Unleashed: A Science Fiction Horror Adventure (NecroVerse Book 1)

by Aaron Bunce

  Jacoby caught his father’s wrist with his both hands, his arms shaking as the knife inched closer and closer to his face. The blade danced against his cheek, the dulled tip biting into his skin, the pain burning as it slowly pushed through.

  “Dad stop…please!” he croaked, his right hand snapping out and catching him in the face. Jacoby tried to push him away, his hand sliding down his nose and over his chin. He squeezed, pushing on anything in reach to make the pain stop. His hand slid down around his father’s throat, and the man gagged.

  “You make me so angry I could just…rip and tear, bite and gnash my own flesh and blood,” his father grunted, and then stumbled back, the blade pulling away.

  Jacoby fell with him, one hand pushing the knife out wide so he wouldn’t fall on it.

  “Dad…please…stop!” he cried, hot tears filling his eyes and running down his cheeks. They hit the cuts on his face and lips, burning like fire.

  “Kill…you…worthless boy! You’re not mine…fake flesh and blood. Fake!” his father growled, eyes gone wide, his arm jerking and trying to pull the knife free. Jacoby dropped his whole weight onto his father’s chest and squeezed as hard as he could, desperate to keep the knife from biting into his flesh again, desperate for his father to calm enough for him to get away.

  The man struggled beneath him, gurgling and sputtering, “worthless” over and over, until finally, after what felt like an eternity, he stopped fighting.

  Jacoby coughed and sputtered, his tears flowing freely, and looked up. He recoiled. His father was motionless, his face a deep shade of purple, his eyes bulging and lifeless. He pulled his hand away from his throat, his whole arm turned an almost gray shade of white in the struggle, his fingers and nails cracked and bloody.

  I…I…killed him. I killed my father, and then I ran away, Jacoby thought, the realization stampeding into his head like a crushing mountain of stone. The pressure filled his thoughts and pitched him end over end in a swirling mess of light and dark, of blazing fire and freezing cold.

  Forgive yourself. He would have killed you…us.

  He snapped to clarity, his hand still trembling in the air, the boney limb starting to cut into his cheek. Just like the knife.

  Jacoby felt his mind pull together, the broken pieces of him melding into the whole. He felt the horrible moments – the fear, doubt, and pain…all of it, flood back in.

  We…are…whole.

  The pressure swept through his mind, but it wasn’t a voice anymore, but a feeling, an all-encompassing sensation. Lively, kinetic energy rushed out to every synapsis of his brain, down his neck and into his chest. It struck his heart like a billowing cloud of pure fire, erupting into the rest of his body.

  “My…name…isn’t…Jack!” he growled and shoved the boney appendage away. Jacoby reached out, grasped the handle of the damaged stun baton, and tore it free.

  He wrenched the boney appendage back, a length breaking free in his grasp. He jammed the fractured piece into Janice’s head, piercing skin and bone, and swung the baton down, smashing it clear through the other side.

  Janice shrieked, the other heads crying out angrily. Jacoby twisted and tore free. He fell and hit hard, but immediately rolled away, the clicking arms smashing down to skewer him. He pushed off the ground, his broken collarbone snapping back together. Blood dribbled from his punctured shoulders, but he could already feel his muscle and flesh knitting themselves back together.

  Jacoby rolled under a stabbing strike and scooped the plasma saw off the ground. He ejected the spent plug, smashed a new one in and turned it, all in one surprisingly dexterous movement.

  The monster bore down on him as the saw spooled, its bulk almost filling the concourse. Jacoby danced right, and then left. He swiped the saw across in a flash, catching two boney legs at once. The blade flipped around and he lunged forward, the glowing mass of spinning, super-heated points ripping clean through one of the woman’s formerly human legs.

  The creature shrieked and toppled over, spiny legs lashing out to catch its bulk. Jacoby jumped onto one of the limbs, pinning it to the ground, and severed it cleanly, then jumped away before another could lash out.

  He spun, cutting a human arm free, the saw almost weightless in his hand. He felt powerful and fast, his muscles coiling and flexing almost before his brain could tell them what to do.

