Extinction Cycle: Dark Age Box Set | Books 1-4

by Smith, Nicholas Sansbury

  Ron rushed Azrael, his hand outstretched for Sammy. Before he could even touch her, Abaddon’s cutlass came down, separating the man’s head from his torso.

  “RON!” another woman in a white coat yelled.

  Sammy’s movements became weaker and slower.

  “Is no one going to tell me?” he asked.

  The other woman in the white coat finally broke, tears streaming down her face. “They’re at the Harbor House Hotel! Please, let her go!”

  Azrael tossed Sammy at the woman.

  More gunfire erupted down the hall, closer now.

  “Someone’s broken through our lines outside,” one of the Scions said, his voice crackling. “Our loyalists said it looks like Reed Beckham was with them.”

  Azrael snarled.

  While he yearned to wait here and face Captain Reed Beckham, Master Sergeant Fitzpatrick, and all those other foolish traitors to make them pay for the pain they had caused, there was one other person more important to him.

  President Jan Ringgold.

  “Secure these prisoners,” Azrael said to his soldiers. They tied the science team up in cables and ropes from their packs.

  “Stay here with one death squad,” Azrael said to Abaddon. “If I have learned anything about Beckham, it’s that he would fight through hell to see his pathetic wife. Take Reed, Ghost, or anyone else who shows up here alive if possible. If they cannot be taken alive, then destroy them.”

  “Yes, Prophet,” Abaddon replied.

  Azrael turned to leave but hesitated.

  “Do not fail me,” he said.

  His gaze moved to Kate.

  “I’ll see you soon, Doctor,” he said.

  — 26 —

  Gunfire echoed through the hall. Timothy had not stopped firing and running through the hospital since they had taken out a squad of Chimeras guarding one of the entrances.

  He pushed through a second-floor corridor filled with dead beasts. Beckham and Horn were far ahead, firing and taking down guards while Timothy helped Ruckley limp through the destruction.

  All around them, disemboweled patients littered the hallways, some of them missing limbs.

  His mind raced, wondering how the civilians were faring as the enemy tore through Galveston. Were Tasha, Jenny, Javier and the dogs safe?

  Horn and Beckham had to be worried sick, but they weren’t showing it. Both men were machines, killing with calculated precision and moving past the macabre scenes without flinching.

  All Timothy could do was take things one at a time. Advance to this corner, clear a hallway. Each time, his vision narrowed to the corridor and enemies before him. That mentality had gotten them through the hostile forces so far.

  They reached another section of hallway choked with the bodies of soldiers, patients, and hospital staff who had given their lives. The smell of death and cordite hung heavy in the air as the team advanced.

  “Almost there,” Beckham said. “Just one more turn on our left.”

  Ruckley hobbled after him, carrying her M9.

  They slowed when they approached the next corner. Beckham had told them the lab doors were situated at a T-intersection. Horn peered around the edge, then motioned that he had seen two hostiles.

  Timothy’s heart sank. Had they already killed the science team?

  He looked toward Beckham, but the experienced operator’s face was hard as steel. Beckham appeared to be considering their next moves. He motioned for Horn and Timothy to go down another hallway and loop back around so they could come at the lab from a different side, flanking the sentries. Beckham and Ruckley would stay behind, taking the sentries head on, keeping their attention while Horn and Timothy took them out.

  Timothy nodded and ran down another set of halls. More bodies lined the corridors, and he tried not to let his eyes linger on all those who had lost their lives down here.

  Focus, Timothy thought again. He remembered what Horn had told him before. Tomorrow they would mourn the dead; today they would fight to save the living.

  He and Horn made it all the way around to the other side of the laboratory wing. They could see the sides of the two sentry Chimeras facing straight down the hallway where Ruckley and Beckham were.

  Broken glass covered the hallway.

  Timothy kept his rifle shouldered and took cover behind a sideways chair, providing him just enough shelter to stay out of sight. The Chimeras began to sniff the air, their nostrils pointed up.

  Beckham and Ruckley opened fire and both creatures dove for cover, right into Timothy and Horn’s sights. They blasted the armored beasts, killing them instantly.

