Arrival (Planet of Last Resort #1)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

M elly stood on the cracked landing field and took a deep breath of fresh air, rejoicing in being home, finally. Four long years at a mid-Sectors university, then completing her degree and residency as a doctor and she was finally able to return to Randal Four. Sure she owed the government five years of service as a doctor now to pay off her student loans but all Melly had ever wanted to do was practice medicine on her home world and take care of people. The fact Randal Four was still designated as a colony, despite its three bustling major cities and other amenities, had made it possible for her to accomplish her dream.

One week from today she’d be reporting to the big hospital here in Central City as Dr. Jericho, thank you very much, and her long journey to achieve her goals would be complete.

If the darn robo ground tram ever showed up to whisk her and her luggage away from the landing area and off to the terminal. Shading her eyes with one hand, Melly stepped away from the flimsy shelter offered by the robo dropoff area and stared across the shimmering surface toward the terminal. Nothing. There was a small cargo mover quite a distance away but it wasn’t moving and the doors were open. Was that a body on the pavement next to it?

She blinked and tried to refocus. Surely not.

Her train of thought was interrupted.

“Does it usually take this long to pick up arriving passengers?”

Startled, she turned to the man who’d spoken. He was good looking, imposing in size and build, with a military stance, despite being dressed in casual clothing. Four men stood at his back. They’d all flown to the planet with her in the robo shuttle, Randal Four wasn’t big enough to warrant an actual piloted shuttle. The only ships which touched down here were government, military or free traders. Cheap cruise liners like the Solar Flower operated with a minimum of crew and even fewer luxuries. It was a tired old ship plying the Outer Sectors and ferrying humans and other sentients from one colony world to another. It had been the last leg of her trip from the Mid Sectors and at each stage she’d found herself on less congenial vessels, with the Solar Flower being the least amenable of them all.

But it was cheap . The price was right. The government only paid so much to transport a brand new doctor like herself to her assignment.

Melly hadn’t seen these five aboard the cruise ship but she’d pretty much stayed in her tiny cabin. Since they’d landed she’d been observing them surreptitiously, not wanting to seem rude, but the five were an interesting group. “No, I was wondering about that myself actually. There should have been ground transport here waiting for us.”

“Hmmm.” The man contemplated the far off terminal complex with a frown before giving her his attention again. “Jeff Pearson, recently retired from the military,” he said, putting his hand out.

“Welcome to Randal Four,” she said, shaking the proffered hand. Mr. Pearson had a firm grip and a direct gaze, his blue eyes piercing. “Dr. Melisande Jericho. I’m coming home after completing med school and my residency.”

“Impressive! Congratulation.” He waved at the other four men, who nodded as he made a rapid-fire introduction. “Cody, Zach, Samms and Trent. We’re here to take up our veterans’ acres and make a living ranching.”

“Welcome to the planet then,” she said with enthusiasm. She was matching her observations to the names and trying to keep the four men straight in her mind. Cody was the one who’d been pacing and playing with a spinning fidget toy, which made her dizzy to watch. Trent had been listening to music, tapping his toes, very much at ease. Samms played some game on his handheld and barely took his eyes off the screen to wave at the introduction. He reminded her a bit of her younger brother, who was also an avid gamer every chance he got to play. Zach was built on a massive scale, with tatts on his bulging biceps. He stood well over six feet and dwarfed the others, even Jeff, who was pretty buff himself.

“My guess is we need to hike, captain,” said Zach now. “No one’s coming with a welcome wagon today.”

“All right,” he agreed, turning away from her. “Get your gear squared away and let’s go.”

She certainly wasn’t going to wait endlessly out here on the landing pad either, so Melly gathered up her backpack and small carryon. “Mind if I join you?” she asked, walking over to where the group was dealing with their own possessions.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Jeff’s grin lit up his face, which she’d already decided was handsome enough for a highly effective recruiting poster. “Not leaving you here by yourself. Can you manage your things or do you need us to carry them?”

With a laugh she surveyed the men in front of her, each with his own rucksack. “I can manage, thank you. The rest of my stuff was in the cargo pod which hopefully landed okay a few hours ago.”

