The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 1 (The Fallocaust Series Book 2) (35 page)

Elish’s overcoat-covered arms held his pet tight for a moment before he pulled himself away. A few very quiet words were spoken between the two of them, before Elish turned and left him standing there.

Elish noticed us watching him, and I heard an irritated sigh at the realization he did indeed have an audience. But like the cold chimera he brushed it off and turned his violet gaze towards the plane. “We’re close enough to where I had planned to drop you off. Start bringing your supplies out of the plane.”

When Elish was out of sight Killian let out a shrill little squeak and pulled on my arm still wrapped around him. “Wasn’t that cute!”

“I’m not sure cute is the right word...” I started pulling him towards the other side of the plane. “It just goes to show how special I am. It took me months to do what has taken him ninety years.”

“Did you see their rings? Will you give me something nice one day?” Killian sounded giddy, riding on the emotional overflow he had picked up by osmosis apparently.

“I fucking gave you a gun didn’t I? I even got you that stupid guitar you almost became food for.” I turned around and saw Perish had wandered over to where Jade was still standing. Both speaking quietly to each other, Jade still looking dumbfounded and Perish jittering around like he usually did. I turned back and we both jumped into the plane, leaving our quips for after Elish left. I knew from my own chimera blood that if we brought it up around him the next nice thing he did for Jade would take another ninety years.

Ah chimeras, genetically engineered to be super machine sociopaths but once we fall in love it’s kind of like watching a firey car crash in slow motion. It was cute in a way, though Elish’s abuse of Jade’s flesh and mind shouldn’t be called such. It was a rather strange relationship but I had hope for the statuesque and equally cold Elish. Hell, maybe I could keep helping.

Like Greyson and Leo had helped me with Killian, huh, a greywaster-chimera relationship that had stood the test of time. They both really knew what they were talking about without me even realizing it.

Well, that dampened my mood, I wordlessly started to grab our belongings, feeling the despair I had banished to the void threaten to claw out of my gut. Nothing I could deal with, still two months later. Every time I was reminded of just how much of a shit son I had been... I immediately lost control of my emotions. The only solution I had was to stuff them down and lock them far away inside of me.

Drugs helped.

We didn’t have very many things, a bag for each of us, and a large duffle bag with our food, water filters, and bottled water that I would switch between Perish and myself. Perish had been nursed back to his normal weight and appearance by Killian and seemed like he was in good shape. Even his brain had been turning a few more wheels the longer we were in the bunker. Though all of that would go out the window if he ever went near Killian again, but I think we had reached an understanding regarding that.

I was tossing bags to Killian when I heard a low roaring sound. I blinked and looked up at the sky. My face went three shades paler.

“Elish...” I said uneasily. “Do you hear that?”

Elish turned; he had been in the middle of packing several things into Jade’s bag. He took a step towards the plane door when he paused. I saw his eyes narrow to small slits.

“That’s a plane, get everything and find cover, do not come out until they’re gone.”

I grabbed my bags and split them between Killian and I. We both jogged to the other side of the plane and were met by Jade and Perish.

“The rocks.” I pointed towards a small shelf of rocks that appeared to overhang at the bottom. “We’re ducking under there until it passes.”

Jade and Perish nodded soberly, with a cautious glance to the overcast sky I handed Jade and Perish their bags and sprinted towards the rocks.

There was a collective seizing of hearts as we all felt the plane descend.

“They saw us! A chimera is in there,” Killian whispered nervously. He clenched my hand in a death grip.

I heard Jade let out a snort. “No one else owns planes, dummy. Of course it’s a chimera.”

“Everyone shut up,” I hissed. There was too much noise around me. If the chimera in that plane had enhancements like me, a single noise from one of these jokes and he would know where we were.

The boys quieted down. I tried to focus my hearing but every time I did their heartbeats drowned it out.

And another odd sound… I tilted my head and tried to focus on it. I glanced towards Perish.

The scientist was staring ahead, with his brow furrowed. I looked over at him and tapped him with my foot.

He jumped, and his heart did too. I pointed to my ears, just as I heard the second planes engine cut.

Perish nodded and shifted himself in the dirt; he pointed to the ground.

He was right; the sound was coming from underneath us. I shifted myself back too and as soon as I did the weird noise got louder. This time Jade’s hearing caught it, he looked at the ground and raised an eyebrow.

It sounded like shifting sand, a grating noise almost or a continuous hum of static.

Killian and Jade were staring at the two of us, knowing better than to talk. We could all hear the voice of a stranger behind us, talking to Elish. Though if the two other chimeras recognised it, they weren’t saying who it was.

I put my hand down where I was sitting and felt the ground. My brow furrowed as I realized the ground was vibrating; I moved my hand and started shifting the ash away. It was loose… looser than the compacted dirt usually was.

Black? My hand brushed away the last of the grey, revealing a rough black surface underneath me. I looked up to Perish and he did the same.

More black?

Suddenly Killian’s heartbeat went crazy. I quickly jerked my head over to him and saw his face had completely paled.

“Move…” Killian’s voice was a strangled rasp. He slowly started shifting down from underneath the rock shelf. “M-move… move…”

I blinked but with a pull of Jade’s shoulder all of us silently slid off of the mound of dirt under the rock shelf.

Then it started to move.

Immediately I drew my M16. I stood in front of the three as all of us took several steps back.

The dirt under the shelf started to vibrate back and forth, small grains of dirt flying up into the air as it spilled from the black shell underneath.

“Oh fuck me,” Perish groaned. “Well… um… we… okay, we need to get to the plane now.”

Suddenly the shell lunged at us; the last of the dirt fell back to the ground as it jutted forward.

