Alien vs. Alien (53 page)

CHAPTER 99

T
HERE WERE SUPERSOLDIERS EVERYWHERE,
most of them leaping into the path of laser beams. Some of them looked like they could take flight, but they weren’t doing so.

I assumed they weren’t flying because we finally had jets in the air, firing on the Z’porrah ships. There were a good number of them, but I recognized the flying signatures of several of our aircraft—my flyboys were in the air.

There were fewer people out and about, as Chuckie had said. In fact, I was fairly sure the only mobile people I was seeing were actually androids, because every one of them was fighting in some way. Did my best not to look at the nonmobile people and also tried to ignore the screams. They were farther away, but still, not all the innocents were safe. But I had enough rage, and I couldn’t let despair back until this was all over.

Now that I knew the Gower girls were creating shields, I could just make them out—a slight shimmering around every building.

Which was good, because several of the supersoldiers were down, and every one of them had let a superbeing loose.

The supersoldiers that weren’t taking the Z’porrah laser hits were fighting the superbeings. It was sort of a fair fight, but as I watched, a superbeing sliced through a supersoldier. And released a new friend. At the rate this was going, we were going to have more superbeings than supersoldiers fast.

Speaking of which, the Z’porrah had brought a whole slew of parasites with them. Somehow, they were still held in their protective bubble, but shots were being fired at and around them. Our aircraft weren’t firing at the parasites—the Z’porrah ships were. It dawned on me that ACE had to be who was keeping that protective covering around the parasites, and the Z’porrah were trying to release them.

ACE might be powerful, but he wasn’t limitless. Like the Gower girls, ACE had to be close to tapped out.

The Z’porrah ships started to take an interest in our jets. Our jets were nimble, small, and well piloted, so they were hard to hit. But the flying saucers could shoot from what seemed like any part of their saucer rim, so they could make up for a lack of precision by just flinging a lot of shots all over the place.

Tried to keep track of the jets I was sure were flown by my guys. It was a lot like΀ watching a shell game, and I lost them here and there.

Falling debris forced me to run away from the Lincoln Memorial. I backed into some trees. I was good with hiding for a moment and figuring out where Jeff was, along with my next move. Running around being a target seemed stupid and futile.

I was in trees but had a pretty unobstructed view of the air. Five jets converged on one Z’porrah ship. As they zipped around it in death-defying ways, all their firepower focused at the dome on top, I knew without asking that these were my guys.

One of them hit the magic spot, and the Z’porrah ship started to crack. The jets took off as the flying saucer exploded.

“Yeah! Take that!” I jumped up and down. One small victory was still better than none.

Flying saucer debris rained down, and I hugged the trees. Another downside of this fight was that the debris wasn’t just hitting the Mall. I had no idea how much of it was falling on D.C. and the surrounding area, but I had to figure quite a lot.

My flyboys were at it again, targeting another Z’porrah ship. This time, they knew where the weakness was, and they hit it much faster. Another flying saucer broke apart into a lot of smaller chunks.

Wanted to call someone and tell them the rest of the jets needed to do this same technique. If we could get enough up there, we’d have the Z’porrah on the run. And I might have tried to reach Reader or Tim as the flyboys went after their next target.

But before I could decide if a call or text right now would be the height of bad timing or just what the doctor ordered, several Z’porrah ships released a barrage of firepower.

Three of the jets sheared off, spinning and flipping themselves in the air. They were safe, and I didn’t think they’d taken a hit. I looked for the other two.

They weren’t doing as well. The Z’porrah had blocked them, and they were having to maneuver between flying saucers, laser fire, and each other. They were doing a great job, but all it was going to take was one good hit and they were toast.

My guys were the best pilots out there, though. I didn’t need to worry or hold my breath. But I was doing both.

Another Z’porrah ship came down from above just as the two jets were making a break for the sky. The Z’porrah’s shots hit. One jet was on fire, and one had a wing sheared off.

