I searched Google for baby armadillo, because that’s how I’m picturing the Variant kids in my head. Baby armadillos are so effing cute, and not at all terrifying though, so my brain is wrong:
The juveniles have evolved to be able to shoot venom from inside their armor-y bodies.
Anyway, the juvenile Variants are bad news. The big ones aren’t slouches either though! With the help of human “collaborators”, Plum Island is attacked, and a bunch of cool people that we like are kidnapped. The list of kidnapping victims includes our favorite scientist, Dr. Kate Lovato, and the two cute post-apocalypse (maybe present-apocalypse?) kids of Horn. Of course Beckham fights his way into their lair with his Team Ghost bros and saves everyone he can.
Dr. Kate gets back to making scary science things, including a new drug to kill all of the Variants. The remaining soldiers break into teams and head to the “Earthfall” (weather creating) facility. Of course they have to fight some Variants, Alphas, and human collaborators. They eventually get inside and launch their drugs.
Of course they lose a few good men in the battle, but new heroes emerge too.
The scariest part of this story is the fact that through all the monster crap, there are still bad humans. There are multiple examples in this book.
The ending got me right in the feels though. And don’t worry… Apollo (the dog) is still ok so far 😆.
The final book just came out last week, so stay tuned for the final part of this crazy saga!