by Ben Hale
Derek struggled to remain silent. He'd left the safety of Auroraq behind to fight, not sit idle because the auren soldiers saw them as kids. His frustration mounted as he watched men die in the street below, and an hour after dawn he could contain it no longer.
"This is ridiculous, Captain," he said. "We've seen combat before."
The man spared him a glance. "I know what you did on Auroraq, but this is different. Because of you I get to babysit while my team sits up here instead of down there." He pointed with his chin to the front line.
The coldness of his tone caused Derek to bristle. "We're here to fight, same as you."
Freezer looked at him, and then returned to scanning the battle. The way his eyes slid off Derek caused Derek to bristle.
"Captain," Derek said. The word came out with enough heat that several of the other SEALs looked at him in surprise. Derek ignored them. "The Order of White was assigned here by the head of the battlemages himself. You're wasting what we can do."
"You're not getting killed on my watch, boy." Freezer spoke without looking at him.
Do you really want to antagonize him? Mike spoke through the nexus charm. I have odds that he could fold you in half like a taco.
Derek glanced at him and jerked his head. Thirty feet away, Mike stood beside Laura. Along with Katsuo, Mara, and Brody, they had been ordered to 'keep an eye on things'.
"I thought SEALs were supposed to be smart," Derek said quietly.
Freezer rotated to face him, slow and deliberate. Derek felt the urge to retreat, but stood his ground.
"I was saddled with your group because we're professional soldiers. Your Prime placed you with us because he said you were ready. My superiors think you are a liability, that you're a bunch of kids that think you know how to fight the demons of the world. Take it from me, you don't. Now get out of my way so I can do my job."
Freezer turned away and ordered his team to target the 37th pier. Seething, Derek stalked to his friends.
Mike blew out his breath. "Well that didn't go well."
"We can't just sit here while people are dying," Laura said. "After what we've been through we're not afraid to fight."
"I know, Laura," Derek said. "And if we sit around the aurens won't last long."
"So how do we get into this war?" Katsuo asked.
"We find our own fight," Derek said. "We should—"
"Leviathan!" Pork yelled, and the words charged the tension in the room a hundredfold.
Derek turned to look, and his eyes widened. Dragging itself onto the pier, the enormous creature tossed its head and issued a roaring bellow. At over a hundred feet in length and forty feet high, it still resembled the whale it had once been. Now a series of ridges had grown across its back, and its fins had swelled into massive paws. Its mouth had grown to accommodate multiple rows of serrated teeth. The Dark had twisted it to appear more like a crocodile than a whale.
One of the SEALs swore under his breath. "I thought they didn't come on land."
"The .50 isn't going to do much damage," another said.
Freezer took charge. Striding to a crate nearby, he kicked the lid off and hefted a shoulder-launched missile. "Then we'll use rockets," he said. He strode to the broken window and pulled the trigger.
The missile streaked away with a roar, leaving a trail of smoke before it struck the leviathan on the flank. Built to destroy armored vehicles, it barely made a dent in the creature’s side. The leviathan issued a bellow of rage but the wound was superficial. In seconds hundreds of weapons targeted it.
Hot lead and explosions rocked its frame, but they couldn't stop it from reaching the line of cars. Its jaws closed on a yellow taxi and reared back, tossing the vehicle like it was a dog's chew toy. Someone must have called in air support, because a pair of jets roared by and released a quartet of missiles.
Fire and concrete exploded as they struck the leviathan, and it collapsed onto its side. The ragged cheer from the defenders faded when the massive fiend shifted its legs and moved to stand.
"Keep firing!" Freezer bellowed. "Aim for its head!"
Amidst the detonations and screams, Derek tore his gaze from the scene and looked to Mara. "Any chance the Halo can help?"
Mara's eyes were wide with fear. "Iris has over a dozen breaches up the coastline. She has to close them first. We're twenty minutes from a Halo strike here."
