by Clayton Wood
“I’ll do it,” he stated, pulling her wheelchair back. Sukri shook her head.
“No, it’s my responsibility,” she countered.
“I’m doing it,” he pressed.
“What if I’m wrong?” she countered. Gammon shrugged.
“Then you’re wrong.”
“I’m not watching you die,” she insisted. “If I’m wrong, I’ll pay for it.”
“We need you,” Gammon retorted gently. “You can sense emotions better than any of us. If you die, we’re all going to die.”
“Based on the odds,” Yala interjected, “…he could be right.”
“Gammon,” Sukri began, but the big guy shook his head.
“I’m doing it,” he stated firmly, walking up to the opening in the glass. He bent over, then reached in with one beefy hand. Sukri wheeled forward, grabbing his waist and pulling backward.
“No Gammon,” she ordered. “Don’t do it.”
“Sorry boss,” he replied.
“I’m not watching you die,” she insisted. “I can’t do it.”
“You won’t have to,” he countered, wrapping his fingers around the lever. Sukri shook her head, panic gripping her.
“Stop it,” she commanded. “Gammon, don’t do it!” She pulled back on his waist again, but she might as well have been pulling a statue. “Gammon, what if I’m wrong? I can’t watch one of my friends die again. I can’t!”
Gammon turned to look at her, a gentle smile on his lips.
“I believe in you Sukri,” he said.
And then he pulled the lever.
Chapter 23
Hunter jerked awake, his eyes snapping open. He took his sword and bow off his chest, setting them aside, then sitting up. It was still dark out, the canyon floor bathed in the soft glow of the stars and the triple moons high above. He frowned, looking around.
Could’ve sworn I heard something.
He waited, but the never-ending cacophony of waterfalls crashing into the lake was the only sound he heard. He laid back down, grabbing his sword and bow and clutching them to his chest again, closing his eyes.
Clunk.
His eyes snapped open, and he turned his head, spotting a rock rolling to a stop on the ground a few yards from where he lay, right next to the canyon wall. He stared at it for a moment, then glanced upward. All he saw was the long, spiraling path far above, and beyond that, a hint of treetops. He looked back down at the rock, staring at it.
The hell?
He sat up again, then stood, looking around. The lake was rippling, the force of the waterfalls feeding it causing its surface to churn constantly. The high walls of the canyon cast inky-black shadows over the shore, making it difficult to see. But as far as he could tell, the shore was deserted, save for himself.
“Vi?” he asked, wondering if she was trolling him. He reached down, strapping his sword to his waist, then slinging his bow and quiver onto his back.
Clunk.
Hunter spun around, seeing another rock bounce off the ground, rolling to a stop a few yards from him. He paused, realizing that he’d unsheathed his sword and was holding it before him. Looking upward, he saw the path again, over fifty feet above his head. He spotted movement in the periphery of his vision, and looked further up the path, spotting inky shadows silhouetted against the moonlit canyon walls.
Moving down the path. Toward him.
He froze, staring at the shadows as they advanced. It was impossible to make out what they were in the darkness…and he wasn’t about to wait for them to make it all the way down to find out. He turned toward Vi’s house, making his way as quietly as possible to the bridge. He stepped onto it, glancing back to see the shadows reach the bottom of the path…and many more coming down the path behind them.
Shit.
Hunter broke into a run, his books clunking on the wooden bridge. He glanced back again, seeing the shadows at the bottom of the path turn, moving forward.
Toward him.
He ran faster, now halfway across the bridge, eyeing Vi’s house in the distance. Glancing back, he saw some of the figures reach the foot of the bridge. From here, he could make out a vaguely humanoid form. Two legs and two arms, and a head. No, not two arms.
Four arms.
“Shit!” he swore, sprinting as fast as he could now, his heart leaping into his chest. The creatures behind him began to run as well, moving with terrible speed across the bridge toward him.
They were gaining on him…and fast.
