by J G Cressey
Drawing his own acquired pistol, Cal twisted and thrust the weapon out in anticipation. He was glad he did. Despite only being minutes old, the specimen that burst through the trees at the far end of the park was demonstrating tremendous speed. Considering the colossal size of its kin, the young creature was nowhere near as large as Cal had been fearing. Its tentacles were long, but the main bulk of its body was only about five feet in height and a touch more in width. Its aggressive motion, however, more than made up for the lack of imposing bulk. Like its parent, its overall shape was close to that of an octopus of Earth, but that was where the similarities ended. Its entire body was almost transparent with only hints of an internal form that gleamed white.
All eight tentacles were manipulating the terrain with frightening efficiency, and the beast’s velocity didn’t diminish in the least as it met a park bench. Instead of skirting around the obstacle, it simply flowed over it like water might over a rock, its flexible, boneless form rippling and adjusting instantaneously.
For a creature that had evolved mostly in water, its speed on land was something to behold. Quite certain, however, that it had aspirations to devour him, Cal decided not to behold it for long and instead tugged repeatedly on his pistol’s trigger. The shots tore through the air, each one finding its mark. But they sunk into the beast with little effect, slowing it only marginally and seeming not to cause any significant pain or damage. Fortunately, Jumper was soon by his side, and after much combined shooting, the deadly assailant finally slowed to a stop.
Cal scanned the tree line. Satisfied that no more creatures were about to burst forth, he checked the charge on his pistol. Already, it was ten percent down. He turned to Jumper. “Keep running?”
Jumper shot him a grim smile. “Absolutely.”
Chapter 8 Maze
The wide staircase leading up to the Northern Gate was practically the twin of the one they’d descended on the western side. Cal had thought the massive scale a little excessive, but now, as he considered the sheer volume of panicked people converging on the steps, the excess seemed woefully inadequate.
Their terror finally overwhelmed by sheer exhaustion, many people had collapsed on the first few steps, heaving frantic breaths while desperately praying for the energy to ascend after their long run. For some, diligent partners or friends were waiting by their sides, trying their best to protect them from the barrage of knees and feet. But others had been abandoned or had perhaps encouraged their loved ones to continue on alone. Whatever the individual situations, the unfortunate overall result was that those collapsed few were hindering the already slow passage up the stairway.
Being the first to arrive at the stairs, Eddy grasped the arm of one unfortunate, sweaty lady who looked on the verge of passing out and used her boosted strength to drag her unceremoniously up the steps. Jumper did likewise—although with a good deal more care—as he aided an elderly man. Despite his obvious fear of the pursuing beasts, Douglas, to his credit, set about aiding a woman who’d been trying to protect somebody else and had received a blow to the head in the attempt. A few meters in their wake, Melinda, with Viktor close at her side, took hold of an extremely rotund man—whose weight was clearly causing him problems—and with one hand half-lifted and half-dragged him up through the clambering crowds.
Cal couldn’t see Toker. Turning about, he peered through the kinetic mob, trying to spot that familiar tangle of blond hair. After a couple of minutes of fighting against the flow, a pistol shot rang out some distance to his left, then three more in quick succession. Trying not to injure anyone in his path, Cal quickly moved toward the sound.
There were four more shots by the time he caught sight of his young friend. Cal shouted to him as he neared.
Toker turned, his eyes wide. “I saw one,” he shouted. “Managed to get a few shots off, but damned if I can see it now.”
Cal grabbed hold of his shoulder. “Forget about it. We need to get up on that balcony before the staircase is overwhelmed. We’ll be able to see and shoot a hell of a lot better once we’re elevated.” Without waiting for an answer, Cal pulled his young friend toward the stairs.
It was a long, slow squeeze before they finally made it to the balcony. The rest of the gang were already lining the edge, firing shot after shot. Wasting no time in pulling out his own acquired pistol, Cal surveyed the mayhem below.
And it was Mayhem.
