“I never laughed that much as a child. I’m not sure why. I was always about more serious things.”
“Ah, yes, women can become quite vain at a young age.” Licking his teeth, Kane picked up the receiver of an old red telephone that hung on the wall.
Frank’s gauley-deep voice responded on the other end. “Yes?”
“Are you keeping track of our little invaders?”
“Certainly. Do you have any particular orders you would like me to execute?”
“I think we are well prepared. Just see to it that Allison and I don’t miss anything from our roost. I take it all is in order and our customers on Deathflix are watching?”
“If money mattered, you’d be happy to know you’re making a million dollars a second off this fiasco. Quite impressive.”
“Oh, I delight. And money always matters. It’s how we control the underlings of this wicked world. I’m pulling up my viewer now.” Kane hung up the phone and picked up a remote where a huge digital screen popped up out of the floor facing the sofa. He took a seat and beckoned for Allison to join. Her feline body sat beside him. There was a clear image in the middle of the eighty-inch TV showing the battle with the giants attacking the van. Smaller pictures, three in all, were lined up one after the other on the left. A list of strangers’ names and dollar amounts was on the right. There were names and odds. Smoke’s chance of survival was three to one against. Sid’s was ten to one against. The odds for the others were even worse. Many of them fluctuated.
“I bet they love this in Vegas,” Allison said with her eyes glued to the screen.
“The entire world loves this. Entertainment feeds the savage minds of the people. At the rate we’re going, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if our secret little society was widely accepted. Deathflix will be the number-one station of the depraved.”
Allison shifted in her seat. “I suppose you’re right. People do feed off these things.”
“Mortals thrive in chaos. They can’t help themselves, at least most of them. It’s the ones that can control themselves who give us trouble.”
“Like Smoke and Sid?”
“Underdogs like them bring hope to the weak. Oh, how I delight in seeing the light go out of those wishful eyes. The sweet kiss of death conquers the ambitious.”
CHAPTER 13
Thorgrim chopped and jabbed at Smoke with rigorous strikes. Smoke had emptied a clip into the monster with little effect. He loaded another. He needed more firepower to stop the brute. In the meantime, he led the giant away from Cort. Cort dashed into the cover of the van.
“Stop moving, little bat,” the giant moaned. “Be still so I can eat you.” Another hard swing bit into the ground where Smoke had just been standing.
Smoke skipped to the side, jumped hard, and punched the giant in the eye.
The giant recoiled.
Smoke locked one hand in the giant’s thick locks. With the other hand, he cocked back and punched the pistol right into the giant’s eyeball. He pushed in knuckle-deep and started firing into the soft flesh behind the skull.
The giant moaned. His arms flailed. A primordial instinct overtook the massive man’s body. He snatched Smoke in his hands. Hauling the smaller man in his arms, the giant squeezed. “Hurk!”
Smoke flexed his spring-tight muscles. He could feel veins pop up in his neck. It was like being crushed in a trash compacter. His vision began to black out. Suddenly, the giant fell over on his side. A stabbing sound caught Smoke’s ears. The monster man’s grip loosened. Smoke squirmed free.
Cort held the Arabian sword in one hand. He stabbed the giant through the back and chest, piercing the heart repeatedly. Distressed, he said, “Is it dead? Is it dead?”
“The only way to be sure is to go Biblical,” Smoke said with his hands on his hips, sucking for breath.
“Meaning?”
“Cut off Goliath’s head.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Cort brought the glinting, razor-sharp steel up and dropped it down with wroth force. Chop! “Man, that sucker doesn’t even bleed.”
The scuffle of skin and bone clashing together caught Smoke’s ear. Sid rushed after the other giant, firing round after round into its back. Guppy was pinned down to the ground, taking a pounding.
“Give me that sword.”
With a weary fling, Cort tossed the sword to Smoke.
Smoke took off at a dead sprint. Moving at inhuman speed, he covered the distance in two seconds. Jumping in full stride, he glided through the air, cocked back the sword, and swung the blade in an arc of death.
