by Jake Bible
“Fucking A,” Tommy Bombs whispers.
“Yeah,” Shep agrees.
“We keep moving,” Skye says. “More trials await us.”
Val looks over at Sister before they get moving again, but the woman keeps her goggles focused on the way ahead, giving no indication to Val what she is thinking.
***
Blades that slice at the legs from the floor.
Spikes that rain down from the ceiling.
Flames that nearly blind the Mates before they can yank their NVGs off in time to see a man cooked alive.
Acid that sprays out from cracks in the concrete.
And finally a large pit with no way across.
The trials are brutal and deadly, killing two more Code Monkeys before everyone stops at the edge of the large pit.
“The final trial,” Skye says. “My trial.”
Sister crouches by the edge of the pit. She runs a hand across the surface, reaching down inside to feel the wall that lines it. She pulls back quickly then laughs.
“There’s a bridge, isn’t there?” Sister asks. “I felt a groove a foot down. Does it extend across or is there half on the other side that meets in the middle?”
“It extends across,” Skye says. “But only halfway. And from the other side.”
“Only halfway?” Lang asks. “So we have to jump the rest of the way?”
“If I complete the trial, yes,” Skye says.
“If you don’t complete it?” Henshaw asks.
“Then I and my brothers and sisters will be stuck here with you forever,” Skye says.
“We could just go back,” Shep suggests. “Figure out another way in.”
“This is the only way in to the cathedral,” Skye says. “And there is no going back.”
“No going back,” the other Code Monkeys say. Three men and two women are what remain of Skye’s party. They nod their heads at Skye then face the pit. “Only forward to the cathedral.”
“Then get on with it,” Stanford snaps. “Go forward and fetch us this mighty half bridge.”
“When we reach the cathedral, you will be tested yourself, Stanford Lee,” Skye says. “You will wish you had not mocked the trials.”
“I wish a lot of things,” Stanford says. “They rarely come true anyway.”
Skye faces him for a few seconds then nods. “I believe that.”
She turns quickly and flings herself into the pit. Everyone except for the Code Monkeys gasp.
The Mates stare at the vast darkness that even their NVGs can’t penetrate.
“I’m guessing that since the blindies aren’t worried we shouldn’t be either,” Stanford says. “So…we wait?”
The minutes tick off before a slow rumbling is felt from the ground. There are a series of clicks and thuds then a loud, harsh grating sound as the half bridge begins to extend from the opposite side of the pit. It moves out until it is exactly halfway across then stops and shudders before several loud clangs freeze it in place.
“It is secure,” one of the Code Monkeys says. “We may proceed.”
“That is a long way to jump,” Val says. “It’s going to be tricky.”
“DTA afraid of a little tricky?” Stanford asks.
“Yes, Ford, DTA is afraid of a little tricky,” Val replies. “You got me.”
One by one the Code Monkeys step back from the edge of the pit then take a running start before leaping out over the empty space. They each land with a couple of feet to spare then turn and regard the Mates with their eyeless sockets.
“You all must pass this trial,” another of the Code Monkeys says. “This is not one we can do for you.”
“I thought this was Skye’s trial?” Stanford yells.
“You must all pass the trial,” the Code Monkey says again. “This is not one we can—”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Stanford says.
“Our packs are going to weigh us down,” Henshaw says. “We should toss them over first.”
She takes off her pack and gets close to the edge. She swings the pack out, back and forth, building up momentum until she finally lets go and it flies out in a long arc, landing heavily next to the Code Monkeys.
“Come on,” Henshaw says. “Everyone now.”
The Mates follow suit and fling their packs across the space. The Code Monkeys merely step aside when the packs land, giving them zero attention.
“Your time is now,” a third Code Monkey announces. “Jump or be left behind forever.”
“That’s not an option,” Stanford says.
