Anthem's Fall

Chapter Seventy Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Kristen

The riot beat against them as Kristen and Madison slipped down from the makeshift rope and clumsily crowd surfed to the sidewalk. They stayed close as they pushed through the crowd of Seventh Avenue. In the lead, Kristen drove past the currents of people and toward the mammoth body she knew lay to their south. They navigated the unruly sidewalk, littered with everything from broken benches to dented vendor kiosks and cracked cell phones. Here and there injured people lay curled on the pavement, crying out with their arms raised over their faces to fend off buffeting feet. Kristen held Madison's forearm tightly as they pushed forward.

After what felt like an eternity immersed in this chaos, Kristen wedged through the last pair of shoulders and stumbled into the wide empty space surrounding the behemoth. Kristen stared at the giant dead body, eyes wide with anxiety. Now up close and personal with the malformed corpse, she identified with the people who had given it a wide berth. It looked as though a big game kill had been left in the middle of the avenue.

"I really don't think this is a good idea," Madison yelled over the uprising surrounding them as she looked with disgust at the hulking carcass.

Kristen hesitated, overwhelmed by her surroundings. Beside them, a group of men had stopped a Ford with Maryland plates that was attempting to plow a path through the avenue. They pushed it back and forth on its tires, trying to flip the sedan over. Behind the tinted windows and locked doors, Kristen saw a family.

"It will only take a second," Kristen called out numbly. Diverting her eyes from the horror around them, she walked determinedly to the dead body. She slipped off her backpack and kneeled beside the giant's still shoulder, marveling at the sheer size of the strange man. Resting lifeless against the pavement, Kristen could not even venture a guess as to how much this person weighed.

"We're going to get a blood sample and then get back up to the Lutvak ballroom as fast as we can. We'll get there before Vengelis returns."

"And what if he realizes we left while he was gone?"

Kristen looked up to Madison as she unzipped her backpack. "Then we're in trouble! But we don't have a choice. This could be our only shot to get a sample of their blood. I guarantee they'll be sure to retrieve this body before they leave. And that's assuming they do leave!"

"What does it matter?" Madison shouted.

"Because." Kristen took out the thin glass tissue slide and wiped it down with the sleeve of her sweatshirt, her eyes nervously locked on the sky for any sign of Vengelis. Beside them, the Ford finally flipped, and the group of horrible men whooped with excitement. The indiscriminate sounds of anarchy and disorder surrounding them made her cringe. She felt as though she was immersed in the middle of a parade or sporting event gone horribly wrong. Kristen had never thought a crowd could be so coldblooded, its impulsiveness so chilling. "Vengelis said their power is derived from their genetics. With a sample of this blood, we can map their genetic code and then delineate a blueprint of strength. We'll figure out what they are, and with that information decide how we can defend ourselves against them."

"I really think we should get back!"

"Look around!" Kristen motioned to the masses, to the flipped car. "What will we do without a means of protection? Nothing! This—what you see right now—will claim the entire world unless we can find a means to pacify this insanity."

Madison gave a fretful sigh.

"Take this giant here." Kristen carefully ran the slide along the giant's jaw line, smearing blood across the thin glass. "Who killed him? I have no idea. But it certainly wasn't by a human hand. Clearly Vengelis was lying to us. There's more to his story than he told me. The only thing we know for certain is that we are completely at their mercy. We have to use anything we're given to protect ourselves, and right now, we can get this giant's DNA and go from there."