by Chris Fox
His demons were divided into squads of five. Every five squads was a division. There were four divisions in the platoon, which Nox wagered would be enough to overwhelm whomever was defending this city, even without the Demokim. Even if they failed, they’d provide enough of a distraction for him to fulfill his true mission.
“We should already be attacking,” Kali said, stepping from the shadows.
She was careful to keep in front of him, and for good reason. He’d told her that he’d kill her if she ever came out of the shadows behind him. She knew he meant it.
Kali frowned. “We’re losing the element of surprise.”
“Have a little patience. They may not even know we’re here, and if they do they haven’t done anything about it. In a matter of minutes my troops will sweep over the city.” Nox hated explaining himself, but he’d learned the hard way that Kali could be vindictive if she thought he was patronizing her. He didn’t have time for her antics right now.
“What are we waiting for?” she asked sourly.
“I need to report to Hades,” Nox admitted. That, too, galled him. He didn’t mind answering to a superior, but for so long that had been a superior whose motives Nox had known fairly well. With Hades, Nox knew he was out of his depth. Worse, he had no idea what Hades’s true motivations were. Did his master want to rule the world? Help the Builders succeed? Stop them after allowing everyone else to die?
Nox simply didn’t know.
“I see,” Kali said. Her tone was as contemptuous as it was unsurprising. Kali answered directly to the grey men, and served Nox at their pleasure. She had a low opinion of Hades, and didn’t mind showing it.
“Organize the corrupted into scouting groups,” Nox ordered. “Have them prowling the city. Locate only; do not engage. We want to know what we’re dealing with before we invade.”
Kali hesitated for a long moment, then finally nodded. She turned on her heel, then leapt into the air. Her powerful wings carried her upward, and she glided toward the center of the portal.
She was in plain sight of course, almost daring the defenders to rally. Hopefully, her brazenness wouldn’t endanger the mission. Nox wished, for the billionth time, that he could arrange an “accident.” But Hades had been very clear. Kali was not to be harmed, under any circumstances.
Nox withdrew a tiny marble from his pocket, then channeled a bit of energy into it. The marble swelled, rising from his hand as it grew. It hovered several feet in the air, bobbing slowly up and down. When it had finished growing, it was roughly the size of a person’s head. The surface was iridescent at first, but then resolved into Hades’s very annoyed face.
“Days without a word.” Hades spoke quietly, but the rage was simmering just under the surface. “Days. I will remind you of this only once, Nox: you serve me. We are not equals. You do not get to improvise. You do what I tell you, exactly how I tell you. You were to contact me daily. Why have you not done so?”
“I haven’t wanted to risk breaking radio silence,” Nox explained. “These things use energy. Any male champion within a few miles would have felt me using it.”
“Yet you feel it is safe to use now?” Hades demanded.
“Now it’s worth the risk. Look behind me.” Nox gestured at the city. “We’ve arrived, and I’ve successfully connected the portal. The invasion will begin in moments.”
“Very well. Contact me when you have conquered the city. Do not fail me, Nox. If ever there were a time your considerable talents were valuable, this is it. Everything hinges upon you, remember that.”
The globe went dark.
Nox took a deep breath, stifling the rage. Hades was devious, but sometimes he behaved like the worst third-world despot.
Yet there was little Nox could do. Hades could jerk him about like a puppet, and thus far Nox had found no way to escape the demonic hold. Fortunately, he had a suitable target to take his rage out on.
He leapt into the air, gliding through the portal. Nox lowered an arm, and the army began marching into the city.
66
Perfect Target
Windigo’s plans were nearing their apex. He could smell the fear, taste the horror radiating from the city of Santa Rosa. People cowered in their homes, terrified that he might find them. They knew that their champions could not protect them, that one of their greatest had been felled in their very midst.
But that wasn’t enough. It was time to shake them to their core.
