The Tide (Book 3): Salvage

by Anthony J Melchiorri

  His legs were shaking and his nerves were almost shot, but Navid continued to accelerate. The chain-link fence loomed larger. He forced himself to keep his eyes open as the ambulance smashed into it. The fence crumpled, giving way. The vehicle bounced as it continued out into the street, and Navid twisted the wheel hard to avoid a wrecked police cruiser. He propelled the ambulance forward, knocking over crazies and winding between lines of abandoned cars.

  One of the monsters crashed against the ambulance and shattered a headlight. Crazy after crazy thumped against the bumper and hood. Navid’s brow pinched in concentration. He had to remind himself to breathe as he pushed through the aftermath of humanity’s last stand against these beasts.

  Another creature hit the front of the ambulance, rolled over the hood, and caught on the windshield. It blocked his view, and its wailing almost deafened him. Navid turned the wheel side to side to shake the monster off. The creature’s claws wrapped around a windshield wiper. It fought against the vehicle’s juking, but at last it was thrown off, tearing away the wiper. Once the windshield was cleared, Navid saw the carnage of bodies, burned-out vehicles, and crazies again. It was almost easier to keep going blind. Navid couldn’t believe the nightmare his city had become.

  His heart climbed into his throat. His one working headlight illuminated a monster more grotesque and frightening than any he’d previously seen. It wore no clothes to distinguish its past life as a human. The thing towered above the others. Its arms were each the size of tree trunks covered in scaly bone plates. Two-foot-long horns jutted from its forehead, and its face seemed contorted in a permanent snarl with four incisors scything out of its mouth like overgrown tusks. The giant crazy’s head reared back, and its jaws opened to let out a deafening bellow that shook the windshield.

  Navid nearly pissed himself. He swerved hard to avoid the gargantuan crazy. The ambulance shuddered, almost losing traction. He fought with the wheel to prevent the vehicle from tipping over. Pain tore through his mangled fingers, and he tried to tamp down the panic boiling over in his head. He felt like he was about to lose control over both his body and the vehicle.

  All four tires hit the pavement again, screeching as loudly as the crazies chasing him. The behemoth slammed a fist into the rear doors. It wrenched its arm back and tore the doors off the hinges as the sound of protesting metal echoed within the ambulance. It fell back momentarily, but Navid knew it was only a brief pause before the creature’s next attack.

  “No!” Navid yelled. Sweat trickled into his eyes, and the salt stung. He ignored it and leaned forward over the wheel. He focused, trying to keep the vehicle moving faster than his new pursuer. The giant monster bellowed. Its roar drowned out the strain of the engine and the hunting cries of the other, human-sized crazies. The thing’s footsteps shook the ground, resonating up through the floorboards with each lumbering step as it gave chase.

  The single headlight barely illuminated the road ahead of Navid. He took a swift left to avoid a taxi with a front end resembling a yellow accordion. Then he spun the wheel to dodge the black sedan the cab had crashed into. The tires of the ambulance bounced when he ran over the curb, and he course-corrected quickly to avoid a lamppost.

  Everything came at Navid in a blur. Turning past crashed cars, slamming against angry crazies, the single wiper working furiously to clear the blood from the windshield. He stole a glance back. The giant was no more than a dozen feet behind him. It ran over the sedan he’d had to drive around, and its massive trunk-like feet crushed the vehicle. Glass shattered, metal bent. A herd of crazies followed in the giant’s destructive wake. It felt like he was trying to outrun a tidal wave. There was no turning back now, no hiding. These creatures wouldn’t pity him. He had to keep moving forward...but the single headlight lit up a wall of wrecked cars, military vehicles, and corpses blocking the street ahead.

  Navid took another right. The ambulance groaned and jumped as it hit the curb. Its tires dug into the grass of a park. He wound the vehicle between spindly trees, half of which had lost their leaves. What appeared to be an abandoned Army barricade consisting of sandbags and barbed wire blocked any escape to his left. Behind him, the giant still pursued with its horde growing ever larger, and to his right, even more creatures sprinted through the trees and over the running paths, all headed toward him. That left only one open direction clear of crazies and barricades.

