Fireteam Delta by J. Halpin (popular novels .TXT) 📗

The hamr didn’t seem to differentiate between species—though, from what little Summers could parse from his memories, he was fairly certain it needed people. Bottom line was that is spread like a virus, and had probably had more than enough time to take root in the local ecosystems. Since everything needed to eat . . .

The only real question was what happened to the infected?

They’d stopped on a small hill overlooking a clearing around the river. The forest was thick, old wood that made traveling all that much harder. On more than one occasion, Summers had needed to kick a fallen tree off the road. Though that was, admittedly, pretty fun.

He dug into the worryingly light pack at his horse’s side, pulling out the last of their MREs—a burrito bowl.

Part of him was a little sad to see it go.

Asle moved beside him, digging through her own pack. Summers thought for a moment before tossing the package to her. MREs had been more or less safe for him, so it followed that it should be the same for her. And she seemed to like them.

“Thank you.” Asle gave Summers a half bow before she started to unwrap the package in her lap.

He’d noticed she’d been unusually quiet since they left the village. And it was clear she was still more than a little tense.

Summers sat beside her.

“You doing okay?”

She nodded.

Summers glanced over at Pat and Orvar. They were eating together by the horses, as if it were just any other day.

“To die in battle is an honor,” Asle prompted.

Summers turned back to the girl, confused.

“What?”

“My dad told me that.” Asle fiddled with the package, tearing it open. “They aren’t afraid, because their . . . souls will be honored.”

Summers watched the girl skeptically.

“Was your dad a soldier?”

“No. Not . . . he was a chief. . . . they’re supposed to fight.”

“Oh.” Summers pulled over his pack. “Is that something you wanted to do? Fight?”

Asle hesitated.

“I don’t,” Summers explained. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not afraid to fight. Or die. Well no, that’s a lie, I’m absolutely terrified, but I’m not about to let you show me up.”

Asle only smiled as Summers continued.

“Point is, this was always just a job for me. Something I did so I could get my life on track.” Summers pulled a piece of hard tack from a pouch and took a chunk from it.

“I don’t like hurting people.”

“I know. So, what do you want to do then? You’re gonna have to have a plan when we get through this, right?”

Asle seemed uncertain for a moment before she nodded again.

“I liked it when we were traveling. I liked exploring, and meeting new people.”

Summers allowed himself a moment to think about that. Despite everything that had happened, and discounting the parts he’d been fighting, or the running for his life bit, it had been fun.

“Yeah, I liked that, too.”

“Contact!” Cortez yelled from the other side of camp.

Summers immediately stood, lifting his weapon and heading over to Cortez’s side. Asle gave a brief expression of worry before Pat and the others moved to cover her and Synel behind the mounts.

Summers saw a single figure breaking the horizon—completely normal, save for the almost comically large arm at his side, one that was clearly not his own. He was dressed in the rough, earth-toned clothing Summers had come to associate with the elves. A local.

As Summers watched, the man made no move toward them. He just stood there, watching from the tree line.

“Leave, or we will open fire!” Nowak called over in Nos.

The man didn’t move for several long seconds.

Nowak glanced at Summers. Summers gave a small half-shrug.

“Sounded like you said it right.”

“Hey, asshole!” Cortez yelled in English. “Get out of here!”

After another moment, the man turned, walking back into the trees.

“Huh,” Summers remarked. “I guess he didn’t want any trouble.”

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“There’s another six, near as I can see.”

Cortez climbed down from the tree, landing with a soft thud.

It had been half a week since they sighted the strange elven man watching them. Now, apparently, more of his friends had shown up. A lot more.

“Five on the other side,” Nowak called out.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Summers watched the distant men.

“Waiting, seems like.” Cortez watched the group staring at them from the tree line. “Could always shoot ’em,” she offered.

“At that distance, even I could only get one or two, at best.” Summers eyed the men. They were at the extreme range for their rifles. He didn’t think that was a coincidence.

“No,” Nowak cautioned. “You remember what that thing in town did? We kill one, there’s a good chance the others will just pick it up and get it moving again. Besides which, we’re traveling light. We don’t want to have to deal with one of those big fuckers.”

“Yeah, but there’s a good chance they’re just waiting for reinforcements to rush us,” Summers countered.

“How are they talking to each other?” Cortez looked at the small group of people on the horizon. “It’s not like they have radios.”

“I don’t know.”

Nowak considered that.

“We’ll rest tonight. I want to try outrunning them in the morning.”

“You want us to sleep with those things watching us?” Cortez looked skeptical.

“We need the horses to rest. They try to rush us, they got a lot of ground to cover. Plenty of time to put them down.”

Summers thought for a moment, bringing his gun up to look at the closest men through his scope.

There were a few soldiers mixed in with the elven company. None of them wore any kind of expression. More importantly, though, he could see what they were looking at.

To Summers’ surprise,