Evolution (21 page)

“What
is
that thing?” Anna asked.

“I don’t know. We need to find the others.”

We continued our sprint, wheezing for air. The sounds of the screeches and gunshots were getting closer. Men’s screams sounded in the night. I could only hope that they weren’t either Samuel or Julian.

Finally, the ground leveled, and the road turned. We were getting close to the rendezvous point.

We passed the corpse of one of the crawlers. Huddled against its frame were two forms. It was Samuel and Julian.

“Samuel!” I said, running closer.

He held a finger to his lips.

“We thought you were dead,” Julian said.

“It’ll take more than a few crawlers to kill me,” I said. “Did you guys see that flying thing?”

Samuel nodded his assent, his eyes wide. “It swooped down and took Maxillo with its claws...”

“What was it?” Anna asked.

Samuel waved us over. We got on the ground, scooting against its back.

“I have no clue. But Ashton is up there. If we don’t let him know...”

“How is he going to find us in this mist?”

“We need to find a spot to hide, until things clear up a bit,” Samuel said.

“Where can we go?” I asked. “The forest is down the mountain, and it seems like there might be a Blight nearby...”

“A big Blight, if one of
those
things lives in it,” Anna said.

Samuel shook his head. “No. I don’t think there is a Blight. If there were, Augustus would surely know about it. I think there is some other explanation.”

“The Praetorians?” I asked.

“All dead and scattered,” Julian said. “We only survived by hiding against this.”

The flying monster gave another roar that echoed from the mountains. In response, the crawlers screeched in the distance. They had gone away. For now.

“They might come back,” I said.

“We need to get back to the city,” Samuel said. “The plan has changed. With the Praetorians gone, we need to get Makara and get the hell out of here.”

“I can lead us to the hospital,” Julian said. “It isn’t far.”

A colossal rush of wind pummeled us from above. The ground shook as
it
landed, sending the mist scattering. At first, I saw giant, claw-like feet, covered in crimson scales. The talons were as long as swords, and they curled as they buried themselves in the dirt. A massive body flared upward, crimson and snakelike, along with a massive spread of wings – wings impossibly large. They must have been at least a hundred feet wide. The creature was enormous – it was like a gigantic crawler, only with wings. From its back hopped two creatures to the ground – additional crawlers, who looked like they had been piloting the monster. The monster’s long, serpent neck lowered. It had no eyes – just two empty holes where the eyes should have been. Two massive nostrils opened at the end of its short, scaly snout, quivering as they sniffed the air. The head was round, bald, black as night, the darkness of the head fading to the deep, ruby red scales that covered the rest of its body.

It opened its mouth to reveal rows of thin, needle teeth, already stained with red blood. It opened its mouth and screamed, two forked tongues quivering as the roar emanated, shaking me to the bones.

And all I could think was:
is that a dragon?

“Run!” Samuel shouted.

We scrambled up, just as the crawlers that had been riding the dragon flanked us on either side. The dragon stepped forward, neck and head extended. We ran, but it was too fast. Its mouth opened and closed, snapping as it neared us.

That was when the roar of an engine from above deafened us, sending us all to the ground. It was
Gilgamesh
. A blinding light flashed on, causing the crawlers to screech in pain. The dragon still kept going forward, terribly close.

Gilgamesh’s
twin machine guns then opened up, deafening and thunderous. Lines of bullets entered the dragon’s body, causing it to scream in pain. I turned on my back, to watch the creature standing above us. Its body shook and convulsed as the bullets entered its chest, its neck, its hideous face. It opened its mouth to scream, but nothing came out. It started to fall forward.

“
Out of the way
!” Samuel yelled.

We crawled forward as fast as we could, the creature falling into the spot we had just vacated.

The crawlers, on their multiple legs and with white orb eyes, looked upward at
Gilgamesh
, hissing angrily. Then, they turned on us.

As
Gilgamesh
lowered itself to land, the crawlers charged for us in tandem. I could do nothing but dodge the first one as it tore past me, right for Anna. Anna fell to the ground, the creature looming over her. She skewered it with her katana, quickly pulling it out of its stomach and rolling aside before it could fall on her.

