Plague of Mybyncia (30 page)

“Holy fuck!” Jace swerves backwards.

“Shit!” someone else calls, everyone fleeing
from the crumbling boulder.

I’m back a few yards but I’m pretty sure my
heart has stopped. I can’t look away. All those tiny red eyes
flickering,
searching,
as the entire Gorgen crawls over the
fragment and plunges another sharp tooth into the remaining
rock.

They are all coming.

“This way!” Sampson calls, racing from the
rock formation with Clarence, Qippert, Werzo, Booker and Jace on
his tail. I’m heading behind them but the Gorgen leg reaches out,
swatting near Reid and I, blocking our path.

“Boss!” Tucker yells. “Fallon!”

Everything happens so quickly.

The Gorgen swings at us again, three legs
cutting across our way and I’m momentarily paralyzed at the size of
the teeth. I gulp, unsure what to do, where to go. How can
something like this exist? In my second of hesitation, it leaps off
the rock wall, aiming to separate Reid and me. It succeeds as Lalu
takes the initiative and jets backwards.

“
FALLON!
” Reid barks with an intensity
I’ve never heard.

With his voice ringing vibrations through the
water, the Gorgen turns all red eyes on him, leaping for Reid and
Tucker next.

We must leave.

We can’t leave them! Follow the Fychu!

The second and third Gorgen crawl over the
remaining boulder fragments behind us. With teeth dug deep into the
rock, both leap off, aiming straight for Lalu and me. But she’s
fast. Jetting away with seconds to spare, she races after Sampson
and around the other Gorgen, which is gaining on Tucker and Reid.
Relief blooms in me when I see them soaring ahead of the creature,
swerving in and out of its swinging limbs.

But the feeling is fleeting.

A wave of glistening orange sludge emits from
the creature’s tiny red eyes, spearing right past the boys. They
weave in and out of the ongoing acid spurts, my chest about to
constrict from the fear. Too preoccupied with them, I don’t realize
the two Gorgens are gaining on me until something insanely sharp
pierces my calf.

A sharp scream pours from my mouth.

Has anything ever felt this awful? It’s like
my leg has been split in two. Maybe some of that glistening orange
sludge has hit me. Will it infect my entire body? And is Lalu
struck too? A thousand questions race through my mind in this
agonizing second as Lalu races up, higher and higher, leaving the
two rushing behind us in a dark blur below. I can’t believe the
amount of pain I’m in. It’s got to be the acid. It
has
to
be.

You have a Gorgen tooth in you. You must free
it before the poison infects you.

Looking down, I find Lalu is right. Lodged in
my right calf is an enormous triangular tooth, nearly the size of
my body. Reaching down, I go to grip it, but my leg spasms and I
cry out again. I can’t do this.

You must do it now.

I can’t.

You must do it or you will die.

With tears streaming down my face, I grip the
tooth in both hands. Gritting my teeth, I yank as hard as I can,
ripping the foreign object free with another agonizing cry. Blood
immediately spurts out of the open gash.

I will help.

I’m bucked off Lalu, floating freely, but
panicked. I attempt to scramble back on her but she’s at my leg,
her long pink tongue lapping up the bloody tear. As soon as she
presses her tongue against me, a cooling sensation erupts,
lessening the fiery pain. She laps at me again and the pain
subsides a little more.

This will decrease any toxin spread.

Oh—thank you, Lalu. Thank you.

We must move. They are coming back for
us.

The thought of those creatures returning
sends a chill racing up my spine. Reaching for the nearby tooth, I
tuck it into my side as Lalu rears up beneath me. Grabbing onto her
bairs, I pull myself up, still wincing from the pain as my right
leg collides with her side.

We must move.

Both Gorgen climb through the water for us,
but not half as fast as the Millix. Lalu dodges past them on our
descent down to find the others… but I don’t see them. Where are
they? And Reid and Tucker? What happened to
them
? My mind
races with gruesome images of everyone—burning from the glistening
orange sludge or punctured with razor sharp teeth.

The others are not injured.

How do you know?

I have not been informed otherwise.

