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Chapter 12
As the rear hatch of the drop ship opened behind him, Wade could feel the rush of the air, and almost smell the familiar metallic stench that hung in the air. But he didn't have time to savor the rush, before he found himself catapulted out of the back of the ship, free falling towards the planet far below.
Nestled inside the bulky outer layers of the mechanical battle suit, Wade sat with his hands on either side of the controls. His body was coated in what almost felt like a second skin, called the inner suit, so far as he could remember. It still offered limited protection, just without restricting movement, unlike the outer suit.
As he fell, somewhere deep in his primordial brain, a thirst for the thrill of battle called to him across the ages. With cold and calculated precision, his hands found the controls and input the proper firing sequence for the battle suit engines.
Nothing.
His breath stopped and his fingers rapidly gripped and released the proper sequence time and again.
Still nothing
"Wade," Kylan's voice echoed inside his suit, "Fire up your engines, and follow along in formation, asap." Kylan's face suddenly appeared on a side panel monitor inside the suit.
"It's not responding," he replied as he struggled to free his hands from the rapidly dying controls.
Hank's voice boomed over the intercom as his face appeared inside of Wade's visor, "Sounds like the kid's gonna need some support..."
"Chartrand?" Kylan's voice called again.
"...Seeing as he can't fly." Hank finished.
Wade felt his heart sink, as gravity kicked into full gear, sending him hurtling towards the planet at a rapidly increasing speed.
"Hang in there, Wade. I'm coming back for you." The image of Kylan's strong face turned to look at something just beyond the image.
"Time's short here Ky," Wade muttered, as he found his hip blaster and secured it to his belt - which was a feat in and of itself considering his cramped surroundings. "Continue with the mission, I can deal with this." Wade clipped on the half visor he had stowed in his suit earlier. It flickered to life after sputtering for half a second. The extra sensor inside of the visor started registering various environmental statistics and graphs, that his mind was too preoccupied to pay attention to.
A dull crunching sound hit his ears, and the feeling of being stopped in midair overcame him, as his body recoiled in the suit's internal bracings.
"Holy shit," he muttered.
"Relax," Kylan's voice cooed in his ear, "I gotcha."
Wade let out all of the air in his lungs at once. He could hear the dull roar from the engines in Kylan's suit, as it vibrated in a dull resonance.
"Thanks," he said finally. "Now what are we going to-" he stopped mid sentence, as his suit's internal sensors suddenly flared up. A warning message blared across the suit's visor. 'Suit Cohesion destabilizing. Please have the suit serviced immediately.'
"Wade?"
He hesitated; "Something's not right here," Wade finally said, trying to access the internal controls once more. "Just like the transport pod and the bar," he muttered to himself. A crunching metallic sound, followed by a hissing noise just beyond his ear, wrenched him abruptly from his memories.
On the suit's monitor, Kylan's face looked tense. Turning, he said, "Hank, drop back from the group, lower altitude, and brace yourself."
"Looks like the pup needs more flying lessons. What's yer big plan there, fearless leader?" Hank grunted through the intercom.
"Just do it!" Kylan barked.
By now the internal sensor was screaming inside the suit, "Shit!" Wade swore from between his teeth. "Kylan, the suit's coming apart at the seams."
Kylan wasn't listening. "Kylan?" Wade called. He could feel himself moving slowly backwards before coming to a stop. "Kylan, what the hell are you?...-"
"Hank, CATCH!" Wade could feel his whole chest almost hum, as the external suit hit the next layer of atmosphere head on. By now the internal sensors were starting to fail, so the alarm was blissfully silent. The roar from the outside however was growling steadily louder.
And louder.
"Shit!" Wade swore again, as he felt a portion of the suit tear free behind him, like some kind of giant mutilated children's toy being gutted for a toddler's sick satisfaction.
"Gotcha, kid," he could hear Hank's voice only moments before he felt the impact of the two suits colliding. The air inside of the suit was quickly escaping in the thin atmosphere.
Wade only managed to wheeze a few weak expletives in reply.
"Get him into the lower atmosphere immediately," Wade thought he could hear Kylan's voice bark out in command. His head was feeling fuzzy, and his eyes felt like someone had poured boiling water all over them. "We don't have much time before his suit rips-" Kylan's voice trailed off, as the sound of plasma rounds transmitted across the intercom somehow managed to find Wade's ears, despite the muted roar of the atmosphere tearing past the suit.
"Kylan!" Hank yelled through the com-link.
