The Tide_Dead Ashore

by Anthony J Melchiorri

  This must be some kind of sick joke, Dom thought. An entire recon team had already disappeared, as had the extraction team sent to find them, yet Dom and his crew were expected to swoop in and save the day. They were already down six Hunters, in addition to the loss of Adam from the tech workshop, and everyone else was exhausted from what felt like nonstop battles.

  You don’t go to war with the army you want. You go to war with the army you have.

  Dom steeled himself, knowing he might well be committing to a kamikaze mission. But he drew strength from those relying on his success. From Meredith to his daughters, to the civilians and midshipmen, to the millions of lives still scrabbling for survival from the Congo to Canada. He had no other choice. There was no backing down.

  As much to Kinsey as to himself, Dom said, “Then it looks like our next stop is Tangier.”

  ***

  Kara stood on the wind-swept tarmac next to Navid. At first, she had been happy to hear that her father was no longer considering sending her to the US. But then he’d told her he couldn’t keep her on the ship, either; it was too dangerous. If the FGL retaliated against the Huntress, she and Sadie would be in imminent danger. Kara understood, of course, but it didn’t feel any better to be stuck on this island while everyone she knew took off.

  To keep her mind off things, she had helped load the C-130 that would take Shepherd, Rachel, and Rory back to the United States. The family that had been with them since Boston, Rich and Tammy Weaver and their son, Connor, had also boarded, along with the fourth Boston survivor, Alex Li. Divya and Navid would be going to the States to help set up the first Phoenix Compound batch. Navid would also troubleshoot any issues with the neurological tissue delivery systems production. As the medical lead on the mission, Divya had also helped ensure Terrence could make as easy of a transit as possible. The man had been loaded up with sedatives. Matsumoto had been brought on last.

  Kara remembered when the old man had first been brought to the Huntress. He had had a glassy-eyed, wild stare. But he surveyed his surroundings now with the alertness of a falcon searching for prey. There was an intense curiosity in that gaze—an expression Kara had learned to associate with scientists like Lauren and Navid. They all had that look about them when faced with challenging problems. The look meant the brain behind those eyes was operating at light-speed, full-flow analytical mode.

  Kara wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the change in Matsumoto.

  “Ever since Lauren removed that strange brain implant,” Navid said, “Matsumoto’s been acting more like a normal human. He hasn’t spoken much, but it’s like a curtain has been lifted.”

  “I thought so too,” Kara said. “You can just tell there’s something different.”

  “I hope Chao and Samantha are able to unravel that device’s purpose,” Navid said. “It seemed like more than GPS tracking. I think Lauren’s hypothesis that it may have exerted some kind of mind control isn’t so far off the mark. It sounds crazy, but they were supposedly using stuff like that on the Titans.”

  Kara shivered at the mention of the gargantuan Skulls. The Hunters hadn’t talked much about the giant creatures. She suspected the Congo held too many dark memories for them, especially with the loss of Renee. The bags under their eyes had only seemed to grow deeper, and the sallowness in their gaunt cheeks had gotten more pronounced every day. It was as if she were watching them turn into something worse than Skulls. They had paid an immense physical toll, and she could only imagine what their unseen psychological injuries were like.

  She shook herself from those gloomy thoughts. The Hunters were tough, brave, and smart. They could take care of themselves—and Dom would make sure they were okay. “Mind control, really?”

  Navid shrugged noncommittally. “Maybe not mind control, but at least some kind of influence. Spitkovsky’s device could have been keeping Matsumoto in a trancelike state or training the old man’s mind to work the way they wanted it.”

  “That’s sickening. I mean, I have no sympathy for Matsumoto, but the idea of that kind of enslavement...”

  Silence hung over them for what seemed to Kara like forever. She felt a twinge of something in her gut. Unease, anxiety. She still wasn’t happy about her father leaving to go off and fight Skulls and Russians and mad scientists. And now, she had to say goodbye to someone else.

  “Navid, promise me I’ll see you again,” she said suddenly.

