Awakening: The First Tale of the Trine (Trine Series Book 1) (18 page)

“Yeah, Delmont Jeffries. We’re going to get through this together, you just clear your head.”

Tyler stepped into the room and pulled the door closed behind him. His face lit up immediately as he looked around, and he ran to a pile of clothing tossed on an exam table. “Hey, these are my clothes! Hot damn, I’m glad we came down here. If I die, it’s going to be in my hoodie,” he said, ripping off his hospital gown and pulling the green sweatshirt on. He zipped it up, then picking up the jeans on the table, quickly hopped into them. “My phone’s here, wallet…shit, where are my keys?” he mumbled.

Aki let out a low growl, just as Orak said, “Something is in here.”

The three humans stiffened, turning to look at Orak. “Where?” Delmont whispered.

“In the back,” Aki growled. “Smells like a…”

“Get down!” Orak hissed, dragging Delmont and Katie to the floor. Tyler dropped immediately also, holding onto the boots he had retrieved from the table. He scooted along the counter to get closer to the others, then started pulling on his socks.

Orak motioned to Aki to go around to the other side of the worktables, and peeked over the edge where the group was hiding. They were on the far right side of the room, and Aki crawled past the open middle aisle to hide behind the row on the left.

Orak signaled for the others to peek their heads up. They slowly rose, quickly picking out what had caught the pair’s attention. At the far end of the long room a scaly, curled tail was bopping along as the creature it was attached too burrowed through a cabinet it had overturned. The tail was tipped with a stinger that was at least a foot long, and dripping a dark ichor.

Tyler slipped his phone from the pocket of his jeans, and levelling it on the table in front of him, snapped a picture of the grisly appendage. Orak reached over to him and grabbed the phone, then pulled an indignant Tyler back down.

“Don’t worry,” Orak whispered, “You’ll get it back.”

The group was startled by a loud rattling as Aki dumped out a drawer on the other side of the room. Delmont and Katie ducked back down, but not before seeing the curled tail stiffen, and the creature begin to scuttle to the source of the noise. Aki padded back around to the group just a moment later, a long curved knife hanging in the air just in front of him.

“Found it,” Aki announced, dropping it into Orak’s outstretched hand.

Orak touched foreheads with Aki, rubbing the dog vigorously. “I’ve got this one. Stay down and back me up,” Orak whispered, motioning to the rest of the group.

Peeking back over the worktable, the group could see that whatever creature the tail was attached to was now investigating just across the room, where Aki had created the disturbance. Orak glanced at Tyler’s phone, turning the volume on the device all the way up. Then, tapping a few buttons, he leaned around the corner of the table and tossed the phone down the central aisle.

Orak ducked back just as the phone blared,
‘LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!’
and Volbeat’s “A Warrior’s Call” began playing. They could hear frantic scuttling as the creature across the room rushed over to track down the source of these continued interruptions. Peeking over the top of the table, Orak finally got a good look at this Abbadon as it moved into the center aisle.

The tail and stinger made up at least half of the long armored body. The rest of the creature was a wide plate supported by six thick, segmented legs. It had two forward facing eyestalks, and a cluster of small tentacles on the front of its shell it was using to manipulate objects. Scurrying over to the phone, it picked it up with the tentacles, deftly flipping it around in front of its eyestalks. The phone disappeared under the shell briefly, only to reemerge a moment later dripping with saliva.

“
Ready?
” Orak asked Aki.

In response, one of the pouches Aki wore slung over his back opened, and everyone eased back as half a dozen flat round disks floated into the air, spinning slowly around the canine figure. Their razor edges seemed to split the light from the overhead fluorescents, sending rainbow shimmers across their surface. After a brief glance at his weapons, Aki gave Orak a nod.

Orak eased around the side of the table, staying low and tiptoeing to within arm’s reach of the bobbing stinger. The creature was still inspecting the phone, busily flipping it around while the song it played covered Orak’s approach.

Orak held the long knife forward, then in one swift movement snatched the scaled tail just below the bulbous sting with a free hand, before hacking down viciously with the blade. Venom spewed from the stump as the insect gave a piteous screech, hurling the phone away and scuttling to turn towards its assailant.

