The Culling (Book 2): The Hollow:

by Bell, A. C.

  I jolted awake with someone’s hands cupped around my face, trying to wake me. The room had dimmed now that the sun had gone down, but I was able to vaguely make out Raiden’s features. His hands moved in to my hair and the relief in his face was clear. I, on the other hand, started to panic.

  “No! How did you find me?” I rushed to my knees, desperate and afraid for him. A coat that had been placed over my back started to fall. I caught it, sliding my arms inside.

  “Kendra tracked your phone to that apartment. She saw the abandoned factory and thought you might come here. Finding people who are hard to find is her job, remember?”

  I thumped my hands against his chest and held fistfuls of his shirt. “But you’re not safe here!”

  “Neither are you.”

  “No, I’m not. But they aren’t after you, they want me.”

  “And your solution is to handle this alone?”

  Tears filled my eyes. “I can’t lose anyone else! Especially not to him or his people!”

  A pained expression turned his features bleak. “I know.” He tugged me forward into a warm embrace and I held him tight. “We should go before they find us,” he said softly.

  Footsteps echoed down the catwalk out the door. Peter sprinted through, holding onto the frame to swing around into the room quickly. “Too late! They’re already here,” he said, having heard Raiden with that pesky supernatural hearing.

  I did a double take at his wardrobe, a giant grey jacket, blue and orange basketball shorts, and green flip flops. The weirdness was diminished by my overwhelming joy. “Peter!”

  “Hey,” he said with a grin.

  “Is Slade ready?” Raiden asked.

  “Yep.” Peter’s eyes started reflecting light and his fingernails were sharpening into thick claws when he reached up to pull off his jacket.

  Nikki appeared behind him as he backed out, peeling his shirt over his head. She stumbled out of the way. The surprise on her face at Peter’s sudden stripping was almost funny enough to make me laugh, even now.

  “Sorry,” he said, veering around her. She did a double take of his half-transformed face as he disappeared down the walkway.

  “There are two vans pulling up to the south,” Slade said through a walkie-talkies on Raiden’s and Nikki’s hips.

  Nikki blinked the astonishment from her face and looked to us. “I saw two vans pulling up on the west side, too. Not sure how many people were inside.”

  A grin toyed with the corners of Raiden’s mouth and he stroked my cheek. “They came ready for trouble. I guess they’ve figured out that you’re not an easy target.”

  I couldn’t hold in a morose little chuckle and cupped his cheek in my hand. He touched his forehead to mine. “Then let’s give them hell,” I muttered. We stayed like that a heartbeat longer and then stood, ready for a fight.

  “Do we have a plan?” Nikki asked.

  “That depends. We need to know where they are and how many we have to deal with, but we might give ourselves away.”

  She gnawed on her lip as she thought, looking around the room. “Do you see any water?” We searched the small room with no luck so I peeked into the adjoining room. Half the window was shattered and snow had piled on the sill and floor.

  “How about snow?”

  Her head popped around my shoulder and she grinned. “That’ll do. Don’t worry, they won’t see us,” she said vaguely.

  She bounced around me and balled snow in her hands. Brandishing it like a baseball, she chucked it at the wall separating us from the main chamber. The snow melted the instant it hit the wall and poured down. I gaped. Any space the water touched became transparent. She threw a few more snowballs until we could see almost the entire room and we could vaguely see down to the floor down below through the perforation in the metal grate of the walkway. The skylight cast dramatic light around the broken-down turbines and miscellaneous machinery, but it was enough to catch glimpses of figures moving about near the door. Five. No, six. But where was Peter lurking?

  “We need to pick them off quietly one by one if we can,” Raiden said.

  “There are stairs right outside the door, but they’ll probably see us.”

  “We need a distraction. How do we signal Peter without giving ourselves away?”

  “On it.” Nikki stretched her hand toward the skylight. Her nose crinkled in thought, lips pinched together, then gave her hand a sharp twist and clenched her fingers. She was using Ian’s trick. The entire skylight shattered, raining glass and snow down below. The room was brighter now and I caught sight of Peter’s furry derriere slinking behind one of the machines across the room.

