Beyond the End of the World, Lokians 1

Chapter 9

Adams motioned for everyone to quiet down. Fitzpatrick took notice of his behavior and started climbing for a ledge. She spotted an insect crawling from a crag and immediately called out. Without wasting a second, DeReaux fired a shot, and the bug hit the ground with a smack.

Jun and Adams walked over to it. It looked like a small football; a brown, bulbous insect with no eyes or mouth, although they may have splattered to the wall. Four legs of steel composition still jittered amidst goo and exoskeleton. The agent surmised it was a scout.

When more crawlies sprouted from darkened recesses, O'Hara ordered the crew to take cover behind the buildings. Soldiers scattered for safety, when a guttural drone resounded. Following the nauseating belch was the sound of churning stone.

Eyes grew wide. A tunneler was coming. Alright, where are you, O'Hara wondered. No sooner had his light pointed overhead that a rock fell, bouncing off his helmet. Then, the very ground shook.

"It's on top of us," O'Hara exclaimed.

The crew spread out. Immense boulders crashed to the ground, some large enough to crush rooves. Glistening dust erupted from the wreckage. Franklin spotted an alcove next to a building and stowed his riches in the knick of time. The beast careened onto the debris, its tentacles extended.

It looked stunned, so were the soldiers; not only had the noise and earth shaking vibrations frightened them beyond comprehension, but in full view, the Lokian was more intimidating than expected. At over twelve feet across with rows of ravenous teeth, the filthy, maggot-like roach was an incomprehensible creature lacking eyes or even a real head. The hooks on its belly sprung to life, twitching at the air. Just as it started to rock from side-to-side, everyone laid into it.

"More scouts," Franklin hollered.

Ton and Sura fired plasma bursts, popping the bugs like balloons; for each one they killed, two more came crawling from icy crags. "Get in here," O'Hara yelled, firing repeated shots into the enemy's flank. "Your weapons are better aimed at this thing!"

Thewls followed his command, taking the frontline. Bluish lights exploded on impact, illuminating the cavern with a strobe-like effect. Puss and chitin frothed in all directions, but the tunneler gave a final thrash so potent, it flung itself onto its belly, gripped the frozen ground, and charged at the crew.

People pulled away from cover. The rooves were destroyed in the Lokian's wake, leaving fragmented stone strewn about, and comm. units were wild with grunts and war cries. To their dismay, round after round had little effect, and the Lokian started spinning by pushing and pulling with its tentacles.

It picked up a great deal of speed, so everyone eased back in apprehension. It erupted acid with a vulgar belch. The toxic bile spilled out in a full circle. Fortunately, no one was caught by a direct blast of solvent.

"Back off," Korit screamed.

He yoked Franklin from harm's way, fired a massive burst of plasma into the creature's side, and while Marty dashed out from cover, Franklin and Adams called for backup. They were preoccupied with the continued swarm of scouts.

"I got it! I got it," Marty screamed.

He dashed around the tunneler, bobbing and weaving from flailing tentacles, and sticking charges to shiny armor. Right after taking off for his life a new threat emerged. From the tunnels they had taken to the subterranean city, agile Lokians jumped down and made their way for anything that wasn't insectoid.

They hopped and leapt like grasshoppers by way of metal legs protruding from a circular thorax. Their swivel joints provided them unimaginable nimbleness, and they leapt straight up, backwards, to their sides, and off the walls. With vice like claws, they ripped the crew to pieces.