Orak had the knife held low, and as soon as the bugs bulging eyes swung around, the knife flashed again, both stalks falling to the floor. The screeching rose to an ear-splitting crescendo that abruptly trailed off in a wet bubbling as Orak jammed the blade deep into the creature’s head.

“We’re clear,” Orak said, standing up and using Tyler’s discarded gown to wipe a streak of sticky greenish goo from the knife. “It was just a drone, it must have wandered in here looking for food.” Using the gown to pick up Tyler’s phone, Orak wiped it off and laid it back on the table.

Picking it up with a grimace, Tyler turned off the Volbeat song. “That was epic! Why did you pick that song? That was bad-ass, man!”

“I didn’t ‘pick it,’” Orak said, eyes narrowing. “I just hit random. You have terrible taste in music”.

“I second that,” Katie said. “You play that song while you’re flexing in the mirror after your shower?” she asked Tyler.

“Aw, she thinks about me showering. Hang around lady, and you’ll see
all
my routines,” Tyler replied with a grin.

“Settle down, both of you,” Delmont ordered. “Do we have what we came for? Katie, you think your clothes might be in here? I know they won’t have anything of mine, everything I was wearing got shredded before I got here.”

“No,” Katie said. “I was in a fire…if my hair didn’t survive, I’m sure my clothes didn’t.” She rubbed a hand over the stubble growing back on her scalp, glowering at Tyler. “Lucky bastard,” she muttered.

Orak and Aki were by the door, the disks Aki had produced still lazily spinning around his shoulder blades. “We’ve got what we came for,” Orak told the group. “Here’s the plan. The motor pool is on the ground floor, two levels above us. We’re going to get up there, get a vehicle, and get out of here. Once we’re clear, we’ll be able to figure out our next move. The stairwell is just outside. Katie, Tyler, you two stay in the middle. Delmont, cover our rear. If you see other drones like that, your gun should work fine. Their species isn’t equipped for combat.”

“With that stinger, they certainly look equipped for combat,” Delmont said, staring at the corpse.

“You know what I mean,” Orak snarled. “Now let’s go.”

Orak and Aki led them to a nearby stairwell, peeking through a small window to make sure the landing was clear. Waving the group forward, they slowly made their way up the two flights of concrete stairs. The silence in the stairwell was unnerving, after the almost constant gunfire echoing through the building earlier.

A sign marking the ground floor had arrows pointing towards the front desk, administration, and the motor pool. Peeking through the narrow pane of glass in the door, Orak motioned for the group to assemble on the landing. “I don’t see anything,” Orak told them “But I know they’re nearby. Stay behind Aki, and stay low.”

Opening the door, Orak peered around the frame, seeing that the path to the front office was clear. Stepping out into the hallway, the group fanned out close to the wall, and began to ease their way down towards the garage.

As they approached an intersection, they saw a sign hanging from the ceiling, pointing right towards the exit. Aki paused, lifting his snout to the air and sniffing, as his gaze rose higher. Before he could say a word of warning, a small black form dropped from behind the sign, spreading a set of four multi-colored wings and buzzing loudly. It resembled a beetle, with large mandibles hanging low from its foot long frame. It swung ponderously in the air, and then zipped off down the hall to the right.

Orak and Aki sprinted after it. “Knock it down, Aki!” Orak hissed, as the pair rounded the corner. The rest of the group followed them closely, skidding to a stop as they came to the intersecting corridor. Orak and Aki were backpedaling furiously, and the others could see that at the end of the hall, only twenty feet away, some sort of gun emplacement was being manned by two more of the huge spider-like Abbadon. The beetle was already down there flitting around their heads, and as the group slipped and skidded back around the corridor, the creatures manning the cannon swung it around to face the hall.

“Get down!” Orak roared, just as a clap of thunder exploded through the concrete wall beside them, sending the group sprawling. Orak, Aki, and Delmont were all slammed into the far wall, stunned. The three of them watched helplessly as the concrete wall crumbled, huge chunks of the wall falling into the hallway.

