Andre and LJ were calling an end to their evening, but the night had only begun for the Carrow PD.
Cocooned bodies had been discovered throughout the night.
Bella pressed the gas pedal in her cruiser to the floor. The sirens wailed and the lights flashed as she sped around traffic. She kept her gaze on the road and both hands on the wheel.
Jaden sat in the passenger seat. He had a tight grip on his police radio.
“Dispatch, this is Officer Vance.”
No one said anything.
“Dispatch, respond.”
Bella looked at him.
“It’s no use, Jaden. My gut is telling me those bodies were a distraction to empty the precinct.”
“I’m beginning to think you’re right, Bella. Just get us there in one piece,” he said, gripping his seatbelt.
“I think someone wanted the precinct empty tonight, Jaden,” she said. “I mean, think about it. Nearly the entire shift is out dealing with these cocoons.”
He held the police radio to his mouth.
“All available units, head back to the precinct immediately.”
“Hold on!” Bella yelled, turning a sharp corner.
The car’s tires screamed as smoke trailed them, and it careened to a stop.
“What the hell, Bella!” Officer Vance yelled. His head snapped forward as his chest slammed against the seatbelt.
Bella froze, her fingers locking tight around the steering wheel. All color drained from her face. Her jaw went slack, her mouth falling open into a silent O.
Officer Vance glanced at her and followed her gaze.
An army of swarnlings crouched, clicking before them. They blocked the street.
Other police cars skidded to a stop behind them, narrowly missing each other.
Bella reached for the door to exit the car when Officer Vance grabbed her arm.
“Stay in the car, Bella,” he said as he opened his door. He drew his weapon and aimed through the open door.
The swarm stopped clicking.
The creatures’ eyes turned blood red.
***
A few blocks ahead, the CPD precinct was already under attack.
Swarn watched as his small army of swarnlings skittered into the building. He stood outside of it as gunfire and screams escaped from broken windows. Flashes from gun blasts illuminated his shadow.
Swarn walked up the steps of the building slowly. He paused at the top.
Inside the lobby, April held a chair between herself and a swarnling.
Swarn walked through the broken glass door. His body clicked with every step.
April turned her head toward the clicks.
Her pupils expanded as her eyes stretched wide.
Swarn’s eyes shifted to the swarnling she had forgotten about. April’s eyes followed his gaze. She caught a glimpse of the swarnling just as it leapt at her.
She screamed and threw her arms up in defense.
Bang!
A shot rang out.
The swarnling exploded into a flying heap of guts.
She opened her eyes. A SWAT member came running up behind her. His submachine gun was still smoking.
He shoved her to the ground.
“Get DOWN, April!” he shouted at her.
Swarn locked eyes on the man and kept walking into the lobby.
He leveled his gun at Swarn and fired.
Swarn stopped.
Bullets bounced off of him and ricocheted into the walls.
The SWAT member walked around April’s desk. She ducked under the desk, clutching her ears.
“We’ve got trouble in the lobby!” he yelled into his radio.
Several more SWAT members flooded into the lobby. They took position next to the lead SWAT member and began firing on Swarn.
Swarn was enveloped in a hail of gunfire. He crossed his arms in front of himself.
The men kept firing.
Swarn threw off his trench coat. His wings unfolded and covered him like a shield.
Swarn inched closer to the men.
The men eased back step by step, still unloading their weapons.
***
Officers Vance and Sparks stood back-to-back.
Vance’s fingers were white-knuckled around the ribbed grip of his department-issued revolver.
Sparks held her service pistol in a low, ready position.
The clicking sound was everywhere now.
Apartment windows glowed as residents watched from inside. Some people stood on fire escapes, phones raised, streaming the standoff live.
The swarm clicked and scraped as it closed in, surrounding the CPD officers. Metal hoods groaned and buckled beneath the weight of the swarnlings crawling over the patrol cars.
“Stay tight, everyone,” he muttered, shifting his weight. “Don’t let them find a gap.”
A trash can fell over nearby with a metallic crash, and a fresh bloom of fire erupted from an overturned car.
Sparks looked around the area. She knew they were outnumbered. Knew they probably wouldn’t survive.
She made her peace.
“If we don’t make it out of this, Jaden, know that it was an honor to serve beside you.”
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Officer Vance glanced at her.
“Don’t go giving up just yet, Sparks.”
He raised his weapon.
“On my mark, everyone.”
They were a tiny island of dark blue in a sea of clicking monsters.
“The precinct is under siege,” Vance said. “They need our help. We are going to carve our way through these creatures. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” they all said in unison.
“Fall in.”
Their boots echoed as the officers became a wall.