"Never mind. Take him in towards the planet, Steadman," Kylan called. "We have to break from the normal rescue group if he's going to make it."
"Damnit Kylan," Hank growled, "You know what that means." Wade could still dimly feel the descent towards the planet, as another large portion of the suit gave way.
"Move it Hank!" Kylan replied. More sounds of gunfire sounded as he continued, "I'll cover you and follow you in. Get Wade closer to the planet, and head towards the nearest refugee pickup location."
"Gotcha."
Wade could feel his mind and body struggling desperately to regain a portion of mental and physical equilibrium. The thin inner body suit he wore was attempting to compensate for the extremes in temperature inside of the main suit, but was rapidly losing the battle.
Gradually, Wade's mind came back into sharp focus as the rest of the damaged suit seemed to molt all around him.
"The hell?" Hank growled, clutching desperately at the man inside of the now dearly departed personal suit. Unlike the outer suit, the speed was too fast for the inner suit's exoskeleton to handle. Wade felt his body begin to buckle under the stress. "Damn sumbitch!" Hank roared, grasping Wade so tightly that the man's senses screamed in further in protest. The behemoth of a man coiled his body around Wade's as the ground rose up quickly to claim them.
"Hank, you're going too fast! Pull up!" Kylan yelled. "Hang in there, I'm com-" Kylan's terse voice cut off abruptly, as Wade heard a dim explosion.
"Kylan," Wade tried to gasp. "What happened?" Even as he fell, Wade's heart skipped yet another beat as he struggled against the sheer bulk of Hank's suit.
Just as Wade turned to make sure Kylan was alright, a resounding crunching sound seemed to reach up and swallow Wade's entire world with inky darkness.
Slowly but surely, Wade could feel his vision and head begin to clear like someone lifting a wet velvet blanket from over his eyes. How long had he been out? It felt like he was waking up from a long hyber-flight, but something was wrong.
Kylan! Wade's eyes snapped open as he struggled against something bulky clasped over his chest.
"Ugh..." a baritone voice grunted as Wade struggled. "You ok there, pup?" Hank asked, as he let go of Wade.
"...Hank?" Wade asked as he tried to stand up, only to fall back over again a moment later. His head was still struggling to keep his body moving.
"You alright kid?"
Wade looked himself over. "Nothing broken - I think."
Hank groaned again. As Wade looked at the other man, he could see that the back of the battle suit was missing in places; pieces of metal and plastic fibers were strewn behind Hank, as he slowly rolled onto his back.
"Hank!" Wade hissed, "Are you-?"
"Relax kid," Hank replied as the front of the suit depressed open with a gasping hiss to reveal the large man crammed inside.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Hank replied quickly as he tried to stand up, "Takes more than this to do-" suddenly Hank shrank back down, nearly falling on Wade, as he collapsed.
"...Oof," Wade grunted as he tried to support the other man. The two men slowly sank to the floor.
"Your leg," Wade said after he managed to escape from under Hank's weight.
"'S nothin', kid."
"Looks like a fracture, Hank. You're down for a while," Wade said as he stood up and took stock of his surroundings. From what he could tell, it looked like they had crash-landed in a large, half collapsed building. Dirt and debris law strewn over what was left of the interior. Parts of the walls lay collapsed to the side and most of the interior of the structure had fallen in on itself, creating a large hollow expanse like a kind of long-abandoned theater.
In the pit of Wade's stomach an aching familiarity surfaced. Something in this place reminded him of things that he wished deeply he could forget. Images of the past flickered across his vision. A man with a sneer stood near a gaping expanse. A throbbing pain shot through his shoulder as Wade recalled the metallic eyes of his attacker from what felt like a lifetime ago.
"...Have you been hearing what I've been saying to yah, runt? Or am I talkin' to the walls again?"
"Sorry Hank," Wade replied quietly, grasping at the deep scar on his shoulder, his face obscured by his dark hair and the shadows of the past.
Hank stared for a second, "Doesn't matter now, does it pup? Anyway, we need to check for survivors."
"You're not checking on anything with your leg."
Hank flushed a deep red, as he struggled into a sitting position, "We should be at one of the pickup locations; we need to look for them survivors."
Wade nodded, "Keep in contact with me via the com-link system then. I'll turn on the visual link so you can see what's going on."
"I can stand-"
"Shut up and stay put," Wade growled, "we don't have time for this."
Hank's hardened eyes met his gaze for a moment before turning away, "Fine," he said sitting back down.
