Mega 3: When Giants Collide (Mega Series) (24 page)

“How big are those ventilation shafts?” Bokeem asked. “Can a person fit in them?”

Boris stopped typing and looked up at Bokeem.

“Oh, those shafts could hold something much larger than a person,” Boris said, “much, much larger.”

Bokeem popped the magazine out of the M4 he held and checked to make sure it was full. “Tank?”

“Hold on,” Tank Top said, “we’re here. I need to watch Ballantine’s ass closely.”

“I don’t think we’re alone,” Bokeem said, “pretty sure we have company up in the ventila-”

He didn’t finish as the air vent was kicked from the ceiling and came flying at him. He dove out of the way and barely got clear as the heavy vent slammed into the floor right where he had stood. Boris screeched and fell sideways out of his chair, the vent having just missed him by an inch.

There was a roar from above and Bokeem looked up in time to see a mass of brown fur falling at him.

“Holy fuck!” Bokeem shouted. “What the fuck is that?”

***

“Here it is!” Ingrid yelled. “Move, move, move!”

Mike, Lucy, Darby and Shane didn’t have to be told twice as they swam as fast as they could back to the B3. They wanted to be on the safe sides of the pineapples before Ingrid did her thing.

Thorne, still by the big, red button, looked out at the open ocean and had to use all of his willpower not to gasp and swallow a fuck ton of seawater.

The shark was bigger than he could imagine. Even with the glimpses he had had of it before, he was still shocked by what he saw racing straight at the B3. The creature defied imagination. Hundreds of tons of killing power all wrapped up inside a sharkskin suit.

“Ingrid,” Thorne said, “now.”

The shark swam at the ship, its tail whipping left and right, propelling it forward at a blinding speed.

“Ingrid!” Thorne shouted. “Now!”

There was no answer from the woman.

“Darren? What’s happening?” Thorne asked.

There was still no answer.

“Fuck!” Thorne roared, as the shark was only about 100 yards from the B3. “FUCK!”

He slammed his hand against the big, red button and the gate slid away.

“Hey, whale!” Thorne yelled even though he knew the creature couldn’t hear him. “Time to get to work!”

***

“What the fuck is going on?” Darren shouted as all instruments went dead on the bridge. “Did we just lose power?”

“We just lost power!” Ingrid shouted as she ran onto the bridge. “Someone killed the engines! There must be another one of the mercenaries on board!”

“Son of a bitch,” Darren growled as he pulled his 9mm from his hip. “Gun? You up for a fight?”

“Who’ll watch things up here?” Gunnar asked as he looked over at the passed out form of Lake slumped against a control console.

“I will,” Ingrid said, waving her tablet at them. “I can activate the pineapples from here as soon as you get the power back up.”

“Good,” Darren said. “Come on, Gun.”

He raced from the bridge with Gunnar right behind him. They sprinted through passageways, down stairs, through more passageways then came to a skidding halt.

“Max? What the fuck are you doing?” Gunnar asked as Max came limping out of the infirmary with a crutch under one arm and his sniper rifle in the other. “You need to be resting or you’ll open those sutures and risk bleeding to death!”

Max waved his rifle up at the emergency lights that glowed faintly in the passageway.

“Lights went out,” he said, “and the backups don’t look so hot.”

Darren and Gunnar both studied the emergency lights spaced throughout the passageway.

“The engines are out and now the backup power is draining,” Darren said, “what the fuck is the going on?”

“Let’s find out,” Max smiled.

“No,” Gunnar said, “you go lie the fuck dow
n
no
w
. We’ll go check on it.” Max started to argue, but Gunnar jabbed him in the chest. “No arguing, Maxwell Reynolds. You are not coming with us. Do you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you,” Max said, “I’m not coming with you.”

“That’s right,” Gunnar said, “let us handle the engines. You go lie down. Now!”

“Yes, Doctor,” Max said, “I’ll go lie down.”

“Good,” Gunnar said.

“Come on,” Darren said, “we’re wasting time.”

They took off down the passageway and neither of them bothered to look back at Max as they hit the stairs and rushed down to the next deck.

“You know he’s not going to lie down, right?” Darren said.

“Yeah, I know,” Gunnar replied. “Fucking Reynolds.”

***

The creature came at him so fast that he barely had time to get the carbine up to block the swipe from the beast’s claw.

“Mother fucker!” Bokeem screamed, as he lay flat on his back and stared up at the huge, white canines that gleamed inside the black mouth that loomed over him. “What the fuck are you?”

The beast snarled and tried to snap at Bokeem’s face, but the man was able to get a knee up under it and shove with all his strength, sending the creature flying up over his head. Bokeem rolled over and tried to take aim with his M4, but the weapon was kicked from his hands and he had to scramble away to keep his face from being kicked from his head.

He crouched by the far wall, his eyes locked onto the creature as it stood up. It was close to nine feet tall, covered in brown fur, and looked very familiar.

“You were in the Menagerie,” Bokeem said. “How the fuck did you get out?”

Shots rang out and Bokeem flattened himself against the floor as Lug ran towards the creature, his carbine barking fire. Not a single bullet hit the creature and for a split second, Bokeem wondered how the fuck he’d ever thought hiring Lug was a good idea.

“Die, you fucking-” Lug shouted then was cut off as the creature reached out and gripped him by the neck.

“Oh, fuck,” Bokeem said as he watched Lug’s face turn purple.

Then the man’s head popped right off as the creature squeezed all the way through his neck.

“Holy fuck! Doctor!” Bokeem yelled as he got to his feet and then dove for his carbine. “Doctor! How do I stop this thing?”

The M4 was in his grasp then it wasn’t as a hairy foot that must have been a size twenty slammed down on his hand. Bokeem screamed as every bone in his left hand was pulverized into dust and sharp shards that ripped up through his flesh.

