He glanced toward Iagorth again. The alien had already reached the belly of the aircraft, the tentacle working its way up around the fuselage, heading for the hatch on the far side.

  He needed to buy Vazquez time to get the alien rock over deep water.

  He reached for the tether attached to the truck frame beneath the running board. He pulled himself out through the window and up to stand on the window frame. From there, he climbed back onto the roof, his feet spread wide to brace himself against the wind.

  The black ooze clinging to one of the tethers drew back onto the pod and formed again into his lookalike, its head turning to look at him. A mirror image of his face framed in darkness, smirked disdainfully at him.

  “Pathetic,” Iagorth said. “I expected so much more from you. We could have been so much more together. I will find another host. A better host. Perhaps the female in the rear. Fairy, isn’t it? She’s a real fighter. I would have given her to you, but now I’ll take her for myself.”

  Marcus took the microspear from his pocket. Roaring out his rage at the thought of the alien so much as touching Fairy, he leaped from the truck roof onto the top of the pod tethered to the flat bed. He staggered, almost losing his balance before his feet found purchase on the rock’s rough exterior. He slashed at his doppelganger, missing as Iagorth released his grip on the tether and jumped back. A new tentacle exploded from its chest, hardening to a point. It shot toward Marcus. He swung his dead Axon arm in front of it, deflecting the tentacle and then slashing it with the microspear. Not only did the weapon sever the appendage, it shriveled when it landed on the pod, destroyed by the Axon blade.

  Three more tentacles split from Iagorth, one aimed at Marcus’ head, another at his chest, the third at his leg. Marcus reacted instinctively. Sticking the microspear between his teeth, he leaped over the side of the truck, reaching out and grabbing the tether there and swinging around to come hard at Iagorth from the side. The alien tried to maneuver away, but couldn’t move quickly enough with the vine-like limbs protruding from its back stuck to one of the other tethers. Marcus grabbed the blade from his mouth and stabbed it into the single base of the three tentacles. Iagorth cried out as the moieties shriveled up and died.

  “You’re only human,” Iagorth said, more disbelieving than angry. He lunged at Marcus, his face stretching, teeth elongating. Marcus barely had time to swing his Axon arm out in front of him to block the bite. His momentum turned him around until his back pressed against the doppelganger. He drove the microspear straight back, stabbing it into its chest.

  Iagorth cried out again, a new appendage growing from its back, swinging over its shoulder and smacking Marcus off him like a bothersome fly. The blow sent him reeling, and he slipped off the pod. He almost lost the microspear trying to save himself. His right foot landed on the short rail along the edge of the bed, slowing his fall enough for him to wedge his foot through a rung on the rail. His knee wrenched painfully as his upper body slid out over open air.

  Looking down, he saw the beach below him, the water just beyond.

  It was almost time.

  Gritting his teeth against the pain, he again put the Axon weapon between his teeth and grabbed onto the rail to pull himself up until he could untangle his foot and regain his feet. It was clear Iagorth thought he had gone over the edge. The alien had returned his attention to the tether, its tentacle arm quickly climbing it again, headed for the hatch in the fuselage.

  Marcus turned his attention to where his duplicate’s arm met the cable and snaked upward. He took the microspear in hand, knowing he only had one chance to get this right. If he failed, the alien would take Fairy or Vazquez—maybe kill them all. The Osprey wouldn’t make it far enough out to sea before it crashed and Iagorth would continue to spread across the planet.

  He wasn’t going to fail. He wasn’t a failure. He wasn’t pathetic. Sheriff Duke believed in him. Fairy believed in him. They were his friends. Honest and loyal. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t alone.

  He narrowed his eyes, drew back his arm, swung it forward and released the microspear.

  It spun end over end, whirling toward the tentacle. Marcus gritted his teeth, leaning his head as if to help direct it to his target. The throw was slightly off, the angle a little wrong. He almost missed it.

  Almost.