  Straight ahead was the Charles River.

  He almost laughed aloud at his ludicrous escape plan. It wasn’t even a plan, really. Just the only option he had left. He’d seen enough of the monsters to know they were nothing but heavy bones and sinew—pure muscle and weaponized tissue. They had little body fat, which meant they had minimal buoyancy. Or at least that’s what he hoped.

  With the pedal pressed tight to the floor, the ambulance barreled forward. Navid flew into the steering wheel when the vehicle crashed against the rails along the walking path. Pain coursed through his sternum and ribs. His head slammed into the dashboard. More agony shot through his skull.

  Metal screamed against metal, and the rails gave way. For a couple of seconds, the ambulance soared over the water. Navid’s world seemed to slow for that brief moment. His thoughts turned back to Abby, to his family in Canada, to the life he’d left behind. Nothing would ever be the same again. The world he knew was a distant dream lost to a nightmarish reality. The gentle waves in the river reflected the headlight for a moment before swallowing the vehicle. Navid bucked forward again, and his head hit the windshield. His vision swam, caught in a flurry of reds and blacks.

  Water poured in where the rear doors had been torn away, and Navid fumbled to unbuckle himself. He blinked, trying to clear his vision, trying to focus, but his consciousness started to slip. Between the fuzzy edges obscuring his sight, he saw an enormous splash several yards behind the sinking ambulance. The giant thing responsible for the geyser of black water disappeared under the surface, but not before a huge set of claws raked the air one last time.

  The sight of those blade-like claws and the monstrous hand they belonged to sent a new wave of fright through Navid. It was enough to push him over the edge. His body finally gave out, and he succumbed to shock and exhaustion. Everything seemed to go numb. Water continued to rush into the ambulance, reaching his chest, then his shoulders, as the crazies leapt into the river. Navid’s thoughts turned to Abby one last time, and then his world went black, his consciousness fading as the ambulance sank.

  ***

  “Did you see that?” Meredith said, holding onto the rope along the gunwale of the Zodiac. She peered across the river with her binos, the night vision piercing the blackness around them.

  “No, what was it?” Andris asked, his Eastern European accent coming in strong with his surprise. His finger off the trigger, he peered into the scope of his sniper rifle.

  “Something—a van, I think—drove into the river just beyond that bend.” She steadied herself as she stood and pointed downriver.

  “Those fucking Skulls don’t know how to drive,” Spencer said. “Must be a survivor.”

  Renee pressed a pair of binos to her eyes. “It’s an ambulance.” She paused. “Holy mother of God.”

  Meredith knew what the Hunter was seeing. She was watching it too. Skulls were sprinting from the park lining the Charles River and plummeting twenty feet down into it. The dark water devoured them as they slipped beneath the waves. A few scrambled back up the concrete walls, water sluicing off their bodies, and they waited at the edge, howling and snapping at the spot where Meredith had sworn she’d seen a vehicle splash in a few seconds ago. She looked up for a moment to where the AW109 circled the Mass Gen complex. Its rotors beat the air, but its engine noise was barely audible over the clamoring Skulls.

  “Alpha, Bravo here,” Renee said over her comm link. “We may have spotted a survivor. Appears to have driven an ambulance into the river to escape the Skulls.”

  Dom’s voice broke out over the comm link. “Roger that, Br
avo. What’s your position?”

  “We’re about twenty yards away from the evac site, and our target is in the drink two hundred yards past. Looks like the vehicle is sinking. Are we cleared to investigate?”

  “Negative, Bravo. Give me a moment to assess,” Dom replied.

  Spencer idled the Zodiac in the middle of the river while they waited. The gurgle of the engine kept them company during those tense few seconds. One survivor, one person who might already be beyond saving, seemed insignificant. But Meredith knew Dom couldn’t simply abandon someone in the face of danger, especially when rescue was so near. None of them could. With human life becoming rarer each day the Oni Agent spread, Meredith guessed she knew Dom’s answer before he responded.

  His voice crackled over the comm link. “Bravo, you copy?”

