Kingdom of Monsters by John Schneider (latest novels to read .TXT) 📕

Chapter 57

The two F-16s spun together as they charged into the billowing black clouds.

Jonah didn't know where that goddamned lizard learned to fly, but he was a sight better at it than he was.

He could see them in the cockpit as the twin jet made sweeping passes like a hawk.  Jonah wasn't even sure which one of them was flying – maybe they all were – they danced in the pilot's seat like monkeys.

“He's coming in again!” Naomi shouted as the F-16 dogged their tail like a thing alive, alternating between trying to shoot them down, and driving them into the flocks of pursuing pterosaurs – some of the infected giants with wingspans reaching four-hundred feet or better.

An F-16 could handily beat even an infected giant's top air-speed, but they were swarming out of the trees, all along their path, threatening to cut in front of them.  To avoid the seemingly suicidal mobbing pterosaurs, Jonah was discovering the fighter's full-range of capabilities.

He had met a few fighter pilots while gaining his own license, and had watched them run their exercises.  Never once had he the slightest urge to try it – it was terrifying to watch from the ground.

Jonah wondered if Naomi was as scared as he was.  She had shrieked at their initial take-off, but had manned the rear cockpit mostly with open eyes.

“Watch it!” Naomi shouted into his headset.

Otto's plane twisted acrobatically, this time bee-lining physically right at them, apparently happy to crash them both.

Which caused Jonah to wonder about the nuke on Otto's own wing.  He knew they weren't supposed to go off in a crash, or even an explosion, but it didn't seem prudent to test it.

Otto sure didn't seem concerned.

And as they flew into the heart of the storm, and visibility quickly dropped, it was harder to see them coming – not to mention the giant pterosaurs.

That was another thing – you never saw pterosaurs, or birds for that matter, out in harsh weather – yet the flocks of flying dragons hung doggedly on their tail, no matter how many of them were battered down by the winds, or electrocuted by lightning strikes, or simply drowned in mid-air – and they had to be flying blind.

Jonah sure was.  The artificial horizon blinked on the screen like an arcade-game.

Their target was twenty-miles ahead – he was firing by virtual line-of-sight at a target he wouldn't even be able to see.

Although, he supposed close counted in nukes and horseshoes.

They had the coordinates entered into the artificial horizon.

For all Jonah knew, he might as well shut it off and use the Force.

Above and to the rear, Otto's jet broke through the clouds, like a hawk.

“He's getting behind us,” Naomi shouted into his ear.

The warning came just as bullets riddled their right wing.  Jonah spun them off before the engine was hit.

But the pursuing jet was on their tail in seconds.  Jonah was waiting for the shots when the radio suddenly blared in his ear.

“Rhodes wants an update,” Naomi said, grabbing up the radio.  “We're a little busy, General,” she said into the mic.

Rhodes wasn't feeling patient.

“Where the hell are you?  What the hell is going on?”

“Coming up on our target, sir,” Naomi replied, with even less patience.  “And right now we're being attacked by lizards in an F-16, and giant flying dragons, so can we call you back?”

As terrified as he was, Jonah almost snickered over that one.

Rhodes was silent a moment, and Jonah could almost hear him steaming.

Nevertheless, his voice was steady.

“We're counting on you.”

Naomi clicked off, turning to look as Otto moved in again.

Jonah glanced over his shoulder – they were in gun-range.

“Well,” Jonah said, “saw this in a movie once.  Hit the brakes and they'll fly right by.”

Jonah turned the flaps, jerking them upright as if they'd hit a wall, at the very moment Otto opened fire.

Bullets riddled the wing again, but the pursuing jet overshot, and went sailing past.

“Son of a bitch,” Jonah said, with Otto now in his sights.  “It worked.”

As he opened up his guns, he wondered again about the nuclear payload.

Oh well – it shouldn't go off.

Jonah's bullets caught Otto's engines and the plane exploded.

The wreckage went spinning earthward, disappearing quickly in the storming clouds.

Now, that just left every bat-winged monster out of hell.

At this point, only the infected giants were successfully battling the storm.

“We've got a big one on our tail,” Naomi said.

Jonah glanced over his shoulder as the massive shadow descended down like a winged-dreadnought.  He could see the glowing green eyes through the storm.

They were nearing firing range – their target, the expanse of valley beyond the highest peak.

On their starboard, the bullet-riddled engine flamed out.

“Jonah...” Naomi began.

“I know," he said, already feeling the F-16 slipping out of his control

Jonah fired.

This missile streaked away, leaving a tracer-trail through the clouds.

Jonah veered off.

That's when the giant pterosaur caught them, on the curve – just barely catching their wing with its snapping beak.

The engine was ripped loose.

They were soaring in free-fall as the nuclear cloud mushroomed on the horizon, for a single moment more powerful than the storm.

And then the blast wave came, blowing the clouds along with it.

Jonah felt the wave hit them and the jet was sent spinning.

Then Naomi screamed in his ear.

“Jonah!”

The pterosaur was coming in again, riding the wave, its jaws outstretched, and Jonah saw that it was going to reach them.

He hit eject.

The hatch blew and both their seats fired into the air just as the giant beak smashed into the fuselage.  The F-16 exploded.

Naomi's automatic chute opened, immediately catching in the buffeting wind.

Above her, she saw the pterosaur arcing away, spitting out smoking pieces of jet.

Below, she saw Jonah's chute open, spinning in the gale like a seed-leaf.

He hung limp in his harness, his face covered in blood.

Naomi called his name as they were carried into the storm.

Chapter 58

Brutus saw the missile sailing past overhead.  He was probably the only one left alive on this side of the mountain who knew