by Ken Rivers
She went to hand it over, but hung on when I grabbed it. “My best vids are on there, Mark. Do NOT fucking lose them. Do you understand me?”
“Understood. It’s in good hands.” If I still had it after everything was done, I was going to toss it into the fucking void. Nobody needed a committed library of my yank sessions.
I switched my busted excuse for a device with hers, and the engine purred to life. The performance was the same, but for some reason, the lighting under the rail-bike was neon pink.
B winked, “Finally riding in style.”
One flip of the wrist and we shot out of that shitty crater where so much bad had happened. I made a promise to myself and for every one of my girls. We would never set foot here again.
Speeding across the hills and past the groves that dotted every island across the planet, the night was giving way to dawn. It helped settle my nerves, looking at the suns getting ready for their ascent over the dark parts of the world.
Pusi kept shooting glances over my crotch at Yare, looking away, then looking back again. After the twentieth or so time I couldn’t stop myself. “Why don’t you ask her, Pusi?”
“Little cute things so cute.”
I smiled and Pusi stared for a little longer. Yare looked back at her as well, verdant eyes looking at everything like it was the first time. I was sure she was curious about Pusi. Probably her first time ever seeing a Pusani. She probably also knew about their occupation and enslavement. They were alike in one clear respect, they were both connected to events that they wanted nothing to do with.
Midori stayed tucked in a little ball in Yare’s arms, but Aoi ventured out and crawled into my lap. Little bugger fell asleep right there, claws dug into my jeans. Pusi looked like she was about to pounce on it.
“You want to touch it, Pusi?” Yare asked.
“Yes. Pusi want to touch.”
“Try it, but do it slowly,” Yare instructed.
Aoi’s eye popped open, but it didn’t move. Pusi slowly ran her furry hand across its fuzzy head. Aoi nuzzled her hand and Pusi gave it a good scratch behind the ear. “So cute. I can die now.”
I was happy to see them getting along. B wasn’t interested. Her eyes were either glued in front of us, or behind us.
“Lana will notice anything before you will, B. You might wanna relax a little before it begins.”
“You don’t tell a performer to relax before they get on stage. Just leave me alone. I’m not pissed…I just get ready in my own way. Pay attention to the road.”
A berm came up from the approaching slope and nearly blindsided us. I swerved and Pusi’s arm leaned into my side.
“OW!” Pusi yelled then hissed at Aoi.
“Whoa, what the hell, Pusi?”
“Fucking spike on back. Look,” she held her hand up with a green quill stuck an inch deep into it. The lost spine was almost instantly reformed and Aoi jumped off my lap and back in with Yare.
Pusi yanked the spike out of her hand and threw it into the grasslands. “You ok?” I asked.
“Is nothing. So small I—” her head smacked against the pod edge and she slumped into it.
Yare said something, pointing at Aoi.
“Lana!” I yelled and fished-tailed the rail-bike to stop.
She landed on the handlebars, looking over at Pusi. Raspy words and clicks came out of her. “I thought she was all healed?”
Yare explained in a rush of whispers and breaths to Lana and she exploded into a green cloud and was on top of Pusi, healing her.
“Looks like Aoi has the ability to tranquilize things. I’m simply making sure she isn’t so far under that her heart stops… Wait.” Her hands went dark and she pulled away from Pusi. “Wow, Pusani constitution is simply astonishing. She was hit with enough toxin to stop a creature ten times her size. I know, because I can sense it coursing through her veins. Instead, she’s in a light sleep and will likely wake up soon.”
B was pushing her off. “You call this a light sleep?”
Pusi’s tail, which had been motionless for a few minutes, started to shake and slide around. She let out a huge yawn, stretched her back, and rubbed her eyes. “What happen?” Her ears, which I had only ever seen either idly turning in different directions or pinned against her head during a fight, perked straight up and twisted to the right. “Shh!” she warned. “They far now. But on same course.”