“Vi!” he shouted, pumping his legs hard, clearing the end of the bridge and sprinting toward her front door. “Vi!”
The things – the Ironclad – were halfway across the bridge now. And lots more of them were streaming down the spiraling path, spilling onto the canyon floor. All of them running toward the bridge.
“Vi!” he screamed, making it to her door. He pounded on it, trying to turn the doorknob. It was locked. “Open up!”
The Ironclad swarmed toward the end of the bridge behind him, reaching it and sprinting across the island toward him.
“Open up!” he screamed, reaching up to pound on the door again. It opened just as he swung, and he stumbled into the house, nearly hitting Vi in the head. She blocked the blow, glaring at him.
“What the hell are…” she began, and then glanced over his shoulder. Her eyes widened, and she yanked him inside, slamming the door shut and locking it.
“They’re coming!” he panted, leaning over to try to catch his breath. “The Ironclad…lots of ‘em.”
“No shit,” she shot back. She was dressed in the same white shirt and shorts he’d seen her in weeks ago. She stripped these off quickly, then grabbed her uniform, pulling it on. He turned away quickly, but not before he’d caught a glimpse of her. It hardly mattered, considering the circumstances.
“That door isn’t going to hold them,” Vi warned, pulling on the rest of her uniform, then grabbing her sword and mace – and her bow – and strapping them on.
Bam!
As if on cue, the door rattled, but the thick wooden cross-bar holding it shut held.
“Hunter,” Vi said, grabbing the sides of his head and turning him to face her. Her expression was dead serious. “Do exactly what I say when I say it. Don’t think…do.”
He nodded silently.
“If you don’t, you’re going to die.”
He nodded again, feeling a prickly sensation crawl over his skin. He felt an acute awareness of his body and of his surroundings, as if everything had been sharpened, the colors more vibrant. Vi’s eyes looked iridescent in the light cast by the single lantern on the wall, almost feral.
“Stay behind me,” she ordered, putting herself between him and the door.
Bam!
Vi drew her mace from its holster on her hip, holding it in her left hand.
Bam!
The cross-bar cracked, bending inward.
“Stay back,” Vi stated. “When I say run, you run.”
Bam!
The cross-bar shattered, the door bursting open. The massive, hulking form of an Ironclad shoved its way through the doorway, its black eyes glittering in the lantern light. A low growl issued from its throat, and it stared at Vi, its four hands clenched into fists. Its eyes flicked to Hunter, and it tilted its head back, emitting a mournful wailing sound.
Vi’s mace slammed into its knee with a loud crunch. Its knee locked, its head jerking forward and downward…right as she swung her mace straight up. It smashed into the Ironclad’s face, obliterating it.
The Ironclad fell backward through the doorway, and Vi spun around, back-kicking it in the chest as it dropped. It shot backward, slamming into two more Ironclad behind it, making them stumble backward.
“Run!” Vi shouted, bursting forward through the doorway. She made a sharp left, dodging the two Ironclad, and Hunter sprinted after her, ducking out of the way as one of the Ironclad reached for him. He felt its armored fingers brush against his shoulder, and jerked away, barely eluding
its grasp. He glanced to his right, seeing more Ironclad sprinting across the bridge toward them.
Dozens of them.
Vi ran across the short bridge toward the smaller building – the storehouse – skidding to a halt in front of the narrow moat.
“Follow me!” she shouted – and jumped feet-first into the water.
Hunter glanced back, seeing Ironclad running right toward him, and jumped.