We’re racing back to the field of Dilly
below, my leg bellowing in pain. I ignore it. I can’t concentrate
on it with all the adrenaline rushing through me. Then there’s
Lalu, swerving down through the water, trying to confuse the Gorgen
behind us. Any second we could be killed—burned alive or stabbed to
death—and I can’t find the others.

Where are they?

I will sweep in low and fast. You must grab
it.

I’m about to ask what she means, but we’re
already soaring down into the green nest. She was right. There will
be no way to steal the Gorgens’ Dilly. We’ll have to kill them—and
there are far too many for that. Or we can steal it, but little by
little.

Swooping low through the tall green stocks,
Lalu leans to the left and I snag as many strands as I can,
clutching with fervor. I’ve only managed to grab a handful, but I
keep them close to me as she shoots back up through the water,
swiftly passing the two Gorgen. They scurry around in their field,
accessing the lost weed and in seconds, they’re dark blurs behind
us again.

Once we’re up a ways, I hurriedly reach for
the bag to stow the collected Dilly but I don’t have one. We hadn’t
gotten to that point yet. Shit. What are we going to do now? And my
leg is still throbbing, screaming with agonizing pain.

Did you get enough Dilly?

There’s too much happening, too much to
consider and I still don’t know where the others are. We really
will have to abort this mission. Have the others gone back already?
Is that why I can’t find them?

They are nearby, leading the Gorgen away.

Then maybe there
is
hope for securing
some of the plant? But how will I hold onto it? Looking around
frantically, I find only one thing I can use. Quickly winding the
strands over Lalu’s bairs, I get the Dilly secured in seconds, just
in time to see a Gorgen climbing through the water for us.

Where’s the other, Lalu?

It is waiting for us.

Where?

In the field.

We can’t return then.

This is correct.

Glancing to the few strands around Lalu’s
bairs, I’m thankful for what we’ve got. But it won’t be enough, not
by a long shot. I guess the straight Dilly is a moot point now and
the main thing is survival. Pure survival.

Do we just leave? Head back to the FH?

It will follow. We must kill it.

I really hadn’t planned on killing a Gorgen
today. But what about the others? If there were six or seven total,
and one of them is following us, and the other is in the nest
guarding the Dilly, what about the last four or five? They’re
chasing the Rogues and Dofinikes.

Your friends are leading the Gorgen far from
their den. Once they are a mile off, your friends and the Fychu
will return to the FH but we travel too quickly for the Gorgen to
follow. Once they reach their den again, they will remain.

And you know this?

It is the Fychu’s plan. It will work.

And us? How do we kill the Gorgen?

You hold the weapon in your hand
.

So I’m right. I’ll have to stab it. My heart
stops at the thought of getting close enough to that thing to jam
the tooth in its belly. I don’t know if I can do this. I’ve faced
the Kings, the Vermix and the Muskos. But this? This Gorgen? Is
there even a chance? Thinking of the others, I ask the obvious
question.

Can’t we outrun it too?

We have the Dilly. It will follow the
scent.

I can remove it…

I start unwinding the strand.

I have been tainted with its scent. It will
follow us to the FH. Our only option is to kill it.

Shit! And I was only trying to grab the
little bit I could. Am I really going to have to kill it? Will I
even be able to?

“Fallon!” Reid’s voice calls from a distance.
My heart stops at the sound as I glance down, finding his shape as
it appears from deep below. He’s racing up toward me with Tucker,
Jace, Sampson and Clarence behind him. “
FALLON!
”

They’re ascending through the dark, murky
waters just after the Gorgen, which is steadily gaining on Lalu and
me. Do we head back toward the field of Dilly or attempt to kill
this thing up here? And how are we going to do it? My mind is going
a thousand miles a minute, trying to analyze the situation. The
Gorgen needs to be stabbed. And what if that other one decides to
come after us too? There are too many things to figure out and not
enough time.

Think, Fallon. Relax and think
.

