by Pam Godwin
Pinpricks tingled my bound hands beneath the weight of my body, and blood rushed to my head, pulsing behind my eyes. Hanging upside down, my view was hindered, but I didn’t glimpse a single man, spider, or aphid wandering the passageways. I sensed insectile vibrations, though, the threads strumming from above. From the surface of the canyon.
Not knowing where Michio was taking me or what would happen when I arrived made this long, miserable trip even longer and more miserable. Had the Drone made a decision? Would he bite me and drain the power growing inside me? Or would my child enervate his power and destroy him? Would he chance the bite? Or would he kill her in my womb? Or was there another option I hadn’t considered? All I knew was every tunnel, staircase, and elevator took us up. We were headed out of the dam. Why? Was he taking me to one of the breeding facilities?
My blood chilled, and tremors gripped my body, the edges of my mind fraying with every step Michio made toward ground zero. I wanted to scream and kick and freak the fuck out, but I held onto my wits as best I could, seeking comfort in the flex of his strength beneath me and in the knowledge that he wasn’t detached like the spiders surrounding us.
Even though this child wasn’t biologically his, he would fight for her as if she were his own. He maintained conscious thought, which meant he could reason, form ideas, and analyze. The Drone could read his mind and therefore learn any plan he might’ve constructed, but Michio was the most intelligent man I’d ever met. His brilliant mind was always ten steps ahead. If anyone could think his way out of this, it was him.
As the final elevator ascended, the aphid vibrations in my gut grew stronger. I raised my head, angling to see around Michio as the doors slid open.
Sunlight greeted me, the burst of warmth blinding my cave-dwelling eyes. I squinted, blinking, taking in the street, the daunting precipice of the dam, and the hundreds of waiting aphids.
A sea of green bodies crowded the street that traveled across the curved ridge of the wall. The thundering buzz rippling over their spines revealed their hunger, but they didn’t concern me. One thought, a wish I wouldn’t make until I needed to, and they would be nothing but bloody smears on the asphalt.
Unless the Drone’s power could block me.
My pulse accelerated then spiked into a frenzy as I gazed upon the enormity of the dam stretching to the gorge below. Hanging over Michio’s shoulder at the center of its peak, I was surrounded by endless, open blue sky. The only way off was down. And waiting for me at the destined edge was the man who would likely push me.
The Drone stood on a small concrete overhang that extended over the back of the dam. As Michio carried me toward the observation deck, the spider guards encircled us, ushering us along the half-wall of the ledge and away from the aphids.
The dam’s massive girth and the red rock of the canyon on either side plunged into a platform of cement below. The vast, steep distance to the bottom pulled on my insides with a whirling sense of unsteadiness.
No one could survive a fall from this dam, not even Michio with his healing abilities. The impact would splatter a body into pieces.
Michio set me on the narrow ledge of the overhang beside the Drone, and panic fired through my nerves. I couldn’t move my hands, couldn’t hold on to the edge. My equilibrium was already fucked up from the spinning effect of vertigo, made worse without the stability of my legs.
I jerked forward, leaning away from the sharp slope and pushing my weight against Michio. I wanted to beg him to protect me, to sweep me away from the ledge and wrap his strength around me, but my pleas would only torture him. No doubt he was as terrified as I was.
The six spider guards formed a barrier at the mouth of the overhang. If I could somehow hop away from Michio’s firm grip on my ropes, I’d also have to hop through them. And though I couldn’t see beyond the swarm of aphids on the street, I suspected there were more spiders patrolling both ends of the dam.
The sun peered over the eastern horizon, winking at me all bright and shiny, completely unconcerned that my daughter’s future literally hung in the balance. Its fiery glow did little to warm the cool breeze that chilled the sweat on my face.
I reached deep, digging up my courage, and met the Drone’s eyes. “Why are we here, a hundred stories in the air?” Tempting my fucking fate?
“Sixty-seven stories.” The Drone leaned against the three-foot wall of the overhang, hands in his pockets, his cape rustling around his boots. “It’s Christmas morning.”
