“I disagree,” Kamer said, pulling out his sidearm.
Ace’s cheeks flushed scarlet as he stepped protectively between Kamer and Corrin. “I, for one believe him, and I’m not going to let you kill him.”
“You believe this monster?” Kamer flitted the barrel of his pistol toward Corrin. “This freak of nature?”
“I do,” Ace said. “He could’ve given us up in Seattle. Probably would’ve been rewarded for it. Instead, he got us out of that hellhole.”
“He brought this attack on us!”
“Sir, we need to move the civilians,” an officer said. “The enemy is getting too close.”
“Fine,” Kamer said. “Tell the drivers to go out the back.”
The pop of small arms fire echoed outside the garage. Dohi instinctively lifted his rifle, waiting for more. Distant shouting and a few voices crackled over the radios of the officers, but the gunfire waned.
“He might have more intel we can use,” Dohi said. “For that matter, we might be able to use him as a spy.”
“He probably is a damn spy!” Kamer yelled. “You spent a little time guarding this thing, and he’s already corrupted your minds.”
“I could help you fight…” Corrin said, glaring up at Kamer.
“Right…” Kamer snorted. “If this beast didn’t draw the enemy here, then who did?”
Dohi tried to come up with an answer, but the truth was, he didn’t know.
“The only logical answer is Corrin,” Kamer said.
The rattle of gunfire sounded again, this time longer. Cries came from the buses already packed full of civilians, and the people still waiting to board dropped low, covering their heads or huddling with loved ones.
“With respect, sir, right now, it doesn’t matter,” Fitz said. “What matters is we fight back.”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing out there,” Kamer said. “Fighting, and dying, all because this piece of shit brought the enemy to our doorstop.”
A loud boom echoed outside. This time when the gunfire started, it didn’t stop. Frightened screams rang out, followed by the shouts of soldiers directing people into the transport vehicles. At the back of the garage, a single big door opened, and the first bus rumbled to life.
One of the officers held his radio to his ear. “General, they’re at the gates!”
“Sergeant Prince, evacuate all of the civilians now!” Kamer shouted.
At the beginning of the war, Dohi would’ve thought the order was foolish. That sending their civilians fleeing just as an attack set in was too rash, too reactive. However, he had seen what the collaborators and Variants did to all those left behind when they conquered a base.
The snowplows and buses revved their engines, leaving the back of the garage one at a time.
Kamer lowered his pistol and shook his head at Corrin. “You’ve doomed us.”
Ace backed away, and Dohi stepped up to Fitz.
“Go with the evacuees,” Kamer said. “There are a couple of trucks waiting outside behind the garage. I promised your president I’d get you back to the Allied States, and I intend to do just that.”
Shouting sounded outside, but a blast silenced the voices. A current of loud booms rumbled the ground, the unmistakable sound of grenades.
One of the comms officers turned toward Kamer and Ghost. “They’ve breached the gates!”
“Prioritize defense of the convoys,” Kamer said. “And get the hell out of here. Ghost, take that animal with you if you want it so bad.”
The bark of gunfire sounded somewhere just outside the garage. Dohi shouldered his rifle. He started to back up with the team toward the exit as the roar of a bear sounded outside.
A dent the size of a tire appeared in the two metal doors. Then claws ripped through. The beast on the other side pried the massive garage doors apart until a monstrous face appeared.
The white fur around its yellow eyes was covered in blood, and it snarled, baring fangs each the size of a long knife. It let out a roar that hurt Dohi’s ears, but he held his stance, firing a burst of armor-piercing rounds into its nose, eyes, and skull.
The monster slumped to the floor, halfway through the gap in the doors. Four collaborators climbed over it, firing wildly into the room.
Kamer ducked, but one of his officers was too slow. Rounds riddled his body and sent him sprawling over the floor.
“Free me,” Corrin growled. “I’ll help!”
Ace and Fitz exchanged a glance, and Fitz nodded.
“What? Hell no!” said the Canadian soldier guarding Corrin. “We can’t trust—”
A bullet punched through his throat and he slumped over, gripping his neck.
More collaborators climbed over the dead bear. Ace sent a torrent of fire their way while Dohi moved toward Corrin.
“Cover me!” he shouted.
Another collaborator with an M249 made it into the garage, the heavy gunfire echoing in the enclosed space.
“Don’t make me regret this,” Dohi said to Corrin. He picked up the keys and unlocked the chains.
“I won’t forget what you’ve done,” replied the Chimera.
For a moment, Dohi feared there was a terrible threat veiled behind those words. Bullets slammed into crates around him, not giving him a chance to think.
The last of the vehicles screeched out of the back of the garage.
“Cover them!” Fitz yelled.
Kamer and his soldiers fired from behind leftover crates to give the civilians a chance to escape.
“I’m out,” Ace said.
Dohi tossed him a magazine, then covered him, firing at the collaborators who had stormed the garage. Corrin hunched down next to Dohi, watching with his golden eyes like a predator waiting to make a move.
Behind the collaborators came another shape. This one a hulking figure wearing a frayed cloak. It kept to the shadows, but Dohi didn’t need to see the face or features to know it was an Alpha.
“General,” Corrin said, his voice dripping with fear.
Not just any Alpha, Dohi realized. This was the brute that had nearly killed Beckham, Horn, and Rico at Mount Katahdin.
Dohi switched on his tac light and directed it at the monster. The beam hit it in the face, and Dohi pulled the trigger as the creature opened its crocodile-like maw to let out
