The Monster Hunters

It took my brain a second to process the request. There were windows, and they slid open, but like everything at the compound, they were barred. I had lived in the barracks while I had undergone my Newbie training. Yeah, there was an entrance on both sides, and one in the middle to the rec room. I found myself nodding.

  “Flank them,” Franks ordered.

  I didn’t know at what point in time he had become in charge, but I had never actually fought human beings to the death before, so it seemed like a reasonable request. I moved quickly down the wall, but just as I did so, a massive fireball rose from the main building, highlighting strange, disjointed shadows scaling the walls. The undead were here. We were under siege.

  The barracks was a very basic building. It was a prefab, shaped like a big H, with a row of sleeping quarters down both sides along a hallway, showers on the end, and the recreation room in the center. I paused outside the side door.

  This was nuts. I shouldn’t have been scared. I’d risked my life dozens of times now, but facing people was different. Well, they had at least one werewolf, so I guess I couldn’t assume the rest of the cultists were human either. I had killed a man but I didn’t really know if the reborn Machado counted. I checked my gun and took a deep breath. Screw it. Monster, human, whatever, put a bullet in the right place, and they all go down the same. People are just softer. The knob was cool under my hand as I pulled the door open.

  Nothing moved in the hallway.

  I moved slowly, setting each boot down carefully so as not to make too much noise. The doors to the Newbies’ rooms were all open, everyone having cleaned out their stuff in preparation for getting the heck out of here. Luggage was stacked by each door. The walls had once been boring beige, but just about every inch had been covered by tacked-up posters, pictures, notes, Sharpie autographs, or even graffiti from years of new Hunters.

  There was a noise—a crash as something fell over. There was movement in the room to the side. I raised my compact STI and covered the doorway.

  A man stepped out, dressed entirely in black, wearing a balaclava and a pair of night-vision goggles pushed up on his forehead. He had the butt of an MP5 against his shoulder, muzzle down, as he swept into the hallway. They were clearing the building, probably getting ready to hole up and defend this place until the Condition secured the compound.

  His eyes widened as he saw me five feet away, but it was too late to matter. The bullet passed cleanly through the cultist’s face and he dropped in a spray of blood droplets.

  “Contact!” someone screamed from the rec room. I leapt over the cultist’s body and into the room he had just exited. Someone took the opportunity to fill the hallway with lead, emptying a magazine in a rapid buzz. Projectiles flew through the walls as I flung myself facedown on the carpet. I rolled over and covered the doorway.

  The gunfire stopped. I got to my knees and took the corner. Another black-clad cultist was crouched just inside the rec room. He was fumbling, trying to shove a magazine into his subgun. He was mostly hidden, but prefab walls are thin. Since I couldn’t see his head and he was probably wearing armor anyway, I aimed low, and cranked off four rounds through the wall.

  He bellowed in surprise and fell out of sight. I got up and moved to the back of the room. Sure enough, another cultist responded, tearing the space that I had been inhabiting into splinters. The bars of the window collided with my back. Terrible noises reverberated through the glass, audible even over the gunfire and the angry shouting of the injured cultist. An epic battle was being waged outside.

  It was with some shock that I realized that this was my old room. Right there on the wall was my own autograph. ozp: combat accountant. I had been sitting on that bed right there when Trip had talked me out of giving up and quitting after I’d injured Green in training. My autograph disappeared as a bullet plowed through it. I hit the deck. These were high-powered rifle rounds, and they were zipping right through the walls like they were made of paper.

  “Hold your fire!”

  “I’ll hold mine if you hold yours!” I shouted back.

  It was a woman’s voice, coming from the rec room. “I know that smell. We’re supposed to take that one alive.”

  Great, another werewolf. “No, wrong guess,” I replied as I crawled across the floor of the tiny room. There had been a mirror on the wall. I was lying in broken glass. Hands trembling, I picked up a giant shard and angled it so I could see down the hallway. It was clear.

  “Yes, it is Pitt. The Master retrieved some of your clothing when you escaped from him in Mexico. I know your scent well, Hunter.”

