Pulse

FIFTY-NINE

The first man snatched screamed like a wounded cat before he was flung through the roof of a nearby cabin. A few of the men standing closest took aim, but the other six heads snapped out like whips, squeezing the life from them as rib cages cracked and internal organs ruptured, then tossing them aside and striking out at other men.

Chaos ensued as the Hydra, still healing, stood again.

Some of the Gen-Y men turned and fled without a second thought. Others fired their weapons, but with their force already cut in half they could do nothing to slow the rapidly regenerating Hydra. Some men threw grenades, which had an impact, but more than a few went wide and one bounced back. The concussion sent three men flying. One legless.

Hydra threw itself into the remaining men. Their gunfire did little to slow the enraged beast. As one man became mush beneath its foot, another was eviscerated by its snapping tail. But the majority of damage came from the l ightning-fast heads, snapping out like a twisted game of hungry, hungry hippos.

Five more Gen-Y men fled, all running in the fastest direction: downhill. Maddox was among them, clutching his briefcase.

Reinhart and Ridley, however, fled away from the others, heading back toward the Manifold facility.

Hydra spun in circles, looking for more attackers, but found only bloody, oozing corpses. It roared, louder than ever as the last of its wounds finished healing. Then all seven heads spread in different directions, tasting the air. Snapping branches caught their attention. All seven heads looked downhill, where the fleeing men were doing little to conceal their frantic flight. The Hydra roared again, then smashed through a cabin, reducing it to splinters, before barreling down the hill.

King cursed. He'd watched the whole gruesome event alongside Knight and Bishop. The Hydra was a killing machine. That a single man had managed to subdue the creature seemed impossible. If Deep Blue was right, and its regenerative ability could be stopped, it would be possible, but it had withstood a barrage powerful enough to destroy anything man-made and had come out stronger. And to make matters worse, it was heading for a campground full of families. The Hydra had to be stopped.

But he also couldn't allow Reinhart or Ridley to escape. He turned to Knight and Bishop. "I'll go after Reinhart and Ridley. Do your best to slow it down. Make protecting the people in the campground your—"

Bishop was already up and moving. He passed through the decimated kids' camp and launched down the hill.

"— priority," King finished, then added, "Switch weapons. You'll need the heavier firepower." Knight took King's M4 and handed him the MSG3.

"You might need this, too," King said, handing him the PDA.

As Knight pocketed the PDA and jumped up to follow Bishop, King added, "Keep an eye on him."

Knight gave a thumbs-up and sprinted after Bishop. He was faster than Bishop and could normally catch up, but he was still human, and already breathing heavily from the past hour's action. Bishop, on the other hand, seemed right as rain; no doubt a benefit of his regenerative abilities. He couldn't get tired.

As Knight reached the drop-off behind the kids' camp he paused and looked downhill. In the distance he could see six small figures popping in and out of view as they moved between trees. Behind them ran the Hydra, its heads flailing, rattling, and roaring. Though it gained on the fleeing men, it did so slowly. It ignored trees and other obstacles, preferring to smash through them than run around. The result was a chaotic stumbling stride that left a cleared patch of forest in its wake. Knight stole a glance at the PDA map. They were just under a mile from the campground. They'd reach the quad in ten minutes. Maybe less.

Clutching his weapon, Knight dashed down the hill, leaping stones and running along fallen trees. His chest heaved from the exertion, but he was happy to see that he could still move faster than the average man, or regenerative man for that matter. He gained to within twenty feet of Bishop, just as Bishop caught up with the Hydra… and Hydra caught up with the fleeing men.

Knight had to duck as a man was snatched up and flung backward. The man soared over his head, screaming as blood seeped from a myriad of tooth punctures. A loud crack issued from behind him as the man struck a small but sturdy maple tree, folding his body around its trunk, backwards. He wiped the man's blood from this face as he leaped a fallen tree.

The Hydra struck a rock and careened head over heels, rolling over three more men, crushing them into the mountainside. Without missing a beat, the creature was back on its feet, nipping at the heels of the lone remaining Gen-Y guard and Maddox, whose scream undulated with every rapid footfall like Axel Rose squealing on a scratched Guns N' Roses CD.

