Matt Archer: Redemption Part 2

Before we made it there, the creature had pecked the guy into pieces and people were surging forward, screaming.

"Library of Congress," I bellowed, fighting my way through the panicked mob. "Go there now!"

Despite having to fight our way upstream, we made it to Freaky before it finished its meal. Will took a running leap and landed on its back, while I slid low under its belly, stabbing as I went. The monster rose up on its legs, shrieking, and I skittered backward so it wouldn't fall on me. How Will stayed on its back, I'd never know, but he did and rammed his blade into the base of its neck. It came crashing down and Will tumbled to the street. I ran to help him up.

"Merde," he wheezed. "ca fait mal."

"What?" I said. "Your French is showing."

Will dusted off his dress pants. Green blood from the monster was smeared across both legs. "Je ne peux pas dire que je le fais."

"I have no idea what you just said."

He growled. "It sounds like English in my head, okay? I can't help it-my ancestry really screws with me."

I was going to tell him that whining was unbecoming for a guy who was the offspring of both Vikings and French n.o.bility, but a large shadow pa.s.sed overhead. A new monster circled and started diving straight for us. I threw myself in front of Will, knife up, with no idea how we'd survive an air attack.

As the thing closed in to strike, a rifle shot cracked nearby. Daylight shone through a hole in the monster's wing membrane. It swerved off course and another shot rang out. A second spot of daylight opened up in its other wing. Then a third, catching it right above one of its wing-bones. Screeching, the thing came to an awkward landing, not stalking us, but heading toward an alcove between buildings.

It was looking for the shooter.

Will and I chased the beast down. "Hey!" I yelled. "Ugly! We're over here!"

It turned surprisingly fast given its bulk and snapped at me. I jumped back and its beak whistled by my head to slam into the concrete. That didn't even hurt it; instead, a huge pothole opened up on Independence street.

It screeched again, blowing in our faces with breath stinking of rotted meat. The creature flung out a wing and caught Will, tossing him ten feet. He landed on the sidewalk and rolled into a fire hydrant with a thunk, but got right back up.

We circled the creature. It flapped its wings, trying to get airborne, but two shots opened two more holes and it finally folded them at its sides and turned back toward the shooter with a furious gleam in its eye.

Will and I ran after it. With an annoyed squawk, it snapped at us again, its beak closing with a loud click. I didn't want to throw the knife at it. They were too hard to kill and I worried all I'd do is p.i.s.s it off more. So I did the only thing I could-I jumped onto its back. Will braved its talons to slash its wings, opening large, jagged holes that would definitely keep it grounded. It bucked, trying to throw me off, but I used my knife as a handhold, stabbing my way all the way up its back.

It took all my strength to drag the blade through its thick neck, but Tink gave me an a.s.sist and the Freak collapsed onto the ground with a bone-jarring thud.

Will and I checked on the rest of the people we were supposed to be herding and saw that most of them were already off the street, with the remainder pushing their way into the Library of Congress.

"We need to find the sniper, make sure he's okay," Will said.

I nodded and followed him in the direction the shots came from. We didn't have to go far, though, before the sniper-and her spotter-came out of the shadows.

Will and I stopped, mouths open.

The high-caliber rifle Penn had managed to commandeer was slung over her shoulder, like she was a guerilla fighter fresh from a street war. The powder burns on her hands and the dirt on her face only added to that mental picture. The fact that the rifle was half as tall as she was? That only made her more terrifying.

"What?" Penn said, as we continued to stare. "I've been shooting skeet since I was six years old. My granddaddy threw clays for us on his farm all the time. These bird-things are a bigger target and easier to hit."

"I think I finally know what dumbfounded means, though. It's a picture of Matt's expression right now," Ella said, grim with a smear of blood across her forehead. She carried binoculars and two replacement magazines. I wouldn't want to come across her in an alley, either.

"Where did you find the rifle?" I asked, glancing at the sky to see if we had incoming. It was ominously quiet up there.

Ella grimaced. "A dead soldier. I didn't want to do it, but Penn and I got stuck trying to leave and she said she knew how to shoot. The mob was crazy and we couldn't break free, so we improvised."

"A few of the soldiers had shot holes in their wings, so I did the same thing." Penn shrugged. "It worked."

"Yeah, it did," I said. "Thanks for helping us out. Now, you two need to get inside where it's safer."

