Chapter Twenty-three
Peter
As soon as I know she's safe, I turn to the crowd behind me. "William, you heard it too right."
"As clear as night. The hissing was exactly like they described."
Richard walks forward. "How long till they reach here?"
I press my ears, forcing them to listen. "Somewhere around five minutes. It's a large building, but they slither around quickly, apparently."
He nods. Max speaks up, "We split."
He looks at me for confirmation. I nod. He continues. "Richard, William, with me. Harry, Kabir, Arthur, go with Peter."
"Wait." I say, "We need to split in three. Arthur, Harry will go together. Kabir and I will find Andrew and Eliza, check if they're okay. Harry, you and Arthur go to the right, tell everyone to clear out. Max, you guys check the labs- there's a ton of people there. Go!"
I run into the dark corridors, Kabir by my side. His healing powers might help if Andrew and Elle are hurt- we can't risk losing them now. We turn at the next corridor, getting closer to the dining room.
I put my hand out. "Wait, I can hear something. It's close, we need to be ready." I close my eyes. There's something blocking it. I look at Kabir, feeling my eyes turn gold, "I don't know where they are. We need to be ready for anything." He nods.
Before I have any time to reply, something, a person I suppose, jumps off from the ceiling in front of us. She has short, blond hair and her eyes are slanted inwards in concentration. They glow green in the dark, breaking through the blue shaded walls. She wears a leather jumpsuit with scales shaded in green and yellow. She looks at us, her shoulders face the wall, but feet pointing towards us. Oh my god.
I thrust out my hands, firing fireballs aimlessly at her as she tries leaping forward onto us, just steps away. "Kabir, go! And be careful!" I yell, hoping he can reach Countess Elizabeth and Igetis.
The bleeding fire bounces off her suit, not causing enough damage, just pushing her off target and burning through the suit slowly; it doesn't seem to affect her enough. I pull out a gun from my pocket with my left hand and aim it at her. Bang. Bang. Bang. I shoot perfectly at her head, my thorough experience coming in handy; as her body limps down against the floor, a vision breaks through my mind. I shake my shoulders, trying to rub the scene out of my mind.
Without wasting any more time, I bend over the girl's body and cut out a piece of fabric from her feet using the daggers we were given and putting it quickly into my pocket. Getting back up, I sprint down the hallways to where I suspect Kabir would find Igetis- Andrew.
Another Snake-person leaps at me from his position where he stood like a statue, stuck to the wall. How do they do that? He doesn't last for long though, because the moment he puts out his tongue, the fork at the end spitting, I put two clear bullets through his nose.
The sight of him falling onto the ground, his nose leaking, half off, his pale white skin with shining piercings turning darker due to the dim lights, is enough for me to start gagging. I load my gun quickly and continue down the road. Andrew said they attack in large groups. I just killed two, how many more should be here? Did they know we are here?
"Ghack!" I splutter. Something rubbery and wet curves itself around my neck, tightening it. I can hear the fork end slicking up and down as it wraps itself around my throat.
"Argh!" I gasp, my gun slips out of my hands, my hands instinctively coming up to the tongue around my neck. "Ghaaa...!" It's sloppy, rough, yet smooth texture disgusts me, my hands covered with slimy, sloppy saliva, but I stay stuck to it, struggling to get the tongue off me. Think.
I push my head back. You can breathe underwater- this is the same thing. My mind convinces my body to take in one deep breath, thanks to a slight loosening in the tongue's grip.
I reach out for the dagger somewhere on my suit, and stab it randomly into the foot of my attacker. It plunges in easily. With a cry of pain, my attacker unwraps their tongue from my neck and bends over, holding the thigh on which I stabbed him.
It takes him a second to come back. But it takes me one too. He looks up at me, his eyes glowing, mine turning red, shining bright except this time they don't burn. He hisses at me and puts his arms in front of him on both sides, showing off his long, sharp nails.
I snarl back at him and turn my dagger upside down in my hand, making it easier to plumage into his body, putting my hands ahead of me, one palm facing his body.
We mirror each other exactly, walking around in a small circle, taking in our opponent. His thigh is hurt, cut deeply- another cut and it would break right off.
His face shows sheer confidence and I know he would do his best to deny me a chance to do that. I switch over to his footing. He places his right leg in front of the left slowly, toes first. His right hand is further out than his left. He's a righty. His left side would be easier to hurt.
