by Azalea Ellis
“What are you—” I dodged again as she shrieked and lunged at me. She had the Sickness. Somehow, she’d been infected with the Sickness, and it had progressed to the point of causing madness within seconds. What the hell?
She wasn’t the only one. In the crowd, a couple people had started attacking those around them.
The link wrapped around my arm lit up with a call, and I almost ignored it, except that I saw it was Zed on the other end. Why wasn’t he sending me a message through the VR chips, like we usually did?
I condensed Chaos fibers into a tightly wound cord and lashed out with it, cutting off my guard’s legs at mid-thigh. Another application of power cauterized the wounds with a sizzle. She wouldn’t be a threat to me anymore, but if I could get her to the lance in time, I could still save her life.
I answered the call.
“Hello? Can you hear me?” Torliam’s voice screamed out.
“You don’t need to scream. The links transfer sound just fine, no matter how far away we are.”
Torliam was panting, and I heard screams in the background.
More adrenaline filtered into my blood, preparing me for danger.
“Run. Escape,” Torliam said. “The Sickness is…” there was another loud noise, and his voice was muffled. “Chanelle is crazed. They are coming after the lance. I will protect it, but you must not return, for your safety!”
There was another loud sound, and the call cut off before I could question him.
Then a Window popped up.
—One of the guards just got killed. He started jerking around and then he grabbed me, and two other guards just killed him. I hear screaming from down below, and I think something bad is wrong. Please come back quickly.—
-Kris-
—There’s a riot on the ground floor. I’m suppressing them, but thought you might want to know. They show signs of the Sickness.—
-Sam-
I turned and ran for the nearest pod, yanking the driver out of his seat. I sent a Window to the rest of the team.
—I’m on my way.—
-Eve-
I didn’t need my superior senses to hear the screaming as I neared the building, which had been the closest thing to a safe haven for me and the team the last few weeks.
People had rushed out into the streets to escape, both civilians and military, and had been followed by what seemed, to all reasonable examination, to be people horribly infected with the Sickness. The infected jerked about, screamed, and stumbled on rotting legs. They were attacking others. A group of them piled on a woman in medical scrubs, and bore her down to the ground, already eating at her. A military man shot at them with his gun while screaming with mindless fear, but even as they died they didn’t seem to care.
My eyes watered as the smell of fecal matter, pus, and rotting meat coated my nose and throat. People were rotting from the inside out.
I pushed my awareness outward, letting Wraith get a good catalogue of the moving bodies within my range.
Sam fought at the base of the main stairwell on the ground floor, wading through infected people like a force of nature, one man against a veritable swarm. Every movement dropped another person, with a single moment of eye contact or touch of his skin enough to send a member of the crazed horde slumping to the ground, unconscious. He was holding them off, keeping them from going up the stairs. They piled up around him in a mountain, then climbed over the bodies of their comrades and kept coming.
Most of the infected tried to get past him, but a few of them had made it to the auxiliary stairwells and were heading upward unimpeded.
Kris, Gregor, and Birch were a few floors up, in the barracks with their guards, one of whom seemed to be dead. They all moved frantically around the room. Something was wrong, there. Birch was using Chaos, which only confirmed my worries.
Even higher, Zed, Torliam, and Chanelle were on the top floor, within one of the labs. They were far from alone, as that seemed to be where all the infected were attempting to go. A group of them were attacking, but Torliam held them off.
Jacky and Adam were both rushing up the stairs, probably heading toward them.
During the few seconds it had taken me to find my teammates, a surge of power blew out a row of windows on one of the middle floors, as an Estreyan guard’s power expelled a writhing mass of infected humans. I didn’t hear the crunch and splatter as they hit the ground, because the sound was covered by all the other noises of extreme panic and destruction.
Sam was okay on his own, and Zed and Chanelle had Torliam to protect them, but I was worried about the kids and Birch. Going through the building would mean fighting off a horde of infected along the way, which would probably slow me down. A fire escape wove up the back face of the building, but a few infected were climbing it, too, and the kids were on the opposite side of the building from it.
I eyed the sheer glass and metal wall nearest me, then shoved down the accelerator and rammed my stolen pod into the crowd. It threw a few bodies out of the way and bumped over a few more before the press of the crowd stopped it. Then, I blew a hole in the ceiling with Chaos and climbed out, avoiding the reaching arms. Before the infected could climb atop the pod, I hurtled myself off, landing behind the closest group and weaving toward the building. “Move!” I bellowed, and Voice slammed my command into the crowd like a hammer. People stumbled and fell in an effort to make a path for me.
I brought out those woven strands of Chaos as I reached the building, punching them into the metal struts between the panes of reinforced glass. With those ready-made handholds, I scuttled up the side of the building, continuing till I reached the floor where the kids and Birch seemed to be fighting frantically. Another of their guards lay on the floor, probably dead, but I’d been distracted and missed what had happened.
I reached out with a whipcord of Chaos and broke the window beside me, then scrambled through with minimal care to ensure I didn’t cut myself. I found a male and female guard fighting infected in the hallway. They killed them, then rushed over to me, talking over each other as they expressed relief for my wellbeing and their opinions on the sudden, explosive resurgence of the Sickness.
