Belle had the same nervous energy. She paced just a little behind Walker. Back and forth, back and forth. The two were in sync. What was really disturbing was that Belle was having difficulty with the change. Normally she kept one form, but when she hunted she changed into her more formidable self. Her normal look was a cross between a white Siberian tiger and a wolf that had eaten some kind of super growth food. When she changed she looked like a cross between a raptor from the Lost World and a gargoyle from one of the hundreds of old horror movies. When she changed she grew a foot taller and wider with skin like stone and a mouth so full of teeth it made her head look small. As herself, she was beautiful with creamy white fur dotted with lines of black. Her beauty lulled you into forgetting she was still a capable killer. Now she wanted to change but was holding back, so her skin kept crawling, shifting first one way then another. She was also snapping at the air and doing odd hops as if she wanted to launch herself at an enemy. Those hops weren't all that funny. Images of partly eaten prey and mutilated carcasses kept spearing their way into my mind. I realized the hops coincided with those images. Bragg had gotten to her. Belle was in a mood to kill. Like Walker, she was barely holding herself in check. When she changed, it was for the kill. She was never supposed to hold that shape for long. Hunter Belle took a lot of energy to maintain. She’d need that energy when she found Bragg. He’d killed her mother. He was quite capable of killing her as well. I caught a disturbing image of her feasting on his body parts. Gross!
I was as tense as the rest but very disturbed by Kat. She'd turned on us and now suddenly we were allies again. I wasn't sure what to make of that but I tried to keep pleasant thoughts in my head. No sense rocking that boat. With the link I didn't know how much of my doubt was creeping through but I wasn't overly optimistic. Kat was unusually quiet, even for her. Gone were the pep talks that began and ended with Kailex's death. It was unnerving. I needed to know where she stood. I'd tried to get some idea from our link but she was better at hiding things than we were at searching them out. All this mind stuff was her turf and had been for a long time. I felt my anger spike and dampened it. The fact was, she'd hidden things from us. I'd thought she was on our side. Now I wasn't sure.
“You're quiet,” I hazarded. This was my third attempt to get her to talk. It felt weird having her there now. It had been comforting before I became unsure of her allegiance. What was that saying about keeping your enemies closer than your friends? Whoever coined that saying needed a few hours in my shoes. There was such a thing as too close. If Kat was my enemy I was likely enjoying my last few hours of life. Suddenly she opened up.
“Brenal-Tik would say you humans chatter like monkeys. I’m in no mood to talk.”
“That's my problem Kat,” I felt Walker listening but the steady swish of the katar never changed. “You're not saying anything but you're flying us right to them. What's the plan? Do you even have a plan”? I sighed. Sometimes you needed to just ask. “Or are you going to sell us out? Maybe give us to Kailex to prove your loyalty?”
Silence.
“If I'd followed my training you wouldn't be here at all. You be gone.” Suddenly I was inside my own head looking into two black, almond shaped eyes. “Here’s the truth. You would struggle, you would delay but I've had decades of practice and time strengthens our power. Your Beast is like a feisty cub next to mine, barely worth the trouble of eating. And yet, you've managed to cause me great trouble.” She sighed and just as suddenly I was back on the bridge listening to the steady ‘click’ ’click’ of Belle's claws on the deck behind me.
“I've caused you trouble?” I repeated incredulously.
“Even if I fulfill my mission, I‘ll be punished. You complain because I'm quiet? I'm thinking of the pain that will soon be mine. My Masters believe pain is the best incentive for improvement. I was taught to obey. To follow rules that have existed for longer than I‘ve lived. In that I‘ve failed. Pain will bring obedience. Pain will improve my ability to accept their rules. So they believe.”
An almost physical distaste filled my mouth as I tried to understand what she was saying. “They would punish you if your mission‘s a success? You've even refused an offer to escape. You've done all they’ve asked and more.”
Kat shrugged. “Not everything. And why do you assume they need a reason? I was born in a vat. I’m something from their past created for their amusement. They don't need a reason because I’m not human. And if they did, there‘s a long list of reasons they could give. My first attempt to kill Kailex was sloppy. I was too angry to plan, too eager for his death and he escaped. I ignored my training, allowed you to live; I even revived your Beast. I considered Brenal-Tik's offer a moment longer than I should have. All are reasons. When I return, they will remind me of each of them.” I felt her hesitate, “If I return.”
She went silent and I realized what had been bothering me.
“If you return? You're looking at this differently now, aren't you? Before it was about survival. This time you don't care! You don't think any of us are going to live through this do you.”
“Great,” chipped in Walker. “Put all your enemies under one roof and tell them you're coming. Then give up.” She nodded. “It’s a good way to die but what about us?” Her eyes flashed full black while her voice roughened, “I thought you were a Hunter but now you just smell tasty.” She moved closer, her head cocked to one side like she was looking at something new, something she wasn't sure of anymore. Belle stepped swiftly between us.
The old Kat would have spit knives at the challenge in Walker's voice so I was surprised by her reply.
