“Take no notice of him,” said Sylvia, grinning, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, neither would David if he was honest.”
CHAPTER 21
Rome sweltered in the July Heatwave, the bubbling, stinking lake that filled the centre of the Colosseum, undulated languidly, as a pink coffin surfaced from its depths, causing swarms of flies, to swirl around the ancient walls. It moved slowly towards a stone platform that projected from the wall, on contact, the slime lifted the Sarcophagus onto the raised area. With a sucking, ripping, sound, the lid began to lift, Elite #1 struggled as it climbed out from the slimy interior.
Tall, broad shouldered, with powerful muscle linkage, the hatchling climbed down the outside of the Colosseum wall. Once on the ground, it seemed to hesitate, waiting for the telepathic orders that it needed, its faceless head moving from side to side. Then, when contact was made, it began to walk, naked and sexless, through the streets of Rome.
Eventually, as the sun was setting, Elite#1 came to a halt with the Frascati Metro on its left, immediately ahead was the ruined Range Rover. On the road behind it were the hacked to death bodies of the two marines, Peters and Ross, Elite#1 approached them. Kneeling beside Ross, it put both hands on his face, its head rippled as it adopted the marines face and features. Now it possessed eyes, it scanned the body, clothing itself and adapting its size and shape. Finally, satisfied that it had become an exact clone, it picked up the man’s Kit and Carbine and sauntered over to the Station.
Stepping over General Brightside, it walked down the stairs and into the darkness, avoiding the piles of Rat bodies. Down on the Platform it used Ross’ flashlight to examine the dusty concrete floor, quickly discovering the Toilet door that they all used to escape. Bracing his feet, he put his fingers around the edge of the door and pulled, slowly, groaning and grinding, the door buckled and gave way as the chain behind it snapped.
Once he’d found his way down to the railway line, he began to run, heading North, a map of the rail network in his head. It passed through Smelterstop3, people recognised his uniform and waved, it waved back. The same thing happened at Coalstop 5, the Elite just kept running until it came out of a tunnel and arrived at the Cern Hub. Its destination was the Newton University, its target, Colonel Piper Reed.
• • •
It was dark when the Ambulance dropped them outside the Universities main door, Carlos and Jack were carrying Piper on a stretcher towards the Elevator, Sylvia and David were at the front, Mary and Jake followed. Sylvia hurried into a room at the side of the corridor and returned with a Trolley for the stretcher, then they all rode the elevator to the sixth floor. Sylvia led the way to her Laboratory, snapping on the lights as they all filed in.
The Particle Emitter reminded Jake of an old fashioned stainless-steel petrol pump, the sort that you used to find on any garage forecourt. Sylvia carefully positioned the trolley, then applied the brake, David was monitoring Pipers vital signs, he nodded at his girlfriend. She removed the ‘wand’ from the holster in the side of the Emitter, then switched the machine on, it began to whine, the sound growing higher in pitch as it warmed up. Carefully, she held the ‘wand’ above Piper’s head, aiming at the mask, then she depressed the green button on the side of the tube.
The sound changed, dropping to a deeper, chugging noise, fascinated, Mary drew closer, looking for signs of progress. Small pieces of the mask had begun to move, sliding onto the stretcher at the side of Piper’s head. Encouraged, Sylvia increased the strength of the beam, as she worked on the front of the face, David continued to check Piper’s life signs. Part of the mask over her nose, dissolved and ran down her face, then her right eye cleared, Sylvia bore down on the mass over her right ear. It slowly melted, then, still moving, a worm like tube wriggled out of her ear, Sylvia held the beam upon it until it dissolved, then she turned her attention to the other ear.
Mary’s instinct was to put her fingers underneath what was left on Piper’s face and pull, but she resisted the impulse. Sylvia continued the slow progress, Pipers face was just about clear and the worm in her other ear had been dissolved, it would soon be time to move Piper onto her side and concentrate on the back of her head.
Jake heard a slight noise behind him and turned, the shock of what he saw made him stagger.
“My God Ross, I thought you were dead,” he blurted out, “how the Hell did you get here?”
