Savage Hunger (Project Nemesis) Read online

  The boat bucked through the water, obviously moving at top speed, leaving her to wonder how many of the men remained above and what her chances were for getting out of this alive and free of jail.

  Chapter Two

  “What do you mean, they got away?” Dr. Wagner shouted into the phone.

  Freda Dallas winced at his intensity. She’d known this would happen eventually. There was only so long you could hold a rat captive before they turned around and bit you on the ass.

  “You haven’t picked them up on the radar?” Wagner said, listening to the other side of the conversation.

  Freda shook her head in disgust. “We can’t have a breach, Dr. Wagner.”

  “You say this like I don’t know. Look, check the coast off Haiti, Florida, and Brazil. They can’t have gotten far. Do I have to do your job for you too?” Wagner said, his brows drawn low over his eyes in anger. He flipped the phone shut in disgust.

  “Imbeciles.”

  “I agree,” Freda said.

  “Have you found where the breach took place?”

  “We have and it’s been taken care of. Seems one of the prisoner’s had a cousin we didn’t know about who was connected on the inside. Both parties have disappeared.”

  Wagner nodded. “Good. Now if we can just get the subjects under control, we can get back to work. I’m ready to start testing Chimera.”

  “I thought after this you would want to hold off on that,” Freda said, looking surprised.

  “Why? With all that has happened, I might not have much longer to achieve my goals.”

  She nodded. “True. True. I’ll see about readying another subject for injection.”

  “You do that. Make sure he’s a team player this time.”

  “Yes, doctor.”

  ***

  Lucas dropped beside Zach on the deck, breathing a sigh of relief and swiping a hand across his face. “We should be dead right now, you know that, right?”

  Zach nodded. “At least we’ve got some distance on them. How’re your wounds?”

  Lucas rubbed his shoulder where he’d been peppered by bullets. “Just blood left. The bullets just push right out. I don’t know what the fuck they gave us, how this shit works. It’s no wonder they want us all dead. We’re too dangerous to be left alive.”

  “I know, right,” Zach said, marveling at his own healed wounds. The blood remained, but that was the only evidence other than a slight stinging in the area, that anything had touched him.

  “That girl didn’t look like Riker’s cousin,” Lucas said.

  “I sure as fuck didn’t expect a chick on board, that’s for sure,” Zach replied. “Riker, do you know anything about this? Did we get the right boat?”

  Ricker shrugged. “Fuck if I know. It’s ours now, ain’t it? Why worry?”

  Zach nodded. “Yeah. Yeah.”

  “What we gonna do now? It looks like we can add kidnapping to our charges, if they ever catch us….”

  “Shit.” Zach rubbed his eyes. “I can’t worry about that. We just have to stay alive and get the fuck out of here however we can, even if it means taking a hostage here and there. We just have to be careful not to infect anyone else,” Zach muttered, looking at the healed wounds on his flesh and making a fist. Something had happened to them out there in the jungle that night, so long ago. Something had changed them. They’d all been peppered with bullets repeatedly. They shouldn’t have healed wounds on them. They should all be dead.

  That they’d survived after this many attacks, after going through countless experiments at the facility…. As much as he’d wanted to deny that they’d changed forever, to deny it now was just stupidity.

  They would never be the men they once were, and they all knew it.

  The one question remained in their minds, however, was if it had been intentionally set upon them or if they were all just the unluckiest bastards in the world. It was something they’d probably never know and would always be haunted by.

  Lucas nodded, sighing.

  Zach frowned. He wearily stood, his body feeling heavy and tired from the long swim, the run through heavy jungle, the escape from prison. He felt ten years older than he was. “I’m going to talk with the woman. See if she knows anything. If she ain’t with Riker’s cousin, then she sure as hell was in the wrong place at the right time.”

  “It’s a helluva coincidence,” Lucas agreed. “You think she’ll know about fuel reserves? We can’t have too much, not with the speed we’re going,” Lucas said.

