by Amy Braun
The scene triggered a horrific memory– the day I found Abby in the Behemoth. She had been like this, dozens of needles jammed into her tiny body, sucking the blood from her to feed the monsters that controlled the ship, controlled our safety, our future…
But this was different. These bodies were no longer human.
They retained the same shape, some of the men still having facial hair while some women kept their curves, but others had been transformed into unspeakable horrors. Their natural hair color was leeched into black, oily strands. Fingers curled into pointed onyx claws. Jaws were swollen as new, sharp teeth broke through their gums. Their pale skin grew almost transparent. Each of them had closed eyes, but I knew I would see blood red eyes if they’d been awake.
“Riley.” My voice was a shaking whisper. “What is this?”
He stood slightly ahead of me. I could see the sharp frown and tense look in his eyes as he watched me. I couldn’t bring myself to look anywhere but the altars.
“This,” he said, “is how Hellions are made.”
I knew it was true. The horror of it didn’t fade from my heart.
Gently cupping my elbow, Riley drew me deeper in the room. My feet moved on their own, out of control of my body. He stopped me in front of the nearest altar. We looked down at the body of a red-haired woman, who seemed to be only a few years older than me. Blood splatter mixed with the freckles on her corpse-pale skin. Her hair was a tangled mess of dry curls, the strands at the top of her head turning black as though burned. Her clothes were tattered, dirty rags, the rips crusted with dry blood from the dozens of slash marks she’d taken. Her hands lay limply at her sides, the edges of her fingers blackening and elongating into sharp points.
A knot built in my throat. “Are… are they alive?”
“No,” Riley said. “But that doesn’t keep them safe.”
He gently took my elbow and started pointing out how the procedure worked. I didn’t want to know– I didn’t– but I had to.
“The Hellions divide up the people they kidnap. They take whoever is healthy to their warships and drain their blood, like they did on the Behemoth.” He paused, remembering the horror I only witnessed. “Once those slots are filled, they bring the others here,” he nodded to the room. “They’re already dead when they arrive. The Hellions make a feast of them, then keep the bodies. The Vesper comes here every few days when he has the strength, then gives them each a portion of his blood. It’s enough to flow through their system, give them a connection to him, provide them with hunger and change their bodies.”
He pointed to the red light on the corner of the box closest to us. I squinted at it, understanding slowly dawning on me as he explained.
“Their bodies need to be jumpstarted,” Riley continued. “Even with the blood and the changes, these bodies are still corpses. They need a massive jolt to the heart to reboot and find life, and to do that the Vesper brings in power from–”
“The pillar,” I finished.
We looked at each other. He nodded grimly. My stomach clenched as I remembered that wild, violent power, the rows and rows of vials, each one a life force for these monsters…
“They don’t remember who they were, or what they are,” Riley said. “They’re basically animals.”
I shook my head, unable to take my eyes away from the dead red-haired woman. “What about Davin? He’s a Hellion, but he remembers his past. He knows Sawyer.”
Riley went silent for a moment. “Because he began the transition when he was still alive.”
The horror of that revelation churned through me. I couldn’t imagine this transition was painless, and I found it amazing that someone had been able to endure it.
Though in hindsight, I shouldn’t have been surprised it was Davin. He was a cockroach.
“The Vesper saw something in him,” he explained. “A madness, I guess. He saw that Davin was… good at what he does. He thought he would be the perfect commander for his army while he was recovering. Davin is the only one who’s ever survived the procedure that way.”
I cringed, wishing a thousand times over that it had failed.
“How do you know that?”
Riley stared at the altar without seeing it. “Davin likes to boast.”
That he did. Too much.
I cast another glance at the enormous space, an open graveyard filled with nightmares waiting to be resurrected.
I finally took in the rest of the space. I looked up at the ceiling. It was made of glass so clear I almost thought it wasn’t there. Clouds and smoke mingled together in a dark, dangerous dance. Flashes of lighting burst through the sky, each one causing my heart to skip.
I glanced down at the hundreds of Hellions, watching the vials of red energy snapping and twisting in a glass prison, waiting to jolt all of these Hellions to life.
With a force this size, he would be able to launch an attack on the scale of The Storm…
“He’s saving them, isn’t he?” I asked in a shaking whisper. I felt more than saw Riley’s eyes on me. I turned to look at him. “The Vesper is saving all of these to attack Westraven once the Palisade is done. This is his army.”