Even hit, the pilots were the best of the best. They managed to maneuver away from the laser shots. But they were both crashing.

I judged their trajectories and was pretty sure they were trying to hit the tidal basin the Jefferson Memorial overlooked. It was filled with water, and would have far less water traffic than the Potomac.

But they were coming down fast, and even if they managed to hit the water, their chances of survival weren’t good.

I ran for the tidal basin. It wasn’t too far away from where I was, and I had the smoke trail from the jets to follow. Heard the crashes before I reached the water; they’d hit close together.

Jeff could swim almost as fast as he could run. ӀAnd we’d run on top of the water today, we’d gone so fast. So I didn’t slow down when I reached the tidal basin, I sped up.

Both jets were in the water and on fire. How I didn’t bother to question. The way our luck ran, one or both were going to explode. With my guys in there. My feet barely touched the water I was moving so fast.

Had to come to a screeching halt because I’d reached the downed jets. One canopy was off, and there was no pilot inside. The other was still on.

Ripped it off as if it were tissue paper, to see Chip Walker inside. He was bleeding from a variety of areas, including his head.

I couldn’t unlock the restraints. So I pulled them out. Grabbed Walker as carefully as I could. I was back at the high level of rage where everything worked just the way I wanted it to. Walker was light as a feather, and I took off toward the Jefferson Memorial. Put him down gently and scanned for my other pilot.

I didn’t see anyone in the water. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t in there. Took my purse off and left it with Walker, just in case. Then I ran on the water again, around the edge and then crisscrossing so that I could see every part. No one.

Ran back to the jets and searched around them. Took a deep breath and dove under. I was moving so fast that I was able to swim around the wreckage without issue. Which was good. Because I found him, pinned under a jet.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but I shoved the jet off, grabbed my guy, and hauled him to the surface. It was Matt Hughes, and he looked worse than Walker. Put him into the carry position and ran like hell for where I’d left Walker.

Laid Hughes next to him as the jets exploded. I didn’t even turn around. Hughes needed mouth-to-mouth, but I had to slow down to do it or I’d kill him. If he wasn’t already dead.

“Excuse me,” a man said softly.

I looked up. An older couple was nearby. “You need to get to safety.”

The man looked around. “My dear, safety is an illusion.” He had an accent, but I was too distraught to figure out where that meant they were from. “But you look as though you need help.”

“Can you do CPR?”

“Yes.” The man spoke to his wife in their native tongue. She nodded, knelt down next to Hughes, and started the pressing and blowing process.

The man knelt down next to Walker. “He is unconscious. I don’t believe CPR will help.”

More people crept out of the Memorial. Somehow, nothing was really hitting over here, though I didn’t expect that to last.

“Help me get them inside,” the man with Walker said to them.

My purse was still next to Walker, and I put it back over my neck while I dug my phone out and called the one person I knew would be able to handle this situation.

“Kitty, where are you?” Tito asked. He was shouting, and I could tell he was somewhere close by.

“Hughes and Walker are down, and they both look worse than bad. Ӏ We’re at the Jefferson Memorial. Some good Samaritans are trying to help us. I need you here, right now.”

“Gates aren’t working.”

“Then tell me where you are.”

“In front of the Washington Monument.”

“Stay there.” I looked at the man as I dropped my phone into my purse. “Please get them inside. I’ll be right back.”

I took off running. Ran on top of the water again. It was the straightest line to where Tito was.

There were fewer people out now. I hated myself for it, but I didn’t run around the dead bodies. I hurdled them, but I didn’t avoid them.

I was going so fast I sailed under supersoldier feet and past superbeings that moved as if they were standing still. It took only seconds to reach Tito.

Grabbed him and ran back the same way. I’d worry about him throwing up once we were there. Ran across the water, managed to stop before we ran past the Jefferson Memorial.

“Wow,” Tito said.

“You’re not throwing up.”

“Nope. I’ve been experimenting with an antinausea serum in my off time. I took it before you sent us off with Colonel Franklin, when it looked like we might see action. Seems to be working.”

