Ballistic: Icarus Series, Book Two (26 page)

“What is it?” Riley asked mirroring the panic on Ballard’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Leeches,” I clutched my chest and stared into the dark empty hatch at Tessa’s side. “They got in.”

Chapter 22

Déjà vu

“Stay here,” Tessa said pushing me away from the hatch. “No matter what you hear, do not come after us, do you hear me? We’ll come back for you when we know it’s safe.”

Tessa fixed me with her gaze and nodded sternly before disappearing into the dark tunnel ahead. Ballard nervously clutched his sidearm and stepped in after her. He closed the hatch behind them, a look of determination loosely draped over the fear on his face. Within seconds, the echo of their footfalls faded into the distance beyond the small door.

“Liv, we have to help them,” Riley said clutching my arm. “We can’t just stand here and do nothing.”

“We can’t go in there,” Eli said backing away from the hatch.

“We have to,” I said, turning to him.

“Are you crazy?” Eli glared at me. “You are not seriously entertaining the idea of going after them, are you? That woman kidnapped us at gunpoint. She almost got us killed, and you want to help her?”

“Let’s go,” Zander said, flinching at each contact as he pushed his way through the group to join me.

His eyes were still murky, and he was in a lot of pain, but that didn’t stop him. He was the first one through the hatch. Bella hopped through after him, and I followed.

“Stay close,” I whispered as lights clicked on all around me.

Riley grabbed my shirt in one hand and clutched her small, green knife in the other. The rest of the group filed in, and we carefully wove our way through the darkened tunnel. Ty grabbed Eli by the collar and tossed him in after us, then closed the hatch and brought up the rear, scooping a discarded lead pipe up off the ground as he went. He clutched it in his hands like a player awaiting the pitch. He turned occasionally to watch our backs.

“This is crazy,” Eli hissed under his breath. “We should go back.”

“Shh,” Falisha hissed at him.

Large metal ducts of various sizes and colors ran along the walls on either side of us. Thick coils of wire and conduit filled the gaps between them. Nearly every inch of space was filled with some sort of tubing or pipeline. Gages and mechanical read-outs hung at odd intervals among the maze, their needles buried in the red and as motionless as the air that hung heavily around us. Every hundred yards or so we’d pass a large circular crank labeled
shut-off valve
.

After the fifth one, I felt an explosion in my chest that nearly knocked me off my feet. My vision went dark at the edges, and I flung myself against the wall of pipes to keep from falling over. Bella took off running. A low growl bounced down the tunnel as she sped away.

“Bella,” I shouted clutching at the wall is if I were drunk.

Zander was at my side in a flash ready to catch me. The moment his skin touched mine the foggy feeling in my head cleared. I felt a jolt of energy rush through me. My body surged forward, and I took off into the darkness like a bullet from the barrel of a gun.

“Liv, wait!” Zander shouted after me.

My feet barely touched the ground. My hair fell from its tie and whipped against my back as I flew down the tunnel. Bella’s high-pitched yipping could be heard from somewhere in the distance. Shouting echoed all around me, begging me to stop.

There was no stopping. An invisible cord tugged at my chest, reeling me toward a dim light at the far end of the tunnel. The pull was stronger than any I’d felt. It wouldn’t release its hold until I was neck deep in whatever fresh hell awaited me there.

A chorus of feral growls called out to me from the end of the passage, taunting me, challenging me. A smile split my face and the pain in my chest subsided. Some part of me wanted this. It wanted to spill blood. I pressed on, driven by a hunger I didn’t fully understand.

A dim light loomed ahead, the echoes of my friends’ footfalls a distant whisper in the cacophony of howling ahead. Moments later, I burst free of the tunnel and out into a small concrete room just as a massive beast in dark gray coveralls lunged toward Ballard. He barely managed to duck the blow before coming chest-to-chest with another attacker. The second leech dove at him, gnashing its teeth as the first slammed into the wall empty handed.

Bella was hunched in one corner, her hackles raised and her teeth fully bared. She barked viciously and snapped her jaws at the small, dark figure closing in on her. The tattered remains of a pink flowered dress hung in shambles, barely covering the blackened flesh on its small body. Her foot sat an odd angle, the raw flesh leaving a black, inky trail as it scraped against the concrete floor.

