by C. E. Martin
The third transport banked and tried to fly away. But Kerrick wanted to prove a point. He swept after it, accelerating to supersonic speed for just a moment. As his flight produced a window-rattling sonic boom across the countryside, he removed the third helicopter's tail rotor, then raced back to his army.
At marching speed, it would take them over a day to reach Washington.
***
Jason Trumball was fuming. "Why can't I go with them?" he demanded again. He, Josie and Pam Keegan were all seated in the forward passenger compartment, watching news reports of the marching spectral army.
The Colonel feels you'll be safer up here," Josie said. Like Keegan, she now wore a tactical targeting visor and was monitoring their approach to the army on the ground. She sat across the aisle from Jason, her seat swiveled to face him as he sat facing forward, Pam Keegan beside him.
"He killed my parents," Jason growled, clenching his teeth.
"Kid," Pam said, thumping the TV monitor in the back of the seat ahead of Jason. "Even if you knew what to do with whatever abilities you've got- do you really think you'd stand a snowball's chance against that?"
Jason made tight fists and ground his teeth. "It isn't right."
"No," Josie said. "It's very right. What kind of people would we be if we let you go down there and get killed?"
"Don't worry," Pam said, placing a hand on Jason's shoulder. "The Colonel will get him."
At that very moment, in the rear of the plane, Colonel Kenslir didn't seem too sure of that. He was adjusting straps on the harness Dr. Olson had slipped on over her Air Force flightsuit. He checked each strap to make sure it was adjusted properly.
"I didn't know you cared so much," Laura purred, watching him.
"You won't do us any good if your chute doesn't work right."
Satisfied with the straps, Kenslir picked up a helmet and offered it to the vampire.
"No thanks- it'd just mess up my hair."
"You do realize you can't breathe at this altitude, right?" Kenslir said, still holding the helmet out.
"Please," Laura laughed. "I can hold my breath a very long time." She gave the Colonel a wink and licked her lips.
"Better charge up while you can," he said, extending a hand toward her.
Laura grabbed the hand as if to shake it then swept in quickly and pressed her lips on Kenslir's. A hand around the back of his neck kept him from leaning away. Blue-green light crackled and sparked from between their lips for a moment, then the Colonel was able to push her back, an angry look in his eyes.
"Oh, c’mon," Laura said, "This could be my last chance to win you ov-"
Kenslir abruptly put his hand over Laura's mouth, stifling any further comment. "Take it or leave it, Red."
Laura pouted, but took the hand in both hers. Again, blue-green light crackled and sparked where her skin met Kenslir's, energy drawing out of the Colonel and into her. When she could see a gray discoloration creeping up his neck, she stopped- but not before licking his palm.
Kenslir wiped his hand on his pant leg as he turned back to flesh, then reached up to the goggles over Laura's head and pulled them down over her eyes. "Stay in contact at all times." He said.
"Only if you promise me dinner when this is all over."
Kenslir frowned and turned to the three stone soldiers lined up in the small aft section of the plane. Each was trying to look in another direction, rather than at Kenslir and his vampiric admirer.
Just over twenty feet long, the small, pressurized cabin had a single door leading up to the main compartments, and a long ramp at the rear, that could be lowered for air drops. Barely five feet wide, the ramp was designed for troops, not equipment.
Each of the Stone Soldiers was ready- their small, iron lasers strapped against their chests, their tactical goggles in place over their eyes.
"Five minutes to drop!" Jimmy Kane said. He stood in the rear of the compartment, wearing a helmet and pressurized air mask. Holding onto the controls of the rear hatch with one hand, he gave a thumbs up to the Colonel.
"I'll follow you all down once Kerrick has been located." Kenslir said, then snapped his own oxygen mask up in place over his face, clipping it onto the black helmet he wore.
***
The road had opened into a wider area- trees giving way to open, deforested land on either side. The sign beside the road was an ad for some local caverns. It and a few houses along the sides of the road were pretty much all there were on the final approach to Boonsboro. Traffic had vanished- evacuated like the houses in the area.
