The Tide: Breakwater (Tide Series Book 2)

by Melchiorri, Anthony J

  Shards of glass glinted red in the flashing emergency lights. He nodded to her before picking a path around the debris. Even if they hadn’t seen anyone or anything yet, crunching that glass would’ve pierced the silence, attracting any of the crazies within earshot.

  He felt almost exhausted from the tension of their slow progress to the cafeteria entrance. By the time they finally made it, sweat trickled down his back. He sucked in a breath of the humid, fetid air. He steeled himself, preparing for whatever lay before them, and nudged the cafeteria door open slightly.

  More emergency lights blinked over the tables and toppled chairs. Navid’s heart felt like it was climbing into his throat as he stared. Between those empty chairs and tables, humanoid silhouettes staggered slowly back and forth. They moved with no particular urgency, stumbling through the darkness. Navid’s arms shook. He slowly drew back from the door and closed it as noiselessly as possible.

  Abby cocked her head.

  “Crazies,” Navid whispered. His stomach grumbled again.

  He wanted to run upstairs and hide, but there was no turning back. They needed food and water. Going through the cafeteria was no longer an option. Not with those things meandering about in the shadows.

  Abby pointed down another hall and started forward. Navid snuck after. They navigated between empty hospital beds, tipped-over trash cans, and the occasional IV pole. Abby abruptly stopped, and Navid almost ran into her.

  Then he saw what had made her freeze.

  A body—if Navid could even call it that anymore—lay on the tiles in a puddle of dried blood. Its skin had been shredded, and little remained of its organs. Mostly, Navid saw only the broken bones of someone who apparently had met their end at the hands of the crazies. Abby held her hand over her mouth while she trudged past the person’s remains. Navid gingerly stepped over the cracked skull and busted spine.

  A shiver raced through his flesh, and a sensation of lightheadedness almost overcame him. He paused for a second, leaning on the handrail on the hospital wall, and waited for the feeling to pass.

  Abby pulled him onward until they came to an Employees Only sign above a single door. Navid understood where Abby had taken them. Judging by their location in relation to the cafeteria, this must lead to the kitchens.

  Abby tightened her fingers around the door handle, but Navid shook his head. He didn’t want her to go in first. If there were crazies or violent looters or who-the-hell-knew-what inside, he wanted to be in front of her. He wanted her to have a chance to escape.

  She frowned, but he took her place at the door, slowly twisted the handle, and opened it a crack. He held his breath as he peeked inside. The smell of rotting fruit and meat hit him with an almost palpable force. He began to retch but held it in. He forced himself to survey the kitchen. This time, he saw no lingering crazies. Just stainless steel counters littered with utensils, cookware, and spilled food. Heaps of trash and empty tin cans were piled about the floor. Navid ushered Abby inside, and they tiptoed through the wreckage toward the shelves near the rear of the kitchen. Cans and boxes of food, most still undisturbed, were arranged in rows. Enough food to last Abby and him a year. Maybe even two, Navid thought.

  They gathered as much as they could into two cardboard boxes, one for each of them to carry. When the boxes were filled, they carefully shuffled back to the door they’d entered through.

  Unable to see his feet, Navid kicked something. It pinged against the empty cans resting on the floor. He and Abby froze and stared at what he’d kicked. His stomach turned over as he realized it was a bone—a human bone. He looked down at his feet. A skeletal hand was sticking out from under a rolling cart. Between the empty boxes and rotting produce, he saw a mess of scattered human bones.

  He and Abby had been so focused on the prospect of food, and their senses so overwhelmed by the malodor of the spoiled food, that they’d missed the bones, picked clean by the crazies, hidden by the piles of refuse.

  A low growl echoed through the kitchen. Navid twisted and saw a humanoid shape come out of the open walk-in cooler at the far end. The red emergency lights flashed over its face. Long hair trailed over its shoulders, and it wore the tattered remains of a line cook’s white uniform. Knobby growths jutted out around its scalp, and its fingers seemed to be long and serrated like kitchen knives.

  All thoughts of Navid’s empty stomach were immediately forgotten. He dropped the box of food and yelled, “Run!”