  Navid turned to her, his big brown eyes full of emotion. “Kara, when Abby died...” He paused. His voice grew shaky whenever he spoke of his girlfriend-turned-Skull. “When Abby died, I thought I wanted to die as well. I was ready to go. Your father gave me a purpose again.” His hands shook as he reached up to sweep his hair back from his face. “And then I met you.”

  He locked eyes with Kara. The rest of the world melted away. The wind seemed to grow still. The whine of aircraft engines went silent. It was only the two of them in that moment.

  “Kara, you have shown me there is more than just survival, even in the face of the apocalypse. There’s life, too. You helped me get through the most painful moments I’ve ever experienced. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m so very glad I met you and...”

  He trailed off, his eyes focused on her lips. Kara took a step forward and placed her palm against his chest. She felt his pulse beneath her fingers, the warmth of his skin through his shirt. They’d both been through so much—lost so much—but they were here now. Alive. Together.

  “I’m glad I met you too,” she said.

  He bent down and pressed his lips against hers. She hesitated for a moment, not sure if this was the right thing to do, and then melted into the kiss. It lasted for only a moment, but she knew that moment would resonate in her memory like a gong echoing in a canyon.

  Navid pulled away reluctantly, and the real world crashed against her. The drone of the C-130 and the crash of the waves. Someone’s voice calling to Navid.

  “I will see you again,” he said.

  He disappeared into the cargo hold of the plane with a final wave. She stood there as the plane taxied to the runway and then climbed into the gray skies. After the warmth of their embrace, her body felt empty and cold, like a tree with no leaves in the winter.

  It took her several minutes before she could muster the courage to face the next goodbye. The base was abuzz with activity. Portuguese troops rushed between jeeps and transport trucks, loading up supplies for the Huntress. Vehicles crisscrossed the roads. In the midst of the chaos, she saw her father kneeling in front of Sadie. Nearby, Maggie beat the ground with her tail while licking Sadie’s face to comfort the girl.

  And here it was. Kara’s second goodbye for the day.

  She joined her family, wrapping her arms around them all in turn.

  “I love you girls,” Dom said.

  When he released Kara from a bone-squeezing hug, Meredith approached her.

  “Don’t you worry, I’ll keep your dad safe,” Meredith said.

  And just like that, something broke in Kara. Maybe she was just being a crybaby, but her eyes filled with tears at the thought of losing Meredith. Kara didn’t even know her, really, but Meredith was important to her dad and had been a good friend since joining the crew. She threw her arms around Meredith. The woman stiffened as if surprised by the gesture then returned the hug.

  “Make sure he doesn’t do anything dumb,” Kara said.

  “I’ll do my best,” Meredith said.

  Then Kara let go, and her dad turned to her.

  “You’ll be okay here. It’ll be like a mini-vacation on the island. And before you know it, we’ll be back to pick you up.”

  “Sure,” Kara said. Her bottom lip trembled as she hugged her father. One goddamned goodbye after another. She could take this. As much as Kara hated the idea of being separated from the people she cared about, she knew it was for the best. Knowing she was safe at Lajes would take some of the worry off Dom’s mind and let him focus on staying alive.

&
nbsp; Someone honked a horn, and Dom gave both of his daughters one more hug before turning to go. Soon, their convoy rolled away in a cloud of dirt. Kara wrapped an arm around Sadie and pulled her sister in close.

  Once again, it was just Kara, Sadie, and Maggie. Two sisters and their dog, alone in the apocalypse.

  So many goodbyes, so many promises. Navid had vowed to come back to her, Meredith had promised to protect her dad, and her father had sworn he’d be okay on the Huntress while she and Sadie were safe here on the island. Would they all survive the coming storm? As she watched the Huntress prepare to depart, she feared one of them would end up being forced to break their promise to come home safely.

  -14-

  The ship shuddered under Dom’s feet. From the bridge, he watched the port shrink. He tried to ignore the worry he felt leaving his daughters behind, but he couldn’t stop picturing Sadie and Kara’s faces staring at him with unshed tears in their eyes.

  “They’ll be fine,” Meredith said as if reading his mind. Hell, maybe she could. There had been an unspoken connection between them for years, even before they’d taken their relationship beyond a mere working partnership.

