Beastmaster: Omnicide: A LitRPG science fantasy adventure (Beastmasters Book 2)

by Kory Shen

  "Cody?"

  "I'm going to kill you, little-D!"

  Fuck! Zoe! I melded right as Cody crashed into me, locking his jaws around my throat.

  By now, I was used to Phase Shifting instantly at the first hint of damage. I escaped his vise-like jaws and bounded away, knocking over the television.

  ENERGY: 786/800

  Cody cannonballed as I raced in a circle around the room. He smashed into a bookcase.

  "What the hell? Does Garvek know you're here?"

  "Garvek?" Cody barked a laugh. "The talking toaster's busying minding something else. He won't be here to save you." He cannonballed again, turning a piano into splintered mess of wrong notes.

  "What the fuck do you want?" I was clinging to the ceiling with my claws, putting a chandelier between me and Cody.

  "Isn't it obvious? I want you dead." Cody cannonballed again, straight into the chandelier. I jumped to the floor, twisting halfway so that I landed on my feet. Glass shards from the exploding chandelier sprayed the room.

  "I never did anything to you! Jesus, Cody." I sent a Sonic Screech at Cody as he landed, making him land face first.

  "Fuck you, little-D! I know why you're here. The toaster's going to replace me, once he gets his way with you. I plan to make sure that never happens."

  He lunged with wide open jaws. This time, I was ready for the spinning disk that shot out. I Claw Whirled, knocking away the trap and Cody's jaws at the same time.

  ENERGY: 776/800

  Cody immediately cannonballed at me. I sidestepped, dodging it easily.

  Dustin! From your right!

  The spinning disk I had knocked away had a mind of its own. I twisted and weaved, trying to dodge it, but the trap clamped down on a rear leg.

  "I'm better than you," Cody growled. "I always was. But now, I'm unstoppable." He opened his mouth and sent another spinning disk at me. I tried to dodge it, but the trap around my leg pinned itself to the ground. I swiped at the incoming disk, but it was useless.

  A second trap bit into a front leg.

  "Remember the first time I zeroed you?" Cody asked. "Fucking hilarious, wasn't it? Well, this is going to be the last time." He opened his jaws wide, charging forward.

  Zoe! I'm out of options!

  Get the traps off! Get them off!

  I bit the trap on my front leg while raking at the trap on my rear legs with my claws. I wouldn't make it in time.

  A gigantic black shape materialized in front of me. A spider. Julie's Beastform.

  "Cody, what the fuck!" Julie cried.

  Julie grabbed Cody in an eight-legged embrace, and the two went tumbling across the room, cursing at each other.

  The trap on my front leg broke into pieces. I curled and bit into the other trap. It shattered.

  ENERGY: 524/800

  Shit. Each trap had taken a hundred energy off me. I glanced at Julie and Cody, who were still grappling with each other, Cody trying to lunge at Julie's midsection, while she fended him off with half her legs, stabbing him with the others.

  Can we take him?

  Likely, yes. Stick to basic strikes and conserve your energy for defense.

  "Julie! I'm free! Pin him down, and I can attack!"

  Julie was on her back. She lifted Cody into the air with all eight legs, then shot her webbing at him.

  Cody disappeared into a large plume of gray smoke that slithered away, reforming on the other side of the room.

  "Stupid bitch. I'll kill you both," he snarled. He cannonballed at Julie.

  Julie didn't dodge him. Instead, she caught him with her eight legs, wrapping him up. The wall shuddered as they crashed into it together.

  Julie's legs moved faster than I could see. In that brief instant, Julie had rolled Cody up into a cocoon of her webbing, trapping him inside. The cocoon went slack and deformed, then took the shape of a bulldog again.

  Cody was trying to use his smoke form to escape, but he was stuck. Julie stabbed a leg directly into the webbing, then another.

  The shape inside the cocoon began shaking furious. "He's trying to bite free!" Julie cried.

  "Focus on the webbing!" I ran up to the cocoon. "I'll deal the damage."

  Julie covered the cocoon in more webbing. Meanwhile, I extended a single claw from my right paw and punched it into the center of the mass. The claw was only about six inches long, but it was enough. I felt it pierce past the webbing and hit a thicker resistance.

