Behind the glass, Brian leaned beside her and waved his hands as though he was setting up the next charade. He picked up a glass rod and shoved it at his sternum repeatedly. “Drive a stake through its heart,” he mouthed slowly so she could read his lips. “Or decapitate it.” His hand made a slicing movement across his neck.
Fear undermined good sense. Ariane nodded until his eyes grew wide when he glanced behind her. She jumped back as it slithered on its stomach, fangs and bloody mouth exposed. The protruding spine rippled in rhythm to its crab-like crawl. Her eyes quickly scanned the floor for a weapon, anything she could use to shove in its chest without getting too close.
The creature shuffled across the floor until only a few feet away. It stopped when she screamed. Too weak, she braced herself for the inevitable. The glass door behind her slid open as the creature reached for her, its jaw opened wide. The vomitus stench that salivated from its mouth made her gag. Movement from behind caught her breath.
Brian toppled across her lap to greet the creature head-on. “Fock!” he cried out.
The nosophor’s eyes blazed with excitement. Its mouth opened even wider and bit down on empty air. Gurgles of blood spewed from the creature when its neck craned in search of the new prey.
Ariane took advantage of her brother’s strength and prowess and crawled into the decontamination chamber. She peeked around the door to root for him. Unblinking eyes stared at the blurred version of her brother. She envied his speed for no more than a second.
Brian jumped over the creature and summersaulted midair to land near the door. Then he sped around the room in search of a weapon.
Banshee screams filled the lab, the creature agitated.
He faced the creature head-on. “You want a piece of me?” Brian hollered as he brandished a two-foot long stainless rod. He hammered it against the desk and yelled several curses to draw the creature away from Ariane. His body became a blur again as he zipped around the confused nosophor. Suddenly, he stopped in front of it and cried, “Eat this you bastard!”
Ariane cupped her ears when the creature screeched one last time. Her eardrums prickled. The creature reared up at her brother who blurred into action. Her unblinking eyes nearly missed seeing him dive and shove the metal rod through the creature’s sternum. An explosive dust ball sprayed the room.
Rampant sneezes and coughs deafened the newfound silence. She saw no sign of the creature, only a blur when Brian shot into view and skidded on his knees beside her. His fingers brushed the ash off her hair, careful not to get any in her eyes.
Ariane fought the nausea by cradling her stomach. It helped her regain composure, so she could focus on Brian as he hoisted her into his arms. They left the lab together.
“Find the first aid kit,” she muttered, feeling consciousness slip away.
3 3 3
Down the hall, a room beckoned me. Not sure why except maybe the strange symbols on the door jump-started my recall. I recognized them from the video. The one I had deciphered the ancient text as a data room of sorts. “Door number three it is,” I muttered, glancing inside the dimly lit office. “Bet Bob hid the drive in here. No lab rats either.” I eased my sister onto the floor and made sure the pack supported her back. I had been talking to myself, Ariane out cold.
I pulled my pack off and emptied the contents until the first aid kit hit the floor. After I unwrapped her pressure-bandaged sleeve, I pulled down the shoulder of her shirt to cleanse the wound. A trick Sabree used to hide puncture wounds on his victims’ necks came to mind. What worked for the silly goose, would work for the clever gander. Sorry, Sabree, you’re the goose. I squeezed my eyes shut and bit into my wrist. I placed the pinpricks against her wound. My blood worked its magic. Maybe it would act as antibacterial cream too. Satisfied, I wrapped it with gauze and tape.
My EMT duties completed, I jumped to my feet and looked around the room. Adrenaline alone fueled me enough to hang onto my wits after the stressful battle. “Aye, I’m a wee bit light-headed, but nothing I canna handle.” Ariane loved it when I spoke with a heavy brogue. At least when she was awake and could hear. A chuckle escaped my lips.
Her shivering concerned me, so I cocooned my sister from neck to toes with an emergency blanket and whispered in her ear. “I’ll look for the drive while ye rest, lass. Better make it snappy. More of those beasties might be lurking about.”
