18 Walls

  I launch to my feet and fling myself in their direction. Ahead, the Heire pauses, its Extensions twitching. It’s about to lunge. I won’t make it in time. Not this again. I can’t lose another person. The Heire’s arm reaches out.

  “APRIL!”

  Then, almost as though he was never gone, Rick’s arm gently brushes against her cheek. She did it. She managed to override the remote. The Heire hesitates for a moment, then turns around sharply.

  “I can’t hold it for long,” April’s voice wavers. “Stay out of its way.”

  She faces the Heire.

  “I love you too,” she whispers, her hands flowing over the controls on the remote. “Now go.”

  The Heire roars and bounds towards the Captain’s guards. Raine’s eyes widen in alarm when she sees it coming and she rolls out of the way. It rips through the guards’ Extensions, beating them to the ground. To my right, I hear April cry out and drop the remote. Smoke is curling out from it, a burning odour permeating the air. The Heire stops. April grabs the remote once more, ignoring the heat coming from it. The Heire lunges, carving a hole in the hull of the moored boat. April tosses the remote. There’s a loud pop as it overheats, its circuits frying in midair. The Heire attacks it, then stops short. April’s Extension is sticking out of its head. Slowly, it topples to the ground.

  April kneels beside the Heire, running her finger down its cheek. We give her space to say her final words. It must’ve been hard on her, personally ending Rick’s existence. I’m sure that till the end, she was hoping for a miracle. A miracle which didn’t happen. She gets to her feet, not bothering to wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks. As one, we turn to face the Captain.

  He knows what we’re here for. He must know that we’re his Reapers. I smile. A cold, emotionless one which doesn’t reach my eyes.

  “Please,” he begs. “I know you’re good people. You won’t kill me, right?”

  April glances at me and I nod. Her Extension is best suited for the job. As much as I would like to personally see this through, I don’t want to make a mess out of it. Raine and Ivy nod too.

  “It’s no use bargaining with death,” April says softly as she advances.

  “Please,” he pleads once again, desperately looking for a way out. “I’ll give you anything you want. You’re not soulless people…”

  “I thought we didn’t count as people to you,” I shrug. “In that case, should I consider myself to be the privileged owner of a soul? You got yourself into this mess. Beg all you want. Nothing will change.”

  “This will weigh on your conscience,” he warns, his tone turning nasty. “I wonder how you’ll sleep at night.”

  “I already can’t,” Raine whispers.

  “Conscience isn’t going to matter when I’ll be seeing you in hell,” April replies. “Just remember this. Take it to hell with you if you have to. No one on this planet requires your permission to live.”

  Her Extension shoots forth, impaling him right in the middle of his forehead. His body shudders and falls to its knees, his head drooping forward. The beret on his head falls to the ground, revealing the telltale scar which led me here. How pitiful. To be consumed by such hatred that he sent millions to die for an unreasonable cause. The spasms stop. His body slumps. He’s well and truly dead. And for the first time since Rick’s death, a ghost of a smile touches April’s lips.

  I step back from the corpse. I feel nothing. Not a single sliver of happiness when he dies. Somehow, Raine’s hand finds mine. Killing the Captain didn’t bring me pleasure. But now that it’s over for now, I find myself aware of only one major fact: that Raine is alive and unhurt. The Captain’s death, my revenge, didn’t fill me up. But loving her did. Sean had been right all along. I already had what I needed. The relief which surges through me brings with it certain feelings that I can’t describe. It feels like my apathy, the void of emotions within me, is being gradually eroded. Is this what it means to be human? To love? How ironic. My quest to hurt was only fulfilled by a serendipitous love.

  Deep within that cold, dark night, my parents’ bodies, illuminated briefly by a flash of lightning. Is it me, or is that finally…a look of peace on your faces? I’ll look forward to the day when we can smile together once again.