A thought suddenly crossed Derek's mind, causing him to frown. The leviathan was punching a hole in the defenses, but it couldn't last. The place it had chosen to make landfall was visible from nearly every building. Several hundred feet away the sea curved into an inlet. Blocked by the nearest buildings, it would have had a much greater chance of breaking through—unless that was not the intent.
Derek suddenly straightened and turned to the rear of the building. If it was him, he would have drawn attention to the front and then struck the rear flank. Ignoring the questions from his friends, he bolted to the rear of the building. Weaving through empty offices, he reached the rear of the structure and looked out the window.
There was nothing.
Support teams lined the streets and intersections below. Ammunition carriers, reserve front line units, barracks, and temporary medical tents filled every inch of the pavement. Men and women hurried about their duties a hundred yards behind the front line, but not one threat was in sight.
"What is it?" Brody asked. He skidded to a stop next to him, and the others joined him.
"There aren't that many whales in the world," Derek said. "They would want to make each leviathan count. That one is big, but it's not going to punch through the line this early—not where it chose to attack."
"So?" Rox shrugged. "They're just beasts now."
"But the Dark isn't," Derek said. He continued to look down upon the street, searching for a sign that he was right. "We know it has a mind powerful enough to control the army within the Dark. We also overheard Alice talk about her generals. What if the fiends are being controlled by something else when they leave the Dark?"
"I don't understand," Mike said. "If what you say is true, why waste the leviathan?"
Before Derek could answer a splash of color drew his eye. He looked to the subway entrance and leaned forward, peering into the darkness of the steps. Then he saw it again, and his eyes widened. A heavy shape was prowling on the threshold of shadow. By the swing of its oversized arms and the lumbering gate, it had evidently once been a gorilla. Now its fur was orange, and its fists looked like swollen bricks.
"It's not being wasted," Derek said. "It's drawing our fire." He stabbed a finger at the subway entrance. We have to get down before . . ."
The gorilla stepped into the open and raised its huge arms. The next instant other primates poured from the entrance like ants. In near silence they moved toward the tents and support vehicles.
And then they began to climb.
Chapter 15: Mage or Man
"They're going to take out all the overwatch teams," Derek said as they raced back to the SEALs.
"We're an overwatch team," Mike said.
Laura shook her head. "If they take out the teams in the buildings the line will buckle. It will be crushed from both sides."
Derek felt a knot in his throat. "If the city falls, there's no way the army can retake it. There are too many buildings. We would be retreating within an hour after the battle started."
"I thought they sealed the tunnels," Katsuo said.
"Apparently they got one open," Brody said.
Derek's mind buzzed. They needed to cut off the source, and fast. If they could do that, they might stand a chance at eliminating the enemy troops that had gotten past. But how? From what Derek understood, the subway beneath New York was a labyrinth of tunnels. How could they close it off?
He swung to Mara. "Can you activate the subway cars?"
"I think so—but why?" she asked, and then her eyes glazed. "Yes, Iris, I know what charm to use. Yes, I can do it, what do you think you trained
us for . . .?"
Derek skidded to a stop next to Freezer. "We have a problem."
Freezer didn't take his eyes from the Leviathan shredding the barricade. "Not now."
A sudden shriek rent the air. Both roar and scream, the primal sound caused the hackles to rise on Derek's neck. In the same motion, Freezer dropped his binoculars and caught up an assault rifle.
"Assault rifles and grenades," he said. "Move!"
The soldiers switched their gear in record time, and then raced toward the stairs. Derek explained on the way. Just as they neared the stairwell the door was ripped off its hinges, and a massive primate burst into view. The entire group slid to a halt.
Standing at over eight feet, the hulking creature caught sight of them. With muscles like corded steel, its arms reached to its feet. Fists the size of cinder blocks struck the floor as it leaned forward. Baring its fangs, it issued a screaming roar. Then it charged.
Carpet shredded as it accelerated, and cubicle walls were snapped in half. Reaching a desk, the brute caught the edge with one hand and tossed it aside. The heavy oak desk smashed through a window and fell from view. As it neared Freezer spoke a single, cold word.
