The Tide (Tide Series Book 1) (11 page)

Exhausted but determined, she trudged through the night until she reached her next destination: Great Falls, Virginia. She emerged from the woods to a sea of asphalt in front of a strip mall. A host of dark storefronts greeted her. An orange closed sign blinked from the Happy Turtle Tavern, and the lot’s light fixtures cast a brackish glow over the pavement. Several cars sat in the parking lot along with a semi-trailer truck, its diesel engine idling.

Meredith slipped a key from her pocket and made her way to a rust-pocked Honda Civic. She’d bought the vehicle with cash from an unscrupulous seller she’d found on Craigslist and managed to avoid transferring the car’s title to her own name. She unlocked it and threw her hiking backpack and the rucksack with the equipment from her apartment into the rear. She slid into the front seat and started the four-cylinder engine. It sparked to life with an unhealthy grinding sound. She guided the car onto the empty street and prayed it would get her to Harper’s Ferry undetected.

Once there, she’d take the Appalachian Trail north and hide in plain sight by looking no different than the others trekking and camping along the famed footpath. The hike would take her to Maryland, where she’d try her luck at getting ahold of someone at Fort Detrick, one of the Army’s premier facilities in biodefense. She hoped someone there would listen to her.

The car lumbered onto the highway and out of Great Falls. She flicked on the radio and scanned the channels.

“Current weather trends point to—”

“—Democrats don’t care what the Republic—”

“—four eggs and a cup of milk. Then add—”

“—alien spacecraft. I swear. I can’t think of any other way to explain it.”

This ought to be good,
Meredith thought, desperate for anything to take her mind off recent events.

The low, crooning voice of the radio host came through the tinny speakers. “Thank you, Rhonda. Our next caller has something rather unusual to report. We’ve all seen the pictures of giant squids and whales washing to shore. But Roger? Well, Roger has something completely different.”

She followed the highway west. The headlights illuminated swathes of dark, empty asphalt and trees lining the road. She tensed each time another set of headlights pierced the darkness and another car passed. But no one followed her, and no cops pulled her over.

“That’s right,” the caller’s voice cracked with a Georgian drawl. “I live out here near Savannah.”

“What exactly did you find, Roger?”

“A body on a public beach. I was just out sweeping—you know, with my metal detector—before sunrise. Gotta beat the tourists and swimmers and stuff.”

“Makes sense to me.”

“Well, sure enough, I saw a person. Or at least what I thought was a person. But it wasn’t no person, I swear it.”

“What was it, Roger? Tell the listeners what you saw.”

“You see, I wanted to help the fellow, if by God’s good grace they were still alive. So I walked up, grabbed their shoulder to turn ’em over, and cut my hand on something.”

“Cut your hand? I don’t understand, Roger? How’d you cut your hand?”

“The body! The damn body was covered in these bony growths sharp as knives.”

Meredith’s heart stopped for a moment, and she jerked the wheel out of surprise. Steadying the car and herself, she listened to the interviewee with a renewed sense of interest.

“Bones? I’m not sure I follow, Roger.”

“These
things
were just poking out. Kinda like their skeleton was trying to climb out from under their skin. Scared the living sh—”

“We’re live, Roger. Careful with the language. But go on—it sounds gruesome. What’d you do next?” The radio host’s voice seemed measured and calm, but Meredith guessed he was skeptical.

She was not. She’d seen Jay Perry’s last video stream featuring the monster that for all she knew had taken his life. The man on the radio was right to be afraid.

“Nothing. Just got the hell out of there. I tell you, I tell you, I want to know what our government is up to. Crop circles, secret societies...now these weird bodies. Something’s going—”

“Thank you, Roger.” The radio host cut him off. “Our next story is about a couple...”

Meredith tuned him out as she tried to do the math in her head while the road wove on before her. Jay Perry’s team had just reached the rig only a short time ago before she called in Dom’s team, who’d been lying in wait. The body that had washed up on shore couldn’t have originated from Jay’s expedition. She doubted it would’ve been carried by the currents in such a short time. Then she recalled the report that triggered this wild goose chase. The cryptic message requesting program termination had been an early warning. Something aboard the IBSL facility had gone drastically wrong. If whatever was on the rig turned people into monsters, then maybe the workers and researchers had all been affected by this unidentified bioweapon.