“Extremely glad your Super-Dramamine is a success because Hughes and Walker don’t look like they’re working.” I’d been so fast that the people were basically where they’d been when I’d left, with the woman still doing CPR on Hughes and her husband checking Walker for all the places he was bleeding.

They’d seen me arrive, so this group didn’t look as shocked as you’d expect. Either that or what with a space armada attacking, maybe someone appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye seemed perfectly normal.

“He’s a doctor,” I told them, pointing to Tito. “Please do what he says.”

Tito knelt down between the two pilots and did a fast check. “Please continue CPR,” he said to the woman. Her husband translated. She nodded and kept on.

The man stood up and dug a handkerchief out of his jacket. “Here.”

“Why are you giving me this?”

He smiled and gently wiped my face. “Because you are crying.”

I was? Put my fingers to my cheeks. I was. Wanted to say I
was crying because I was so angry. But I knew I wasn’t. I was crying because Hughes wasn’t breathing and Walker wasn’t moving. “Thank you.” I sniffled and did my best to keep it together. Had to focus on the rage. Hughes and Walker expected me to avenge them. If I broke down, then I wasn’t going to be good for anything.

Tito made a call. He was requesting emergency support, and he sounded grim.

“How are they?” I asked when he hung up.

He stood up and took my hand. “Kitty, last time we were in this situation, I lied to you. You want lies Ӏor the truth this time?”

My throat felt tight. “That bad, huh?” My face was wet. Should have kept the handkerchief.

“Not looking good for either one of them, no.”

“I’ll take the lies. Because you’re a better doctor than you give yourself credit for.” Heard an explosion behind me. Turned to see a fireball going up into the sky. I was fairly sure it was near the Lincoln Memorial. “Tito, I—”

“Have to go. I know. Be careful, Kitty. I’ll do my best here.”

I hugged him. “I know you will. And I’ll do my best there. Please make sure all these people get to some kind of safety. They’re the only ones who stopped to help anyone else.”

“No,” the man who’d wiped my tears said. “We hid. You stopped. We came out to help you, but only because you were here to be helped.” He gently wiped my tears away again. “Never forget that you stopped.” He nodded his head toward the spaceships. “Now go stop them.”

“Yes, sir, that’s exactly my plan.”

I turned and ran across the water again, heading for the fireball.

CHAPTER 100

T
HE SOUND OF EMERGENCY VEHICLES
managed to float over on the breeze as I reached the Lincoln Memorial. I hoped some of them were heading to help Tito, but couldn’t think about that now.

The fireball was already high enough up that I couldn’t be sure where it had originated, though there were a couple of smoking supersoldiers on the far side from where I was, so I had a good guess.

Saw no activity at the top of the Lincoln Memorial steps, but there was a congregation of superbeings and supersoldiers near the bottom of the steps, so I ran over there. Not because I was crazy, but because I had to figure that if Jeff and Christopher were anywhere, they were there.

Sure enough, and they weren’t the only ones. The Peregrines were with them, as were some Field agents, along with the three Z’porrah. They were all fighting—each other and the superbeings—while dodging the supersoldiers. Everyone was moving fast, but the Z’porrah didn’t seem to have the same speed as anyone I’d ever met from the Alpha Centauri system. One small favor.

A group of androids ran into the fray, and I joined them. “What are you doing here?” Christopher shouted as he ran past me. “Get to safety!”

“There is no safety right now! And I’m trying help you guys.”

Of course, I needed a weapon. A Glock wasn’t going to do squat against anything I was looking at here. Had a nostalgic moment for our last intergalactic battle. I’d had a cool Amazon Battle Staff then. Now, I had, well, me. I’d been great with the really fast running, but otherwise, I wasn’t feeling the Living Weapon jazz. Started to consider Christopher’s wisdom. Buրt I hadn’t found Jeff yet.