  “Copy,” Renee replied.

  “The roof of the hospital is overrun with Skulls.”

  Meredith’s heart sank, wondering if he was about to call off the whole mission.

  “The survivor we identified via the sat images is gone, so we’re going to survey the area to see if a roof landing is still our best option. What’s the Skull situation look like down there?”

  Renee aimed her binos down river again. “Got several dozen lining the shore, but they aren’t jumping in. The ones who dove in sank.”

  “Copy.” Dom paused. “Bravo, you’re free to investigate.”

  Renee shot Spencer a hand signal, and he let loose on the throttle. Water sprayed up as the bow of the Zodiac cut through the waves. A frothy wake followed the craft, and Meredith clung tightly to the side of the boat. At the bow, Renee was already standing with one hand gripping the rope along the gunwale.

  “Come on, Spence! Give this thing some gas!” She yelled over the roar of the engine.

  The ambulance slipped under the water’s surface. Sweat trickled down Meredith’s back as the wind whipped against her face. She silently willed the boat to go faster. Maybe it was the sheer number of bodies they’d seen over the past weeks. Maybe it was the death tolls that had inundated the news before everything went dark. Maybe it was the fact that they’d just buried three Hunters at sea. For whatever reason, she desperately wanted to reach the sinking ambulance in time to save whoever was inside.

  Her heart thrashed against her ribs like a bird desperate to be free from its cage. Spencer turned the tiller hard when they reached the spot where the ambulance sank. Bubbles were still rising, and Meredith could see the ghostly roof of the vehicle mere feet under the surface.

  Without hesitation, Renee slipped off her tac vest and dove into the water.

  “Goddammit, Renee!” Spencer pounded his chest. “I’m the SEAL! I’m the fucking SEAL!” He ran to the bow and peered over then called to Andris and Meredith. “You two got the boat?”

  “You go for it,” Andris said.

  Meredith nodded, and Spencer shed his tac vest and coiled his legs. He dove headfirst into the river. Meredith grabbed the Zodiac’s tiller and turned it to push back against the steady current. She didn’t want the craft to drift too far.

  Swaying the boat slightly, Andris moved toward the bow and stared into the water before locking eyes with Meredith.

  “Good God, you aren’t going in, too, are you?” Meredith asked.

  “Oh, no,” Andris said. “Not if I do not have to. While I learned many things growing up in Latvia, swimming is not one of my talents. You?”

  Meredith inhaled sharply as she twisted the tiller. “Swim team in high school.”

  “Good. You can save them if they do not surface, no?”

  “I’d certainly try.”

  But she hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Meredith watched where Spencer and Renee had disappeared. Bravo was supposed to be waiting in case Dom’s team needed backup. They were meant to save Alpha should the need arise. She didn’t want to be the team that needed saving.

  -6-

  Fort Detrick Central Command

  Fort Detrick, Maryland

  Deputy Commander Shepherd stared at the bank of monitors lining the front wall of the room. It had always reminded him of the movies set in Houston’s Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center. But now, he warranted his mission might be even more dangerous than any NASA had overseen.

  After Captain Dominic Holland left to return to the Huntress, Shepherd realized how much he missed having an extra team around. Holland’s men had certainly demonstrated their prowess when they’d helped defend against the second major Skull attack on Fort Detrick. Around the room, twenty desks were ready with their own computer monitors. But only five of them were occupied. The empty desks were grim memorials to the servicemen and -women who had succumbed to the Skulls when the base was first overwhelmed. They were a constant reminder of everything they’d almost lost and everything they stood to lose if he failed to protect the base.

  Shepherd paced behind one of his remaining comm specialists and stared at the screens on the man’s desk. Security camera feeds showed the reinforced metal panel walls they’d constructed along the edges of the base bolstered by HESCO bastions.

  “Are all the cameras online again?” Shepherd asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Specialist Lewis responded.

  “Good. Any breaches?”

  “Nothing as far as I can tell.”

  “Report anything suspect directly to me.”

  “Yes, sir. Will do, sir.”

