A large, cow-sized Clicker burst from the periphery of the jungle, and charged at them, pincers scissoring in the air. Tony and Clark raised their weapons and fired indiscriminately at the creature. It went down in a spray of pulped crabmeat.
CLICK-CLICK! CLICK-CLICK! CLICK-CLICK!
The running battle continued. As the team tried to make headway toward their goal, their paths with the marauding Clickers and Dark Ones began converging. Dark Ones and Clickers alike came within their periphery, a few times purposefully charging them. Each time, the agents, as well as Tony and Clark, took them down with expert shots. Clark felt his weapon grow hot in his hands during the firefight. He ejected a spent magazine and slapped in a fresh one as Tony covered for him, mowing down a stream of Dark Ones and Clickers heading straight for them. Tony laughed maniacally as Clickers and Dark Ones alike were taken down in a spray of crustacean flesh and shell and scaly flesh.
Tony laughed. “This is like playing Asteroids the way they’re fucking coming down on us!”
“More like Space Invaders,” Clark said, trying to remain calm. His pulse raced, and his head hurt.
The path the rampaging Clickers and Dark Ones were taking toward the shore was now shifting. Clark sensed something in the air change, as if some malevolent force was aware of their existence on the island. He paused briefly in his engagement, taking stock of the situation to their right. A series of deep roars, as if from a thousand bull alligators, sounded from the jungle, accompanied by approaching footfalls and clicking noises.
“They’re all around us,” Clark yelled.
“We’re almost there,” Ruby shouted back. “Move ahead at ten o’clock!”
Clark turned in the direction she indicated and Tony followed, shooting down a trio of Dark Ones on mounted Clickers emerging from another thick stand of trees. Amethyst joined him in the gunfire, taking the creatures down in a spray of blood and gunk.
Running as fast as they could under the conditions, with Diamond and Amethyst bringing up the rear, they quickly covered more ground. Clark’s sole focus now was in getting them to the entryway to the catacombs beneath the ground. If they could reach them, they would lose their pursuers and hopefully Ruby and the other Black Lodge agents would know where Jennifer Wasco and the rest of the surviving scientific team were hiding. As for stopping Dagon, he’d leave that to the Black Lodge agents and Tony. He had no idea what Tony’s role in all this was, but apparently the Black Lodge agents needed him for it.
“We’re almost there.” Ruby panted for breath. “Just another twenty yards, behind that stand of trees to the left.”
There was a sizzling noise slightly behind them followed by the sound of falling trees and great thrashing. Clark’s focus was on the stand of trees Ruby had indicated and he sprinted toward it. The others fell behind him, except for Tony, who ran alongside him.
“The fuck is that shit?” Tony asked.
“What?” Clark asked.
“That!” Tony gestured with the barrel of his M16.
Clark looked and his eyes widened. “What the…?”
The sizzling noise grew louder. Trees fell to the ground in tatters. A thick plume of smoke rising amid dissolving wood and plant matter. Tony and Clark stopped in their tracks, momentarily stunned by what they were seeing.
Emerging from the dissolving stand of trees was a gigantic black Clicker. Clark had never seen anything like it. Roughly the size of a bulldozer, it waved its gigantic pincers and knocked down several small trees. The stinger on its tail was enormous. It thrust its tail forward and Clark saw venom shoot out of the bulbous appendage. The venom splattered against the trees fifty yards from them and immediately began dissolving the foliage. The Clicker hissed angrily and advanced toward the humans on its spindly legs.
“Holy fucking shit!” Tony said.
“Goddamn!” Clark agreed.
Behind them, the Black Lodge agents appeared stunned, but they quickly recovered their senses. Clark recovered just as quickly and noticed the stand of trees Ruby had been steering them toward. It was only ten yards to their left. The thick jungle foliage was covering whatever opening to the catacombs that lay there. If they could just get to it—
Amid the thick smoke and the sizzling trees and brush, the black Clicker charged at them. Its tail was raised over its back, ready to jab its vicious stinger downward. Its speed belied its size.
Time seemed to suddenly slow down for Clark as he yelled “Shoot it!” He brought his M16 up, hoping he could destroy it before it reached them. Beside him, Tony raised his weapon, his mouth open in a scream.
And just as suddenly, Tony was flung out of the way and Onyx was in his place, weapon raised. Tony thudded to the ground beside Clark and his finger inadvertently squeezed the trigger, sending a volley of shots into the sky and the tree branches overhead, shredding branches and leaves and dropping arboreal animals to the ground. Clark dove for cover and barely managed to avoid the black Clicker’s deadly assault.