Chapter 43
They'd tried to respect the dead.
Upon entering the field of twisted, decrepit bodies, the survivors from first platoon had been cautious with their footing, stepping around the corpses. This was hallowed ground, and they'd been treating it as such.
Until the neomorphs had come back.
Now the four survivors ran as fast as they could down the slope towards the cities. Boots and shoulders impacted with bodies, sending the shriveled husks collapsing in on themselves. Several bodies were jumped over, though not all jumps were successful. The humans and synth did their best to avoid running into the bodies as they ran for what they perceived as safety.
The neomorphs had no such qualms.
Clawed hands and feet propelled pale, lanky bodies forward. Dessicated corpses were grabbed and used to propel them forward, while some ran straight through the taller bodies, leaving them to disintegrate into a fine black powder, the remains collapsing in on themselves. Nothing mattered except to kill their prey. To feed.
"What could they be shooting at?" Kurt yelled.
"Don't know, just run!" Fulmer said through gritted teeth.
"Sierra Two to Saber Two-Two. We're on the hill coming towards the city, over." Rook said, not breaking stride.
"Sierra Two, this is Saber Two-Six." Lieutenant Brink's voice came over the radio. Rook and could hear shooting and yelling in the background of the Lieutenant's transmission. "Be advised, we are moving from the plaza to a strongpoint location. What's your position, over?"
"Saber Two-Six, we're approximately a half-mile out from the city." Rook relayed the information his artificial brain calculated from his ocular inputs. "Request you utilize IR strobe to mark your location so we can rendezvous."
"Standby." Brink said. A moment later, there was a bright light flashing from the right side of the large courtyard that Rook had seen the flare over. Unlike his human counterparts, Rook didn't need NODs to see on the night vision and infrared spectrums. He was able to pick up the Lieutenant's strobe with his 'naked' eyes.
"I have eyes on the strobe." Rook said. "ETA ten mikes, over."
"What's your situation?" Brink asked.
"We're being pursued by multiple neomorphs. Number unknown at this time, over."
"Neo-whats?" Brink asked, confused.
"Hostile life forms, sir." Rook relayed.
"Wonderful, that's just what we need." Brink said. Rook didn't know if the Lieutenant had meant to hot-mic or not. It didn't really matter at this point. "Roger. We're dealing with our own hostile life forms down here."
"Orders, sir?" Rook asked.
"Get yourself and the other survivors down here and link up with us. We'll strong point and come up with a plan then. Copy?"
"Good copy, sir." Rook said. "Requesting you send up another flare. Our pursuers don't seem to like the light very much. It may help with your situation as well. Over."
"Noted. Flare's going up. See you when you get down here. Saber Two-Six, out." Brink said.
"Another flare going up!" Rook called over his shoulder. Liscomb tripped and almost fell as he reached up to swivel his NODs up. Fulmer had lost her entire helmet setup in the fall from the crash, and Kurt was following Rook like a lost puppy.
Several seconds later, another flare ignited. Liscomb turned and almost cried in relief when he saw the pale bodies of the neomorphs bounding away from them, making a beeline towards the nearest shelter from the light. He didn't know if they were photosensitive or just scared of the damn things, but he wasn't going to question it.
Liscomb swiveled his NODs back down and saw several IR strobes blinking down in the city.
"Those strobes our folks?" Liscomb asked. His radio had been fried by his dip in the lake.
"Affirmative." Rook said. "We're going to link up with them and establish a hasty strong point." That was enough to give them all a second wind, and they powered on down the hill and into the large, oversized streets of the city ahead.