  It wouldn't do much damage, but Cody was helpless. I punched my claw into Cody over and over again. Julie repaired her cocoon faster than Cody could do any damage.

  Several minutes later, the bulk inside Julie's cocoon vanished. He had zeroed.

  "Let me get him out," Julie said with a click of her mouth pincers. Her legs moved rapidly, teasing apart her webbing.

  I watched, still in my Beastform, as Julie tore away the final layer of webbing.

  I stared in horror at the figure that fell out of the webbing.

  It was Cody, or rather, the bloody mess that had once been Cody.

  The body had no skin, bloody muscles and pulsing arteries clearly visible. A metal harness, the plate I had seen on his back, was at his side. Something dark and stained in ichor stirred next to the body.

  I unmelded in shock, fighting back the urge to vomit. It was his bulldog, a bloody mess, just like Cody.

  Eyeballs moved within the larger mess of wet muscle and gore that was Cody. An opening, maybe a mouth shifted. A weak voice spoke.

  "Kill me. Please. Kill me."

  CHAPTER 20

  Julie unmelded and rushed to my side. "My god."

  I glanced at her. "Shouldn't you…disappear?"

  Julie shook her head. "Stealth Crawling drains my energy reserves slowly. I didn't have much left before the fight. I won't be able to use it again much without resting."

  I turned back to Cody. "Cody, what happened? Who did this to you?"

  "The old man. The toaster. It doesn't matter." The bloody dog at his side let out a weak yelp. "Kill us…both."

  Dustin…

  Zoe, what do I do?

  Zoe didn't reply immediately. Her own horror leaked through our bond. What he asked. End his suffering.

  "Dustin?" Julie asked. She flexed her hands. "I'll do it."

  "Wait, can't we help him? Do something for him?"

  Cody coughed weakly. "You going to make me beg, little-D? You don't know what they can do to you. I can't take it anymore."

  Cody was an asshole. A prick. A traitor.

  But no person deserved this. I closed my eyes. Dr. Preston, the Mekanics. We were pieces of meat to them, to everyone.

  I hated them, for what they had done to Cody, for what they wanted to do to us, for what Cody was making me do now.

  I can take care of it. Look away.

  No, Zoe. I held up my hand to stop Julie as well. This was a world that chewed you up and spit you out. Mekanics, humans. We were no different. I wouldn't run or hide from the ugly truth. We were all monsters. I'll do it.

  We'll do it together.

  "Fuck, I hate everyone," Cody muttered one last time.

  I melded. Two quick swipes of my claws, and it was over.

  "Dustin, it had to be done. He turned on us." Julie reached out to pat my Beastform.

  I didn't reply. I stood there, silently, staring at my handiwork. At least Beastforms didn't have tears.

  The door slid open. An enthusiastic girly voice called out. "Dustin, Dustin!"

  I turned to find Vikki staring at us with an open mouth.

  "Oh."

  "Stop, Julie!" I cried.

  Julie had melded and leaped towards Vikki, her legs pointed like spears. Julie retracted her legs and shot a string of web into the floor, swinging herself to the side to avoid Vikki. She crawled to Vikki's side, aiming four legs at Vikki's body.

  "She's one of them," Julie hissed. "I'm compromised. We have to find Mia and scram. Dump this bitch, and let's go."

  She has a poin
t. It's too dangerous to stick around Garvek for longer. We've lost Julie's element of surprise. We need to go.

  Julie raised a leg higher, ready for a stab. I unmelded and ran up to Vikki. "Hold on, Julie! She can help us." I turned to Vikki. "Vikki, we need your help. Please."

  Vikki looked curiously at Julie's Beastform, then Cody's bloody remains. "I…I don't know. Father said he'd come to talk it over."

  "Garvek? He's coming?" Shit.

  "Let's go!" Julie hissed.

  I shook my head. "We need Mia's phone, or a way to contact someone. We'll never get off here by ourselves. Plus, if Garvek's coming, he'll bring us Mia."

  "What?"

  "He's holding her in his torso. Don't stab him there."

  Julie nudged Vikki with one arm. "We can still get rid of this one. One less threat."

  "You're going to destroy me?" Vikki asked with big eyes. Her voice quivered.

