Skinners: Blood Blade

by Marcus Pelegrimas

  “I’m going after her!” Cole shouted.

  Walter levered a fresh round into his rifle and sighted through the scope. “You do that and you’ll leave me open. Stick to the plan.”

  “But Paige is outnumbered!”

  “You guys are always outnumbered,” Walter replied as he calmly fired another shot.

  Cole was debating on whether he should argue or just run for the parking structure. Both options were pushed aside when he spotted movement in the corner of his eye. He looked over to find two shapes racing toward him from the surrounding shadows. All this time, he thought he’d had a good feel for the park. Now he felt as if he’d just been dropped into alien territory. “Someone’s coming,” he said.

  Walter’s reply was as calm as it was stern. “Just don’t let them get to me.” He didn’t so much as glance down at Cole, even as the impact of feet upon cold grass rumbled through the ground.

  Misonyk and one of the muscular bodyguards from Shimmy’s scrambled forward in a low crouch. The bodyguard snarled while extending his arms and balling up thick, meaty fists. As he approached, Misonyk showed Cole a wide smile, complete with both sets of fangs protruding from his upper jaw.

  “So you have chosen to stand your ground,” he said as he glanced at the weapon in Cole’s hands. “I’m always happy to send another Skinner from this world.” He then shifted his eyes toward Walter and snarled, “Kill him before he fires another shot!”

  The bodyguard ran toward Cole, but leapt into the air at the last moment.

  Shifting his grip to hold onto his weapon more like a golf club, Cole swung the spear upward and snagged the bodyguard’s foot with the two points at the bottom of the grip. That was enough to divert the airborne Nymar’s course and bounce him off the trunk of the tree next to Walter’s.

  Walter kept the rifle to his shoulder and fired whenever a target presented itself. If he had any doubts regarding Cole’s ability to protect him, he didn’t voice them.

  Tightening both fists around his weapon the way Paige had shown him, Cole swung in a low arc that cut across Misonyk’s ankles. The blow caught the Nymar by surprise, but only caused him to stumble back half a step. Then he straightened and lashed out with one hand. The Nymar’s nails were short, jagged, and sharp enough to slice through the air like tempered steel. Cole leaned back to avoid getting eviscerated and saw Misonyk’s other arm coming straight down toward his face.

  It was nothing but reflex that brought both of Cole’s arms up to block the incoming swing with his weapon. Misonyk’s fist landed like a sledgehammer, sending a shockwave all the way up to Cole’s shoulders while also burying the weapon’s thorns into his palms. At first Cole felt numb, then the pain hit him in a white hot explosion that caused his vision to blur around the edges. Gritting his teeth, he pulled one end of the weapon back while pushing the other end forward to drive the twin spearheads into Misonyk’s midsection.

  Misonyk hopped backward while pressing a hand against the bloody gashes that had been torn across his stomach. As he bared all three sets of his fangs, the muscles in his jaw strained as if every one of his teeth were separate entities that hungered for Cole’s blood.

  Cole’s rage grew as those thorns pulled and twisted within his hands. When he caught the bodyguard approaching Walter’s tree, he was glad to have another target on which to vent some of the fire that had been sparked within him.

  The bodyguard bent at the knees and launched himself toward Walter’s legs with both hands open. In doing so, he left himself open for the impact of the single spearhead that Cole drove all the way up between his ribs. The Nymar opened his mouth to scream, but only half a grunt came out. The bodyguard’s arms and legs flailed, losing their grip on the tree.

  Cole drove him to the ground and pulled the sharpened end of his spear free, just as Misonyk’s arms wrapped around him from behind. With the fire still raging through him, Cole twisted his upper body back and forth until he gained some leverage. At the first cold touch of Misonyk’s deadly lower fangs against his throat, he leaned forward and drove the lower end of his weapon down and back to take a chunk out of Misonyk’s right shin. As Misonyk cursed and fell back, the bodyguard rose up to renew his attack. Cole pulled one hand free so he could draw the .44 and fired several shots into the bulkier Nymar.