  “How many werewolves does your boss have anyway?” There was someone moving just inside the rec room, but I didn’t think it was the speaker.

  It took her a moment to respond to me. She was busy whispering orders to the remaining cultists. Where was Franks? I really could use a hand right now. But he was probably passed out from blood loss because I’d shot him in the kidney. The woman shouted back at me. “Just me and my mate, and since he’s not rejoined us, I can only assume he’s dead.”

  “Yep, I murdered the shit out of him.”

  She was quiet for a long time. When she spoke again, her voice was filled with fury. “Then that was a mistake. Kill him.”

  One of the other cultists piped in. “But the master said—”

  “I said kill him!” the werewolf shrieked.

  The reflection in the broken mirror revealed the cultist poking his head around the corner, barrel of a rifle just below. I threw myself into the hallway, front sight snapping into place instantaneously. I stroked the perfectly polished trigger to the rear, launching a 230-grain silver bullet, striking him in the throat. He didn’t go down, so I shot him again, and again. He flopped backward in a heap, combat boots kicking stupidly into the air. I scrambled back into my old room before somebody else could jump out to shoot me.

  There was more shooting from the rec room. Franks must be making his move. I got ready to charge. If I could hit the hall while they were distracted, I could pop the last few and get our ward back. I’d lost count, but I had a few shots left. Then I realized I was covered in blood, and with a panic began to look for holes. Wait. It’s not mine. . . . Awesome. I moved for the hall.

  But the werewolf had come to me.

  We almost collided. She was a short woman, appearing physically young, but with unnatural silver hair and eyes that were glowing an angry gold. I jerked my gun up, but her hand slammed into my forearm, blocking the shot. It was like getting hit with a pipe. The STI dropped from tingling fingertips. She moved insanely fast even in human form. A punch landed against my ribs, slamming hot pain through my entire body. She wrapped petite hands around my throat and crashed me into one side of the hallway, smashing me through boards and drywall, only to jerk me out and sling me around into the other wall. She tossed me headfirst toward the rec room. “He was a good man!” she screamed in my ear. “A good man!”

  I came off the floor. I was pissed. “Now he’s a dead man, bitch.” I slugged her in the face, my massive fist curling tight at the last possible instant. It was the kind of hit that I had used to knock gigantic brutes into unconsciousness. Her head snapped around, silver hair flying.

  My hand stung from the impact. But she didn’t go down. When she looked back, silver hair parted, revealing a mouth that was now full of impossible incisors. She snarled as she swiped her open hand at me. Fire lanced across my chest as her lengthening fingernails tore through my skin. I leapt back, more of the wild swings tearing at me. I was too slow, and she raked lines of blood down my left cheek.

  Rage washed over me then and it was on. I caught her by the wrist and pulled her forward. I jerked my knee up and hit her in the stomach. She slashed me again in the side, but fury cleansed the pain. With her bent over, I grabbed the back of her head and shoved down as I brought my knee into her face. Some of those sharp teeth shattered as I hit her again. I was on her, launching a flurry of attacks, meaty blows hammering into her like I was
beating a hundred-pound punching bag. She flailed back and I straight-kicked her in the chest. Supernatural powers aside, I was three times her size and weight, and physics beats magic. The werewolf flew down the hall.

  But she landed on her hands and knees, her head flying right back up. “Is that the best you got?” she snarled with an inhuman voice as bones crackled and twisted. She ripped open her tac vest with claws that were now long enough to eviscerate. Silver hair was growing from her skin. She screamed as her teeth extended past her tearing lips.

  “Yeah, it was.” I spun and ran for the rec room. I didn’t know where my gun was and I could only pray that the cultists I had shot had silver bullets loaded, too. The werewolf shrieked and jerked as she continued her transformation.

  I hadn’t really thought about what to do with the remaining cultists though. . . .

  Two were covering the other entrance, shooting at something that I assumed was Franks. One of the men I had hit was lying flat on his back, dead. The other one was leaning against the pool table, trying to stop the bleeding from his legs, and judging from the puddle, he was losing badly. None of them saw me enter.

