Ravage

by Jeff Sampson

  She was like some frozen corpse coming to life. The icy leaves on the door turned to warm condensation as the red light filled the chamber. Her skin softened and blossomed to life, and she wiggled her fingers and toes, laughing in delight.

  Her laughter came out robotic and distorted through the speakers. I hugged myself to keep from shivering.

  Finally the glass door slid open, revealing the girl who was not really a girl at all. Save for her eyes and the subtle differences in her expressions, she looked like regular Megan once more. Like I’d been inside my own chamber, she was dressed in flimsy blue pajama pants and shirt, and she was barefoot. Her white-blond hair hung long down to her waist.

  ShadowMegan grinned as she came to stand in front of me. “Oh, Emily,” she said. “You freed me just in time. I feared I was going to miss my own revolution.”

  Cradling my cheeks in her cold, clammy hands, ShadowMegan brought my face close to hers. Despite her eerie blank black-and-white eyes, in that hectic moment all I could see was Megan.

  “She wanted you to be here with us,” ShadowMegan whispered, her breath a hot wind against my face. “I have spent much time in Megan’s unconscious mind and have absorbed many of her memories. With each one I’ve come to feel her love for you that refuses to die.”

  Leaning in close, she gently pressed her lips against mine. A whisper of a kiss. A good-bye.

  She smiled. It wasn’t Megan’s smile, not exactly.

  My insides felt hollow, empty.

  I grabbed her chilled hands from my face and tried to drag her toward the door. “We don’t have time to talk about this now. We need to hurry.”

  Pulling free from my grasp, she crossed her hands across her heart. ShadowMegan’s pale skin seemed to swallow the flickering fluorescent light and transform it into a beatific glow off her skin.

  “You are right,” she said. “There is no time to waste. It is time for the true people of my world make their stand at long last.”

  And as I watched, stunned, she disappeared.

  29

  REBEL

  I stood there gaping like an idiot.

  She lied to my face. She didn’t want to help me bring down Handler at all. She just wanted out of her chamber so she could go back to what she was doing before she was captured.

  Of course. Of course. Why would I trust one of the things who’d been stalking me for months? Who’d stolen Dalton? If only she wasn’t wearing the face of my former best friend. If only…

  I had to pull it together. I gathered that Rebel was fighting her own battle against the upper-class Akhakhu, but their goals were still the same—take over humans.

  I could only hope her next stop would be the downstairs portal. And that even if she wasn’t going to fall in line with me, she would be able to hold off Mr. Handler long enough for us to do some damage.

  Sneakers squeaking against the tile, I spun in place and then wrenched open the lab door. I raced down the hallway to the elevators and pressed the down arrow.

  Nothing happened.

  The elevators had been locked down.

  Like that would stop me. Pumping my arms once more, I raced down the hall until I saw a door with a stair symbol on it. There was a card reader next to the door to access the stairwell, but I didn’t need it. Raising my foot, I kicked open the door. It slammed back against the concrete wall with a satisfyingly loud thud.

  Sneakers clanged against metal as I bounded down the steps two at a time, rounding corner after corner as I descended past the doors leading onto the second and first floors. I didn’t stop until I came to the very bottom step—and the door that led to the basement level.

  This time I didn’t kick the door open. Instead, I peered through the narrow window above the door handle and took in the scene.

  Directly in front of me, deep in the cavernous space, was the Vesper Company portal. It was just as I’d seen it on the monitors in Mr. Handler’s office: a giant metal ring with tubes and wires curling about its edges and writhing up toward the ceiling. Giant computer bays with blinking lights lined the walls.

  A quick shift to my wolf eyes showed the portal was alive and active, the scene of the world beyond fading in and out of static.

  A shift back to my Nighttime eyes and I looked to my left. Crouched behind a control console just past the door were six figures. I could barely see them, but I made out enough of their features to see that it was Amy, Tracie, Evan, Dalton, Nikki, and Patrick.

  No Spencer.