But the sound of angry whistling shakes my
focus as glistening orange sludge flies through the water beneath
me. Bright white lights flash in response, blasting into the
Gorgen, sending it tumbling backwards. Lalu takes the opportunity
to fall down toward the others, my leg screaming in pain as I grip
her at the sudden descent. We only have seconds to rejoin the group
when the Gorgen rights itself, hurling its body at us again. A
stream of the orange sludge shoots overhead, nearly striking us,
but Lalu dodges the hit, jetting down swiftly. Another orange light
whistles past as Tucker, Jace and Reid whip around, blasting white
sparks from their Enidds behind us, hitting the Gorgen’s thick
black armor. It doesn’t even slow down.

We’re soaring low, back toward the black rock
fragment with Sampson, Clarence and the Rogues on either side of
us. Another orange flame shoots past, barely missing my injured leg
and sending us tumbling ahead.

“What the hell?” Tucker yells somewhere
behind me. “It’s aiming for Fallon!”

More blasts of white and crashes of thunder
as the Gorgen descends on the wall before the Dilly field. Bits of
rock fly, Lalu and I dodging past them as she dives through the
thick green weeds. But the second Gorgen is gone. I don’t have time
to wonder where it went because Qippert, Booker and Werzo are
already leading it away.

“
FALLON!
” Reid barks again, a mixture
of fear and panic.

But in the second it takes for me to look at
him, the Gorgen launches itself at Lalu and me, separating us with
a violent crash. The impact slams into me and I’m thrown through
the water, hitting the hard ground in the bottom of the field of
Dilly. I feel my entire body, pain shooting through every limb and
for a second, I’m not sure if I’m alive.

I can’t see anything.

The green stocks tower over me, clogging all
sights other than the dark, murky water above. My arms lay sprawled
on either side of me, in the same position as the landing. But I
reach, searching for anything, trying to get my bearings. My right
hand hits something hard and sharp. I’m afraid to turn my head and
look—I could be broken,
really
broken this time. Will I even
be able to get up? And what’s this under my fingertips?

I blink, trying to search for anything but
it’s too dark. Only the stocks of Dilly are here and this, whatever
this is under my hand. Tugging it forward, I pull it toward me.

The tooth.

Suddenly, the murky water darkens to a deep
black mass. Something is descending over me. It’s the Gorgen and I
know any minute I’m going to be crushed or stabbed. There’s only
one thing I can do. With my heart racing, I gather my remaining
strength and drag the tooth over my stomach. Holding it in both my
hands, I lift it up over me, praying.

“
How’s she doing?”

“
She’s healing up well. I’ve got the last
of the Vilbrees on her leg. She just needs some time. Reid—you
really should get some rest.”

“
I’m not leaving her.”

“
You’ve been here for hours. If she wakes
up…”

“
I said I’m not leaving.”

Silence.

“
I know my mother wants to thank you
again, Fychu. Come, let us leave them alone. Reid, we will be
nearby if she awakes.”

A shuffle of noise but everything is dark,
like it was before, only seconds ago. But it feels different. I’m
not in the suit and I can hear everything like it’s right here,
happening in front of me. There’s no slight echo from the headgear.
Does that mean I’m back at FH? How is that possible? I was just in
the field of Dilly, beneath the towering stocks and trapped under
the—

I jolt up.

“Fallon!” Reid reaches for me, his huge brown
eyes filled with relief. “Easy… easy…” he grips my shoulders in
both hands.

I take a second, searching behind him, trying
to place myself. I’m in the FH, in one of the coral beds in the
attendants’ room and Reid is on the ledge next to me. “What
happened?”

He looks between my eyes. “How do you feel?
Are you okay?”

I nod, still trying to understand the sudden
change. “But what…”

“You were almost killed,” he drops his head,
running his hands through his hair. Another deep breath and he
hangs his head low between his shoulders.

“But the Gorgen…”

“Is dead.” He peers up. “
You
killed
it.”

“The tooth?”

He nods. “Christ, Fallon. I…” he exhales, his
head dropping again. A long second passes but when he speaks, his
voice is soft, fragile, like it could break at any second. “I
thought you were gone. I thought…” he sniffles, quickly wiping
moisture from his eye. He glances at me but stands for the door
instead. “I’ll tell the others you’re awake.”

“Wait.”