by Jason Luthor
“Now, much more.” He waves, and one of the Creepers walks over to us. It’s so casual, it’d be funny if these things couldn’t rip a person to pieces. “Examine. Ones you call Creepers. Typically, utilize a human base. Bones. Muscle. This one is Creep musculature over a human skeletal frame. Flaw of design. Humans weak. Human base weak.”
“Wouldn’t that make you weak, then? You said you were a human once.”
“Inherent flaws. Cannot be adjusted. Live only because of Judge’s will. Still inferior to the Creep itself.”
“You’re inferior to a bunch of skin and muscle tissue growing on the walls?”
“Creep much more than that. Only in Tower is Creep so limited. Outside, far more. Have not seen it in several hundred years, but this one you speak to remembers ancient creatures.”
“Well, that sounds absolutely peaches. What do you mean, ‘ancient creatures?’”
“Created by Creep. Tall as towers, with skeletons as hard as steel. Humans only lived due to creativity and ingenuity. Strongest advantage of humans. Independent thought. These . . .” He waves at the Creeper, and it just runs away, like a pet or something. “. . . Feral. Exist only to feed. Human base acts as curse. Hunger a basic biological demand, but these hunger from habit. Remnants of minds continuing on in Creep. Makes perfect assimilation nearly impossible. In war, entirely Creep based creatures preferable. Except, when perfect assimilation achieved.”
“Perfect assimilation. Are you talking about Judge?”
“The first. Not the only one. There was a second.”
“Director Kelly?”
If this guy could laugh, he probably would. Instead, he just stares at me for a second, with that long tongue of his just swiping excitedly away through the air. It looks like he’s amused. “Director near-perfect, but still highly flawed. Only capable of existing because of Judge’s will. Same as with the one you see before you.”
“You. The only reason you’re able to talk to me is because Judge lets you keep your own mind?”
“Judge is powerful bond of peak human mental power grafted with Creep cells. Mind keeps Creep at bay when in a body. Even in death, Judge’s mind lives on in Creep, to possess another when he chooses.”
“But you said there was another person like him.”
“Truth.”
“Well, who was it?”
“Cannot say. Past obscured by Judge. Remember only what is allowed. The one you see before you remembers more than most. Director was kept alive by Judge as punishment. Cannot remember what punishment was for. A mystery.”
“Director Kelly was punished? But you weren’t. So, obviously he was doing something Judge didn’t like. You weren’t.”
“The one you see before you not punished. Rewarded. The one you see before you is allowed control. Allowed to continue his work. Allowed to continue to study biology, genetics. Understand Creep biology better than most. Can manipulate. Can summon. Can create.”
“Then, you’re the one who’s making all these Creepers?”
“No. Not all. Only some. Creep is all powerful. Creep is greater than any individual. Creep creates its own creatures. Defensive. Tactical. Not feral. Defense mechanism, much as angel’s white blood cells. Greatest mystery is what guides Creep. Not sure even Judge knows. The one you see before you, the director, even Judge himself, all unexpected subspecies.”
“I guess the Creep never expected any humans to be able to bond with it like Judge, huh?”
“Creep cannot expect. Expectations a human characteristic. Indicates future planning. Creep reactions are biological, based on environment. Knowledge is innate. Creep is manifestation. Of what? Unknown. All that is known is that Creep is instinctual, but not without order.”
By this point, I’ve had a few solid minutes of this guy basically not telling me too much about where the Creep comes from or how it got here. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I was expecting anything different. The more I find out about the Creep, the farther it feels like I am from finding anyone who knows how it actually arrived. Maybe Judge knows, but I’m pretty sure he’s not going to want to have a leisurely conversation about it. “So, why are you telling me all this, anyway? I mean, if you’re working for Judge, I’m assuming you know he’s basically been trying to take my head for the last few days.”
