Ravage

by Jeff Sampson

  ShadowMegan followed the five men and women with her eyes, her energy orb moving to carry her closer to the portal.

  “Yes,” she sighed. “Yes, my children. Join with us. Become more than you ever dreamed. Lead yourselves to salvation!”

  “Now,” I whispered to Tracie once ShadowMegan’s back was completely turned to us. She took Patrick by the arm and raced out through the stairwell door.

  Behind us, a chorus of ecstatic wails rose up from the portal. The guards and the scientists had begun absorbing the Akhakhu’s souls.

  Dalton squeezed my shoulder. “Good luck,” he whispered.

  “Yeah,” Evan said, nodding his blond head. “We’ll be here when you need us.”

  I smiled at both of them. “Thanks. See you soon.”

  Slowly, I stalked around the computer bay, taking in the scene in front of me. The swirling energy ball of white and black still carried ShadowMegan high above the floor. At the portal, the adults formerly known as the Delgados and Mr. Tate now stood to their full heights. Like ShadowMegan, the color had seeped from their eyes. Their posture was unnaturally stiff, their every movement quick, jittery. Each one had an incredibly wide smile on his or her face.

  The three guards and the scientists were just getting to their feet as well. As they did, they stretched out their limbs, their unnatural eyes wide with wonder as they felt and studied their new bodies.

  Mr. Handler still stood frozen in front of the portal, forced to watch as his former employees became tools of the Rebel.

  ShadowMegan gulped back sobs as she watched her followers rise. Shimmering black tears fell from her eyes, but they weren’t real tears; as they reached her chin they swirled away from her skin like smoke.

  “After so long,” she intoned. “After all we have been through and all we have fought for, we are finally here. My generals, this is only the beginning. We must find more hosts. We must allow the true, honest Akhakhu the same chance to escape our world that we have been given.

  “What did you do to my parents?” one of the triplets screamed.

  I looked across the room to see one of them run from the other cheerleaders, bounding over grated steps to stand beneath ShadowMegan. Only when she got close could I tell who it was, and only by the waves in her hair: Brittany.

  She was trembling all over, her chest heaving as though she was hyperventilating. “This isn’t what they wanted!” she shouted up at ShadowMegan between gasps. “If I’d known this is what would happen, I’d never—” Gasp. Gasp. “I’d never have gone along with them.”

  ShadowMegan smiled down at the girl. Not saying a word, she gestured toward the possessed adults—the ShadowGenerals. The two who were formerly her parents came to stand on either side of Brittany. Her former father took her hand and squeezed it. Her mother caressed the cheerleader’s cheek with the back of her hand. Both of them smiled at her lovingly.

  “Your parents are not gone, child,” ShadowMegan said. “They still love you. There is so much love in all of us.”

  The ShadowDelgados grasped Brittany by the arms in one swift, synchronized move. They yanked her arms behind her back.

  “But,” ShadowMegan said with a sigh and a shake of her head. “But, but, but. Our timeline is too delicate to risk dissidents from stopping us. Go in peace, child.”

  Before Brittany could even think about struggling, ShadowMegan wiggled her fingers at the cheerleader.

  I tensed to run, to leap and save her. But it all happened so fast.

  The air shimmered around Brittany. Then it boiled.

  Brittany howled.

  “No!” I heard Amy scream.

  And then the distortion in the air dissipated. Where Brittany had stood were now two Brittanys. One was the pristine, pale form of the girl, only she had gone entirely slack, the life drained from her. The other was an inky black facsimile.

  Both Brittanys fell to the ground. The human version crumpled into a lifeless rag doll. The shadow figure exploded into a cloud of dust that swirled in the air.

  Nikki, Amy, and Casey gaped from their corner. For a moment they didn’t move—but I could see Amy’s hands clenching, her lips curling into a snarl.

  I had to stop her.

  “Megan!” I shouted.

  The pulsating sphere of energy sparked to life and ShadowMegan spun in the air to face me. Her eyes went wide and her smile broadened at seeing me.

  “Emily!” she exclaimed with a delighted clap of her hands. “Oh, we were hoping you’d stay to bear witness. Megan is so very happy to see you.”

