Halo_ The Fall of Reach - Eric Nylund [19]
“The rest of you,” John said, “wait in the woods in a big circle. If they try to do anything but help Sam . . . ” John made a fist with his right hand and slammed it into his open palm. “Remember the moose and the wolves?”
They all nodded and grinned. They had seen that lesson many times in Déjà’s classroom.
“Get some rocks,” John told them.
Kelly stripped off her parka, stretched her legs and knees. “Okay,” she said, “let’s do this.”
Sam lay down, clutching his leg. “Oooh—it hurts, help me.”
“Don’t overdo it,” John said, and kicked some dirt on him. “Or they’ll know it’s a setup.”
John and Kelly then crept toward the meadow and halted a few meters form the edge. He whispered to
her, “If you want me to be the rabbit . . . ” She slugged him in the shoulder—hard. “You think I can’t do my part?” “I take it back,” he said, rubbing his shoulder. John moved off ten meters to her flank, took cover, and watched. Kelly emerged at the edge of the meadow, stepping into the illumination from the dropship’s floodlights. “Hey!” she said, and waved her arms over her head. “Over here. You got any food? I’m starving.” The men slowly stood and pulled out stun batons. “There’s one,” John heard them whisper. “I’ll get her.
The rest of you stay here and wait for the others.”
The man cautiously approached Kelly, a stun baton held behind his back so she couldn’t see it. She stayed put and waited for him to get closer. “Hang on a sec,” she said. “I dropped my jacket back there. I’ll be right back.” She turned and ran. The
man leaped after her, but she had already vanished into the shadows. “Stop!” “This will be too easy,” one of other men said. “Kids won’t know what hit them.” Another remarked,
“Fish in a barrel.”
John had heard enough. He ran after Kelly, but realized that neither he nor the other man had a chance to
catch her. He halted when he got close to where Sam lay. The man stopped. He looked around, his eyes not quite adjusted to the dark, then spotted Sam on the ground holding his bloody leg.
“Please, help me,” Sam whimpered. “It’s broken.”
“I got your broken leg right here, kid.” The man raised his baton.
John picked up a rock. He threw it, but missed.
The man spun around. “Who’s there?”
Sam rolled to his feet and darted away. There was a rustling in the forest, then a hail of stones whistled
through the trees, pelting the man. Kelly appeared and sidearmed a rock as hard as she could—and hit the man dead center in the forehead. He toppled and slammed into the ground. The other children moved in. “What do we do with him?” Sam asked. “It’s just an exercise, right?” Fhajad said. “He has to be with Mendez.” John rolled the man over. A trickle of blood snaked from his head into his eye socket. “You heard him,” John whispered. “You saw what he was going to do to Sam. Mendez or our trainers
would never do that to us. Ever. He’s got no uniform. No insignias. He’s not one of us.” John kicked the man in the face and then the ribs. The man reflexively curled into a ball. “Get his baton.” Sam grabbed the weapon. He kicked him, too. “Now we go back and get the others,” John told them. “Kelly, you be the rabbit again. Just get them to
the edge of the clearing. Duck out, and let us do the rest.”
She nodded and started back to the meadow. The rest of the squad fanned out, collecting rocks along the way. After a minute Kelly stepped onto the grassy field and shouted, “That guy fell and hit his head. Over
here!” The five remaining men stood and ran toward her. When they were close enough, John whistled. The air suddenly swarmed with stones. The men held up their hands and tried to protect themselves.
They dropped and covered their heads.
John whistled again and sixty-seven children charged screaming toward the bewildered men. The men got up to defend themselves. They looked stunned—like they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Sam smashed his baton over a man’s head. Fhajad was hit squarely in the face by one man’s fist, and he
fell.
The men were overwhelmed by a wave of flesh, beaten