Kerrick had expected more resistance by now. His army had been marching for several hours. Yet nothing had happened. The sun still hung overhead, nightfall still hours away.
The sound of rushing air alerted him. He glanced up and saw four forms hurtling downward. At about three hundred feet, great parachutes snapped opened, slowing the plummet of the skydivers.
Kerrick concentrated and looked closer, his mind seeing what his eyes could not. The lead parachutist was a woman- her long, wild red hair blowing in the wind behind her. She had dark, blood red lips and a creamy complexion. Something seemed off about her- and not just because she was wearing a military jumpsuit but carried no weapons.
Kerrick shifted his perception to the other three forms and inhaled sharply. Three men of stone- glowing brightly with magical energy. They were in gray and black camouflage now, and again had their laser weapons.
Clint laughed to himself. When they were four, the stone men had not been enough to stop him- what did they hope to achieve now that he had just over a thousand specters at his command?
As he watched, all four subjects cut loose from their parachutes a good hundred feet off the ground. They plummeted quickly, landing in soft grass and dirt north of the road.
Kerrick ignored the foursome, mentally commanding his army to engage them as he swung his gaze back to the skies. The men had to come from somewhere- yet he saw no plane. At least, not with his eyes of flesh.
Once more he reached out with his mind, peeling away the barriers of distance as he searched. Finally he found it- a four engined passenger jet, soaring high overhead- nearly thirty thousand feet up. It had to be the source of the jumpers- no other aircraft was in the sky for miles and miles.
Concentrating, he peered inside the plane, past the cockpit and into the passenger compartment. It was definitely a military craft- fitted with all sorts of communication devices and monitors. And a very unexpected passenger.
The clone's son. The fruit of this flesh's loins. On the plane, angrily staring out a window. Two women sat nearby- a blonde and a brunette. Both wore military jumpsuits.
Kerrick leapt into the air, streaking into the sky so fast he unleashed a sonic boom at ground level. If the humans thought this child could defeat him, why make them wait? He'd bring the fight to the sky.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
When she hit the ground, Laura Olson let her fingernails extend out, past her fingertips, transforming them into sharp claws with which she was confident she could rip even this Clint Kerrick's flesh. She swept forward with all her vampiric speed, a blur over the grass of the field.
But as fast as she was, the parahuman was faster. He leapt into the sky, his passage cracking the sound barrier and sending out a shockwave she felt in her chest.
Then she was surrounded.
Surprisingly, the first few strikes actually found her- slicing through the air faster than she could dodge. The ghosts of the army had recognized she wasn't mortal and had adjusted accordingly.
Unlike a human target, her body did not yield to the spectral bayonets. They crashed against her like clubs, repelled by the same energy coursing through her body that the Colonel had so graciously given her.
Laura lashed out with her claws, ripping through the closest ghosts. They burst like balloons, their forms swirling away like smoke. But there were still more of them. Hundreds and hundreds more.
Purple light flickered around Laura-
lasers fired from the Stone Soldiers as they moved in. Other flashes now came from around her- bright, white flashes as the shades fired their own, silent weapons and sent spectral bullets at the men of stone.
Moving with her vampiric speed, Laura continued slashing, wreaking havoc in the ranks of the formation. Specters all around her lunged, bared their teeth at her- but she was too fast for them now. A whirling, undead dervish with charged claws and inhuman strength. She was slashing the ghosts around her right into oblivion. Dozens and dozens of them.
***
On board the MC-135, Jason watched a feed of the battle on the monitor before him. An overhead view, it showed flashing markers for the stone soldiers- gray triangles - and the swiftly-moving vampire- a red triangle. The spectral army were displayed as faint circles, many disappearing completely here and there.
The ghost army had stopped its march and was fanning out in a u-shape around the soldiers and the vampire. Many seemed to keep their distance- bright lightning-like flashes indicating they were trying to fight from a distance as they discharged their ghostly rifles.