Windigo gave a hideous smile, picking a piece of dog from his teeth with a slender claw. He began loping through the darkness, moving up cracked asphalt streets. He picked his way past terrified families, savoring their fear as he approached his quarry. He picked his way up the steep hillside, winding past an abandoned factory.
As he neared the top of the hill, he passed the first cluster of houses. These ones were larger, and more of them were occupied than down below. The heartbeats in these houses beat calmly, their owners full of misplaced confidence that they could deal with a threat like Windigo.
No one could. Not even the treacherous creatures that had birthed it had escaped Windigo’s wrath in the end.
Windigo approached the summit, loping silently toward a three-story house overlooking the entire city. He slowed his pace, creeping toward the house as his senses strained to detect anything. A single steady heartbeat came from within—just the one. There were no guards, unless they were lurking in the shadows. That meant Alicia was alone. No doubt her guardian was out leading his pack, looking for him. They protected their perimeter, ignoring their most important assets.
He placed a hand on the side of the house, feeling the worn wood. The paint flaked, exposing the beginnings of rot underneath. The heartbeat came from the other side of the wall, less than two feet away.
Windigo lunged, punching through the wall with his long arms. He seized the sleeping figure, digging his claws into her throat. She began to thrash, but Windigo jerked her back against his chest. He crushed her against him, choking off her scream.
“That won’t do. We need them to hear you,” Windigo taunted. He repositioned his grip, grabbing the scruff of her neck with one hand. He grabbed her thigh, yanking with the massive strength afforded by this new body. The limb tore free with a horrific pop, and a spray of hot blood. Windigo smiled.
Alicia screamed.
“Yes, that’s more like it. Louder.” Windigo sank the claws of his free hand into her side. “Sing for them.”
He let her agonized screams continue for a few moments longer, then slammed her head against the ground. She groaned, still conscious. He did it again. This time she went limp in his grasp.
Windigo slung her body over his shoulder, then began loping down the hillside. He made his way west, toward the ocean. The closest forest lay not too many miles away. It was the perfect place to set his ambush, now that Windigo had acquired suitable bait.
67
Subject 3199
“Ka, are you around?” Blair called into the vast chasm bordering the Ark’s heart. The titanic blue stone rotated slowly in the center of the stadium-sized room. It gave off a soft blue glow that refracted endlessly from the crystals lining the chamber’s walls, ceiling, and floor.
“Of course, Ka-Dun,” Ka said. The hologram shimmered into view not far from Blair. It gave a quick bow. “How may I be of assistance?”
“We’re dealing with an entity that calls itself Windigo. I can show you everything I know about it. Will you search the Ark’s datastore to see if you can figure out what this thing is?”
“At once, Ka-Dun. You may begin the sharing when ready.”
Blair tapped into the well of energy offered by the Ark, using a tiny drop to transmit key memories to Ka. It was far more efficient than speaking, conveying information Blair would never have thought to relay.
“Ah, I see,” Ka said—cheerfully, like it did everything. “We do indeed have a record of this creature. It was originally created by the Builder Ra-Ket, an experiment gone awry.
Ark Lord Ra-Ket oversaw this continent for the Collective. Observe.”
Something like a DNA helix appeared, plus a wall of scrolling symbols Blair couldn’t read. Images of something that strongly resembled a house cat, but it sat hunched like a hominid. Its hand had three distinct fingers and a thumb. A tiny pair of antlers jutted from its head.
“Ra-Ket found this species exhibited high degrees of problem-solving intelligence. More so than any other species found on this continent. He believed that, with the proper manipulation, this species could become sentient. Ra-Ket conducted four thousand twenty-two experiments utilizing this creature as a base. Nearly all of those resulted in failure, but an anomaly was recorded. Many of the subjects were highly aggressive, but subject 3199 was exceptionally so. It killed the other subjects in its litter, devouring their corpses. Each time a new subject was introduced, subject 3199 immediately killed and devoured it. Subject 3199 showed increased cognitive ability each time it consumed another subject. This intrigued Ra-Ket, and he decided to see what the creature could achieve if allowed to pursue its full potential. He released subject 3199 into the wild.”
