Chapter 19: Koriv’n

 

We arrived at the small but well-defended elementary school the survivors had moved into over the summer, just as they were serving the evening meal. It didn’t smell anywhere as good as the food Evie made, so I politely declined. This group was worried about having enough for the winter anyway. They shouldn’t need to feed us as well.

With everyone gathered in the large gymnasium for the meal, many curious eyes were on us as we walked in. The experts we were here to retrieve were still packing their things.

Calvin sat down with some of the males to talk and share news, and Meghan pulled Nikki away the first chance she got, so I searched the place for Terrance and Curtis, my roof team during the summer swarms. I found them playing cards with two other males in a corner.

That was one game they’d taught us while they were at the compound. Terrance had even left his deck of cards with us so we could play.

“Koriv’n, my man.” Terrance gestured me over. “Come join us.”

I did, turning on the translation program on my communication device. I really should get a replacement for the translator I’d lost; they did a much better job than a communicator, which stopped translating if I got a call. Rayk’n left to wander the place and find what he’d come to find.

Rayk’n surreptitiously scented every female he went near. Several of the females cowered at the sight of the hunter, but some were curious and came right up to get a closer look. Sadly, Rayk’n didn’t react to any of the females he got close enough to.

Terrance introduced me to the other two males, and I held out my hand for a handshake, the human way. The first man looked surprised at my action, but the second one took it with a grin. I’d learned as many human quirks as I could when I arrived, hoping it would help me find a mate. Now it helped me make friends.

“This place doesn’t look bad. Why look for another home?” I asked.

Unlike the large high school they’d lived in over the winter that had big, now mostly broken windows thanks to the centicreeps’ ability to crack glass, this place had metal bars over most windows, and the survivors had installed acrylic sheets over the glass just in case. There was also a high chain-linked fence all along the perimeter of the school.

“The ventilation is horrible, and the basement floods after every storm. If the bugs don’t get us, the mold will.”

I scowled. Hunters had a strong respect for any type of fungus, simple molds included. It was only natural, knowing how the scourge and their fungus worked symbiotically to make the scourge the top of every food chain, no matter which planet they were on.

“In that case, I’ll keep an eye out for you.” I’d learned to care for these males over the course of the summer.

I looked around, finally noticing the number of swollen bellies on the females, which must be the source of the sweet smell in the air: offspring incubating in the womb. “These females should not be in here if there’s a risk of dangerous molds.”

“We have them sleeping on the top floor, as far from the basement as possible. There are a few small windows up there, not big enough for the scourge to get through. We keep them open for ventilation. It was brutal in here over the summer.”

“I say we move to the buildings close to the hunter’s compound, in the same industrial complex,” Curtis said with his usual drawl. “They’re next to a large field, perfect for pasturing cattle. And it’s close to the river.”

“You still going on about them cows?” Terrance rolled his eyes. “I don’t think we can find cows anymore, and even if we do, they’ll be bug-chow.”

“They’re raisin’ chickens over at the compound. I can raise a few cows. We’ll need to keep them indoors and only let them out to pasture in the early mornings and late afternoon. And a big wall around the pasture wouldn’t hurt. Those centicreeps don’t usually attack unless the flyers spot us first.”

Curtis was right about that. The flyers were the scourges’ eyes. I doubted the centicreeps were good at finding prey on their own; they’d spent so much evolutionarily on their weaponry and mobility they must have sacrificed other senses. Nothing was perfect. Even hunters, who were engineered to be the ultimate fighters, had our flaws.

Rayk’n joined us, a look of disappointment on his face.

“None of the females smell right?”

“None,” he grumped.

“Be patient. You will find her.”

“I wish I could just sniff out the right women like you guys do.” Terrance leaned back in his chair. “We have to take the risk and test it out first, and half the time, you end up with crazy. Or at least I did. My ex was nuts.” He turned to Rayk’n. “Listen to that nose of yours and don’t settle. I’ve seen the couples at the compound. The nose knows.”

“Yep,” Curtis agreed.

The other two males looked confused but said nothing.

I looked over at Nikki, who sat talking with a few females. Yes, the nose knew. My body still hadn’t initiated the mating bond, but I knew she was mine. Everything else was present, the need to be around her all the time, the feeling like I was addicted to her scent. She wasn’t ready for a “long-term commitment,” but I was ready for forever.

A commotion from the hall raised my hackles. A pair of males ran in, panting. Too out of breath to speak, they gestured wildly to the windows on the other side of the hall from the gymnasium, and everyone rushed over to take a peek. Chaos ensued as everybody started talking at the same time.

“Oh god! We’re under attack.”

“They’ve got guns.”

“Fuck them. We’ve got guns too.”

“What if they’re cannibals?”

Nikki fought her way across the chaos to me.

A few of the calmer guards herded everyone back to the windowless gymnasium. “Anyone not ready to fight, stay in here and stay away from that door.” He pointed to the door at the corner that led out to the schoolyard; it had several stacks of chairs piled in front of it. “The rest of you, get armed and ready.”

