Devon shot us a quick thumbs up then turned and vaulted through the air. His toe caught on the very edge of the charter plane’s wing. His arms spun wildly at his sides, and he wavered back and forth. Finally, his momentum sent him plunging forward. His chest slammed into the wing’s surface, and his face was soon to follow.
“Ugh,” Devon grunted at the impact.
He managed to grab hold of the upper lip of the wing, but the lower half of his body dangled over the edge. If he lost his hold and fell, there would be nothing but twisted aluminum and debris to cushion his fall. Devon struggled desperately for purchase and flung his foot up over the edge in an attempt to climb back onto the wing.
In the process, he kicked one of the slats free of its housing. It clattered to the ground. Metal ground against metal and the smaller plane shifted farther away from the tail that held it in place. Devon’s body bounced up off the wing and came back down, hard. The crowbar dangling from his belt pierced the back of his thigh. He took the beating and held on tight.
“I’m…o-k-kay!” He managed as he finally heaved himself up onto the wing.
“Jesus, Dev,” Tessa gasped, pressing her hand to her heart.
Devon waved his okay and then turned his back on us. He left a trail of blood as he cautiously crept up the wing. I could smell the coppery tang of it from where I stood, so I wasn’t surprised when the frenzy inside the plane ignited into a full on riot.
“They can smell the blood. He’s setting them off,” I groaned covering my nose and stifling a gag.
Zander turned to me, his eyes narrowed in confusion. The plane shook violently as the creatures flung themselves at the walls. Sparks flew as the charter plane ground against the tail of the 747.
“Get them out of there, now!” Zander roared, clutching his double-ended blade.
Devon nodded, pulling the bloody crowbar from his belt. He wedged the beveled edge into the gap around the cargo bay, took a deep breath, and leaned into it. He grunted and groaned. He pressed with all his might against the fulcrum of the lever. The door creaked and groaned in its frame, but it didn’t budge. Devon stood, breathing hard, the pry bar still jutting from the span gap. He threw his hands up in frustration.
“I think you’re on the hinge side,” Zander shouted up at him. “Try switching it.”
Another thumbs up.
It took some effort to extricate the pry bar from where he’d wedged it, but soon enough Devon had it in place on the opposite side of the hatch. He gave it a quick push to test the resistance, then turned to us and nodded resolutely.
“G-g-get r-ready,” he spat as he threw himself against the iron bar. The hatch popped free with Devon swinging from the top of it.
It made sense that their alpha would be the first. His jet-black eyes locked on mine the moment he clamored free of the hold.
Something exploded inside of me, flooding my body with adrenaline. Crackles of white-hot electricity shot from my center to my fingers and toes. The ache in my chest was gone. The raging migraine I’d been lugging around for the last few days evaporated. I no longer felt the pain in my ribs. I felt nothing but sheer, unadulterated fury.
Hunger.
The alpha bared his teeth at me and growled. He pounded the metal surface with his fists and gnashed his putrid teeth together. One by one, the rest of the starving leeches struggled through the cargo door and scrambled out onto the wing at his side. His eyes never left mine. He cocked his head to the side with a sneer and rose up on to his feet. With a high-pitched howl, he unleashed his minions.
They dove to the ground as though the height was mere inches. Their teeth and claws lashed out wildly in all directions. One of them was on Tessa in a matter of seconds. She swung her ax in front of her, slashing it across the chest. It rolled to the side and slammed into the tailpiece while another took its place.
Zander was completely surrounded. The largest of the beasts had focused their attention on him, slashing, and clawing at him from all directions. His blade spun through the air, meeting them strike for strike and spraying the area with their blood.
A smaller leech, presumably a female judging by the shredded pink camisole top it wore, jumped from a pile of debris and sailed through the air in my direction. I spun away, bashing her in the side of the head with the butt of my bat as she flew past me.
She landed on her back and skidded to a halt against a large chunk of debris sticking out from the ground. The jagged edge of the metal impaled her shoulder. It pinned her there. She struggled against it, tearing at her own flesh and bone to get free.
“Stay,” I growled at her, clutching Louie firmly in my hands.
