Extinction Read Online Free

morning. He had awakened in the middle of the night so that he
could not only travel in a blanket of darkness to conceal his movements, but to
also keep himself out of the blistering sun, which was threatening to show its
full self shortly.
    He had been hunted by his enemies for
the past three days and had run out of water at the start of the second. He
wasn’t sure how long he could avoid capture but he had to try to complete his
mission. Every other member of his detachment had met with an unfortunate fate
and, unaware of how the rest of the task force was faring, he had to push on in
case he was the last surviving operative left to complete the mission.
    Although the vast prairie he traveled
through had tall grass to hide in, it was also very dry from a recent drought
and Seth cringed at the noise he made as he walked through it. He had to find
water soon. He was heading toward a tree line that seemed to have a shade more
green than everything else around him and he prayed that it meant water.
    At a hundred meters from the tree line,
Seth froze in his tracks. He knew that this planet had indigenous life but
hadn’t even thought that a predator of another sort might also be using the
tall grass for cover.
    He was nearly face to tail with what
would pass, much too closely, for a tiger on Earth. The creature had a long
tail with a bulb at the end, in which many six-centimeter long spikes were
imbedded. Not to mention the eight claws on each paw that seemed larger and
sharper than his field knife. The ears were almost non-existent but that would
be expected on a thin atmosphere planet and was much to Seth’s advantage. This
tiger probably hunted with sight and scent and didn’t rely too much on hearing.
    Seth was upwind of the brisk breeze
swaying the grass. All marine-issue uniforms had a uniquely designed cloth that
absorbed body fluids and retained them, cooling the wearer and also negating
any scents that would normally be present with any hardworking soldier. As an
extra bonus, each soldier had a water-recycling unit that was attached to an
outlet in their field blouse. This device allowed all of the liquid output from
the wearer to be recycled into drinkable water. Unfortunately, Seth’s had been
damaged during the initial attack three days ago.
    Earth had been in a war three hundred
years ago with a species known as the Shirkas. Their culture had never passed
beyond the hunter/gatherer stage and throughout their scientific and
intellectual advancements, they kept to the old ways that had never failed to
provide for them. Consequently, Earth was faced with an enemy that could hunt
down their soldiers and defeat them almost effortlessly on any battlefield. The
government created and used a biological weapon designed specifically for the
Shirkas, which destroyed their home world and many settlements before they
finally surrendered.
    Seth, and every other marine, was now
wearing a uniform designed by the Shirkas, which allowed him to be invisible to
any heat or pheromone detector known to exist. And now for the first time since
he joined the Marine Corps, he was glad to be wearing the scratchy cloth that
was probably the only thing saving him from being lunch for the creature that
now crouched before him.
    He realized that the muscular cat was
too interested in his current prey to notice him anyway. And then he saw it: a
watering hole with some six-legged herd animals cautiously drinking. He also
saw his objective. The enemy had decided to secure the watering hole for
themselves and had set up their primary post twenty-five meters from the
water’s edge. What luck!
    Now, all he had to do was steal the
battle plans from an enemy camp with about two hundred armed soldiers
surrounding it and get back to the extraction point. No problem! he
thought sarcastically. Of course, now there was the problem of an eight-fanged
feline hunter who decided to take notice of his presence.
    Seth pulled his field knife and prepared
for