Severing Sanguine: A Companion Book to The Fallocaust Series Book 2 (104 page)

Finally I got to the second level. I turned around to help Ceph, but for a brief moment the breath left my chest and I froze.

Behind Ceph was the urson, its milky white eyes glowing against the backdrop of dust. But as it moved towards Ceph I could see just how gigantic it was. It looked even bigger than it had in the cage and it was rapidly closing in on Ceph.

“Faster!” I screamed at him. I ran down and grabbed his jacket and pulled him. I could hear the urson’s ragged huffs as it climbed the stairs
Ceph looked behind him and swore. The two of us ran up the rest of the steps, my heart exploding from the adrenaline boiling in my chest. The primal fear that claimed every man when he had become prey momentarily made me stop, but it was fleeting, the next thing I knew I was shoving Ceph towards Valen and blocking the escalator from the giant beast sliding and scraping up the steps; its small eyes wild on its large muscular face.

It stared at me before it reared up on its hind legs and roared. Rows and rows of yellowed and broken teeth contrasting against the hazy dust, I could see blistered and pus-filled sores inside of its mouth, and on its face too, crusting its skin in dull yellow that covered the patchy, scabby fur that was spread sporadically throughout its body. It was a terrifying creature, covered in muscles that flexed and rippled on its black skin, but it was still suffering from the radiation like every Fallocaust animal.

I kept my stance, trying to make myself as tall as possible, and felt a growl inside of my throat. I threw the briefcase down beside a tipped over planter pot and clenched the knife hard in my hand. The beast snorted at me and took another step, long black claws the size of my fingers scraping against the rubber stairs.

“Get Valen and go,” I yelled to the two I knew were behind me. “I’m immortal and this is an order. GO!”

Ceph gave out a frustrated yell but I knew he was going to obey me.

Then there was a loud explosion of gunfire, so close to me it stung my ears. I thought that it had hit me but suddenly the urson let out a bellowed cry before shooting towards me in a desperate attempt to get away from the bullets. I jumped back, trying to get out of its way, but it charged right into me, knocking me off of my feet and throwing me backwards into a pile of jagged debris. I felt a sickening snap in my leg.

I’ll never forget what happened next.

I looked up and saw the urson charging towards Ceph, Valen behind him. Valen got thrown backwards but Ceph was too taken by surprise to move. The brute chimera stared at the giant bear as it charged towards him. Then, in its madness, it reared up and pushed Ceph down, sending him crashing to the ground. With the combat armour hanging loosely off of him he tried to rise, only to have the bear take his head into his jaws and fling him like a ragdoll.

“CEPH!” I screamed. I scrambled to my feet but fell, pain ripping through my leg and my side. I screamed his name again and saw Valen running towards the bear, nothing in his hand but one of the ceramic planter pots.

Valen smashed the urson’s head with the pot as the bear tore and ripped at Ceph’s body.

The urson turned around, drool dripping off of its thick, scabby muzzle. And Valen, in all of his bravery, didn’t move. He stayed still and even stepped closer, trying to distract the urson from Ceph who was now laying still.

I tried to get up again but when I failed for a second time I looked down to see what was stopping me. My heart sank when I saw the white of my leg bone poking out of the top of my boot, compound fracture, but… but I could still walk. I grabbed the bone and tried to shove it back into place but the pain almost made me pass out. Instead I started crawling towards the two of them.

“Sangy? Ceph?” Nero’s voice knocked against the chaos inside of my head, but I was too focused on Valen and Ceph to answer. I crawled towards them, the knife in my hand, not knowing what I could do just knowing I couldn’t watch them both be killed.

The bear reared up again and roared, Valen slowly backing up with his hands outstretched. I yelled at him to get back, to run, but he stayed in front of the seven-foot tall beast with the urson stepping closer and closer.

Then I realized – Valen was controlling it.

Sure enough, as I crawled closer I saw Valen’s eyes had turned black again. Blood now flowing freely down his nose, mouth, and to my horror – his eyes. He continued to step backwards as the bear obediently followed him, its head lowered and its mouth open and oozing drool.

