Mutation (Twenty-Five Percent Book 1) (33 page)

He stepped up onto the narrow ledge, the drop at his feet making him feel dizzy.  Below him, the eaters went crazy. He swallowed and clenched his jaw.  He’d survived being infected with Meir’s disease.  He’d survived the last few days fighting hordes of eaters.  He could survive an insane, homicidal woman.

For the people he loved, he had to.

Taking a deep breath, Alex jumped.

Leaping as high as he could, he twisted around in mid-air, grabbing onto the edge of the roof as he fell.  He hit the wall at full stretch, all the air exploding from his lungs, his arms feeling like they were being ripped from their sockets.  In a brief moment of panic, his fingers slid towards the edge of the wall before gripping.

For a few seconds he hung against the brick surface, gasping for breath, marvelling that he was still alive and in one piece.  Everything hurt.

Footsteps on the roof signalled the end of the brief respite.  He squeezed his eyes closed, knowing choice was a luxury he no longer had.  She’d already killed, there was no reason to doubt she’d do it again.

Don’t make me do this, he thought. 

Kerry’s face came into view above him as she leaned forward to peer over the edge.  “What the...”

Hoisting himself up to reach her, Alex grabbed Kerry’s leg and pulled.  She fell forward, shrieking.  He let go of her to grab onto the ledge again as he slid back down the wall.

A hand clamped around his ankle and jerked him downwards, almost yanking his fingers from the roof.  He looked down to see Kerry holding onto him with one hand, her legs and free arm flailing in the air above the heads of the eaters.  Their moans rose to a crescendo as dozens of hands reached for her, only a couple of feet of air between them.

Alex kicked his leg out, trying to dislodge her, but she tightened her grip, nails digging into his skin.  Her free hand grasped his other ankle.  He looked down to see her smiling up at him. 

Bringing her knees up, she pushed her feet against the wall in front of her.

Alex cried out as his fingers slid to within an inch of the edge.  “
Stop!
” he yelled. “You’re going to pull us both off!”

Kerry glared up at him.  “You’re going to die.”

She pushed with her feet again, forcing Alex’s legs away from the building.

With a roar, he dug his fingertips into the stonework, feeling his skin shred on the rough surface as he desperately tried to hold on.

Kerry screamed, dragging him backwards.

His fingertips slipped over the edge.

Gasping a breath, Alex plummeted towards the waiting eaters.

Alex braced himself to hit the ground.  Instead, he landed on a tangle of hands, arms and heads. 

He struggled to sit up, trying to keep his exposed skin away from the mass of snapping mouths beneath him.  Teeth gnawed at the material of his jeans.

Hearing Kerry scream, he turned to see her on her back on the heads of the horde a few feet away.  As he watched, several eaters ground their teeth into her bare arms.  Blood spurted.  She screamed again.

He scrambled to reach her, but before he could even move she sank into the horde, the mass of eaters sucking her under, burying her in their depths.  It was many long seconds before her agony filled screams finally stopped.

Alex tried to get to his feet, pushing on heads and swatting away the arms trying to pull him down, but it was impossible to keep his balance.  He fell to his knees.  Teeth sank into his left forearm.  Grunting in pain, he pulled a skull-spiker from his pocket and stabbed the biter.

Looking around for a way out, he saw the shop on the ground floor of the building he’d fallen from fifteen feet away.  If he could get inside, he would have a chance.  He tuned out the ravenous moans surrounding him and began to crawl. 

The eaters didn’t seem to be able to bite through the thick denim of his jeans, but keeping his hands and arms from their gnashing teeth was more difficult.  At all costs, he had to avoid being pulled down to the ground.  If that happened, he knew he’d be lost.

He’d only advanced a few feet when one of the undulating waves of movement passed beneath him.  Alex struggled to stay on top as the eaters beneath him shifted, swaying first one direction then the other.  The surge carried him away from the building.  Hands grabbed at his legs and feet, pulling him further out into the street. 

And then a void opened up beside him. 

He scrambled away from the hole, but not fast enough.  The eaters shifted further and he slid between them, falling, landing hard on the pavement. 

The surrounding eaters immediately closed in, their hands clutching at him.  Looking up, Alex lost sight of the sky.

As the first eater sank its teeth into his bicep, he knew it was over. 

The sound of moaning was drowned out by the roar of a car engine being pushed to its limits.  A barrage of thuds culminated in the screech of brakes.

Daylight appeared to Alex’s left.

Using the spiker he’d somehow managed to hold onto, he stabbed the temple of a man trying to take a bite from his shoulder and pushed to his feet, shoving the eaters around him back with a strength he didn’t think even he possessed. 