Wade flicked the half visor on his head as he removed his gun from its holster. With a quick nod to Hank, he vanished over the debris in half a second, moving quickly and silently, with cat-like precision. "Steadman," he asked as he vaulted over a nearby fallen wall, "What happened to your suit back there, anyway? Why'd we crash?"
"Don't rightly know, Wade," he replied, "The damn thing just started giving me a warning signal after your suit came apart, is all."
"That doesn't sound right," Wade said, almost to himself.
"What about your suit kid?" Hank grunted, "I've never seen that happen. Seems like someone didn't want you to return from this one."
"No time to worry about that now Hank."
"Yeah. 'Sides, I never trust those damn suit-things anyhow," Hank replied.
After a moment Wade finally asked, "Hank?"
"Yeah, kid?"
"What do you think happened to Kylan?"
"Jones?" Hank asked. "Don't worry 'bout him kid; he's come back from far worse than this."
"....Thanks Hank."
"I'll keep trying to reach him on the com-link, kid," Hank said, "You just move your ass and look for them people."
"You're right Hank I-" he stopped.
"What's up kid?" Hank asked.
"Shhh, something's here," Wade hissed. Raising his gun, he crouched on a nearby slanted slab of concrete. The light from a swinging fixture cast a hypnotic play of shadows and light throughout the nearby expanse. The cacophony of shapes and hues somehow made Wade's mind a blur and his heart beat faster.
He crept forward, waiting for the signs, the familiar signs before they came for him. Slowly, a figure stepped out from the shadows.
Wade raised his weapon.
"Wait," a voice called, "Wait."
Wade sighed and lowered his gun, "Hank?" he called into the com-link, "Hank its only Charles Jameson."
"Chuck?" Hank asked, as the other man stepped into the light. "What the hell is he doing here?"
The hairs on Wade's neck stood on end, as he watched the other man.
"Relax, pup," Hank called, "There's no obvious signs of infection on him. Still, just be careful, kid."
"Why aren't you on the com-link, Chuck?" Wade asked as the other man stepped forward. "Where's your battle suit anyway?"
Charles lowered his arms as he moved forward, "I... I didn't think to turn it on," he said, as he flicked the side of his visor, joining the conversation. "I left the battle suit outside the building. I can hardly move in that thing anyway."
"You did what!?" Hank screamed, causing both men to wince from the noise.
"I told you I could hardly move in that thing." Chuck replied.
"That's your only way off this fuckin' planet, boy, and you left it outside for them to just waltz off with??" Hank was practically frothing at the mouth at this point.
"Well actually, I left it just inside this building. I-"
"No time to worry about that now," Wade sighed, lowering his weapon. "Right now we need to search for survivors."
"Then we can worry about how we're gonna leave this hellhole," Hank's voice was almost a whisper.
"Chuck," Wade turned back to the other man, "Spread out and search the other side." He pointed off to the other side of the building.
"Right." Charles nodded, trotting off with an extra spring in his step. Wade watched the other man disappear; something in the back of his mind remained unsettled, as he stalked off in the other direction.
In his mind, Wade replayed Chuck's words from only hours before. 'Just try to stay out of my way!' He could still hear the venom in Chuck's voice and the hatred in his eyes.
"What's this feeling...?" Wade whispered to himself.
"Something wrong?" Hank's voice boomed.
"It's nothing Hank," Wade sighed before leaping over a piece of shattered machinery. "We need to speed this up."
It was some time after they split up that Charles finally spoke up again. "Wasn't Kylan with you earlier? I tried to trace his signal but-" his voice trailed off. Only silence greeted him, as he scrambled awkwardly over the rubble and debris.
"We don't know what happened to him," Wade replied finally, touching the side of his COM. "He was right behind us until-" movement to his right side. Quick movements.
In seconds, Wade was high atop a fallen slab of concrete, blaster in hand, poised over the apex of the debris like some kind of prowling, sleek, jungle cat. Slowly he raised his weapon and took aim at the small dark sharp that was obscured in shadow, "Hank," he hissed quietly, "We might have trouble here..."
"Pup?"
As a nearby light flickered back on and light flooded the small area of ruined floor, Wade lowered his weapon slightly and slid down the concrete to the floor below.
"It's just a kid," Wade said finally. Huddled in the corner, was a small boy who looked not a day older than eight.
"A kid?" Chuck asked over the com-link.
"Keep your wits up, pup!" Hank's voice hissed into his visor.