Then Valen’s head snapped towards the metal railing of the second level, specifically to a gap in the railing that had been taken out in the explosion. The bear looked too and even though my mind was overwhelmed with a thousand screaming emotions I watched in awe as the urson ran towards the broken railing, and threw itself off of it, a loud crash sounded not soon after.

Valen collapsed onto his knees, just as Nero got to the top of the escalator steps.

He ran to me, he was bleeding from the neck and from the arms, bullet holes littered his black combat armour. I looked at him and saw the shock on his eyes.

“It got Ceph,” I gasped and started hacking so hard blood sprinkled the dust. “It got Ceph, fucking help him.” I pointed to Ceph and felt a lurch in my heart when I realized he still hadn’t moved.

Nero’s head snapped towards where I was pointing. He let out a bellowed scream and ran towards his fallen fiancé. I tried to crawl towards Nero as he dropped to his knees and picked up Ceph’s head.

A pit formed in my stomach when I saw how Ceph’s neck was moving, limp and loose like it was made of rubber – his neck had been broken.

“No… no… no…” Nero cried, shaking his head back and forth. I had never heard him so desperate, his voice so thin. It gave me the strength to pull myself to my feet and stumbled over to him on one leg.

I walked past Valen who was trying to roll onto his stomach, and kneeled beside Nero. I looked down at Ceph and when I saw his eyes half-open, like small pockets of green forest against the grey dust. I knew he was already dead.

I put my hand on Nero’s shoulder. My best friend was sniffing, stifling chokes as he stroked Ceph’s chalky hair back. I saw his teardrops fall onto Ceph like rain; Ceph’s face almost unrecognisable in the dust. I found myself wiping the debris away with my sleeve.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered to Nero. “He – he died protecting us, all of us.”

Nero cried out; he leaned his head down until his forehead was touching Ceph’s. He slowly shook his head back, more tears falling onto the brute chimeras face. Ceph looked so different now, he wasn’t meant to be quiet, he wasn’t meant to be still. Ceph was born to be loud and obnoxious, yet in his soul, friendly, charismatic – and one of the funniest men I knew.

“Cephy…” Nero whispered. He kissed Ceph’s forehead, his eyes closed tight. “I love you.”

As I heard a noise I looked over and saw Valen. His face was covered in blood, mixed in with the dust it formed thick cakes of pink on his face. He kneeled down in front of Ceph and put a hand on his head.

“Don’t touch him!” Nero suddenly bellowed, the entire mall echoing his words. In the distance there was more crashing as the building collapsed around us, but I knew we weren’t moving. “This is your fault, you little cunt!” Nero screamed, agony soaking into every word. He was trembling so hard underneath my hand I wondered what was keeping him from attacking Valen right now.

Valen looked up at Nero, his pink eyes wide and his own hands trembling on Ceph’s head.

“I can still see his aura…” Valen said to him. “He’s dying – but he can still hear you.”

Nero’s chin tightened; his lower lip started to tremble. He looked down at Ceph and patted his cheek. The sadness in Nero’s eyes tore me. I felt so desperate, so helpless. There was nothing I could do but bear witness to another heartbreaking sight that I knew would haunt my dreams.

“Cephy… Cephy?” Nero choked. He pursed his lips and shook his head. “I love you, puppy, do you know that? I–” I watched as Nero’s eyes widened, before he looked at me. I was confused to see hope and desperation on his face. “Where’s the briefcase?” he asked.

I pointed behind us to where I had laid the briefcase, right beside the escalator. Nero jumped up and got it. He flicked the two locks on it and, to further my confusion and the worry I had for my best friend’s mental state, he let out a choked laugh and picked up one of the vials of Sky’s brain matter.

Nero looked at me, his face crumpled in agony. “We have to try…” he choked, before running his face down his hands, leaving a streak of pink skin framed by the dust. “Sky was a born immortal, Sanguine. It’s… it’s such a fucking long shot. We can make him immortal. I… I think I know enough…” Then his eyes shot to Valen. “You need to help me drag him into one of these shops, we need as much protection as we can.”

