The Tide_Ghost Fleet

by Anthony J Melchiorri

  The sole of her boot started to sizzle, and she recoiled, drawing her leg in close. The acid didn’t stop. She scooted backward, but there was nowhere else to go. She had to leave the shelter of the table. She started crawling behind the fallen ceiling beam, praying the Titan wouldn’t see.

  Then a wall of angry sound blasted against her. Rancid breath washed over her, filling her lungs and nearly making her vomit.

  Her eardrums vibrated from the acoustic assault, and she yelled through her comms, “Andris, help!”

  She had no idea if he could hear her over the Titan’s deafening roar. But Andris had never yet let her down—nor could he pass up the opportunity to make something go boom.

  Asphalt and chunks of Skulls flew into the air in the most macabre firework show Meredith had ever seen. Chips of the Titan’s armor flaked off in the blast. She ducked behind the ceiling beam as the splinters of organic armor impaled themselves into the walls and rubble around her. Something sliced into her leg, and she yelled out in pain. But the Titan couldn’t hear her over its own wails. It stood straight and began stomping around the street, smashing what remained of the crippled and injured Skulls.

  Meredith scrambled out of the house as the Titan punched the building. More shrapnel slammed against her back and pinged off her helmet. But she didn’t care. She was alive, and she wanted to stay that way.

  Willing all her strength into her legs, she sprinted down the street and dove into the house where Andris and O’Neil had bunkered down.

  “Well, trying to draw the Titan off you guys didn’t work like I had planned,” Meredith said, trying to catch her breath.

  “I told you,” Andris said. “We should stick together. Wolves are nothing but dogs when hunting alone. They are only wolves in a pack.”

  “Yeah, yeah, you were right,” Meredith said. The Titan was still screaming in agony and pounding the street, but at least it didn’t come any closer. She gestured to O’Neil. “How’s he doing?”

  Andris held one hand up and moved it back and forth like a seesaw. “Eh, he is trying.” Then he nodded toward a nearby window. A group of Skulls stood outside, twitching as if being electrocuted.

  “That’s all he’s got so far?” Meredith asked.

  “I can... still... hear you,” O’Neil said through clenched teeth. Blood trickled from his nostrils.

  “Sorry,” Meredith said. “It’s difficult with the Titan, isn’t it?”

  “He said that is no longer the worst part,” Andris answered on O’Neil’s behalf. “The problem is something else is trying to control the Skulls.”

  “Something else?” Meredith rushed to another window that faced the port. “The Hybrids on the ship. Goddamnit, what are they doing?”

  Andris shrugged. “O’Neil isn’t certain, but we are trying to get the Skulls to go to the mountains, no?”

  Meredith nodded.

  “Well, they are trying to get them to go to the sea.”

  “That makes no sense. The Skulls can’t swim. Unless... oh, shit, shit, shit.”

  Some of the Skulls broke from O’Neil’s hold and sprinted straight for the water. Meredith ran back to the front window and peered between the broken shards of glass. The Titan had stopped its stomping and now faced the port. It seemed drawn by the Skulls’ desperate charge and took its first tentative step toward the sea.

  “They’re trying to call the Titan to the Sahand.”

  ***

  Dom recoiled as the Hybrid pounced at him. He unleashed a torrent of lead into the half-man, half-monster’s chest. Bursts of blood and bone sprayed from the wounds. Somehow, even as the Hybrid hit the floor, bleeding out, the monster scrambled forward, pulling himself toward the Hunters.

  “Chief!” Miguel yelled.

  He kicked the dying Hybrid in the face, caving in the Russian’s nasal cavity. The other Hybrids charged with all the fury of mindless Skulls. Miguel flipped up his prosthetic and squeezed his fingers together. A spray of acid met the Hybrids. The Hybrids screamed, no longer in anger but in pain. They thrashed as the acid chewed into them, revealing glistening organs.

  “Fire!” Dom bellowed.

  The Hunters finished the job the acid had started. Those Hybrids still alive had dropped their weapons, swatting at the acid in a desperate attempt to stop the pain. The Hunters made short work of them. Then Dom saw movement at the end of the corridor.

