“The hero? Me? Christ, lady, I wouldn’t know what to do with that. All I want is for my friends to be safe and a couple of bucks to rub together. Anything more than that is just gravy.” I put the finishing touches on the triangle and emptied the bottle of Kemia onto it.
“That’s…unfortunate.” To her credit, she actually sounded sad. She gave my heartstrings a good tug despite myself. “I have to come in now. If you’re not with me…”
“Yeah,” I said, stepping back from the door. “I know.”
The door slid open almost mournfully. Maybe it was the blood loss talking, but as Caterina took a step inside, her dress shimmering around her, I could almost believe she really didn’t want to kill me. And despite everything, despite the bruises and blood on her face from where I struck her, she did look beautiful. She stared straight at me, and I found myself meeting her eyes without fear.
“Please don’t make me kill you,” she whispered.
I shrugged. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
“Miles, I think I love you.”
My heart twisted, a dull pain deep in my chest. I held back my emotion behind a brick wall and closed my eyes. “Sorry, Cat. That’s not enough.”
The Tunnel wasn’t like anything I’d ever opened before, and it required a different mind state to anything I was used to. It wasn’t about chaos or order, it was about life and survival. It was animalistic.
I opened my eyes just as she noticed what lay beneath her feet. She stood in the center of the triangle, her mouth dropping open just enough to let out a gasp. And then the Tunnel opened.
Quick as a cat she hurled herself backward into the hallway, a vengeful spark of fire leaping from her fingers and singeing my hair. I stumbled to the side, trying to gain some measure of cover behind the bed, already knowing it was useless. If my gambit with the Tunnel failed, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to save myself.
Caterina picked herself up, cast a disdainful look at the triangle Tunnel, then turned her attention to me. Lightning leaped up around her, making her hair stand to attention. Hell. This was what I got for having convictions.
And then came the screams, a sound that made my heart leap and my stomach knot at the same time. Caterina must’ve heard them too—they were kind of hard to miss—and her lightning faltered as she stared at the Tunnel.
The six-legged creature that leaped out of the triangle-shaped hole in the ground wasn’t from Heaven, and it sure as hell wasn’t from Earth, but I recognized it nonetheless. You don’t forget a face with as many teeth as that. It was one of the creatures that attacked Vivian and me while the Tunnel to Heaven collapsed around us.
Despite the gut-kicking panic of the situation, I spared myself a flicker of awe at what I’d managed to do. As far as I knew, no one else had managed a Tunnel between anywhere but Heaven and Earth. Back in school I’d heard the theories that Tunnels passed through other dimensions, but it was all just post-doc student posturing. Not one of them had a shred of evidence to back up their hypotheses, or any idea how to construct a Tunnel that could reach the other dimensions.
The fur-covered animal—I had to come up with a name for it, if I survived long enough—was bigger than most dogs, and its long canines dripped with saliva. It skittered around on the floor, sniffing at the air with its flat nose, and let out another piercing scream.
The open Tunnel pulsed with energy, matching the raw animal awareness calling from a distant part of my mind, and then the creature wasn’t alone anymore. Half a dozen more of the vicious-looking things scrambled out of the Tunnel, one after another, forming up into a pack around the first one. The spark of pride I felt at outdoing the ivory tower academics quickly faded. Perhaps I hadn’t thought this through as much as I should have. I gripped my nightstick tighter as one of the creatures faced me and started screaming.
Caterina hiked up her dress and pulled a new snub-nosed gun from the holster strapped to her thigh. At the same moment, the first drooling creature leaped at her. She got the gun up and fired, sending a spray of pink blood across the slavering horde of creatures, but its momentum carried it forward, crashing into her and throwing her backward. Her mad eyes flashed.