  -9-

  Dom patted Kara’s knee and leaned over to squeeze Sadie’s shoulder. “Don’t you two worry. This type of landing isn’t that bad.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Kara said through gritted teeth. Maggie whined.

  “I hear ya, dog.” Miguel held the dog close.

  Hector and Renee both clutched their weapons as they watched the ground rise. Long shadows cast by trees and picnic shelters draped across the mulch and grass surrounding the state park’s entrance. The cars in the parking lot were rapidly growing larger as the chopper descended.

  “We’re right on target,” Frank said. His eyes remained straight ahead. “No need to panic, folks. This is one of the first things they teach you when learning how to operate a bird like this.” Without glancing at his passengers, he shot them a thumbs up.

  “Fuck that, bro,” Miguel said, “I don’t care if you say it’s easy, we’re still going down!”

  The Hunters shuffled in their seats, and Dom fought the fear trickling through him.

  “Seriously,” Frank said. “This isn’t as bad as it looks.”

  Frank’s confidence wasn’t as contagious as the pilot must’ve thought. Dom knew he was telling the truth; an autorotation glide landing wasn’t exactly routine, but in some ways it was easier than hovering in place or the other advanced piloting Frank had mastered. But it didn’t make him feel any better. He did his best to appear stolid and unworried. In truth, he wasn’t too concerned about himself. He glanced at Kara and Sadie again. Kara remained staunchly stone-faced. Sadie seemed to draw from her sister’s strength, but her bottom lip still quivered and her eyes remained wide.

  Dom pressed his binos to his eyes. He searched along the empty parking lot, lines of trees, and abandoned vehicles. “I don’t see any contacts, but be prepared, Hunters.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” came the responses.

  The trees grew closer, and the leaves and branches no longer appeared as an indistinguishable blur of browns and greens. They skimmed over the forest as those branches scratched the bottom of the chopper.

  “Brace yourselves,” Frank said.

  The chopper hit the asphalt and bounced on its wheels. Frank leaned his weight into the collective and brought it down again. Dom reached for his daughters, holding their hands as the chopper slid toward a minivan. The rotor blades still spun, cutting through the air. With a jerk, the chopper lurched to a stop.

  “Everybody okay?” Dom asked.

  “Aye, aye, Chief,” Miguel said. “Might need a change of pants, but I’ll be all right.”

  “God, I hope you’re not serious.” Renee wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. She undid her harness, as did Hector and Meredith. Each loaded their weapons.

  “Frank, how long until you fix this thing?” Dom asked.

  “Hard to tell,” Frank said. “Based on the loss of rotor speed and the throttle’s lack of response, I’m going to say there’s something wrong with digital engine control.”

  “Can you override it?” Dom asked.

  “Afraid not. These things are fully automated.”

  “Then how do you fix it?”

  “I’m just the pilot, not the electronics expert.”

  Adam held up his hands. “Don’t look at me.”

  Dom clicked on his comm link. “Chao, Samantha, do you read?”

  “Loud and clear,” Samantha responded. “We heard you, and we’re ready to troubleshoot the FADEC.”

  “FA—what?” Adam asked.

  “Full autho
rity digital electronics control,” Chao said. “We can relay instructions to Adam and Frank if you guys are ready.”

  The sun had already dropped below the trees. Shafts of orange fought against the encroaching hues of purple and blue. Without daylight, repairing the chopper would be hard.

  “Let’s do this quick,” Dom said.

  “Contact spotted,” Renee said, her voice cold. “Make that two.”

  “Skulls?” Meredith asked, crouched and making her way toward Renee’s side of the cabin.

  “Definitely,” Hector said. “They’ve got the bony talons to prove it.”

  Dom’s heart sank as he looked at his daughters. He’d thought he was saving them by taking them to Fort Detrick. After Detrick had been compromised, however brief the scuffle had been, he’d thought they would stand a better chance at survival aboard the Huntress. He had only taken them from one disaster to another. It seemed there was no escaping the Skulls’ reach.

  “Everybody, stay low,” Dom said.