As if that explained everything. He was Muslim, for fuck’s sake. But he’d chosen Christmas morning to bring me to this ledge for a reason. My stomach sank with dread.
“Seventy percent of this country believed their savior was born on this day.” He shifted to stare out over the landscape of rocky cliffs. “Where was their savior when I released the virus? If I’m the pestilence in their bible, why didn’t their god save them from me?”
Roark would say the final days were God’s plan, but waging a religious debate with a lunatic while precariously perched on the ledge of the Hoover Dam sounded like a terrible idea.
“I’m not a believer.” I leaned closer toward Michio, trying to slide my feet to the ground, but his grip on my hips kept my butt on the edge.
The Drone rubbed the folds of his cheek. “But you believe the fetus in your womb will save mankind?”
It wasn’t a question of religious faith, spirituality, or scientific study. The prophecy was unexplainable. A phenomenon that defied human concepts. Every prediction Annie made had come to pass, and those of us affected by it couldn’t discount its legitimacy. Not me. Not my guardians. And not the Drone. That must’ve been eating at his rotten, deranged heart. But I didn’t want to give him a reason to shove me off the ledge, so I kept my mouth shut.
In the span of a heartbeat, he was on me, his claws digging into my face, and his chest bowing me backward. My upper half hung backward over the edge, my breath lodged in my throat. At least I wasn’t face down and staring at my death.
Michio stood to the side, arms dangling, eyes glazed. He wouldn’t be able to lift a finger to catch me, and as sure as this fall would kill me, it would kill him, too.
I mentally reached for the aphid threads and strummed a silent command. Attack the Drone. Kill the Drone.
The Drone laughed. “You can’t control my army, Eveline.” His lower body pinned my legs to the wall, the only thing keeping me from plummeting. “We’ve reached a causality dilemma. Do you know what that is?”
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t fill my lungs. My hands twisted against the rope, grappling for the fabric of his shirt and unable to find purchase.
“Which came first? Me or the prediction?” His septic breath slithered over my face. “Was your death on a cliff prophesied because I drop you? Or do I drop you because of the prediction?”
Don’t drop me. Sweet fucking hell, don’t let go. I couldn’t tell if he was fucking with me or if he had every intention of throwing me over. Probably both. My stomach bucked, pushing bile to my throat.
I flexed my arms against the bindings, my body suffocatingly wrapped like a roll of carpet. Where was the extra length of rope that attached to my back? My heart skipped. It had been wound around Michio’s arm. If I fell, could he catch me? Or did he fall with me? Oh God, I couldn’t see the rope, couldn’t see him at all. Fuck, all I could see was his body splattered beside mine sixty-seven stories below.
Desperation poured from my throat. “Michio! Don’t…don’t let him do this. Fight him. You’re strong…dammit, you’re stronger than him!”
The Drone’s smile oozed with calm confidence. “Dr. Nealy believes he can outsmart me by not thinking about rescue attempts. But how does one make plans without thoughts?” He studied Michio’s impassive expression and looked back at me. “I’m afraid he has nothing to offer you.”
The Drone hadn’t broken him. Not Michio. Maybe he’d found a way around the mind-reading? My head spun, my breaths wheezing. The only thing I could count
on was death if the Drone let go.
I closed my eyes to fight down the urge to puke, certain he would drop me if I spewed on his cape.
After a few heavy breaths, I glared up at him, my skin tearing in the grip of his claws. “We wouldn’t be here, on the brink of this cliff, if you didn’t know about the prophecy.”
“Are you certain? I determined this location long before I discovered the predictions. Whether or not I would’ve killed you here is a matter of assumption. But think about it, Eveline. If the cliff or the child are necessary causes of your death, then your death necessarily implies the presence of one or the other. I can’t ignore the fact that both the cliff and the child happen to exist, right here, beneath my fingertips.”
My insides revolted, shooting acid up my chest and into my throat. I gagged and lost the battle with my stomach as vomit trickled over my cheek and fell into oblivion.
He released his claws from my face and stepped away. The world moved in slow motion as I suspended there, my legs clenched around the edge and gravity pressing me backward. My muscles strained and my stomach contracted against the gorge’s determined pull.
