Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy) (34 page)

Where arms should have been only razor sharp blades flicked and slashed through the air, taking away any doubt as to their purpose. Their feet were wide and flat, attached to short, thick, muscular legs. Their heads were eyeless, but there wasn’t a question they knew where Themopolous and Rachel stood.

Their faces were only teeth. Very long teeth.

“Can you feel them?” Themopolous asked Rachel. “Or are they strictly organic?”

“No, they have some metal in them,” Rachel said as she started to feel sick to her stomach at the sight of the approaching creatures. “But I can’t figure out what.”

That’s the BC. It is bioorganic metal so it will feel confusing. Just focus on the metal part and you can overcome it.

Rachel stared at one of the dozen creatures that were slowly making their way towards them. She could feel the metal components respond to her will and she concentrated hard. In a few seconds the creature began to shake and shudder. Rachel pushed her will and focused on destroying the creature. Just as she thought she couldn’t do anything the creature stopped shaking. Then exploded, splattering the others with multi-colored fluids.

“That seemed to work,” Themopolous said as she steadied her side arm at the other creatures. “Can you do that with the rest?”

The things didn’t wait to hear Rachel’s answer as they leapt into the air, covering nearly half the distance in one leap.

“OH, FUCK!” Rachel screamed as she and Themopolous opened fire.

Bullets tore through the transparent skin and Themopolous had to push aside her medical curiosity as she watched the slugs tear their way through the bodies. Internal organs burst and split open, filling torsos with splattered liquids and oozing fluids.

The smell that hit them was almost enough to knock both Rachel and Themopolous off their feet. It was obvious that the creatures were an abominable combination of life and death, held together with technology specially designed for their purpose.

“There’s too many!” Themopolous shouted as she ejected an empty magazine and slapped home a full one. “We have to fall back!”

Rachel ignored the doctor and kept up her attack. Her innate gift helped direct her aim and each one of her bullets found its target. Instead of head shots, Rachel directed her fire at a throbbing red glow in the center of each creature’s torso. Even as they leapt from wall to wall, trying to avoid the gunfire, Rachel found her targets.

By the time her carbine clicked empty, her last magazine spent, there was a pile of leaking bodies just a couple feet from Rachel and Themopolous. Mathew lay unconscious behind them, blissfully unaware of the danger they had faced.

“Jeezus,” Themopolous swore as she kept a wary eye on the pile, too experienced to believe that the things were down for good. “How did you do that, Rachel?”

The mech pilot looked over at Themopolous, dazed. “Huh?”

“Every shot was a kill shot,” Themopolous observed. “I think I hit maybe one in ten, but you nailed each and every one.”

“Yeah,” Rachel said woozily. “I guess I did.”

“Sit,” Themopolous ordered, using all of her will to ignore the stench that filled the corridor. “Rest a moment.”

Rachel?

“What?” Rachel asked, taking Themopolous’s advice and plopping to the floor.

You can’t rest. There isn’t time. You have to press on and shut down the generator. Once the shield is down you can rest. But everything is riding on you now.

“Right,” Rachel nodded. “Of course it is.”

She slowly pushed herself to her feet.

“What are you doing?” Themopolous exclaimed. “Whatever that voice is telling you to do you need to ignore it! If you don’t rest you will die!”

“If I do rest then many more than me will die,” Rachel said sadly. “Hard choices in a hard world, Doc.”

“Jeezus,” Themopolous swore. “Where to now then?”

***

“Hey…,” Mathew moaned. “What the fuck is that smell?”

“We ran into security,” Rachel said as they stopped and let Mathew steady himself on his feet. “Can you walk?”

“As soon as this ride stops spinning,” Mathew said. “What happened?”

“You took a bit of a smack to the head,” Themopolous answered. “That’s my medical assessment.”

“Oh,” Mathew said. “So is that stink in my head?”

“No,” Rachel said. “It’s everywhere.”

Mathew pushed away from them carefully and held his hands out. “I can do this,” he said as he took a couple of wobbly steps. “Just not quickly.”

“We haven’t hit any more obstacles,” Themopolous stated. “So be prepared to fight, Mathew. There’s bound to be something before we hit the generator.”

