food always made it want. The wall that stopped it from food was thicker and harder than the others, but not so much that it could stop Fossil. It ripped through the layers of substance and was in a strange place, nothing organic there but the moving, screeching food. Food ran at it, hard to see but smelling quite strongly. Food raised a claw and swiped at Fossil, crying in fury, its desire to attack and kill; Fossil knew this because of the smell. Within seconds, Fossil was surrounded by food, and again, it wanted. The animals that were food howled and screamed, dancing and leaping, and Fossil reached out and picked up the closest. Food had sharp talons, but Fossil's hide was thick. Fossil bit into the food, tearing a great chunk from the writhing body, and was fulfilled. Its sense of purpose was met so long as it chewed and swallowed, hot blood dripping down its throat, hot flesh ripping between its teeth. The other food animals continued to attack, mak– ing it easy for Fossil to eat. Fossil ate all of the food animals in a short period of time, and its metabolism used the food almost as quickly, giving Fossil strength to find more food. It was an extremely simple process, one that continued as long as Fossil was awake. Finished with the dark and cavernous room that had housed the screaming food, Fossil licked blood off its fingers and opened its senses, searching for its next meal. In seconds, it knew that there was more, living and moving close by. Fossil wanted. Fossil was hungry.
TWENTY-TWO
THE GIRL WAS SICK, HER SKIN CLAMMY, HER attempts to get away from him pathetic and weak. Reston wished he could get rid of her, just drop her and run, but he didn't dare. She was his ticket through the forces on the surface; surely they wouldn't kill one of their own. Still, he wished the stupid girl wasn't so ill; she was slowing him down, hardly able to walk, and he had no choice but to continue dragging her along, north through the back corridor, then east at the far corner of the facility, heading for the connecting door to the cell block. From the cells the service elevator was a two-minute walk.
Almost there, almost done with this impossible, incredible night, not much farther…
He was an extremely important man, he was a respected member of a group that had more money and power than most countries, he was Jay Walling– ford Reston – and here he was being hunted in his own facility, forced to take a hostage, to hold a gun to the head of a sick girl and sneak out like some criminal; it was ludicrous, just unbelievable. 'Too tight,' the girl whispered, her voice strangled and rasping. 'Too bad,' he answered, continuing to drag her along by her slender throat, her head tucked through his arm; she should have thought of that before she decided to invade the Planet. He pulled her through the door that led into the cell block, feeling better with each step he took. Each was another step closer to escape, to survival. He would not be gunned down by some pious, self-righteous group of visionless thugs; he'd kill himself first. Past the empty cells, almost to the door – and the girl stumbled, falling into him so hard that she almost knocked him down. She gripped him tightly, trying to regain her balance, and Reston felt a sudden insane rush of anger at her, of rage. Stupid bitch, assassin, spy, I should shoot you right here, now, blow your slack, stupid brain across the walls…
He regained control before he could pull the trigger, but the loss of composure frightened him a little. It would have been a mistake, and a costly one. 'Do that again and I'll kill you,' he said coldly, and kicked at the door that led into the main hall, pleased at the merciless quality of his voice. He sounded strong, like a man who wouldn't hesitate to kill if it served his purposes – which, he was coming to dis– cover, was what he was. Through the door and into the hall…
'Let her go, Reston!'
John and Red were at the corner, both of them with weapons trained on him. Blocking the path to the elevator. Immediately, Reston dragged the girl back, they'd just have to go back into the cell block while he decided how to handle… 'Forget it,' Red growled. 'They're right behind you, we saw them tailing you. You're trapped.'
Reston pushed the gun barrel against the girl's head, desperate, I've got the hostage, they can't, they have to let me go… 'I'll kill her!' He backed up again, moving toward the anteroom of the test program, the girl staggering
to stay on her feet. 'And then we'll kill you,' John said, not a whisper of lie in his deep voice. 'If you hurt her, we'll hurt you. Let her go and we leave.'
Reston reached the closed metal door and reached around for the control panel, hitting the button that would unlock the gate and the hatch into One. 'You can't possibly expect me to believe that,' he sneered as the sheet metal slid up; there was only one Dac left alive and he'd left their kennel open – I can climb, I can still get away from them, it's not too late!