I looked off into the distance in vain. Yare and the mini-Kaiju were content hugging each other and enjoying the ride up until that point.
“Is it Tawa?”
“No,” Pusi said, “Jian-Di. Many Jian-Di.”
B whipped out her battle-wand. “Shit, Pusi and I got point. She goes nuts up the gut and I’ll go tactical in her wake. Everyone else can fall in line and take what’s left.
Pusi’s ears flattened back against her head. “They all Cullers.”
25
We were very close to the border, which was just over the next rise. The spires of the Light Bridge stood proud in the growing light of the dawn.
Lana spread her fingers and prepared to transform. “I’ll see how many.”
B grabbed her by the wrist. “Don’t they all know exactly what you look like? And aren’t they all hunters with crazy-good vision?”
“They are, but we need to know, so—”
“It’s too risky, Lana,” I said.
We skirted the edge of the rise that Pusi said they were over. I powered my baby down and we crawled up to take a peek. Yare stayed in the pod with the Kaiju.
A hundred strong, but their movements weren’t fluid. The concentrated mass of black limbs and backs running across the open grass seemed to ebb from side to side, like drops of oil in a bucket of water.
“Is that number of Cullers even possible?” I whispered to Lana.
“This was always the plan. You saw a special piece of rot in that jar the cousin was holding, but we had hundreds of jars with varying degrees of rot in them. All of the Jian-Di swear an oath that on Reckoning Day, they must take up the torch of our people and bear what must be borne. Tawa called it being a true patriot.”
Pusi let out a low growl and hissed, “They herding. Outside ones think. Inside ones hunger.”
The edges would push back toward the center from time to time then bulge back out at a different angle. There were differences among the Cullers’ ranks as well. The middle was a black cherry of roiling insanity, bodies being pushed past and those again trying to push past others. But running along the edge were Elites, periodically banging into the surging blob until it retreated into the middle again.
“That’s one of the Elites’ roles,” Lana continued, “controlling the lesser Cullers. Once they arrive at the border, they’ll be let loose. I spent many a night in planning rooms watching Tawa carve up CONTROL. If they cross the gorge and get past the cannon fire, they’ll kill everyone inside.”
B didn’t look impressed. “The Enforcers will be ready for them. We will see who—”
“Look closer,” Lana said. “They are all equipped with cloaks. You all know what to look for, now, but you’re the first non-Levani to lay eyes on us. What about the Enforcers? Or anybody at CONTROL? When they cover their heads and turn invisible, they’ll breach the defenses with ease. So, yes, everyone will die.”
“Mark?” B was a little less sure of herself, then, and so was I. My powers had grown and I was stronger for sure, but a hundred Cullers was a tall order.
Lana continued, “Tawa doesn’t care about their longevity, either. The Elites can come back from their transformation, but the lesser Cullers travel a one-way path.”
“B, you certain CONTROL or the Enforcers can’t track the Jian-Di when they’re cloaking?”
“Lana’s right, we are the only ones who know.”
I sank down behind the ridge and racked my brain for a strategy. We couldn’t just show up and tell CONTROL what to look for, especially at long range. But if we didn’t, the Cullers would certainly breach the bord
er and enter the city.
A thunder strike exploded off in the distance, but the rumble sustained and grew closer. I knew what it was. Who it was. The attack would start soon.
I kept low against the ground and lay down next to B. “If CONTROL got their hands on a cloak, could they mount a defense in time?” I asked.
“We can mount a defense against anything if we have enough intel. One of those cloaks would be more than enough. Time enough or not, I couldn’t say. Depends who’s on shift, I guess. And if they’re a happy employee or not. Why?”
“Let’s hope CONTROL has forced them into their required emissions check recently. We need to get our hands on one of those cloaks.”
B kept her eyes on the steadily advancing mass in front of us, but turned her head to me, “I’m glad you said it and not me. Cuz we’d have to get close without being seen, then take down or catch off guard one of the lesser Cullers, which are all mobbed together by the way. Then, be able to outrun either the one we stole the cloak from, or maybe like ALL of them. Right?”