  But it was already too late. The Skulls didn’t need to see their faces to be interested in the chopper. The near-crash landing of the AW109 had piqued their curiosity. The two Skulls broke out into a gallop. Their screeching howls pierced the cabin.

  “I don’t think they realize we don’t have room for any more passengers,” Miguel said.

  Renee hoisted her rifle. “Should we check their boarding passes?”

  Dom held up a hand. “How’s it going with the computer system?”

  Adam shook his head, and Frank opened a panel in the controls.

  “It’s going to take us a while to diagnose the problem, assuming it’s software-related and not hardware,” Frank said.

  One of the Skulls leapt at the helicopter. Its bony claws scratched at the exterior. Sadie threw her hands over her ears.

  “Captain, mind if we take over as TSA?” Renee said. “I think we’ve got passengers trying to bring aboard unauthorized weapons.”

  “That depends,” Dom said. “Frank, how long ’til we fix this thing? I don’t want to attract any more Skulls than we can handle.”

  The two Skulls scraped at the side of the chopper and continued howling. A third Skull, dressed in a torn mechanic’s coverall, broke through the edge of the forest and sprinted toward them.

  “Shit,” Dom said. “Looks like they’re already getting riled up.” He nodded to Renee, Hector, Meredith, and Miguel. “Ready?”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” the Hunters said again.

  Meredith shot him a thumbs up before wrapping her fingers around her rifle.

  “Girls, stay back,” Dom said to Kara and Sadie.

  They moved toward the opposite side of the cabin. Kara held Maggie’s collar as the dog growled. A fourth and fifth Skull burst from the foliage. Leaves and branches snagged on the skeletal spikes protruding from their shoulders and elbows. Another three Skulls tore out from the entrance to the hiking trails.

  If they were going to do something, they needed to act soon or they risked being overwhelmed. Hector sidled up to Dom, and Renee joined him at his other side.

  “Three, two”—Dom slid back the cabin door—“one!”

  He planted a boot into the coverall-wearing Skull’s chest, and the creature flew backward. Hector and Renee’s rifles barked to life. Blood and bone fragments exploded from the two other Skulls. Their bodies dropped. The one Dom had kicked recovered and stood. With a quick pull of his trigger, Dom sent two bullets through the beast’s head. Crimson liquid poured from its wounds. The other Skulls surged. Their claws clicked on the asphalt as they ran. Dom, Hector, and Renee filed out and formed a defensive perimeter around the chopper.

  Meredith and Miguel leaped out next. Miguel shut the chopper door as Maggie, Kara, and Sadie watched. He patted the side of the bird before shouldering his rifle.

  Muzzle flashes exploded from the Hunters’ weapons with each measured shot. One of the charging creatures let out a high-pitched wail. A chorus of other cries, some distant, others sounding considerably closer, joined the beast’s frightening song. A spatter of bullets knocked the monster off its feet. For a few seconds, the parking lot was clear of living Skulls. The last throes of the sinking sun cast long shadows over the crumpled bodies and pools of blood.

  “Everybody’s night vision in working order?” Dom asked.

  Meredith flipped down the NVGs she’d borrowed from Adam. “Seems good to me.”

  The other Hunters followed suit. Dom clicked on his NVGs and peered into the now black-and-green landscape. Next to him, Meredith and the Hunters each wore infrared tags on their shoulders. The tags glowed a bright white when viewed through NVGs but were invisible to everyone else. The tags were commonly used by American forces to prevent friendly fire when operating in the cover of darkness.

  Through the NVGs, the vacant vehicles in the parking lot appeared like ghostly apparitions. He played his rifle across the trees. Everything remained silent despite the earlier cries they’d heard.

  Dom clicked on his comm link. “Frank, how’s my flyboy doing with the FADEC?”

  “We managed to use one of Adam’s sat link devices so Chao and Samantha could dial into our systems from the Huntress. They’re troubleshooting now.”

  “Keep your eyes on my girls for me, will you?”

  “You got it, Captain.”