The bald giant’s head slid from his shoulders. The fists pumping into Guppy slowed. The giant died where it stood.
Sid kneeled beside Guppy. The blocky man was bleeding. His face was swelling. “Smoke, he’s in bad shape.”
“It’s worse than it looks. It always is,” Guppy said, wincing. “I’ve known nuns who swatted harder than that. Just help me to my feet.”
Sam rushed over to Guppy’s side. “Sweetie, are you okay? Your nose is broken.”
“I can’t have you looking at a man with a busted nose, now can I? It’s bad enough as it is.” Now sitting up, Guppy shoved his nose back into place, making an ugly crackle.
Flinging her wrists, Sam said, “I hate it when you do that.”
At the moment, the parking lot turned battlefield was quiet. Smoke didn’t pick up the sound of any enemies. Looking at the stark old building that seemed to beckon him forward, he said, “Everyone pull yourselves together. This field trip has just begun.”
CHAPTER 14
Standing outside of the main entrance to the building, Guppy worked the screen on his phone. Smoke pulled the handle. The door wouldn’t budge. The entrance was made from heavy industrial steel. His strength wouldn’t be enough for it. His heart raced. The battle had gotten his juices flowing. His focus became unclear. The bright moon in the sky seemed to call to him.
“They have it locked down now,” Guppy said, fighting for breath. He could barely move. “Sorry, we missed that window.”
“What do we do now, Smoke?” Sid said. “We can’t end this if we can’t get in there.”
“No, we’re going in. We have a key.” Smoke headed back toward the van. The vehicle was lying on its side, all banged up. It looked like a rhino had attacked it. There was a black plastic carrier on the roof of the van with an air-resistant design.
“Everyone do an ammo check. We’re going to need everything we have. I hate to think we used most of our bullets on that first encounter, but I did.”
Sam crawled into the van. She picked out an ammo box. It banged hollow on the ground. “You can have mine, Sid. No, we’re close to out.” She handed over two clips.
Smoke unlatched the top of the luggage carrier. He flung the lid, sled-like, aside.
With her hand resting on his shoulder, Sid looked at the unusual cargo. “I should have known.”
“Heh, heh,” Guppy said as he rubbed the side of his swollen mouth.
Smoke tossed a green tube over to Cort. The man’s eyes grew big.
“That’ll make a hole,” Cort said. He held up his left arm. His hand was turning blue. The giant’s bite had crushed his arm. His black skin had paled. Sweat drenched his face. He locked the LAW rocket tube between his knees, and with his hand he jerked the tube open. “I’m ready to knock that door down when you are.”
Smoke picked another weapon out of the container. It was an M-60 machine gun. He handed it over to Sid. “Are you ready for this?”
With a little smile, she said, “It’s been a long time, too long.” She fed a belt of one hundred rounds into the feed. Every sixth 7.62 had a blue tip. “Is that the real thing?”
“I assure you it is.” Smoke grabbed up a matching machine gun for himself and loaded it up. “Time’s a-wasting. Cort, let’s see what’s on the other side of that door.”
“You got it.” Cort hefted the LAW rocket onto his shoulder. He placed his fingers on the trigger
and took aim. “Open sesame, evil bastards.”
The rocket streamed out of the cylinder in a straight line. It hit the security door square in the middle. There was a loud pop-boom! The building shook. A smoking hole remained.
“That’s one way to make an entrance,” Cort said. “Is it time to storm the castle?”
“No, wait.” Sid stepped around to the front of the van.
A man wandered out of the entrance. He was a deader dressed in the deteriorating uniform of a revolutionary general. A man out of time.
Sid’s heart hung in her chest. “Is that a redcoat?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that,” Smoke said. The centuries-old soldier ambled forward a few more feet. He raised his arm and dropped it down. “Wait for the whites of their eyes. The British are coming.”
Deaders in British uniforms burst out of the entrance in a steady stream. They carried sabers and old rifles with bayonets.
