“Sit your ass down, girl!” Mudflap yelled over the whipping wind. “If you get thrown from my bike right now, nothing in the world is going to save you!”

  I twisted back around and slowly sank down behind the old man. “Those Antithesis just ate my enzyme-dispersing bushes! They shouldn’t even be able to do that without melting from the inside out!”

  “They probably are,” he growled. “At those numbers they just don’t care!”

  I bit my lip and glanced back over my shoulder at the literal wall of ravenous alien invaders. When the first pods landed, I had wanted to rush out and engage the horde directly; the only thing that had kept me from doing so was Mud.

  It was a good thing he did, because the drops didn’t stop after one or two--there were hundreds. They weren’t limited to the small ones either, there were a couple absolutely colossal pods which shook the ground when they impacted.

  When I contacted the Family they told me, in no uncertain terms, that reinforcements were incoming, but we’d have to hold on as long as possible.

  Even though I knew they were doing their best to help us, and it wasn’t the poor call center agent’s fault, I had some choice words for them when I heard that.

  “Hold on!” Mud yelled as the bike lurched, crunching through a small tree, and emerged back on the main highway. As soon as we were in the clear, he gunned the engine and quickly put some room between us and the pursuing swarm.

  If we’d been riding a more traditional bike, instead of Mud’s monstrous Class Two vehicle, we probably never would have made it out of that forest. Its monstrous tires were taller than me and could run over almost anything we ran into.

  It was just unfortunate that he was so tied to the vehicle, because a good hover vehicle would have been much faster and more manoeuvrable. That last escape had been far too close for comfort.

  “So, do you have any other ideas?” Mud asked.

  “Like what? Purchasing an artillery battery? Because that’s the only way I see of us even slowing that horde down,” I shouted angrily. “I honestly thought my bushes would at least be able to slow them down, kill the scouts, and blunt the main assault. I didn’t expect the entire swarm to come rolling out of the trees. There must be thousands of them!”

  “Yeah, and considering how many pods came down, I expect that wasn’t much more than a scout team,” Mud replied.

  “Then what are we supposed to do? Reinforcements might only be half an hour out, but at the rate the Antithesis are advancing, they’ll be at the town walls by that time!” I yelled. It was a good thing I had a helmet on, and the sound of wind was distorting my voice, because I felt like crying. Everyone in Great Falls was relying upon us, and right now it looked like we were going to fail them.

  “We still have the bushes you planted around the outer wall, and North Star did station a decent-sized Private Military Company in town to protect their interests. They can man the walls to help slow the Antithesis down.”

  I took a deep breath. “Right. We just need to delay the Antithesis for a couple minutes, and even if they hit the walls, they probably won’t be able to break through before reinforcements arrive. We can do this.”

  “Glad you agree,” he growled, “because it seems our uninvited guests are already getting a little impatient.”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Pardon?” I asked just before the small turrets on either side of the bike’s back wheels swiveled around and started firing skyward.

  I cranked my head around, only to witness an ominous sight. It was a cloud of model ones so thick that it obscured the sun. Although it was hard to make out individual creatures, there were some larger shadows within the swarm. That either meant particularly thick groups of Ones or, far more likely, Elevens.

  “I don’t suppose you have any tricks to deal with that lot, do you?” Mud asked.

  “I’ve got one,” I replied. “Sylph, is there any way I can launch some pollen poppers right into the middle of that cloud?”

  [Your so-called ‘Pollen Poppers’ can be fit into any number of dispersal devices. To deal with a swarm that large, I’d recommend some ground-to-air emplacements, but considering your current circumstances, the best option would probably be a handheld grenade launcher,] my AI replied.

  “Then give me one, without the pretty wrapping, and keep reloading the weapon until I tell you to stop,” I shouted. I held out my hands and let the heavy weapon just fall into my grasp. It was a large, heavy thing with an oversized rotating cylinder in the middle. There was no way that I’d be able to fire it with one hand.

  “Mud, I’m going to need to borrow your back…” I shouted.

  “Then you’ve got it, lass,” he replied. “Do what you need to do!”

  I clamped one hand on Mud’s shoulder and the other on the back of the seat, then swung my left leg over the bike. It wasn’t until I was sitting sidesaddle, watching the pavement flying by, that I realized how stupid I was being, but I couldn’t stop now.

  Throwing my right leg back over the bike, I slid back into my seat, backwards, and stared up at the approaching swarm. “Let’s hope this works.”

  I put my feet on the bike’s fender, leaned against Mud’s back, and started unloading the grenade launcher towards the Antithesis. When the grenades reached the right height, they burst open, but with a gentle pop instead of a massive boom.

  Out of the grenades floated thousands of oversized dandelion-like seeds, which dispersed into the heart of the swarm. Although the spores looked harmless, they were deadly to the Antithesis. Whenever they touched one of the Model Ones, they burst, spraying an enzyme-dissolving acid that was only effective against the Antithesis.

  It wasn’t much; a single puff probably wouldn’t kill a model three, but against the smaller gull-sized flyers, it was devastating. Those that weren’t killed immediately were crippled as the acid ate through their leathery wings. Within seconds the swarm started to fall apart.

  “I don’t think I’ll be able to kill them all before we reach the gates,” I told mud.

  “That’s fine. As long as you thin out that horde, the automated anti-air weapons should be able to take care of the rest,” he replied. “We’ll be in range soon.”

  He gunned the engine, causing the bike to lurch forward. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the sporadic plant cover fall away as we entered the clear-cut kill zone around the town. I’d always thought that clearing all the foliage around the town and then chemically keeping it from regrowing was a barbaric practice. Killing plants just on the off chance that Antithesis came for the town seemed extreme. I didn’t think that now.

  Although I couldn’t see the town gate, I could hear it clanking open as we approached. Mud didn’t slow, instead choosing to slip through the slowly widening gap. It was close--if we’d been even a second faster, the heavy doors would have scraped the paint off the bike.

  As soon as we were through, it began closing again.

  “Why haven’t the guns opened up yet?” I asked as I slid off the back of the bike.

  “I don’t know…” he muttered. “Let me call the commander.”

  I watched as his expression went from gruff to confused to angry, all within a few seconds.

  “He’s not answering, and the command staff doesn’t know where he is,” he growled. “They’re trying to bring the grid up now.”

  “Trying to bring it up? They’re crossing the walls now!” I replied in horror.

  The light dimmed as the cloud of Antithesis approached. The Model Elevens finally started to split off from the rest, climbing into the air so they could dive down for massive damage. The sound of thousands of flapping wings filled the air, drowning out all other noise.

  Well, almost all other noises.

  A high-pitched whine filled the air from the opposite direction, and before I could register exactly what was happening, something that looked like an APC came flying out over the town and dove directly into the cloud of Antithesis.

  Something flashed on the vehicle, almost like a strobe light, and every time it went off another Model One died.

  Less than a second later another vehicle dove into the swarm, and another, until the sky was filled with armored vehicles. The swarm didn’t last long after that.

  While most of the vehicles spread out, securing different parts of the wall, one came down directly next to us. The hatch on top popped open, and an aqua blue teddy bear popped its head out. It looked over at us and grinned.

  “Hey, did someone call for reinforcements?” it asked in a feminine voice.

  “Uh, yeah…” I replied. It wasn’t the smartest thing to say, but my brain was still trying to process what was happening. “Thanks?”

  “Oh, no problem,” she replied. “We’ll establish defensive positions along the walls, but don’t worry, there’s more reinforcements coming!”

  Mud appeared to be as flabbergasted as I was, but it seemed like he recovered faster. I watched as a small grin crept across his face. “We can’t wait.”

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