The Bane (The Eden Trilogy)

by Keary Taylor

  I heard something fifteen yards to my right. Tapping. I peered around the corner, searching for the source of the noise through the dark.

  There it was again. A small tapping sound. And once again.

  I took two steps out of the door toward the sound, my beautiful, new assault rifle leveled before me.

  I heard the sound again. Tapping, followed by the shuffle of feet.

  Remaining silent, I crept further into the dark.

  The tapping started again, coming quicker and steadier sounding.

  I was only ten yards from the entrance to the hospital when I saw it. She looked young, no older than me. But her eyes gleamed as she tapped the spoon against the concrete walls of a building.

  My finger was pulling the trigger when I was tackled to the ground. We rolled before it came on top of me, its eyes gleaming in the dark. My firearm was knocked clean from my hands.

  Before I could call for help it pressed a hard, cold hand over my mouth, pressing in on me with a crushing force. I plowed a fist into its still human-soft side. It caved around my blow, throwing it off balance enough for me to knock it to the side.

  “Close the doors!” I screamed as I got to my feet and scrambled for my firearm. It caught my ankle, taking me to the ground just as I wrapped my fingers around the rifle’s barrel. I turned and fired a shot at the mechanical girl who approached behind the one holding on to me. She dropped to the ground in a heap.

  Before I could fire again, the machine gripping me squeezed my ankle as it drew me to it. I felt something inside of me crunch and crumple. There was shouting behind me but I couldn’t turn to look and see if they were in fact closing the doors.

  The thing had just broken my ankle.

  And I could actually feel it.

  The pain raced up my leg before exploding into the rest of my body. An enraged scream ripped from my throat as I finally righted the rifle in my hands and fired two shots into his chest. But he reached for the barrel of the rifle. He squeezed, crunching it, and bent it back until it pointed at me. He then gave a good hard yank, and flung it off into the distance.

  My blood burned hot as my eyes narrowed. I coiled my good let and landed a crushing blow to its face. Its left cheek and eye socket caved in.

  But it gripped the front of my jacket in one fist, lifting me a good foot off the ground. I heard shots being fired from behind me and the concrete of the building just behind us exploded as it was hit.

  Quick as it had picked me up, it threw me like a rag doll across the street. I hit the concrete outside of the hospital like a rag doll.

  And everything was dark.

  My eyes focused on the dimmed lights above my head. My hair stuck to my forehead and neck as I turned my head to see where I was. I laid on one of the strange skeletal looking beds and there were tubes and wires sticking to and in my body. They led to a machine with a screen that beeped and flashed things I didn’t understand.

  I looked the other way, my cheek brushing the top of Avian’s recently shaven head. His head rested right next to my shoulder, my left hand held loosely in his. As I brushed against him, his head jerked up. The whites of his eyes were red. He looked like he hadn’t slept for a while.

  “Hey,” he said, a small smile forming on his lips. He squeezed my hand tighter. “How do you feel?”

  “What happened?” I questioned, immediately sitting up in panic. My hands were encumbered by multiple tubes that were sticking out of my skin. I ripped them out in one quick move. “Did you get them? Did they get inside?”

  “Whoa,” Avian said, grabbing my arm before I could jump out of bed. “Everything is okay, Eve. We got them. They’re dead.”

  “You sure?” I asked, my body unsure of what to do now that it had so much adrenaline surging through it.

  “Yes,” he reassured me, easing me back into the bed. “We got them.”

  He stood and stepped around the bed and pulled something out of a drawer. Raising my hand, he wiped the drops of blood that were forming where I had ripped out the tubes and placed a small bandage over it.

  “How long have I been out?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes. The room came into sharper focus.

  “About six hours,” Avian said quietly as he sat on the edge of my bed and took my hand in his again. His eyes were serious as he looked into mine.

  “Royce was right,” I said. “They’re getting smarter. They lured me out of the hospital and ambushed me.”