The Gen-Y man tripped and screamed as his leg snapped. The Hydra snapped down at him as it passed, taking an arm and portion of the man's chest with it.

"Help me!" Maddox screamed, realizing he was next. "Somebody help me!"

Knight slowed some as he passed the armless, dying man. The fear stitched across his face turned to placidity as his life ebbed. He had never come across something as unforgiving and capable at killing as the Hydra, and for the first time in his life he felt his steady hands shaking.

Bishop, on the other hand, seemed undaunted by the Hydra's massive size and ability to quickly kill every human being it came into contact with. After discarding his weapon, he ran up a half fallen tree, coming alongside and above the massive creature. He drew his machetelike knife and dove onto the Hydra's back, plunging the blade deep into its flesh. Like a rodeo rider, he clung to the Hydra as it kicked its legs and arched its back, but never stopped its downward pursuit of Maddox.

Knight could see the trees thinning in the distance and the blue sky beyond. They were approaching the fringe of the camp. Bishop saw it, too, drew his handgun and fired several rounds in the back of the creature's flailing heads. Two turned to face him, but the bulk of the beast kept on running and the other heads had eyes only for Maddox.

Bishop fired as one of the heads came toward him. The bullets tore into its snout, turning it away as the stinging wounds regenerated. He ducked as a second head struck. It missed and quickly pulled back for a second strike.

But the strike didn't come. A gut-wrenching scream caught the head's attention. Maddox rose up, held in the jaws of two Hydra heads. He wailed as they pulled at his body. A leg came off, and a third head snatched on to the other. The tug of war began again. His hands shook. The briefcase fell and was trampled, destroyed. Just as the second leg was about to come loose, Bishop pulled the blade free and swung it at the head gripping Maddox's torso. The blade cleaved the creature's flesh. The neck and head fell cleanly away, taking Maddox with it.

Hydra roared in pain, but continued charging through the woods, heading toward the clearing ahead. Bishop stabbed into the Hydra's back again, and hung on as it ran forward. A head snapped back toward him, but a bullet from Knight smashed into its eye.

As Knight continued the chase he saw Maddox reaching out to him. Blood seeped from his leg and an arc of deep puncture wounds where he'd been bit. He was trying to talk. Knight slowed and listened. "They're going to clean the site. Get.. people… away." Blood gurgled from his mouth. Dead.

Knight continued his pursuit, but was dogged by the man's statement. Clean the site. Clean… "Damnit," he muttered. The Manifold facility was a bust. Hydra was loose. Reinhart and Ridley were skipping town. He doubted a volcano hid beneath the mountain, but had no doubt Manifold had the means to destroy the whole facility. And the only people Knight could imagine Maddox worrying about were those in the campground. If they were in danger, too, then… too many possibilities for mass destruction existed. A nuke was the simplest thing, but that would probably attract too much attention. In the

Amazon it was a fire, which could be chalked up to lightning. On Tristan da Cunha, a volcano. Both could be blamed on natural destructive forces. Here… he had no idea, but whatever it was had to be big if people at the campground, more than a mile away, were in danger, too.

With no way to reach King he had to trust he would catch Ridley and stop whatever madness he had in mind. Right now, he had to focus on not being killed by a mythological monster.

He looked up as Hydra pulled away. Knight was tiring. Slowing. He couldn't keep up much longer. But Bishop was… One of the Hydra heads swung around toward Bishop again. He shot it twice in the snout, but a second had come around from the other side, this time targeting Bishop's arm — the source of its pain.

Knight stumbled and stopped in shock as he watched the Hydra bite down on Bishop's arm and tear it clean away. Bishop grunted in pain and fell away. As the Hydra pounded onward, charging for the campground, Knight dashed to where Bishop had fallen. He stopped short when he saw Bishop standing, holding his left arm… the missing arm… as it grew to its former bulk. As new fingers expanded from his hand, Bishop tensed and let out a roar of his own.

Knight took aim at Bishop's head.

Not now, Bish.

Bishop looked at him, fire in his eyes. His chest heaved. Drool fell from his gritted teeth. Please not now.

Knight let out his held breath and lowered his weapon when Bishop spoke. His single question told him that Bishop had yet to become a mindless threat. At least not to people. "Which way… did it go?"

Knight pointed. Bishop charged, blade in hand. Hercules reborn.