Rayk’n and I offered our assistance. We had our melee weapons and blasters, though our shuttles were stuck outside with the approaching attackers.

“I have a feeling I know who’s attacking,” Nikki said, anger tinting her voice.

“We’ll help chase them off. Stay here with the—”

“Fuck that! I’m standing with everyone else. I’m sick and tired of these thugs. Strength in numbers, right?”

I looked around and saw someone distributing weapons, guns, even to the injured. Everyone fought here, and I could not deny my Nikki the right to stand with these survivors; they were her people. I unstrapped the piece of leather protecting my chest and wrapped it around her body, tying it in place.

“But what about you?”

“I’m tough.” I took her hand and ran it over my chest, just as she’d done to me earlier today. “See, I’m already armored. I’ll be fine.”

Meghan started to hand Nikki a rifle. “There’s no ammo, but they don’t know that. We’re planning to intimidate them with sheer numbers.”

Nikki refused the weapon and unswung her bag from her back, removed her gun, and belted the harness to her hip. “I have this. I went home to pick it up. It used to be Jason’s. It’s mine now and loaded.” She nodded curtly, her jaw set. “Let’s go help these people protect their home.”

My heart swelled with pride. She was not one to hide and cower; my female was a fighter. My fighter. I pulled her into my embrace and held her to my body, rubbing the side of my face against hers.

“We’re lucky you were here to pick Sam and the boys up. We need every loaded weapon on our side,” Terrance said. “Head to the roof. We can pick them off better up there. We’ve got teams at all the entrances and shooters at the small second-floor windows.”

We hurried up to the roof and found many of the survivors, even the pregnant females, lined up with their weapons. A few humans had stayed back in the gymnasium with the young, but most were here to fight for their home. I had great respect for these survivors. I knew many of the weapons were unloaded, but the attackers on the ground did not. To them, it was a rooftop lined with armed fighters. They had intimidation in numbers.

“Krux!” Rayk’n swore next to me. “They are getting too close to the shuttles.”

We’d parked our shuttles inside the schoolyard fence in a corner. Some of the attackers were straying too close for comfort. Our shuttles were cloaked, but that didn’t stop them from being discovered by touch or being damaged by friendly fire.

“Don’t fire in that corner,” Roger said to our defenders on the roof. Even with his injured leg, he’d made his way up here. “Our allied hunters’ shuttles are there.”

The information made its way down the line, with each fighter passing it on to the next.

I aimed my blaster at the ground in front of the attackers and fired a warning shot. The males scampered back, away from the corner.

“Hey! It’s the asshole monster that took my wife!” the male who’d once called my female his yelled loud enough for us to hear. “This is where they went.”

I growled an inadvertent warning, fuming that he still called Nikki his wife. She was mine now, just as much as I was hers.

“You’re not my husband. You’re an asshole!” Nikki yelled back.

“You know these guys?” someone asked.

“They’re not worth the air they’re breathing. They only know how to steal,” Nikki replied.

“And they kept us ladies locked down by taking our shoes and withholding food if we didn’t do what they wanted,” Meghan added.

That got the females on the roof going. This group had dealt with corrupt leaders who did something similar but framed it with the false pretense of rebuilding humanity.

“Oh, hell no!” said a pregnant female. “I say we just waste them while they’re in range. People like that don’t deserve to live.”

“I’m not partial to digging graves, Mel. And feeding the bugs is not an option.” Roger raised his voice and shouted to the attackers, “You heard the woman. She ain’t his. She’s ours now, and we won’t give her up. You weren’t here for her anyway.”

A movement to the side caught my attention. A smaller group was trying to sneak to the back.

Roger had noticed too. “That group there,” he whispered to a male who held his gun with practiced ease.

The male shot at the small group, hitting one of the attackers in the leg. He screamed, and his team pulled him back behind a tree.

“Next time it won’t be a leg.”

“They can’t have that much ammo,” Nikki whispered. “They wasted a shit ton shooting at the bugs.”

“Idiots,” said the male who’d made the shot, shaking his head.

“I’m willing to use some of our ammo to drive them off. And if we hit any of them, good riddance.” Roger turned to the shooter. “Go downstairs and tell the guys at the windows to shoot after we do. One or two shots max. Space them out. Don’t waste bullets. We’ll try to drive them off. If they are low on ammo, we want them to think we still have plenty.”

The leader of the attacking group spoke. “Give us what we want, or things will get bloody. We want food, ammo, and women to replace those we lost.”

“How about you get the fuck off our lawn, or we’ll open fire? If you take one step closer, you’re dead meat!” Roger yelled back. “You have ten seconds to get out of my face. One. Two—”

Roger continued his countdown as everyone on the roof prepared to shoot. Instead of retreating, the gang continued into the yard.

“Fuck counting to ten. Open fire.”