They didn't seem to think I was much of a threat now that I had tranq in me. They didn't realize the bacteria that burned through my blood lessened the effects of the dart.
Lucas lifted the blade, holding it in a two-handed grip. He looked as if he knew how to use it. Maybe he had training.
“Who’s this friend of yours that wants to meet me?” I asked, stalling for time. Stalling for some last-second turn of events that would let me escape, or at least take Lucas out with me.
Lucas paused, a smile creeping onto his face again, “Oh, you’ve met him before. At a truck stop, I believe.”
I blinked, taken aback. The bounty hunter from the truck stop, Lucas must be talking about him. Could that really have been Vic Lansing? It must be, and Lucas was going to turn me over to him. Lansing would get his man and I would be carted off to Skywatch to be experimented on. Everything I had fought against since leaving Miami, all for nothing. I wouldn’t let it happen. No one was going to get the satisfaction of beating me. Not Vic Lansing, not Lucas. No one.
I looked past him at the mercs who had taken up position behind him, the door behind them, and the sky behind that. Such a beautiful day. I could die today.
Die again.
I hoped Malak had saved Zenigra. It didn't seem likely, but I held onto that thought as Lucas approached me.
My plan was to turn away from his slash at the last moment, vault the Aerodyne, and jump in. If I could figure out how to lock the doors behind me, I might stand a chance of getting the thing in the air. It was a weak plan, considering I didn't know how to drive, let alone fly, but it was all I could come up with besides throwing myself off the edge of the building. Even then, they would probably be able to recover my body.
I'm not the kind of person who prays every time I'm in a spot, I'm not even sure I believe in God or what God I believe in if I do. But at that moment, with a psychopath like Lucas walking casually towards me with a sword that was very, very sharp, I started to.
Then, almost before I had started, I stopped praying and smiled at Lucas.
"Were you ever going to let Zenigra live? After he was done working for you?" I tried to make my voice sound tired, as it would if the tranq was doing its job. As it was, I barely felt any different. The last time I'd been hit, it had been several times. One tranq was barely slowing me down at all.
Lucas paused and considered the question. He seemed to be in no hurry, in fact, he might have been enjoying my attempt to prolong what was about to happen to me.
"No. Not for long anyway. I might have paid him and let him go on his way, just so his death wouldn't disturb the plantation or his replacement. But he would have been dead inside a mile’s walk of Dandil."
"Glad I didn't take that bet."
"What?" Lucas said, confused.
"Nothing. Nothing."
"Are you quite ready?" Lucas said, his smile returning.
"Are you?" I held my arm out and returned his smile. I giggled at the puzzled look he fixed on me. Maybe he thought it was the pressure, maybe he thought it was the tranq I'd been hit with. Either way, from the expression on his face I could tell he thought I had jumped off the edge of the crazy, right into a big bowl of insanity.
He continued thinking that, right up until Zenigra impaled the first merc with a pickaxe.
Chapter 27
“Listen baka, yous show up ‘ere again an’ I’s put you down so gorram hard ya clone wakes up with ah concussion, ya scan?” – Seven Ecks (retired) to a new blood ganger, 2098
Zenigra had stepped onto the roof alone. And alone he had remained. Quietly he'd crept up behind the merc nearest him. I'd kept everyone’s attention on me with my little stint of insanity. The merc hadn't expected a thing. Zenigra's clothes were in tatters, his face a swollen mess of bruises. He gripped the pickaxe with both hands, pulling it free of the merc’s chest in a rain of blood and organs.
Then he launched himself at the second merc.
Lucas was still turning to see what was going on when I launched myself at him. What little effects the tranq was having on my system were washed away in a wave of adrenaline.
I was on him before he knew it, kicking the katana from his hands and sending it skittering across the rooftop. Lucas grabbed at my neck but I batted the blow away with my forearm.
Then we were fully engaged.