  The dead one had an AK-47 next to him. Even if it wasn’t loaded with silver, 7.62x39 ought to tear some serious holes in a werewolf. I reached down—

  But the werewolf intercepted me first. My feet flew out from under me as she collided with the backs of my knees. I landed on my back. The injured cultist cried out when he saw her, still more human than beast, but distorting rapidly. Distracted by the noise and driven into a frenzy, she leapt on her associate and lit into him with unbelievable ferocity. Blood and entrails sprayed across the pool table. The two others guarding the door turned to see what was going on, and lurched upright in fear.

  “Claudia, no!” cried one of them. This was the kind of fury that Earl had warned me about. Her face had extended into bloody jaws. Golden predator eyes locked on them and lurched forward.

  Both of the cultists jerked as projectiles ripped into them through the doorway. Franks had used the lull to his advantage. The werewolf leapt on top of the nearest and sunk her teeth into his throat, taking them both down in a jumble of arterial spray. They crashed into the 56” flat-screen and tore it from the wall.

  I slipped in the warm blood, trying to find traction to rise. The werewolf looked up from her victim, the part of her mind capable of rational thought surely remembering that I was the one who had killed her boyfriend. I slid toward the pool table, latched onto a handful of felt and pulled myself up. Grabbing one of the solid balls off the table, I cocked my arm back and launched it at her. It hit her in the snout. She yelped, and I immediately chucked another pool ball. This time I missed.

  She slunk forward. I grabbed the only other weapon that was in reach, a pool cue. It looked so skinny and feeble, but it beat harsh language. I raised it overhead and brought it down with a bellow. It snapped in half.

  The werewolf was not amused. She stood upright, and now with her warping bones, she was my height, but gangly and misshapen. I held out the broken haft, ready to stab. Frothy bubbles blew from her nostrils as she backed me into the corner. Her silver mane was streaked with red. She closed in, instinct demanding to rip me to bits.

  “Bad werewolf,” Franks said from the entrance. “Sit.”

  The werewolf swung her head to assess the interloper. I slammed the jagged end of the pool cue into her throat. It was like a blood explosion. She howled in sudden agony, claws flying to the wound. Franks raised his Glock and calmly put a single round of silver 10mm through her brain, ending the scream forever. She collapsed.

  “Stay. . . .” Franks walked up, assessed the body, then fired two more rounds into the corpse, just to be sure. “Good werewolf.”

  I was out of breath and covered in dripping blood. “Was that your idea of a joke?” He cocked his head to the side, inscrutable as ever. “Never mind. What took you so long?”

  Grant answered that. He came running into the room, smoking Uzi in hand. “Help me barricade the door!”

  “From what?” I asked.

  Something gigantic roared outside. “That! Hurry!”

  Franks got on one end of the pool table that had to weigh a ton, lifted it with a grunt and started dragging it across the floor. I threw my shoulder into the other side and shoved. Muscles straining, we got it next to the door, moved to one side, heaved, and tipped it over with a crash. We shoved it against the entrance.

  The table shook as the giant beast collided with the doorway. The impact shook me to the bone. “What is that?” I shouted.

  “I think it’s a zombie bear,” Grant said as he reloaded the Uzi, putting his shoulder against the table to help hold it.

  Franks braced himself against the table. “Armored zombie bear,” he corrected.

  “I tried to shoot it in the brain, but it’s got a helmet or something,” Grant shouted. The creature crashed into the table again, sliding all three of us back a few inches. “A helmet! Who puts buckets on zombies’ heads? That’s not fair! Where’s the ward?”

  The werewolf had been the leader. I hurried from the table, slipping on the bloody tile. The silver-haired woman was facedown. Her clothing was hanging in tatters. I had no idea what the stone looked like, but I assumed it was substantial. There was a black satchel on the floor. I ripped it open and my hands landed on something hard and cold.

  It looked like a perfect granite sphere, about the size of a Magic 8 Ball. I rolled it over in my hands and discovered that there was a row of archaic letters carved into it. It looked like gibberish.

