Spiral (34 page)

Up on the roof, Stephanie swiveled the spotting scope around. “Next target’s on the move — he’s turning — he’s going toward the entrance,” she said, her voice becoming shrill with the urgency.

“I see him,” Elliott replied calmly, then pulled the trigger. Her silenced rifle bucked in her hands, but the only sound was a small rush of air. As the round found its mark, the Limiter pitched forward, his head exploding scarlet over the white snow.

“Ohhh,” Stephanie said, putting her hand to her mouth. “That was totally a bull’s-eye.”

“Bravo,” Parry’s voice announced. “I repeat — Bravo. We’ve cleared the sentries.”

“Right, all of you outside,” Drake ordered.

Having taken off the top of the Limiter’s cranium as if his head was a hard-boiled egg, the Warrior larva was scooping out the last of the man’s brain with its prehensile tongue. Its eyes flickered in ecstasy at the delicious gray matter, as the larva’s hyperefficient digestive system absorbed the proteins just as quickly as it could gulp them down.

Will and Chester started across the road with Drake and Sweeney flanking them, and Colonel Bismarck, Mr. Rawls, and Mrs. Burrows following behind.

“Look at that.” Will was referring to what must have been a hundred men from Parry’s Old Guard advancing in a line. And those were only the ones he could see; he knew there must be at least the same number again around the other sides of the factory. “I didn’t realize there were so many of them.”

Drake had overheard Will. “Yes, the perimeter’s in. My old man’s running the show by the textbook,” he said, his eyes full of admiration as he watched his father join the line of Old Guard farther along the road. “He’s even sent a couple of units into the sewers, in case anything tries to use the drains to make a break for it.”

The snow on the tarmac helped to deaden any sound the Old Guard made as they closed in. And when they reached the boundary fencing around the site, all that could be heard was the occasional bluster of the wind.

Then there was activity. The main doors to the office building swung open, and a Limiter emerged, clearly in a hurry. Something had rattled him. But he’d taken only a couple of paces before a crossbow bolt struck him in the neck. As he dropped to the ground, all the Old Guard seemed to be holding their breath, but no one else followed him through the doors.

“Charlie,” Parry’s voice crackled over the radio. “I say again, Charlie. Before we lose the advantage of surprise.”

Drake signaled to Will and the others to come with him through the gates and into the parking lot. The Old Guard were all around them, running to the various entry points of the factory that Parry had assigned them.

“Stay well back,” Drake ordered as he and Sweeney moved into the main entrance of the office building, covering one another. There was no one in the reception area, so Drake immediately advanced along the corridor leading from it, Sweeney checking the rooms on either side as they went.

“The boardroom,” Drake whispered into the throat mike as Sweeney slipped through the last of the doors. “I saw it on the ground plan.”

With their Stens at the ready, the boys kept their distance as Drake had told them, with Mrs. Burrows, the Colonel, and Mr. Rawls bringing up the rear. A couple of the Old Guard had also entered the reception area, but they remained by the doors.

When Sweeney emerged from the boardroom, he and Drake inched farther down the corridor. They stopped as a small explosion shook the whole factory, followed by the rattle of automatic weapons.

“Delta, Delta, Delta!” Parry’s urgent voice came over the radio. “The gloves are off!”

Unscrewing the silencer from his Beretta, Drake turned to address everybody. “The Styx know we’re here now, but we’re still going to take it nice and easy,” he said.

He and Sweeney continued down the corridor until they came to a corner. Sweeney moved ahead, his back to the wall, while Drake slid along the opposite side.

Sweeney suddenly raised a fist, and Drake froze. The big man pointed to his ear, then up ahead. He’d heard something.

The Warrior larva could have pulverized what was left of the Limiter’s skull with its powerful molars, but other softer and juicier parts of the corpse were too inviting. It was moving toward the Limiter’s legs when it heard the explosion and the ensuing gunfire.

It paused momentarily, but then the smell of the blood from the two bullet holes Rebecca One had left in the man’s chest became too much for it to resist. The larva crept back up the Limiter’s body and began to lick at these, then nibbled the meat on the man’s ribs.