Carlos and Jack turned, their faces frozen with astonishment, Mary simply stared as a coil of fear tightened in her stomach.
“Jake,” she spoke slowly, a tremor in her voice, “something is wrong here, Ross is dead.”
David was looking at everybody in the room, he could feel the mounting tension in the air, so, to diffuse the atmosphere, he smiled at the stranger and walked over to him holding out his hand.
“Hello, good to meet you, I’m Dr Dave……”
That’s as far as he got, Elite#1 took his hand and put his other hand on David’s shoulder, then he pulled, ripping the whole arm from David’s body. Blood gushed like a fountain as David collapsed unconscious, Sylvia screamed, dropping the ‘wand’ as she tried to get to where David was bleeding out. Carlos lunged at the Elite#1, trying to knock it to the ground, panic and confusion began to take hold as Mary pulled out her service pistol.
Jake lashed out sideways with his elbow, catching the Elite#1 in the face, it was like hitting concrete. Carlos was picked up and thrown head first into the wall on the other side of the room, the wet crunch and the bloody impact splash was sickening. Mary moved closer, emptying her pistols magazine into the thing in the doorway, nothing happened, its body simply absorbed the bullets. Jake picked up a heavy-duty fire extinguisher and brought it crashing down on the Elite#1’s head as it started to move towards Piper. It had no effect, the thing’s head bore a huge dint for a while, but that was all, Mary had reloaded and moved around the trolley so that she was between Piper and the Elite#1.
As it moved towards her, Jake came from behind and put his arm around the things neck and tried to drag it backwards, all the time, stabbing it with a screwdriver that he’d found on the floor. Ducking as Mary emptied her pistol into its head, nothing seemed to slow it down. It grabbed Mary with both hands, lifting her above its head, bringing her down across its upraised knee and snapping her spine like a twig, before throwing her dead body into the corner of the room.
“No,” screamed Jake in anguish.
The desperation in his voice seemed to galvanise Sylvia, unable to help her dead boyfriend, she’d pulled herself under the Trolley, out of the way. The Elite#1 was standing in front of her as it tried to lift Piper from the stretcher above her. Its knees were at eye level, giving Sylvia an idea, she scrabbled on the floor for the ‘wand’, the Particle Emitter was still whining away behind her as she put the ‘wand’ to its nearest knee and pressed the ‘max’ button.
Jake, devastated by Mary’s death, felt that the situation was hopeless, yet he swung the fire extinguisher as hard as he could at the back of the things neck, Jack was on the other side, lunging at it with a bread knife he’d found in a drawer. Ignoring them both, Elite#1 lifted Piper from the stretcher and began to turn, then, taking both men by surprise, it stumbled forward, dropping Piper as it hit the floor.
“Over here,” shouted Sylvia, “I need help.”
Jake realised what was happening, dropping to his knees he scrabbled over to her, grabbing Piper by the arm and pulling her with him. Sylvia had cut the Elite#1’s leg off by the knee, but the thing was scrabbling on the floor, turning, coming towards her for its foot, as it did, the limb was moving the other way, trying to unite with the Elite#1.
“Can you get rid of that foot?” Asked Sylvia, put it in a drawer or something, I’ll dissolve it later. I’ll keep the full beam on that thing, it seems to be working.”
“Thank God,” said Jake, “I’ll leave Piper here until I get back, it seems the safest place.”
He grabbed the repulsive limb under one arm and crawled on
all fours towards Mary, passing a Filing cabinet at the other side of the room, he threw the twitching pink slime into the bottom drawer. Reaching Mary, he found her in a twisted heap, he straightened her out as gently as he could and laid her on her back.
Holding her hand he felt for a pulse in her throat, he knew there was no point, his chest ached with the grief that threatened to overwhelm him, as he laid her arms at her side and closed her eyes, then, leaning over her, he whispered goodbye and kissed her on the lips.
“Jake,” it was Sylvia calling that pulled him back to the job in hand.
He got off his knees and looked across at her, he could see that the thing had stopped moving and was visibly dissolving. Jack was on its other side, still stabbing away with the bent and bloody breadknife.
“I wouldn’t bother Jack,” shouted Jake, “I think Sylvia’s got it under control.”