Tessa was perched on top of a large wooden crate to my right, kicking furiously at the creature swiping at her from below. The beast’s blond hair hung in a bloody mass down her back, blurring the Greek letters printed on the back of her hoodie. She slashed her long pink nails at Tessa, who barely dodged the blow.

The moment I entered the room, it was as if time stood still. All four of the leeches wheeled on me, their jet-black eyes narrowed in rage and fixed in my direction. As if on cue, they let loose a communal roar in my direction. Tessa froze, her eyes trained on me in shock and disbelief. Ballard took advantage of the distraction and fired his weapon.

A bullet whizzed past me, barely missing my head. It sunk into the back of the leech closest to Tessa, sending it flailing wildly to the ground. Bella lunged at the tiny mass of black flesh in front of her, taking it down easily. Her jaws clamped tightly around the thing’s neck, pressing it against the ground as its tiny arms thrashed and clawed.

Ballard had managed to immobilize one of the leeches, but the blast from the gunfire echoing through the chamber shattered whatever temporary trance the rest of them had fallen under. The smaller of the two attackers turned back to Ballard and moved in for the kill. The larger one lumbered toward me, his lips peeled back in a vile sneer.

“Rawr!” Tessa howled, her eyes wild.

She grabbed her empty shotgun by the barrel and swung it down over her head as she jumped to the ground. The butt of the gun smashed into the leech that lay writhing at her feet. The impact split the leech’s skull like a piece of firewood, sending black spatter and bone flying into the air in a wide arc. Tessa was across the room before the blood even hit the wall, her gun-ax swinging through the air wildly toward the leech attacking Ballard.

The mammoth leech in the skanky coveralls lurched forward, his impressive wingspan clamping toward me on either side like two halves of a vice clamp. I dropped to the ground and lunged to the side, slicing the thing across both legs as I went. An inky spurt of blood shot forward, splattering the lower half of my legs in rank detritus. The creature howled and took a swing at me.

My knees slammed hard into the concrete as I rolled across the ground, desperate to put some distance between us. For a big guy, the leech moved really fast. He covered the space between us in the span of a breath, his foot sailing through the air toward my head. His massive boot came crashing to the ground where my head had been less than a heartbeat ago.

I buried my knife in the side of his calf then tore it free, turning the blade as I went. A chunk of fetid flesh fell to the ground at his feet, leaving a trail of murky plasma in its wake. The beast barely flinched.

He shook his head and pounded his chest, snarling at me like a rabid dog. I sidestepped as he rushed me again. His python-sized arms were ready to crush. I managed to slash my knife across the beast’s face, but not without taking a blow to the side of my head first. Dark black fluid sprayed from a gash in its cheek, but the leech didn’t seem fazed.

I, on the other hand, was now seeing two of this guy. I had no idea of which one of the wobbling masses was the real target. I slashed lamely at the one on the right. My knife sailed through the air, and the momentum of my thwarted movement spun me on my feet in a stupor.

Fifty-fifty chance and I pick the wrong one. Go figure.

The brute capitalized on my disorientation and charged. He buried his massive shoulder in my already battered ribcage and lifted me from the ground. I flew through the air fumbling and flailing before landing like a stone ten feet from where my boots left the pavement.

Get up, Liv…You have to fight!

“Dad?” Blood sprayed from my mouth.

Dazed, I searched for him as I scrambled back on hands and feet. He was gone, but something told me I’d see him soon. A loud roar echoed through the chamber. Coveralls stood ten feet in front of me, his chest heaving with each breath. His lips peeled back in a macabre perversion of a smile, but he made no move toward me.

He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. He snorted at me as I struggled to stand. He was toying with me, tossing me about as any dominant predator would its prey. I managed to right myself, but the room was tilting on its axis, and I wasn’t sure how long my legs would hold me. Desperate and discombobulated, I did the only thing I could think of to stop him from coming at me again.

My knife sailed through the air, end over end, and buried itself in the leech’s gut. He hissed and stumbled back a step, but the wound did little more than piss him off. He narrowed his dark eyes, let loose a thunderous roar, and then rushed at me.

