Slayers (Jake Hawkins Book 1) (33 page)

Archfiend twisted around and lashed out, as Jake watched on, horrified. Time seemed to slow down.

His claws slashed Sam
’
s throat to pieces. They ran five straight lines across his skin. Blood fountained from Sam
’
s neck. An artery had been severed. He dropped to his knees beside Link and keeled over onto the clearing floor, with blood pulsing from his wounds.

Sam!

Jake moved faster than he ever had before. He got his feet underneath himself in one swift motion and catapulted through the air toward Archfiend with a primal roar. His vision was clouded with red. He had never been this angry in his life. Every fibre of his being was intent on killing Archfiend.

Archfiend saw him coming. He turned to run away. Jake picked up speed, but suddenly Archfiend twisted back and rammed him in the gut with a bony fist. The retreat had been nothing more than a feint.

Jake crumpled into a heap on the ground. He had never been hit like that before. It was such a monumental blow, with so much force behind it, that for a second he thought his stomach had been split in half. His torso seemed to crack. All the energy sapped from his bones. Archfiend was something else entirely. A mass of unrestrained power. Jake crumpled like a rag doll with a moan of agony.

Above, there was a flurry of movement. He couldn
’
t see. His face was buried in the earth and his eyes were squeezed tight shut; there was so much pain coursing through his stomach that it was near impossible to do anything else. After the initial wave subsided, he opened his eyes and looked up.

He was lying in the middle of a standoff, albeit one in disarray. Felix and Wolfe stood shoulder to shoulder, chests heaving with anger. Crank was helpless, Sam was motionless on the ground and Thorn was in a state of semi-consciousness. But the two men left standing were still a brick wall of muscle. Archfiend stood on the other side of Jake, watching them.

“
I
’
d love to stay and chat,
”
he said,
“
but there
’
s somewhere I need to be. Good luck getting out of the jungle, boys.
”

Archfiend spun and took off into the trees. Felix and Wolfe broke into a collective sprint after him. They disappeared from sight, and then there was silence.

A gasp of air sounded from across the clearing. Jake looked up and saw Sam writhing back and forth. Ignoring a wave of crippling stomach pain, he crawled over. He started breathing hard to keep himself from throwing up.

Sam had already lost several pints of blood. His throat was an open mess that Jake couldn
’
t bear to look at. There wasn
’
t much light left in his eyes. He was looking around, wide-eyed, searching frantically for someone, anyone. Jake crouched over him and took his hand. He visibly relaxed.

“
Wanted someone with me,
”
he whispered. His voice box was failing.
“
Didn
’
t
…
want to go alone.
”

Jake squeezed his eyes open and shut to keep the tears at bay. He wanted to look brave.

“
You
’
re going to be fine, Sam,
”
he said.

“
Nah. Not
…
not this time, brother.
”

Blood kept pouring. It soaked into the dirt, and when the earth had absorbed its capacity, ran into pools around his head. Jake tried to remember first aid. Sam
’
s jugular was cut.
What am I supposed to do?
He pressed his sleeve over the wound in an attempt to restrict the blood flow.

“
We
’
ll get you out of here, Sam,
”
Jake said.
“
We
’
ll get you out of here. We will.
”

“
Nah,
”
Sam whispered again. His eyes were half-closed.

“
Sam, buddy, come on. Stay with me. Don
’
t die.
”

Jake grabbed hold of his shoulders and gave them a light shake. Sam opened his eyes, just a little.

“
Promise me you
’
ll kill him,
”
Sam coughed.

“
I promise.
”
The thin veil of confidence finally gave way. Jake
’
s voice was wavering.

“
Good man.
”

“
Sam, no.
”

“
It
’
s time, brother.
”

Sam sighed and closed his eyes for the last time.

“
No,
”
Crank whispered from behind.

Jake rocked back in the dirt, away from the corpse. He tried to close his eyes but they didn
’
t respond to his command. They were locked on Sam
’
s lifeless body, which grew blurry as the tears came out. Finally, he broke out of it.

He wrapped his sleeve over his eyes and began to cry.

Felix and Wolfe returned twenty minutes later. They both looked flat and beaten. Jake didn
’
t have to ask. He knew Archfiend had escaped just from the looks on their faces.

By then, he had run out of tears, and was sitting with his hands wrapped around his knees, staring into space. Sam lay next to him.

Wolfe was the first over. When he saw Sam
’
s empty gaze, transfixed on the sky above, he fell to his knees in silence. Felix swore viciously and ran his hands through his hair in distress. Neither of them said a word.

Thorn was coming to slowly, but he knew what had happened. It looked like he couldn
’
t comprehend what he was seeing.

The five men still breathing were still as statues. No-one spoke for a long, long time.

Then Thorn picked up the machete and stabbed it into the dirt. He ran a straight line through the earth, roughly the length of a man, and then began to dig the earth out with his massive hands. Ten minutes passed. He worked fast. A man-sized hole began to form in the ground. Felix and Wolfe took Sam
’
s body and gently lowered it in. As they placed him to rest, Wolfe kissed him on the forehead.