Dread filled Riley’s eyes. If he suspected before, he was certain now. He gazed through the cold, dark room with me.
“I was attached to him when he brought me here,” Riley said. “He would drain my blood, then give it to these things,” he spat the word, no longer seeing them as human. I didn’t know what to see them as. Perhaps not human, but not quite Hellion either. They were trapped in an unforgiving limbo, a desolation that would erase the people they were.
The people they should have remained.
I almost didn’t recognize the feeling that clenched my heart, giving it fire. It had been a long time since I had been angry.
Beyond angry. Furious.
I turned and started to storm back toward the main factory.
“Claire?”
“I’ve seen enough,” I snapped. “Let’s go. I need to make a bomb.”
“Okay, just wait until–”
A thunderous crash and shattering glass exploded over our heads. I screamed, my voice becoming lost in the tumultuous storm above. A loud, metallic crash slammed into the middle of the floor. Chunks of ash whipped down around us, brought on by ravenous winds.
I looked down, seeing a Hellion skiff lying in the middle of the floor. An entire, mangled skiff. Its engines must have been shut off when it loomed overhead. The weight would have been enough to break the glass, and leave us at Hellnore’s natural fury.
I held up my hand to block the worst of it from my eyes, swearing I saw a second skiff fly away from the ceiling.
The storm outside was wilder than before. Feverish. Unnatural.
Dread collapsed in my stomach.
I grabbed Riley’s hand and ran for the door.
“Close the door,” I screamed over the cacophony of howling winds and savage thunder.
“What?” Riley shouted back, whether questioning me or unable to hear me, I couldn’t tell. Nor did I care.
“They’re using the storm-maker,” I yelled, slipping back into the production room. “It can overload the electric systems and break the vials!”
Riley skidded to a halt, his mouth agape with panic.
The lighting flashed sporadically, each strike closer than the last.
Riley sheathed his sword onto his back and shoved his left hand back in the piercing lock. He started pushing the door closed, grimacing in pain as new slices cut into his arm. I started searching the factory. I raced back and forth, scouring every table, ripping contraptions apart, finding gasoline canisters, frantically putting all my effort into connecting wires to the canisters to create a bomb large enough to–
Thunder lashed the sky, a sound so ferocious it trembled the walls. The flare of lighting followed immediately after.
For a split second, everything was white. The hairs on the back of my arms rose. I lost my sense of proportion.
The sound of a hundred enraged, starving screams.
I looked at the door, which wasn’t even half way closed, despite Riley’s concentrated efforts.
Beyond it, the new Hellions roared with new life. The red vials were emptied, overloaded by the lightning blast and forced to accelerate into the Hellion bodies.
They snapped up, rolled and jerked, thrashed and screamed, chaotic as they responded to their new existence. Metal poles toppled onto the ground with sharp clatters. Hellions lunged at one another, snapping, biting, clawing, and punching. Others pounced on the corpses that weren’t finished their transition, tearing open dead skin to find the blood beneath.
Then they stopped, and turned in our direction.
The smell of Riley’s blood had drawn them. The sight of us set them into frenzy.
I left the gas-can bomb on a table and ran to help Riley, hoping to shut the door before the Hellions made it through.
I wasn’t fast enough.
Seven of the Hellions nudged past the door and lunged at Riley. I drew a flashbang from my bag and twisted the ends off. The Hellions were almost upon him.
“Shut your eyes,” I screamed.
I didn’t wait to see if he listened to me or not. I threw the flashbang directly at the cluster of Hellions. White light exploded in front of the monsters. They shrieked at the flare, as did the others too close to the open door. I opened my eyes and lunged at the monsters, kicking them back since I had no weapon to fight with.
I couldn’t get to all of them. A Hellion swung around the crowd and rushed for me, claws outstretched and mouth wide open, revealing jagged teeth dripping with saliva. I staggered back, but wasn’t going to get far enough–
Riley’s hand clamped on my shoulder and yanked me away. His sword sailed past my neck, driving through the Hellion’s gaping mouth.
He pushed me back, taking on the Hellions as a crowd. He didn’t play games with them, making slashes, strikes, and lunges meant to kill instantly.
But the Hellions were too fast, too lethal. They swarmed him, slicing their claws along his chest and back, hitting his face, aiming teeth at his neck.