Samuel and Julian attacked the other crawler. Samuel kept his gun pointed at its front, distracting it while Julian swung around. Julian leapt onto the body. The creature turned, as if to swat off a fly. Julian tumbled to the ground, but it gave Samuel the opening he needed to fire on the creature’s gut. Samuel emptied his entire clip as the creature screamed, again and again. Anna rushed forward, dealing the final death blow by slashing a deep ex on the monster’s abdomen. The crawler screeched again as its entrails burst from the wound, spilling onto the ground.

Behind us,
Gilgamesh
alighted on the ground, boarding ramp extending.

We rushed up the ramp and into the open door. As the door shut behind us, we lifted off from the mists and into the night sky.

It was time to go after Makara.

W
e ran to
Gilgamesh’s
bridge, finding Ashton intent on the controls and white hair wild.

“You got here just in time, old man,” I said.

Ashton turned his head, blue eyes wide. “You kids have got my blood pumping! I had to dodge
three
of those things just to get here...”

He saw Anna, for the first time. He smiled. “Good to see you with us, Miss Bliss. Now, if we can just get out of here...” He frowned. “Where’s Makara?”

“Down there,” I said.

“
What
? You left
her
behind now?”

“We had no choice,” Samuel said. “She was injured in the
Coleseo
, and she is in the hospital. Augustus is holding her hostage until we bring you to him.”

“Like hell you’re bringing me to that bastard! We need to get to Makara!”

Ashton turned the ship, facing the city. “If we can find a spot to land, you guys can get there on foot.”

“With those...
things
...flying around?” Julian asked.

“They’re dragons,” I said.

“No,” Anna said. “They’re not.”

“Well, whatever they are, I think I lost them back in the clouds...”

“Maybe not,” Samuel said, pointing.

Shadowy shapes of wings descended, not for us, but for the city of Nova Roma.

“The invasion picked a hell of a time to spread to the Empire,” Ashton said. He looked at Julian. “Where’s the hospital?”

“Well, from the sky it will be difficult to find, but if you could land in Central Square...”

“Central Square, then,” Ashton said. “Find something to hold onto, kids. Things are going to get dicey.”

We rocketed forward, having to hold to the sides of the ship as we descended toward the city. There were at least two of those things flying around, causing chaos.

“Maybe those dragons will change Augustus’s opinion about things,” I said.

“Stop calling them dragons!” Anna said.

“Why? That’s what they are.”

“It’s so unoriginal. Surely you can think of a better name.”

“This isn’t relevant,” Ashton said. “I guess the meeting went poorly?”

“Yeah,” Samuel said. “But he wants to use the Xenos as an excuse to conquer the rest of the Wasteland.”

Ashton sniffed. “It doesn’t surprise me. I was right to keep him out of Bunker One.

At least you got some good intel out of him.” Ashton focused more intently on the controls. “We’re getting close, now.”

“Just land us in Central Square, and fly off again,” Julian said. “That would probably be the easiest.”

“And how will I find you again?” Ashton asked.

“We have flares, right?” Samuel asked.

“Yes, there should be some in the ship’s armory.”

“I’ll get one,” Anna said, rushing off the bridge.

“When you have Makara, get to the hospital roof and shoot the flare,” Ashton said. “Night like this, I’ll be able to see it easily.”

As we passed over the city walls and descended, some of the dragons veered course to come our way. At least three of them were flying toward us at full speed.

Anna rushed back onto the bridge. “You better hurry up!”

“Hold on to your britches, girlie,” Ashton said. “We’re in for a rough landing. You find the flare?”

Anna nodded, holding up a flare gun. My stomach did a flip when the ship suddenly descended.
Gilgamesh
plopped on the square awkwardly, scuttling a few times before coming to a stop.

“I can lose them in the clouds,” Ashton said. “Get your butts out of here!”

“Follow me,” Julian said.