At that second, the door to the cell block opened and the other two stepped out – stepped in between the gunmen and him, and he acted before he had time to think, taking his chance. Reston pushed the girl away, hard, throwing her toward all four of them and he jumped left in the same motion, hitting the hatch with his shoulder. The door into One flew open and he was through, slam– ming it closed. There was a bolt and he threw it, the the metal making a sound like music. As long as he stayed away from the clearings, he was safe. They couldn't touch him. Strong hands caught her before she could crash into the ground – and she could breathe again – and John and Leon were alive… the relief was an ocean of warmth rising up over her, making her feel even weaker than she already was. The extended chokehold had taken most of what little strength she'd had. In fact, now that she thought about it, Rebecca felt an awful lot like death on two legs; like crap on a cracker, as she used to say when she was a child… Claire held her steady – it was Claire's strong hands that she'd felt – and everyone gathered around her, John picking her up easily. Rebecca closed her eyes, relaxing into her exhaustion. 'Are you alright?' David asked, and she nodded, relieved and happy that they were together again, that no one had been hurt -
– no one but me, anyway
–and she knew that once she had a chance to rest, she'd be fine. 'We have to get out of here, now,' Leon said, an urgency in his voice that made Rebecca open her eyes, the warm and sleepy feelings instantly gone. 'What is it?' David asked, his voice going just as sharp. John turned and started carrying her down the hall, quickly, calling back over his shoulder. 'We'll tell you on the way up, but we've gotta go ASAP, no joke.'John?' She said, and he looked down at her,
throwing her a small smile, his dark eyes telling a different story.'We'll be fine,' he said, 'you just relax, start making up stories to tell us about your war wounds.'
She'd never seen him look so uneasy, and she started to tell him that she was wounded, not stupid when a tremendous, thundering crash came from somewhere ahead, a sound like walls being torn down, like glass exploding, like a bull in a china shop – and John spun around, running back the way they'd come – then she couldn't see, but heard Claire's gasp, heard David say, 'Oh, my God,' in breathless disbelief, and felt her tired heart start to pound in fear. Something very bad was coming.
TWENTY-THREE
GODDAMMIT, NOT FAST ENOUGH.
In a cloud of dust and rubble, cracked concrete and plaster, Fossil burst into the hall across from the elevator like a vision of hell. Its snout and hands were red, splashes of violent color against its sickly white skin, its giant, impossible body filling the corridor. 'Clip!' Leon screamed, not taking his gaze from the looming monster, still a hundred feet in front of them and not nearly far enough. He drew his empty H amp;K and ejected the clip, barely aware that it was Claire who handed him another as Fossil took a step toward them…… and David was firing the M-16, the clatter of rounds blasting through the long hall, Fossil taking another huge step forward as Leon slapped the clip home. John was suddenly next to him, grabbing a rifle mag from David, Claire on David's other side, all of them targeting the creature. Leon found the monster's right eye and squeezed the trigger, the roar of his nine- millimeter lost in the combined explosive firepower, all of them firing -
–bambambam, the sounds blending together, deafening, Fossil tilting its head to one side as if curious, taking another step into the wall of bullets. 'Fall back!' David shouted, and Leon backed up a step, horrified by Fossil's lack of wounds. If they were causing it any pain at all Leon couldn't see it, but it was all they had. He tried for the eye again…… and heard Claire screaming something, glanced away long enough to see that she had a grenade out, that she was handing it to David. 'Go, go, go!' David shouted, and John grabbed Leon's arm and they turned and ran, Claire pacing
them, Leon praying that they were far enough awaynot to be hit by the shreds of hot metal. Claire ran, terrified, thinking that she'd never seen anything like it. A blood-painted fishbelly nightmare, a curved grin of wickedly sharp teeth and its hands,the too-long fingers stained red -
– what is it, how is it -'Fire in the hole!' David screamed, and Claire pushed off the cement, trying to fly, seeing in that airborne second Rebecca's pale, strained face, the girl slumped against the back wall still a hundred feet away…… and BOOM, she was flying, John to her right, a warm body falling against her back – and they all hit the
