by Galen Wolf
Then as they watched, a figure coalesced in the air in front of them.
"What?" The figure was huge and diffuse but its features were clear enough.
"The Count..." Gaijann guessed.
"Made out of billions of individual viruses."
Then as they watched, the remains of the dead spiders began to reanimate. In front of them the Kissag corpses twitched and jerked as they prepared to stand.
"We need to get down fast," Severan said.
"No shit," Gaijann said. "I'll secure a rope" He looked at his knife then dug it into the stone top of the book stack. He tied the c-s rope to it.
Then he clipped the end of the rope to his belt, turned and abseiled down. Severan swung round to look at the figure of the Count as it hung in the space above them. Then it spoke in a voice made from the humming of the viruses, modulated to create a simulacrum of speech.
"The Library will not let me leave," the voice said. "It will not let you leave either."
Severan regarded him coldly. The Library betrayed the Count as it betrayed everyone; all of its gifts were poison. All it wanted was suffering - an emotion for it to savor and feed upon.
"As I suffer, so will you, Severan."
Then the dead spiders lurched and came towards them, broken limbed but still walking, their carapaces punctured, reanimated husks.
Severan held the rope in his gloved hand and lowered himself shelf by shelf.
Gaijann was already on the ground. Looking up, he saw the reanimated Kissag launch themselves from top and hit the ground heavily. They lay for a second on the ground, then their fractured bodies and leaking guts heaved themselves up.
Gaijann blended into shadows, picking his targets. Even without his knife, he was deadly.
There was a babble of confusion from the remaining Kissag standing behind their hasty barricade by the exit. Their lights now played on their returned comrades. There were cries of horror when they saw what was left of them. The zombie things didn't care who they killed; the Count wanted more bodies to infect and control, so they advanced on their erstwhile kin and were blown to bits by withering fire from the defenders.
Severan dropped to the ground and immediately went to find cover. Gaijann was already there before him.
The dead spiders had now reached the ground. The firing attracted their attention and they went towards the Kissag.
Gaijann pointed. The Count was hovering above the ground. He stood some twenty feet high, shifting and hollow as the viruses moved. The Kissag saw him too. They fired, but their bullets were useless.
Some of the Kissag at the barricade died and their corpses got infected and rose again to claw and bite their comrades.
"When they're all dead, they'll come for us," Gaijann said.
"We need to open the Library door."
"Good plan. How?"
Severan pointed. "You see that ammunition stack?"
Gaijann nodded. The Kissag had piled shells and high explosive rounds in orderly stacks so they could rearm and recharge.
"I'll go," the giant said.
"I'm less noisy. No offence. But do you want me to go?" Gaijann said.
"Could be suicide."
"Staying here is suicide. I'm a lot less noticeable than you, big fella."
Severan laughed. "You were always that. Okay."
Gaijann patted him on the arm. "You know it makes sense. I won't let you down."
"You never do."
Gaijann made his way stealthily forward. He went round wide. The Kissag were too preoccupied with the zombies and the blasted but still moving remains of the spiders to notice him. Gaijann reached for the wire garotte in his belt. His fingers touched an egg shaped object.
"Well how the hell did I forget these?" He gently pulled out the stasis grenade, felt the button trigger on its narrow end and lobbed it towards the lizards.
There was a soundless blast that emanated out from in front of him. Everything in that area froze though the fighting went on around it. Gaijann went to the ammo stack. There was a stack of phosphor grenades. They would do to set the ammunition dump off and blow the lizards to hell.
The assassin bent down to pick up a grenade from the neat stack. The lizards around him remained frozen in time. He grinned.
Then the Count saw him.
"You will not escape," the buzzing voice of the Count said. At his bidding, the shambling zombies turned towards the assassin. One of the spiders was half whole and able to walk on what legs had not been blown away. It too dragged itself in Gaijann's direction.
"Fuckity fuck," the assassin whispered. Then he reached into his belt, took out his last stasis grenade and threw it at the oncoming enemy. The shambling things froze. Gaijann smiled and nodded. "Things are coming up roses." He tossed the phosphor grenade among the ammunition dump and ran.
Behind him, Severan dropped to his knees, aimed and fired his stolen rifle. The bullets blazed out, striking some of the undead to some effect, but then there was a hollow click. He looked down. He was out of ammunition.
The zombies were close. The Count's billowing figure watched him intently. Severan stood. He dropped the rifle. All he had was one hand to fight them with. He shifted his stance and was ready.