  "No, we're not," I said loudly to both of them. Vikki started sniffling. "What's the big deal? You can get a new body anyway."

  Vikki shook her head. "It's not so simple. I told you, I rebooted recently. My neural algorithms are still converging. I can't sideload as easily as Father does."

  Meaning we could kill her for good. Zoe's horror had turned to a quiet rage. She usually kept pretty tight control of her emotions, but recently, more had been spilling over to me than usual.

  The Mekanic were the enemy, but I couldn't bring myself to kill Vikki. Maybe it was an act, some clever programming, but I couldn't bring myself to kill her in cold blood. Not after I just killed someone for the first time.

  It's not her fault, Zoe.

  Zoe was quiet, her anger fading, at least from my bond. Hurry, either way.

  I grabbed Vikki by the shoulders. "Vikki, listen, can you help us? Where did you get Mia's combat uniform? Did she have a phone with her? Some kind of communication device?"

  "Yes, I know where it is," Vikki said. "But why…" Her eyes grew wide. "You want to leave? Why?"

  "Why?" I pointed to Cody's corpse. "Didn't you see what Garvek did to him? Why the fuck do you think we want to leave?"

  Vikki shrank back. "But…but Father said he would make things right. Talk it over."

  "Where's the phone?" I asked.

  "I'm not telling you." Vikki pressed her metal lips into a tight line.

  "We can torture her," Julie said. "Force her to tell us."

  "No! Forget her. Let's go, Julie." I melded and left Vikki behind. I sprinted along the tunnel's floor while Julie skittered overhead above me.

  Uh, so where are we going, Zoe?

  The training room had a command console. If it was really designed by the Mekanics, it may have similar functions.

  Like communication.

  Exactly. It might even link into our military network.

  That was a disturbing thought, but it was our only lead.

  "Follow me," I said to Julie. "We're going to see if we can contact someone another way."

  "Right above you," Julie replied.

  Zoe guided me through the maze of tunnels until we appeared in front of another faceless gray-metal wall marked with the outlines of a large door.

  This one.

  "I'll go in first," I said to Julie.

  I Phase Shifted and crossed the door. Inside was dark, but there was a faint glow from the command console's screen. I unmelded and approached it.

  Bright yellow light suddenly flooded the training room. I froze and looked around, but no one was there. The debris from Garvek's broken old body was still lying in the corner of the room.

  I crept toward the command console and tapped the screen. The interface was exactly identical to what we had used in the Academy, with only minor differences.

  I navigated the menus and found the communication interface. The Academy was grayed out, though.

  Try the one labeled Emergency Response Team.

  Okay.

  There was a simple text interface, no option for video or voice calling. I typed a short message.

  DUSTIN HUNTER, MIA KIM, JULIE RICHARDS. ALIVE IN ENEMY CUSTODY. NEED IMMEDIATE AERIAL TRANSPORT.

  I paused. I had no idea where we were.

  Send the last known coordinates. Or mention Drake.

  I finished the message.

  LAST KNOWN LOCATION WITH DRAKE EMBER.

  I hit the send button. I hoped someone was listening on the other side. I turned away from the command console and froze.

  The head on Garvek's broken body swiveled and looked at me.

  "Tsk, tsk, tsk," Garvek's remains said to me. "I was curious what you would do. It doesn't matter. I'll kill whoever comes." He made a laughing noise, a low, sinister sound. "If we hurry, we can do it together. It'll be our first time together, with me in charge…"

  I didn't bother listening to Garvek continue. I melded and Phase Shifted through the training room's door.

  On the other side stood an intact Garvek. His chest was open again, but this time there was a second girl adjacent to Mia. It was Julie, still in her combat uniform. She struggled against her bonds.

  "Run, Dustin! Leave us!" Julie shouted as Garvek's chest closed on her.

  "A pity," Garvek said. "Another run-of-the-mill Beastmaster. Not quite as interesting as you." He rapped his knuckles on the front of his chest, and Julie's muffled shouting abruptly stopped.

  "Let them go," I said, baring my teeth. I could dismember his limbs, then pry his torso open.