  A guttural cry escaped the woods to their left. Dom and the Hunters swiveled. A Skull lunged over a fallen tree trunk. It sprinted toward them until a spray of bullets sent it sliding across the grass. Another howl sounded to their right, followed by a series of screams directly in front of them. More Skulls poured from the woods. Like the legendary hydra’s heads, each one they took down seemed to be replaced by two more.

  “Reloading,” Renee called. She jammed a fresh magazine in place and resumed firing.

  As soon as she did, Miguel yelled, “Reloading.”

  Dom took his turn, clicking a new magazine into place.

  The incoming Skulls seemed to be swarming them like someone had kicked a beehive. Dom’s thoughts turned toward Kara and Sadie, and he wondered how they were holding up. He prayed the Skulls would never reach the chopper. He squeezed the trigger and sent another skidding, dead, across the asphalt.

  Dom realized they were losing ground. There were far too many to hold back. A chorus of howls echoed across the parking lot directly behind them. Dom swallowed hard. He risked a glance over his shoulder. His NVGs lit up in bright flashes of green. A frenzied horde of Skulls scrambled across the lot to the other side of the AW109.

  “Frank,” Dom said. “I hope to God you’re about to tell me the bird’s ready to fly.”

  “That’s a negative, Captain,” Frank said. “And if these new passengers decide to climb all over the chopper, there’s a good chance we’re never getting out of here.”

  The wails of the approaching Skulls grew louder, and Dom’s pulse thumped in his ears. Hot adrenaline flooded his vessels. Next to him, his four crew members were clearly visible with their IR tags illuminated in his NVGs. The tags were completely invisible to the Skulls, but the bright flashes of white bursting from the muzzles of their rifles were not. An idea struck him, and he stopped squeezing the trigger. “Hold your fire!”

  -10-

  “With me!” Dom started running away from the chopper toward a picnic shelter. The others followed. When he reached the shelter, he flipped a picnic table on its side against one of the shelter’s support columns. Hector and Miguel turned over another, then Renee and Meredith shoved a third table over. It gave them a meager barricade against the Skulls.

  “Why the fuck are we running away from the chopper?” Miguel asked.

  Instead of answering, Dom squeezed the trigger and sent off several bursts into the flanks of the Skulls. The beasts swiveled and crashed into each other. Confusion riddled their ranks. Exactly what Dom had hoped.

  “This is why!” He fired again. “Open up on ‘em!”

  The other rifles chattered to life. T
he oncoming Skulls switched their attention to the muzzle flashes. Howls and calls rending the air anew, the beasts scrambled toward the picnic shelter where Dom and the Hunters had set their firing position. The tide of Skulls shifted away from the chopper.

  “What’s going on?” Adam’s voice broke over the comm link.

  “They hunt based on sound and sight,” Dom yelled through his mic. “So keep your asses down and work quietly while we draw them away.”

  Three Skulls in ragged clothing broke away from the pack and came bounding at him. The growling bellows coming from their mouths made them sound like creatures two or three times their size. Dom gritted his teeth and fired. He was rewarded with the gratifying smack of bullets plunging through bone and flesh, and the monsters tumbled into the grass. He shot off another burst, praying his daughters would stay hidden under the fuselage windows of the chopper. The scene reminded him of the attack on Detrick: a seemingly endless stream of Skulls flooding them with no end in sight.

  When they’d left the base, Shepherd had only given Dom and his crew enough supplies to tide them over in case of an emergency. He had no idea how long they could last.

  He patted his tac vest to confirm what he already knew: one more magazine left. He squeezed his trigger, pumping lead into a Skull with its claws outstretched and its mouth open in a wail. A long mess of dark hair trailed behind it, and a leather belt was still wrapped around its waist, a lingering reminder of its former humanity. Dom’s rounds knocked the creature back, and its muscles rippled and writhed under spikes and bony plates as its life ebbed away. Still more creatures came at them.

  “How’s everybody holding up?” Dom asked.

  “Reloading,” Miguel said. “Last fucking mag.”

  “Same,” Hector said.

  Meredith and Renee continued to fire. When they paused, they confirmed their dwindling ammunition.