by Michael Todd
Chris frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe I was wrong about that and they’re not collaborating with someone in the Russian garrison. Maybe they—”
The river.
“No, they’re avoiding the river.” Chris crowed. “The one Kemp and I had to cross. It’s in the east-central part of the Zoo. I could hear it from near the Chimera’s nest. They’ve hunted all over this place looking for the Chimera and must have discovered the damn river at some point. They won’t be able to drive their JLTV or their Hammerhead through it. They have to detour around it to get to the east gate. I’m sure of it.”
Pike rubbed his chin and blinked. “There’s talk of bringing the Gulf Cooperation Council into the project as well and giving them the northeastern part of Wall Two, which would be adjacent to the Russian section. You said the client was a Saudi? That would make a certain amount of sense, then. And I would have thought it ridiculous to imagine a river here, yet the Chimera used a stream to escape me earlier.” He nodded. “Dr. Lin, it seems you really do know this place, and your contributions actually have been valuable.”
Chris took a moment to savor that particular comment. “Thanks. And it seems you really can track things. And shoot.” Pike’s de-handing and decapitation of the Turk would have required some damned impressive marksmanship.
“Okay, so we have a good idea of where they’re going,” Pachrapa interjected. “What the hell do we do, though, if we catch up to them? Didn’t you say there were two dozen of the fuckers? There’s seven of us. Those aren’t good odds.”
“That,” Pike said, “is a bridge we will have to burn when we come to it. And burn it we shall. I will think and think hard. For now, we need to stay close behind them or perhaps even get ahead of them.”
“All the noise they’re making will bring them more unwanted company too,” Gunnar added. “Maybe we’ll be lucky enough for some of the local rodent population to pay them a visit and convince a few of them to stay here permanently.”
Chris shuddered. He didn’t like the thought of anyone running afoul of kangarats. But Gunnar was right. They were on the same side as the Zoo’s creatures now, so long as they stuck to attacking their mutual enemies.
Pike led them onward along the easier and quicker path made by Micky’s large and unwieldy column. “We will simply follow them, for now, to catch up,” he explained. “Then we will see what tricks I might have up my sleeve. I suspect I can devise something.”
Perhaps he could. But… “Will we have time?” Chris asked.
Pike looked back. “Explain the question in more detail.”
Chris sighed. “If we catch up to them and take the time to set a trap or something, won’t they simply get back ahead of us in that same amount of time? Not to mention that it won’t take them that long to get out of the Zoo altogether if they don’t stop for breaks or look for anything specific. They found what they were after. Now, they’re simply trying to get out.”
Pike cleared his throat. “The whole point of setting a trap, Doctor, is to avoid those types of situations—to neutralize threats before they can occur, catch the prey by surprise, and paralyze them before they can even fight back. Still…” He frowned. “It is true that we do not have much time. We will have to decide quickly.”
They soon came to the spot where the one-sided firefight had taken place.
“Jesus,” Duchesne gasped.
No fewer than six trees had fallen due to their trunks being blasted apart. Sections of the earth and vegetation had been scorched by flames and an explosion, then hastily put out with a fire extinguisher. Some of the white foam residue still lingered. Bullet holes were everywhere. This time, the Zoo’s denizens had attacked from both sides, since the obliterated remains of locusts were found both to the right and left of the path and on the path itself. Some of them were trodden underfoot or crushed under the wheels of the JLTV. There were also two dead, mangled kangarats and two equally dead, equally mangled bounty hunters.
“To sleep, perchance to dream,” Peppy said in her drooping monotone as she observed the corpses.
One of them was a man Chris didn’t recognize, particularly since his face had been torn off along with sections of his neck and throat. A huge patch of ground beneath him had turned a dark purplish color from the amount of blood that had soaked into it. The other was a woman who appeared to be of Indian or Pakistani descent. Her dead face was frozen in wide-eyed shock, and she was missing an arm as well as half the contents of her abdomen.
“Well, that’s a couple less we have to worry about, at least,” Pachrapa said.
