The Tide: Ghost Fleet (Tide Series Book 7)

by Anthony J Melchiorri

  Meredith recalled the blood dripping from O’Neil’s nose during his last attempts to do just that. “You sure you’re up for it?”

  “Always,” O’Neil said, eyes narrowing behind his skeletal features. He was yearning for the opportunity to prove himself again.

  Dom nodded. It looked as if it pained him to admit it, but their plans would be screwed if the Goliath and a bunch of Skulls decided to rampage through the airport. “Go shut that asshole up. Be quick, be quiet, and be safe.”

  “That is my motto,” Andris said.

  “Quick, quiet, and safe?” Meredith asked. “Never heard you say that before.”

  “No,” Andris said. “Go shut that asshole up.”

  O’Neil put a clawed hand on Andris’s shoulder. “I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I like you.”

  Meredith opened the door and led the other two outside. Their boots padded against the wet asphalt, smacking through the water left over by the receding storm. The smell of wet earth clung to Meredith’s nostrils along with a hint of carrion from the approaching Goliath. On the other side of the runway, they delved into the trees. Rainwater trickled down the branches and dripped from the leaves. The ground trembled as another roar exploded around them.

  Meredith held up a hand to slow them. Adrenaline surged through her at the sound of the Goliath, urging her toward fight or flight. But she fought the animalistic instinct, acting on training and logic instead.

  “O’Neil,” she whispered. “You got a whiff of any others?”

  The Hybrid raised his face into the wind, his flat nostrils flaring like a bloodhound on a scent trail. “Yeah, there are definitely others. They aren’t close, but they’re out there.”

  “Do we have time to take down this Goliath?”

  “We got time,” O’Neil said. The muscles under his bone plates tensed, and his clawed fingers clacked around his rifle. Bloodlust crept into the Hybrid’s eyes, turning them crimson. Just being near Skulls had a visceral effect on him that he had to fight to control.

  “Andris, I want you to prep a small explosive. Something to pop his head off, but make it as small as possible. We don’t want a fireworks show.”

  “That will be no problem,” Andris said, already rummaging through his supplies.

  “O’Neil, anything you can do to calm the Goliath will be appreciated,” Meredith said.

  “Yes, ma’am. I’m not going to lie, though. Trying to influence those bastards is nothing like a normal Skull, but I will do my best.”

  “That’s all I ask.” The stomping grew closer. Leaves and branches shook from the trees. A human shrieked, followed by more gunfire. On her comm link, Meredith said, “Dom, we’re about to intercept.”

  Then there was another scream. This one was more high-pitched, and a third quickly followed it, sending a chill through Meredith. These weren’t from an adult man or woman, but rather...

  “There are children out there,” Meredith said. All her calm patience and training melted away as the Goliath’s terrifying voice grew. “Move!”

  They flitted through the forest. Leaping over gnarled roots and tall pines shedding needles, they pushed through the rain-soaked foliage, barreling toward the Goliath’s bellows.

  Then they burst into a clearing. A stream cut through the middle, rushing with the night’s rains. Its muddy-brown waters swirled around five shapes trying to cross it—two adults and what were clearly three children. The children shrieked as they made it to the opposite side. One of the adults paused, taking potshots at the woods from where they’d fled.

  Trees bent and splintered to reveal the behemoth that had inspired those children’s frightened screams. An ugly face distorted by curved tusks and small, beady black eyes behind mounds of bony growths appeared. Its forearms, thick as the tree trunks they bent back, were each covered in yellowed, cracked plates. Claws larger than Meredith’s arms protruded from the thing’s fingers.

  “That is the ugliest Goliath I have ever seen,” Andris said.

  “Can you do something about it, O’Neil?” Meredith asked.

  “I’ll try.” O’Neil’s eyelids clenched shut, and his lips trembled.

  The huge monster loped across the clearing, catching up to the family. Now Meredith could see them more clearly as they made their approach. They were so blinded by the beast behind them, they didn’t see her or O’Neil or Andris. The father held a hunting rifle, aiming it at the beast when his children—three daughters—lagged behind. He fired, but his shots were no more distracting to the Goliath than the rain.

