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Indifferent to Brittney—who was already picking herself up, unharmed—they surged toward the ruined front door of Coate
s Academy.
“About time.” Orc laughed. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Orc, don’t let them kill you,” Astrid said, putting her hand on his arm.
“You was always nice to me, Astrid. Sorry I . . .” Then he shrugged. “Don’t matter now. Better get out if you can. Most likely this won’t take long.”
He ran into the hallway. Astrid last saw him as he laughed at the bugs below him, vaulted the landing rail, and dropped down into the swarm.
“You want Orc?” he bellowed. “Come and get me!”
The boy, whose name was Buster, tried to get away, tried to stand up and run, but he was far too slow, far too sick. He coughed and stumbled and fell on his knees.
The bug’s tongue attached to his neck and yanked him headfirst into flashing mouthparts.
A girl named Zoey coughed, doubled over with the pain of it, and a second later was caught and eaten.
It was a massacre.
Brianna flew like a madwoman, her knife flashed, her sawed-off shotgun barked, but the bugs were up the stairs and pushing inside, smelling the fresh meat in the hospital.
One of the bugs had grown so big it became jammed and blocked the doorway, but at least one of the creatures had made it inside already, and Brianna could hear muffled screams of terror from down below.
She darted, bypassed a flashing tongue, leaped over scythe mandibles, and stabbed a bug in both red eyes. Then she stuck her shotgun into the gnashing mouth and pulled the trigger.
The massive creature shuddered, but did not die.
Brianna barely leaped aside in time to avoid being caught. And then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the massive creatures rise, turn in midair, and land hard on its back.
“Caine!” she yelled.
She threaded her way through the swarm, leaped easily through the wildly waving legs of the overturned bug, and stabbed her knife into its guts.
Then, into the largest of the gashes she thrust the shotgun and pulled the trigger.
BLAM!
Bug guts and bits of shell blew back and covered her. But the legs were jerking wildly now, slower, slower . . .
Caine had overturned another bug and this one he hammered with a car, lifting and slamming, lifting and slamming, until the creature was a giant mess of stick-legs and goo.
The creatures turned away from feasting on the sick. There were only seven of the bugs left now, not counting the one that was down in the so-called hospital or the one stuck in the doorway.
Seven.
“I’ll flip them!” Caine yelled.
Brianna picked a piece of bug guts off her cheek and nodded. She quickly reloaded her shotgun and zoomed to mount the latest overturned creature. She was learning as she went along. The creatures had weak spots, one of them was the underside of what would be their chin. She stabbed with her knife, twisted to make an opening, pushed the shotgun into the gaping wound, and pulled the trigger.
The bug’s head blew apart.
“Oh, yeah! Oh, definitely!” Brianna cried.
But Caine had been a bit too slow and now three of the creatures were pursuing him. All three had latched on to him with their tongues and he was yelling his head off for help.
Brianna dashed down the steps, now slick with blood— human and insect.
