by K. Gorman
Squinting her eyes shut as a new wave of weakness rolled through her, Karin caught some of the words:
“…the Shadows are the most human thing about a person,” Sasha was saying. “All I did was reintroduce them.”
“Even if they are what you say they are, they sound like evolutionary cast-offs to me. And clearly, no one was meant to call them out.”
Nomiki arguing evolutionary morality? Without using her knives to hammer the point home? Perhaps it had been time for an apocalypse.
“They’re not cast-offs. They’re the next stage. It’s time for humanity to step up to the plate. I’m only giving them a helping hand.”
“You’ve got around half the system under your direct control. Excuse me if I fail to take you at your word.”
“That guy’s done nothing but stare at you since you went nova,” Soo-jin said into her ear.
Karin returned her attention back to Sasha’s son. Like Nomiki, he hadn’t moved from where he stood, but his attention remained undivided. She’d been trying to ignore it for the past minute. “Perhaps he’s got a crush.”
“Dunno about a crush, but he’s got black eyes.” Marc’s grip pulled on her elbow as he pivoted around. “The Lost are looking at us, too.”
She turned. Sure enough, all of Brindon’s soldiers had turned their faces to her. Pitch black eyes shone in the glow of the room’s pods. The crawling feeling under her skin intensified.
“Well, that’s creepy.”
“Wonder if we can talk to him,” Soo-jin said. “Get through to him somehow. You guys knew him, right? I think you said that.”
“Yeah, but not very well. We saw him twice and never spoke. I—”
Nomiki’s voice cut in, sudden and sharp, louder than before.
“—you are certifiably insane if you think we’re going to participate in your new world order.”
A long moment stretched out between them. Behind them, Karin heard a ripple of sound go through the Lost soldiers. Gear clicked.
“Well, so much for diplomacy,” Soo-jin commented. “Attack plan?”
“Hide behind that pod and throw some light at him,” Marc suggested. “If she’s controlling him as a Lost, it’s worth a chance to free him.”
Sasha spoke, her cold, dispassionate tone making each word like a nail in their coffin.
“Then I guess we’re done talking.”
The room exploded into action.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Marc threw her sideways as the first blaster cracked. The room spun and tipped.
Karin was barely aware of her shoes pounding on the floor before they jumped for what bare protection the cluster of pods provided. One bolt clipped the side of the plastic-glass, showering the air with a splash of red sparks. One burned down onto her shoulder, leaving a black welt on the surface of the armor.
She winced as another one cracked into the glass. A tawny-skinned man floated on the inside, the tattoo running up his shoulder suggesting that, unlike how they’d come into the Eurynome experiments, he’d had a life before. The pod’s walls had a strong look to them, but she doubted they’d hold up to the constant bombardment she suspected they were about to get. Especially considering the soldiers were armed with Fallon’s best equipment.
Marc yanked her over to the middle as another bolt sniped the edge of the tank. She took the moment to steal the tank’s light source, along with the light from the other three next to it. After a second, she called the light over from the next cluster of pods, too.
Power trickled back into her system. She intended to use it. Twisting back around, she turned her attention to the soldiers. “Think I can heal them?”
Marc grunted. “Might as well try. I’m aiming for the legs.”
Karin glanced back. A swarm of Shadows had surrounded Nomiki, but, by the sounds of it, her sister was holding her own and would likely continue to do so.
Another bolt skipped between them, cracking against the base of a pod several meters away, making a black mar in its cylinder. She flinched and turned back to the soldiers. With a pull, she refocused and called her power to her. It took more concentration than usual to remember to breathe, but a light formed in her palm, warm and sweet.
She shot it forward. It smacked into the face of one of the Lost and stuck there, glowing.
Then, after a few seconds, it dripped off like a cream pie and vanished.
The man remained standing. And—Karin squinted at his face—his eyes remained black.
“I’ll keep shooting legs, then,” Marc commented.
“And I’ll keep hiding.” Soo-jin jerked back from the edge of the next pod over with a swear. “Fucknuts, I wish I’d brought another blaster.”