  23

  Raine, Ivy, April and I sprint through the complicated maze of tunnels, heading back up to the surface. Disturbingly, we encounter now-empty rooms and caverns which once hosted scores of Heires. I pray that they haven’t made it up to the surface, although that would mean they are still lumbering around somewhere in these tunnels. We dash past a room and I hear a gasp. I skid to a halt, motioning for the others to follow. Leaning against the far wall are the bodies of three of the guards. Beside them is the carcass of the giant Amazonian ant. And at the bottom of the carcass sits Idphor.

  “You’re still alive?” Raine peers at his exhausted figure.

  “Don’t sound so disappointed, you piece of shit. You’re hurting my feelings,” Idphor sniffs. “I can handle that much on my own…”

  He tries to continue, but begins coughing up a thick, syrupy mixture of phlegm and blood. Nope. Definitely not all right. A laceration adorns his forehead. His body has been sliced several times, a bullet buried in his left thigh.

  “It was all going so well until the Hekatonkheires freaked out,” he complains. “I told you. This is the place best suited for my Extension.”

  “Shut up and focus on not dying,” Raine growls. “The more you speak, the more bloody Niagara Falls spews out of your mouth. It’s disgusting.”

  I hoist Idphor onto my shoulder as gently as I can, to which he replies with a torrent of insults even Raine would be proud to produce. We press on.

  “Ah, just saying, prepare yourselves,” Idphor gasps. “Some of those Hekatonkheires found their way out. It’s going to get really nasty out there.”

  He’s right. As we get closer to the exit, I can see that the horizontal sliding doors have been smashed to smithereens. The familiar scent of gunpowder tickles my nostrils and the ever so startling sound of gunfire can be heard not far away. Singapore’s walled community of Pangaea, together with her Captain, has been catapulted deep into the depths of hell.

  And what a hell it is indeed. They’re everywhere. Heires. People run about in panic, trampling over one another to get into buildings, which offer little to no protection. A brittle attempt is made by Pangaea’s soldiers to fight their new enemy, but they’re too disorganised and shocked over the betrayal of their beloved Captain to be of any help. Eventually, the Heires tear into their paper-thin resistance, preying on the confused soldiers with horrifying efficiency. Frightened by the mayhem on the streets, some of the soldiers scatter and seek shelter in the buildings as well. Blood, body parts and broken glass litter the roads, turning them crimson.

  We join the chaos, laying into the Heires like our lives depend on it. Distracted by the grotesque buffet in front of their eyes, some of them fall to April’s Extension. Still, we’re getting nowhere. The entire country will be obliterated if things continue as they are.

  “Your recording device,” I say to April, tapping her desperately on the shoulder. “Can you link me up to every single broadcasting device in the country?”

  “Gimme five,” she nods.

  Five minutes. I hope we can last that long. Unleashing all the Extensions I can muster, I enter the fray, bashing, crushing and stabbing the Heires. Amazingly, my barbed stinger begins to have an effect on them. The Heires which have been stabbed begin to spasm wildly before collapsing where they stand. It must be due to the fact that the microchip is no longer active and that the cockroach Extension which took over is susceptible to the venom in my stinger. But it’s still too early to celebrate. As I fight on, I can see the Heires grow wary of my stinger. They willingly absorb strikes from my pincers, but shy away at all costs from my stinger. That’s a huge problem. They can learn.

  “Ren! It’s connected!”

  April passes me the
device. For a moment, I hesitate. I have absolutely no idea how to address the people. Then, Idphor, whom I thought was unconscious, snatches the device from my hands and screams into it.

  “LISTEN UP ASSHOLES! IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES, THEN LISTEN!”

  Everyone pauses, including the Heires. Looks like they can react to sound too. Satisfied, Idphor passes me the device.

  “Uh, I’m…no. It doesn’t matter who I am. I’m appealing to all the soldiers of Pangaea. Band together in groups and hunt down the Heire…the Hekatonkheires. For those without Extensions, prioritise the evacuation of the citizens to military bases outside the walls.”

  There is a crash as a Heire launches at the nearest speaker, smashing it to bits. Idiot. All around me, the battle picks up. I ignore it and continue.