  The gun slipped within Cole’s bloody hand, but his target was nearly at point-blank range. Each bullet knocked the bodyguard farther back and kept him off balance. Even as the .44 was still bucking against his palm, Cole could see the bodyguard’s wounds closing up like little, toothless mouths puckering beneath the holes that had been blasted through the Nymar’s clothes. Finally, he fired a round that glanced off the big man’s head and sent him spinning on one heel and flopping to the ground. Cole knew better than to assume the bodyguard was dead, but the Nymar was obviously stunned. Turning back around, he reflexively fired his last round when he saw Misonyk fly at him like something launched straight out of hell.

  His shot caught Misonyk in the chest and tore open a gaping wound, but didn’t do much to slow the Nymar. Misonyk knocked him down and dug his claws into the fabric of his jacket. As he wrapped his hand around the barrel of the .44, steam erupted with a noisy hiss as heated metal met bare skin. Without showing the slightest reaction from the burn, he yanked the .44 from Cole’s grasp and tossed it away.

  Jagged fingernails scraped against Cole’s chest as Misonyk pushed him down. What worried Cole more was the strength behind those fingers, which was enough to hold him against the grass without any hope of wriggling free.

  Gritting his teeth, he brought his weapon around to hit Misonyk in the ribs. For the first time, he was thankful for the thorns connecting the weapon to his hand. Without them, he would have surely lost his grip on the specially treated spear. One of the two sharpened points dug into Misonyk’s side, landing within inches of the first wound Cole had given him. The Nymar bared his teeth like a wounded animal and swiped at Cole’s face, but quickly pulled his hands back to protect himself from the next swing. Cole turned his head when he saw the Misonyk’s jagged nails slashing toward him, and he felt the breeze as those claws passed less than an inch from his cheek.

  Since the bodyguard was still pulling himself up and Misonyk was backing away, Cole scrambled to his feet and gripped the spear in both hands. “Walter! How’s Paige?” he asked quickly.

  Walter fired another shot and reached into his jacket pocket for more ammunition. “You don’t want to know.”

  The newly infected Nymar knew how to bite and snarl, but they were still uncomfortable in their own skins. Their spores had yet to spread fully throughout their bodies, which meant they were slow to recover after taking the damage Paige was dishing out.

  She held a club in each hand and kept her stance low. The weapon in her right hand had shifted into a sickle, while the other had extended into a stake with a sharpened point on either end. That way, she could hit one Nymar after another in a series of quick, flowing movements. After putting one of them down with a stab to the chest, she managed to crack a few skulls with the side of her other weapon. Walter had dropped a few of the Nymar, killing at least two, but that left plenty more for Paige to contend with.

  They came at her in waves, flailing madly with claws that were too new to be sharp but still strong enough to shred through the layers of clothing protecting her arms, neck, and back. Only a few of those claws were quick enough to cut her skin. The rest were deflected by her weapons or scraped along the protective black body armor. She didn’t even feel the attacks that bounced against her torso, thanks to the layer of werewolf hide, which was strong enough to make Half Breeds among the most feared animals in creation.

  Most of the Nymar relied upon their bare hands or a few small weapons to attack Paige. A few bullets whipped past her or slammed into her vest, but Walter focused his aim on the Nymar who’d brought guns. Paige remained in motion so she could always attack, while also making herself a difficult target to hit. As soon as sh
e spotted a Nymar who had thick, muscular arms marked by the gray tendrils beneath his skin, she bent down low and raked her sickle against the back of his knees, cutting his hamstring and sending him to the ground. She then buried the sharp end of her double-ended stake into the heart of another attacker, a blow that landed perfectly and put a look of stark terror onto the Nymar’s face. Its eyes shifted from those of a hungry demon to a tired victim grateful to be released from the twisted shell that had once been his own body.

  Suddenly, the Nymar all jerked their heads around as if they were hearing something well out of Paige’s range. She scrambled away from the group and was barely able to brace herself before Henry leapt from the top of the garage to land with the crunch of bare feet against broken pavement. He pulled himself mostly upright and then took in as much of his surroundings as his wobbling head would allow.