The mass of people had continued to build around the mouth of the stairway, pushing against it like countless grains of sand at the narrowing neck of an hourglass. Those who were already on the stairs were packed tight and barely able to move. In contrast, the panicked crowds further back surged and swayed, seeming almost like one giant entity, moving under strain as it tried to force its way forward. Numerous newborn Kratanu littered the scene, their strange, transparent forms tearing across the nearby parks and streets to meet the crowd or bearing down on those who were still attempting to join it.
For a moment, it puzzled Cal why the Kratanu remained at the fringes of the crowd but reminded himself that these were simple creatures with a singular urge: to feed. Once they reached their prey, they stopped and fulfilled that urge. It was a gruesome thought but was far better than the alternative—a host of malevolent killers who wouldn’t rest until every last human was dead. Only so-called intelligence created that kind of malicious intent.
Cal looked back toward the gate. Those spilling from the top of the stairway were quickly fleeing through the large archway into the Northern Sector. But the press of people was making for a painfully slow escape for most. He was about to turn away when he caught sight of a familiar face. Fincher was among those fleeing through the arch. But he wasn’t running full tilt as Cal would have expected. Instead, he seemed to be shouting encouragement to those around him while bearing much of the weight of a man whose right leg looked close to useless. Cal almost shook his head at the sight. Maybe he’s not entirely a prick after all, he thought as he turned his attention back to the havoc below.
With survival in mind, Cal began firing. Aware of the pistol’s woefully inadequate charge, he was careful to make every shot count, grateful for the effect the Xcel had on his aim. But even so, it seemed no time before the weapon began to run low—a tragic inevitability considering the exponential increase of attacking Kratanu.
“I’m out,” Eddy shouted. She briefly held up her pistol, scowling at its pathetic charge capacity before tossing it to the floor.
Toker paused in his shooting. “I’m on five percent.”
Cal glanced at his own readout and was dismayed to see 8% illuminated in red. “Okay, fall back to the gate. We’re getting the hell out of here.” As he turned, he was relieved to see that Douglas had remained with them despite the lingering fear in his expression. “We’re not of much help here. It’s time we got to our ship in the Northern Port.” He nodded toward the archway. “You think you can lead us through that maze you spoke of?”
Douglas was about one syllable into his reply when Eddy took him roughly by the shoulder, turned him around, and began swiftly marching him toward the archway. “Course he bloody can. You heard Cal; get us to our frickin’ ship.”
Pleased but somewhat puzzled by Eddy’s eagerness to flee the action, Cal followed with the others close behind.
Before they passed through the archway, Cal slowed for one last look at the chaos. The first of the Kratanu had reached the mass of people on the stairs, creating a panic that had no room to be expressed. Beyond that, other creatures were swarming through the streets and parks in rapidly growing numbers. With his fist clamped tight around his soon to be useless pistol, Cal turned from the sight and ran through the gate.
Cal had no idea how anyone learned to navigate this damn city. Even if half of the doors hadn’t been malfunctioning and causing a rat trap of a maze, he imagined it must have been a bit of a confusing nightmare. Fortunately, Douglas seemed confident in his course, and even when large portions of the people running alongs
ide them branched off in different directions, he didn’t break his stride for a moment nor did he seem overly fazed whenever he reached closed doors that he’d obviously hoped would be open. Instead, he quickly led them on an alternative route, all the while shouting assurances that it would be just as swift. Sometimes, he led them through high-ceilinged thoroughfares, brightly lit and large enough to accommodate a ten-lane hovertrack. Other times, his route took them along dim, copper-colored corridors that seemed little more than service tunnels.
Eventually, Douglas branched off into a long, straight corridor lined with multiple doors. It was at this point that the last of the people running alongside them took their chances with alternative routes, leaving the seven of them running alone. With a small amount of charge left in their pistols, both Cal and Jumper made sure to remain at the rear while Eddy stayed next to Douglas, seeming keen to encourage as fast a pace as possible. Cal was glad of it. Those all-too-familiar screams had started up again, their echoes distorting eerily as they bounced off the curved, metallic walls to chase them down the long passageways.