  The microspear stabbed into it and stuck. Immediately, deadness and decay began to spread along the limb in each direction, the moieties dying by the thousands. A tentacle sprouted from Iagorth’s other side, the end hardening to a blade and severing the poisoned limb. The Relyeh turned his head, spotting Marcus climbing back up onto the roof of the truck cab.

  “Your effort is for nothing, Marcus,” Iagorth said, a new tentacle beginning to spread back toward the cable to replace the first.

  “Is it?” Marcus asked. “Have you looked down recently?”

  Iagorth froze, turning his head to peer over the edge. Marcus took the opportunity to charge once more, throwing his body at the doppelganger. He tackled Iagorth, both of them into the hole in the top of the pod. They dropped into the pitch blackness, landing on a dry surface, the moieties that had once occupied it fully spent.

  Marcus couldn’t see Iagorth in the darkness, but he registered the pain when a hard spike drove through his chest, lifting him up as it impaled him.

  “You cannot stop me,” Iagorth said.

  Body wracked with pain, hanging from the spike through him, Marcus began to laugh.

  The Osprey released the tethers, and they began to fall.

  “Noooooooo!” Iagorth cried out, the sound shrill and haunting as the truck and pod tumbled downward, needing only a handful of seconds to hit the water.

  The impact forced Marcus further down on the spike, and his vision began to blur as water started pouring in through the hole in the pod, coming down over his head as if he were being baptized.

  A sense of calm washed over him with the water as it continued filling the pod.

  He closed his eyes.

  And died.

  55

  Hayden

  “Sheriff?” Fairy said, her hand falling lightly on Hayden’s shoulder. “Sheriff, can you hear me?”

  Hayden opened his eyes. He had heard the Osprey making its approach, but he hadn’t tried to move, figuring it was better to give his body a few more minutes to heal and that the explosion that killed Iagorth’s goliath would keep any remaining Custodians away too. He could only see Fairy’s eyes through the visor of her combat helmet, but they were moist with teary concern for him.

  “How do I look?” he asked.

  “Not great,” she replied. “Your clothes are pretty much gone, save for your bodysuit. Your face is burned. I was afraid you were dead.”

  “Not this time. Did you do it? Did you get the pod to the ocean?”

  “We did,” Vazquez said, coming up behind Fairy. “What happened here?”

  “I destabilized an Intellect heart to blow up the goliath,” Hayden replied.

  “You say that like you do it every day.”

  “Not every day,” he joked, cringing. It hurt to laugh. “I broke some bones. I’m not sure how many have healed. Is Marcus with you?”

  “No. I thought he was with you?”

  “Neg. Last time I saw him, he was on top of the flatbed, making sure nothing came out of the pod.”

  Vazquez and Fairy looked at one another before looking back at him.

  “I didn’t know he was there,” Vazquez said. “He never commed me or anything. I didn’t check before I released the tethers.” She sounded horrified. Fairy’s moist eyes began to shed tears.

  “Sheriff, do you think...?” she asked, trailing off.

  “Help me up,” Hayden said. “We need to go look for him. He might have gone into the water with the pod, but he probably knows how to swim. He’s strong enough to tread water for a while.” He hoped. It would be harder with only one arm. “Each of you take one of my arms, but pull gently.”

  Fairy and Vazquez took his hands, tugging him slowly up. Everything hurt, throbbing and stabbing and burning. He gritted his teeth and dealt with the pain as he stood there, nearly falling over when he put weight on his left leg. Fairy caught him.

  “Got you, Sheriff,” she said, the added strength from her armor allowing her to keep him upright. She positioned herself under his arm and helped him limp back to the Osprey, guiding him to the co-pilot’s seat as Vazquez took the controls.

  “Fairy, head on back to the gun position,” Hayden said. “You’ll have the best vantage point as we sweep the area, and the helmet will help you spot Marcus.”

  “Pozz, Sheriff,” Fairy said, heading back to the still-open ramp.

  “Here we go,” Vazquez said, spinning up the rotors and lifting the Osprey off the ground. She rotated the craft west and then accelerated into a climb.