“Say hello to my deader defense system, creeps!” Feet planted on the ground, Sid opened fire. The old general’s chest turned into a window. The gun barrel turned hot in an instant. The blue-tipped rounds streaked into the bodies with the laser-like glow of tracer rounds.
Two-hundred-year-old bodies fell. Their shattered limbs twitched on the ground. They climbed over their own dead in an unfettered wave. Bulging through the entrance in a single column, they fanned out.
Sid hit them all with short bursts. “They don’t have any armor!”
The ambling men dropped like flies. Sid blasted into one side, Smoke hit the other. The redcoats were massacred.
“The war would have been a lot shorter if we had these back then.” Her gun emptied. She took a knee. Cort fed her another belt. “Thanks!”
Two deaders made it within ten feet. The machine gun chewed off the face of the first one. She mowed down the other with a fiery blast. The raging battle ended after a minute. Every redcoat was incapacitated.
Scanning the battlefield, Sid said, “That was easy.”
Smoke’s barrel was smoking. “Thanks to these equalizers. Problem is, we’re out of bullets.”
Setting down the machine gun, Sid drew her pistol. “The way is clear. After you.”
Guppy fought his way back up onto his feet. He swayed in his spot. “You aren’t going in there without me.”
“Stay with Sam and the others, brother.” Smoke placed the Arabian sword in its sheath and looped it over his back. “Cort?”
“Don’t worry about me. It’s on like Donkey Kong.”
Led by Smoke, they headed into the building.
CHAPTER 15
Sid hung onto Smoke’s hip. The halls were wide and industrial. The smell of the rotting deaders and their musty uniforms still lingered in the air. Aside from that, the main building of the power plant was typical for that era. With her instincts on high alert, she matched Smoke step for step. Behind her, Cort breathed heavily. She glanced back.
Cort gave her a reassuring nod.
The big fella was none too quick. No doubt the busted bone in his arm hurt. She could see the pain in his face.
The hall had doors on both sides, all of which were closed. There was lettering on the glass panes on the doors with the names of people long gone. They passed a break room and a conference room that were marked. A T-intersection in the hall turned right toward the middle of the building. It was more rows of doors. At the end was a wide set of double doors. There was a humming on the other side, like the whirr sound of generators. Aside from that, the building was stone-cold, much like a mausoleum. There weren’t any signs of more deaders.
She nudged Smoke’s elbow. Her heart raced so much she only just noticed the cameras that hung at the tops of the walls. The lenses’ eyes were silent but gave her the feeling of a ghostly stare. Someone was watching them.
“They all know we’re here,” Smoke quietly said.
“You make that sound like an awful lot of people, Smoke. What people are we talking about?” Cort asked. “I thought we were just after this fella named Kane.”
“Long story. I’ll share more when it’s over.”
“This might be my only chance to get a better grasp on why I might die tonight.”
“We’re the entertainment. Smile, you’re on Candid Camera.”
“Oh, you mean the Deathflix thing. I never really took that seriously. I guess I should have known better. Huh.” Cort smiled big for the nearest camera. Then he gave it the finger. “Bunch of wealthy degenerates.”
An illuminated red exit sign hung over a stairwell. There was a security pad. Sid shoved on the handle. “I guess they don’t want any visitors upstairs.”
“Nope. We could try the elevator, but I’ve got a feeling it’s going to be the same situation. They only want us to go where we can go.” Smoke faced the double doors. “Through there.”
“What’s in there?” Sid asked.
“It’s just the smaller generator stations that still run in there. That’s what you’re hearing, anyway.” He shoved the doors open. “Yup, this is where they want us to go. Do you think it’s a trap?”
“This entire thing is a death trap,” Cort commented.
Everything was pretty much as Smoke described. There were rows of shelves loaded up with office storage boxes. Fluorescent lights gave off a steady glow high above their heads. In the middle were three electric generators. Each was big enough to be its own garage bay. They were out of place in the room, which looked to have at one time been a cafeteria.
