Adam felt its nails dig into his skin.
He saw blood—his blood. It stained his white socks red.
Adam gasped and raised his flamethrower. But he could not shoot the monster straight in the face, not unless he wanted to fry his own foot. For a second he didn’t know what to do. Blood continued to stain his sock.
The creature began to pull him down.
Its eyes shone with cold light.
Adam decided he could stand a little burn.
He fired with the flamethrower. But he aimed high, above the creature’s head and away from his bleeding foot. The heat of the fire, however, was enough to force the monster to jerk back a step. Adam was able to pull his foot free. But the monster was quick to recover. Once more it reached out with its freezing claw. But this time Adam was ready for it.
He shot the monster right in the face.
For a second the creature’s head was a ball of pure flame.
Adam heard a weird scream. It was thin and high-pitched, the sound an alien bat might make as it died. Perhaps the Cold People were like evil vampires, Adam thought, who spread by stealing human blood and replacing it with Cryo fluid. The scream pierced Adam’s chest and made his heart shiver.
But the monster’s face did not burn.
Rather, it seemed to blur. Its features ran together. It was a ball of wax thrown into a simmering oven. The eyes seeped into the nose. The mouth dissolved into the chin. Its powerful hands seemed to reach up to hold the parts in place, but the moment they entered the flames, they too began to melt. Adam watched in horror and amazement. The creature toppled backward, and fell down the stairs.
It landed in a disfigured pile on the floor.
The other Cryo Creatures gathered around.
They stared down at their partner.
Then up at Adam. Their eyes very cold.
Adam felt hands on him, trying to pull him up onto the roof.
“We’re ready to take off!” Sally yelled. “Leave them!”
“I’m coming,” Adam said as he limped up the remainder of the steps.
But once on the roof, rather than running toward the waiting balloons, Adam turned back to the door and locked the flamethrower trigger on high. It was a shame to leave the weapon behind, but he was determined to even up the score for what they had done to Watch. With the weapon gushing fire, he threw it down into the store. The creatures scattered as it landed beside their fallen comrade. Adam noted the direction of the spouting flame.
It was pointed toward Mr. Patton’s ammunition supplies.
Adam ran toward one of the waiting balloons.
He heard loud explosions below.
Adam limped as he ran.
His injured ankle was turning strangely numb.