  “Let’s go,” Horn said.

  Timothy leapt over the busted chair and followed Horn. They jumped through the broken windows into the lab and then ducked behind the cover of the massive lab benches.

  Beckham and Ruckley continued firing toward the lab entrance from the hall. Timothy leaned around a bench, seeing a pair of Chimeras standing over the scientists and engineers who had been working here.

  Timothy shifted to another position to see how many other Chimeras were in the room. As he did, a beast in a black mask leapt over the lab bench, knocking aside computers and plastic vials. He landed hard on top of Horn and slammed his head into the ground.

  Timothy leveled his rifle, but the half-man dodged past the burst of gunfire as it scrambled on all fours, slamming his shoulder into Timothy’s face.

  The impact knocked Timothy back, his vision blurring. He felt clawed fingers tighten around his neck and blinked to see golden eyes staring at him.

  “Never thought I would see you again,” the creature growled. The crackling voice sounded vaguely familiar.

  The beast picked Timothy up and slammed him against a lab bench. Panicked cries rang out from the scientists and engineers.

  Timothy tried to pull his knife, but the Chimera grabbed his hand, pinning him on his back to the bench.

  Horn was still struggling to stand, his head rolling on his shoulder. Other Chimeras were firing into the hallway, keeping Beckham and Ruckley back.

  The Chimera leaned closer.

  “Do you not recognize me?” he snarled.

  He pulled back his mask. His graying flesh was covered in scars and his nose was barely existent, but if Timothy squinted through his blurred vision, he could almost see the man, the collaborator, that this Chimera had once been.

  “How about now?” the Chimera asked.

  Timothy tried to talk, but he was too stunned.

  “I am Abaddon,” the Chimera said. He pushed down on Timothy’s sternum. “But before I was chosen, I was called Nick.”

  Timothy felt something pop in his chest. His vision went hazy, and his heart raced.

  “You destroyed my family,” Nick said. “Now I’m going to make you suffer agony like you’ve never known.”

  The gunfire in the hall continued in deafening bursts. Horn was starting to push himself upright, but the big operator looked dizzy, like he had suffered a traumatic concussion.

  “Do you know how that feels?” Nick asked, leaning down toward Timothy. He spit in his face. “Losing everything?!”

  Timothy struggled to breathe, but he managed a nod.

  He pictured his father’s body on Peak’s Island and the faces of Donna and Bo, before they had died in the bat attack in Portland. He imagined his mother and the rest of his family who had been killed in the first war.

  Nick had suffered his own share of misery, too. Now he was crazy, driven insane by the death of those he had loved. The true embodiment of evil. A twisted Chimera, fighting and killing for the New Gods.

  Timothy felt the wooden beads of Tasha’s bracelet against his wrist. He still had something left to fight for.

  “Do you know what it feels like?!” Nick roared again, demanding an answer.

  Timothy stretched one hand toward his hip, toward the holster there, fighting against the pain coursing through his nerves. He tore his pistol out and pushed it against Nick’s stomach.
He pulled the trigger once, twice, three times.

  The Chimera staggered backward.

  Timothy got up and fired again, but Nick still managed to pull his cutlass from his back and started to swing it down. A hand grabbed the Chimera’s wrist.

  “Don’t fuck with the mountain’s future son in-law,” Horn said.

  Before the beast could turn toward Horn, Timothy leveled the gun into Nick’s face and pulled the trigger.

  He crumpled to the ground, right in front of Horn. The big man ducked down to pick up a rifle. Three remaining Chimeras were distracted and firing down the hallway, holding back Beckham and Ruckley.

  Horn took them down in three bursts.

  “That’s what I’m talking about!” Horn shouted. He wobbled, uneven on his feet.

  “Clear!” Timothy called out. He leaned on a lab bench, trying to catch his breath. Every gasp felt like someone was twisting a knife in his side. Blood dribbled down his face as he finally limped toward the scientists and engineers.

  Kate was kneeling beside one of her injured scientists. Her eyes were wet with tears. Another researcher was already dead, beheaded by the abominations.