"Where're your parents there, little one?" Wade's voice only faltered for a brief second.
Slowly, the child looked up. Tears and soot streaked over his soft face as he spoke, ".... Mommy's in the middle," he said in a hesitant voice.
"The middle? Can you show me?" Wade asked, his eyes shining with a dim, sad light.
The boy sniffled once before getting to his feet. He nodded, "Uh huh," he said quietly.
"...I'm Clay," the boy said quietly as they walked.
"Nice to meet you Clay," Wade smiled, "I'm Wade. Is your mother nearby?"
The boy dipped his head but kept walking.
As the two figures moved through the debris Hank asked over the com-link, "Does the kid look infected?"
Wade covered the side of his face with his free hand, as he walked a few steps behind, "No. Still, something doesn't feel right. There's some kind of presence here."
"Presence?" Charles asked.
"Something feels wrong."
"Think it's the kid?" Hank asked.
"Don't know," Wade replied as the two figures approached the center of the room. A clearing in the rubble gradually opened up around them as they moved closer.
"Want some backup?" Charles asked. "I'm nearby and I can be-"
"No sense us both getting killed here, Chuck," Wade replied, "I'm going to take a look first. You just concentrate on finding as many people as you can."
"But-" Charles started.
"Shhh!" Wade hissed.
When the little boy was near the center, he stopped and called out, "It's me, Mommy," he said, "I found someone who can help."
Nothing.
"Are you sure she's here Clay?"
Wade could sense them before he saw them. A dozen figures seemed to detach from the shadows and walk slowly, and deliberately, to the far side of the clearing. Wade felt his body tense, his weapon was poised and ready.
As the figures moved into the light, Wade could vaguely see that they were all children. They seemed to hang back in the darkness, hiding their faces, like many little fleeting dreams in the morning light.
Wade watched as a sickly looking woman stumbled out from behind a large chunk of debris. She nearly collapsed against the far wall. Her hair looked filthy and matted, and her eyes were obscured by a glassy sheen.
"Are you two seeing this?" Wade hissed into the com-link.
"This broad looks half-dead," Hank said quietly. He grunted once as if straining to move.
"Don't overdo it, Hank," Wade replied, "Stay put."
"...Clayton?" the woman coughed quietly, leaning against some nearby concrete, "Clayton baby is that you?"
"Yes Mommy," he called back, "I brought someone who can help."
".....help.... us?" she asked, as if she hadn't really heard what her child had said.
"We're here looking for survivors, Miss." Wade said. "We have ships waiting for a pickup and-"
"That's so...kind," she cut in, sinking slowly to the floor. As she knelt on the ground, her long hair cascaded over her face in long, dark strands, obscuring her face from view. "But it's over now," she gasped, clutching at her chest desperately.
"I'm getting' a bad feeling, kid..." Hank said in his ear.
Slowly and steadily, all of the children except for Clayton started walking towards the fallen woman. Wade could feel a tremor run through the building's foundation and the ground start to shift, as he caught a good glimpse of the children as they stumbled towards their mother.
They were all exactly like Clayton.
Each and every one was an exact copy. Wade watched, transfixed, as each child that reached its mother, was slowly absorbed into her body with a slick metallic sheen and an oily gasp.
"Holy shit, Pup!" Hank yelled, "Get out of ther....." his voice was cut off as the com-link suddenly went dead. The ground continued to shift uneasily under Wade's feet, as he struggled to remain upright.
"Steadman!" Wade called into his com-link, "Steadman! Chuck! Come in!" Slowly, he glanced back at the woman on the floor, as the last child was languidly absorbed. The real Clayton stood quivering behind Wade, in the shadows.
"Clayton," he said, reaching down to the small child, "Clayton, I need you to go hide and not come out until I come to get you. Can you do that for me? Can you be a big boy now?"
The boy nodded, blinking back tears. "Mommy," he sniffled.
"Go!"
Clayton nodded once before running away from the clearing. As the child vanished behind a far barrier of debris, Wade turned back to face the creature on the other side of the room.
She still sat on the floor, her head dipped down, staring at the earth as it moved and shifted ominously in a spiraling motion.
Lifting his weapon, Wade took aim at the disheveled woman ahead of him.
