Read The Colony for Free Online Page B

the book. Even under pressure.” Lieutenant Strong said with renewed confidence.
    “ The son of a bitch was known for it.” Renaldo responded.
    “ He did his job, now let's hope Wesley does the same and gets some fucking help in here,” Jack replied. “While we go do our job.”
     
    “It'll work,” Lieutenant Strong commented, both men having edged themselves out into the rain. “Or at least it should.”
    “ Let's hope so.” his sniper replied.
    Then, with a deep incline of his right arm, Jack hurled a live grenade nearly out of sight. It digital masterpiece of pain slicing through the hammer of rain and shaking the ground with a thunderous bang nearly a hundred-yards away.
    Without so much as a word, both soldiers began sprinting away from the makeshift safe-house and into the direction opposite of the explosion.
    They had ran nearly four-hundred yards when Jack motioned the sniper down into cover. Feeling as though they had made enough ground.
    “How are we looking on the beacon?” Jack asked.
    “ As far as I can tell, we're still nearly a hundred-yards out. And I'm already seeing wreckage?” Renaldo replied.
    “ You will,” Jack said, skimming his eyes onto the faint horizon filled with rain as his mind drifted back through his years of military service. “I've seen a few go down in my time. Brace yourself for the worst, because the odds of someone making it out of the crash alive,” he said with a pause. “They aren't good.”
    “ Figured as much.” Renaldo said, skimming the horizon as well, though he did so with the aid of a sniper's scope.
    “ Take the bait?” Jack asked.
    “ Seem to have. I see nearly a dozen of the bastards in my scope. More than likely they will figure it out quick enough though, may have to shoot our way back in.” Renaldo said.
    “ Be sure to get footage of whatever in the fuck it is we're dealing with.” Jack said.
    “ On it.” Renaldo responded, clicking a sequence of two buttons which began to digitally record the findings of his scope into the gun's internal hard drive.
     
    -
     
    “I wouldn't worry too much dear. The lieutenant seems capable of doing a good job.” the general said, doing his best to comfort Julia as they both awaited a sign of hope.
    “ I know,” she replied, trying to remain positive. “I just pray the children made it to safety.”
    “ As do I.” the general replied, standing beside the besieged woman as he thought of a colony that once was.
    Colony twelve-seven. At least that was its official name, though its name became irrelevant as the dying began.
    A small group of miners had originally filed a report. A written account of strange writings they had discovered on the walls of a nearby cavern.
    They had been thought mad, or perhaps even victims of exhaustion. But when the group made a second trip, returning with photographs of the writing, their report became the top priority of the colony.
    Not that it mattered.
    After sending an investigative group to the site with no return, and then a second, the general knew they were in trouble. Though the souls around him refused to accept the severity of their condition, the general had triggered the distress beacon himself.
    And as the moments of their first encounter with the Succubus soldiers became a reality, the general had already began packing children away to safety. His quick thinking, along with the helping hands of Julia, had been the determining factor of the children's survival.
    And though, for hours, they were forced to listen to the pleading screams of colonists through the thickened-doors of their shelter, they remained positive. Julia knew of the general's military background. And the general knew of the swift action that his military would take in order to help them.
    He'd expected an entire Earth Defense carrier ship, though a part of him knew it was but wishful thinking. Their society had expanded far beyond the protection of such mighty ships. As predicted, they had