Chapter Fifty-Four.

The behemoth took the stairwell and followed the pull and instinct of its olfactory senses, which acted very much like internal radar. The living were inside the stairwell that led to the Portside Bay.

It didn't just take the stairs, it leapt down them-five, six stairs at a time, the behemoth closing the distance between them, but not fast enough.

It could hear the firefight-could see the muzzle flares coming up from below.

And then it bellowed, both in anger and as a call to let those beneath it know that it was king and would not be denied.

The cry resonated off the walls.

The undead upon the stairwell had fallen into silence when they heard the cry from above. That which sat at the top of the hierarchy was making its way to them.

After it cried out, they became idle and stood riveted as they watched the living open the bay door.

"It coooooooooooomeeeeees," a few whispered.

Then in concert: "It coooooooooooomeeeeees."

They stood.

And waited.

"It coooooooooooomeeeeees."

As soon as the door opened, Meade stepped inside the bay and waved the rest in. Michelin was right behind him with Skully and Funboy on his heels, the two still firing rounds.

Once everyone was gathered, Meade pressed the keypad code and the door, which had a solid steel thickness of two inches, closed with a whisper with the bolts locking in place.

And then a smile came to President Michelin's face. "We did it," he said. "We actually did it."

But they weren't there yet, thought Skully.

They still had to get to the Winged Banshee.

The undead had parted and made a path for the behemoth as it made its way down to the Portside Bay door.

"It coooooooooooomeeeeees."

When the massive creature stood before the door, it found it to be a major obstacle. So it raised its closed fists to resemble the heads of sledgehammers, and brought them down against the door again . . . .

. . . and again . . .

. . . and again.

Dents appeared against the portside door, which galvanized the team to move. The Banshee was in their sight, but the pilot had yet to start the engines.

Meade called to the pilot through his lip mic.

No response.

Another attempt.

Still no answer.

They neared the Winged Banshee.

When Tin Man heard the hammering against the Portside Bay door, it caught its attention from its moment of feeding. It raised its head, cocked it to the side, and sniffed the air. The living had entered the bay.

Tin Man lowered the coils of intestine it had been feeding on, went to the rear of the Banshee, and stood within the deep shadows of the airlock, watching.

Four members of the living were racing across the floor to the ship, causing Tin Man to smile in cruel and wicked glee.

Because it knew it was about to feed once more.

"Coooooome tooo meeeeeeeee," it hissed quietly from the shadows. "Coooooomeeee."

Chapter Fifty-Five.

"Two minutes, Eriq! We have two minutes!"

The voice sounded distant and tinny, but it was enough to alert him from his detachment while his vision continued to close in at the edges.

He saw the hatchway: Level 1 was stenciled on it.

Eriq reached out a wobbly hand, grabbed the lever, and gave it a clockwise twist. There was a whoosh, and then the small door pulled back into a recess, allowing passage. Eriq looked up and saw that Sheena was struggling as well. Schott, however, appeared less weary-perhaps from working with the boilers for long periods which acclimated him, he thought.

"Less than two minutes," Schott called down.

Eriq maneuvered into the opening, turned, and grabbed Sheena by the leg, directing her downward. Just as Sheena was about to place a foot along the rim of the hole, her eyes began to roll to the back of her head, showing whites, then released the rungs, and fell.

Eriq lashed out and grabbed her, the awkwardness and position of her weight too much for Eriq to drag into the opening alone. "Jim!" He cried out for aid. "She's out!"

Schott climbed down, reached out to grab Sheena by the collar of her jumpsuit, and pulled her up. "Now drag her inside!" he told him.

Eriq did, carefully.

And then Schott followed with less than a minute to go before the boilers fired up again.

As Eriq carried Sheena to the opposite side of the room, Schott closed the door and locked it firmly into place. Just as he stepped back, they could hear the boilers go off, sending an upward plume of fire through the cylindrical shaft.

Schott fell against the wall, wiping sweat from his brow, relieved.

Eriq, whose vision was beginning to expand to its outer most edges, aided Sheena, who was starting to come around.

When Sheena's eyes began to focus, she directed them to Eriq, who was smiling at her.

"I thought we lost you," Eriq told her softly.

"What happened?"

"The heat got to you. You blacked out. Let go of the rungs."

"Then how-"

"I caught you, and Jim over there grabbed you and helped me pull you in."

She looked at Schott and gave him a very thankful smile.

Schott returned the welcome by giving her a mock salute.

Eriq helped her to her feet. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah," she told him. "I'll be fine."

Jim Schott got to his feet as well, then pointed to the door at the opposite side of the room. "This will take us to a corridor," he said. "And that corridor will take us right into the Portside Bay."

Eriq nodded. "We have to get to that Banshee before they do," he said with urgency.

"Why?" Sheena asked. "They can't just leave us behind. Not if we're there to catch the boat."

"You don't understand," Eriq said. "A Winged Banshee can only transport of maximum of six people. If you count the pilot, Skully, his two teammates and the president, that's five. I don't know if there's anyone else they left behind to post as sentry. Maybe another commando. Who knows?"

"Then how do we all decide on who stays and who goes?" she inquired.

"We don't," Eriq returned. "They've already made up their mind when they left Schott to stay behind. They had a primary objective to save the president. That was it. The rest of us, I'm sure, were considered expendable. They have no intention of allowing us on that ship."

Her chin started to quiver. "Then how do we get out of here?"

Eriq showed her his firearm.

Schott shook his head. "You're kidding, right? One pistol against three assault weapons."

"If we can get to the ship before them, all I need to do is coax the pilot to fly the Banshee back to Earth."

"And if he refuses?" Schott added.

"Then I'll order him off the ship."

"Then who'll fly the Banshee out of here?"

"I will," Eriq told him. "I flew Banshees over the Wastelands many times."

"And if we're late getting to the ship?" asked Sheena.

Eriq hesitated a moment before answering. "Then we'll never get off this ship."

Schott said nothing, but he responded by leading the way out of the Boiler Shack and to the Portside Bay.

Time was running out.

Chapter Fifty-Six.

When Meade reached the airlock to the Winged Banshee, he took the steps to the doorway only to be greeted most unwelcomely.

Tin Man came out of the shadows, and Meade's mind failed him as Tin Man stared at him from a distance of three feet through glazed-over eyes. Meade was incapable of registering the moment because he'd been rendered motionless by disbelief.

Tin Man's skin was blue-gray, and its blood-caked lips from gorging on the pilot curled along the edges with impish delight.

"Coooooome tooo meeeeeeeee."

Just as Meade was about to utter something nonsensical, Tin Man lashed out with its hand, grabbed Meade by the throat, and yanked his esophagus free. The action was so quick it was like a snake leaping from quiescence to fang a rodent, then recoiling.

Meade brought both hands to his throat and went to his knees as his eyes became the size of Communion wafers. Blood ran between the gaps of his fingers as his life started to ebb away.

Funboy reacted by raising his weapon, but Skully slapped the barrel of the weapon aside just as Funboy pulled the trigger, the bullets stitching along a metal wall to the left of the ship.

"You can damage the Banshee if you miss, you idiot!" Skully stated sharply. "Then we'd never get off this boat."

Meade's eyes began to roll inside their sockets showing nothing but white. He tried to gag, but couldn't as his voice box was gone. Then he fell back and rolled down the few steps with his body coming to rest at the bottom. Blood fanned out beneath him in a perfect circle.

By the time Skully and Funboy looked up, Tin Man receded into the shadows of the airlock.