“Know. Understand. Judge tested the dark angel. Judge underestimated. Director Kelly, physically strong. However, survival not dependent on strength alone. Geller understands this. Survival not contingent on strength. Jackie. Magnificent killer. Not as strong, but . . .” He stops and walks a circle around me again, like he can spot something new if he does. “Something in the angel. Capable of victory against physically superior adversaries. Able to win even when outnumbered or overpowered. Something . . . different. Cannot determine. I am interested. Judge, is interested. Judge, too, pursued science one. Curious. Wishes to know how Jackie can continue winning. Can continue surviving. Capabilities far beyond expectations. Why?”
“Whaaat do you mean? You want to know how I keep getting away? How I keep . . . Are you really asking me how I keep beating guys like David Marshall or Director Kelly? Hey, if you can tell me, that’d be news to both of us. From my perspective, all I’m doing is my best to stay alive.”
“Not novel. All creatures seek survival. Dark angel, though . . . the angel’s ribs fractured in three places. Currently, body is repairing beyond typical human capacity. Rapid recovery rate not due to medicine alone. Neither is victory due to this. Something. Different. Different. Different. Must determine. Must find the angel’s limits. Must show them to her.”
“Show me my limits? Why?”
“The angel’s pride. No humility. It reeks. Judge smells it.”
“Pride?”
“Must be broken before the fall. Pride comes before the fall. Must be cracked. Must be splintered.”
“Because David Marshall hated me that much?”
This thing I’m talking to seems to stop smiling, like it’s getting serious for the first time in the entire conversation. “No. This is the oldest anger. The oldest hate. A blood feud that dates to Tower’s origins. Do not know precise reason. Only know it is Judge’s anger. No one else’s.”
“But I’m the least prideful person on the planet. I walked around for half my life thinking that nobody even wanted to talk to me. How is Judge going to think I’m so prideful?”
“Pride so deep it goes unnoticed by the angel.” I see him wave his hand at the wall, and suddenly there’s a half dozen skeletons being lowered to the ground and wrapped up in Creep. It only takes a second for muscle to form over their arms and legs, and the next thing I know, I’m staring at a small squad of Creepers that just want to get their teeth into my skin. “Two results to come. The angel handed to me. Strength of will is not enough. The angel will be broken. Judge will have revenge. Also, will find what makes the angel . . . different.”
“What? By looking through my blood when this is done?” The guy doesn’t say anything else as he steps back, and it takes only a half second before I’ve got a lineup of Creepers charging face forward at me. The razors busting from their fingertips look ready to take my head. “You think I’m just going to give up?”
“No. That is purpose of this experiment. Must find out why. Why she can endure.” And, just like that, I’m spinning away as claws are slicing at me. I barely get away from the first one before I’ve got my bat flying. I can feel it when it’s moving, and I don’t know, it just feels faster. It feels like it’s almost got no weight, but when it connects, I can feel the bone breaking as the first Creeper goes flying to the ground. It’s scarier that he doesn’t get up. Whatever that fabricator patched up my bat with made it faster and a hell of a lot stronger. When I realize I can take these things down with one hit if I play it right, I launch into them.
Everything becomes blurry, to be honest. That’s been happening a lot since we got into the Deep, but it’s been getting worse ever since I got this far down.
Maybe I’m just becoming used to this type of thing, but I can literally feel what’s going to happen before it happens. I’ve just done so much fighting that things are actually a little predictable. If someone takes a hard swing at you but misses, they’re going to go flying by, and you’ve got a split second to do something about it. That’s exactly what happens, and I clock another Creeper along the knee. It still makes me a little queasy to see a leg bend in a way I know it shouldn’t, but all I care is that I’ve got one less monster to worry about.
Which doesn’t mean I’ve got a lot of time to gloat, either. The next thing I know, I’m turning away from one swing and ducking under another, then rising up with a hit from my bat that just sends a Creeper flying. When another launches at my legs, I catapult over its back. I’ve got a half second to kick one of these things through the chest before spinning around and clobbering another one with my bat. Then it’s just a few more strikes before I’m left standing there with a bunch of bodies around me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m sucking wind, and I can feel the sweat making trails under my helmet. That doesn’t mean I don’t get a little cocky. I look over at the geneticist, or whatever he used to be, except it’s me that’s smiling now.