  The monster ambled sideways, the gyrating spines flexing. He ran in, swept the saw down low, and brought it straight across. The blade bit just beneath the monster’s ribs. Jacoby ripped it sideways, hard, churning metal and searing heat chewing through flesh and bone in an instant. The saw broke through the other side, and Jacoby wheeled around on a heel, the strength behind the strike spinning him fully around.

  He brought the saw up again, but the monster gurgled, and promptly fell over. Then its upper body slowly slid free and fell in a heap. Janice’s head flopped out as it came to a rest, her dark eyes wide and vacant.

  “I am sorry, Janice. For my part,” Jacoby said, quietly and let the saw spool down. He turned down the passage, towards the commissary and paused.

  The creatures were everywhere. He spun like a compass, their presence burning like the dark smudges on the canvas of his mind. He could feel them crawling through vents, breaking down doors, harvesting prey and feeding, growing and becoming stronger. Then he felt Anna, Soraya, and Lex. They burned like bright stars against that same canvas, radiating warmth and life where the monsters cast only shadow and cold. There was something else there, floating amongst his thoughts, pulsing in and out of every thought and emotion – an energy, binding all of them together.

  Jacoby concentrated on them, a fiery tingle filling his mind. The hall shrunk around him and then expanded. He felt Anna, her silvery glow ahead and down, but she was surrounded by so much darkness. It was crowding in, moving hungrily and threatening to swallow her whole.

  “No!” he growled and kicked forward into a run. Jacoby cycled the airlock, jumped inside, and waited for it to process.

  “Hurry…” he muttered, his hands bunching up into fists. The creatures continued to converge as the light shifted from red to green. They were going to hurt Anna, Lex, and Soraya, violate and tear their flesh…turn them into something unnatural.

  The thought of Anna’s crystal blue eyes turned lifeless and dark sparked a profound anger inside him. The idea of her genuine smile and flawless skin marred and melted into some grotesque and mindless beast triggered something inside him he’d never felt before. No, he had. He’d felt it in the clinic, when Randall tried to smash his brains in. His hands started to shake, the unseen wall of energy binding him to the three women igniting in a sudden maelstrom of strength, determination, and almost unbridled rage.

  When the airlock finally started to open, Jacoby grabbed the door and propelled himself through, the metal giving way under his grip. He bounded forward, each stride covering what he’d been lucky to accomplish in five before.

  The commissary was a mess of debris, vendor carts, and bodies strewn across the floor. Some moved, dragging themselves along, while others lay twitching, their arms and legs latched around their victims.

  Jacoby felt the dark creatures massing closer and closer to Anna, until he struggled to differentiate where her light ended and their darkness began. They were like his father – both foul and parasitic creatures, smothering any light and happiness in his life with their insufferable darkness.

  Anna, Lex, and Soraya felt like a part of him now. They were his family, his blood, and he was damned if he would let anyone or anything harm them.

  The fire burning through his body deepened, a gold hue sliding over his vision. An infected burst from the ground and ran at him, a multitude of different limbs waving and reaching out to claim him. Jacoby ignored the saw and jumped right at him. He swung a fist into the man’s jaw. His impact knocked the creature back, clear off its feet, tumbling head over feet. And then it landed in a pile against the wall.

  Jacoby lifted his f
ist. He’d felt no pain. Shit, he’d barely registered the contact. His knuckles shimmered in the air, the strange gold cast surging brighter around his body.

  He ran as fast as his legs would carry him, shouldering aside anything that got in his way. He approached the end of the commissary and skidded to a stop. A mass of screaming, churning creatures pooled above the escalators. They fought and clawed over one another, but tipped and tumbled back. Then he spotted the moving stairs. They were all spinning up and fast.

  “Smart girl, Anna,” Jacoby beamed, and ran to the handrail. He jumped over, his heart jumping up into his throat. He dropped twenty feet and landed, the impact barely registering in his legs.

  “I could get used to this,” he grinned, and ran forward, weaving and ducking through vendor carts.

