"May you have ease of being."
And the monster calmed. It knelt before them. It placed its chin in the dust. Its head was the size of a car, bloated, pale, and warty. The teeth thrust up from the underbite like spears. The cranium bulged, and the black eyes dampened. There was such pain in those eyes.
Marco stroked the creature.
"I know they hurt you," he whispered. "May you be safe and free from suffering."
Addy had tears in her eyes. "May you know peace," she whispered, patting the beast.
"May you have ease of being," Marco and she said together.
The creature gurgled and purred. Nearby, Marco saw Addy's sword. He could make a break for it, grab it, stab the beast in the eye.
He let it be.
I never wanted to become a soldier. I never wanted to kill. Yet I've become very good at it. Let this be a time for mercy. For freedom from suffering.
The giant beast lay down, whimpering as Marco and Addy patted it. It wept.
"Maybe for the first time in its life, somebody is showing it kindness," Marco said softly, stroking the animal.
Yet the crowd seemed less compassionate. Grays began hurling stones into the arena, hitting the Tarasque. The audience cried in fury, deprived of its show. The Tarasque reared, roaring in pain as the stones landed. Several trainers—grays in armor—raced into the arena. They lashed electrical whips. The crackling thongs were like flexible lightning. When they hit the beast, it roared. Perhaps the sword and hammer had failed to hurt the animal, but the electric whips tore its skin. Blood spilled.
The gray trainers shouted, pointing at Marco and Addy.
Marco could not understand their words. He didn't have to, no more than the animal had needed to understand English.
"Slay the humans!" the grays were saying. "Feed upon them, beast!"
They whipped the Tarasque again. Bellowing, it turned back toward Marco and Addy.
Marco stared into its eyes.
"May you be free of suffering," he whispered. "May you have ease of being."
Shouting, the grays raised their whips again. They pointed at Marco and Addy.
"Feed upon them, beast!"
The whips tore into the Tarasque.
And it roared.
And it wept.
And it charged forth and closed its jaws around the grays, crushing them between its mighty teeth.
The audience cried in terror. A few grays drew guns and fired, hitting the monster. Guards raced into the arena, firing rifles, hitting the beast with electric bolts. The Tarasque's flesh tore. It bled. It cried in agony.
And it charged.
It trampled over the gray soldiers. Bleeding, hit by round after round, it leaped onto the tiers of seats. It charged through the audience, biting, clawing, lashing its tail. Seats crumbled around it. Cracks raced across the arena. Supporting pillars fell. The entire theater was falling apart, and still the beast charged through the audience, tearing into grays, suffering blow after blow and still fighting. Perhaps for the first time in its life, it was free.
Marco ran toward a dead guard and grabbed the gray's electrical rifle. Addy grabbed a rifle from another corpse.
They ran toward the arena gateway. Guards blocked their way. Marco and Addy fired their guns, taking the grays down. The dead guards had metal spheres attached to their belts, topped with buttons, perhaps grenades. Marco grabbed two and tossed one to Addy. They ran out of the arena, firing their guns, taking down more grays.
As they burst out onto the street, the amphitheater shattered.
The Tarasque burst out through the wall, scattering bricks, and stood on the street, roaring, coated with blood and dust.
Chaos erupted across the city.
Gray soldiers ran toward the rampaging beast, firing their guns. The Tarasque howled and charged, trampling them, crashing into buildings. Mechanical horses raced toward the creature, pulling chariots filled with grays. The monster, bleeding, snatched chariots in its jaws and scattered them like toys. Chariots slammed into buildings. Towers crumbled, and dust flew across the city. Thousands of soldiers ran toward the mad beast, firing their guns. Saucers came to hover overhead.
"Come on, Poet!" Addy shouted, grabbing his hand. "Now! On that chariot!"
They reached toward an overturned chariot. They fired their guns, slaying the grays within, and shoved the chariot back upright. They leaped inside. A control panel operated the four mechanical horses attached to the chariot. Marco shoved down on the throttle, and the robotic horses burst into a gallop.