“You left room for nuance there, but basically, yes. Who’s going?”
Glances were exchanged and we all waited for a hand to rise. B glanced back at the bike then grabbed me by the head and swung it around. “Tell me she’s sleeping in there.”
I slid down the hill of the rise we were on, nearly tumbling forward trying to run faster than my feet were capable of and slammed into the pod. My arm caught the edge so I didn’t look like a complete ass. Inside, Midori and Aoi stared back. Something that none of us could’ve seen.
Yare was gone.
“Mark! There!” Lana hissed at me. All three of them were looking down to the right of the ridge. Grass and dirt kicked out from behind as I scrambled back up next to B.
My hands sunk into the ground and in an instant, I was sheathed in a desperate desire to bring her back. B put a hand on my shoulder and stopped me from getting up.
“It’s too late, Mark. She’s already down the slope. I told you we shouldn’t trust her.”
Behind me were four tiny eyes, peeking over the edge of the pod. I saw in them something I hadn’t seen in what felt like forever. Calm.
They were waiting.
Lana backed off the ridge and readied her transformation. Her decision was clear-cut and final. “I’ll stop her. If they see me, I’ll just keep going. If she gives away our position, the list of outcomes for our efforts today will be considerably shortened.”
There are moments in life that, given a short list of choices, will determine the paths of many in one instant. This was one of those moments.
“Lana,” I said, “wait.”
B was in my face instantly, “It’s now or never, lover boy. That right there is an open act of betrayal. She has no power to fight those fucking things.
My eyes hadn’t left her. She was slowing down. A white flower floating toward a black hole. One of the Elites broke from the surging mass and came for her.
She stopped.
The Elite was at full charge and nearly upon her when she held both her hands palms up and stood still as statue. The blur of black skidded to halt in front of her and pointed at her. She reached out slowly and took the Elite’s gnarled and twisted hand. Yare stepped into the body of the beast, wrapped her arms around it, and vanished. Like their colors were just wiped off the green canvas.
I looked back at the pod, and the four eyes had disappeared. “To the bike, now!” I hissed.
As if by instant laser printing, Yare reappeared next to the rail-bike. The Elite pulled her off, threw her into the dirt and wheeled on us. It arched its back and air sucked into its swollen red mouth, but Pusi was too quick for it. She jammed her hand straight down its throat, grabbed the jaw with her other hand, and held on with her legs for dear life.
“B!” I yelled.
She dove at Pusi and pulled her off the Elite and I was right behind her. Its claws cut through the air and were meant to anchor in my chest. I locked its hand down with my right and swung with my left. Its elbow cracked and bent inward, black skin flaking and stripped like a wet tree trunk snapped in a vicious wind.
Its screeching yelp lasted for only a second, as it pushed its own hand through its throat and stepped back. Two heavy thuds in the grass and it knelt before me, one black hand on its shredded arm. With a yank, black pitch sprayed then glugged onto the grass. Through gargling and choking fits, I could just make out what it was trying to say.
“I didn’t catch that. One more time?” I asked.
The Elite heaved and leaned back a little. At the first choking sound out of its evil gob, I put my hand through its chest, found what I was looking for, and heaved upward. Sounds of crunched bone and slippery ripped flesh filled my ears as I stood with its enlarged vertebrae column in my hand. The eyes stayed open, so I whipped it to the ground and buried its head under my heel.
Yare limped over to the pile of flesh and gushing pitch, reached down, pulled the cloak from the carcass, and handed it to B.
I hugged her close as her knees gave out. She leaned into me and stayed there. I knew the feeling. Every power has a price. She looked up at me and those big green eyes told me that she might be ready for another hug later. “So, you can teleport?”
She nodded. “Tawa and the cousin worked on me for years. Tawa also likes a vigorous fucking. So, I was trained to teleport on and off his cock from across the room, daily. It didn’t take long for him to cum that way, so I got very good at it. The quicker he did, the quicker I could leave. He was gross.”