Nomiki had one, she remembered. And Soo-jin had had one—she’d just given it to Marc due to him being the better shot. Karin eyed the line of soldiers. So far, none had decided to advance, which either meant that, despite Sasha’s control, they were utterly stupid, or Sasha hadn’t gotten quite serious with them yet.
Her money was on the latter.
Not good.
Her attention jerked back to the other fight as Nomiki gave a shout. With a great slash and a leap, her sister broke through the swarm, her eyes trained on the doctor. She landed and lunged, cleared the distance between them in a few leaping steps, and lunged a second time. Sasha jerked backward and threw her arms up, but could not avoid the downward slash of Nomiki’s blade.
She screamed. Blood cut down her sleeve in a thick, spreading line. Her son shoved into Nomiki before she could land the second shot, and Sasha screamed a second time as Nomiki turned on him.
“No!”
Power pulsed. In the next instant, the swarm of Shadows had reached Nomiki and dragged her off. Another swarm appeared around Sasha and her son in a protective line. Karin caught one last glimpse of her bloodied sleeve and the frantic, pained expression on her face before they closed the gap and blocked her view.
Metal scraped and clanked as Nomiki fought against her opponents. She’d thinned the group already, apparent in the ghost-like afterimage of the ones she’d downed. A heavy, pained thump sounded as a Shadow landed a blow, and Karin caught sight of her sister’s face, blood running down from her forehead.
“I can’t risk a shot,” Marc said. “Might hit her.”
Another blaster bolt cracked off the side of the tank. Karin felt the shock rumble through its base. “Keep the other ones back,” she said. “I’m working on it.”
The light inside her pulled to her touch, thin and strained. A few seconds later, she’d gathered enough to launch a shot of light toward the mêlée.
It exploded from her hands like a torpedo, bleeding hisses of light as it cut through the air. Unerring, it slammed into the group and opened like a bomb.
White light erupted across the room. Not like before—she could still make out the edges of things, and another burst of blaster fire radiated a bloom of color to her right—but enough to rip into the Shadows surrounding Nomiki and take a bite out of the ones protecting the doctor and her son. As the light faded and the shreds of black drifted apart, Nomiki launched from the fray and leapt again for Sasha.
A portion of the Shadows protecting Sasha and her son broke off to meet Nomiki, snapping to her direction like iron filings to a magnet. They caught sight of the doctor. Ignoring the tramp and stomp of running boots behind them, Marc twisted back, raised his arm, and aimed. The blaster exploded with sound, too close to her ear.
Sasha saw it coming. It streaked through the air and vanished in a blur of space. Across the room, Sasha’s eyes found theirs.
Karin felt another push of power. Then Marc was pulling her up and shoving her forward, catching her arm with a vise-like grip as she stumbled and swinging his blaster back to meet the oncoming horde.
She took one look at the wall of Lost soldiers all racing for them and raised her hand. Power rushed from her bones in a brutal rush. “Close your eyes!”
White light flashed acro
ss the scene. Marc kept pulling her across the room as it radiated in a silent explosion, eliciting several cries of wordless shock and surprise from the Lost soldiers. Marc twisted back again to take aim and shot another one in the leg as the light faded.
Then he wrenched himself sideways, shoving her to the floor.
A blaster bolt sniped through the air where his head had been and crashed into the tank ahead of them, showering them all in a burst of red sparks. She yelped and ducked her head, throwing her arm up to cover her. Pain erupted as burning heat cut through her hair.
Another blaster cracked. Beside her, Soo-jin screamed.
For one sheer instant, the entire world turned on its side.
The wound burned into her upper thigh. Blood already soaked the fabric, turning a patch of the black pants shiny with wetness. Soo-jin clutched at it with one hand, her fingers like claws as she gritted against the pain.
Nomiki tore into the soldiers.
She did it with vigor, turning the flat of her blade against heads and arms, slicing into them when that failed. They fought like sluggish sheep. Punches swung too late, they stumbled more than they should, some looking like drunks teetering out from a bar. She worked her way through them like a bowling ball through pins. Within five seconds, three soldiers had gone down, and she’d run down four others.