They stormed down the street, moving through the clouds of dust. Scythes were attached to the chariot wheels, spinning madly. Grays leaped off the road. Some were too slow; the blades tore them apart. Behind the chariot, the saucers were firing. Marco glanced over his shoulder to see the laser blasts hit the Tarasque. The monster wailed and fell.
More blasts hit the mighty beast. Its head hit the ground. Its eyes closed.
Goodbye, friend, Marco thought. May your pain now end.
He looked back forward.
The pyramid soared ahead from the dust.
They charged toward it. Their horses' metal hooves thundered. Their chariot clattered. All around them, the dust flew and the city trembled.
A phalanx of grays emerged to block the road ahead, raising riot shields.
A cannon was mounted onto the chariot. Marco pulled the trigger. Red crackling shells flew out, tearing into the grays ahead, shattering their shields. Addy fired her rifle, cutting through more grays.
"Hold on!" Addy shouted.
The chariot plowed through the phalanx of grays.
Shields cracked and flew in shards.
The scythes ripped soldiers apart.
The wheels snapped bones beneath them.
The chariot kept charging onward, moving so fast the buildings blurred at their sides.
Golgoloth, the black pyramid, rose ahead. According to the grays who had taken Tomiko away, Nefitis herself was leading the assault on Green Earth. That was one less problem to deal with here. The pyramid's guardians, however, flanked the avenue, two mummies the size of towers, forming an archway with their arms.
The colossal monstrosities turned toward the chariot. Their hands were fused together, flesh molded with flesh; they could not break the archway they formed. Their tattered shrouds hung loose, revealing dry, rancid flesh. Their eyes burned deep umber like cauldrons of melted skin.
"Stand back, children of men!" the guardians rumbled, their voices echoing across the city. "This place is holy ground."
"Well, call me a sinner," Addy said and lobbed a grenade.
Marco tossed his own grenade, then fired the chariot's cannon.
Explosions rocked the mummies. The shrouds burst into flame. The fire spread, raging up the towering guardians. The creatures screamed. Marco and Addy, still charging forth in their chariot, fired their guns, ripping into the burning flesh.
In the inferno, the conjoined twins ripped apart. Blood rained. The two burning mummies shuffled toward the chariots. They reached down flaming fingers. Marco fired the cannon, knocking them back. Addy tugged the controls, and the chariot veered violently, nearly overturning, and charged between the legs of one mummy.
They had done it.
They reached the pyramid.
Behind them, hundreds of grays were running and firing their guns.
"Hold on tight, Poet!" Addy said, shoving down the throttle.
The horses leaped onto a staircase that stretched up the pyramid's facade. They raced up the pyramid, jostling madly. Explosions rocked the stones around them. One blast hit the chariot, nearly shattering it. Another blast took out a horse. The three remaining mechanical horses kept charging.
They reached a platform that thrust out from the pyramid like a tongue. A throne rose here, but it was empty. Nefitis, goddess of this city, was attacking Green Earth. Several of her priests stood here by an altar, feasting upon headless babies. Addy and Marco fired, teari
ng through the wretched monks. The creatures cackled as they died.
Marco hit the brakes. The horses reared to a halt atop the pyramid, knocking over Nefitis's throne. It fell with a clang and cracked. Behind the throne loomed a dark archway, leading into the pyramid.
Marco spun back toward the city.
Thousands of grays stood below the pyramid. Hundreds of chariots gathered among them. The creatures stared up, still, silent. The mummies had fallen. Those gargantuan guardians were burning lifelessly across the streets.
"Why aren't they chasing us anymore?" Addy whispered.
"The pyramid is holy," Marco said. "They can't."
She scoffed. "Morons."
"Or maybe they are wise," Marco said softly. "Maybe they fear the horror within Golgoloth."
A chill seemed to emanate from the pyramid. Marco and Addy turned to face the archway. They could see nothing but darkness within. Perhaps it was just the wind, but Marco thought he could hear a deep grumble, a laughter from the shadows.
"He's in there," Marco said softly. "The Oracle. The Time Seer."
"Tic-Tac-Toe." Addy nodded. "Let's go kick him right in the tacs. Ready?"