Penn propped a hand on her hip. "We're not hiding. You need us."

Any argument I could've made got nixed as a cloud of black filled the sky overhead. Dozens of Freakasauruses covered up the sun, turning day to dusk in a blink.

Bakers' dozens-if I had to bet, there were thirty-nine of them. Three sets of thirteen, bearing down on a city full of people.

"I think you might be right," I told them. "Okay, find higher ground where you can see. A place that's too tight for one of them to reach in and grab you."

"Fire escape in the alley. Tight steel cage, with a roof overhang," Ella said. "Come on."

They took off without a backward glance. I watched them go. "How did we not know your girlfriend could shoot?"

"Speak for yourself. I always knew Penn was a bada.s.s." Will c.o.c.ked his head to the side. "You hear that?"

A faint rumble was barely audible over the shrieks of monsters filling the air. "Yeah?"

"Air support."

As he said it, something streaked through the sky and exploded in the big middle of the Freak-cloud. A group of monsters-parts of them anyway-dropped to the ground with the force of a derailed train car, splashing the surrounding buildings with their greenish blood and bits of gore. A severed leg crushed a pickup under its weight. Another fell on top of a policeman running across the street and smashed him flat.

I grabbed Will's arm. "We need to get under cover!"

"I thought they were waiting until we were clear," Will said, as we jogged toward a building with a large stone portico. "They weren't supposed to strike if people were on the street."

"What choice do they have?" I asked, crouching behind a statue to keep watch. "There are too many for us to take out with just the knives."

Three more missiles flashed and more monsters plummeted to earth, crushing whatever was unfortunate enough to be underneath them.

By now, the Freaks had figured out what was going on, and part of them took off en ma.s.se, flying at something we couldn't quite see. There was a whine and a screech of metal bending, then the smoking remains of an out of control F-16 zoomed overhead before going down in a smoke cloud somewhere in the mall.

"That's not good," Will said.

"No."

Another F-16 crash landed in a ball of fire behind the Capitol building and the Freaks let out screeches of triumph. The flock, or whatever you'd call it, wheeled around and flew toward the Washington Monument.

"We need to get over there," I told Will. "Penn! Pick off anything that flies low enough. Herd them back our direction so we can figure out how to deal with them."

"Okay!" she yelled.

"Be careful!" Ella called.

I waved her direction, hoping she saw it, and sprinted for the mall.

"So how are we going to handle them?" Will asked as we ran.

"No idea," I said, not wanting to waste breath on talking. Running in dress shoes took more effort than I was used to. "We'll come up with something, and if we don't, Parker, Jorge or Ramirez will."

As we cleared the Capitol building, I skidded to a stop, and Will crashed into my back. "Back, back!"

We took cover behind some trees, because additional help had arrived and we'd stumbled into a live fire exercise.

Overhead a pair of Apache attack helicopters were firing missiles at the creatures and monster parts were raining from the sky. A wing landed two feet from the tree we were sheltered under and left a dent in the gra.s.s.

A battalion of soldiers had also swarmed the area in armored vehicles to evacuate civilians, while others were using vehicle mounted rocket and grenade launchers to tear up the monsters' wings. Two Abrams tanks were rumbling down the lawn and sidewalks of the Mall, using their main guns to fire armor-piercing rounds into the cl.u.s.ters of grounded Freaks to finish them off.

"This is actually working! It took heavy artillery, but we finally have real ground support!" Will crowed as a smoking monster-head crashed into our tree, taking out branches before pitching to the ground. "General Richardson got that call out fast."

"I think he wanted to be prepared. He probably had half the Pentagon on alert," I said, checking to see if it was safe for us to venture out. "All five wielders in one place with a lot of opportunity for mayhem? That's like begging for an attack."

The smoke cleared and the tanks moved farther down the Mall, so I motioned for Will to follow me. Even if they were thinning the herd, there were still plenty of these flying nightmares dive bombing the roads and smashing cars as people tried to speed away. If they came close enough, I'd do a little knife-work.

The lawn leading to the Washington Monument was churned up, with big ruts from the Humvees and the tanks' heavy treads. A group of three people were crouched near the Capitol's reflecting pool at our end of the Mall. One was a man whose arm hung limp at his side, but was still struggling to help another man pick up an unconscious woman. She was bleeding from the head. As we headed their way, a big Freakasaurus swooped low and took the man with the hurt arm. Cursing, I ran faster, hoping to provide cover for the other two while Will chased the kidnapper to bring it down.