I caught sight of a tight stream of flame flying from Caterina’s fingers as another pair of the creatures skittered in, teeth gnashing. For a moment my heart strings quivered, and a flash of guilt went through me. But by that time I had my own problems. One of the creatures seemed to have taken a liking to me, or maybe it just thought I smelled tastier than Caterina. I stumbled backward and bumped into the bedside cabinet, but it kept advancing on me, emitting brief bursts of noise. I lost count of how many eyes it had. It’s not like it mattered. They were all fixed on me.
I swung my nightstick as it lunged and landed a glancing blow at the point where one of its front legs connected to its body, but I was weak and tired, and the thing kept on coming. It sunk a mouthful of teeth into my arm and swung me in a circle. I had to grit my teeth to keep the scream from leaving my throat. Christ, now I probably had alien rabies.
The air on the other side of the room crackled with lightning and a couple of the creatures went flying back, even as two more jumped out of the Tunnel. They raced in and joined their buddies in surrounding Caterina, leaving me blessedly alone. Except for the one intent on tearing my arm off. I spun around and slammed the creature into the vanity’s mirror, sending glass raining through the room. The damn creature didn’t budge, just clamped its jaws down all the tighter and started screaming again.
All right, to hell with this thing. I slammed the butt of my nightstick into its side. I had more important things to worry about than some interdimensional spider-dog. The fact that it was me who brought this creature here in the first place was beside the point.
I whacked it again and again, ignoring the jolt of pain that shot up my arm with each blow. Finally, before I could start screaming, the pressure of its jaws lessened a little. Before it could clamp back down again I rammed my nightstick into a gap between its teeth and pushed down on it, trying to get some leverage. The creature whined and squealed, but gradually I pried the jaws apart and hurled it to the floor.
God, I was so tired. My arm stung like I’d dipped it in acid, and I tried to keep the world in focus. “Ugly little son of a bitch, aren’t you?” I said to the creature.
It responded by jumping at me again, going for my throat this time. I was ready for it. I slipped to the side and brought the nightstick down on its skull. It hit the ground with a thud, tried once more to get up, then stumbled back to a lying position.
I felt a little sorry for the thing, but not sorry enough to be nice. I wedged my foot under its flailing body and kicked it back to the triangle Tunnel. It rolled into the black abyss and fell from my sight, back into whatever crazy place it came from.
I took a moment to press a hand over the new holes I’d developed in my arm and assess the situation, by which I mean I stared openmouthed at the havoc Caterina and the creatures were wreaking back in the hallway. She’d charred several of the creatures to perfection, and put bullets in another couple.
But she wasn’t quite the avenging angel anymore. She had her back to the wall, bleeding from half a dozen bites across her arms. Her dress didn’t look so sexy now it was torn and coated with blood. The wall behind her was cracked and smoking, the victim of a few stray lightning bolts.
Only four of the creatures were left alive. She gritted her teeth and took a shot at the creature directly in front of her, but missed the other one sneaking around to the side. It dashed forward and planted its teeth in her leg, and she let out a yelp.
I should’ve been proud that one of my plans was actually working for once, but this was getting out of hand. I’d have time to smother my guilt and consider the paradigm-shifting nature of this new Tunnel later. For now, I needed to get out with most of my skin intact and get Todd’s Chroma so I could save Vivian. Caterina forced me to this, she could deal with the goddamn consequences. I wa
sn’t going to get sucked into some goddamn heroics. Not again.
Caterina desperately tried to shake the creature off her leg, but all that did was give another one the chance to latch onto her other ankle. Her screams reached banshee-pitch and she toppled to the ground. Her gun spoke again and again until it was empty, and another creature went down. There was no way she could set the creatures on fire when they were in so close to her. Even if she could, I doubted she could maintain the concentration to punch open a Chroma-enhanced Pin Hole with so many creatures trying to get themselves a piece of her flesh.
I vaulted the Tunnel to get back out into the hallway. It took me close to Caterina and the creatures, close enough for me to see the bloody gashes across her skin. No, Miles. Don’t be stupid.
I bolted past and the creatures let out rapid hooting screams, almost sounding like victory cheers, and then they started dragging Caterina along the floor toward the Tunnel.