Marco nodded. "Ready."
Addy took a step toward the archway, then paused. She grabbed Marco's head with both hands and kissed him hard on the lips.
"It's almost over, Poet," she whispered. "I love you."
"I love you too." He clasped her hand. "Let's get this over with and go home."
Hand in hand, they stepped through the archway, entering the shadows.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Petty stood in the bunker beneath Jerusalem, turning from monitor to monitor, watching the world fall.
His generals worked around him in a frenzy, barking orders into communicators, sending troops and fleets across the world. From here, this hub beneath the ruins, they commanded Earth's armies. Monitors hung across the war room, showing San Francisco, London, Beijing, Paris, the alpha cities of the world.
And Petty watched them fall.
The saucers fired their lasers, destroying the Golden Gate Bridge, the Petronas Towers, the Taj Mahal. Armies of grays, millions of them, swarmed across the planet, overwhelming the human forces. More portals were opening up around Earth. More saucers were emerging. The last of humanity's warships fell. Millions of human soldiers were fighting around the globe, yet they could not hold back the tide.
We cannot win, Petty realized, standing in the bunker. Marco and Addy failed. Earth will fall.
A boom shook the bunker. Dust flew and monitors rattled. The grays were pounding Jerusalem above. The grays were unleashing their largest force against Jerusalem.
They know I'm here, he thought.
More blasts shook the city. The bunker rattled. Monitors cracked. Bomb after bomb hit the ruins, digging into the ground. The bunker was deep, but it would not withstand this assault forever.
"The Pacific Rim has fallen!" a general shouted.
"Grays are swarming over the South American Central Command!"
"The fleet is gone, sir! I repeat, the fleet is gone!"
And thus the world falls, Petty thought. Not fighting an alien. Fighting ourselves.
A shadow covered several monitors. Petty looked and saw a massive saucer, nearly as large as the entire city, lower itself to hover over Jerusalem. Golden glyphs were engraved upon its black hull. He had taught himself to read their language.
Claw of Nefitis.
The grays' flagship.
Petty walked across the control room, approaching the exit.
"Mister President?" a general called after him.
"The Command Center is yours," Petty told him.
"Mister President, where are you going?"
He left the room.
"To go down fighting," he muttered.
A blast shook the bunker. Bricks fell. A tunnel cracked and dust rained. Petty stopped by an armory. He removed his suit, this shell that had trapped him for too long. He pulled on battle fatigues. He grabbed a rifle and helmet. He climbed a trembling, crackling shaft and emerged into the ruins.
A gray leaped at him.
Petty fired his gun, and the creature fell, head blasted open.
Petty climbed onto a pile of rubble and gazed around.
He stood on the hilltop, on hallowed ground, this ancient center of the Holy Land. It was here that King Solomon had built his temple, that Jesus had been crucified, that so many religions had risen. It was here, perhaps, that Earth would now fall.
Barely anything remained of Jerusalem now. Nearly all the last buildings, some of them thousands of years old, had fallen. The battle raged across the rubble. Tanks plowed paths between piles of bricks, cannons blasting. Artillery boomed on the hilltops. Fighter jets blazed across the sky, firing missiles. Thousands of infantry warriors were running, firing their rifles. Explosions rocked the ruins. The smell of gunpowder and blood and dust filled the air.
But humanity's might drowned under the assault. The grays were everywhere. They covered the city. They fought from hills and valleys. Their landing vessels kept touching down, spilling out more troops. Their saucers kept circling the city, firing lasers, burning human platoons.
The largest saucer hovered above, its shadow covering the ruins. The Claw of Nefitis.
A hatch opened in the mothership. Red light emerged. A beam extended down to the city, illuminating the sand only a few meters away from Petty.
A creature descended in the beam of light, coming to land beside him.
She was a gray but taller than the others, maybe twice Petty's height. She was rail thin, her limbs knobby, her ribs prominent, her naked breasts dripping bloody milk. Her skin was the color of old concrete, wrinkly and liver-spotted. The face was small and pinched, the lips thin, but the cranium was bloated. Jagged iron spikes had been hammered into that head, blood dripping from the nails, forming a rusty crown. The creature unfurled her claws and turned toward Petty. Her eyes, pitiless black ovals, met his. Her lipless mouth opened in a snarl, revealing teeth like infected needles.
