The Humanarium

by CW Tickner

  Chapter 29

  An open day. That is how I will reveal them to the world. I will terraform each tank to better show off the fauna and flora I discovered with them and invite the highest in society to attend.

  Harl ran his gaze across the branches high up in the tree. A dozen of the segmented, yellow and black striped creatures were perched on a single branch high over the clearing. They fluttered on and off the branch as they squabbled over positions and, every now and then, one would swoop down to gain speed before stealing a new place on the perch. He couldn’t be sure from such a distance, but they seemed larger than before, perhaps as big as a cow, as if the previous monsters were mere adolescents.

  ‘Just our luck,’ Harl whispered, stepping back deeper into the grass line. He pointed to the base of the tree. ‘I’d thought to cut into the tree using the sword and make some kind of cave for us, but can you see the gap between those gnarly roots?’

  Sonora nodded, her eyes flicking from the hole to the creatures.

  ‘We could hide in there,’ Harl said. ‘It probably goes quite far in. There’s no way those creatures can overwhelm us if we’re in there. It would be easy to hold them off with the sword.’

  ‘I don’t like it,’ Sonora said, looking over the bare expanse of dirt and rock then up again at the creatures. ‘It’s a perfect place to be caught by them.’

  Harl thought about it. Maybe they could keep searching, but he didn’t like the idea of wandering around trying to find somewhere safe. There was too much risk. He’d never really faced danger before. All these monsters just attacked mindlessly. He and Sonora were just another food source and the idea of constantly fending of hungry beasts was horrifying.

  He nodded up to the canopy where a cluster of red had caught his eye.

  ‘Food,’ he said.

  She turned, eyes wide, ‘I’m not eating one of those creatures.’

  ‘Shh,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Up there.’ He pointed up into the branches to where a huge red fruit was weighing down an offshoot. Greener fruits were ripening to the same rosy red higher up beyond it.

  ‘We need to eat,‘ he said, making up his mind. ‘We’ll be out of food in five cycles and there’s no telling when we might stumble across another cow.’

  ‘I don’t care,‘ Sonora whispered. ‘We’re not crossing that death trap.‘

  Making it all the way across to the trunk was almost impossible without being seen. He looked for a way around the problem, but there was too much bare ground between the end of the grass stalks and the base of the tree. No matter which way they went, they’d still be exposed once they left the grass line. The creatures would see them and swoop down.

  He spun around at a rustling sound coming from behind them in the stalks and caught a glimpse of something long and black sliding along the ground. Two red eyes locked on to him before the creature disappeared into a patch of thick, knee-high moss. A shiver ran up his spine and he tightened his grip on the bow. The creature was as long as two men lying head to toe and as thick as a small tree trunk. It was as if one of the giant grasses had uprooted itself and learnt to snake across the ground, moving from shadow to shadow.

  ‘Harl,‘ Sonora whispered. ‘Did you see that?‘

  ‘Yes‘ he said, bringing the bow up. ‘Whatever it is, it knows we’re here. The flying creature’s don’t. We have to risk it and cross.’

  He reached for the arrows in the quiver, wondering if he had enough, then cursed. He still had Gorman’s pistol; he’d forgotten all about it. Why hadn’t he remembered last cycle during the attack? He thrust a hand inside his bag and grabbed the pistol.

  The creature slipped from the moss into a clump of dead leaves, attempting to hide itself, but it’s slick body was too long to conceal and the tail end twitched beside the pile. The red eyes fixed on them, glaring from under the leaves. Harl couldn’t take his own eyes off the thing, terrified that if he moved the spell would be broken and the creature would attack. The ruby eyes sunk down into the shadows as if it was coiling its body and then the creature burst from the leaves. It snaked across the floor towards them and lunged.

  Harl raised the pistol, but Sonora grabbed his other hand and yanked him out into the clearing as the monster’s tooth-ridden mouth snapped where he’d been standing. They stumbled out into the open and the slithering beast twisted away, shying back from the clearing as if afraid to reveal itself. They watched the bony tail slip from sight as it sped back into the leaves.