  Another Hybrid. This one yelled something in Russian before disappearing back the way it had come.

  “Our cover’s blown,” Glenn said. “He just announced us over the Hybrids’ comm systems.”

  “Then we can’t waste any more time,” Dom said.

  He rushed down the corridor, following the map on his smartwatch toward where the ladders to the bridge should be. Gunfire still rang out all across the ship. Human screams were interspersed with the demonic howls of the Hybrids.

  “Almost there,” Dom said, pointing to a set of ladders. “This should take us up. Miguel, on point. Glenn and Jenna, behind me.”

  He knew it was an overused expression, a cliché of the highest order. But in that moment, as he looked up toward where the ladders would take him, he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Every hard-fought step mankind had taken could be erased at the push of a button in a matter of minutes. Lauren and Navid might be swept from this world, along with all the other European scientists struggling to save humanity from utter extinction.

  And if he failed, if the Hunters made their last stand here, then it felt as though everything they’d fought and bled and died for would be for nothing.

  If he failed, then Spitkovsky and the Forces of Global Liberation would win.

  A voice crackled over the comms. It was Meredith, and even though she had bad news, just the sound of her voice lightened the weight pressing down on him.

  “Alpha, Bravo here. We got trouble. The plan with the Titan didn’t work out.”

  “It’s still in Dubrovnik?” Dom asked.

  “Not exactly. It’s headed your way. Don’t know what it’s going to do, but I can promise you it won’t be good. Seems like the Hybrids are calling it there for some reason.”

  “The Hybrids have mutinied against the Iranians,” Dom said. “We’re in the middle of a civil war here.”

  “Ah,” Andris said. “The Titan is merely the cavalry for the Hybrids.”

  “Tell the cavalry to go home,” Jenna muttered.

  “I would,” O’Neil said over the comms. “But he’s not listening to me.”

  “Fine,” Dom said. “Bravo, we’re about to breach the bridge. We’re going to try to get control over this ship... but if we fail, I need you guys to finish what we started. Get your asses over here as soon as you can.”

  With the Titan on the approach, Dom saw the Doomsday Clock in his mind tick a minute closer to midnight. He sucked in a deep breath. They’d lost so much to get here, constantly playing defense. All the Hunters who’d sacrificed their lives... he prayed the world would someday know what they had done in the face of seemingly impossible odds and terrors that would make the most seasoned of horror movie writers piss their pants in fear. Then there were the survivors out there, struggling to hold humanity together. Rory and Rachel, the midshipmen they’d worked with in Annapolis, and the civilians on Kent. The CDF in the Congo and the Royal Moroccan Army.

  All of them wanted to succeed against the Oni Agent, and these FGL bastards wanted to erase all of that progress with a single goddamned command.

  “Not today,” Dom whispered. Then louder, “Alpha, let’s kick some ass.”

  “My pleasure, Chief,” Miguel said before bounding up the ladders.

  A group of fifteen Iranian soldiers started rushing down one end. They all paused, looking confusedly at the Hunters for a moment. No doubt they had expected to face Hybrids instead.

  The Hunters showed no such hesitation. Fueled by a combination of desperation and rage, all Dom saw was the sights on his rifle. A quick squeeze of the trigger sent one
of the Iranians sprawling. Another burst of fire collapsed a soldier who fell forward onto the ladder and tumbled down the steps. By the time the Iranians understood what was happening, there were only eight left. They scrambled for cover.

  “Humans go down just as easy as Skulls,” Miguel remarked, before dousing the nearest of the soldiers in acid.

  They screamed in agony. Dom watched as looks of terror spread between the other Iranians. The Hunters pressed themselves close to the bulkhead. The enemy’s firing was erratic at best. It seemed they were praying the close quarters and the number of rounds would end the Hunters’ assault. These bastards might be sailors, but there was no way they had experience in shipboard gun combat like the Hunters.

  The Hunters came away from the fray unharmed, but their cover on the Sahand was clearly blown. Both the Iranians and the Hybrids would be hunting for them now.

