Good God, where was the military? How long would they be alone? Two grad students in a hospital overrun by murderous creatures. In a city destroyed. In a nation falling.
Navid and Abby’s feet pounded against the stairs, echoing in the narrow shaft as they raced upstairs. A howl followed them. Footsteps clicked and clacked. The monsters. He and Abby were no longer alone after all.
-20-
Meredith watched in horror. The three Skulls stalked toward her. Her whole world was lit up in splotches of green flashes and black shadows. The Hunters’ NVGs gave them an advantage over the Skulls, who relied primarily on sight. However, the Skulls also lashed out at anything that made a sound. Gunfire. Footsteps. Breathing. Even a goddamned heartbeat seemed enough to attract their attention.
Desperate to reload her rifle, she fumbled with a magazine. One of the Skulls, fatter and rounder than the others, leapt past an overturned dining table. The magazine clicked into place, and the Skull homed in on the sound. It rushed Meredith, and she brought the muzzle of the rifle back up. The creature flew through the air in spite of its non-athletic appearance, slashing with its hooked, bony claws. Meredith squeezed the trigger, but she could already tell her shots were going to go wide. She sidestepped to avoid the monster.
A loud rattle of gunfire from her left assaulted her eardrums. The Skull’s head snapped back even as its body flew forward. The thing skidded to a stop, leaving a trail of blood.
Dom stood beside Meredith with the barrel of his gun aimed at the Skull in case it decided death didn’t suit it. But when he saw it didn’t move, he moved on to the next target, careful to stay out of the way of his Hunters while bringing down Skull after Skull.
He seemed to be in a sort of trance. He shouldered his rifle, killed a monster, and then sprinted to his next firing position. A final Skull, thin and limber, dashed across the corpse-filled dance floor. Meredith watched Dom kneel and fire once. The beast stopped, its head rolled back, and its body crumpled among its fallen comrades.
“On me!” Dom commanded.
Meredith followed the others as they circled around Dom. Their guns bristled, facing outward from the small formation.
“We lost Hector,” Dom said, his voice stern, a dam against the inner turmoil he must be feeling. The Hunters looked stricken by the news, but they retained their sense of professionalism. The battle wasn’t over yet. But at least now Meredith could understand the sheer coldness with which Dom had dispatched the Skulls. “We still need to keep moving and find the captain and any other survivors.” He pulled out the map of the ship that Holtz had given him. “Behind that door, there should be another short passageway leading to the pilothouse. Once we’ve rounded up any other survivors, we’re going to lead them onto the deck. There, we’ll start ferrying passengers from this ship to a quarantine zone as soon as Chao tells us we’ve got someplace to take these people.”
“Permission to speak freely, Captain,” Miguel said.
“Be quick.”
“Just to be clear, I thought the plan was to retake the pilothouse and set up triage on the lower decks.”
“That was the plan. But those things poured through the ventilation shafts and ceiling. We can’t risk the possibility that even one of them is prowling around in there. This whole ship has to be abandoned.”
“Understood.”
“For now, Hector’s staying here. But we will not leave him. He comes with us after we clear the pilothouse.” Dom gestured toward Miguel. “Take point. Renee, you’re on rearguard. And everyone, watch your backs, watch your front, your sides. We can’t let those goddamn things take us by surprise again.”
The Hunters surged forward like a silent wave, rolling toward the opposite side of the dining room. Meredith fell in beside Dom. She wished she could offer him some form of comfort, but she knew him well enough to realize that he would not accept it. While his people were still in danger, he wouldn’t let himself show weakness when they needed him to be strong.
Miguel paused by the door to the passageway and looked back at Dom for further instructions. Dom gave him a slight nod, indicating for him to try the door. Meredith held her breath as she watched the Hunter give the handle a slight pull. It didn’t give.
Dom approached the door, his face pinched in determination. He rapped on it with the back of his hand. “This is Dominic Holland, captain of the Huntress. I’m with a group of trained military contractors, and we’re here to rescue you. Please, open up.”
No response.
Again Dom knocked and repeated the statement. Still there was no response.