“Get down!” Zander shouted. His gun was raised as he rushed into the chamber.

I dropped to the ground without hesitation. Gunfire echoed all around me. Coveralls took a shot to the back. The impact sent him careening forward. He slammed face-first into the wall and landed in a thrashing heap on top of me. The air rushed from my chest as his hulking mass crushed me against the pavement.

Bella rushed to my side, growling viciously as she clamped her teeth down onto the monster’s arm. He pushed off me and shook his arm until Bella flew through the air like a rag doll. Her slender body slammed into the wall across the room. The breath rushed back into my lungs, but the relief was short-lived. He wound his fist tightly in my hair, and he climbed to his feet.

“Gah!” I shrieked as pain shot through my scalp as Coveralls lifted me effortless from the ground by my hair.

“No!” Zander ran towards the beast, aimed the gun squarely at the leech’s chest, and fired.

It stumbled back, temporarily stunned. My feet found purchase on the ground, but the leech’s grip remained firm on my hair. It roared and raked its claws through the air in Zander’s direction, then turned his back on him as if Zander were not a threat.

“Let her go you son of a bitch,” Zander shouted rushing toward me.

Another shot rang out through the small room. The beast twitched as though nipped by an annoying mosquito but continued to back me into the wall. I fought and flailed as he dragged me to my death, lashing out violently with foot and fist until my head collided with the concrete.

A loud hum echoed in my skull, and my legs turned to jelly beneath me. The creature tightened its grip on me and tilted my head to the side. He buried his nose in my hair and breathed deeply, then licked the side of my neck. A low satisfied growl echoed in the beast’s throat.

He clutched my throat, tilted my head as far as it would go, and opened his mouth wide, viscous fluid dripping from rapidly decaying teeth. The stench of rotting flesh assaulted me. The beast howled, and his head shot forward.

I closed my eyes and silence fell around me.

Not yet, baby girl.

My father’s voice whispered at the back of my mind. I could swear I felt his hand on my cheek. The pain in my scalp subsided to a dull throb. Warmth spread across my face, and the unrelenting force that had crushed me against the wall was gone.

My lids parted slowly, and Zander stood before me his eyes wide and clear, his shoulders heaving violently. The giant leech lay slumped at his feet; its skull splayed open like a gutted fish.

The bandage wrapped around Zander’s arm was completely saturated with blood and black slime. Chunks of gray matter and bone dripped from his hand, slopping to the ground at his feet. He grabbed me by my shoulders and helped me stand, his eyes raking over me desperately.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice husky.

“I…yeah,” I stammered clutching my stomach against a wave of nausea.

“Jesus, Liv,” he said, sliding his fingers gently across my raw scalp. “Your head is bleeding.”

“Deja Vu,” I laughed pathetically, pulling his hand away and clutching it against my chest.

I stepped away from the wall on shaky legs. I didn’t dare let Zander’s hand loose for fear I would collapse. He led me forward, his hand at my hip, and lifted me up onto a crate.

“Thank you,” I said to him, sighing as the rest of our group emerged from the tunnels.

Tessa was hunched at the waist, gasping for breath. Falisha scrambled to her side while Ty and Jake helped a terrified and blood-soaked Ballard to his feet. Eli and Christa hung back watching the chaos and, as usual, were less than helpful. Bella limped toward me, whimpering softly with her head hung low. She had taken a nasty hit trying to rescue me.

“I’m sorry, Bells,” I said scratching her behind her ear.

She lowered her haunches to the ground and sighed heavily. She leaned her weight against my leg, and her tail thumped lightly against the concrete. Riley ran to my side, fussing and probing for injury. I quieted her hands, assuring her that I would be fine and turned to Tessa.

“Are you guys okay?” I said pressing my free hand against the stabbing pain in my ribs.

“Are you?” Tessa snorted, wiping the blood from her lip onto the shoulder of her shirt. “You damn near got yourself killed, girly.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, not entirely sure it was true.

“You got lucky,” Tessa said. “I distinctly remember giving you orders to stay put.”