Donahue didn’t question him and started calling out orders to his men. Once in position, he yelled for the men to fire at will, and the loading bay filled with the sound of gunfire and spent shell casings striking concrete. The SAS soldiers were calm and professional, firing in short bursts to conserve ammo and slow the creature’s progression.
Knight grabbed Donahue by the elbow and pulled him back to a spot behind a stack of crates that partially shielded them from the cacophony of fire. “We can’t put a stop to this little science experiment with that thing on our asses at every turn.”
Donahue shook his head and spat more brownish liquid onto the floor. “There must be a way to kill that thing.”
“Unless you brought along a tactical nuke, I think we’re SOL.”
Donahue cocked his head to the side. “What’s SOL?”
“Shit out of luck.”
“Right. If we can’t kill it, how about trapping and containing the beast?”
Knight squeezed his eyelids together and rubbed at his temple. “That’s a good thought, but the creature is incredibly powerful. Even if we could trap it somehow, where would we hold it? Do you have air transport out of here? Maybe we could re-equip and come back with a plan?”
“Sorry, mate. We parachuted in, but the Americans were going to bring an Osprey for aerial support.”
He thought back on the way his day had begun and the Osprey spinning out of control and plummeting toward the ground. “The Osprey is out of commission. Trust me, I was on it when it went down.”
Donahue cursed under his breath, but then his face lit up. “We might not have a nuke, but if we can make it to that Osprey, we might have the next best thing.”
“What’s that?”
Before Donahue could answer, Beck ran up and said, “We’ve lost sight of the creature!”
Donahue spun toward the perimeter. “What do you mean you lost sight of it? Where the hell could it have gone?”
Knight saw the next few seconds pass in slow motion.
Beck’s eyes were wide with shock. She shrugged her shoulders, showing that she was just as confused as Donahue. Then the skylight above their heads crashed inward, glass exploding down all around them. A dark shape fell through the hole in the ceiling amidst the rain of shattered glass.
17.
The beast dropped the forty feet to the ground. Knight not only heard the crunching of shattered glass as the monster struck, but he also heard the cracking of the creature’s bones. It howled and fell over on its broken legs. But within a matter of seconds, it was back on its feet.
The SAS commandos wheeled around and opened fire. The beast didn’t seem fazed by the barrage of hot metal. It rushed forward and tore into the line of soldiers.
The distinctive sound of the AA12 filled the air as Beck pushed the creature back. It toppled over and careened into a stack of crates. But Knight knew that it would only buy them a few seconds. He grabbed Beck by the arm and called out to Donahue. “Pull your men back!”
He pointed Beck toward the loading bay door. “Open that up. I’ll grab one of those.” He gestured toward a pair of tan HMT 400s resting along the back wall. The strange-looking vehicles were the primary troop transport used by the SAS. They reminded Knight of small fire trucks with no front glass and guns mounted on top instead of hoses.
Beck nodded and ran off toward the bay doors while Knight sprinted over to the transports. He knew their only hope was to outrun the creature, and despite the HMT 400’s bulky appearance, the vehicles were fairly agile and capable of speeds in excess of fifty miles per hour.
He ran amid the deafening sounds of gunfire. The bright flashes in the darkened space sliced into his eyes, white spots filling his vision.
He tried to ignore the screams of the SAS soldiers as the creature tore them apart. He attempted to keep his mind focused upon the task at hand, but the sights and smells of the warehouse that had contained the bodies of the American team kept appearing within his mind’s eye. An odd sense of guilt washed over him that he had failed to spare the SAS group of the same fate.
Hurdling obstacles, he cut through the confusion of the attack to reach the vehicle. It was just in front of him, and he reached to grab on and pull himself into the HMT’s driver seat.
But a giant shape fell in front of him, knocking him back.
The creature stared down at him with fire in its eyes. Again, the beast seemed strangely human. It seemed to have realized that he had caused it a great deal of pain and was ready to return the favor.
It backhanded him across the room like a rag doll.
He slammed into a stack of nearby crates. The pain exploded in his mind, but he fought to regain his feet. He looked up to see the beast charging at him and knew that it would be on top of him before he could stand. Instead, he kicked his legs and tried to back away on his hands and backside. He rolled his legs up just as the creature pounded the concrete in front of him. The impact shattered the concrete and sent him rolling away.