Ran through the fight, jumping out of the way here, dodging a supersoldier foot there, sliding past a superbeing attack, to end up at the home plate of where Jeff was, fighting Al Dejahl and all three of the Z’porrah.

One of the Z’porrah had its back to me, and I jumped on he, she, or it, wrapped an arm around its neck, and started hitting.

“Get off me, you damned naked ape!”

“Not gonna happen, Flying Dino Dude. And only my friends get to call me a Naked Ape.” Wrapped my legs around the thing’s waist—sort of the inverse of doing this with Jeff. My mind shared that it hated where I’d taken it and wanted a chlorine rinse.

The Z’porrah spun and thrashed, and I held on and pounded its beak. Its wings were very ineffectual—had the distinct impression they were décor at this point, not useful appendages.

Tried to do the twist and break the neck thing, but its neck was really thick, and while it didn’t have the Alpha Centauri hyperspeed or superstrength, it certainly wasn’t a ninety-pound weakling, either.

The Z’porrah put it’s little T-Rex arms out and made some weird, high-pitched sounds. They were almost musical, but not quite. Then it rolled its eyes back so it could look right at me. “Your world will be over now.”

We waited a couple of seconds. Nothing seemed different. “That thing you do with your eyes is pretty freaky, but it doesn’t seem to be working.”

The Z’porrah looked shocked and confused. I tried to twist its neck again. Sadly, no luck, and my attempt seemed to remind it that we were fighting. It went back to thrashing around, and I went back to hanging on and hitting it.

We spun around like this for a little bit, which gave me a weird view of the action and also the chance to hit Al Dejahl on the back of his head with my purse as my bucking Z’porrah and I went by him.

I lasted more than eight seconds before the Z’porrah managed to flip me off its back, so I had a future career as a bull rider, should we have a future.

Flipped in the air so that I’d be able to roll as I landed. Did and rolled into Jeff.

As I did, one of the Field agents got hit and staggered back, right into the Z’porrah I’d been fighting. It opened its jaws and bit. The agent screamed as the Z’porrah ripped his arm off. And ate it. The agent tried to get away, but the Z’porrah literally bit his head off, crunched it up, and swallowed. I wasn’t positive, but the Z’porrah looked a little bit bigger after this.

“Get out of here, baby,” Jeff said as he pulled me to my feet.

“No.” I found my Glock, made sure the safety was off, and walked over to the Z’porrah. It opened its beak, pr
esumably to bite my head off. I aimed and did the rapid-fire technique Mom had taught me. Unloaded all fifteen rounds into the thing’s head.

Its head exploded. It didn’t bring the agent back, or Hughes and Walker, but it was incredibly satisfying.

My satisfaction didn’t last long. Jeff grabbed me just before a supersoldier stomped whereۀg I’d been. The rest of the Z’porrah was squished flat, so that was one for the win column.

However, the superbeings and supersoldiers were boiling around us, and we had to leap out of the way of a variety of feet, or at least things that hit the ground. Decided it was time to be a good wife and obey my husband’s orders, just this once.

However, before I could get out of the action, there was a loud sound from above. Suddenly, all of us were in shade. And it was spreading.

Looked up to see what was causing our growing shadow. A Z’porrah ship had been hit enough that it was breaking up, but it wasn’t breaking apart. Instead, it was crashing. Right onto us.

The crush of supersoldiers, superbeings, remaining Carnivorous Flying Dinos, and androids left us no escape openings. More supersoldiers were tearing toward us, firing whatever projectiles they had at the falling ship.

Felt someone hit up against my back and looked over my shoulder to see Christopher back-to-back with me. Jeff was at my side. And I knew we were all going to die, right here and right now.

I took Jeff’s hand. Time for last words. Or something. As I watched the Z’porrah ship head toward us, I felt compelled to say something. “I really wish we had a protective shield around us right now, and, barring that, I wish we’d gotten to say good-bye to Jamie.”

And as soon as the words were out of my mouth, there she was.