The Tide: Breakwater (Tide Series Book 2) (32 page)

Geraldo gripped the handrail with one hand and pulled himself upright. His legs shook as he stood, and blood poured from the wound in his abdomen. A visceral yell escaped his lips, and he threw himself at the crazies.

Navid sprinted up the stairs. The sounds of ripping and chewing and screaming chased him. He burst back through the heavy metal door and onto the roof. James grabbed the door before it closed and clicked the internal lock so it was secured from the inside when he slammed it shut.

“Those things aren’t smart enough to unlock it,” James said. “Door should be strong enough to hold them.”

“And...and what do we do? How do we get back in?”

James nodded toward the paint can. “Better hope help arrives soon.”

Navid set the paint can down and gazed across the flat roof. Two other square structures dotted the otherwise flat, gravelly space. A pit formed in his stomach. “Where’s Abby? What’d you do to her?”

A chortle escaped James’s lips. “God, boy, how cruel do you think I am?” He pointed to one of the structures with a metal door. “She’s behind that one. She was complaining about the sun being too hot and bright or something. Couldn’t get her ass up, so I dragged her over there.”

Navid glared at the old man.

“You could at least say thank you. She certainly didn’t.”

A cool breeze rustled over them. James soaked it up for a second, closing his eyes and stretching.

“God, fresh air. No more smell of death.” He opened his eyes again. “Geraldo didn’t make it, did he?”

Navid shook his head and dropped the paint can. He lowered his head. “No, no he didn’t.” Remorse flowed through him, and he wondered how he’d ever be able to honor the man’s memory. But now he had a more pressing concern. He ran to Abby.

He found her lying against the brick wall in the shade. At least James had shown a modicum of humanity was buried somewhere in his rock-hard soul. Navid kneeled by Abby’s side and combed the hair out of her eyes with his hand. He used the other to caress her forearm near the injury. The skin appeared puffier, redder than before, and the yellow scabs were more prominent. He noticed her nails were growing tawny and long. His bottom lip quivered.

Footsteps crunched behind him. “See, she’s okay.” James put a hand on Navid’s shoulder. The gesture felt strange coming from him. “She’s going to need help, isn’t she? Looks like she’s sick. Hurt more than her ankle, huh?”

“Uh, yes,” Navid said. “Maybe...maybe all the stress is killing her immune system. Or maybe it was a chemical in the lab explosion.”

“Explosion?”

“You know, it was how we escaped those monsters and came to you...and Geraldo...and Sandra.”

“Uh-huh,” James said. “Right, right. Well, she’s not getting any better, so it’s in her best interest to get that SOS painted and get some attention, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Navid didn’t trust James’s compassion, but the man was right. They needed to get Abby help—probably more help than James realized. He stood and walked back to the more open area on the roof.

James followed. “Let’s get to it. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover.” He bent to pick up the paint can, but stopped, groaning, and held his lower back. “I’m not sure I’ve got it in me, kid. Can’t bend down like you.”

Navid shot him a distrustful look but started painting the first S on the roof. It needed to get done whether James was going to help or not. He ensured the S was plenty big enough to be seen overhead and moved to begin the O. James unscrewed a cap on a water bottle, took a sip, then deposited it back in his backpack.

“Can I have some?” Navid asked.

“When you’re done,” James said.

Navid glared. He hated feeling used, but arguing with James wouldn’t get the task at hand finished any faster. His thoughts turned to Abby as he painted. He reassured himself that the sooner he got this SOS up, the sooner a chopper would see them, and the sooner they’d be off this roof and away from James. A gust of wind rustled over his back, providing a brief respite from the heat of the sun. It tickled his neck. The cries of crazies sounded from the city streets below like the distant howls of wolves hunting unseen in the forest.

A crick formed in his back from hunching over. He stood and stretched before moving on to the last S.

“Almost there,” James said. He placed a hand above his brow to shield his eyes from the sun. “Haven’t seen a damn chopper since we’ve been up here, much less a plane or something.”

“Yeah,” Navid said. “I remember hearing more when the outbreak first happened, but it’s been a while.” He thought of the pallor taking over Abby’s face. “I hope they haven’t abandoned the rescue efforts.”

“You got that right, kid.”