  Confused, I looked to the sides of the room. On one side, a few other scientists in lab coats sat at the computer bays, typing commands. Several armed guards watched over them.

  And on the other side of the room, huddled on the floor, were five people I never expected to see: Mr. and Mrs. Delgado, Mr. Tate, and the remaining two triplets, Brittany and Casey.

  The triplets’ parents? And Nikki’s dad? What were they doing there?

  I didn’t have time to think about it because one more person emerged from a doorway behind the cheerleaders and their parents.

  Mr. Handler.

  He looked as calm as ever, but his strides were quick, urgent, as he brushed past the huddled group and came to stand in front of the portal. He looked through it and I could hear him shouting something, but I couldn’t quite make out his words.

  I was just about to sneak through the door and join my friends when a hand fell on my shoulder.

  I turned away from the door—and found ShadowMegan standing behind me.

  “We meet again,” she said. “I see you found the portal as well. You shall have a front row seat!”

  I’m ashamed to admit I froze. Even though I’d seen her just minutes before, I still instinctively saw Megan, and my brain ceased to work as it struggled to reconcile the past with the new reality.

  Before I could speak, ShadowMegan brushed past me. The door behind me creaked open. I could hear ShadowMegan step through, her footsteps echoing against the metal floor. With the door open, I could also hear Mr. Handler’s loud shouting—something about holding “them” off.

  Of course. The fight. I had to focus. I had to pull myself together. At least for a few more minutes. At least until this was finished.

  Taking a deep breath, I became the hybrid.

  I spun and grabbed the handle of the door before it closed. Yanking it open, I darted through, then skidded to a stop.

  ShadowMegan strode purposefully, peacefully, toward the steel ring that surrounded the portal. No one noticed her. Yet.

  “Why did you bring us here, Handler?” Mr. Delgado shouted. He stood in front of Brittany and Casey.

  Mr. Handler ignored them. He raised his fists as he bellowed into the portal.

  “You are gods among rats! Don’t cower on the other side and beg for my help. Help yourselves and prove yourselves worthy of entering my new world! Beat back Rebel’s forces!”

  And ShadowMegan kept striding forward, black-and-white energy swirling around her.

  “Emily!” Amy hissed.

  Taking my eyes off the frantic scene ahead of me, I dove to the left to join my friends behind the control panel.

  “Is she with us?” Tracie asked, jerking her head in the direction of ShadowMegan.

  I shook my head. “I have no idea anymore. She left me behind, but when she saw me just now she acted like she’s glad I’m here.”

  “Just as long as she causes a distraction,” Amy said.

  “Hey, where’s Spencer?” Evan asked me.

  “I was going to ask you the same thing. He left to go gather supplies, I think. He must still be on his way.”

  Nikki reached over and grasped my hand. The normally pretty cheerleader looked skinny, her eyes sunken, her hair matted.

  “Thanks,” she whispered to me. Reaching out with her other hand, she clasped Dalton’s. “I thought I’d never get out of there.”

  “Yeah,” Patrick said. “Same here. And sorry about the Megan thing again.”

  I smiled and no
dded at both of them, but we didn’t have time for thanks and hugs. Not yet. I peered over the console.

  In the center of the vast room, beneath the catwalks and wires dangling above, ShadowMegan stood with her hands raised. The aura that swirled around her whipped into a twirling frenzy, becoming a pulsating ball of energy.

  And just like in the parking lot outside of BioZenith, she rose into the air, a striking, angelic figure.

  “That’s Rebel,” Dalton whispered. “She feels different.” He met my eyes. “She feels stronger.”

  The cheerleaders’ parents dropped to their knees, tears shimmering in their eyes. They raised their hands in the air. Noticing ShadowMegan now, the guards and scientists gasped, standing up from the terminals and lowering their weapons. One of the scientists clutched her heart.

  Distracted by whatever was happening on the other side of the portal, Mr. Handler didn’t notice her right away.

