Neon Blood (Neon Helix Universe Book 3)

by Nik Whittaker

  Quartzig and Ally had started working together shortly after the Fall. From the remnants of the St Damien followers to the T-Pox, many unauthorised augmentation procedures were happening. Julian directed them from the apartment, as he was still unable to have any augmentations, a remnant of the toxin he’d been poisoned with by Jacob. Quartzig had managed to get the toxins out before they could transmit, along with the nanobots Owen’s had put in him. However, the toxin had bonded to his bloodstream too deeply to completely remove the effects on Julian. His body now rejected any attempt to add technologies to his biology.

  It had taken a while for him to get used to the change, but he had adapted. By converting his old office into a command centre he could access data from a multitude of computers, giving him the ability to be the extra eyes and ears to Quartzig’s outings.

  “Hey, Julian,” Ally’s voice came through his comms unit, “We’re just about at the next clinic.”

  Julian had been the one to suggest Ally join Quartzig shortly after they began to clear out the clinics. Quartzig needed someone on the ground to back him up, someone who could assist him and make sure he stayed on track. Despite his nanobot body, he wasn’t invincible, despite his protests otherwise. For her part, Ally could handle herself. Since discovering the truth about her past, and the T-DNA which ran through her veins, she wanted to see what she could do with it. By joining Quartzig, she could push herself and see how things went, curbing Quartzig’s death-wish mentality at the same time.

  Julian moved his chair forwards, waving a hand over the blank space in front of him. A holographic cityscape rose from the space in a dark blue neon. Tapping a virtual keyboard next to it, he entered the coordinates of the clinic they were heading towards. The city zoomed-in, depicting a three-dimensional view of the street. Two small green dots glowed along the road, showing Ally and Quartzig’s location.

  “Cool, I can see you’re just coming up to the street now,” he replied, tracing the distance from their location to the clinic.

  “Have you found any more information on the target?” Quartzig asked.

  “Not much, other than it’s owned by the Korvich gang, but other than that, it’s pretty much a ghost on data.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be another easy sweep up,” Ally replied.

  “You should probably connect now, Julian,” Quartzig said.

  “On it,” Julian flicked a switch on the desk and pulled a pair of goggles over his eyes.

  His vision was replaced by Quartzig’s. He could see and hear everything from his perspective. The nanobots which made up Quartzig’s body could relay data directly into the goggles, which Julian could alter the opacity of at will, allowing him to see both the events taking place and the room he was in. This gave him the ability to be in the moment of the action and support with the intel from the command centre.

  “I’m hooked up,” Julian said as he checked the map and confirmed the location, then went full opacity, seeing only from Quartzig’s perspective.

  Just off the main Boulevard, the street was clean, the snow only lightly forming in small piles where the under pavement heating couldn’t reach. The smell of damp filled the air as the vapours of the melting ice drifted up.

  “This the place?” Ally asked, nodding at a single metal door. Heavy bolts around it showed it had been reinforced several times.

  “Yeah, this is it,” Julian replied, seeing Quartzig’s hands raise to push it.

  The door didn’t move, so Quartzig knocked. His hand was a matte black metal. He had adjusted his body to look relatively normal, and his hands could easily be mistaken for gloves or augmentations. He had also perfected a skin tone for his face, though several subtle lines and lights adorned it.

  “Doesn’t sound like anyone’s home,” Ally said, trying the handle of the door again. “Locked.”

  Quartzig took a step back, scrutinising the door. Julian could see Quartzig’s eyes scan the door from top to bottom until his eyes rested on a particular spot, before kicking the door in one smooth motion. The impact on the exact location he was looking at. It buckled, the hinges bent at crooked angles as it creaked open slightly.

  “That’s a reinforced door Q!” Ally looked at him.

  “I found its weak spot, the optimal distance from the hinges and locking system to allow maximum damage,” Quartzig said as he pushed the door open.

  “Sure, of course,” Ally said, following him into the building shaking her head.

