The readout on her HUD showed that she was intact and able to move.
Then skeleton arms reached up from the dried mud under her and wrapped around her head. She tried to break away, but more joined the first and held her tightly.
In the next moment, a skull popped up and lunged at her throat. Thankfully the armor held for the moment.
“Wertham,” she radioed.
“Almost there,” the old Templar replied. “Hold on.”
Holding on wasn’t the problem, though. Getting held was. Leah struggledagainst her undead captors.
“Oh my God.”
Hearing Danielle’s exclamation, Simon forced himself to his feet. Despite themeds in his system, he was starting to fade quickly. The artificial vigor could last only so long.
He glanced at the sky where the two demons fought, thinking that was what had caused Danielle’s consternation. Then he noticed the hills around them werefilled with undead corpses that were converging on the moat. Even more of them were crawling up from the moat bed.
They were surrounded.
Then Simon heard Leah call for Wertham and wondered where the old Templar might be. He’d sounded close enough.
“Nathan,” Simon said when he got a lock on the Templar down in the moat.Other Templar, all of them Booth’s men, fought against the undead that came upfrom the moat.
“I’m here, Simon,” Nathan replied. “Bloody hell. These things areeverywhere.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Danielle said. “I think Anne Boleyn andWilliam Hastings just climbed out of their graves this morning to kick your arse.”
“They’ll have to stand in line.” Nathan swung his sword and shattered twoskeletons directly in his face. But there were plenty more where those came from.
“Wertham,” Leah called again.
Simon scanned the moat and found a cluster of skeletons that looked like they were fighting themselves. Then every now and again he got a glimpse of Leah’sarmor. Once he saw her in motion, he saw all of her because the camouflage function couldn’t keep up with all her movements.
“We’re here,” Wertham declared.
Suddenly Simon was aware of jet turbines overhead. When he looked up, he saw a sleek attack helicopter complete with nose turret guns and door gunners. A grin pulled at Simon’s face when he realized Wertham must have raided one of theabandoned military air bases to get the helicopter.
The gunners aboard the aircraft opened fire at once. They connected their online systems with the Templar armor and picked discriminate targets in rapid-fire sequence. The HARP and Greek Fire rounds slammed into the undead in the moat and turned them into calcium confetti.
Evidently Wertham had upgraded the weapons systems aboard the helicopter.
Turning his attention back to the demons battling in mid-air, Simon lifted his Spike Bolter and fired continuously into both of them. In seconds both demons were bleeding profusely.
“Wertham,” Simon called, as he continued firing.
“Simon,” Wertham replied jubilantly. “Good to know you’re still among theliving.”
“Celebrate later,” Simon said. “Kill demons now. See the two in the air?”
“Yes.”
“Take them out.” Simon looked around and spotted Professor Macomber coweringon the ground several feet back. Evidently he’d made quite a bit of distancecrawling when no one was watching.
“Did you see all the undead making their way toward you?” Wertham asked.
“Yes.”
“You need to evacuate.”
“I know. See if you can take out those demons.” Simon ran back to Macomber.The drain on Simon’s system was getting worse. Despite the exoskeleton, he felthimself getting rubber-legged.
He caught up to the professor and guarded him with his body.
“Stay with me, Professor,” Simon said. “We’ll have you out of here in just amoment.”
“What about Booth and his men?” Danielle asked.
“I’d leave them to rot, mate,” Nathan replied.
“I can’t,” Simon said. “Wertham, is there room?”
“We have room.”
The helicopter came around and the nose turret belched a massive Greek Fire shell at the demons. It missed Merihim, though, and got the other one full-on.
The stricken demon dropped to the ground down in the moat and didn’t moveagain.
“Nooooooo!” Merihim screamed in fury. He flapped his wings and sped away. Twomore rounds exploded in the air in his wake and rained down fire.
The helicopter juked around and tried to bring the fleeing demon into target acquisition again. Before it had a chance, four flying demons swung to the attack.
“Incoming!” Nathan yelled. “You’ve got four bogeys on your tail!”
“We’ve got them,” Wertham replied.
The specially made helicopter spun around and brought all guns to bear. Two of the demons blew apart, but the other two slammed against the reinforced nose and hung there by their feet. They hammered their fists against the nose until the surface cracked under their assault.
One of the Templar eased out on the skids with a Blaze Pistol. Once he could reach around the nose, he squeezed the trigger and set both demons afire. They jumped ship and flew away, but there were already more circling the sky.
“If we’re going to get out of here, now would be the time,” Wertham said.“We’re going to be drawing demons from all across London. This thing should beable to out-fly most of them, but if it breaks and we have to walk back, none of us are going to care for that.”
“Bring it down,” Simon ordered. “I’ve got Professor Macomber with me. I wanthim protected.”
“Affirmative.”
Helplessly, full of dread, Warren watched as Merihim wheeled back toward him.
“You’ve got to get out of here,” the voice in the back of his head said.
Warren tried, but he couldn’t get his feet under him. “Naomi.”
“I’m trying, Warren,” she said. “I need you to help me.
Struggling, Warren concentrated but couldn’t make the connection. ThenMerihim landed in front of him hard enough to jar the rooftop.
You failed me, the demon seethed. I didn’t kill Fulaghar. The Templardid. His death doesn’t mean anything.
“His position still opens up, doesn’t it?” Warren asked, trying to back awayfrom the demon. “That’s all you were after.”
No. It doesn’t. But yours is going to. Merihim gestured and another riftopened in the air.
A female Cabalist decked out in horns and a tail and covered in tattoos stepped onto the rooftop. She