  "No, no, no." Garvek wagged a thick finger at me. "We need to get you ready to meet your incoming friends. You'll have plenty of time for death and destruction once our bonding is complete." He turned and beckoned for me to follow. "To the lab!"

  Should I attack?

  It's too risky. We need to run, regroup. If Garvek's right, there are reinforcements on the way—

  Something barreled into me from behind. I somersaulted across the tunnel, landing a few feet in front of Garvek. Two of the flying Mekanics from before, twin angels of death, landed on either side of me.

  "You made me do this!" Garvek screamed. "You made me!"

  The hell?

  I rose to my feet, but the Mekanics on either side converged, opening fire on me.

  Dustin!

  Everything went black.

  CHAPTER 21

  I woke up on some kind of table. I tried to move my limbs, but they didn't respond. There were cuffs around my wrists and ankles.

  I tried to meld, but nothing happened. Right. I had probably zeroed.

  Zoe? I expected her to be knocked out with the collar as usual.

  Something rattled in the corner of my left eye. A cage, like the ones they had used at the Academy. Had the Mekanics secretly supplied the designs for those, too?

  I couldn't reach Zoe with my mind, and I couldn't meld.

  And what the hell was wrong with my right eye? It itched, and the colors were slightly off. I tried blinking.

  Something was wrong. I twisted my head until I could see my reflection off a shiny stand to my side.

  There was metal on the right side of my face. I strained for a better look.

  My right eye was gone. In its place was a metal eye.

  "Fuck!" I screamed. "Garvek! What'd you do to me?"

  "Hmm?" Garvek's metal head, with its single black eye, appeared in my vision. "You look wonderful, don't you agree?"

  "Fuck you! What is this?"

  Garvek's eye pulsed red. "Oh, just a little something that should help with the bonding. Last time, there was nothing but a crude organic brain to hold my magnificent mind. We know how that worked." Garvek sighed.

  Garvek pointed at my right eye with a finger. "This should help. A physical vessel and modulator, with direct, high bandwidth access via the optical nerve." I tried to flinch away, but he seized my head, then poked me in my metal eye. There was a clink.

  "Stay the fuck out of my head!"

  "Ah, but you won't have a say in the matter. There is still the issue of gender polarity. Oh wel
l. What's good for the goose is good for the gander."

  Shit, shit. I was going to be mind-raped by a psycho robot. I had to do something. "What about…free will? You can't do this to me without my permission."

  Garvek turned away, doing something I couldn't see. "An obsolete mode of thought."

  "No, you can't! Your own daughter, Vikki, thinks it's wrong." I desperately glanced around, looking for something, anything I could use to escape.

  Garvek loomed over me again. "Unlike your species, we Mekanics no longer reproduce. Do you know what that means?"

  "That you're all batshit crazy?"

  "It means we can't evolve. No sexual selection. The only thing we can change is our minds. Free will is a relic of the past. Once I show the others what's possible, they'll—"

  The clattering of footsteps interrupted Garvek. I couldn't see who it was, but I recognized the voice. Vikki.

  "Father! Please, you can't force him! You said we would talk about it."

  "We're having a nice chit-chat, right now," Garvek said. "Oh, hello, Staccato."

  Staccato? He was here? Fuck.

  "What's going on?" Staccato pushed forward to peer at me. He turned to Garvek. "And Cody's dead. What the hell happened?"

  Vikki leaned over me, holding my hand. "I…I didn't know what to do. I brought your friend."

  "He's not my—" I stopped. I didn't have anywhere else to turn.

  "Staccato," I said. "I saw what they did to Cody. What they did to you. He…he begged me to kill him."

  Staccato whirled. "What? Did he unmeld?"

  "Yeah," I croaked.

  "Fuck!" Staccato kicked Garvek's leg. "You said you would save him!"

  "You were there after the procedure," Garvek said. "When I told him that he could never unmeld again."

  I wasn't about to admit that I had zeroed Cody.

  Zoe! Shit! What do I say?

  The cage rattled, but I couldn't hear anything from Zoe. I would have to do this on my own.

  "Staccato, please. You have to help. Garvek's trying to force himself into my mind, like he did to you."

  Staccato screamed in my face. "I don't have to do anything!" He stood up, panting hard. Then, he turned to Garvek. "Is it true? You're going to bond with him?"