  Meredith sighted up the Goliath’s face with her rifle. It bounced in and out of her aim. Whatever O’Neil was doing, it didn’t seem to be having much effect.

  “Meredith, he is bleeding,” Andris whispered.

  Meredith didn’t want to take her eyes off the Goliath. She knew what she would see: the blood trickling from O’Neil’s nostrils as he overextended his abilities. He had nearly collapsed before. What happened if he lost control this time?

  The Goliath hunched forward, lunging over the stream. He scooped a claw through the wet soil, tearing up grass and dirt. One of the girls tripped. Meredith’s blood ran cold. She started to squeeze the trigger. Firing would give away their position, ruining their ambush. They’d lose their advantage, but she couldn’t watch this girl lose her life.

  Then something miraculous happened. The Goliath stumbled. The girl got up, helped by her mother, and started running again. The giant Skull straightened, its eyes glazing over for a fraction of a second. It reached a claw up to its head and squeezed as if it had been stricken with a terrible migraine. In fits and bursts, it moved forward. But the Goliath looked as if it was engaged in some inner battle with its psyche.

  Now Meredith risked that glance at O’Neil. Sure enough, blood fell in rivulets from his nostrils. His muscles quaked, and his teeth ground together violently. It seemed as if it was taking everything in his bone-plated body to affect the Goliath. Meredith wasn’t sure how long he would hold out. She wasn’t about to interrupt him to ask.

  “Andris, go to the right,” Meredith said. “Stick to the woods and come around behind this asshole. I’m going to intercept the family then distract the Goliath.”

  Andris sprinted off, plunging deeper within the forest. Meredith looked at O’Neil one last time. He stood alone at the edge of the clearing, just within the line of trees. Without someone to watch him, she hoped he would be okay.

  Meredith exploded across the field. She sprinted as fast as her muscles could take her. All the prolonged fighting and the days without rest had taken their toll on her body. But she didn’t let that bother her. She had a job to do: Save the family, kill the Goliath, and get back to the airport for the evac.

  The mother noticed her first. She pointed and yelled something in French. The father swung his rifle around on her.

  “I’m a human!” Meredith bellowed, lifting her rifle in the air. “I’m here to help!”

  She wasn’t sure if they understood English, but they seemed to at least understand her gesture. The father turned back around, firing at the confused Goliath. It continued toward them, its heavy feet leaving dinosaur-like prints in the ground behind it.

  The man ran up to Meredith. His eyes were wide with fear. Mud coated his clothes and those of his wife and daughters. He spoke in a thick French accent. “It is like no other we see before,” he said.

  “I know,” she said. “My friends and I will kill it.”

  He looked around for her friends, no doubt confused when he didn’t see any.

  “Don’t worry,” Meredith said, never letting her rifle drop from her shoulder. “You know the airport? Um, l’aéroport?”

  The man nodded vigorously.

  “It is safe there,” Meredith said. “I have more friends there. Friends with weapons. They’ll protect you. But you must go now!”

  The man hesitated. Then the Goliath let out a strangled roar.

  “Go!” Meredith yelled
.

  The family ran off with no more questions. Meredith bet the father would trust just about anyone willing to step between his family and the Goliath in that moment. After they disappeared into the woods, it was just Meredith and the Goliath in the clearing. A weak shower of rain pattered against the Goliath’s face. Its expression morphed between one of intense hatred and hunger and one of mindless calm.

  Most of her life, Meredith had harbored romantic dreams about visiting France—of doing the touristy things like taking the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower, hopping between pastry shops to indulge in carbohydrate-laden treats. More recently, she had imagined sipping wine with Dom at a small table next to a garden overflowing with colorful flowers.

  This mission to France had healed her of that affliction. She’d had enough of this country. Or at least enough of what had become of it. The only romantic date she was going to have in France was with this Goliath.

  “Allons-y, you ugly bastard!” she yelled at it.