  “Maybe. She should at least know how to get back to where she came from. If she isn’t a complete moron.”

  “This…this virus that we’ve caught. Do you think it’s from that drone we picked up in the jungle?”

  Try as he might, Zach couldn’t remember shit about what had happened to him. It was almost like they’d been reborn into the facility they’d found themselves inside of. Memories of their life before were still there, but he couldn’t remember anything after their mission to pick up the pieces of a crashed drone.

  He wondered how much the government knew about any of it. Had they been setup when they’d been sent out into the jungle? It sure seemed that way, especially since there’d been a special facility set up to handle them. It looked like it’d been there for years, but he’d never be certain.

  Had they been setup to get infected with an unknown virus capable of changing them into inhuman beasts? Giving them the capability of enormous strength and rapid healing? It seemed exactly the sort of thing the government would want—superhuman soldiers at their beck and call. He had to wonder if they’d infected some of the locals first, or if it had come from there by accident, passed along to them, and then moved into the hands of the government.

  Maybe they’d experimented on prisoners and they’d managed to escape. Fuck, he’d never know the truth, and he didn’t plan on sticking around to find out if the chicken or the egg came first.

  He couldn’t know, but he knew how they liked to experiment on soldiers when they thought they could get away with it. He’d been in it long enough to know better than to fuck with them. They were lucky they’d escaped from the prison with their lives before they could be exterminated for their unruliness and lack of control.

  “It’s like they were waiting for us to see what happened. I just wish I could remember what happened to us. It’s driving me crazy not knowing how this all happened,” Lucas said.

  “We’ll probably never know exactly what happened. It doesn’t matter anyway. Our new life begins right now, not in that fucking science experiment. Anyway, y’all get some rest. I thought we would have papers and supplies on board, weapons, but it doesn’t look like we’ve met the right boat, or Riker fell through on some of his promises. We’re lucky we’ve gotten away. We don’t know what’s in store for us. We need to have our energy up. See if you can find some food, a cooler or fridge. There’s got to be something to eat or drink on here. Ration it out if you find anything.”

  “Too bad those bastards hadn’t let us rest in…Fuck. How long have they had us in those torture chambers?”

  “I don’t know.” Zach looked up at the sky. The moon was just a crescent. “Weeks? Months? It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” Time had a way of disappearing when you never saw daylight, never saw the changing of the moon.

  They’d felt the change of the moon. In fact, he could remember being unable to resist changing that first full moon. He’d felt out of control since it had happened, always aware that it could happen at any moment in time when he least expected it. His anger, rage, and resentment seemed to bring it on easier, but given the circumstances they’d been in, he hadn’t exactly had a chance to relax. Was stress a major factor in that?

  The hell if he knew.

  All Zach knew was that they’d been poked, prodded, sliced open, and tortured without seeming end. They’d taken god only knew how much blood from them. The scientists had been outright gleeful when they saw what the men were capable of doin
g and withstanding.

  It didn’t matter that none of them knew how to control it.

  He’d heard hushed whispers of Nemesis when they thought he was passed out. Whatever the hell that was.

  Maybe they’d been given their own project name. Not that it mattered. He’d rather die than allow himself to be caught again.

  Cutting off any further conversation, Zach dropped down into the hatch and landed lightly. Darkness swallowed the small space, but it wasn’t a hindrance to him. One of the gifts they’d picked up after their infection was the ability to see in the dark with little or no light. Better than human.

  Inhuman. Even if they didn’t want to admit it to themselves, they all knew it was the truth.

  And they might not ever be human again.

  He didn’t want to share his fears with the others. They were on edge enough. God knew he didn’t need them flipping out any more than they already had. The risk of infecting innocents was too great.

  Zach thought about flipping the light switch, but he didn’t really need it. Better to keep the boat in darkness than possibly alert their pursuers their position. A single light in the dark space of ocean would be like a beacon to anyone if they were looking. If they were lucky, they wouldn’t have them on the radar.

