“Sir, my family…”
Through the static, X could hear the fear in the captain’s voice. He was in the sky, unable to do anything to protect his wife and daughter.
“I won’t let anything happen to them,” X said. “Watch our back from the skies.”
Several boats full of militia soldiers powered toward the rig. X handed the radio back to Wynn and prepared to jump onto the dock. Then he saw the bodies. Militia soldiers and civilians, including a Cazador merchant, lay on a dock slick with blood.
“My God,” Michael groaned.
It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened here. The Sirens had torn through the area and then scaled the tower or taken flight.
The boat pulled up alongside the dock, and dozens of militia soldiers stormed the piers with X and his comrades.
X raised his sword into the air and shouted, “Save our home!”
The soldiers shouted in response, but he could hear the fear in their voices. Many of these men and women had fought the Cazadores during the battle for the islands, but they had never faced the mutant monsters.
X ran ahead of the group to show them he did not fear the beasts and that he would happily give his life today for his home and his people.
He was first to the elevator cage. Michael, Ton, Victor, and Wynn piled in after him, and he hit the lever.
The jolt rocked his stomach, and X again cursed himself for drinking too much last night. Facing Sirens with a hangover and no right arm was going to be one of the toughest fights of his life.
The cage lift was maddeningly slow.
When it clanked to the sundeck, X burst out. He ran across the gardens toward a side door, sliding to a stop when he heard the electronic wail of a Siren nearby.
The beast loped around the end of a wall decorated with images of ships and animals. Wings riddled with bullet holes spread outward. It then tucked them to its side and dived toward X while he labored to bring up his slung rifle.
Two spears sailed overhead and slammed into wrinkled, pale flesh, impaling the beast against the tower bulkhead. Blood smeared the colorful birds and butterflies painted on the wall.
Ton and Victor drew their swords as it screeched in agony. The creature flapped away from the wall, fighting for altitude, then sank to the deck, where Michael finished it with a burst from his assault rifle.
The team entered through the side door. A blood trail streaked down the tiled floor, ending at a corpse sprawled in an intersection, only the legs in view.
Michael shouldered his rifle and went first. A loud crunching resonated, and he held up his robotic fist. X gripped his sword, leaving the rifle slung over his back.
He followed Michael around the corner to find a Siren hunched over a dead woman. It raised an eyeless face, viscera hanging from the mouth.
Michael fired a burst as the lips opened to release a screech. The head went backward, and the Siren fell on top of its victim.
The team pressed on, finding two more bodies in the next passage. They were getting close to X’s quarters. Around the next corner, he heard distant barking.
X ran in front of Michael, nearly bowling him over.
“X, wait!” Michael called out.
There would be no waiting, no caution, when it came to Miles. If X lost his dog, he might just as well die, too.
He bolted for the open door and burst into his quarters to find Miles under the bed. A female Siren was on the floor, swiping under the raised platform.
“Hey, you blind, ugly fuck!” X shouted.
Dropping his sword on the deck, he grabbed a hind leg of the creature and hauled it out. It rolled to its back and swiped at X, slashing his chest and ripping through the strap of his gun. The weapon clanked to the floor behind him.
X stomped on the beast’s face with his sandals, but that only hurt his foot. He stumbled back as the creature jumped up.
Michael entered the room with his rifle shouldered.
“X, get out of the way!” he shouted.
A big ball of fur squirmed out from under the bed and grabbed the creature’s leg as its hooked talons whipped out again at X. This time, he moved back.
Miles clamped down on the scaly ankle, cracking bone. The Siren let out a wail and turned to strike the dog, but X plunged his sword through its back. Then he lifted the skewered beast off the floor with all the strength of his left arm.
Victor squeezed into the room and swung his blade, and the head bounced on the floor with a clunk.
X withdrew his blade and bent down to Miles.
“I’m so sorry, boy,” he said. “I’m soooooo sorry.”
Miles whined and licked his hand.
The dog had a gash on his back, but it didn’t look deep.
“I’m going to make you feel better, boy,” X said, grabbing the medical kit Dr. Huff had left in his room. “Hold still, buddy.”
Once X had Miles patched up, he kissed him on the head. The dog returned the gesture by licking his face.
The radio crackled in the hallway.
“Our teams on the rooftop are being overrun,” Wynn said. “We have to help them.”
They fought their way up three more floors on their way to the tropical forest, killing two Sirens and finding five more sky people dead on the way. None were Les’s family, but X couldn’t leave the lower levels without checking on them first.
He stopped at the next intersection and went left.
“Sir, where are you going?” Wynn called out.
“To check on Phyl and Katherine—I promised! I’ll meet you up there. Go!”
The team broke off, Michael and Wynn heading topside while Miles, Ton, and Victor went with X. The two refugees stuck close to him, their round metal shields up and their swords dripping blood.
Miles had a slight limp, but he trotted right along, happy to be with X.
The next hallway appeared to have been spared from the Sirens, but he had to make sure. X stopped at the apartment Les shared with his wife and daughter.
He knocked on the door with the pommel of his sword.
“Katherine,” X said quietly. “It’s Xavier.”
Rustling came on the other side, and the door cracked open.
Phyl peeked through the gap and looked up at X with eyes swollen from crying.
“Where’s your mom?” X asked.
The door opened, and Katherine pulled Phyl back.
“Are you both okay?” he asked.
“Yes, we’re fine,” Katherine replied.
“Good. Stay here and block off this door.”
“Don’t leave us,” Katherine said. “Please.”
“Victor, tell Ton to stay with them,” X ordered.
Victor relayed the order, and Ton nodded. Katherine let him into the quarters, and X bent down to Miles.
“You have to stay here and protect Phyl and Katherine, boy, okay?” X said.
The dog licked his face again. X patted his head and then gestured for him to go into the room. Phyl bent down to stroke the dog, the tears forgotten and a smile on her face.
“Don’t open this door until we come back,” X said. Then he was off, running with Victor to the rooftop.
When they got there, bodies of militia soldiers lay strewn haphazardly in the dirt. Gashes marked where claws had torn through flesh and opened arteries beneath their armor.
Gunfire came from the other side of the tropical forest, and X bolted toward the sound. He was slowing down now, feeling as if he might puke or pass out, or both.
X stumbled, and Victor caught him.
“Keep moving,” X said.
They ran into the tropical forest, where X stopped to vomit. He wiped his mouth.
When Victor gave him a concerned look, he said, “I feel better now.” It wasn’t a lie. Puking had reenergized him.
He took off running again, and when they emerged from the forest, the anxiety and nausea returned.