Forrest - Darklight

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Chapter One

I focused on the five dark silhouettes perched atop the Ferris wheel of Navy Pier Park. The ride was closed for renovation, but crowds of tourists bustled on either side of its boarded-up enclosure: a steady stream of warm targets.

Team A, be ready, I breathed into my comm, and glanced to my teammates behind me within the wheels perimeter. Six helmeted heads nodded back, their hands tightening around silver barrels.

Team B is going in, came the low, confident voice of my brother and second-in-command.

A large helicopter whirred overhead, drawing closer to the wheel and slowly circling it.

I glanced at my watch. Greta, you should be in position.

Yup, and waiting for your command, Lyra, the clipped voice of Team Cs leader replied.

Start the haze, I said.

The hiss of decompressing gas filled the cool spring night, and Greta boomed through a megaphone: Please evacuate the pier. This is an emergency. Head for the childrens museum. You will receive further information there. I repeat, please evacuate the pier.

Beyond the enclosures walls, a semi-dense fog billowed from the ground, covering the crowd. Shouts and cries rang out, followed by a stampede of panicked footsteps. I refocused on the wheels apex, ignoring the guilt that panged in my chest at the sounds of alarm and confusion. The smokescreen could be inconvenient and frightening, but ultimately it would prevent the tourists from being targeted.

The silhouettes started shifting, clearly noticing the helicopter and the commotion. I caught the rustle of an opening wing.

Placing some distance between myself and the base of the wheel, I raised my gun, and my colleagues did the same. All right, Team A. On my count. Three, two, one

I aimed for the largest shadow and fired, my entire body vibrating from the force of the bullets release. I heard the creatures rasping cry, as guttural and grating as a vultures, followed by four others as my teammates hit their marks.

But the shadows barely jerked. Instead, their massive wings shot out, and they launched into the air so fast that I lost them in the darkness.

It was far from my first encounter with the strange avian species, but I still shivered when the light from the nearby Wave Swinger attraction touched their sleek, ink-black forms. In many ways, each resembled the common storklong and graceful, with an extended beak, broad wings, and thin, dangling legs. But these werent the kind youd see carrying babies on greeting cards.

At least three times larger than the biggest earthly stork, they soared through the sky like dark omens, propelled by unnatural speed and a craving for blood. Their talons resembled an eagles, while their beaks were sharp and strong enough to puncture metalthey could suckle a human dry in three minutes if they found a main artery.

There was a reason we called them redbills.

Zach, get to work! I yelled.

Gunfire exploded from the helicopter, peppering the birds with artillery. It took more than a single shot to bring them downeven with bullets specifically designed to deliver their death.

Spread out! I ordered my team. Dont let them dive!

The redbills began to circle the aircraft. The chopper was their greatest source of aggravation, and, judging from the way their beaks angled toward it, they were preparing to strike back. I leapt onto the wheels frame and pulled myself up the metal skeleton for a better angle. I fired a round at the largest predator.

Focus on the biggest! I shouted. But dont let the others get close enough for a snatch-n-fly. Rookie mistake of the year.

My team fired, angry streaks of laser-blue cutting through the darkness. At least ten bullets struck the creature from my teams direction, in addition to a round fired by one of the choppers gunmen. The redbills wings beat violently but held its flight. Id never seen one so large, and with its massive size came extra resilience.

After another onslaught, it finally floundered, an unearthly shriek ripping from its throat and spurts of dark blood raining from its body. It backed down, swerving shakily toward the water at the end of the pier. It would probably be underwater in moments.

My teams focus switched to the next target, a redbill spitting nasty hissing sounds which reminded me uncannily of curses. It darted right up to the aircraft, its powerful beak close to ramming the tail.

Swearing under my breath, I pulled myself higher up the wheel and leaned a little farther out of my comfort zone to get a better shot. I fired, my artillery joining my teams focused stream. Shots pummeled the birds underbelly, but it didnt falter. It took two intense rounds before it fell away, hissing loudly as it plummeted with a crash into the roof of a snack joint.

Good job! I shouted. Three more to go!

I released three bullets in swift succession at our third target, then leaned out even farther to attempt a shot at its neck. My finger was on the trigger, pressing

Lyra, watch out!

Something clamped around my waist. My feet slipped from the frame as an impossible force yanked me to the right like I was a rag doll. The gun flew from my hands and the breath left my lungsthen I was flying.

The pier bled rapidly away beneath me, and a mass of shimmering dark water replaced the ground. My eyes stung. I couldnt hear my breathing over the roar of the wind.

I winced as I felt the cold, painful press of armor against my flesh, as if it were closing in on me, and glanced down. Two blood-speckled claws engulfed my waist, the giant talons squeezing tight.

I didnt glance up, because I didnt need to. All but one bird had been in my peripheral vision before I was snatched. Clearly the first hadnt been as injured as it lookedor it had somehow recuperated and flown back with a burst of energy.

Either way, it didnt matter. If this redbill squeezed any tighter, it was going to crush me even before its deadly beak could gouge me.

Those realizations hit me within moments, flying disjointedly through my brain as my reflexes finally kicked in. I yanked my knees toward my chest and fumbled in my boots to reach the knives strapped there. I pulled both out and slashed them across the creatures claws, hoping it would drop me.

Its legs retracted, shifting me into a more vertical position, but the birds grip barely loosened. Instead, it shrieked and thrust down with its beak, catching my right thigh. My suit dented into the muscle with a pain like being punched, and I gasped in both pain and anger. If it hit the same place twice, itd cut right through.