“I tire of a life spent doing the Keeper’s will.”
“Then why did you refuse Kailex?” I asked, genuinely curious but also to give Walker time to regain control. “You could have escaped. Had a life of your own. What he offered was everything you’ve said you’ve wanted.” Even as I asked the question I realized I was afraid of her answer. What if she really was leading us to our deaths? With us gone and Kat on his side there’d be no one to stop Kailex. He could move on to his next world while leaving ours in ruins.
“Who says I'm not?”
At our silence she snorted, then admitted, “I believe his offer is a lie. I have learned much over the long years about those who want to use me. One thing never changes. They always lie. Kailex is just a better liar. Something created in a vat thought to kill him. Him, a citizen and past member of the great Council. In his own mind a God. He’d never forgive me for that. His offer was never genuine. He just wants me to suffer.”
“But you don't know for sure,” I pressed.
“He hurt me the moment he made the offer.”
She began to pace inside my head. “That's the game. Pretend to give you what you want, then take it away. To have my own life is my dream. He knows this. It’s the dream of all Hunters. Dreams that are possible hurt the most when you lose them. I can't afford to hope. If I hope, he can hurt me, maybe even control me,” she finished miserably.
“Do you think he can do what he said?”
She turned to me, her face twisted in a snarl of rage, “Of course he can do it! That's why it hurts! He tempts me with something real! Bren is convinced, so it must be so. Poor fool, like me he just wants to be free but Kailex will never allow it. All he’s done is change Masters.”
“I take it back,” said Walker softly. “You're not a completely soulless bitch.”
“No,” I echoed, “she's not. Now all we need is a plan and I've been thinking about that.”
Kat interrupted. “We're going to Kailex's main base which he's had time to fortify. Once there our enemies will greatly outnumber us. The only ’plan’ we might achieve is to kill him quickly while he's talking. He's a past member of the Grand Council who thinks of himself as a God. He’ll want to tell us about his greatness before killing us. Our best option is to move close enough to overwhelm and kill him while he's talking.” She shrugged. “After that, we fight the rest until there’s n
o more of them, or no more of us.”
“I don't like that plan,” quipped Walker.
I grimaced. “I don’t either. That's not a plan, that's a recipe for a terrible death. I've been thinking about it and have my own idea about what we can do. I'll need to talk to SHIP first and make a call but here's what I'm thinking.” I quickly outlined my plan to them. It didn't take long because it wasn't the greatest plan but I was confident it was better than Kat's.
Chapter Twenty
“Well, he certainly wasn't hard to find,” commented Meeta dryly.
We were looking through SHIP's viewfinder at the carnage below. A blunt office tower was center screen. It would have been just another ugly building in the middle of a city except for what was streaming out of it into the crowded streets. Meeta zoomed in on one of the figures below, a male. He was dressed in a blue suit with a yellow tie that was rapidly reddening as he tore a woman apart. His face was bleached of all colour, as were his eyes which were white with pupils the size of pinheads. His body was shrunken in on itself but also weirdly lengthened so his arms, legs and torso seemed spider like. He casually completed ripping the woman's arm off and took a taste of the spurting blood. Apparently he liked it, because his mouth suddenly unhinged and locked itself around the shoulder stump. He drank and as he drank a strange blue energy appeared around him. A few seconds later he tossed his victim's dead carcass to the side and scuttled on to find his next energy source. People were screaming and running in all directions so finding one wasn't all that difficult.
I felt the gorge rise in my throat. “What the hell are those?”
Kat shifted uncomfortably inside me. “It seems Kailex has become legend.”
“Could you elaborate on that for those of us who don't know what the fuck you're talking about!” snarled Walker. Her eyes were swirling pools of dark liquid. They’d been like that for hours now as she fought for control of her Beast. I'd tried talking with her, offered her help but been rebuffed and not in a polite way. Just being near me seemed to be driving her crazy. My own Beast wasn't reacting to her all that well either. I too had become edgy and temperamental. We were all at our limit. If we didn't move on Kailex soon, we'd be at each other's throats. The overall mood in SHIP was decidedly tense.
“What Kat means,” explained Meeta with a sigh, “is that Kailex is proof the old legends were not just stories to frighten little children. There's one in particular that comes to mind. Supposedly, tens of thousands of years ago, when Hunters were fading from the land and normals had begun successfully hunting them, a party of warriors heard tales of a Hunter King called RasktaTek. He was said to have the powers of a God because he could bring the dead back to life and in the process turn them into soldiers who would serve only him. His soldiers were strong beyond the strength of ordinary men, fearless in battle because death had lost its meaning for them. When they killed they absorbed the life energy of their victims, taking only enough for themselves to survive while passing on the remaining to their God-King.” She paused a frame on the video and expanded it, playing with filters until a blue crackling energy could clearly be seen around the creature who'd killed the woman. “I think that's what's happening here. Somehow Kailex has learned how to bring the dead back and turn them into warriors he can use. These warriors take just enough to sustain themselves and the rest goes back to him.” She went back and caught another frame from the live feed. After again making some adjustments streams of blue light could be seen threading their way back into the building.