Michio grabbed the rope on my arms and swung me up, stabilizing my body on the ledge. Dizzy and terrified, I gasped, panting for air. I didn’t fall. I didn’t fall. For a hopeful moment, I thought Michio had snapped his invisible chains to save me, but one look at his empty face told me otherwise.
The Drone curled his disfigured lips, letting me know I was still alive because he willed it. “The prophecy is either something or nothing. Which leaves me with the conundrum of Plato’s Beard that argues nothing is something.”
Fuck, was this why he’d left me in that room for so long? Had he spent all that time talking himself into tangled circles?
Saliva collected in my mouth, my stomach threatening to heave again. I spit on the ledge, breathing past my lips, and glared at him out of the corner of my eye as I wiped my cheek on my shoulder.
His smile flattened, and his pupils dilated. “The fetus in your womb will not be born.”
My heart stopped.
He glanced at my neck and returned to my face. “But before I destroy it, I will drain it of its power. And yours.”
“She’s a her, you sick son of a bitch.” Horror trembled through my body and quivered my voice. “She’s stronger than you. She’ll kill you. Stick your fucking fangs in me, and we’ll see who’s left with the power.”
It was all conjecture. I didn’t know shit, and my fucking panic was seeping through the cracks of my composure.
“Once I bite you and pull the power from your body, you’ll become infertile, weak. You’ll no longer be of any use to me.” He stretched out his arms and looked around the canyon. “So here we are, fulfilling the prophecy. No matter what becomes of the bite, Dr. Nealy has been ordered to push you over the moment I release your vein.”
I shook my head in denial, even as I knew I’d reached the end with no way out. It didn’t matter if the bite backfired and I imbibed his power. I would already be on my way to the bottom of the cliff. He probably would’ve flown me over the gorge and bitten me high in the air if he was certain he wouldn’t lose his power. But he didn’t know.
Which was why he’d chosen this location to do it. Bite me and push me.
My fear was sudden and manic. Ferocious energy pummeled through my limbs as I thrashed forward, bucking against Michio’s hands on my hips. I needed down, needed off this fucking ledge. “Let me down. Let me the fuck down!”
I had no defense. No mobility. No weapons. I was out of time and out of options. Feverish breaths pumped my chest as desperation seared my nose and closed up my throat.
The Drone stepped toward me, his fangs pushing past his lips and his jaw stretching open. Fucking hell, he was leaning toward my neck. I tucked my chin and jerked away, swaying on the narrow peak, my hips pinned down by Michio’s unforgiving strength.
The Drone grabbed my hair and wrenched my head back, exposing my throat. I couldn’t escape him. His breath hit my neck, and my chest caught fire. The moment his fangs tried to touch my skin, I would kill the aphids. But I knew it wouldn’t be enough.
A distraction would only delay him briefly. He was going to kill my baby. Jesse’s daughter. Mankind’s future. The backs of my eyes burned, and tears engulfed my eyelids, staining my vision in red. I tried to fight it, tried to be strong, but the painful sob pushed past my throat and tore from my lips.
Warm rivers drenched my cheeks, and my throat spasmed with keening noises. Holy hell, I was crying. A tear hadn’t breached my eyes since…never. Never had been a long damned time without this release, and now that it was happening, it fucking poured out of me in gasping, choking, nose-clogging hysterics.
The Drone grabbed my jaw, his claws digging against my cheek. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”
I slammed my teeth together, my face stinging where his grip punished my skin. “I’m crying, you asshole.”
He let go of my face like I’d infected him. “Dr. Nealy. Check her eyes.”
Michio’s unfocused gaze moved in, his vacant face blurred by a cloud of red. He touched the inner corner of my eye and held his finger up, the tip wet with blood.
My eyes were bleeding? More tears fell, streaking hot trails down my cheeks. His nostrils flared.
His nostrils flared.
The Drone would’ve commanded his finger to move, but his nostrils? No, that was a reflex. Had the smell of my blood triggered a reaction in him?