“Stop him?” Boris asked as he got back in his seat at the terminal. He just sat there smiling down at the wounded merc. “You don’t stop him. Boy, have I learned that over the years. When Ronald gets a goal in his head, he tends to be single minded until he moves on to the next goal. Right, Ronald?”

“Goal?” Bokeem screamed. “What are you talking about?”

The creature attached to the hairy foot crouched low and put its face right in Bokeem’s.

“I’m a goal oriented being,” the creature said. “I like to have my life planned out, step by step.”

Bokeem was yanked to his feet as the creature grabbed him under the shoulders and lifted him up as if he was made of air. There was the faint smell of monkey mixed with something else.

“Are you wearing cologne?” Bokeem asked the creature then immediately shook his head and closed his eyes. “You’ve lost it, man. You think you’re talking with a giant ape. You must have been hurt earlier and now you’re hallucinating.”

“While hallucinations can be associated with head trauma at times, they are not as common as intense headaches and dizziness,” the creature said. “Are you experiencing any intense headaches or dizziness?”

Bokeem opened his eyes to the inquisitive gaze of the creature.

“I, uh, no,” was all Bokeem could say.

“Oh,” the creature responded, “then let me help you with that.”

Bokeem suddenly found himself weightless as he flew through the air. Then his weight came rushing back as he slammed into the wall and crumpled to the floor. He tried to stand and scramble away, but he collapsed back to the floor when he put his weight on his crushed hand.

“You have hurt and scared my friend and colleague,” the creature said. “I do not take kindly to intruders on my island and I certainly don’t take kindly to violence. I am, by my nature, not a violent being.”

The creature loomed over Bokeem.

“Please,” Bokeem begged as he looked up at the creature, “please, I give up.”

The creature bent down and took one of Bokeem’s wrists in each hand then slowly stretched out the merc’s arms to the side.

“Give up?” the creature asked. “I don’t remember asking for, nor granting you the opportunity to surrender. You see, this is the problem with humans, you never see anything through. You are a species that gets easily distracted. Lord knows where our research would be if I left everything up to Boris there. That man cries squirrel more than a golden retriever.”

“Well, that’s hardly fair, Ronald,” Boris pouted. “I just like to explore the tangents that our discoveries bring.”

“Tangents,” the creature laughed. “If that’s what you want to call them.”

Bokeem felt the tension in his shoulders and knew what was to come. He’d been a soldier of fortune for too long not to know what the creature intended to do.

“Listen to me, please,” Bokeem said, “you can’t kill me. A signal has been sent and if I don’t activate my own corresponding signal, then this whole island will be swarmed down on by more men with guns, than you can even think of killing. You need me.”

“Do you need your arms to activate the signal?” the creature asked.

“Yes!” Bokeem cried. “Yes, I do!”

“You are lying to me,” the creature sighed. “Another human trait I could go the rest of my life without dealing with.”

He pulled hard and Bokeem’s arms tore from their sockets. Blood spurted left and right as the creature stepped back and admired his work.

“I enjoyed doing that,” the creature said. “See? That’s the truth. I don’t lie and I don’t distract easily. These are traits of my species.”

Bokeem whimpered as his life quickly drained from him. He stared at the creature then whispered.

“What was that?” the creature asked as he bent down and put his ear to Bokeem’s mouth.

“I wasn’t lying about the signal,” Bokeem said with his last breath. “You are all dead.”

Then the life left his eyes and the creature stood up.

“Do you think we are in danger?” Boris asked. “More danger than we’re already in?”

“Apparently so,” the creature named Ronald replied, then looked up at the open ventilation shaft in the ceiling. Dr. Morganton stared down into the room, her eyes wide with shock and terror. “Oh, Doctor, sorry. I forgot you were up there.”

She didn’t respond, just kept staring. Ronald looked down at the arms he held in each hand. He let them fall to the floor.

“Oops,” Ronald laughed, “forgot I was holding those. Do you remember the shaft ten meters back that we had to climb down?”

Dr. Morganton just kept staring.

“Doctor? Hello? Dr. Morganton?” Ronald asked. He snapped his enormous fingers. “Doctor!”

“Oh…,” was all Dr. Morganton said.

“The shaft,” Ronald said slowly like he was talking to a small child. “Go back to the shaft and wait there. I’ll be right up and help you get down.”

“Oh,” Dr. Morganton said.

“I believe she’s in shock, Ronald,” Boris said. “Hardly unexpected.”

“True,” Ronald nodded as he turned his attention back to Bokeem, “but it is annoying. Yet another weakness of your species. How homo sapiens ever became the dominate hominid on this planet I will never figure out.”

“Our procreation rate,” Boris said. “We’re worse than bunnies.”

“Yes, well, that is true,” Ronald sighed, “and to think what you could accomplish if you’d get that sex drive under control.”

Boris just shrugged.

Kinsey stirred and Ronald walked over and cut through her bonds with a flick of a claw.

“Be careful when she comes to,” Ronald said as he went to the stairs. “She’s a trained killer and might go after you.”

“Where are you going?” Boris asked.

“I have to help Dr. Morganton then go find Ballantine,” Ronald said. “There’s no way he can carry the backup drives all on his own.”

“Those men are with him,” Boris said.

“Not for long,” Ronald smiled. “See you in a few minutes, friend.”

***

The shark’s mouth opened wide and it was about to chomp into the B3’s hull when it felt excruciating pain in its tail. Its jaws clamped closed and it whipped its head about to find the source of the discomfort. For a brief second, it was honestly confused. Its mind had no way to comprehend the animal that had a hold of its tail.

Its killer nature took over and it no longer cared about comprehending the thing. Instead, it only wanted to destroy what it believed to be its new and greatest enemy.