1

To: General Gregory Seed

From: Brigadier General
Forrest Brown

Log date:
00429.211-07:03:36

Re: Planet B24-X52745

General Seed,

We have found the
missing lurker carriers. They are in orbit around planet B24-X52745 and are
launching an invasion. We do not have any carriers close enough to respond to
the situation in time, but SEP LurkerKiller and SRP Red Shot will be onsite in
less than five hours.

A general alert has been
sounded and our ground forces are preparing for the invasion.

General Brown

2

Jeffords muttered a curse as we watched
the ships descend in the most awesome display of power I had ever seen, ripping
through the atmosphere like a cosmic phenomenon that seemed to shake the world.
Several of the large ships made me think of aircraft carriers from back on
earth, only much bigger. There were hundreds of smaller ships that were dwarfed
in comparison to the massive carrier ships but which were still of considerable
size themselves, judging by how far away they were and how clear of a view I had
of them. Whether large or small, they all looked like flying bricks. The
largest were big enough to blot out the sun even without all the other smaller
ships swarming around them.

They moved like giants
across the sky.

It’s
more like a force of nature than an invasion, I
thought.

The movies and
televisions shows I had seen as a kid depicting alien invasions did not even
come close to the power and horror of this singular moment. The world itself
seemed to shudder in fear at their approach. It was as if the air was filled
with electricity, of which the blaring camp sirens were only a muted part.

I had doubted whether
the story about an intergalactic war was real—an unconscious part of me still
believed that this could all be some twisted psychological drug experiment—but
I could not escape the utter reality of it all, though my mind immediately
tried to look for ways to do so.

I
keep hoping that this is the worst drug-induced coma ever known to man, so I
wake up to my family, but every time I turn around, this place gives me further
evidence against that.

The atmosphere was
filled with flame as the ships descended, several of the smaller ones broke
away from the main convoy and headed our way while the rest continued in a
direction that I pegged as northwest from our position, leaving behind
contrails that made the horizon seem overcast. As concerned as I was about the
ships headed towards us, I desperately wanted to know where the bulk of the
invasion was going. They had led me to believe there was not much else on this
planet, but that did not appear to be the case, judging by the sudden show of
force that was largely ignoring us.

There was no way that
they had sent that many ships just to deal with our lowly camp. The size of the
invading force proved that there was a much stronger presence on this planet
than I had been told.

“Camp Myers,” Jeffords
muttered under his breath.

Bingo,
I thought. Camp Myers won’t be anywhere near as small as this.

“How big is Camp Myers?”
I asked.

The way Jeffords had
emphasized the name Camp Myers made me think of something far more
sophisticated than our camp, as if it were a headquarters of some sort.

Jeffords didn’t answer
and took off at a run.

I sighed as I watched
him go. I had not had a moment of rest since coming to this insane planet. It
was always one thing after the next. A part of me almost hoped for death, but
then I thought of my little Ricky and my wife Ava. I could not surrender to
such thoughts. I had to know if they had died several hundred years ago after
long and fulfilling lives or if they were still alive or if it was something
else altogether.

I had no baseline for
truth, so I had to find my own.

Not knowing what else to
do, I followed Jeffords, hoping that I could use the oncoming invasion to further
prove myself, if not to him, then to Roth and anybody else who was in a
position to help me understand what was going on here. The two ships that
headed our way were coming fast. They had been some of the smallest in the
fleet, but they were larger than any airplane I had ever seen back on earth.

And they kept growing in
size as they approached.

I heard a high buzzing
sound that I assumed came from the ships, but I was not sure about my
assessment and feared that it was a weapon that was about to rain down
destruction upon our little camp. 

The camp sirens
continued to blare, but as the ships approached, they became increasingly muted
by the coming invasion to the point it sounded like the sirens had stopped
working altogether even though I could still see the flashing lights.

Soldiers ran in every
direction.

Up ahead, I saw Roth
before she disappeared into a tent. Jeffords must have seen her as well because
he headed right towards her. I did not know a lot about the chain of command
around here, but I suspected he was not her direct report.

Sergeants didn’t report
to generals.

