Starving Skulls, Dom thought.
He wondered whether that meant it was weaker than the others—or if it would fight even more desperately at a chance to sink its teeth into fresh meat. A low growl escaped its lips.
Dom waited for it to get close. He coiled all his strength into his muscles and sprang. He clamped one gloved hand over the creature’s mouth to prevent it from crying out. With his other hand, he slit the Skull’s throat. Warm blood oozed over his forearm as he dragged the dying monster to the floor. It fought against his grip, but it was already dying. Its limbs soon went still, and Dom let go. He motioned for the others to move.
Something above him caught his eye. Movement, not from his team. He swiveled his gun barrel up to a corner of the ceiling. Something about it triggered the alarms in his head. Then he realized it was door, a panel like one that might lead to an attic. He didn’t have time to ponder why it was opening or who was behind it when someone began shooting.
Dom dove to the side. Adrenaline churned through his blood vessels, and a sharp pain stabbed into his leg. He couldn’t tell if he’d been shot or not. He rolled into a crouch and aimed his rifle at the hideaway but didn’t fire. Meredith and Andris readied their weapons, but Dom signaled for them to hold their fire, too.
“We’re not here to hurt you!” he shouted. Dom guessed that whoever was holed up in the attic had survived the attack downstairs, and to them his team probably looked like more raiders. Dom maneuvered just beyond their line of sight. “Please, we’re friends!”
“We saw what you people did to Gary,” a deep voice replied.
“I promise you, that wasn’t us!” He started to feel guilty for stealing all their ammo. Then gunfire kicked up broken glass and floor tiles near his position. Maybe he didn’t feel as guilty as he’d thought. “We can help you!”
Meredith furrowed her brow and raised her shoulders as if to ask, Really?
A few Skulls were howling outside the shop. If they hadn’t been attracted by the explosion downstairs, the gunfire would certainly do the trick. They needed to move. And quick. But running to the exit would mean getting shot in the back.
“Get out of here now and leave everything you stole!” the man’s voice called.
Dom glanced between Meredith and Andris. He couldn’t condemn these people to die. But he also knew his crew needed ammunition.
“We shoot them and get it over with,” Andris said with a shrug. “They shot you.”
“They thought we were the raiders,” Dom said. “They didn’t try to murder us in cold blood.”
“We kind of are raiders,” Meredith said. “We just didn’t know we were taking this stuff from living people.”
Dom adjusted his pack, heavy with ammunition. “Exactly.” He started to shift it from his shoulders.
The Skulls outside shrieked. The click of claws on the street and rattle of bones grew louder. Another creature wandered through the doorway. Dom shrank back behind the counter. The Skull’s bony feet tapped on the floor as it crunched over glass and empty shells. Slowly, Dom took out his knife. The blade reflected the wan moonlight filtering in through the shop’s window. He maneuvered the knife slightly to use it as mirror. In the reflection, he watched the Skull move. It seemed to be in a trance. Its neck twisted left then right. The silhouettes of other Skulls passed across the doorway and the windows.
Dom prayed the people in the attic wouldn’t decide to play Rambo on the Skulls now. Another echoing gunshot might attract the packs of monsters swarming the street. Surely that man hadn’t survived the Oni Agent outbreak so long by being foolish.
The Skull lingered, continuing its lazy, half-interested prowl for food. It started to close in on Dom’s position. There was no doubt in his mind they’d soon have to make a run for it.
Andris held up a bag of ammunition and gave Dom a questioning look: Take it or leave it?
He had mere seconds to contemplate a choice that would likely haunt him for the rest of his life. Whoever was holed up here might be protecting his family. Maybe multiple families. On the other hand, leaving precious ammo behind would mean less firepower for the Hunters. Failing in their mission could mean a loss far more devastating than whoever was hiding in the attic.
“Andris, leave your bag,” Dom whispered, deciding on a compromise. “Meredith and I will bring ours.”