“Gotcha,” Mathew said, raising a thumb. He looked at it cross-eyed then focused. “One thumb, right?”

“One thumb,” Rachel said, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Come on, dippy.”

Mathew kept one hand on Themopolous’s shoulder as they followed closely behind Rachel who had her carbine ready, sweeping from left to right in the gloomy corridor.

“Not much for twists and turns in this place,” Mathew said. “Has it been a straight shot the whole way?”

“Yes,” Rachel replied. “It’s leading us to the center.”

“Then what?” Mathew asked.

“Fuck if I know, Matty,” Rachel said.

“It’s getting warmer,” Themopolous noted. “We must be getting close.”

Tell them to stay there.

“What?” Rachel asked.

Tell them to stay right there. They can’t go any further. What is beyond the door is not for them. They need to go back outside.

“What door?”

“Is that her?” Mathew asked and got a stern look for his effort. “Right. Sorry.”

Keep going and you’ll see the door. Only you can go inside. They won’t be able handle the energy the generator puts off.

“And I can?” Rachel asked.

I hope so.

“Fucking great.” Rachel turned and looked at Mathew and Themopolous. “You have to wait here. I can’t take you with me.”

“Bullshit!” Mathew shouted. “I can’t let you go alone. What happens if something goes wrong?”

Rachel stepped forward and kissed him gently. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Mathew said as he gripped her arm. “Which is why you aren’t going alone.”

“Why can’t we go in?” Themopolous asked. “What’s the threat?”

“The energy levels,” Rachel said. “They’ll be lethal.”

Themopolous watched Rachel closely. Their eyes met and an understanding was passed between them.

“Fine,” Themopolous nodded. “We’ll wait out here. Be safe.”

“What?!” Mathew cried. “We aren’t waiting anywhere!”

Rachel pulled her arm away and Mathew staggered.

“You can barely stand, Matty,” Rachel said. “You two should get outside. There may be some blowback that could harm you.”

“Come on,” Themopolous said, lifting Mathew’s arm over her shoulder. She handed him her sidearm. “I keep you steady, you keep the pistol steady. We may run into trouble on the way out.”

“Fuck this,” Mathew swore as he glared at Rachel. “You come out of this alive, hear me?”

“I will,” Rachel nodded then turned towards the door she couldn’t see. She took about six steps then disappeared.

“What the fuck?” Mathew gasped. “Rachel!” Themopolous held him and kept him from following.

“Come on, Mathew,” Themopolous said. “We have to go.”

“This fucking blows,” Mathew protested, but that was all he had strength for. “Fucking blows.”

***

The generator room was small. Rachel was expecting a cavernous space with machines reaching far into the air. But instead she was greeted with a room about the size of her father’s office at the Stronghold. In the center was a metal box firmly bolted to a concrete pedestal.

“A little anticlimactic,” Rachel muttered. “I was sure I’d see a few more gears and shit.”

Reduced nuclear fusion. It isn’t used anymore because of the instability. But once it was put in place and turned on it couldn’t be turned off.

“Not without taking out most of the wasteland, right?”

Right.

“So now what?”

Put your hands on the box.

“What about security?”

There isn’t any.

“Are you sure?”

No.

“Great.”

Rachel took a deep breath and placed her hands on the box. Instantly she could feel energy seep from the box and vibrate up her arms. “Tickles.”

That’s good.

The vibration increased and the tickling stopped. Shooting pains started to stab their way through Rachel’s forearms. “Not so tickly anymore!”

I was afraid of that. Listen. I am going to have to connect with you mentally.

“What the fuck are we doing now?”

Talking. I mean I am going to have to actually combine our consciousnesses. Rachel and Beth may stop for a moment and be a new being. Relax and go with it. We’ll be fine.

“That’s a crock of shit.”

I know.

“It’s gonna hurt, isn’t it?”

Probably.

“Fucking great.”

Ready?

“No.”

Me neither.

Rachel closed her eyes and let go. She could feel Beth’s presence increase. It surprised her, the familiarity that came with Beth’s consciousness. It wasn’t quite like thinking into a mirror, but Beth seemed to fit as if she belonged.