  Henry opened his mouth and let out a loud groan. Just then, a bullet from Walter’s rifle whipped through the air and snapped Henry’s head around. Since the fresh Nymar seemed to be more scared of Henry than of Paige, they scattered like a flock of birds flushed from the same bush. That bit of motion was enough to catch Henry’s eye, and he pounced on the first one that got within his reach. Consumed by a pained frenzy, he ripped open the hapless Nymar’s chest in one swipe.

  Paige knocked aside the fleeing Nymar and summoned the will needed to change the shape of the stake until it curled around into another sickle. While Henry crouched over his dinner, Paige rushed at him with both weapons held at the ready.

  Henry reared up. The Nymar spore he’d pulled from the man on the ground still hung from his mouth as he swung a fist at Paige. She ducked under the powerful swing and sank one of her blades into Henry’s thigh. After that, it was all she could do to hang on for the ride.

  Henry spun around like a dog chasing its tail and kept swinging at Paige, who was attached to him by the weapon embedded in his muscle. She twisted and ducked while his own movements kept her out of his reach. All the while, he kept gnawing on the oily black thing between his teeth. Hanging on as best she could, Paige tried to get the impaled weapon to shift again. Before she could do so, Henry’s ape-like hand slapped against her arm and knocked her away with enough force to rip the weapon from his own flesh.

  Henry staggered and rubbed at his eyes. The color drained from his face as he stared directly at Paige and groaned, “Hungry.” Then he clamped a hand around her throat. He’d moved so fast that she didn’t even realize he had her until her feet were off the ground and her back was being slammed against the wall of the parking structure.

  “He’s got her!” Walter shouted as he fired, worked the rifle’s lever, and fired again. When Misonyk’s bodyguard pulled himself up, Walter quickly worked the rifle’s lever, lowered his aim and pulled the trigger. The round exploded from the rifle at such a high rate of speed that it cut through the bodyguard like a laser beam.

  The bodyguard stared up at Walter with one good eye and another that had just been turned into a messy hole. He opened his mouth to bite down on Walter’s leg, but instead felt the stock of Walter’s rifle crack against the bloody hole in his eye socket. Dropping to his knees and pressing both hands to his face, the bodyguard howled in pain and fought to regain his senses.

  Cole kept his eyes on Misonyk, but also caught sight of another shape rushing in from the darkness. He didn’t have to look over there to know that the burly figure was the second muscle-bound bodyguard coming to join his master. With Misonyk closing in on him, Cole reached into his jacket for one of the antidote syringes Paige had given him. Although he was fairly quick on the draw, Misonyk knocked the syringe from his hand in a blur of motion. Before Cole could reach for another syringe, Misonyk extended his arm and slashed at his jacket, tearing away that entire pocket.

  “You disgust me,” Misonyk said as he threw the syringes to the ground and stomped them under his heel. “Chicago is practically mine and I took this place over in a matter of days. Now that Henry has provided some wolves to fight for my cause, I’ll be able to make every last one of you sadistic, godless Skinners pay for the pain you’ve caused.”

  Listening to the howls and screams coming from the parking structure, Cole expected to hear sirens or some other sign of a police presence. Instead it seemed as if the entire town was curled up and ignoring the battle being waged within its boundaries.

  “Henry will feed and allow me to claim this city for my own,” Misonyk growled. “He should be done with that bitch of yours before my partners have finished dealing with this town’s police.”

  “And maybe you and that big, crazy hunchback of yours should lie down in another hospital room so you can whisper in each other’s ears,” Cole replied. It wasn’t his best insult, but it was good enough to get an angry twitch from Misonyk. “Then you can play God all you want with the one person on this planet that’s crazy enough to believe you.”

  He could see that his words prickled against Misonyk’s skin. The corners of the Nymar’s eyes kept twitching and his lip jerked upward as if it had been hooked by a fishing line. He walked toward Cole slowly, but snapped his hand out to grab the weapon in Cole’s hands and take it away as if he were disarming a small child. When Cole turned and started running toward the car, Misonyk laughed.

  “I admit, I didn’t think you’d take me up on my offer to run,” he said. “The Skinners must surely have fallen since the days when Jonah Lancroft was among them. Or perhaps that was a fluke. Perhaps you have always been an order of morbid braggarts who pick at carcasses and then strut about as if they are to be feared.”