“Was that really your best shot?”
“Judge gave you over because I am the most adaptable,” he says as his fingers start twiddling in the air. That’s all it takes before I start seeing a bunch of skeletons dropping into the ground, only they’re forming rows now. It doesn’t take them long to become covered in muscles of Creep, and all I know is that I’m staring down dozens of them, probably more than I’ve ever seen. They rush me, but there’s too many to survive, so I break for it.
As I’m running, I realize the back window already looks cracked, so I’ve instantly got my gun firing until the glass comes down in a flood of glittering pieces. There’s all of half of a second when I shoot a look behind me and see Geller getting carried along. It’s like he’s grown a massive tendril from his back that’s keeping him above the crowd. Guy wasn’t kidding when he said he was adaptable. He’s swarmed with Creepers, like dozens of dozens, all of them rushing at me like a living tidal wave. I can’t win against this many, not with Geller just making more, which means I have to find some way to even things out. I’m still running when I drop two grenades behind me and my foot plants onto what used to be a computer station. Then, I’m flying through the air and into the lab beyond the shattered glass wall. I’ve got maybe a split second to twist, and when I do, I uncap two more grenades that I send flying. It only takes a few seconds, but it feels like forever as the floor rushes up from behind me. My ears are filling up with the sound of grenades detonating as the ground flies at me. Then, there have to be a few dozen feet before I hit, and when I finally pound into the floor, I swear I can feel my arm jam out of its socket.
My world feels like it’s on fire when I hit, like a burning knife is cutting down from my shoulder to my fingers. Everything in me wants to scream, but I can’t. It’s like my voice is trapped in my throat. Still, even with my arm feeling like it’s in pieces, I start struggling to get up. Stopping would mean dying, and the sound of the lab above me, roaring with explosions, gives me just enough motivation to keep hauling off. My arm feels like an anchor though, like I’m dragging it behind me. Part of it feels numb, but another part, up toward the socket, feels like it’s igniting every time I move. My teeth are literally digging into my lip as I try to force myself along. Running might be excruciating, but I force myself to keep going. There are doors that lead out into other parts of the Tower, and I’m sprinting through one as fast as I can. I’m at least fast enough to get away before the Creepers can get to me, but it doesn’t take long before I can hear their screams echoing down the hall.
Tight spaces are death traps. Usually, I hate narrow halls, but they can help when you play your cards right. Parts of the Tower, mostly places with lots of homes, have really wide areas for people to walk through. Meanwhile, the labs are usually connected to smaller halls. That’s my situation. That’s also why I have one chance to put a gap between me and Geller. I’ve got one big piece of explosive I’m carrying that I’d usually use to blow away rubble, plus the remote detonator to go with it. I remember Commander Vick saying he did something like this when he was trying to escape the Creep, and it’s not like I’ve got lots of options, so I stop long enough to plant the entire block on the ground and stick in the detonator. Then I’m just trying to put as much distance between me and the bomb as I can, because I know that an explosion in an area this confined is going to carry a super nasty shockwave. In tight areas, you might not die from the shrapnel, but the shockwave could seriously mess up your insides. Having my stomach liquefied isn’t something I’d look forward to, so I get as far away as I’m willing to risk things before I jam the trigger on my remote.
The explosion that comes afterward is so loud that it literally slams through my ears, and the floor under my feet just feels like it wants to give up the ghost. That’s exactly when the dark halls suddenly light up with this fire that’s rushes at me from behind. Maybe I ignited some gas or detonated some sensitive chemicals, but when I shoot a look over my shoulder, all I see are clouds of explosions rushing through the halls. They’re piling on top of each other and expanding, and I can actually feel the heat burning into my back.