"Petty," she hissed. "King of Apes."
Petty knew her. He spat out her name.
"Nefitis."
The goddess leaped toward him, claws extended.
Petty fired his assault rifle on automatic.
His bullets hit the creature's desiccated flesh. They fell to the ground, flattened. An instant later, the goddess slammed into him.
Claws tore into Petty. He fell onto his back, blood spurting. The creature reached down, clutched his throat in her claws, and began to squeeze. She lifted him off the ground. His feet kicked the air.
"Useless maggot." Nefitis leaned her head forward, peering into his eyes. Her tongue emerged to lick her teeth. "This is the king of the apes, the great warrior? How weak is his flesh!"
With her second hand, she thrust her claws.
She pierced his belly.
Petty screamed, dangling in her grip. He fired again. His bullets bounced off her skin. They slammed into Petty, lacerating his chest and arms. He couldn't breathe. Hanging in her claws, he drew a knife. He thrust it, aiming for an eye, but she caught his wrist.
With a grin, she tightened her claws, slicing into his wrist, cutting deeper, snapping the bone, then finally severing his hand.
The hand thumped into the dirt, fingers twitching.
Petty screamed.
"Your world will fall," Nefitis hissed, her breath assailing him. She still held him above the ground by the neck. "The reign of humanity ends. The Sanctified rise."
Petty stared into her eyes, and he saw visions in the black orbs. Humanity enslaved, the men butchered, the women used for breeding. The grays reigning upon Earth. A nightmarish future. All the work of mankind—undone.
"And now, Petty," Nefitis said. "Now you d—"
An explosion burst across her shoulder.
Nefitis screamed.
A projectile flew.
It slammed into her back, and a second explosion rum
bled. Nefitis howled, stumbling several feet forward.
The goddess dropped Petty to the ground. He landed with a thud, bleeding, broken, barely alive. His severed hand lay beside him.
He looked ahead, fading, and saw the woman there, walking up the hillside, emerging from the dust.
"Ben-Ari," Petty whispered.
The major wore her battle fatigues, once more a soldier. A helmet topped her head, and armor covered her body. She held a massive .50-cal railgun, a weapon that could blast a hole through a tank. She cocked it, loading another round.
Nefitis spun toward Ben-Ari, shrieking.
"How dare you disturb my meal?" the goddess shrieked. "I came to feast!"
Ben-Ari smiled thinly.
"Eat lead, bitch."
She fired her railgun.
The blast shook the hill.
Dust and blood showered Petty, and he sank into darkness.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Marco and Addy entered the shadows of Golgoloth, rifles pointed ahead.
A tunnel stretched before them. Candles burned in alcoves, casting dim light. Murals covered the walls, depicting gods devouring men. The light flickered. A cold wind blew through the pyramid. A laughter echoed in the deep.
A shadow stirred.
A monk emerged around the corner, clad in a robe. He led an animal on a leash—a dog with the head of a human girl. When the monk saw them, he froze, oval eyes widening. He reached into his robe for a knife. Addy and Marco opened fire, slaying the monk and his pet. They kept walking, stepping over the corpses.
The tunnel sloped downward, so steep Marco and Addy had to place their hands against the wall for support.
"Add some water, it would make a great slide!" Addy said.
Her words echoed. From deep inside the pyramid, the laughter grew louder. Inhuman laughter. Sinister.
Marco placed a finger on his lips, urging Addy to hush. They hurried onward. The tunnel corkscrewed downward, taking them deep into the pyramid, perhaps deep underground. Marco remembered exploring the hives on Abaddon, plunging deep to find terror. He focused on his breath. He sank into Deep Being. He would not panic. He would do his job.
For Earth. For humanity. For Tomiko and Ben-Ari and Lailani and all his friends back home. He must succeed.
Earth Eternal (Earthrise Book 9) Page 24