Free Evolver: Apex Predator by Phil Hester, Jon S. Lewis, Shannon Eric Denton, Jason Arnett Page B

arm.
    Jackson fell backward, screaming. He clutched at his arm, pulled the syringe out and threw the it across the room. The elder Savage was dying and he stared back at Jackson who wondered why his father would do this to him. It didn't make any sense.
    His blood was on fire, the pain overwhelming and his father wasn't moving or even breathing now. He sat up, leaned against a cabinet and tried to catch his breath tried to think. Nothing made sense. The room tilted away at crazy angles.
    There were heavy footsteps that sounded suspiciously like claws on tile. Fear twisted up his spine and bored in at the back of his throat as he saw an impossible creature. Seven feet of walking armor plate on two stubby legs with a long snout, scaly skin, a longish tail and sharp-looking claws instead of hands. It loomed over him, sniffing the air, and took another step. Jackson tried to back up but ran into the door of the cabinet he was leaning against, then tried to move left, away from the creature. It moved with him, coming closer, making strange snuffling sounds. He clawed at the floor and tried to get to his feet but slipped. It was right behind him when it threw a massive arm downward.
    Through the pain, Jackson rolled away shouting and scrambling for cover. The thing's fist slammed into the tile, sending shards into the ceiling. It roared at him. Its heavy tail swung back and forth across the aisle as it slowly followed, smacking into chairs and table legs. It was between him and the door, so Jackson decided to make for the outer wall of the lab, for the windows. He got unsteadily to his feet and took three steps forward.
    The creature's tail caught him in the gut as it smashed through everything between it and Jackson. The boy barely had time to register the pain as he flew backwards over a lab table. He saw his reflection in the window just before he went through it shoulder first, covering his head with both arms. Then he was in empty air four stories up.

 
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    Alarms were screaming and red lights flashed inside the building as floodlights came on one after another, like miniature stars around the campus. He lay sprawled in a hedge, gasping for breath, his clothes torn and his gut aching. He brought a hand up to his face and saw what he thought were orange scales, shook his head and they were gone. Looking up at the shattered window, all he could think was "Dad..."
    Jackson rolled out of the hedge, tearing his shirt more. The faint wail of emergency vehicles racing to the EnviroTech campus pulled him to his feet. He stumbled into some shadows. He was still breathing hard, his gut still ached where the monster had hit him.
    One of the banks of floodlights had failed. There was darkness enough for Jackson to stay out of sight from the soon to be arriving security, EMTs and police. He wanted to warn them that there was a monster in there, but his throat was dry, raw and he could barely think let alone speak. Then he heard someone call out to him. "Jackson!" He stopped, finally getting his breathing under control.
    There was someone in the shadows with him between a tree and the wall. "Jackson! It's me --- Laurie!" He peered forward.
    Laurie had been his father's lab assistant for two years. She was pretty, with red hair and glasses. She'd been at the lab that day of the fight between the two Savages.
    "Something... monster," Jackson said in a hoarse whisper pointing up at the fourth floor window. He swallowed. "I think he's dead."
    "I know," Laurie said, not quite putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. She looked over her own shoulder, scanning the darkness and pulled her hand back. "Can you run?"
    "I'll try," he said though none too sure.
    She sprinted ahead of him, dodging the pools of light as the sirens got louder and the flashing red and blue lights were coming from everywhere. He trailed a little behind her around the huge EnviroTech building to a parking lot and Laurie's car.
     
    *
     
    "No one's supposed to