Harry wondered how many people had died in this incursion. There were death rolls for each of these attacks. They went up on the internet as soon as the identities were confirmed.

He decided that he needed a little bit of height. His drones were out there thinning the herd, but he wanted to make sure they weren’t missing things.

He found a van he could climb on in the parking lot. He climbed on the roof and looked around. He didn’t like what he saw.

The xenos had come out of the gate, ripped through the tunnels under the school and headed out toward the edges of the campus. They had attacked anyone in their way as they spread. Some had made it over the three foot tall brick wall to the streets beyond.

Kelly Wu University was eight buildings in a cross inside a road ring with parking at each building. Where he stood faced the center northwest of the school. Turning his head revealed outliers moving east. The drones weren’t interested in stopping the aliens from making it out of the school. They had engaged inside the wall, and were in pitch battle with the various things.

It looked like they were losing.

Another bee flew out of the opened door. It joined a brother. Two lines of light

finished a dog with tentacles before picking other targets to attack and light up.

Harry decided that he needed to help his bees. He needed a gun.

“You are going to collapse, Harry,” said Nick. “Your vitals are screwed.”

“I just need to hold on for a few more minutes,” said Harry. He flipped through his menu. He paused when he saw his points were still climbing. Whatever was doing that was something he needed to do in the present situation. “Once I secure the school, I can take five.”

A weapon built itself in his hands, barrels adjusting to a receiver as a box magazine plugged in. A scope locked down on a slide rail on the stop. He had a stock to help him with recoil. He added an underbarrel launcher to help him with the tougher enemies he might be facing.

He ordered armor piercing ammo for the rifle and a flashbang for the underbarrel. He took aim at the closest enemy not engaged by the bees. He fired the grenade at it. He was pleased that the light and sound stunned the creature when the projectile hit the ground in front of it. He switched grips and put a bullet through it and dropped it.

“Nice shooting, Tex,” said Nick.

“I used to bull’s eye womp rats from my speeder,” said Harry. He blasted the next target as it looked around for him. A guy with a gun seemed more of a threat than bees with particle throwers. He twitched as he moved to the next target, a flying thing with two many wings and tendrils. He put that down with a bullet center mass. “As long as they don’t try to rush me, I can do what I want.”

As soon as he said that, he noted that some of the xenos massed up and turned to charge him. He was glad they didn’t carry guns as a rule. They could have lit him up if they had the weapons.

He loaded a shaped charge into the underbarrel. He put that in the center of the charge. Parts and blue blood flew everywhere as the grenade took the xenos apart.

“Some of you clowns might be bulletproof, but I’m glad that it wasn’t you,” said Harry. He asked for multishot bullets and fired two blasts into the mess he had made. The bullets split apart in the air, punching multiple holes in the target.

“To the left,” warned Nick.

Harry turned and fired from the hip. The setting on the bullets caught something like a cat with huge teeth and claws in the face as it tried to leap up on the van with him. That was enough to kill it on impact. The body dropped in pieces to the ground.

“I think we should move,” said Nick. “The enemy is going to come right at you now that they know you’re here. We need something defensible.”

“I think we can take the office, but we should wait until the bees clear some of the smaller ones out,” said Harry. He pointed at two new bees coming out of the wrecked door. “As long as we can hold here, the more reinforcements we’ll get.”

Nick considered the build speed and looked around with Harry’s eyes. It looked like they had cleared out everyone close enough to spit at his contractor, much less take a real shot.

“What happens if the enemy moves out of range?,” said Nick.

“Then the bees will hide themselves and wait for the xenos to show up again,” said Harry. “Even if I’m not around, they’ll kill the monsters until they are wrecked.”

“All right,” said Nick. “It’s good to know you’re not unleashing a menace on this part of the city that another contractor will have to clean up.”

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“I got it,” said Harry. He checked the parking lot and the undergrowth encouraged by the facility to try to keep the kids from going off the path. Nothing moved inside his scope except his bees and what he took to be wounded students.

Emergency services were on the way. He could hear the sirens. A glance told him that they were coming in from the west and south. He needed to get off the van and out of there before he was locked down for questioning.

The last thing he wanted to do was explain all of this when he wasn’t sure what was going on himself.

Harry whistled. All the surviving bees rotated in the air to study him. He looked at his little army and smiled. They had worked out better than he had thought.

“I want you guys to follow me to my car,” said Harry. “We’re going to get out of

here.”

“What about the hives?,” said Nick.

“They’ll shut down without anybody to build drones to fight until they are needed,” said Harry. “We don’t know if a gate will open on campus again.”

“Enemy gates are random as far as we know,” said Nick. “No one has figured out any pattern for them.”

