Free Holmes by Anna Hackett

tentacles waving madly, reaching for him.
    Shit . Adam moved again, shoving backward. She aimed for his neck, trying to slap the thing against his skin. He gripped her arms, thrusting his head to the side to avoid the creature. His fingers sank into her skin like she was made of nothing more than thick foam.
    What the hell? He wrestled with the raptor-Diane creature, forcing it backward.
    Suddenly, something swung into view and slammed into his assailant. It growled, but redoubled its efforts to shove the strange beetle on Adam.
    Liberty swung again. Adam realized she was holding a metal crowbar. Her powerful swing wouldn’t have looked out of place in the baseball leagues. She smacked the bar against the alien creature’s head.
    The alien hissed again and pulled back. It gave up on reaching his neck and dived at him.
    Adam felt a sharp sting on his arm, heard Liberty swear, then Liberty tackled the creature, pushing it off him.
    There was the thunder of boots on the pavement, and Adam heard the Hell Squad soldiers swearing. He saw Liberty wrestling with the creature, tossing damn good punches into the alien’s face.
    Then he felt pain run up his arm. He looked down.
    The beetle thing was clamped around his forearm.
    Ignoring the burning pain, he surged up. He had to help Liberty.
    Cruz and Marcus appeared beside him. They had their carbines raised.
    “Can’t risk a shot without hitting Liberty,” Marcus bit out.
    Adam yanked out his laser pistol.
    Marcus eyed him for a half a second before nodding. Adam had always been a decent shot, and had used Blue Mountain Base’s firing range when he could.
    He strode forward, aiming the pistol. He had to get close enough so he could guarantee he didn’t hurt Liberty as well.
    The woman and alien rolled, and he had a perfect view of the creature wearing his ex-wife’s stolen face. He fired.
    Liberty jerked back. The raptor creature jerked too. He pulled the trigger again, unloading laser fire into its chest. It stopped moving. Then, the skin shrunk away from it, like ice cream melting in the sun. It left behind a bony, skeletal figure made of a scale-like substance.
    Liberty fell backward, staring in horror at the alien.
    “Some type of new raptor tech,” Cruz said. Hell Squad surrounded the alien, everyone staring. “It can mimic human forms.”
    Adam ignored them and sat beside Liberty. He tugged her into his arms. “You okay?”
    She nodded jerkily, but her face was pale and her usually pristine hair was in disarray.
    “You’re sure?”
    She nodded again.
    Adam just held her, not telling her he needed the contact to settle his rattled nerves. He looked up at Hell Squad. “It had the face of my ex-wife.”
    The soldiers cursed.
    “This isn’t good.” Marcus scowled at the thing on the ground. “It’s some sort of doppelganger.”
    “Yes. But it still had raptor eyes, and the copy wasn’t perfect.” Adam tried to calm his racing pulse. “It said it had come from the Enclave. That it had been destroyed.”
    Silence fell.
    Adam shook his head. “It’s a lie. Have Elle make contact with the Enclave. Check that everything is okay.”
    With a nod, Cruz turned, touching his earpiece and murmuring to their comms officer.
    “And the thing on your arm?” Hell Squad’s leader asked.
    God, in the frenzy, Adam had forgotten. Now the full force of the pain hit, and he grimaced.
    “Oh, my God.” Liberty half turned, her hands gripping his forearm. “It wanted to get this on Adam. Marcus, we need Emerson.”
    Marcus touched his ear. “Elle, we need the doc.”
    Adam shifted slightly. The pain was traveling out of his arm now and into his chest. He felt like his heart rate was speeding up, and his breathing was becoming constricted. But then he realized something worse.
    He looked into Liberty’s eyes. “I can’t feel my legs.”
    She pressed into his side. “It’s going to be okay. Doc Emerson will sort you out.”
    Soon Emerson appeared. Her head nurse, Norah,