The Nexus

by Gary M Martin

  It was then that Candace heard Stone frantically yelling from the hallway that they needed to go.

  CHAPTER 43

  Walter took the long way back, the way they had come, edging along the wall following the shadows as when they had worked their way around to the small forklift. He stopped abruptly just before stepping out of the umbra when he spotted the mayor cutting across the wide floor heading to the control room.

  For several tense moments, Walter wasn’t sure what to do. He still felt unsteady from the collision with the wall. But he had to do something.

  He waited until the mayor had passed then stepped out into the illumination of the overhead lights. “Hold it!” Walter called out to him from behind. He brandished his gun in front of him. He wasn’t sure he wanted to take the chance of blowing everyone up, including himself, but maybe the mere threat was enough to stop him.

  The mayor did stop. He turned around. When he saw the gun, he was visibly shaken. “You know there’s more than an eighty percent chance that you’ll blow us all up if you pull that trigger.”

  “It’s a chance I’m willing to take,” he said, and could hear the strain of nervousness in his voice.

  Walter suddenly heard noises behind him. He figured more of the mayor’s people. He whipped around ready for confrontation.

  It was the Hands and hammerhead.

  “You can’t use your gun here,” Hands warned.

  “I …” Walter started to defend his action then remembered the mayor. He turned back around. The mayor was gone. He wondered how he could have disappeared so quickly.

  He looked back at Hands and Hammerhead. He eyed Hammerhead nervously.

  “He won’t hurt you,” Hands said. “I have him under control.”

  “Where’s the woman?” Walter asked.

  “In her cell. She won’t come out. Unfortunately, I can’t get any kind of mental control over her like I can Hammerhead. I think it has something to do with her electrical connection.”

  “Maybe it’s better that way,” Walter said. “Right now, we have to get to Stone and warn him about the mayor.”

  “Yes, the mayor is very dangerous. Much more than you know.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “First, hand me your gun.”

  “My gun? What for?”

  “Just let me see it, please.”

  Walter reluctantly handed it to him.

  He took it and passed it to Hammerhead.

  “What did you do that …” his words broke off as he witnessed Hammerhead bending the barrel to a thirty-degree angle.

  “We can’t take a chance of this thing going off,” Hands said.

  “You could have just taken the bullets out of it.”

  “Oh, I didn’t think of that.” He grinned.

  Walter looked at him a moment. “Okay, eh, now what about the mayor?”

  “He’s got the power to transform himself into some kind of feral creature. Sort of a mixture between man and beast. It happened on his journey to this planet. It’s the same type of mutation that happened to us. Regrettably, Hammerhead and I can’t change our appearance to look normal.”

  Walter shook his head. “This is insane. I feel like I’m in a dream, or more precisely, a nightmare.” He whipped around suddenly as if the creature might be coming at them. As before the mayor was nowhere in sight. He turned back to Hands. “We need to hurry.”

  They moved quickly ahead and were almost to the control room when mayor Byron Jensen suddenly landed in front of them. Not as the mayor Walter recognized, but as the big, gray creature he had been when he had attacked James, Bass, and Darren, killing Darren in the process.

  Hands recognized him by the mental image that had settled in his brain the first time the mayor had changed. He quickly passed the information to Walter telepathically as well as instructing Hammerhead on what to do.

  The creature seemed to smile, or snarl, or perhaps gloat. It was hard to read over the hard, misshapen face. Whatever it was quickly passed when Hammerhead rushed him catching him by surprise and for a fleeting instant his cat-like eyes widened. But his reflexes were swift, and he adroitly twisted off to one side nearly avoiding the charging body. Nearly. A thick, muscular shoulder did manage to catch his upper arm pushing him around even further until he tottered backward and off to one side.

  Two hands suddenly grabbed the mayor’s wrists as he teetered off balance while another two fists slammed into his face and chest. But they weren’t strong enough to hurt him. He quickly moved into Hands breaking free of his grip, and lifted him over his head. He threw him into Hammerhead who was just about to attack again. Hammerhead fell straight backward like a toppled tree as Hands crashed into him slamming him into the unforgiving concrete as he landed heavily on top of him.

  Walter watched the action unfold before him as if it were all in fast forward. By the time he decided to take action Hammerhead and Hands were already on the floor.

  Walter drove his corpulent body at the creature. And almost got to him, when the long, razor-sharp claws emerged from the mayor’s right hand and swooped in an arc toward his fat neck.

  At once the mayor was snatched up off the floor from behind as his claws swiped savagely at empty air. Before he could react, Stone hurled the mayor/creature at the large window of the control room. Stone had seen the action unfurl when he had called down the hallway for Candace to come on. He had immediately rushed through the control room to join in the fight.

  The creature hit on splayed legs and arms catching the brunt of the collision with the window. For brief seconds he clung to the window like a giant injured bug on a windshield about ready to fall. Then, very quickly he capered up the window and out of reach.

