"Fine." He wheezed, trying to catch his breath. "I"m fine. Emily." Howard pointed frantically toward the garden. "Go. Help Emily. In the pond."
Dave and Tre ran off to find her.
"Holy s.h.i.t," Howard exclaimed a minute later. "That was one h.e.l.l of a shot, Annie Oakley. Is there anything you can"t do?"
Soo laughed and gave Howard a long kiss on the forehead before helping him get up.
He was covered in alien brains and blood, and possibly suffer from a concussion, but that kiss was the highlight of his day so far.
Thirteen.
They all stood by the pool, observing the dead alien floating beakdown in the water.
"Well, we found another weakness of these d.a.m.n things." Dave holstered his handgun. "They don"t stand up too well against bullets or water."
"And they know it too," said Howard. "The one that cornered Emily wouldn"t even dip a foot in that pond." He hunkered down and faced Emily. She was wrapped up in a towel, shaken up but unharmed. "How did you figure out you"d be safe in that pond?"
Emily shrugged. "I fell in."
Howard hugged her again, ignoring the pungent pond-water smell coming from her hair. "That was one lucky fall, hon. You did real good."
"Oh, s.h.i.t. Guys?" Ann shielded her eyes with her hand and watched as several more of the creatures emerged from the vegetation on the far side of the front lawn. They spotted the group of appetizers standing around poolside and charged.
"Everybody inside. Now!" Dave rushed them all through the patio doors and shut them. The French doors were st.u.r.dy and locked but consisted mostly of gla.s.s. This time, there were no bars to keep them out. "Into the suite, we"ll be safer in there."
Once everybody was inside the suite, Dave opened the closet door in the hallway and surveyed his cache of small arms acquired from the police station. He grabbed the shotgun a a Benelli M2 Tactical. It was a nice find, very similar to the M4 Super 90 his guys used in Afghanistan for breaching doors and close-quarter situations. It was already loaded with 12 gauge double-aught buck. Five sh.e.l.ls in the tube and one in the chamber. He grabbed a pouchful of sh.e.l.ls and slung it over his shoulder.
"What"s the plan?" Howard whispered by his side.
"The plan is, you guys are going to stay put in here." He grabbed several magazines for the 9mm in his leg holster and shoved them into his pocket. "I"m gonna take a quick look and see how many are out there."
"I"ll come with you."
"No can do, hombre. You stay here. I need you and Tre to watch out for the girls."
Howard reached for one of the AR-15 a.s.sault rifles. "But Soo is ten times a better shot than I am."
"That"s why I need you to stay here." He grabbed the rifle from Howard and put it back into the closet. "I"ll be back in five minutes. Don"t worry." Before Howard could protest, Dave slipped out the door.
He did a quick check of the patio doors but saw nothing outside. He ran up the stairs two at a time to the third floor and opened the maintenance closet at the end of the hall. Next to the shelf of cleaning supplies and towels, a ladder led to a hatch in the ceiling for roof access. Dave swung the shotgun over his shoulder and climbed.
He"d been up there once already a couple of weeks ago and discovered it offered a great bird"s-eye view of the surrounding area. From the roof, most of the grounds of the two neighboring hotels could be seen, as well as a decent stretch of the highway in front of the property. A quick peek over the edge at the back of the building revealed no signs of danger. Nothing on the patio, back lawn, or beach for as far as he could see in both direction.
Dave crept over to the front of the building, staying low and feeling a little foolish. Those things already knew they were here, but he figured the more they stayed out of sight the more it might help. Maybe they would lose interest and move on. He tried to wipe the sweat out of his eyes and wished he"d worn his sungla.s.ses. The tar- and pea gravel-covered roof was incredibly hot.
The A-1 came into view before he reached the edge of the roof and he cursed. At least fifteen or twenty of the aliens were moving down the highway from Montego Bay. They walked in single file with their faces to the pavement, following a trail like a bunch of ants. He got closer to the edge and looked down. At least a dozen were out on the lawn, a few were milling around the garden where Emily had been, and from the sound of it plenty more were under the awning by the front door.
"There goes the neighborhood," he muttered to himself.
Howard stood at the door, staring through the peephole, getting a fish-eye view of the hall. Tre watched through a tiny gap in the curtains at the patio door. The suite was on the first floor but the balcony was a good four or five feet off the ground. Soo had seen firsthand the jumping ability of those things, and had no doubt they could easily hop up onto the balcony if they knew people were inside.
The generators weren"t running, and with the blinds drawn the room was dark and hot.
Soo crept over to Howard. "I can"t take it just sitting here like this," she whispered. "I feel like we should be doing something."
"Let"s just wait for Dave to get back. He"ll know what to do."
Howard felt ashamed as it pa.s.sed his lips but he knew it was true. Soo probably did as well. Dave was the war hero, the one in charge, the one they could turn to for answers.
A flash of movement in front of the peephole and a quiet knock on the door made Howard jump. He opened the door and let Dave in.
"Okay, here"s the bad news," Dave said. "Those critters out front were just the first ones to show up at the party. There are dozens now and more on the way. I actually saw them from the roof coming down the road like a G.o.dd.a.m.n wagon train."