This answered so many questions. “How long ago did all this happen?” Blair asked.
“Subject 3199 was released into the wild two-point-four-million years ago,” Ka answered happily.
“It’s millions of years old?” Blair asked. “And presumably it’s been out there all this time? How did it survive for so long? Does this thing sleep between sun cycles? It would need shaping.” He was mostly thinking aloud.
“You are correct, Ka-Dun. Subject 3199 does possess the ability to shape. Ra-Ket’s logs show how it survived between sun cycles.”
The hologram shifted to show a redwood forest. The realism was impressive, like Blair had always imagined virtual reality. He could almost step out into those trees.
One of the cat-like creatures prowled through the trees, seemingly unaware that it was being recorded. It froze, ears cocked toward something imperceptible. The cat crept backward into a fern, a pair of eyes just visible in the shadows.
A few moments later, a bipedal figure came up the path. It had pasty skin and large black eyes. The bulbous head was familiar, though not identical to the grey men he’d seen in the Nexus. It carried a crude spear in one hand, but wore no clothing. It had no discernible genitalia.
The cat creature waited for the grey man to pass, then leapt onto its back. It sank its claws into his throat, and it snapped at the grey man’s face. An invisible force flung the cat backwards into a tree with bone-cracking force. The grey man raised his arm, and hurled the spear. It zipped unerringly toward its target, pinning the cat thing to the tree. It mewed pitifully in pain, writhing futilely as its life bled away.
The grey man approached the creature cautiously, pausing near the tree. It rested a hand on the spear, not approaching further until the cat’s thrashing had ceased.
A bolt of red lightning crackled from the cat’s lifeless eyes, arcing into the grey man’s face.
The energy transfer was brief, and when it ended the grey man slowly rose to its feet. It knelt next to the cat, and began devouring it.
“What am I seeing, exactly?” Blair asked. He had theories, but he wanted more data before leaping to conclusions.
“This was the first time Subject 3199 was exposed to the Progeny of the Builders, what you call the grey men,” Ka explained. “They were created to serve as mindless drones, and often sacrificed in experiments your species would consider brutal. In this case, Ra-Ket was attempting to feed a grey man to Subject 3199. Instead, 3199 responded in an entirely unpredictable way. Observe.”
The hologram began playing again, but at an accelerated rate. It showed the grey man returning to a village with six identical peers. At first, the grey man was greeted and accepted. He did things that seemed entirely normal for a simple hunter-gather society.
Then, after the rest of the grey men had gone to sleep, he slit each of their throats. The surviving grey man fed, devouring his companions—all of them. He fed until there was nothing left to eat.
“This next image is from two weeks later,” Ka said, gesturing at the hologram.
It shifted to show the grey man, but his body had begun to change. His skin stretched across his ribs; all his fat was gone. A pair of small antlers sprang from his forehead, and his features had become more feline. His arms were much longer, razored claws dragging in the dirt as it walked.
“Over the next several cycles, subject 3199 killed dozens of grey men. Each time, it grew smarter. Ra-Ket continued to conduct tests for many millennia, and according to his logs was proud of the fact that he’d created a new consciousness. He was the first of his contemporaries to do so.”
“None of that explains how Windigo, Subject 3199, survived between sun cycles. Where does its consciousness go? How does it transfer to a new host?”
“Subject 3199 survived many sun cycles during the tests Ra-Ket performed. The creature’s energy essence contains a specific set of helixes, and it uses that energy to imprint on the host. Once that is done, the host will begin to exhibit traits similar to Subject 3199. However, the host retains many of its own abilities.”
Nearly a dozen different holographic creatures appeared. Each spun slowly in place, allowing Blair to examine them.
