by Nathan Lunn
Simultaneously, as Julie’s vase chip was buried into Alexis’ calf, Eddie’s bolt slammed into his neck. He dropped to one knee, clutching desperately at his throat as blood bubbled up in his mouth – inhaling by accident, he choked, spraying the red liquid across the inside of the tunnel, mixing with Julie’s in a slick unsanitary mess. Though it wasn’t a deep wound, it was enough to distract him and inflict some temporary damage. Eddie followed the red line as it faltered and dropped connection, kicking Alexis in the face to inflict further damage. Alexis choked again as he fell back, rolling closer to the edge of the tunnel. Stopping himself with a rogue hand, he scrambled to his feet, wincing as the chip was slammed further into his calf; Eddie rushed to Julie’s side, yelling at her to pull with him. Following the last of the tendril, he found his way around to the trap, grabbing at the teeth with Julie and heaving the jaw open with a screech that brought pain to their ears. She moved from the trap and pushed her back against the tunnel wall as Eddie followed up his first kick with a second, this time aimed towards Alexis’ calf. Roaring in pain, his feet slipped off the edge of the tunnel rock, swinging out the lower half of his body over the open air and the jungle far below. Scrabbling for a handhold desperately in the dark, his wrist caught the now open Claw trap, triggering the mechanism to collapse onto his left hand in a brutally strong clap. His right hand slipped to pull at the trap in blind panic, as the wind pushed at his pendulous lower half, unveiling the cloud in front of the moon to finally light the whole area once more. Eddie looked down at the squirming mess in front of him, and smiled.
Moving his left hand to his temple, Alexis tapped and the claw trap wrenched back open. He immediately started to slip back down the cliffside, and was forced to tap his temple once more to slam the trap shut on his hand, whimpering as the sharp teeth bit into his soft flesh.
“Want me to get it for you?” Eddie asked, crouching down next to the trap. Ignoring his attackers, Alexis moved his hand back to his temple and tapped. All at once, Eddie’s vision was filled by crossing tendrils of red streaming upwards in various locations around the island, one from deep in the jungle by the flare’s path, one by the building and two from himself and Julie. He slipped the goggles off his sight, and stared down at Alexis’ frantic tapping, the teeth biting into his tearing flesh.
“Hello? Morgana? Are you there? Morgana, sweetheart, you can reply now, the commlink is back up,” Alexis yelled, fear starting to drip in behind his eyes. “Hello?” He lost his purchase on one of his feet and slipped down the steep incline, the trap tearing further into his hand. “Morgana!”
“It’s just us, I’m afraid,” Eddie spoke, pulling the vase chip from his hand. Alexis choked on some more blood, his red grimace looking up towards Eddie. “Now, how about I emancipate you?” Crouching back beside the trap, he slammed the vase chip into the mechanism, pushing hard against its side and with his hands to force open the machinery. Panic-stricken, Alexis screamed as the trap split open, falling back and tapping feverishly to his temple. The trap snapped shut and opened, like the maniacal laughing jaws of an overseeing clown, but it was too late. Dropping with a yell that lasted until he slammed into a rogue outcrop of the cliffside lower down, Alexis was gone.
25
The leaves scattered from Kye’s feet as the braking systems kicked in. The sleek silver town car dropped to the floor, settling to his right with a pleasant swish, and Douglass peeked his head out of the window, calling over to Kye, “What happened?”
His voice seemed calm, and Kye stood from his jungle seat to move next to the vehicle, stepping around Danny’s corpse which he had dumped so unceremoniously on the floor. The headlights from the hovercar shone wide and bright, illuminating the forest nearby, and the ground in front was in plain sight – other than Danny, the entire clearing was barren, wiped clean save for leaves and the occasional branch. Kye took a deep breath and spoke, feigning panic.
“He was ahead of me and fell to the trap, I had to reach down and pull him up… but it was too late.” He shook his head and turned away as Douglass looked on, unreadable. “He’s dead, Douglass, some sort of twisted catch.”