I waved away their words. “I’m here for the kids. Block the stairway with anything you can find. There’s some furniture in the rooms that should do the trick, as long as none of the infected trying to get past it have Seeds. Hurry, they’re coming quick.” Before they could respond, I’d moved past them.
The two of them had a quick argument, and then the male guard followed me while the woman slammed into a nearby room and drew the furniture out of it with what seemed to be telekinesis.
Before I could open the door to the kids’ room, the male guard grabbed my shoulder to hold me back. “It is not safe. I will go first,” he said, with the least amount of deference I’d ever heard from him. He slammed open the door and stepped in, only to receive a knife through the stomach.
Gregor stumbled as he returned to his corporeal state, his eyes bloodshot and his fingers spasming around the hilt of his knife.
The man dropped to his knees, pressing on the wound to try and keep his innards from spilling out.
“Eve!” Kris screamed, riding atop the back of the remaining Estreyan guard, who I recognized as her playmate, Bobbus.
I took in the scene quickly. Three guards were down, now. One looked like he’d been crushed by a garbage compactor, but the other two had vicious knife wounds. Birch stood protectively in front of Kris and her guard, and Gregor was pale. The muscles in his face spasmed, and he leapt toward me, turning to Shadow with a stutter, instead of the smooth transition he normally achieved.
I dropped to the ground, already rolling away before he touched the floor again.
“I’ll kill you!” he screamed.
I dodged to the side and sent a Window to Sam in the same motion.
—Gregor’s infected again. It’s bad. I need you to get up here and put him to sleep. Ask Zed for a path.—
-E
ve-
Anything I did to truly incapacitate the young boy would surely injure him, since I couldn’t stop him from slipping into his Shadow form otherwise. “What happened?” I said to Kris.
“I don’t know,” she sobbed, directing Pinocchio to trip Gregor as he returned to his corporeal state.
The boy growled, and twitched on the floor for a moment. “Hate you, hate you, hate you!” he shrieked, before he was a living mass of darkness again and sank through the floor, seeming to get stuck halfway through before disappearing.
Kris’ guard stepped deliberately away from the walls, keeping up a constant scan of his surroundings.
Kris spoke in a rush, looking around frantically as she waited for her murderous little brother to reappear. “One of the guards went crazy, and then Keremisha and Bobbus killed him. People were screaming everywhere, and Torliam ran past and said for the guards to stay here and protect me and Gregor, and not let anyone in. But then Gregor said he was going to go see what was happening. And he went Shadow, and left through the wall and I couldn’t stop him. When he came back he was all weird, like Chanelle got when the Sickness was making her insane, and then he attacked Keremisha and killed her, and he was trying to attack me and Bobbus, and then you came.”
Gregor leapt through the wall behind me, and I slammed myself into the ground as his knives gained corporeality with him, right where my neck had been a split second before.
He dropped to the ground and rolled painfully, clumsily. His arm jerked, and one knife sliced a thin line across his thigh. He hissed in pain, and took a gulp of air, as if he’d been drowning. “I’m going crazy,” he said. “The Sickness got me, you better run—”
A grey rip opened in the air above Gregor, and Sam spilled out of it, falling onto the smaller boy in a way that would have been comical, if not for the circumstances.
Sam got up, and Gregor didn’t.
My stomach lurched, but Sam reached down and picked him up, handing him to Bobbus. “He’s asleep. Keep him safe.”
The guard nodded, swallowing visibly, and taking the knives out of Gregor’s hands.
Zed hopped out of the rip, panting. “Hey Eve. Sam said he needed a hand. We got barricades in place down there. I thought about tranquilizing the horde, but I don’t have enough non-lethal rounds. They’re going to get past the barrier, if they keep pushing.”
Sam turned to me, and only then did I notice the blackness of his eyes. “We need to get up to Torliam. He has the lance. Chanelle has also been reinfected. Or relapsed, perhaps.” The last was spoken with a grimness that made my jaw clench.
Zed’s hands ran over his guns and ammunition in a repetitive pattern, as if reassuring himself with their presence. “Torliam’s on the top level with her. He was trying to heal her when I left, but not making much progress.”
I nodded. “That level has blast doors and quarantine rooms. If we can get there, and take out the mob already attacking them, we should be safe.”
We ran toward the stairwell. This time, I went first, but I was careful to watch out for danger, and I kept Wraith extended. I slowed as we reached the top level, wary of more deadly surprises.
I entered the main lab area with claws extended and Chaos ready to lash out.
Torliam was crouched down within one of the reinforced-plastine quarantine rooms, the lance in his hand and jabbed into Chanelle’s arm. He had a blue shield spread out through the interior of the small cell, giving a second layer of protection to the both of them.
It was necessary, because both Adam and Jacky seemed to be doing their best to break into it, along with the other infected humans milling through the room. Both Adam and Jacky showed the obvious signs of the Sickness, and they moved with the infected humans in an odd sort of synch. Like they’d studied group tactics together, and found a way to attack as a mob without any individual being a hindrance to the others. It was a creepy kind of organized chaos. I remembered the vision the Spire had shown me of a similar crowd turning to look at me, as if each person was a part of a singular whole.