  “How far out did you drop the pod?” Hayden asked.

  “About five kilometers. I would have gone further, but I was worried about you dealing with that goliath on your own.”

  “I appreciate that,” Hayden replied. “But I managed.”

  She laughed. “I know.”

  The Osprey flew much faster without the flatbed dangling from it, and they crossed over the beach within a couple of minutes, heading out to sea. Hayden’s eyes were still too damaged to help look for Marcus, but he peered down at the passing waves regardless.

  “Fairy, let me know if you see anything,” he said through his comm. When she didn’t reply, he figured it had been destroyed by the heat of the blast. “Maya, my comm’s busted. Let me know if Fairy spots anything.”

  “Copy, Sheriff,” Vazquez replied. She was silent for a good minute before turning her head. “She’s got visual on an oil slick. I’ll bring us in as close as I can.”

  She slowed the aircraft, moving it into a hover above the slick. Hayden got out of his seat and headed to the rear, his hand braced against the bulkhead to keep the weight off his leg. He went to the ramp and looked down. The slick floated on top of the water, definitely from the flatbed’s engine.

  “There’s no sign of him,” Fairy said, her voice pained.

  “It could be he ditched before Maya dropped the tether,” Hayden replied. “We need to look closer to shore.”

  “Yeah,” Fairy agreed, her spirits slightly lifted by the glimmer of hope.

  Hayden returned to the cockpit. “We need to sweep the beach, make sure he didn’t jump off earlier. Stay low, and touch down on the beach. If he’s swimming in, I want to make sure he finds us there.”

  “Copy that.”

  Vazquez did as he asked, landing on the beach ten minutes later. There was still no sign of Marcus.

  Hayden settled back into his seat, thinking. “Maya, what do you know about the Intellects the Custodians have collected?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean, Sheriff.”

  “The Colonel was an Intellect, disguising himself as Marcus’ father, King. But he wasn’t a pure Intellect. He had been reprogrammed with the Grimmel AI.”

  “I don’t know anything about that, Sheriff.”

  “I also encountered some experiments the CSF was carrying out with another Intellect they had captured a few years back. They were trying to replicate the hallucinogenic signaling they use as a weapon.”

  Vazquez looked over at him. “I swear, Sheriff. After everything I’ve seen in the last week, I wouldn’t lie or keep anything from you. If I knew anything about it, I would tell you. These Custodians aren’t the group I joined. Their motives have changed. Their morals have changed. They aren’t what I swore loyalty to.”

  “Pozz. I believe you. And the Grand Custodian? You don’t know where to find him? Or who he is?”

  “No. I don’t know if anyone does. Maybe that’s part of the problem.”

  “Could be.” He sighed heavily. “Well, it doesn’t matter right now. We stopped Iagorth before he could get a foothold. We threw a huge wrench in the Custodians’ plans. It’ll be a big loss if Marcus doesn’t turn up, but if he died stopping this, then he died a hero. And I’ll make sure those folks that make up stories about me give credit where it’s due.”

  “I don’t want to be part of any folklore,” Vazquez said.

  Hayden laughed, the pain reverberating through his chest. “We don’t get to choose on that front.”

  He closed his eyes. He slept for a while, a little surprised when he woke up that Shub’Nigu hadn’t tried to get in touch with him. Then again, his signal had been pretty weak the last time. Whatever was interfering, maybe he would never hear from the Relyeh Ancient again.

  “I don’t think he made it,” Fairy said, coming up to the cockpit a short time later. She had traded her combat armor and helmet for jeans and a shirt. “Three hours, and no sign of him.”

  “I’m sorry, darlin’,” Hayden said, putting out his arm. She fell into his embrace, and he hugged her as best he could to his still healing ribs. “He was a good man when it counted.”

  “I always knew it,” she replied tearfully. “I’ll miss him.” Hayden held her for a few minutes, letting her cry out her grief. Then she pulled away, wiping her eyes and straightening up. “I’m okay,” she said. “It’s not the first time I’ve lost someone I cared about. I’m sure it won’t be the last.”

