James Somers - Heir to the King

"The boys' campsite?" asked Grod.

"I think that's a good guess. Let's go."

The group began to make their way cautiously back to the transgate portal. Several of the commando leaders took up the point position on the way back. At each open doorway they flashed three fingers skyward to signal a clear room or hall.

"I don't like this," said Grod over again. "It's a trap."

"Yeah, but all we have to do is get to the portal and it won't matter," said Wynn as they continued through the corridors.

Finally they reached the main assembly hall door and watched it open. The point man's fingers once again went skyward then he paused and looked at the other soldier next to him in disbelief then back to Grod.

"Sir, the portal is gone!" he whispered harshly.

"What!?"

Grod, Wynn and Tiet ran to the doorway and peered in. The portal was simply not there; no Symbytes, no nothing.

"Grod, could they have blocked the portal somehow; jammed the transmission?" asked Tiet.

"I don't think so, but I'm not sure."

Then a sound rang overhead, like a speaker coming on somewhere.

"Hello, General Grod, I assume you have Tiet with you and perhaps even the clever Wynn Gareth? No matter, this is not a social call."

"It's that thing that's taken over Estall," said Tiet.

"You may have noticed that your escape route back to Nagon-Toth is missing. That is, Nagon-Toth is missing now. And in a few seconds you will join them. Where can you run when your world goes boom?"

"A bomb!" said Wynn and Tiet looking at each other.

"We'll never get out of here in time," said one of the soldiers.

"The chamber where they kept Tiet, is it strong enough?" asked Grod quickly.

"Only one way to find out."

LUCIN was still speaking through the voice of Estall, but they were too busy running to listen. On board his transport he watched the monitor and the group of soldiers that were running back out of the room. He reached for the control panel and keyed in a code for the device he had left in the detention center. It wasn't as powerful as what was sent through the portal to take out Nagon-Toth, but it would be sufficient to destroy the detention center. He pressed the button to detonate. The monitor went blank as he looked out the window at the jungle terrain of the wilds passing below. That's one problem solved; now to find the boy.

WHEN the door to the detention chamber opened again, the control room beyond was gone; only fire remained. As the team looked out of their hold, they could see that most of the building's superstructure had been blown away by the bomb that had been planted, but they were still alive.

They emerged quickly and found a trail through the rubble and fiery debris. As they came beyond the building's perimeter it became apparent that the buildings around were damaged from the blast as well. Several of them looked structurally unsound.

They reformed their group as screams came to their ears. People were being attacked; maybe hundreds of them. The blast site was clear of people all around, but when the team rounded the corner of a nearby building they could see hundreds of people being stunned and attacked by thousands upon thousands of the symbyte-controlled citizens.

They stayed in the shadows watching as mobs of the creatures that had formerly been normal people ravaged through the streets attacking any non-symbyte they could find. Once they had someone, their hands burst into spiny tentacles that were plunged down the throats of their victims, delivering the seed of the creature into its host. Tiet, Wynn and Grod watched in horror as the victims were left on the ground gasping, only to rise again within minutes under the control of the beast within.

"There are too many to fight," said Grod.

"He's right," said Tiet, "We've got to withdraw. We need a ship to get to the wilds and help Mirah and the boys."

"Are you sure Mirah is with them?" asked Grod.

"I just sense it. They're safe for the moment, but Kale must know he's being followed."

"We could probably make it to the West Quarter Hangar without to much trouble," suggested Wynn.

"Wait…look," said one of the team members.

When they looked behind their position they could see a young Castillian girl, probably no more than four years old, staring at them with a blank expression on her face from an alley way. She looked like she had been through a rough time and her clothes were tattered and torn with several blood stains visible.

"Come here, little girl," said one of the team members.

The little girl waited until a large group of symbytes were coming down the alley behind her.

"Come on, hurry!" shouted the team member again to the little girl.

Then the girl pointed her finger at the team and hissed loudly as the symbytes passed on by her and began to fire at the team.

"She's one of them!" shouted Grod as he began to fire his plasma weapon into the approaching crowd.

"They're coming from over here too!" said Tiet as he ignited a kemstick and began to repel incoming blaster fire.

"They're mentally linked to one another," said Wynn. "We've got to get out of here fast or they'll be on us from every direction!"

The group began to run as fast as they could toward the West Quarter Hangar almost a mile away from their position. They returned fire as they ran from the growing mob of symbytes. Some were armed and others, probably recently assimilated to the organism, were not. The blasters they were using were set to the maximum setting. They definitely weren't trying to capture and assimilate Tiet's team.

The Horva soldiers were returning fire using their plasma gloves. But the laser-fire coming from the symbytes was beginning to overwhelm the small team. Some of the Horva were shot and killed. As the team passed another alleyway, some of the Horva toward the rear were cut off as the symbytes poured out of the alley, attacking them.

"They're everywhere!" shouted Grod as blaster shots rang into his E.M. shield.

Tiet and Wynn rebounded incoming shots with their kemsticks and shielded themselves kinetically, but the onslaught was becoming more than they could handle. The sheer number of symbytes pursuing them was unbelievable. It appeared the whole city was now a part of these organisms.

Finally the hangar came into view, but the streets were filled with symbytes coming from all directions.

"We're cut off!!" shouted Wynn above the sounds of the mob's footsteps and gunfire.

"Into the building!!" shouted Tiet as he ran for the entrance to the building adjacent to the hangar complex.

"We'll be pinned in!" said Grod as he reluctantly followed.

"Too late for that now," said Wynn at his side.

Once inside, Tiet headed for the stairs and ran up as fast as he could with the others following.

"Where are we going?" asked one of the soldiers.

"The roof!" said Tiet from way up ahead.

Only ten people remained of their group now. The others were gunned down or torn apart by the symbyte mob. They encountered only minimal resistance on the way toward the roof. Those who came at them from within the mostly empty building were quickly dispatched by Tiet up ahead of the rest of the surviving team members.

When they reached the roof, Tiet was already at the western side looking out over the distance between them and the eastern launch platform of the hangar complex.

"We can make it!" shouted Tiet.

"Sure, we can, but what about the others?" said Wynn coming up beside him.

"We'll get to a ship and bring it back over here."

"Those things are already coming through the building after us. There isn't time; there must be another way," said Wynn.

"No! There is no other way," said Grod as he joined them.

"But, Grod, we-"

"No, my friend. This is the only way. Go! We'll do our best to hold our own here."