“Oh, shit,” I whispered, my eyes watering again from the horrible stench. That was a third of our team, turned against us.
“Zed, get Gregor in there with Chanelle and Torliam,” I said. “The rest of us need to stop the attack.”
Zed pulled Gregor into the Other Place, while Sam waded into the crowd, knocking people out with a touch.
The guard hung back a little with Kris, but had no trouble knocking small groups of people into unconsciousness with concussive blasts that had them bleeding from the ears.
I lashed out with a weak wave of Chaos toward Adam and Jacky, who were the biggest dangers, but also able to take more damage than a human, which meant I didn’t have to worry about killing them accidentally.
A few more people who’d already been on one of the upper levels before Zed and Sam had blocked off the stairwells ran up behind us, but Bobbus took care of them well enough.
Adam lashed out at me with a bolt of lightning, but I had enough practice noticing the signs of building electricity to throw myself out of the way in time. The bolt was weak, anyway, and he stumbled after channeling it, bloody spittle dribbling from his mouth.
Jacky grabbed one of the infected people closest to her and literally threw them at Sam, the body slamming into the boy and knocking him backward. With him out of the way, she sprang forward, hammering her fist down on the reinforced plastine of the small quarantine cell with enough force to make the whole room shudder. The clear wall cracked, but didn’t shatter.
Zed dropped Gregor inside that room, next to Chanelle, who was still jerking on the ground.
Torliam’s face was white with strain, and he said a few words to Zed that I couldn’t hear.
I sent a Window to both Sam and Zed, while sprinting toward Jacky to stop her from breaking through the wall.
—Take out Adam and Jacky. Use the Other Place if you need to, but I need them out of here.—
-Eve-
Once they were out of the way, I’d be free to use lethal measures on the rest of the horde if it became necessary. I lashed out at Jacky’s lower back, hoping to hit her in the spine.
A human woman launched herself in between us, intercepting the blow. My fist hit her in the chest.
The sound it made was mostly crack and a little bit of crunch, but I tossed her to the side. She’d be fine, or she wouldn’t. I didn’t have time to care about that right now.
Birch darted around at Jacky from the other direction, lashing out at her with a Chaos-misted gust of wind.
She dropped to the ground and kicked out at him, sending him sliding into the waiting arms of one of the crowd.
One of the infected had been a soldier. He had a gun by his side that he hadn’t been using, but now he raised it.
I swept a loose whip of Chaos out at ankle level. Enough to break, not enough to sever straight through.
The humans fell like cut wheat, screaming as their flesh twisted and their bones shattered. Sam could heal them when this was over. Bullets punched holes in the ceiling, and then I cut the soldier’s hand off with another lash of power.
Adam waved his hand and blood poured out of a jagged slash on his arm. It spun, forming into a crimson drill that sprang through the air even as Jacky ducked out of the way, though I knew she couldn’t have seen it coming.
It bored into the plastine, sending chunks and peeled-away strips flying outward.
Torliam’s blue shield held, but his shoulders hunched forward protectively. He looked up and met my eyes. He shook his head, sweat dripping down his pale face.
The veins in Chanelle’s neck were blackened. Even as I watched, they writhed upward into her face. She arched her back and black vomit spilled out of her mouth.
Torliam returned his attention to her, turning her head to the side and digging his fingers into her mouth to clear her airways and keep her from choking.
I saw an eye appear, hanging in mid-air. It looked around, and then
Zed’s fingers poked out of empty air and threw wide an opening to the Other Place. Together, he and Sam reached forward and grabbed at Jacky and Adam from behind. They pulled their two infected teammates back through the rip, and Zed closed it as quickly as he could.
The removal of the two most dangerous aggressive elements on the battlefield had taken less than a second.
The rest of the horde twitched as one.
Chanelle arched as if being shocked by a defibrillator, then went limp. Her body broke apart into a mound of dark, leggy forms. Bugs. They collapsed outward for a few seconds, as Torliam stared in shock, and then they drew back together.
He threw himself back across the cell, grabbed Gregor’s limp form and released the reinforcing barrier. He broke a few more chunks out of the wall, then climbed out with the boy in his arms.
Alone in the ruined cell, the bugs coalesced into a humanoid form and an outer shell settled on it. Tiny bugs turned into skin and cloth, arranging their carapaces and then spreading with color as they locked together, creating a complete camouflage of almost artistic perfection.
Chanelle sat up.
Chapter 39
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.
— Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Bug-Chanelle stood and climbed out of the jagged hole in the quarantine cell.
“Torliam, get Gregor into another cell,” I said sharply.
He complied, and none of the remaining infected even looked at him as he passed, locking himself into the new cell with the unconscious boy and the lance.
Chanelle looked around with bright eyes and a casual air. Her clothes and skin all had faint indentations in their surfaces, but they still might have seemed almost natural if Wraith couldn’t sense the lack of heartbeat or breath from her body.