  “Be careful, guys,” Julian warned.

  Quartzig activated his light-vision. Two beams of white light expanded from his eyes, illuminating what he looked at as Ally brought up a flashlight.

  “Can you smell that?” she asked.

  “I can smell quite a lot, lots of metal, but that’s to be expected in an Aug Clinic,” Quartzig said.

  Julian couldn’t smell anything, but he was analysing what they could see as their footfalls echoed along the tiled floor

  The door had led to a small foyer area, with a reception and waiting room.

  “We sure this is an active clinic?” Ally asked, walking around the reception.

  “Pretty sure the reports said they were trading yesterday,” Julian altered the opacity so he could check the data on file. “Yeah, a complaint report was filed about the clinic.”

  “Well, they aren’t active now,” Ally said. She tried the light switches behind the reception desk. Nothing changed as she flicked them back and forth several times.

  “Let’s check the surgery rooms,” Quartzig said, strolling further into the building.

  They walked through a set of swinging doors and into a long corridor that led to the right. The darkness intensified as they left the foyer, the little light from the entrance fading from view. Quartzig increased the brightness of his own lights and scanned down the corridor.

  “Oh, god!” Julian gasped.

  Across the walls of the corridor and floor dark red blood splatters covered everything. Staining the entire length, the blood coated the shiny tiles in thick marks of crimson, reflecting in the lights of Quartzig’s eyes.

  “What the hell happened here?” Ally whispered.

  Ally and Quartzig had moved further along the corridor, trying to avoid stepping in any blood.

  “Can you see where it leads?” Ally asked Quartzig, who was slightly ahead.

  “It looks like it goes to one of the surgery rooms,” he replied.

  Julian was watching still, only now with half an eye scanning for any news reports that might be connected to the clinic.

  “Guys, there’s no crime reports about the clinic or even the surrounding area. Whatever happened here has been well contained.”

  “Or only just happened,” Ally said dryly.

  Quartzig reached the door of the room where the blood originated. He turned to wait for Ally before opening the door. The hinges squeaked but the sound was immediately drowned by a piercing scream deafened them. From inside the room, a woman lunged forwards. Quartzig barely had time to raise a hand to stop her from colliding with him. They could see her face was a bloodied mess as she scrambled at Quartzigs’ outstretched arm.

  “What’s going on?” Julian said, trying to see, but Quartzig’s movements were too erratic.

  Ally moved to help, trying to get the woman to calm down, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from Quartzig. With her other hand, she held the woman’s face, though slippy from the blood, she managed to make eye contact with her.

  “Hey, hey, it’s okay, calm down,” Ally started to take deep breaths, getting the woman to follow her rhythm.

  The woman slowly began to breathe in sync with Ally, calming down.

  “There’s no way all this blood is just from her,” Quartzig said as he was scanning the room, which was filled with bloodied surgical instruments, and an assortment of chemicals laying across workbenches.

  “What happened here?” Ally asked the woman. “Who did this?”

  The woman’s eyes widened until th
ey looked like they would burst out of their sockets.

  “I... “ the woman began to shake uncontrollably. “I think I did!” She burst out crying and put her head in her hands.

  Ally held the woman’s head close, trying to console her. She gave Quartzig a puzzled look, knowing Julian could see it too.

  “If she did it, who is the blood from?” Julian asked.

  Ally moved the woman’s face back so she could make eye contact again.

  “Are there any more people? Is anyone injured?” Ally asked, slowly and calmly.

  The woman’s eyes expanded again, then closed.

  “They are all in the morgue. I dragged them down there,” the woman sobbed.

  Ally and Quartzig glanced at each other.

  “You go check it out. I’ll stay with her,” Ally said, nodding to Quartzig.

  “Okay, get her outside. She may need medical assistance,” he replied, then turned to exit the room.

  Julian had already called a Medical Assistance Crew to the location. They’d be outside to meet Ally and the woman soon.