"How did dey fin" us?" Tre asked.
"Beats me, but it don"t matter much now. They must have sniffed us out."
"What"s the good news?" Ann said.
"There ain"t none. We need to get the h.e.l.l out of Dodge." He turned to Soo and looked her in the eyes. "I gotta know right now. No bulls.h.i.t. Can you really get us off this rock on one of those boats?"
She nodded.
"All right then. We go and we go now."
"How are we going to get past them?" Howard asked.
"I think I have a plan for a diversion that"ll keep most of *em occupied while we make a beeline for the shuttle bus out front. The keys are on the counter and it"s got a full tank of gas."
Soo nodded and looked over at the kitchen. "What about food and water for the trip? We"ll need to take some things."
"How long do you think it"ll take to get to Florida?" Howard asked.
"If we find the right boat and can manage an average of twenty knots? About thirty to forty hours."
Dave grinned. "Sounds like you"ve thought about this before."
She tapped the side of her head. "I have it all planned out."
They all froze as the sound of breaking gla.s.s came from down the hall. "Son of a b.i.t.c.h," Dave whispered. "Howard, you"re with me. Tre, help the girls get together some food and as much ammo as you can carry. I want everyone carrying a weapon except the kid. Lock the door behind us. We"ll be back soon."
Dave handed the AR-15 to Howard as they pa.s.sed the closet then he looked out the peephole. He cracked open the door and looked both ways before signaling to Howard to follow. The hall was quiet and dark.
"Hold your fire unless you have to," Dave said. "Last thing we want to do is attract more attention."
Howard nodded even though Dave"s back was toward him and he couldn"t see it. He clutched the a.s.sault rifle in his sweaty hands, fighting the urge to run away, back to the suite.
They peered around the corner into the lobby, surprised to see the rear patio doors still intact. Dave motioned for Howard to stay put before he slid farther into the room and looked into the foyer. A few panes of gla.s.s from the front door lay shattered on the floor below. He could make out some movement on the other side of the frosted gla.s.s.
They hurried silently through the lobby and into the kitchen. Dave grabbed one of the serving carts along the wall and wheeled it over to the walk-in freezer. They loaded it up with as much meat as the cart could handle a ribs, roasts, hamburger, steaks, chickensathe works.
"I have a feeling they"d prefer to munch on us, but hopefully this will be a big enough distraction for us to get away." Dave perched a ham on the top of the pile of frozen animal flesh and pushed the cart toward the doors. "We gotta get as many away from the front door as we can in order to make a run for the van."
They were about to go through the doors into the lobby when Dave stopped. "Hold on a sec, I got an idea."
He went back into the kitchen and opened the walk-in fridge. Most of the food in there spoiled a long time ago. Dave held his breath as the rancid air hit his face. On the back shelf where the meat was stored he picked up a huge twenty-pound tube of packaged ground beef. It was probably moved in there to thaw and to say it was past its expiration date was a huge understatement. A thick pool of sticky dark blood collected on the tray below it. Dave picked up the tube, his fingers sinking into the rotting mess and hoped they wouldn"t pierce the thin plastic wrapping.
Howard covered his nose with the crook of his arm. "What the h.e.l.l are you doing with that?"
Dave held up the meat and grinned. "Little biological warfare, brother. Stink bomb. I have a feeling this nasty s.h.i.t will bring *em in for miles around."
They pushed the cart past the lobby and down the hall to the far end of the hotel. The coast was clear on the ballroom patio. They tossed the packages of meat all over the patio before going back inside and locking the door behind them. Dave still had the ground beef.
"You go back to the room and tell the others to get ready. I"m gonna to try and get most of those b.u.g.g.e.rs to run over to this side of the building. When you hear three shots from my handgun, make a run for the van. Blast anything in your way."
"What about you?"
"I"ll catch up. Just start it up and get ready to haul a.s.s."
Dave stood at the second floor window at the end of the hall, directly over the ballroom patio. He carefully set down the tube of meat, grimacing at his red and sticky hands. "Could"ve carried it on the tray, dumba.s.s," he muttered to himself. He unlatched the pair of windows and opened them before setting the meat on the window ledge.
He wiped off his hands on his pants and pulled the Benelli off his shoulder. "Here goes nothing." He aimed the shotgun at the window ledge, took a deep breath, and fired.
"What"s taking so long?" Ann whispered. She sat nervously in the chair by the door, her foot bouncing rapidly up and down.
"Sit tight. We need to wait for the signal."
Howard looked through the peephole again, seeing nothing but the distorted imaged of the doors across the hall. A tremendous boom exploded from the other side of the building. Everybody jumped.
"That"s it!" Tre said. "Les go!"
Howard held up his hand. "Not yet! He said three shots from his handgun."
"Same ting, mon! Get out the way."
"Hold on. Shhh. Shut up."
They all stood quietly at the door, straining to hear what sounded like shouting from upstairs. The seconds ticked by, agonizingly slow, before three controlled shots finally rang out from upstairs.