  “Make it go!” Grant shouted. The zombie bear was crashing rhythmically into the table. My companions were sliding back against the relentless hammering.

  “Turn it on,” Franks ordered. A massive limb erupted through the center of the table. It was hairless, pink exposed muscle, with steel spikes bolted onto the end of the paw in lieu of regular claws. The paw swung about, searching, then jerked back out when it didn’t catch us. Franks poked the muzzle of his Glock through the hole and cranked off half a dozen rounds. “Turn it on now!”

  I touched the letters. Somehow, they turned like a combination lock. The letters were old-fashioned and spelled nothing. I randomly swiped my fingers across them, and they spun, symbols magically materializing on the smooth stone, spelling more nonsense. “I don’t know how!” Earl had said that it needed to be tuned for a location. The cultists must have moved the combination when they picked it up.

  The zombie bear had a running start this time. This time the table blew right in half. Franks and Grant were sent sprawling. I dove for the AK-47.

  The beast was gigantic, big as a friggin’ cow, hairless and pink, corded muscles bulging, with bands of steel and spikes welded together across its body. It was already riddled with puckered bullet holes, but showed no indication that it even knew. The head was an armored monstrosity, battleship plates bolted together into an armored box, then laced in razor wire and scalpel blades.

  It was blind.

  Now inside, it shuffled forward, clumsy limbs tearing rusty holes in everything, a snorting noise echoing from inside the helmet as it smelled us. It couldn’t bite, but we were sure to be crushed or cut to ribbons as it stupidly tried. I hoisted the AK, jerked it to my shoulder, and fired at the helmet. The gun was set on full-auto, and the 30-caliber bullets bounced off in sparks and fragments. The best way to take out zombies was to destroy the brain, and that didn’t look like an option here, not to mention it was covered in blades and weighed a thousand pounds. Catching my scent, it lumbered at me.

  Franks intercepted the bear. He had his fighting knife in one hand and a grenade in the other. He dodged under the swinging blades, cut a long gash between the monster’s ribs, then slammed his fist through the gap, sinking clear up to his shoulder in organs. It dragged him along toward me. “Back,” Franks ordered, jerking his gore-stained arm out of the hole with a disgusting squelching noise and falling away from the deadly legs. The grenade was gone.
The zombie bear’s roar reverberated inside the helmet. I sprinted down the hallway.

  The explosion was muffled inside the bear carcass. When I opened my eyes, a red cloud filled the recreation room. It was literally raining meat. Bits and pieces fell from the ceiling with wet thumps.

  We certainly wouldn’t be using the rec room anytime soon. The armored zombie bear had been blown apart. The head and shoulders were filling the bullet-riddled doorway. The head was still moaning, but it didn’t have any limbs to drive it. I kicked the box.

  Franks stepped out of the blood cloud. He was entirely coated in a viscous red slime. He was terrifying to look at, but I’m sure I didn’t look much better. “Jefferson, get weapons. Pitt, ward.”

  I tossed him the ball. He caught it with one hand. The noise from the compound indicated that there were more of these things out there, and MHI was responding with explosives, lots of explosives. Franks scowled as he studied the letters. Apparently he was as stumped as I was.

  “Let’s get to a more defensible position while we figure that thing out,” I suggested, jerking my head back the way I had come.

  Franks put the ward stone to his ear and shook it. “I hate puzzles.”

  Chapter 16

  The most defensible rooms in the barracks were the bathrooms. There was only one entrance and no windows. If the cultists had grabbed this instead of the rec room, we wouldn’t have been able to dislodge them. We took the women’s instead of the men’s because it was on the side away from the main building, where the undead seemed to be focusing their attention.

  Franks held the ward stone in his big hands and studied it with one black eye and one blue eye, unblinking. The letters were not cooperating. Grant and I covered the doorway. Grant had picked up another Uzi. I had kept the AK-47 and stuffed magazines into every pocket until the weight threatened to pull down my cargo pants. I had found my pistol in the hall and returned it to its holster, but it only had a couple of shots left.