Corvus (Frontlines: Evolution, #2)

by Marko Kloos

At first, it looks like the Lanky is completely covered in brown dirt as it emerges, but as it finishes ridding itself of its cover, its body remains the same shade as the slope behind it, a pale brown instead of eggshell white. She takes in all these details in the two or three seconds between the emergence of the creature and the gunfire that erupts from half a dozen rifles as Echo and Foxtrot teams open up on it.

The Lanky in the lead is advancing at a shocking speed, faster than she has ever seen one move. Instead of the usual slow and lumbering bipedal gait, this one is moving almost but not quite on all fours, using its front limbs to propel itself along as well. A MAWS gun booms, and an armor-piercing round streaks toward the charging Lanky from the ranks of Echo team. The round hits right in the center of the thing’s massive skull and shatters into a cloud of white-hot shrapnel. The Lanky plows on, seemingly undeterred, chewing up the distance between it and the fire team with frightening rapidity. Behind it, at least two more creatures have emerged from their hideout to follow in the wake of the first one, kicking up more dust as they advance.

The lead Lanky is so close to the rear of the drop ship that she could hit it with a well-thrown rock. The open ramp is at the level of the Lanky’s head, and the sight of its gaping maw is something out of her worst nightmares, the perspective of a prey animal right before getting snatched up and casually swallowed by an apex predator. From this range, she can clearly see the odd folds and ridges on its head and cranial shield, a rugged topography where the Scorpio Lankies were smooth and almost shiny. For a terrifying moment, it looks like the creature is gaining on them, that it will be able to sink those toothless jaws into the tail of the ship and yank them back to the 104ground, to be crushed like the crawler or worse. Then the huge shape of the Lanky’s head starts to recede in the frame of the tail ramp opening as the drop ship rises into the sky.

Its skin is so dark that it reflects no starlight at all, and only the infrared beam from Reyes’s 207helmet brings it into full relief against the frozen ground. It’s a Lanky, but smaller and stockier, and it takes her a moment to realize that it looks like the ones that ambushed their squad—shorter than the Lankies she knows, with a broader build and more powerful limbs. It’s just a tiny bit slower than the recon vehicle, but it’s ahead of them, and it’s on an intercept course.

Two more shadowy specters are crossing the frozen plains to their left at a run, fifty meters apart and running to catch up with the runabout. They’re at least two hundred meters out, however, and Alex tilts her control sticks for another wide left turn. The newcomers gradually fall behind as the runabout accelerates again.