Before our visit to the Caderen, Sabree had confided that along with the Fallen, he sensed nosophors and ghouls within a specific distance. Since my descent into this shaft, a shrill hum buzzed between my ears the entire time. Maybe I never detected the single nosophor because more than one slithered inside this pit, probably a hive of them. At first, the ringing in my ears was chaotic noise caused by descending five hundred feet. Now I knew otherwise. I tried to clear my mind. Unfortunately, learning on the fly made matters worse.
The drive must be somewhere inside this office. After going through the book shelves, despair ate at me until my gaze landed on the desk. Jesse mentioned something about a drawer. I opened one full of papers and slid my fingers across the top until they snagged on something taped in place. “Abso-bloody-lutely.” I slipped the flash drive underneath the elastic waist of my leggings and rushed over to Ariane, conscious but disorientated. “We have a yellow drive, Sis.”
She mustered a thumbs-up. “Did I pass out?”
“For a wee bit. I’m about to do the same. My head’s buzzing like a chainsaw.” Sucking in a deep breath, forgetting the stagnant air might zap reserved strength, I opened my mind to listen for the nosophors. Like the first creature we encountered, relentless hunger and frustration filled me with dread. The urge to devour Ariane and me grew closer as if it zeroed in on us. The damaged labs might’ve trapped a swarm, which would explain why they were extremely pissed off. “Rest before we head up.” I received little argument from my sister as her eyes drifted shut.
Minutes had lingered in silence. A loud thump followed by shattering glass in the adjacent room jarred me. I jumped to my feet and pricked an ear, waiting for something to barge through the door. Could it be another nosophor on the hunt, or worse yet, did the pickled one break free from its glass cage? This time I vowed to be the aggressor and destroy it first. At least lead it away from my sister. I crept into the hall, letting her sleep, propped against the desk. My grip tightened on the metal rod.
A nosophor screeched from inside the adjacent office when I reached the door. My stomach lurched, propelling bile up my esophagus. I coughed into my arm. My throat burned as I clenched the rod tight until my knuckles turned white. I kicked the door open and lunged inside ready to stab anything that moved. I yelped and dropped the metal stake. Sudden annoyance replaced my battered state. “What are you doing here? Why didn’t you help us?” How’d I forget that Sabree could mist in at any time?
Sabree blew on the titanium skewer he twirled in place until it shrunk to the size of a small stone. He slipped it inside the pocket of his jeans. “Took me a while to find you. If you want my help, perhaps a personal invite next time. Wasted valuable energy using our blood-tie GPS.”
My eyes never left his pocket. I had to get me one of those. A stone that presto-magically transformed into a metal stake. I shook my head to push the distraction aside. “This place is loaded with ravenous nosophors.”
“As you can see, I just eliminated one.” Sabree sniffed the air. “I sense the putrid presence of many more.”
“One attacked Ariane.”
“She survived?”
“Of course she did, you heartless bastard. She’s healing. Will you help us get out of here?” I had never been more grateful to Sabree for rescuing me from Wayde and Chamber’s torture chamber. Could I count on him again?
“You shouldn’t depend on me to save your sorry derrieres every time trouble crosses your paths.”
“So, that’s a no. You’re not here to help us?”
“I’m here for one reason only.”
The urge to knock him
on his ass elevated the pressure behind my eyes. “The drive? No bloody way.” I backed toward the door.
Sabree rushed me, slipped his hand inside the waistline of my leggings, and whipped out the yellow drive. “Sorry, no time to inspect your family jewels.” He winked and with catlike grace, he jumped back before I could react. Blowing me a kiss, Sabree waved it in my face and let the anagram float to the floor. His body began to mist as his voice purred another quip. “Looks like I got the catch of the day.”
“Wait!” I dove at empty space. Landing on all fours, I pounded the floor. The violent outburst sprayed dust from the recent conquest into my face. When something rolled toward my fist, my eyes focused on the stone next to the anagram. I coughed, grabbed both, and rolled over onto my back until I fought the weakness and hunger that plagued me.
Not a total loss. Somehow, I managed to end up with another stone—Sabree’s this time. One that would come in handy. With the ease of an acrobat, the thieving immortal had the balls to pop in and steal what nearly cost us our lives. Indistinct curses drowned the silence. I vowed to even the score with the bloodsucking pest. It took a thief to catch a thief.