  Hayden nodded. It was hard to hear, but it was also true. After the trife, most people were accustomed enough to loss that they moved past it pretty quickly. It wasn’t like they could bring folks back from the dead.

  “Maya, let’s go see if we can round up what’s left of Ruger’s folks, and then we’ll make our way back to Houston.”

  “Copy that, Sheriff,” she replied, starting the Osprey up again.

  They lifted off, returning to the tower and circling it for a minute until they located six militants sticking close to the loading dock. It only took a few more minutes to collect them before they were on their way.

  Hayden’s eyes had cleared by then. His body was healing slowly, but at least it was healing. He turned his attention to the tower as they headed away from it. Images of his family passed through his mind, remembering them as they were when they had lived in the tower together. The happiest days had been too few, his time without them too long.

  He would see them again one day, when his work here was done. Until then, he would always remember them. Always love them. And always fight for justice in their name.

  56

  Hayden

  Vazquez was waiting for Hayden when he emerged from the sick bay in Houston’s underground bunker. While his body had done its best to recover from the wounds he had suffered in Sanisco, some of the damage, like the wound from Marcus’ bullet, was too extensive for it to heal on its own, at least within any reasonable range of time. It seemed to Hayden as though his healing factor had diminished ever since the hellion had dug its claws into him, an outcome he couldn’t easily prove beyond a reasonable hunch. It might have troubled him more, but the truth of it was he had never been completely comfortable with his extra-human abilities. Frankly, if time wanted to see him reverted back to his plain old self, he was okay with that.

  With any luck, time would continue to give the people of Earth a better opportunity to stand on their own, and his services wouldn’t be needed quite so often. With any luck, one day true justice would come to the planet the way he imagined it, the way he had promised, so that he could hang up his hat and take off his gunbelt once and for all.

  He wasn’t sure the universe had that much luck left in it for him, but it was a nice thought anyway.

  “Hayden, how are you feeling?” Vazquez asked, smiling when he appeared. He had convinced her to stop calling him Sheriff Duke after they had arrived back in Houston. They knew each other too well now for formality, and she had no reason to defer to him. Without her skill as a pilot, everything they had fought for would have been lost.

  “Not bad,” he replied. “Still have a little twinge in my leg when I turn it just so, but all in all, I’m good as new.”

  “I’m happy to hear it.”

  “Did I miss anything interesting while I was getting put back together?”

  “Not much. I’ve been making runs from here to Natch City and up to Fort Hood for the last week. I dropped Halston off up there yesterday with a platoon of Ruger’s people and a month’s worth of supplies. He’s going to see about fixing up the Shields and Butchers and maybe even repair one or two of the other mechs. Not that I think we’ll need them. Word from back west is the Custodians have hunkered down in Haven. No personnel or supplies are coming or going. It’s like the Grand Custodian just went radio silent on them.”

  “Maybe he did. I bet he didn’t expect to lose this one.”

  “Especially not to you. You had a target on your back before. It’s only going to get bigger now.”

  “I’m used to it. What’s Ruger’s bigger plan in all of this?”

  “You saw how he reacted to losing Brink,” Vazquez said. “With the deals he’s made, he’s willing to sit back and see how it all plays out. But having Halston bolster the defenses will go a long way to keeping him honest with the other settlements. Personally, I think we might just have the start of something good down south here. Something that’ll last.”

  “The roots of a renewed civilization?”

  “Could be. I’ll be sorry to leave it behind.”

  “No you won’t,” Hayden said.

  Vazquez smiled. “No, I won’t. I know you said you can’t guarantee anything, but even just the fact that you’re going to try to get me a lift back to Proxima is more than I had hoped for. I know I said thank you a few times already, but it’s been a week, so thank you again.”

  Hayden returned her grin. “You’ve earned it, Maya. Though I’ll be sad to lose my personal chauffeur.”