“
So long, brother,
”
he said.

The three men worked to cover the grave. When it was done, they moved off, leaving Link in a limp pile on the ground. The man was dead. Sam
’
s blow had been so powerful it had killed him instantly. As they moved past, Thorn spat on Link
’
s dead body. The three of them sat themselves down underneath the palm tree and went silent.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Wolfe spoke.

“
We can deal with this later,
”
he said. His voice was shaking. He reached up and slicked his hair down with two sweaty palms.
“
Right now, though, we have a lot bigger problems on our hands.
”

Crank looked over.
“
This huge plan that Archfiend has. Link said that you know what it is, Wolfe.
”

“
I do,
”
Wolfe said.
“
And it
’
s far worse than I ever imagined. We need to move now if we even want a chance of making it out of here in time.
”

“
In time for what?
”
Jake said.

Wolfe
’
s next sentence was cut off as the sound of a helicopter
’
s rotor blades became audible in the distance. Everyone looked up, mostly because it was a noise that jarred with the natural sounds of the rainforest. There was nothing but bare sky above the clearing. The sound grew closer and closer, escalating to a deafening
thwack-thwack-thwack
that drowned out everything else.

Then an enormous military chopper zoomed over the treetops and came to a standstill in the air, directly over their heads.

It was the largest helicopter Jake had ever seen. He instantly recognised it from a television documentary he had seen in the past. For some reason, he could recall everything he had heard.

It was a Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion. The largest transport chopper in the United States military. What else? he thought. That
’
s right. It weighed something like sixteen thousand kilograms, and could seat more than fifty troops. Why one had appeared in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest, he hadn
’
t the slightest clue.

The Super Stallion began its descent. The wind given off from its spinning rotor blades was monumental. Jake was almost blown off his feet by the downdraft. He had to tense his legs and drive them into the ground to remain standing.

There was just enough room for the chopper to land. It touched down on the dirt without a sound. In reality, it probably made a sound, but Jake heard nothing over the din of the chopper
’
s rotors. The roar was deafening. He could make out the shape of a single person in the pilot
’
s seat, unbuckling his seatbelt. The windscreen was tinted and the figure was wearing a chunky pilot
’
s helmet. They clambered out of their seat and headed back into the chopper
’
s fuselage, out of sight.

The rear ramp began to descend. It was a single chunk of steel large enough to roll a tank down. By the time it touched the clearing floor, the pilot had killed the rotors and the blades had slowed to a crawl. There was quiet once again.

A woman strode down the ramp. She looked to be in her late fifties, dressed in civilian clothing. Her greying hair was tied back in a bun. Her face was panicked, but she seemed to be controlling the fear. She stepped down off the ramp a little clumsily. Everyone watcher her with wary eyes.

“
Someone tell me what the
hell
is going on,
”
she said. Her accent was American.

“
Speak for yourself,
”
Wolfe said.
“
Who are you?
”

“
Irene Fisher,
”
she said.
“
I
’
m bloody Special Forces. Now someone please tell me what is happening.
”

“
Slow down,
”
Wolfe said.
“
What are
you
doing here?
”

“
I
’
m a pilot. I was in Peru to take part in a mission. To apprehend a group of seven who flew a plane full of weapons into Iquitos, and then escaped custody. Would you guys know anything about that?
”

“
No idea what you
’
re talking about,
”
Felix said, blank-faced.

“
Holy mother of
…”
Irene said. She was finally taking in her surroundings. Her eyes passed over Link
’
s dead body, and then Crank lying on the floor, missing a leg.
“
What happened here?
”

“
You first, Irene,
”
Wolfe said.
“
How did you find us?
”

“
One of you were stupid enough to bring a police radio along with you,
”
she said.
“
We
’
ve been tracking you the whole time. But the Iquitos police force weren
’
t ready to follow you into the rainforest, so they called us in.
”

Jake gulped as he remembered shoving a rectangular object into the bottom of his hiking pack back in the evidence room, assuming it was part of their stash. The radio was probably still there, sitting in his pack back on the boat, buried underneath all of his other belongings.
How could I have been so stupid?

“
Why did they call in United States Special Forces, Irene?
”
Wolfe was addressing the woman like a child. He needed facts
–
fast.

“
Because we were on bloody thin ice already,
”
she said.
“
Daniel McCloud
’
s locked up in a military prison as we speak. Apparently he gave the go ahead on the flight you guys took here. Right now we don
’
t know who to believe. But look, there
’
s much bigger issues right now, alright? Something terrible has happened.
”

Jake sat in silence, confused.

“
Oh my god,
”
Wolfe said.
“
Has there been an invasion?
”

Irene nodded, a little hesitantly.
“
Guys, I
’
m scared. I need to know what you know. Because right now, the whole of Iquitos is in chaos.
”

“
Chaos?
”
Jake said.
“
What chaos? Wolfe, what
’
s going on?
”

Wolfe turned to him.

“
Slayers,
”
he said.