Page 3 of Marc
Jameson and Zeke stepped up beside me. Jess, North, and Kai were on the other side of the Talon.
“Let’s go,” Jameson ordered.
I didn’t need any further encouragement. I leaped out of the quadcopter and touched the controls on my armor. My helmet closed over my face, and small wings extended out from my back, controlling my glide.
As I glided downward, I aimed for the crash site. Everything else around it was dense trees. There was awhooshingsound behind me, as the others followed.
Monsters came into view. These were doglike, with four legs, and brown, scaly skin. As I flew in closer, I lifted my carbine.
Steady. Steady.I was in range.
I opened fire.
The carbine whined, green laser lighting up the night. Below me, the creatures yelped and growled.
The laser fire intensified as the rest of the squad opened fire. I circled around the crash site, trying to find a flat spot where I could land.
I landed first, my boots hitting on dirt and broken metal. I caught my balance, just as a monster dog launched at me.
“Come on, asshole.” I fired at its head until it slumped. I spun to fire on another, as the wings retracted back into my armor and my helmet retracted. Cool air washed over my face.
The rest of my squad touched down. Zeke was closest to me, and we swiveled together, firing in sync. A monster leaped onto a rock, tossing its head back, and howled.
Zeke and I fired together. The creature shuddered under the impact, then slid off the rock.
Silence.
“Think that’s all of them.” Jameson’s helmet retracted and a flashlight on the shoulder of his armor flickered to life.
I slapped at my shoulder and my flashlight beam speared into the night. I kept a solid grip on my carbine.
Up close, the wreckage of the Talon looked even worse.
The main body was crumpled like a soda can. The four rotors had broken off. My heart pounded as I stared at the ruined cockpit.
Jameson moved forward, his rugged face grim. He heaved some metal aside, uncovering the pilot’s seat. Then his face relaxed slightly. “She’s not here.”
Emotion shuddered through me.
She’d made it.
She’d survived the crash and gotten out.
“Sasha, report back to Colbie’s family,” Jameson said. “She’s not in the Talon.”
“Acknowledged,” was Sasha’s relieved response.
I’d seen Finn Erickson when we’d left Squad Command. Colbie’s father—a decorated pilot from the invasion—had been losing his shit about Colbie’s crash. Jameson’s father, Marcus, had been trying to keep him calm.
I stared down at the body of a dead monster. She’d made it out. That meant she was out here alone, no doubt with more monsters hunting her.
North crouched nearby. “I see why she crashed.”
That’s when I spotted the twisted, mangled body of the bird-like monster tangled in the Talon’s rotor. It was all scales and feathers, about the size of a hawk. There were more scattered remains of the monster birds all around. I kicked one.
“I’ve seen these before.” Jess pulled out her communicator and snapped some photos. “They come out at night, and work as a swarm.”
A muscle flexed in my jaw. Colbie would’ve done everything she could to keep her bird in the air. She loved that damn quadcopter. “We have to find her.”
