North came first and traced his beam back on the survivors.
“What the hell, David?” she asked.
“It’s like they band together, creating a magnetic power.”
Three of the women made it into the passage.
Only Cafferty, Natalie, and Ellen remained between the caves, struggling the last few yards to free themselves from the creatures’ invisible grip. It was like watching a car crash in slow motion. Their lights were useless against the power. Bowcut rose to help them but North dragged her back, wincing as he did.
“They’ll make it,” he said. “We’ll make it.”
Natalie, who was slower than the rest, stumbled toward the cave, fighting against the invisible force with all her might.
The creatures in the darkness appeared to focus their efforts on her, the weak link.
Ellen reached out, grasped Natalie’s arm, and attempted to drag her the final few steps. But the smaller woman stopped dead in her tracks, as the force pulled her in the opposite direction.
“Natalie, no! Fight!” Ellen maintained her grip, trying to haul her to safety, seemingly oblivious to her cuts on her exposed foot. “Fight it!”
Natalie screamed, caught in a tug-of-war between life and death. “My baby! No! They’re pulling me apart!”
Bowcut couldn’t believe her eyes. Natalie’s belly stretched and squirmed, as if the creatures were trying to rip open her womb.
Tears streamed down Natalie’s face and her body shook. “Let me go . . .” she whispered to Ellen.
“No, Natalie, no!” Ellen cried back.
“Let me go—”
Blood squirted from Natalie’s nostrils and dripped from her left eye. She broke free of Ellen’s grip and uncontrollably lurched into the darkness, arms and legs flailing.
Silence followed a single scream.
Ellen staggered toward the passage and collapsed inside.
“She’s gone, let’s go!” Bowcut shouted. She charged up the rocky incline, laser at the ready, wondering if the creatures had any other terrifying tricks up their sleeves. She put nothing beyond them after witnessing their last sick display of power.
But grief for Natalie would have to wait.
Otherwise we’ll all join her.
North grunted as he limped immediately behind, showing his renowned mettle by fighting the pain of his injuries and not slowing the group. Everyone in law enforcement circles knew of his glowing reputation, but to her, it was more than just a reputation—it was simply who he was. It was the reason she loved him and the reason it tore at her insides at how easily he sacrificed himself for others. He was the one who was too good for this world, and he was too good for her. But for some reason he wanted her—loved her back—and if there was an option to get all these people out alive or simply die in his arms, she wasn’t sure what she’d choose.
North tossed another strobe grenade ahead, leaving them with only two remaining.
Bowcut entered the familiar cavern where only stalactites separated them from the breach. She dropped to her hands and knees, crawled underneath the sharp points, and used her light to illuminate the path ahead.
The rope still dangled out of the shaft.
She breathed a huge sigh of relief, but then she realized they had a problem: the other women wouldn’t have her climbing experience. Some were injured. All were pregnant. This was going to take some doing. But they were getting closer . . .
The dead cop hanging from two stalactites blunted any optimism, though. Because while she still had a chance to survive, his family and friends—like Dumont’s and Natalie’s—would never see him again. The impending explosion would see to that.
Just like my father. The thought almost froze her.
“Keep . . . moving,” North wheezed.
The words urged Bowcut on. She scrambled to her feet, swept her light around the space, and walked over to the rope. She gave it a firm tug and it twanged rigid.
North, Ellen, and the other four women joined her next to the pile of rubble. Tom Cafferty stayed by the stalactites and blazed his spotlight back toward the passage, providing extra insurance on top of the weakening distant strobe.
“We’ve got no idea what’s up there,” Bowcut said. “But we need to move fast. The train might pass at any moment. I’ll go first and clear any creatures.”
She handed the laser to North. “Are you okay to cover me?”
“None of these sons of bitches will touch you,” he replied, instilling confidence in her.
“Gimme the last couple of those light grenades.”
North produced two silver spheres from his pocket. “I know you can do this.”
“Everyone follow me straight up, use your legs as leverage to ascend up the shaft walls. We haven’t got time to take turns.”
Bowcut pocketed the grenades, slipped her light beneath a tight elastic fastening on her chest rig, and quickly ascended the mound of rubble. She wasted no time grabbing the first overhang and moved up the shaft with fast, smooth movements.
North climbed immediately after, grabbing rocks with his huge hands and hauling himself up. Dark figures followed, and their lights flashed around the cavern edges. Soon, everyone was ascending with Cafferty covering their rear, his spotlight glaring into the abyss.
Bowcut closed to within ten feet of the top when she heard a sound. Whirling, she saw a creature’s snarling face looking down from the tunnel.
Another one joined it.
“Move to your left,” North shouted.
Bowcut reached for an outcrop and swung to the side. The rock below her boot snapped away and plunged into the cavern. She clung with her hands and attempted to find another foothold as the laser’s beam shot past her shoulder and warmed her cheek.
One of the creatures screamed, until its head vanished in a puff of brown mist.
North fired again, punching the laser straight through the other’s face. It slumped forward and fell into the shaft.
“Watch out!” Bowcut yelled.
