Habeas Corpus: Black Womb (Black Womb Collection Book 1)

by Matthew LeDrew

  She glared at him, applying pressure to her wound for a moment. There was hatred in her eyes as she realized he had gotten the better of her. She stood straight, raised her sword, and in one swift motion she threw it at his head.

  It missed, zooming past his ear and digging itself into the pavement. He turned to watch it go and when he turned back, she was almost on top of him. He quickly raised his sword to deflect her attack, but it was too late.

  Her fist smacked hard against the side of his face, causing the skin to split.

  He fell to the pavement, skinning his joints. As the flesh pulled away from his knees, he ground his teeth so hard that a chunk of his left molar snapped off and bounced down his throat.

  She picked up his sword and lunged at him with it. He rolled to the side, her blade slicing into the pavement. When she tried again, he rolled back to where he had started. He looked up at her as she raised her blade high above her head. He kicked out with both legs, smacking into both her kneecaps. She fell forward slightly and he ran to the wall and scooped at her sword handle, trying desperately to pull it from the concrete. He braced himself against the wall with one foot and he yanked on the sword violently, struggling against the stone that held onto it. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she was rapidly recovering, even trying to stand. The wall finally gave and the sword slid into his hands. He gripped it firmly and turned to face her. Their swords itched for the other’s flesh. He lowered his to the ground, until the very tip scraped against the blood-smeared concrete.

  -tink!-

  -tink-. Against the pavement. Xander smiled as Spider’s eyes grew wide. She kept her focus on him, using all the training her mind had ever absorbed.

  -tink-. -tink-. -tink-. -tink-.

  Her eyebrow started to twitch as the instinct to look down began to overwhelm her. She calmed herself, breathing deeply. -tink-. Slow, rhythmic breath. -tink-. Her eye twitched to the side, only for a moment.

  Xander smirked, enjoying the use of his enemy’s tactics against them.

  Finally she gave in to temptation and looked at the source of the sound.

  When she looked back at Xander, he was gone.

  She stared out into the darkness surrounding her. Slowly, the hatred in her eyes faded away to something else: fear. She began slashing at the darkness wildly, screaming as she did so. She stopped in the centre of the room, the light shimmering down her long hair. She stared wide-eyed into the darkness.

  She twirled around, then back again - always convinced that he was behind her. Sweat dotted her brow and traveled down in itchy trails as she fought to keep it out of her eyes, scanning the darkness wildly for any motion.

  “Where are you!?” she bellowed into the black, panic coming over her. As powerful as she was, she looked small and fragile now, the way a tree looks massive but a single leaf like nothing at all.

  Light bathed the room for a quick moment and she thought she heard a door close.

  She spun around to face it, her blade in front of her.

  The window in the door stared at her like one great luminescent eye pinning her in place. Her breath was still tight in her chest and her hair clung to her face, which was now drenched in a fresh smattering of panic sweat. She didn’t know where it had come from, but she could feel the chill of it on her skin and the salt of it on her lips.

  She tried to hold the blade in front of her steady, but it wavered as adrenaline shook her nerves until her arm quivered. The blade wavered back and forth like a tuning fork.

  And there was quiet.

  She let out a slow sigh of relief and lowered the sword.

  “Fuck,” she cursed, then stormed toward the door after him.

  -click-

  She turned around and bumped right into Xander.

  He plunged the sword into her. She let out a small, almost inaudible yelp.

  Her head fell forward onto the nape of his neck, and he could see the sword protrude from her back.

  Her mouth and eyes opened wide in a look of pure shock. He removed the sword and laid her carefully onto the pavement floor. Blood gushed from her open wound and she stared up at her killer. Her mouth opened as if she was about to say something, then closed, her lip gloss shining in the intense light. Her eyes gazed upward, then they rolled into her head.

  Xander stepped into the darkness. Finding the door, he exited the room, sliding his sword along the floor as he went.

  In another part of the building, Genblade and Alpha walked toward their destination. Suddenly, alarms began blaring from everywhere.

