Michael wondered whether it had worked, and who or what the people were shooting at. Other humans? Monsters?
Defectors…
Michael felt his throat tighten at the memory of the last ambush. He had promised himself he wouldn’t dwell on the tragedy in Jamaica and instead use Trey’s death as motivation to save others. He wouldn’t let his friend die for nothing.
Moving to the side, Michael looked through a different crack. Water cascaded down the sloped street, riffling past the hulls of vehicles still parked outside. The rubber tires were gone, and the plastic components brittle and broken. All that remained were iron engine blocks, rusted body metal, and some glass.
Thunder boomed in the distance.
“Reminds me of my birth,” said Arlo.
He stepped up next to Michael. “Thunder sounds like a badass nickname, right? Well, it’s not.”
Michael let the kid talk—it would help with his nerves after he nearly ended up Siren food.
“Kids used to make fun of me when I was younger, but they didn’t know the story,” Arlo continued. “I was born during a storm, but I wasn’t breathing when I arrived in this dark world. My dad gave me mouth-to-mouth, and for nine minutes, Dr. Huff said, I didn’t breathe.”
Arlo clapped his hands together.
“Quiet!” Michael snapped.
“Sorry,” Arlo whispered. “I was trying to describe the thunder. When it clapped outside the airship, I gasped for air and saw my parents for the first time. That’s why they called me Thunder.”
“Cool story,” Sofia said. “I’m still pissed at you for clipping me on the dive.”
“I’m sorry,” Arlo said.
“Do something like that again, and you won’t be having any more fun with your lady friends, if you know what I mean.”
Arlo hesitated and then looked to Michael.
“I’m sorry to you too, Commander Everhart,” he said.
“You’re forgiven,” Michael said. “Just don’t go pulling any more stupid shit.”
“That’s a promise.”
“Commander,” said a new voice.
Michael looked to the open doorway, where Edgar stood with rifle cradled.
“We found something you might want to check out,” he said.
“Stay put,” Michael said to Sofia and Arlo.
After leaving the two new boots in the office, he took the stairwell down to the first floor. Alexander was waiting there and led them across the factory floor. They stopped at a door to a bathroom, and Edgar pushed it open.
“Found some sort of maze,” he said, shining his light inside.
Michael clicked on his beam and went into the bathroom. Broken tiles were strewn over the floor, and a row of sinks had collapsed. Cracked mirrors hung on the wall, their surfaces covered in gray-green moss.
He followed Alexander around a corner to the showers, and a hole in the center of the floor. The tile and concrete had been broken away, opening into an old sewer line.
“This is probably where the survivors fled to,” he said, bending down. They shined their lights down a narrow passage littered with glass bottles, cans, and galvanized buckets.
“Want to see where it goes?” Edgar asked.
Hearing voices behind them, they found Sofia and Arlo at the entrance to the bathroom.
“I thought I said stay put,” Michael said, trying to keep his voice low.
“I’m sorry, Commander,” Sofia said, “but that growling we heard back at the sinkhole—it’s back.”
“I heard it too,” Arlo said, clearly nervous. He shifted hands on his rifle. “Doesn’t sound like Sirens. I think this is something else. Something big.”
“Keep your voices low,” Michael said.
They all moved back out onto the factory floor. Rain leaked through the ceiling, collecting on old metal tables and dripping on the machinery. Michael stopped to listen.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, low growling came through the sound of dripping and trickling water.
He looked at the ceiling. It sounded as though it was coming from above.
Michael motioned for the divers to fan out. They shouldered their rifles and crossed the space in combat intervals.
Michael moved toward the side door they had used to enter the building. It was the only entry point they had found besides a window on the second floor. The other entrances were all sealed off with heavy beams and equipment by whoever had taken refuge here in the past.
A loud bang across the room made him flinch. Alexander had knocked the sheet-metal hood off an old piece of machinery, and the duct clattered onto the floor.
Gritting his teeth, Michael waited.
It wasn’t long before a piercing howl rose above the pecking of rain on the roof. A thud rang out from the roof, and Michael pointed his laser rifle at a large dent in the metal. The other divers did the same, backing slowly away.
Heavy footsteps sounded on the roof.
“What is it?” Arlo said, his voice cracking.
Michael put a finger at mouth level on his helmet.
Whatever was up there had enough weight to make a dent with every step.
Another thump sounded to the left, and Michael swung his rifle toward the brick wall. An impact on the other side dislodged several bricks. One popped out and skidded on the floor.
Michael pulled one hand away from the laser weapon and gave the hand signal to retreat to the bathroom. They all turned and made a run for it, but Edgar’s armor clipped a table on his way, knocking several empty cans to the floor.
A guttural howl answered, and Michael looked up as a piece of ceiling was pried back. Rain poured into the room, and lightning flashed overhead, silhouetting the beast looking down at them.
This was no Siren, but it did have some humanoid features, especially in the face. The knees snapped as the hulking creature bent down and looked into the factory. The thing was huge and covered with bony armor.
This was the same type of creature that killed Commander Rick Weaver at Hilltop Bastion. The monster the Cazadores called the demon king, or bone beast.
But this one seemed slightly different from the others. Barbed spheres protruded from the double-jointed kneecaps and elbows. The thick pectoral muscles under the exterior bones flashed orange with each beat of its heart.
Michael aimed his laser rifle at the chest, just left of center, where he hoped the heart was, and fired a bolt. The shot was perfect, an orange hole sizzling through exterior bone and muscle.
Roaring, the creature pawed at the floor, and when it pulled its hand away, Michael saw that the thick muscles and bony armor had stopped the bolt.
“Mother of God,” he whispered.
The wall to Michael’s left collapsed, and the monster’s twin stormed through the explosion of bricks and dust.
“Open fire!” Michael shouted.
Laser bolts lanced into both creatures.
Michael ducked to avoid crossfire from Arlo, who hadn’t pulled back from his scope to check his firing zone. Taking cover under a table, Michael crawled to the other side and then pushed himself up. He aimed his laser rifle at the beast looking down at them, but it jumped down at the same moment, landing on a table across the room and crushing it under its weight. The monster brought up black-taloned hands to shield its eyes from the flurry of rounds chipping away at its bony armor.
The creature on the left lumbered into the space, tossing a steel worktable aside as if it were balsa wood. Sofia rolled away before it could hit her. She came up on one knee and fired a blast into the creature’s face, destroying an eyeball.