Sparks looked up at Vance. He looked straight ahead.
“On the count of three, give them everything we have.”
“One!” he yelled as everyone leveled their guns at a target.
Up above them, Spant crouched on a gargoyle statue. He’d seen a couple watching the standoff on their phones after he had left LJ in the safety of Michelle’s apartment.
One of his drone crawlers hovered beside him.
“I guess this is why they ran us off of the street earlier,” Spant said.
Below him, the officers tightened their grip on their weapons.
“They ran you off the street?” Link’s voice said from the crawler.
Spant rose to his feet.
“Two!” Officer Vance shouted.
The swarm surged forward.
Claws scraped across asphalt. Patrol car hoods crumpled under the weight of the swarnlings as they prepared to pounce.
Sparks tightened her grip on her pistol.
“Three—!”
A dark shape dropped from the gargoyle above them.
***
“They don’t stand a chance against those things.”
Spant flicked his wrists forward.
“I’ll get the left. Do what you can with the right, Link. Let the CPD concentrate on the center for now.”
A burst of thin black filaments shot out, crisscrossing some of the creatures’ legs. The swarnlings were planted to the pavement. Their legs were cemented in place.
Link’s fingers typed commands into the computer. The crawler laid down cover fire for the officers, sending some of the swarnlings scattering for cover.
Sparks looked up. Relief flashed across her face.
Thank God, she thought.
Officer Vance gave the order, and everyone opened fire on the swarm.
Sparks’ eyes followed Link’s crawler as it flew over. The crawler sprayed a mist onto the swarnlings that slowed them to a crawl.
Officer Vance heard air ruffle overhead. He looked up just in time to see Spant drop from the darkness.
Spant’s silhouette crashed straight into the middle of the swarm.
The impact flattened one of the swarnlings beneath him. Green gore burst across the asphalt.
“Spant!” he yelled out.
Before the creatures could react, Spant snapped his hands out. More thin black filaments blasted outward. They landed like nets. Legs, claws, and bodies tangled instantly as several swarnlings were glued to the pavement.
The creatures shrieked, struggling as the strands tightened around them.
“What the—?” one officer gasped.
Spant ignored him.
He sprinted halfway up a brick wall before stopping.
Several officers’ mouths dropped at the sight of him standing upright on the wall. A few stray bullets drifted dangerously close to him.
From the higher angle, he fired another burst of filaments downward. More of the creatures were locked in place.
“He just walked up the wall,” said another officer.
Officer Sparks blinked in disbelief.
“Idiots.”
Officer Vance lowered his revolver a fraction, staring.
Spant crouched low on the wall like a hunting spider.
“I know some of you mistrust Spant. Others have only heard rumors of him,” Sparks said. “He is here to help us. Do not fire on him. Only the creatures!”
She shouted again.
“Help him to help us!”
The swarm hesitated. Their heads lifted as they shifted away from the officers and toward the lone figure standing above them.
Behind him, Link's crawler swept across the street, spraying its chemical mist into the swarm.
Through the comm, Link’s voice crackled.
“Glad someone noticed. He’s one of the good guys.”
Spant flexed his fingers as the filaments tightened around the trapped creatures.
“Alright,” he muttered.
Then he dropped into the swarm like a falling blade.
***
Spant landed in the center of the swarm. One palm hit the asphalt as his body coiled like a high-tension spring. With a snap of his hips, he whipped his right leg out in a low, wide arc. His boot caught several swarnlings’ legs. They landed on their backs with a loud thud.
He rose to a knee and threw out a wrist. Black filament pinned another creature to a car.
With some officers watching him in awe, Spant flipped over a swarnling that leapt at him. He landed on the hood of a patrol car.
Spant grabbed the door handle. His arms shook, and metal screamed as he snatched the driver’s door off its hinges.
He flung it at the swarm.
The door spun through them, slicing many of them in half.
A creature that had crawled onto the hood of a car released its wings. They fluttered as it launched itself at Link’s crawler.
Spant aimed his wrist and released a shot of black filament. The creature’s wings became glued to its body. It struggled to free itself but only splattered against the pavement.
The swarm hesitated, heads jerking toward him, clicking in confused coordination. Their eyes flashed red.
Onlookers inside their homes covered their ears.
The swarnlings all turned toward Spant.
Their eyes flashed red.
“Now that I have your attention,” Spant said, “time to pay for what you did to LJ.”
“Spant has them distracted.”
Officer Vance gave the order for his officers to push forward.
“Head for the precinct.”
***
Cameras flashed while live streams broadcast the chaos worldwide.
One such individual with eyes glued to a screen was the CEO of Pharma, Blake Cole.