Douglass nodded, and looked out over the clearing, getting out of the car to observe his surroundings. The tree beside him was bent out of shape, the wood was splintered halfway up and chips had fallen to the floor; higher still, the leaves and vines draping down had been sheared off, pulled away and dropped to the ground in front of him. Foliage was strewn about in an explosive distance from the car, and the mud that the vines lay on top of was smooth and slightly sunken. Douglass looked up at Kye, confusion in his voice as he spoke. “Where is this trap?”
Kye, slightly flustered, pointed over to the sunken part of the ground, swiping away the dirt on top. “It’s under here. After I pulled him out, the trap just closed up, out of nowhere,” he replied, scrabbling at the dirt to unveil the metal panel just beneath. “See, it’s some sort of mechanised system, and the spikes are below and retracted when it went up.”
Douglass leaned against the car and looked around once more. “You hadn’t stuck together?” he asked.
Kye looked at him and replied, giving the truth this time, “I tripped. We were running from something in the trees and he got ahead of me. It saved my life, really. I couldn’t see how it worked.”
“And then you shot the flare?” Kye nodded, and Douglass continued, speaking fast to get to his point. “What about the trees, is there something nearby? Have you seen anything?” After a cautious side-glance to the jungle, Kye shook his head.
“I think we’re good. We should get out of here first though, the noise was pretty persistent,” he replied, ushering Douglass over to the car.
“Should we not look around a little?” Douglass stood fast, stopping Kye in his tracks.
“No, no, I already had a look, there’s nothing to see.” Kye murmured, placing a hand on Douglass’ shoulder. “I’m sorry, it’s just too dark. Let’s move.”
Douglass walked over to Danny’s body, and crouched next to it.
“Wait, wait. We should take his body with us,” Douglass spoke, grabbing his top-side and motioning Kye to grab the lower half of his body. Kye sighed and moved to grab his feet after opening the back doors on the long car. Lifting at the same time, Danny’s head lolled inbetween Douglass’ arms. “What’s happened here?”Kye looked up and froze, his neck stiffening. Douglass looked down at Danny’s head, noticing the incomplete grimace staring back at him. He reached down and slipped his top lip back over his gums, spotting the dark well of blood where a tooth should have been. Kye spoke fast, “He must have lost it when he fell down, hit from the spike?”
Douglass looked back up at Kye, his eyes narrowing, and opened his mouth to speak.
“Hello, Kye? Danny? Douglass?” Julie’s voice piped into his ear as their connection refreshed. “Can you guys hear me? Hello?” Worrisome and urgent, her voice dropped Kye’s breath, and he dropped Danny’s leg to tap his temple and reply, “Julie! I’m here, are you okay?”
Douglass dragged Danny’s body into the back of the car on his own, before tapping his temple to join and muttering a small, “I’m fine.”
“Me and Eddie are okay, we took care of Alexis. Where are you both?” Julie spoke into their ears again, and Kye waved at Douglass to get into the car, taking his place in the driver’s seat.
“We’ve got a vehicle, we can come pick you both up, just share your position,” Kye responded, connecting to the hovercar and activating the engine with a soft purr. Julie’s location pinged up on his visual, only a few miles from them.
“Danny, you feeling alright?” Eddie’s voice rang out over the commlink, met with complete silence. Kye shared a look with Douglass in the car, before pushing on the acceleration and jumping the car into the air. “Danny?” He repeated himself, and Kye spoke, putting him out of his misery.
“Danny’s dead, Eddie. I’m sorry.”
Eddie stayed silent, but Kye could pick up Julie’s sti
fled breath. Kye let out an audible sigh, and moved the wheel towards their position. “We’ll come and get you.”
