The Betwixt Book One (20 page)

I had to flip to the side, using only one hand to push myself
off the ground as the other still held fast to my gun.

How did my bullets keep missing? I was shooting straight at
it?!

I flipped again – this time a full backwards somersault that
dropped into a roll, taking me further from the creature – giving
me more room to aim.

No, no, it wasn't working!

It was just like a nightmare – like I was facing off against a
terrible dream-creature that I could not banish, no matter what I
tried.

‘
You need a real weapon!’ Od screamed from behind me. ‘It is
too powerful!’

‘
Get out of here!’ I screeched back, twisting to the side and
using my gun to slam into the creature's arm as it tried to grab
me. The move, though it connected, didn't appear to hurt the
creature one bit.

Nothing was working, nothing!

I rolled to the side again, just managing to keep out of its
reach.

It settled back on its haunches and screamed once more – I
could see the underside of its stretched neck shake and shudder
with the effort.

‘
What do I do?!’ I tried to shout over it, desperate. ‘What do
I do?!!’

As if from heaven someone answered with a barrage of fire
directed right at the creature. Plasma blast after blast ate right
into the creature – forcing it backwards, but not doing any real
damage.

I stared at the creature as it started to shore up against the
barrage, using its shoulder to take the blasts while it pushed
forward with its powerful legs, mouth opening and closing in scream
after scream.

‘
Oh god.’ I . . . I
couldn't . . . nothing was going to kill this – was
it?

‘
Get out!’

I turned to see Crag'tal at the top of the stairs. He was
shooting round after round at the thing, not stopping as he
screamed at us: 'Get out! Human, Kroplin – get out!’

I hesitated, watching the play of light against the huge
Twixt's skin. And it watched me right back with those white
eyes.

I turned and ran. I grabbed up Od and hit the stairs three at
a time.

I could tell that Crag'tal's barrage was having less and less
of an effect. I could hear the Twixt's scream get louder and
louder, and feel it driving itself towards me. But when I hit the
top of the stairs, rushed up to Crag'tal, he stopped shooting the
thing, instead flicking some button at the front of the
rifle.

‘
What are you doing?’ I screamed, wanting to just grab the guy
and run, run.

‘
Second function.’ Crag'tal raised the gun at the roof just as
I could see the Twixt reach the bottom of the gangway – its body
faster than hyperspeed.

Crag'tal let go of the trigger and a massive blue white blast
erupted from the rifle and slammed into the roof just above us.
Crag'tal turned, collecting me and Od in an arm, and pushing us
forward as the ceiling collapsed from above. Great chunks of rock
rained down, blocking the entrance to the chamber and the Twixt
beyond – but somehow Crag'tal managed to shove us free.

Silence descended for just a second, before I could feel the
thing on the other side of the rocks again. It wasn't dead, nowhere
near.

This time I grabbed onto Crag'tal's arm. ‘We have to get out
of here – now. It's going to get through.’

We dashed along the corridor, my mind too frenzied to pick up
the signs of battle strewn around me.

‘
Is everyone out?’ I shouted at Crag'tal, not bothering to turn
my head as I powered along the tunnel with Od still under one
arm.

I didn't need him to answer – because I rounded the corner and
slammed straight into a person, dropping Od to the side from
shock.

The person in question, a GAM in big black armor, wrapped its
arms around me, practically picking me up to stop me from falling
backwards.

‘
You're safe now,’ a voice said from behind the black helmet.
It was synthesized – changed slightly into a more mechanical
version of itself, but there was no denying who it was. Commander
Jason Cole.

His arms still around me, I would have paid anything to
believe his words. Except I couldn't. Because I wasn't safe, none
of us were.

Chapter 11

‘
No we aren't,’ my voice came out as a rasp, my throat coated
with the dust from the mini cave in.

‘
It's okay—’ Jason had a hand up, ‘it's okay—’

‘
Let her go,’ Doctor Cole snapped as she half-jogged, half-ran
over to me, ‘where is it?’ her eyes were wide and unforgettably
intense, ‘did it—’

‘
Oh, it's still alive,’ I was still finding it hard to talk –
even harder when I knew that talking wasn't getting us away from
here. And we really needed to get out of here right now. ‘We have
to get out of here – now.’

Jason, though still covered from head to toe in his black GAM
armor, was obviously following our conversation like a hawk – his
head ticking our way. ‘What the hell is going – what are you
talking about? Are there more Tarians—’

‘
No,’ Doctor Cole's voice was strained, way too fast, ‘but tell
me it didn't break containment—’

‘
What are you talking about?’ Jason faced his mother – a huge
black menace with both arms crossed. ‘You tell me now.’

Doctor Cole threw up her hands, but didn't turn away from her
son. Her eyes were blazing, her skin slicked with mud-crusted
sweat, but she didn't fob him off – she could tell he was serious.
‘It's nothing Jason just—’

‘
What is it? If my men are in danger, I need to
know—’

‘
You wouldn't even believe me, Jason,’ Doctor Cole chuckled
bitterly, ‘so why ask the question—’

‘
Tell me—’ Jason began, hitting the release button on his
helmet tell it disappeared into the back of his armor with a fancy
swish.

‘
Alright, enough,’ I cut in. I couldn't believe I was doing it
– but we didn't have time for a family spat right now.

But I didn't have a chance to explain. A low, almost mournful
cry hit the air and might as well have made it burn – because it
sucked the oxygen right out of me, my breath escaping like I'd been
struck in the belly. It was accompanied by the sound of rocks –
heavy rocks – crumbling or being thrown to the side.

I closed my eyes, just like you might in a nightmare – to
check to see if the horror went away.

