The weapon then turned up and opened fire. The roar stung Hawkins’s still-ringing ears, but he was thankful for it, and for the commander’s order—“shoot everything that is not human.” The man had unknowingly saved Hawkins’s life.
A barrage of missiles launched from the helicopter, tearing up the ground behind Hawkins. He stumbled into the jungle, pushed by a continuous string of explosive pressure waves. He heard two more helicopters arrive behind him and open fire. The airborne units had nothing to fear from the chimeras, but he doubted they could kill them all.
The thick jungle tore at him, clinging to his clothes and scraping his wounds as though the island didn’t want to let him go. But he pushed through it all, numb to the pain and desperate to reach the coast. The trees began to thin, revealing blue sky ahead. He felt a flash of hope, but then saw two figures silhouetted in the light. Reno and Dolan. Action Team Beta.
Hawkins slowed his approach, opting for stealth over speed. One of the men lowered a pair of binoculars and pointed out to sea. He took a large sniper rifle from his shoulder and lay down. The second man lay down slightly behind the sniper, looking through a spotter scope.
Action Team Beta was a sniper team. Hawkins rounded the pair from the right, quickening his pace as much as he dared. He emerged from the jungle onto the solid stone of the coast and sprinted toward the men, his steps muffled by the hard stone. The ocean, covered in a layer of filth to the horizon, lay to his right. The jungle to his left. And the two soldiers straight ahead. He could hear them discussing the wind, range, and angle.
“Clear to fire,” the spotter said.
The sniper’s finger moved to the trigger.
Hawkins reached them a moment later. He put all of his energy into the kick and struck the long sniper rifle barrel with the top of his foot. The rifle flew from the surprised soldier’s hands as he shouted in pain. The kick had also broken his trigger finger. Hawkins spun on the man and kicked hard again while his partner jumped to his feet. The second kick caught the man hard in the temple, knocking him unconscious.
Hawkins turned on the man’s partner, but the soldier was too fast. He’d already drawn his pistol and was leveling it at Hawkins’s chest when a long, black tail wrapped around the man’s neck and constricted.
The gun went off.
Hawkins fell to his knees, watching the man’s eyes go wide. The soldier stumbled back and aimed the gun over his shoulder.
Hawkins looked toward the trash-covered ocean. It was a fifteen-foot drop over a sheer cliff to the water. It was preferable to facing the chimera when it was done with the soldier. But even if he made it to the water, he was done. He lifted a hand from his side and found it covered with blood. But he’d rather drown than become an incubator for parasitic chimeras. He shuffled toward the cliff’s edge.
Then he saw something strange about the BFS’s tail. It was covered in black fur. He paused, watching as a pair of small hands reached up and twisted the gun from the soldier’s hands. This wasn’t a BFS. The man’s eyes bulged as his face turned purple. He fell to his knees, and then flat on his face. Lilly clung to his back. Her yellow eyes, once horrifying to Hawkins, looked at him with concern. “Hurt?”
“You could say that,” he replied with a grunt of pain.
She looked down and saw his wound. A flash of concern crossed her face, but was quickly replaced with determination. She stood next to Hawkins, put a steadying hand under his arm, and gripped his belt with the other. With a quick tug, she lifted him off the ground and put him on his feet.
How strong is this kid? Hawkins wondered.
“We have to hurry,” she said. “I can hear them coming.”
Lilly half guided, half carried Hawkins down the sloping rocks of the coast. They soon came to a small path that led down to the water. Waves crashed against the cliff wall, but the tide was going out and the waves were small. The layer of trash began thirty feet from shore as the receding tide dragged it away.
“Hurry!” Lilly urged, and pushed him into the water.
Hawkins felt his consciousness fading as he slipped beneath the surface. But then he was yanked up again as Lilly pulled him by his shirt collar. The girl kicked with her feet, but also beat the water with her tail. Hawkins lay limp on his back, his body incapable of movement. He just stared at the blue sky above him.
When a black shape appeared above, he mistook it for a helicopter. Then his eyes focused and he saw it for what it was—a chimera spider, legs splayed open, leaping for his face. “Lilly!” he shouted.