“Damn it to hell.”
Douglas’ choice of phrase was not encouraging nor indeed was the tone in which it was shouted. But the reason for the big man’s shock was quickly apparent. They had reached the end of the long corridor and rounded a corner to be faced with yet another overly elaborate door. Like so many of the others, this one’s intricate mechanism of rotating discs was juddering noisily, and on this occasion, only a two-inch gap was open to the corridor beyond.
But the door wasn’t the only reason for Douglas’ distress. A dead Kratanu was slumped at the door’s left, its transparent body a ruined, pulpy mess. Judging by the acrid smell and the fact that much of the flesh was still bubbling from intense heat, Cal guessed that an overzealous, extremely close-range barrage of pistol blasts had occurred. He stared at the ruined beast and wondered how in hell it had managed to get ahead of them.
“Not a pretty sight,” Toker muttered, leveling his pistol at the beast despite the fact it was clearly dead. “Musta been recent. Bits of it are still running down the wall.”
“Course it’s flippin’ recent, idiot,” Eddy spat. “Now let’s get moving.” She gave Douglas a good, hard shake to drill her point home.
If the man was surprised at the petite young lady’s ability to shake him like an insolent child, he didn’t show it. Instead, he continued to stare at the dead Kratanu. Cal wondered whether the man’s professional fascination with the newborn creatures was getting the better of him now that he was so close to a specimen albeit a dead, pulpy one. Cal wouldn’t have blamed him. Even in such a ruined state, the sight of it up close revealed intriguing elements to its structure that were undetectable from a distance. Stretched throughout its transparent form were millions of taught, silver threads, most of which converged within the main body to create what Cal guessed to be internal organs. The sight gave the impression that a horde of tiny spiders had spun long, elaborate webs before finally teaming up in the beast’s center to create a few communal nests.
“Douglas. We do need to keep moving,” Cal said in an attempt to rouse the man from his stupor.
“This was our route through to the dock,” Douglas replied distantly. He slowly indicated the malfunctioning door with a vague gesture of his hand, but his eyes still lingered on the dead beast. “We were very nearly there.”
“So we go another way,” Eddy insisted. “Like before.”
Douglas shook his head, finally managing to tear his eyes from the creature to face the way they’d come. “We’d have to backtrack a fair way… I’m not sure—”
Another scream echoed down the corridors, interrupting his response. “…I’m not sure that would be a good idea,” he finished once the scream had faded.
Cal glanced back at the juddering door. “Melinda, you think you can force this open?”
The synthetic woman shook her head. “No, but I could try to override it. Abort its attempts to close.”
“How long?”
“Won’t be quick,” Viktor answered for her. “Maybe five minutes if we’re lucky.”
“Make a start,” Cal said with a nod then watched as Melinda stepped up to the door, plucked a single hair from her head, then allowed it to wriggle its way into the straining mechanism.
Even after all this time, Cal still marveled whenever Melinda put her hair to use. Viktor’s genius and inventiveness had been proven in many ways but none more so than the nanotechnology within those long, blond locks. Not only had it proved quite lethal during combat but her ability to take control of a single hair and use it to explore and manipulate locked doors had saved their hides on numerous occasions.
Another scream rang out, loud and disturbingly close.
Cal turned back to Douglas. Seeming oblivious to the recent conversation, the man was simply staring down the long corridor in the direction of the scream. Cal took hold of him firmly enough to assure his attention. “Listen to me, Douglas. We’re going to get this door open, but it might take some time. Time that we might not have. Is there another way to the dock that doesn’t require us doubling back? Anything? A service tunnel maybe?”
The man’s eyes were on him, but they lacked focus, and Cal suspected that he may as well have been as transparent as the dead beast behind them. He shook the big man roughly. “Douglas, I need you to think.”
“Yeah, bloody well think,” Eddy added, her tone altogether louder and harsher.
“Yes. Okay, yes.” Douglas nodded, but his expression suggested his mind was still a mile away, his eyes wanting to drift back toward the long corridor.