  Avian clenched his teeth together, making the muscles in his jaw stand out. He gave a frustrated sigh. “We were afraid of that.”

  “We can’t wait to set that Pulse off,” I said, shaking my head as I held his eyes. “Even with Dr. Beeson’s wireless transmission system they’re going to figure out a way to get to us. I have to go into that plant.”

  Avian was quiet for a moment and I knew he couldn’t argue against it anymore.

  “West and Tuck?”

  “They set out with Royce’s team an hour after you were brought to the infirmary. We didn’t dare wait to go get everyone, not after what just happened to you. They should be back before dawn.”

  I nodded my head that I heard him. Grabbing the rail with my other hand, I pulled myself forward with Avian’s reluctant assistance. My head swam and throbbed. My ankle screamed as it moved.

  I groaned.

  “What’s wrong?” Avian asked with concern.

  “Why do I hurt?” I asked, cradling my hands on either side of my head.

  “You’re feeling pain?” he said, disbelief in his voice.

  I just nodded.

  “No idea,” he said, easing me back down to lie on the bed. “You sustained a pretty serious concussion and a crushed ankle. It’s already healing. But honestly I didn’t really worry about the pain. It’s never bothered you before.”

  I squeezed my eyes closed.

  It had to have something to do with Dr. Beeson lessening my emotional blockers. He must have removed some of my pain blockers as well.

  But why would he do that? Why would I need to feel pain?

  “Eve?” Avian asked, his voice quiet. “Who is this?”

  I opened my eyes to see that he was holding the picture that Dr. Beeson had given me.

  “I found it on the ground next to where the Bane threw you against the hospital,” he explained as I took it between my fingers.

  “She’s my mother,” I said, meeting his eyes. I saw in them that I had confirmed what he had suspected. “Her name was Emma.”

  He asked questions and I relayed everything Dr. Beeson had revealed. About my premature birth, about her death, about why I was given TorBane.

  “You look just like her,” he said with a smile as he looked at the picture again.

  I watched his face, thinking then about how much he and Sarah looked alike when they smiled.

  “I wish I could tell Sarah about her,” I said, my eyes falling to the picture again.

  He met my eyes, his instantly becoming sad.

  “I was going to show you something,” he said. To my surprise, his hands went to the hem of his shirt and he pulled the fabric over his head.

  My eyes instantly went to his chest. There was a third bird tattooed on his chest. The skin around it was red and swollen, freshly inked.

  “There’s a lady here who has a machine that does the inking,” he said as he watched my face. My fingers rose to gingerly touch the third bird. There was a subtle S in the way the wing blended in with the body. “She did this two days ago.”

  “It’s beautiful,” I said.

  Avian took my hand in his and pressed a kiss to my fingers. He held them there against his lips for a long moment. He squeezed his eyes closed and a moment later a single tear slipped down his cheek.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  The rest of our group arrived safely at the hospital and two days later I was healed and cleared to go to the power plant.

  I shifted the weapons that were secured to me, counting again how many grenades I had attached to m
y belt. I pulled the vest, feeling uncomfortable. It might have been bulletproof but it was torture to wear.

  I glanced around at the four men that sat nestled in the tank with me. Their faces were set hard, no emotions present.

  The noise from the track wheels died away and I knew we had arrived.

  One of the men opened the top hatch and we all climbed out. We were only about seventy-five yards away from the plant. I could see them even from here, rows and rows of Bane, standing on and around it.

  “We’ll take out as many of them as we can with this,” one of the men said as he patted the firing turret. “We have to be careful not to damage the plant though. The rest of us will pick them off one by one, as quickly as we can.”

  I nodded, my eyes never leaving the gleaming bodies ahead of me.

  Two of the men unhooked the mile long power supply line from the back of the tank. One end of it trailed behind us, going directly back to the Pulse. We unwound the rest of it, attaching the end of it to a hook on the back of my vest that I could easily release once I got inside. I shrugged my shoulders, testing its weight. It would have been too heavy for me to carry if I had been a normal girl. It had taken two of them to carry the entire line.