  “I know you’re right. Lajes is the safest place for them right now.”

  “But knowing it doesn’t help, does it?”

  He draped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer. Meredith leaned her head against his chest, her buzzed hair little more than auburn stubble. It tickled the bare skin of his neck. Earlier, he’d seen his eldest daughter kissing Navid at the base, and part of him wanted to march down to the med bay and give the young man a talking to. But as he held Meredith in his arms, he decided that they should all seize whatever moments of happiness they could get.

  “What’s the deal with Tangier, Chief?” Miguel asked as he marched into the electronics workshop. Dom and Meredith sprang apart. “We flying in, diving in, swimming in, or running in?”

  “That’s what I hoped we could discuss,” Dom said as he, Meredith, and Miguel were joined by Thomas. They all settled around the chart table. “How’s the ship looking, Thomas?”

  “This old girl is damaged, but she’ll still get us there undetected. Our stealth capabilities are intact.” Thomas indicated a point along Morocco’s coast just south of Tangier. “We can drop you off here. After that, it’ll be up to you all on how to proceed.”

  “Which is the million-fucking-dollar question,” Miguel said.

  “Bingo, brother,” Dom said. “These assholes shot Ronaldo’s men right out of the sky. Having Frank drop us off at the port isn’t going to fly.”

  Meredith raised a brow. “Was that supposed to be a joke?”

  “Unintentional,” Dom said, but he flashed a grin at her. “Kinsey also lost men on a ground mission. His SEALs went dark, so we don’t exactly know what happened, but we do know it isn’t good.”

  Dom traced a finger around the perimeter of Tangier. “I propose we use the Zodiacs to land here. After that, we’re going to push through the city on foot. And one more thing—we don’t have much time, so it has to be tonight.”

  “Goddamn,” Miguel said, flexing his prosthetic fingers so that the hidden blade popped out. “I’m going to get to use this again plenty, aren’t I?”

  Dom nodded, swallowing a lump in his throat as he called up the images Ronaldo’s men had sent before going down. Hordes of Skulls swarmed the riads in one photo, clamoring over the golden-brown buildings like termites. A few Goliaths towered above the others, hulking like overgrown, skeletal gorillas. Other images showed empty streets, but they didn’t look that much less bleak to Dom’s trained eyes. In every one of those homes and shops, packs of Skulls might be lying in wait.

  “I don’t want to do it like this, but I don’t know another way,” Dom said. “I think we’re going to have to drive straight up through the city. We’ll use the buildings as shelter until we get to the medina. There, we should have a little bit more protection, but we’re going to be running into all kinds of doors and corners.”

  Doors and corners meant plenty of places for the enemy to hide. Plenty of places to be ambushed and overwhelmed. It meant surprises every few feet, and he could see it in every one of their eyes that they knew any progress to the port was going to come at a cost.

  Miguel whistled. “This ain’t going to be easy, Chief.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Dom said. “But we don’t have much of a choice. I think we can fare better against a few Skulls than we can against anti-aircraft fire.”

  “A few Skulls?” Meredith asked, caught up in his understatement. “We’ll be plowing straight through the hordes.”

  “True enough. If you all have any better ideas before we leave, I’m all ears. My hope is that we can do this quietly and get our asses into that port before the Oni Agent shipment leaves. Because once it’s loose”—he mimed a knife across his throat—“that’s it.”

  ***

  Andris hated the spray of the water across his face. He hated it because he liked it. This wasn’t a joy ride. He wasn’t supposed to enjoy the Zodiac bobbing over the waves or the addictive churn of adrenaline. He wanted to hate it all. Hate himself.

  Because he had let Terrence down.

  His mind replayed those moments again when he had hesitated. He had let the chopper scare him away from launching a rocket sooner. Because of that hesitation, Terrence wouldn’t walk again. At least not on his own limbs.

  And whenever Terrence woke up, he’d find himself in some military hospital far from his comrades.