  Sonora swung her sword up ready and scanned the grass stalks, waiting for any sign of the creature as it re-emerged. The sword emitted it’s eerie hum as she planted her feet wide, breathing hard. Nothing moved. She looked up and around to the treetops where the flying creatures still bickered among themselves before squaring up to the line of grass.

  Harl was mesmerised by her. She looked so alive, so ready to face the danger. He had to force himself to do it, but it seemed second nature to her. He hadn’t noticed it inside her old world, but since the previous attack he had realised just how strong she was. Perhaps facing death had unlocked some hidden reserve inside her? Or was he just truly seeing her for the first time?

  He didn’t know, but he loved it.

  He crouched low, unsure which direction to risk. The tree or back in to the grass? They had proved themselves once against the flying creatures. At least he knew they stood a chance that way.

  ‘The tree,’ Harl whispered and started for the trunk’s base, trying to seem as small as possible to the creatures above. Perhaps they could slip past and make it to the gnarly roots without being seen? It was over two hundred paces away, but the sight of the roots curling into the ground around the gap was tantalising.

  The clearing itself was carpeted with bones. They were scattered across it and many of them looked like small rib cages, about the size of a pig, but the colour was more silver than white. The broken segments reminded him of the long legless thing in the stalks and he guessed that death had been the fate of many to slither too far into the clearing. But it was a sobering sight. If the creatures above him could do that to something so large, then Sonora and he stood little chance if spotted. Had he made the wrong choice?

  His gaze flicked up to the branches overhead. Still no movement. He then glanced back to the pillared grass stalks behind them, before swinging his head around to look at the hole between the colossal trunk’s roots. They had covered a third of the distance to the base when a single screech of alarm came from the creatures above.

  Harl and Sonora froze, staring up as the insects burst in to a chorus of horrid shrieks and calls. They launched from the branch and swooped down in a buzz of wings.

  Harl raised the pistol. The weapon felt inadequate and puny in his grip compared to the bow, but he aimed at the creature leading the dive. Its companions fell in behind it, then darted to the side as they tried to flutter past and hit their prey first.

  Harl squeezed the trigger. A crackling bolt of blue light erupted from the end of the pistol and shot up at the group. It missed the leading creature but hit a slower one behind. The beast exploded in a shimmering puff of bright blue light, and gory black pieces of it rained down on the parched soil below.

  Harl stared at the thing in his hands, marvelling at the power contained within the device. It took his mind a moment to grasp what he had done. So much power locked away in such a small object. An arrow was deadly in the right hands, but it could be used to wound or disable. This weapon, this pistol, it was something that would utterly destroy it’s target.

  ‘Harl!’ Sonora called.

  He shook his head to clear it and focused on the creatures above.

  The group had split apart in the aftermath of his shot, but they’d re-grouped. He grimaced and tried to force the fleeting thoughts of the pistol’s implications from his mind so that he could fire again, but his hands were shaking too much. He tried to calm himself as he would with a bow: breathe in, breathe out, aim, shoot. Six rapid shots and four more c
reatures exploded in waves of blue light and blackened chunks of meat.

  The remaining five screeched in fury and buzzed to the ground half way between them and the trunk. Harl smiled, knowing that there was no way the creatures could reach them before he could squeeze the trigger.

  One creature hissed and then started to rub its wings together. The translucent flesh screeched with each movement like a thousand reed blowers going off at once. Harl clamped his hands over his ears as the sound intensified. The other four creatures joined in, chorusing the harsh sound across the clearing and out into the giant stalks of grass all around. And then it was gone. The insects fell still and the whole forest became deathly silent. Harl drew his hands away from his ears and turned to Sonora. She was opening and closing her mouth as she shook her head to try and clear it.

  Then the call was returned from somewhere distant and high above them. He glanced up to see dozens of the giant insects swarming down from between the leaves, screeching and clacking their mandibles.