But it was a tight fit.

You okay?

“I can handle this. Now what.”

Can you feel the reactor inside?

“That’s a reactor? Like nuclear?”

Yes.

“Yeah, I can feel it. You weren’t kidding about the instability. It’s all over the place.”

All you have to do is concentrate on the physical connection to it. I’ll do the manipulations.

“What if the shield doesn’t come down?”

It has to.

“What if it doesn’t?”

It has to.

“Ok. Noted.”

Rachel focused on her hands, making sure they had a solid grip on the box while Beth moved through Rachel’s mind and into the reactor within the box.

Trillions upon trillions of reactions occurred every single millisecond. Beth’s consciousness could only interpret the reactions as light and she was grateful. The actual power contained inside the box was enough to match the Sun. If she was sucked too far into the reality of the energy she would be lost in the reactor forever.

I’m starting.

“What? Just now? Move some ass, girl.”

You remind me of my friend Mel.

Rachel was instantly inundated with thoughts, memories, impressions of Melissa Bretton.

“Nah. She’s way more like Harlow. Trust me. Those two would get along great.”

Beth was in turn almost overwhelmed with Rachel’s thoughts/memories/impressions of Harlow.

Whoa. We better focus. I nearly lost touch with the reactor.

“Then stop the chit chat and get this shit done.”

Ok. Noted.

The reactions began to speed up as Beth manipulated their direction and interactions. The energy given off built and built. Rachel could feel the added energy and her hands started to singe.

“It’s doing something, but not in a good way.”

It’ll get worse before it gets better.

“Great.”

The reactions doubled, trebled and then starting multiplying exponentially. Rachel’s head jerked back and her spine nearly snapped as she became directly jacked into the power.

Don’t let go!

“I’m…not…just…hurry.”

Beth pushed herself, sending their mind deep into the generator until she hit the core. The core was where it all started, where every single reaction began and ended even though the reactions were separate unto themselves. It was a paradox that created an energy source that could stay fueled for millions of years, but could also stop dead in the blink of an eye.

Made of a substance that no sane scientist would ever use again, the core appeared to Beth to be a series of constant implosions. She felt that she would easily get sucked into the implosions if she didn’t pay attention, so she tried to shove them from her mind and keep all focus on the physical mass that was the core.

A grain of sand. That was all it was. A grain of sand.

Beth carefully manipulated the core and shifted its structure just enough that the implosions ceased. Unfortunately, that lead to a trillion infinitesimal explosions and Beth shifted her attack to contain those. With each explosion the core depleted itself of energy and Beth knew she was close.

“Can’t hang on much longer.”

Just a few more seconds.

“Fuck.”

Beth sent the explosions into each other, each sucking the fuel from the other as they connected. The generator started to lose its strength and both Rachel and Beth could feel the difference. They could also feel the intense instability that the power-down process created.

“This isn’t going to hold.”

Beth didn’t respond as she kept working.

“Are you listening?”

Just a few more seconds.

Rachel said a prayer, her thoughts with those she loved. With her consciousness wrapped in with Rachel’s, Beth couldn’t help but say a prayer also. The last manipulation was finished and Beth gave a mental sigh.

It’ll completely power-down on its own now.

“But?”

How do you know there’s a but?

“You can’t feel the but? I fucking can.”

You’re right. Let go.

“Of the box?”

No. Of yourself. Let go right now. Just let go. You have maybe a second.

“What? What are you talking-?”

No fucking time to explain! Let Go NOW!

***

The concrete rumbled slightly then settled, making Themopolous and Mathew look back over their shoulders.

“Good or bad?” Mathew asked.

“I don’t know,” Themopolous answered. “I’m not an engineer.”

A flash at the far end of the corridor made them shield their eyes. Then before either of them could brace themselves a shockwave sent them flying. They tumbled in the air and slammed into the pile of bodies that Rachel had made of the security creatures.

Themopolous gasped for air as she struggled to free herself from the oozing corpses that she’d been half-buried in. Mathew was already climbing over the top and he reached down to her. She took his hand and he pulled her up over the pile, tears in his eyes.