Clockworkers

by Ramsey Isler

  Then something changed in the room.

  Sam didn’t know exactly what it was. Maybe it was a shift in the light, or a slight breeze. But she felt a shiver run up her spine and tingle the nape of her neck. She turned, and searched the workshop. Nothing caught her eye. She strained to listen. Nothing reached her ears. But something told her she was no longer alone. Maybe it was another evolutionary leftover warning her that something was wrong, but she was positive someone else was in the room.

  “Hello,” Sam said to the unknown presence. “How long have you been here?”

  “I just arrived,” Hax said as he slowly approached from the shadows. Now that Sam could see him fully, she noticed a streak of red on his index finger.

  Hax followed her eyes and smiled. “I came to find some paint...for a picture.” He said. Then he wiped his hands clean on his pants. But Sam knew it wasn’t paint. None of the paints Better used were that watery.

  Hax had blood on his hands.

  Sam stood and casually stepped closer to the cooler on the floor. “I see,” she said. “Do you plan on staying here a while longer?”

  “No,” Hax said. “I would like to return to my work in my own workshop. It’s far too boring around here, and Piv seems to be too sleepy to join my fun. Would you know anything about that?”

  “Nope,” Sam said. “Pogonip once told me that Kith can sometimes hibernate for long periods. Maybe that’s what he’s doing.”

  “Maybe,” Hax said with genuine interest. “I’ll look into it.”

  His gaze shifted to her feet. Sam looked down and saw something that made her pulse quicken and her eyes water.

  There was green sludge on her shoe.

  When Sam looked back up. Hax was staring into her eyes. He smiled devilishly, and said, “You’ve been nosy.”

  * * *

  Sam figured there wasn’t any point at keeping up any pretense. Besides, she had a solution for dealing with Hax. If she could just get the potion out of her cooler...

  “I’ve seen what you’ve been doing in that building you wanted,” Sam said.

  “I figured as much,” Hax said. “You didn’t do anything stupid like break the eggs, did you?”

  “No,” Sam said. “I did that once, and all I got for it was a world of trouble.”

  Hax giggled. “So now I suppose you want to know why I did it.”

  “The question had occurred to me,” Sam said.

  “The answer is simple,” Hax said. “We are smarter, faster, kinder, longer-lived, and prettier. Why shouldn’t everyone be one of us?”

  “Because not everyone wants to be,” Sam said.

  “Oh pish posh hogwash,” Hax said. “Humans spend so much time wishing they had youth again. You all want to be young forever. I’m just helping to make it happen. You should be thanking me. This city will be so much better with more Kith around. Not just this city, either. The whole world.”

  “You’re crazy,” Sam said.

  “No I’m not,” Hax answered. “You and your kind are the crazy ones. I don’t know how I could ever stand being one of you. I should thank you. I’ve been having so much fun as a Kith.”

  “You’re welcome,” Sam said mirthlessly. “But you’re not helping the Kith with what you’re doing. Think about it. All those missing people, and all those new curious little Kith running around. You’re going to draw a lot of attention at some point.”

  “True,” Hax agreed. “But we can’t hide forever. Eventually there will be no place left to go. The Kith could continue on, as we have. But as you have so frequently reminded us, the world is changing faster than ever. If nothing is done, there will be a time when there are no more Kith. I’d rather not wait for that time to come.”

  Sam opened her mouth to respond, but she halted her tongue when she saw some movement far behind Hax. A dark shape passed by the little windows in the doors that led to the work area. It was far too tall to be a Kith; it had to be human, and it looked male. Maybe Sam had a way out of this.

  “What’s in that strange box you’re holding?” Hax asked.

  Sam snapped her attention back to Hax and said, “I’ve got something for you in there.”

  “Really?” Hax said.

  Sam nodded. “I’ve got something else for you too.”

  “What is it?”

  Sam whipped out her Glock and pointed it at Hax with practiced ease. “This.”

  * * *

  A third generation Glock 17 handgun firing standard nine millimeter ammunition has a muzzle velocity of around 1200 feet per second. That’s over 818 miles per hour; faster than the speed of sound. When Sam pulled the trigger of her Glock, she set in motion a series of mechanical events that culminated in a metal slug flying towards her target with enough speed to rip clean through a wild boar with no problem. It was a miniature missile.

  Hax dodged it easily.

  Sam’s eyes couldn’t even track his movement. He was simply in one place, then instantly in another. Sam barely had enough time to register that he actually moved before he’d snatched the gun out of her hand and pointed it at her. Sam expected it all to happen. After all, her father’s stories had always implied that if you wanted to catch an elf off-guard, you had to make sure they didn’t see it coming.

  “That,” Hax said, “was not nice.”

  Sam shrugged. “I’ve never been accused of being a nice person.”

  “You’re also not very smart,” Hax said. “You should have known that would not work. Very stupid.”

  “Actually,” Sam said, “I think it was one of the more clever things I’ve come up with.”

  Hax raised an eyebrow and started to say something, but he didn’t have a chance to get the words out. A tall, dark figure appeared behind him. Hax turned just in time to catch a fist to his chin. He went spinning across the room like a drunken ballerina until his hips hit a work table and he went crashing to the floor.