  Alpha looked downward, as if briefly mourning.“You know what this means.”

  Genblade’s eyes filled with disappointment. “That the Black Womb has bested Spider.”

  Alpha slammed him against the stone wall, pressing his arm against his neck.“Never! Never call him that AGAIN! I am the Black Womb now! Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, Master,” Genblade said quickly, avoiding angering his creator anymore. He did a small bow as Alpha let him go. “I am sorry, Master. It will not happen again.”

  “Go, Genblade. Stop 08276 from ruining my plans. Do whatever it takes.”

  “Yes, Master,” Genblade replied, pulling at his shirt.

  He turned and jogged back down the corridor the way they had come.

  Alpha turned to face a door marked REACTOR and walked in.

  Alarms ringing in his ears and electric surges shooting up his side from where Spider had cut him, Xander ran up the halls in a constant state of pain and confusion, not even knowing if he was headed in the right direction. He came to a four-way intersection and tripped, despite all his attempts to keep his steady pace. He fell to his knees. Pain shot through them as the spots where he had skinned them became irritated again. He clenched his teeth to fight back a yelp and suddenly, the alarms just... stopped. He stood up and turned slowly, looking in each of the three directions and back the way he came.

  Out of the corner of his left eye, he thought he saw something.

  When he looked down that hallway, it was gone. Something ran past the hallway in front of him. He felt the breeze of speed as the person passed by. A cackle of insane laughter echoed through the hallways, making it impossible to tell which direction it came from.

  “Genblade,” Xander said under his breath. He raised his sword to eye-level, prepared for the oncoming battle. Beads of sweat began to form on his scalp as his eyes darted from hallway to hallway, trying to catch a glimpse of his predator. Then he remembered the words Cathy once used for predators:

  ‘They’re just people, like you or me. I have this dream, where I’m supposed to be some kind of protector. But I always fail to protect the prey from the predator. I think it had something to do with a past life.’ She giggled. ‘Not that I believe in that. So, anyway, the only way you could ever rise above the predator is to become the predator. Learn to think as he thinks and you’ll know his move ten moves before he makes it. Just like in chess. Not that you’d know anything about chess, the way you and Mike are always wrapped up in that bloody video game. I swear by all that’s holy, someday I’ll take a baseball bat to that machine-’

  And the answer came to him. It was cliché, but: it takes one to know one. He had to become that which he hated most: Genblade. And to his own surprise, he actually found himself thinking, if I were a savage, disgusting, born and bred killer, where would I be? The answer dawned upon him like the sun dawns upon the earth each morning. I’d be behind me.

  Xander jabbed his sword under his arm without even looking. His eyes bulged with delight as it connected, producing that same subtle tug that Spider’s flesh had.

  He retracted it and turned around to face Genblade. “You killed the woman I loved.”

  Genblade glared down at him, removing his double blade from its straps. “And you killed the woman I loved.”

  They circled each other for a moment. The tension hung in the air as each combatant weighed what the other had said. Xander shuddered at the thought tha
t he and Genblade might as well have been opposite sides of the same coin. He raised his sword, which was now tarnished with the blood of both Spider and Genblade. The new Adam and Eve. Sweat bubbled from each opponent, each waiting for the other to make a move. Finally, Genblade struck. He lashed out at Xander, cutting him across the chest. The sword dug deep, clawing at the bone. Within seconds, blood had soaked through the entire chest of his shirt. Shoots of pain ran up and down Xander every few seconds, but it wasn’t constant, making it impossible to tune out.

  He turned to retaliate, but found that he was already on top of him. Genblade’s blade came across Xander’s jaw like quicksilver, slicing at the mouth and causing him to bleed violently. It hurt to breathe. All the while he struggled to remember the words that Cathy had said. To beat him, I have to become him. Genblade put his arm around Xander’s neck, embracing him in a headlock. He drew back his sword, preparing to plunge it through his trunk. To beat him, you must become him. Was he a killer like Genblade? He’d killed, now not only as Black Womb, but also as Xander Drew. Did that make him any better? Or worse?

