"This will work for tonight. We’ll stash our gear here for now, then we'll go explore the park while we still have some light. Okay?"
Everyone agreed, stowed their backpacks, headed back out into the corridor, and then out into the warm evening air.
"We should split up," said Petter, "it would make covering the ground faster."
Mac thought about it for a second, then said, "Tomorrow, maybe. Right now, I just want to make sure there are no surprises waiting for us. We'll do a quick reconnoiter around these buildings then head back to base camp. Take a better look in the morning."
They moved quietly through the remains of the park. Several lagoons and ponds marked where the animals had been housed. The water was stagnant now, covered with a red algae that floated on the surface.
Something was niggling at Emily; had been for the last hour or so since they had left the road and entered the park. Even Thor seemed to have noticed; his ears erect, up in the air instead of to the ground. Now it finally hit Emily what it was.
"Hey, everyone. Could you all just hold up for a second, please," she said.
Everyone stopped.
"What's up, love?" said Mac.
Emily put a finger to her mouth. "Listen."
Everyone listened.
"I don't hear anything," said Mac after twenty seconds had passed.
"Exactly," said Emily. No signs of life at all? Throughout their walk here, there had been a constant background hum of noise, of a jungle filled with life that, while born from this planet, was not truly of the planet. Here, though, in the park, that background chatter had ceased. A pall of silence had settled across the area.
Mac's brows furrowed. "Yeah," he said, drawing the word out as he glanced around. "You're right."
"Maybe there's just nothing living around here," said one of Petter's Jegertroppen.
Emily and Mac both looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Trust me when I say," Emily said, "that there's always going to be something that calls this place home. And the chances are it wants to eat you...or worse."
The Norwegian's eyes widened, and Emily could not help but smile. "Don't worry, all you have to do is remember to run faster than the rest of us."
Mac looked up at the setting sun, blurry through the cloud. "We'll give it fifteen more minutes then we'll head back."
They walked north, past derelict buildings and the occasional large tree, but nothing on the scale of a Titan. In fact, Emily thought, there seemed to be less growth in the park than outside its walls, almost as if any available biological material had been diverted elsewhere.
"Looks as though this is as far as we go," Mac said a few minutes later, when they stepped around the side of what had been a concession stand but was now little more than a bundle of firewood. Ahead of them was an open body of water, a bay, that stretched north. Several large islands dotted the bay. A bridge, several kilometers long, started just west of where the group stood. It consisted of several curving spans that leapfrogged to each of the islands in turn before connecting with the distant mainland to the north.
"That bridge looks like it is still intact," said Petter. He brought a pair of binoculars to his eyes and moved them across the bridge. "I can see no structural damage. Yes. I would say it is safe for us to cross."
"Great," said Mac, "that'll save us some time. We'll check it out tomorrow morning. Right now, we need to call it a night."
•••
Light streamed in through the dirt-stained window at the back of the office the team spent the night in. The group prepared and ate breakfast, packed up their kit and left. They spent the first two hours of the morning reconnoitering the sections of the park they had missed the evening before, but found no sign of the lights Lynda had said she had seen fall anywhere nearby.
"We'll take the bridge we spotted last night and keep heading north," Mac said, after taking a long drink from his canteen.
The bridge in question was technically two bridges; two double-lane spans that sat alongside each other, one for southbound traffic coming to the park, the other for north bound travel. A four-meter gap separated the north and southbound lanes. A rusted metal-and-concrete guardrail ran along the sides of each span.
They set off in single file across the bridge. The day was already warm, but a breeze blowing in off the bay cooled the air comfortably. Dark rainclouds to the north loomed ominously. Peeking over the guardrail into the gap between the two spans, Emily saw nothing but the water of the lagoon far below. The bridge's humpback design meant the travelers could see no more than a hundred meters or so farther ahead of them. If any section of the bridge was damaged to the point that it was impassible, they would either have to turn around or figure out how to get across the gap to the southbound span. Ahead, the bridge dipped down as it connected with the island.
Emily saw it first. She jogged up to Mac and tapped him on the shoulder. "Look," she said, pointing east into the bay, toward another island, far larger than the one that lay ahead of them.
"What am I looking for?" said Mac, shading his eyes from the early morning sun.
"There," Emily said, pointing to a disturbance in the water just off the island's beach. "Do you see that?"
"Yes," Mac said, after a second. "What the hell is that?" He lifted his binoculars to his eyes, adjusting the focus. "It looks like a lot of bubbles. Maybe there was an underground gas release or some—" His words faded away.
"What?" said Emily.
"I can't really...oh, shit!" The binoculars dropped from his hands, swinging like a pendulum from the strap around his neck. Emily took them from him, glassing the distant commotion in the water.
"You have got to be kidding me," she hissed.
A gargantuan form was rising from the bubbling, foaming lake, its gray, pock-marked skin dripping water as it pulled itself up onto the distant island's beach. It was colossal in size, like nothing Emily had ever seen. It must be at least thirty meters in height, Emily thought, mentally comparing the creature to a ten-story building. Emily zoomed the binoculars in for a better look. It was snake-like, with a bulbous, almond shaped head as big as two SUV's. The head was eyeless. A tongue several meters in length extended from between a set of jaws lined with white-teeth. It had two powerful arms near its head which it used to heave itself up onto the beach of the island. It pulled itself farther up the beach, and lay there, obviously sunning itself.