  Raising my hands to show I meant no harm, I took slow, purposeful steps toward her.

  “And I’m happy to see her so happy,” I said. “And…powerful. Tell her she looks as beautiful and amazing as she always wanted.”

  ShadowMegan laughed gently. “I don’t need to tell her, child. She hears you.”

  Stopping just in front of and beneath the energy ball, I lowered my hands. Electricity crackled over my skin and I could feel the fine hairs on my arms rising.

  “May I…may I hug her?” I asked. “I want to feel closer to her. Please. We’ve been apart too long.”

  The crackle of energy in the air faded as the pulsating ball began to fade and ShadowMegan drifted back to the ground. Her long white-blond hair whipped around her face and body, the girl caught in a windstorm only she could feel. Finally ShadowMegan was on even ground again and no longer shielded by her powers.

  More of the glittering black, smoking tears made lines down ShadowMegan’s face. Spreading her arms wide, she came to embrace me. I let her envelop me in her cold, inhuman arms, and I hugged her back, fighting back the revulsion and horror and immense sadness that swirled nauseously in my gut.

  As ShadowMegan nuzzled her head into my neck, I looked past the robotic forms of the Delgados still standing above Brittany’s body to the three cheerleaders. Doing my best to speak with my face, my eyes darted between them and the stairwell door.

  Amy had other ideas.

  Arms straight out and palms aimed in front of her, she stomped down the grated stairs and directly toward her possessed parents standing before her. Nikki hesitated, then followed, raising her hands as well.

  And the ShadowDelgados flew.

  Neither made a sound as they flipped into the air, then slammed back down, head first, against the metal floor at the feet of frozen Mr. Handler. They met the ground with sickeningly loud thuds, and the two adults went unconscious.

  The dark auras around them pulsated and I saw shadowy hands trying to pull free from their human limbs, but it was as though they were trapped in a tar-filled pit. Strands of inky blackness pulled the hands back inside their new bodies, which, it appeared had become prisons.

  Amy and Nikki immediately turned their attention to the remaining six ShadowGenerals.

  And as ShadowMegan realized something was happening, I turned my attention back to her.

  Concentrating, I forced my fingers to elongate, for my nails to stretch into the deadly black claws. With an anguished cry, I dug my claws into ShadowMegan’s back, each daggerlike nail slicing through her flesh and between her ribs.

  Gasping in surprise, ShadowMegan pulled away. The look of stunned betrayal on her face was all Megan, and inside I winced.

  Couldn’t think about it.

  Snatching her arms by the wrists, I twisted them so that she couldn’t aim her fingers at me, couldn’t boil me alive or make all of my bones snap. Then, with a primal shout, I head-butted her in her chest.

  The girl—the Akhakhu—barreled away from me, lost her footing, and fell to her back. Behind her, Nikki and Amy flipped and dodged killing blows from the Akhakhu possessed adults, flinging them aside like trash when they had the chance to focus and use their powers.

  At my feet, Megan—Rebel! I had to remind myself—groaned. I had to be more than hybrid to finish this.

  I had to be the wolf.

  Deep breath. Eyes closed. Change, I commanded myself.

  L
ike waves of grain, sleek brown-and-black fur rippled over my skin, covering my exposed flesh and disappearing beneath my sweater. As it did, my legs lengthened and my arms stretched longer, my muscles bulging and tightening, filling with animal strength. I kicked my shoes off just as my feet burst into claws.

  The bones in my face came apart like a jigsaw puzzle, then the pieces rearranged. My mouth and nose pushed forward, becoming a long snout. My ears rose to the top of my head. My eyes shifted farther apart.

  And sharp, rigid fangs filled my jaw.

  The world went gray. The auras surrounding the fighting ShadowGenerals and Megan were clear now, like there was too much Akhakhu soul and it was overflowing from their human hosts. Through the portal I could see more of the disfigured Akhakhu standing, waiting, watching.

  No time to worry about it. ShadowMegan was catching her bearings. I let the entirety of my Daytime and Nighttime personas fade away—except for the strength I needed to keep Wolf Me’s primal fear of the shadowmen at bay.

