Chapter 1
Caden
“I count ten of them, Captain,” Ben says through my comm.
I nod, though no one can see as I crouch behind a thicket of Gambel oak. The rest of my squad is spread around the premises, close enough to help in case of trouble, but far enough to confuse the enemy when we attack.
And attack we will.
This band of Raiders is nottechnicallyon Hive territory, but they’re close enough to be a threat. As far as the Raiders are concerned, there’s no such thing as Hive territory. They treat the land as theirs for the taking, and no matter how many of them we kill, more always show up like stubborn bugs.
Since surrendering isn’t an option, we Defenders must get better at killing them. I’ve been doing this for ten years, since I was sixteen, and taking down Raiders has yet to get old. I have a debt to settle with each and every one of them.
It seems we have another thirty minutes until sunset, which will give us the best opportunity to engage. In the Raiders’ makeshift camp, they have already set up a campfire. I’m surprised they aren’t drinking alcohol yet, but something about this group strikes me as more disciplined than what I’m used toseeing. It doesn’t matter, since I’ve learned the hard way to never underestimate my opponents. We’ll take this nice and slow until we make our move, and it will all be over in seconds.
Go hard, go fast, go home. Words to live by.
“Get comfortable,” I say through the comms. “We have time before it gets dark.”
“I heard a new joke,” Ben says.
“No.”
“Come on, Captain. It’s great.”
“Radio silence until you hear from me. Save your joke for later.”
“Roger that,” the seven members of my squad reply.
I shift onto my stomach, my rifle resting beside me. It will take me about three seconds to pick it up, aim, and fire. With the slow setting of the sun, the crickets begin to chirp, annoying the hell out of me. I try to ignore them while I focus on one of the Raiders. He sits alone on a log, sharpening a machete with a rock. His hair is long and dark, and his beard is short and elegant. He seems to be in his mid-thirties, and there’s something about him… I can’t put my finger on it, but it rubs me the wrong way. My gut tells me he’s the leader of this band.
The world becomes darker as the sun slips behind the mountains, but not enough for me to turn on the thermal vision in my helmet’s visor. It’s been a couple of weeks since we were last in our Hive Unity, and I’m itching to get back. The feeling is bittersweet, since I no longer havehimwaiting for me, not after the way we ended things.
“Captain.”
I sigh. “Yeah, Ben?”
“Are you seeing the one with the machete?”
“Yeah, what about him?”
“I could be wrong, but I think he has a tail.”
Shit.
“And there might be some scales on the side of his hands.”
I pull out my binoculars and zero in on the man’s hands. Ben’s right; he has scales. And there is his tail, swaying close to his waist.
The protocol is clear in this case. We don’t engage with mutants unless we have no other choice. Some could just be strange-looking, but some could be twice as strong as the strongest human. I don’t want to find out the hard way which type the mutant in front of me is.
“What do we do, Captain?” Ben asks.
“We back off slowly. No sharp movements.”
Before any of us can move, I freeze at the mutant’s sudden laughter. I grab my rifle, gripping it tightly.
“Relax,” the mutant says, his voice carried by the wind. Around him, the rest of the Raiders watch in confusion. “We’re not on Hive territory. No need for bloodshed on this fine and peaceful evening.”