Jack smiled, dropped the knife and gave a thumb’s up, he got to his feet and stepped over the body, on his way towards Jack. That was a mistake. Elite#1 still had one good arm, it grasped him by the belt around his waist and hurled him over its head. He hit the plate glass window, smashed it and went straight through.
“Oh Jesus,” groaned Jake.
“I’m sorry,” said Sylvia, “we’re on the sixth floor.”
“Can I help you with that?” Said Jake, pointing at the Emitter.
“No thanks,” she said, “I think I’m nearly there, have a look at Piper, I can’t imagine what state she’s in.”
She was lying on her stomach, Jake carefully turned her over, like Jake and Sylvia, she was covered in blood and filth, but her face was clear of the monstrous mask. He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.
“Piper,” he said, raising his voice above the deep chugging sound of the Particle Emitter.
She rolled her head on the floor, parts of the mask were still attached to the back of it. Her eyes fluttered open, for a moment she looked lost and bewildered, then he saw recognition flicker across her face.
“Linderman,” she said, trying to smile, her voice sounded rusty, “thank God, am I back in the land of the living then?”
Jake heaved a great sigh of relief, lifting her up in his arms, he gave her a huge hug.
“I’ll take that as a yes then, shall I?” She gasped, fighting for breath and trying to pull all the crap out of her hair, “what’s going on Jake, where are we, where’s Mary?”
EPILOGUE
Zhou Yatsen, China’s Supreme Leader, told his driver to pull over, they were on a three lane Highway that wound into the Russian city of Novosibirsk. He’d watched the miraculous rebirth of the city from a Bunker not far from where they were parked. Then, following his orders, he’d witnessed the detonation of six Neutron bombs that had encircled the city.
That was seven days ago, lorries had been into the city to pick up the dead, of which there was surprisingly few. General Feng had assured him, the bombs that they had used had most probably disintegrated most of the citizens. Yatsen felt pleased with himself, as planned, they had kept the cities intact and had destroyed the populations. Moving through Russia, resurrecting the cities and incinerating the citizens, would soon make China the most powerful nation on the face of the Earth and he, Zhou Yatsen, the most powerful leader.
He signalled for the driver to continue, then, as they approached the suburbs, he ordered the driver to slow down as they moved into the City. They were approaching the central, main square, when he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Telling the driver to stop he looked around, then over to his right, at the entrance to an underground car park, he saw the small figure of a young girl.
He got out of the car and walked towards her, as he drew nearer he could see her more clearly. She was Chinese and looked about ten years old, wearing a red dress with a grey jacket, black shoulder length hair, tied back with a white bow. As he got closer, he got a better look at the girl and was struck by her complexion, she was deathly pale and her skin had an unusual lustre, it was waxy, almost burnished.
At that moment, her face burst into a smile and she skipped towards him, reaching up to take hold of his hand….
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Well you made it to the end of Part 1, I do hope that you enjoyed it, after all, that was my hope and intention when I sat down to write the series. SOUL TAKER 2 will be available shortly and moves on, through the Nuclear devastation of Russia, Nik and Olga, brother and sister, survive against all the odds and escape to the future where they are faced with battles of life and death against one of the monsters that want to destroy the Earth, joining forces with Piper and Jake in the Burrows, they travel to America to rescue Olga, kidnapped and used by an increasingly powerful Soul Taker. I’ve included the first two chapters of SOUL TAKER 2, just to give you a taster of how the story moves on, I hope that you enjoy this perspective of Nik the officer in charge of the Russian mobile launchers that fired the missiles that destroyed northern Italy.
Preview:
SOUL TAKER 2
CHAPTER 1
His mouth felt sticky and dry as he ran his swollen tongue across his coated teeth, struggling to find something damp to swallow, he tried to moisten his sore, arid throat, then, wincing with the pain it caused, he wished he hadn’t bothered. Nik rolled off his back and onto his side, three hours ago, when the other men had started playing cards, and against his better judgement, he’d agreed to share a bottle of Vodka with his melancholy commanding officer. They’d pushed up to the front of their latest charge and he and the Colonel had sprawled side by side on the driving seats of the massive Topol-M Missile Transporter and Launch Platform.