“We sent ours ahead on an earlier ship,” Jeff told her. He looked past her to the two businessmen. “You coming, gentlemen?”

“I suppose,” one said, running a hand over his sweaty face and sounding aggravated. “Really the service here is abysmal, Paulson. If we didn’t need the contract so badly?—”

“It wasn’t this bad last time we came through,” his companion said as if trying to make up for the first man’s brusque remark. “Probably a minor thing. Once we’re at the terminal we’ll be fine, Baird. We have plenty of time to make our first meeting.”

“After you,” the captain said to Melly, with a good humored expression and a sweeping gesture as if inviting her to a dance.

Feeling more lighthearted now she was taking action, Melly began walking. She speculated where exactly the men were going to stake their veterans’ acres claim and hoped it wouldn’t be too remote. She realized the group had formed up around her as if she was a celebrity they needed to protect as they proceeded. The two businessmen trailed behind, Baird huffing and puffing. She might have to give him medical attention by the time they reached the terminal. The thought reminded her of what she thought she’d seen beside the stationary cargo mover. She paused and looked in that direction again.

“Something wrong?” Jeff asked, coming to a halt beside her.

“I—I think maybe someone is on the ground next to the hauler over there,” she said, pointing. “You go ahead—I need to check on them.”

“We’ll go with you,” he said. “We’re in no rush and if the person does need attention, you may need help.”

Melly was relieved as she changed direction to approach the stopped vehicle, which was about a hundred yards away. The continued emptiness and silence were getting on her nerves and seemed quite eerie. You’ve watched one too many scary trideos , she thought to herself ruefully. During the long voyage out here she’d spent the time in her cabin catching up on all the past four years of entertainment available and binged a number of series she’d missed while in the organized chaos of medical school and her residency. There’d been no point in getting to know any of the other passengers—or so she’d thought, with a sideways glance at Jeff beside her. Randal Four wasn’t a major destination and Melly hadn’t expected anyone else to be debarking here.

“Samms, take point,” Jeff said to one of his men, startling her. “Check it out before the doc arrives.”

The soldier took off at a run, easily leaving them behind. Melly watched as he arrived at the side of the cargo hauler and bent to check on the person lying there. He rose to his feet, shaking his head and made a hand signal in their direction.

Jeff put his hand on her arm. “Samms says the man is dead. No need for us to go further.”

Annoyed, Melly shook herself free of his grip. “I’m the medical professional here. I appreciate your concern but I have to go see for myself. It’s my duty.”

She gave him credit for not trying to dissuade her and sped up her pace. As she got closer to the cart, an errant breeze brought her a whiff of the unmistakable odor of death. Wishing she had a mask or other protective gear, Melly kept going anyway. In her peripheral vision she noticed Jeff and his men were now holding blasters as they moved with her. Where had they concealed those? Once she was close enough to the body she could see the terrible wounds and had to work hard to maintain her medical detachment.

“As if something tried to eat him,” Samms said as she stood next to him. “Been here a few days by the condition of the body, captain.”

“And no one came to help? Or to investigate?” Melly said, unable to believe what she was seeing.

“Don’t touch him, doc.” Jeff pulled her away a few feet. “We have no idea what happened.”

“I wouldn’t, not without protective equipment,” she said, a bit dazed. “But this is insane.”

“When was the last time you had contact with anyone on the planet?” Jeff asked.

“I exchanged messages with my parents right before we left the last planet. It costs too much to do a vidcom from the ship.” She blushed a little, embarrassed at revealing how tight her finances were.

“So about ten days?”

Nodding, she wondered what he was getting at.

“Someone’s coming now, captain.” The soldier named Cody pointed at the far distant terminal. “Quite a crowd.”

With relief, Melly turned in the direction of the buildings but her elation morphed into puzzlement. At this distance she couldn’t make out details but the large group of people headed their way seemed odd. The movements were jerky and the breeze carried the sounds of moaning and growling.

The two businessmen, who had continued on toward the terminal when Melly and her escorts veered off on their errand of mercy, stopped, staring at the oncoming mob. Suddenly both men threw their bags to the ground and broke into a run, rushing toward Melly and the soldiers. The crowd behind picked up their pace.