  “We have to hold out for a day. Help is coming from those you know as Savages. So listen to me. If you want to live, trust me on this. There are no Savages. They are people like us. Now that a common enemy has appeared, we have to fight it together. We have to…”

  The speakers crackle with static. Looks like that’s all the time I’ve got.

  “That’s sufficient,” Idphor cackles. “Look at them.”

  Initially, I think he’s gone nuts. But true to his word, the modified soldiers have begun streaming out onto the streets, organising themselves into groups while the others are escorting civilians out of the flimsy buildings.

  “You see?” Idphor roars. “Seconds ago, they were in disarray. Most of them had lost hope in their leaders after hearing that beautiful recording broadcasted by April. But you appeared. That’s exactly what they need. A leader who isn’t part of the panicked establishment. A leader who can prioritise, strategise and push them into action. You.”

  His words are heavy ones. I don’t want to ponder too much about it.

  “April! Can you connect me one more time?”

  She fiddles with the device, then hands it to me.

  “Half a minute.”

  “Go for their heads!” I shout into the device, my voice booming out throughout the country. “They react to stimuli like any living creature! Similarly, they can be killed! Trust me on this, if you want to live…”

  I’m cut off. I can only hope that they do as I say. Raine grabs my shoulder and shakes me. Hard.

  “We have to get Idphor to a hospital!”

  “Oh hell no,” Idphor retorts, his monstrous Extension shearing off the arm of a nearby Heire. “I’m not going to a hospital.”

  “Yes, you are,” April says firmly, taking Raine’s side. “If there are any left.”

  That’s another sickening truth we have to contend with. The Heires are indiscriminate. They’ll attack a hospital just as readily as they would a military camp. Reaching over to the nearest soldier, I drag him over and yell into his ear.

  “Get some of your guys to the hospitals! Defend those who are unable to evacuate!”

  He doesn’t argue. Although the situation is improving, we’re far from over. The Heires are as deadly as ever, mercilessly ripping everyone they encounter into shreds. Already, I’m tiring. I retract my pincers and replace them with tails tipped with venomous stingers. We fight. The longest hours of my life agonisingly tick by, second after interminable second.

  My world is now a whirlwind of bloodshed. People are literally torn to pieces before my eyes, their blood splattering across the walls of buildings. A corpse hangs off the top of a lamppost, how it got there, I’ll never know. Several times, I’m hit, my Extension shattering in place of my bones. I’ve been slashed multiple times, some of the more worrying ones running close to five centimetres deep. Raine and April are similarly injured, while Ivy has somehow broken her index finger. Seemingly unaffected, she passes her weapon to her other hand and continues firing at the Heires. Our defenses are crumbling, bit by bloody bit. Still, we fight on, desperately trying to save even one more person from this hellhole.

  I’ve got to admit, these soldiers have grit. They don’t give up the fight no matter what, clinging on doggedly while they harass the Heires to the best of their abilities, buying time for the evacuation. A soldier has her legs sliced off at the knees, only for her to empty yet another clip of bullets into a Heire, screaming manically. Another snatches a civilian from the gaping jaws of a moray-eel-like Extension, losing a chunk of flesh from his torso in the process. He shoves his guts back into the gaping hole in his abdomen, rejoins his group and carries on. It might just be the adrenaline pumping through our bloodstreams, but I’d like to think that it’s something more.

  “Ivy!”

  A boy runs up to us. Ivy’s eyes widen as she stares in wonder at his face. She looks like she wants to hug him, if not for a Heire standing between them. The boy seems strangely familiar, somehow, although I don’t remember when or where I’ve met him before.

  “Is that really you?” Ivy asks, shooting a Heire in the leg.

  “Yeah,” the boy grins. “It is. But how? You and Hyung and all of this…how did you…”

  “Right, save the talk for later, kid. We have work to do.”

  Ivy pauses, then gestures to us.

  “By the way, they were the ones who saved your life.”

  I recognise him now. The boy from Squad 57. The one who was injured in the trench, whom we inadvertently saved by assaulting a building filled with “Savages”.

  “Save your breath,” Raine snaps as the boy turns to us, gratitude in his eyes. “If there is a later, we’ll talk then.”