Meredith hated to acknowledge the thought now drifting through her mind, but she asked anyway. “What if Skulls already got to these people?”
Dom gave her a nod but didn’t say a word. He sent Renee and Miguel a series of hand signals. They positioned themselves at the sides of the door. Dom tried the handle once more, took a step back, and smashed into the door with his shoulder. The wood shattered, sending a spray of splinters into the passageway beyond.
Meredith caught herself holding her breath and let it out. She peered down the sights of her rifle, waiting for Skulls to come charging out of the shadows. But none came.
“Jenna, Andris, Miguel, you take the portside,” Dom said in a low voice. “Meredith, Renee, on me. Go!”
The Hunters padded down the passage. They checked the two doors on their way to the pilothouse, but the rooms were clear. The tension in the air as they approached the last was almost palpable. Meredith could feel a trickle of sweat drip down her neck, and she readjusted her hold on her rifle.
Like before, Dom approached the door. He knocked on it and repeated the same words he’d said prior to breaching the passageway.
This time there was a response. But instead of relieved voices, all that came back was the guttural growl of a Skull.
Meredith’s heart sank. They’d been charged with rescuing the passengers and returning the ship back to its service as a temporary shelter. It looked like they’d failed at both directives.
Dom gestured to the Hunters, and they organized themselves as before. He threw himself against the door, and it slapped against the bulkhead of the pilothouse. The force of it knocked back a person—no, a Skull—onto the helm. The Skull promptly stood, wielding its claws before its plated chest and grinding its teeth together. Dom wasted no time in putting a bullet through the creature’s face. It slumped, its body limp, and smacked against the deck.
No other Skulls appeared. But as Meredith gazed around, she saw the tattered remains of several crewmen’s uniforms clinging to bloodied bones.
Dom kicked the Skull’s corpse. “This was the goddamned captain.”
Holtz had said the captain was sick—and now it looked as if he’d killed his crew.
“Fuck.” Dom punched a fist against the bulkhead, causing Meredith to jump. He shot her a look. A look she could tell at once wasn’t meant for her, but was rather an unintentional view into his thoughts. She could see the anger, the frustration, and the sorrow over losing Hector.
And she knew why. After all, what had they gained on this mission other than to reaffirm their knowledge that the Skulls were dangerous?
She didn’t envy Dom’s position. It must have felt to him as if the responsibility of saving the world rested on his shoulders. General Kinsey had been reluctant to support further scientific efforts that might thwart the Oni Agent, and the man hadn’t ordered any active rescue efforts, instead choosing to withdraw his forces and reorganize. To what end, they couldn’t be sure.
As the Hunters scoured the pilothouse, Meredith reminded herself she’d been the first to put Dom in this terrible position. She’d sent him to the IBSL and unwittingly mired him in the resulting mess.
She trudged up to Dom. “What now?”
“We get Hector and we get the hell off this ship. We get everyone off this ship.” Dom pressed his finger over his earpiece. “Huntress, this is Alpha team. Can I get a sitrep on the safe zone ef
forts?”
“Alpha, Huntress.” Chao’s voice rang out over the public comm link line in Meredith’s ear. “We’ve got a potential site to establish a more permanent shelter, and we think we’ve identified targets to help defend the location.”
“Thank God,” Dom said. “I’m going to need you to open comms with your potential reinforcement targets. I need boats on the water to ferry these people off this ship.”
“Copy that, Captain. We’ll do the best we can, but I think we’re going to need the Hunters to do a little work to help our new recruits.”
“And why’s that?”
“They’re currently surrounded by Skulls. But according to our satellite imagery, they seem to be holding out.”
“Kill it with the suspense, Chao,” Dom said. “Who are we talking about?”
“The Academy.”
“The midshipmen at the Annapolis Naval Academy?” Miguel asked. “They’re practically kids.”
“From what I’ve found, the Academy has a modest supply of weapons and ammo they use for firearms practice,” Chao said. “And a lot of it’s outdated. MP5s, some old M11s.”