  Zach looked around.

  He found her sleeping underneath the table in the center of the room. Seeing her small body curled up beneath a blanket, he thought at first she’d been hit by a bullet and killed, she was lying so still.

  He was sure they’d scared the shit out of her. Anyone with any sense would’ve been.

  He hesitated about waking her up. She was like a caged animal, liable to hurt herself more than him if he scared her.

  Dimly, he remembered grabbing her, having her beneath him. She’d been clad in nothing but a tiny scrap of cloth—a bikini. Her honey brown skin, full lips, and short hair reminded him a lot of that actress him and every red-blooded man had always had the hots for—Halle Berry.

  The terror in her big brown eyes came back in his mind first. He hadn’t liked the look she’d given him.

  Carefully, he lifted the blanket she was under to see if his mind had played tricks on him or if she was just as tempting as he’d remembered. It’d been forever since he’d even been around a woman and would probably be a lot longer until he was near another one again. Maybe never at the rate they were going.

  His throat constricted when he saw that caramel, even toned skin covered every inch of her. Thick, black curly lashes rested against her cheeks. Her lips were shaped like a bow, slightly parted and inviting. She had muscles carved into her stomach and arms, and curves in all the right places. Her breasts were an overflowing handful, and his palm had a sudden itch to cup them and see how soft and heavy they were.

  His cock swelled, going semi-hard with thoughts of burying himself inside her, and he chalked his reaction up to going too long without a woman and coming across one as sexy as this in a place she damned well shouldn’t have been. Maybe it was just that animal inside him that wanted to rut with any available female, willing or not.

  Maybe she was some rich old bastard’s daughter, out slumming.

  He didn’t dare touch her. He couldn’t know how infectious they might be. It hadn’t taken much to get them all infected, but maybe it only passed through blood. Whatever it was, air hadn’t killed it or lessened it potency. He couldn’t know if it would pass through saliva or semen or not.

  The scientists in the facility had collected all of their bodily fluids for repeated testing.

  Anger seeped into him at the remembrance. He was still warring with himself when Dante, who’d been behind him, finally released a pent up breath that awakened her.

  Slowly, she opened her eyes, staring up at them for several moments before she finally comprehended what she was looking at. Her eyes widened. She sat up, looking ready to fight if they touched her.

  “We ain’t gonna hurt you,” Dante said, his voice rough with desire.

  When she didn’t scream her head off, they took that as a good sign.

  Looking annoyed at Dante and his transparency, Zach figured she must not have noticed their cocks trying to tent their pants and escape to the first warm hidey hole they encountered. She was too busy looking at their faces to notice anything else.

  “What do you want with me? Who are you?” she asked, pulling the blanket up to cover her chest.

  Hell, maybe she had noticed them drooling all over her.

  “Sergeant Zachary Cooper. US Marines. This is Corporal Dante Jackson,” he said, pointing a thumb at Dante.

  “If you’re US military, why are you here? Why were you being chased and shot at? Were those Cubans? Are we at war with Cuba?”

  Zach looked at Dante. From the way she was acting, she had no knowledge they were scheduled to come aboard her boat. She certainly didn’t have enough supplies to take care of them all. They’d managed to scrounge up some clothing, but that was about it.

  She was obviously innocent, or else, she’d been setup the same as they had. Either way, she was in over her head. Way over her head.

  The less she knew about it all, the better for her safety. God knew they didn’t need to have an innocent civilian’s life on their hands.

  Zach gave him a look. “No. Why would you think that?”

  She swallowed. “Hell, it felt like world war three out there. I just thought maybe it’d make more sense than what I thought at first.”

  “And what’s that?” Zach said, motioning Dante to be quiet.

  “You’re prison escapees. But they shouldn’t have US military imprisoned down here.”