Two soldiers tried to get around the other side of the pods, but Marc shot them both in the legs. Soo-jin staggered around the nearest pod and slumped against it, hissing through the pain. Karin squeezed in beside her, and Marc covered them both, his back bumping into hers with every shot.
“Fucknuts. Helios. Clio’s ballstripping bounty.” Soo-jin closed her jaw and scrunched her eyes shut, forcing a slow breath out with a low, pained growl. “Don’t look at me. I’ll deal. That fucking lady is getting away.”
Karin glanced up. The nice thing about hiding behind pods was that, if she looked around the naked body on the inside, she could see out. Granted, that meant that others could also see in, but, in this situation, that didn’t really matter.
Sure enough, Sasha, her son, and that writhing cloud of Shadows that provided them an escort were headed toward a small door in the back wall.
She narrowed her eyes on the Shadows. With a thought, light flared on her fingertips.
She could do something about them, at least.
Bracing against the pod—she had a feeling this next shot would be a big one—she gathered her light to her. Pods blinked out down the hall, some of their lights shooting toward her like enthusiastic fireflies, and her skin tingled as their glow pulsed through it and into her hand. She focused, pulling as much light with her as she could.
Then she let fly.
It detonated above Sasha and her horde like a burst firework. Pieces of light rained down in a silent display, slicing holes in each Shadow they touched.
And Karin’s light was smart. It touched every single one of them.
Half vanished in the initial deluge. The rest shuddered under the attack. Their forms billowed up like sails, their edges wavering. For one solid second, their formless, depth-less black became a flat, distinct shape.
With a flick of her hand, Karin detonated the rest of the attack. The light pierced through them like bullets.
They froze. Then began to fade.
Remembering Marc’s plan, she swung the rest of the attack back around, plummeting her light straight into Tylanus’ eyes.
He didn’t so much as blink.
Beside him, Sasha’s hard, furious face bored into hers. Then she left, pulling her son through with her and closing the door after her.
“Sol,” Karin breathed. “She’s getting away.”
Soo-jin pushed herself off the side of the tank, leaving a smear of blood on the glass. “No, she fucking isn’t. Marc?”
“Give a minute. Almost through.”
He was right. In the thirty seconds she’d been looking away, Nomiki had plowed her way through the double-squad of soldiers. Most lay motionless, slumped where her sister had left them, but Karin was quick to catch the blood on people’s clothes—places where Nomiki had needed her knives to fight. Others rolled around on the ground, alternating clutching at their legs or giving half-hearted attempts to get their scattered blasters.
A wave of fatigue, delayed from her attack, chose that moment to roll through her brain. She leaned hard against the tank, trying to get her bearings.
Soo-jin peered around Marc’s back. Then she staggered out with a sound of disgust. “Oh, phoo, that’s good enough.” She latched an arm around Karin’s neck as she stumbled, almost taking her down with her. “Come on. We’ve got a doctor to catch.”
“Soo—Jesus Christ, give me a second.” Karin sucked in a breath, grabbing the woman around her ribs. She still tugged to go forward, even as she threatened to slide to the floor. “Wait.”
Fortunately, Marc’s blaster cracked again, and in the thick of battle beyond their former cluster of tanks, Nomiki whacked the last man unconscious with the butt of her blade. Marc caught them both as they fell, stabilizing Soo-jin by the scruff of her shirt and Karin by a hard grip on her upper arm. She winced as it jerked her shoulder—she’d already been bounced around enough for one day—but shook it off.
They had a doctor to fetch.
Nomiki strode into view, her walk long and quick. She tossed two spare blasters to them and nodded for the door. Her knives gleamed in the pale light as she went.
“Let’s get that bitch.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The door led into a maze.
At least, that’s how it looked when they first walked through it. Doors upon doors of hallways, all with the same shape and tint, mirrored passages of tile and concrete, hanging oval lights, and slow, drunken angles that ate into the edges of her mind like wet acid.