He leaned against his desk, his eyes never leaving the TV monitor mounted on the wall. In his hands, he clutched a folder titled Project Spant.
Blake leaned closer to the screen as Spant tore through the swarm.
Blake frowned.
“Idiots discarded him. They didn’t even bother to give the fusion a chance.”
It was three a.m., but time meant nothing to him.
He pressed the intercom on his desk.
“Mitchell.”
“Yes, Mr. Cole,” a very tired and sleepy male voice said.
“When those three arrive, send them into my office immediately.”
“Yes, Mr. Cole.”
Two floors down, Angela Rogers ran. Her hair was half brushed. She buttoned her blouse with one hand while holding a briefcase in the other.
Jason Lanfry stepped out of an office, tying his tie, just as she passed it. His wrinkled pant legs rode up, revealing mismatched socks.
“Angela. You received the call too?”
“He’s not happy, Jason,” she glanced back at him, never slowing her pace. “Have you seen the video?”
The two ran through the hallway and stopped at an elevator.
She brushed her hair back as Jason pressed the up button on the elevator panel.
Jason sprayed mouthwash into his mouth.
“When I originally signed up for this job, I didn’t know I would be doing half the things I’m doing.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Irate phone calls from an angry boss at all hours of the day and night. This is not what I wanted. None of it,” he whispered.
After she pulled her hair into a messy bun, Angela looked at him.
“I know what you mean, Jason. Be careful who you say that around. I have seen others disappear after talking like that.”
“Really?” he asked.
The elevator door opened.
John Tova was already in it. His hair was a mess. His suit was full of wrinkles, and his eyes were bloodshot.
“We’re in the hot seat again, huh?”
Angela grabbed Jason’s hand and nodded toward John.
Jason followed her gaze. A look of surprise etched across his face.
“Appears so, John,” he said as he walked to the far corner of the elevator.
John folded his arms across his chest and stared at the floor.
John turned toward them. He removed a small comb from his pants pocket and ran it through his hair.
“What’s up with you, Jason? You look like you just lost your best friend.”
Jason sank onto the elevator railing. His eyes found Angela’s.
She raised a finger to her lips.
Jason rubbed his eyes and let out a fake yawn.
“Nothing. I’m just sleepy. I was sleeping good when Mr. Cole’s phone call woke me up.”
John leaned against the elevator panel.
“You believe this, Angel?”
Angela looked at him.
“Jason’s new, John. You know that. This is his first real experience with Blake.”
John patted Jason on the shoulder.
“Look, I know BC chewed us out last time, but he knows we weren’t the original scientists on this project.”
Angela folded her arms.
“You do realize with Spant out there, and Swarn loose in the city, Blake’s going to want someone to blame, John?”
She looked at him.
“The way I see it, Jason’s the only one of us in the clear. He just started here a few weeks ago.”
Jason pulled at his shirt collar.
This place is not for me, he thought. The stress alone will kill me.
John swallowed hard.
Angela looked over them both and smiled. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her glasses.
“Why so glum, John?” she asked, sliding on the glasses. “It’s all in the contract we signed.”
She looked over the rim of her glasses at John.
“We all must be very careful right now.”
The elevator stopped.
The trio all took a deep breath, stepped out of it, and into Blake’s office.
Blake watched them as they entered.
He extended a hand to them.
“Have a seat.”
He pointed toward the seats along the wall.
The monitor directly across from them clicked on. An image of Spant shooting his black filaments at a swarnling replayed in a loop.
Jason eased into his seat, clutching his stomach.
Blake tapped his fingers on his desk.
“Do any of you know what that is?”
They all looked at the screen.
He removed three folders from his desk.
Blake stood and walked to them.
“That is Spant. The boy we threw away like trash,” he said, handing them each a folder. “Just like Swarn, he was not a failure, and just like Swarn…”
“He was thrown away like yesterday’s trash.”
Jason trembled in his seat.
The elevator door opened again.
Blake straightened his tie and cleared his throat.
Two men in dark suits walked into the room and stood next to Blake.
“I am separating you all,” he said.
“John,” he started.
John flinched at his name being spoken.
“You are being moved to a different department, where your expertise can be better utilized.”
“Mr. Blake?” John said. “I—”
The two men grabbed John, hauling him to his feet.
Blake adjusted his tie while the men dragged John to the window.
The two men tossed him out of the window.
His screams echoed up the building until they faded into the street noise below.
Jason covered his mouth with a hand.
“Now,” Blake said, looking at Jason and Angela. “Any more mistakes will not be tolerated. Good. Now turn to the first page in your folders.”
Angela opened her folder without looking at the window.