"Fire."
It was a death sentence, and hundreds of rounds tore into its flesh. It bellowed and kept coming, but could not withstand the assault. Its bloody chest heaving, it tumbled to the ground. Cubicles were scattered from its fall, and a printer was smashed against a wall. Freezer stalked forward and drew a pistol from his thigh. It opened its jaws and struggled to reach for him, but he coldly fired a single round into its brain, ending it for good.
"We'll take point," he said. "Mages in the middle. Tack, you have the rear. Let's go hunting."
Then came the sound of another beast on the stairwell—and then another. Derek turned to Mike. "Seal the door. We have another way down."
Mike stepped off the ground and flew to the shredded stairwell door. Leaning out, he cast a gravity well. The sounds of bending metal joined the shrieks of the primates attempting to ascend.
Freezer returned from the primate corpse. "That was our fastest route to the ground."
Derek darted to the shattered window without responding. While they had been occupied, the primates had clogged the middle of the street. Reserve units had put down the initial assault and had thrown together a makeshift barricade behind a Humvee. It wasn't enough to stem the tide.
"Brody," Derek said, "slideways charm down the side, clear a spot. Laura, tornado on the sidewalk below. Flyers, help Brody until the SEALs get down."
Brody grinned and dived out the window. Laura was only a step behind. The moment they landed Brody cast a trio of golems. Rising from the concrete, they prepared to engage the primates that turned toward them. Laura wasted no time in casting a lazy tornado. Then Derek turned to Mara.
"Show them how it's done."
She nodded, and jumped out the window. SEALs crowded the glass to watch as the girl fell eighteen floors. Her fall slowed when she landed in the tornado, and she came out walking on the other side.
Freezer's eyebrows knit together. "If you let us fall, I will shoot you." Then he stepped out the window and plummeted to the ground below. The SEALs lined up to follow, laughing at the absurdity of what they were doing.
"It's like base jumping," one said, "except without the chute."
"You aren't afraid, are you Pork?"
Pork grunted. "These kids are crazier than we are." Holding his gun to his chest, he jumped out the window.
Derek went next, but leapt to the side. Casting a slideways charm, he pulled a section of glass out of the windows and it solidified into a small ledge that sped him toward the ground. Long before he got there he went on the offensive.
He shattered windows as he passed and he cast a snake charm on the falling glass. With the sound of scraping edges, they bonded together into a twenty-foot whip. He jerked his hand, and it sliced into the primates below. The thousands of tiny glass blades cut into them, gouging deep furrows in their flesh. Their roars became shrieks of pain.
Derek landed hard and wasted no time in raising a wall of concrete from the road. As the SEALs walked out of the tornado they used it for cover, and fired on the primates charging their position. They shrieked as they died, leaving the way clear to the subway station. The moment Tack landed, Freezer stood.
"Keep together and no one falls behind. We go for the truck." He stabbed a finger at a truck on its side with a mounted gun in the bed.
Freezer gunned down a smaller primate and surged forward. SEALs and mages raced with him, and as one unit they bolted for the downed vehicle. Just as they reached it a primate jumped to the top. Screaming at them, it reached down and caught Pork by the head. Before anyone could react it tossed him thirty feet and grabbed Brody.
Gravity and gunfire slammed into the primate, and it tumbled away, taking Brody with it. Derek darted after Brody as Freezer went for Pork. Brody cried out as the primate's fangs ripped into his arm, and he cast a stone bracer. Concrete flowed up and around his arm, covering the wound and breaking the primate's teeth. By then Derek had gotten there.
"Dragon's head!" he shouted.
His face a mask of pain, Brody touched the ground and a mouth pressed out. Derek cast the neck, and the head pressed out and snapped at a primate. Like a snake head, it coiled and struck at the primates, providing cover for Derek to pull Brody out.
"Are you okay?" Derek asked.
"I'll be fine," Brody said, and tightened the stone bracer around his arm. Blood dripped out by his hand, but he nodded. "Let's go."
