Banshee by Terry Maggert Read Free Book Online

rise, threatening to burst free and undo years of backbreaking work by the city and her people. A savvy governor named Amanda Larson swiftly began moving militia into the area. While her instincts were correct, no one could have possibly been prepared for what arrived behind the mounds of dead livestock.
    The first of the Unholy Trinity, as they were coined, burst from the river on six squat, muscular legs. Nearly seventy feet in length, the creature was smooth and featureless, right down to the short, unremarkable tail that lashed the water to muddy froth as it powered toward the hastily organizing soldiers. They needn’t have bothered with their small arms. In seconds, the maw of the beast opened to reveal a circular row of needle-like fangs that flipped outward into a halo nearly ten feet across. The monster was stupidly single-minded, but it was enough. The scarlet mouth was the only color on the oddly pale behemoth, and it began to dart forward and impale screaming men and women with terrifying speed. The rules of engagement became simple: once the fangs touched a human, all blood was drained from their flailing body until they ceased struggling, then the fangs, operating with complete independence, would flip outward and discard the remains. In short order, additional troops and some bold citizens began to unleash massive amounts of gunfire into the gray flesh of the lamprey lizard, causing it to slow appreciably. Several militias with massive fifty caliber rifles on low tripods began adding their hammering shots to the melee with obvious effect. Gouts of fluid and flesh blew skyward with each booming impact from the riflemen, whose rate of fire was slower than the militia. With the enormous knockdown power of the .50 calibers in play, a crescent of soldiers began to advance on the beast, and it looked like a pyrrhic victory would soon be at hand. When three massive reports sounded at once, and the targeted heavy fire struck in a fusillade of destruction, the skull of the creature caved in with the ripping sound of an enormous tree being felled. The monster, then covered in oozing wounds, slowed to a stop, raised its eyeless head to the skies, and loosed a long keening howl of anger and frustration. The ruined skull crashed to the earth with a massive splash of pink liquid and gore, and an uneasy quiet settled over the thick haze of smoke. The wounded cried out as rescuers began to move warily forward, giving as wide a berth as possible to the still-twitching corpse. And then the forest exploded.
    Matching horrors rampaged forward from the mountainside, with shrieks that froze the blood of everyone in the valley. Scaled and apelike, the putrid gray pair of demons stood four stories tall, both armored with bone plating that gleamed like poisonous fruit. Where the lizard had been silent, these two uttered glass-rattling howls from the moment they spied the masses of defenders standing near their downed compatriot. In a blur, one of the monsters accelerated away and up the mountain, crashing through trees in a cacophony of destruction that seemed totally without purpose . . . until it stopped.
    Oh, shit , the town collectively swore when nearly forty thousand people realized they were bracketed with nowhere to run. An unseen command was shared, and both animals flashed into action incongruous with their heavy builds. The apes were athletic, angry, and remorseless. They smashed and grabbed in a whirlwind of destruction, flattening buildings and hurling people into the air, or crunching them between molars the size of washing machines. The screams and chaos were too much, and panic overwhelmed many of the militia who were still in shock from the butchery of the first attack. French, a master woodsman and officer in the militia, was out of the fight on a salvage meeting nearly three miles away. Unbeknownst to him, his wife had the presence of mind to flee for their bolt hole when it became obvious that the fight was over.