  Dom glanced at his smartwatch. Ahead of them was the hatch to the bridge. Miguel sprinted ahead of the group, hurdling over the fallen Iranians. Beside Dom, Glenn’s nostrils were flared as he prepared to run, and a fire unlike any Dom had seen burned in Jenna’s eyes. They gave him a silent nod that told him everything he needed to know.

  Whatever was behind that door, they were ready. Nothing would stop them now. Not even death.

  Dom tightened his fingers around his rifle and gave Miguel a nod. Miguel kicked open the door then stormed through, yelling like a banshee. Dom barged in with the others, rifles jumping between the bridge officers. One of the lieutenants’ hands shot toward his sidearm, and Dom squeezed his trigger. The lieutenant fell backward, clutching at his chest. The pistol clattered on the floor. Miguel strode forward to kick it away.

  “Everybody fucking freeze!” Dom yelled.

  Glenn translated that into Farsi. Dom wasn’t sure whether he translated the exact wording of that command, but the bridge officers understood immediately. They held their hands up at their stations. To Dom’s surprise, they appeared relatively calm. He’d barged into bridges before, rifles scouring the room for targets, and inevitably at least one of the officers pissed himself. Funnily enough, the stench of urine often sapped the morale of the remaining officers in those situations.

  But everyone here looked at him steadily, without surprise or fear. After Dom and the Hunters had dispatched the soldiers outside the bridge, the Iranians must’ve been waiting for them.

  “Who’s in charge here?” Dom asked.

  But as Glenn translated the request, Dom realized he hadn’t needed to ask the question at all. Standing at the rear of the bridge was a tall man, built like an athlete past his prime. The slight paunch of his stomach did not belie the confidence with which he carried himself. The epaulets on his shoulder marked him as an admiral.

  Good Lord, the FGL really had been betting a lot on this mission to send a bridge admiral.

  The man took a step forward.

  “Not a step further, asshole,” Dom growled.

  Glenn opened his mouth to translate, but the admiral raised a hand.

  “I can understand English just fine,” he said with a slight accent. “I must admit, I am surprised to see you on my bridge, Captain Holland. I thought the Hybrids would be here first, but Allah seems to have other plans.”

  “No god has plans for you,” Miguel said. “But we do.”

  Dom held up a fist to silence Miguel. He understood the Hunter’s anger. After everything he’d endured, Miguel was ready to explode on any Skull, Titan, or FGL goon that stood in his way. But their mission here wasn’t over yet, and Dom still had work to do.

  “Jenna, find those transmitters a home,” Dom said.

  “Aye, Captain.” She lowered her rifle and took out a few of the devices Samantha and Chao had given them. Jenna started plugging them in every available computer port. When one of the Iranians refused to move from his seat to make room for her, she removed him from the seat with a swift uppercut to the jaw.

  “Huntress, we’re in,” Dom reported over the comms.

  The admiral gave him a calculating look. His eyes never left Dom’s. It was as though he thought himself a Hybrid and Dom a Skull and that, if he concentrated hard enough, he could force the Hunters straight back out the hatch they’d come through.

  “This war is already over,” the admiral said. “You have lost, Captain Holland.”

  It bothered the shit out of Dom that the admiral knew his name but he had no idea who this asshole was. But he did his best not to let it show.

  “Did they already launch the nukes?” Dom asked.

  Jenna studied their consoles. “I can’t read Farsi.” She pointed at a screen in front of one of the lieutenants nearest the admiral. “Glenn?”

  Jenna raised her rifle again, threatening anyone who dared move, as Glenn sidled over to her to look at the screen. “They haven’t fired anything yet,” he reported.

  “Good,” Dom said. “Huntress, we’ve got entry. Nothing’s been launched, but the plan remains the same.”

  Both Samantha and Chao gave him affirmatives. Dom had the bridge under control. Or at least it looked like he had it under control. An admiral didn’t reach that rank through dumb luck. He got there because he was intelligent—a chess player who saw ahead at least a move or two.

  The admiral in command of the FGL’s warship absolutely had to have been prepared for the bridge being taken over. He was too damn calm, and so were most of the officers. And with the Hybrids on the loose...

  “You sure they haven’t launched, Glenn?” Dom asked.

  “That’s what the display says.”