  “You sound like Ivy,” he grumbles, despite the awe glowing in his eyes. He dodges an Extension from a dying Heire and dashes off, weaving through the buildings.

  “Be careful,” Ivy calls after him.

  “Sorry,” she mutters when the boy has sprinted off. “He’s three years younger than us. I’ve no idea how he ended up with our squad, but he’s like a little brother, if you know what I mean.”

  Raine doesn’t reply. A wistful, longing smile creases her cheeks for a second, vanishing as soon as the next Heire comes into view. I hope we see that boy again. Despite her brusque response to his questions, Ivy clearly cares deeply for him, her gaze following his tiny figure across the battlefield until he’s no more than a speck in the distance.

  Close to a day passes. Halfway through, more soldiers are deployed, probably from the less densely populated areas. I welcome the support, since it means the soldiers have chosen to cooperate. I don’t know what has become of the government after the Captain’s death, but they’re probably in disarray right now.

  I’m constantly on edge, wondering when Resh will come. If he will come. More than half of the soldiers in our area are dead, dying or wounded. I don’t know if the other areas are faring any better. The only reason they are pushing on desperately is that they’ve been promised help. I’ve promised them help. And I know I’d better not betray that trust. Even while I stab repeatedly at the hordes of Heires, I keep an eye out for Resh. I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m praying that it’ll help. At this rate, there might not even be anything left to save when Resh arrives.

  As time goes on, I get more agitated, nearly losing my life a couple of times, saved only by a hair’s breath by Ivy, Raine and April. Idphor’s slipping in and out of consciousness, mumbling incoherently. He needs medical attention, but there is no hospital nearby. Most of the hospitals have either been evacuated or overrun, leaving the injured to fight against the Heires alongside the able.

  As the sun dips gently beneath the horizon, a loud roaring of engines in the distance can be heard before the clouds of acrid dust are seen. Motorcycles. A swarm of them, spanning a length greater than my eye can see. And right at the front, hollering wildly, is Resh. With most of the guards sent to evacuate the citizens, it’s no surprise they managed to get past the 18 walls. When they get closer, I realise there are other vehicles too, ranging from normal cars to lorries to military vehicles, all of them crammed full of people and weapons. I can’t believe my eyes. Every single one of them has
a lotus flower tattooed on the back of the neck, the more extravagant ones covering their faces and bodies in similar prints.

  Resh is the first on the scene, leaping off his motorcycle, which careers wildly, smashing into a Heire. His mantis Extension scythes through the air, burying itself soundly into the chest of the Heire. His men follow suit, whooping as they unleash their Extensions. I chuckle when I see the looks of disbelief etched onto the faces of the soldiers and civilians.

  A Heire lumbers in, blocking my view of the rest. It lashes out, intent on mashing me into a pulp. But its Extensions don’t connect. Instead, they pound uselessly into a wall of vines which falls from the sky, encircling it completely. There’s only one person I know with an Extension like that. Ben locks his weary, archaic gaze on mine, his eyes crinkling at the corners. I nod. He tears his eyes away as the Heire begins scaling his Extension, its misshapen head leering over the rim of the topmost vines. Before I can shout a warning, another black figure sails through the air, burying razor sharp claws right into the middle of the Heire’s forehead. It spasms, then goes still and falls. The figure rips the claw out of the Heire and turns to us. I spot a pair of mismatched eyes under the soldier’s familiar mop of hair.

  “SEAN!” I roar.

  He notices me and makes his way over, bashing through the throng of people locked in combat. Running beside him is Hyung. He flushes with relief when he realises we’re all still relatively alive.

  “You… I thought you…” I can’t find the words to convey my thoughts. “Weren’t you…”

  “I’m through with inaction. This isn’t about murder. It’s about protection. Besides…” Sean replies, contending himself with a tired smile. “They’re already dead.”

  Hyung wraps his arms around Ivy and squeezes so hard that she elbows his head in protest.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t swing that way,” Ivy says, but she’s smiling. “It’s good to see you too.”

  “It’s not that,” Hyung laughs. “I never thought I’d see any of you again!”