Page 51 of Swamp Kings 2

Oh God.

“Why wouldn’t he call and warn about this?” she whispered. “Unless something happened to him?”

“There could be a lot of reasons,” Beth said, trying to think of one as she hurried to the window in the room.

“Don’t!” Maggie gasped. “If they see you, it could be worse.”

The door opened and Seer entered with a rifle, silencing them with a finger at his mouth,before turning the light off.

“What’s happening?” Beth whispered, shaking.

“Armed militia. Twenty-two strong. Stay quiet, they’re handling it,” he breathed, winded.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“What’s the plan,” Bishop muttered. “We fucking tried with these goons.”

“Fathom will immobilize them. Fin will finish them.”

Bishop regarded the triplets who had spoken in that freaky unison, then eyed the group of hardened men again. They weren’t just survivors. Their patchwork gear and ragged appearance saidtakennot earned. Scavengers in worn tactical vests, makeshift holsters, guns slung across shoulders and stuffed into belts, no doubt all stolen from those they’d overpowered.

“Awaiting your command,” the three of them said, still in unison.

“Do it,” Bishop muttered.

Fetch reached out and grabbed Bishop’s shoulder, bringing his new bite gifts rushing out and into Fetch, Fathom andFin, allowing him to see past their privacy wall. White electricity moved from Fathom through the windshield then quietly weaved into the crowd of bodies, the energy seeming to climb the air itself. Bishop marveled at seeing he was charging the dust in the air around their bodies.

Fathom released a cerulean current of light that spider-webbed out along the net he’d created. The blue energy focused on the weapons they held and within seconds, they were too hot to hold, causing every man to instantly drop them. Immediately after, Fathom sent an explosion of light through the ionized web, putting them in convulsions.

Fin moved next, his eyes closed, the sound of collective heartbeats filling Bishop’s mind as Fetch gave him a literal front row view of what he was doing. Fin tuned into the intricate flow of blood in their brains and in a silent movement, restricted. Before Bishop could wonder why, he turned his surgical focus to their hands, slipping deeper into their blood and cutting it off at their wrists and fingers, depriving nerves and tendonsof oxygen until their hands locked into a clawed shape. An electric chill rode his spine at seeing them all screaming in pain with no sound, explaining what he’d initially done in their brains.

Fucking genius.

But his silent execution wasn’t done, he realized, watching him target the micro vessels next, blocking the pathways that would bring nutrients for healing. It triggered a slow buildup of scar tissue which meant those hands would forever be locked that way. Fucking wow. Bishop had wondered how he’dfinishthem, realizing it was a mild play on words. He wasn’t finishing them off for good, he was rendering them permanently useless. Food for other scavengers just like them.

Lesson learned?

Doubtful.

****

Bishop snatched up his ringing phone next to the bed in the rig’s private suite. At seeing the code number, he hurried out and stepped into the small bathroom. “Spook.”

“Eveque, sorry, I ended up on detour after leading a handful of bad news away from you. Is Maggie okay?”

“Mostly worried.”

“I had to ditch my first phone, I’m on my spare.”

“Well, we ran into a twenty-man rag-tag militia about an hour back. Figured you mighta ran into them first.”

“Fuck,” he breathed, sounding surprised. “Everybody okay?”

“Yeah, our triplets took real good care of them. Didn’t kill them but these fucks are permanently disabled with crippled claw hands. Fucking coolest thing I’ve ever seen, all in under a minute. Fathom used electricity to heat the air particles while Fin manipulated their blood and crippled them. And before he did that, he disconnected their voice box from their brain,” Bishop muttered, his pulse racing all over again. “Freakiest thing watching them silently scream as their hands shriveled up.”

“Holy fuck,” Spook whispered on a breath of awe.

“What did youencounter?” Bishop wondered now.

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