by Hall, Andrew
‘So yeah, that was the newest neighbourhood,’ said Alex, leading Tabitha away from the power plant and the glassy honeycomb complex.
‘So that’s just a part of it? she replied, following him into another stretch of black and white forest. They were heading for toppled buildings around the edge of the hive city.
‘Yep,’ Alex replied, picking a sliver of white spider meat out of his black fangs. ‘They’ve been growing the hive in a huge circle. Maybe they’ll just keep growing it out to cover the city, I don’t know. But I know where it all started, and I know that’s where the main reactor is. It’s the same place they’re keeping those people like us.’
‘Where?’ said Tabitha, desperate to know.
‘Right in the middle of the circle,’ he replied simply, leading her around another toppled building. ‘There.’
‘Oh my god,’ Tabitha mumbled, putting a cold metal hand to her mouth. Hidden away in the deepest limits of the alien city was a colossal black plant; a living cathedral of twisting roots and bone-fingered ribs that reigned over the new skyline. A dark biogothic domination that punched its presence into the landscape like a towering cluster of knives.
‘Can you feel the energy coming from that place?’ said Alex.
‘Yeah,’ Tabitha muttered, startled at the sensation. They were nowhere near the building, and still she could feel a pulsing tingle of current in her chest. Like her heartcore was tuned in to the structure.
‘I’m just guessing now, but I think this is where all the electricity goes,’ said Alex.
‘It feels like a reactor, like you said,’ Tabitha replied, clutching at the feeling in her heartcore. It was a supermassive magnet pull; black tidal waves of faith and fury inside her.
‘And if we can feel it all the way over here,’ said Alex, staring at the alien cathedral, ‘…imagine what’ll happen to the neighbourhood if we blow that fucker up.’ Tabitha looked at him. Despite his tone he looked deadly serious; he wanted to wipe everything out. Should they, really? There was so much new life here, and not all of it aggressive; did they have the right to snuff it out? Tabitha thought about everyone and everything the aliens had taken from her, and she soon forgot any even-handed approach. A burning streak of anger rose up through her mind; definitely Seven’s brand of rage. A footprint of his thoughts, imprinted on hers. Black and boiling at the prospect of revenge. Tabitha glanced down at her mum’s ribbon on her wrist, dulled in the dust of a life on the run. The material still shone though, where the dirt rubbed away; a muted silky gleam in the sunshine.
‘Let’s get those people out. Then we burn it all,’ she said. Alex grinned and led the way.
‘It’s not the fastest way there, but it’s safer,’ said Alex, leading Tabitha through the alien forest along the outside of the hive. They made their way silently under the shadow of the trees until they were facing the bizarre cathedral through the treeline, looming large in the distance. Rays of sunlight shone through gaps in the branches above them, dappling the ground in bright shifting spots. Something tiny and alien scrambled away nearby, scurrying up a tree with scratching claws. Tabitha took a few cool glugs of water from the bottle on her belt, and passed the weird vessel to Alex. She looked around and saw silver plants everywhere, growing like giant weeds.
‘Spiders,’ Tabitha mumbled, backing away from them. Alex wiped his mouth with a sleeve and passed her water bottle back gratefully.
‘It’s better to kill them in the ground, if you can,’ he said knowingly, stooping down to drag one from the soil by its branching legs. ‘They’re much more like plants right now.’ He looked at Tabitha and smiled, and pulled the plant apart with a dribbling fibrous snap. Its silver blood spattered and slapped on the ground.
‘Are you sure you don’t want some?’ he asked her, between thirsty gulps. ‘It’s good.’
‘No, thanks,’ she replied, turning away to look at the twisting cathedral. She thought about the sweet taste of silver blood; the electric high. And the biting hunger between fixes. She didn’t want that kind of dependence again. That was a life tied to the spiders, hunting them and being hunted in return. And anyway… that blood high just didn’t come close to the warm filling light of the sun on her skin.
Cautiously, quietly, they made their way on through the trees and ruined buildings towards the alien cathedral. The green grass hadn’t spread this far into the hive; there was a more sudden change here between the old world and the new. The ground beneath their feet faded from hard grass-scattered asphalt to a carpet of pale blue moss, stretching all the way to the towering structure looming up ahead. The broken-down buildings were covered with a living blue carpet, like the wild new world was claiming everything. Bright giant fuzzball flowers bobbed on spindly stalks; a million neon flowerheads glowed softly in dark recesses across hills of mossy ruins. And spurring it all on was the weird energy coming from that towering black structure; pulsing waves of life and growth from a thundering lightwheel heart.