  As one of Royce’s soldiers handed me my weapon, I couldn’t help but smile. I had to admit, the M4 assault rifle was beautiful.

  “You ready?” one of the men asked, gripping the firing turret.

  “Fire away,” I said as I turned my eyes ahead of me.

  The blast from the tank shook the ground and nearly knocked me off my feet. Gleaming metal eyes jumped to life as they turned in our direction. I took off running toward them as the second blast was fired.

  Gleaming parts exploded and flew through the air as dozens of them leapt at me. I fired, flashes of light illuminating the streets. Bodies dropped, metal frames shattered, wires sparked. Shots fired from behind me and more bodies hit the ground. Still more and more of them woke to life, leaping to attack.

  The line attached to me slowed my progress more than I anticipated. I put all of my weight into it, dragging it behind me as I fired. The plant suddenly seemed miles away, even though I was closing in on only a few dozen yards.

  I pulled the pin of one of the grenades and tossed it at the chain-link fence that surrounded the plant. I almost couldn’t see it through all the Bane that surrounded it. A few seconds later, metal flew through the air, raining down on me with deadly force.

  A hand grabbed at my right arm, closing in with crushing force. I jammed the butt of my firearm in its face, knocking it away for just long enough to blow its head off. Another leapt at me, its eyes gleaming through the dark. It was riddled with bullet holes before it even hit the ground.

  I remembered the advice Dr. Beeson had given me and focused all my thoughts on pushing the Bane away as my feet pounded the pavement. A few Bane hesitated as they ran at me, their movements becoming jerky as they fought my wireless commands. I couldn’t transmit to them all and keep a very strong connection.

  The plant was a mere twenty feet away. While plenty of them had woken, most of them stood motionless, their eyes fixed on the source of electricity ahead of them. Sleepers, I assumed. I had to push my way through mechanical bodies, firing as I went to take out as many of them as I could.

  I was plowed into from the side, knocking me to my back. I rolled as I went down, the line wrapping around my midsection. A body leapt on top of me, its hands closing around my throat. Before it could even squeeze, its head exploded from a shot coming from the tank. I jumped to my feet again, untangling myself as I sprinted.

  Just as the transformer came in sight, I heard the additional gun shots. But this time they were being fired in my direction. I didn’t look back as I pushed myself faster.

  Bodies started dropping ahead of me as both me and Royce’s men fired. I mowed down the last row of Bane who stood at the edge of the plant, clearing my way to the ladder that rose fifteen feet up to the transformer. The metal sang as I ascended, my boots striking each rung. The ladder vibrated as another body joined me in the climb.

  The Bane climbed faster than I had and grabbed my barely healed ankle, threatening to pull me back over the edge. The sound of another shot filled my head and a fraction of a second later blood sprayed from my left arm as my flesh was torn open. Another shot was fired and the Bane grabbing me dropped to the ground with the hiss of electric death.

  Blood started to spill from my arm as I heaved myself onto the platform and pulled the line to give me some slack. I hadn’t noticed the two Bane who were surrounding the transformer until they tackled me to the cement.

  One of them closed its hands around my throat and it held me pinned to the ground. The other pulled a hand gun, releasing the safety.

  I narrowed my eyes at the armed one, focusing every thought I had towards it. The next second, the Bane choking the life out of me dropped to the ground, killed by its fellow kind. It turned the gun on itself the next second.

  I scrambled to my feet again, finally reaching the transformer. I could feel the currents of electricity emanating from it as I finally connected the line. It hummed to life instantly.

  The sound of metal scraping concrete sounded as I turned to make my escape. Dozens of Bane climbed onto the platform, their dead eyes fixed on me. Light flashed through the sky as shots were fired from both directions.