For all his bluster and moneyed ways, Lucas knew how to fight. After the initial surprise of my attack, he regained his composure and threw a series of blows that would have sent me to the ground if I hadn't been able to dodge most of them. As it was, I took a few shots to the stomach.
I returned the blows with a series of my own. Lucas managed to block most of them, but a few broke through his guard and hit home. I heard him grunt with pain.
We exchanged several more blows, and then I sent Lucas staggering backward with a kick to the stomach. I wiped blood from my eyes. Lucas had caught me with a glancing blow to the forehead. I didn't feel any pain, but the blood was making it hard to see properly.
Lucas recovered quickly and threw himself at me. He caught me in the chest with his shoulder and knocked me to the ground. Then he was kicking me and I was doing my best to protect my most vulnerable areas.
Pain flashed through me as some of the kicks landed on my already bruised ribs. I pushed the pain down and grabbed Lucas' foot the next time it fell on me. I twisted the ankle with all the brutal intensity I could muster.
It was more than enough to send Lucas spinning to the ground. He landed partially on top of me and I rolled out from under him. Then, I straddled his waist and started punching him in the face. He had his hands up to block, but I just kept punching and punching, beating down his guard.
"You're so smart, Lucas. So damn smart. Bet you didn't see this coming, did you baka?"
One of Lucas' knees caught me in the ribs and sent me rolling off him onto the rooftop. I hit my head as I rolled and blackness threatened to take me, but I pushed it back. That would mean death, or worse, losing. I wasn't ready to die again, and I certainly wasn’t ready to lose.
I struggled to my feet, blood dripping down into my eyes again. I reached up and touched the side of my head gingerly, it to, was wet with blood.
Baka.
I blinked more blood out of my eyes, trying to make them focus. I looked back to where Lucas had been laying and he wasn't there.
Damn.
Where is he?
I moved my head from side to side, trying to find him, but it was like being underwater. My vision was so blurry, my head was swimming. I saw Zenigra in the distance, locked in a pitched battle with the last remaining merc. I thought about going to help, then realized I'd probably just get in Zenigra's way. Besides, from the look of him, he was enjoying himself.
Zenigra was having his revenge.
Time for me to get mine.
I caught movement out of the corner of one bloodstained eye and turned in time to launch myself to the side as Lucas swung the katana at my neck. It breezed by, inches away from cutting me open, and then I slammed into the rooftop.
I pushed myself up and sprinted away from Lucas, hoping to put some distance between us, but almost tripped over the bloody remains of the second merc. It looked like Zenigra had ripped his throat out. There was blood everywhere and as I stumbled past, I was careful not to slip.
Then I noticed the machete hanging from the merc’s belt and ripped it out of the scabbard as I passed.
When I was sure I had enough distance between Lucas and I that I could turn around without getting impaled, I spun.
Lucas was right on my heels, charging with the katana raised to attack. As he reached me he brought the blade down, a blow that very well might have sliced me in half if I hadn't raised my machete to block. The two blades collided and the force of the collision almost put me on my knees.
Lucas raised his blade again and brought it clamoring down on mine. I didn't think the machete could stand much more of this. The next time Lucas brought his blade down, I de
flected the blow, sending his blade way off the mark as I stepped in and sliced at Lucas' chest with the machete.
His armor took the brunt of the attack, but I was satisfied with the shriek of pain he let out as I dragged the blade along his chest armor, ripping it apart and drawing blood.
Lucas elbowed me in the head and sent me sprawling. I managed to get up in time to block another massive downward slice, but just barely. My body was holding out, my augmented speed allowing me to stay one step ahead of Lucas.
Lucas seemed to sense this. He broke off his attack and stepped back. I welcomed the respite and used it to check on Zenigra. He was still wrestling around on the ground with the last merc. The merc wasn't as big as Zenigra but he had muscles that matched. They bulged out of his uniform like mountains seen from above.
