Chapter 27

         The rain drenched them as soon as they stepped through the door and they ran for the nearest cruiser and piled in. Grady fumbled with the keys, wincing at the pain in his knee and muttering curses until he turned the ignition. He pulled out slow, resisting the urge to floor it. In the storm that would be suicide. He didn't know what was going on but he didn't like it.
         "I don't like this." Esparza said, echoing the thought. He had already removed his revolver from the holster and held it across his lap. "I know it's that thing, man. You should have seen it. Fuckin huge, whatever it was."
         "Keep it together amigo," Grady said, as much for his own benefit as the other.
          He pulled out onto the road and gave the car as much gas as he dared, fighting to keep control in the raging wind. Rain hammered the windshield and the robbed him of most of what little visibility he had in the fog. The wipers offered no help at all.
         They heard no more shots. Soon the intersection came into view and they could see one end of the market and the gas station. Everything was dark.
         "Shit," Esparza said. "Both of those places were lit up ten minutes ago."
         They saw a flash of light up ahead to the right. The street on that side was lined with trees and in the spaces between the trunks he could see the light was coming from a pair of headlights belonging to a car that was approaching the same intersection. It was going fast and it swerved wildly. The headlights swung back toward them and the car went into a sideways skid. He wondered what was wrong and then the car passed the last of the trees and skidded into full view and he saw the thing clinging to the hood.
         "That's it!" he yelled.
         He gripped the pistol tighter and tried to swallow as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. The car slid sideways through the crossroads. The monster latched onto the hood made it impossible to see inside. He felt the cruiser start to slow as Grady let off the accelerator and then the other car's wheels hit the curb on the far side of the street and it rolled. The thing riding it leapt into the air as it flipped and then seemed to disappear.
         He had a brief second to wonder where it had gone before the roof of the cruiser buckled as something landed on top of them. They had to hunch down as it caved under the weight. He pressed himself down as far as he could in the seat, screaming for Grady to stop the car. There was a loud thud and then the sound of tearing metal as something punched through the roof and clawed fingers hooked under Grady's chin, tearing into the soft flesh of his throat.
          He started to scream but it quickly turned into a wet gurgle. Esparza finished it for him. Blood exploded from the wound, spraying the inside of the cab as the claws dug deeper and pulled the dying cop's body up. A twitching foot hit the gas pedal and the engine roared, sending the cruiser into its own skid. The tearing sound grew worse and he saw the hole above widen. The rain shot in, invading with freezing stabs. He tried to reach across Grady's thrashing body and grab the wheel but he was knocked back as the big man was yanked up again and pulled through the hole. Then Esparza was alone in the still spinning car. He lunged for the wheel and through blood and the shattered windshield he was able to make a wall rushing at him and then a second later the car slammed into it. He was thrown forward and he felt his head hit something and then saw no more.