“What the seven hells?” she gasped.

Jeff grabbed her by the elbow. “Take cover behind the cargo hauler,” he ordered, dragging her with him.

His men moved smoothly to do as he’d commanded. “We can’t fight off that horde,” Zach said, although he took up a defensive position, aiming his weapon at the crowd. “Not with these weapons.”

Melly was fascinated and horrified by the mob headed their way. As they got closer, she could see more details, none of which made much sense. The people were wearing all kinds of clothing, much of it torn and stained with fluids she’d rather not think about. The ones in the lead had terrible injuries, bones sticking out, gaping wounds…things no one could survive, much less be sprinting across the landing field toward her and the men the way these people were. Their eyes were milky white and glowing in the late afternoon light. The leading edge of the horde was right on the heels of the fleeing businessmen and she gasped as Baird tripped on a seam of the pavement and fell. Paulson grabbed his elbow and got him to his feet but then screamed and began running again on his own, leaving his colleague behind. Baird staggered, took a horrified look at the mob and tried to run.

The first individuals reached him and what followed was gruesome. Jeff grabbed her and turned her away from the scene of carnage as the businessman was devoured by the crowd. “Don’t watch,” he said.

“We have to help him!” Her protest was muffled against his chest.

“He’s beyond anyone’s help now.” Jeff moved her toward the cargo hauler and thrust her into the passenger seat. “Can you shoot?”

He was holding a blaster in front of her and Melly grabbed it. “I learned as a kid but-”

“Head shots,” Jeff said, raising his voice to address them all. “Knees otherwise. Trent, get the damn boxcar train loose—we’ve got to get the seven hells out of here.”

Cody jumped into the vehicle beside her, fumbling with the controls. The engine initiated a bit lazily and he revved the power into a shrill whine, which seemed to excite the crowd, who moved away from their recent victim and surged toward the soldiers and Melly.

“We’re loose,” Jeff shouted. “Get us going as fast as this thing will move. Head toward the cargo storage building over there.”

Cody engaged the drive and the cargo hauler lurched into motion. Melly saw there was one baggage cart still attached, which the other soldiers had climbed onto. They were shooting into the mob and she saw bodies fall each time the bolts lanced outward but to her horror, unless the shot had been to the head, the creatures continued crawling toward their prey with grim determination. Paulson the other businessman was running to catch up and one of the soldiers gave him a hand at the last second, heaving him onto the cart where he collapsed in a heaving mess.

The hauler wasn’t built to go at a high speed although clearly Cody was squeezing every ounce of propulsion possible out of the engine. They were managing to stay ahead of the fastest members of the horde but Melly was terrified how close the creatures were getting. The noise of their growling and moaning, mixed with the buzz of the blasters was intense. Her adrenaline was racing and she took as many shots as she could. Jeff was right—if hit anywhere but the head, the injury had little to no effect on their pursuers. A few fell from her erratic shots and she fought down nausea at what was happening.

And why wasn’t anyone coming to help them?

“It’s gonna be close,” Jeff yelled from his position on the cart behind the hauler. “Pull right up to the doors. We’ll use the hauler as cover while we get the door open.”

Cody did as ordered, nearly toppling the cargo hauler over with the violence of his turn. He parked with the passenger side to the building’s door and Melly needed no order to scramble out of her seat and clear the way for him to clamber to dubious safety. Jeff grabbed her, placing her behind him. The leading edge of the horde reached the cargo hauler and seemed baffled how to get at the people trapped behind it. Melly had an instant of relief but then the crowd behind the frontrunners pushed and shoved them and individuals began spilling around the sides of the hauler and the single boxcar, while others climbed over and through. The soldiers kept up a solid barrage of blaster fire but she knew it was only a matter of seconds before they’d be overwhelmed. She took shots where she could, peering out from behind the captain to do so.

The wall behind her gave way and before she could think, she’d been shoved into the building so hard she fell. Rising shakily to her feet she twisted to see the door closing as Jeff and the soldiers fended off their attackers. When the portal slammed shut with a thud, she drew a shaky breath. Words failed her as she stared at her companions.