Crouching stealthily, he moved into the kill zone where the stench of burning flesh and cordite mixed with the strong essence of pine and earth. Jacob moved between twisted trees and broken bodies, searching for threats. He spotted a tall, stretched out creature wearing a chest rig; a separated arm clutched an SKS rifle. Jacob knelt beside the figure and stripped its chest of magazines, placing them in a drop pouch on his belt. He searched its shirt pockets, finding nothing.
Jacob dumped the man’s pants pockets, finding remnants of its previous life: a battered wallet, some folded currency, a set of car keys. Winslow stepped forward and knelt beside him.
The Darkness didn’t communicate with written word, or even spoken that they could see. It was through touch and other non-verbal means. A faint wisp of movement pulled Jacob’s eyes back to the front as a mangled man scrambled to its feet and stumbled forward. It gripped a rusty machete tightly in its one good arm, while its other arm and part of its torso were missing. The black blood oozed from its wounds, and charcoal-colored foam dripped from its broken jaw as it limped toward them.
Jesse rose to his feet and stepped forward, leveling his rifle. “Just die already,” he whispered. One pull of the trigger, and a round tore through the thing’s chest, ending it. “Why won’t they all just die?” he said.
The forest came alive all around them. Roars and echoes of feet in the distance and a scream unlike any Jacob had heard before. He raised his head and whispered, “Something is wrong.”
Chapter Forty-Six
“Don’t stop! Keep pushing!”
The ground rumbled under his feet and the forest canopy retracted, shaking dried leaves with the concussions of explosions. The crack of grenades shaking his senses, Jacob stumbled back and looked down at the burn marks on his shirt. The torn fabric showed where bullets and shrapnel had ripped through his vest, coming dangerously close to his flesh. Crazed beings howling and screaming in agony ran in all directions, coming at him from everywhere.
He’d lost sight of Jesse. James was firing rapidly, the M240 golf spitting rounds that cut close by his side and suppressing the enemy advance. How did they rebound so fast? Where are they all coming from? he thought, shaking off the explosion and taking a step to the side before staggering back and being caught and steadied by Stone’s tight grip.
The forest was covered in smoke and flame. Dirt, bark, and ashes rained down, hitting his arms and face. It must have been another grenade. He remembered standing near the bodies with Jesse, then the explosion. He looked down; he was still holding his rifle and felt the AK pistol bumping against his side, still hanging from the sling. He couldn’t feel his body. He looked down at his shirt. Maybe I’m dying, and it will all be over soon. What will Laura think? Will they know how I died? What will they do without me? The old man grabbed Jacob by the shoulders, shaking him then spinning him around shoving him out of the kill zone.
“Run, you fool,” he shouted.
He looked at Stone’s blurry image, his nervous system overwhelmed with feedback. Jacob blinked hard, trying to focus on the old man’s words. Being pushed ahead, feeling slowly came back to his body as his muscles filled with blood. He closed his eyes tight and when he opened them, his body and mind finally responded.
The way Stone fought, no one would have guessed he was in his late sixties and suffering from emphysema. He swung the rifle, catching a badly blistered Delta in the face. Jacob watched as the thing’s jaw exploded, teeth and blood flying through the air as Stone dropped back and delivered a swift kick to the creature’s chest. He then turned, firing a quick burst into the downed creature’s body. Jacob fell back, hitting the ground hard. He looked at the downed Delta beside him; the creature was suffering from the effects of the dioxin.
Jacob’s head spun in all directions at the raging and charging monsters. They were all affected. Red blistered skin, screaming and lashing out at everything in all directions. The stuff they put in the lake was affecting them all; somehow, they were all connected to their seed pond.
Rounds zipped and flew over their heads; tracers going by so close that Jacob could feel the heat from their pyrotechnic tips. Stone lifted his weapon and fired into another charging man—three rounds to the neck and face, dropping it onto the trail before looking back at Jacob. “Let’s go!”
Jacob grabbed the dirt, forced himself back to his feet, and scrambled after the elder warrior. He looked left and right. Through the smoke and haze, he couldn’t find the rest of his team. Behind him, he heard the heavy machine gun rattling away and Duke’s frantic barking. There was another explosion to his right. They were caught in a bloody fight to the death, surrounded on all sides. To live, they needed to break out and get to cover. The Deltas were everywhere. No longer organized, they ran chaotically through the woods all around them.
In his peripheral vision, he saw a three-man pack moving at them from the right. A Delta ran directly at Stone, firing from its hip. Jacob raised his AK47 and let loose a long one-handed burst, watching the first crazed man tumble as rounds stitched its chest. Jacob paused. Using the weapon’s collapsible stock to steady his aim, he squeezed the trigger, knocking down the two that followed.
He looked ahead just as Stone staggered forward and dropped to a knee. Jacob was quickly at his side. He hooked one arm