We walk on. I continue analyzing his body fast, gripping his weaknesses, his strengths.
At the end of five slow circles, it's like I have known him for a lifetime. I am ready. Without looking up, I leap forward, just like his ally had done to me not too long back and go straight for his right side.
He may be right-handed, but all his muscles are equally strong- and weak. Hitting the right side might help me because his left might not be able to defend it well enough. I grab his left shoulder heavily, leaning on to it, and push him behind. He didn't think I would attack this soon; good.
I pull my free hand back and I stab the sharp metal into his shoulder, crying out in rage and anxiety. I pull it out and then plunge it back in again, my voice echoing through the corridors, the pain drizzling back on me. I manage to put in two strokes before he thrusts his nails into my side.
I fall off him in pain, my abdomen bleeding badly. The shield is too thin- or his nails as strong as they are long. He jumps at this opportunity and punches me on my face, right on my cheek. I stutter and walk back unknowingly. Come on, Peter. He reaches out once more to hit me; one punch, two punches. Come on, Peter! My mind jumps out of its fuzzy state and I instantly throw my hand onto his face, blocking his vision out for a just few moments- but when you're in a fight, a few moments are enough to separate Life and Death. I pick up the dagger, which was on the floor beside me, and push it straight into his heart- no regrets. He falls down with one last hiss.
Even with his breathing stopped, his eyes remain open, glaring at me. I wipe my face, at my cheek where he hit me, with my sleeve, leaving a damp spot of blood on my suit, and put my dagger back into my pocket. I turn down the corridor, sighing, and limp my way through the darkness.
-
Andrew tugs on my safe side, his arm around me, as Eliza holds out a gun in front of us. "I think they're all dead now," She says, "But I'd just like to be careful." I don't reply; not because I don't want to (I always have something to say), but because I very literally, physically, can't.
"Andrew," I croak, "Kabir, did he come? I told him to go, to run to you, when the first Snake attacked us." Andrew doesn't look at me, his eyes darting around, but says, "Kabir didn't come, Peter." He tries changing the topic. "Snakes- that's what you're calling them now?"
"You didn't see him?"
"No."
"Do you think he's made it out?" But Andrew doesn't get a chance to answer me. Elle stops dead in her tracks in front of us suddenly. "Oh heavens. Oh no, oh no no no..." She bends down to a body on the floor. "Oh no, dear god."
I shrug off Andrew's arm and hobble ahead. "Kabir." I whisper.
He lays on the floor, silent. His body is in an odd position, his left and right feet far apart. One hand lies on his chest holding a gun. The other lay on the floor. His right foot is cut off and a puddle of blood engulfs him
But the blood from the foot isn't the only one making up the puddle. At my feet, two inches away from his chest, lay his head. His eyes are closed, but his expression, painful.
I push his head a little, pressing my hand against his wet, sweaty hair, to connect it to the rest of his body. It's nothing like any dead body I've seen before.
I get up and turn around, too fast for my lame foot. "Ow!" I scream, falling onto the wall ahead of me. I bang against the floor hard with my wrist and as my body connects to the floor, my emotions come spilling out. "God Damnit! Why him?" I yell. "Why'd you take him?"
Kabir was one of the best of us- funniest, friendliest, most companionable- but I guess these aren't qualities one must possess to survive battle. I cry uselessly into the floor, my head against the cold metal.
I lost one of my men today; my responsibility. I hear Andrew walk towards me, Eliza whispering to him. I hear him, feel him, as he loops his arm around my waist and slowly drags me away as I hang lifelessly on his shoulder.
-
"Peter! Is he alright?" She asks. Catherine.
"What does it look like?" He asks, his chest panting against my body, still holding me up.
"Like he just walked out of a complimentary spa?" She answers sarcastically. Andrew walks over to the far side of the room and places me gently on the bed.
My eyes flicker open wide enough to get a glimpse of her face.
Then it's all black again.
-
I wake up slowly, trying to feel all my limbs.
"Oh, you're awake!" Her voice hits me before I see her. I force open my eyes.
"Catherine." I mumble.
"Are you feeling any better?"
"Ugh." I reply.
"Sorry. I really shouldn't push you to speak too much right now- not until you get better." She says, looming over me.
I chuckle. "You sound awfully concerned."
"Yeah? Cause maybe I am." I smile and float back into the darkness.
She is safe. Her face flushed and a small cut on her right temple, but she is safe. I owe Lucas more than I can ever imagine.