Damage Control

by Eric Alan Williams

  The dashing redhead had to also assume she had a teammate close by. He chattered his teeth again. Four corridors down, another Aeonian was waiting.

  Xairin decided to play coy and chose to walk past her, acting as if he was unaware. Before she could come up behind him and put him in a sleeper hold, he dropped to the ground, spun around, sweeping out her legs. He leaped up and with a quick thrust to the temple with his left foot, she was out cold. He saw a green light in the wall blink and scan her body and himself. The armband he was wearing also glowed.

  Deciding to avoid the Aeonian down the hall, Xairin took another route right as the walls opened up and flipped again. He decided invisibility was best at this point. He forced his cells to vibrate until he felt the energy tingling on his flesh and vanished from sight.

  Walking carefully, he tried his best to avoid stepping on the dirt in the center of the paths. Instead, he stayed close to the wall. One disturbance in the soil could give an invisible opponent away easily. He remembered that when he fought Tobias in New York City's ruins.

  Xairin did reach down and pick up a hand full of dirt, keeping it in his hand. He took care to take it right after assuring himself no one else was near him. He remembered what happened with the wererat...

  A white-furred werewolf in his wolfman guise was hunting. The beast was sniffing the air, followed by his teammate, another wolfman, this one, however, had a more reddish coat. They were right on Xairin's trail.

  Werewolves couldn't detect invisibility as quickly as a vampire. Plus, since they were in their wolfman guise, that meant they were omegas or deltas. If they were in the more advanced hybrid form, Xairin would question being able to take on a Beta or an Alpha unless they were coming through the tunnel like the one, he had knocked out. If he could blind one of them, taking on one would be easier until he was ready for the other one.

  They locked onto his scent. The wolves began swiping wildly, trying to nick something as they knew someone was there and using invisibility. Xairin threw the dirt in his hand at the white wolf's face. A dirty tactic, but an effective one. It gave Xairin two seconds to kick the werewolf in the stomach, and then reach down for another handful to blind the red furred wolf. He was merciful considering and didn't go overboard. He just kicked them until they were down, not entirely unconscious, but down for the moment.

  The walls changed again, giving Xairin a chance to get on the other side before either could get back up. His armband glowed twice.

  He only had to get two more, six was a perfect score in the Labyrinth, and he was feeling confident considering his first trip in, he was downed before he could score a point. He had to remind himself twice to not get cocky. Others were undoubtedly ahead of him. His ears perked. A man's frustrated voice chimed out, "I wonder who left that furry fat ass blocking the tunnel?"

  "Who cares Dodson." A woman answered.

  Risko and Dodson, the pair that had beat him yesterday were an otherworldly pair, striking in appearance and form. The olive skin they both shared gave the pair of raven-haired lethal hunters an exotic look. Xairin knew exactly who those two were. It was the two wererats from London. Cocky, obnoxious, and fought dirty every chance they got. In a war, of course, there was no such thing as fighting clean, even Wisman would tell him that. Wisman had beat that into Xairin's head since he arrived.

  He was going to stay clear of those two until the trenches, there Xairin knew he would have the upper hand on everyone here so long as Abanoub's information was accurate.

  Picking up speed, he relied heavily on his sonar to detail the following path options. He couldn't afford to hit a dead end that would make him an easier target. He also would be an easy target for a surprise attack by coming around a corner and running into some competition. He wanted to avoid all of that.

  That wasn't about to happen. Julius Armand was waiting for Xairin nearby.

  Aside from being an all-around prick, Xairin knew that Julius Armand was a vampire hailing from what was once referred to as Iceland, now, Sector 890. He was like Xairin in a few aspects. He was a vampire that felt he needed to prove himself, learn to protect himself, and become a deadly weapon. Unlike Xairin, Julius sought fame. He wanted to make a name for himself. Julius was bitten by an infected bat that had stolen away on a ship and had arrived at a port to Sector 890. The bat managed to control half the crew before the foul thing's plans had been thwarted. Like Xairin, Julius's bat was still alive and had escaped. Julius viewed Xairin as a challenge, worthy taking down. His pitch-black eyes and his own sonar had allowed him to track the red-eyed vamp. He had kept his distance just enough to stay out of Xairin's range.