The creature battered against the outcrops, its body twisting and crashing against both sides of the wall. It plummeted past Bowcut and she glanced down, hoping it wouldn’t smash anyone back into the cavern.
The group hugged the wall and ducked under shallow ledges.
Moments later, the creature’s limp body thudded on top of the pile of rubble and rolled off to the side. Bowcut sucked in a deep breath and continued her climb, keeping a close eye on the edges of the breach.
She paused a few feet from the top of the shaft, retrieved one of the grenades, pressed the sides until she felt a light click, and threw it into the tunnel.
Bright flashes erupted overhead.
Bowcut followed the strobe and pulled herself to the top, quickly panning her light around the deserted track as she climbed to her feet.
A faint, unrecognizable sound echoed up the tunnel.
She strained to identify the source.
As it grew louder, she picked out two distinct noises.
The roar of a diesel engine.
And shrieks.
This time, definitely thousands . . .
“Climb!” she shouted. “Climb!”
Their route to freedom was on the way, but it was bringing a sea of creatures. Bowcut feared with one strobe grenade and a single laser, a huge tide of monstrosities would overrun everyone as they tried to board. But they were out of options.
This was it.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The approaching roar of the diesel engine came as music to Cafferty’s ears. He groaned to a standing position above the breach. Making it out of the creatures’ underground network took them only halfway to safety and their ultimate survival was still out of their hands. The whole place was due to blow in just under four minutes.
North crouched next to Bowcut at the side of the track, aiming the laser down the tunnel. Ellen and the other women crowded behind, bathed by the orange glow of the MTA lantern, and she shone her spotlight i
n the same direction.
Shrieking and scrambling erupted from below, now that their lights weren’t flooding the cavern. North repeatedly fired the laser beam across the creatures trying to scale the walls, slicing them to pieces.
The slashes on Cafferty’s arms stung and blood soaked his bandages, but the adrenaline surging through his body kept him going strong.
And that just needs to last a little while longer . . .
Light illuminated the distant tunnel wall.
The diesel engine soared around the bend, dragging one of the Z Train’s cars. A strong ray of light glared from its front—Anna and her team must have figured out the projector—and it closed to within a few hundred feet. But with the salvation of the train came a throng of creatures that raced by its sides, leaping and bounding over every part of the tunnel.
Spotlights dazzled on the sides of the car. Several creatures hunched on the roof and repeatedly slammed their claws into the metal. More hung off the sides, tearing away the steel plates. One leaned in an exposed window and ripped a man out. It threw him against the wall at a gut-churning speed. Huge black figures rounded on his broken body as they stole the life from him.
Cafferty joined Bowcut and North at the center of the track, squinting to protect his eyes, and he thrust out his palm toward the oncoming engine. “Throw your fucking grenades,” he shouted.
“Grenade,” Bowcut said, emphasizing the singular nature. “Not yet.”
“But—”
“Trust us,” North said.
And he did.
The train’s air horn blasted. It closed to a hundred feet at a steady speed, allowing more creatures to surround the car.
“Ready . . .” Bowcut said.
“Now!” North yelled.
Bowcut launched her silver sphere. It arced through the air and bounced to the side of the track.
Brilliant flashes flooded the immediate area.
More piercing wails filled the air, creating an earsplitting sound.
The main body of creatures surged back. But the ones on the car continued their assault, letting out howls as the engine slowed toward the breach.
North thrust the laser up and fired, and a red beam swept over the top of the roof, cutting down four creatures. He switched his aim to the side of the car and shot another one in the back of its head.
Ellen focused her spotlight on a creature clinging to the undercarriage. It snarled and scuttled out, straight into a red beam that sliced through its stomach.
Sal rose from behind the cabin window. Cuts peppered his sweaty face; drops of blood speckled his T-shirt. “Get your people on board!” he shouted to the mayor, as the train kept moving. “I’m taking this baby outta here.”
“Can you do it in three minutes?” Cafferty yelled over the noise.
“At full speed, maybe. But if we create sparks—”
“Fuck sparks. If we don’t, we’re dead. The tunnels are rigged to explode.”
Sal nodded, seemingly accepting the high stakes. “Fucking hell. I’ll let this sucker rip when you’re all on board.”
Cafferty looked at the Z Train car. DeLuca held a set of doors open. Cops and MTA employees manned the others, reaching out to the trackside survivors.
“Start running!” DeLuca yelled. “We’ll pull you in.”
The eight sprinted alongside the train.
The passenger car drew level with them, and arms reached out to pull in the pregnant women first, Ellen’s spotlight aimed over their shoulders to keep any creatures at bay. One after the other, the ladies heaved inside.
“Get in!” Cafferty told Ellen, and, throwing her spotlight into the train, she grabbed the hand of a cop who hauled her in.
“You next, Mr. Mayor!” Bowcut said.
Along with him, only her and North remained outside the car.
With all his strength, Cafferty lunged forward, and a strong pair of hands clasped his wrists. The flesh on his arms burned like molten iron was being pumped through his veins as they jerked, and he let out a ragged scream.
“It’s okay—I got you, sir,” Lieutenant Arnolds said, and hauled him into car.