  But Sam’s mind barely registered what was happening to Hax. She was too busy staring at Akida.

  Sam ran to him and ran her hands over his face and chest, as if she had to make sure he was really there. “Oh my god. Oh my god oh my god oh my god.”

  “Are you hurt?” Akida asked.

  “No,” Sam gasped. Then she swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “I’m fine. I’m fine. How did you know to come here?”

  “I didn’t know anything,” Akida said. “You just sounded so strange on the phone last time we spoke. I knew something was wrong, and I knew it had to be something with the Kith. It’s been bothering me ever since, so when I came back stateside for a trip to New York I thought I’d swing by to visit you. But you weren’t at home so I assumed you’d be at the office, but you weren’t there either and you weren’t answering your phone so I came here and found the door open. Then I heard that gunshot and...I don’t know. I guess I lost my mind for a second. Who did I just hit?”

  “Don’t worry about that for now,” Sam said as she grasped his arm and picked up the cooler again. “We need to get the hell out of here.”

  “The exit’s that way,” Akida said. Just as he spoke, one of the work desks jerked sideways. Its legs scuffled against the floor and made a horrible screech. Then there was a moan, followed by another sound—an angry growl that filled Sam with dread.

  “No time,” Sam said as she pulled Akida away. “He’s up, and he’s pissed.”

  “Where are we going?” Akida said.

  “Shut up,” Sam said. She moved faster, with a steely grip on his hand. Soon they came to Piv. He was still out cold.

  “What happened to him?” Akida asked.

  “No time to explain,” Sam said. “Can you carry him?”

  “Yes,” Akida said. He scooped up Piv’s lightweight body with little effort. “What now?”

  “Over here,” Sam said. She led him to the rear of the building, towards a heavy metal utility door that Sam had only entered once before. This was the entrance to the old factory basement—the place where Hax had been
born.

  “In here,” Sam said.

  “What’s in there?”

  Before Sam could answer, the lights went out. The air in the room changed; it was suddenly filled with an ominous pressure. Sam’s primal instincts kicked in again. Something was coming for them.

  “Get in!” she yelled.

  Akida didn’t hesitate this time. He ran inside as he fast as he could with Piv on his shoulders. Sam slammed the door shut and turned the lock on the doorknob. Half a second later, the weathered brass knob rattled violently. Then there was a furious beating on the door, as if a thousand fists were hitting it with machine gun pace. Sam and Akida slowly backed away, and an unearthly howl reached their ears through the door. It was a powerful, tortured sound that sent horrifying vibrations through their bones. Then it stopped as suddenly as it started, and there was nothing but silence and darkness and fear in that basement.

  * * *

  “We have to move,” Akida whispered.

  “Y...yeah,” Sam said. She reached into her pocket, retrieved her phone, and activated the screen. Digital whiteness pierced the black and showed her that the stubborn steel door had held under Hax’s assault. That door wasn’t going to budge. Sam knew this. But the facts brought her little comfort.

  “Moving now, please?” Akida said with a gentle-but-insistent tug at her elbow. With Piv precariously perched on his shoulders, he retrieved his own cell phone and cast soft light ahead of him as he led Sam away from the door.

  “How did you find this factory?” Sam asked as she carefully trudged forward.

  “Don’t get mad,” Akida said, “But do you remember when I mentioned that talk I had with Noc Noc before I left town the last time I saw you?”

  “Yes,” Sam said.

  “He mostly just tried to patch things up between us,” Akida said. “But we talked about other things as well. He didn’t tell me exactly where this place was—he’d never do that. But he is a very chatty fellow if you let him rant, and he let a few hints slip out. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for me to figure out a likely location.”

  “You were spying on me?” Sam said.

  “No,” Akida said. “I was making sure I had options if something happened to you. Evidently it was very prudent of me.”

  “Yes,” Sam said. “Definitely.”

  “Why didn’t you answer your phone when I called?” Akida asked.

  “I guess I was just preoccupied with trying to stop Hax from turning half of Detroit into elves.”

  “Who is Hax?”

  “The unhappy little guy we left upstairs,” Sam said. “He’s trying to kill me.”

  “That would explain why he’s so antisocial,” Akida said. “I’d wager he’s a dunkelelfen.”

  “A what?”

  Akida paused for a second as he crouched to avoid hitting his head on a pipe. “Dunkelelfen are dark elves. That’s literally what the term means in German. They are twisted forms of the Kith. There are many stories of them in German and old Scottish tales. But I always thought they were just stories meant to keep young children from seeking out the Kith. How did you find one?”

  “Long story,” Sam said. “Let’s just say he used to be my very nosy and annoying business partner, until the elves got him and turned him into one of them.”

  “How?” Akida asked.

  “Like I said...long story.”

  “Make it short,” Akida said.

  Sam took a deep breath and said, “The Kith caught him trying to break into the workshop and they...they changed him. They put him into these weird kind of natural incubators and they were changing him into a Kith but...”

  “But what?”

  “I stopped them. I told them to get him out of there before the transformation was complete. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

  Akida shook his head. “The only right thing to do with the Kith is to let them go and be what they are. You’ve interfered too much.”

