Part 5
Burt strode into Chang's with his usual swagger, more or less. He surveyed the inhabitants. "All present and accounted for," he prounced. "Good." He frowned down at Kylie, combing out her wet hair. "Why are you all wet?"
"I took a shower," she groused. "What happened to you? You're not your usual immaculate self."
He brushed off a bit more of the dirt and soot that still coated him from head to toe. "A slight miscalculation," he said.
"Must have been a disaster," Nancy commented, familiar with Burt's penchant for understatement.
Burt ignored her and moved on. "Are all the tunnel entrances sealed?"
"Every one we could find," Harlowe pronounced. "I think we got them all."
"Good." Burt moved further into the store, zeroing in on the coffee cup Jodi was setting on the counter for him. "Then we're ready. Tyler." He turned to the younger man. "We've got one last task and we should take out these government-spawned demons."
He gulped down the coffee and the two men went for the door. Before Tyler could exit, Burt noticed his wet hair too, then Kylie eying him nervously. He looked suspiciously from Tyler to Kylie and back again. "She stay in the vehicle?" he asked.
Tyler and Kylie shared a look. "Mostly," he said.
Burt and Tyler crept up to the crest of the ridge and looked at the main entrance to the colony. It was considerably wider than when they came across it originally, due to Burt's earlier explosion. Coyotes were busily rolling chunks of dirt and debris out.
"If you've got the timers, why can't we just seal this cave up too?" Tyler asked.
Burt glanced at him. "The entrance is too big. If I tried to seal it again, it would just stir them up and they'd be on us before we could make any progress. Too many outside the cave now."
"Lot of activity there, Burt," Tyler said. "Can you make out how many are outside the cave?"
Looking through the binoculars, Burt shook his head. "Hard to tell. They keep moving and it's getting dark. Maybe a dozen or so. But there's more coming out all the time."
"Coming on to night. It's their coyote side getting active."
Burt nodded. "But we have something for them." He patted the radio control he'd set next to him when they came over the ridge. He had set it off as soon as he'd assessed the situation. "It shouldn't take more than five minutes," he said.
They waited.
"Burt, there are an awful lot of them coming out now. Shouldn't we--"
"Negative. We need the gas to get to as many chambers as possible. A few more minutes should do it..."
Lines of coyotes started heading off in different directions. One line came toward them.
"Burt..."
Burt came to a kneeling position. "Pick off any that get too far from the entrance, but don't waste ammo on the rest." He set the radio control near him. "And when I tell you to hit the dirt--"
"I know, dive!"
Burt grinned a particularly nasty grin. "You take the right, I'll take the left. Aim at targets of opportunity in the middle."
Both men leveled their rifles and opened fire.
Chaos reigned when the lead animals in each line were blown away. It was as if the other animals didn't know where to go. A moment of angry milling, however, settled that question. Several of the lines converged and started in their direction.
"Burt!"
"Just a few more--"
The control emitted a series of short beeps. Burt scooped it up and shouted, "Fire in the hole!" and flicked another switch with his thumb.
A rumbling started deep inside the ground and grew quickly louder.
Both men dived behind the ridge, rolling a short way down the hill.
BOOM!
A fireball came out and up from the cave opening and another part of the ceiling fell away. They heard echoes of the explosion around the area.
"Whoo-hoo!" Tyler shouted.
"We're not out of the woods yet!" Burt bellowed, pointing his rifle at the top of the hill. It was swarming with coyotes. He aimed and fired, taking out the lead animals, but more followed.
Tyler joined in and soon the night was lit with barrel flash as wave after wave came over the hill and were slaughtered. The two fell back and started eyeing the safety of the truck when finally the last animal went down.
Carefully, they crept to the top of the hill, finishing off any coyotes on the way.
The scene below them was from a horror movie. The flames still burned at the entrance. Periodically, an animal would stagger out, its fur on fire, only to crumple with his fellows.
"Looks like we got 'em, Burt," Tyler said.
The older man nodded. "Looks like we did."
Suddenly, something burst out of the cave and soared up into the air, leaving a trail of soot, ash and fur. Both men ducked though whatever it had been was too far away to be a danger to them.
"What the hell was that?" Tyler shouted.
"I do not know..." Burt said slowly. He brought the binoculars to his eyes. "I'll be damned..."
The door at Chang's slammed open and Burt burst into the room, followed by Tyler.
"They were flying!" Burt shouted down at Kylie. "You didn't say they could fly!"
She stared up at him, wide-eyed. "Flying?" she cried. "I didn't know they could fly!"
"They got away then?" Nancy asked, concerned.
Burt shook his head. "Just one, I think. But that's enough."
"Oh no..." Kylie said in a small voice.
Burt's eyes squewered her. "What?"
Kylie grimaced. "Only the queen can fly. And only when she... uh... mates..."