  Anna, Lex, and Soraya were close. He could feel them. Shit, he’d almost be able to smell them, if not for the creature’s acrid taint on the air.

  A cluster of churning bodies appeared off to his left, hovering behind a massive creature, its boney arms banging and thudding loudly into…Jacoby couldn’t quite see what.

  “Hey!” he shouted. The monsters chattered and screeched, wheeling about at the sound of his voice. The gold sheen shimmered across his vision. It cast the creatures in an entirely different light, and Jacoby didn’t see them as sick, mutilated people. He saw them as they truly were, horrific and alien – beings that would end all life if given the chance.

  “You can’t have them,” Jacoby growled as the creatures swarmed in, the saw coming to life in his hand.

  - - Hours

  Anna pulled Soraya and Lex close as the monsters pressed against the gate. The heavy metal shuddered, the lock banging back and forth violently. Boney limbs stabbed through the gaps, clattering against the ground by their feet.

  A hand slid through, reaching and clutching for her, the fingers melding into something more claw than fingers. She felt their mouths, their hunger, their stifling need to consume and spread. It was all they wanted…all that they were. They would never rest, turn back, or give up.

  Anna pulled the two women into her, their combined spark the only thing keeping her from crumbling to the ground. The door shook behind them. Dark shapes punched through the metal, before pulling clear and stabbing back in. The bars Gil had wedged through the handles shook and bounced, bending in with the pressure.

  Lex shook her rifle angrily and tossed it to the ground, swearing under her breath. Soraya lifted the stun batons, but one was dead, and the other had just a few good uses left in it.

  “We don’t go down without a fight,” Lex said, her voice a defiant growl, “we hit, and we tear, and we crush everything we can get our hands on.”

  The door shuddered again, a hinge popping loudly and bouncing to the ground by their feet. Anna balled up her fists, met Lex’s gaze, and nodded.

  The chorus of screams and shrieks rose in a sudden fervor, the gate tearing partially away from the wall behind them. The door bent and broke, metal shattering and raining across the floor.

  Anna wanted to fight, she wanted to be strong, but there were so many of them, their dark and sickly corruption smashing down all around her. She only hoped that the others made it to the docks below and were headed to safety.

  Anna’s back abruptly straightened a bit. A trickle of warmth spread over her skin, the new sensation breaking through the monsters’ blight.

  “Do you feel that?” Soraya gasped.

  “I do…it feels like,” Anna said.

  “…a storm is coming straight for us,” Lex gasped. Anna felt it, too. Her scalp tingled, the hair on her arms standing straight up. It felt like a tornado, or a hurricane was bearing down on them.

  “Get down.” Anna wrenched the two women to the ground just as the doors exploded. A massive monster surged through the opening, its tangle of boney legs crashing into the walls and floor. She flinched, waiting for it to lash out, the pain to fill her, and everything to end. But it didn’t move right.

  The massive creature jerked as a brilliant flash appeared through its skin, and it split in two, flesh and bones smoldering and red-hot. Anna ducked as something bright barreled right over them, hit the ground a few feet away, and smashed through the remnants of the heavy gate.

  She felt the metal give way, the wall panels rending as hinges tore loose. The floor shook as orange light flared, a loud, angry buzz merging with the monsters’ chorus-screams. The beasts converged on the light, their boney spider arms thrashing and stabbing.

  The closest beast tore in half, its upper body tumbling through the air in a spectacular shower of fire and blood. It landed against Anna’s feet, the head still twitching and arms flailing. The bright light flashed again. It spun, and she saw it clear. It was a person, their outline cast in a gold glow. The light spun in a tight arc and a crowd of flailing monsters burst apart, their bodies torn violently in half.

  More infected people ran in, their blood and flesh spattering the walls. An arm landed next to her. Anna tried to push it clear, but something heavy and horribly wet fell on top of her. Soraya and Lex pulled her close, the three women huddling together.

  The buzzing noise grew closer and she felt the weight atop them grow. The smell of blood and tainted flesh filled her nose. A bright light burned through the tangle of bodies covering them as a hot, salty odor crept into the mix.