  Shepherd walked toward another of his surviving leaders. Several applications scrolled across her screens with a bevy of numbers, jagged lines, and letters Shepherd only vaguely recognized.

  “Any hits?”

  “Negative, sir,” Lieutenant Ramos replied. “I’ve been unable to connect with any other bases. Our only open line of communication is with General Kinsey.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

  Shepherd paced away with his hands behind his back. It troubled him that they couldn’t contact any other military bases—naval, army, air, or otherwise. Kinsey had ordered a tactical retreat and mustering of all remaining US military forces on the East Coast. The general had claimed the remnants of their scattered forces couldn’t stand up to the tide of Skulls sweeping the nation. Maybe after the muster orders had been given, there simply were no other operating bases. But Shepherd had still held out hope that someone out there had ordnance or supplies they were willing to share with Detrick.

  Command Sergeant Major Jackson’s voice came over Shepherd’s radio. “Commander, this is Jackson.”

  Shepherd dreaded this call. He knew why Jackson was hailing him. He held the radio up and depressed the call button. “Copy, Jackson. Is the rest of the 3rd Brigade prepared for departure?”

  “Affirmative, sir. Can I give them the go-ahead?”

  Inhaling deeply, Shepherd took a moment. He didn’t want the rest of the airborne division to fly out of here. They’d take the extra Black Hawks as well as the ordnance and ammunition they’d brought to reinforce Detrick with them. Kinsey had refused Shepherd’s requests to bolster their defenses, insisting that he couldn’t spare the troops. Now he wasn’t sure they could survive another attack.

  “Sir, do you copy?” Jackson asked.

  “Copy,” Shepherd said. He sighed before depressing the call button again. “Send them on their way.”

  Shepherd held his breath, trying not to cringe, as the whine of the squadrons’ engines filled the command center. The reinforced walls around the base kept the facility and its inhabitants out of sight of the Skulls. It was a meager safety measure, but it worked effectively enough as long as the base minimized its noise. But the din of the choppers had compromised Shepherd’s standing orders to maintain the quiet. The racket would certainly pique the monsters’ interest.

  “Jackson,” Shepherd barked into his radio. “Stay frosty out there.”

  “Roger that, sir.”

  He walked to one of the specialists monitoring the security cameras. On the screen, he watched Jackson barking orders at a dozen men. The s
oldiers ran off toward the northern gate and took up positions along a makeshift catwalk constructed of HESCO bastions behind the steel-paneled walls. Another group guarded the southern gate. As more soldiers clustered along various points of the wall, Shepherd was reminded how diminished his forces were. They covered only a small portion of the entire base at any given time.

  “Squads, report in,” Jackson’s voice called over the radio.

  “Echo one, no contacts.”

  “Echo two, no contacts.”

  “Echo three, no contacts.”

  “Echo four, we got six or so headed our way.”

  “Permission to engage,” Jackson said.

  Shepherd watched on the monitor as four of the soldiers along the south wall took aim with their suppressed rifles. There was only a slight flash of light as they fired.

  “Echo four, report,” Jackson called.

  “Contacts eliminated.”

  The roar of the Black Hawks continued to ring the dinner bell to all nearby Skulls.

  “Jackson,” Shepherd said, fear tightening its grip around his stomach, “what the fuck is going on with those birds, and why haven’t they taken off yet?”

  “Don’t know, sir,” he said. “Checking now.”

  Shepherd pointed to one of the monitors. “Follow him, Lieutenant.”

  “Yes, sir,” the specialist said. He tapped on the keyboard to switch cameras as Jackson ran out of view. He continued to do so until Jackson made it to the Black Hawks lining the tarmac. Several of the 82nd’s soldiers stood around the choppers as if they were guarding them.

  Jackson started talking to one of the soldiers. At first, he seemed composed. Then he threw his arms out in wild gestures as the two engaged in an animated exchange.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Shepherd yelled into the radio. “Jackson, why haven’t they taken off?”

  After another wide flourish of his hands, Jackson spun away from the soldier beside the Black Hawk. He held his radio to his mouth. “Assholes said Kinsey ordered them to hold tight.”