Tunnels 05 - Spiral

Drake replied. “You see, simply leveling the target building doesn’t cut the mustard. Things have a way of surviving in air pockets under the rubble. We really don’t want any of the Warrior grubs — if they’re actually in there — to crawl out after we’ve left the scene. If a single one were to get loose, it could find more humans and . . . we’d be back where we started.”
    “I see,” Chester said, while Will and the others listened.
    “There’s no alternative but to get inside and do the job up close and personal. We have to make sure nothing is left alive,” Drake continued.
    “You mean kill
everyone
?” Mrs. Burrows interjected. “What about the humans I sensed in there — they could be Colonists or innocent Topsoilers who through no fault of their own have got caught up in this. Can’t we decondition them with Danforth’s Purger, then take th —?”
    “Not going to happen,” Drake cut her short, his face grim. “We don’t have that luxury. This operation is all or nothing — we have to stop the Phase in its tracks, whatever it takes.”
    Mrs. Burrows started to object, but Drake had moved away to speak to Parry over a private frequency on his radio headset. Once the conversation was finished, Drake returned. “Everybody’s in position around the target building, and we’re on the final countdown.” He swung his Bergen from his back. “I want you all to strip down to tactical kit — weapons and ammo only. Stow everything else here. Then you can watch the first stage from the windows.”
    Armed with their Stens, Will and Chester went to the front of the basement and stood on tiptoe to peer through the dusty windows.
    “Bloody Limiters,” Will growled as he saw a pair of them at the gates. “They look like they own the place.”
    “Those other men — do you reckon they’re New Germanians?” Chester said.
    Will gave Colonel Bismarck a glance as the man watched from another window. Some of the soldiers over the road were his troops from the inner world, and Will wondered what the Colonel thought about Drake’s no-prisoner policy. Will also knew that if the Colonel hadn’t been shocked from his Dark Light programming by the explosion in the city, right now he could be one of those brainwashed soldiers patrolling the factory.
    His thoughts were interrupted by Parry’s voice coming over the headsets. “Alpha, I say, Alpha,” he enunciated clearly, initiating the first stage of the operation. “Remove the designated targets on my mark.” He paused for a beat, then began to count down. “Five — four — three — two — one — FIRE!”
    There wasn’t a sound, but the men Will could see in the parking lot simply dropped from sight.

    Up on the roof, Stephanie swiveled the spotting scope around. “Next target’s on the move — he’s turning — he’s going toward the entrance,” she said, her voice becoming shrill with the urgency.
    “I see him,” Elliott replied calmly, then pulled the trigger. Her silenced rifle bucked in her hands, but the only sound was a small rush of air. As the round found its mark, the Limiter pitched forward, his head exploding scarlet over the white snow.
    “Ohhh,” Stephanie said, putting her hand to her mouth. “That was totally a bull’s-eye.”

    “Bravo,” Parry’s voice announced. “I repeat — Bravo. We’ve cleared the sentries.”
    “Right, all of you outside,” Drake ordered.

    Having taken off the top of the Limiter’s cranium as if his head was a hard-boiled egg, the Warrior larva was scooping out the last of the man’s brain with its prehensile tongue. Its eyes flickered in ecstasy at the delicious gray matter, as the larva’s hyperefficient digestive system absorbed the proteins just as quickly as it could gulp them down.

    Will and Chester started across the road with Drake and Sweeney flanking them, and Colonel Bismarck, Mr. Rawls, and Mrs. Burrows following behind.
    “Look at that.” Will was referring to what must have been a hundred men from Parry’s Old Guard advancing in a line. And those were only the ones he could see; he knew there must be at least the same number again around the other sides of the factory. “I didn’t realize there were so many of them.”
    Drake had overheard Will. “Yes, the perimeter’s in. My old man’s running the show by the textbook,” he said, his eyes full of admiration as he watched his father join the line of Old Guard farther along the road. “He’s even