  ‘The gap,‘ he yelled above the agonising sound. ‘Run!‘

  Firing at those in front, he dashed towards the crevice between the roots. The creatures split apart, one by one, in a shower of blue light and bloody yellow gore.

  Despair pounded into him as a dozen more of the flyers touched down directly in front of them. The creatures folded their wings back and then waited there with their pincers snapping.

  More insects circled around overhead and landed behind Harl and Sonora. The clicking and screeching calls increased as each one added its wings to the chorus.

  The closest one leapt at Harl, wings spread, pincers snapping. Adrenaline flooded him. He lifted his pistol and kept firing until he’d severed the creature’s head from its body. The head and mandibles crashed to the ground but kept twitching and snapping as if they didn’t realise they were dead.

  Sonora tripped on a carcass and fell to the ground. As she rolled, one monster launched itself high into the air and dived at her. She kept rolling out of its path, but it banked mid-air and grabbed her pack in its claws. It beat its wings as it dragged her across the dusty ground to its family. Harl stopped and fired the pistol as she was dragged away. The shot hit true and the creature was blasted off her.

  The flyers pressed in on all sides and he fired again at the closest to give Sonora enough time to stand. He fought to gain ground, but they were barely past the halfway point to the tree. Stepping forward, he shot insect after insect in turn while Sonora kept her back to him and carved anything that came too close in two. They were in a sea of yellow blood, pressed in on all sides by snapping pincers. Two flyers raced at him and he took the first down in a flash of molten blue. The second rushed in. Its pincers snagged his foot and he toppled over. He pressed the barrel against its head and pulled the trigger. A plaintive beep came from the pistol and he pressed the trigger again and again, but the weapon refused to fire.

  ‘Damn you!‘ he screamed and then kicked the creature in the face to dislodge it.

  He glanced around at Sonora. Her movements had become sluggish. She could barely raise the sword and sweat coated her brow. He could see the exhaustion in her eyes as she spun in place and sliced through one of the creatures. She stumbled, but then braced herself and forced her trembling arms to raise the sword once more.

  The creatures clicked their pincers and hissed as if sensing their prey tiring.

  Time slowed and Harl let the pistol slip from his hand as he looked at the woman he loved. She was panting, caked in yellow viscera, and held the blade out ready for the next attack. He could see her strength ebbing away as the weapon slowly drooped down.

  She seemed to sense his gaze and turned her back on their attackers to face him. She let the sword fall from her hand and reached out to him, burying her face against his chest as he pulled her close. The hissing grew as the monsters closed in. He held her tight and closed his eyes.

  Let it end quickly. Let it all be over.

  Chapter 30

  Word has spread and several prestigious scientists from from various manufacturing factions have shown interest in coming to the open day.

  The embrace lasted for what seemed an eternity. Time stretched with the expectation of pain, but it never came. Instead, a long, drawn out note of a horn sounded. Voices shouted, human voices. Harl snapped his eyes open and turned to face the creatures again. They had turned towards the new threat coming from somewhere beyond the grass line. One of the creatures hovering above them shuddered and then crashed to the ground, a feathered arrow protruding from its bulbous abdomen. Arrows suddenly rained down among the creatures, transforming their hissing cries into squeals of anguish and pain. In a matter of moments the creatures knew they were overwhelmed and scattered into the air with a buzz of wings as they vanished up among the leaves.

  Harl looked around for the source of aid and spied faces darting in and out of view behind the grasses where they had entered the clearing. It was hard to distinguish them from the grass at first glance: their skin was a green-brown colour that blended with the plants around them. But the more he looked, the more faces popped out from behind the stalks or could be seen crouching in pockets of moss. Sonora was holding his hand, but let go so she could pick up the fallen sword.

  ‘Who are they?’ she asked as more than a dozen men and women stalked out onto the dusty clearing.