Touching down on top of the rocky outcropping, and dimming the headlights a little, Kye took a deep breath. He and Douglass had travelled in near-silence, and the commlink had remained quiet too. Unsure of what he was walking into, he waited a moment and prepared himself, before stepping out of the car and moving down to the tunnel’s side. An unconscious wrinkle of his nose slipped out, as he smelt the overpowering iron scent coming from the inside. The moon caught the pathway, exposing a sitting Eddie, head in between his legs, and a consoling Julie to his side, rubbing his back in a reassuring manner. Blood coated the two of them, spreading out by their feet and over the cliffside – a few metres away, a wide open claw trap lay, menacingly waiting, its teeth tinged with shreds of flesh and congealing blood. Kye was drawn to the puncture wounds in Julie’s leg, but had to stop himself before asking her health first. Instead, he slowly moved over to Eddie, placed a second hand onto his back, and softly spoke.
“I am so sorry Eddie.” Though it was a soft touch, it was a sudden one, and it caused Eddie to jump before looking up. He locked eyes with Kye, regarding him with indifference, before standing up and turning to Julie. He held out his hand, helping her to her feet, and pulling her arm around him as they exited the tunnel. Kye started towards her, stammering, “Julie, what happened? Are you okay, that’s a lot of bloo–”
“I’m fine, Kye, Eddie helped save me. Let’s just get to the car and get off this island.”
Kye closed his mouth and followed them up the pathway to the car in silence.
Eddie took the front door, keeping his eyes from the back and his breathing short and tight, as though a clamp had been placed around his chest. Julie joined Douglass at the back, limping around to the door and collapsing into her seat. She caught herself as she spotted Danny’s corpse, slumped onto the chairs, and took a shaky breath before recovering herself. Douglass noticed her bloody leg, and leaned over asking her how she was as Kye jumped into the front seat and activated the engine. Waving him off, she whispered, “I’m okay, honestly.” Raising her voice to the front, she spoke at Kye, who was tightly gripping the wheel. “Kye, we need to get to proper civilization, fast. I’m losing quite a bit of blood.” Kye kicked the engine off, pushing into the air in a few seconds. His headlights blazed on in front of him, and he pushed into a soft acceleration, drifting over the tops of the mountains.
“There’s nowhere nearby the island, should I drop back into the Croft house?” Kye spoke back, getting an instant reply from Douglass.
“No, no, this is going to require some more persistent medical attention, we have to get to a hospital.” Julie let out a gasp as they passed by the top of the mountain, the car’s headlights outlining three darkened shadows, one lay splain in the pathway, two pushed up against a large boulder.
“Back to the carrier, Kye,” Julie said, wincing as she shifted her leg. “That’s our best bet.”
Nodding, he moved the car back into a steep lift, noticing Eddie grip the door handle in his peripherals. He kept his gaze straight, sneaking a glance in the mirror at Julie, pain leaking into her expression, and sped the engine up, his worry solidifying to form a strong pit at the bottom of his stomach. Gunning the engine, they swept away from the island, each head facing firmly forwards.
Various service bots and workers flooded to their car as they touched back down on the Waxing Carrier, rags, drinks and complimentary food in their hands. As a muddied and bloodied Julie limped out of the car, assisted by Douglass, and followed by Kye and Eddie, they backed away, murmuring under their breath and passing worried glances to each other. Emotionless, and thus unfazed, the service bots forged forward, getting to work on cleaning the car and its occupants. Shoving them away, Kye grabbed Julie’s arm and tapped his temple, locking the hovercar and planting it firmly in the middle of the square before anybody could open the door and see the corpse. He looked around the bustling Commerce Port, and dipped his head before moving off in the direction of the tallest building he could find – the nighttime provided a little cover, though the dramatic overcasting floodlights placed throughout the entire carrier helped to break the carpet of shadows up. Dropping into a similar pace, Eddie and Douglass moved away from the car, the former giving a forlorn glance to the vehicle before they slipped through the growing crowd – worried that too much unnecessary attention was being drawn.
“Do we know where the medical area is?” Kye asked back over the wind, spotting a lagging Eddie around a metre from Douglass. “I haven’t a clue where to go, and if she doesn’t get there soon, the lack of oxygen is definitely gonna dry her out.”
After consulting his commlink, Douglass shook his head and spoke back, disappointing Kye with his reply. “Commlink is coming up blank. Carriers aren’t registered as locations.”