It was huge, about the size of the deacdog and just as long. It had giant crab like claws that snapped and snipped threateningly at me, its large plated tail twitching back and forth; a sharp and bulbous stinger poised and ready to strike. All of this behind a dozen black beady eyes that twitched in all directions as it caught us in its vision.

Yeah, fuck us… that was a scorprion.

I put the scope up to my eye and started to take quick steps back. There was no fucking place to shoot it. It was plated in armor.

“Reaver… we need to get back to the plane,” Killian said behind me. He gasped and pulled me out of the way just as the scorprion tried to jab us with his tail.

I swore, I took a quick look around and saw that Perish and Jade were already halfway up the shelf. I pushed Killian ahead of me before turning around and firing off a couple rounds at it. Without a moment to spare I climbed to the top of the shelf, holding my arm out to make sure Killian and the others stayed behind me.

I could hear the ground shifting between its many legs as it tried to climb the shelf. Leaving deep gouges in the ash as it effortlessly pierced through the compacted dirt. The insect was strong, but every creature had its weak spot.

I took a step backwards as I shot at it again. The bullets penetrating its dusted black armor, but doing nothing to slow it down. I narrowed my eyes and took a sideways step to try and find any vulnerability but every inch of it was covered.

My body twitched to step closer and I had almost convinced myself to when I saw one of the spider-like legs raise up and dig itself into the ash, followed by a second one. I fired off my M16 and watched helplessly as it slowly crawled its way up the steep ridge.

Behind me I could hear hurried voices and the sound of a very pissed off deacdog who we had tied inside the plane.

Though there was no time for backwards glances. I ran to the edge of the shelf to try and lure the fucking insect away. I gave it a couple shouts but it ignored me, still digging deep rifts into the ash as it hoisted its large but clumsy body up.

It was an ugly fucking thing. Its spindly legs writhed and twisted, like a creeping hand through a doorway it scraped the dusted rock, wrenching its body up the shelf inch by inch.

I raised a boot and kicked it in the side of the head, in response the stinger shot down beside me, missing my thigh by inches. I had forgotten about that fucking stinger. I raised my M16 and put the scope near my eye and shot a couple rounds into the bloated barb. I whooped as I managed to blow off a rather large chunk of it.

“Get back!” a voice commanded. It wasn’t Elish but I didn’t have time look.

Then a black blur jumped behind me and skidded down the shelf, immediately the scorprion followed his movements and directed his attention away from the planes and the rest of our party.

I recognised that face, and I recognised the stupid moustache.

Garrett Dekker, my best friend’s fiancé.

Well, fuck him; he wasn’t going to have all the fun.

I skidded down too, to Killian’s shrieking horror. I dug out my pistol and threw it to the asshole and the both of us started leading the scorprion away from the group.

Garrett caught it, and as he raised a confused eyebrow at me, I gave him a glare in return.

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t know how to shoot,” I said to him annoyed. I already default didn’t like him, and I wasn’t going to start now. He had coveted my best friend and then got his ass kidnapped. This suit wearing pretty boy wasn’t going to get off the hook by pretending to be a hero. I had already partially disabled the fucking bug.

Garrett held up the pistol and shot it at the insect; I watched one of its black beady eyes explode into nothing. As soon as the pistol kicked back, his hand was at his belt. He drew out an almost identical pistol and shot the next eye out, all in a single flawless movement that rivalled the grace of Asher Fallon.

Oh, I see what he was doing… this was a competition was it? I raised my M16 and flicked its switch to automatic. With both of us rapidly running backwards I unleashed a clip of bullets on the scorprion’s eyes. Its tail still flicking and striking dead air only a couple feet away from us.

Then the dumb shit tripped over a jagged rock.

The suited idiot fell backwards with a thud, both the guns falling from his hands. The scorprion lunged forward and I saw it flatten its back out ready to sting him with his partial stinger.

Many thoughts flooded my mind at that moment, and I felt my legs stiffen in expectation to let him get stung or snipped in half with its pinchers, but my future sight won out. The fact that this man did indeed know who I was, and was my best friend’s fiancé, made me move.

Not to mention the fact he was also immortal, which meant the death would only be for my stubborn amusement.

The split second decision lifted my feet off of the ground. I leapt onto the scorprion’s back and grabbed onto its tail.

That made it very very mad.

The insect thrashed around wildly, whipping its tail back and forth with ferocity. I clenched my teeth and held on, waiting for a break in its strength so I could grab my combat knife, but it whipped its armored segmented tail around without rest.

“Reaver, let go!”

Killian!?
My eyes tried to focus on where he was but everything was a grey blur, the jerking movements rattled my brains back and forth. I decided to listen to him though. I let go of the scorprion’s tail.

I felt myself go airborne, the grey rocks and trees swirling in a circle as the scorprion’s tail whipped me through the air. I tried to contort myself to land on my feet but I wasn’t a cat. I landed on my back knocking the wind out of me.

With a cough I rolled onto my side – just in time to see Killian jump on the scorprion’s fucking back.

“Killian!” I screamed, my heart constricted inside of me and started thumping uncontrollably.

Garrett had gotten to his feet; he had his arms out trying to distract the insect while Killian clung to his shelled back.

I ran over and grabbed my combat knife.

Before I could get to him the scorprion gave a thrash, slamming its left side legs into the greywaste ground. I could feel the ground vibrating under my feet.

Killian held on, I saw him reach into his cargo pants pocket and pull out… a grenade?

I held my knife and watched in awe as the kid pulled the pin out with his teeth and shove it into an open crater in its back, caused by our bullet holes. Then just as quickly as he jumped on he let the scorprion fling him off.