Navid’s back ached as he bent, painting the last S. The three letters stretched across the massive roof of the hospital, and he figured they were big enough they could damn well be seen from space. Maybe that was an exaggeration, but he half hoped it was true. As James had observed, they hadn’t heard or seen any signs of aircraft in the past few hours. Maybe the government had given up on Boston. Maybe he’d die up here, alone with Abby and James.

He finished the last brush stroke on the S. The paint can was almost dry, and he felt fortunate he’d rationed it out just right. He stretched his arms out and cracked his neck.

“It’s done,” he said.

No response from James.

He looked to where James had been sitting, but the man was gone. A sick feeling grabbed at Navid, and he rushed around the structure where Abby had been earlier. His heart caught in his throat when he saw James standing over her with the ax raised.

––––––––

T
he rotor wash beat around Dom. He watched the Goliath readjust its grip on the chopper. The smaller Skulls let out wails to rival the noise from the AW109’s engines.

Dom fired at the smaller Skulls. Their heads blew back, flesh spraying from the exit wounds. Their corpses plummeted to the earth, where the chopper would soon be if Dom didn’t do something about the Goliath. He shot at the giant beast, but it lowered its head, presenting only the thick, knotting horns. It pulled itself up, clung to the AW109 with one hand, and swung the other to ward off its attacker. Dom ducked inside, narrowly avoiding the claws. No amount of shooting or stabbing would penetrate the overgrown skeletal plates protecting the creature’s malformed head.

Not even his last, desperate shots into the creature’s face seemed to perturb the Goliath. Now the beast appeared intelligent enough to shield its face entirely to prevent an easy kill. But Dom knew one way to bring the creature down. One method he’d learned aboard the
Queen of the Bay
. He realized how lucky he’d been to take that first Goliath down, and now he needed to employ that lesson to kill this one.

“We’re losing altitude fast,” Frank said.

But the pilot didn’t need to tell Dom. He could see the ground rising up, along with the hungry Skulls waiting below. He dropped his rifle in the cabin, near where the others were strapped in. He grabbed a rescue harness, cinched it in place, then attached it to the chopper’s pulley system.

“What the hell are you doing?” Miguel asked, unbuckling and rising from his seat.

Jenna unbuckled and joined Dom at the entrance. She unloaded a magazine on the Goliath. Instead of fighting her off, it dug both claws deeper into the fuselage and shook back and forth. The AW109 listed dangerously. Jenna started to fall, and Spencer grabbed her to prevent her from tumbling out.

“Careful, you fools!” Andris yelled.

“Shit!” Frank said. “Someone needs to do something about this fucker!”

“I’m not letting this bird go down.” Dom pulled his blade from his thigh sheath and took a deep breath. The Goliath swiped at him again, and he ducked under the blow. The massive fist scraped against the open chopper door and left a series of claw marks in the paint.

Dom jumped from the fuselage and landed on the creature’s shoulder. The Goliath shook, and for a second Dom hoped the beast would let go and drop to the ground. The Goliath would fall while the rescue harness and cable held Dom in the air.

But he had no such luck. The Goliath kept one claw firmly embedded in the chopper as it thrashed. Spencer fired directly at the beast’s hand in an attempt to loosen its grip. Chips of the monster’s armor flew, but it still didn’t release. Pain and physical trauma seemed to be no obstacle to this raging creature.

“Come on, fucker!” Spencer withdrew a knife and stabbed it downward into the creature’s hand, but the blade glanced off the beast’s plating.

Dom held tight to the Goliath’s neck but was careful not to let any of the creature’s skeletal growths pierce his skin. He pressed one of his boots against the wing-like shoulder blades to brace himself.

The Goliath let out a frustrated howl and pivoted, trying to knock Dom off its back. The chopper tilted with the creature’s movement. Dom could still hear the alarms going off from the AW109’s emergency system.

Miguel and Jenna hovered near the open door, ready to lend a hand, but the expressions on their faces showed they weren’t sure how they could help. He was alone in taking down this tremendous monster. The beast shook again, and Dom lost his grip. He fell several yards before the cable caught and the harness dug into his sides and legs.

“Chief!” Miguel activated the winch, and the cable pulled Dom upward.

With his knife, Spencer sawed at the creature’s hand still gripping the fuselage. “Come on, come on, come on!”

Andris joined him, desperately hacking away at the monster’s claws.

The Goliath turned its head and licked its cracked lips. It kicked out, and Dom did his best to dodge the attacks. But with nothing to push off against or to hold on to, he had limited mobility.