The vampire was sweeping through the ranks like a tornado now, moving this way and that in completely unpredictable patterns.
Jason noticed something and leaned in closer. "They're reforming!"
Josie nodded in agreement, watching the same feed in her tactical visor. Where Laura Olson swept through the ghost army, circles disappeared like popping bubbles. But seconds later, circles seemed to reappear. Josie wondered if this was some kind of rendering problem- the satellites high overhead maybe not being able to accurately count the ghosts.
A shudder went through the plane, as if they'd struck turbulence. Then a great rush of air sounded, like a tornado. It was almost loud enough to drown out the sound of shrieking metal.
Josie suddenly found herself in a terrific, hurricane-force wind, the air being sucked from her lungs. Lights flickered and sparked all around her. The plane had been hit by something.
***
Mark Kenslir was about to leap out of the rear of the plane when he felt it lurch and tremble. He knew immediately this wasn't turbulence.
His tactical visor began flashing a WARNING indicator across the top of his field of vision. Then a flashing blue indicator swept past from his left hand side, streaking away behind the aft end of the plane. He recognized it immediately.
"Josie!" Jimmy screamed. Watching through his own tactical targeting visor he watched in horror as the head-up marker for Josie Winters was carried away from the plane.
He started fumbling with his safety line, intent to free himself from the plane and dive after her. But Colonel Kenslir beat him to it. With two quick steps, the Colonel flung himself off the end of the lowered jump ramp.
***
Pam Keegan gasped for air as the wind ripped through the passenger compartment of the plane. Ever since the crash in Mexico a month ago, she had vowed to always, always wear her seatbelt on any plane she ever rode in again. And this time, it had saved her life.
Just a second after the C-135 had rocked from some impact, a huge section of the fuselage had peeled away and vanished. Air had immediately rushed out of the gaping hole in the side of the plane- taking with it, cups, maps, loose baggage and Josie.
Jason had nearly gone too, but Keegan had been quick to react- extending her arm across his chest and holding him down in his seat beside her. But the wind had been sucked from her lungs and she could not breathe.
"Looking for me, whelp?!" Clint Kerrick demanded. He was standing in the aisle of the passenger cabin, his hair and beard whipping in the wind that otherwise impossibly didn't faze him.
Oxygen masks dropped from the overhead bins and lights flickered as the suddenly depressurized plane began to descend.
The parahuman looked around and grabbed a thin shard of metal extending from the fifteen foot-wide hole he had torn out of the plane's right side wall and roof. He pulled the metal out slowly, causing it shriek loudly over the noise of the wind. He managed to pull free a five foot-long section of metal. Holding it over his shoulder like a spear he aimed, then let it fly.
The metal struck Jason square in the chest, burying itself in his torso just above Pam's arm, and making the boy grunt loudly. The impact was so great it rocked Pam's seat as well.
Kerrick smiled, then effortlessly flew out of the plane.
Pam grabbed at the oxygen mask whipping around in the air in front of her and slipped it on. She could feel Jason's left hand clawing at her arm. Something wet and warm splattered over Pam's face like rain- Jason's blood, whipped into the air by the rushing wind.
Pam tried to slip another oxygen mask over Jason's head, but he slumped forward, his eyes rolling up in his head. The wind kept rushing through the cabin, the effect of the large plane racing through the sky at well over two hundred miles per hours.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
The fighting on the ground had turned to hand-to-hand combat now. The sheer volume of specters was simply too much for the three stone soldiers. Their lasers had been pulled from their hands by the never ending army of specters crashing over them like waves.
Stone fists, wrapped in iron-knuckled gloves smashed at the seemingly solid spooks, scattering them in the air. But for every ghost scattered, there seemed three more ready to take its place.
Ghostly hands so long unable to do anything clutched at the soldiers' bodies- pulling their sleeves, their pant legs, their pouches, harnesses and belts. They lashed out with all their might, but the sensation soon became like trying to fight against mud or tar that had enveloped them.
