It was then, as the three drew near the edge of the platform, that a pale green flash ignited over the torso of the scythe-armed zombie. The screeching voices of the arisen Vant’therax grew louder and more helpless. A moment later, the creature fell flat on its face, unmoving. Another flash sparked off the other reanimated robe, and it too fell. An awed hush descended. The clawed Vant’therax looked to and fro, bewilderment awakening into unbridled horror.
She didn’t waste a moment. Annika snatched the Rhino from the floor by Arthr. The claw-thing snapped its attention back to her just as she pulled the trigger and sent a bullet grazing past its temple. It leapt away, genuine fear scratched across its features. Annika fired twice more, attempting to lead the shots. Two ricochets later, a cloak of shadows wrapped about the creature’s form, turning its bloodstained yellow robe into dripping darkness. Before she could pull the trigger again, those shadows dissipated and took the creature with it.
Annika gasped for air. Her heart was thudding at an impossible speed, and her lungs were desperate for oxygen. Lightheaded, she looked up and scanned the results of the battle. The scythe-creature was now a mundane corpse, and the other reanimated chimera, too, had been exorcised of the spark of life. On the other side of the Vault, the remaining four Vant’therax were struggling on the floor, scarcely able to move. For the first time since the first shots had rung out, it was quiet. Her own breath was deafening in the absence of the gunfire. But she knew she had little time to catch her breath. She hopped down from the raised portion of floor, threw the chamber of the Rhino open, and struck her palm against the ejector rod. Three unspent cartridges and three empty casings tinkled to the floor.
She dug into her pocket and pulled out a handful of thirty-eight specials. She automatically reloaded the chambers as she stepped over the bodies of the twice-deceased robed creatures and made her way to the lankiest Vant’therax. It had ceased its writhing and now could manage only a subtle twitching. She closed the cylinder, pulled back the hammer, and put the barrel to its head. “Any last words, spindeljävel?”
The thing on the ground shivered. All its muscles in the midst of violent spasms, it struggled to turn its head to the side so it could glare up at her. “What . . . d-di . . . y . . . ”
Annika smirked. “Those spider kids really are incredible creatures, you know,” she said, feigning awe. “And it turns out they’ve got one thing even your cute little armor can’t protect you against: neurotoxin.”
The thing twitched as it fought the contracting muscles in its neck. Its expression was neutral, though its eyes were alight with fear.
“That’s right,” Annika said with a satisfied smile. “I shot you fuckers full of venom collected from the very children you sought. You may not be able to feel pain, but you still can’t do shit if your muscles refuse to talk to your brains.”
The spindly thing on the floor let its head fall limp. It tried to bare its teeth. “We’ll rise a . . . again . . . ”
“No, you won’t. This is the end. Vi ses i helvetet.”
The report of the Rhino sounded, and the executed monster collapsed, a bullet hole in the back of its skull. Annika walked to the second creature. The Vant’therax with the great curving tusks had managed to push itself up upon one knee despite its quaking muscles. It stared up at her, rage painted upon its numb face. She planted the barrel right between its eyes and pulled the trigger. Another deafening crack, and the thing fell dead.
The last two Vant’therax, shaking with a violent urgency, began to flicker. Annika realized a fraction of a second too late what they were doing. The shadows began to scurry up their arms and down their backs, enveloping their entire forms. She threw her arm up and fired on the closest of them, but panic weakened her aim. The three bullets only struck vulnerable and replaceable flesh. Before she could finish the execution, the two survivors had melted into darkness and dispersed, vanishing from the Vault.
Her gun arm went limp. “Shit. Didn’t think they could still use their magic if they were paralyzed.”
Behind her on the platform, Arthr had crawled to a sitting position and was now doubled over panting, trying to catch his mangled breath. With one hand on his injured throat, his whole body seemed to rock with tremors. “We . . . we did it!” He pumped one fist into the air, the weakness evident in his lack of vigor.
