Free Earthfall: Retribution by Mark Walden

know?’
    ‘He’s just worried,’ Rachel said. ‘To be honest, I am too. You saw how many of those things there were – what happens if the Voidborn release more of them here?’
    ‘Then we’ll beat them back,’ Jay said. ‘As long as we’ve got our own pet Voidborn. we’ve got an advantage that no amount of those freaks can offset.’
    ‘I hope you’re right,’ Rachel replied, ‘because I don’t want to know what would happen if a swarm of those things found a building full of Sleepers.’
    ‘I know what you mean,’ Jay said, flashing back in his head to the horrifying sight of the thousands of creatures swarming up the sides of the department store in Edinburgh. ‘It’s weird. The Hunters and the Grendels are bad enough, but at least they always felt like they were under some sort of control. Those things up in Edinburgh, man . . . that was just bloodthirsty chaos. It’s as if the Voidborn don’t care about whether or not they could control those things. They’re like a force of nature.’
    ‘Scorched earth,’ Rachel said quietly.
    ‘What?’
    ‘It’s something that Jackson once taught me,’ Rachel said, remembering the words of the ex-marine who had trained them all to fight before heroically giving his own life to save theirs. ‘An army in retreat will destroy everything as they fall back to make sure that there’s nothing left for the enemy to use. Humans used to be really good at it – maybe the Voidborn are the same.’
    ‘You think they’re just going to wipe us out?’ Jay asked with a frown. ‘If that’s true, why didn’t they do it when they arrived? There’s nothing anyone could have done to stop them.’
    ‘Perhaps,’ Rachel said, ‘but maybe that’s the point. There was no need to wipe us out when we’re no threat to them, but if we become a threat by, say, capturing one of their Motherships, maybe we’ve gone too far and they’ll just wipe out everyone in the country. Let’s face it, what’s one little island worth when you have the whole of the rest of the world in the palm of your hand?’
    ‘There are easier ways to destroy us surely,’ Jay said, shaking his head. ‘You can’t tell me that machines with the intelligence and power of the Voidborn don’t have nukes or something like that.’
    ‘I suppose,’ Rachel said, staring at the shattered remains of the massive clock tower on the other side of the square, ‘but if that’s true, why haven’t they used them?’
    ‘No idea,’ Jay said with a shrug. ‘Who knows how they think? Come on back to the compound – it’s freezing out here.’
    ‘Give me a minute,’ Rachel said. ‘I won’t be long.’
    Jay looked at her for a moment, studying her face. ‘OK,’ he said, ‘don’t make me send a Grendel out here after you.’
    She gave him a weak smile and watched him walk up the road towards St James’s Park. She turned back to the ruined Houses of Parliament and recalled the time they had finally confronted the Voidborn in the skies above London. If it hadn’t been for Sam, they would all have died that day. Now he and his unique connection to the Voidborn were gone, along with perhaps their only hope of ever achieving such a spectacular victory again.

    Sam woke with a start, feeling a hand press down on his mouth. His eyes shot open and he looked up at the shadowy figure of Mag, a single finger pressed to her lips. She pointed down at the bedroom floor and a moment later Sam heard a crash from somewhere beneath them.
    ‘Vore, two or three of them,’ she whispered. ‘We have to go, quick and quiet.’ She reached round to the small of her back and pulled out Sam’s pistol, passing it to him. ‘Don’t use it unless you absolutely have to.’
    Sam gave a nod and climbed off the bed as Mag moved over to the bedroom window. She lifted the catch and swung the window open slowly. Sam looked down at the shrubs below.
    ‘When you hit the ground, run,’ Mag whispered. ‘Don’t look