My mouth dropped open, I wanted to feel hope but all I felt was doubt. A part of me wanted to tell Nero that this was too big of a long shot. I didn’t know a lot about the immortal surgery but I knew Perish did them, a scientist and a doctor. Not only did I think this wasn’t going to work – but it was going to use up some of the brain matter Silas coveted so much.

“Sanguine – please,” Nero choked, sensing my hesitation. “I love him like I’ve never loved anyone before. Please, let me at least try.”

I looked at him, and saw the pain in his face. Then looked down at Ceph, pools of red blood now mixing in with the dust, plaster, and shards of wood and metal. He already looked dead, nothing but a broken shell whose spirit had left long ago.

But I knew I couldn’t let Nero down now, not after everything we had been through, everything he had done for me.

I nodded at him. Then Valen, as if waiting for my okay, got up and grabbed Ceph’s arms. Nero gave me the briefcase, minus one bottle, and took Ceph’s legs
Nero and Valen dragged Ceph across the walking area of the mall and into one of the open stores. I hobbled behind but fell down several times, unable to put any weight on my leg. I was starting to have doubts whether I would be able to get Valen out of this alive with how the building was crumbling around us, and now that we had to do surgery on Ceph those doubts were amplified.

Nero leaned down in front of Ceph and kissed his lips for what might’ve been the last time, and as I grabbed the long and narrow knife I had tucked back into my pants I heard him whisper to him.

“This is going to hurt, peaches, and I’m sorry, but it’s the only way. I love you, hold on, for as long as you can, sweetness – hold on.” Nero took in a deep breath. I extended my hand to offer him the knife. Nero took it, reached over and took Valen’s and then got out his own.

He stabbed the first knife right into Ceph’s skull, followed by the second several inches away, and then the third. He stabbed them with such precision they were able to make a triangle in the back of Ceph’s skull. I heard Valen groan but I was fascinated with it.

Nero then wrenched the knives back and forth, sweat beading down his forehead and his mouth open to accommodate his heavy, ragged breathing. He pulled two of the knives out and with the last one, my knife, he wrenched it up and popped out the piece of skull. Underneath, framed with the blood leaking from Ceph’s scalp, was the pink, wrinkled mass that was his brain.

“The brain piece is connected by a thin wire, take it out gently or it’ll die, don’t disconnect it from the lid of the bottle.” Nero handed me the bottle of Sky’s brain piece, all of us ignoring a thunderous explosion that sounded like it was coming from the front of the Wal-Mart.

I opened the bottle and saw the thin, almost invisible wire that connected the piece to the black lid of the bottle. I had originally thought these vials were just in normal bottles but on closer inspection I saw the thick lid held a little mechanism and button battery inside.

Nero took the lid from me, and with his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth, gently slid my long, thin knife deep into Ceph’s brain, before twisting it to make a small gap.

“Hold the knife,” Nero instructed. I quickly held it steady for him.

Without a word he slid the piece of brain into Ceph’s own brain. Then, as I held the knife that was wedging the space in Ceph’s brain open, Nero pushed his finger into the opening and slid the now bare wire out of his brain. Nero took out his finger and tried to pinch the space shut.

Then Nero took the knife from me and gently shaved off a piece of Ceph’s brain, a small pink area right beside a thick blue blood vessel. He picked up the little chunk and skewered it onto the wire, and handed it back to me. Knowing what he was doing, I screwed the replacement brain piece back into the bottle and put it into the briefcase. I closed the briefcase lid and locked it, then took a deep breath not even realizing I had been holding it.

Nero sniffed, and let out a stifled cry. He put the piece of skull back into its place before he completely broke down.

I put my arm around him and held him as he cried, patting his back and trying my best to reassure him. I didn’t know if this was going to work; I didn’t even know if he had done it right, I just knew my friend needed me right now, and I would never let that man down.

“NERO? SANGUINE?”

Nero and I both looked up and towards the exit to the store we had found shelter in. We saw nothing but the outlines of objects but Silas’s voice was clear, even over the crumbling building.