I put the blade between my teeth, murmuring a quick instruction to Tink to keep it from cutting me. She snorted and said, Just this once, because it doesn't belong in your mouth. The knife is not a chew toy.

"What-eh-er," I said around the blade, then knelt at the woman's side and scooped her up. The man with her was merely banged up, so I jerked my head toward the back end of the Capitol building and started jogging, not waiting to see if he followed.

The woman groaned and coughed. A trickle of blood ran down the side of her mouth. As soon as we got to the rescue team waiting at the edge of the building, I spit out the knife and asked the man, "Was she dropped?"

"Yeah. One of those, um, pterodactyls picked her up and threw her. It came after her again, but a rocket caught it in the side." He looked out over the lawn. "Harry got clipped in the arm."

I knew he was searching for his friend, but unless Will was really lucky, Harry was long gone. I turned to the paramedics. "Internal bleeding, fell from a height."

As I started back out to help Will, the man called, "Thank you, Archer!"

I didn't pause, but I did stumble a little. The man knew who I was. Oh, G.o.d, this whole thing was probably happening live on CNN right now.

To my right, a little kid started wailing.

I spun around, horrified to see a four-year-old boy crying with his fingers in his mouth. His mother was dead on the gra.s.s next to him. They were fifty yards away and there was a monster coming in from his two o'clock.

I sprinted toward him, knowing deep in my gut I was going to be too late, when a slight figure stepped out of the trees and bent to pick up the little boy. Her brown pigtails swayed as she hefted him onto her hip.

Oh, my G.o.d. Why was she out here? Why was she here?

"No!" I screamed. "Mamie, move!"

She turned to face me, her expression made of stone. She cradled the child in her arms and turned to face the monster.

She was about to die, and I couldn't stop it.

Chapter Four.

The creature swooped down as I ran. I prepared to throw the knife, praying for a miracle. Mamie c.o.c.ked her head and held out a hand. The ground trembled under my feet, then the monster pulled up suddenly, squawking like it was afraid of what it saw. With a high-pitched screech, it wheeled around and flew away.

A miracle, right when I needed one. But what happened?

I drew even with Mamie. "Thank G.o.d you're okay. I can't believe it flew away like that. And why aren't you in the bunker? If you ditched Brent, he's probably going crazy."

She didn't face me right away, but I knew something was off by her tone when she said, "You need me out here."

Her voice was ice cold and the set of her shoulders told me she wasn't the least bit afraid. Then she turned around.

"Whoa," I said, taking a step back. It was all I could do to keep from dropping my knife.

Mamie's eyes were glowing, like mine did during an eclipse. Except hers were bright blue. And scary. She looked like something out of a Marvel comic.

"Uh, sis, the earthquake just now. Was that you?"

She raised an eyebrow, like she was daring me to ask how she did it. "Yes."

I let out a low whistle. Her shamanic powers weren't something I'd accepted too well. Not yet, anyway, and this new display of power blew my doors off, leaving them crumpled on the ground.

"Yeah, okay," I said. "So, um, it's dangerous out here. Maybe you should take your new friend to the bunker before one of the monsters comes at you again."

"They won't hurt me," she said. "They don't dare."

"Are you sure about that?" I asked, scanning the sky for threats. "They're pretty bent on killing humans."

She gave me a wry smile, before kissing the little boy on the side of his head. "Trevor and I are going to find him some help.

I noticed she didn't answer the question, but now wasn't the time to pry. "Did he tell you his name?"

"Didn't have to." She pressed her check to his and he snuggled closer to her. "He's hungry, tired and going into shock. After I drop him off, I'll search for the rest. There are eight children out here with dead parents. I need to find them before it's too late. Brent's safer where he is. I don't need him-Mom does."

It was obvious that she didn't need me, either. Unnerved, I said, "I'll just go back to work then."

"Do. And be careful."

"You, too."

The nod she gave was regal and nonchalant. Like being in a park full of dead people and monstrous creatures wasn't a big deal. I hoped she knew what she was doing. I knew what it was like to be filled with magic and the pain it caused when the power drained away. She might be in shaman Super-Mamie mode now, but she'd crash later. Hopefully not while she was in the park.

And after she recovered, we needed to have a long, long talk.