"Now we go!" Howard opened the door and quickly looked both ways, his rifle at the ready.
They ran down the hallway. Tre carried a duffel bag with two gallon jugs of boiled rainwater and whatever canned goods they had in the suite. Soo held Emily"s hand and her own AR-15 in the other. Ann carried a bagful of ammunition and first-aid supplies.
Howard paused by the front door. "Everybody get ready to run for the van." He unlatched the lock, cracked open the door, and raised his rifle.
The blast from Dave"s shotgun did exactly what he hoped it would do. The plastic-wrapped tube of meat, as well as a good portion of the window frame, exploded. Meat sprayed outward onto the patio below, covering the entire area in foul-smelling rotted flesh.
Dave stuck his head out the window and slapped his hands on the aluminum shutters. "Over here you a.s.sholes! Come and get it!" The creatures were already swarming from all directions below, attracted by the rotten funk and packages of meat below. They ignored Dave for the time being as they fought over the limited food supply.
There were more of them down there than he imagined and he could only hope most, if not all, would take the bait. Satisfied he"d waited long enough, he pulled out his handgun and pointed it at feeding frenzy below. He slowly fired three shots, making each one count, hitting three targets on the patio below.
Howard pushed the door shut immediately as a flash of movement sped past the doorway, a few of the creatures galloping toward the commotion on the other side of the building. He exhaled and eased open the door, trusting the others would follow. He reached the shuttle van, yanking the keys out of his pocket as he ran, and opened the driver"s side door. Soo and Emily were right behind him but Tre and Ann were nowhere in sight.
"What the h.e.l.l? What happened those two?"
Soo helped Emily into the van and looked back. "I have no idea! I thought they were right behind me."
"Get in and start it up. Stay down. I"ll be right back." Howard sprinted back into the lobby, calling their names.
It didn"t take long for the a.s.sortment of semithawed meat out on the patio to be consumed. Most of the creatures stormed the interior of the hotel now that the sc.r.a.ps were gone. The smell of man was strong and all it took was one of the hunters to break one of the ballroom windows and jump inside. The others followed, hungry for fresh meat.
Ann was poised at the front door, ready to follow Howard, when she realized she"d left behind her only remaining possession in the world that mattered to her. It was an old locket her grandmother had given her before she died. Inside the locket Granny had kept a picture of her holding Ann when she was just a few hours old.
Ann treasured the locket more than anything, but it was large and she didn"t wear it all the time. She realized she"d left it in the front pocket of one of her other pairs of shorts, probably lying in a pile in the corner of her room. She ran back to the suite and Tre followed.
Ann furiously looked through the pile of clothes on the floor, panic rising, but knowing she wouldn"t forgive herself for leaving the locket behind. Finally, her hand brushed against something hard among the soft clothes; she grabbed the locket.
Tre stood nervously at the door, aiming his rifle out into the living room of the suite. He thought he"d heard a crashing sound out in the hall. "Hurry, girl! We got ta go!"
"I"ve got! Let"s get out of here."
A pack of creatures swarmed into the suite, following the strong odor of man filling every corner of the rooms. Tre opened fire with his AR-15. He managed to kill the first one through the door and wounded several behind it. There was strength in numbers however, and the group continued to charge. They"d learned early about the danger of firearms. Initially, a single shot was all it took to make them scatter after they"d seen one of their brothers fall. But the creatures were quick to adapt. They discovered that men could only shoot one at a time, and if their numbers were great enough, even the mightiest of guns was no match for a large group attack.
Tre quickly emptied the twenty-round magazine into the horde as it swarmed the rooms. He dropped the rifle and tried to close the bedroom door, but they were too fast. The door flew open with tremendous force and Tre flew back onto the floor. The first creature through the doorway landed on him, ripping open his throat with its razor sharp mandibles. Three more were on him in an instant.
Ann stood with her back pressed into a corner of the room, too shocked to scream, too terrified to move. She watched in horror as her friend was torn to pieces. Just seconds earlier, he was talking, breathing, thinking, living. Now he was reduced to a b.l.o.o.d.y mess on the white carpeting of her bedroom.
She held a Berretta 9mm in her right hand and Granny"s locket in the other. At last, the gun training and practice on the beach with Dave would pay off. She didn"t panic. She knew exactly what to do from countless dry runs and the gun felt comfortable in her hand. She made sure the safety was off, already knew a round was in the chamber because she"d checked earlier.
More hunters swarmed the room, spotting Ann in the corner. The lead one charged, leaping across the room and launching off the bed. Ann calmly pulled the trigger, hitting her target with ease.
For a split second, before the barbs, before the claws, before the jawsabefore the hollow point bullet evaporated the left side of her skull and the contents withina she had a final and terrifying thought. She was going home, but would Granny be there waiting for her on the other side?
Fourteen.
Howard had only a second to feel the crushing blow of helplessness and despair as he watched from the lobby as the swarm rushed the suite. He heard the gunshots, the squealing creatures, followed by the screams of his friends. The creatures in the tail end of the horde spotted him and charged.