“Fucking A.” Soo-jin groaned, slumping harder against Karin’s side. “Well, if we’re going to be here a while—Karin, back right pocket. Feels like a tampon.”
Nomiki’s eyebrows twitched as she glanced over, watching the two of them slump further as Karin felt her way into Soo-jin’s back pocket.
“No homo,” the woman added, as if in afterthought, then paused and turned her face toward Karin in a wicked grin, her own eyebrows rising. “Unless…?”
This close, they were almost kissing.
Karin patted Soo-jin’s butt. “I think we need a few more drama-streams on your bed before we step our relationship up, don’t you?”
“Oh, no, I’m actually quite a slut.” Soo-jin gave a wink. “Especially when I’m hyped up on drugs.”
“Well, this feels more like a tranq to me.” With a nod, she called Marc over and handed the injector over. Soo-jin stood stiff in her grip as he bent down and jabbed the needle into her thigh. The muscles of her arm felt like rigid steel around Karin’s neck. They relaxed as the injector hissed, and Soo-jin let out a relieved sigh.
“Gods.”
“Keraninum,” Marc said, flipping the injector’s package over to read the back. “Might be enough caffeine in here to override the soporific effects.”
“If not, you can carry me.” Soo-jin grunted. “It’d be noble and romantic and we’d never have to speak of it again, but it could happen.”
Blaster wounds like hers had a tendency to auto-cauterize from the heat of the shot. If the soldiers had managed to hit higher up—say, her head or chest—that might not have happened, but, for Soo-jin, it was better that they’d been using blasters instead of metal bullets.
“So…” Karin lifted her gaze back to the corridors around them. “Where to from here?”
In response, Nomiki opened the door closest to them and peeked in. Her eyebrows twitched, then she gave a snort and pushed it open the rest of the way for them to see. “Not in here, I’m guessing.”
Beyond the threshold, where the hallway’s light should have at least pushed into the room, the world ended in a depthless fold of black space.
They all stared
at it. Karin’s jaw loosened.
“Hang on,” Soo-jin said. “I feel like there’s a quote about this. Something about abysses and people looking at them.”
“If you stare into the abyss, it stares back into you?” Marc provided.
“Yes, that.”
“Well, if the Shadows are anything to go by, I’d say the abyss has gotten a bit proactive in its staring,” Karin commented.
Nomiki held a hand up to hush them, and her head cocked to the side. They froze as she listened, straining to hear the same thing she did. Then, after a few moments, she shifted her gaze to a hallway on the right. She moved toward it, her soft shoes near-silent on the tile floor.
“Damn,” Soo-jin breathed as they made to follow. “Your sister is good.”
“There’s blood on the floor.” Karin had noticed it just as Nomiki had made her move. No more than a tiny drop, unnoticeable among the thick grid of the tiles—Sasha wouldn’t leave them anything so obvious as a smear on the wall—but Nomiki had the instincts of a killer.
It was in her nature, after all.
They fell silent as they hobbled after her, keeping in a loose group with Nomiki in the lead, Karin as Soo-jin’s support, and Marc flanking their back as rear guard. They paused at intersections, Nomiki checking it out with her instincts and whatever war-goddess ESP voodoo her program had bestowed upon her, turning only twice. Each hallway mirrored itself. Same straight halls, same concrete walls, same tile floor. The lights spaced themselves at equal lengths, their burning filaments shining through their glass casing.
It reminded her of an older time, a piece of the past sliced out of its context and deposited here, just like the Brazilian wing they’d passed through earlier. She was half-surprised they hadn’t seen their Macedonian compound show up—but then, the building’s public ward, the one they’d passed through before Sasha had slammed down her black wall, had been memory enough.
A growing pit weighed heavy in her stomach as they went deeper and deeper into Sasha’s construct. Despite the hallways’ supposed straightness, the angles felt off to her brain. The silence, too. Everything had hushed after they’d entered. Karin hadn’t noticed it much before, when they’d all been talking, but it pressed in on her now. Every shuffle and squeak of clothes and shoes, and every slow, careful breath felt like a trespass. Not so much like they were in a library, but a tomb.
