The team pressed on, finding two more bodies in the next passage. They were getting close to X’s quarters. Around the next corner, he heard distant barking.
X ran in front of Michael, nearly bowling him over.
“X, wait!” Michael called out.
There would be no waiting, no caution, when it came to Miles. If X lost his dog, he might just as well die, too.
He bolted for the open door and burst into his quarters to find Miles under the bed. A female Siren was on the floor, swiping under the raised platform.
“Hey, you blind, ugly fuck!” X shouted.
Dropping his sword on the deck, he grabbed a hind leg of the creature and hauled it out. It rolled to its back and swiped at X, slashing his chest and ripping through the strap of his gun. The weapon clanked to the floor behind him.
X stomped on the beast’s face with his sandals, but that only hurt his foot. He stumbled back as the creature jumped up.
Michael entered the room with his rifle shouldered.
“X, get out of the way!” he shouted.
A big ball of fur squirmed out from under the bed and grabbed the creature’s leg as its hooked talons whipped out again at X. This time, he moved back.
Miles clamped down on the scaly ankle, cracking bone. The Siren let out a wail and turned to strike the dog, but X plunged his sword through its back. Then he lifted the skewered beast off the floor with all the strength of his left arm.
Victor squeezed into the room and swung his blade, and the head bounced on the floor with a clunk.
X withdrew his blade and bent down to Miles.
“I’m so sorry, boy,” he said. “I’m soooooo sorry.”
Miles whined and licked his hand.
The dog had a gash on his back, but it didn’t look deep.
“I’m going to make you feel better, boy,” X said, grabbing the medical kit Dr. Huff had left in his room. “Hold still, buddy.”
Once X had Miles patched up, he kissed him on the head. The dog returned the gesture by licking his face.
The radio crackled in the hallway.
“Our teams on the rooftop are being overrun,” Wynn said. “We have to help them.”
They fought their way up three more floors on their way to the tropical forest, killing two Sirens and finding five more sky people dead on the way. None were Les’s family, but X couldn’t leave the lower levels without checking on them first.
He stopped at the next intersection and went left.
“Sir, where are you going?” Wynn called out.
“To check on Phyl and Katherine—I promised! I’ll meet you up there. Go!”
The team broke off, Michael and Wynn heading topside while Miles, Ton, and Victor went with X. The two refugees stuck close to him, their round metal shields up and their swords dripping blood.
Miles had a slight limp, but he trotted right along, happy to be with X.
The next hallway appeared to have been spared from the Sirens, but he had to make sure. X stopped at the apartment Les shared with his wife and daughter.
He knocked on the door with the pommel of his sword.
“Katherine,” X said quietly. “It’s Xavier.”
Rustling came on the other side, and the door cracked open.
Phyl peeked through the gap and looked up at X with eyes swollen from crying.
“Where’s your mom?” X asked.
The door opened, and Katherine pulled Phyl back.
“Are you both okay?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re fine,” Katherine replied.
“Good. Stay here and block off this door.”
“Don’t leave us,” Katherine said. “Please.”
“Victor, tell Ton to stay with them,” X ordered.
Victor relayed the order, and Ton nodded. Katherine let him into the quarters, and X bent down to Miles.
“You have to stay here and protect Phyl and Katherine, boy, okay?” X said.
The dog licked his face again. X patted his head and then gestured for him to go into the room. Phyl bent down to stroke the dog, the tears forgotten and a smile on her face.
“Don’t open this door until we come back,” X said. Then he was off, running with Victor to the rooftop.
When they got there, bodies of militia soldiers lay strewn haphazardly in the dirt. Gashes marked where claws had torn through flesh and opened arteries beneath their armor.
Gunfire came from the other side of the tropical forest, and X bolted toward the sound. He was slowing down now, feeling as if he might puke or pass out, or both.
X stumbled, and Victor caught him.
“Keep moving,” X said.
They ran into the tropical forest, where X stopped to vomit. He wiped his mouth.
When Victor gave him a concerned look, he said, “I feel better now.” It wasn’t a lie. Puking had reenergized him.
He took off running again, and when they emerged from the forest, the anxiety and nausea returned.
Michael, Wynn, and three militia soldiers were surrounded by a prowling pack of ten Sirens. More circled overhead.
The men alternated fire between the creatures in the sky and those on the deck. Two of the fliers dropped to the dirt, making their alien cries as they took their last breaths.
When X gave the order to advance, Victor didn’t hesitate, running toward the beasts with their backs turned, hoping to take them by surprise.
Down to just his sword, X slashed at the nearest creature just as it turned, cutting halfway through its neck.
He moved to the next one, plunging the blade into the creature’s forehead with an audible crunch. Victor slashed and stabbed, killing two monsters.
Two airborne Sirens dived toward Michael’s group. Gunfire riddled them, but one managed to snatch a militia soldier, yanking him away.
The creatures on the ground bolted toward the rest of the team, and several more broke off to take on X and Victor.