She hissed and snapped her teeth defiantly as two more leeches scrambled toward me. The larger of the two hobbled awkwardly, dragging a broken leg behind him. He was oblivious to the shard of bone protruding from his thigh. The other was small and crafty. It juked and twisted its way through the maze of twisted debris, leaping back and forth with the grace of a cat. His partner stormed straight at me, his tunnel vision blinding him to anything but the pulse beating steadily in my throat.
Both of them looked hungry, anxious to rip flesh from bone. They growled and snapped their jaws in tandem. My attention shot from one to the other, unsure of which would strike first.
“T-tessa!” Devon shouted, still dangling from the plane’s hatch.
He kicked his feet out, toeing the edge of the wing as he scrambled for purchase. The alpha was still perched at the end of it. He spun on Devon and stalked toward him. His teeth ground together.
“Gah!” Tessa shrieked.
One of the beasts had her pinned. Zander rushed to her aid, burying the end of his blade in the creature’s skull, its jaw locking shut mere inches from Tessa’s neck. She nodded her thanks, turning away from the onslaught in time to narrowly dodge another. Tessa dropped to a crouch and thrust her ax up into the thing’s belly as it leaped toward her. A surge of black muck rained down, covering Tessa’s face and soaking her hair. Her glasses clattered to the ground.
“Help…Devon,” she shouted pointing up at the plane as she spat the murky guts out onto the ground.
“Behind you!” Zander shouted at me as he tossed a mass of black flesh to the ground.
He crushed its head beneath his boot, raised the Ruger, and pulled the trigger, leveling my would-be attackers in a hail of gunfire. The diversion had served its purpose, allowing the real threat to flank me and move in for the kill.
The world around me slowed to a near halt. I felt the creature’s presence pressing in the air around me. I spun on my heel, blade hungry and eyes wild, burying Louie in the side of the beast’s head. Its claws raked across my face as it flew past me and landed at the feet of the female.
She didn’t see it. Her eyes were glued to her master. The beast dangled Devon over the wing of the plane, his hand clutched around the boy’s throat. The alpha roared, she turned to me, and her lips peeled back in a vengeful sneer.
With a final lunge, she tore herself free leaving her arm behind as a trophy for her efforts. Dazed but undaunted, she struggled to her feet and rushed me again, fueled by a single-minded determination to feed. Despite critical injury, the beast was incredibly fast.
I was faster.
Her body landed in a bloody heap at my feet. Her head, who knows where? After that, it was all just a blur of blood and blade. A trail of scorched bodies and severed flesh marked my path through the wreckage.
The alpha was mine.
* * *
My body hummed and shook like a live wire. My shoulders heaved as I struggled to catch my breath. Zander’s lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear anything over the sound of my own heartbeat. His blood-soaked hands bracketed my face, his eyes dark with worry as he desperately searched my face. He shook his head and pulled a piece of murky flesh from my hair. Tessa watched me through narrowed eyes as she wiped a slag of leech blood from her face. Devon sat hunched on a tattered suitcase, rubbing at the purple bruises for
ming around his throat.
“Talk to me, Liv,” Zander’s muffled voice finally broke through the pulsing hum in my head.
“I-is she all r-r-right?” Devon rose to his feet and tentatively made his way over. “L-liv, I’m s-sorry I hit—”
“Liv, what the hell was that?” Tessa cut him off, gesturing toward the plane.
Sludge and murky entrails dripped from the wing of the plane onto the ground below. There were dead leeches and severed body parts everywhere. I was covered in red-black blood from the end of my blade to my elbows. The alpha, or what was left of him, lay bludgeoned in a puddle at my feet. The last thing I remember was the female coming at me.
“I…I don’t know.” My stomach lurched. There was a chunk of bone lodged between the teeth of my blade. I picked at it with the toe of my boot, determined to set it free.
“You don’t know?” Tessa narrowed her eyes at me.
“Just give her a minute, Tessa,” Zander said, shooting her a look.
“I’m not sure a minute is gonna cut it, boyfriend,” Tessa said locking her fingers behind her head.
“Back off, Tessa,” Zander said, his jaw clenching as he wiped the blood from my bottom lip. “You’re alright Liv. I’ve got you.”