I turned my attention back to Lucas. He had a glass vial of bright, almost glowing, yellow liquid in his hands. As I watched, he dumped the contents of the vial into his mouth and flung the empty glass container to the ground, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
I knew what was in the vial. I'd seen it before. I'd almost been arrested for it, my first night out of the Dome. V-202. The most powerful, expensive, and illegal combat stimulant known to man. The true superman drug. It killed your sense of pain, boosted your strength, made you fast as lightning. It drowned out weaker emotions like compassion and love in a sea of rage. They gave a single dose of it to soldiers who were expected to see close quarters combat. And Lucas had just downed a whole vial of it.
His eyes widened as the drug hit his system and his body started shaking all over.
Forget this. This isn't a movie, and it sure as hell ain't a video game. I'm not waiting for the final boss to finish his epic transformation into the unbeatable bad guy boogie man from stories.
I charged Lucas. His body was still shaking heavily and I thought I might be able to cut him down before the drugs fully took hold. But as I neared, his eyes focused on me, and he smiled.
I summoned up every bit of concentration I had left. I ignored the blood dripping into my eyes, the dull throbbing on the side of my head, the ache of my ribs, and the pain in my lungs. I was about to die. The Reaper was so close I could almost feel his cold skeletal fingers brushing against the nape of my neck.
But Death, he was only a few feet away, staring right at me with bloodshot eyes and a triumphant grin on his face.
I was fast, but I needed to be faster.
I was strong, but I needed to be stronger.
I tapped into every last bit of special I could muster.
Lucas and I met a half a second later, our blades impacting each other. I put everything I had into the blow, hoping to send Lucas staggering backward, his guard open for a killing strike.
All my momentum, all my augmented strength, and he didn't even budge.
The next two minutes were filled with pain and humiliation as Lucas toyed with me. He sliced me open in ten different places with ten swift slashes. The gashes weren't deep, Lucas wasn't aiming to kill, but they were painful as hell.
I did my best to block the blows, but my attempts meant nothing to Lucas. He was everywhere. His strikes in and out of my guard before I had time to register they had been there at all.
I fell back, hoping for some distance. He followed, still grinning.
"Have I made my point?" he asked, his voice low, almost feral.
"What's that?" I growled back.
"You're nothing. You could never hope to beat me. Fast, I'll give you that. But nothing compared to military grade Vee."
"Screw you, Lucas." I spat.
"No," he said and raised his blade. I knew this would be the killing stroke. "Screw you." And he swung the blade at my neck. I started to raise my blade to block, knowing even as I did that it wouldn't get there in time.
Well, so much for a second chance at life.
Then there was a flash of movement and Zenigra was in front of me, pushing me backward.
I was glad he was there. Glad he had come to my rescue. I wondered how he planned to stop the attack. Would he impale Lucas with his pickaxe? Where was his pickaxe? It hadn't been in his hands.
Then, the true horror of the situation hit me so hard I lost my breath. Zenigra was crumpling to the ground, blood squirting from his chest.
I hit the ground for what seemed like the tenth time today and stared in horror at Zenigra's massive frame as it hit the ground.
"Get up!" I yelled, "Get up!"
But he didn't get up. Lucas looked down at him dispassionately.
"Idiot," he said, and stepped over the body, raising his sword again.
My gaze was still fixed on Zenigra. A pool of blood was forming on the ground around him. Forming very quickly. He had saved me. Sacrificed himself for me. To keep me alive. I knew he had felt guilty for not being there to protect me the first time Lucas had killed me. I knew he had been looking for a way to make it up to me. It had never been a debt in my mind. He'd already cloned me when he didn't have to. He'd already taken me with him to Boston. He'd already stopped to fight the mercs so I could get away. He'd already saved me on the rooftop by attacking the mercs and distracting Lucas.
I owed Zenigra my life several times over. He should have let me die. It should be me laying there on the ground in a pool of blood. Zenigra had done his best. I should have killed Lucas before he'd taken the V-202. This was all my fault.
All I had done my whole life was cause trouble and hardship for those around me. My parents had sacrificed themselves to keep me alive.