  Just as Stone looked upward to glimpse the mayor diving into the shadows above the light fixtures a powerful force, stronger than any flood of water from a fire hose, struck him in the back hurling him across the floor to the far wall. In the air, in the dissipating seconds, he managed to twist and turn to direct his feet toward the wall. When his feet hit, he used his legs like coiled steel springs absorbing most of the impact of the collision with the wall. But not as much as he hoped and when he dropped to the floor off-balance, he landed painfully on his right shoulder

  CHAPTER 44

  Candace and James stepped cautiously into the short hallway from the morgue. It was empty. She had expected to see Stone waiting for them.

  “I thought your friend would be here,” James said. “The one who called out to you.”

  “Yeah, me too. That’s what scares me.” Candace took a deep breath. “Cover me.”

  “Sure, but maybe I should …”

  She took off before James could finish telling her that he thought he should go first. He turned to face the relatively dark central corridor pointing his gun in the space where the door once hung hoping that no attacker would suddenly arise out of the shadows.

  Candace reached the control room door and squatted down. She motioned for James to come to her.

  James inhaled a deep breath and began backing up to her, his gun still pointing at the doorless frame. He made it to her without incident.

  Candace stood up from her crouched position and took a tentative step into the control room. She was just in time to see Stone blasted off his feet and past the big window.

  “Oh, God!” Candace exclaimed, and she thrust herself into the control room.

  James entered right behind her.

  She grabbed the door handle on the other side of the room that opened to the huge room that housed the octagon building. She jerked on the handle, but the door wouldn’t budge. There was no movement at all as if the door and the wall were one solid piece. She looked for some kind of bolt that could be holding the door shut. There was nothing. There seemed to be no reason the door wouldn’t open.

  Her eyes anxiously searched the room looking for something that might break the door free. Maybe something to pry with. A crowbar. A screwdriver. Something with an
edge to it.

  “What’s wrong?” James asked.

  “The door’s stuck. I can’t get it open. I need something.” At once she thought about the pistol she was holding. She aimed it at the lock intending to blow it off the door. All at once she dropped the gun and grabbed both sides of her head as a sharp pain seemed to drill into her brain. She fell to her knees. She gasped just as the pain began to ebb and dissipate. To disappear just as abruptly as it had struck her. She slowly let her hands drop to her side. Immediately, a clarion voice began to speak inside her head.

  “Leave the guns and the door will open.”

  She looked behind her at James thinking that he had spoken to her. But he had also fallen to his knees and was looking about, somewhat disconcerted.

  “You hear it too?” she asked.

  “Yes, where is it coming from?”

  “Leave the guns,” came the words in their head. This time it was more intense.

  She suddenly knew where, or who, it was coming from. She looked through the glass door and spotted Hands rising to his feet. She immediately recalled the dire warning that he had given from his cell.

  “We need to leave the guns in here,” she said.

  Mira pointed the gun at Stone once more. Minutes earlier she had rushed back down to the armory which was only a minute away to retrieve this weapon, Seeing as how her other weapon had mysteriously exploded on her.

  Stone was at the far wall rising slowly to his feet, somewhat hidden by the darkness that was just outside the spray of the overhead lights. She could make out his silhouette, however, and that was enough. She fired.

  Fortunately for Stone, the force that proceeded from the pistol was not as fast as a regular bullet and Stone had just enough time to dive out of the way. This second blast sailed harmlessly past him to hit the wall and dissipate into multiple gusts of wind.

  Stone pushed to his feet and raised his left hand as if he were waving to her. Mira pulled the trigger again hoping that he wouldn’t react as quickly this time. The gun merely clicked as it had before and a big puff of smoke exuded from the barrel.

  She threw the gun to the floor in disgust. Stone had done it to her again. She was sure of it.

  The gun contained electronic components. She surmised that Stone’s computer arm must have emitted some type of signal successfully jamming the gun’s operation. As to the details, she didn’t have time to ponder them. Hammerhead was charging at her like a crazed rhino.

  She dropped to the floor at the very last second avoiding his driving body and caught his legs with hers. Hammerhead tumbled forward slamming his forearms into the concrete floor.

  Mira was quick to get to her feet, and just in time to see Candace and James burst through the door from the control room. Walter ran to meet them. Hands was moving toward her. She wasn’t too concerned with him. Even with his two extra arms, she didn’t feel like he would be much of a threat. Besides, he didn’t seem in much of a hurry. He was walking slowly, steadily toward her as if time was of no concern.

  Mira was not about to wait on Hands to come to her. She decided it best to dispose of him quickly then turn her attention to the others. She thought of rushing him. But thinking of it was all that she could do. Her legs felt like they were welded to the floor. She couldn’t move.

  CHAPTER 45

  As Candace and James exited the control room Walter spoke quickly and succinctly explaining that the mayor had become some kind of creature. He pointed upward. They all looked up at the ceiling. “I can’t see anything,” James said, “but I’m betting it’s the same creature that killed my … friend.”

  “I’m sorry,” Candace said. She looked over at the far wall. Stone was on his feet, but she had a bad feeling that the creature was heading toward him. “I have to go to Stone.”

  “Of course,” James answered. Looking about he noticed Mira not far away. And a man with four arms. “What …? Who is …?”

  “No time to explain,” Candace cut in. “But he’s one of the good guys.”

  “Go help your friend,” James said. “I’m thinking I might need to help this four-arms guy to deal with this Mira lady.”