  Which gave ShadowMegan just enough time to raise her hands and twist the energy around him. A small tornado whipped up from beneath his feet, catching his tie and jacket and swirling dust into his eyes. Hacking, Mr. Handler turned just in time to see ShadowMegan hovering above him.

  And then he froze in place.

  It wasn’t quite the same thing he’d done to ShadowMegan and to me. His skin didn’t turn blue, ice crystals did not coat his body. I could see his eyes moving as he struggled to break free. He was in some kind of paralytic stasis—for now.

  “Oh,” ShadowMegan moaned, the ecstatic sound echoing through the cavernous room. “How I longed to do that. Oh, how I longed!”

  “Rebel!” Mr. Tate called out. “We knew you would save us!”

  She smiled down at them and gestured toward the portal. Beyond her, the open air at the center of the ring shimmered.

  “Of course, my children,” she said. “You have been so terribly faithful.”

  Focusing on my wolf eyes, I let my vision go gray. As I did, I could see the portal clearly—and finally see what was happening on the other side.

  The image was clearer than any I’d seen through the rifts and portals before. Through the portal was some sort of vast great hall like one would see in an ancient palace. It was startlingly similar to paintings I’d seen in my ancient history textbooks—pillars gilded with gold, a sunken shallow pool filled with crystal clear water, statues of animal gods watching from the corners.

  Only the designs were just different enough to seem wrong somehow. The angles of the pillars were unnatural, jagged in places, and they glowed with electricity. The water was a strange orange hue, and the statues were of no animal I’d ever seen, with triangle eyes and tentacles dangling from their mouths.

  And then, shadowy figures began to appear, sketching in the same way I’d seen my mother and Tracie’s father appear. These figures were humanoid, like the shadowmen who stalked us, but some wore suits of glimmering metal and giant, ornate masks that covered them from the top of their heads to where a human’s navel would be.

  And they were screaming.

  Other people—creatures—stormed through the palatial space, carrying what looked like swords and guns and attacking the masked people. These ones were dressed in ragged, threadbare clothing. Their skin was matte gray and green and brown, and tumorous boils grew from every bit of exposed skin. Their mouths were jagged gashes exposing their rotting teeth, as though their lips had been chewed off.

  All of these figures were the Akhakhu. The true form of the shadowmen who had partially breached our world, but had been unable to come further.

  Until I’d led Megan directly to the portal, activated it, and let one come through.

  In the moment it took me to take all of this in, back in our own world one of the guards stepped forward and raised his gun. ShadowMegan didn’t even look at him, just flicked her wrist—and just like Mr. McKinney back at BioZenith, every bone in his body snapped.

  “Oh God,” Patrick said.

  No one else made a move as ShadowMegan continued to spin, eyes open now as she studied the people below her.

  “You don’t need to fight me,” she said warmly to the huddled scientists and remaining guards. “Mr. Handler must have been leading you on with the promise of ascendance for years now, but never delivered. Follow me and an Akhakhu ka shall be yours to share today. I will give you what you earned!”

  The guards and scientists looked at one another. Then the woman who clutched her chest upon seeing ShadowMegan stepped forward. The one of the guards, and another and another until all of Handler’s people were crowded at ShadowMegan’s feet.

  Legs trembling, Amy looked over at me. “What do you want to do, Miss Alpha? This chick is serious. She’s going to start bringing over shadowmen.”

  Licking my lips, I said, “I know. I…I don’t know yet. We can’t just assault her outright. You saw what she did to that guard. Just…let me think.”

  Amy tsked and looked back to the scene in front of the portal. “Whatever. Just remember, this was all your idea.”

  Behind ShadowMegan, on the other side of the portal, I could see the violent revolt coming to an end. The masked Akhakhu must have been taken by surprise. They all lay dead on the tiled floor, slain by the ugly, boil-covered creatures. Brown-black blood drained from their lifeless bodies, flowing into the orange pool like an oil slick.

  One by one, the mutated Akhakhu dropped the weapons they used to murder the masked Akhaku and came to stand in front of the portal. They stood still, waiting. Watching.