  Andris knew what that would feel like. He still had nightmares about it. A wolf abandoned by his pack. He had been left for dead by the French Foreign Legion in Syria. It had only been happenstance that Dom had run across him. Blood had been gushing from the wounds in his chest. The pain in his abdomen had made him wish he were dead.

  But he had lived. He had become a Hunter. And he had forced his brother-in-arms to sacrifice himself. Perhaps Dom should have left him in the desert to bleed out after all.

  Stop it, Andris, he thought. This will solve nothing. It will not heal Terrence. It will not save anyone else. Focus.

  “Looks grim, doesn’t it?” Meredith said over the sound of waves crashing against the small craft. The sun was settling behind a blanket of gray clouds. The effect gave the whole land a sickly, shadowy feel.

  “Yes,” Andris said flatly. “Very grim.”

  The Zodiac bounced over the waves until they reached the rocky coastline. Shabby stonework homes dotted the landscape, pitted by the weather and what looked like bullet holes. A long wall stood behind them. Portions of it had crumbled toward the shore. Andris couldn’t tell if it had been like that before or if it had fallen in the struggle to hold back the Skulls. He assumed the worst.

  “I want to hit the shore in two teams,” Dom said. “Miguel, Jenna, Spencer, you’re on me as Alpha. Andris, you take Glenn and Meredith, as Bravo, up there. See that?”

  Andris followed Dom’s finger to a minaret jabbing into the sky. “I want you to provide some cover. Scout out a route for us. We’ll cover any contacts on the ground and whatever’s in your blind spot. We’re going to leapfrog this. Stay alert. Stay cautious. But all the same, we’ve got to do this fast.”

  “Amen to that,” Glenn rumbled. The big man’s jaw was squared, but Andris could see the hint of fear in his eyes.

  He was reminded of words his father had told him as a boy, back when he had complained of being hungry. Back when he said he was scared the Soviets would take him away and send him and his family to Siberia.

  A man who is afraid has a choice. He may let the fear consume him. Or he will let the fear power him. He will live better, be smarter, and act wiser because he knows what is at stake.

  Andris and his comrades understood what was at stake. They were afraid, yes, but they would not let it consume them.

  The Zodiac bumped against the shore, grinding over the rocks. It was time.

  “Miguel, take point,” Dom said.

/>   Alpha team shifted over the gunwale of the Zodiac like shadows melding into the night. They flowed over the rocky shore toward the walls encircling the city. Chunks of stone lay in piles, almost indistinguishable from the rock coursing with choppy waves.

  “Clear,” Miguel said, posting up at the nearest opening.

  Alpha team set up a perimeter under Dom’s guidance.

  “Bravo,” Dom said. “Load out. Head to the tower.”

  “Aye, Captain,” Andris said, fixing his mind on the minaret jutting above the other sandstone buildings like a spear thrusting into the sky. Under Alpha team’s watchful gaze, they spilled into the street. Carts crippled by broken axles and scorched wheels lay abandoned, some still with the skeletons of donkeys in their harnesses. They passed broken storefronts littered with plastic packages, and trash fluttering in the windswept street. Busted windows gaped at him like hungry mouths.

  “Glenn, take point,” Andris said. “Check for contacts.”

  Glenn nodded and pressed his wide hand against a wooden door to the courtyard below the mosque with the high minaret. The door crumbled. It was nothing but scorched wood, barely standing on its own. Andris was surprised a fierce wind hadn’t already taken care of it.

  Glenn slipped in first. “Clear.”

  Meredith followed, then Andris.

  “My God,” Meredith muttered, crouching and shouldering her rifle.

  Andris’s stomach plummeted through his body. Bones, long since bleached by the sun, were strewn everywhere. Dark stains covered the stone paths leading to the mosque like shadows that would never be lifted. Andris could almost smell the stench of blood cooking in the unforgiving Moroccan heat. Across the horrific tableau they walked, through the bones of the dead. Something cracked in a nearby alley. Maybe a sniveling Skull crunching over a broken femur or a feral cat surviving despite the odds.

  His palms grew sweaty in his gloves. He stared down his rifle, scanning every shadow, searching every corner. He was careful not to step on a bone lest the noise attract whatever lurked in the darkness.