  Coming around a corner, came one of the long hallways that Abanoub had told him about. The length stretched the limits of Xairin's sonar. The corridor was lengthy, forcing Xairin to send out his chattering. He stopped. He realized fast that there was no need to chatter. His eyes zoomed in. At the end of the long hallway made from the innards of the mountain, a blond-haired man with short spiky hair stood with his arms crossed, leaning up against the rocky wall to the left with a devilish grin. Xairin could see Julius's fangs glisten in the faint light coming off the torches.

  Xairin wasn't much for insults or taunts to spur the moment. Julius, however, differed in that. He mocked him as he approached cautiously. "EEWWW, am I supposed to be scared of a soulless ginger with red eyes?" Julius waved his hands at him mockingly. He was known for talking with his hands rather often. Xairin watched as his waving movements transitioned into an aggressive stance, one Xairin hoped he was ready to deal with. His hand cupped, the tips of his fingers taunted Xairin forward with three slow waves.

  He stood his ground.

  "What's the matter ginger spice? We going to do this or not?" Julius taunted.

  Julius's lateral and medial incisors grew to length. He growled. "BRING IT GINGER!" He spat when he yelled that.

  Xairin was about to rush at the cocky bastard when his ears twitched. Xairin rolled his eyes and cocked his head to the side with a sly grin. He crossed his arms, and with his right pointer finger, he made a tapping motion, indicating something… Someone was behind Julius.

  Another vampire had heard Julius taunting Xairin and had given up his position. When Julius realized what was happening, it was too late to turn around and see his enemy coming. He took a blow to the face.

  Xairin smiled as he watched Julius hit the ground like a heavy sack being tossed. Now he just had to get past David.

  Being polite David bowed. "Please don't take this personal?"

  Xairin frowned a little. "Same here."

  The two were evenly matched in both height and weight and even similar build. David Highborn had Xairin almost feeling sorry, should he temporarily wound the man's tasty face. Plus, he didn't want to fight someone that was a decent person, but this was a challenge that he had to overcome.

  The two vampires engaged in combat.

  Xairin ducked, and spun around, dodging the man's clawing attack as he swiped at Xairin with a left and a right-handed mauling attack. Even at close quarters in the long hallway, Xairin still managed enough speed to evade the dashing vampire's attempts to maul him. Xairin figured wearing him down was the best way to go about this.

  Realizing his clawing attacks were ineffective, David decided to go into a more civilized pose and attacked Xairin using a form of taekwondo. His foot whizzed past Xairin's button-shaped nose. It almost connected.

  He evaded nine more kicks, a series of punches, and then went into a backflip to avoid his feet being swept out from under him. David was starting to wear down. Xairin used the walls to bounce off of and landed behind the dark headed man, going into the African Martial arts form of Dambe that he had absorbed from Yolanda Barron. His mix up of kicks and punches, executed well against David's face and chest. David was stunned, Xairin grabbed his dark brown hair, and proceeded to slam his face downward. He was out cold.

  Xairin looked down. He felt terrible about it. That and he had to admit he w
as attracted to the well-mannered vamp.

  Approaching the sounds of combat, another man came running. The sounds of his feet gaining momentum resounded in Xairin's ears, pulling his attention from looking down at David. The biosonar gave him an advantage over the approaching Minotaur.

  Before the man could transform. Xairin turned around and went into a side spin. He flew through the air, wrapping both legs around the man's chest and arms. He had attached himself to the man's body in such a way that the man struggled to get his arms free. Xairin's arms were open to doing what he pleased and repeatedly punched, causing the man to stun right before his horns could form. Xairin, with his legs firmly gripping him, used his weight, and spun into a backflip, taking the man with him, crushing his skull on the hard floor.