  Arching back and aiming my snout at the ceiling, I let out a long, loud howl that echoed throughout the cavernous room. The ShadowGenerals and the cheerleaders stopped fighting, momentarily stunned by my sudden transformation.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Casey Delgado taking the opportunity to slip toward the stairwell.

  Didn’t matter. We would worry about her later.

  Filled with renewed energy, I focused on ShadowMegan. Growling, I leaped. My clawed feet landed heavily on ShadowMegan’s thighs, digging into her flesh and pinning her to the ground. Crouching down, I held both of her arms down as well, then opened my jaws wide.

  “Wait!” ShadowMegan screeched. “Emily, wait! You need me!”

  I hesitated. For just a second, yeah, but still. I hesitated.

  Nodding her head vigorously, ShadowMegan went on, her words spitting out rapid fire. “Look through the portal, Emily. We have your mother. Your flesh and blood. If you hurt me, my people are commanded to kill her. And I don’t want that. No, no, Emily. I just want peace. I just want love.”

  Snarling, I snapped my head up and looked through the portal.

  And saw my mother, short and curvy and disarmingly young, held by the ragged-dressed Akhakhu holding sharp swords to her neck.

  “You see her, yes?” she wheezed. “She can’t come home, poor woman, but her life can be spared.”

  My mother—Caroline Webb. The one who had made me like this.

  The one who’d made me an alpha, a leader.

  I wanted to keep hating her. But white-haired, goateed Mr. Handler stood on our side of the portal, mere feet from her. The one who was truly behind this all. My mother had been manipulated just like all the others.

  And even though I never expected that I’d see or speak to her again, I knew I could not stand by and watch her throat slit by an otherworldly being.

  “Last chance, Emily,” ShadowMegan said. “Will you let me go?”

  Nodding my big, wolfish head, I slackened my grip on Megan’s possessed arms. Rising to my full height, I stepped off of her.

  “Good girl,” ShadowMegan said. She stood and looked herself over. Blood gushed from her legs, and I could see it dripping on the floor behind her from the wounds in her back. But she seemed to think she was fine.

  Beckoning me with her finger, she turned and said, “Come.” Like I was a dog. And stupidly acting the part, I followed her past her fallen generals to step atop the platform. With each step I took, I willed myself to become human once more.

  By the time I was face-to-face with my mother, all that remained of my wolf form were my eyes. She met my gaze, thankful. Her lip trembled. I merely nodded, then looked away.

  ShadowMegan’s back was momentarily to me. Meeting Nikki’s face I mouthed, “Go.” She gave me an exasperated, desperate look, but I shook my head and mouthed, “Trust me.”

  As quietly as they could, Nikki and Amy began to back off the platform.

  Smiling at me, ShadowMegan waved at her tumored followers. With a flourish of her hand, she commanded her soldiers on the other side to let her go.

  Behind me, I heard Dalton roar. I turned just in time to see him bound over the computer console and barrel through the room toward us. My eyes wide, I opened my mouth to shout at him to stop—I hadn’t signaled for him, I was sure of it.

  Before I could get a word out, he slammed into an unseen wall and flew wildly backward. His head thunked against the metal floor, hard, and he didn’t move.

  But it wasn’t ShadowMegan who’d unleashed her powers on him.

  Mr. Handler had broken free of his stasis.

  31

  BOOM

  “Dalton!” Nikki cried.

  ShadowMegan and I turned to see Amy and Nikki almost through the stairwell door. Even though Amy desperately tried to pull Nikki through, the auburn-haired girl yanked herself free and raced across the room. She skid to her knees as she came to Dalton’s side.

  “Dalton,” she said. “Dalton! Oh God, are you all right?”

  Wheezing, Dalton grabbed for her, and she ran her hands through his hair.

  ShadowMegan raised her fingers.

  “No!” I shouted, smacking her hand down.

  The Akhakhu snapped her head to look at me. Her smiles, her kind eyes—both were gone now. Her dark pupils expanded, filling the entirety of her eyes with inky blackness.

  “This girl interfered with my soldiers!” ShadowMegan shouted. Gesturing at the fallen ShadowGenerals around us, she added, “And her boyfriend would try and attack me! I would grant both of them a quick death only because she did not kill anyone. Otherwise I would not grant such mercy.”