“Shit!” breathed Walker. “He has his own walking, killing supermarket on the hoof. He has an army of zombies feeding him power!”
I nodded, zombies was as good a descriptor as any for them. I thought about it. “Nothing we can do about them. There’re just too many to go through and even if we did get by them we'd lose too much time. We‘ll keep to the plan.”
Kat laughed derisively. “I like my plan better. Yours has too many parts that can go wrong.”
I turned my gaze inward until I was looking into her almond eyes. “We agreed Kat.”
She sighed. “I didn't say I wouldn't follow your plan. But if it fails we're going straight for Kailex. I‘ll kill him or be killed, either way this will end for me. I‘ll have my revenge or pay the cost of my failure. If nothing else, he‘ll remember this day as a day of pain!”
I winced. Kat was far too fatalistic this time around. I was afraid she might just abandon everything and go straight for a frontal assault. Then we'd die. She wasn't thinking like her old self anymore. It sounded too much like a part of her had given up on winning.
“I think it might be better if we all live to remember this day Kat. Stick with the plan and we have a chance.”
Kat gave a derisive snort, letting me know in no uncertain terms what she really thought our chances were.
We settled SHIP down in the parking lot, right in the center of all the screaming and killing. At first it was funny, watching the zombies bounce off SHIP, since it was invisible, only to jump right back up and run into it again. Whatever they were, they weren't too smart. It became less funny really quickly when people fleeing for their lives also hit SHIP and fell to the pavement. They didn't have the resiliency of the zombies. When they hit, it stunned them. They‘d lay there twitching... but only for a moment. That's all it took before a zombie came and fell on them. Then it was all tearing and blood, punctuated by the weird "hoot hoot" sounds the zombies made when they got excited.
“Are you sure Nick?” asked Meeta. She looked somber and not just a little scared. I didn't believe for a second that she feared for herself. It was for us that she worried. She'd be in SHIP and we'd be, I looked through the screen at the horror outside, out there with those things.
I nodded and she did something I couldn't see because suddenly everything stopped outside. All the zombies turned as one and stared at us, at SHIP, which had suddenly appeared in their midst. Their remaining victims, the few that were left, fled with impunity. There was no attempt to stop or chase them. I had to give the zombies credit, they knew where the real threat lay. This was SHIP and whatever it contained had to be dangerous to their God-King. They began gathering around us. There was an impressive number. Everything would depend on what happened next. If they fell on us like all the other poor unfortunates we'd seen them tear apart, we'd be done pretty quickly. There were just too many of them for us to fight.
“SHIP”, I commanded, “Walker, Belle and I are exiting. Allow no one else to enter, particularly none of those things outside. Understood?” I felt a silent tug of confirmation on my consciousness.
“Open a door please.”
A door spiraled into existence. I held my breath and waited. How much control of his little army did Kailex really have? Enough to prevent them from just killing us out right? I walked through the door with Belle at my right and Walker on my left. We were in full battle garb with energy belts, vests and katars. I wanted Kailex to know we were prepared to fight, if need be. He’d asked Kat to join him. I hoped he’d wait for her answer. We'd chosen to place ourselves in the middle of his zombie apocalypse so how dangerous could we be?
I took several steps out, flanked by Walker and Belle. Immediately the zombies fell back, then closed ranks to form a tight circle around us, cutting us off from SHIP. Behind me I heard a brief commotion and spun to face it katar extended, but SHIP was already gone or just invisible. We'd agreed not to risk her and the only way to ensure that was for her to leave right away. We were on our own now, vulnerable. Several of Kailex's warriors lay smoking and twitching on the ground before me. They must have tried to enter her as we left. Bad idea. SHIP had its orders and must have hit them hard because they continued to just lay there shaking, even though I could see their eyes were open and blinking. An instant later they burst into flames, burning to ashes in seconds. Just before they flamed out, each one gave off a discernible ’popping’ noise that was just weird.
“Holy shit!” said Walker. “Just
when I was as creeped out as I could get, another super creepy thing happened. I'll be glad when this is over. One way or the other,” she added with a touch of moroseness that caused me to look at her closely. She seemed more in control but her eyes were still swirling clouds of black. Her Beast was still out, still fighting her. She caught me staring and suddenly her demeanor changed. She moved closer, languidly tracing the contours of my face with her right hand.
“Aren’t you the bad boy? Checking me out? I like that.” Her tongue suddenly appeared as she sensuously licked her lips and then the fingers that had travelled across my face. “So tasty.”
Then she laughed and turned away from me. “Kailex! Where the fuck are you? I thought you wanted us here? Well we're here. What are you waiting for? I'm fucking bored with this! If you’ve something to say, say it!” Suddenly she leapt forward and took the head off a zombie, then a second and a third fell to her katar. Laughing crazily she added, “If you want me to wait no problem. I’ll just kill your little play things to relieve the boredom!”
The God Hunters Page 32