“All of these creatures existed during Subject 3199’s early life. Each had a remarkable method to store the sun’s energy. All were capable of primitive shaping. Subject 3199 simply transferred itself to hosts that were capable of surviving between sun cycles. It would feed as much as it could, always looking for a stronger host. Then it would hibernate, sleeping in the body of the host. When the sun changed again, it could abandon that host and find another.”
“That’s why Windigo left,” Blair said. It was all clear now. “He headed to the mountains, and took Yosemite as a host. He’s using the Bear’s body to pick us off. That’s why the pack said they smelled the Great Bear. Ka, how much information do you have on the specifics of how Subject 3199 transfers bodies?”
“The data is limited. Ra-Ket’s experiments were designed to find the answer, but in that regard they failed. He was never able to duplicate Subject 3199.” Ka cocked his bulbous head. “However, he did record one other relevant ability. Over the many millennia of feeding on grey men hosts, Subject 3199 picked up some of their rudimentary shaping, which is very similar to your own. Subject 3199 was particularly adept at manipulating emotions, specifically rage and hatred. Subject 3199 would often use this ability to cause subjects to lower their guard, then strike when their mental defenses were down. Be wary when dealing with this creature.”
68
Taken
Liz knew something was wrong the moment she walked up the driveway. Her house was fine, but Alicia’s had clearly been the site of a battle. One of the front walls had been smashed in, and Liz could smell blood. She shifted almost without thinking.
“Oh, no,” she breathed. She sprinted across the street, leaping through the gaping hole in the wall.
She landed lightly, instantly cloaking herself in shadow. There was no sign of any survivors, but the moonlight showed the puddle of blood on the floor. There was a shape in the darkness, a person maybe. She crept closer, raising her muzzle. No heartbeat, or sweat. She could smell Alicia, and smell something awful, but she didn’t think anyone was still here.
So what was that on the floor?
Moonlight illuminated the shape of fingers, she was sure of it. She knelt next to the hand, recoiling when she realized what she was seeing. Those weren’t fingers. They were toes.
It was a severed leg. Alicia’s severed leg.
“Oh, my god.”
“Liz?” called a voice from the shadows. “I-is that you?”
“Yes, Kathy. It’s me.” Liz stepped from the shadows, standing clearly in the moonlight. “What happened here?”
“I don’t know.” Kathy sobbed. She stepped from the shadows as well, and even in the thi
n moonlight Liz could see her tear-streaked cheeks. “I heard screams, and came as quickly as I could. Alicia was already gone when I got here, dragged west by this…monstrosity. I knew I should go after her, but…Alicia’s stronger than I am, and that thing overpowered her. What could I do? So I waited until someone stronger came back. Where is Blair?”
“He’s at the Ark, studying. He should be back in the morning. Yukon is on patrol, and won’t be back until then either.” Liz took a deep breath. She didn’t like the idea of charging after Windigo by herself, but she had a feeling that Alicia didn’t have very long. “We’re going to have to do this ourselves. I need your help, Kathy. Are you with me on this?”
“We might be able to get others to—”
Liz silenced Kathy with a look. “We don’t have time. You know what Windigo will do to her. This was a warning. He’s baiting us, and Windigo doesn’t strike me as the patient type. If we don’t find her now, we’re going to find nothing but pieces of her come morning. Are you ready to face that? Because I’m not.” Liz couldn’t afford to babysit this woman, not right now.
“I’ll do my best,” Kathy managed. “Lead the way.” She stepped back into the shadows.
Liz leapt back out the hole she’d used to enter, testing the air with her muzzle. She could smell the blood, and the trail leading into the darkness couldn’t have been clearer. It traced a path toward Highway 12.
Ka-Ken, be wary, Wepwawet rumbled in her mind. The anger you feel is justified, but it feels…enhanced in some way. I believe that someone or something is shaping us. If we truly cannot wait for dawn, then be mindful of your emotions. They may not be your own. I have encountered this before, and it is a subtle kind of shaping. My wife is adept at such things.