X swung and sliced, screaming. Beside him, Victor fought nimbly, bringing down several of the beasts before they could strike.
But there were too many.
A muscular female slammed into X, knocking him to the deck. Victor tried to help, but two creatures came at him.
X lost sight of the man as he fought to get the Siren off him. He grabbed the neck with his left hand, but with only his stump, he couldn’t do much besides hold back the maw of jagged teeth.
Human screams rang out around him. One was Michael’s youthful voice. Filled with rage, X crushed the Siren’s windpipe and pushed it off him.
He grabbed his sword and stabbed a monster that had knocked Victor down.
Three more Sirens bounded toward them.
X and Victor came together, side by side, while Michael, Wynn, and one last militia soldier took on five more of the beasts.
X let out a scream that sounded almost inhuman, in a voice that even he didn’t recognize. “argggggggghhhhhh!”
He strode forward with his blade, lunging to strike a Siren that raced toward him on all fours. Over the creature’s high-pitched death wail came another sound.
Human shouts and screams exploded from the forest.
X kept fighting, filled with hope now that reinforcements had arrived. He became a machine, slicing, stabbing, and kicking at the monsters’ wrinkled flesh. He didn’t ease up until a troop of armored soldiers stormed past him to finish the fight.
Panting, X finally lowered the sword in his throbbing left hand. He watched the soldiers finish off the last Sirens.
But these men weren’t wearing black body armor. They were Cazador warriors, and leading them was a man in full armor, with a black cape fluttering behind his shoulders.
“Colonel Forge!” X yelled.
The officer swung a bloody cutlass at the last two monsters. T
he soldiers flanking him also wielded blades slick with blood, and some bore the claw marks of Sirens.
Mac, Felipe, and several Barracudas had also joined Forge and his men, clearing the inside of the tower and fighting to the top. For the first time since Rhino’s death, X finally had Cazadores he could trust.
And judging by the destruction the skinwalkers had left behind, he was going to need every ally he could get.
SEVENTEEN
“Launch the drone,” Les said into the handset.
The mechanics in Discovery’s launch bay released Cricket into the sky. Les took over manually by tapping the screen on the bridge. The drone’s newly upgraded thrusters powered it away from the airship, toward the barrier between light and dark.
The little mechanical Hell Diver had the best shot at locating Horn and his demonic crew aboard Raven’s Claw. The submarines wouldn’t be far from the flagship, and once Cricket found them, Les was going to lob a missile down their throats.
He wanted to go out there with the drone, but taking Discovery into the storms was too risky and would leave the islands even more vulnerable to another attack by the submarines.
“Eevi, you detecting any major storms out there?” Les asked.
“Several, sir. I hope Cricket is ready to take a beating.”
“He’s built for it,” Timothy chimed in.
Good luck, little friend, Les thought. Find us those murdering demons.
Then he grabbed the handset again.
“All hands, buckle in or grab something to hold on to,” Les said over the intercom. He turned the airship around, then waited a moment for the skeleton crew of mechanics and engineers to buckle in.
“Timothy, activate thrusters on my mark,” Les ordered. He tapped his screen. Confirming that all six repaired thrusters were operational, he gave the order.
“Mark.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Timothy replied.
The thrusters all fired, giving Discovery enough juice to plaster Les against the captain’s chair on the bridge. The airship picked up speed.
Fifty miles per hour.
Seventy-five miles per hour.
One hundred miles per hour.
Through the feed from the front cameras, he watched the gray view of swirling clouds, his heart pounding from not knowing what was happening on the surface.
Les had no idea whether his wife and daughter were still alive. After beseeching X to protect Katherine and Phyl, he had switched off the radio. It would help them avoid detection from the prowling hostile forces and any Cazadores working with them.
At this point, he couldn’t trust anyone on the ground.
“Eevi, sitrep.”
“Scans on the surface are picking up no vessels that are not supposed to be out there,” she reported.
Les checked the monitor again. The below-surface scans weren’t picking up anything, either. The submarines had dived after their stealth attack.
It was nothing short of a miracle that Discovery had gotten away. The airship still wasn’t fully operational, but it was better than being a smoldering debris field on the water. And that had almost happened.
He thought back to the narrow escape. The explosions had happened fast, but Les had grabbed the closest militia soldier and sent him to protect Katherine and Phyl. Then he had rounded up the small crew of mechanics and engineers who were doing final repairs, and they all piled into the airship.
If not for Timothy, the ship would have been blown to pieces. The AI had expertly evaded several projectiles and escaped into the clouds.
“Still no sign of submarines on the sonar,” he said.
Les plotted a course through the clouds, back to the capitol tower. Once again, he was in the sky while his family was in danger on the surface. That was how he had lost Trey. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—lose Katherine and Phyl the same way.
Tapping his screen, Les canceled the course and decided to lower the airship for a look with his own eyes. A white glow from the AI spread over the deck around his station.
