The Permutation

Apex (Part 2) Vergil

"If you make one wrong move, your eyes aren't the only thing I can have fun with."

"If you should be so lucky, human," Blujh said pulling out something that resembled a pistol.

As opposed to the sharp angles that Vergil was used to, it seemed like the weapon was one smooth cylinder with a violet coil in the place of the hammer. Blujh pressed a button on the side and the coil started to glow with a vibrant light that Vergil was becoming all too familiar with.

Fifty feet separated the three denizens of Lancet Falls from Vergil's group. The street lights played over their faces, and Vergil realized he couldn't see the whites of their eyes. Their pupils dominated the surface of their eyes giving them a predatory, alien quality caused Vergil to shiver.

I need to think of something fast that doesn't involve killing my friends and family.

"Cool it Terminator, we're not using lethal force. I've known these people my entire life. We're going to incapacitate them until someone can find a way to remove those parasites."

"I'm afraid that pacifism isn't an option at this point. They've quite ingeniously taken root in the brain stem. At best, extrication would leave these people comatose, but more than likely, it would result in their immediate demise.

"You don't know that!" Vergil shouted.

Chief Geller led the pack, and he'd just dropped onto all fours thirty yards away.

"If you don't have the stomach for it, close your eyes. I'm not going to go down, because some human can't do what it takes even if it means his own life, and the life of his woman," Blujh said his weapon radiating a brilliance so powerful it hurt Vergil's eyes through his peripheral vision.

A beam of light traveled from the nose of the weapon to chief Geller's iconic bald head. Vergil couldn't help but think about how the town used to call him old "Cue Ball" as the projectile hit the man between the eyes.

From the point of contact, his face started to melt like it had been made of wax. The rapidity at which solid flesh and bone liquefied and slopped off his shoulders and onto the pavement didn't feel real. In fact, it looked like a movie with a cheap special effects budget, as the viscous material, with fleshy chunks took the place of his head. A milky white substance that looked like egg yolk intermingled with the viscera, and Vergil noted in some faraway place that those had been Geller's eyes. Black wormlike, creatures wriggled around in the puddle splashing like kids on a summer day.

If the loss affected, Veronica or Brian they gave no sign of it. The only change in their behavior was they skirted the puddle on the ground as they continued their approach. They also dropped to all fours, their methodical approach replaced with galloping strides.

"Hold them off while this thing charges up," Blujh ordered them.

Vyth sighed and pulled out a collapsible rod that looked like a quarterstaff, but it was just made of metal. The material didn't look any different than your run of the mill steel you could get on Earth.

Interesting. 

Lisa held her Mace up like a priest would a cross in order to hold back vampires. Vergil was the only person that didn't have anything to defend themselves. Close combat was all he could manage, and being up close and personal with these things didn't seem like a good idea, even if when he was fully charged. A cowardly instinct, deeper than conscious thought, wanted to run. The people of Lancet Falls were who Vergil fought for, if he stood by and watched them get killed, everything he'd done up to this point would be rendered meaningless.

"No more killing. I have an idea!" Vergil shouted.

"Vergil, I love these people as much as you do, but they're gone," Lisa said.