  I sprinted forward without thinking, barreling through the bodies in front of me before they could react. I leapt off the platform, flying through the night sky for one freeing second before I slammed to the ground.

  Stay away, stay away, stay away, I thought as my boots slapped the pavement back toward the tank.

  Just as I was clear of the ring of Bane that surrounded the plant, I heard an explosion. The buildings and streets before me were illuminated as the fire billowed out, racing towards me with unstoppable force. I screamed as the flames ate away the fabric of my pants, melted the rubber of my boots to my feet. I felt every cell of my skin as it singed and was burned up. I hit the ground just fifteen yards away from the tank as the flames of the Bane’s explosive died away.

  I couldn’t distinguish one scream from the next as I heard feet meeting the concrete and felt hands close around my arms and start pulling me back toward the tank. Every movement felt like tortured death as they hauled me up and inside. The tank roared to life as we crawled back to the hospital.

  “Are they following us?” a voice asked.

  A few moments later a voice responded. “No, they’re flocking around the plant again. That’s incredible! The Sleepers don’t even seem to care.”

  I clenched my teeth together as I tried to force my vision to focus on the roof of the tank. My breathing came in labored gasps and I felt lightheaded. I’d made it out of the plant alive but would I make it back to the hospital?

  “Hang on!” a voice called to me. A face floated across my vision.

  Black spots swam in my vision as I was jostled again a few minutes later. One of my legs scraped against the lip of the hatch of the tank, sending a blood curdling scream ripping from my chest.

  I didn’t question it anymore. It had been more than my emotional blockers that Dr. Beeson had removed.

  Between each gasping breath, I couldn’t help but let out another agonizing scream.

  Men in white jackets surrounded me and I was blinded by the lights on the ceiling of the white hallways. The only thing I could see was the pair of blue eyes above me, trying to speak words that I couldn’t hear.

  My body exploded in blossoms of pain as I was moved again, a hard board suddenly beneath my body.

  I heard only jumbles of words. My brain tried to sort everything out, trying to grasp onto something that made sense.

  “…transfusions…”

  “…skin grafts…”

  “…cybernetic parts…”

  “…accelerated regeneration…”

  A strange thumping in my chest startled me. It didn’t come in even beats
, it was erratic, painful. My breaths came in quick gasps. Even that hurt. It hurt to scream. It hurt to lie still, it hurt to move. It hurt to be.

  Finally I slipped under.

  THIRTY-FIVE

  Beeping noises surrounded me as my eyes slid open. The ceiling tiles slowly came into focus, the sound of air blowing through a vent above me pulling me to wakefulness as I blinked.

  I carefully sat up, my head feeling like it was spinning. I was back in a hospital room, surrounded by the now familiar flashing screens, dripping bags, and tubes sticking out of my arms. The room was completely devoid of life other than myself.

  I ripped the lines out of my arm, a small bubble of blood immediately forming on my skin. Shifting my weight, I slipped my legs out from under the heavy quilt and off the side of the bed.

  I barely suppressed the scream when I saw my legs coming out from under my hospital gown.

  My right leg was a mass of crusted and wavy looking skin, small pieces of black rubber melted into the heel of my foot. Despite the intensity of the burn, it looked like it was already healing.

  But my left leg was worse. So much worse.

  The skin twisted and deformed in disgusting ways, hardly identifiable as human flesh. But from mid-calf down, there was nothing left but a gleaming metal skeleton.

  I crashed to the floor, my hands barely reaching out to catch myself before the ground came rushing up at me. I scrambled to my feet, not even noticing how I once again felt no pain from my injuries. The back of my eyes burned as I heard the sound of my metal foot clanking against the tile of the floor.

  The hall was devoid of any life as I stumbled out. I blinked hard several times, making my vision refocus as it tried to fail me. I held to the rail along the wall as I dragged myself down the hall. I didn’t make it more than ten feet before I collapsed to the ground, a mix of terror, unregistered pain, and shock bringing me down.