Again, another scavenger hunt bombed in my face. Ariane would have me skinned alive. I couldn’t blame her. She needed the anti-vamp serum yesterday.
Eager to ditch this godforsaken place and begin anew, I leapt to my feet and ran back to Ariane. “Come on, Sis, we have to leave,” I said, shaking her from a deep slumber.
“What happened? Did you see a ghost?” She glanced at her phone and winced, shrugging her left shoulder to stretch against the bandage. The screen had cracked during her struggle.
I stared at her. “Aye, a bloody ghost all right. Sabree misted in and snatched the drive.”
“What a dick,” she cried. “What now?”
My fists balled, I pounded the nearest desk, knocking over a stack of books. I paused and squeezed my eyes shut to block out the vision of Sabree’s taunting wink. Worse yet, the ballsy creep had slipped his fingers inside my leggings. “Sabree will pay dearly. Bad news alert. This joint is crawling with mutated beasties, most of them trapped. We’d better go before they escape.”
Wounded and disheartened, I could tell Ariane had lost some of her fight. If not injured, she’d chew me out for being so irresponsible. Heck, we never expected nosophors and Sabree to intervene. Next hunt, I’d expect nothing less.
I supported her as we raced for the elevator. When we passed the main lab, I hesitated for a second until she prodded me on.
“I'll never be able to climb,” she said, gazing up the dark vertical tunnel that led to freedom.
“Don’t worry. I’ll pull you up myself.” Clumsy fingers fumbled with the clasps as I hooked her into her harness, making sure the carabiners were secure. “Hold tight—you'll be fine.” I patted her pack.
Ariane hung above me as I leaned my entire weight to heave her upward. Dust sprinkled on our heads like a refreshing summer rain. With the help of the pulley, she disappeared farther up the dark shaft with each jerking tug.
Halfway up, the pulley came to a stop. I needed a breather. Suspended hundreds of feet above the ground, Ariane called out, panic in her voice. Apart from her calls, complete silence engulfed me until the sounds of faint scratching and rasping breaths reached my ears. I ignored the imminent danger and focused on my sister’s safety. Reliance on my enhanced strength expedited my hand over hand tug on the pulley.
A few minutes later, weightlessness freed my arms.
“She’s up!” Jesse called down, leaning over the shaft. “Hurry!”
He didn’t have to ask twice. Attached to the ascension pulley, I started the grueling ascent. Midway, I stopped to rest, leaning on a jutting steel rod. Seconds later, clamor below and hostile rants in an unrecognizable tongue burned my ears. “Shit.” The scraping sounds grew louder as if thousands of insects skittered up the walls of the shaft. I paused and cried out when teeth tore into my leg.
Searing pain shot up my thigh, past my hip and into my pelvic girdle below my waist. Suspended from a cable, I kicked my leg free, bent over, and throttled the creature by its neck. Adrenaline alone gave me the strength to hoist the creature to eye level. I bared my fangs. Feverish, the pressure behind my eyes meant they burned red. A roar rose from my throat when my fingers crunched down on the its neck. I lifted the nosophor higher and shoved it against a jutting I-beam to pierce its heart. Flesh, tissue, and blood exploded.
“Another one bites the dust.” I spat at the wall. A sinking realization hit me. Under no circumstances could I let these creatures escape. The zombie-vampire phobia infused me with the reserved strength to destroy any nosophor that dared climb the shaft.
Vulnerable, I hung in place like a spider on a long web and listened to the darkness below, waiting for the next assault. The rope hoisted me upward while I fought the second and third nosophors with my feet, kicking them back down the shaft. One after the other, they crawled up the wall defying gravity.
In the upper quadrant, I slammed another nosophor into the wall and held him in search of a weapon. The stone flew out of my pocket into my hand. Like a transformer, it shot into a sleek metal rod. I shoved the new toy into its chest. Blinded by the dust, I unhooked the ascension pulley with one hand, wrapped a lone cable around my free arm, and hung by the single cable. Again, like magic, the rod flipped into a stone and flew back into my pocket. Somehow it had sensed my dire need. Almost worth the cost of the stolen drive.