  "Body count achieved," Xairin said under his breath, right as his armband lit up. Xairin however felt; otherwise, he personally wasn't done yet, he craved more. Xairin vibrating his cells again, he shimmered.

  He kept invisible for as long as he could and made it to the other side of the Labyrinth and entered the final chamber.

  The chamber was a large room, about the size of two football fields in both width and length. Part of it was still original to the mountain, he could see rocks and dirt everywhere. This portion had to have been a hollowed-out cave, modified for the final test of the course. He could see around the chamber quickly, as there were trenches everywhere in the room, with stone pillars you could leap on and long catwalks lacking side rails so that you had to be sure to maintain your balance. The trenches were filled with white fog. It was thick, infused with aerated silver, a low-grade content, just enough to cause irritation, and temporary respiratory issues, along with blurred vision and in some cases temporary blindness until you healed.

  This was the place he was hoping for the most, even though he now had the count he needed. He wanted to see if extra credit applied.

  Not only was it the end of the cavern trial, but also an advantage point for Xairin. You could fall in the trench, and it wouldn't be counted against you so long as you made it out of this room and onto the last part of the course. At the end of the rocky chamber was another tunnel just like the one you had to crawl through to enter the Labyrinth. Once you were in the second tunnel, the fighting portion was over.

  He wasn't the first to make it this far.

  He saw several people fighting along the walkways, trying desperately to knock an appointment into the clouded silver trenches. There was more fighting on top of the pillars, again trying to best a challenger for the sake of a point or two. Xairin was going to use this to an advantage originally to rack up all his points, in his mind, this hopefully was extra credit. Before anyone had time to notice him, he leaped into the trench. Silver didn't faze him given his unique biology. Now he could turn visible again and let his cells rest.

  He had to come up for air to at least appear like he needed a reprieve from the fog though, in reality, he didn't. He pulled the opening of his shirt up to cover his nose to maintain appearances. He had to make it look like he was hampered by the fog.

  The two vampires that ran past him and Troger in the canyon were fighting a wolf. Not just any wolf, one in full hybrid form. The werewolf had a short tan coat, and stripes, black stripes on his back that reminded the red-eyed vampire of tiger stripes. He had heard that one of his classmates, Hammond Smith, was a Thylan a few times over the past couple days but had never seen him transform. This werewolf was taller than the usual breeds. This caught Xairin's attention even more so.

  He figured he owed Ambrose and his lackey some payback for what they did to his friend. Like a shark, his head was like a fin for a moment but only barely above the fog as he got his bearings moving through it. Once he zeroed in on the nosferatu towering at six foot six inches, he made his way over.

  His head vanished into the thick white fog; it was dense enough to choke him even without the silver factor. He faked a few coughs convincingly while he snuck unseen through the thick mass. No one would know he was down there. It was so thick that no current moved from above based on his stalking pace. It was the perfect cover for the silver immune vamp.

  With his mouth and nose covered by his shirt. He squinted his eyes just enough to make them look closed so that he could attempt to keep up appearances in case either his armband or another recording device caught his actions. As a vampire, he could mention using sonar. At best this would have been a test of overcoming pain gaining him extra points.

  When he reached the two vampires pushing the wolf with all their might, he came up out of the fog abruptly. He came up like a slasher from a horror movie that had been waiting for that perfect moment to surprise his prey with both hands reaching out. Ambrose's eyes went from solid black to his human brown. The creature's batlike face gave way to hints of sheer unexpected fear washing across it. He hit his head on the catwalk as Xairin pulled him down. He vanished into the thick, chalky abyss just as quickly as Xairin came up for him.

  A faint flash of blue light flickered from under the fog.