“There doesn’t have to be,” said Harry. “I just don’t want to leave the campus

unguarded while I am off working for you.”

“Got it,” said Nick. “What are we going to do because you are about to drop?”

“I know a guy who can put me up for a few hours,” said Harry. “Once I’m back up to snuff, I can figure out where I fit in your little war.”

“The main thing is closing any gates that open here on your home turf,” said Nick. “Maybe some kind of emergency action if the gate is big enough.”

“Have you dealt with a lot of massive invasions instead of these limited incursions?,” asked Harry.

“A couple of my contractors have done some things,” said Nick. “We need to get to your friend’s house before you pass out.”

“It’s just a few minutes away,” said Harry. “Hopefully he will give us a place to crash so I can get back to top shape and you can learn some self control.”

“I have plenty of self control,” said Nick. “It’s you that I’m worried about.”

“I’m okay,” said Harry. He checked the scanner as he crossed the parking lot. His bees orbited around him. There was a large clump of xenos ahead, rushing into the science building. His drones lit off one by one as soon as they were in range.

“Caught some stragglers,” said Harry. He jogged toward the science building. The rest of his drones flew off in a mass. He winced at that.

The sound of particle beams slicing the air made him pause before he entered. He didn’t want his own weapons to take him out by accident. He checked the scanner. There was one big thing on the top floor somewhere. It had evaded the bees and made it up some stairs.

He needed a way to talk to the bees so he could direct them to the target.

He headed into the building. His bees had cleared out the bottom floor. He winced at the small fires being put out by the sprinkler system overhead. He waved at people to leave through the doors as fast as possible as he made his way to the stairs.

The bees formed up on him like a cloud of trick fliers as he paused at the crushed in door.

He started up the stairs, rifle at the ready. He didn’t want to lose anything else to these monsters. His bees buzzed on their jets as they orbited around him. He ignored any door that still stood as he made his way to the top floor.

If it stood, he didn’t have anything to worry about.

He reached the top floor and the broken door there told him he was on the right track. He held up his mana scanner. He thought it was to his right and at the other end of the building. He pushed through the remains of the door hanging askew on its hinges.

The bees took off after the xeno. He heard the sound of particle beams and the whistle of something moving through the air at a fast clip. He put the rifle to his shoulder and advanced.

He saw something breaking into a room. His bees were setting it on fire, but the mass of the thing was huge. Quills growing along its back became missiles that it sent after the drones.

Harry loaded a grenade into the underbarrel. He took aim and fired the rifle. The grenade blew a hole through the xeno, dropping it on its eight right legs. His bees swooped in and finished the job with sparkling ribbons of light.

The contractor checked the scanner for any other target close enough to be taken. He shook his head. Any alien that had come through the gate had fled or died.

“Let’s go,” said Harry. “Be ready on the defense. I’m taking us over to my friend’s house so we can watch television and drink beers.”

Some of the drones seemed happy with that, some of them seemed nonplussed they hadn’t killed a lot more targets.

He waved at them to follow him down to his car.

Harry and his escort walked out of the science building. He thought about how many were going to get killed since he couldn’t hunt every escapee down right that minute. He could feel his energy level dropping with each step.

He staggered to his car and got behind the wheel. He dropped his key ring trying to put the car key in the ignition. One of his bees handed the keys back to him.

“Thanks, bud,” said Harry. He put the key in the lock and turned the engine over. He pulled out of the lot and drove down the street. He paused to let Emergency Services get by. Hopefully he hadn’t missed any xenos on the grounds.

He decided to feel guilty about it later. He had to get to some place where he was safe enough to think about his new circumstances, and close enough where he could make it without passing out.

He hoped John would help him out. He also needed an advisor that wasn’t in it to shove him into a dangerous spot for the notational money.

He let the car roll slowly down the street. He found himself passing out for brief seconds as he went. He might not make it. He shook his head. He supposed the down from the stimulants he had taken was coming on.

He smiled when he saw John’s house coming toward him. He frowned at this friend had visitors on his porch. He pulled up behind the guy waiting in his car on the sidewalk.

“Let’s go,” Harry said. He got out of the car, rifle in hand. His bees followed through the open window. He kept an eye on the porch as he walked to where the wheelman waited.

He knocked on the driver’s window with one hand. The driver looked at him. He didn’t roll down the window. The contractor shook his head as he leveled the rifle at the wheelman.

“I just want to talk,” said Harry. “But I have had a bad day, and I don’t mind shooting your dumb mug.”

“What do you want?,” asked the wheel man after he lowered the window enough to talk.

“I want you not to move because if you do, my friends will slice you and your car into pieces,” said Harry. “They love that crap.”

The particle cannons on the bees glowed as they pointed at the wheelman. He kept his hands on the wheel.