“Wait a minute,” Gunnar interjected, “are you one of those people who uses the word ‘couple’ to mean few, like three or five or eight or something? I need to know before I can say if you’re right about that.”
“Shut up, man,” Pachrapa grumbled. “Metaxas was right. You need to get your ass into the private sector before you end up in the asylum.”
“The military has asylums,” Peppy said. “Everything we need under one cozy, proverbial roof.”
Gunnar grinned and tossed Chris a pistol and a spare magazine he’d retrieved from one of the bodies.
Pike had gone up ahead to survey the trail beyond the carnage. He hurried back with a look of satisfaction on his face. Chris supposed that was probably a good thing.
“Well,” Pike said, “it seems that just ahead is where they started to shift course back east again. Dr. Lin, you were right.”
Chris decided not to ruin the goodwill he’d accumulated and only nodded, rather than actually gloat. There would be time for that later. If they survived this.
“There’s more good news as well,” Pike went on. “I found a game trail.”
“A what?” Chris asked. He knew it was some sort of hunting term, but…
“A trail used by animals to pass through an area. Multiple fauna might use it over the course of years for the same purposes of hunting and grazing. The Zoo hasn’t been here very long, so it’s only faint, but it did not escape my sight. As it so happens, it moves diagonally right toward the broader less efficient L-shaped path our friends are taking. We can use it to intercept them.”
“Well then,” Chris said, as they moved ahead to seek the trail Pike had mentioned. Somewhere in the distance, they could still hear the mechanized racket of Micky’s force continuing to bulldoze through the jungle. “You really are a hunter after all. Do you have any of those orange vests?”
Pike checked to make sure his rifle was fully loaded and his sidearm in good order. Metal parts clicked or snapped into place. “Orange isn’t really my color.”
17
The game trail had indeed intercepted the path of the bounty hunters. The problem was that they were minutes too late to set up a trap. It was obvious even to Chris.
“Dammit,” Pike cursed under his breath. “They must have picked up the pace or altered the angle of their path.”
They’d come to an area of particularly dense undergrowth, although a few towering trees still kept the place shady and relatively enclosed. Chris thought he could see one of the man-eating vines hanging from a tree up ahead, but it was hard to be certain. What he was certain of was that they were perpendicular to the mercs’ column, perhaps forty or fifty feet from it. And the JLTV was almost directly in front of them, judging by the sounds. The foliage screened each group from the other’s sight, and the bounty hunters had given no indication they’d seen or heard anything. They were still moving.
“We don’t have time for a trap,” Chris insisted. “They’ll push on. Micky wants them out of the whole jungle by lunchtime, I can tell. He doesn’t even care if he loses half his men in the process. We—” He couldn’t believe what he was about to suggest, but he did so anyway. “We need to barge in and attack them. Element of surprise. Take the baby chimera and run.”
Pike looked sharply at him. “You may be right,” he admitted, “but let the record state that it was your idea, Doctor.”
Chris flushed. Pik
e was essentially trying to lay the responsibility of their failure—or even all their deaths—on him.
“Fine,” Chris said. “If we all get killed in the process of trying to save the world from an alien infection that could destroy all of humanity, then it’s my fault. Whatever.”
Pike nodded. “Everyone, we attack in thirty seconds. Move fast, shoot straight, get the Chimera, and head north until the ground beneath our feet is sand again.”
“What was the name of that guy,” Gunnar started to ask, “who did that thing, in that video of that game, back in the day?”
“Leeroy Jenkins?” Glassner suggested.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Gunnar said. He laughed under his breath with fond remembrance and raised his automatic shotgun. “We should dedicate this crazed suicide attack to his memory.”
“Memory fades,” Peppy sighed, “which I suppose at least means that memories of pain— which is to say of life itself—fade as well. Joy.”
The sound of the JLTV was almost past them now. Chris drew his pistol and took a breath. Pike raised a hand. Chris felt a distinct sense of déjà vu as Pike lowered his arm in a sharp chop.
They charged.
Duchesne, Glassner, and Pachrapa bellowed in unison as they burst out of the greenery.
