They raced toward the bomb. The re-entry vehicle’s nose cone had been screwed back on, but a latched transparent window allowed them to view the mechanical detonator attached to the payload, which was still ticking away, its lathe gears unaffected by the EMP that had taken out the ship’s electronics. Pierce wiped his brow in relief.

“Still running,” Shultz shouted to the others.

Maybe they could still carry out their mission, Pierce hoped, until he heard the Yakima’s four powerful turbine engines die. Suddenly, the ship was dead in the water, carried along only by momentum and the current. Pierce’s blood froze as he grasped the full horror of their situation.

We’re stuck here, he realized, with a ticking nuclear warhead.

He looked out across the bay at the skyline of San Francisco, which had gone completely dark. No city lights shone through the mist and rain. The entire area had obviously fallen within the MUTOs’ sphere of influence, which meant that one or more of the creatures had to be in vicinity. Creatures that fed on radioactive materials like that installed in the warhead, which had been intended to serve as a bait to lure them back out to sea, but now was not going anywhere.

Oh crap, he thought. This just keeps getting worse.

He glanced up at the clouds, half-expecting to see a pair of monstrous black wings, but instead he saw a disabled F-35 spiraling down toward the bay. The fighter slammed into the water and exploded into flame. Stunned, Pierce was still trying to catch his breath when another jet crashed into the bay.

And another… and another…

An entire squadron rained down from the skies.

“Take cover!” Pierce shouted as the missile techs scrambled for shelter. More planes slammed into the water, narrowly missing the stalled transport ship. One after another, they exploded on impact, filling the foggy air with smoke and flames. Multiple impacts stirred up the waves, causing the ship to pitch from side to side. Pierce was thrown against the side of the warhead. The smell of burning jet fuel invaded his nose and throat. He choked on the thick black fumes.

This is insane, he thought. This can’t be happening!

Miraculously, however, none of the falling F-35s struck the Yakima. The rain of fighter jets felt like it went on forever, but was actually over in a few minutes. All at once, the planes stopped falling and an eerie calm fell on the deck, broken only by the crackling flames upon the water. Pierce and the others cautiously emerged from hiding. Dazed, they stood upon the deck and watched the burning wreckage sink beneath the waves. The unlucky pilots joined the scores of soldiers who had been lost upon the bridge. The bay was claiming more than its share of dead today.