The hospital was chaos. Every bed was full, hallways packed with people suffering from hypothermia, cuts, broken bones, and shock. Kyla and Josh were given beds in the emergency room, separated only by a curtain. A nurse checked them over quickly—mostly surface injuries and mild hypothermia. Nothing serious compared to some of the other patients.
"You two were lucky," the nurse said, wrapping a heated blanket around Kyla's shoulders. "We've got three people in critical condition from the park attack. One of them is a six-year-old girl you apparently saved."
Kyla's heart jumped. "Is she okay?"
"She will be. Broken arm and some cuts, but she's stable. Her parents have been asking about you—they want to thank you." The nurse smiled. "You did good work today, officer."
After the nurse left, Josh pulled the curtain aside. He looked as rough as Kyla felt, with a bandage on his forehead and his arm in a sling for a sprained shoulder.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Alive. You?"
"Same. Though I think I'm going to feel this for a week." Josh carefully climbed onto her bed, mindful of his injuries. "Scoot over."
They sat together, sharing body heat under the heated blanket, watching the chaos of the emergency room through the gap in the curtain. Despite everything—the pain, the exhaustion, the fear—Kyla felt safe with Josh next to her.
"Did you hear what the paramedic said?" Josh asked quietly. "About other cities?"
"Yeah. Boston, Seattle, Portland." Kyla leaned her head on his good shoulder. "It's spreading."
"Which means the King isn't just targeting Tides. He's going after everywhere." Josh was quiet for a moment. "We can't fight this alone. It's too big."
Before Kyla could respond, the curtain was yanked open. Chen stood there with Dr. Walsh, both looking exhausted and stressed.
"Good, you're both conscious," Chen said. "We need to talk. Now."
They found an empty consultation room and closed the door. Dr. Walsh pulled up her tablet, showing a map of the United States. Red dots marked at least twenty different cities.
"These are all locations where ice creature attacks have been reported in the last three hours," she explained. "Major cities mostly—Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. Anywhere with significant water sources. It's a coordinated assault."
"The King is making his move," Josh said. "Going after multiple targets at once."
"Exactly. And local authorities are overwhelmed. Most places don't have our preparation, don't know about the salt water weakness, don't have flame units." Dr. Walsh swiped to show news footage. Every channel was covering the attacks. CNN was calling it a "mass hallucination event." Fox News claimed it was a terrorist attack using advanced technology. Social media was exploding with videos and theories.
"The cover story isn't going to hold," Chen said grimly. "Too many witnesses, too much footage. People know something impossible is happening."
"So what do we do?" Kyla asked.
Dr. Walsh looked at them seriously. "My agency is coordinating a response. We're sharing information about the creatures' weaknesses with every police department and military base in the country. But we need field operatives—people who've actually fought these things and survived. People who can train others and lead defensive efforts."
"You want us to go to other cities," Josh realized.
"We want you to help save the country," Dr. Walsh corrected. "You two have more experience fighting ice creatures than anyone else alive right now. That knowledge could save thousands of lives."
Kyla's head was spinning. Just two weeks ago, she'd been a rookie cop excited about her first day. Now she was being asked to help coordinate a national defense against interdimensional invaders.
"What about Tides?" she asked. "What if they attack here again?"
"We've got it covered," Chen said. "After today's success, every officer knows the salt water trick. We've got supplies of rock salt being distributed to every station. Tides can defend itself." He looked at them both. "But other cities need you. And honestly, you two need this. You're not just patrol cops anymore. You're specialists. This is what you signed up for with the task force."
Josh looked at Kyla. "What do you think?"
She thought about the little girl she'd saved, about all the people in other cities facing the same terror. "I think we don't have a choice. If we can help, we have to."
"Then we're in," Josh told Dr. Walsh.
"Good." Dr. Walsh pulled up a schedule. "We've got a military transport leaving for Boston in three hours. That's where the situation is worst right now. Dozens dead, hundreds injured. They're requesting immediate assistance."
"Three hours?" Kyla looked down at her hospital gown. "We need clothes, equipment, maybe five minutes to process the fact that we're about to get on a military plane."
"You'll have everything you need. And you won't be going alone." Dr. Walsh showed them a list of names. "We're assembling a task force—officers from Tides who volunteered, scientists from my agency, military specialists. Twenty people total. You two will be team leaders."
"Team leaders?" Josh laughed nervously. "We're twenty-three years old."
"And you've survived four encounters with ice creatures. That makes you experts." Chen stood up. "Get some rest. The nurse said you both need at least an hour of observation before discharge. We'll have everything ready when you are."
After they left, Kyla and Josh sat in stunned silence.
"Team leaders," Kyla finally said. "We're team leaders of an anti-ice-monster task force."
"My life got so weird so fast," Josh muttered. "Two weeks ago, my biggest concern was remembering to do laundry."
"Do you regret it? Becoming a cop in Tides? Meeting me?"
Josh turned to look at her, his expression serious. "Meeting you is the best thing that ever happened to me. Even with the ice monsters and near-death experiences. Especially with those things, actually, because they showed me what really matters." He took her hand. "I meant what I said before. When this is over—really over—I want that life with you. The dates, the normal moments, everything."
"We're going to Boston to fight more ice monsters. This might not be over for a long time."
"Then we make normal moments when we can. Like right now." Josh kissed her, soft and sweet, like they had all the time in the world instead of an hour before shipping out to a war zone.
When they pulled apart, Kyla was smiling despite everything. "Okay. We can do this. Save Boston, save other cities, stop an interdimensional invasion. Just another day at the office."