B walked past Yare, grabbed the cloak and slapped her on the butt. “You’re on the team, girl. But we need to work on those team communication skills.” She hopped into the pod. “Chop, chop, people.”
We loaded up and I took off for the bridge. Things were finally looking up. We had the piece of kit that would neutralize the Cullers. My thoughts never really turned from Yari, so I simply let her take up more of my thought processes. I wouldn’t fail her again.
We came out of the rolling hills onto the flat plains leading to the spires of the border crossing.
Pusi took the cloak from B and was turning it on and off. “Better than camera?” she asked.
“Nothing is better than a camera,” she grabbed the cloak back. “It’s not a toy.”
Lana swooped down from above, “We are about ten minutes ahead of the Cullers.”
“Sweet!” I yelled back with no need to hide my voice, “We’ll be clear of the bridge before they get here!”
Thunder cracked and boomed and hung in the air, sustained. Everyone swung around, scanning the skies for the Kaiju and Tawa. I locked my eyes on the bridge.
Just a little farther.
The thundering stopped, but the bike still had a small tremor.
The tethered Light Bridge, my road back home—my road back to a position of strength to see Yari in my arms again—bowed up like a great python until it split in half, then slid down the sides of the Kaiju as it rose from the gorge and cast our hopes into the abyss.
26
The spires that had stood over the gorge on the first night Yari and I met, plummeted from the sky and we were right in their growing shadow. I yanked the bike hard right, the scream of the engine overtaking B’s screams of what to do now and where to go.
The ground all around turned billowy orange then red then yellow then back to orange. The cannons had trained on the Kaiju and Tawa was angling himself out of danger. The Old-Tech was no joke. Every single hit thrummed though my chest. A sparse covering of clouds was the only white in the sky.
“B! Is there another way into occupied territory?” The sounds of the cannons were unwavering, but the hits on the Kaiju had grown distant. Were they running? I hoped they were.
“Nothing. This piece of shit can’t fly?”
“NO!”
“I fuckin’ told you to get one that could. But NO! You chose this hunk of ass-trash because it was all retro.”
“It’s a very common hu
man trait. Getting angry at him now is like being angry the sun is hot, or that ice is cold, or that the spring winds come—”.
B cut her short, right there. “Shut it, big bird. We need eyes in the sky. Don’t let those Cullers encircle us!” Our friend, lover and teammate took off with explosions happening everywhere.
Shit! The solution was so easy it would’ve bit my dick off if it could’ve. “B, just call someone to come pick you up!”
The explosions that rippled across the back and sides of the Kaiju drew closer again. “Fat chance! That place is on lockdown. Tighter even than Lana’s butthole.”
Lana was overhead but still close. “What was that?” she screeched.
“Nothing!”
Off to my right just cresting the last hill rise came the black coursing tide, but they never reached the bottom of the hill. Cloaked the second they came down onto the plains, they would be on us in moments.
Cullers to my right, and an impassible mile-wide gorge to my left, and a writhing behemoth of terror coming up on my rear. B was freaking out, Lana was so close I could’ve grabbed her out of the air, and Pusi was ears back, eyes wide and tail stuck between her legs. I thought because I was on the verge of losing everything and dying that I imagined Yari’s touch on me one last time before the end. A light squeeze jerked me away from the edge of losing hope, and my eyes met with Yare’s.
One finger, first at herself, then to each one of us, then toward occupied territory.
I shook my head, “That’s too much. You know it’s too much.”
She pulled one of my hands off the rail-bike handles and placed it over her heart. For such a frail little thing, she was firm and her heart beat strong. I really should’ve been looking at where I was going but she had me. Holding my hand on her chest with hers, she slipped her other hand up and then down my thigh. I wanted to lean over and kiss her right there.
Her hand slipped off my knee onto the empty handlebar. “Trust me,” she mouthed.
