Exhaustion poured off Ari in waves. Another creature leapt from the top of one of the buildings, slamming onto the ground, barely missing Fris by a hair. Before she could escape, it'd thrown itself over her, crushing her to the rubble beneath. For the umpteenth time that day, Ari wiped sweat from her brows and touched the supercharger at her neck. Energy poured into her body, making her skin tingle all over. She kept the stored energy for a few more seconds than before, feeling it build up further, and released it as a blast of fine-tuned electromagnetic radiation. The wave of light blasted at the creature, searing a hole in its shoulder. It screeched, leaping off Fris, its limbs clacking against each other where the dorsal aspect had melted into knife-like blades. Fris was unscathed, but shaken.
"You need to hit it in the vitals, Ari!" came Shon's strained voice in her ear piece.
"Easier said than done!" she hissed, crouching behind half a wall. Dust showered her when the ground rumbled. "These guys move like lightning! I don't have perfect shot!"
Fris scrambled up and blasted the creature with electricity at close range. The nose-curling scent of burnt hairs made Ari scrunch up her face. The creature lit up, the hairs sizzling and emanating smoke. Its eyes rolled into the back of its head before it crashed onto the floor, long limbs twitching. It was humanoid, but the weapons seemed directly fused to its body. Ari picked her way over, not taking her eyes off the dead creature. They started coming in droves within half a day of them leaving Candra and had not relented since. Even with their virtual maps pointing them in the right direction, it felt like they'd made no progress. The sun had passed its highest point and Ari found herself covered in body bits and blood — and with zero appetite.
"More incoming!" Shon said. Fula pulled a face, helping Daae onto his feet. Her other hand juggled the titanium projectiles: small, deadly sharp, and lethal with good aim. The sound of Shon's gunshots bounced off the walls around them. A long-limbed creature leapt over the double-deckered cars, only to jerk in mid-air and crash to the ground, blood trickling out of a hole in its head. Heavy metal sheets covered it from head to toe. Shon had somehow managed to strike the small exposed area where the skull plate slid over the jaw plate.
At least ten more soared over their fallen companion, oblivious to their fates. One of them had limbs that seemed to be made of some crystalline material. Shon's bullet pinged off its surface, ricocheting into its companion. Ari touched the necklace and transformed the energy into vibrational kinetic. Dashing over the rubble and cluster of dead monsters, she threw herself at the crystalline creature. It had startling blue eyes and a mouth stretching from ear to ear, baring sharp teeth. They reminded Ari of Kena's mindless creatures that moved in groups, but those had no brains or abilities. These grouped together and came in waves and some of their alterations mimicked March City Users. Perhaps those she killed were previous March City graduates. Her own brethren. Her heart tightened at the thought. Nobody in Candra appeared to have abilities like them. It would make sense.
The creature swiped at her. She brought her arms up. The nails raked across the material of her uniform and tears sprang to her eyes, but neither her skin nor the uniform sleeve tore. The creature spun, swinging its other arm as if it were about to launch it. Ari's reflection flew at her face in slow motion. She raised her arms. The crystalline surface slammed into the palms of her hands and she unleashed the full brunt of vibrational energy. Even her teeth clattered together and her brain rattled in her skull. The creature screeched. Cracks appeared beneath Ari's hands, spidering up its forearm and across its body, turning the aquamarine body opaque — and shattered.
The pieces fell to the ground with a tinkle. Ari landed on her back and bounced across the ground, coughing and her world spinning.
"You okay?" said Shon, out of breath.
"Yeah," Ari sputtered. "God, does this ever end?"
A spatter and a sizzle near her made her jump to her feet and stumble back. A creature that had crept upon her screeched, almost human-like. It shied away, its skin bubbling in an angry welt where Daae's molten metal had struck its shoulder. It had a mop of tousled mousy blonde hair, almost like the birds' nests Ari had seen along the way in this world, ended in bright green tips. The injured arm hung useless but it reached the other arm over. It whistled and an explosion blew Ari backwards, forcing her to land in a splayed pile of arms and legs, disorientated and deafened.