  “No, they shouldn’t,” Dante said.

  She audibly swallowed. “Look, I’ll let you use my boat. Just drop me off at the first port and I won’t tell anyone what I’ve seen or where you’re going.”

  “And where are we supposed to do that? We’re miles away from anywhere.”

  “No, don’t tell me where we are. I don’t need to know,” she said, covering her ears.

  Zach sighed exasperatedly. “What’s your name?”

  She dropped her hands and gave him a frightened look, as if weighing her options. Apparently she decided on the truth. He assumed.

  “Jasmine Roberts. Are you…are you going to let me go?”

  “Why are you down here?”

  She was quiet for several seconds. They could almost see the wheels turning in her head. “I was supposed to meet someone. They didn’t show up.”

  “Who?”

  She frowned. “Is it really that important? Why do you want to know?”

  “We’re just trying to figure out why you’d be docked here in the middle of nowhere like you were waiting on us.”

  “I certainly wasn’t waiting on you guys! That’s just crazy. I’d have to be insane to want to go through this.”

  The two men studied her for a long moment. “You really want to get out of here?”

  “Yes. Just don’t…just please don’t hurt me,” she said quietly, her brown eyes wide with fear and tearing in the corners.

  Just looking at her big, soulful eyes filled with fear made him feel like the biggest piece of shit in the world.

  “We’re not in the habit of hurting women,” Zach said.

  She didn’t look like she believed him. Her small frame was just as tense as it’d been since they’d first woken her up.

  “You can have anything you need. There’s food. Some of my dad’s clothes. Oh, you’ve already gotten into those, I see.”

  Her nervous babbling put his own nerves on edge. It annoyed the shit out of him that they’d scared her so badly, but there was nothing he could do about it.

  “If you’ll just drop me off somewhere, I’ll go on my merry way and we can forget this ever happened.”

  Zach and Dante looked her over, maybe a bit too long. “You’re crazy if you think we can drop you off anywhere looking like that. I don’t want to make you nervous, but there’s a dozen men u
p there that ain’t seen a woman in months. Not to mention one that looks like you. Fuck….”

  So much for honesty. She looked torn between bursting into tears and fighting them all off of her.

  She moved to stand. Dante, reacting on a baser level, or maybe just primal instinct, grabbed her around the waist and hauled her to her feet. Once he had her in his arms, he didn’t seem to want to let her go, as if touching her body had been his goal the whole time.

  “Let her the fuck go, Dante. That’s an order!”

  Zach punched him in the arm, making him release her. He peeled his fingers free of her warm honey skin with an effort. Dante bared his teeth but quickly realized he’d been out of line and almost hit his commanding officer. He backed away, flexing his black fists in an effort to control his tumultuous emotions … and the desire to fuck the pretty little yellabone until she was screaming in ecstasy and he’d drained his body of all its fluids.

  “Get a hold of yourself, Dante,” Zach growled, pushing him back.

  Slowly, Dante regained control, breathing slowly with an effort of will. He wondered what was wrong with him and blamed it on the woman. Something about her was wreaking havoc on his control.

  The woman, Jasmine, looked at him like a frightened doe, making him swallow against a surge of disgust at himself. She pulled away, going back to one of the guest cabins.

  “Don’t go, baby girl,” he said, looking after her.

  The click of a lock as she slammed the door was audible in the silence.

  “You scared the shit out of her, Dante,” Zach said, looking at him angrily. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  He ran a shaky hand over his face, scrubbing at the stubble along his jaw before returning a worried look to his superior. “Fuck if I know.”

  Zack frowned. “Well I know. Don’t pretend we’re the same as we used to be.”

  “She’s beautiful. I want to fuck her so bad I can practically taste it.”

  Zack grunted. “If you think it ain’t this virus, you’re badly mistaken. I feel like a dog in heat. You do too. I can tell. We might need to keep her down here. I’m not so sure the others wouldn’t feel the same.”