  The nosferatu began screaming as his eyes burned. The pain alone caused the towering man to begin to revert, revealing his tan skin, long black hair, and high cheekbones... Knowing that it was Landlear, that meant the other Nosferatu was his hot-headed sidekick. Another redhead by the name of Austwick. The nosferatu above was looking around frantically as he heard Ambrose Landlear calling out in pain from the silver fog. Both he and the wolf were dumbstruck at that attack.

  Xairin willed his cells again to shimmer. He leaped unseen by the wolf and Austwick into the trench on the other side of the catwalk. They both saw the fog move at that time. The Nosferatu screaming partner, caused the wolf to get up and run, while Austwick was standing on the catwalk looking at the fog. "LANDLEAR?"

  Landlear yelled out. "SOMETHING GRABBED ME!"

  A clawed hand came up fast latching onto Austwick's leg. He fell on the metal catwalk. The vampire tried his best to use his claws to hold onto the metal grate, but Xairin was stronger. The screaming monster's face showed fear as he was drug into the thick, dense white unknown between the walkways.

  Others that were fighting stopped what they were doing and looked. A few jaw drops took place. As for the Thylan werewolf, he slid into the tunnel at the end.

  Xairin was feeling like an overachiever. He turned around quickly and decided more points were in order.

  Yoshi, an Asian man, standing on one of the pillars had just completed a spin kick, to knock back a black man on the catwalk. The young man's eyes bulged as the claw of a wing came up out of the fog, pulling him down too.

  Avantis Noll, the black man, lying on the catwalk, saw Yoshi go down quickly. The werecat got up and turned around and started running. There were no side rails to help hold yourself up on the walkway. A clawed hand emerged again, grasping Mr. Noll's leg. Avantis had been bitten by an ordinary tabby cat infected by the Aeon Strain. The sounds he made while trying to morph sounded like an alley cat being bested as he vanished into the fog.

  By the time Helen Risko and Pete Dodson arrived in the chamber, they could hear a dozen people screaming from beneath the white blanket filling the sides of the walkways. Risko looked up and saw people being picked off one by one, vanishing into the unknown.

  Dodson's eyes grew big as saucers. He was standing on the edge, just about to take his step on to the first pathway, when something grabbed him. He fell, turning around and reaching for his girlfriend's hand. She tried her best to help him but wasn't strong enough. Dodson vanished. Risko turned around and ran the other way.

  The sounds of everyone he had taken down, were like music to Xairin's ears. This was overkill, surely, he would make a perfect ten for this.

  Using his sonar, he waited until the tunnel wasn't being used. He had finally stopped fighting and got the hell out of dodge. He leaped up out of the fog. He forced himself to cough several times, he had to keep up the facade. He rubbed his eyes a few times, and then darted for the tunnel and bega
n crawling through it and found himself on the outside of the mountain.

  The homestretch was a simple sprint down a winding road, but the end of it was leaping over the width of a sixty-foot gulley. You had to land on the other side in a sanded area with minimal disturbance to the sand to test your ability to land gracefully and quietly.

  Xairin took a deep breath and bolted. His hands swung by his sides as he picked up speed. This time, going full-on monster, as his wavy red hair vanished and left behind a vicious white-skinned creature with red eyes fixated on the sandy patch on the other side.

  Every ounce of confidence was swelling. Xairin's heart was pounding. He felt the wind of his sprint on his face, cooling him as he leaped and went airborne. He felt like a superhero or a mutant that he used to read about in comics he used to download when he was a kid at that moment. When his feet felt the sand, he landed almost perfectly.

  He stood there for a full minute, looking back at what he had just gone through. Everything he had just experienced was but a thirty-minute window in the daily life of a recruit. He had made it to the finish, and now all he had to do was wait on the dark-haired Aeonian, giving him a curious look to grade his performance.

  Wisman's voice was deep and gruff. He came off as if he was holding back... "Quite impressive using the fog as cover Mr. Thunder. I do believe that is one of the highest take down points accumulated at this training facility that we have seen so far. How are your eyes?"

  "I heal quickly, Officer Wisman."