There was an enormous explosion from in front of him. The blast bowled him over. Everything between him and the door was knocked flat. The Count dispersed with the wave of force. Severan's ears were ringing like a bell. The air was full of dust; scraps of pages slowly settled. Severan stood. There was a hole in the door. He couldn't see Gaijann. He looked all around. The harsh desert sun spilled in through the ragged gap the explosion had made.
Even in the renewed light, he could not see his friend.
The zombies began to stand. The Count reformed and ordered his minions to attack Severan. Severan ran towards the door, dodging the zombies that reached out and snatched at him as he pushed past them. He saw Gaijann under a pile of rubble. He ran over to his friend and began frantically to pull off the pieces of rock that covered him. Gaijann coughed and stirred. He began to help himself. Then Severan turned. The zombies were nearly on him. He looked around for a gun. There were plenty around. He grabbed one and turned it at the zombies but it wouldn't fire - it was choked by dust and damaged by the explosion. Gaijann got to his knees, still wracked with coughing.
The bright sunlight flooded in.
Severan found another gun, but its barrel was buckled.
The zombies kept coming, illuminated by the daylight.
And then a curious thing happened. The closest zombie began to disintegrate. Then the one behind it. He looked past them to the Count who still floated in his virus form in the air. He too was touched by the light. Where the sun lit him up, the viruses seemed to be dying.
Then Severan understood. "The virus can't survive the sunlight!"
Gaijann wiped dust from his eyes. "The Library's certainly got a sense of humor."
As they watched, the Count moved back from the door and its hole to the outside. There was a great wail of suffering made up from the myriad buzzing voices.
"He's trapped here."
"Looks like he is," Severan said, "but we're not. Come on."
The two of them limped and hobbled through the blasted door and out into the stark desert light.
CHAPTER THIRTY: Nuclear demolition
Severan and Gaijann came out of the still smoking hole in the Library door and out into the blinding light of the white sun. Ahead of them stretched the desert - dry rocks, stunted plants and the beds of ancient streams.
"We need to watch out for Kissag," Severan said.
"They've lost a lot of men. They won't be back in a hurry."
"No, but they might just kill us from orbit because we've pissed them off."
Exhausted as they were, the two ran, jogged, then walked across the desert. The sun was blinding, the air dry. The flat horizon stretched all around. The Library building stood like an ominous warning behind them.
Their
ship was stealthed but it recognized them and switched off its cloak when they were about fifty yards away. It was attuned to the biological signatures of its crew and when they were close, it lowered the entrance ramp.
They climbed up into the ship. Its climate control welcomed them. Gaijann stripped off his armor as they walked, dropping it carelessly onto the floor. Severan removed what remained of his buckled and damaged equipment. They were hungry and they were tired.
"I need a drink," Gaijann said.
"Let's get off this rock first."
They went to the bridge and began the take-off procedures.
The empty seats around reminded them of those they had lost. When they'd landed it was full of the jokes and laughter of their friends - now it was only the two of them.
The ship climbed steeply into the sky. Soon the blue of atmosphere changed to the black of space. Around them stars were sprinkled like diamonds; wreathes of nebulas across the sky; patterns of constellations wholly unfamiliar. Below them the yellow dry ball of the planet shrunk away.
Gaijann saw Severan swiping his fingers across the weapon systems board. "Hmm," he said.
"If we don't, it will keep attracting more people. It will create more misery and death."
"Sure," Gaijann said. He watched as Severan selected a pod of photonic pulsars.
"That'll certainly put a hole in it," the assassin said.
"I want it gone." Severan said. "And everything in it."
Gaijann saw the pulsars drop like a handful of glowing coals from the bottom of their ship. The torpedo guidance systems took them unerringly to the Library. Then, a series of bright lights, like a silent firecracker going off, and Gaijann knew the Library was gone. Right to its hidden depths it was gone. He looked at Severan. The giant's face was grim as he watched the destruction far below.
"I just wanted to bury it," Severan said.
Gaijann saw his friend's hand go to the medallion of the Blind God that still hung around his neck. With a jerk, the giant snapped the gold chain. He looked at the medallion for a second as it lay cradled in the palm of his hand. "Fate, eh?" Then he threw it over his shoulder, not caring where it landed.
Gaijann didn't speak anything for a while. He knew Severan would go and fetch the medallion later. He always had. Then the assassin said, "What now?"
"Let's have that drink to the friends we've lost."
"Aye, I'll drink to that."
Severan turned, with a smile, and said, "And then let's go and make a difference."
I know I'm a tough ex space-marine, but I would LOVE you to give me a review for this story on Amazon.
Also !If you liked this short story there are five other novel length works in the series Wolf Cyborg
0: Space Horde - this story.
1: Vengeance
2: Infiltration
3: Point Black Zero
4: Star Tomb
5: The Alien Library
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