WnW 3.18

“Slow him down!” I shouted over the wind that whipped between the buildings, howling at me as if even nature was on Alek’s side.

“I’m trying!” Nell replied. “He’s slippery, just like the bugs.”

Alek briefly looked over his shoulder at us and then banked sharply to dart inside an apartment complex.

Chittering and the scrabbling of many hard legs on pavement was growing louder behind me. I redoubled my efforts, pumping my legs up and down. Nell felt like she weighed next to nothing, but her arms wrapped around my neck and her legs around my waist meant I had to alter my natural gait so as to not buck her off.

I dashed into the lobby, slamming the door behind me.

“Suka blyat!”

Alek was halfway up the stairs but was struggling with a clay pot that had attached itself to his ankle. Vines grew out of it, snaking around his limbs, tripping him up, like some tentacled sea creature inside of its shell.

The Aracknights crashed through the entrance, shattering glass and bending metal on their warpath. 

Alek succeeded in tearing off the pot and disappeared upstairs. I felt Nell hop off my back as I faced down the monstrous entity that balanced on four legs that ended in sharp points that bit into the lobby carpet.

It lunged and I went low, rolling underneath it. Its legs scythed up and down, trying to pin me to the floor. Motion from the corner of my eye made me keep the momentum, jumping clear as a limb thunked deep into the carpet. The other Arachknight was angular, including its head which was triangular with an actual mouth, full of wriggling chelicerae. It pulled its altered limb free of the floor and faced me, the weapon somewhere between a club and a sword, with sharp spines along the inner section like the limb of a praying mantis.

I ran for the stairs, concerned that Nell had gone up on her own. The Arachknight extended its limb, preempting my movement and slicing out to intercept. The blade whooshed over my head as I ducked it. The other one was close, but I could beat it to the stairs and I didn’t think it could climb them with those legs-

A sharp cold feeling sunk into my back and my forward progress was halted. My feet left the ground as I was raised up, gasping from the pain. I looked below and saw that the quadruped had raised me up with a ninth limb, long with many segments ending in what I only assumed was a stinger that was currently embedded in my back.

Then I was flung, careening off what was left of the front entrance and skidding out onto the street. I breathed out, face pressed against the pavement. Fuck, it hurts.

Even though the stinger had been pulled free, it felt like a thousand knives were poking at the wound. But I had a moment to get away. I Shaped antlers around my legs, looking up at the higher floors and spotting a window on the second floor that had no glass. 

Could I make it? I didn’t have time to practice.

The mechanism that held in the tension released and I sprung upwards, windmilling my arms to stay upright. For a moment, it looked like I was going to make it, but then gravity took its hold and I fell, stretching my fingers, praying.

My pointer and middle finger caught on the edge and I dangled for a moment, before my grip slipped. Bones arced out, quickly flying through the window before shooting off to the sides, catching and holding. With that anchor in place, I tore my arm free and climbed up through the window.

The sound of running footsteps came from the hallway. I crossed the room in a bound and burst through the door. Alek’s eyes widened, his legs faltering as I cut off his escape. But then he doubled down, charging me.

I let loose a spiderweb of interconnecting bone full of thorny points to catch him, but Alek simply ignored it, breaking through the bones like they were made of chalk, not even flinching at the thorns that gouged his arms and legs.

I was caught by a swinging limb and slammed against the wall. Alek gave me a brief smirk brimming with superiority before running on.

Nell pulsed concern as she reached the hallway. I bent down so that she could hop back onto my back, keeping my eyes on our target as he got to the stairs on the other end. Nell’s weight made my wound protest with fresh pain, but I clenched my teeth together and muttered, “Hold tight, gonna turn on the gas.”

Nell almost lost her grip as I dashed forward, no longer caring if I made it a bumpy ride. One, two flights I climbed, skipping as many steps as I could. Alek reached the landing and turned down another hallway. I heard doors slamming open and as I reached the landing, I saw that Alek was running down the hall as plants exploded out of the rooms with grasping vines and distracting colours.

I felt the pain vanish as Nell stitched up my wound, replaced by an uncomfortable heightened awareness of her body heat on my back. Ignoring the sensation, I pursued Alek, gaining ground. He was ducking and weaving, growling in frustration when a vine managed to latch on and he lost precious ground as he paused to tear it off.

It felt like every motion in that hallway was an extension of my body and will. As a bramblebush got in Alek’s way, a nearby bundle of vines melded together into a sturdy stump. I braced my legs against it, having already formed Locust Legs in anticipation. Release.

Nell and I were shot down the hallway and I crashed into Alek, forcing him down onto his stomach. Nell lost her grip and tumbled head over heels down the hall before catching herself with more plants.

I wrapped my arm around Alek’s neck as I pressed him into the floor.

“Must feel good, eh?” Alek panted. His neck was hot and sweaty. “I know you’re getting a kick out of being a hunter. It’s like we were built for this.”