“What’s that?” Sweeney whispered to Drake.

Dappled with blood, the ivory-colored tail had been sweeping from side to side, visible to both of them. Then, as the creature clawed its way up the Limiter’s corpse, the tail disappeared from view.

And whether the larva had heard or smelled the two humans approaching along the corridor, it now reluctantly stopped feeding and lowered its body in readiness.

Sweeney was straining to hear what was there. But it was impossible with all the noise coming from the other parts of the building.

“Careful,” Drake whispered, taking tiny steps forward.

There was no fear in the larva’s mind — it wasn’t capable of that. All it felt was the excitement that more food, with beating hearts, was coming its way. It suddenly broke from cover and hurtled into the corridor.

“Jesus! Contact!” Drake cried, as the Warrior larva scuttled straight past him like a lizard, opposing legs clawing the carpet.

The speed at which the creature was moving was phenomenal, but so was Sweeney’s reaction time. He managed to get a shot off, clipping its tail. And although Sweeney was back at the corner of the corridor in the blink of an eye, with the retreating hindquarters of the larva squarely in his sights, he was unable to take a second shot. Will was right in the line of fire if the bullet happened to go wide.

The single shot might have slowed it a little, but the Warrior larva was still haring straight down the middle of the corridor.

“Stop it!” Drake yelled.

Later, he asked himself if the reason he hadn’t opened fire on it was not because of how quick the creature was, but because of what he’d seen. It was true that the Warrior larva had been moving at a blistering speed, but its appearance might have also been a factor.

The sight of its head was enough to make his heart miss several beats.

Will’s and Chester’s jaws dropped as they reacted in the same way.

Although its torso was amphibian, its head was something else entirely.

Something shocking.

The larva’s head was that of a human child — with distinct human features. Covered in off-white scales, the eyes, nose, and ears were perfectly formed, albeit the mouth was filled with shiny white spikes for teeth, and its tongue was at least a foot in length as it flicked out.

And worse still, when Sweeney winged it, the wail it emitted could have been that of a human infant.

As the Warrior larva bolted toward the main doors, one of the Old Guard had heard Drake’s warning and was moving rapidly to intercept it. He brought his shotgun up, but the larva simply sprang clean over his head.

“Crikey!” he shouted. The old soldier still had his instincts, though, and tried to take the shot as he tipped backward. He missed the creature completely, the light on the corridor ceiling exploding into a million pieces and showering him and the boys.

“Stop it!” Drake yelled again.

Then Mr. Rawls was the only obstacle in its path to freedom through the main doors.

Again the Warrior larva sprang.

The second member of the Old Guard tried to shoot it in midair, but he missed, too, the round shattering a vase on the reception desk.

Mr. Rawls had stepped back. The Warrior larva tried to alter its trajectory by rotating its tail, but it wasn’t enough. It slammed into Mr. Rawls, gripping his chest with its claws.

“Colonel! Shoot it!” Drake shouted, realizing that the larva was dangerously close to escaping.

But the New Germanian couldn’t open fire for fear of hurting Chester’s father.

Despite the weight of the Warrior larva on him, Mr. Rawls had managed to remain on his feet. He was staggering backward as if he was doing some form of bizarre limbo dance.

“Help! Help! Help!” he was jabbering as the larva bit down on his shoulder. Mr. Rawls screamed in shock and pain.

“Get it off him!” Chester cried, aiming his Sten but knowing there was no way he could use it.

Something flashed through the air.

The Warrior larva slid from Mr. Rawls, a knife embedded up to the hilt in its neck. As the creature flopped to the floor, its limbs were still moving, but only in a weak reflex action.

“Evil-looking thing,” one of the Old Guard muttered.

“Nice kill, Colonel,” Sweeney said. “I thought the Sticky bug was outta here.”

Colonel Bismarck went over to the Warrior larva. Placing a foot on the creature’s back, he yanked his knife out.
“Ich war es nicht,”
he said. He put the knife back into the scabbard on his belt, then glanced over at Mrs. Burrows. “It was Celia. She helped herself to my knife.”

“Mum!” Will exclaimed. “How did you do that? You can’t even see!”