Slayers (Jake Hawkins Book 1) (27 page)

Felix looked up.
“
Sam, buddy. What is it?
”

“
Uh, bro, you might want to come take a look at this.
”
Sam gestured to the monitor. Felix came over. The same perplexed expression flashed over his face. His mouth dropped.

“
Would someone care to tell me what
’
s going on?
”
Jake said.

Sam tapped a single finger to the monitor.
“
This image here. It
’
s a diagram of the slayer virus.
”

“
No
…”

Link looked up.
“
Are you sure?
”

“
Come see for yourself,
”
Sam said.

Link did, and sure enough shared the same reaction. Jake had no idea what the virus looked like, but he placed enough trust in the other three to recognise it. He stared at the mercenaries in a new light.

“
Archfiend told them to kidnap us?
”
he said.

Sam shook his head.
“
Nah, I don
’
t think so. If Archfiend had mentioned us to these guys, we
’
d have been dead the second Felix got caught in that trap. This is something different.
”

Felix wasn
’
t wasting any time. He crossed the room and seized the man Mabaya had referred to as Quentin by the neck.

“
What
is
this?!
”
he barked, motioning at the tables.
“
What are you doing here?
”

Quentin chuckled, giving the same vacant smile he had given Mabaya. It was like he was staring into space, not fully aware of what was going on. Jake thought he might be drugged.

“
The master paid us,
”
he cackled.
“
Paid us lots of money. Offered up one of his monsters to us. We made a
…
concentrated batch of the virus. From it
’
s blood. Increased the toxicity. Then the master brought us a subject to test it on. A big guy, from Iquitos. Real big. Tallest guy I
’
ve ever met. His name
’
s Koji. We injected him with the virus, oh yes we did, oh yes we did
…”

“
What?
”
Felix said, bewildered.

“
You called them slayers, yes? Oh yes, yes, yes, that
’
s what I heard you say. Well, to
–
ah
–
sum things up
…
we took a
‘
slayer
’
. And we turned it into a super slayer. That
’
s what we did. Koji
’
s quite the sight to behold.
”

“
Where is Koji?
”
Sam asked.

“
Quite the sight to behold,
”
Quentin repeated, staring absently at the roof.

“
I don
’
t see him around?
”

Quentin pointed over Sam
’
s shoulder, to the far corner of the warehouse. Jake noticed a thick metal door built diagonally into the wall. It was an enormous thing. The frame stopped just shy of the ceiling. It appeared to be custom-made. It was an ominous sight.

“
Downstairs,
”
Quentin said.
“
Not safe to have him running around up here. No, not safe at all. He
’
s all locked up. Out of harm
’
s way, oh yes he is.
”

Sam and Link moved over to the door and inspected it thoroughly, running their hands up and down the seams. It was securely fastened to the wall.

Felix visibly relaxed.
“
Well, that
’
s a shame. He could have lent you a helping hand.
”

“
Koji doesn
’
t help. The virus destroyed Koji
’
s brain. Koji
’
s dumber than the master
’
s beasts. Koji kills everything.
”

“
Then it
’
s lucky you didn
’
t release him.
”

There was a pause. Quentin smiled, exposing his rotten teeth.

“
Quentin did.
”

He motioned to a small remote lying on the table just behind him. Jake stepped over and picked it up. It was a tiny metal box, housing a sole switch with two variables
–
LOCK and UNLOCK. The switch was set to UNLOCK.

“
I realised these stupid people would lose.
”
He waved his hands at the mercenaries tied up on the floor.
“
I
’
m smart. Very smart. So Quentin let Koji out. This way, everyone loses! Not just Quentin!
”

“
Oh, god,
”
Jake said.

There was a deafening crash from the other side of the room. He looked up just in time to see the steel door burst outwards, smashed off its hinges. It landed in between Link and Sam.

In the darkness, Jake saw the outline of a silhouette.

It was enormous. It stood motionless, watching them, chest heaving with each deep breath. It could smell the meat. Slowly, it came out into the light.

Jake couldn
’
t believe his eyes. Quentin said it had once been a man. He had never seen a man so huge. The slayer made Thorn look like a twig. It was closer to eight feet than seven, with dense slabs of muscle packed into an oversized frame. Enormous tracksuit pants were barely enough to contain its massive legs. Its torso was bare. The usual characteristics of a slayer were present
–
deathly white skin, an absence of hair
–
everything but the agility. It was a hulking brute.

“
Koji,
”
Quentin whispered in awe.

It took every inkling of Jake
’
s willpower not to turn and run. From a night-time slayer encounter to being kidnapped by mercenaries, he had been pushed to the point of exhaustion. He wanted to do nothing more than get as far away as humanly possible. But there was nowhere to go.

Sam and Link were frozen solid. The monster was standing in between them yet they refused to move. Like Jake, they were overwhelmed by its presence. It seized both of them by the throat with hands the size of saucepans. Despite its bulk, it was surprisingly athletic, both angry and powerful.

And fast.

The two men struggled in its grip. Its arms were tensed up. Muscles bulged from underneath the tight skin. It was not letting go. It was strangling them to death.