  “Be careful, Q,” he said, as Quartzig started to descend some stairs, following the signs for the morgue.

  “I will, though the situation seems, odd,” he replied.

  “Yeah, either the woman is totally crazy, or it’s like she was possessed,” Julian speculated.

  “We’ve seen enough that either could be feasible,” Quartzig replied.

  “True enough.”

  Several marks of blood ran along the stairwell as Quartzig got closer to the morgue, long dark smears running in parallel.

  “The marks look like someone was dragged, just like the woman said,” he told Julian.

  The double-doors to the morgue were slightly ajar. Smears of blood covered its handles. On the floor, the marks were deeper and thicker where pools had formed.

  “Watch your step,” Julian said, as Quartzig pushed one of the doors open.

  Inside, a solitary light hummed quietly, hanging in the dead centre of the room. Around the sides, the shadows of the examining tables were just visible. The area beneath the light, however, was clear as day under the bright white illumination.

  Several bodies were arranged, their limbs bent at unnatural angles. Clothed, but the amount of blood soaked into the fabrics made it difficult to separate the bodies from one another. Each of the bodies was laid on their backs with their chests displayed, the revealed skin peeled back in several strips which spiralled in slight variations like macabre origami.

  “Oh my god,” Julian whispered as the light beams from Quartzig looked over the scene.

  “This is unnatural,” Quartzig walked closer to the bodies, “I count six bodies in total. Each has several broken bones and severe blood loss what I can analyse.”

  “Jesus Q, give me a moment to process this,” Julian lifted the goggles off his head for a moment, swallowing the sour spit that was forming in his mouth.

  “I’m sorry, I should be more considerate. I’m going to try and get photos of the faces, we need to identify them.”

  “Sure,” Julian agreed, still avoiding looking. He moved over to the console near him and booted up the facial recognition tracker, ready for the photos to come in.

  “Hey Ally, you okay?” he asked, as a distraction to himself if nothing else.

  “Yeah, we’ve just got outside,” she replied, “the MAC has arrived.”

  “Great, how's the woman?”

  “She’s calmed down since we got outside. In fact, she seems pretty sedate.”

  “That’s good, I guess,” Julian replied, the photo’s of the bodies were starting to come through.

  “Yeah, hopefully, the MAC team can... ”

  Ally’s voice cut out. Julian took a second.

  “Ally?”

  A moment of silence filled the air.

  “Oh shit!” Ally screamed.

  “Ally? What’s going on?”

  “The woman, she just... oh God!”

  “Ally?!” Julian shouted down the line.

  “She’s killed the MAC team. She has a knife. She just... she cut them right across the throat. The blood... “

  Ally’s communicator died.

  “Quartzig! Get outside now!”

  “Already on my way!” He replied.

  Chapter Four

  Ally

  Moments earlier, Ally had stepped out of the clinic with the woman, the cool air of the street refreshing after the iron-heavy smell of the clinic.

  “How are you feeling?” she asked the woman, trying to wipe some of the blood from her face with her finger like a mother cleaning a child’s cheek.

  The woman sat on a low wall, her eyes fixed forwards. She had calmed down since getting outside but seemed as though she was in some kind of trance. Shock, most likely, Ally assumed. The woman reached forward and placed her hand over Ally’s, holding it against her cheek.

  “Thank you,” the woman smiled for a moment before her hand dropped away. A long nail scratched Ally’s skin leaving a mark as the woman’s face returned to its distant stare.

  “It’ll be okay.” Ally rubbed the graze on her hand as she turned to see the flashing lights of the Medical Assistance Crew arriving. The square vans had automated navigation that found the shortest route to any location and could force vehicles in front of them to power down and move aside so they could pass by giving them unparalleled attendance times.

  The MAC pulled up in front of Ally, and three figures stepped out from the rear doors as it stopped. Moving in military-like precision, they filed out, dressed in what looked like combat medical gear, with multiple items clipped to their uniforms.

