* * *
LOST him.
It was a stroke of luck that the two trackers had been attacked. Without that break, Vost didn’t think he would’ve escaped. His wounds throbbed, making each breath more difficult than the last. Nausea rose in the form of bile, but he held it together until he made it to where he and his two surviving men had been holing up. Vost was also well aware that he wouldn’t have made it back without Redmond and Duran supporting him on either side.
“She’s tough as hell,” Redmond said conversationally.
Duran grunted in acknowledgment. “I didn’t expect her to last as long as she did. But I really don’t understand why we didn’t just kill them all.”
“Because we might need them down the line. When our clips run out, things will look a lot worse then. We’ll be better off if we can make allies out of the least crazy ones.” It went without saying that he couldn’t consider teaming up with cannibals or the death-heads. Sometimes the choice came down to the lesser of all evils.
And that’s the one they call the Dread Queen.
This was more of a rats’ nest than a command post, but the space was too small for the enemy to lay traps. It would also limit the firepower they could bring to bear in here. They had little gear left anyway; the convicts had been stealing and breaking in since their unit arrived on station. That was more initiative than the suit had said they would possess. Vost choked a laugh at the memory of that interview; it seemed so long ago now.
As they settled, Redmond powered up the medibot, one of the few resources that remained to them. The thing went to work on his injuries, but the pain sent a raw shudder through him. He closed his eyes, weary to his soul.
“Well, damn,” Duran muttered. “So what’s our next move?”
He was lucky they weren’t ready to kill him in his sleep. Any two other men in the unit would’ve refused to follow his lead once the rest of the squad got blown to shit. Through their own stupidity.
Reluctantly, Vost admitted, “The situation is this: We’ve whittled down their numbers, but the loss of the transport hurt us. As of now, we have no chance of completing the original assignment. Which means the rules have to change.”
“Level with me. Are we dying in here?”
“Not if we’re smart. And careful.”
“You’ve been both so far, but we’re still in this f**king mess,” Duran muttered.
Vost wished the man didn’t have a point, but he’d done everything he could to succeed in this hellish place. The usual tactics had failed. And it would require all of his ingenuity to get out alive, now that he’d accepted the original mission parameters were impossible, regardless of the payday.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I wish I could report better odds.”
Duran shrugged. “Hell, if we’d turned and gone with Casto, we’d be in chunks. At least with you, we’re still breathing.”
Redmond nodded. “This job rang all my alarm bells, but I took it anyway. I should’ve known better.”
“Me too,” Vost admitted.
“Greed got the better of us. Move on.” Duran looked like he wanted to pace, but the crazy, silent woman had trained killers crawling all over the station in search of them.
“I have a plan,” he told his men. “From what I’ve seen, the reason these Queenslanders have lasted this long is because their leadership isn’t psychotic. And she proved it when she was willing to fight to save two of her own.”
“That’s true,” Redmond said.
“I know what the Conglomerate told us. But the only way we get out of this alive, going forward, is cooperation.”
Despite the fact that the Dread Queen had covered their retreat to satisfy the terms of their bargain, his men seemed less than delighted with the plan. Too fragging bad.
“So what do you want us to do?” Duran asked.
“I need a few days to heal up. If she takes my proposal badly, I need to be in better shape. Gather some supplies—”
Redmond cut in, “There’s a Kitchen-mate in one of the abandoned zones. We could make a run, produce some paste.”
It was good idea since paste didn’t require preparation or cooking facilities. None of them were thrilled at the prospect of eating it for three days straight, but it would keep them alive. “Get water, too. And be careful. There are still combat zones all over the station. I don’t want my claim to fame to be that I got every single one of my men killed.”
Redmond laughed wryly. “Trust me, we’re not eager for that either.”
“Can you give us any intel?” Duran asked.
Vost ran down all of the info he had as to where the pockets of aggression were highest. He concluded, “If you stick to the perimeter, you shouldn’t have too much trouble though those silent freaks are stealthy. Keep an eye on your six.”
Redmond nodded. “Will do. Let’s go, D.”
Once the men moved out, Vost peeled the broken armor away from his skin. It had taken every ounce of his self-control not to show how much pain he was in. He hissed in reaction as he studied the lattice of bruises and the slice on his side. The light trousers and shirt he wore beneath had holes revealing the damaged flesh. Even the air hurt. His men didn’t know that the acid from the strike had chewed through to his skin or that the wounds were festering.
The medibot beeped in dissatisfaction. “Running low on antibiotics. Less than 10 percent of pain medication remaining.”
Vost made a fist, but he didn’t slam it into the wall. Every particle of his being objected to their next move, but it was the only play he had left, and he couldn’t let anything prevent him from getting out of here alive. Everything hinged on the Dread Queen’s response to his proposal, and he hated how powerless that made him feel.
Survive. Whatever it takes. He’s waiting.
41
Unexpected Favors
It had been two days since Dred let the merc commander get away. Things had gotten worse since then, with raids more or less constant from the surviving cannibals while Silence led kamikaze strikes when Queensland could least afford it. The madwoman seemed to think this was her chance to wipe everyone else off the station.
And she’s not doing a bad job of it. But she wasn’t the primary threat at the moment.
“Is it true eating human flesh drives you mad?” Keelah asked as she slashed a small blade across the enemy’s gullet.
Dred killed another before she replied. “Sometimes. But Perdition does that, too.”