“Not going to happen,” she whispered to herself like a prayer.
A different noise brought her to full attention. It was a dull sound coming from the center of the room. The men below wouldn't hear it. The pitch was too low, well below the range of human hearing. Well, most human hearing. She smiled showing teeth again. Hopefully she still qualified as human. She'd changed so much in the last two years. How much was left of the old Sarah Walker she wondered? How much was still human and not corrupted by the mad scientists back at Castle?
She checked her weapon. The safety was off. She was the only one who had a gun like this. It was new, special and untried from the labs. If it worked, it would even the playing field. It fired an energy blast that could stun or kill depending on the setting. She had it on high, a setting that would fry the brain of a human, killing instantly. She hoped the setting was enough in this case to incapacitate but not kill. They knew so little about their enemy. She needed to take it alive. A live one could provide answers. But only if she could get it back to Castle. So far, neither she nor any of her four other enhanced colleagues had come close. So far there had only been bodies, leftover husks. Whatever had been inside them had used them up and left them to die. Bodies for Castle’s lab techs to learn from.
She blinked, her adrenaline spiking at the thought of the labs. There used to be eight others like her. Nine enhanced. Nine that used to be human. And now? What were they now? Now there were five. She couldn't help herself as an image of Henry appeared in her mind. Tall, slim Henry with the receding hairline and the dimple that he said made him look like a movie star. A fine man. Dedicated to the cause, willing to sacrifice everything as they all had been. She'd watched him change as the lab rats had worked on them, become less Henry and more…something else. Something feral. They'd all changed of course. Lost something, and gained something. But Henry? He’d lost the most and gained the most.
She replayed it again in her mind. The whole sordid incident. Henry laughing as if he’d heard a joke and couldn’t get over the punchline. Then the rambling soliloquy on how different they were now. Rules didn't apply to them anymore because rules were for humans. Henry using power to force Jerry to take out his gun and Jerry resisting, hard, the sweat beading across his brow, unable to stop the slow rise of his own gun. Jerry screaming for help. His eyes pleading. She'd raised her own gun and commanded Henry to stop. Asked him to please, please let Jerry go. The stress had been so intense! She'd felt something break inside her. It opened her, woke something inside that had been asleep. Now when she looked she could see how Henry did it. See the way he was holding Jerry, forcing him to bring the gun to his own head. It was just power. She could do it too. She'd reached out and pushed Henry. For a moment he’d wavered. But then he‘d shrugged her off with an impatient wave of power. He was too strong, even for her. She'd fallen back against the wall.
Henry had laughed and said that when you had Godlike powers, you were supposed to use them. She'd threatened again to shoot and he’d looked at her and said, “You won't be able to.” Then she'd felt him in her mind, taking control. She'd struggled in horror as her own gun had twisted towards her. She remembered fighting, remembered the terror as she resisted. Everything had slowed as they‘d struggled, the gun wavering in her hand. Just when she‘d felt the pressure of her own finger against the trigger a shot had stopped everything. Henry incredulous in front of her, a red mess where the top of his head used to be. Jerry shaking, saying over and over that he’d had to do it. Terrible! A terrible thing she would never forget! Henry had been a friend until they'd turned him into a monster. Where was she on the monster scale now she wondered? She had so little in common with anyone anymore. She felt alone. A monster walking down streets filled with real people.
The dull sound resolved itself into a thin beam of light that widened and thickened. A portal, she realized. A bug-like creature the size of a small car scuttled out of the opening. It looked like a cockroach that had eaten one of Jack's magical beans and grown to super cockroach proportions. It was quickly followed by a tall, lithe man dressed in black armor. This was the killer she'd been waiting for, but Walker hesitated. Maybe he would open the secret door. He seemed to float over to it. She had to remind herself he wasn’t human; even his movements were different, more graceful. The cockroach scuttled to a position on the ceiling above, its antennas waving madly as it tested the air.
The intruder searched the wall, finding the hidden panel almost instantly. It opened to his touch revealing an input console. He nodded to himself before placing a black box over the keypad and pressing a few buttons. The box hummed loudly before the door clicked and opened slightly.
