He could see the creature from his peripheral vision in the reflections on the glass fronts of the surrounding buildings. When the distance was just right, he spun around and tossed the can of jet fuel into the air above the creature.
Simultaneously, he squeezed back on the trigger of the FS2000 and unleashed a barrage of 5.56mm rounds into the sailing can. He knew that despite what was shown in the movies, bullets didn’t spark and ignite fuel. Instead, the can filled with holes, and its contents rained down on the beast.
It paid no attention to the attack and continued its loping charge.
Knight stood his ground, staring directly into the reptilian, yet oddly human eyes.
Then, at the last possible second, he dove to the side and rolled away.
The creature’s momentum carried it forward past the spot he had just occupied. He shot to his feet and pulled out the flare gun he had retrieved from the Osprey’s cockpit.
The beast shrieked and wheeled around.
Knight sighted in and fired.
The fiery projectile rocketed forward and struck the beast squarely in its chest. In a brilliant explosion of flame, the jet fuel covering the creature’s body ignited.
The beast howled out a cry of agony the likes of which Knight had never heard before. Although its wounds were healing, it still couldn’t extinguish the accelerant-fueled flames, and the fire was consuming its flesh as fast it could regenerate. It thrashed wildly around the street, slamming into the buildings and smashing through the glass facades. Then it sprinted away, its prey apparently forgotten.
Knight had no idea how long the fire would keep the creature distracted, so he didn’t waste a moment of time. He discarded the flare gun and rushed toward the abandoned vehicle.
The car, a new model Hyundai Elantra, had been tirelocked, most likely by one of the city’s few law enforcement officers who had nothing better to do before being evacuated. He checked the driver’s side door. The first rule of breaking and entering was to always check to make sure that the door wasn’t already open. In this case, it was locked, so he used the butt of the FS2000 to break in the window. The hood release sat to the left of the steering column just under the kick panel. He pulled the release and moved to the front of the vehicle.
He fumbled a bit to open the hood and found much of the engine hidden beneath by a black engine cover. But he’d come prepared. Using a ratchet, he quickly removed the cover and tossed it to the side along with the bolts. With the battery exposed, he went to work with a wrench, loosening the retaining bolts and pulling the cables free from the positive and negative terminals. With everything loosened, he reached in and took hold of the battery.
His heart was throbbing so loudly in his ears that he mistook the sound for the heavy footfalls of the creature. A part of his mind kept picturing the beast closing in on him, its talons extending toward him, its razor sharp teeth ready to tear into his flesh.
Then it was over, and he had the battery cradled under his left arm. The whole process took nearly two minutes, but the threat of being torn apart made it feel like hours. It was Hyundai’s own brand of battery that probably came with the car, and he prayed that it still held enough juice to detonate the warhead.
He sprinted toward the site of the downed Osprey. He didn’t know how long the beast would be occupied by his fiery distraction, but he hoped it would buy him enough time to reach the others and set the trap. Because either way, he knew that the next time he saw the creature, one of them wouldn’t make it out alive.
26.
Phillip Cho punched a key on his keyboard, and a three dimensional molecular model of the newest generation of his serum appeared on the seventy-inch display mounted on the wall. He pointed toward the screen and said, “Behold, the key to immortality.”
Out of curiosity, Salvatori moved forward and studied Cho’s work. After a moment, he laughed.
Cho’s face was a mask of confusion and disgust. “What’s so funny?”
“This serum won’t work. In fact, it’s likely to kill anyone foolish enough to attempt its use. I see what you were trying to do, Phillip. You hoped to stop the onset of adverse effects by reducing the replication rate of the circovirus and the manner in which it inserts the foreign genetic material. But all this will accomplish is a more drawn out and painful transformation. Plus, you’ve inadvertently removed the restriction placed upon the virus’s incubation period. We engineered the virus so it would die off once the transformation was complete. But with this, the virus will not stop. It will continue to spread, and the subject will continue to change and grow, likely to the point that the circovirus destroys the poor creature from the inside out. Or worse. I wouldn’t even dare to predict the effects that something like this would have upon a living host.”