“Take them out!” Cornelius said.
A gunner on the platform directed his M240 and fired into the ranks of the monsters. Blasts from the sniper rifles followed. The Alpha lumbered toward the sandbags, rounds punching into its muscular frame.
“Jesus,” Cornelius yelled. “Give me that.”
He reached out for a sniper rifle and took it from the soldier. Slinging his M4A1 over his back, Cornelius then shouldered the long rifle, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
The top of the Alpha’s head flew off, and the beast dropped in front of the sandbags. Cornelius handed the gun back to the soldier and walked back over to Ringgold.
“Nice shot,” she said.
Cornelius unslung his rifle, and Souza shouldered his weapon as more creatures advanced on the streets outside the hotel.
“Madam President, you should shelter inside,” Soprano said.
Her Secret Service agents moved toward her, ready to escort her down the stairs into the hotel.
“No,” she replied, raising her rifle. “I’m ready to fight.”
Cornelius raised a brow. “I sort of regret running against Lemke and your party now. God rest his soul, but you know what I mean.”
Ringgold nodded. “I’m sure he gladly would have run with you on the ticket.”
The shriek of Variants silenced them.
“Oh, Jesus,” Soprano said. He crossed his chest and then pumped his shotgun.
“Get ready!” Cornelius yelled.
Gunfire from collaborators on another rooftop pinged off the walls. The agents surrounded Ringgold, bringing their rifles up as she aimed her barrel, recalling the lessons Cornelius had taught her over the past few days. She kept the sights on the center mass of her target and fired.
Each squeeze of the trigger was deliberate and careful, the stock of her rifle kicking back slightly against her shoulder. A collaborator dropped from one of her rounds.
She paused for a moment from the shock of taking a human life. The Variants were one thing but…
No, these men are also monsters.
The sound of gunfire and screams snapped her back to reality. The beasts were coming from all directions now, storming through Galveston. She aimed at the Variants, trying to hit them, but they moved so damn fast.
A jammed round forced her to lower her rifle and clear the chamber. By the time she shouldered her rifle again, some of the fighting on the streets had turned into hand-to-hand combat.
The Chimeras and Variants lunged at the men and women clinging to survival, tearing at their flesh with claws and teeth.
Again and again, she squeezed the trigger.
The crack of gunfire sounded all around her, answering the howls of the beasts threatening to overwhelm them from below.
An hour of the fighting raged until corpses littered the street. Puddles on the asphalt turned red with blood.
Seeing all of the pale corpses of the monsters filled Ringgold with hope that they could hold out for the arrival of the Mexican and Canadian reinforcements.
A strange moment of silence passed over the watchtower as she reloaded. Sporadic gunshots echoed, but they seemed more spread out and further away.
“Anyone got eyes?” Cornelius called.
“We’re getting reports of movement to the north!” Souza called from the enclosed area with the comms officers.
“I see them!” one of the snipers called out from the north wall. “A whole—”
Before he finished his sentence, half his face was blown away by an incoming round. His body fell backward. Cornelius took the position and opened fire.
“On me!” he shouted.
Souza and a group of three soldiers moved over to help. Ringgold strained for a look at the targets, her Secret Service agents following her. Between the columns of smoke, she saw Chimeras running toward the hotel.
One of those monsters wore a black cloak that she recognized from the horrific video of when Lemke had been butchered. A phalanx of Chimeras ran close to protect the huge beast.
Variants and juveniles swarmed onto the street from neighboring buildings.
Gunfire suddenly pounded the platform. Ringgold went down on her stomach, the Secret Service agents crowding her. She watched as Cornelius jerked back from a round to the shoulder. He regained his balance and kept firing.
A pair of the machine gunners and the three snipers on the other walls rushed to help thwart the incoming attack.
One of her Secret Service agents tried to help Ringgold back to her feet when a bullet lanced through his throat. Blood sprayed on her as he collapsed on top of her body.
“Get her out of here!” Cornelius yelled.
Soprano grabbed Ringgold, and with the help of the two surviving agents, pulled her out from under the dead man. She watched in horror as a set of claws reached up and grabbed a sniper at the wall, pulling him over the side.
Soprano started to pull her away from the north side as Chimeras climbed over the platform and tore into the soldiers there. One of the beasts struck Souza in the face with a cutlass, severing his jaw. He reached up, but then fell to the platform, his dead eyes on Ringgold.
“No,” she choked.
Cutlasses hacked into the soldiers, separating limbs and heads. Cornelius and three of his men rushed to stop the advancing monsters.
“Let me go!” she yelled at Soprano.
He loosened his grip, and she raised her rifle, her two remaining agents aiming their own weapons. They both went down suddenly, from sniper rounds.
Rage flowed through her as she ducked down and changed her magazine, struggling to click it into the rifle.
“Madam President, watch out!” Soprano called.
She looked up as a Chimera climbed the wall and dropped onto the platform. Soprano stepped in front of her and fired the shotgun into the super soldier. It jerked backward and growled at Soprano who pumped the weapon.
“Oh fuck,” he said.
He turned to look at Ringgold as the Chimera thrust his cutlass through his chest, skewering him before yanking the blade out.
Soprano dropped in front of her, whispering his final words. “I’m sorry.”
The Chimera started toward her, blood gushing from the shotgun blast to his side. He raised his cutlass when a bullet burst through his eye.
Cornelius ran across the platform, lowering his pistol. He grabbed Ringgold and
