Awakened by james s. murray darren wearmouth

Author:james s. murray, darren wearmouth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

The command center’s spotlights continued to bathe the train compartment and form a clear path to the AV room. Hundreds of creatures swarmed in the darker parts of the Pavilion, their shadows occasionally flickering on the walls. Every few moments, a stocky arm or leg would test the edges of the glare before the creature would screech and retreat into the safety of the dark.

So far, so good, Cafferty thought.

During this lull in the action, he had ordered Paul DeLuca and his team to repair the damage to the train as best they could. They busily went about stretching lengths of duct tape over the gouges and tears in the car’s body, attempting to keep the atmosphere inside relatively breathable.

In the meantime, Cafferty had spent the last few minutes preparing for his mission. He and North had borrowed body armor and flashlights from members of the NYPD and attached makeshift handles on two of the smaller steel plates. He knew the rudimentary shields provided little protection, considering the state of the distant blast door. But if they stuck to the middle of the spotlight shafts, he figured they were just out of the creatures’ range.

A young cop with a bloodstained face approached. “Mr. Mayor, I think you could use an extra pair of hands.”

“Stay and protect the people,” Cafferty replied, scanning the sea of nervous faces in the car. “We don’t need to give the creatures a bigger target.”

“But there’s only two of—”

“The good citizens of New York and New Jersey, officer. Those are your priority.”

Lieutenant Arnolds muscled through the crowd. “We can spare Officer Spear. Take him along, Mr. Mayor. You need the help, and he’s one of my best.”

“Okay, but no more.”

North removed the final plate from the car’s set of doors, revealing its battered outer side and fragments of shattered glass on the platform. Officer Spear held a steel pipe over his shoulder like a baseball bat. Cafferty drew in a deep breath, ready to make his move, until someone tapped his shoulder.

“I’m coming with you, too,” Lucien Flament said.

“This isn’t your fight. Help the police protect the car.”

“It’s everyone’s fight. Is anyone else here ex–special forces?”

“Probably not. Still—”

“Mr. Mayor, don’t be stupid. You’ve seen I can handle myself, and we clearly work well as a team. God forbid something happens to those spotlights, I’ll cover you with my camera’s flash.”

It was hard to deny the Frenchman’s points. Flament’s reasoning had definitely aided in their survival, and the injured cop lying in the aisle owed him his life. He was also highly trained and had proven how fast he could think on his feet. Something about him irked Cafferty, though, and it wasn’t just the fact that his initial two-person team had doubled in the space of a minute.

“Let him come,” North said. “He’s the type of guy I want by my side.”

“You’ve changed your tune,” Cafferty said.

“The game changed after the creatures appeared. If it boosts our chances of success, I’m all in.”

“Honestly,” Flament said, “I don’t really care what you think—I’m coming.

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