  “There is no need to fight me,” ShadowMegan said to the acolytes assembled at her feet. “Soon we will all be as one. And you will become more than you ever thought possible.” Raising her arms, her energy bubble moved toward the cheerleaders’ parents. “Please,” she said to them. “Come to the portal. With the vespers here, we can interact with my former world, and we can merge.”

  Bowing their heads, Mr. and Mrs. Delgado and Mr. Tate left a bewildered Brittany and Casey behind and walked to the platform on which the portal device was installed.

  Amy leaped up, mouth open as though ready to shout. Nikki and Tracie each grabbed an arm and hauled her down.

  Frantic, Amy grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me toward her. “We have to do something,” she hissed. “I know our parents went crazy, but that doesn’t mean we should let them get possessed!”

  I closed my eyes and nodded. Yes. I had to focus. I had to stop losing myself in the face of all…this. I wasn’t just Emily Webb anymore. I was the alpha. They were counting on me.

  “Nikki, Amy,” I said, opening my eyes once more. “Brittany and Casey obviously sided with your parents back on the night we were going to attack BioZenith, right?”

  Amy snorted. “Yes, the idiots. Casey was brainwashed by them the whole time, and Brit just got scared.”

  “Can you get them back on our side?” I asked.

  Nikki and Amy looked at each other, nodded, then looked back at me.

  “Dalton and Evan, I need you to hang back here and act as backup. I’m going to go in to talk to Megan alone. Megan—I mean, Rebel—seems to like me because Megan had memories of liking me. Just wait for my signal.”

  Licking my lips, I dared to poke my head back up. At the portal, the three adults held their hands up, waiting. I could see the first shadowy limbs of Akhakhu slipping through.

  “What about me?” Tracie asked. “Should I be backup as well?”

  I shook my head. “No, I need you to get Patrick out of here. He doesn’t have powers, so he’s useless to us.” I leaned to the side to meet his eye. “No offense.”

  He raised his hands. “None taken. I am fine with getting the bloody hell out of here.”

  Tracie scowled. “Why can’t I stay and fight? I have a knack for it.”

  I grinned at her and patted her shoulder. “I never said you wouldn’t be fighting. There’s bound to be guards upstairs by now. Try to convince them to evacuate the place with one of your presidential speeches. Or make them chase you. O
ne of those.”

  She pursed her lips and ran her hands over her lap, patting the wrinkles out of her stretch pants. “I suppose I can do that.”

  Moans of ecstasy and pain echoed from beyond the control panels. Just how Megan had sounded in the woods when I offered her up to the being that now possessed her.

  The cheerleaders’ parents were being taken over. Rebel was bringing over an army from the other side.

  And once she was done, who knew what she would do next.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  Tracie, Nikki, Amy, Dalton, and Evan all nodded.

  With a deep breath, I stood to my full height and looked up at the hovering creature that had once been Megan. Her back was to me now, and I could see her clapping in glee as the Delgados and Mr. Tate convulsed with dark energy.

  Summoning up all the strength that Daytime, Nighttime, and the wolf could give me, I said, “Let’s do this.”

  30

  GO IN PEACE, CHILD

  On my commanding wave, Nikki and Amy made a break across the room to Brittany and Casey. The determined redhead and the wild-haired triplet had their hands raised, preemptively blocking the other girls from using their powers. I could hear Brittany’s and Casey’s surprised shouts, but I couldn’t worry about them.

  ShadowMegan was still mostly aimed away from us. In front of her, on the platform, the Delgados and Mr. Tate lay on the floor, gyrating and running their hands over their abdomens, their chests. I could see the vaguest of auras around all three of them, the beginnings of the massive energy that ShadowMegan had summoned around her.

  They were fully possessed.

  Beckoning with her hands, ShadowMegan gestured toward the guards and scientists who now followed her. Enraptured, the five of them stepped over the fallen guard’s broken body as though he wasn’t there and took their place in front of the portal. Two of the guards and one of the scientists were full on crying, the tears making tracks to the corners of their upturned lips.