Free Cross of the Legion by Marshall S. Thomas

I watched the aircar on the tacmap, gliding towards Mams' position as straight as an arrow—then serenely floating over them and on to the port, oblivious to the alien intruders hidden in the forest below. Over the port, the Omni starship was still rising.
    "All right, that's it. Pits, let's go. Mams, work out that perimeter."
    "Tenners." I got up, my cloak soaked in muddy ash. It was raining hard. Lightning flashed overhead, lighting up the grim scene briefly. The thunder sounded like artillery. I moved, forward, my mind raging.
    "Thinker—" Priestess was on private to me. "What do you think?"
    "Stay alert, Priestess. Stay alert!"
    "This is crazy!"
    "That's a ten!"
    ***
    "That's an O," Dragon said. I raised my E and the scope brought it right to me but the image was blurred and misty behind all that rain, blocked from time to time by the dead trees around me. I could barely make it out—a tall, hulking yet spidery creature, moving leisurely—walking? My finger caressed the trigger.
    "There's two of them," Psycho added. "Not shielded—no armor. Scut, they're not even armed! Let's blast 'em!" Our psybloc units throbbed on our helmets. Psycho had a point. Psybloc was critical, but it had given away Legion units more than once. Every instant that passed increased the danger that we'd be spotted. We were still dispersed but nearing the tree line.
    "Negative, no movement, stand by, Phantoms," Dragon countered. I strained to make out the other Omni—there he was! Two of them. They were almost staggering along in the distance, now side by side, two great tall Omnis. I knew the creatures better than I cared to. They had killed over two billion humans, and they had almost killed me as well. They were extremely dangerous, and regarded us as annoying vermin. I felt nothing but fear and hatred for them.
    "Looks like they're headed for the port."
    "Fine, let them go. Don't interfere." They were headed away from the school, to my great relief.
    "All right, Pits—on me." Dragon was off again. I moved cautiously from tree to tree. We were nearing the school, and my adrenalin level was edging upwards. The rain eased slightly but I was still wet and miserable.
    ***
    "Dragon, on me," I whispered. I was pretty shook up. I had the thing centered in my sights, but it was clearly not a threat. The trouble was, it was so terrifying that I was starting to shake.
    It lay flat on swampy ground, and it was shaped like a human, but had no features. It was a pulpy, human- shaped mass, a wet, yellowish-grey growth, almost like a decaying human vegetable, utterly rotten, sopping in the rain. It almost looked like some primitive's attempt to manufacture a human out of mud and clay. If there had ever been a human in there, it was now clearly dead, but so featureless I could not tell if it was lying on its belly or its back. Its arms were flung out to the sides. I had never seen anything like this before.
    "What the hell is that?" Dragon covered it with his E.
    "I don't know." I was glad Dragon was there. Let him take care of it.
    "DD, get over here," Dragon ordered.
    "It's human," Doctor Doom said, squatting by the corpse, reading his medprobe. "A human corpse, covered by…some kind of fungoid growth. Medprobe says it's a fungus, unidentified variety, unknown origin. It appears to have spread over the entire body." DD stood up, ignoring the corpse, still focusing on the medprobe. "That's funny. The probe says the corpse is only a few hours old. I don't see how that could be."
    "All right, let's get outta here. Take a sample, Doc. Pits, resume advance."
    We splashed forward, nearing the edge of the fossil forest, glad to leave the horrid corpse behind. The school was right up ahead, in an open field. A range of mountains dominated the horizon.
    "Movement! I've got…"
    "Human, unarmored, unarmed, zeroed." Sweety highlighted the image. I knelt by a scorched tree and brought my E up. The scope showed what looked like a female, falling abruptly to her