Annika’s lips pulled back in a scowl. She made her way back over toward him. Before he could speak another word of ill-deserved victory, she vaulted up onto the catwalk, grabbed him by the collar, and pushed him back against the steel wall. “What the fuck do you mean we did it?” she said. “What did you do, exactly? If I’m missing something please interrupt me, because from where I’m standing it looks an awful lot like you’re trying to squeeze some credit out of being completely useless!”
Arthr’s expression fell. The corner of his lip twitched, and his shoulders sagged. The display of weakness only solidified Annika’s fury.
“Do you understand how close you just came to getting us both killed? All you had to do was point the gun in the vague direction of that fucker’s head and pull the trigger until it died. That’s it. You got all that right except for the little detail of making it die. I can’t even fathom what was going through your mind. I spent hours of my goddamn life teaching you to shoot. And for what? You can’t even shoot if your life depends on it!”
His russet eyes went wide and moist, and shame pulled his lips into a frown. “I . . . Annika, I’m sorry, I—”
“If you had pulled the trigger instead of withdrawing into your internal diaper-shitting universe, that fucker wouldn’t have gotten away. And if you’d just done what I taught you to do, we could’ve executed the other two before they had a chance to run. Now we have three of those robes at large, all because you didn’t have the balls to pull the trigger. What fucking good are you?”
“I, I tried! But the hammer wouldn’t . . . I tried to pull it back, but I just couldn’t—”
“This is a double action,” she spat, shaking the grip of the Rhino in his face. “You don’t even need the hammer. You just pull the trigger. That’s all you had to do. And you couldn’t. So good work, Arthr. You’re a credit to your kind.”
His breath became erratic. His eyelids fluttered as he stared into her face. Slowly, he began to shake his head, but that gesture soon melted into a dipped chin and vibrating upper lip. “I’m . . . ”
Annika watched in slow motion as Arthr’s expression turned from placative sycophancy to anguish. But she remembered that he was still a child who’d never wanted anything to do with any of this. An uncharacteristic chill of remorse swept its way up her back. She released her grip on him and turned around. “Well, whatever. Four for seven is still more than half. We came out ahead, in any case, and I guess we got what really matters.” She passed her gaze over the great metal cylinder that dominated the Vault. What was within, she did not know. But destroying it had become their win condition.
It wasn’t optimal, but they’d still done the impossible. Against all odds, they’d survived.
Mark panted heavily, electric blades of ice slicing through his eyes and burrowing toward the center of his brain. He may have gone a little overboard, he now thought. He hoped that Annika was able to take care of the situation with two Vant’therax down and their Conduit cut off forever. Perhaps it was too ambitious to hope to kill them all in one attack. Had he crushed Nemo’s soul first, however, the other Vant’therax would surely have run away. And if history was any indication, they’d just create a new Conduit to take over.
Beside him, the dead bodies of Rith and Dyn were crumpled heaps upon the floor. And in the other corner of the lab, the bloody chunks of Nal lay. He closed his eyes, trying to blink away the splitting pain in his head. If he moved away from the wall, he thought he’d become so dizzy that he’d fall over and be unable to get up again. But he had to risk it. Left leg creaking, shoulder alight with a searing pain, he forced himself to move. He managed to keep his balance
, but he wasn’t sure for how long his limbs would be cooperative. The Vault was in Annika’s hands now. And that meant the only thing left for him to do was to find Spinneretta. Cringing, he started hobbling back toward the battered hallway, and from there he’d head in the direction the others had vanished.
Chapter 41
Endgame
“It’s a shame it had to end like this,” the thing in the yellow robe said. “The Eleventh Project held such great promise. You should be grateful that Dwyre is no longer among the living. He would be livid if he found his beloved Eleventh reduced to such a mess.”
Kara crouched low to the wet floor, her spider legs flourished at her sides. “You’d better back off!” she said. “We don’t have anything to do with you, freak!”