If the IBSL had been dark for weeks as the memo indicated, these creatures might have been floating around the ocean for quite some time. Their corpses might be driven up on land by waves all over the Atlantic coast, spreading whatever disease or biological agent they carried. As if to confirm her fears, another caller reported a similar occurrence. Then a third caller described his own encounter. A fourth, fifth, and sixth sent shivers down Meredith’s spine. All had happened within a couple of hours. She thought again of Dom and his Hunters. If anybody was equipped to infiltrate a covert laboratory and unearth its secrets, it was Dom.

But it might already be too late.

––––––––

A
nother explosion rumbled beneath the IBSL oil platform. The entire structure listed, and a long groan resonated through its steel legs. Rain pelted Dom’s biohazard suit as he worked his way across the metal grating lining the edge of the helipad. Glenn slid alongside him. Renee seemed at ease, leaning to balance herself. She joined Dom’s side as another roar from beneath shifted the platform slightly.

Scott lost his foothold, and Glenn shot an arm out to grab Scott’s wrist. Both men steadied themselves and aimed their guns at the approaching horde of monsters. The sooty air played tricks with Dom’s vision as shadows danced among the gray wisps of smoke, illuminated by tongues of flame. The creatures climbed from the windows and doorways around the platform. Among the crackle of the smoldering rig, the voices of the Skulls carried up in shrieks and echoed against the derrick.

“Open fire!” Dom yelled. As the rig lurched, the crack of the Hunters’ weapons sent two Skulls falling backward, chunks of bones flaking down over the rain-slicked surface toward the edge. The Hunters fought to gain purchase as the rig moved beneath their feet, and the Skulls scrambled toward them. The creatures reached out with bony talons, climbing and scurrying over the pipes and rails. The beasts were a barrier of gnashing teeth and skeletal appendages between Dom’s team and the Zodiacs.

“We’re trapped!” Renee shouted.

Dom scanned for a way out, even though he knew there was only one option. They either fought their way through the beasts or went down in a hail of fire and steel.

“We fight to the end,” Dom said. He fired a round that sent a Skull’s body falling forward. “’Til the end!”

Miguel slid next to them. He shouldered his rifle and shot a brief volley that sent flesh and bone flying from one of the Skulls’ faces.

Another explosion echoed over the rig. One of the cranes fell sideways as if in slow motion. Steel screeched in protest. The crane collapsed over the deck, crushing several of the bone-plated Skulls. Yet more creatures climbed between the beams of the fallen structure.

“Keep moving!” Dom barked over the comm link.

Squeezing the trigger of his SCAR-H, Dom advanced toward the creatures. One bounded for him in a full-out sprint, its arms outstretched and claws splayed for attack. He let loose a quick burst. The bullets slammed against the creature’s skeletal chest plate and pinged off its shoulder blades. The Skull leaped and soared. Dom took aim and fired. Three quick shots pierced the beast’s face. It was dead before it crashed against the steel grating, and Dom sidestepped to dodge its malformed body.

“Move, move, move!” Dom shouted.

Renee sprinted forward and hurdled the railing onto a lower deck. Two creatures rushed at her from another open door near the bulbous gas compressors. She stopped to fire just as the deck under the two Skulls disappeared. Tendrils of fire surged into the sky. Another rumbling blast deafened Dom as he watched the concussive force send Renee backward. The Skulls flew into the air, their bodies cartwheeling and tearing into pieces.

“Cover me!” Dom yelled to Glenn and Scott, who obliged with a fierce volley of gunfire. He ran to Renee and fired as he took a knee. A Skull toppled only inches away from slashing her leg. He grabbed Renee’s gloved hand and helped her to her feet. More gunfire filled the air.

“Thanks,” she said before a scream of agony caused them both to twist.

Dom watched Scott fall to the deck. A Skull slashed at his chest. Miguel rushed to help, but he couldn’t get a clear shot at the monster’s face as it bit at Scott’s abdomen. Miguel backhanded the creature with his prosthetic and kicked it backward.

When the Skull staggered, Miguel blasted the creature’s face. The Skull crumpled to its back, revealing a crimson beard of Scott’s blood on its face.

Miguel hoisted Scott’s left arm over his shoulder. “Let’s go, man!”