  A creature screeched, its voice strangled, hoarse, and animalistic, and then it abruptly went quiet. Anna squeezed Lex and Soraya’s hands, breathing, fighting to stay calm, and listening. A heartbeat later, something moved amidst the bodies.

  “Anna!” a man yelled, his voice resonating throughout her entire body.

  * * *

  Jacoby ripped the saw straight up, catching the last monster between its legs, and severing it cleanly in half. Its manic screams died away in a gurgling, bubbling mess.

  He looked around the hallway, but saw only the death and destruction he’d wrought. Bodies and their severed parts covered the floor, blood and their infected, black sick peppering the walls all the way to the ceiling.

  “Anna...” Jacoby yelled. He was too late, but how? He’d felt them…so close, their presences burning so bright.

  There was only death…no Anna, Lex, or Soraya. His anger bled away, the fire pumping through his veins cooling and the gold hue starting to dim. Despair washed in, replacing the heat and almost uncontrollable strength he’d felt just a moment ago with a cold, dark pit.

  A creature stirred straight ahead, its macabre, folded limbs straightening. It rose, grunting and straining. Another moved beneath it, and then another. The pile churned, the monster on top lifting to face him.

  Jacoby growled and pulled the spent fusion plug out of the saw, jammed the last one in and twisted it hard. The saw started to spool, bits of blood and meat almost instantly burning off the blade.

  “You took her! I will cut every…single…one of you to pieces. Until there is nothing left!” Jacoby snarled, stepping forward and preparing to strike.

  The monster tipped up and then suddenly toppled forward, tumbling clear from its severed lower half. Another fell away to the side, and then a pale face appeared amidst the carnage, blue eyes shining.

  Anna looked so small, huddled with Lex and Soraya, her hair stained red.

  “Coby!” she gasped, jumping to her feet.

  “Anna?” he whispered, and dropped the saw. He jumped forward and caught her, squeezing her close and lifting her off the ground.

  She sobbed, coughed, and sputtered into his neck. Lex and Soraya smashed into them. Jacoby hooked his arms around them all, pulling all three women into a crushing hug.

  Before he could stop himself, Jacoby leaned in and kissed each of them. He felt the wonderful pulse of their energies, buzzing inside and all round him.

  “We have to go!” Soraya grunted, and begrudgingly, they separated.

  Jacoby scooped the plasma saw off the ground and led the three women through the mess of bodies. They picked
their way through the door at the far end of the passage. Jacoby slammed it behind them, while Lex and Soraya pulled down everything within reach – boxes, crates, an old and battered four-wheeled cart, and stacked it all up in a barricade.

  Two old and battered elevators sat behind them, blackened tracks worn into the floor leading up to both doors. Jacoby pressed the old-fashioned button, the elevator to their right chiming. The doors rattled open.

  They piled inside, Soraya hitting the down button repeatedly. The doors closed slowly, rattling shut before the old lift started to move.

  “This thing is ancient!” Anna whispered, eyeing the scratched and dented walls warily.

  “As old as the station, probably. Everything else has been replaced or upgraded since, but not these. Why bother if the only people that use them are freighter crews,” he said, reaching out and squeezing her hand.

  Jacoby felt her relief, but it was clouded by anxiety, fear, and a blanket of exhaustion so profound he was surprised that she could still stand. He felt the same from Lex and Soraya, but struggled to sort all of it out.

  I struggle understanding what I feel most of the time, and now I have to worry about others, too, he thought, as the old lift moved down its vacuum tube.

  After a quiet ride, the elevator slowed, and dinged again. There was no flashy arrival light or voice greeting. This was his part of the station, where things were simple, rugged, and beat up from constant use.

  “I’ll go first, just in case,” Jacoby offered, and lifted the plasma saw before him. The three women nodded in unison, none visibly eager to argue the point.

  The saw started to hum as he stepped out into the hall. The overhead lights were out, the only glow coming from a battery backup unit mounted high on the wall to his right. He squeezed the trigger down a little further, the contact points throbbing red in the darkness.