"Well, that answers why there was so little wildlife in the area," Emily said. "This thing has either eaten it or scared it away."
"At least it hasn't seen us," said Mac. "We need to beat feet before—"
His words were cut off by an ear-shattering screech that came from beneath the bridge.
Mac grabbed Emily and Thor, and pulled them with him behind a rusty station-wagon as, from the island that lay ahead of them, another creature, identical to the first appeared. The second creature's elongated body slipped and slid in the sand of the beach, its tail flicking left and right kicking up waves of sand and rock. The message was obvious: it was pissed off.
"Take cover. Now!" Mac yelled at the rest of the team.
Emily's eyes darted back to the first gigantic creature, but it had vanished, replaced by a v-shaped wake that ripped through the water, heading in the team's direction.
"Shit!" Mac hissed. "It's coming this way."
The second creature roared in anger and dove into the sea. It swam out into the lagoon until the waves lapped against its midsection and stopped, directly below where Emily and the team hid. It raised itself up to full height, its head and narrow shoulders above the metal guardrail. It swayed back and forth, its tongue flicking in and out of its mouth, teeth bared in a snarl. If it turns around now, Emily thought, it'll 'see' us, or sense us by whatever this creature's equivalent of sight is. This close, the thing's skin looked like that of a dolphin's; thick, slick, leathery, but with pock-marks and dimples scattered randomly over its body like a leopard's spots.
The first creature rose fro
m the water, within striking distance of the second. It adopted an identical posture to the first, hissing and screeching. Both creatures swayed back and forth for a few moments, then the first gave a gut-twisting cry and dove at its adversary. A wall of water rose into the air behind it, crashing across the bridge, soaking everyone as the two titans collided, jaws snapping at their opponent, arms locked around the other as they wrestled for an advantage. More waves flooded over the deck of the bridge, dislodging one of the Norwegian soldiers, sending her sliding out into the open. She scrambled back to where her compatriots crouched behind an abandoned car. The noise was deafening as the two creatures roared their anger, their bodies slapping together like thunderous claps. Each time they hit, it sent another huge wave of displaced water smashing into the bridge.
"We've got to get out of here...now," Mac yelled. "On three we make a run for the island. Stay low. Ready? One. Two—" But before Mac could finish his countdown, one of the creatures—it was impossible to tell them apart now, Emily noted—violently thrust the other away. It swayed, then tumbled backward, crashing into the section of bridge that lay between where the humans cowered and where they wanted to be. The bridge shrieked in complaint. Then, as the aggressor pushed its advantage, lunging after its adversary, the bridge began to buckle under their immense weight. A section of road gave way, fracturing into huge, irregular slabs of concrete and rebar. The chunks of concrete, each as large as the station wagon Emily, Mac, and Thor hid behind tumbled into the bay. An entire lane of the bridge ahead vanished in the space of three heartbeats.
Mac jumped to his feet, his hand wrapped around Emily's, her hand holding tight to Thor's leash. But before they could take a step, the creatures rose again, their bodies tussling in the broken space they had just created. One of the titans howled in pain as the other gained a momentary advantage and sank its teeth into the arm of its opponent. Thick green gobbets of blood dripped from the wound. The injured creature fell backward, shrieking in pain and anger, and hit the rough edge of the broken span of bridge, sending more pieces of the road down into the water.
Now there was only a two-meter-wide section of the bridge left.
The injured titan, spurred on by its pain, lunged at the other, pushing it back into the water of the lagoon.
"Now!" Mac yelled. He yanked Emily to her feet, yelled "Run!" and began to sprint toward what was left of the road ahead, Thor running alongside. Emily thought Mac would slow down, but he apparently had other ideas. The Scotsman sprinted across the narrow sliver of concrete that still connected the two pieces like a tendon hanging from a severed arm, not giving Emily or Thor a chance to hesitate. Emily glanced down into the sea below and saw the two creatures battling in the water; a green slick of blood floated on the surface from their wounds.
Then they were across. Mac aimed for another abandoned car, and pulled Emily toward it. Only then, breathless and panting, did he turn to look behind him. The Norwegians and the rest of his men were a few seconds slower. Petter was across, followed by his people, then Stevens and Billings, while Richford followed up the rear.
"Come on!" Mac yelled.
Richford was almost across when he was abruptly lifted into the air as the bulk of the two titans collided with the underside of the bridge. Chunks of concrete exploded into the air like shrapnel. One landed on the roof of the car Emily and Mac sheltered behind, crushing the metal roof down to the faded leather seats within. Another struck one of Petter's Jegertroppen in the back of her head. She dropped to the ground, the back of her skull a crushed, bloody mess. Richford, his arms waving frantically as he was launched ten meters into the air, flew in a slow backward arc, and disappeared into the space between the north- and southbound sections of the bridge, his scream lost in the tumult of the battle.