Jake ran into the middle of the warehouse and scooped up one of the AK-47s littered across the floor. He found himself surprised. It was the first time he had reacted instantaneously to danger. He was adapting.

He took aim and fired a volley of shots. If they strayed from their trajectory, both Link and Sam would be dead. But he was accurate. He silently thanked Felix for forcing him through countless hours at the weapons range back home.

Koji recoiled slightly as its chest was dotted full of holes. Jake fired until the magazine clicked dry.

Thirty shots. Each one had hit its mark. Koji was bleeding from dozens of bullet wounds scattered across its gigantic torso. It couldn
’
t have looked more unaffected. In fact, it looked even angrier.

It roared. The sound filled the warehouse, echoing off the walls. The beast slammed Link and Sam together in a rage. Jake recoiled at the sound of bone against bone. He struggled to maintain his composure. Koji tossed them both away. They wouldn
’
t be getting up anytime soon.

It focused on Jake. He was defenceless, standing in the middle of the room. Koji began to advance. He had no strategy, no plan.

A powerful arm wrapped around Jake
’
s neck from behind. At first, he thought it was Felix, dragging him out of harm
’
s way. The grip tightened and cut off his air supply.

He swung back with a well-placed fist and drove it deep into his attacker
’
s kidney. The man gasped. His hold slackened. Jake reached up and grabbed the arm around his neck with both hands and ducked his head and wrenched forwards. His attacker flew off-balance. The man landed heavily and rolled to his feet.

It was Mabaya. Somehow, the mercenary had shaken himself out of semi-consciousness.

The scuffle gave Koji time to charge. It ran across the warehouse towards Jake, shrouded in shadow. The dusty gloom only emphasised the terror that Koji invoked in him. The ground shook as it ran. Jake was crippled by debilitating fear.

There was a blur of movement off to the side.

Felix.

He came sprinting past Jake and met Koji mid-charge. He planted his feet firmly into the ground. Tensed every muscle in his body. Then he exploded, shouldering the super slayer in the chest. It was like two aircraft carriers colliding. Felix had tapped into some inner reserve of power, some kind of unimaginable desperation. The burst of force sent Koji stumbling backwards. The beast had been stopped in its tracks.

Jake against Mabaya. Felix against Koji.

They stood there in a brief stalemate, sizing up their foe. Somehow, Koji had recognised Mabaya as an ally. It hadn
’
t attacked him. It snorted viciously, blowing snot across the warehouse floor. Felix responded by spitting a glob of saliva onto the floor. Jake and Mabaya adopted fighting stances. There was a moment of calm before the storm.

All hell broke loose. Everyone charged at once.

Jake and Mabaya tackled each other, both grappling for the upper hand, and out of the corner of his eye Jake saw Felix and Koji collide once again. His vision of the fight was lost when Mabaya hit him with a hard right hook. He spun away. The whole side of his face was numb. It had been a sizeable blow. Mabaya was coming fast. Jake could tell what he was thinking.

Just a kid.

Jake stumbled back across the room and took a deep inhalation. He cowered, clutching his face. Mabaya dropped his rigid stance slightly and began to advance slower. He thought he had won. The mercenary reached out and grabbed a handful of Jake
’
s shirt.

Jake burst up and knocked Mabaya
’
s hand off his shirt and punched him hard in the nose. It took him completely by surprise. Jake bundled in close so that he was within centimetres of the mercenary
’
s face. No room to throw punches now.

With the element of surprise still on his side, he planted a leg behind Mabaya and shoved him to the floor. It was a move similar to tripping his friends over in the schoolyard, but he had never put this much aggression into such an action. Mabaya went sprawling to the ground. The back of his head whiplashed against the concrete. He had already been struggling to stay conscious. Now he scrabbled about on the floor with the incoordination associated with a concussion. Jake had seen the same behavior hundreds of time at rugby training.

Felix and Koji were now over by the trestle tables, trading blows that would have knocked Jake unconscious in a split-second. It was clear that Felix was losing. He was bleeding from the mouth and nose and swaying on his feet. His shirt was ripped in two. Koji lunged and hit him in the chest with an iron fist. The connection incapacitated him. Jake watched as it grabbed him by the waist and hurled him into the wall. The corrugated iron burst apart. An entire sheet of the material tore off from the rest of the wall. Bright sunlight flooded in, illuminating half the warehouse and blinding Jake momentarily. Felix landed outside in the undergrowth and disappeared from sight.

You
’
re the last man standing.

Jake
’
s brain told him this, but he could barely believe it was reality. Koji
’
s gaze flicked across the room. It bellowed, baring a maw of serrated teeth. He jumped off the ground in fright.

Now, you run.

That was precisely what he did. He saw Koji coming towards him but by then he was sprinting full-pelt for the doors.

He burst out under the open sky. The valley the warehouse was situated in was surrounded on all sides by steeply ascending slopes of dense rainforest. It was unbearably hot. A flock of tropical birds cawed and took flight from the treetops above as he disturbed them.

A roar sounded from within the warehouse. Jake turned and saw Koji pounding across the floor inside, heading straight for him. He didn
’
t stand a chance. Flight was the last remaining option.

He turned and fled into the trees.