  She squeezed the trigger. Bullets pounded the creature’s face. Bone chipped and flew. Some of the bullets plunged past the huge bone plates. That kind of gunfire would bring down a normal Skull. To the Goliath, it was merely an annoyance. It raised a huge palm, shielding its face, and barreled toward Meredith.

  “Andris, you’re on,” she said.

  O’Neil’s efforts were working. The beast stumbled like a drunk sailor on shore leave. Then Meredith saw a flash of black as Andris sprinted toward the Goliath and leapt. He climbed up the spikes jutting from the Goliath’s back until he reached the thing’s shoulders.

  Meredith waved her arms to keep the Goliath’s wavering focus on her. It seemed to work. Andris started to secure the C4 near the Goliath’s neck and its shoulder plates. But just as it seemed Andris was almost done, the Goliath’s eyes erupted in pure crimson. It let out an ear-shattering roar and shook itself like a dog emerging from a lake. Andris flew from its shoulders and crashed into the underbrush.

  O’Neil had lost control.

  -26-

  Dom ushered the family into the hangar. Glenn took emergency blankets from the Hunters’ packs and distributed them to the bedraggled group. The parents muttered their thanks from blue lips, shivering underneath the gleaming aluminum blankets. They seemed comforted to discover someone who spoke their language, and Glenn gamely served as interpreter for the two groups.

  “Where will we go?” the woman asked, her daughters huddled and crying around her.

  “We’ll take care of you,” was all that Dom could say.

  He had no idea what they could do for these people. He didn’t want to fill the Huntress with refugees again. It would be too dangerous carting them along while they chased a ship with nuclear weapons. Hopefully Ronaldo would be able to take them in.

  “You have come to help people, right?” the man asked. “We saw the helicopter. We have no more food. Those monsters are everywhere. We ran fast, but the large monster saw us. Can you fly us out now?”

  “We can’t right now,” Dom said. “Reinforcements are on the way. Just sit tight for now. Miguel, Jenna, think you can give them something to eat?”

  The Hunters took care of the family. Dom waited nervously near the entrance of the hangar. Meredith, Andris, and O’Neil needed to focus on their mission. The last thing they needed was him blabbering in their ears for constant sitreps.

  He had to trust them. But he couldn’t stop worrying.

  The Goliath had been silent for a while, and he started to think that maybe O’Neil had subdued it. When the monster let out a bellow as loud as before, Dom knew something had changed.

  “Meredith, what’s going on?” he asked.

  “The thing’s broken O’Neil’s control,” she said between labored breaths.

  “Did Andris plant the explosives?”

  “No, it shook him off before he could.”

  “God damn it!” Everyone turned toward him. Dom opened the door to the hangar to continue the conversation without an audience. “How is he?”

  “Not sure,” Meredith said. “I’m just trying to keep the Goliath’s attention right now.”

  “I’ll be there soon.” He opened a channel to the other Hunters. “Hold this hangar. If you see Skulls, fire. Do not let them take our evac site.”

  Then he was out the door. His heart hammered against his ribs with the fury of a Skull ramming itself into a car full of people. Thoughts of the others at the mercy of the Goliath sent him flying through the trees. It wasn’t hard to track down where Meredith was. He just followed the roaring and crashing of the rampaging Goliath.

  The sight of Meredith standing at the edge of a clearing gave him some hope. At least she was still alive and well. Then he saw another figure across the way rising to his knees. Andris. But he couldn’t find the third member of their team.

  “Where’s O’Neil?” Dom shouted.

  There was no response from the Hybrid over the comms.

  “He was in the woods to the south,” Meredith said.

  Dom scanned the trees, but there was no sign of the Hybrid. The Goliath let out a yell. Globs of putrid spit flew from its lips. They wouldn’t have a chance to search for O’Neil until that thing was brought down.

  “Andris, how are you?” Dom barked over the comm.

  “I feel like a fish at a fish market.”

  Dom wasn’t exactly sure how to take that, but he assumed it wasn’t a good thing. “Anything broken?”