In a hope and adrenalin fuelled flurry of punching, shoving and stabbing, he managed to fight his way the few feet through the crowd to his salvation.

“Get in!” Micah yelled, beckoning frantically from the driver’s seat of the Ferrari he’d used to lead the eaters away.

The channel he’d forced through the horde was already closing up behind the car as the eaters pressed in close, pounding their hands onto the metal and glass.

Alex pulled open the passenger side door and dived in, jerking it from the grip of the eaters reaching for him and slamming it shut. 

“Go!”

Micah threw the car into reverse, jamming his foot onto the accelerator, and Alex was thrown forward as the car lurched back.  They bounced several times over what could only have been bodies. 

Then they came to a juddering halt. 

Micah pumped the accelerator, but the wheels simply spun in place, filling the car with the smell of burning rubber.  He shifted to first, the engine roared for a few more seconds of static revving, then the car leaped forward.  Micah yanked the steering wheel hard to the right and eaters were tossed aside as the back end of the car swung around.

For a few feet they pushed against the crowd in front of them, the eaters blocking their way not even noticing their bones crushing and their insides being pulverised. 

Then the car convulsed to a standstill again. 

“There’s too many,” Micah said.  “We’d need a tank to get through.”

Alex looked around for a way out, but eaters surrounded them on all sides.  The car rocked as they shoved and jostled.  Blood-stained fingers squeaked over the glass. 

Alex heard a sharp smack on glass, then another.  Suddenly, the window next to Micah shattered.  Bloody hands grabbed his right arm, dragging it through the open space.  He screamed as teeth seized his skin.

Alex lunged across Micah and thrust his knife into the eater holding onto him, shoving it away.  Micah pulled his arm back inside the car. 

The bloody marks where the bite had torn into his skin were clearly visible.

Terror clouded Micah’s face.  “Alex...”

An abrupt silence descended. 

For a moment, fixated on Micah’s wound, Alex didn’t notice the sudden lack of sound.  But when Micah looked through the windscreen, Alex followed his gaze.

Every single eater was frozen in place, their faces tilted to the sky.  A strong scent wafted through the broken window. 

As one, they moved. 

Thousands of eaters pushed in the direction of the barrier.  The car was forced backwards a couple of feet by the crush in front of them.  Micah jammed his foot onto the break, but they continued to inch back. 

A loud metallic crunching sounded behind them.  Alex twisted around to look out the rear window, but all he could see were eaters.

Suddenly, everything stopped. 

Alex and Micah looked around them in shock.  The quiet was almost worse than the moans. 

Another wave of scent flooded the air.

Again the horde surged.  The car was forced backwards even further.  The metallic crunching became a whine, then a screech.  Then an ear-splitting clatter crashed through the air.

In a frenzy of moans, the eaters streamed around the car.  Alex looked back again.  Gaps opened as the crowd moved, big enough to see through.

The barrier was down.

Heavy artillery and automatic weapons fire erupted behind them.  A helicopter swooped overhead, firing into the horde.  Eaters stumbled and dropped around the car.

Ahead of them, the road was clearing.  Micah hit the accelerator, speeding out of the firing line.

Alex looked back and saw bloody chaos, the might of the British army fighting thousands of powerful, ravenous monsters that couldn’t feel pain and simply would not stop until they were killed.  He didn’t know who would win.

As they rounded a corner and the car began to slow, Alex turned his attention to Micah.  Sweat sheened his skin.  His head began to droop.

“Micah?”

A building in their path registered in the corner of Alex’s eye. 

“
Micah!
”

Micah’s head jerked up.  He hit the brake, too late. 

The Ferrari crashed into the wall head on.

Alex pushed the deflating airbag out of the way.  A groan emanated from somewhere behind the white balloon on the driver’s side. 

He freed himself from his seatbelt, unfastened Micah’s, and shoved his door open, stumbling out of the car.  A moment of dizziness forced him to stand still or risk falling over.

A staccato of rapid gunfire shredded the air, punctuated by minor explosions.  Tanks, maybe a rocket launcher, Alex thought vaguely.  A deep percussive boom rocked the ground beneath his feet and shuddered through his chest.  No,
that
was the rocket launcher.

Hearing the sharp, rasping whine of a jet engine, he looked up to see a fighter streak by low overhead.  A moment later a massive explosion reverberated through the atmosphere, a flash of fire and smoke erupting into the sky somewhere close by.

It was time to go.

He circled the back of the car and tugged at the driver’s side door.  It didn’t budge.  The impact had crumpled the car more on this side and the whole frame had buckled.  Grasping the edge of the window frame, ignoring the remains of the shattered glass that cut into his skin, Alex pulled with every adrenalin filled ounce of strength he possessed.  With a grinding screech, the door tore from the frame and he stumbled back as the hinges split from the chassis.  He flung the mangled piece of metal onto the pavement behind him.