She rolled and pushed herself up onto wobbly legs. The explosion had blown off the creature's legs so it lay in a struggling, bloody pile on the floor, one arm extended towards Ari. In its long-fingered hand, it rolled several pebbles together in an eerily familiar way. Ari recognised that hair and that gesture.
"...Jos?" she whispered. The creature made a nasally, inhuman noise. Her panicked, pained eyes darted everywhere; the girl, who was transplanted the bomb-loading ability and had casually told Ari where Mina was held beneath Area Six, did not recognise Ari. Ari couldn't move. Her limbs rooted to the spot. Jos crawled towards Ari, saliva dripping out of her mouth and her head jerking rhythmically. There was not a sense of humanity behind those glazed eyes.
Shon's next shot tore clean through Jos's head.
"Come on!" Fris's voice came urgently from beside Ari. A pair of hands yanked her to her feet. "Move it!"
"That was Jos." Ari's voice caught in her throat.
"What?"
"Jos. The student from March City. She—"
"She's not the first and won't be the last! Move it unless you want to become one of them!"
Ari forced her feet to follow Fris. They scrambled over the rubble, tripping over uneven ground and brambles that snaked all over. Shon's gunshots followed them, striking true with every fire. Fula sprinted ahead, spinning around and lobbing a projectile with ferocious speed. It whizzed past Ari and Fris, striking the nearest creature so hard a crack sounded and its head snapped back. A hiss sounded, followed by an explosion, scattering the group of pursuers.
The next outpost came into sight: a large, red-bricked building with Redstone Bus Terminal painted beneath the square, boarded-up windows. Metal fences lined the outside, not unlike Candra, but several breaks along its side meant it must have been overrun at some point. Not a human could be seen across its concrete ground with yellowed grass poking through its cracks. Closer to the main building were small structures made out of planks of wood, perhaps for lookout.
The group climbed through the holes in the fence. Shon kept lookout whilst the rest scavenged enough metal parts for Daae to weld into the holes, erecting the fence to keep further unwelcome guests out. It had almost become second nature, despite it being only about six hours and four outposts since they left Candra. Find an outpost per the virtual map, recover the peripheral fences, clear out any creatures left inside, update the virtual map to communicate their progress to Candra.
God knows how many ex-March City students they had slain along the way. Ari had known this; Lira had shown her the end result of the infection with that boy, Nero, back at the shopping facility. Was it because she knew Jos personally? They had but exchanged a few lines and then fought. Or was it because Jos was part of Kena's experiments, and Mina would have become her had Kena's plan succeeded?
"I can't help but notice all these monsters have abilities like ours. They can't all be from March City, could they?" said Fula, still out of breath.
"We don't know how long March City had been running," said Daae, welding the last piece and stepping back. Together, they walked up to the terminal main building, keeping an eye out for any oncoming attackers. "If it's been running for decades, it wouldn't be surprising that loads eventually get infected, right? Especially if Users have to be on the outside keeping them safe."
"But we're immune. Surely there would be others that are immune?"
"I didn't see any in Candra," Ari said.
"Yeah, me neither," said Fris. "Makes you wonder, doesn't it?"
"Wonder what?"
"Wonder where the rest of people like us are. The leaders made it sound like March City was really important after this outbreak to keep people safe. If we're so important, surely we can't be that dispensable. What if we all die now? Lira and the others aren't combatants. They can't keep the humans safe."
"They have armed humans there, too," said Ari. "I saw them. Gave us the stink eye."
"Yeah, but they are probably nothing against us. Or even them! You saw that crystal creature — Shon's bullets couldn't penetrate it!"
"Them." Ari felt uncomfortable being so impartial to these former students. "They used to be like us. We shouldn't call them 'it'."
"There were a few from my year along the way," said Daae, trouble replacing his usual serious look, dark eyes gazing back the way they came. "They didn't manage to get to safety before getting infected, is my guess."
