Fitz needed to make a move soon or they weren’t making it off this roof alive.
“Rico, cover me!” he said.
“Wait…” she began to say.
Fitz bolted toward a vent stack closer to the Chimeras.
From his vantage point, the flanks of two of the beasts were visible. Corrin suddenly ran out to meet them, screaming, “ELIJAH!”
He slammed a fist into the skull mask, shattering it. The blow knocked Elijah to the ground. Fitz used the opportunity to put a burst of bullets into the face of another distracted Chimera.
Another Chimera turned and sprayed the vent stack he had moved behind with rounds. Fitz hunched down, bullets crashing against his position. Rico remained flat against the roof.
More Variants dragged themselves over the railings, snarling with rage and hunger. Neilson and Toussaint killed a swathe of them, but the monsters kept coming. They appeared to be thinner than those inside the building, clearly desperate for a fresh meal.
The Chimeras were just as determined. Fitz got up to see two of them had taken down Corrin while their hulking leader advanced with a saw-toothed cutlass in hand. Heading right for Rico.
“JENI!” Fitz yelled.
She turned with her rifle, bringing it up to deflect the blow meant for her head. The impact sent her sprawling backward. Her helmet thudded against the roof.
Time seemed to slow as Fitz tried to find a shot. Gunfire slammed his position, one round slashing his cheek it was so close. He tried to get up again, but more bullets streaked by.
“Dohi, Ace!” he bellowed, straining to be heard over the gunfire.
The pair reacted immediately, providing cover fire for Fitz. When the Chimeras recoiled from the concerted fire, Fitz rushed the leader that Corrin had called Elijah. The grotesque half-man swung toward Rico with his cutlass, knocking her rifle from her grip.
Fitz slammed into the massive creature from behind. A blow like that would be enough to knock the air out of a normal man and take him down.
Not this abomination.
Elijah dropped his cutlass and wrapped his arms around Fitz. Injuries from his torture in Seattle reignited, bruises and lacerations burning with agony. His teeth ground together, and he tried to kick at the Chimera as he lifted him off the ground, bringing them face to face.
Only part of the skull mask remained, but the rest of the scarred face was visible. Fetid breath puffed as Elijah began to crush Fitz’s ribs. Rico started to push herself up, but the creature slapped her down with its free arm.
She fell back, blood gushing from her nostrils.
Fitz reached for his blade, but his arms were trapped.
“I got other plans for you, Fitzpatrick,” the creature said in a crackly voice.
Elijahsuddenly slammed Fitz to the ground. A sharp pain swam up from his spine into the back of his skull, and his vision went blurry, blackness threating to overwhelm his vision.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment,” Elijah said. “The Prophet will reward me handsomely for your corpse.”
“Elijah!” another scratchy voice said.
Fitz blinked, seeing a second Chimera, but this wasn’t an enemy.
Corrin strode over, blood gushing from multiple wounds.
The half-man stood to face the Chimera, wielding the cutlass Elijah had dropped.
“So you’re the traitorous heretic?” Elijah said.
“This is not the path to your so-called salvation,” Corrin said. “You can still join us and end this evil.”
“Fool!”
Elijah let out a roar and stormed toward Corrin while Fitz scrambled over to shield Rico. By the time he got to her, Corrin was swiping at Elijah with the cutlass. Elijah blocked each blow with his claws.
Across the roof, Dohi, Neilson, and Toussaint had finished off the other Chimeras and were fighting the last of the Variants.
“I’m okay,” Rico said. “Help the others.”
He got up with his rifle, trying to get a clear shot on Elijah, but the creature had picked up Corrin, squeezing him and forcing the smaller Chimera to drop the cutlass. He swung Corrin toward the edge of the rooftop.
Fitz put a burst into Elijah’s back, knocking him forward. Corrin slammed into the railing, and then fell over the side.
“No!” Ace shouted. He let out an angry yell as he used the butt of his rifle to slam Elijah in his back.
A throbbing pain still beat at Fitz’s head, but he forced himself to stand. He pulled out his knife and stumbled over to help Ace. He lunged at Elijah with the blade. The creature knocked Fitz back with a swipe of his arm and scooped up his cutlass.
Ace pulled out a pistol and fired at Elijah, but the bullets hardly phased the beast. It brought the cutlass down on his wrists, severing them both in a single slice.
“No!” Fitz yelled. The creature hit him again, knocking him backwards.
Ace staggered, looking down at Fitz while blood pumped out of both wrists. They locked eyes as Elijah swung the cutlass again, straight at Ace’s neck. This time it didn’t cut all the way through, leaving Ace’s head hanging partly from his neck.
Elijah let out a roar that masked Fitz’s own scream.
Using his claws, he cut through the gristle, and held Ace’s severed head up, his voice rising into a war cry.
Fitz reached for his knife as Elijah strode toward him.
“You’re next, Fitzpatrick!” he shouted.
A flash of motion came from the railing. Corrin had climbed over. He lowered his shoulders like a linebacker ready to blitz and slammed into Elijah so hard that the Chimera went airborne, still holding Ace’s head.
Elijah hit the ground and turned. Fitz got up and Rico did too, firing her rifle. Elijah erupted in a frustrated screech and then bolted away into the stairwell leading from the roof.
Dohi ran over with his hatchet and blade in hand, and Corrin scooped up the dropped cutlass.
“On me!” Fitz shouted. The survivors all closed around him, preparing their weapons for the next wave. They could already hear them coming up the sides of the building.
Fitz held up his pistol in one hand and his knife in the other, trembling from the shock of losing Ace. Dohi was looking around,