The tent she had gone
into appeared to be the same command tent that had been uprooted by the
grenling in my first meeting with her, only it had been moved to a different
location since that time. It was still the same setup I remembered from that
first day with multiple tents conjoined together to make a big meeting place
within. 

When I looked inside I
saw several other soldiers who I assumed were officers. I was yet to see any
sign of distinguishable rank on any of the officer’s uniforms, I assumed this
was to make it harder for our enemy to pick out our leaders. By the way they
all carried themselves and ignored Jeffords when he entered, I could tell that
they were all his superiors, except for the soldier who acted as Roth’s
secretary.

I did a double-take,
looking her over, glad that she had survived my first encounter with a
grenling. I had feared she died.

There was another woman
with hair pulled behind her head who stood even taller than Roth, who herself
was a tall woman. She glanced at Jeffords and did not bother to hide a
disdainful look. She shook her head in irritation before turning her attention
back to Roth.

I had entered too but
made myself scarce by pushing up against the canvas wall, Roth gave me an
unreadable look before turning to the others. We had not spoken since I had
saved her life.

She had not given me so
much as a thank you.

Not that I was expecting
one, not from somebody like her.

“Sanchez,” Roth said,
looking at a fit man that was several inches shorter than her, but who towered
over Jeffords, “what are you doing here?”

As I looked around the
room, I remembered that I was taller than everybody. And here I was hoping
to shrink into the corner without being noticed. It now felt as though everybody’s eyes were on me, even though they
all stared at Roth.

“All my soldiers are in
place and we should have the big gun up and running in just a couple of
minutes, sir. I thought I would make myself available in case you need anything
else, sir.”

The
big gun? I had to refrain from
shaking my head in utter amazement. Why didn’t they pull it out for the
grenlings?

“I gave you specific
orders to get that gun going, what could possibly be more important than that?”
Roth’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t hear it firing, do you? We could’ve taken down
half of them by now if you would’ve got your act together.”

I would have cowered
under Roth’s stare, but the man didn’t even blink. He seemed to lack a sense of
humor to go along with his brutish body.

“I wanted to see if you
had any special orders, sir.” His voice was stiff as a board.

“Kill as many of those infernal things as you can. Now get outta
here!”

When the man moved to
leave, I could tell Roth wanted to order him to run, but she just shook her
head and looked at the tall woman.

“Benning, do we have any
word on reinforcements?”

The woman frowned.
“Everybody else is under attack as well. We have to go this alone.”

“What’s new?” Roth
muttered, finally looking at Jeffords. “And what are you doing here, don’t you
have a team of fresh recruits to evacuate?” Roth stared at him, but I could
tell she was thinking about me.

I wondered how it felt
for her to be saved by me, somebody who had not even been here a week.

Jeffords snapped to
attention, which apparently included fists at his side, something he had never
taught any of us.

“Waiting for orders,
sir.”

Roth spoke through
clenched teeth. “Standard protocol is to evacuate all recruits who have not yet
been certified through Phase I. Unless you’re further along than I anticipate,
you should already know what to do.” She threw her hands up in the air and looked
like she wanted to strangle him. “What is it with you guys? The moment things
start to get difficult, it’s like all training goes out the window. I may have
to find better officers.” She let out a long and frustrated sigh. “Sergeant
Jeffords, I just need you to get your men out of here. Can you do that? A man
of your alleged experience should be able to handle that, or do I need to have
somebody else do it for you?”

“With all due respect—”

“You already have the
worst casualty count of any of our sergeants, I suggest you get going before
your numbers look even worse. Get them out of here. Now.”

Worst
casualty count?

How
many recruits has he lost?

I was not aware of any
deaths from my team other than Winston, but we were only on our fourth day.
Judging by the way Jeffords had acted after Winston’s death, it had seemed as
if losing recruits was something that happened all the time. Perhaps it
was—Roth’s words could be interpreted that way—but it was clear that there was
a line and that Jeffords had passed it on multiple occasions.

Interesting.

“Yes, sir.”

Jeffords grabbed me by the arm and pulled me outside, his face red.

Pick your copy up today:

Dead Man’s Fury: Sample Chapters was originally published on DAN DECKER