CHAPTER FOURTEEN THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY #2
Two of the Makhótaneo’o raced at one of the creatures.
They struck it with coordinated force, shoving it back, but it didn’t fall.
Kade charged another creature, slamming into it with the force of a juggernaut, but he met an immovable object.
He felt like he’d tried to tackle a cliff.
But this cliff took a step back. One single step.
“Yeah!” roared Kade, slashing his claws across the beast’s chest and sending shards of rock and sparks flying off into the night and leaving deep gouges in the stone skin.
The rock groaned, but the creature’s mouth never moved.
Instead, it forced Kade back and reached for him.
Kade reacted faster and sank his teeth into the upper arm of the monster.
If a wolf had bitten the creature, it would’ve shattered its teeth.
However, Kade wasn’t a wolf. He was a Bone-Crushing relic of the Miocene Era.
He crunched down on the rock with incredible bite force. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, with a creak and a crack, the upper arm began to crumble beneath the incredible pressure. Kade roared through his teeth as he continued to try to crush the appendage.
“I can hurt you!” he thought elatedly.
Then, the momentum shifted. The creature twisted and broke free of Kade’s hold.
In a flash of speed, it backhanded Kade, sending him flying through the air.
He smashed through one of the maintenance shacks, shattered the concrete wall, then burst from the other side.
He hit the ground hard and slid to a stop, unmoving.
He lay there, stunned and trying to force himself to move. The creature came over to him and leaned down to finish the job. Kade was still trying to recover as the beast prepared to end the fight. Then, inexplicably, it stopped and cocked the lump of rock that passed for its head as it studied him.
But to Kade’s shock, he heard a single rumbling word that seemed to come from within the beast as well as the ground beneath him. It sounded earthy and deep, but not from any human he’d ever heard. This was something ancient and beyond human understanding, like it came from the earth itself.
It simply said, “LAKOTA,” enunciating every syllable.
Then, it turned and headed for the facility. Kade shook his head and forced himself to his knees. Raven was right there, helping him up.
“We don’t stand a chance against these things,” she said. “We can’t stop them. We’re not even slowing them down.”
“I know,” Kade said, grunting in pain as he leaned on her for support.
“What do we do now?” asked Raven, almost whimpering with fear.
“The only thing we can do,” Kade said.
“Run?” asked Raven.
Kade stared at her for a moment before answering. He wanted to say run, but it wouldn’t come. Instead, even he was shocked by his answer.
“No, we evacuate the facility,” Kade said. “Tell the others to get everyone out that they can. These creatures will destroy this facility, and there’s not a damned thing we can do to stop them. Go! Save everyone you can!”
Raven was shocked. She hadn’t expected Kade to do anything to help the people here. They weren’t Lakota, and she was surprised that he would even try. But she did as she was told and relayed his orders.
The Makhótaneo’o went to work, grabbing people and pulling them beyond the facility’s fence.
Kade got slowly to his feet and snarled at a group of security officers as they were limping past him, carrying two of their unconscious comrades.
Kade saw the desperation in their eyes and felt something in him that he hadn’t felt in a long time.
Compassion. He picked up the four men and ran to the gate, getting them to safety.
“Is that all of them?” asked Kade, nodding at Raven.
“I think so,” she replied. “At least, all we could find.”
The ground shook beneath their feet as the Ma’êstse-hóhkeso breached the gas lines.
A fireball rolled over a mile into the sky, and the Makhótaneo’o did their best to shield the Red Basin personnel.
Once the fireball passed and the ground stopped shaking, he looked up at the inferno that now fully engulfed the facility.
In the heat of the blaze, he could see the Ma’êstse-hóhkeso standing there like the fire held no power over them.
They stood like statues, as if they’d always been there.
Kade could feel their gaze upon them, and that word one of them spoke still echoed in his ears.
Lakota. It knew what he was. He didn’t understand how that was even possible.
Then, one by one, they melted into the ground and were gone, leaving the facility blazing and filling the night with the heavy scent of burning petroleum.
“Fuck me,” whispered Kade. “We can’t even touch those things.”
He felt frustrated and worried, knowing that nothing they could do had even slowed the creatures down. The realization dawned on him that they had no idea how to stop these things, whatever they were. With a resigned shrug, Kade looked around to assess the wounded.
“Are you alright?” rumbled Kade.
“We are,” said one of the security team, “thanks to you.”
“We’re from the Rez,” Kade said. “We didn’t attack you.”
“Then what the hell were those things?” asked another security officer.
“I have no idea,” Kade said, “but they didn’t come from the Rez.”
“How can we be sure of that?” demanded another security officer.
“Because if it was us,” Kade countered, “you’d be dead.”
“He makes a good point, Latimer,” said another officer. “We owe these… I want to say people… our lives.”
“After a fashion,” Kade said. “Now, we need to get out of here before the cops show up.”
“Why?” asked one of the technicians.
“Well, when they show up and see us,” Kade replied, “they’ll likely shoot first and not bother asking questions later.”
“I can see that,” said the technician.
“Now,” Kade said, nodding at the others, “let’s go!”
The Makhótaneo’o raced off into the night. Kade led them back to the top of the hill and paused to check on the pack. All of them were injured, some badly. It would take time to heal from that battle.
“So, what do we do now?” asked Raven. “We couldn’t even put a dent in those things.”
“Kade did,” said Evan. “He nearly tore its arm off.”
“And got thrown through a building for my trouble,” Kade replied. “But we did learn something.”
“What’s that?” asked Raven. “How to take a beating?”
“Well, there is that,” Kade replied, smiling weakly. “But I was thinking, we learned that we can’t fight them alone. Looks like we need my brother after all. Between the two packs, maybe we’ll stand a chance. And as much as it pains me to say it, with my Grandfather’s help, too.”
“But who’s the Alpha if we combine forces?” asked Tashunka.
“Well, I think we already established who’s the Alpha,” Kade said. “The last time I talked to my brother.”
Raven scowled at Kade but said nothing.
“I don’t think the Hotamétaneo’o will follow you any more than we would follow Greyeagle,” said Mason.
“Exactly,” said Evan.
“Well then,” Kade said, “we’ll just have to figure out how to work together, one way or another. What’s the old expression about hanging together or hanging separately?”
“You’re quoting Ben Franklin?” asked Raven incredulously. “That’s ironic.”
“It’s a good quote,” Kade said, “but besides that, I’m pretty sure Crazy Horse said it.”
“No, it was definitely Ben Franklin,” corrected Raven.
“Tomato piranha,” Kade said. “He probably stole it from a Native, like everything else. Now, everyone rest before we make our way back to the bikes. I don’t think any of us came through that fight unscathed.”
“Nope,” agreed Leah Red Willow. “We all got beat up pretty bad. I think my arm’s broken.”
“All of you,” said Kade, “stay here and heal. I’ll bring us something to eat. It will help us regain our strength. Besides, you’ve earned a good meal.”
“Just when I think I have you figured out,” whispered Raven.
Kade just gave her an odd smile, then vanished into the night. Despite his massive size, he was incredibly silent when he moved. It was unnerving to see something that large move that fast and stealthily.
“Maybe there’s hope for all of us after all,” Raven thought.
She was afraid to say that out loud for fear of someone taking it the wrong way. But after Kade ordered them to save the crew of that facility, she was sure they were all thinking it.