“What the shit?” someone ahead said. Then pandemonium erupted as ten or twelve guns fired at once.
Chris aimed his pistol and started capping off rounds as soon as he was clear of the jungle. He didn’t expect to actually hit anything—especially not while he was running, terror seized him, noise deafened him, and total chaos surrounded him—but to his surprise, he did. He’d crashed out of the foliage almost directly in front of the Haitian, who had stiffened up and tried to judge the distance of the new sounds. No sooner had the man pivoted and raised his assault rifle, his huge white eyes bulging in shock, than a bloody handgun wound replaced his Adam’s apple and he toppled straight back and choked on his own blood. Chris stepped on his chest as the man fell. There was no time to stop or think.
To the left, Glassner, Duchesne, and Pachrapa laid down a wall of lead on the mercs at the rear of the column. One of them fell, but the others dropped to their knees or leapt for cover and returned fire.
To the right, Gunnar, Peppy, and Pike did likewise. Pike remained behind the partial cover of a slender tree at the edge of the column—the better to snipe. Two men sprinted to take cover behind the JLTV as Gunnar’s shotgun threatened to devastate them. Peppy aimed up and perforated the man who’d stood behind the mounted flamethrower. He screamed and plunged over the side of the vehicle, leaving a reddish mist in the air.
A lull came in the shooting that lasted for only a fraction of a second. But Chris’ senses had altered in the sudden rush of battle, and time seemed to stretch out. Things happened almost in slow motion. Voices all around shouted in maddened anger and desperation. A quick visual scan showed him the progress of the attack.
Duchesne still lugged the pack of Pike’s extra toys on his back. He ran up beside Chris to join him and the others. Glassner and Pachrapa remained where they were and fired at the rearmost mercs. Their ambush had successfully cut the column in two. The bounty hunters in the back third of the column had half-retreated and were now separated from those in the middle and front.
“Get behind them!” Duchesne shouted and shoved Chris toward Pike and Peppy. He advanced to attack the men who’d gone to hide on the other side of the JLTV.
Chris obeyed. He watched Pike take aim at a man and fire. The man—who Chris finally recognized as Motomori the quasi-ninja—leapt surprisingly out of the path of the shot just in time. His powerful jump landed him on the hood of the JLTV, right beside the baby Chimera, which shrieked horribly in fear. Motomori clambered up behind the flamethrower, pivoted it to cover himself, and pointed it toward Duchesne.
“Oh, fuck this!” Duchesne burst out. He suddenly whipped the pack off his shoulders and flung it straight at the flamethrower as the weapon discharged its fiery payload.
“Down!” Pike barked. Chris and the others ducked.
The air cracked, then exploded in a deafening sound. It seemed for an instant that everything had burst into flames. The shockwave knocked Chris off his feet, and his ears rang. As he climbed to his knees, he remembered that Duchesne’s pack had contained a couple of small explosives. Now, he saw the results.
Duchesne himself had been blown to pieces, as had another of the bounty hunters who’d been near the rear of the JLTV and about to shoot him. The back of the JLTV itself was badly damaged, blackened and warped, and one of its wheels had come off. The flamethrower had both shattered and melted. Part of it had come loose in a jagged protruding shard that had impaled Motomori, who had also ignited. The corpse slumped against the useless weapon as the flames consumed it. All the ground was burned black.
Pike was suddenly up. “Glassner, Pachrapa, hold them!” he shouted and gestured at the mercs at the rear. He seized Chris and Peppy by the sleeves, heaved both of them to their feet, and urged them toward the JLTV. “Get the chimera now!”
They stumbled in that direction. The bounty hunters closer to the front were still in disarray after the explosion, though Chris thought he could see Micky striding back through their ranks to call a rally. They might actually be able to do it. They had a chance, right now, to get the baby creature and be off before—
Something both roared and shrieked, and from out of the jungle opposite the game trail, between the JLTV and the mercs in the rear, an enormous blue-green form was upon them.
“Oh, crap,” Chris gasped. Mama had heard the cry of its young.