“A natural gas line feeds this place. Those generators run off it. They keep the Drake’s operations off the local grids. Drake Energy is just another front. The only energy they supply is the drug supply.” Smoke pointed.
There were long metal tables stretched out side by side. Boxes filled with clear baggies were on top of them, remnants of the drug trade. Abandoned lab coats and scrubs. Facemasks, surgical head gear, hair nets, and gloves. Sidney had seen all of the same before, along with little cloned children packing up drugs. Her thoughts went to Megan. She hadn’t seen her niece in quite some time. “Looks like they cleared out long before we came.”
“They’ve been gone long before I even made it here. Kane’s been planning our arrival for a while. This is the perfect theater for their twisted games.” Smoke’s head tilted. His dark eyes landed on the shelving. Scufflings scratched inside the boxes.
“What the hell is that?” Cort said.
Lids slid off the tops of the boxes. Little winged gargoyle men crawled out. Dozens of them. The small stony creatures with a gleam of life in their eyes took to the air. Little bigger than cats, the gargoyles swarmed them.
“Aagh! Creepy!” Cort started shooting. His bullets blew two gargoyles into dust. A gargoyle landed on the back of his shoulders. Its claws tore at his eyes.
Sid caught a gargoyle by the wing, slung it to the ground, and stomped the stone out of it. Its body cracked under her feet.
Smoke battled the fiends down like flies. Every one he hit cracked under his blows.
Sid emptied another clip. She cursed when she changed it. “At this rate, we aren’t going to have anything to fight with when the time comes!”
Smoke pulled a gargoyle off his face. He pulled off its wings and drop-kicked it over the generators. “Two points.”
The little gargoyles had emptied the boxes. Many of them ran across the floor. Others flew. They pinned their thick little bodies to whatever body part they could attach themselves to. The pressure of their tiny grips was mighty.
Sid’s skin was pinched on the back of her thigh. A stony face with a wicked grimace bit into her knee. She shot it in the eye.
Cort came up behind her and ripped one off the back of her leg and flung it high.
She shot right through it.
Gripped in Smoke’s long hands, two gargoyles were smashed together. The broken bits and pieces fell on the floor. “I think that’s the last of them.”
All of them were banged up in one way or the other.
Sid’s face bled from deep scratches. Her hair was in tangles.
Cort sucked for breath. “This feels worse than the first day of football practice.”
An overhead intercom system came on. A voice spoke over the loudspeakers. “Welcome, dear guests.” It was Kane. “I’m so glad for your visit. So far, it’s proven to be quite entertaining. The Deathflix ratings are higher than ever. I applaud you.” He cleared his throat. “Excuse me. All of the excitement left me a little parched. Now that the pre-game warm-up is over, it’s time for the real games to begin. Unless of course you want to surrender.”
“Never!” Sid said.
“Ditto,” Smoke repeated.
“I thought as much. Let’s see it through then. Goodnight.” After Kane finished, there was a loud click. The entire room turned black. Kane laughed, and the mic went dead.
CHAPTER 16
“I hate blackouts,” Cort said.
Smoke found Sid’s hand. Her grip tightened in his. There was a quiet click of doors west of him being unlocked. Creatures on padded feet moved into the large room and spread out.
“I don’t like this,” Sid whispered.
The intercom clicked back on. “Spooky, isn’t it, brave heroes? But don’t be alarmed. After all, our precious viewers can’t see anything in the dark, either. Let there be light.” The fluorescent lights flickered back on. “And let there be death.” The intercom went out.
Squinting, Cort was the first one to speak. “You have to be shitting me.”
Three shifters formed a circle around them. Smoke couldn’t tell if two of them were men or women, but they were shifters that looked like rabbits, disturbing and creepy. Their legs were bunched up underneath them while they gently bounced up and down. They were covered in brown fur with white on the chests. Their ears were long, eyes the same as the animals’, and protruding teeth. Each of them had nunchucks.
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