“Let me lead the Chimeras,” Corrin said. “We can divide the forces. Humans with firearms can take the southern side of the building, and I will take my team to scale the walls on the north. That should give you enough distraction to sneak underground.”
Fitz was quiet for a moment, listening to the distant sounds of collaborators and Chimeras rounding up the other prisoners. He hated for so many to sacrifice their lives, but Corrin was right.
This was the most effective way to get inside.
“Let’s do it,” Fitz said. He signaled to another human prisoner who had been a ranking officer before being captured in Vegas and told him to lead the humans. They divided up their ragtag army and relayed their plans.
Fitz looked at Corrin one last time as the Chimera readied his forces. “Thank you, Corrin. You’ve done more than we ever could’ve asked.”
“It’s time to make the Prophet pay,” Corrin said. “Good luck, Master Sergeant Fitzpatrick, and to the rest of you.”
Dohi reached out toward him. Corrin didn’t seem to know what to do at first, but then he clenched Dohi’s hand carefully in his own.
“Good luck, brother,” Dohi said.
Corrin held his grip for a moment, then nodded and led his troops away.
At the same time, the human prisoners swarmed from their positions, cutting across the street and filtering between the other buildings. Those with weapons provided covering fire, allowing the army of liberated prisoners to spread out in combat intervals.
The Thrall monsters raced toward the human forces, and the machine guns behind them churned with the throat growl of automatic fire.
“Let’s move,” Fitz said.
Esparza took them back down the street, then cut across a block east toward an open road with three large holes. Red tendrils of webbing grew out of them. She pointed toward one, and they climbed inside a tunnel that reeked of carrion.
Dohi took point, leading them through the darkened tunnels with his NVGs. They advanced at a run, and the sounds of battle outside grew muffled the deeper they went. Fitz’s blades squished into the webbing and crunched over bones. They passed by dead humans and animals pasted on the walls.
Esparza directed them through a few intersections until they reached a hole leading to the surface.
“This is it,” she whispered.
Fitz approached cautiously. Thick stalks of red webbing stretched upward. Sickly yellow light glowed from above. The smell here was worse than anywhere else in the tunnels.
A few rumbling growls filtered in from the room above. Those were sounds Fitz was all too familiar with.
Masterminds.
From the floor of the tunnel, he could look straight up toward a ceiling covered in a spiderweb of red. This was definitely the auditorium they had seen on the video.
The sounds of the battle raged outside, reminding him of the sacrifices made so they could get here. They had to hurry. The lives of all those outside in Los Alamos and even those in Galveston depended on it.
He signaled for Esparza to back up, then beckoned Rico and Dohi. They all pulled M67 grenades from their tac vests and handed them to Dohi. He lobbed them up one by one through the hole into the throne room.
A few surprised raspy voices cried out, followed by three violent blasts. Chunks of webbing rained down into the tunnel.
“Go!” Fitz yelled.
Dohi took to the webbing and climbed up it with Esparza and Rico swinging themselves up after. Fitz was the last one up, entering the area between the stage and the seating. Smoke and the scent of burned flesh drifted through the air. Pieces of severed webbing squirmed across the floor.
Fitz searched through the dissipating smoke for targets. As it cleared, he spotted the two giant masterminds on the stage, bleeding from shrapnel wounds in the folds of their pink flesh. He turned to scan the seating area, seeing a few dead Chimeras sprawled around smoking sites where the chairs and webbing had been blown to scrap.
Other beasts closer to the back rows of webbing-covered chairs were recovering from the blasts. Two situated at the entrance of the room were already moving into firing positions.
Fitz signaled for Dohi to flank them from the auditorium’s north side while Rico and Esparza dropped down behind the seats. He popped up and shot one of the advancing Chimeras through its grotesque face.
Then all hell broke loose, gunfire punching into the seats.
Fitz ducked down and flattened his body. Using his elbows, he army-crawled to a new spot as bullets punched through the plastic seats behind him.
Webbing and broken bits of the chairs sprayed over his body. Esparza got up to fire from an adjacent row, giving Rico and Fitz time to find another position.
As soon as they were clear, Fitz gave Rico a nod. They rose to sight up their next targets, but the return gunfire had already stopped. A cry of agony roared across the enclosed space, and a final Chimera thumped to the ground near the entrance.
“Clear!” Dohi called.
Dohi stood over the last Chimera with blood dripping off his hatchet and knife. The team all turned to the stage where the two masterminds yanked on the webbing to call in reinforcements.
“Prophet isn’t here,” Dohi said.
“Come on, we have to move,” Fitz said.
Dohi led toward the doors, but they burst open before he could reach them. Four juveniles with collars around their necks lunged inside, growling and snapping.
One barreled toward Dohi. He stumbled backward and fell, giving Fitz and the rest of the team clear firing lanes.
“Covering fire!” Fitz shouted.
They unleashed a torrent of rounds into the armored skin of the beasts as the creatures bounded toward Dohi. Fitz aimed for their faces, seeking out their weakest spots. A well-placed shot to an eye killed the lead creature, tripping the others. Two of the remaining three went down in the gunfire, but the survivor pounced on Dohi.
He