  The Hunters moved further into the room. Suddenly, gunfire erupted in the corner, followed briefly by a guy screaming. It stopped just as abruptly. The others were instantly on high alert, heading to help their comrade. We had an opening, but now Peter was in trouble. Nikki hurried to the door first and waved her hand at the walkway. A shimmer spread across it and when Nikki sprinted out and into the stairwell, the metal didn’t rattle. Joy filled my chest, so ecstatic to see her embracing her magic so readily. I hurried after her with Raiden on my tail. She paused outside the door and I slipped around her.

  “What is it?” a man’s voice echoed up the stairwell, followed by the static chatter of a walkie-talkie radio.

  I peeked over the railing and spotted a man in pseudo SWAT attire moving for the door to help his comrades. I swung over the railing. Air tousled my hair above my head as I fell toward him like a boulder. He looked up, probably having heard the railing grind beneath my metal hands, but he wasn’t ready for the weight of my metal bones. He crumpled beneath me and I heard a distinct crunch from somewhere. The air was forced from his lungs, so he couldn’t scream. I snatched one of the spare tranq darts strapped to his chest and jabbed it into his collar above his bulletproof vest. After a few seconds of struggling, he slumped against the floor, out cold.

  I pushed to my feet as Nikki and Raiden sprinted down the concrete stairs. The gunfire in the other room had ceased quickly. That was either good or bad for Peter. I hoped desperately that it didn’t mean they had gotten him. Would they tranquilize him, as well, or was he too much of a threat to risk it? We also still needed to find Kendra.

  I turned to the others. “You two look for Kendra, I’ll check on Peter,” I whispered.

  “What? No! Don’t separate!” Raiden argued.

  “We don’t have time to find them both together, we need to get out!”

  Raiden growled his frustration and pulled a radio from his coat pocket. He mashed the button and held it to his lips. “Cover Adeline.”

  “Got it,” came Slade’s gravelly voice.

  “Why doesn’t Kendra have one of those?” I asked incredulously. That would have solved the problem.

  “She does,” Raiden retorted. “She’s just not answering.”

  “Not good. Let’s go.”

  “Here, take mine.” Nikki handed me her radio and drew me into a tight hug.

  “It’ll be okay,” I assured her.

  She nodded and pulled away. “Okay, go.”

  I stuffed the radio into my pocket and peeked out the door. No one there. I crouched and snuck to the nearest machine and, peeking between aisles, sprinted from one machine to another until I reached the corner. Still, no one. I edged up to the dark doorway in front of me and found vague shapes of what looked like several other well-armed men on the floor. Peter had definitely been here. I turned down the aisle along the wall again just as another hunter turned into the aisle a few machines over and spotted me.

  A shot rang out and someone dropped behind me. I peered up at the skylight and saw Slade ejecting an empty cartridge from a sniper rifle. The Hunter in front of me snapped around and leered upward to find Slade, but a deep growl reverberated around his corner and redirected his attention. Long fingers covered in dark umber fur slid around the edge of the machine. The metal made unpleasant grinding noises as the thick claws tore a
nd dug into it. The face of a monstrous wolf snarled around the corner as he slunk into full view.

  “Peter,” I gasped.

  Gabriel had bitten him. Peter was a wulver. And he was huge. The mutation of the cynocephalus DNA combined with his canisapian DNA had bolstered his size while transformed just as it had for Gabriel, and made him retain a mostly humanoid physique. If he were to straighten up, he would undoubtedly stand at least eight feet tall.

  The Hunter snapped out of his stupor and lifted his gun, but Peter grabbed the barrel and used it to yank the Hunter to him. Peter’s clawed fingers wrapped around the man’s throat. He lifted him easily and slammed his back hard into the turbine, bending the outer shell out of shape. After slamming him into it a few more times for good measure, Peter hurled the man behind him through the nearest open doorway.

  His features relaxed when he turned to me. He plunked his rump on the ground, sitting like a massive pup to make himself less imposing as his bushy tail swept the floor behind him.

  “Hey Adeline,” he said in a strange deep voice as if he were altering it like a kidnapper on a ransom call.