He cinches his M-4 tight to his back, takes a couple deep breaths, then sprints and leaps. His arms pinwheel in the air as he braces his legs for the landing. The bridge rushes up at him and he slams into it, his legs going out from under him right away. He rolls a few feet then is stopped just as he is about to go off the side of the bridge.
A Code Monkey has him by the ankle and pulls him back to safety.
“Thanks,” he says as he’s helped to his feet.
“You are needed,” the Code Monkey says.
Everyone else follows, making it across with only minor difficulties. Leaving only Sister on the far side.
“Where is Skye?” Sister asks.
“She is preparing the cathedral,” a Code Monkey replies.
“Uh, no, pretty sure she fell down a big hole,” Stanford says.
“She did not,” the Code Monkey responds. “She jumped to exactly where she needed to be. Now she is inside the cathedral, readying it for our arrival.”
“That’s what I thought,” Sister says.
She runs at the pit, her legs springing at the last second. When she lands, she comes up out of a roll and then slams a fist into the gut of one of the Code Monkeys, doubling the man over. Her knee comes up and cracks him in the face, sending him stumbling backwards until his feet slip and he is sent falling from the bridge.
“Run!” Sister yells as she spins about and cracks another Code Monkey in the face with a strong roundhouse kick. “Go!”
The Mates barely register what is happening, but none of them hesitate. They grab whatever packs are at hand and take off, running as fast as they can away from the bridge.
The Code Monkeys step towards Sister, who is blocking their way off the bridge. She holds up her hand and they stop.
“Y’all are amazing,” Sister says. “You know I have something in my hand, don’t you?”
“You are holding a grenade,” one of the men says. “But you have not pulled the pin free yet.”
“Let me fix that,” Sister says and pulls the pin from the grenade. “I’d say something witty, but I’m just too fucking tired. So I’ll whistle for a minute to give my friends time to get away.”
“They cannot get away,” the man says. “They are going exactly where they need to go.”
“Yeah, I know, I know,” Sister says.
Then she starts whistling.
One of the Code Monkeys makes a move and Sister waves the grenade at her. She stops immediately, her head cocked and listening.
“They have reached the cathedral doors,” the woman says. “You should be there to witness their sacrifice.”
“And there we have it,” Sister says. “I knew one of you would slip up. You didn’t keep it ambiguous enough that time. Nope. That time you specifically said that my friends are going to be sacrificed. I had a feeling that was where this might be going. If there’s one thing I know, it’s how crazy people think.”
She taps her head with her grenade hand and a couple of the Code Monkeys flinch. Sister grins then sighs. She tosses the grenade at the bridge and takes off running as fast as she can.
***
The Mates hear the explosion a split second before they reach the double doors set into the end of the tunnel. The walls around the doors are rough and look like rock, not concrete. The doors themselves look old and like they haven’t been opened in forever, if at all.
Turning back to the tunnel, the Mates unstrap th
eir carbines, each take a knee, and aim into the darkness. There are no more explosions, but there are the sounds of footsteps.
“Confirm your targets,” Stanford says, his finger resting on his trigger. “We still have a friendly back there.”
“What the hell set her off?” Henshaw asks. “We were good until the pit then she lost it.”
“She didn’t lose it,” Val says. “She knew exactly what she was doing. I think we’ve been tricked.”
“No,” a voice says from behind them. “You have been led.”
Everyone spins around on their knees and sees Skye standing in the doorway, both doors wide open.
“You must oil those hinges every fucking day,” Stanford says.
“The cathedral is a holy space for us,” Skye says. “It is about to become more holy.”
“Good for you,” Stanford says. “Val?”
“I think we’ve dealt with her enough,” Val says.
“Have you?” Skye asks. “But have you dealt with all of us enough?”
The doorway fills with Code Monkeys. Close to two dozen of them stand behind Skye, various weapons held in their hands. Various sharp weapons.
“You will be able to kill one or two of us, but not all of us,” Skye says. “Put down the weapons and I will let you enter the cathedral alive.”
“But will we get to leave alive?” Stanford asks.