Jesse hollered my name, worried I had fallen when the empty rope dropped. “I’m okay.” The realization sunk in. I could no longer use the cable to climb the shaft. I leaned my head against the wall and gazed upward. Above, the light at the end of the tunnel taunted me. Hope filled me with resolve. All I had to do was climb upward.
I grabbed a steel protrusion and shook my wrist free of the cable. My eyes focused on the light above to concentrate on my anti-gravity skills. I dug my nails into the cement and jabbed the rubber-toe bumper of each climbing shoe into the indentations that speckled the wall. As soon as my mind cleared of negative vibes, I scaled the shaft by maintaining a three-point contact. Staying ahead of the nosophors, my body resisted gravity with ease. Wait until Eric found out.
Little time to show an ounce of relief, I leapt out of the shaft, surprising Jesse as I landed with catlike grace. Between glances down the shaft and then at Jesse, I wiggled my fingers. “Get the TNT!” I hoped no further explanation was necessary.
“Way ahead of you,” Jesse said. He waved the sticks in my face. “Ariane’s safe outside behind the outbuilding.”
“Take cover.” I held the lighter and waited for his retreat. The scratching sounds grew louder. “Hurry!” The bloodsuckers were climbing up the shaft. I lit the short fuse, waited until the burning wick kissed the dynamite, and dropped the triple whammy into the pit. “Suck on these you bastards!” Confident the TNT would hit the mark, I dialed in my speed and dashed outside to escape the blast.
A few yards from the shack, the force of the explosion launched me outward. I plowed facedown onto the sand and lay motionless until the dust settled. I twisted around and asked between coughs, “Jesse—the shaft—was it destroyed?”
“Blasted to hell,” Jesse said as he tossed me a pair of sunglasses. He trudged over to where Ariane lay. “That was easy. Let’s hope the hike out of here is just as easy.” His shoulders slumped as he prayed in Navajo.
I stared at him, surprised by his uncharacteristic outburst. “We'll be fine.” The adrenaline produced from destroying so many nosophors coursed through my veins. I never recalled feeling so amped up and hoped it would simmer long enough to settle my score with Sabree. “I’d get us out of here a lot faster if I had a snack.” I poked Jesse’s arm and laughed.
“Not from me you don’t.”
Accustomed to the usual objections, I promised to wait until we got home. “A trip to Phoenix is in order. Take out again,” I said, raising my brows up and down.
&nbs
p; Jesse gathered the backpacks to encourage me to get a move on. “Let’s go.”
“Don’t have to ask me twice,” I said. The explosion might attract local enforcement from Socorro or, worse yet, attract more nosophors if the underground facility had more than one exit. Our best bet would be to hike out under the full moon. I bent over to hoist Ariane into my arms. “Time to go, Sis.”
Safely in my grasp, she sniffled, wiping her cheeks with her sleeve. “I hate Sabree.”
“You and me both, Sis. You and me both.”
42
MEXICO OR BUST
T hree weeks had passed since the disastrous White Sands trip to hell and back. The hunt was a bust for two reasons: Sabree stole the flash drive, another yellow one, and it took my sister the entire time to heal. My emotions seasoned with rage, bitterness, self-loathing, and refueled energy, I simmered mostly, never quite coming to a boil. What else could I do but spend the time reading the Fallen archives for anything that pertained to Turian and their history. Volumes thick, the research would take me months to sort through the cryptic scrolls.
In addition to the quiet time, Sabree rarely misted in to chat. I figured the shrewd thief had the good sense to avoid me, and probably pretended to keep his promise to research the portal. Ariane also made herself scarce, furious with Sabree for her own reasons. I had my suspicions why but doubted my intuition. No way could she have feelings for such a backstabbing Judas.
Tired of the research and Ariane’s incessant pleading to fetch another drive, I made plans for the next scavenger hunt without Sabree’s intervention. Curious as to how the watchdog always managed to be one step ahead, I conducted a little investigation of my own and discovered the newly planted bugs in each room. Instead of destroying them, I left them in place to use to our advantage. Let Sabree hear bogus plots while we texted the real agenda to each other.
Amongst the Fallen Page 27