“I’m pretty sure she doesn’t need your protection,” Tessa scoffed at him. “If anything, she is—”
“Don’t,” Zander growled at her.
“Zander?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Tell her,” Tessa wheeled on him.
“Tessa, please,” Zander said his eyes pleading. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Tell me what?” I asked. “What’s not a big deal?”
“It’s nothing, Liv.” He turned away and glared at Tessa as he bent down to pick his weapon up from the ground.
“This was not nothing.” Tessa lunged at him tugging the bottom of Zander’s grimy t-shirt up over his head. Two deep gashes formed a bloody X across his shoulders. He looked like a fallen angel, stripped of his wings.
“Tessa!” Zander spun away, tugging his T-shirt back down. His eyes shot to mine, desperate, pleading. “Liv, it’s okay. You didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”
“You attacked him,” Tessa said, her jaw set.
“No.” My stomach dropped to my feet. “I wouldn’t.”
“But, you did,” Tessa said, stepping toward me.
“It’s not her fault, Tessa,” Zander said then turned back to me. “She wasn’t in control.”
“That doesn’t make her less dangerous, does it?” Tessa snapped.
“I don’t blame you, Liv. You have to know that.” Zander’s face tightened. “You didn’t know what you were doing.”
“Oh, god,” I gasped, the weight of it suddenly crushing my chest. “I can’t…I don’t remember.”
“Your eyes,” Tessa’s face looked haunted. Her gaze drifted over the bodies scattered around us. “They went dark, black as night, and it was like something else took over.”
“No.” I backed away.
“Zander tried to pull you off of that…thing,” Tessa pointed to the pile of gore at my feet, “and you turned on him. You would have killed him if Devon hadn’t knocked you over the head.”
“This can’t be happening,” I back pedaled, desperate to get away from them. “I have to go. I can’t be here.”
“Liv, please,” Zander reached out to me. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!” I shouted, shoving at him. “You’re telling me I went completely ballistic, tore through a pack of monsters twice my size, shredded their leader like kindling in a chipper, and then I attacked you. And I don’t remember any of it. I could have killed you, Zander.”
“Liv, don’t.” Zander looked pained.
“Nothing about this is okay.” I turned my back on him.
Chapter 34
Sleeper
Bang, bang, kick…Bang, bang, kick.
“It’s them!” Jake’s panicked face appeared in the small window of the emergency door. “Hurry up. Let them in.”
Locks and barricades clicked and banged. The second the door creaked open, Devon rushed through it and unburdened himself. He passed off the crate of ammunition he’d barely managed to carry back. Zander slid his duffle of guns over his shoulder shielding me from the blood that had already soaked through the back of his shirt.
“Go on ahead.” Tessa handed me her bag of weapons and gave me a nudge through the door. The corners of her mouth quirked but her eyes were tight, and the smile was forced. “I’ll close up here and be right behind you.”
The chaos of our return had drawn a crowd. Keith was there with his trusty clipboard barking orders at people as they relieved us of our pilfered armory. He handed each of us a small bottle of water, then wandered off to direct the munitions inventory. Mason wandered with Caleb in his arms and Bella at his side. I laid Louie across a chair and hid the bloodstained blade as best as I could beneath my pack. It was a futile gesture. My clothes looked just as bad.
“Holy crap, Liv!” Riley dove at me, nearly knocking me off my feet.
“Hey, Ry,” I said, hugging her back while Bella trotted circles around us whimpering for attention. “Good to see you, too.”
“You’ve been gone for hours,” Jake said over Riley’s shoulder. “We thought something had happened to you. I’ve never been so worried in my life, and that’s saying something considering the week we’ve had.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“He’s right, Liv. It was horrible. Things got really—” Riley stopped short and held me at arm’s length scrunching up her nose. “Eww. Liv, you smell like lighter fluid and rotten meat. What happened to you out there? You are covered in blood and…what is that? Are you hurt? Collin!”
“Calm down, Ry. I’m okay, really. Most of it’s not even my blood,” I said my eyes drifting to the crimson stains on Zander’s back.