Micah looked up at him, his eyes barely focusing, skin pale and clammy.

“Can you walk?” Alex said, ripping the airbag out from in front of him and tossing it aside.

“I think so,” Micah said, his voice weak.

Alex helped him to stand, grabbing him when he teetered. 

He looked down at Micah’s arm.  The bite was still oozing, the area around it red and angry.  How long was it since the eater’s teeth had torn into his flesh?  Alex glanced at his watch.  It couldn’t have been more than two minutes, but he didn’t have long.

“We need to go,” he said.

Micah nodded and they started away from the wrecked car, his arm draped over Alex’s shoulders to keep him on his feet.  Alex steered them in the direction of Micah’s only hope, the lab.  If they could get there before he turned, maybe, just maybe, they could help. 

As they walked, however, their progress slowed, Alex feeling more and more of Micah’s weight bearing down on him.  After only a couple of hundred yards, Micah collapsed, sliding from Alex’s grip and hitting the ground with a grunt.

“I can’t keep my eyes open,” he said, his voice slurring.  Already the infection was talking control.

Alex lowered to one knee beside him.  “Don’t worry,” he said, “I’ll get you there.”

Micah reached up and clutched the front of his shirt.  “Don’t let me turn,” he gasped, his face wracked with pain, eyes glassy.  “Promise me you won’t let me become one of those things.  Promise me you’ll kill me first.”

Tears burned at the back of Alex’s eyes.  He placed his hand over Micah’s.  “I promise.”

Micah nodded as his eyes closed.  His body slumped back onto the ground.

Alex pulled Micah’s pistol from his waistband and tucked it into his holster, then pulled him to a seated position.  With a grunt, he hoisted Micah’s limp body over his shoulder and stood.  He was heavier than he looked and Alex had to stand still for a moment, shrugging him into a more comfortable position.

Another explosion vibrated through the ground nearby.  Alex pulled the gun free and took off at a run.

Before, the streets had been clear.  Now the eaters Micah had led away were trying to return to the horde.  With Micah slumped over his left shoulder and the pistol in his right hand, he picked off any eaters that got too near.  When the gun was out of bullets, Alex pulled out a skull-spiker and ran on.

With every second that passed he expected to feel Micah stir, to hear his hunger filled moan.  On and on he ran, fighting past eater after eater, never letting Micah go and never stopping.  His muscles screamed and his chest burned and every breath felt like it would be his last, but still he ran. 

Finally, Alex rounded the last corner that would take them to the front door of the lab, and stopped.  He stood still, gasping for breath, almost unable to believe what he was seeing.

Where before they had been closed, the gates leading to the building were wide open.  Inside the fence, blocking the way to the doors, were dozens of eaters.  He knew without a doubt it was Kerry’s doing.  Even after death, she was punishing them.

He looked around, desperately searching for a way through, but there was none.  It was thirteen minutes since Micah had been bitten.  There was no time to get to the back door in the shed.

“This can’t be it,” he whispered. 

The eaters nearest to the gate saw him and began to move in his direction.  The rest turned towards him as one. 

He lowered Micah to the ground, propping him up in a shop entrance where he’d be safer.  Where hopefully they wouldn’t notice him.  Alex was exhausted, still losing blood from the wound on his back and the eater bites he’d sustained.  He could barely stay upright, he didn’t stand a chance against that many eaters.

It didn’t matter. 

Taking a spiker in each hand, he strode towards the horde.

Within seconds, his fatigue became almost overwhelming.  He took down the first few eaters in flurry of movement and scrambled back from the grasping arms of the rest, on the verge of collapse.  He’d never been so tired.  If they caught him, he knew he wouldn’t have the energy to escape. 

The next wave took him longer.  He could feel his movements slowing.  And there were still so many.  An eater managed to grab his right arm, almost getting it to its mouth before Alex plunged the spiker in his left hand into its head and backed out of reach again. 

I can’t do it, he thought, looking back at Micah’s unconscious form.  I’m not going to make it on time.

What am I going to do?

A bang reverberated from the surrounding buildings.  Then another. 

When the head of an eater not three feet away exploded in a shower of blood and brain matter, Alex scrambled backwards.  He caught sight of the front door of the lab, now open.  Carla and James stood in the opening, rifles methodically picking off eater after eater. 

Alex ran back to the shop entrance where he’d left Micah and dropped to the ground beside him.  He hunched over him, trying to protect his body with his own, and waited for the shooting to stop.

Beneath him, he felt Micah stir.