Ice-cold water engulfed him instantly, saturating his clothes. His throat spasmed as his head plunged below the surface, his breath locking in his throat. He opened his eyes, barely able to see Vi below him in the darkness. She was doing something with the wall in front of her; he maneuvered to one side, the weight of his clothes and gear pulling him quickly down beside her. She shoved against the wall, and a panel swung inward…it was a door, Hunter realized. She swam through it, and he followed after her, squeezing through the narrow opening. Beyond this, there was utter darkness. He felt Vi’s hand grab his arm, pulling him forward and upward. His lungs started to burn, and he resisted the urge to take a breath in, fear gripping him. He felt himself ascending through the inky blackness, his heart hammering in his chest. If he didn’t get air soon…
He burst through the surface suddenly, feeling cool air on his face. He sucked air into his lungs greedily, feeling Vi’s hand still on his arm. She slid her hand down to his, and pulled on it, placing it on something cold and hard under the water…a ledge of some kind. He grabbed on with both hands, grateful for the support. With his clothes and weapons weighing him down, he wouldn’t have been able to tread water for very long.
He heard Vi grunt, then a clanging sound. Moments later, he felt a hand grip his, pulling upward. He kicked against the wall, sliding up out of the water onto what felt like a cold stone platform, an inch of water covering it. He shivered in the pitch blackness.
Suddenly, there was light.
Hunter squinted, finding himself on a submerged square stone platform surrounded by inky black water. Stone walls surrounded him, the roof two feet above his head. Vi was standing next to him, her hand on a glowing lantern hanging from a chain on the ceiling. In the center of the platform was a wooden box, and sitting upon it was a small object.
A bone.
Vi grabbed this, stuffing it inside her cleavage, then turned to him.
“They’ll break through soon,” she warned. “We need to get across the bridge to get out.”
“But there’s dozens of them out there,” Hunter protested, clutching his arms to his chest. He shivered, his teeth chattering.
“Didn’t say it would be easy,” she retorted. “When they break through, stay behind me, and don’t let them get you.”
Hunter nodded, and Vi snuffed out the lantern, throwing the room into darkness. Moments later, he heard a thump. Dust fell from the ceiling, making Hunter cough. There was another thump, and then another.
A crack appeared in the wall in front of him, faint light shining through.
Vi stepped in front of Hunter, another thump rattling the small building. The crack in the wall widened, hunks of stone falling into the water.
Thump.
A large black shoulder burst through the wall, chunks of stone spilling from the hole it created. More cracks appeared in the walls around them as other Ironclad smashed into the building.
“Go when I say go,” Vi ordered.
The Ironclad yanked its shoulder from the wall, then slammed into it again, using its hands to pull hunks of stone out, widening the hole. Vi stepped to the edge of the platform, twisting her hips and swinging her mace hard. The Ironclad blocked the blow with two of its forearms, her mace bouncing its armored plates. She spun in a circle, using the momentum from the ricochet and swinging her mace upward into the Ironclad’s forearms, knocking them out of the way. She swung again, striking the Ironclad’s head. She sheathed her mace and unsheathed her longsword in a single motion, gripping the middle of her blade and thrusting her sword right at the thing’s head. The blade buried itself into the Ironclad’s shattered face.
It dropped like a stone.
“Go!” she shouted, leaping through the hole. Hunter backed up to the rear edge of the platform, then ran forward, leaping after her. He barely cleared the moat beyond, sprinting after her as she ran toward the bridge.
Ironclad swarmed after them.
Vi reached the bridge, Hunter right behind her, their boots thumping rhythmically on the wooden planks. Hunter looked over his shoulder…just as the nearest Ironclad caught up with him. He felt its arms encircle him from behind, yanking him backward.
“Vi!” he shouted.
Vi spun around, her longsword flashing in the moonlight. It barely cleared the top of Hunter’s head, the wind of its passage striking his face. He heard a grunt behind him, felt the arms holding him drop away.
“Go!” she shouted, pulling him past her.
They ran forward, Vi taking up the rear, almost halfway across the bridge now. He heard her curse, looked back to see another Ironclad rushing up to her. It swung a fist at her, and she blocked the blow with a swing of her mace, knocking its arm wide. Then she leapt at it, kicking outward with both of her legs and striking it in the chest. It stumbled backward, slamming into the Ironclad behind it. One of them fell off the bridge into the water, vanishing from sight.