My eyes darted to the tables, finding a finished Hellion helmet sitting on it. I raced for it, grabbed the heavy plastic, then ran for the fight.
One of the Hellions hit Riley with a closed fist. His head rocked to the side, pain dazing him. A Hellion behind his back grabbed his head and jerked his head at a sharp angle. Riley winced, his neck exposed to the Hellion bearing down on it.
None of the monsters knew I was there until I slammed the helmet into the Hellion’s head. The point jammed into its temple. The Hellion jerked and released Riley. Five sets of red eyes turned on me. I flinched, taking a single step back to keep my balance–
The Hellions charged me.
Riley lunged with his sword, cutting down any Hellions he could reach, but he couldn’t get them all.
Two of them slipped past and swarmed me. I snapped a kick into the right one’s middle, halting its pace. I swung the helmet at the left one, aiming for its head. It ducked and kept running, slamming straight into me. Air burst from my lungs when it hit me, then again when I crashed into the floor. I would have fresh bruises, but I hadn’t let go of the helmet.
Twisting my hips, I threw the Hellion off before it could truly pin me. I dashed the helmet across its jaw to keep it dazed, then plunged the needle straight through one of its red eyes. The Hellion shrieked, its howl of anguish ripping through my ears. I grimaced and twisted the helmet until the monster was silenced.
The one behind me wasn’t. Its infuriated, raspy yell was the only warning I had. I stood up and whipped my foot into its face, wrenching its neck to the side. I scrambled forward, shoving the helmet’s needle into the Hellion’s neck. The shock of the sharp point surprised it, and it turned its head in my direction. The motion caused it to pull against the needle, ripping open more flesh and spraying blood over my arms and chest. I recoiled, yanking the helmet back. Blood spurted from the ugly wound as the Hellion reached for me. I shuffled back and knocked its hand away. I lunged forward with the helmet, driving it point first into the Hellion’s chin.
The monster stiffened then went slack, red eyes rolling into the back of its head.
I pulled the helmet out and held it tightly, knowing I had to use it if I couldn’t find another weapon. I staggered to my feet and looked at Riley.
He was standing by the door, the other five Hellions dead at his feet. His hand was resting on the heavy door, which hadn’t closed all the way yet. More freshly made Hellions thrashed against the door, shoving one another to squeeze through the small crack. They hadn’t gotten through yet, but if their piercing screams were anything to go by, it wouldn’t be long before they broke free.
The moment I looked at Riley, I knew there was nothing more he could do to close it. He was exhausted and covered in blood, most of it his. Deep scratches crisscrossed his arms and chest. His left hand cradled his ribs. It was oozing blood from the deep slices made when he’d opened that damned lock. Angry red splotches dotted his face, with nasty cuts opened on his eyebrows, cheeks, lip, and nose. His eyes were closed, as if he were about to pass out.
I rushed to help him. Riley sagged when I touched his arm and slung it over my shoulder.
“Stay awake, Riley,” I urged, dragging him away from the door. “We’re getting out of here.”
“The bomb…” he slurred.
“I’ll set it up, don’t worry. We need to get you somewhere to treat your wounds.”
The words were barely past my lips before Riley hissed in pain. He removed his arm from me and lurched, collapsing on his elbows against a table. He dropped his sword with a clatter and grabbed his head by the hair. The Hellions shrieked from the door behind him, frenzied.
Heart pounding, I hurried to Riley again. I grabbed his arm and tried to pull him with me. “Riley, come on, we have to go!”
He didn’t budge, not even when I sharply yanked is arm. Riley growled and threw me off, clutching his head again and grimacing in pain.
I stared at him, confused and scared.
“Set up the bomb,” he bit out.
I hesitated, but only for a moment. I picked it up from table and ran to the furnace. The clunky gas cans and canisters clanked together, but I’d wrapped them in wire to keep them in place. The heat rolled over my body in a suffocating wave. Sweat trickled down my temples and the back of my neck. Pressing my lips together, I ran for the control panel by the furnace. Like the mechanical arms creating the Hellion helmets, the furnace was automated so it would never stop producing flame. Once I pried open the front of the panel, I could see that the amount of fire produced could be controlled. It was locked at a steady capacity, but not full. I grabbed a screwdriver from my bag and pulled the backing away to reveal the wires. I found the ones connecting to the flame-controller and rigged them to the wires of my bomb. Once they were connected, I turned the dial on the controller to as high as it would go.