Matt Archer: Redemption (3 page)

A shocked gasp ran through the room. I hardly cared. There’d be more than gasps soon enough.

“Tink, what’s going on?”

Something it’ll take all five of you to handle. Find the knives. Johnson is pulling the vehicle close to the stairs out front, but humans are dying all around him. He’ll be surrounded before long.

I grabbed Will’s arm. “We gotta go.”

His face was grim. “I know.”

I motioned for the other wielders to come, but Patrick yelled over the growing panic in the room, “You are not dismissed!”

A long, horrified scream rang out in the hallway beyond the chamber doors. It ended in a sobbing gurgle. Everyone fell silent except for a few reporters whimpering in fear in a corner.

The general rose, pointing at the MPs lining the walls. “Escort everyone to the bunker. Take back routes as much as possible. And no matter what you hear or see, do not deviate or open the doors until I—or one of my men—give command.”

Patrick waved his gavel, like he was going to belay the order, but more screams tore through the air. The MPs leapt into action, herding people toward the dais to take the back door out of the room.

I turned to Mom and Mamie. “Go with them. Do
not
leave the bunker until it’s clear.”

“Baby.” Mom’s eyes filled with tears. She’d never been this close to a fight and I knew it had her rattled.

I kissed her cheek. “It’ll be okay. Just go.” I turned to Brent. “Make sure they’re safe.”

“I always do.” Brent took Mamie’s arm and tugged her toward the back door. “Come on. We need to get under cover.”

The last thing I heard before running out was Congressman Tarantino saying into his microphone, “Godspeed, men. And thank you. Dismissed.”

Chapter Three

The hallways were chaos. People scrambled over each other in a mad race to get away from
something,
but I couldn’t tell what it was.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t friendly.

A trail of bodies littered the marble, crimson stains seeping from what appeared to be gouge marks in their chests, legs or guts. Okay, whatever we were dealing with had sharp, powerful claws.

Ramirez jogged past me, calling Johnson on his cell phone. “Where are you?... We’re on our way out … Acknowledged.” Without slowing, he said, “Air assault. We need support.”

General Richardson’s voice, not far behind, surprised me. “I’ll head to the communication center and ask the Air Force to scramble fighters. Check in once you know exactly what you need.”

At a juncture near the entrance, he and Aunt Julie turned toward a side door, an emergency exit that led to the back of the building. A mobile communications van was parked in the alley.

Uncle Mike caught up to me, watching them go. “Davis is in there. We wanted to be prepared for trouble so we had him rig up a command post for us. There’s a tactical vehicle behind it. Murphy, Blakeney, Nguyen and Lanningham are waiting there. Parker’s team is two blocks down and Dorland has an ordnance team on the way.” He flashed me a stressed out smile. “You know, just in case.”

“Smart,” I said as we slowed to approach the door.

Ramirez peeked around the corner. “Doors torn off the hinges. Security area wrecked. Bodies everywhere. I don’t see any hostiles and Johnson’s at the curb. We need to get to him.”

A shrieking cry echoed across the mall outside, and fresh screams followed.

“That might be harder than we thought,” Parker said.

“Was that a pterodactyl?” Will muttered. “Because it sounded like a sound effect from a dinosaur movie.”

“No idea,” I said, feeling Tink move in mind, remaking me, turning me into her weapon of choice. My skin practically crackled with the power, and the headache I’d had all day burned away with the strength of her magic. “But we’re going to take them out.”

I ripped off my jacket and dress shirt. My undershirt fit close and would be easy enough to move in. The pants weren’t ideal, but wouldn’t get in the way too much. The shoes couldn’t be helped. I would’ve given anything for a pair of boots, though. Once he caught me stripping down, Will did the same thing, flinging his tie with more force than necessary.

“I hate those things,” he muttered, sending his jacket airborne.

“Quiet,” Jorge said, closing his eyes. “They’re coming.”

Ramirez slid back against the wall and peeked around the corner, using hand signals to tell us one was inside. None of us dared breathe as the sound of talons clicking across the marble announced its arrival.