“No!” she screamed, flailing around and trying to gain purchase on the wooden floor. “Miles!”
The agony in her scream turned my spine to jelly. I’d heard screams like that throughout Bluegate before. I sometimes wondered why they even bothered screaming; they must have known no one would come to save them. No one ever did in this city.
I slowed and cast back a look at Caterina. She locked eyes with me, her lips twisting with pain, clumps of blood matting her red hair. They nearly had her to the Tunnel now. She snatched at the doorframe, but her hand was slippery with blood, and she couldn’t hold on. But I needed the distraction to get away. I needed to find the Chroma before it was too late for Vivian.
“Miles,” she said again, her screams nothing but puppy dog whimpers now. “Please.”
Aw, hell. I always hated that word.
I once read a book that claimed there was no such thing as free will. Everything we do, every decision we make, is an inevitable result of a million things that have happened before; there is no other way we can possibly act. Our lives are linear, and all the “what ifs” are nothing more than an illusion, a game we play with ourselves long after the dust has settled.
I guess if that’s true, it made the choice easier. Because really, it was no choice at all.
Caterina’s feet disappeared over the lip of the Tunnel first, the two creatures dragging her down. She rolled onto her stomach, defeat already clear on her face, but she dug her fingernails into the floor anyway, a futile attempt at survival, the only thing she could do.
I took two running steps and dived, my arms outstretched in front of me like a special-needs Superman. One of her hands slipped out of sight along with her face, but the other clung on for a moment, one long, painful moment, before sliding away.
I thrust my hand over the lip, snatching blindly. I felt skin, warm, soft skin. With a jerk that nearly tore my arm out of its socket, I grabbed her by the wrist, hooked my shoes into a doorway, and held on.
Pain tore up my arm from far too many injuries, but I held tight. The screams echoing out of the Tunnel changed their pitch from victorious to frustrated. There was a tug, and another. Caterina screamed. I think I did too.
“I got you, Cat,” I shouted. Her hand slipped in mine. “Well, kind of, anyway.” I thrust my other arm over the edge and pressed my body against the floor to keep myself from going over as well. “Grab my other hand.”
For a moment, there was nothing, and I wondered if she’d lost consciousness. Then I felt fingers brushing mine. I strained, feeling like I had the puny arms of a T-rex, and then Caterina’s hand grabbed mine.
“Miles,” she said, pain burning any sultriness from her voice.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m going to get you out. Uh, somehow.”
I got as good a grip on Caterina’s wrists as I could and started wriggling backward on my stomach, using my feet in the doorway to pull myself backward. The floor was slippery with blood, and every movement sent a new wave of electric pain shooting through my shoulders, but I gritted my teeth and kept moving backward, bit by bit.
Her hands came into view first, red nail polish scraped away, knuckles bloody and raw. Then her arms, then her face. Her eyes were screwed up tight, tear tracks carving through the dust on her face. I kept pulling until I got her torso up out of the Tunnel, and then she could help by pushing with her elbows.
“Cat,” I said, my voice coming out thinner than I expected. “Are they still on your legs?”
She nodded without opening her eyes and kept hauling herself out.
“Okay,” I said. “We’re going to have to be quick. When I say, I want you to lift your legs up as high as you can. All right?”
She nodded again. I didn’t know if she understood me, but I didn’t have the strength to ask her again. I wiggled back, little by little, to the symphony of inhuman screams.
She got her hips over the lip. The creatures were pulling stronger now, or maybe I was just getting weaker; I felt like I’d been drained of every bit of life.
I got her out as far as her knees, her stomach pressed hard against the floor. For a moment she slipped, and my heart leaped in my chest, but she got back her balance and I kept pulling. The creatures’ fur was visible now, peeking over the Tunnel edge, their eyes swiveling around to face me.
“Okay, Cat, it’s time. Ready?”
“Yes,” she hissed.
“All right. On the count of one. Ready?”
She nodded.
“One.”