"Clay....ton," she said as tears cascaded slowly over her features before dying on the floor below. Suddenly the woman snapped her head up, and clasping her chest deeply, screamed a howling shriek. Wade could almost hear the desperation in her sobbing, and see the mix of pain and confusion in her eyes. The woman's body began to convulse and shift inextricably under her own skin, as Wade watched, helplessly. It was as though someone had crammed too much inside of a plastic bag, to the point it was about to burst.
"Oh.... shit," he finally breathed.
What was once a living, vibrant human body, was quickly shifting and transforming from within. Wade raised his weapon and took aim, "I'm sorry, Clayton," he said as fired three shots through her skull.
Instead of recoiling back from the impact, the woman's head merely titled backwards, as if lost in thought. At first nothing happened. Then, surely and suddenly, a twisting, silver substance lanced out from the nearby parts of her face and body, closing up the wounds like some kind of morbid gossamer suture.
Wade could feel his heart hammering in his chest as he watched, still clutching his gun.
Run you fool, his mind screamed.
Before he turned to bolt, he could see the woman's body explode outwards in a messy expansion of torn clothing and spoiled flesh.
Wade managed to vault backwards, flipping quickly over the debris, before landing high atop a fallen piece of the ceiling. From his vista, he watched the mess of material shift and rearrange into a towering behemoth of semi-solid, interlacing silver metal, debris and human flesh.
Wade's heart nearly stopped as the torso and head of the woman slowly emerged from the top of the towering creature. He could see morbid reflections of the many Claytons' semi-absorbed faces, protruding from the creature's almost slug-like lower body.
"Oh no," he swallowed hard. "Hank? Charles? Tell me you guys are you seeing this?"
Nothing.
"Oh fuck me sideways with a crocked pool cue," he spat.
"Give us your substance," the creature screamed, a harrowing mix of human agony and grating metal. Wade could see the interlacing lines of fetid black and silver cascading over her naked body as she seethed in anger and pain. "Give yourselves to us-" she fixed Wade directly with her gaze, "-....Betrayers... Betrayers... "
"We've been down this road before, monster," Wade fired three more shots at the woman's features, high atop the towering creature. It screamed once more, its entire body rocking back and forth in pain, causing the building to shift and unsettle all the more.
Just like before, the plasma wounds sprouted lines of liquid silver, sealing over the holes and reinforcing her body. "Shit," Wade repeated.
The creature was faster than he had originally anticipated. That mistake would cost him. Quickly, it lashed out. The tangle of materials shifted as it lanced out at him, with unnerving speed and force. The attack crushed the concrete, leaving nothing but dust and falling debris in its wake. Even as he leaped clear of his perch, the creature's arm clipped his legs, sending him off balance and tumbling towards the hard floor.
Wade managed to shift his weight as he fell, hitting the floor hard, but in a tight roll. As he came to a stop, his mind and body were reeling. Wade had just enough time to see the hideous creature looming high above, poised to deliver the final blow.
Its eyes gleamed with a hatred not its own. It was a hatred that Wade recognized from years ago. It raised needle-like proboscises high into the air. Part of him welcomed death at this point, welcomed the silence. Still, he knew that what they had in store for him was a fate far worse than death.
"Welcome back Betrayers!" it hissed, lunging forward with its deadly silver weapon flashing in the scattered light.
Wade clenched his eyes shut, as he lay prone on the ground - unable to move. Only one image was burned into his mind at that moment; only one person. He opened his mouth to call out, but no words came.
"Ughhh!"
Wade's eyes snapped open to see a figure standing over him, with arms outstretched protectively.
"Kylan!" Wade screamed, his heart nearly stopping.
As the figure turned slightly, light played over his features. Wade's eyes widened in disbelief, "Ch.... Charles? Charles!!!" he screamed again.
Charles Jameson's slim body slumped forward over the large silver needles, clutching at them in vain. His eyes clouded over in a white hue. He was blinking rapidly, searching blindly for something he could not see. Blood ran freely from his mouth, as red and black veins spread from around the edges of the silver metal outwards into his broken body.
"CHARLES!"
************************************************************************ Author's Note:
I think my tail and horns are showing a little bit with this chapter ;).
I wonder if anyone saw this coming? I've been planning on this part for a while now but don't worry I have plenty more evil/dastardly tricks planned for the remainder of the story.
I was going to go back into the past again before going to the next mission but I figured I needed to put a bit more excitement into the story at this point and save some of the more pertinent details away until I'm absolutely ready to offer them up for your reading pleasure/pain.
As always I'd be interested to hear what people think. Like it? Hate it? corporeal09@yahoo.com
Regards,
Gene