  They were clearly a well organised group and were dressed in an odd mixture of tanned skins and woven brown material fashioned into cloaks and waistcoats. The majority of them were men, but both men and women had long hair that had been braided and tied back into ponytails. It revealed runic tattoos around the neck, barely visible on their strange green and brown patterned skin. All of them had a bow in their hands and a quiver strapped to their backs.

  ‘I have no idea,’ he said, trying to casually pick up his own bow, ‘but I think we’re about to find out.’

  The group approached. They seemed wary of their surroundings and kept casting furtive glances above them as though expecting more of the creatures at any moment. They stopped about twenty paces from Harl and Sonora, clearly cautious about coming any closer. Harl counted fifteen.

  One of the men, his chest covered in a supple leather chest plate that left his arms bare, stepped forward. A thick black beard covered the majority of his face, but Harl could still see the pale streak of a jagged scar running down one of his cheeks. His beard was tied into a single plait, similar to his hair, which was braided back over his skull and then tied behind his head like the others. He looked grim as he studied them, but there was intelligence in his eyes and it gave Harl hope.

  The man was still a good ten paces away when he spoke.

  ‘What tribe are you from?’ he asked. His voice was deep and powerful. He cocked his head to look them up and down with dark, curious eyes. Maybe he did not expect an answer, but he looked to those either side of him, as if gathering his confidence to approach Harl and Sonora, then walked towards them leaving his men behind. He clasped a bone bow lightly in one hand, his other hovering just above a knife strapped to his thigh.

  The bearded man strode closer and what Harl had first thought was a green and brown skin colour, was actually some form of camouflage painted expertly on the man’s face. Underneath, his skin was weathered, but Harl guessed them to be of a similar age. There was a vitality in his eyes that gave a hunter-like impression.

  The leader stopped three strides away and Harl resisted the impulse to step back. The man towered over him and he clenched his fist around the bow, ready to defend Sonora.

  ‘What tribe are you from?’ the leader asked again, his dark eyes roaming over both of them and stopping on Harl’s hands.

  ‘We have no tribe,’ Harl said, his voice coming out ragged and croaky as he tried to quell his fear. ‘But,’ he went on, unclenching his hands and not wanting to seem ungrateful, ‘we thank you for your aid.’

  By this time the leader’s men had closed in behind him. They all had the
same worn but keen look to them, like an old knife blade sharpened until it was wafer thin. Strong muscles flexed beneath the crude paint covering their arms. Their equipment was worn as if it had been passed down for generations.

  ‘No tribe?’ the man asked. ‘Where are you from?’

  ‘We came from there,’ Harl said, pointing to where the top of the grey building could be seen over the grass forest.

  ‘That cannot be,’ the man said, shaking his head. ‘None come from there, only Aylen. As for helping you, we considered letting you die. We’ve tracked you since you defiled the cave of skulls. You must be held to account for going to a forbidden and sacred place.’

  Harl felt sure he had done nothing wrong, but there was an undercurrent of tension rippling through the group and they shifted uneasily at the bearded man’s words.

  ‘We didn’t know it was sacred,’ Sonora said. ‘We just needed shelter from the sun shouting.’

  ‘The sun shouting?’ the man asked, raising an eyebrow.

  ‘The sun,’ Sonora said, peering up through the canopy. ‘I figured that if something moves over it, it would call for help for it to be moved.’ She finished this dubiously, perhaps realising she did not really know enough about it.

  ‘Ah, you mean the thunderstorm,’ the man said. He looked at them again as if seeing them in a new light. ‘You’ve not seen this before?’

  Sonora shook her head.

  ‘This is strange indeed,’ he said, absorbed in thought for a moment. ‘Hmm... Well I am Damen, son of Terman. I am leader of this hunting party. You fight bravely. But your weapons, where did you find them?’

  ‘I am Harl Eriksson and this is Sonora,’ Harl said. As for the weapons, they were gifts.’

  Damen looked interested at the news. ‘We’ve only seen such weaponry in the hands of the Enlightened ones. Where are you going to?’

  ‘We were hoping to make shelter near the base of this tree,’ Sonora said, gesturing to the enormous trunk.