  “Now, now, Rebel,” Mr. Handler said. Straightening his tie, he came to stand between us. “Always so quick to violence. And you wonder why we find your people so terribly savage.” He nodded to me. “Hello again, Emily.”

  Looking between the two possessed humans, confused, I said, “Hi. Sorry to bust in like this. We Deviants tend to be a nuisance.”

  Mr. Handler tsked. “I so hate that word. ‘Deviants.’ I don’t know which of my scientists coined the term for you vespers, but I suspect Limon. I’ll have to have a chat with her.”

  “I see you managed to break free of my bindings, Seth,” ShadowMegan spat as she stepped toward us. “Oh, I’m sorry, you’re going by Handler these days.”

  “I am Handler,” the man said. “Seth and I share this body. It is not our way to possess as you do, Rebel.”

  She barked a laugh. “There’s no need to lie, Handler. None of your cultists is here to hear it.”

  I peered past Mr. Handler. Quietly, Nikki and Dalton crouched and ran back to the computer bay, where they joined a waiting Evan and Amy. Good. They were out of sight for now.

  Arms behind his back, Mr. Handler began to pace. “There is no need for us to fight, Rebel. Your people clearly won the battle beyond my portal, and for that you have earned my respect. We have underestimated you. Perhaps you are worthy of sharing in our plan, after all.”

  ShadowMegan crossed her arms. “What are you saying?”

  “I am proposing,” Mr. Handler said, stopping to stand face-to-face with the possessed girl, “that we work together. Starting with ascending our good friend Emily.”

  I took a step back and raised my hands. “I’m sorry, what? No, I’m not here for that. You know this.”

  Mr. Handler turned to me now. “Oh, I know you think that’s not why you’re here. Perhaps you have some grand notion of destroying my building after your failed terrorist attack against BioZenith.”

  I didn’t respond.

  “I never told you why I held you in captivity for so long, did I?” he asked me. Not waiting for an answer, he went on. “Long ago, when I commissioned your creation, I considered the vespers to be tools. Precious tools, yes, but nothing more—just a means to an end.

  “But I got to know you through your pages, Emily. And through my own observations. Just as I feel I’ve come to know Meg
an and Rebel through my studies of them. Though once I considered the idea of further empowering a vesper body by allowing a ka inside, I have changed my mind. What more fitting a vessel could there be for our most well-regarded Akhakhu leaders than one so empowered as yours?”

  “Oh!” ShadowMegan said, clapping her hands. “What a delightful idea! Emily, you can become a host!”

  “No,” I said.

  “What?” Handler and ShadowMegan said at the same time.

  Crossing my arms, I came to stand between the two possessed humans and the bay behind which my friends still hid.

  “You heard me,” I said. “No. I refuse. You were right, Mr. Handler, I came here for two reasons. First, to blow this portal the hell up.” I glared into ShadowMegan’s eyes. “And second, to tear you out of my friend’s body and watch your soul die.”

  ShadowMegan’s face twisted in rage. Her hand twitched as though she was fighting to raise it and was meeting resistance. I waited for her killing fingers to rise and for my bones to twist beneath my skin.

  “This one begs for your life,” ShadowMegan gasped after a moment. “And I cannot stand the screams. That is the only reason I let you live, the only reason I give you any concessions at all.” Stepping closer, she lowered her voice to a terrifying hiss. “But don’t test me, girl. I have been at the forefront of a civil war for decades. This budding alliance with the upper class is the culmination of my life’s work. No vesper”—she snorted, the word disgusting to her—“will ruin this for me!”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” a voice said behind me.

  Spencer.

  ShadowMegan, Handler, and I all turned to find the short, adorable guy I was in an awful lot of like with strutting toward us from an open doorway on the wall. Hovering above his head were two dozen of the spherical robots that had given us so much trouble. But when Spencer stopped walking midway through the room, the robots stopped with him.

  He’d reprogrammed them.

  Spencer flashed me a quick grin and a wink. I couldn’t help but smile back.

  “You,” ShadowMegan spat.

  “Now, now,” Mr. Handler said, stepping forward and placing a hand on her shoulder. “Remember, the vespers are to be prized.”