The trees and toppled buildings gave way to new twisting plants as Alex and Tabitha neared the cathedral, standing silver and monolithic above them as they walked. Tabitha stalked by cautiously, just to make sure they weren’t a huge new breed of spider growing in the ground. The pair made their way out from the trees and into a forest of flowers, bumping into Fishbowls that puttered past on their way between the plants.
‘I’m not seeing any spiders,’ said Alex. Tabitha shot him a look, motioning to be quiet. They were heading deep into the nest now, far from any sight of New York. This was an alien world. The pale turquoise moss grew everywhere, one vast carpet, softening their footsteps as they crept closer to the cathedral across the meadow. Scattered windmill flowers towered over the field, lining the way to their destination. Alex stopped suddenly. There was a snapping sound in the forest, off to their left. A giant footstep. They looked at one another in silent terror. Alex gripped Tabitha’s wrist and ran, pulling her behind him back in among the trees. They ducked down behind a thick tentacle tree, waiting in the silence. Tabitha’s insides were in knots. The deathly quiet bit down into her nerves. The only sound was their hushed breaths, rapid with panic. A hulking black monster crept by around the other side of the tree, bigger than any Tabitha had seen before. It was looking for them, sniffing at the air mere feet away on the far side of the tree trunk. Huge claws crunching against the mossy blue ground like snow. Breathing heavy. Its cold white eyes were staring, searching around at the trees and the forest of flowers beyond. Tabitha reached quietly for the pistol on her belt, looking wide-eyed at Alex. He looked back, just as terrified. Tabitha closed her eyes, tried to breathe silently, and hoped against hope that it wouldn’t find them there. The monster had stopped. It was just breathing. Sweat beaded and trickled down Alex’s dirty cheek. The monster was sniffing around the tree, getting closer. Tabitha tore a lump of brick from the mossy ground and tossed it away, and it knocked against a distant tree trunk with a bamboo thud. The monster growled and bounded after it, searching the trees beyond. Alex and Tabitha got away in a silent scramble, looking back over their shoulders as the brute disappeared into the forest. Suddenly the sunlight spilled down on them, and they were out in the open again. Before Tabitha could ask, Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him as he ran for a towering alien chimney. Breathless, they pressed their backs up against the structure and hid away. They stared at the grim height of the cathedral across the blue mossy field; hell’s own castle. They were running from fear into dread.
‘We need to get those people out,’ Tabitha told him, trying to rally their spirits. ‘They’re our tribe. Do it for them.’
‘We’ll stick to the flowers,’ Alex whispered, looking around the alien meadow for any sign of movement. Tabitha nodded, and they ran through the thick blooms to the next chimney and hid against it. Tabitha looked to him as they rested for a second. She nodded and led their sprint around to the next power plant chimney along. Sprint by sprint, they were making their way closer to the cathedral. C
loser to freeing their tribe.
When they sprinted on and pressed their backs against the next chimney along, Alex felt something around the corner tap against his arm. Looking down, he saw a spindly silver leg around the curve of the wall. The spider took a sudden interest, crawling out from inside the structure to investigate. Alex panicked and dragged the spider out from the entrance, and tore it limb from limb. It was a noisy execution; Tabitha helped him finish it off quickly with her claws. They looked around the meadow once the thing was dead, half expecting to have been heard by something. But the coast was clear. Alex grinned at her and sighed with relief. He dropped the spider’s body and it clanked loudly against a jagged lump of brick buried in the moss. Tabitha’s heart froze. They looked around, petrified, as the sharp clanking sound rang out across the meadow.
‘In here, quick!’ Tabitha whispered, running into the hollow chamber inside the towering windmill power plant beside them. There was a gentle glow in here, almost eerie. It was a walled garden; feathery white fronds were growing all over the walls. Dotted everywhere were little crystalline bird nests, growing seeds and plants that Tabitha already recognised. Feeding on power from the chimney walls around them. So this was where it all started; places like this grew armies. Alex tapped her shoulder and pointed at something deeper inside the chamber. Tabitha looked and jumped. It was one of the black monsters, standing like a hellish statue amongst vast writhing leaves. A towering horror, frozen in time. It was growing from the roots of the chimney itself; a monstrous black fruit not yet come to life. Tabitha stepped closer despite herself, drawn to the huge terrifying energy she felt around it. The statued abomination moved a little, cracking and rustling in the rubbery metal leaves. Alex and Tabitha looked at one another and backed away carefully.