Tutting audibly, Kye waved toward a passing tribesman, muttering, with urgency, “Ask them for help then!”
Douglass wheezed, and passed over the thin street to approach the tribesman, moving out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Unlike the shopowners, this man was proudly displaying his wings – thin and tight cutouts in the back of his coat and shirt allowed them to poke through – illustrious red and yellow blends of long feathers draped down to his tailbone.
“Excuse me, Sir?” Douglass called out, only a few metres from the man. “Sir, could you help us out?” The tribesman looked to his side, noticing the older man walking towards him, and with a sniff in the air and a repositioning of his head, he quickened his pace and moved away, taking the next side street to his left in a hastened stride. Douglass stopped in the middle of the street, confused as to why he had been ignored; looking over to his colleagues, he noticed they were just as confused – except for Julie, who had now slumped into Kye’s open arms, thin blood tricking steadily from the wounds deep in her legs.
"Fuck, Eddie come help me carry her. We'll head down this street." He pointed with an encumbered hand to a side street. "Try and drop by the shop and get her an oxygen supply on the way." Her feet dragging behind her, they pulled her up and slipped into the side street, Douglass tailing closely behind. After only a minute of walking, they began to smell it, and a further minute on, they were able to see it.
The carnage they had wreaked on the small tourists’ shop was unbelievable. The floodlight high above the shop provided a good view of the damages, and a previously-tapered ribbon strained and stretched against the blow of the moving wind, extending in a cautionary square around the front of the shop and the street below it, threading through targeted light poles all directed to the centre. The harsh white reflected nicely in the pool of slowly-evaporating fuel, bouncing back slightly silvery purples, greens and blues into the air and the fumes around. The blood stood out, a stark burnt umber in comparison to the white fabricated pavements around; it had long dried, and was mixed over with a scattering of glass, metal and shredded plastic, exploded out from the carbon scoring trails left in the middle of the pathway.
Wasting no time, Kye left Julie with Eddie, and moved into the shop through the broken window, watching his step on the dispersed pile of oxygen supplies, thrown about the shop in no discernible pattern. Picking four of the closest to him, he breathed in, and doubled over, coughing as the smell hit his nostrils and started to leak into the rest of his body. The almost overpowering stench of leaked fuel, in such a high concentration, was causing his head to feel light, and he had to move as fast as he could back to the area where the wind wasn’t trapped, blowing forcefully into the tightly confined space. Coughing and snorting the smell out of his orifices, his eyes beginning to stream, Kye made it back under the ribbon and to the others, tossing Eddie and Douglass a supply of their own. Though a loose fit for both, they managed to get it plugged in as Kye attached Julie’s and his own, fitting the empty straps over both of her shoulders with care.
“Eddie, can you help me bring some tanks back out?” Kye asked
, looking at Eddie for a response, but watching as he instead moved under the ribbon without a word, and strode towards the shop. Half-running to catch up, he almost collided with a motionless Eddie as he got into the store. “What’s up?”
Eddie spoke, his voice quiet, a tank in either of his hands. “That’s it. There’s no more.”
“What do you mean?” Kye asked, holding his hand over his mouth and nose and moving behind the desk. A large open space where the tank should have been provided an answer, and with a shake of his head, he moved back towards the window, dragging Eddie with him. Reaching the two outside, Kye attached the first tank to Julie, and started the flow; Eddie had passed the second to Douglass and attached it, before looking up to the skies, noticing the tallest building a few streets over. Placed to its left, now visible in the dark of the night, was a bright red cross, neon sign affixed to the front of a long flat wall.
“We should move through this way, I can see the hospital over there,” Eddie said, pointing up at the sign. Picking Julie back up, they moved through the side streets once more, dipping into shadow as they made their way to the building.
“Hey, you lot!” A nearby woman exclaimed, expressing worry as she watched the group drag Julie out of the light and into the shadow of the street. Picking up their pace, the group ignored the woman and passed out onto the main street, the hospital just a half block ahead.
“Hey!” The woman continued, running out of the street, only a few feet behind them. “What are you all doing with that woman?”