“Kaj, actually. And the pleasure is all mine.” He sighed and crossed his arms. “Well, now, this is a problem. At last, we have you. But, clearly, you are not going to come with us willingly. So, what am I to do?” He shrugged in an exaggerated manner and chuckled. “Unfortunately for you, we have no time for negotiation. You two will come with me without any complaints, or I’ll break you and take you by force.”
Spinneretta found her feet with the help of her spider legs. Still shaking, she uttered a sharp, guttural retort. “Shut up.”
Kara looked at her, seemingly shocked at the rare animosity of her tone. But Kaj was unamused. His lips were parted in a perpetual scowl. Just the sight of it made Spinneretta’s blood run hot.
“How theatric of you,” Kaj said. “But we have no time for such pretense. You will come with me right now, or else—”
Spinneretta glared death into Kaj’s disfigured eyes. “I said to shut your fucking mouth!” A deep breath seared her lungs with harsh vapors. Her spider legs writhed with restrained fury. “You monsters. These things you’ve been making, they’ve been sentient. They’ve been alive. They felt pain, they felt fear. Does that mean nothing to you? This thing, this woman, was innocent. But she knew nothing other than pain and fear. I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish, but I won’t let you keep creating vessels of suffering!”
With a furious cry, she leapt at the cloaked thing, Instinct pulsing through her veins. As she hit the apex of her jump, she pulled her legs back and prepared to bury them in the orbits of Kaj’s eyes.
The yellow shape reared back and twisted. Seemingly from nowhere, its arm emerged and slammed into Spinneretta’s chest. The world blurred, and then spun, as her velocity was reversed. A shocking pain raced through her chest and ribs, and before she realized what had happened the floor smashed against her back. The air exploded from her lungs in a pained yelp, and a white-hot nerve pain ripped through the lowest plate of one leg. The remnants of the draining chemical pool scalded the exposed tissue.
Kara cried a furious shout and pounced at the Vant’therax, her spider legs drawn back in anticipation. But Kaj’s lanky arm snatched her from the air before she could strike. Her legs flailed about for a moment, and her hands groped at the fingers coiled about her throat.
“Do not be stupid, child,” Kaj hissed. “We needn’t take you in one piece!” Then, with a great roll of his shoulder, Kaj hurled Kara across the room, where she struck one of the other glass tanks with a loud crack. The glass quivered, and Kara collapsed motionless upon the floor.
Spinneretta struggled to push herself up, anger frothing. “You bastard!” She found her legs and twisted into a crouch. But in the blink of an eye, Kaj stood above her, his foot at her collarbone.
“Next time cooperate,” he said.
Then he thrust his leg forward into her. The kick threw Spinneretta backward. Her spider legs spread, scrambling to recover, but then her back struck the edge of a control panel. A rattling shock raced through all of her limbs at once, like molten lightning that split the bone. Again came that awful cracking, now in four of her appendages. A hot fluid splattered against her back. She screamed in pain, but the sound was too quiet. She could scarcely move as gravity pulled her down from the control panel and slammed her face-first into the metal floor. The taste of blood was on her tongue, but even that was receding. Coughing and twitching, she was helpless to fight against the spell of dizziness that came upon her and shrouded her mind in the fog of unconsciousness.
Kara’s whole body was still ringing from her trip into the glass, but the sound of Spinneretta’s shriek jolted her back to awareness. She forced herself into a crouch, her spider legs loaded and ready to attack. She felt a tug on her forelegs as Kaj slunk toward her sister. It’s now or never, she thought. She wound the line twice around a pair of legs and pulled it taut, using the strength in all eight of her appendages.
Kaj’s right arm, ensnared about the wrist during her last attack, rose toward her. He pivoted on his heels and snapped his head around. The lights overhead glinted off the natural sheen of the silk. His eyes followed the line to where she sat hunched. She snarled at him, baring her fangs. “Get away from her!”
The Vant’therax, still eying the silvery line, scoffed. “Quite an impressive trick, child.”
