Free Alpha Male by Mike Cooley Page A

the room. Shots erupted. Sirens crouched and leapt, dodging bullets. When the bullets did hit them, they ricocheted off their nano-polymer bodysuits. The Sirens shot back with their dart guns. Each agent that was hit dropped their gun and stood where they were, shock registering on their face. Some of them dropped to the floor and clutched their heads. Then they started to scream in unison. The agents that weren’t hit kept firing.  
    “I’m going to do things to you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” said Drake.  
    “Silas will stop you.” Mel struggled against Drake’s iron grip.  
    “I’ll fuck you to death for what you did to me. He can watch.” Drake’s fetid breath made Mel gag. Two Sirens fired darts at Drake and then rolled behind some machines. His grip on Mel loosened as he dodged to his right.
      “You sure do have a high opinion of yourself for a fucking rapist.” Mel gritted her teeth and dropped to the floor. Drake’s hand ripped the top of her black bodysuit open, exposing her breasts.
    “Run, Mel! You have to get further away.” Silas’ eyes were dark with rage, and his hands were extended toward the floor. He ignored the shots ringing out around him.  
      The Sirens were firing at the remaining agents. Three of the agents were hit and no longer firing, while the other three were hiding behind machines and aiming at the heads of the Sirens, having noticed that body shots were bouncing off. Six of the twenty Sirens in the room were down on the floor dead or bleeding.
    Mel ran for her life, getting as far away from Drake as she could. Then she tripped over the body of a Siren and fell to the floor. She turned around in time to see Drake go from standing still to moving so fast he was no more than a blur. He streaked toward her.
    Black spots formed on the floor next to Silas. The scars on his arms lit up from within. The spots swirled around and around, then joined together and shot across the room like a pool of dark water. The pool grew larger and stopped between Mel and Drake.  
    “Too late,” yelled Drake. He jumped over the blackness at high speed. “You never were any good.”
    Mel screamed and raised her arms in front of her defensively. She scooted backwards on the floor, slipping in the blood.  
    Silas groaned and lifted both hands. They trembled. Drake arced over the circle of blackness, heading right toward Mel. Mel slid back, trying to get to her feet so she could run. Her eyes were wide and full of fear. An agent saw the dark pool on the floor, then turned and fired at Silas.
    The pool of blackness lifted sideways off the ground into the air like the entrance to a tunnel. Drake reached Melanie before Silas could stop him.  
    Or rather, his head did. His body vanished within the blackness, which dissolved into tiny black dots. His head, mouth hanging open in victory, rolled to a stop at Mel’s feet. The neck was neatly cauterized. No blood emerged. The lips twitched as if trying to say something, and the silver eyes went red.
    Silas dropped to his knees. Blood ran down his shirt and dripped on the floor. His eyes were as dark as the blackness he controlled. Mel ran to his side. “Time to go, Si. This isn’t our fight.”
    Silas struggled to his feet and let Mel pull him toward the tunnel leading to the pool. Behind them, more shots rang out. There were bodies of Sirens on the floor of the chamber. Tala was still slumped against the wall, unmoving. Faye vaulted to the top of a silver machine and fired down at the remaining agents. Half the agents had dropped their weapons and were sitting on the floor with unfocused eyes. One of them was trembling as his skin turned slowly to powder.  
    “You’re hit, Silas.” Mel looked at the blood streaming down his chest.
    Silas nodded. “Time for that once we are out.”
    Mel ran to the edge of the pool and then stopped. “In case we don’t make it out, Si. I just want to say—”
    “I know.” His eyes met