  No! his mind screamed. Twisting in Genblade’s grip, he brought his knee to his side. Genblade doubled over, winded from the unexpected attack. Xander drew back his own sword and in one swift motion he sliced him across the shoulder. Genblade pulled back his own sword, then dropped it from pain. The shoulder wound would not allow him to lift his own weapon in defense. Xander sliced him across the chest, making a deep incision. Blood ran freely from the wound. Xander was about to make a shot to the jaw when Genblade tackled him, using what was obviously his last iota of energy. They both flew into the concrete wall and Xander bumped his head on it. He could hear his skull crack under the pressure as Genblade lay into him with a series of stabs with his dagger. He punched three holes into Xander’s torso before Xander finally kicked him off, sending him flying into the other wall.

  Genblade was unconscious. Helpless.

  Xander picked up his sword and pressed it against his enemy’s neck.

  “You killed the woman I love. But I did the same to you. Does that make me the same as you, Genblade?” He paused for a second, twirling his blade. For a brief moment, he thought he saw Sara reaching out to him.

  “No,” he said, throwing the sword aside. “Nothing can bring Sara back. There’s been enough blood spilled this day.”

  Then he gazed up the corridor that Genblade had come from.

  “Almost.”

  The room marked REACTOR was impossibly large and circular, like the inside of some giant dome. It was bordered by metal catwalks and stairways, some of which dropped off to nowhere or led back onto themselves, like something out of a M.C. Escher painting. In the centre of it all was a giant sphere made of metal plates of varying colours and qualities, some rusted beyond belief and others new and shimmering. One arm of the catwalk lead to it, and where they met there was a large control panel made up of gaggles of wires and turning parts. What had once been new and sophisticated was now crumbling and falling apart, patched up with stolen parts... much like the man who had done the patching. There were three car batteries wired into its side and long spirals of clear blue cable connecting one side of the terminal to the other. Dimmer switches and gearshifts had replaced buttons, and near the centre there was a CD player held tight to it with Bondo.

  The centre of the sphere glowed nuclear green, so bright that it could barely be looked at.

  Alpha stood in front of it and laughed quietly to himself.

  “You’re insane,” Xander said from the doorway. “It’s over. Your perfect world can’t exist without your perfect mother. Give it up.”

  Alpha turned to face him.“It’s funny that it should end this way. The same way it began nearly twenty years ago with your mother and I.”Alpha raised his hand. Two long, black claws protruded from each wrist.“Interesting. It appears that the Womb’s abilities vary from person to person.” He lunged at Xander, claws outstretched. Xander barely managed to dodge it.“You’re too late anyway,”he laughed, cocking his head toward the reactor.

  Xander turned and saw red numbers flashing on the control station’s screen. It looked like it had been lifted from an old clock radio. They were counting down, and were fast approaching the minute mark.

  “The core is set to expose itself. The Womb will allow me to survive that blast, but not you... and not anyone in that pathetic town of yours.”

  Alpha jumped toward Xander, propelled by powerfully elastic legs. He flew through the air, growling deep in his throat. Xander was barely able to jump out of the way. Alpha’s claws tore at his flesh, causing blood to splatter onto the walls. Xander landed on a metal walkway that led to the reactor. He got up, holding his side and started a limped run for the control panel.

  0:59

  Alpha turned to face him and saw what he was trying to do. With one fluid motion, his body stretched so that it was in front of Xander, towering over him. He was all that stood between Xander and the timer. Alpha slashed at him again, this time ripping through his stomach. There was a gaping hole there now, he could feel it pulsing and seeping. Could feel the blood splashing down onto his legs. He drew back to punch Alpha, but he caught the attack in his palm. Alpha squeezed on Xander’s fist, blood running from his knuckles. Then with one quick heave, he threw Xander back against the wall.