  Cole made it to the car and got the trunk open. Knowing he wouldn’t have much time to work, he rummaged through the towels stuffed on top of Paige’s cases. He took out the plastic retainer case she’d given him, opened it and managed to find the thing he was after. His hands worked feverishly as blood from his palms soaked into the white towel. Within seconds he could hear footsteps behind him that were quick enough to have come from a rat scrambling across a hard-wood floor.

  “My offer was for you to run, Skinner,” Misonyk practically whispered into his ear. “Not for you to dig out another toy to be used against me.” Grabbing Cole by the shoulder and spinning him around, he looked to the second bodyguard and growled, “Search him.”

  Cole raised his arms high over his head and dropped Paige’s towel. Looking past the two Nymar, he saw Walter still in his perch, glancing nervously back at him. He looked away from Walter as the bodyguard roughly patted him down.

  “I cannot abide a coward,” Misonyk sneered.

  The bodyguard’s fangs extended from his gums, and the muscles in his jaw twitched with the anticipation of sinking all three sets into fresh meat. No venom dripped from the slender set of fangs, making it clear he wanted Cole to spend his last moments kicking and flailing.

  “Did you ever tell any of your followers how much you cried when you were laying on your back on Lancroft’s floor?” Cole asked before the bodyguard could get any closer.

  With a subtle motion from Misonyk, the bodyguard froze.

  The air was cold against Cole’s face, and the chaotic sounds from the garage rumbled through the park. Sirens and gunshots finally echoed from farther down the street. Cole even thought he could hear tires squealing and people shouting, but that was just background static. As Misonyk leaned in closer, Cole’s ears filled with the pounding of his own heart mixed with the mad Nymar’s voice.

  “What…did you say?” Misonyk asked ominously.

  “I saw your memories,” Cole said in the steadiest voice he could manage. “I saw how you laid on that floor with Lancroft’s spear in your chest, crying like a little…like a little bitch every time Lancroft or one of his men would do whatever the hell they wanted to you.” Even though he somehow got his words out, Cole thought his own nervousness might overtake him. Sweat pushed out of his face when he added, “I’ll bet you liked it. Maybe that’s why you want to find more Skinners. Maybe you just miss the da
ys when Lancroft would—”

  Misonyk’s hand clamped around his throat in the space between heartbeats. Jagged claws pressed against his windpipe, turning Cole’s head so he was forced look directly into the Nymar’s twitching eyes. Cole let out a breath that caused his body to droop within Misonyk’s grasp. That way, he was able to line up his left hand with the thick black tendril that ran beneath Misonyk’s skin and reached all the way to the top of his scalp. Then, using every bit of strength he had, Cole delivered a single blow to Misonyk’s neck.

  The Nymar hadn’t seen it coming.

  Wincing at the quick pinch in his neck, Misonyk looked down at Cole’s fist. Something shimmered within Cole’s grasp, as if the pale moonlight had wrapped around it instead of shining directly upon it. Only when he shoved away from Cole did Misonyk see his own black, oily blood dripping from the end of a needle that appeared to hover in the air beneath Cole’s fist.

  “What? What’s…?” Misonyk stammered as he reached for the aching spot in his neck.

  Cole knew he should run, but he couldn’t resist holding his arm out and wiping away the greasy residue that he’d smeared onto the antidote-filled syringe from his emergency kit in the scant moments before Misonyk had gotten to the car. If those towels with the Mongrel substance hadn’t been at the top of the pile in the trunk, he might not have had enough time to fully cover the thin plastic tube. Fortunately, Paige had collected more than enough from the trashed hotel room.

  Misonyk’s hand twitched, and Cole was just fast enough to slap it away before it could close around his throat. The Nymar leaned his head back and started to let out a pained grunt, but quickly began to gag on the venom he’d collected in his mouth. Coughing and staggering a few more steps, Misonyk dropped to his knees and grabbed the earth beneath him as the distant sirens grew louder.

  Hacking up a strained laugh, Misonyk said, “The wheels are…already turning. I am the only one who could…control the fire that has been lit. And when your authorities arrive, the monkeys you try to protect will…throw you into a cage…just as they did to me.”