We couldn’t wait. Johnson’s SUV was a target and we needed to get to our knives if we were going to be of any use in this fight. There was only one way out and that was through the front door. One of us had to go for broke, and it might as well be me.

“Make me fast,” I whispered to Tink. “I can do this.”

Will shot me a dark look. “
No.
Wait for the signal.
”

But Tink had already shot me full of adrenaline and with a war cry worthy of an Apache, I ran around the corner.

Don’t stop, whatever you do,
Tink commanded.

Good thing she said that, because every instinct I had was telling me to freeze and behold the terror before me. A brown, leathery, half-lizard, half-bird monstrosity nearly filled the entryway. Resting on its haunches, the creature was fifteen feet tall, with a thick, hooked beak and talons that could probably crush a small car—with everyone still in it.

I followed Tink’s instructions rather than my instincts, though, and plowed past it. The monster snapped at my head, slamming its beak into the marble floor and sending broken shards flying. One sliced my ear, but I didn’t stop. I sprinted for the opening as fast as Tink could send me.

I nearly tumbled down the shallow steps and Johnson flung open the back door of the SUV. He tossed my metal knife case at me and went to work opening Will’s. I pulled my knife free and turned to take on Freakasaurus Rex. It was trying to come after me, but its wings were too wide, and it had gotten itself wedged in the doorway. Not daring to question my luck, I threw the knife hard and it zipped straight into the creature’s eye. It thrashed like a marlin reeled into a boat, warping the doorframe around its body and cracking the stone walls.

“Give me Will’s knife,” I snapped. Johnson slapped it into my hand and I threw it, too. Will’s blade slammed into Freaky’s forehead and it went down with a thud that caused one of the stone columns out front to buckle.

“Come on,” I told Johnson and ran to collect the knives. The other wielders met us at the second doorway, grabbing their knives from us on the fly.

“Call it out, Captain” Ramirez ordered.

“I’ve seen about a dozen of these things.” Johnson pointed at the Capitol Rotunda.

Two Freakasauruses were perched on the dome, eating … no, I didn’t really want, or need, to know what they were eating. A third creature dive-bombed the crowd while people scrambled to find a safe place to hide. I wondered why they didn’t run into the Capitol building to seek shelter, but got my answer when a fourth monster flew out of the front doors, carrying a person in each set of talons.

“Where’s air support?” Parker asked, taking in the scene with one long glance. His usual easygoing demeanor had changed into that of a hunter’s: sharp-eyed, calculating and hard. “There are security flights over the capital all the time.”

“We need to move as many people as we can first,” Uncle Mike said. “The general says they want to try short-range missiles to destroy these things, but only if we can clear the area or divert the creatures to safer ground. The last thing we need to do is kill civilians with friendly fire.”

“Orders, Colonel?” Will asked.

“Fan out, gather as many people as you can and herd them into the office buildings.” Uncle Mike pointed down the street. “Parker, you and Jorge go after that group running amok in the Mall. They’re easy pickings out there. Matt and Will, take Independence. Ramirez and Johnson, clear the Capitol.”

We all nodded and took off in different directions. I punched Will’s arm to get his attention. “The Library of Congress is two buildings down. It’s huge and can hold a lot of people. If it’s not overrun, we’ll lead everyone there.”

“Got it.”

We jogged along the street, yelling for people to move toward the Library of Congress building. In the beginning, only a few people listened, but then a Freakasaurus came swooping down to grab a man lagging behind. Will and I doubled back and came at the creature from opposite directions.

“I’m going high,” Will shouted.

“I’ll go low, then.”

Before we made it there, the creature had pecked the guy into pieces and people were surging forward, screaming.

“Library of Congress,” I bellowed, fighting my way through the panicked mob. “Go there now!”

Despite having to fight our way upstream, we made it to Freaky before it finished its meal. Will took a running leap and landed on its back, while I slid low under its belly, stabbing as I went. The monster rose up on its legs, shrieking, and I skittered backward so it wouldn’t fall on me. How Will stayed on its back, I’d never know, but he did and rammed his blade into the base of its neck. It came crashing down and Will tumbled to the street. I ran to help him up.

“Merde,” he wheezed. “Ça fait mal.”

“What?” I said. “Your French is showing.”