The man reached for the door which abruptly opened with a boom that shook the building and sent him tumbling backwards across the room. He recovered quickly and was on his feet in seconds, facing the door where a very tall bald man stood next to an eight foot monster!
What was this thing? Walker strained her eyes to see it more closely. She’d never seen anything like it before! Her mind said it couldn't be real. The creature's head was a nightmare blend of animal features. Its neck was thick and hooded like a cobra's, the head itself was a light iridescent green, scaled and armored with bone. Its mouth was too large, protruding slightly from the face. Tiny bat shaped ears poked out from the back of the head. Its chest and arms were human shaped but huge, so out of proportion that the head appeared tiny on top of the body which was brown in color with randomly scattered spots of green. The legs bulged with muscle and ended in feet with four massive toes one of which was used as a heel to balance the foot. The Beast looked impossibly strong but so heavily muscled she thought it had to be slow moving. It was making a high whistling sound that took her a moment to interpret as laughter. It had kicked the door open sending the man flying and seemed to find that quite amusing.
“Nicely done, Fusto,” said the bald man approvingly.
The intruder hissed, drawing himself up to full height. “I haven't come for you Kailex.”
Next to the monster called Fusto the intruder looked ludicrously short. He had dark black hair that fell straight to his shoulders. He was thin, his body mostly covered by a thin mesh that had flared brilliant yellow when he'd been struck by the door. The way he'd bounced to his feet gave her the impression of great strength and speed. A part of her she hated responded to his closeness. She felt the Hunger stir and damped down on it harshly with disgust. The Hunger had been another thing that had come to her after Henry.
“I've come for your Tik. Give me Fusto and you may safely leave. Oppose me and die with him.”
The too tall man laughed but stepped back so that the doorway sheltered him from a direct line of attack. Fusto stepped forward protectively blocking most of her view of Kailex.
The tall man whose name was Kailex seemed almost happy to see the intruder. “Brenal-Tik! So persistent!” His voice was deep and pleasant to listen to. “You‘re a credit to the Hunter species! Admirable in all ways but I'm afraid I can't let you have him. Sorry, but Fusto and I have decided not to play the GateKeeper’s game. At least, not his way. His rules are too unfair. They predetermine the winner and how much fun can that be?”
“Fun?” choked Brenal-Tik. “There is no fun in the Game. There is only winning and losing. I’m here. Fusto must stand against me, alone!”
“Yes, well you see.” Kailex pretended to think about it. “That's my point exactly. He's supposed to stand against you with all your truly beautiful armor and weaponry as well as your tracker and lose in a bloody battle. That hardly seems fair. Where is your tracker by the way?”
Abruptly the cockroach let go of the ceiling where it had been stealthily edging its way along and fell onto the back of Fusto, its mandibles digging deeply into his shoulder. With a high pitched squeal of pain Fusto reached behind with both hands and somehow got hold of the bug. The two whirled across the room with Fusto struggling to dislodge it and the bug trying to maintain its hold.
&nbs
p; “Hold him a moment longer Bragg!” Brenal-Tik shouted at the bug. A short staff he'd been holding suddenly lengthened, sprouting wicked blades at either end. He danced toward a still struggling Fusto whose entire head had changed colour from iridescent green to a bright mottled angry red.
“I think not Brenal-Tik,” said Kailex calmly, flicking his wrist leisurely at him. A burst of blue light speared across the room but flared harmlessly against Brenal-Tik’s amour which again went yellow with red flecks. It seemed to be absorbing the charge.
“Your tech is old Kailex,” sneered Brenal-Tik, “You‘ve lost!” Without slowing he brought one of the blades in a sloping descent across Fusto's chest. Dark red blood spurted from the wound. At the same time the bug's grip on Fusto gave way and with an ear shattering shriek Fusto threw it to the floor, kicking it with enough force that it flew into Brenal-Tik. Amazingly Brenal-Tik spun away, avoiding a direct collision with the bug. He came up with the staff before him in a defensive position. If Fusto moved forward he’d impale himself on the blade. The bug with a decisive twitch bounced in the air landing back on its legs. It immediately raced to the left so it could flank Fusto, putting it on one side with Brenal-Tik on the other.