What’s really scary though? I can feel the pressure. It’s building up, like a can of soda that you shake until you can feel it wanting to pop. It’s building and building, and I’m sprinting for the next corner when my entire world just comes to a stop. My ears feel like bursting as a boom fills them up, and my body gets picked up and thrown down the hall on a wave of burning air. I pitch into the far wall so hard that you hear the metal ring, and then it’s just a rush of heat soaking into my back and searing into my uniform. There’s a long time when I’m pinned to the wall by the pressure and the fire, gritting my teeth while my body feels like it’s being grilled, just stuck in a personal hell. It actually feels like my skin’s being seared away, and my insides feel like they’ve taken a thousand punches, to the point that I want to vomit. Meanwhile, my stomach’s rolling hard, and I just keep praying for it to end. All I can see is an ocean of orange and yellow in front of my eyes. Then, just before I think I’m going to pass out, everything starts to calm down, and I finally slam into the ground.
For a second, I almost don’t know where I am because there’s this stretch where I can’t see anything. My eyes feel like they’re burning, but everything’s darkness and spots. I might not be able to see, but the world still feels like it’s on fire even with the explosion over. Maybe the worst part is my stomach. It’s pitching and turning as I try to flip around, but my muscles can barely move. I’m barely even able to drag myself to the wall and prop myself up, but it’s a good enough position that I can actually feel myself breathing again. At first, I suck at the air hard, but deep breaths make it feel like knives are stabbing into my sides. Not that it matters. Even if it hurts, even if it feels like I’m dragging daggers through my ribs, I need air. I take a few gulps, which makes me feel like I’m dying, and sit as my eyes start clearing. The darkness fades and the spots vanish. That’s when I realize that I was right. The world really is on fire. The flames are so bright that I can see clear down to the other end of the hall. It almost feels like those visions of Sally I’ve had before, except this is painfully real.
It takes a second before my ears clear out. Everything is ringing, but that starts to slowly clear up until I can hear the sound of the fire crackling around me. When I take a look at my arms, I can see where my uniform’s scorched up. There are black streaks everywhere, and I’m actually a little scared to look at my skin, because it feels like everything’s heating up, like somebody dumped me in boiling water and left me there. Not that I can think about it long. I’m sitting there, trying to find any power left to move, when I start to hear a clanging. It’s really soft at first, but I realize that it’s getting louder the longer I
sit around. It sounds like somebody keeps knocking against the walls, and it starts getting so intense that you could swear someone was punching holes through the place. It’s almost in synch with my breathing, like I’m on a countdown. Every breath I take, this noise hits again, and louder than it was the last time. One breath? Boom. Another breath? Boom.
Then I see an arm stretch around the corner. It’s long, like a dozen feet long and as thick as me. The claws on the end dig into the wall before nine or ten more arms join it. They all cut into the walls and start pulling. I can see their slick muscles contracting, and I can hear something dragging along the ground. It’s loud. Really loud. I don’t want to find out what it is, but every time I try to push myself up, I can feel my legs giving way and my ribs feeling like they want to stab through my sides. I’m just barely on my feet and leaning against the wall when I look up and see the arms pull one more time. Around the corner comes this huge . . . It’s a face. It’s Geller’s face, with those rows of teeth and that slithering tongue, but it’s so huge that it fills up every inch of the hall. When it gets in my sight, its mouth opens so wide that I can feel air thundering against me when it screams, “JACKIE!”
Suddenly, its claws are thundering into the walls. It’s charging so fast that all I see is this circle of razor sharp teeth and that long tongue as it rushes through the fire and straight at me. I grab the wall and try to pull myself away, but my body won’t move. I maybe drag myself a few inches before I take a knee and barely keep myself from falling face first onto the floor. Seconds before I go slamming into the ground, my hands drop to brace for impact, but that sends a thousand razors cutting into my shoulder that feel so excruciating, it’s beyond my teenage comprehension. It’s so bad, only the wall keeps me from completely collapsing. After that, it’s only a few second before Geller’s right on top of me. His arms squeeze the walls, tearing into the metal, and his massive face stops just feet away from mine. It’s so large that I can stare past his rows of teeth, which are all almost as long as my entire body, and look right down his throat. It’s like staring into a cave, and I can feel a stream of hot air pouring out of him, just soaking me in the humidity.