  “You okay, Kate?” Horn asked.

  Timothy bent down next to her.

  She nodded and rose as Beckham rushed into the lab. They met each other in a deep embrace while Timothy moved to stand sentry with Ruckley.

  “Jesus, you all right, Temper?” she asked.

  “My ribs…” He grimaced in pain.

  “You guys did good,” Ruckley said to Horn.

  “Wasn’t me,” Horn said. “It was all Temper.”

  Beckham and Kate parted. She glanced down at the headless corpse and closed her eyes.

  “We need to get the rest of you to safety,” Beckham said.

  “There’s no time,” Kate said. “The Prophet was here. He’s headed for President Ringgold now. You’ve got to stop him.”

  “I will.” Beckham looked at Horn. “Ruckley and Timothy, you stay with them.”

  “I can help,” Timothy said.

  “No, you can’t,” Kate said. “I’m sorry, Timothy, but you might have a broken rib or worse after that. You push yourself, you’ll die.”

  “She’s right,” Beckham said. “Timothy, protect the science team. Big Horn, you okay?”

  “Got a concussion probably, but it’s not my first. Had plenty in my football days. I can manage, boss.”

  Beckham measured up Horn with an uncertain look, but Timothy knew that like Ruckley, Horn was going to fight whether he could or not.

  “Ruckley, take the science team to shelter in the basement of the hospital,” Beckham said. “There’s a storage facility near the morgue you can lock down and hide in until this is over.” He clasped a hand over Timothy’s shoulder. “You did good. Made me and your dad proud.”

  “I did what I had to,” Timothy said. “Now go kill that bastard for me and my dad.”

  ***

  Dohi awoke on the stage in the throne room, blinking until his vision cleared. He felt the warm grasp of webbing tendrils over his chest, holding him in place.

  On either side of the stage were the masterminds. Both of them moved lethargically from their injuries. At the front of the stage, Rico and Fitz were pinned down by webbing and guarded by a pair of Chimeras.

  Crunching and ripping came from the seats bordering the stage where three juveniles feasted on Esparza’s remains.

  “Ah, you’re awake,” came a voice.

  Elijah jumped onto the stage, striding over while holding a cutlass.

  Dohi fought against his constraints, anger warming his entire body.

  “Bring in Murphy,” Elijah said.

  Rico and Fitz squirmed as a side door opened and three collaborators in rubber aprons pushed out a surgical cart. An old doctor with a bent back followed them onto the stage, shuffling along.

  The chatter of gunfire reverberated in from outside the building, and the four Chimeras guarding the throne room shifted about, almost as if they were nervous, keeping their weapons aimed at the entrance.

  “Call off your dying dogs, Fitzpatrick,” Elijah said. He bent down and poked a hole in the glue over Fitz’s mouth with a claw so he could talk. “Tell the heretics outside that this battle is over, or we will transform her right now, right in front of you.” He angled his sword toward Rico. “Right, Murphy?”

  “Without painkillers of any kind,” the doctor said.

  Rico thrashed, her voice muffled by the glue over her mouth.

  Elijah snapped his claws. One of the damaged masterminds lifted a tremoring hand to pull on the red webbing. A few vines dangled from the ceiling, descending toward Rico and shedding damaged pieces from the attack.

  The intact pulsating red tendrils wrapped around Rico’s wrists and legs. Then they pulled her up, snapping her free of the other restraints and yanking her into an X-shape. Thinner strands snaked into her nostrils.

  Dohi could almost feel the sensation himself. Dark memories of his time in the tunnels returned. He knew the pain and horror. He remembered the voices that would now be calling into her head from other humans imprisoned in the organic network as she became integrated with the webbing.

  “Call off your forces,” Elijah said.

  Fitz remained silent, clearly trying to buy time.

  “You heretics are hopeless,” Elijah said. He nodded at Murphy.

  The doctor bent down to examine the tools on his surgical cart. He opened one of the stainless-steel boxes. Dohi had just enough of a view to see a roping chunk of intestine on ice.

  The three juveniles that had devoured Esparza began to prowl around the stage, their yellow eyes sizing up Rico and Fitz hungrily.

