titan swinging the blade from the outset.  Feldman ignored the pain in his belly and turned the blade before bringing it back down diagonally to his right.  The Hammerhead tried to avoid the blow, but the giant had far too much experience in warfare.  It hurt Feldman’s conscience to hear that man’s death scream and the titan forced his eyes closed.  He had never wanted this.

The giant stood there for a moment; his opponents dead at his feet.  He refused to open his eyes at first, not wanting to see the horror he had just wrought, but he knew he had to leave soon.  He had to get back to his comrades.  Gregory opened his eyes and looked at the soldiers torn apart beneath him.  As he took in the sight he smelled that same, horrifying odor of cooked meat.  The giant shuddered at what had just happened but pushed the thought from his mind.

He walked slowly to the exit of the training room.  Feldman could feel the bullets burning in his belly, but he forced himself to keep going.  Gregory Feldman might have been dying, but that wasn’t a good enough reason not to help. 

The giant knew there was so much more to do.

                -

Hector Cortes was worried.  He was hidden behind a column in the hallway, but he could see the Hammerhead peering in from the doorway.  There was no good position to really withstand an assault like this.  Cortes looked down the hallway at his messiah.  Jenkins was set up by the desk they had moved into the hallway and Dr. Kane was in the room behind him.  It was the only easily-moveable piece of furniture in that part of the clinic and so it was the only cover they could create.  It only made sense that Jenkins would protect her; she was the entire reason they were in the clinic in the first place.  They weren’t going to let the woman get killed on their watch.

The Spaniard looked at the ground and despaired.  They were going to die here; it didn’t matter how much faith he had in his savior.  He was about to sob when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  Expecting to find Jenkins next to him, Cortes looked to his right but found Sam looking at him with sadness in his eyes.