She hauled her legs up, bending at the knees. The creatures came up with her, their heads appearing over the lip, teeth piercing both calves. They squealed and rocked from side to side, trying to pull her back down with them. They looked hungry.
They could go fuck themselves.
I released the Tunnel’s energy, switching off the animalistic state of mind that kept it open. The energy fled from me, causing physical pain, like a punch to the gut.
The edges of the Tunnel pulsed for a second, like the heartbeat of some great animal. The two creatures squealed as if they could sense what was happening, but it was too late for them.
The three edges of the Tunnel snapped inward, faster than I could make out. The floor reappeared like three overlapping blades, missing Caterina’s knees by less than an inch.
The creatures didn’t fare so well. The floor cut through their heads like a laser, shearing cleanly through flesh and bone. The screams cut off abruptly and a pool of pink blood flowed out over Caterina. On one of her legs the remaining bits of the creature’s head dropped off, the jaws sliced through. The other one got caught lower, so the head was mostly intact, and its teeth stayed embedded in her leg.
My strength fled from me and all my aches came back ten times as strong. She looked worse than I felt. The two of us lay there for a moment, panting, Caterina’s hands still in mine. Jesus, I needed a drink.
Finally, I let go and pushed myself to my feet, half dazed as I grasped the black object lying in the blood beside me.
Caterina looked up at me, her face drawn and her hair stuck to her face. “Miles, I—”
I swung the nightstick at her head, catching her in the temple. Her face didn’t even have enough time to register her shock before she slumped back down, unconscious.
I may have been a softie, but I wasn’t stupid.
I stumbled backward and slid down along the wall, all my strength gone. I couldn’t recall hitting the ground, but apparently that’s where I was, because I could feel blood soaking into the seat of my pants.
I was sweating, I think, though it was hard to tell. Everything felt so cold, so numb. I was vaguely aware I should do something about my wounds, but another part of me told me not to worry. It was too late for any of that sort of stuff now, and besides, I was so tired. Didn’t I deserve a little rest?
I sure as hell didn’t want be around to clean up this mess.
Some annoying voice inside me was nagging at me, telling me I wasn’t done yet. I let it complain. I was so sleepy, I doubted I could get up even if I tried.
Sparks floated in front of me, or maybe they were butterflies, I’m not too sure. They were pretty.
I closed my eyes.
“Miles!” Something slapped my face, or maybe it was someone else’s face. “Wake up, you stupid son of a bitch.”
I kept my eyes closed and brushed a floppy hand across whatever was annoying me. “Don’t wanna. It’s not even a school day.”
“Miles, if you don’t open your eyes, I’m going to throw your trumpet under a steamroller.”
I opened my eyes. I liked that trumpet.
My eyes weren’t seeing too well. Everything was in double, but a face resolved in front of me.
“Desmond,” I said drowsily. “You bastard. You seriously couldn’t have come ten minutes ago? You would’ve made my life a hell of a lot easier.”
Desmond slid his arms under my armpits and hauled me up into a proper sitting position. “It’s always bitch, bitch, bitch with you isn’t it?”
I grunted at the pain of moving muscles that didn’t want to be moved. “Tania?” I asked.
“She’s fine. We got to her in time. She’s going to be okay.”
Desmond tsked as he inspected my wounds. He disappeared for a second then reappeared carrying a clean white bed sheet and began tearing it into strips. He pressed the makeshift bandages against my wounds. Idly, I wondered what Andrews would say if he was still alive to see what I was using his property for.
Sudden panic gripped me as I remembered what happened. I glanced around, but Caterina was still lying on the ground, sleeping like a baby.
“It was her,” I said, grunting as Desmond squeezed a cut on my shoulder. “Andrews’ wife. Freaking lunatic.”
“Yeah, bitches be crazy,” Desmond said. “I’m getting sick of patching you up all the time, guy. We gotta get you to a hospital.”
The Man Who Crossed Worlds (A Miles Franco Urban Fantasy) Page 26