Cafferty spun around on his stomach to face outside.
North fired his laser beyond the strobes, rotating it across the width of the tunnel, cutting the first few ranks of creatures in half. How he kept moving with his injuries was nothing short of miraculous. “David!” Cafferty yelled.
North looked over and seemed to realize all the civilians had made it safely inside. He rushed for the car and lunged for the open doors, and Tom grabbed him . . . only for his grip to give.
His strength had finally left him.
“No!”
But another arm thrust past him and grabbed North’s jacket. Arnolds—with a few passengers hanging on to him as an anchor—heaved, and North collapsed inside.
Cafferty and North lay on the floor for a second, spent, but North somehow popped up and pushed his way along the aisle to the rear of the car.
The cars pulled away from Bowcut.
“Get in!” Cafferty shouted at her retreating figure. Hauling himself up, he made his way back to North, stumbling down the aisle. Through the final set of doors . . . Bowcut fell farther behind.
The despair almost hit him. He had ordered her SWAT team here, and Dumont was already dead. Now it appeared he had brought her down into the tunnels to find death, too.
The diesel engine let out a thunderous roar, the train jerked forward, and they quickly built up speed, smoothly clanking up the track.
They were leaving her behind . . .
Except Cafferty had somehow forgot about David North.
At the rear of the car, David had already opened the door that connected trains, and for a moment Tom had the irrational thought that people weren’t supposed to ride between cars—that it was dangerous.
For what felt like an eternity, his security chief stood there against a backdrop of pitch black and wailing shrieks.
And then he pulled Bowcut inside, and they landed on the floor in each other’s arms. Cafferty had never felt so relieved in his life.
Except they weren’t out just yet . . .
He glanced around at the people in the bloodstained car, and any relief that was left quickly vanished.
How did it come to this . . . ?
So many missing.
Dead.
The body and roof of the project he had spent the better part of a decade on—the better part of his marriage on—had been torn to ribbons. Only two steel plates remained in place, and wind rushed through torn-out sections at the front and sides.
Roughly thirty souls remained alive, between the seats, resolutely holding their lanterns and improvised weapons. Lieutenant Arnolds barked orders, his determined face stained with the blood of those who didn’t make it. A mix of cops, MTA workers, and guests crouched around him, fewer than half the amount who had originally barricaded themselves in for the desperate fight.
The car’s suspension bumped and a shallow crimson pool spilled across the floor.
Cafferty checked his watch.
Under two minutes.
The diesel engine’s roar increased in pitch.
“They’re coming back!” North shouted.
Cafferty raced along the aisle only to lose his footing when his shoe slipped. He crashed against the floor and skidded through a thin layer of blood.
A cop reached down and grabbed his arm, sending a fresh wave of agony through the laceration, but he gritted down the nausea. Shuddering, he rose to his feet and wiped his hands on the front of his shirt. He carefully walked the last few steps and crouched by North, Ellen, and Bowcut around a torn-out section at the rear of the car. The creatures had peeled away enough of the body to easily drag a couple of people through, though it had created a space wide enough for the survivors to use their weapons.
Ellen edged out of the way, giving him a clear view.
Thousands of creatures surged forward, followed by a f
oaming wave of water that swallowed up the bottom half of the tunnel. In the darkness, it was hard to tell where the creatures ended and the water began, but he wasn’t sure it mattered—either one would kill them all. The smaller creatures were easier to delineate, though, as they were at the front, charging at lightning speed, eating up the ground between themselves and the train in seconds.
The alarm on Cafferty’s watch beeped, signaling one minute until detonation.
All this. We made it through all this, and we’re still going to die.
But North didn’t seem willing to accept that. He fired, punching the laser’s beam through the closest creatures. Others bounded over the corpses and reached out their claws.
Ellen and Bowcut cut their spotlights to the left and right, attempting to slow the advance. It had no effect. The water appeared to have made up the creatures’ minds, and whatever impact the light had on them was preferable to drowning.
“We can’t outrun them—they’re too fast,” Cafferty said. He glanced over his shoulder at the survivors. “Get ready!”
North fired repeatedly, chopping down hundreds of creatures. Blood spurted from their limbs and bodies, and the rush of seawater quickly consumed the carcasses.
It barely seemed to make a dent in the ranks of the shrieking mass.
The train gained a bit more speed, and it looked like they were pulling clear of the main body.
But the small ones . . .
Three of them raced along the walls and leaped at the car.
Claws stabbed through the roof.
A tail whipped through a window and carved into the top of Lieutenant Arnolds’ head, splitting it down to his nose.
Screams erupted inside the car.
The tail slithered around Arnolds’ neck and lashed from side to side, battering his limp body against the internal walls.
Everyone ducked lower between the seats.
North spun and fired. Sparks fizzed from the ceiling. He cut a line through it, and the beam severed a creature’s legs. It didn’t seem to matter, though—the tail ripped Arnolds’ body out the window.
“Sparks!” Bowcut shouted at Cafferty. “The methane won’t ignite! Let’s take these fuckers down.”
Awakened Page 27