  “Not that I know of.” Even from here, Dom saw Andris was clutching something in his hand. “I still have my present for that bastard.”

  The Goliath was quickly putting distance between Andris and itself. It was clear the man wouldn’t catch the giant monster.

  “Well?” Meredith asked, staring down the sights of her rifle.

  Dom tried to conjure a plan, something that would ensure all of them except for the Goliath made it out alive. But right now, he didn’t have anything. He couldn’t wait, either. The more that monster bellowed, the more Skulls would come trampling through the woods after it, compromising their landing zone and screwing their best route out of France.

  “You’ve been distracting it, right?” Dom asked.

  “I have,” Meredith said hesitantly.

  “Keep doing that.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  Dom started toward the creature’s flank at a jog and called over his shoulder, “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?”

  “That’s not going to work!” Meredith opened fire on the Goliath, chiseling away at the bone along its face. It let out a guttural roar and ran toward her. Dom slipped into the woods, trying to avoid the monster’s gaze. He crouched next to a broken tree trunk and watched the Goliath run. Each step made the ground quiver.

  He had to time this right. Too soon, and the Goliath would see him, ruining his ambush. Too slow, and he’d end up like Andris, chasing after the beast with no hope of catching it.

  A layer of sweat formed between his gloves and his palms. He threw his rifle over his back, tightening the strap. He wouldn’t need it for what he had planned.

  Come on, come on. Just a little bit closer.

  Dom exploded from the woods. He ran low, hoping the Goliath wouldn’t notice him. Meredith yelled and fired at the monster, creating as much noise as possible. The Goliath lowered its head, trying to avoid any more shots to its face. All of that worked to Dom’s advantage. His muscles pumped as he cut across the grass.

  When the moment was right, he lunged. His hands found purchase in the grooves along the plates. He scrambled up between the spikes branching off the Goliath’s joints, headed straight toward the weak spot. The creature shook, apparently realizing something was on its back.

  Dom’s fingers wrapped tighter around the spikes, but that didn’t stop him from being shaken around like a rodeo rider. His ribs slammed into a spike. Hot pain plunged through his chest.

  “Dom, what in the hell are you doing?” Meredith asked.
<
br />   She’d stopped firing. She wouldn’t want to risk hitting him.

  “Taking this bastard down,” Dom said.

  The Goliath had stopped its relentless charge forward. Now it turned in circles like a huge, demented dog chasing its tail. Dom would’ve laughed if the monster hadn’t been raking its claws over its back, trying to get him off.

  Dom dodged the scraping claws, tracing up the Goliath’s spine. He was attempting a tried-and-true strategy—the one he’d used to bring down the very first Goliath he’d ever encountered. It seemed like so long ago they’d infiltrated that cruise ship in the Potomac. It had withstood their small-arms fire, but there was one thing it hadn’t survived. Something far simpler.

  A knife could cut into a minuscule weak point at its neck. That had brought the Goliath down. And that was how Dom intended to bring this one down now—no explosives from Andris necessary.

  The Goliath roared in frustration. But this time his cry did not go unanswered. Howls from other Skulls filled the forest.

  “Captain!” Andris called.

  “I hear it,” Dom grunted, clinging to the Goliath. “Don’t worry about me. Find O’Neil. Get him to safety.”

  The Goliath thundered around the clearing, still trying to shake Dom. Meredith fired her rifle into the air and cursed, trying to distract the thing even if for only a moment. It took every ounce of strength Dom had to stay attached to the Goliath while avoiding its pounding claws. He found a new foothold and pushed himself higher, closer to the monster’s neck.

  He had to do this quickly. The Skulls in the area were finally responding to the monster’s call. Dealing with this Goliath and a swarm of the smaller bastards was not a great way to welcome Ronaldo’s rescue team to France.

  With one hand gripping a plate near the creature’s neck, Dom reached for his knife. Then he jumped upward, planting his boots on the creature’s shoulder plates. He hooked his free hand around one of the Goliath’s horns. With a powerful swing, the knife leapt into the fleshy part of the Goliath’s neck.