Angel Fever

Page 45

 

  Sam had taken only a few steps in. As the others appeared behind us, he whirled around, eyes blazing. “Get out – evacuate!”

  Kara’s chin thrust out. “No way, Sam!”

  “Do it! Each of you, take a weapon and leave the extras – go!” When Kara didn’t move, he tore one of the rifles from her shoulder. “What part of get the hell out do you not understand?” he roared into her face. Reluctantly, Kara obeyed; she and the others turned and started running back towards the garage.

  “That goes for you, too, angel chick,” Sam said through clenched teeth. He was loading himself up with even more rifles; suddenly I could read his thoughts as clearly as my own. He’d go down fighting. There was no way he was abandoning the rest of his team.

  I stared at him in a tangle of emotions…but most of all, relief.

  “No, Sam,” I said quietly. I skidded one of my rifles across the floor into the fray, and then levelled the other against my shoulder as I reached within for my angel. “I’m mutinying, like Alex said. If you’re going down with the ship, then I am too. ”

  WHEN HE’D FIRST SENSED THE angels, Seb had gone sprinting for the holograph machines; he pulled the plug on the computerized angels and spun back towards the room. “Attack!” he shouted, adding his voice to Willow’s. “Get out, you need weapons!”

  The door nearest him was closer to his bedroom than the armoury – he flung it open and started to run. In his dorm he snatched up his switchblade from the dresser.

  It was less than a minute before he got back, but as he entered Seb stopped in his tracks, stunned. Dios mío, this was slaughter. He plunged into the battle anyway; as he ducked to grab up a pistol from a fallen AK, he shoved aside the sight of the girl’s empty gaze.

  Suddenly panic gripped him. Meghan.

  As Seb shot at an angel’s halo, he sent his own angel soaring upwards, searching for her vivid hair. One of the creatures came at him; he battled it briefly, somehow wrenched away. Oh god, where was she? All at once he glimpsed Meghan through the main doorway, running away with Kara and some others. The human Seb let out a breath as his muscles relaxed – and then he saw that Willow was still in here.

  No! Seb started battling towards her, crouching and shooting as angels came at him. His own angel shielded him, whirling away to protect the others when he could. There were vanishingly few left to protect, though those few now had weapons and were doing their best. Seb took a split second to snatch up a rifle lying on the floor; it was a relief to have the weapon’s greater control.

  Take that, you cabrón, he thought, blasting another angel into nothingness. There were so many, it hardly made a difference.

  “Sam! Look out!” shouted Willow’s voice. Seb spun and saw Sam’s burly form fall in a haze of angels, his life force in tatters.

  “No!” Willow screamed. Crying now, she stood over Sam’s body, shooting again and again; remnants of angels fell like snow as her own angel fought overhead. Seb reached the two of them somehow. He took a shot and dropped to his knees beside Sam; the Texan’s aura was faint, almost gone.

  As Sam struggled to focus, Seb gripped his hand hard. “Get her outta here,” Sam gasped, clutching his fingers. “Please, man, get her out – don’t let ’em capture her. ”

  Before Seb could reply, the light had faded from Sam’s blue eyes. His hand went limp.

  Seb didn’t let himself feel sorrow. He rose hastily. The remaining AKs had banded together at the other end of the room, firing upwards, bringing down angels. The creatures left were attacking the tiny group in a frenzy. Through twisting wings, Seb saw the AKs start to fall, one after another. In seconds, the angels would envelop him and Willow too.

  Willow started to run towards the fight. Seb grabbed her, holding her back. “No!” she cried as she struggled. “Let me go! I’ve got to help—”

  Her angel flew at him – his own angel fended her off. The human Willow was strong for her size but no match for him; Seb got her arms pinned and half carried her towards the door as she fought. “I swear I will knock you out and put you over my shoulder if I have to,” he said through gritted teeth. “Come on. It won’t bring Alex back if you die. ”

  She went rigid – and then seemed to crumple. Looking at the motionless Sam, the final moments of slaughter across the room, she nodded mutely. He gripped her free hand, and they ran for it.

  As the door closed, the corridor went startlingly silent, the only sound the drumming of their feet. Seb took the heavy spare rifle from Willow’s shoulder as they ran and slung it over his own. Both their auras were grey, shrunken.

  “They’ll search the base for us,” Willow panted. “I don’t know if they realize who we are, though – I think I got all the ones who saw my angel; they might think we’re dead already. ”

  As they passed an open storage room, Seb glimpsed a few tin cans lying on the floor: Kara and the others must have managed to grab some supplies. With luck they could still be in the garage.

  Seb sent his angel to go signal that he and Willow were coming – but hadn’t flown half a dozen wing strokes before he whirled mid-air, senses prickling.

  A small flock of the attackers were rounding a corner behind them, their ethereal wings slicing through walls as they jetted down the corridor.

  Willow had felt them too; she turned around holding her rifle, running backwards a few steps as she let loose a volley of shots. Her angel appeared and went flying off to meet them head-on.

  Seb twisted backwards as he ran, jaw tight as he fired again and again. One down. Another one. He felt his angel pluck his switchblade from his jeans pocket and then jet into the fray.

  Seb could sense the exact moment when the remaining angels decided to retreat for reinforcements. Willow knew it too; he could feel her alarm – there were still over a hundred angels in the base. Without speaking, they redoubled their efforts.

  In the air, sparks flew as his angel’s wings beat against his opponents’. A glimpse of a beautiful, furious face – a hissed oath as Seb’s angel struggled his knife towards the halo. The blade sliced through, glowing white; as the angel screamed, Seb’s angel was already hurtling away to another one. On the ground, Seb was still firing, running after the retreating angels to bring them down.

  Willow’s angel was battling another female, straining to reach its halo. A burst of shattered brilliance as she succeeded. The human Willow gasped. She stumbled and fell, her rifle clattering to the ground, and gaped upwards at where the angel had been.

  The last remaining angel was watching her with a sudden frown. Seb’s angel lunged at him. Their wings clashed; Seb’s angel lifted his switchblade – and then stopped, stunned.

  The energy he was touching felt almost like his own.

  The angel hovered as they gaped at each other. On the ground, Seb froze in recognition. He had no memories of the angel who was his father…yet had no doubt that this was him.

  Willow got up, looking shaken; Seb had the fleeting sense that it was from more than just the attack. “Seb, what—” She broke off as she realized.

  The angel shifted to his human form. Like Seb, he wore jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. Still aiming his rifle, Seb stared. He’d always thought he’d gotten his high cheekbones from his mother, but he saw now they could as easily have come from his father. The angel’s shapely mouth was also Seb’s – the strong angle of his jaw. Only hair and eyes were different: both dark brown.