The Created

Chapter 19: The Second Monster

CONNOR

The ground is shaking, and I can't keep my knees from wobbling. Kye's face is twisted; I think he's going to cry, but then he glows bright red with anger. I see the flame of rage spark to life in his eyes. I feel it too.

Poor Shadow.

A black, puslike liquid oozes from the open book in Killoran's hands and from the ground in the room's center. Killoran flings the book, letting it fly through the air and clatter on the floor until it lays open in the center of us. With one last regretful look in our direction—and at Shadow's body crumpled on the stone—he flees the room with surprising speed.

Kye looks paralyzed as the floor shifts beneath our feet. The room starts smelling like burning rubber as I run over to him, stumbling the whole way.

I grab his arm. "We have to go now!" I yell over the roar. Kye looks dazed, like he didn't hear me.

The blackness starts bubbling and spreading over the floor like Death itself is being drawn up from the bowels of the planet. My mouth drops open as the liquid starts rising into the air, defying gravity, some drops splattering onto the ceiling. Soon, huge masses of the stuff are floating in the air, swirling menacingly. The stench starts to burn my eyes.

Cat is waving us over to the doorway, but the shaking is so intense she's nothing more than a blur.

I look at Kye's face, placid with tears flowing down, whether for Shadow or from the smell, I don't know. In a flash, I see my mother, spacing out, shutting down from fear and sadness. I see the vague, distant look in her eyes. I see my father—

No. No, never again.

I don't wait for Kye to respond; I grab him and start half-dragging him to the exit, screaming that we need to run. The floor starts splitting into huge chunks, cracks running the length of the room, allowing the evil liquid to spew forth in massive explosions, narrowly missing me and Kye, before rising up to join the swirling black mass in the air. It's coming together, taking shape.

I don't want to see what comes out of it.

KYE

Pull it together. My fingernails dig into my palms as Connor drags me. Pull it together. Pull your stupid weight.

My thoughts swirl more than the vortex in the air, a vicious tornado of thoughts, none of them good. Anger and sadness and regret and anxiety.

I feel my will to live slipping through my fingertips.

But I can feel Connor's touch, so I know I still exist, and because of that, I must stay. I must hold on.

I must pull it together.

I wrench myself free of Connor and stand on my own legs. He screams something and then starts running but I can't hear him.

When we stumble out, every noise is like a dull drone. I peer back into the room. As the red light fills the space beyond, I see the chaos. I see a hideously large, furry paw form; three large talons serve as claws. The unstable form stretches from the black mass and then flings itself down, shattering the concrete beneath. It's bracing itself. Bracing for whatever is forming next...

The scene falls to darkness again. Fear yanks me from my stupor.

"Let's go!"

"There!" Cat points to a station halfway across the warehouse.

We run.

"Where are we going?" Connor calls out from behind.

"The PRT!" Cat says. "It's our only way out."