  Candace gave him a slight wave and her and Walter took off toward Stone.

  He landed in front of Stone, only a couple of feet away, and instantly swept a hand full of three-inch razor-sharp claws shaped like an eagles’ talons at his face. Displaying uncommon swiftness, however, Stone dropped into a squat dropping below the deadly swipe and drove his artificial left fist at the creature’s stomach. With blurring speed, the creature twisted, and Stone’s fist glanced off his right side causing little damage. The action happened so quick it all seemed to be in one motion.

  The creature, the transformed mayor, drove his left hand down, the claws angled toward Stone’s head and shoulder. Stone caught the left wrist with his right hand, but only after the claws caught the edge of his cheek peeling back lines of flesh and creating rivulets of blood. At once Stone’s left hand grabbed the creature’s other wrist. Instantly Stone sprang upward and drove the top of his head up and under the creature’s jaw. The head jerked backward as Stone held tight to his wrists. Almost at once the creature’s legs came up to Stone’s chest and with a tremendous thrust, he pushed off, freeing himself from Stone’s grasp, flipping backward to land on his feet three yards away. Moving with lightning speed he cut to his left and leaped onto the wall. Stone jumped after him hitting him with a right hand to the side of his face splattering blood from his mouth and nose sending him careening off the wall. He landed on his feet and tottered to the side for a moment but was able to gain control in time to duck a solid left fist. He rolled across the floor away from Stone. He jumped six feet up on the wall and started clambering upward. Stone leaped at him, a good six feet off the floor, stretched out his right hand and caught the creature by the ankle. The creature came loose from the wall and they both fell to the floor.

  The transformed mayor cried out in pain as he hit hard on the concrete floor. Stone landed beside him on his back, the wind briefly knocked out of him. He still had hold of his ankle, but his grip had weakened.

  The creature suddenly began to kick wildly, frantically, desperately. Like a trapped animal fighting for its life. The one free foot finally caught Stone in the mouth, and he scampered free. He jumped up on the wall once again. Stone struggled to his feet right behind him and went after him. This time Stone was too slow, and the creature scurried upward into the shadows above the light fixtures.

  Candace skidded to a sudden stop. The altercation between Stone and the mayor had been extremely rapid and had ended quite abruptly. She and Walter were still a good fifteen yards away from Stone. At once they both stared up at the ceiling frantically searching for the creature afraid that he might be dropping in on them. After a few moments of descrying no movement in the dark ceiling, they turned to Stone.

  Stone was running his hand across his face where the creature had clawed him.

  “Are you okay?” Candace asked and started to move toward him.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” he said quickly, sounding defensive. “Go help the others. I just need a moment to heal.”

  For just a second Candace thought she saw something shiny reflect off his cheek. Then she thought that it must have been a trick of the light. Reluctantly, she and Walter turned and began heading back the way they came.

  On the opposite side of the enormous room, Mira quickly realized what was going on. Hands was in her head manipulating portions of her brain, making her think that she couldn’t move. Virtually paralyzing her.

  She found herself in a precarious situation. Hands was moving inexorably closer and she doubted that he had good intentions. Behind him, many yards away, James was hobbling at a run toward her. And to the back of her she could hear, and sense, Hammerhead rising off the floor.

  Her heart began to race, but she wasn’t about to let fear overtake her. She was stronger than that. Knowing what was going on was the key she needed to brea
k Hands’ hold on her.

  She pushed her mind. Focusing. Convincing herself that it was all a mental trick. There was no paralysis! She shouted that in her mind. She could move! She could move! She would! Nothing could stop her!

  She forced her first step and the paralysis began to break apart in small chunks.

  Hammerhead came rushing up behind her. She tried to dodge the attack but the effect on her mind made her much too slow. Hands’ spell still clung tenaciously to her mind like fine strands of spider webs. All she could do was brace herself for a collision. A collision that didn’t come.

  Hands suddenly stopped. A little to the rear of him James abruptly slowed to a few tentative steps.

  Further away Candace’s face grew ashen and she began to bolt toward James and Hands. Behind Candace Walter broke into a trot pushing himself as much as he could as a rush of terror washed over him.

  Hammerhead had been hoisted to over ten feet above the floor. For a time he struggled to break free of the large, gray hands that constrained him. Then in a violent burst, he was hurled at Hands who was too stricken by the sudden arrival of the giant, bulking man a few yards ahead of him that he couldn’t avoid the onslaught of the big body of Hammerhead crashing into him.

  “No,” Mira groaned. “Byron, you didn’t have to …”

  “Yes,” the mayor rumbled in a voice that no longer sounded like the old mayor nor the creature he had been only a minute ago. It was a voice that was several octaves deeper and closer to that of a growling, angry animal. The mayor had transformed from the creature he was to a behemoth of over eight feet tall. His shoulders were wide with thick, sinewy muscles that looked like banded strips of steel. He was huge. The weight of his frame easily exceeded seven hundred pounds. Most of his clothes had been torn away by the change. Only remnants of cloth clung to his upper arms and around his groin area. His head was bald and angled like that of an ape. His whole body was gray and hairless.