“You guys look like a crime scene,” Jake said narrowing his eyes at me. “What happened?”
“Collin,” Riley yelled across the carousel. “Someone, please go and get the doctor.”
“I’m fine, really, but Zander and Devon could use a checkup,” I said doing my best to still her worried hands. “What about Ty and Ballard?”
“They haven’t come back yet,” Jake lowered his eyes to the floor worrying at his bottom lip. “Listen, Liv, something happened while you were gone. Something bad.”
“I feel like maybe that’s an understatement,” came a familiar voice from the back of the crowd. The people immediately parted, and Falisha limped forward. Her hands were shaking, and she was covered in blood.
“No, no, no!” Tessa howled. She brushed past me taking off at a dead run. “Megan, no!”
“Tessa, wait,” I yelled, but she was already gone.
I took off after her and caught up to Tessa quickly. I gave her some distance but kept pace as she wound her way through the carousel. Rhiannon peeked up at us from behind the food counter as we rushed past, concern etched across her tired face. Tessa raged on with no regard for anything standing between her and her kin. People yelled and moved from her path with terror in their eyes, afraid she was running from something rather than toward it.
When we reached the edge of the infirmary, Tessa stopped short. She clapped her hands over her mouth. Eli and Collin were hunched over Megan’s makeshift cot, spreading a bloody sheet out. Like Falisha, the two of them were covered head to toe in blood and muck. Two small feet dangled from the end of the bed. Crimson dripped onto the floor.
“No! Please, no,” Tessa sobbed burying her face in her hands. “Oh, God.”
“Tessa?” Collin shot to his feet. He ran to Tessa and lifted her into his embrace. Tears rolled down his face and into the creases around his mouth. “Tessa, it’s okay. Shhh.”
“It’s not okay, Collin,” Tessa cried, pounding her fists against him. “How can it be? My Megan is…I can’t.”
“Gran?” A gravelly voice echoed from behind us. �
��Gran, is that you?”
Tessa froze and slowly turned around. Tamsen was there, helping a girl in tattered jeans, low-rise boots, and a ratty, black skull t-shirt as she hobbled toward us. “Megs?”
“Hey.” The girl waved awkwardly, a wad of pink fabric clutched in her hand.
“Megan!” Tessa ran past me, tore her granddaughter from Tamsen’s grasp, and wrapped the girl tightly in a hug. “Oh, sweet girl. I thought I’d lost you. Oh, Megs.”
“Easy, Gran,” Megan croaked, her chin pressed into her grandmother’s shoulder. “I’m okay.”
“She woke up about thirty minutes ago. I tried to convince her to stay in bed, that she needed to rest, but she wasn’t having it.” Collin stood at my side with his arms crossed smiling down at Tessa and Megan. “The stubborn girl tore out her I.V. and demanded I let her change clothes, immediately.”
“Sounds like my girl,” Tessa laughed, tears streaming down her face as she pressed a kiss to Megan’s forehead.
“Yeah, about that.” Megan dropped the pink fabric to the floor at her feet. “Whose brilliant idea was this disgusting kitten nightgown, because seriously?”
“Alright, young lady, that’s enough,” Collin said firmly. The girl’s lips clamped shut, and Tessa smirked her approval. “I held up my end of the bargain, now it’s your turn. The I.V. is going back in, now. Tessa, please get Megan situated over in triage so I can get her hooked back up to some fluids.”
Tessa nodded, led the girl over to the bank of chairs, and lowered her into the first one. Megan closed her eyes and lay her head on her grandmother’s shoulder. Tessa smiled up at me and mouthed, thank you. I nodded, but her gratitude wasn’t sitting right in my stomach.
“You saved her life, you know.” Collin nudged me with his elbow.
“No, Collin. Riley saved her,” I said watching as Tessa fussed over her granddaughter. “If it had been my choice, I would have kept the medicine for one of my own. She would have probably died, or worse.”
“It was your choice, Liv.” Collin put his hand on my shoulder. “There is nothing simple about the decisions we have to make, now. You may have struggled with it, but in the end, you did the right thing. Give yourself some credit, kid.”
Ballistic: Icarus Series, Book Two Page 29