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  “Of course.” Archard was willing to bet a month’s pay that it was nothing. Kids would be kids. Even on Mars. Still, it was something to do besides paperwork. He saved his daily report to finish later, and turned to the communications console. “Heads up, people. Where is everyone?”

  “Sergeant McNee here, sir. I’m in the armory.”

  “Private Pasco, sir. The sarge has me mopping floors.”

  “Private Everett. Target range.”

  “Gear up, men,” Archard commanded. “We’re taking the tank out.”

  “Some action, at last,” Pasco said excitedly.

  “Don’t get your hopes up, buddy,” Private Everett said. “It’s not like we’ll get to shoot anything.”

  3

  Ania Zabinski was beside herself with worry. She and her husband had searched their entire farm from top to bottom and hadn’t found Piotr. Now, leaning against a corner of their house, she panted as much from fear as the running around they had been doing.

  “Stay calm, will you?” Josep said. “The boy has to be somewhere.”

  Ania didn’t care for his tone. “Of course he has to be somewhere.”

  Josep scratched his helmet as if it were his chin. “This makes no sense. The fence is working. The boy has to be in one of the buildings.”

  “Or lying out behind a boulder,” Ania said. The terrain around the house was flat and open, but to the north, in the direction of the volcano, it was broken and rocky.

  “The boy wouldn’t go that far,” Josep said. “He knows the rules.”

  “Then where?” Ania nearly wailed. She was close to tears. It was her fault they couldn’t find him. She’d let Piotr go outside unsupervised, which wasn’t an issue in itself. But then she had become busy with her analysis of the chemical effects of a new fertilizer they were experimenting with, and lost track of time.

  Josep rubbed at his helmet. “We search again. Don’t worry. Help is on its way from the colony.”

  “I hope they come quickly.”

  “We’ll try the agripod again,” Josep suggested.

  It made sense to Ania. They’d been down there once and shouted Piotr’s name but hadn’t gotten an answer. Now they would search the acres and acres of plants. Nodding, she followed her hulk of a husband, taking two strides to each of his.

  As was his wont, Josep thought aloud as they went. “The boy wouldn’t stray off. He knows better. He wouldn’t have tried to go through the fence. He knows it would damage his suit. He wasn’t in the sheds. He has to be underground, in the fields.”

  Ania recalled that back on Earth, fields were always on the surface. Yet another of the many differences between their own planet and this red one. “Could he have taken a tool and hurt himself?”

  “Unlikely. The boy wouldn’t take one without permission. But I’ll check when we get down there, just the same.”

  “Maybe he fell and hit his head on a seeding tray or a bin.”

  “Stop your fretting. He was wearing his helmet. It would protect him.”

  “He might have opened it. The fields are pressurized,” Ania reminded him. The artificial atmosphere was as close to Earth’s as possible.

  Josep unexpectedly stopped and pointed. “Look. More of those strange marks.”

  Ania didn’t care about stupid circles in the dirt. She would try to figure them out later. Right now all she cared about was their son.

  The agripod airlock was larger than most to accommodate some of the equipment they used. A flight of stairs led down.

  Before them spread the glory of their farm; wheat and oats, corn and potatoes, and more. The corn stalks were the highest.

  Ania decided that was where she would look and took a step, only to have Josep grab her wrist.

  “What in God’s name?”

  Ania’s blood went cold.

  Not two meters from the stairwell, a wall that should be solid had a dark hole, maybe a meter across, in the center.

  “What could have caused that?” Josep said, sounding dazed. He went toward it.

  Ania was more bothered by deep scratches in the wall below the hole. “What are those?”

  “Eh?” Josep bent, then caught himself and pointed off across their fields. “Look! The corn! It’s moving!”

  Sure enough, the stalks were swaying as if to a mild breeze.

  Ania put a hand to her throat. “Piotr!” Certain it must be their son, she raced down the center aisle. Josep called her name but she didn’t stop. All that mattered was Piotr. She flew past waist-high wheat and then the oats. Josep uttered another cry, not her name but something she didn’t catch. “I must find Piotr!” she shouted into her mic.

  The corn stopped moving.

  “Piotr?” Ania called. She parted the stalks and peered along the rows but didn’t see him. “Son, where are you?”

  Only then did Ania notice another hole at the far end of the horticultural habitat. “Josep. Come here. Hurry.”

  When there was no answer, Ania turned.

  Her husband was nowhere to be seen.

  “Josep?” Ania started back.

  A profound stillness prevailed.

  An uneasy feeling came over her. She tried to swallow but her mouth was dry. Licking her lips, she shouted, “Josep? Where are you?”

  Ania was almost past the wheat plot when she realized that stalks out in the middle were moving. Specifically, several swaths were bending in her direction.

  “Josep!” Ania yelled, scared. She ran until the stairs were in view. So was a figure sprawled on the floor, and the strange things swarming over it. Sheer horror brought her lurching to a stop.

  Hideous creatures were ripping her husband to pieces. Already they had torn through his EVA suit, his clothes, his flesh. Blood was everywhere. Worse, one of his attackers was pulling his intestines out of his abdomen. Another raised Josep’s dripping heart aloft.

  Ania nearly swooned. She stumbled, regained her footing, and turned to flee. She would hide until the things were gone and report them to…

  Several more had come out of the wheat and were scuttling toward her.

  Ania screamed. She was still screaming when one of the creatures launched itself at her, still screaming when one of its limbs speared through her suit into her throat. Her scream became a gurgle.

  Then more of them were on her.

  Battlefield Mars is available from Amazon here

  Table of Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty-One

  Thirty-Two