An ominous humanoid shape appeared at the stairs we had come from. It unfurled its long limb, the blades that ran along it gleaming in the dark and it marched steadily towards us.

“I’m making this your problem,” I wheezed. “Help me kill them.”

Nell pulsed fear as another shadow appeared at her end of the hallway. What? It was too wide for the scorpion to climb… I realized with a chill that this monster wasn’t the scorpion-like one. A large claw dragged along the ground. The one I had trapped down in the basement had gotten free.

Alek pushed himself up and I realized that he had been letting me restrain him. Abandoning that plan, I moved to back up Nell. Her plants were slowing the monster’s approach but only slightly. Vines snapped as they stretched to their limit. The Arachknight rotated its head slightly in a dizzying shift of many eyes.

This is gonna hurt. I braced myself for the pain as I stepped forward, extending my arm out. These things were intelligent, but single-minded. The massive claw snapped shut over my arm and I heard a crunch.

The pain was nothing compared to the fire that licked at my skin, eager to take. I channeled the hunger, making sure I focused on the damage that had already been done to the claw. At the same time, I placed a foot against the Arachknight’s chest and formed a Locust Leg. More clawed appendages clamped down on me. I built more tension. Oh, this is gonna reallllly hurt.

I released the tension, shunting the creature away from me. My skin tore as the creature lost its grip. It also lost its massive pincer as the remaining connective tissue broke, leaving the claw in my hands. I bled from half a dozen places, but the Arachknight’s chittering grew distressed as blue fluid pumped from the wound, staining the carpet and walls.

Unfortunately Alek had gotten past his opponent and it was now focused on us as he climbed the stairs upwards.

“Fucking bugs,” I breathed. Nell pulsed in agreement. The wounds began to close and I felt the fire roar inside my brain. “Not too much,” I warned. Nell complied after the bleeding had been stemmed. I shored up my fractured arm with more antlers.

“He went further up,” Nell said, then she frowned. “Wait… I just lost him.”

We retreated, stepping over the twitching body of the declawed foe and ascended. On the next floor, I saw that there was an intersection of halls at the center. Being at the top floor, Alek would have come down this hall from the other side and then turned down this new hall…

As we reached the crossroads I was a short section of floor and then open air. Peering down, I saw the rubble of the bridge that once connected this apartment with its neighbour across the road. What had caused this level of destruction? It wasn’t a falling rock. We were too far from the Sill. Scorch marks littered the rubble and the side of the adjacent building. It looked like the aftermath of an active warzone.

There wasn’t time to ponder what that meant. A black shadow was scaling our building. The scorpion Arachknight was coming up beneath us.

“Nick!” Nell said nervously. I turned just in time to see the other monster round the corner, mantis arm unfurling as it jerkily stepped towards us.

“Jump after me.”

“What?!” Nell said, looking at me like I was crazy.

There wasn’t time to explain. I jumped. The wind rushed past my ears as I fell towards the Arachknight. Its tail lashed out, glancing off my cheek. I landed feet first into its abdomen and it lost its grip on the building’s exterior. We plummeted together and I felt the claws bite into my sides as retribution for this slight. 

I held on as tightly as I could, bracing myself for the-

WHAM

We hit the ground and I immediately thrust my hand out towards the sky. Antlers crackled as thoughts of the maple trees at my university danced behind my eyes. Nell added her own touches, a leafy canopy spreading out above me. I pushed to make the tree grow as tall as possible and I just barely saw between two branches that Nell had jumped.

Pain spread across my body as I bore the onslaught of the monster, tearing and slicing, pouring everything I had into keeping my arm held aloft. I felt the wet warmth leaving my body as I tried to assimilate to make up for the damage.

Branches snapped and rained down as Nell tumbled through the layers of support. I caught her and ran blindly, legs nearly failing to keep me upright. Nell practically burned with heat in my arms and my vision started to blur as I resisted the urge to assimilate.

She was saying something to me but I didn’t couldn’t understand.

I focused on my feet, carrying us away from the monsters that no doubt were still pursuing.

I shook my head, trying to snap myself out of it.

Nell got down from being carried and I heard her say urgently, “Alek is right there.”

Focus. Anger burned alongside hunger. City lights softened the shadows. We had made it to the barricade.

Nell was crouched next to the barrier, staring at something beyond it. I peered through and there he was. In his suit, just standing and chatting with a group of men near an alleyway.

“Nick, don’t-”

I couldn’t hear anymore. I was the fire, burning a path towards its prey. Alek grew closer, even though he stood still. It was my own feet carrying me forward, even if I didn’t remember moving. I lunged for him, fingers grasping at his clothes, then something hit my head, making white sparks fill in my vision. My arm was wrenched behind my back in an instant.

Warm blood gushed from my nose into my panting mouth, filling it with that metallic taste. In an instant, I was back at Cathrow. I could swear I heard animals instead of cars and I could smell manure in the place of garbage and asphalt.

Alek spent a long time fixing his clothes, then he turned to face me. Disdain showed in his eyes. “Who is this fool?”