Only a few minutes had passed since Brenal-Tik had walked through the portal but Walker had heard enough. With a flick of her thumb she ratcheted the setting on her gun from high to full. There were too many bad guys and with this much noise her men had to be on their way up. She needed to control the situation before they arrived. Exhaling slowly she replayed in her mind her next few actions, then stepped from the shadows and fired on Brenal-Tik. A yellow sheen flared protectively around his body while the mesh showed lines of red, absorbing most of the blast. Without conscious thought she fired twice more until the sheen flared red and the man went down. Spinning she centered her sights on Fusto. He was big but without any obvious shields. She thought one blast might do it but, well, he was really big so two was the better option. She fired twice in quick succession and saw him sag to the floor.
She was moving fast now, running while bringing her weapon to bear on Kailex. She was hoping for a perfect trifecta, all three in one neat firing sequence. Suddenly a small tank smashed into her back, knocking her to the floor. She let out a sharp cry of pain as pincers bit into her arm. Remembering what had happened to Fusto she twisted her body so that she faced up with the chittering bug on top. Then she used their momentum to roll backwards while bringing her feet up under its hard under belly. She pushed, hurling it toward the ceiling where it hung momentarily, before dropping to the floor and swiveling around to face her. Springing from her back to her feet she retreated until she had both Kailex and the bug in her field of fire.
“Don't anyone fucking move!” she screamed as her men poured in fanning out to cover all the hostiles in the room. She heard one of them say to another, “What the fuck is that?” She wasn't sure if he was referring to the bug, which was holding still as if it realized the power of her weapon or Fusto who even now was beginning to rise from the floor. He still looked pretty dazed. Somehow he’d survived two point blank blasts which was extremely troubling to her. She'd have to talk with Tech about giving this gun another serious upgrade. With hardly a thought she hit him with two more blasts sending him back down. Apparently four times was the charm with Fusto.
A clapping noise surprised her. It was Kailex.
“Bravo, bravo! Truly impressive for a human. For a moment I feared I was dealing with a second Hunter. Not really probable though. Hunters don't work well together as the desire to eat one another keeps getting in the way of a good working relationship. Just for a moment though you had me fooled. So good of you to help with Brenal-Tik. Now, he’s dangerous. But since he's a Hunter and you're not, I have to say I'm happy with the way things have turned out. I think I’m better off dealing with you than him. And who might you be?” He asked, voice heavy with condescension.
Walker blinked wondering if the asshole saw the gun she was pointing at him.
“Special Agent Walker shit for brains! Now why don't you just shut the fuck up? And by the way, you don't have any rights so I won't be reading them to you. Give me any trouble and I'll just shoot you. Now, your two friends here,” she waved her gun in the general direction of Brenal-Tik and Fusto, “have either defensive tech or skulls an A-bomb would have trouble penetrating. I don't see any of that on you. So get the fuck down on your knees right now before I shoot you and stay there while my squad cuffs you.”
“Your squad?” asked Kailex laughing. “I don't see your squad anywhere in this room Special Agent Walker. I only see my squad.”
Frowning, Walker took a half step to her left so she could see all of the room. She'd brought nine men with her and all of them had their guns trained on her.
“What the hell?” she half whispered in surprise. “What have you done to my men?” Kailex's answering chuckle was extremely unsettling.
“Tsk, tsk. All that potential and you're still so slow.” He sighed. “I suppose I’ll have to explain the whole thing then? I used to be like you; human and limited. But with a little science I evolved.” He laughed and she couldn't help but recall Henry's laughter. There was something wrong with this one. “No power at all really," he continued. “Humans. You're hardly more than barnyard animals to me now. Just food for me, or other Hunters like Brenal-Tik. The truth is, your minds are simple things, easily taken over. I control your men now. All of them. And believe me, they’ll do anything I tell them to do. And those sticks they like to point at things while rather quaint, can still kill I believe. So maybe it is you who should shut the fuck up.”