The Hunter gave him a dubious look, but there was no more time for debate. A second Skull had appeared in the doorway. A third soon joined it. The first Skull moved closer. One more step and it would have a full view of the crouching Hunters. Dom pressed himself against the counter, hoping the creature would decide to turn around and leave them alone. A long, wet drip of saliva fell from the Skull’s jaws and landed on Dom’s shoulder. He ignored it, but the splattering noise made the Skull look down.
Dom lunged up before the thing could scream and stabbed the monster through its throat. He used one gloved hand to muffle the gurgling death rattle coming from its dry, scaly lips. But that slight noise was enough to attract the other two Skulls near the entrance. They let out ear-shattering howls.
“Run!” Dom yelled.
Gunfire cracked out from the attic door. Bullets lanced into one of the Skulls, dropping it. The surviving Skull charged Meredith. More frantic gunfire sprayed from above. The rounds merely pocked and fractured the Skull’s organic armor. It carried forward until Meredith brought up her rifle and blasted the Skull’s face away. Andris dumped out his pack of ammunition, but Meredith and Dom kept theirs. They started to run for the entrance, but the man in the attic cut off their path with a few well-chosen shots.
“All of it,” the man ordered.
Dom held the Skull he’d killed with his knife like a shield. “Move it, Hunters!”
Bullets slammed into the dead Skull as Dom used it to block the shots from the attic. Each impact sent shudders through his arm. The Skull weighed more than twice a normal human, and Dom was already tired. The force of the gunshots and the Skull’s bulky weight made the task difficult, but Dom protected Meredith and Andris until the trio had made it to the doorway. Andris and Meredith slipped outside under a flurry of gunfire. Dom dropped the Skull and sprinted after them. Bullets whooshed past him, smashing into the street.
“Screw you!” the voice from the gun store attic cried as Dom slammed the store’s door shut.
Pain still coursed through Dom’s thigh. He could feel the wet blood from the grazing gunshot or glass or whatever had wounded him earlier. But that twinge of pain was nothing compared to the dread overwhelming him now. A Skull in a long, tattered dress stared at them from the middle of the street. Its bloodshot eyes gleamed with an unrestrained fury as it drew back its emaciated arms. It let out a rattling growl. Near it, another Skull with enormous spikes poking from its spine crouched on all fours atop a charred sports car. Its head tilted, its eyes narrowed, and it coiled, preparing to attack. A third Skull lowered its horn-rimmed head like a rhino ready to charge, and a fourth climbed from a fire escape ladder, its limbs coursing with gray sinew beneath its bone plates. More and more of the hungry beasts turned their heads toward the Hunters in eerie silence. The Skull wearing the dress was the first to break the quiet. She screamed a high-pitched shriek until all the others were howling, too.
As Dom squeezed the trigger of his rifle, he had to appreciate the bitter irony. They were going to need every round of the ammo they’d stolen to make it out of here alive.
-11-
Navid wiped the flecks of dried Skull blood off his arm using a towel emblazoned with a cartoon version of George Washington. He couldn’t help but wonder what the nation’s first president would think of his country today, her citizens transformed into ruthless monsters. After cleaning himself off, he joined the others around the gift shop counter. Pieces of the radio Adam had been working on lay neglected next to the register. He pushed aside the parts and dragged a bag onto the counter.
“I don’t want anyone running off on their own again,” Adam s
aid, rummaging through the pack.
“I won’t. I promise,” Sadie replied. “It’s just that we haven’t seen any Skulls here, and I wanted to—”
“It doesn’t matter why,” Kara said. She was tending to Maggie’s injuries. “We know it’s not safe now.”
“Right,” Adam said. He removed three plastic vials from the pack.
“What are those?” Navid asked.
“Doses of the chelation treatment,” Adam said. “Lauren only had a few prepped. I have enough here for three people. That’s it.”
Kara scratched between Maggie’s ears and kissed the dog. It seemed to Navid that she already understood where Adam was going with this. Navid did, too, and the decision ahead of them made his stomach twist into a painful knot.