The front of Scott’s biohazard suit flapped open, and blood gushed out. The sheer amount made Dom pause. They had to stop the bleeding—but the monsters around them wouldn’t make that possible.

“Clear a fucking path!” Dom shot two Skulls encroaching on Miguel and Scott. A hail of bullets riddled the Skulls still climbing over the fallen crane as Dom led the Hunters’ charge. Most of the beasts continued forward, unfazed by the rounds ricocheting off their warped bones. Renee kept pace with Dom and fired with each step despite the pained expression on her face. They made it to the edge of the platform and descended to a landing. Another blast rocked the platform. Groaning metal and the snap of cables and steel wires sounded.

“Double time, Hunters!” Dom yelled. “Bravo team, fall in with Renee!”

Renee split off with her squad toward the ladder where they’d first boarded the rig. Dom waited at the top of his ladder while he ushered the Hunters down to the ocean below. Jenna descended first, followed by Glenn. With one arm over Miguel’s shoulder, Scott limped toward him. His head lolled back and forth.

The shadow of a Skull darted from the cover of smoke. Dom fired before he even had eyes. The shots went wild, pinging harmlessly against the steel struts behind the creature.

“Miguel!” Dom fired again, but the Skull was moving too fast. It cocked back an arm, ready to swipe Miguel just as he prepared to help Scott down the ladder. Dom jumped between the monster and Miguel. He swung the stock of his rifle into the Skull’s jaw. The beast’s head snapped, and it reared back. Dom smashed the butt of his weapon into the creature’s face a second time. It staggered, and he battered it again and again until its face was a bloody pulp of flesh. He aimed a powerful kick into the Skull’s chest. The creature careened over the edge of the platform and plummeted into the murky ocean below.

Only after all his Hunters were descending did Dom scurry down the ladder. He caught up to Miguel and Scott as they struggled to make their way to the waiting Zodiac. Scott’s fingers slipped, and he started to fall. Dom shot an arm out, straining to reach Scott from above, and grabbed the man’s collar. “Hold on, buddy. We’re almost there,” Dom said.

“We got a problem,” Renee said over the comm link.

Miguel helped Scott into the Zodiac while Dom perched on the last rung of the ladder. He looked across at where Renee’s squad descended the ladder to board their craft. The green-hued shapes of the Bravo squad members and the mechanic they’d found weren’t moving. Something was wrong. It only took a moment for Dom to see the team was staring at the churning water where their Zodiac was supposed to be waiting for them.

***

“W
here the hell is my Zodiac?” Renee barked into the comm link.

As if in reply, the groan of a falling crane sounded from above. Several of the Skulls began descending the ladder. Their claws clacked against the steel rungs.

“We’re on our way,” Hector Ko’s voice came through. “Just found Brett’s body.”

“Copy, but get your asses over here.” Renee’s heart leapt even as she took potshots at the Skulls clambering toward her. One of the creatures fell. Its body plunged into the roiling Atlantic. While some of the creatures climbed down the scaffolding and ladders, others leapt over the edge. Their bodies splashed into the waves before disappearing. The platform still listed, threatening to topple over. “What’s your ETA?”

“Now!” Hector’s voice rang in her ears.

She looked down to see the Zodiac spitting out from under the platform and swerving to her position. Hector sat at the tiller and guided the craft under her and her squad.

“Let’s move, Hunters!” Renee waved her squad mates into the boat. The crashing waves tossed it about, but Hector strained against the forces of nature until Renee and her Hunters had clambered aboard. The mechanic, along with Hector, put the craft past normal capacity. “Hector, can we make it back in this weather?”

Hector stared forward as he struggled with the tiller. “We’re at our limits, but I think we can make it.”

One of the Skulls decided to test those limits. It leapt from the ladder and crashed against the gunwale. Its claws stabbed into the inflated rubber sides, and air bled from the wound. Renee lashed out at the beast with the butt of her rifle. She crushed the creature’s face until it let go and fell into the water. She fired at it for good measure, and it sank below the surface.

“Bravo team, clear the platform,” Dom said over the comm link. “Back to the
Huntress
!”

“You heard him, Hector!” Renee yelled, her heart hammering against her chest like fully automatic rifle fire.