We ran off the bridge, down the corridor, and out of the ship. As soon as we cleared the boarding ramp,
Gilgamesh
thundered toward the sky. A roar sounded from above. One of the dragons was diving for
Gilgamesh
. Ashton, with a slick sideways maneuver, dodged the blow as he blasted for the skies.

But we had our own troubles to deal with. Several guards rushed from the palace gates, staring upward in disbelief as
Gilgamesh
shot away with several xenodragons in tow.

“Does xenodragon work?” I asked.

“That’s even worse.”

“Come on!” Julian said. “It’s this way!”

Julian’s voice snapped the guards to attention. The lead guard yelled in Spanish, sending his cronies after us. Thankfully, none of them had guns. The Empire was so big that likely not everyone in its army had the privilege of owning a firearm.

We saved our ammo, instead rushing ahead across the square. It had completely emptied. The city was a ghost town with all its inhabitants hiding indoors.

Anna took her handgun, aiming it backward to fire a few times. The guards took the warning, stopping them in their tracks.

“
Nos dejen en paz!
” Julian shouted. “
Guarden sus familias!
”

The guards looked at each other, considered, then scattered.

“What did you say, Julian?” I asked.

“I told them to leave us alone and save their families.”

“Good advice,” Anna said.

We exited Central Square, turning down a side street. People watched from the windows as we blazed by. My lungs burned for air, but Makara was in danger. If any of the crawlers had followed their dragon mounts, then...

As if thinking of them was a summons, two crawlers appeared at the intersection ahead. They saw us, and scuttled down the street toward our position.

“This way!” Julian said.

He jumped through an open window, and we followed him in. We found ourselves in a living room, a large family looking at us with wide, surprised eyes. The mother and father looked at our weapons, then at us.

Julian didn’t stay long. We ran out the apartment’s front door, finding ourselves on a staircase. We ran up the steps, even as the monsters began to batter themselves against the door leading into the building.

We reached the top of the stairs, Julian bursting onto the apartment’s rooftop.

“The hospital is just two blocks away,” Julian said.

We were going to have to building hop again. The dragons were nowhere near us, instead circling the city near Central Square, about a half mile away. In the distance came the screams of another victim. More crawlers screeched from the street below. The dragons appeared to be ferrying them inside the city, right over the walls.

I ran after Julian and the others, making the jump to the next building with ease. The buildings were so close together that it would have been hard to fall. We hopped from one, to the other, silently through the night. Finally, reaching the end of the apartment row, we took a ladder down to the bottom. For now, the street was clear.

Once we hit the ground, we ran to the left. Julian was very fast, and hard to keep up with.

He took a right turn. After passing shops, cafes, and more apartments, we came to a large, open area filled with grass. A driveway circled around in front of a large, four story building.

“We’re here,” Julian said.

We ran up the drive and through the hospital’s front doors. The building was one of the few in the city powered with electricity. The glass doors slid open, leading into a lobby. Blood and dead bodies covered the floor. From within the building, I could hear screams of victims and the horrible wails of predators.

“We can only follow the noise,” Samuel said. “Get your weapons ready.”

We ran down the hall, and up a flight of stairs. When we arrived at the door that led to the second floor, a low hiss sounded from the other side, followed by a woman’s scream.

With a shout, Samuel kicked open the door, pointing his gun down the hallway. A crawler leaned over a small woman’s frame, ready to tear her to shreds.

Samuel fired, hitting the creature’s face. As the creature cried out and faced us with its angular head, his former prey forgotten, I realized that these crawlers were different from the ones in the Great Blight. Their armor was thicker, covering nearly every spot on their body. Their bodies were lower to the ground, affording them better speed and balance. Their legs had thickened, and the blades at the end of their tails were longer. The cruel spikes growing from their backs were curved and sharper than ever.

During our two months in Skyhome, it was not only us getting stronger. The virus was evolving its alien army to become more powerful than ever before.

Instead of attacking outright, the creature curled into a ball, its spikes jutting out on all sides. It rolled forward, right toward us.