  “The first step is integrating Variant organs into her body,” Murphy said.

  “And it is an extraordinarily painful operation,” Elijah added.

  Fitz glared at the beast, then over at Dohi.

  Stay strong. All it takes is all you got, brother.

  Murphy examined the surgical blade he had selected, rotating it in the dim light of the throne room. He brought it close to Rico. She writhed in the grip of the vines, but in response, the webbing stretched more tautly.

  “No!” Fitz shouted.

  Dohi pushed against his restraints, trying to free a hand. If he could get one free, maybe…

  A Chimera strode over and put a cutlass to his belly.

  “Move again, and I gut you, heretic,” he grumbled.

  A rash of gunfire exploded somewhere outside the throne room. This time, it sounded like it might have even come from inside the command building. The Chimera lowered his cutlass and turned his back to Dohi.

  The doctor looked up from his cart of tools. Four Chimeras moved toward the entrance to the throne room.

  At that moment, Dohi braced his feet against the wall and summoned all of the strength in his legs, pushing against the webbing covering his chest. His nerves screamed as he strained muscles already bruised from his injuries.

  But thoughts of what the beasts had done to Ace and Lincoln and Mendez fueled him.

  Vines ripped away, and he lunged forward with an animalistic war cry, ramming hard into the Chimera. Dohi grabbed a sheathed knife on the back of the soldier’s belt.

  More gunshots came from the hallway, followed by cursing screams.

  Dohi drowned it all out.

  His world shrunk to his target as he pulled the knife and rammed it into the side of the creature’s neck. He punched another hole into his throat, then a third.

  The Chimera slumped, gushing blood, and Dohi picked up the cutlass.

  He held the blades out and shouted, “Come and get it!”

  The Chimera guarding Fitz strode over, swinging his own blade. Dohi jumped back from the slicing blade. The beast swung again, and Dohi ducked lower, the air above his head whooshing past. He struck out with his cutlass, splitting the creature’s belly open, and then closed in to stab his knife into its neck.

  The
vines around Rico coiled tighter like a boa constrictor around prey, and Dohi could see the color draining from her face as he searched for the next hostile.

  Elijah stood beside the doctor Murphy and his three cronies. They all watched, saying nothing. The juveniles prowled toward him, waiting to strike, and two other Chimeras aimed rifles at him.

  “What now?” Elijah asked.

  “I’ll kill you all,” Dohi said. He stood his ground, chest heaving, fresh blood dripping off his blades.

  “Like your bearded friend tried?” Elijah laughed. “You have the heart of a warrior, but your faith is misplaced. You won’t leave this room alive.”

  Dohi looked over at Fitz who was squirming on the ground. Rico stared down at them both, face pale and eyes bulging.

  Elijah pointed at the masterminds, and webbing snaked from the floor, wrapping around Dohi. He hacked through the climbing tendrils and jumped away, but the juveniles easily cornered him.

  This was it. Nowhere to run.

  Soon he would see Ace, Mendez, and Lincoln again.

  Reunited as brothers in death.

  He raised the blades and screamed again, charging at the juveniles.

  The creatures hesitated, seeming confused. They twisted, growling and looking at the doorway.

  At the entrance were four more Chimeras. At first, Dohi thought they were more enemies.

  But he recognized one.

  Corrin.

  He and his companions had killed the remaining Chimera guards near the entrance. Corrin stormed the room while unleashing a hail of bullets, his team of three Chimeras following him.

  The guards near Elijah returned fire and dove for cover as the juveniles bounded away from Dohi, launching themselves toward their new targets. Two of Corrin’s allies went down, and Elijah jumped off the stage to avoid the onslaught of incoming rounds.

  Dohi wasted no time rushing straight for Rico.

  Murphy shrieked and tried to cower behind her, but Dohi swung the cutlass into his bent back, slicing it open. The three assistants had already fled.

  Rico looked down at Dohi as he hacked the vines holding her in place. She collapsed to the stage in a heap of limbs. The vines around her chest wriggled and loosened.

  “Fitz,” she moaned before her eyes fluttered closed.