The injured titan was weakening, a steady stream of green blood flowing from the huge gashes inflicted by its opponent. It screeched in pain as the second creature locked its jaws on its throat and bit down, sending a gout of green arcing through the air. Emily heard a crunching sound as the victorious titan ripped through its enemy's flesh. She wasn't sure if it was the bridge buckling or the titan's bones breaking.
Wordlessly, Mac waited for the remaining team members to catch up, then he grabbed Emily's hand again and they rushed the remaining distance to the island. Not slowing, they ran across the island and onto the second section of the bridge that led directly to the mainland. They were halfway across when Emily, breathless, her heart pounding in her chest, insisted that she had to stop and catch her breath. Mac slowed to a jog. Emily shook her hand free of her husband, bent over and rested her hands on both her knees as she sucked in deep lungfuls of air, trying not to vomit.
When she looked back the way they had come, both of the titans had vanished beneath the lake.
•••
They moved across the northern section of the bridge at a jog, continuing until they had penetrated the mainland jungle a hundred meters. Not once in Emily's life in this new version of the world, had she thought she would be glad to be in the red jungle, but she welcomed it now; the thick, lush fronds, trees, and stalks of the plants blocking the team from the sight of the titan in the bay.
"Fuck!" Petter, still panting, yelled when finally they stopped to rest, his hair plastered to his forehead by sweat. He was grim-faced, his remaining Jegertroppen looked shell-shocked. "I know you told me it would be dangerous, and we are soldiers, we understand that we might die...but this...I never imagined this."
Emily placed a consoling hand on the major's shoulder. Petter straightened, sucked in a deep breath or two. "Do we turn around? Head back to Point Loma?" he asked.
"No," said Mac. Like the rest of the team, he was taking this moment to catch his breath. "We carry on. No matter what."
•••
A couple hours later, the storm that had threatened them since they left Point Loma finally fulfilled its promise. Fat drops of rain began to splatter all around the team as they pushed north. Twenty minutes after that, the downpour became so heavy the ground beneath their feet quickly turned to thick mud, slowing the party to a crawl.
"We need to find somewhere to wait this out," Mac said, yelling into Emily's ear to be heard over the thunderous roar of rain against the canopy overhead. They were, if Mac had read his map correctly, somewhere in La Jolla, and the ruins of what had once been suburban homes lay all around. Most had been obliterated by years of red jungle growth; none were in a fit enough state to offer shelter from the storm, so they slogged on.
"There, up ahead," said Emily, pointing through the veil of water and mist that had descended across the landscape at a house that still looked to be mostly in one piece, other than missing half of its roof. The team moved as quickly as they could to it, the mud sucking at their boots. The front door was locked, so Mac kicked it down, and they all stumbled inside, Thor shaking water from himself. Petter and his people did a quick reconnaissance, their flashlights lighting up the two-story home as they moved from room to room.
"Upstairs is a mess," said Petter coming down the staircase, "but there's no sign of anything having lived here. I think we are safe."
"Okay," Mac said, "let's set up camp in the living room and kitchen. We'll hole up here until the storm passes." The living room had a fireplace and Mac set about breaking apart a couple of chairs for fuel. He used the wood to light a fire that brightened the room with its orange glow, adding a welcome sense of warmth and security to the drenched, shivering, travelers.
"I'll get a cuppa going," said Billings. He broke out a couple of portable pans from his backpack, filled them with water from an extra canteen, and balanced them carefully on the fire.
"Get out of your wet gear and dry it off," Mac said, stripping off his top layers of clothing and laying them out on the hearth. Everyone else did the same, positioning them as close to the fireplace as possible to dry. Thor had already curled up near the fire, the smell of wet dog beginning to permeate the room.
Emi
ly moved out into the kitchen and checked the cabinets.
"Hey, Mac. You should come and see this," she called out after opening a door labelled pantry.
Mac followed the sound of her voice. "What's the...oh!"
The pantry was filled with canned goods. Additionally, there were several boxes of spaghetti that looked to be intact.
"Think any of them will be good?" asked Emily.
"Only one way to find out." Mac grabbed a couple cans of baked beans. They had pull-tab tops. He opened them up, cautiously sniffed at them, then smiled broadly at Emily. "Smells like dinner to me."
They ate well that afternoon, warming the food in the pots over the fire.
Later, Emily stood at the window in the front room and stared out at the drowned jungle beyond.
"How you doing?" Mac asked, stepping up behind her.
Emily turned slightly toward her husband and smiled at him. He stepped in and put his arms around her, pulling her into him. She closed her eyes, reveling in the feeling of him against her. "If I keep my eyes closed, I can almost forget where we are," she said. "It's almost...normal. But then, it all goes away when I open them again. And to be honest, that's all I really want; the chance for everything to just be normal again. It doesn't have to be the way it was, I just want the world to stop throwing problems at us."
Mac laid his cheek against the top of his wife's head. "I know, but one day all this will be behind us, and we'll be able to get on with our lives again."
"When?" Emily whispered.
"The day after we defeat the Locusts," Mac said, matter-of-factly. "When that's all over and done with, then we can start rebuilding something that resembles our old life. A normal life."
Extinction Point: Kings (Extinction Point Series (5 book series)) Page 12