Walker went cold inside. She looked closer at her men and saw their eyes were open and staring. She watched for several seconds and not one of them moved or even blinked. All stood absolutely still, guns leveled at her, ready to fire. It was eerie and disturbing. She remembered Henry and his control over Jerry. Henry's power had been terrifying but he’d barely been able to control one person at a time.
“How can you possibly control nine men?” She asked, breathlessly.
Kailex smiled and this time seemed genuinely pleased with her. “You noticed? How wonderful! You see, not so Special Agent Walker, my mind has been opened. All its wonderful potential hidden so deeply in our ancestral DNA has been awakened. It took a long time to develop the science. As a first step to accomplish this I had to create a race of Tiks on my world; hybrid breeds grown from human cells manipulated in birthing vats. I was looking to re-create the Hunter species. All that I needed was still in our DNA, just buried. You see, we weren't always the weak, pitiful humans that walk the earth now. At one time we were different, not human, feared by everything that moved and could think. The problem was, we had a fatal flaw that eventually destroyed us as a species. We hunted everything, especially other Hunters. They were the crème de la crème for us. You see, everything living is a walking, breathing battery to us. When we feed we take that energy. Another Hunter is just a bigger, juicier battery. You for instance, you feel 'tasty’ to me. I think I'm going to like you.” He smiled at her but his eyes were cold. “To animals like yourselves I'm the closest thing to a God you’ll ever meet. I’m afraid you should have left well enough alone Agent Walker. Watch and learn how foolish it was for you to try and trap me here.”
Kailex pointed at Brenal-Tik and immediately one of Walker's men turned and fired a long burst into the prone alien. The bullets bounced off his energy shield which seemed to have repaired itself, sending ricochets careening around the room. One smashed into the wall next to Kailex.
“You’re powerful there’s no doubt of that. I’m not convinced about the smart though,” quipped Walker unable to help herself. “I guess all that science you put into yourself took away a few IQ points.”
Kailex frowned but seemed unfazed. “No harm in trying. If it had worked that would be one less Hunter for me to worry about. Well, if not him then how about two of yours?” Two of Walker's men suddenly fired on one a
nother then collapsed to the floor in pools of blood.
“You heartless bastard!”
Time to end this! Walker's finger tightened on the trigger, then froze. Impossible! Try as she might, she couldn't move her trigger finger! Then she felt it, a wet worm-like thing crawling through her mind pressing its way into the parts that controlled action. Frantically, she tried to contain it, push it out but it was like trying to scratch the center of your own back. The worm had gotten behind her defenses. All that talk had been a distraction and now Kailex had her! She panicked, reliving the moment with Henry, her finger tightening on the trigger.
Nonchalantly, Kailex walked over and plucked the gun from her hand. Turning he pointed it at Brenal-Tik and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
“Biometric?” It was more a statement than question. The gun’s trigger had been keyed to her fingerprint as a safety precaution. “No matter.” He tossed the gun aside and gave Brenal-Tik's body a small kick that provoked no response.
“Your weapon seems to have done what mine couldn't.” He smiled at her. “Thanks for your help. He could have been trouble, then you arrived and surprised him nicely. He looks calm laying there, and reasonably handsome don't you think? But he’s really quite dangerous.”
Kailex turned to face Walker, then slowly walked up to stand beside her. “I suppose you have questions? Well, so do I. You have made me curious Special Agent Walker. Your men were easy. I took them as soon as they entered the room,” he snapped his long fingers. “But you. I had to work to get you. Your mind is different. Even now you fight me. I can feel you struggling to move. My goodness! You're forcing me to exert myself. You’re a Hunter after all.” His green eyes bore into hers. “That's why I babbled on so long. I needed time to get inside. You have defenses. They’re not very good but I suspect you’ve never really needed them before me.” One long finger tapped the side of her head. “And now I'm there and I can feel how much you're enjoying the experience.” He placed one long finger against her forehead and closed his eyes. She felt him inside, riffling through her memories, learning about her. She was going to be sick.
The God Hunters Page 10