In school, when I kept getting in trouble for starting fights with kids who made fun of my name, it had been Sasha who stepped in and backed the kids off with biting retorts. Calling them out on all sorts of things she'd heard them say when they didn't think anyone could hear. She had defended me back then.
Then her parents had given me money, probably all of their savings, to help me get out of the city and get safe. I hadn't even been able to hold onto that money for more than a couple hours.
I'd always needed taking care of. I'd always needed protection. First my parents, then Zenigra. My parents were dead because of me. Now Zenigra was dead or would be soon. Dead because of me.
I hadn't been there to convince Sasha to stay with me.
I hadn't been able to rescue Zenigra from the mercs when they grabbed him.
I hadn’t been able to save my parents or get away from Skywatch.
I was a failure. I'd failed everyone.
As I watched the life oozing out of my best friend, a mental wall inside me broke and crumbled. I didn't even realize the wall was there, but I felt its absence. Behind the wall was something I hadn't expected. A control I didn't even realize I lacked.
Up until now, I had been slowly mastering what I thought were the limits of the abilities the bacteria in my blood gave me. All I'd had so far was a taste.
I knew then that some part of my subconscious had been protecting me since the nano-machines had forced the bacteria out of remission.
There was an as of yet untapped well of-- something within me. Something dangerous and dark. Something that would burn me up from the inside if I wasn't careful.
Lucas took another step forward. The blade of his katana raised above his head.
I dipped a mental hand into the well. All through my body, my blood started to burn hot in my veins.
The slightest tendril of thought had me on my feet.
Lucas snarled and swung the katana two-handed.
I took a step forward, reached across my body, and grabbed one of his wrists with my left hand. I stopped the blade an inch from my neck.
Lucas' eyes bulged as he exerted himself, trying to force the blade forward. I flexed the fingers of my left hand and Lucas screamed. His hands went limp and the katana clattered to the ground. I grinned.
He struck out with his free hand, a blow aimed at my face. I stepped closer to him and the blow only glanced off my shoulder. I didn't even feel it.
I
slipped a leg behind him and toppled him onto the ground, releasing my grip on his wrist. Then I sat down on his chest. My blood was burning hotter and hotter in my veins. I gripped Lucas' head with both hands and before he had a chance to make any move at all to prevent me, I slammed his head back into the rooftop.
Then I slammed it, tilted it forward, and slammed it back into the rooftop again, and again, and again. Still grinning.
Then there were voices and faces all around me and my blood was burning so hot in my veins I thought they would burst. Strong hands under my armpits lifted me and dragged me off of Lucas.
"It's over. It's over," someone kept saying. The voice sounded familiar but the pain racking my body was making it almost impossible to think.
My vision was getting splotchy with color and it felt like the blood in my veins had reached a boiling point. I tried to pull my mental hand from the dark well of power inside me. It wouldn't come free. The harder I tried, the more it pulled me in.
I screamed with the pain of it. My eyes lolled about, unseeing. I felt my mind spiraling downward, out of control, my whole life spinning out of control, down a drain.
I screamed again but it trailed off into silence as the muscles in my throat stopped working.
My mental scream continued.
The pain was like nothing I had ever felt before. It didn't come close to what I'd felt when Parli had jumped me. It didn't compare to what I remembered about the last time I died. Compared to this, that had been a quiet, easy, and painless way to die.
The pain was trying to fill me up and I knew if it succeeded, it would end up hollowing me out, leaving nothing behind when it left.
I pushed back against it as hard as I could, but it was no use. The bacteria had a hold on me. I had activated it with my mental touch. Awoken the sleeping cells.
They had begun to burn, bright, hot, and fast. It was like putting the abilities I had at my disposal these past few months into overdrive. I tried to silence the bacteria, to put it back to sleep. It ignored me. It had slept long enough.
I knew I would be dead in a matter of minutes at this rate, maybe less. If I had paid more attention in science class I would have been able to better imagine the battle going on inside my body.
Recombination Page 25