‘Maybe we should find somewhere else to hide,’ Alex whispered nervously. The statue’s dead eyes glowed into staring white life.
‘Definitely,’ Tabitha whispered back, already halfway to the entrance. Nothing seemed to have changed outside though. They moved cautiously out from the flower chimney and looked around. There was still a way to go before they reached the alien cathedral and their tribe imprisoned inside.
‘Maybe we can just run for the doors,’ Alex suggested. Tabitha looked over at the cathedral and around at the empty meadow. Maybe they could, if they were quick enough. A pair of white eyes appeared in the forest then, bobbing between the trees.
‘There, in the woods. It’s seen us,’ said Tabitha, staring at the eyes. The black monster burst out from the forest and stalked across the turquoise field towards them. Tabitha pulled the gun from her belt and stepped out from the shade of the chimney.
‘Wait! You’ll blow our cover!’ Alex whispered desperately, reaching for her.
‘It’s already blown,’ Tabitha replied, not bothering to whisper any more. They watched spiders creeping out from the woods and tower blocks in the distance. Tabitha held the pistol in both hands, taking aim. ‘May as well blow it wide open.’ The monster was galloping across the blue field, drooling hot metal as it closed the gap. Tabitha fixed the gun sights on its bobbing head.
‘Shoot it,’ said Alex, staring in terror. ‘Shoot it!’ Tabitha waited until the monster was practically on them; until she couldn’t miss. She squeezed the trigger and blew a sparking hole straight through its skull. The crackling gunshot echoed across the field and left a clear warped trail in the air behind it. The monster’s limp colossal body crashed and crumpled into the moss, tumbling to a stop beside her.
‘You’re insane,’ Alex chuckled, walking out onto the field to admire her kill. Spiders were streaming out from every distant crack and crevice in the toppled-tower hills.
‘Well, you’re an idiot,’ Tabitha replied, nodding at the dead silver spider he’d dropped down noisily on the ground. ‘So that round thing up there, is that what shoots the jets down?’ she said, pointing at a glowing sphere on a cathedral tower.
‘I think so,’ Alex replied. ‘Not exactly easy to get to if you want to take it out.’
‘We don’t need to get to it,’ Tabitha replied, taking aim. She shot three bolts of light into the high sphere, and it exploded in a blue flash and echoed across the field. Strange, she thought. Artillery shouldn’t be so easy to kill.
‘Wow, that’s a lot of spiders,’ said Alex, looking around them. Tabitha looked from the cathedral back to the blue field. The spiders were a crawling army of hundreds, creeping out from every hole and tree around them. They swarmed out from the cathedral entrance too; a chittering barricade blocking the way.
‘Have you ever seen that many?’ said Alex in horror, stepping closer to her as the spiders crept onto the field around them.
‘Once. You?’ she said.
‘Nope.’ Alex looked around for a way out; somewhere to run. Saw nothing but spiders. ‘We’re going to stay here and fight them, aren’t we?’ he said grimly.
‘Yeah,’ Tabitha replied. ‘With a bit of help.’ She whistled at the sky as loudly as she could. Alex took his coat off for the fight and dropped it in the blue moss in a flurry of dusty spores.
‘Do you heal quickly?’ Tabitha asked him, watching the spiders creep closer.
‘Nope. Never needed to,’ Alex replied, taking off his t-shirt. His arms and torso were covered in rubbery black scales, just like the dead monster sprawled out in front of them.
‘The spiders can’t get through this. I grew this when I ate the monster like that guy,’ he said, nodding at Tabitha’s kill. ‘If they get me in the head though, I’m fucked,’ he said, grinning. ‘So I try not to let that happen. Anyway, let’s fight.’ Alex turned to walk away, heading for the massing spiders.
‘Alex! Wait for Seven to get here,’ said Tabitha. ‘We can fight from the sky.’
‘I’ll take my chances down here,’ he replied. ‘They’ll shoot your ship down, like I told you. There’s more of those cannons around here, you know.’