  Dom strode toward the admiral. He jabbed him in the chest with his rifle’s barrel. “What the hell is going on?”

  The man laughed. “Such an American thing to say. We are already in hell, Captain Holland.”

  “You think that’s funny?” Dom asked. “How funny will you think it is when I’ve got this rifle barrel jammed into your belly?”

  “Our intel said you were cold and calculating,” the admiral said. “But you are, to borrow a phrase I believe you are familiar with, a firecracker. Prone to explode.”

  Heat rushed Dom’s face. “Did you launch the goddamn nukes?”

  “As I said, you have lost, Captain Holland. And your crew knows this. You have failed them.”

  “Asshole.” Dom twisted his rifle and slammed the stock of it into the admiral’s stomach.

  The man doubled over and gasped for breath, but the smile never left his lips. That only made Dom angrier, and he sent a knee into the man’s jaw. The admiral fell back into the bulkhead, but he didn’t stop laughing. Blood dripped from his split lip, yet the goddamned smile was still there.

  “Start talking, you piece of shit,” Dom said.

  “Captain Holland,” the admiral said. “You have caused me and my family—my country—more trouble than you could possibly know. And you have no idea who I am?”

  “I don’t care.”

  “You will remember my name: Amin Mokri,” the admiral said. “For the last few minutes of your life, you will know it. You ruined my weapons programs before we even dreamed of the—what do you call it?—the Oni Agent.” Now the smile faded, and his eyes narrowed, sharp as a tiger’s. “You will get nothing from me or my men.”

  Dom couldn’t see how the bastard found any kind of victory in the current situation. They had the guns in the bridge, and they now had control over the ship. One word from Dom’s mouth, and all of them would be dead.

  “Mokri,” Dom said, “if you value your life or the lives of your men, shut up and start cooperating.”

  “No, I am afraid I will not be cooperating with you... or them.”

  Them?

  Then Dom heard it. The tap of talons on metal. The Hybrids were outside the bridge. Then the entire ship rocked, throwing Dom sideways. He crashed on his left arm. The other Hunters were thrown against consoles and bulkheads. A few of the bridge officers fell out of their seats, but the admiral and the lieutenant nearest him stayed upright. />
  The Titan had arrived.

  “Daftary!” Mokri said. “Launch!”

  The lieutenant executed his commands on the console before Dom could get to his feet. He wheeled around on Daftary and Mokri with his rifle then squeezed the trigger. But they were already running. Bullets pinged against the bulkhead as the duo escaped through another hatch.

  “Huntress, the missiles have been launched!” Dom yelled. “I repeat, missiles launched! Warn Frankfurt!”

  “Son of a bitch!” Miguel said. He jumped to his feet, kicking an officer near him who was daring to get up. As he bounded over the downed officer, another hatch blew open. Hybrids filled the bridge, their rifles pointed squarely at the Hunters and the remaining bridge officers.

  The lead Hybrid lowered his rifle then sauntered forward. He spoke in rough English. “Captain Holland, I heard you were here.” His claws curled around Dom’s rifle. “You will be putting that down, or you will all die.”

  The ship shook as the Titan thrashed against it. Dom nearly slipped, but the Hybrids were ready. Dom counted eight of them in the bridge. Others waited outside the hatch. Maybe they had caught Mokri and Daftary on their way out. It hardly mattered now, because the bastards had caught him.

  Dom could see the bloodlust simmering in the Hybrid’s eyes as he studied him. He wondered why the Russian monster hadn’t already killed him.

  But the lead Hybrid soon answered that question. “Spitkovsky said there would be rewards for anyone who killed you.” The Hybrid’s lips spread into a demonic grin. “But he also said there were greater rewards for bringing you in alive.”

  He propped Dom’s chin up with his claws then dragged one of them over his jawline. Dom tried not to wince as the claw tore into his skin. He felt hot blood drip over his shoulder.

  “He just didn’t specify how alive you needed to be.”

  -36-

  Lauren packed another Dewar flask full of samples. Under the racks of plastic vials containing cells and biopsied tissues, liquid nitrogen splashed against the sides. The fog of evaporating nitrogen spilled over the top of the flask until Lauren closed it.