Infinity Squad by Shuvom Ghose Read Free Book Online

knife in one dismembered arm, a shattered rifle in the other. And blood everywhere else.
    "Steve," I whispered. "What did that?"
    Even the medic looked a little sick, but stepped into the bunker to check the bloody mess. He tried not to step on anything that had once been Ridley, but it was almost impossible. He bent closer to look. "Claws. A lot of them."
    "Any bullet holes?" All of them turned to me, shocked, but I didn't flinch. I had been thinking about it for a long time. "It had to be said."
    Zazlu ground his teeth. "If those Immortal bastards..."
    Steve was doing a deeper inspection. "No, not that I can see. But there's SO much flesh missing... still... no. No foul play."
    "Except the guys watching the Lieutenant's back decided to Pickett's Charge themselves," Ann-Marie said. "Leaving him exposed."
    "Grim," I ordered, "inspect Ridley's band. Then we'll take his body back for burial."
    As the tech reluctantly stepped into the bloody mess that Steve was vacating, I walked away to look at the scene again. That hissing had gotten a little louder, but I still couldn't find its source. Ann-Marie came up, pulled on my sleeve and covered her mike with her hand. "Sir. Time. There's no taking him back."
    "Then we'll bury him here!" I hissed.
    "Sir, it's almost noon. I don't know what scares a Hell-Spider, but I don't want to see it," she whispered, barely audible.
    "Is there something happening at noon that the rest of us should know about?" Zazlu said, loudly and clearly, from twenty feet away where he was using his K-knife to saw through a Hell-Spider neck.
    I looked down and cursed. Ann-Marie had covered her mike, but not mine. I turned to face the squad. "Shit. Okay, Grim, keep working while I have a talk with Zazlu. Juan you keep... what are you doing?"
    Zazlu pulled the dead Hell-Spider's head off its bullet-riddled body with satisfaction, then started tying the bloody, TV-sized prize over his pack. Juan was halfway to doing the same. "General said he wanted skulls," Zazlu replied. "He didn't say where from."
    I shook my head. "Fine. That will work. But come here a second."
    Zazlu trotted over to where Butcher and were, and I made sure to cover his mike and mine. "What I'm about to say doesn't leave this mountain. Or the three of us. But..." I sighed. "The Hell-Spiders can talk. Telepathically. In English." Zazlu was frowning. "And the one I captured told me it would be safe to come back to this mountain, as long as we left by noon." I thought a little harder. "Actually, 'well before noon' is what he said."
    The hissing was noticeable now. And it didn't go away when I turned my head.
    "Everyone else hears that, right?" Steve asked.
    "Squad, prepare to haul ass! Grim, report!"
    The tech popped out of the bunker. "It's strange sir. The time code meta data says one thing but the-"
    "Just grab the band, Private!" Ann-Marie barked. "Sir, we've got to go!"
    I looked. The grasses around the tree line were rustling. All around us. Juan had the second head on his back, Grim popped out of the bunker with Ridley's band in his hand.
    "Down the ridgeline!" I ordered, leading us down the hopefully quicker, if more exposed, path back to base. "Stay in the open until we can see them!"
    The squad fell in behind me, running haphazardly down the treacherous rocks. It was not a good feeling.
     
     
    The rustling followed us on both sides and behind, and it wasn't until we came across a long barren patch that we saw them. Snakes. Hundreds of them. And more pouring out of those root holes every minute to join them.
    The ones coming out of the holes moved slowly, sluggishly. But as they got some of the baking sun, they moved faster, following us like river water around rocks.
    "Cold blooded," Zazlu panted, trying to keep up with the group. "Like on Earth!"
    Ann-Marie with her nimble, untiring legs was at point. Juan with his long ones was second, even with the spider head on his back. Zazlu, Steve and Grimmy were lagging, even as I brought up