“You were never going to leave the facility alive,” Skye says. “You knew that. Why does it matter now?”
“The assumption was we wouldn’t leave alive,” Stanford says. “Doesn’t mean it’s written in stone.”
“It is all written in stone,” Skye says. She points up at the rock above the doorway. “See.”
The Mates look up and see the faint outlines of words etched into the rock.
“Shall I read it for you?” Skye asks. “It says, “Welcome to the cathedral. Let all who pass through these doors taste immortality. Let only the worthy grasp it.”
“Okay, that is one lame message,” Stanford says. “Let only the worthy grasp it? Sounds like what I’d say to some of my ex-lovers.”
The Code Monkeys hiss and spit over and over until Skye holds up a hand.
“Put down the weapons,” Skye says.
“Fucking shoot them!” Sister shouts from behind the Mates as she comes running down the tunnel. “Just shoot them!”
“All I needed to hear,” Stanford says and opens fire.
The Code Monkeys scatter, diving inside the open doorway, lost from sight as the Mates get to their feet and press the attack, their carbines barking fire the whole way.
“Reloading!” Lang yells as she ejects a spent magazine and pops in a fresh one. She racks the slide then screams as she looks down at the blade embedded in her chest. “Fuck!”
She falls to the ground, blood bubbling from her mouth and nose.
“Mate down!” Stanford yells.
“Reloading!” Shep shouts. He ejects his magazine, but doesn’t even get his fresh one in before he is falling to the ground as well, his throat a wide open gash that spews blood everywhere.
“Fuck!” Val yells as she enters the cathedral and spins to the right, spraying that direction with bullets while Stanford stands at her back and sprays the other direction.
Henshaw, Tommy Bombs, and Carlotta follow right behind, their carbines spitting lead as fast as they can pull the trigger.
Val sees a blur on her left and turns, but not before a fist hits her in the temple. The world spins and her NVGs go flying from her face, plunging her into pitch blackness. Another blow to her head and she drops her M-4. A third blow knocks her to her knees. A fourth knocks her completely out.
***
The screams bring Val back around. Her eyes shoot open and she is surprised she can see. The room is filled with soft, flickering light. It’s not much, but it’s enough for her to see what is happening clearly. She instantly wishes she couldn’t.
“Oh, fuck,” she whispers.
“Just stay quiet and still,” Sister says from close by.
Val risks turning her head and sees Sister pushed up against a wall, a dozen Code Monkeys all guarding her with sharp-looking blades. A couple of them even have M-4s which makes Val wonder how the hell they can fire them without sight. Not that they have much trouble doing anything without sight.
Right next to Val, and looking unconscious, is Stanford, with Carlotta and Tommy Bombs next to him. Both of them are wide awake and their eyes stare in horror at what is happening to Henshaw.
The woman is completely naked and being held by her ankles above a large tank. Her skin hangs off her in long strips, stretching down into blood that is slowly filling the bottom of the tank.
“A vein,” Skye says, slicing at Henshaw’s thigh. Blood pours from the cut and joins the rest in the tank.
“A vein,” the Code Monkeys say together.
“Let the cathedral accept this sacrifice so that it may gather what it needs to finish its work,” Skye says.
“Let the cathedral accept this sacri—”
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” Stanford shouts, obviously awake. “Just fucking kill us if you are going to kill us!”
Hisses and spit are flung his way.
“Yes, I get it, you guys don’t like me,” Stanford says. “Welcome to the club.”
“Stanford, be quiet,” Sister says.
“Fuck that,” Stanford replies. “Come on you crazy, no-eyed assholes! Kill us! Get it over with!”
“Very well,” Skye says and slashes Henshaw’s throat wide open. She saws at the woman’s neck until the head comes free. Holding it by the hair, Skye raises it up. “The first sacrifice is complete! He shall be pleased with us!”
“He’s dead!” Sister yells. “I killed him years ago!”
“NO!” Skye roars. “He lives forever!”