“So they might not last long,” Dom said. “Hunters, hear that? We’re moving out immediately. Miguel, Andris, grab Hector.” He started toward the door, shouldering his rifle.
“One more thing, Dom. They’ve got boats. Sailboats and yard patrol craft. That small fleet should work for ferrying the passengers.”
“Good to know,” Dom said. “We’re headed your way immediately to resupply. Prep all the intelligence you’ve got, because we’re going to need it for Annapolis.”
Meredith followed Dom into the passageway. The Hunters covered each other, advancing through the bloody, gory remnants of the previous battle. They stepped over the Skulls’ broken bodies and the bones of passengers and crew members whose flesh had been mauled and devoured. Miguel and Andris hoisted Hector between them, and the Hunters retraced their steps until they were on the first deck near where they had entered this tomb of a ship. They made it out of the lower decks without incident.
A wave of relief washed through Meredith. She turned off her NVGs and headed outside into sunlight. That brief respite was quickly replaced by the chaos of the shouting passengers. People wanted answers regarding where they were going, what would happen to them. She saw their faces turning red and their fists shaking in the air. Children crying, adults shouting.
A hand grabbed her arm and she spun. Lauren faced her, hair matted by sweat and her skin sporting a red hue, no doubt a combination of sun and stress.
“What’s going on?” Lauren asked. “Is Hector—”
Meredith nodded. “He’s gone.”
Dom rounded up the Hunters around Lauren’s medical team. “We’re leaving the ship. There’s no way we can guarantee people’s safety inside that shithole. It’s best to leave all the hatches and doors secured and make sure no one, or no thing, gets in or out.”
“You’re leaving us?” a middle-aged woman asked. “We’ll die out here.”
Dom whipped around to face her. “The best thing we can do for you is leave.” He cupped his hands together and yelled at the passengers. “I need quiet. Quiet!”
Their voices only carried higher and louder, crashing like waves against rock. Meredith waited for him to fire his gun into the air to silence the crowd. But Dom did no such thing. Even fueled by rage against the Skulls and pity for his fallen Hunter, he maintained a relatively cool head. “Hunters, med team, back to the Zodiacs!”
“And leave these people?” Lauren asked, closing up her medical kit.
“I’m not losing anyone to a mob of civilians. We’ll be back with help, whether they believe it or not.”
The medical team hopped into the Zodiacs first. Dom helped keep back the passengers threatening to trample each other and force themselves on the small craft. The other Hunters boarded the Zodiacs. Meredith moved to follow Renee down the ladder when someone squeezed her shoulder. She looked up to see Holtz, the ship’s steward.
“The captain’s dead, isn’t he?”
Meredith nodded.
Holtz’s brow creased in wrinkles. “You can’t leave us stranded.”
“We’ll be back. But there’s nothing we can do now.”
Holtz turned away. “I hope to God you aren’t lying.”
Meredith knew there was nothing she could say to convince him otherwise. “Take care of these people, and we’ll make good on our word.”
Meredith descended the ladder. Dom jumped into the Zodiac. “Go, go, go!”
The crowd pressed against the gunwale, almost spilling over into the bay. The nimble Zodiacs raced into the open water to the Huntress. People yelled as they were trampled by their fellow passengers. There was nothing Meredith could do to help them except pray that they really would be able to liberate the Academy and come back to save these desperate souls. So desperate for escape, for deliverance, that they’d fight among themselves and stampede over each other to get off the cruise ship.
Since the Oni Agent outbreak, Meredith had quickly learned how dangerous Skulls could be. But she’d neglected to consider the danger that even healthy humans now posed. She turned away from the ship as it became an indistinguishable white blob on the horizon.
Dom had wrapped an arm around Hector to ensure he didn’t fall over the side of the craft as it bounced over rolling waves. Meredith sidled up next to him. She kept one hand on the gunwale and placed the other on his shoulder in a reassuring gesture. She expected him to shrug her off, to hide behind a wall of stoic determination.