Katie and Tyler had been knocked flat on their backs by the blast. Katie coughed and started to rise as shards from the shattered concrete wall rained down around them. Tyler’s gaze fixated on a huge block near the ceiling as it slowly toppled. Rolling to the side, he braced himself on his hands and knees over Katie just as the block fell on top of them.

Katie wiped the dust from her eyes just in time to see Tyler roll over on top of her, then his body jerked as a block of concrete slammed into them. Tyler’s arms wobbled as he tried to support himself above her. He gave her a wan smile, then coughed explosively, a splatter of blood striking her face. Katie stared down between their bodies, eyes widening in horror as she saw the piece of rebar from the concrete block jutting from Tyler’s chest.

More blood trickled from his mouth as Tyler gasped “I promise…you’re the first girl…I’ve ever had that happen with…” He raised a hand to wipe at the bloody splatter across her face, before the weight of the block and the rebar impaling him pulled him sideways to the floor.

Katie pushed herself to the side, grabbing Tyler’s head as his eyes closed in anguish. He was shaking violently, the inch thick metal bar pushing out his green hooded sweatshirt grotesquely as blood stained the fabric. “Help him!” she yelled to the others.

Orak crawled across the floor to them, then turned to Aki and Delmont. “Cover us!” Orak yelled to the pair. They nodded grimly, struggling back to their feet as one of the huge spiders advanced down the hall.

Orak barely spared the monster a glance, just sending a quick thought to Aki, “
You can take that one. You’ve got room here to dance!
” Aki gave no response, but Orak could feel the surge of aether as the canine set his small circular blades into motion. Delmont flicked the safety on his rifle, and hunkered down just inside the corner of the shattered wall.

Turning his attention to Tyler, Orak saw that the rebar had rammed straight through the upper right side of his chest, away from his heart. “Hold him tight,” Orak growled to Katie. “This is going to hurt.”

As Katie wrapped her arms around Tyler’s shoulders, Orak grabbed the concrete block pressed into the man’s back. Bracing a foot against Tyler’s spine, Orak drug the block and rebar free in one smooth motion. Tyler gagged, clutching Katie in a crushing grip as the bar came free, shaking with such agony even his perpetual grin was torn away. As soon as the pressure was gone Tyler released her, falling to his back.

His gaze was distant as his eyes sought Orak, then a pale flicker of his smile returned. “I made you a liar, big blue. We’re not all getting out of here. Try to keep her alive though…I saw her band once…she’s all right…” Tyler trailed off, struggling for breath.

“You haven’t made a liar of me yet,” Orak growled. Three green glowing tubes covered the bracer Orak wore on his right arm. Fumbling with the latch, Orak spread the bracer open, causing Katie to gasp as she saw the needles covering the inside of the armor. Tiny pinpricks leaked blood from Orak’s entire forearm as the alien peeled the armor from his flesh.

Orak lay the grisly bracer across Tyler’s chest, then grabbed the man’s right arm. Pulling the sleeve of his sweatshirt back, Orak laid Tyler’s arm onto the bracer, then slammed it shut. Orak struggled to hold it close as Tyler’s eyes flew open and he tried to jerk away, gagging and coughing.

“What the fuck, man…what the ever-living fuck!” Tyler howled, trying to shake his arm free. Gasping and panting he stared aghast at the bracer covering his arm, as Orak let him go and knelt beside him. “What kind of medieval bullshit…” Tyler gasped weakly, then clutched at the wound in his chest. He raised his hand, staring at a mixture of blood and some sort of thick greenish discharge. “What’s happening?”

“Stay with him, drag him back down the hall,” Orak said to Katie, before turning towards Aki and Delmont. One of the spider-like Abbadon had come to collect their bodies after the blast, and had rounded the corner to be met with Delmont and Aki’s equally ferocious snarls.

This Abbadon was covered in scaly armor, with bandoliers crossing its torso. Its upper four limbs were carrying a huge gun, which it levelled at Aki. The dog hunkered down, then leapt forward just as the creature fired the weapon, the recoil from the blast causing the bolt of energy it produced to sail over Aki’s back.