I heard scuffling as the soldiers started to move. A small part of me said to just give up. If Chase’s men managed to repower the Bell, it would save lives, at least temporarily. On the other hand, once he repowered the Bell, he’d have a permanent supply of Red Mercury. And I already knew what he planned to do with it.
I was outnumbered, unarmed, and with my back literally against a wall. I couldn’t run anymore. I couldn’t do anything.
My head started to hurt. Bright colors appeared in my field of vision. My emotions surged.
I glanced to the side and my eyes lingered on Beverly’s face. Her eyes were bright and full of fire. I shifted my gaze to Diane. Despite the loss of blood, she looked confident and determined. I looked back at Chase. The departing soldiers momentarily diverted his attention.
I felt stabbing pains in my head. My body started to go limp. I was about to pass out, a fate from which I’d never awaken.
It was now or never.
With a mighty battle cry, I leapt toward Chase. My body smashed into his. Instantly, my headache vanished. My emotions focused. My vision returned.
His hand slammed into the wet bedrock and he dropped his weapon. Gunfire reverberated from all directions as we rolled toward the water. We tussled for a moment but as I leaned over to punch him in the face, something caught my attention.
Two beady eyes rose out of the river and turned to look at me. Then more eyes popped up and did the same thing.
It was the alligator.
And it wasn’t alone.
Chapter 63
The largest pair of eyes twitched as they examined me. I remained frozen, poised above Chase, fist cocked at the ready. Behind me all activity had ceased. I heard no footsteps. No scuffling noises. No words. I heard nothing but heaving chests.
Nothing but quiet terror.
A creepy inkling spread through my body. I was the prey. And the gator was sizing me up.
Bubbles churned and fizzed. The gators weren’t thrashing about so it struck me that something was going on just beneath the river’s surface.
I blinked.
My skin prickled.
Something had changed in the last second. I was sure of it. The largest eyes loomed before mine, seeming bigger and…
Wait. They don’t look bigger.
They are bigger.
My heart froze. With no apparent movement, the gator had drifted close to the bedrock shore. In less than a second, it would be within striking distance.
I rolled to the south, taking Chase with me.
Water roiled as the gator charged out of the river. Powerful jaws snapped at my skull. I sensed the gnashing teeth. I felt the breeze and smelled the creature’s foul breath.
As I continued to roll, I sensed the gator veering off to the side. Then I heard the sickening crunch of sharp teeth plunging into flesh and bone. Bloodcurdling cries erupted, bouncing off the bedrock walls and into my ears.
Shoving Chase out of the way, I leapt to my feet. My head spun to the side. The gator’s jaws were clamped around a leg. Vigorously, the beast shook it back and forth, dragging a shadowy person along with it. It was one of Chase’s soldiers.
And she looked terrified.
I sensed more movement coming from the river and twisted my head in that direction. All of a sudden, six smaller alligators stormed ashore. They moved in unison like a well-trained army. They moved with purpose.
They moved to kill.
Sparks of light punctuated the air. Loud bursts of gunfire deafened me. Smoke curled to the ceiling and dissipated. New smoke rose to replace it. And yet, the gators kept coming. I was smack in the middle of a damn war, surrounded by two sides fighting over the right to kill me.
A fist slammed into my back. My pain sensors erupted and I sank to my knees. Calloused hands grabbed my neck and yanked. I toppled backward and fell onto the bedrock.
Chase gave me a caustic look. “When I’m done with you even the gators won’t touch you.”
He grabbed something from the ground. His hand shot into the air. As it plunged toward me, I caught a glint of metal.
I screamed as a sharp blade stabbed into my side. Scalding heat raced through my body. Glancing down, I noticed my own machete penetrating my flesh just above my hip.
Abruptly, Chase’s hand wrenched it out of my body. Fierce stinging pain shot down my side and I nearly passed out.
The searing pain shifted to my head. My entire scalp felt as if it were on fire. I blinked. Through blurry eyes, I saw the gators grow smaller.
I blinked again, thinking that it was a trick of light. But no, they were indeed shrinking.
My boots jerked across the bedrock. The pain in my scalp intensified. I felt Chase’s powerful fingers dragging me backward.
By my hair.
I twisted to the side and rolled. He lost his balance and nearly stumbled on top of me. But at the last second, he let go of his grip. The throbbing in my scalp vanished.
Chase grabbed onto the wall for support. I rose to my knees and dove at him. My arm smashed into the back of his left leg. It collapsed and he fell to the ground. A cry of anguish emitted from his lips, rising above the din of gunfire, shouts, and alligator teeth grinding on bone.
Snaking under his right arm, I grabbed hold of it, isolating it from the rest of his body. I chopped at his hand but he refused to drop the machete.
I stood up, forcing him to rise with me. Then I yanked him around in circles, keeping him off balance.
One time around.
Two times around.
His hand opened.
The machete clattered to the bedrock.
I stopped suddenly, catching him off balance. Lowering my shoulder, I slammed it into his chest and drove him into the wall. He shook off the blow and shoved me away.
Twisting my body, I grabbed the machete. But Chase’s fist caught me on the shoulder before I could swing it at him. I stumbled north, forging an awkward path between two mid-sized gators. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Diane and Beverly, back to back, warding off Standish and some of Chase’s men. Beverly fought fiercely, using her forearms as vicious clubs. Diane, while lacking Beverly’s training, seemed to hold her own amongst the chaos.
I crashed into the Bell. My skin crunched into the metal surface and I tripped over its lip, landing hard on the ground.
Despite my collision with it, the Bell barely moved. If anything, it had drifted closer to the ground rather than toward the river. I examined it for a second. It seemed to be perspiring.
This can’t be good.
“Get up.”
Chase’s scream sounded nearly inhuman. I tried to respond, but I could barely move. I glanced behind me.
Chase marched toward me. He moved with ferocity, twitching with adrenaline. But it was the gun dangling from his right hand that dominated my attention.
I spat out some blood. “Screw you.”
To his right, a gator thrashed about on the ground. Two soldiers stood several yards away, pumping vast amounts of lead into its body. Chase walked by the gator and squeezed the trigger of his Smith & Wesson. It recoiled with a loud blast and a thin column of smoke wafted out of the barrel. The gator collapsed to the bedrock and ceased to move.
As he strode past the dead beast, my gaze fixed upon his face. I thought about Kolen and Adcock, Jenson and his colony, Cartwright and the Sand Demons.
I didn’t care what he did to me. What pissed me off was what he’d done to everybody else. But what really drove me to the edge of insanity was what I knew he would do if I failed to stop him. Not just to me. Not just to Beverly and Diane. But to thousands, if not millions of innocent people. I felt anger pouring through my body. It turned into fury and my fury turned into raw energy.