Domination (A C.H.A.O.S. Novel) - By Jon Lewis Page 0,35

hurried past an empty office.

“McAlister!”

Colt spun, his heart pounding in his chest. He found Pierce crouched beneath two bookshelves that had fallen at odd angles. “What are you doing?” Colt asked.

“Looking for my dad, so shut up and get in here before one of those things hears you.”

There was a sound like shuffling feet, and Colt turned to see something heavy moving slowly toward them from the other end of the hallway. He could only make out its silhouette, but it was well over seven feet tall with six muscular arms and a long tail that swished back and forth. It stopped to sniff the air.

“You see one, don’t you?” Pierce said.

Colt nodded.

“Anybody else with you?”

“It’s just me,” Colt said.

“We need to go find backup.”

“Not without Lily.”

“The girl you were flirting with back at the stadium? She was hot.”

Colt fought the urge to break Pierce’s jaw.

“Relax,” Pierce said. “I’m not going to hit on her or anything.”

“Lucky me.”

A Thule bellowed, and the hideous sound reverberated through the hallway.

“We can’t stay here,” Colt said.

“I can’t just let them take my dad.”

“Then let’s go find him.”

Pierce narrowed his eyes. “Seriously? You’d help me?”

“We can help each other. Let’s go.”

Colt and Pierce followed the trail of blood to Director Thorne’s office, where a fake bookshelf had been ripped away from the wall, revealing what looked like elevator doors.

“I don’t get it,” Pierce said. “This is a one-story building.” Colt had a terrible thought. “Koenig.”

Pierce had a hard time believing that the United States government was housing the leader of the Thule under the academy grounds, but he followed Colt into the elevator and down to the same floor where Grandpa had taken Colt.

“Hold on.” Colt heard a faint whisper.

Closer, closer, the voice said. Show no mercy. Kill them. Free me.

“What’s wrong?” Pierce asked.

“We’re getting close,” Colt said.

“What, you have some kind of super-powered hearing now?”

“Something like that.” He wasn’t about to tell Pierce that he could hear Koenig speaking in his head.

When the elevator stopped and the door opened, they found a man in a dark suit lying on the ground moaning, a ring of blood staining the tile around his head. “Who . . . who’s there?” he asked, his voice faint as he struggled to lift his head.

“Captain Starling?” Colt ran toward the instructor.

Starling looked up at him, eyes filled with terror even as he forced a smile. His skin was pale, his hair wild, and his right arm had been severed at the elbow. “Trust me, it hurts worse than it looks,” he said through a coughing fit.

“It’s not that bad,” Colt said.

Starling looked down at the bloody stump, and for a moment it looked like he was going to cry. “I tried to stop them,” he said, closing his eyes. “But they were . . .” His voice broke off into sobs.

“It’s okay,” Colt said, kneeling beside him.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” Pierce said.

“I know.” He looked around, trying to find something that he could use as a tourniquet, but there weren’t many options. “We’re going to get you out of here, but first we need to stop the bleeding. Okay?”

Starling nodded.

“This might hurt.” Colt reached up and ripped the sleeve from Starling’s flight suit, trying not to gag as the stench of blood filled his nostrils. Starling groaned as Colt cinched the sleeve around the injured arm.

“Thank you,” he said, and then his body went limp.

Colt pressed his fingers just below Starling’s jaw, but he couldn’t feel a pulse.

“Is he dead?” Pierce asked.

“Yeah,” Colt said, reaching to close Starling’s eyelids. He shook his head, wondering if any of this was real. Starling was an annoying blowhard who drove everyone crazy, but Colt wouldn’t have wished this in a million years.

“Now what?” Pierce said.

Colt stood up and wiped his hands on his armor, leaving streaks of blood that matched the streaks on the biometric scanner. He led Pierce to Koenig’s detention cell and stopped short. The cell was open, and two DAA agents were lying still on the ground.

“Looks like they already—”

Before Colt could finish his sentence, a massive Thule rushed out of the room and grabbed him by the throat. It hefted him off the ground.

I like to watch the life pour out of the eyes when people die, don’t you?

A cold hand caressed Colt’s mind. Koenig.

“Let him go!” Pierce raised his M14, but Koenig only laughed.

Or what?

A feral sound escaped from between Colt’s lips as he lashed out, catching the Thule in the throat. It bellowed,