“Sir, our orders are to stay out of sight,” Timothy said.
“Focus on the weapons systems and your scans, Pepper,” Les said. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Sir—”
“That’s an order.”
Eevi looked as though she wanted to say something, but she turned back to her monitor.
“Fifteen thousand feet,” Eevi said.
“Raise hatches,” Les said.
The hatches over the bridge portholes cranked upward. Les eased off on the thrusters, heart thumping fast in anticipation of his first look at the surface.
A view of vast blue ocean replaced the clouds. Thick smoke snaked away from the Hive. Tiny black dots surrounded the rig, spraying white jets of water onto the flames. The wakes from dozens of other vessels streaked away from the tower, carrying the injured to other rigs.
Not only the decommissioned airship was on fire. As Discovery lowered to eight thousand feet, Les spotted a vast field of debris from sunk vessels spread across the water.
On the horizon, a chimney of smoke rose from another fire that appeared to be burning out of control.
“What is that?” Eevi said.
Les held back a curse and said, “Timothy, tell me that isn’t what I think it is.”
The AI took a moment to confirm that it was indeed their last tanker, which had been anchored outside a rig. The fire had spread to that rig and was now rising toward the rooftop.
Les wanted to punch his screen. He didn’t even know the extent of the damage from the attack or whether his family was alive, but things looked bad.
He wasn’t sure they would be able to come back from this.
Exhaling, he tapped his monitor to shut down the thrusters, switching to the turbofans and then directing the airship toward the capitol tower.
Discovery leveled out, and cloudy horizon replaced the ocean in the monitor.
Flying over the other rigs gave him a new perspective on the attack. It wasn’t just sky people who had suffered. The trading-post rig had taken heavy damage, and a rooftop farm burned.
The skinwalkers had attacked their military posts, destroyed their fuel, and taken out some crops and water supply.
“This is very bad,” Timothy said. “I’m so sorry, Captain Mitchells and Ensign Corey.”
Eevi met Les’s gaze, but neither said a word.
They hovered over the capitol tower. In the dirt around the sky arena lay human bodies haloed by blood streaks. Among them were pale carcasses of monsters, strewn about as if a tornado had whipped across the rooftop.
But not everyone down there was dead.
“Pull up!” Les yelled when he saw the armored Cazadores run out of the forest.
Discovery lurched away from the capitol tower.
Les studied the monitor, noticing several militia soldiers.
“Aiming the twenty-millimeter cannons,” Timothy said. “Firing on your mark.”
“No, hold your fire!”
Les walked over to the screen. With the Cazador warriors were Hell Divers. Now the king walked out in front of the group and waved his sword.
A radio transmission crackled from the speakers.
“Captain Mitchells, what the hell are you doing?” said a familiar gritty voice.
It was X, all right. He sounded furious, but that just meant he was still alive.
Les said nothing about sending Cricket through the barrier to track down Raven’s Claw, for fear the wrong people were listening.
He simply said, “We came to help.”
“We don’t need it!” X yelled over the channel. “Get back into the clouds!”
“My family—”
“Is fine,” X replied. “I checked in on them personally, and Ton and Miles are with them now.”
The airship climbed higher into the sky as Timothy guided them away from the rooftop.
“Stay in the sky until I give the order,” X growled over the comms.
Warning sensors suddenly beeped across all stations on the bridge. An alarm wailed. Timothy’s holographic eyes widened.
“Incoming!” he yelled.
“Evasive maneuvers!” Les shouted back.
The airship jerked as the thrusters fired to accelerate Discovery out of the path of another missile. But this time, not even the AI could save them.
Eevi let out a cry.
The impact knocked Les to the deck, and the world went dark.
* * * * *
Magnolia gasped for air. She shot up into a sitting position, to find herself on a wide fishing boat packed to the gunwales with passengers. None of these people were looking at her. A few appeared to be sleeping. Those who were awake stared at the sky, where sparks rained down from the side of what looked like . . .
Discovery. That was Discovery up there!
The boat thumped over a wave, sending a jolt of pain through her. She fought back to a sitting position and watched the airship climb into the clouds.
Some of her fellow passengers pointed. She could see their lips moving, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. It wasn’t just voices—she couldn’t even hear the motor on the fishing boat.
Pain filled her skull. Reaching up, she felt something covering the right side of her head, which burned like hell. A bandage, she realized. But how did she get hurt?
The last thing she remembered was fighting Moreto.
She looked again at the people who appeared to be sleeping. Blinking, she realized they were unconscious or dead from devastating burns.
A memory flashed in her mind, and when she saw smoke rising in the distance, the memories rolled in like a wave of fire from a Cazador flamethrower.
She was one of the burn victims in an attack orchestrated by Moreto.
Anger and fear gripped Magnolia, and it got worse when the person sitting on the deck in front of her turned.
She hardly even recognized Rodger.
Warriors Page 21