Vi landed flat on her back on the bridge, somersaulting backward without skipping a beat. In one fluid motion, she pushed up into a handstand, twisting around 180 degrees and breaking into an all-out sprint after Hunter.
Hunter turned forward, then skid to a stop, his eyes widening. There, at the far end of the bridge, were more Ironclad. Lots more. And they were coming after them.
Shit!
“Vi!” he cried. He felt her slam into him from behind, and barely kept his balance.
“Shit,” she swore, glancing back. More Ironclad were coming from behind. Too many to count.
They were trapped.
“What now?” he asked, turning to face her. Her jawline rippled, and she placed her mace back at her hip, putting a hand on his upper back. The Ironclad rushed toward them, closing in on them fast. Hunter knew with sudden, awful certainty that this was it.
He was going to die.
The nearest Ironclad sprinted toward them, twenty feet away now, and closing fast.
“Vi!” he shouted.
And then he felt her shove him…right off the bridge.
Hunter cried out, slamming face-first into the frigid water. He paddled furiously, bursting through the surface…and then felt something slam into his back, shoving him into the water again. He panicked, scrambling upward, kicking with his legs. He felt his boot strike something hard, and the weight on him vanished. He burst through the surface again, swimming forward as fast as he could.
“Asshole!” he heard a voice behind him cry.
He felt something grip his ankle, and he kicked again, but this time it didn’t work. It pulled him backward…and then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned, ready to kick again, then stopped.
It was Vi!
“Follow me,” she ordered, glaring at him, then paddling forward and to the left. He swam after her, but she was a much better swimmer, the distance between them rapidly increasing. He glanced back, seeing dozens of Ironclad standing on the bridge, and more along the shore, some of them wading up to their chests in the lake.
Tell me they can’t fucking swim!
He focused, paddling faster, trying to keep pace with Vi. But he was too heavy, his waterlogged clothes and his weapons weighing him down. If the Ironclad decided to swim after him, they might catch him. There would be no way that Vi would be able to get to him in time…and without Vi, he wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Come on!” he heard her shout.
He glanced back again, seeing the Ironclad in the water. To his relief, they hadn’t moved…they were just standing there, staring at him.
They can’t swim!
It made sense, of course�
��they were far too heavy with their armored bodies. They would sink to the bottom. There was no way for them to get to him. But then again, all they needed to do was bide their time; the lake was entirely surrounded by sheer rock walls hundreds of feet high. Hunter and Vi couldn’t just stay in the lake forever…they’d have to get out at some point. And the Ironclad would be waiting for them.
“Vi!” he shouted, swimming after her. She was almost to the canyon wall now, just to the right of a roaring waterfall. “Vi!”
She reached the wall, then stopped, turning to face him.
“Come on!” she shouted back.
He pushed himself, struggling to keep his head above water. But he was tiring fast, barely able to stay afloat. He gasped for air, his face plunging below the water. He collected himself, then kicked with his legs and swung his arms, pulling his head up out of the water. Taking another breath in, he did it again, only a few feet away from Vi now.
Come on…
He felt his hands touch cold rock, and scrambled for a handhold, finding one and pulling his head up out of the water again. He found a foothold in the rock wall, and dug the toes of his boot into it, keeping his head above the lake’s surface.
“You okay?” Vi asked. He turned to her and nodded.
“Yeah,” he replied. He paused, then shook his head. “No.”
“Tiring out?” she pressed. He nodded. “Take a break,” she ordered, glancing back across the lake. He followed her gaze, spotting something moving in the darkness by the shore. Something glowing a faint, pale blue.
His blood went cold.
It was a long blue line curved into an ‘S’ shape…a tall mane traveling down the spine of an Ironclad standing a full foot taller than the ones around it. The mane ended in a short, broad tail that swung side-to-side slowly in the darkness. The glow illuminated a monstrous black head, with inky eyes.
That were staring right at him.
“What the hell is that?” Vi blurted out, staring at the thing. Hunter shook his head.