“Your old pal fell for the same trick, and he paid for it with his life.” Kara showed him a predatory grin. The Hunting was burning through her, through each muscle and sinew. Carnivorous eyes wide, she pulled her web-lasso tighter, drawing the Vant’therax’s arm out like a marionette’s. She tensed her legs and pounced. The world blurred from her speed. She closed in, drawing her legs back.
But Kaj’s form contorted in front of her. A yellow blur of cloth, and then something struck the side of her head. The floor greeted her with a bone-rattling impact. Her spider legs tensed and readjusted to absorb the force. A line of pain ran between her joints. As she regained her senses, she felt the strands of web go loose. The silken lines she’d wrapped about his wrist had been severed.
She vaulted into a hunched crouch, her spider legs loading for another leap attack. Kaj, however, was faster. A boot slammed into her chin, sending her sprawling across the floor. Her legs scrambled for purchase, and she came to rest beside the corpse of the hybrid Isabella. Glass dug into her arms and legs. Pain pulsed through each of her extremities. She tried to get back up, but a heavy foot fell upon her chest and squeezed the wind from her.
Her appendages groped at the oppressive leg, digging their tips into the skin and drawing steady streams of blood. The harder she dug, however, the clearer it became that the yellow robe did not care.
“You’re wasting your time,” Kaj said, looming over her. “We’re not like you, child. Nor were we meant to be killed by the likes of you.” He began to press down harder on her chest, choking off her ability to breathe. “We are built to last. We don’t feel pain. Pain is a weakness of the human condition. So dig your legs deeper, if you can. But all you’re digging is your own grave.” His foot rose and fell back down into her chest.
Something cracked in her ribs, and she let loose a helpless wail. Pain shot through her bones and into her skull and stomach and arms and legs, radiating from the point of impact. Tears blurred her vision. The heel of the boot ground against her, each subtle motion translating to agonizing waves that reverberated through every inch of her body. She curled up, arms and legs folding to try to protect her core.
Then, Kaj’s laughter stopped, as though something unseen had distracted him. He became motionless. “No,” he said in a low voice. “That’s not right. What happened to . . . ?” His eyes became hard, and a violent desperation seemed to come over him. “No! What did you do!? Nemo!?” He kicked Kara in the side, rolling her out of the way. “Nemo!?” he shouted. “Can you hear me!? What happened!?”
For a few moments, he just stood there, breathing hard. “This can’t be. How dare you do this to me!?” He drove his fist into the wall, and the metal surface sank from the blow. His breathing became more severe, and a desperation seemed to come over him. “No matter. We have what we need. We don’t need him. We can make another. We can always make another. It’s the Fifth we need now. We have Arac
hne, so it’ll all be fine, won’t it?”
Kara tried to push herself up again, but her quivering spider legs couldn’t sustain her weight. The pain in her ribs was too much to endure. Kaj walked back over to her, and then his boot slammed into her back, flattening her against the floor again and inviting another agonized howl from her lips.
His foot dug harder into her spine. There was a subtle crunch from the base of her spider legs as he ground his heel. The white-hot pain grew more severe until Kara thought she would black out. “You may be a favored child,” Kaj said, “but you are still only a child. This is the end.”
“Alright, let’s see here,” Annika said, bending over the control panel. It was crammed full of countless implements and readings that looked to Arthr like something out of a science fiction movie. “Something on here’s gotta open that cylinder. Anything scream open me?”
“Don’t ask me,” Arthr said, still trying to settle his stomach. The dead bodies and blood spatters that covered the floor were unnerving at best, and it was a miracle he hadn’t yet thrown up.
A groan came from the corner of the Vault, and a lethargic shuffling followed. Edgar pushed himself up from the floor. He almost made it to his knees, but then collapsed and slumped against the wall. Numb, Arthr watched as the man’s torn arms searched his stained red shirt, shivering in pain as he confirmed his own lingering mortality. “Dammit,” Edgar choked. “You said . . . You said we just had to shoot . . . in the head.”
Helixweaver (The Warren Brood Book 2) Page 50