“So we can give Maggie a shot?” Sadie asked. “To make sure she doesn’t change?”
Adam chewed his bottom lip for a second and then stared hard at Sadie. “That dog is part of the crew. Some of us even owe our lives to her, and, by God, she’s been a blessing.”
“Then what’s there to talk about?” Sadie said, her face already turning red. “Give Maggie the medicine.”
“I love Maggie as much as you do.” Kara rested her palm on Maggie’s side as she spoke. She looked at Adam, then Sadie. “But we don’t have enough doses for all of us as it is.”
“We can’t just let her die!” Sadie said. “Besides, none of us have been scratched. We don’t need the shots!”
Navid didn’t want to get between the two sisters. Sympathy for them and the dog weighed heavy on his mind. Hell, the dog had helped save his life back in the museum. She was loyal and selflessly protective. They might not be able to afford to lose this fifth member of their little group.
“Sadie,” Adam said in a soothing voice, “you have to realize one of us could be scratched later. Your dad and the other Hunters in the field only have a limited supply, too. What if people become infected on our way back to the Huntress?”
“Plus, we don’t know how long that’ll take or how many Skulls we’ll deal with in the meantime,” Kara added.
Sadie glared at them all and flung her arms around Maggie’s neck. “I won’t let you do it.”
“Sadie—”
Navid put out a hand, holding Kara back. He understood better than any of them the need to say goodbye. If animals really could turn, Navid hated the idea of watching Maggie morph into a Skull. He’d gone through that with Abby, and if he’d had it to do all over again, he would have put her out of her misery when she was first infected.
“It’s your call, Kara,” Adam said.
“No,” Kara said. “We’re a team. I want to know what you two think before we make a decision that could impact all of us. Besides, the Oni Agent might not even affect her. I mean, how many dogs or animals have we seen turned into Skulls?”
“Can’t say I’ve seen any,” Adam said. “But then again, I haven’t really been looking. I figured most pets were, you know, eaten by their owners before a change could take place.”
“God,” Navid said. “That’s awful.”
Kara turned to Navid. “You studied neuroscience and biology, right?”
“Almost had my PhD before everything went south.”
“Better than me,” Kara said. “Hardly even started college. I want your scientific opinion. I don’t think I’ve seen animals with all the bony growths of Skulls, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. Do you think the disease is transmittable between humans and animals?”
Navid looked at Maggie and Sadie as he contemplated his answer for several long seconds. He considered everything he’d learned about the Skulls and the Oni Agent. All the scientific data the Hunters had shared. His past coursework and research. “I’m just hypothesizing here, so take everything with a grain of salt.”
“Of course,” Adam said.
“The Oni Agent is comprised of two components. The nanobacteria cause the overgrowth of bone, but it also triggers the production of prions. Given that this thing was engineered, rather than naturally occurring, I’d guess that it was designed specifically to work on humans. It makes sense if this was supposed to be a biological agent that turns people into weapons.”
“I think I followed that,” Kara said. “So you don’t think the nanobacteria could survive a dog’s immune system?”
Navid shrugged. “Truth is, I don’t know. And we won’t know for sure until it’s too late. I have a hunch that the nanobacteria would be eliminated from the dog’s system eventually. But even if that happens, the damage might’ve already been done.”
“What do you mean?” Kara asked.
“The prions,” Navid said. “If the nanobacteria have enough time to support prion production, there’s nothing we can do to stop them from taking root in the dog’s brain.”
“The prions are similar to Mad Cow Disease, right?” Kara asked. “That can be passed from cows to humans, so there’s a chance we could pass the Oni Agent to dogs.”
“Yeah, there’s a chance,” Navid said.
“I just want to get this straight,” Adam said, putting aside his jumble of electronics. “Even if Maggie doesn’t show outward symptoms of the Oni Agent, she could still be affected by it?”