"Miss me, boys?" Laura Olson yelled. Captain Smith felt himself lifted up from the ground at the sound of the vampire's voice and thrown through the air. He tumbled end over end, realizing she had hurled him free of the ghost army just before he struck the ground.
Smith rolled with the impact and came up on his feet quickly, fists at the ready. Olson had thrown him several hundred feet, over the ghost army, and across the road. He had landed in the front yard of a small, deserted home.
He saw another stone soldier hurled out of the horde of clawing, grasping ghosts. The tactical visor marked it as ZEUS- Colonel Phillips. The electrokinetic stone soldier was hurled further up the road, toward Boonsboro. Phillips landed hard, rolling and tumbling for several yards.
From his position, Smith thought the ghost army resembled nothing more than a mob. Hundreds and hundreds of figures pushing against one another, trying to reach the patch of ground where the stone soldiers had made their stand.
Another stone soldier flew out of the horde- JANUS, Victor Hornbeck. Like Phillips, he rolled and flopped on the ground like a ragdoll when he hit. But then, neither of the men had the years of experience in their stone bodies that Smith had.
In the flank of the army closest to Smith, several of the ghost soldiers turned to face their opponent. They swept forward, turning to smoky wisps that moved incredibly fast then reformed directly in front of him.
Smith was ready and lashed out with his iron-sheathed stone fists.
***
Josie Winters wanted to scream, but she couldn't. Her lungs were on fire and her vision was blurry. Wind roared in her ears and she felt herself tumbling end over end. She knew instantly what had happened. She'd been sucked out of the plane.
Kicking and grabbing with her hands and feet, she was in full blown panic now. Her heart beat madly and adrenalin coursed through her veins.
"JOSIE!" A voice called out from the tiny speakers in the head band of the goggles. It was Colonel Kenslir's voice. Even over the wind rushing past her ears, Josie could hear it.
"Josie! Arms and legs out! Go flat!"
Her vision was darkening now, but Josie fought against the pain and did as she was told. Her tumbling slowed and she found herself stabilized, on her back. She was cold too- something she hadn't realized before. She was almost able to breathe now, and her vision was clearing.
The tactical visor was flas
hing and scrolling out text all over her field of vision. She couldn't yet make it out, so she closed her eyes to avoid seeing the strobe-like display.
"Hang on, kid! I'm almost to you!" Kenslir yelled over the speaker again.
Josie could barely stay awake now. She wondered if she was suffocating.
A sudden jolt shook her and she could feel the flightsuit tighten around her middle and snap her around. Something had hit her- hard. She again started flailing her arms and legs and opened her eyes.
"Calm down!" Kenslir said. He pulled her in close against him, her back against his chest. His head was right next to hers and she could hear him now without the tactical visor.
He swept his right hand around in front of Josie and pressed an oxygen mask against her face- his mask, that he'd pulled off seconds before sweeping into her. He'd grabbed the girl with his left hand, praying her flight suit wouldn't rip and he'd simply race past her as he dove, at full speed, arms and legs held in tight.
Josie shuddered as the oxygen filled her lungs. Slowly, she began to feel better. Her vision cleared. And she wished it hadn't.
They were still falling. Fast. And the ground was getting a lot closer.
***
By dividing the stone soldiers, Laura had forced the ghost army to split up. They now swarmed in four directions- toward each soldier, and toward Laura, who was still slashing wildly with her claws, momentarily dispersing the specters with each blow.
She hoped the Colonel would appear soon, as even with the extra energy she'd drained from him, she didn't know how long she could keep this up.
To her south, across the road, Atlas, Captain Smith, was thinking the same thing. He now had a house to his back, and the ghosts hadn't yet circled around to attack him from behind. He stood with his back against aluminum siding, smashing out punch and kick after punch and kick, scattering ghost after ghost. Fortunately, he couldn't tire in his stone state, but he knew that eventually the ghosts would have to figure something out and change their attack.
