Niko

by Kayti Nika Raet

  Chapter 13

  They had to leave the body behind. It would be too cumbersome to carry with them as they fought back monsters; he was safer inside the Grey-man's home. Slithers did not molest dead remains; it was warm bodies with still beating hearts they enjoyed.

  Still, it seemed wrong to do so and Niko kept glancing back as the house grew smaller and smaller behind them until they turned a corner and it disappeared completely.

  In the commotion she'd lost her weapon. Toothy Too was probably in the same place Ben's jacket was, abandoned on the street being consumed by acid. If a group of Slithers attacked them they wouldn't last long.

  Ben noticed her lack of weapons and pulled his sword out of its sheath. He held out the weapon, blade gleaming in the sunlight.

  Niko shook her head. "I can't take that." Compared to him she barely knew how to use it, their chances of survival would be severely limited if they were relying on her to defend them.

  Somewhere beyond them there was a scream and they both flinched as it was abruptly cut off.

  Ben took her hand; the dried blood had made his hands feel rougher than usual. He pressed the hilt of his sword against her palm forcing her fingers closed around it. "Take it." He insisted. "I still have a few knives on me. Besides," He cracked a tiny smile but it wasn't like all the others. It didn't reach his eyes, it was nothing more than the twitch and manipulation of muscles. "Slithers are easy to kill. You said so yourself."

  As they moved down the street keeping a watchful eye out for Slithers he said, “You wouldn’t let me perform those tests on you.”

  She couldn’t keep back a laugh. “It didn’t seem like a wise idea to be alone in a room with you.”

  “You make me sound so perverted.” He protested as if he had done nothing to deserve the label. “It’s for a legitimate reason. If we can find out what made you manifest early it would make a huge difference. There’re so few of us and so many of them.”

  Niko gripped the sword with both hands, eyes bouncing up and down the street. “You leered at me, several times. I don’t trust you.”

  “Don’t worry.” He pitched his arm forward, tossing a knife. It turned end over end before sinking into the forehead of a Slither dozen of feet away. He gave her a triumphant grin. “I’m harmless.”

  Niko let her silence answer for her.

  They encountered no more Slithers as they neared the East Gate. She hardly saw any Grey-men either. The streets glittered with salt and the monsters that did remain were dead.

  When they finally reached the Gate there was no pitched battle going on as she expected. The door to the East Gate was hastily being sealed with makeshift items. Symbols had been spray-painted on the walls in red, blue, cream, and ultraviolet. Black blood stained the salt covered sidewalk and a dead Slither was propped against the wall bristling with arrows. Occasionally someone would pass by and shoot another one into it.

  Most people looked exhausted but happy though there were some injured Circle members being carried away. They found their own Circle a little further beyond the gate.

  Duc had lifted Ari by the waist and was spinning her in a circle as they got near. He set her down. “You won’t believe what Ari did,” he said as she wrapped her arms around his neck causing him to list slightly to the left. He punched out two fingers. “Girl killed two Slithers with one arrow.”

  Ben raised an appreciative eyebrow. “Is that even possible?”

  Ari nodded her head vigorously. “It is now.”

  Duc kissed her on the cheek. “And she’s acting very modest about it.” He teased.

  She tugged at her lower lid and stuck out her tongue. “I’m a bad-ass. Modesty is for wimps.”

  Then for the first time they seemed to notice the blood smeared all over Ben, his missing shirt and lack of weapons. “What happened to you?” Duc asked while Ari peeled herself away from him with a gasp. “Gods, is that yours?”

  While Ben began to tell them about the Slither attack Niko walked away from them toward Malik who stood a few feet away. He stared at the wall and the symbols sprayed onto it. His eyes flicked toward her as she got closer. His glasses were gone and it made his face look surprisingly vulnerable.

  He tilted his chin toward the gate. “Some of the Slithers escaped. I’m worried that they’ll attack someone as they’re coming to the city since they failed to eat anybody here.”

  She gave him a sidelong glance wondering why he didn’t chase after them and finish the job if he was so concerned. "I'm going after them."

  "Wait!" He made a grab for her arm but she was already moving, her eyes on the gate. Through the repairs being hastily erected she could see not one but several of the monsters. They couldn't have been more the twenty feet away from the wall. She could see the red swathes of blood smeared over their bodies as they consumed their prized organs, blatantly disregarding those on the other side of the wall as a threat. Perfect, she thought as she ran toward the gate, she'd kill them all.

  She could hear Ari calling her name but Niko ignored her. They might think their work was over once the city was cleared of Slithers. They could even gloat about their prowess with the bow but until every last one of those disgusting creatures was gone Niko wasn't going to consider it finished.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw something coming toward her and without thinking she raised her borrowed sword.

  "Niko don't!"

  She stopped just in time. The blade hovered over the man's neck, a gasp away from slicing his throat. "Lower your weapon, Miss," he said, he appeared unperturbed and as Niko glanced around she began to have an idea why. There were men standing atop the wall and they all had guns pointed at her. Niko gave them a savage smile, she'd been right their guns were to stop the people not the Slithers. She returned her eyes to the man.

  "If we don't get those monsters while we can they'll only attack someone else. Someone helpless against them."

  "That shouldn't be your concern," the man said, "trying to save everyone helps no one. People come to Amaryllis City because we can protect them from Slithers. They're the ones that are worth your concern."

  He said more but a nameless sort of rage had washed over her making her deaf to his words. The people who live Outside were not worthless; they didn't deserve to live in constant fear, below the concern of a city that stood right over them watching their needless deaths impassively. Shawn was not worthless.

  "Now," The man finished still calm, still unperturbed. "Lower your weapon." He placed a finger on the broad side of her sword and slowly pushed it away from his neck until the blade pointed to the ground.

  She glared at him. "You're the monster," she said, her words constricted by anger into a tight whisper. She turned away and walked to the Rose Circle. Now she understood what had colored Malik's tone as he spoke, it was bitterness.

  As she went toward them Malik lifted his crossbow. It was aimed at some point beyond her and she raised a vicious wish that it was pointed to the man behind her.

  He released the bolt and she heard an inhuman shriek as a Slither was shot. A ragged cheer erupted telling her that there were more than a few Circle members who felt the same as she did.

  The corners of his mouth fluttered upward in a grim smile.

  It was one that Niko did not return.