important, Casey. That’s what his wife would say . Let’s pick one for your daughter already ) ascended, fast. Faster than he could have imagined.
He caught a glimpse of those crimson eyes and long-dead pupils, locking on to their next prey.
#
The next moments were a literal blur of clouds and sea, wings and eyes. Teeth and machine gun fire and maneuvers, the likes of which Remington had never attempted. His stomach was in knots and his lungs felt depleted, head throbbing with the pressure, but somehow he had managed to avoid the creature’s first swiping attack.
Ascending until the pterodactyl tired, the stunt was basic Escape Maneuvers 101, but never in any training simulation could he have imagined this scenario.
“Command, what the hell is this thing?” Where’s the Intel? Certainly the Brass had more information than they were sharing, and given what he had just witnessed, he understood the reluctance at revealing too much. Probably determined it would be easier to declare a general quarantine and blindly order an attack on disobeying ships than it was to sound bat shit crazy and go all SyFy Channel on them, spouting on about prehistoric monsters invading U.S. soil.
Leveling off at 40,000 feet, Remington looked back down, seeing nothing but the blue-gray slate of sea far below. On his radar, the blip was a fast-moving dot heading toward home base, joining up with the other dot that was already engaging the carrier.
“Command?” Why aren’t they answering? “Shoot that bird down! It’s carrying a payload of…”
Jesus, what in God’s name was it carrying? Infected humans? Remington swallowed hard as he straightened out the nose, armed his two AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles and accelerated. “Command?”
“ Alabama to Remington!” The voice was shaky, uncertain. “New orders.”
“What? Sir, I repeat, two birds inbound to your coordinates, one carrying a payload—”
“We are on it, defenses intact and activated.”
Launch some other planes then, damnit! He thought. Take them out before…
“Be advised, another plane is inbound.”
“What?” He glanced over his shoulder—down, all around. Eyeballed his radar, then saw the electronic representation emerge, coming from the southwest.
“A Cessna, two Americans from Grenada demanding we either let them pass or let them land . You have to turn them back, escort them to… holy shit, get— ”
The communication cut out.
In defiance of orders, Remington accelerated, closing on the Alabama , angling down and pulling up, coming in at a level approach until he could see something that chilled him to the bone.
A battle raged on deck. Marines opened fire on a ragged group of humans—humans that seemed to be moving way too damned fast, and somehow (did they have body armor?) they weren’t even slowed by the bullets. He got a glimpse of a dozen marines swarmed and…shredded, just literally shredded en masse before his eyes, before they could react. Then he was past, zeroing in on the pterodactyls.
The one that had been chasing him was way ahead, near the bow of the carrier. It swooped down in what had to be a second attack upon the control tower, returning to finish the job. It landed on a broken edge, perching there as it shoved its entire beak inside, locked hold of something and pulled back in an explosion of sparks and something else—gore… As half of a marine’s body flopped up into the air then down into its gullet.
Remington swore, lined up the creature in his sights, then riddled its body with machine gun rounds. Massive 20mm Gatling gun bullets tore through the thing’s hide, shattered its spine and destroyed its wings, sending it rolling and screeching off its perch onto the deck where it flopped about, damaging three other waiting F/A-18s.
Feeling the first faint tinge of satisfaction, he banked around the deck, turning sharply for another pass to take a run at the human invaders—when he realized he forgot
He caught a glimpse of those crimson eyes and long-dead pupils, locking on to their next prey.
#
The next moments were a literal blur of clouds and sea, wings and eyes. Teeth and machine gun fire and maneuvers, the likes of which Remington had never attempted. His stomach was in knots and his lungs felt depleted, head throbbing with the pressure, but somehow he had managed to avoid the creature’s first swiping attack.
Ascending until the pterodactyl tired, the stunt was basic Escape Maneuvers 101, but never in any training simulation could he have imagined this scenario.
“Command, what the hell is this thing?” Where’s the Intel? Certainly the Brass had more information than they were sharing, and given what he had just witnessed, he understood the reluctance at revealing too much. Probably determined it would be easier to declare a general quarantine and blindly order an attack on disobeying ships than it was to sound bat shit crazy and go all SyFy Channel on them, spouting on about prehistoric monsters invading U.S. soil.
Leveling off at 40,000 feet, Remington looked back down, seeing nothing but the blue-gray slate of sea far below. On his radar, the blip was a fast-moving dot heading toward home base, joining up with the other dot that was already engaging the carrier.
“Command?” Why aren’t they answering? “Shoot that bird down! It’s carrying a payload of…”
Jesus, what in God’s name was it carrying? Infected humans? Remington swallowed hard as he straightened out the nose, armed his two AIM-9 Sidewinder heat-seeking missiles and accelerated. “Command?”
“ Alabama to Remington!” The voice was shaky, uncertain. “New orders.”
“What? Sir, I repeat, two birds inbound to your coordinates, one carrying a payload—”
“We are on it, defenses intact and activated.”
Launch some other planes then, damnit! He thought. Take them out before…
“Be advised, another plane is inbound.”
“What?” He glanced over his shoulder—down, all around. Eyeballed his radar, then saw the electronic representation emerge, coming from the southwest.
“A Cessna, two Americans from Grenada demanding we either let them pass or let them land . You have to turn them back, escort them to… holy shit, get— ”
The communication cut out.
In defiance of orders, Remington accelerated, closing on the Alabama , angling down and pulling up, coming in at a level approach until he could see something that chilled him to the bone.
A battle raged on deck. Marines opened fire on a ragged group of humans—humans that seemed to be moving way too damned fast, and somehow (did they have body armor?) they weren’t even slowed by the bullets. He got a glimpse of a dozen marines swarmed and…shredded, just literally shredded en masse before his eyes, before they could react. Then he was past, zeroing in on the pterodactyls.
The one that had been chasing him was way ahead, near the bow of the carrier. It swooped down in what had to be a second attack upon the control tower, returning to finish the job. It landed on a broken edge, perching there as it shoved its entire beak inside, locked hold of something and pulled back in an explosion of sparks and something else—gore… As half of a marine’s body flopped up into the air then down into its gullet.
Remington swore, lined up the creature in his sights, then riddled its body with machine gun rounds. Massive 20mm Gatling gun bullets tore through the thing’s hide, shattered its spine and destroyed its wings, sending it rolling and screeching off its perch onto the deck where it flopped about, damaging three other waiting F/A-18s.
Feeling the first faint tinge of satisfaction, he banked around the deck, turning sharply for another pass to take a run at the human invaders—when he realized he forgot
Similar Books