"That's the spirit."
The nurse came back to do final checks, then cleared them for discharge. Chen had sent officers with fresh uniforms, tactical gear, and their personal belongings from home. Kyla changed quickly, strapping on her duty belt and checking her weapon. Everything felt heavier somehow, more real.
In the hospital parking lot, a black SUV was waiting. Stevens was driving, with three other officers from the Tides task force in the vehicle.
"Heard you two are heading to Boston," Stevens said as they climbed in. "We volunteered to be part of your team. Hope that's okay."
"More than okay," Josh said, relieved. "Good to have familiar faces."
The drive to the military base took forty minutes. The city looked different now—damaged but defiant. People were cleaning up, repairing broken windows, helping neighbors. News crews were everywhere, trying to make sense of what had happened. The official story was already changing from "emergency drill" to "unprecedented terrorist attack using unknown technology."
Close enough to the truth, Kyla supposed.
At the base, they were escorted to a hangar where a C-130 transport plane was being loaded with equipment. Dr. Walsh was there with her team, along with military personnel and other civilians Kyla didn't recognize.
"This is your team," Dr. Walsh introduced them. "Officers from Tides, scientists from my agency, and military specialists in urban warfare. Twenty people total, like I said. You'll coordinate with local Boston PD when you arrive."
The team gathered around as Kyla and Josh were given a briefing. Boston had been hit hard—three major weak points, hundreds of creatures, downtown was a disaster zone. Local police were holding defensive positions, but they were running out of resources. The creatures kept coming, and without knowledge of the salt water weakness, casualties were mounting.
"Our mission is simple," Dr. Walsh said. "Get to Boston, share what we know, help them close the weak points. Simple, not easy."
One of the military specialists, a stern-looking woman named Captain Rodriguez, stepped forward. "I'll be honest—this is the weirdest mission briefing I've ever received. Ice monsters from another dimension. A month ago, I'd have called you all crazy. But I've seen the footage, read the reports. So I'm going to treat this like any other combat situation: identify the enemy, exploit their weaknesses, complete the mission." She looked at Kyla and Josh. "You two have command on creature tactics. I've got command on military operations. We work together, we might all survive this."
"Sounds like a plan," Josh said.
They boarded the plane, finding seats among the equipment and supplies. The C-130 was loud and cold, nothing like a passenger plane. But as they lifted off and Tides disappeared below them, Kyla felt a strange sense of purpose.
This was bigger than one city now. Bigger than two rookie cops who'd stumbled into something impossible. This was about protecting people, stopping a threat that could destroy everything.
Josh squeezed her hand. "Nervous?"
"Terrified. You?"
"Same. But we've got this. We always figure it out."
The flight took two hours. Kyla tried to sleep but couldn't, too wired with adrenaline and fear. Josh managed to doze off, his head on her shoulder, and she found herself watching him sleep, memorizing his face in case—
No. She wouldn't think like that. They'd made a promise. Both of them would survive. They had to.
As they approached Boston, the pilot's voice came over the intercom. "Approaching drop zone. ETA five minutes. Weather is clear, but be advised—we're seeing unusual ice formations over parts of the city. Could be residual effects from the attacks."
Everyone started checking equipment, preparing to disembark. Captain Rodriguez moved through the plane, doing final checks on her soldiers. Dr. Walsh was reviewing data on her tablet, muttering to herself about dimensional frequencies and barrier degradation.
The plane touched down at Logan International Airport, which had been temporarily converted to a military staging area. As the cargo door opened, Kyla got her first look at Boston.
Smoke rose from multiple locations across the city. Ice still clung to buildings despite the summer heat. And in the distance, she could hear sounds of battle—gunfire, explosions, screaming.
"Welcome to Boston," Captain Rodriguez said dryly. "Let's go save some lives."
They were met by a Boston PD liaison, a sergeant named Murphy who looked like he hadn't slept in days. "Thank God you're here. We've been holding the line at Faneuil Hall, but we're getting overrun. Lost six officers in the last hour alone."
"Show us the way," Kyla said, falling into leader mode despite her nerves. "And brief us on the situation as we move."
They loaded into military transports and headed downtown. Murphy explained that the creatures had emerged from three weak points—one at the harbor, one at the Charles River, and one in the Public Garden. Boston PD had tried to fight them with conventional weapons and had learned the hard way that bullets didn't work.
"Then one of my guys got desperate and shoved a creature into the harbor. Damn thing melted like the Wicked Witch. That's when we figured out the water angle." Murphy looked at them. "But we've still got hundreds of these things loose in the city, and more coming through the weak points every hour."
"Salt water dissolves them," Josh explained. "We used fire hoses to push them into the bay back in Tides. It worked."
"Fire hoses. Why didn't I think of that?" Murphy radioed the information to his units. "All teams, new tactic—use hoses to force creatures into salt water. Repeat, salt water destroys them."
As they approached downtown, the devastation became clear. Cars were overturned, buildings damaged, ice everywhere despite the heat. And moving through the streets were dozens of ice creatures, hunting for victims.
"Alright, team," Captain Rodriguez said over the radio. "Remember your training. Stay together, watch your sectors, and don't be heroes. Martinez, Reeves—you're up front with me. Let's show these things we know how to fight back."
They deployed from the vehicles, flame units ready. The creatures noticed them immediately, turning their hollow eyes toward the new arrivals. For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Kyla raised her flame unit and fired.
The battle for Boston had begun.
End of Chapter 17