Derek helped him back to the truck, but it was too late for Pork. Leapfrogging each other, the SEALs kept up sustained fire trying to reach him. The primates dragged Pork out of sight, and abruptly his gun stopped firing. A moment later Pork pulled a grenade on himself, and he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and fire.
Freezer snarled at the loss. "Can you get this truck upright?"
Derek signaled the flyers. In unison, they slapped the side of the truck. It rolled upright and bounced on its tires. Then Freezer leapt into the back and grabbed the handles of the mounted gun.
"Tack, you have the wheel. Everyone else, in back."
Derek nodded. "Flyers, up in the air. Keep them off us. I'll take the back."
"Don't be stupid, kid," Harry said as he jumped up. "There's no way you can keep up with us."
Drawing on the wealth of concrete, Derek cast a goliath charm, and mentally sent Breaker a note of thanks for teaching it to him. Sidewalk and road peeled up and wrapped around his form, bending to his will. Rising to match the stature of the primates, he encased himself in the armor.
A SEAL fired over the edge of the truck, and issued a bark of laughter. "Harry, I think he can keep up just fine."
Derek looked up to Freezer through the eye slit. "I'll cover the back."
"Don't fall behind," Freezer said with a grunt, and turned his attention to the gun.
The weapon roared to life, tearing into the primates that descended toward them. "Get moving, Tack!"
"There's no key!" Tack shouted.
"Don't need one," Mara said. Her eyes glazed and the engine started.
The truck jerked into motion as Tack stomped on the accelerator. With his legs augmented by the armor, Derek surged in pursuit. Any primates that came within reach he struck with a fistful of concrete.
Mike, Laura, and Katsuo cast their magic from above. Fire and micro tornados tore into the thickening tide of primates, clearing the way. From inside the bed, the SEAL's combined fire kept them from reaching the speeding truck. Then one got through.
Leaping from an apartment window, it fell directly toward Freezer on the gun. He swiveled to fire, ending its life in a hail of bullets—but it kept falling, and its sheer weight would roll the truck. Derek saw it coming, and swung his arm like he was throwing a baseball.
Half the concrete on his hand sloughed off and intercepted the beast. The flying fist slammed into its fa
ce, knocking it askew. Instead of landing in the bed, it bounced off the side of the truck and crumpled into the road. Bouncing over it, Tack swerved through overturned vehicles and shredded tents.
They passed one block, and then another. The primates must have sensed the impending threat, because they turned wholly away from other foes and descended upon them. Hundreds became thousands, and still they poured from the subway entrance ahead. Breathing hard, Derek knocked them aside as fast as he could swing his arms. As his hands grew heavy, he shouted to Mara.
"Get a train car to slow them down! Move it to block them in the tunnel!"
Huddled in the center of the truck bed, she nodded. A moment later the horde charging from the subway entrance slowed. Freezer swung his gun forward and filled the stairs with gunfire.
"Block the end!" he shouted.
High powered rounds tore into the handful still coming up the stairs, raining fire into the darkness below. Then the truck reached it and Tack yanked on the steering wheel. It slid sideways and slammed into the top of the stairs. Freezer expertly swiveled his weapon and did not stop firing.
"Beta team, hold the stairs. Alpha, with me."
Freezer made room for Harry and jumped onto the stairs. Leading with his rifle, he descended the steps with several of his team. Exhausted from the strain of holding the goliath together, Derek jumped the truck and shed the magic. Chunks of concrete fell away from him, and he landed on the steps going to the station below. One by one, the other mages landed beside him.
Strobes of light illuminated the scene as Freezer killed dozens of primates that reared up in front of him. In several bursts of precision fire, he put them down, and they fell away into darkness. Then they reached the platform and saw the extent of what they faced.
Primates coursed along the railway in a river of orange fur. Squeezing past a subway car that had clogged one end, they snarled and bellowed through bared fangs. Then they spotted the SEALs. Like a river rising over the bank, the Twisted primates clambered out of the tracks and charged. Their collective roar echoed and re-echoed down the subway.