‘
What the—’ Jason immediately grabbed for the gun strapped at
his back.

‘
Oh my god,’ Doctor Cole's voice was barely there.

I felt like time was slowing down, trickling around me like
the last water of a dried up stream. Jason's face was frozen –
alive with fear, determination, and shock all at once. I could see
the flecks of dust from the ceiling just flick by like single
frames from a holomovie – some landing in his short black hair,
some collecting on the wide shoulders of his armor.

I could see the others too – the other GAMs and dig crew. All
with their heads turned towards the sound, faces a mix of pure fear
and confusion.

And I could feel it behind me. Its presence was like a great,
cold cloud where my shadow should be – haunting my footsteps with
unthinkable menace.

What was I going to do . . .
how . . . all these people . . . how
was I going to save them?

But then time sped up, back to where it should be – back to
people shouting and moving back in horror, trying to get away from
the sound. Back to Jason lifting his gun and pointing it down the
tunnel, face so compressed with concentration, it was hard to
recognize him. Back to Doctor Cole staring with hollow eyes. Back
to-

I took a breath. Od was at my arm. ‘What do we do? Collapse
the tunnel; try and make it up the ladder? Concentrate
fire—’

What would She do if she were here? My mother, my people –
what would they do? How would they fight, how would they
think?

Jason began moving off down the tunnel, in the direction of
the scream as it resounded over and over again, like a battle cry.
He motioned for his men to join him with one flick of his black,
gloved hand.

‘
No,’ I said through a breath, ‘no,’ I tried to put a hand out
to stop him, but it glanced off his smooth armor with no
purchase.

‘
Get up the ladder – get all these people up the ladder. Unit
Four, you're with me.’

No! That thing would kill them all. We had to get out of here,
had to find a way . . . 

I felt like sinking down onto my knees and just waiting for it
to end. My eyes were heavy, my head just dropping towards my chest
as if I were ready to fall asleep. I felt lethargic, overloaded
with the realization. that I couldn't do anything. The other side
of me, Her side, it didn't seem to be anywhere in reach. After its
defeat in the chamber, it had obviously fled to the dark recess of
my mind where it had always resided.

I couldn't help but be defeated by it – I felt torn in two
again, except with one side
missing . . . .

‘
No!’ Doctor Cole suddenly snapped, her reverie finally giving
way, ‘Jason! Don't go down there! We have to seal off this tunnel,
it's our only chance! Edward, find me a sonic drill!’

Commander Cole didn't stop at her words, just kept heading
towards the scream, gun at the ready.

Od looked up at me meaningfully. He didn't say anything, but
that was enough.

I couldn't give up. This was my responsibility now. But how to
fight a creature that can't be defeated? I either needed a hell of
a more powerful weapon, or a method of defeating it without
destroying it – of just incapacitating
it . . . .

My mind whirred like a ship gunning its engines to take off.
If we all got out – collapsed the whole dig site, would that be
enough? Did we even have the time?!

No, I needed something else. I needed something of my people,
that would be the only way, the only hope I
could . . . 

‘
Od,’ I dropped to my knees right beside him, ‘I need that
thing – that thing you use to keep the Twixt – I need it
now!’

Od's eyes lit up, his skin seeming to glow. ‘But it's – how
will you—’

‘
Just give it to me!’

He pulled it from the folds of his robe, and I snatched it
from his hands before he had a chance to open them
fully.

The answer was I didn't know what I was going to do with it –
I really didn't. I just knew two things – this was the technology
of my people, I could feel it. It also held a Twixt I could fight.
I didn't know how the last one would help me, but I had a
feeling . . . 

I sped off down the corridor in the direction of the Commander
and his Unit. A couple of other GAMs tried to stop me, but I
twisted away from them without a second thought.

Wait for me, Jason. Don't go and do anything
stupid.

As I ran, I twisted at the catch on the device. Having it in
my hands, I could feel it as if it were an extension of my being –
as if my sensation extended to the little machine. The pricks of
energy along my skin seemed to flow in and around it.

I still didn't know what I was going to do. I was running on
instinct, and that was the single most unifying experience I'd had
so far. I wasn't torn between my two halves – I
was . . . I was operating between them.

I could see the Commander before me, at the lead of a group of
five GAMs. The tunnel was narrow, but just large enough for them to
spread out in a V as they headed forward. But as I pelted up behind
them they turned, Jason turned, and he shook his helmeted
head.

‘
Get out of here!’ his voice only just managed to scream over
the top of the harsh cry of the creature.

I didn't answer, I just ducked and rolled out of the way of a
GAM who tried to grab me. Then I launched myself into a long dive
roll that brought me between the rest of the soldiers. Springing to
my feet, I performed a full layout right over the head of
Jason.

I landed about a meter in front of him, just at the turn of
the tunnel that would lead us to the cave-in before the
chamber.

I heard the Commander swear behind me, and I would have paid a
million Central Credits to see his face. Not every day a diner
waitress out-maneuvers a crack GAM unit.

I let go of the device in my hand, finally releasing it fully.
I threw it onto the ground – and watched as the Twixt appeared in
the middle of this narrow, rocky tunnel.

It stood there silent, for just a moment. And I watched it
with the same tunnel vision I always had for the Twixts. It was
like I was alone with it, standing face-to-face, with nothing else
that could come between . . . 

‘
Mini,’ Jason caught my arm, ‘Mini – what are you
doing?’

I slowly turned towards him. But in that same moment the cry
of the creature became loud and clear – as if it had finally made
it through the wall of rock. I heard one final stone shatter
against the side of the tunnel, felt the almighty shudder under my
feet, and saw the dust dislodge from above.