Their feet crossed and resting on the vehicles dashboard, they’d talked of the prospect of imminent war and as they emptied the bottle, they earnestly discussed the true meaning of life and the utter pointlessness of it all. Then in a warm, companionable silence, they watched, as the snow flurries danced across the tops of the pine trees. Dusting the green forest white in the strengthening wind, then, skipping away to the hills in the South, as the leaden sky turned black.
Now, a few hours later, his chest burned with indigestion and the dull throbbing pain between his eyes stabbed with every heartbeat. He turned onto his front and with both hands, he clamped the thin pillow over his ears, trying to shut out the Godawful sound that wanted to drag him back to a grim reality. Resting at the back of his mind was the increasing pressure to urinate, but he’d banished the thought behind a barricaded steel door, any acknowledgement would mean getting out of his bunk.
The raucous honking sound that was filling the tiny metal cabin had a vaguely familiar ring to it, a nagging recognition hovered just out of reach at the back of his mind. Shivering with cold, he pulled the sleeping bag over his head and defying cramp, carefully stretched out his legs, he was about to rub his cold feet together for warmth, when reality hit him like a club and his eyes snapped open.
He yanked the sleeping bag down to his shoulders and looked around the tiny metal cabin, its walls studded with rubies as the condensation reflected the flashing red light. The cacophony of the honking klaxon was unremitting, two feet away, private Petrov’s moon face, bathed in red light, was like a demon, staring at him from the opposite bunk, so close that Nik could smell the nauseating beef and onion pasty that the man had gobbled down a couple of hours earlier.
“Sir, the phone’s ringing,” he said truculently.
Nik, his head pounding, gave him a black look, for two pins he felt like smacking the man’s stupid face, but he shrugged off the urge and pulled his sleeping bag down to his knees before kicking it off. Then, conscious of the confines of the tiny cabin, he carefully slid to the floor. World war 3 was probably kicking off at this very moment and he’d almost managed to sleep right through it.
He wasn’t a tall man, standing about five feet, six in his stocking feet, broad muscular shoulders, short, chestnut brown hair and a swarthy complexion that housed his best feature, startling green eyes. His
Mother, who had brown, smoky eyes and a generous mouth, was reputedly of Italian stock, although, never knowing her parents and being reared in one of Moscow’s State Orphanages, made her lineage impossible to follow. But she was born laughing and grew up with a happy and cheerful personality, which she never lost, despite her abusive marriage. A creative and inventive storyteller, she hated the hand of cards that life had dealt her and would escape into a fantasy world whenever possible. It was a quiet and cheerful place that she went to, a land where there was no squalor and everybody was kind to her, including the man that she’d married, a shallow, selfish brute of a man, who had never really loved her.
Often, when her husband was at work and they were alone in the house, his mother, in one of her shutdown moods, would lock the doors, then, with her mind divorced from reality, she would tell his sister and him stories. In the cold, grubby parlour, two excited children would be enchanted by unrealistic hopes and impossible wishes that would dance from their mother’s mouth like butterflies.
Nik had been her first born and his Mediterranean skin colour and green eyes had become a bone of contention between his Mother and Father. Neighbours tongues had wagged about Nik’s skin colour when he was born. Because he was more olive than white, gossips cast doubt on his parentage and Nik’s father, Albert, swallowed all the lies that were being bandied about. He became obsessed with the fact that his pregnant bride had been with another man and had then tricked him into marrying her, making him the laughing stock of the neighbourhood.
He was a man’s man, tall and wiry, light brown, almost ginger hair, small grey eyes and a hooked nose, he did a lot of drinking in the pubs and taverns and fighting in the streets, toe to toe, bare knuckled. Nik would often stand on the street with the neighbours and watch him, he usually won, then he would come in to the kitchen and wash the blood from his hands and face in a white enamel bowl dotted with black chips. He enjoyed any sport and loved to participate, his greatest talent was ice skating, he was renowned for his skill. In winter, when the river Volga would freeze, there were speed skating competitions and Nik’s father would usually win, but if there was any money involved, he would drink it in the bars before he got home.
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