"There were some crazy Metamorphs, too," said Balen, who had been keeping watch with Shon and whisking him from building top to building top to maintain a good aeriel view to snipe from. "There were some with weapons or shields protruding from their body parts. I've never seen that before. Would have been a nightmare to even penetrate with any ability."
"I just about managed to get a shot where the chink in its armour was. But the previous ten shots I took just bounced straight off. I'm just waiting for one that's immune to electricity or electromagnetic radiation or something." Shon sounded uneasy, wiping sweat from his forehead. Discarded rubbish cans, the remains picked away and desiccated, lay along the outskirts. Two stray infected came bounding out, screeching. Ari and Fris shot electricity at them, sending them crashing to the ground in spasms. Daae threw liquefied corrugated iron onto one, searing their limbs to the ground, whilst Balen wound his flexible, extendable limbs around the other. Shon finished them with a clear-cut shot each.
"Are they Metamorphs, though?" said Fula, tilting her head. "They came with their armour already on and everything. You can't be permanently switched on, surely."
"Didn't you see Nia and Nero — and the others? Once the infection gets hold of you, there's no 'off' switch. You just keep going and going and going," said Daae.
"Well, until you burn out," said Balen in a quiet voice, easing himself off the dead creature.
The group fell silent, the air punctuated by the chirps of birds and the crunch of rubble beneath their black boots. Small huts lined the side, its dusty windows showing derelict sleeping quarters, dusty sleeping bags, and collapsed shelves. On the other side, within the sprawling main terminal building, a few tables were laid out, haphazard. Bones picked dry sat on their surfaces. Rusted knives lay beside them. Shreds of material — a sleeve here, a trouser leg there — piled in the corner. A long, yellowed sink stood in the middle, flanked by two sunken ridges running down the middle of the spacious chamber.
"Seems we're alone," said Ari.
"...Not quite." Fris pointed a trembling hand towards the centre. Behind the yellowed sink was a lump of clothes — or so Ari thought. When she drew close, the lump turned out to be two students huddled together, drenched in dried blood. Matted hair covered their faces. Shon stepped closer and brushed the hair back, and froze.
"Quel..." he said, hoarse. "He was a Peacekeeper, only joined us a month or so ago."
"And this is Urio," said Fris, her voice trembling, leaning back onto her heels. "He was one of the guys who volunteered to be transplanted by Kena..."
"How come they're still... intact?" said Fula, her face pale.
"They killed themselves." Shon stood up and pointed the tip of his boot at a jagged piece of glass clutched in Quel's hand. "But that means — well, I'm guessing the two creatures we killed outside were also escaped students."
Bile sat at the back of Ari's throat. Her blood turned to ice. Her head felt faint, hollow, and breathing was difficult. The students she'd rescued out of March City... most of them had turned into rampaging beasts, and the remaining ones would rather kill themselves than descend into madness. None of them were fit to survive here. Her hand curled around the supercharger at her neck. She had to continue. For Mina. For those few who still stood a chance.
Shon tried the taps. With a reluctant squeak and rumble, brown, smelly water gushed out. He wrinkled his nose. After a minute or so, the water ran clear, trickling down the hole in the centre and running down those ridges, washing away crusty brown flakes.
"Guess we can camp here tonight," said Daae. Ari just realised how close her stomach was to digesting itself. Combined with the presence of two dead students filling the air with a smoky scent, the pang of hunger made her feel simultaneously guilty and disgusted. "There's water, we have some food, and this is shelter. I guess. We'll incinerate the bodies outside."
Ari knew that was her cue. Daae and Balen picked up Quel and Urio. She tapped the virtual map and updated their position, turning the red spot that hovered over the bus terminal green. They still had at least four more outposts left. It was pointless, but Ari hoped she wouldn't run into any other former students. Defeating them in combat in the confines of March City was one thing, but killing them, or finding more of this, made her feel she was doing the same to Mina.
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