‘We’ll be fine,’ Tabitha insisted. ‘Seven’s one of their ships, after all. Why would they shoot their own kind?’
‘Well, if you say so,’ Alex replied doubtfully. ‘Like I said, I’ll take my chances down here. I’ve killed enough of those things to know what I’m doing. And anyway… it’s a good day to die. May as well go out in style.’ Alex left her and walked out into the field of moss. The spiders were creeping closer, shrinking the circle on all sides. ‘Whenever you’re ready!’ Alex yelled to the spiders, stretching his arms out as if to welcome them. His sharp tail was writhing. Tabitha breathed deep and watched the sky for a second. A bird flew past, oblivious, almost in slow motion. The sky was a watercolour sea; a pale blue deep, stretching up forever. She looked back down at a strange violent world, and a sea of creeping silver that covered the turquoise field around them. No sign of Seven. Tabitha cursed and ran over to stand with Alex, whistling at the sky again for her dragon. Seven should have been here by now; she couldn’t wait any longer. Tabitha took a breath, aimed her pistol at the creeping spiders, and fired.
‘So much for the plan,’ said Alex, watching spiders explode at Tabitha’s shot. Another scuttled towards him and he leapt at it, and punched a hole through its head to drop it dead on the moss.
‘The plan’s still on,’ Tabitha replied, opening fire on the spiders as they swarmed towards them. ‘We’re cutting a hole through to the doors,’ she said, nodding at the cathedral. She whistled for Seven again as loudly as she could, and vaporised the spiders scuttling towards her with a laser blast. The spider swarm rattled and clanked towards them like a stabbing wall of legs, pouncing and falling back against Alex and Tabitha’s kicks and punches. The fight had begun.
‘Looks like your friend’s not coming,’ Alex called over his shoulder, throwing a spider to the ground and stabbing his tail through another. Tabitha snapped her near-empty pistol back on her belt, gritting her teeth and wearing a pissed-off stare. She flicked her claws out and ripped the nearest spider to shreds. Leapt on a second and kicked a crater in its
head, and pulled the tongue clean out of another when it jumped to stab her.
‘I’m not going down without a fight,’ she told Alex, wiping silver blood off her face. ‘They’ll have to pull me apart at the fucking seams to stop me.’ Alex and Tabitha looked at one another; at the spiders surrounding them. They started a war together, throwing themselves into the fight with everything they had. Crunching metal punches slammed spiders down dead with dents in their heads. Stabs and clawed gouges spurted silver blood into the air; thin metal shrieks painted the clattering battle in murdered bursts. Wriggling bodies were lifted high and broken down on the ground. Spiders thrown down cracked and clawed open, vicious and visceral, streaming blood as their corpses flew back into the crowd. Tabitha yelled and tore the legs off one and buried her knife in another, high on the blood and the fury. Alex smiled as he watched her fight, whipping his tail in a violent grinning dance to scatter the creeping horde. He dug his hands down into a silver body and felt for its pounding heart, and squeezed until it burst to gulp the blood. Fighting back to back, Alex and Tabitha brought their own bleeding hell down on the spiders. Echoing yells and ringing metal punches filled the meadow, holding back the tide one murderous victory at a time.
‘Getting tired yet?’ Alex called back, putting the spiders down one by one as they scrambled against his metal skin.
‘I’m just getting started!’ Tabitha yelled fiercely, tearing another spider apart in a slapping gush of shining blood.
‘Behind you!’ Alex shouted, as a hellish monster pounded feral across the field and crashed in through the mass of spiders. Tabitha turned to face it. ‘Shoot it!’ he yelled. Tabitha stared at the creature charging towards her. She’d be wasting her shots on the spiders flying up in front of it; a tumbling silver shield as the monster approached. It was up close in seconds. Tabitha leapt aside from the creature and let it plough through the spiders behind her. The monster lost its momentum as it turned back for her, caught up and staggering in the clattering horde at its feet. It stumbled to a knee and Tabitha ran, leapt, and suddenly she was on top of it. Anchoring her feet in its back she tore the armoured plate from its neck with everything she had. Punched a crunching wet hole in its skull and plunged her grasping fingers inside, and felt her claws slice brain. The monster screamed and jumped up, staggering and reaching for her on its back. Tabitha strained to drive her claws in deeper and tore the thick gristly cord from its spine, and the monster spewed a waterfall gush of gurgling blood and dropped dead with a crash.