  I balked. “Whoa. Say ‘Deliver the package by midnight or we’ll send him back in a body bag.’”

  “Deliver the—”

  “Nevermind, no time,” I interrupted. I stooped to pick up the tranq gun from the man Slade had shot. “Let’s go.”

  A blindingly bright light flashed across the room and with it, Nikki’s voice boomed defiantly. “NO!”

  Peter snatched me up and swung me onto his back. I’d barely wrapped my arms around his furry neck before he took off in Nikki’s direction. His gait was unbelievable in this form and only took half a dozen dashes to clear the room, veer the corner, and find her in one of the side rooms. She was backed against a wall and had erected a shield around her and Raiden, who lay still on the floor. My heart stopped.

  Three Hunters were recovering from Nikki’s flash spell, shaking their heads and fumbling backwards. Nikki took advantage of their disorientation and lifted her hands to the shield. When she clenched her fingers like claws, it splintered like glass and a flick of her wrist shot the shards toward the Hunters. Their sturdy bulletproof armor was merely ripped, but they all cried out in pain so the shards must have gotten through somewhere. I slid down Peter’s side and he launched forward, tackling two Hunters through the window to fight outside. I marched to the last and flipped my tranq gun around so I could brandish it like a bat. A square hit to the back sent him reeling toward the window and a swift kick to the rump shoved him through. Peter had finished the other two and now grabbed the last with both hands and threw him twenty feet across the snow. I turned desperately to Raiden.

  “He’s okay,” Nikki said immediately. “Just hit with a dart so he’s out cold.”

  Relief flooded my chest and I let out my breath. I draped Raiden’s arm over my shoulders so I could lift him against my side, careful not to hold too firm so as not to break his ribs.

  “Where’s Kendra?” I barked into the radio.

  “She’s fine, but more are flooding the room,” came Slade’s reply.

  “We’ll go out the window.”

  “10-4. I’ll make my way there.”

  I carried Raiden to the window, using my metal hand to break away the shards of glass still protruding upward. Nikki helped support his weight while I swung my legs over the sill to get out and then we eased Raiden out together. As she swung out, Peter growled loudly to alert us to danger. A van barreled through the chain link fence onto the yard, trailed shortly by another. Peter dashed over and got between us and them, crouching and growling threateningly, but it wasn’t he who acted first.

  Nikki let go of Raiden and sprinted to Peter’s side. She stomped her foot down and a small fissure shot through the earth, creating a jagged line in the snow. When it intercepted the van, she thrust her fist up and a short pillar of rock and dirt erupted through the snow. It struck the bottom with a BAM and the van toppled over. The engine died.

  “You’re drooling, Peter,” I teased.

  He snapped out of staring just as a hunter popped the back open and swung out with a rifle. Nikki froze, but Peter tackled her to safety as the man let off a shot. A loud crack rang through the air as Slade’s sniper rifle went off. The hunter fell. The second van veered around its fallen ally.

  “No, Peter,” Nikki exclaimed.

  She knelt at his side as he drowsily staggered onto his side so as not to drop his weight on her. He reached up to his chest to pluck a tranq dart from his tough skin and tossed it aside, snarling at the approaching van. I jumped and veered around when something crashed through one of the windows above us. Kendra plummeted toward the ground from the third floor, holding a limp hunter beneath her to break her fall. Half a dozen hunters broke through other windows, lowering themselves down safely with cords.

  I eased Raiden down to the snow and charged. A hunter landed near Kendra as she scrambled up so I intercepted. His helmet bent when I struck it with my metal fist. He staggered back, dazed, and I threw a metal foot into his chest. He struck the wall and slumped to the ground. Kendra was already engaging another hunter. I sprinted past. The next had his gun leveled on Kendra but swung it toward me. A wave of my hand deflected the dart. I ducked under his gun as he swiped a bayonet at me and punched his chest, then grabbed his gun by the bayonet and yanked it from his grip. I swung it like a bat at his head and he crumpled to the ground. Slade picked off the fourth and Kendra leapt on the fifth. Where had the sixth gone?