But instead he reached up and placed one gloved hand over hers. He left it there, and in that moment Meredith realized something. As the world went to hell, as humanity devoured itself—literally and figuratively—there was no one’s team she’d rather be on than Dom’s. A formidable and compassionate leader, a daring and intelligent captain, a dependable and selfless friend. She knew he’d do anything in his power to help his family, his friends, and his crew. And now Meredith knew that she’d follow him to the ends of the earth, to hell itself and back, if that was where he needed her to go.
-21-
Dom entered the medical bay with Meredith at his heels. She hadn’t left him since they’d gotten off the Zodiacs, but he found he didn’t mind. Her presence gave him stability and comfort. He wasn’t used to those feelings, bouncing from mission to mission, never knowing what covert op he faced next. The threat of the Skulls, the constant disorientation of a world turned upside down and an enemy that could hardly be considered human, had made his job of being the steadfast captain of the ship harder. But Meredith made that burden a little easier to bear.
“Dad!” Sadie said, jumping off a patient bed. She sprinted to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Maggie pressed her furry body against his legs and whined. Her tail thrashed all the while.
He saw Kara awake and alert. Fresh bandages covered most of the left side of her face. His mind was at once overwhelmed by a combination of intense joy to see her alive intermingled with a father’s pain of seeing her bedridden and injured. He locked his gaze on her uncovered eye, expecting her to be equally relieved at his return. Instead, he was met with a stare colder than Medusa’s.
“You can’t just leave us without telling us what’s going on,” Kara said.
He was taken aback by his daughter’s annoyance. “Glad to see you’re doing better.” He stepped forward and took her hand. “You were completely out of it when I left. I’m sorry.”
“So do you have some time now to talk? Maybe fill me in on where you’ve been for the past couple of decades? Catch me up on your life outside of Frederick?”
Dom turned away for a moment. Meredith was speaking with Sadie and scratching Maggie’s head. “I would,” he said, “but I just came to check on you. I’ve got to get moving again. Another mission to prepare for.”
“I guess the end of the world waits for no one, right? But at least this time you were nice enough to
make sure I knew you were leaving.” The steel in her gaze vanished, replaced by a younger version of Kara, the one Dom had tucked in at night and assured no monsters lay in wait for her in the closet. And here came the veiled emotions, the ones Kara tried to hide with a toughened exterior—not so different from him, really. “Come back soon, okay?”
“I promise.” But Dom’s thoughts turned back to Hector. Lost in what should’ve been a relatively straightforward mission. He had no delusions that this mission would be any easier.
Meredith placed a hand on Dom’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure he gets his ass back aboard this ship.”
Kara smiled and looked up at Meredith. “I’ve seen her in action. I trust her.”
Dom squeezed Kara’s hand. She wrapped her thin fingers around his. “I won’t fail you or your sister.”
“Or Maggie,” Sadie added, forcing a slight grin as she ruffled the dog’s ears.
“Or Maggie.” Dom stood straight again and let go of Kara’s hand. He hated feeling her fingers slip from his. But there were lives—so many lives—depending on him and the Hunters. “I’ll be back soon. Love you both.”
“Love you, too,” Sadie and Kara echoed.
“I mean what I said, Dom,” Meredith said. “I’m making sure you get back to your daughters if it’s the last thing I do.”
“I appreciate it.” And he did. But he steeled himself for what he knew was the right thing to say, the right thing to do in a position with his responsibilities. “But remember, the mission’s got to come first. There’s a whole ship full of people and who knows how many survivors in Annapolis depending on our success.”
Meredith looked like she was about to protest but nodded instead. She narrowed her eyes slightly and scrunched her brow. It was the look she’d given him a thousand times, dating back to the days they’d worked in the CIA together. It meant: You can trust me. And he knew he could.
Dom placed his hand on the door to the electronics workshop. He paused before opening it. His thoughts turned to Hector. Another man gone, another Hunter killed by the Skulls. And his crew wouldn’t even have time to mourn before he shipped them off on their next mission. He prayed they wouldn’t lose anyone else before they saw the end of this nightmare.
The Tide: Breakwater (Tide Series Book 2) Page 14