One of the creature’s feet connected with his chest. It knocked the air out of him, and deep pangs of agony coursed up his side. His sides screamed in pain as he gasped for air. No stranger to injuries, he could tell he’d broken at least one rib.

“Chief, you okay?” Miguel’s voice rang out in his ear through the comm link.

Dom flashed him a thumbs up with his free hand. “Let me finish that bastard!”

“You got it.” Miguel moved back into the fuselage to start the winch.

The Goliath kicked again. This time Dom grabbed the beast’s foot. He could feel one of the dagger-like toenails dig into his skin, drawing blood. That would have to be dealt with later, but for now he focused on climbing the creature’s leg. It bucked and thrashed, struggling to throw him off.

Dom gritted his teeth, every muscle in his body straining against the Goliath’s efforts. The chopper shuddered and started to bank.

“Captain, we’re going down hard now,” Frank said. “Don’t have much time.”

And Dom didn’t have time to reply. He gathered every bit of strength left in his injured body to reach the creature’s back. He grabbed one of the grotesque shoulder blades with a free hand. One of the blade’s sharp edges bit into his flesh, but he didn’t let go. He swung himself atop the Goliath’s shoulder and then stabbed his knife into the one weak spot he knew this monstrosity would have.

The knife met the soft flesh between the skeletal plates in the creature’s neck. Dom dragged it back and forth like a saw, tearing through sinew, blood vessels, and flesh. The Goliath flailed more aggressively, and the AW109 rocked back and forth, Frank clearly struggling to jockey the chopper against the monster’s impressive weight.

The Goliath’s jostling knocked Dom’s knife hand away. He lost his footing, but hung onto the creature with one hand. The Goliath rasped for air while clinging to the chopper.

Dom hoisted himself up again and repositioned himself over the creature’s shoulder to deliver the killing blow. He plunged the blade into the Goliath’s injured neck and tore through its airway. The monster roiled, beating at Dom, but its movements slowed, and its head started to roll back. Its grip on the chopper loosened.

“Bring me up!” Dom yelled.

“On it, Chief,” Miguel replied. He started the pulley system.

The cable grew taut, and Dom started to rise from the Goliath’s shoulder. He reached out to grab the bottom lip of the open fuselage. Jenna stretched to lend a hand once he was in range.

A low growl escaped the Skull, and its body tilted away. Its pale eyelids fluttered over glassy eyes. Dom watched the life bleed out of the gargantuan monstrosity.

For a moment he wondered how this thing had come to be. So many other people had turned to Skulls, explainable from the medical team’s research. But this
thing
was not so well understood, and it was the second he’d come across. He hoped it would be the last.

Dom strained his arms for the open side door, ready to be back in the AW109.

Jenna’s fingers met Dom’s. “Got you, Captain!”

The Goliath’s eyes opened once more. Its free hand shot up one last time, firing at Dom with a singular purpose: kill.

Dom twisted, and Jenna lost contact with him.

“No!” Spencer yelled, leaning out as far as he could without tumbling. He flung out an arm to grab Dom, but he couldn’t reach him.

The monster’s claws scraped against Dom’s chest, reigniting the pain in his already inflamed ribs. The creature pulled back its fist and knocked Dom’s hold loose. He fell, and the rescue harness and cable caught him once more.

But the creature’s final thrashing didn’t stop. Its serrated claws cut into the cable attached to Dom’s harness. The cable snapped, and Dom plunged. The other end of the cable flew back into the AW109.

“Chief!” Miguel leaned out of the chopper with Jenna and Andris by his side.

Dom landed on the Goliath’s chest. He dropped his blade, and it glinted in the sunlight as it fell toward the masses of Skulls below. The Goliath’s eyes closed, no longer struggling to stay open, and its maw gaped. Its fingers finally released from the side of the chopper.

The beast started to plummet. Dom scrambled up its skeletal plates. His lungs burned, and fire tore through his busted ribs.

“No, Dom!” Jenna yelled.

The other Hunters watched in horror. Dom felt his body start to accelerate downward with the Goliath. The torn cable whipped uselessly by his side. His thoughts flitted to Meredith and the words he’d left unsaid between them. To the Hunters, those who had valiantly fought to protect the survivors of this horrendous outbreak and those who’d already made the ultimate sacrifice. To Kara aboard the
Huntress
, recovering from the Oni Agent. To Sadie, waiting loyally by her sister’s side.