  Peter fell to the ground again in my periphery. His onslaught of the second van had been cut short by another tranq dart. Nikki marched on them with a sparking ball of electricity growing between both hands. I prepared to charge when the window behind me broke. Two needles stabbed into my back. They couldn’t go very deep since my body was full of metal, but apparently it was enough to get the stuff into my bloodstream. Before it could kick in, I swung my elbow around into my attacker’s helmet. My vision started to blur as he fell. I stumbled to my knees. The last thing I saw was Kendra rushing to catch me.

  ***

  The pungent smell of fish greeted me when I came to. Everything was swaying. Was it vertigo from the drugs? It was dark, so I couldn’t see if my vision was doing it. No, I felt myself sway back and forth against a wooden floor. My stomach turned violently. My hands, which were cuffed by something heavy duty, found more wood above me. I was in a crate.

  I started to mumble a curse, but stopped when my stomach threatened to rebel again. I set my head back down and forced a few deep breaths into my lungs. It was just wood. I could get out. It was difficult to focus with the threat of vomit rising in my throat, but I managed enough will to turn my arms metal. A few swings of my elbow cleared enough space on the side of the crate for me to wedged myself out. Just in time, too. I crouched between a few other crates stacked next to mine and emptied my stomach. I’d always hated boats. Peter would say it had something to do with my need to be in control just like my hatred of roller coasters and planes.

  With my stomach quelled for the time being, I straightened to look around, trying to ignore the sour taste in my mouth. I appeared to be in a cargo bay. There were only a few lights on over by a staircase at the end of the room. About thirty crates were piled around me. How many of us did they get? I crouched next to my crate and pried off the side panel of the one above it. Ice began to pour out. Same with the crate above that one. I tried the stack next to me with the same results. Before I could start on the third, voices echoed in the stairwell.

  Quickly, I wedged behind the crates. A pile of fishing nets was piled in a wad on the floor against the wall so I nestled between the crates and the wall and heaved the netting on top of myself. The floor was cold and damp.

  “I swear I heard something,” a man said.

  “Check Adeline’s crate,” came a familiar feminine voice. I covered my mouth with my hands to stop from making a noise as footsteps came nearer.

 
The man swore. “She’s out!”

  “Looks like she was looking for the other’s, too. Check on them,” said the woman. It sounded like they separated. The man, however, came closer. I quickly and quietly moved my black hair in front of my face to help keep me hidden under the net. Clunk clunk, came his heavy boots on the metal floor. His silhouette came into view in the low light. I held my breath. The beam of a flashlight flooded my vision, but passed over, checking along the wall. As he turned around, I risked a peek down along the wall. I wouldn’t be able to squeeze through the entire way down to get to the door.

  Making a snap judgement, I reached out and grabbed the man’s ankle, forcing lead into my arm. He called out in surprise and when he fell, his head struck one of the crates. I flung the nets off of me and bolted over his still form. The woman was heading back my way, but I veered for the stairs.

  “Adeline, no,” she called after me.

  I ignored her and bolted up the damp stairwell. Freezing water and wind pelted my face up top. The sky was dark and glittered with only a few stars in the distance. A dark line represented the coast. I couldn’t linger. The walkway was slippery on the side of the boat, so I gripped the railing, adrenaline pumping and making me clumsier. The railing groaned and I realized my fingers were leaving ridges.

  I didn’t even know what I was looking for. There was no way I could swim; depending on how much metal was inside me, I’d just end up sinking and drowning. I didn’t want to leave, anyway, not with my friends on board. Maybe I could find the captain and take over the ship.

  As I rounded the central compartment, something swung out at me. White-hot pain shot through my side as an electric baton struck me. I screamed. I fell to the floor, everything twitching as electricity continued to course through my body after the baton lost contact, the metal in me clinging to the stuff greedily. When the pain ended, I stayed in a huddle on the ground. The man stood over me, holding the baton threateningly close to warn me not to move. Down the walkway, the woman I apparently didn’t know at all rounded the corner into view. Wind tousled her long coat and pant legs as she approached, her expression downcast. She knelt in front of me with her brows furrowed sadly together.