  “Look, I know that now. Okay?”

  Akida started to say something, but then shook his head and turned his attention to his cellphone. “We have to get out of here. My phone doesn’t get any reception down here. Does yours?”

  “Nope,” Sam said. “This basement was practically built like a bomb shelter. We can’t get any signals out.”

  “Is there another way out of here?” Akida asked.

  “I don’t know,” Sam said. “Maybe. There could be a vent or something that leads back into a different part of the building.”

  “If there is, we’d better find it before Hax does,” Akida said.

  “Agreed,” Sam said. “Let’s hang a left at the next turn and see what we can find. So how did you find out about dunkelwhatsits?”

  “Dunkelelfen,” Akida said. “They are well-known in old Germanic fairy tales. The region I come from was occupied by Germany for some time. My grandfather would tell me stories about how the German soldiers would call the skinny little African boys dunkelelfen.”

  “That’s some pretty hardcore racism there,” Sam said.

  “Soldiers of an occupying force aren’t exactly the most politically correct people. But some of their stories had a lasting impression on my people since they were so oddly similar to some of our own tales.”

  “So do you have an idea on how to handle our Hax problem?” Sam asked.

  Akida shook his head. “I’ve never found any solutions for getting rid of pesky elves.”

  “I did,” Sam said.

  “Really now? That’s some much-needed good news. What is it?”

  “An ancient Chinese potion,” Sam said. “It puts them to sleep.”

  “I assume that’s what happened to our little friend here,” Akida said as he patted the motionless elf slung over his shoulder.

  Sam nodded. “That is Piv. He’s a...friend of the family.”

  “Did he stumble upon the potion by accident or did you test it on him?”

  “Accident,” Sam said. “Well...I did mean to test it on him too, but he drank the whole damn thing. I was only going to give him a tiny sample.”

  “Funny way to treat your friends,” Akida said.

  They continued along the dark tunnel, using their phones to light the way. After a few minutes they came to a dusty concrete stairway that led to a slab of wood. Akida and Sam used their phones to illuminate and examine it.

  “It would appear we’ve found something,” Akida whispered.

  “I think...I think this is an old access stairway to the upper level,” Sam whispered back. “Since we walked straight for a while and took a left, I’m going to guess we’re somewhere close to the loading dock. This piece of wood is probably an old door that got forgotten about.” Then she ascended the short staircase, making each step with painstaking care. Dim light filtered through a tiny spot where the workers who had painted over the door missed a spot. Sam peeked through it, and her heart started to pound in her chest. The door led right where she figured it would, and the loading bay was just ahead. There was no sign of Hax.

  Sam tested the resistance on the door with a gentle push. It gave way slightly. “We can get out through here,” she said. “It’s a short dash to the exit next to the loading bay. This door isn’t that strong. I’m sure you could break through it with a good kick.”

  “Hax will hear that for sure,” Akida said. “Even if we manage to get outside, he’ll catch up to us quick.”

  “Kith aren’t strong,” Sam said as she pointed to her cooler. “If you can hold him maybe I can get this potion down his throat.”

  “That seems rather unlikely,” Akida said. “I got him last time because I caught him by surprise. That won’t happen again.”

  “Well we can’t outrun him,” Sam said. “Unless...”

  “Unless what?”

  “The building has a lock-down security feature,” Sam said. “I added it to help prevent theft or espionage. If I enter a certain code, in three seconds all the doors and vents are shut off by steel plates. Nobod
y gets in or out.”

  “Ahh,” Akida said. “We can lock him in.”

  “We can,” Sam said. “The catch is, we have to be outside before those security plates slide into place. If we screw it up, we’ll be locked in here too.”

  “So we have three seconds to make it out after you enter the code?” Akida asked.

  Sam nodded. “Three seconds.”

  “A Kith could run in and out of this building ten times in three seconds,” Akida said.

  “Probably true,” Sam said. “So we’ll have to move fast, and hope he’s not camping out near the doors back here.”

  “I won’t move as fast while I’m carrying our little friend here,” Akida said.

  “I know,” Sam said. “I should reach the security panel first so I can enter the lockout code. By the time I’m done, you should just be reaching the doors.”

  “And what if things don’t go as planned?” Akida asked.

  “I don’t know,” Sam said. “I’ll figure it out. Thinking on my feet is one of my best qualities.”

  “You’re a crazy woman,” Akida said. “But in a good way.”

  Sam kissed him. It was a brief, urgent show of affection. The gesture was hardly adequate given the circumstances, but it was the best she could do at the moment. “If we live through this,” she said, “take me back.”

  Akida smiled, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Hello?” Sam said to him.

  Akida wiped his sweaty brow. “I believe the appropriate American expression here is...let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.”

  Sam leaned back and her body sagged like a balloon quickly leaking air. “Did I mess up that bad?”

  “Yes, you did,” Akida said.

  “I’ll make up for it.”

  “I doubt that,” Akida said. “This Hax fellow of yours has already kidnapped and transfigured a few people. How do you make up for something like that? You’ll give these people their lives back?”