What if Michio bit me? I sucked in a wet breath. That would be better than the Drone's bite. My pulse picked up. Why would that be better? Shit, I didn’t know, but my heart clung to the idea, desperate for it.
I closed my eyes. How the fuck could I get him to bite me?
When I glanced up, he was staring at me. I blinked, trying to clear away the red film. Was he actually looking at me? His eyes were glassy, but they seemed to be locked directly on mine. I panted, and his lips parted. Oh my God, his lips fucking moved! It was a reaction. It had to be. Don’t think, Michio. Clear your mind and respond to me.
The Drone gripped the back of Michio’s neck. “Why are her eyes bleeding?”
A frenzied buzz waved over the surrounding aphids. Did they smell my blood or were they picking up on the Drone’s emotions?
I stretched toward Michio as far as the ropes allowed, until my blood-soaked face was an inch below his nose, our lips a kiss away.
His eyes emptied, and his voice droned callously. “A subconjunctival hemorrhage can be caused by high blood pressure, vomiting, or bleeding disorders, however, the blood should not exit the eye.”
My heart sank, and for an eternal moment, I thought I’d lost him.
Then his head lowered. The shift was minuscule, maybe involuntary, but it was enough to graze his fangs against my jaw.
The Drone slammed into us, knocking us closer to the edge as he bellowed, “No!”
His talons slashed at my face and tore across Michio’s arms and back. He shoved his hands between our chests, screaming as he tried to wrench us apart.
The wrestling teetered us backward. Somehow, Michio leaned with me, keeping his mouth near my neck. But I’d been scooted too close to the slope, hanging on by the hook of my legs on the edge.
My stomach hurdled to my throat. Another forceful jerk, and the Drone would successfully push me over the wall.
Michio’s lips brushed my skin, but the pushing and jostling prevented him from sinking his fangs in. He was so stiff and frozen, locked in his body. I tried to bend toward him, hoping…fuck, I hoped the bite would give him the power to free himself.
Three of the six spiders bolted toward us, joining in the Drone’s efforts to hit and claw us apart. The size of Michio’s body deflected most of the strikes against me, but his flesh wasn’t made of Kevlar. The scent of his bloody wounds tinged my laboring inhales.
“Stop it! Get away from him! Fucking stop!” My helpless screams didn’t distract them from
hurting him, from making him bleed.
The Drone’s commands must’ve been pounding in his head, ordering him to back away. Which meant he was fighting it. But it wasn’t enough. Without control of his hands, he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.
With my neck straining to reach Michio’s frozen mouth, I balanced on the edge of the wall by my bound legs, rolled my gaze to the aphids, and whispered, “Die.”
Hundreds of bodies exploded across the tarmac. Tiny particles of blood projected upward in a black mist, and the aroma of rot hit the air.
The Drone stumbled back, eyes wide and pawing at his chest. Then he doubled-over and let out an almighty howl. “What have you done?”
The spiders wobbled, spinning around and snarling with feral expressions. Were they mindless? Disorientated?
It was that flickering moment, that beautiful distraction of time, that allowed Michio to launch. His arms hooked around my back, and his fangs slammed into my neck.
The sting of twin pricks bloomed into a blistering heat and crashed through every cell in my body. The energy in my core flared to life, throbbing and humming as it sought to bring him closer.
I felt it the instant the power inside me latched onto him. The strength in his sculpted body hardened around me, and his fangs dug deeper as he released the venom. No, my unborn child pulled his venom into my system, drawing it deep inside me, and her.
The Drone lifted his head and growled with a low, deadly reverberation that conjured images of bleeding dungeons and horned beasts. “Release her.”
Michio crowded around me, suspending us way too close to the perilous edge as he greedily sucked, his jaw locked against my throat. The drugging sensation of each pull on my vein, the feel of his strong arms folded around my body, and the hardening of his cock against my hip curled waves of pleasure between my legs.
But the distraction with the Drone had only given Michio a moment of freedom. The spiders snapped into a rigid formation, and Michio’s movements began to jerk and stiffen as he fought the Drone for full control of his body. The longer he drank, however, the stronger he seemed to become.