“I gutted the motherfucker and watched him die,” Sister says. “It took him three days to bleed out. When it was done, I gave his body to a canny group I stumbled across. Only fitting the asshole became canny shit.”
The Code Monkeys begin to scream and screech at her, moving forward, their sharp blades coming dangerously close to her body.
“Do not harm her!” Skye shouts. “She is one of the keys!”
“Yeah! She’s one of the keys!” Stanford shouts. “So back off!”
“You are not,” Skye says, pointing her blade at Stanford. “Save the Baptiste woman and kill the rest. The cathedral will still favor us with their sacrifice, even if we do not collect their blood.”
“Whoa! Stop!” Stanford yells as the Code Monkeys descend on him, Carlotta, and Tommy Bombs. “Just kidding! JUST KIDDING!”
There’s a loud whistle and everyone stops moving. All heads turn to the opposite side of the room, which now that Val can see clearly enough, looks like some weird laboratory and not like a cathedral at all. Not any cathedral she has ever seen.
“Hey there,” Cole says, his 9mm leading his way into the room. “Back away from my friends.”
He doesn’t even give them a chance to comply before he opens fire. Two Code Monkeys lose their heads as slugs rip into them while a third doubles over from three shots to her belly.
“Back away faster!” Diaz shouts as he follows Cole into the room.
He swings his carbine to the right and takes down four Code Monkeys before they can get halfway across the room. He swings back towards the others and his eyes go wide as he watches in horror as Carlotta’s throat is slit and blood geysers out, coating Tommy Bombs.
“No!” Diaz yells and empties his magazine into the man that had slit Carlotta’s throat.
He ejects the spent magazine, but before he can pop in a new one, two Code Monkeys are leaping at him. He uses his carbine as a bat and swats one to the ground, the man’s neck angled in a way that nature did not intend.
The second Code Monkey hits him hard and stabs a long blade through his left shoulder. Diaz screams and rolls with the attack, putting the Code M
onkey between him and the ground. He drops fast, using all of his weight to crush the woman that stabbed him. She grunts and coughs as the air is knocked from her lungs. Diaz pushes up, yanks the blade free from his shoulder, and jams it into the woman’s left eye socket. She twitches once then goes still.
Cole drops three more Code Monkeys before the rest try to escape out the double doors and back into the tunnel.
“I have them!” Sister yells and is gone from sight as she takes off after the Code Monkeys.
Cole sweeps the room, sees no other threats, and runs to the blood-covered Mates.
“Report!” he orders as he slides to his knees, pulls a knife, and starts cutting at the restraints holding Val’s wrists together.
“I’m fine,” she says, rubbing her wrists once they are free. “How the hell did you get here?”
“We found the other entrance,” Cole says.
“And a lot of heads,” Diaz says, walking over to them, his hand pressing a rag to his shoulder.
“Heads?” Stanford asks as Cole cuts him free.
“Cannies,” Diaz says. He winces and blinks a couple of times. “Shit this hurts.”
“I’ll dress it,” Sister says as she comes back into the room, her clothes considerably more bloody.
“Any of that yours?” Cole asks, looking over at her.
“None,” she says. She looks around. “Where’s Skye?”
“She wasn’t with the ones that tried to escape?” Cole asks, getting Tommy Bombs free.
“If she was then I wouldn’t have fucking asked where she was!” Sister roars.
“Okay, okay, calm down,” Cole says. “She was standing in the middle of the room when I came in. I don’t know where she is now.”
“Shit,” Sister curses. “Come on, we have to find her.”
“Why?” Cole asks, helping Tommy Bombs to his feet. “Our mission is to use your genetics to unlock the controls so Commander Lee can launch some nukes. That is the priority, not chasing after one last blind crazy.”
Sister starts to argue then nods. “Yes. You’re right. Follow me.”
Everyone does. They do not hesitate, do not ask where she is going, they just get up and follow, grabbing weapons on their way through the doors opposite the tunnel entrance.