Two of the rearmost bounty hunters immediately opened fire on the adult Chimera. It only glanced in their direction before one of its barbed tentacles lashed out, split the chest of the first man, and sent him crashing back into the jungle in a spray of blood. The second man stood frozen in shock. Pachrapa seized the opportunity to raise his rifle and cap the man in the side of the head.
The Chimera was suddenly in front of where Pike, Chris, Gunnar, and Peppy stood. It had cut them off from the JLTV and from their prize.
“This way,” Pike ordered. He urged them around behind the creature. Chris hoped the mercs would be able to delay the Chimera long enough for the four of them to round the JLTV from the other side and retrieve the baby.
Of course, in that case, the Chimera would come after them.
They rounded the JLTV. The baby was in sight. Chris looked just past it, and his heart sank. At least ten of the bounty hunters from the middle and front of the formation had formed a line against the mother’s attack.
“Bye bye now, okay?” Micky said.
They opened fire. The Chimera staggered back as blood began to flow. It tried not to flee with its child so close but proved unable to resist the onslaught. Pike led them closer to the JLTV’s front regardless, but three of the bounty hunters saw them and turned to spray fire in their direction. They dropped to the ground.
Then the Chimera leaped aside into the trees and ferns and vanished.
To Chris’ surprise, the JLTV’s engine started and it pulled ahead. The front half of the vehicle now basically dragging the rear half slowly and awkwardly, but it still ran. The mercs parted to let it pass, and they kept firing—now at their human enemies.
“Fuck!” Pachrapa cried as blood erupted from his left forearm. They scrambled helplessly back into the jungle in the same direction the Chimera had fled. There was nowhere else to go.
The firing stopped as the caravan disappeared from sight. Then Chris heard Micky’s voice. “Let them and Chimera keep each other company. And let us get the hell out of this shitty place.” One or two of the mercs remained behind to unload bullets in the general direction of Pike’s team and cover the bounty hunters’ retreat.
“Pachrapa!” Glassner shouted, “Are you okay?”
“Sorta,” he said through gritted teeth. “They fucked up my arm. I think they grazed it.”
“Th
at will still give you some problems soon,” the medic replied. He immediately set to work disinfecting and bandaging the wound.
“Goddammit,” Pike growled as he stared in the direction of the departing column. Even the covering fire had ceased now. All the mercs were leaving and ignored their human attackers. They were only concerned with completing their mission.
“You said it,” Chris agreed in a tone almost as dismal as the one Peppy typically used. Their hasty ambush had failed. Even the Chimera’s attack had failed. The bounty hunters were still in possession of their prize.
18
They took a moment to recover. Pike reloaded his gun and looked at Chris. “That did not go as well as we could have hoped,” he stated.
“Nothing has,” Chris agreed. His gut clenched at the thought of Duchesne’s blackened, shattered remains scattered across the jungle floor. The man had sacrificed his own life to save them all from being burned alive by Motomori. He shook his head sadly.
“True. But there is one very important development that has worked in our favor,” Pike went on.
Chris raised an eyebrow in a quizzical expression. How could the man decide that anything, at this point, had gone in their favor?
“The chimera is wounded,” Pike said. “Our friends shot it multiple times. Even as we speak, it’s probably slowing down. Limping even, perhaps. And it’s bleeding.” He gestured to some droplets of blue-black ichor that had splattered on the ground, leaves, and tree-trunks. “We can track it. We can, at last, complete the mission.”
Chris blinked in near-amazement. “But they’re getting away with the baby!” he protested. “We can’t let them take it out of here. That would be even worse than letting the mother go free.”
“The baby,” said Pike, “is not what we were ordered to capture. It’s not what I’m paid for. It is not what Duchesne was being paid for.”
“If the baby is taken out of the Zoo,” Chris said and tried not to fly into a rage again as he had after Frankie had sabotaged their first ambush, “the mother will follow it, all right? She’ll wreak havoc on everyone in her path. And if those dickheads succeed in smuggling it past our jurisdiction, that might end up being the least of our worries.”