It’s using Rose as a shield. Shit, I don’t want to hit Rose… I can’t see its head—
Mercy lowered her pistol and fired at the queen’s leg. Her round slammed into the queen’s left calf, making the alpha stagger forwards. The queen pushed off with its good leg, throwing itself forwards. It sliced through the wrist bonds with its long nails. Mercy crouched low, tripping the alpha queen. Rose sprawled to the floor like a rag doll. Mercy turned and fired, emptying her magazine in the queen’s direction. One round punched through the queen’s jaw and into its spine, another round shattered the top of its skull, pulverizing the brain matter beneath. The alpha queen collapsed to the floor, unmoving.
Got you, bitch—
Movement. A blur.
Mercy swung to the DARPA robot in the near corner. Its head lifted, a row of green LED lights flickered on the side of its head.
Shit—
Mercy lifted her pistol and squeezed the trigger. Her gun clicked on empty.
Oh, come on—
The robot brought its right arm up, its wrist flipped back revealing a narrow tube. A red glow came from a filament at the end of the tube. Recognition flooded through Mercy.
Flamethrower—
A tongue of flame flashed across the ceiling from behind. Two shotgun blasts rocked the room. A burst of rifle fire slammed into the DARPA robot from over Mercy’s shoulder pitching the robot back into the wall.
Do it—
Mercy rolled across the floor slamming into the robot’s legs, she ejected the empty magazine from her pistol. She reloaded and fired up twice. Her .45 ACP rounds entered the robot’s head behind its armor, shredding its visual array and destroying the inner core. Sparks flew from under its facial plates, its legs buckled, and it crashed to the floor.
Did I just do that—?
A burst of rounds followed by a scream.
Mercy turned to look across the room. Jade was on the floor, an alpha straddling her. Jade was pushing against the alpha’s chest as it tried to savage her face and neck.
Get up—
Mercy pushed herself to her knees and aimed.
I could hit Jade—
The alpha raised its head for a split second, its shoulders tensing for the strike. Mercy squeezed her trigger.
Please—
Mercy’s round slammed into the alpha’s neck shattering its spine. Barnes’s silhouette appeared on the far side of the room, his rifle raised. Mercy registered his muzzle flash and blinked. The alpha’s head disappeared in an explosion of gore and bone. The gunfire stopped. Mercy’s ears rang. She pulled herself up and crossed the room to Jade. Barnes picked his way through tangled alpha corpses and knelt beside Annalise. Mercy glanced up from Jade.
Annalise too? No, goddammit—
Mercy’s eyes went to Rose who was slumped on the ground, her back against the rear wall.
“Rose—?” Mercy jumped up then staggered.
Dizzy, ringing, hold on… It’s OK. I just got up too quick—
Mercy’s vertigo settled and she lurched over to Rose.
She’s still breathing—
“Rose? Rose? It’s Mercy, are you OK? Hey, it’s me Rose, you’re gonna be fine. Here, let me check you out—” Mercy said, keeping her voice level.
She’s out of it, they’ve given her something to make her compliant. Shit, I hope she comes around—
Mercy checked Rose for bites and other injuries.
Nothing, thank Christ—
Mercy placed Rose on her side then put her rolled up jacket under Rose’s head.
She’s flushed, her lips are cracked, her eyes are sunken. She needs water—
Mercy sat down beside Rose, she looked across the room. Relief washed over her. Flynn was helping Jade.
He’s OK—
Jade stirred beneath the remains of the dead alpha. Flynn bent down and lifted the bloody corpse away. Jade’s face and hair was covered in gore. He helped Jade to a sitting position. “Jade, are you OK? Did it bite you? Here, let me take a look—” Flynn did a visual inspection of Jade’s arms and neck. “Wait, we’ll wash some of this crap off.” He took his canteen and poured water over Jade’s exposed skin. “No, you’re good, there’s no bites, check your legs. Here, take this, take a drink, I need to see to Mercy.”
Jade took the canteen and began examining her legs. Barnes was still bent over Annalise. Mercy frowned.
Flynn crossed the room and knelt beside Mercy, his eyes flicking to the downed DARPA robot. “You capped that one just in time,” he said, wrinkling his nose, “I can smell the fuel from here.” He looked at Mercy then at Rose, “How is she?”
Mercy snapped out of her daze, her ears were still ringing.
“She’s alive, they’ve drugged her. They were using her to operate the control panel,” Mercy’s eyes met Flynn’s. “Shit, we need to check it out. What if there’s a launch been initiated—?”
“I’m on it,” Flynn said, jumping to his feet. He rushed over to the control panel and examined the screen.
Mercy joined him seconds later. “There, that must be coordinates and… what’s that? Wind speed and—”
“There,” Flynn jabbed his finger at the top right corner of the screen. “Abort, it says abort—”
“Go on, press it,” Mercy said, her fingers gripping the console.
Flynn jabbed the flashing icon at the top of the screen.
“Nothing, try again,” Mercy said, desperation in her voice. “Wait—” Mercy looked back at Rose. “It’s her, we need Rose’s hand, it’s programmed to recognise her biometrics. Come on help me get her over here—”
Flynn and Mercy carried Rose over to the launch console and pressed her fingers on the flashing abort icon on the screen. The screen changed colour, a new message appeared in green: LAUNCH SEQUENCE ABORTED. CURRENT INSTRUCTIONS DELETED. SYSTEM DEFAULTED TO FAILSAFE MODE. LAUNCH SYSTEM IN LOCKDOWN.
Mercy hugged Rose’s inert body, “We did it Rose… you did it. You shut down this piece of shit—”
Mercy’s legs buckled and she slumped against the console. Flynn reached out to her, concern on his face, “Hey, stay with me babe. Are you OK?”
Mercy nodded, “Yeah, just post-fight jitters.”
Flynn held onto Rose, “Rose ain’t going nowhere until she sleeps this off, whatever it is—”
Barnes crossed the room and