“Right,” Navid said. “Kind of like those men on the ship, Ivan and Scott. They were cleared of the nanobacteria, but they didn’t get the treatment in time to stop the nanobacteria from producing prions.”
“So we either wait a few days and hope for the best, or we give her the treatment now,” Kara summed it up.
“I vote we treat the dog,” Adam said. “Maybe it’s foolish, but she’s been a valuable asset to our team.”
“As much as I don’t like saying this...” Kara’s bottom lip trembled until she steeled herself. “I disagree. I vote we wait and see. I don’t want to waste the treatment on her if someone else, a person, needs it.”
They both looked to Navid. He hated being the tiebreaker. His mind replayed the terrible moments as he watched the Oni Agent take Abby from him. Maybe Maggie wasn’t a person, but he couldn’t bear to put Sadie through even a fraction of the pain he’d experienced. “I say we do it. We treat her.”
Kara eyed him skeptically. ”Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Navid said without hesitation.
“Fine. Let’s do it.” Kara turned to Sadie. “Bring Maggie over, please.”
Sadie, who had obviously been listening to every word of their debate, threw her arms around Kara. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She kissed Maggie on the head. “You’re going to be fine, girl!”
The golden retriever’s tail beat the air and knocked a snow globe off a nearby table. She let out a joyful bark, apparently just happy to be a part of whatever it was that Sadie was celebrating.
Adam took out a prepackaged syringe and loaded it with a dose of the chelation treatment. Kara and Sadie held the dog while he administered the shot. Maggie’s ears perked and her eyes widened slightly when the needle slid through her skin, but otherwise she seemed calm. Navid hoped it worked and Maggie would remain her cheerful self. But even more so, he hoped they would have a chance to develop the potential cure Kara had discovered with the FoldIt software. The molecule she’d manipulated might have the ability to prevent prions from beginning to damage brain tissue. If it worked, then they’d never have to make a choice like this again.
“Something on your mind?” Kara asked, moving to stand beside him.
Sadie stayed near the dog, speaking to her in soothing tones, while Adam went back to his tinkering. Before he could answer, the distinct crack of gunfire cut him off. At once, the four humans and Maggie froze. A Skull shrieked. More gunfire quickly quieted it.
“That’s not the Hunters,” Adam said. “They aren’t supposed to be here yet.”
There was another chorus of howling Skulls. Navid guessed there were dozens out there somewhere, likely just beyond the estate. He looked at Maggie, then Sadie, then Kara. Four of them, two doses of chela
tion treatment. Navid hoped to God he hadn’t made the wrong decision.
***
Dom didn’t take the time to watch the Skull in the dress drop. He moved on to the next with rapid precision. Meredith and Andris fired in concert. The Skull on the sports car was knocked backward by the salvo. The creature hanging off the fire escape fell to the sidewalk.
Three down, but how many more to go?
Another beast careened from a city bus and ran straight at Dom. He lined his rifle up with the center of its mass. Bullets slammed into the Skull’s overgrown ribcage, forming small craters, but the Skull continued. Blood trickled from one of the wounds as Dom’s gunfire traveled up the creature’s body. A couple of shots square into the monster’s face ended its life. It slumped forward and slid across the asphalt until it jolted against a police car.
The sounds of more Skulls screaming and running blasted from both ends of the street. Their echoing voices muddled together, making it difficult to track how many were headed in their direction. Regardless, it wouldn’t be long before they were overwhelmed.
“In here!” he yelled, pointing to a pizza shop. He leapt over a Skull corpse as he rushed across the street. With a vault, he sailed through the broken window of the restaurant and landed in a corner booth. Meredith and Andris jumped through a moment later.
“Stay low,” Dom whispered. Outside, he could hear claws punching through the hoods and roofs of vehicles and dragging through the rubble-strewn street. He army-crawled across the floor, pushing aside broken dishes and torn tablecloths. A pile of bones rested over a fallen pizza pan. He avoided it, not daring to make any more noise than necessary. Rising to his knees, he opened a door to a kitchen flooded with brown water.
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