Another scream rang out. This time, it was loud enough for them all to thrust their pistols in its direction.
“Melinda?” Cal said without diverting his gaze from the corridor.
“Two more minutes.”
“I’ll hold you to that promise,” he replied. But even as he said it, he doubted she’d get a chance to fulfill it. A Kratanu had appeared at the corridor’s end, its momentum impressive considering it had just rounded a sharp bend. Without the slightest hesitation, it bolted toward them, traveling down the long passageway like a bullet down the barrel of an old rifle. The sound of its tentacles was like something straight from a horror flick as they extended and contracted with viper-like speed.
Toker and Viktor unleashed what little firepower they had left in their pistols, but Cal left his trigger idle as did Jumper. Whoever had killed the mangled beast by the door had wasted a great deal of shots in their panicked haste. They couldn’t afford to be so reckless. Already, Toker and Viktor’s efforts were slowing the beast and would likely kill it before it reached the halfway point, but Cal had a nasty feeling that others would be close behind.
“Melinda?”
“Almost there,” she replied, her tone far calmer than any human could achieve in such a situation. Despite sounding relaxed, Cal knew she’d be making every microsecond count.
“I’m dry,” Toker said, throwing his weapon down and backing up toward Eddy and Douglas.
Viktor continued to fire, each of his shots remarkably measured and adept. Despite his usual reluctance to pick up a gun—unless it was within his VR simulator—the boy wielded it like a professional soldier, and Cal had to wonder whether the long hours spent in his virtual combat worlds had merit. Before either he or Jumper needed to take a shot, Viktor succeeded in slowing the beast to a stop. It was still alive, but its movements were flailing and, at this distance, entirely unthreatening.
Cal was about to praise Viktor when two more of the creatures appeared at the corridor’s end. They proved just as ferocious in their advance, to the point they were climbing atop each other in their efforts to get ahead—sibling rivalry at its most extreme. Then a third appeared, swiftly following in their wake. The sight was enough for both Cal and Jumper to fire multiple rounds and Eddy to unleash a barrage of curses at Melinda.
The pistol fire streamed brightly down the corridor
and thumped into the attackers like hail into soft mud. But if the shots caused pain, it wasn’t obvious, and it did little to discourage them. Nor did the presence of their mangled, dying kin, which they met at speed and traversed without a second’s pause.
The red warning light on the side of Cal’s pistol began to pulse. He tried his best to ignore it and continued to target the center of his chosen attacker. Within moments, the beast leading the charge was already close to incapacitated, but the two in its wake were far from it. Not only that but through the flashing gun fire and whipping tentacles, Cal could have sworn he saw yet another Kratanu appear at the corridor’s end.
Viktor dropped his depleted pistol and quickly retreated, no doubt to Melinda’s side. Continuing to stand his ground with Jumper by his side, Cal sent a little prayer with each and every shot. But even as their nearest target gradually lost its battle to get close, those behind surged over it and met the pistol shots with a complete absence of fear.
The pulsating light on Cal’s pistol became a steady red glow. Then, the weapon expelled its last blast, creamy smoke oozing from its muzzle. With a curse, he threw it down and glanced at the readout on Jumper’s pistol: 11%. The remaining charge was impressive considering what they’d been through but dismal considering what they were yet to face. Now that he was the sole shooter, Jumper was practically having to hold the trigger down in order to slow the beasts.
Cal turned to see the juddering door still unopened, the others staring intensely at Melinda as if their eyes had the power to aid her efforts. Desperately, he looked around for a weapon—an emergency axe or laser cutter, even a length of metal that he might tear from the structure with his enhanced strength, any damn thing. But there was nothing.
Jumper started backing up. The nearest Kratanu had slowed almost to a stop, but it was now only a few meters from them. With his jaw set, Cal moved to Jumper’s side and readied himself to fight with his bare hands. Even with Xcel coursing through his system, he didn’t fancy his chances, but what other choice did he have?