  0:40

  Blood gushed from a cut on his head as he tasted the coppery tang of it in his mouth. He spit out a tooth onto the metal floor. Beads of sweat began to roll down his face as the reactor powered up. He opened his eyes to see Alpha crouching in front of him. He opened his mouth, showing his monstrously pointed fangs. Alpha jumped at him with mouth open wide, biting down on Xander’s leg. He screamed in terror as the creature’s many rows of teeth acted like a chainsaw on the flesh and bone. He kicked at Alpha with his free leg and finally managed to beat him off. Alpha drew back a bit, growling.

  0:20

  Xander felt like giving up. Giving in to the monster before him. His guts in his arms, his blood on the ground... it was his time. He let out a final breath. Then, he thought of her. Of Sara. Of a conversation they had had once.

  CHAPTER TWELVE:

  OUT

  Xander lay on the ground, broken and beaten by Grendel, who was Sara’s current boyfriend.

  “When are you going to stop doing this?” she had asked him, using his shirt to wipe a bit of blood from his lip.

  He looked up at her, smiling. “I guess when I start winning fights.”

  “Not that,” she giggled, wiping more blood from his forehead. “This. Chasing after every boy I go out with like some... jealous father.”

  “Oh,” Xander said, looking downward. “I guess when you start going out with reasonable guys.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Gee, I wonder. Grendel, Derek, Sud, Tommy, Jamie, Travis, Cecil... the list goes on. Guys that are... Okay, but they don’t deserve you. You deserve someone special. Someone who’ll treat you right and make you feel good and... and not look at you like you’re an object. You’re better than you think you are, y’know. You deserve better.”

  She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “That was the nicest thing anyone ever said to me.” She smiled. “Make me a promise.”

  “Anything.”

  “Don’t ever give up.”

  “Huh?”

  “Don’t ever stop protecting me. And when I finally do find that guy you were talking about, protect someone else. The world needs a protector, Xander.”

  “I promise.”

  “Don’t ever give up

  “Don’t ever give up

  “Don’t ever give up

  “Don’t ever give up…”

  “I won’t,” he said aloud. As Alpha lunged at him, Xander reached into his pocket and pulled out one of Genblade’s daggers. He thrust out, giving it every ounce of raw power he had left. The blade sunk deep into Alpha’s right side, then ripped across to the left. As Alpha ripped at Xander’s ba
ck, Xander reached his hand into Alpha and ripped it out. The pure essence of the Black Womb. That black and gray, smoldering lump of organ.

  Alpha’s eyes went wide for an instant, before shrinking back into small white marbles in the middle of his face.

  The blackness lost its hold on him all at once and fell from of his body, splashing through the grates of the catwalk and down into the nothingness below. His toothless, cancerous mouth took a deep gasp before he went limp and fell to the floor. His stomach, muscles and skull were all exposed again. As Xander watched, each one seemed to sputter and die on their own.

  Wincing, Xander pried open the edges of the wound that Alpha had slashed across his stomach and pushed the Womb organ inside. Black tendrils spat out of its porous surface and latched onto his large intestine, pulling itself into place and pouring out so much blackness that it flowed freely from the opening in Xander’s side and out onto his legs.

  His heartbeat doubled, then tripled, then began to beat so fast that it sound more like static in his ears than a drum. Only it wasn’t his heart, at least not his human one. He could feel it pulsing and moving in his side, bending and kneading itself to spread more and more. And, as horrific as it was, it somehow it felt... right.

  Black liquid began to pour from his mouth and nose, falling down onto his chest and building there a quart at a time until it covered his entire body.

  “Black Womb lives.”

  0:10

  He ran across the metal walkway to the timer and opened the hatch on it, revealing the mess of wires inside. He stared at it blankly for a moment.

  0:09

  He pointed a claw at the red wire, then shrugged it off.

  0:08

  Blue wire. He inched to it with his talon, then decided against it.

  0:07

  Green wire. No, he thought, it’s never the green wire.

  0:06

  Frustration built and Xander could feel Black Womb begin to take over.