Will dusted off his dress pants. Green blood from the monster was smeared across both legs. “Je ne peux pas dire que je le fais.”

“I have no idea what you just said.”

He growled. “It sounds like English in my head, okay? I can’t help it—my ancestry really screws with me.”

I was going to tell him that whining was unbecoming for a guy who was the offspring of both Vikings and French nobility, but a large shadow passed overhead. A new monster circled and started diving straight for us. I threw myself in front of Will, knife up, with no idea how we’d survive an air attack.

As the thing closed in to strike, a rifle shot cracked nearby. Daylight shone through a hole in the monster’s wing membrane. It swerved off course and another shot rang out. A second spot of daylight opened up in its other wing. Then a third, catching it right above one of its wing-bones. Screeching, the thing came to an awkward landing, not stalking us, but heading toward an alcove between buildings.

It was looking for the shooter.

Will and I chased the beast down. “Hey!” I yelled. “Ugly! We’re over here!”

It turned surprisingly fast given its bulk and snapped at me. I jumped back and its beak whistled by my head to slam into the concrete. That didn’t even hurt it; instead, a huge pothole opened up on Independence street.

It screeched again, blowing in our faces with breath stinking of rotted meat. The creature flung out a wing and caught Will, tossing him ten feet. He landed on the sidewalk and rolled into a fire hydrant with a thunk, but got right back up.

We circled the creature. It flapped its wings, trying to get airborne, but two shots opened two more holes and it finally folded them at its sides and turned back toward the shooter with a furious gleam in its eye.

Will and I ran after it. With an annoyed squawk, it snapped at us again, its beak closing with a loud click. I didn’t want to throw the knife at it. They were too hard to kill and I worried all I’d do is piss it off more. So I did the only thing I could—I jumped onto its back. Will braved its talons to slash its wings, opening large, jagged holes that would definitely keep it grounded. It bucked, trying to throw me off, but I used my knife as a handhold, stabbing my way all the way up its back.

It took all my strength to drag the blade through its thick neck, but Tink gave me an assist and the Freak collapsed onto the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

Will and I checked on the rest of the people we were supposed to be herding and saw that most of them were already off the street, with the remainder pushing their way into the Library of Congress.

“We need to find the sniper, make sure he’s okay,” Will said.

I nodded and followed him in the direction the shots came from. We didn’t have to go far, though, before the sniper—and
her
spotter—came out of the shadows.

Will and I stopped, mouths open.

The high-caliber rifle Penn had managed to commandeer was slung over her shoulder, like she was a guerilla fighter fresh from a street war. The powder burns on her hands and the dirt on her face only added to that mental picture. The fact that the rifle was half as tall as she was? That only made her more terrifying.

“What?” Penn said, as we continued to stare. “I’ve been shooting skeet since I was six years old. My granddaddy threw clays for us on his farm all the time. These bird-things are a bigger target and easier to hit.”

“I think I finally know what dumbfounded means, though. It’s a picture of Matt’s expression right now,” Ella said, grim with a smear of blood across her forehead. She carried binoculars and two replacement magazines. I wouldn’t want to come across her in an alley, either.

“Where did you find the rifle?” I asked, glancing at the sky to see if we had incoming. It was ominously quiet up there.

Ella grimaced. “A dead soldier. I didn’t want to do it, but Penn and I got stuck trying to leave and she said she knew how to shoot. The mob was crazy and we couldn’t break free, so we improvised.”

“A few of the soldiers had shot holes in their wings, so I did the same thing.” Penn shrugged. “It worked.”

“Yeah, it did,” I said. “Thanks for helping us out. Now, you two need to get inside where it’s safer.”

Penn propped a hand on her hip. “We’re not hiding. You need us.”

Any argument I could’ve made got nixed as a cloud of black filled the sky overhead. Dozens of Freakasauruses covered up the sun, turning day to dusk in a blink.

Bakers’ dozens—if I had to bet, there were thirty-nine of them. Three sets of thirteen, bearing down on a city full of people.

“I think you might be right,” I told them. “Okay, find higher ground where you can see. A place that’s too tight for one of them to reach in and grab you.”