  “Are you Ally?” one asked, stepping up to her.

  “Yeah, she’s the one that needs help,” she indicated to the woman. Ally had some experience with MAC teams from working at the Valkyrie bar, many drunken fights ending up with bloodied guests. She knew they liked to get right to the point, no time for conversation.

  The Medics began to examine the woman.

  “Hey Ally, you okay?” Julian's voice rang out. Ally stepped away from the Medics, walking down the street a little to give them space.

  “Yeah, we’ve just got outside,” she replied, “the MAC has arrived.”

  “Great, how’s the woman?”

  “She’s calmed down since we got outside. In fact, she seems pretty sedate.”

  “That’s good, I guess,” Julian replied.

  “Hopefully, the MAC team can... ” Ally turned back to the Medics and saw the woman's face change from the blank stare into a smile. Her eyes lighting up.

  “Ally?” Julian’s voice was now a distance sound as Ally’s focus shifted to the woman.

  “Oh shit!” Ally screamed as the woman leapt forward with a blade in her hand. She plunged the end into the side of the closest Medic’s neck, just between his helmet and vest, then slid the blade across his throat. A waterfall of blood erupted over the woman, refreshing the drying blood on her face. The Medic crumbled to the floor, hands clasped to his neck in a futile attempt to hold back the flow.

  “Ally? What’s going on?”

  “The woman, she just... oh God!”

  The woman had moved onto the next Medic, the blade digging into their eye socket. Pulling it back out, the eyeball still with it, she flicked the blade to release the eyeball before she swiped the blade against the second Medic’s neck, slicing their throat.

  “Ally?!” Julian shouted down the line.

  “She’s killed the MAC team. She has a knife. She just... she cut them right across the throat. The blood... “

  The third Medic was backing away, trying to get into the van. The woman threw the knife with such force it dug into the face of the final Medic, all the way to the hilt, causing him to drop to the floor.

  Ally took a step back. She was only a meter away from the woman, who slowly turned to look at her, blood dripping down her face.

  “Well, hello,” the woman said, only this time, her
voice was much lower than it had been previously. “My name is Thomas Keller, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  Ally glanced to her side. She could try to move to her left and make a run for it. Feeling along her waist, her hand wrapped around the retractable baton in its holster on her belt.

  “Am I meant to know who that is?” Ally asked, slowly slipping the baton free.

  The woman took a step closer, the scalpel held at eye level.

  “It’s been a while, but I’m surprised how quickly people forget,” she stepped forward again, into arm’s reach. “It’s about time everyone remembered.”

  The woman dived forward, the scalpel lunging towards Ally’s face. Before it reached her, Ally swung the baton up, extending it as it swung. It caught the woman’s hand, knocking the scalpel into the air.

  “I don’t care who you are,” Ally swung the five feet long staff around her head and towards the woman. The impact was audible as the metal of the staff connected with the woman’s skull.

  Quartzig burst out of the clinic just in time to see the woman fall to the floor unconscious.

  “Ally! Are you okay?” he shouted.

  Ally remained in a defensive pose, watching the woman on the floor.

  “Ally? Quartzig asked again, before kneeling down to the woman.

  “That’s a lot of blood Quartzig, is it hers?” Julian asked over the comms.

  “No, she has a small wound on her head, but the blood seems to be from the others,” he replied, scanning the three dead Medics.

  “It wasn’t her; she said her name was Thomas Keller,” Ally whispered, looking down at the woman.

  “The MPD will be on their way soon. Either we’ll have a lot of explaining to do, or we should get out of here,” Quartzig said. As if on cue, the sounds of sirens filled the air. The deaths of the Medics would have triggered an automatic signal to the local Police department.

  “Get out of there guys, there’s nothing tying you to the scene. Let’s regroup and find out what’s going on!” Julian ordered.

  “Agreed,” Quartzig said, turning to Ally.

  “I don’t understand. It was like she was a different person,” she said before looking to Quartzig.