Evolution (17 page)

The other two cats, hair on end, tried to slink away out of sight. It was pitiful to watch them as they were put against the walls, the three crawlers surrounding them on all sides. The crowds in the stands pulled back as the hideous monsters approached, flexing their tails to strike. In tandem, they stabbed the jaguars, over and over. A fine mist of blood collected in the air from the momentum of the stabs. The cats, after giving a few pitiful wails, fell silent, and the crawlers began to feast on their flesh.

The five of us stood in the center, weapons ready. It was only a matter of time before they lost interest in their fresh kills and came after us. Samuel motioned with his hand, taking a step forward. He meant us to follow him. I saw that he meant to take them by surprise. We had no other shot, anyway.

We snuck forward, and with our movement, the crowd began to get excited. Still, the crawlers dug into the fallen jaguars, the sounds of their chewing and gnashing sickening. Flesh ripped and bones crunched, and nasty slurps sounded in the air. As we neared, the monsters’ stench made me want to retch. I had almost forgotten how
horrible
everything infected with xenovirus smelled. It was like corpses dead for weeks, like garbage, like untreated sewage.

The crawlers didn’t seem to have much intelligence, even if they were powerful. We were ten feet away. Up close, they were even more giant, still munching away at their prey even as Samuel gave the signal to attack the one on the far left.

Letting out primal yells, we charged forward, hacking at various parts of the crawler’s body. Anna slashed at the tail, giving a good chop that only went halfway through, causing the tail to hang askew. The creature shrieked, turning on us and glaring at us with those white orbs. As it reared up, Makara and stepped forward, stabbing it in its soft, white underbelly, where its dark crimson scales were not so impenetrable. Purple blood gushed from the wounds. It thrashed about, catching Julian with an insect leg, sending him sprawling to the dirt.

Now alerted to our presence, the other crawlers encircled us, blood dripping from their fangs. Their mouths opened, revealing forked tongues and rows of sharp, yellow teeth. They gave unearthly bellows, their breath smelling of rot and decay.

Samuel dealt a killing blow to the first crawler. He swung his mace down, pummeling its head into the dirt. Dazed, the creature remained still as Samuel hit it, again and again. The creature twitched and grew still.

There were two crawlers left. One broke from the other, going right for Samuel, mouth agape. Anna jumped forward, but the crawler tackled her, sending her to the dirt.

The crowd was on its feet, cheering. As Makara rushed to help Samuel, and as Julian was getting back onto his feet, I ran to Anna. Anna tried to force herself up, but the crawler snapped its face downward, its mouth opening...

“No!”

I was too far to save her. I hurled my gladius toward the face of the creature. I had a lucky throw; my gladius spiraled, connecting with one of the crawler’s three eyes. The creature roared in pain, turning to face me. It stamped the ground with its front four legs, and scuttled toward me at an alarming rate.

I dove to the side, but it wasn’t enough. Its teeth snapped at me, grabbing me by the shirt. It picked me up with its mouth, swinging me left and right. The bottom half of my shirt ripped, and I flew through the air, landing right on top of the body of the downed crawler Samuel had killed just a minute before.

I crashed into the armored creature, wincing in pain. I had barely missed landing on the row of spikes jutting from its back. I thought the crawler was going to leave me alone at this point. I was wrong. It was dead set on killing me, here and now.

Just as it was nearing, I heard Makara scream. She now stood right in front of it.

“Makara, no!”

The creature tore into her. She screamed in pain and toppled to the ground, her shirt wet with blood.

“Makara!” Samuel shouted.

The evil creature flashed its teeth, as if in a triumphant grin. But that wasn’t to last. It didn’t even scream in pain as Anna stabbed downward, right into the back of its head. Closing its eyes, the crawler slumped to the ground.

All three crawlers were dead – somehow, the other had been felled while I was occupied with this one. I didn’t care about that right now. All that mattered was Makara.

I ran to her. She held her side and was shaking. Blood gushed from a deep wound – the kind of wound a person did not survive. Her face was pale under the bright sun.

I pulled off my shirt, pressing it against her side. But even that couldn’t stop the flow of blood from leaving her.

“Makara...” Samuel said.

He touched her face. Makara’s eyes focused, if only for a moment.

She looked at Samuel. She said nothing, her eyes fluttering. She then turned to look at me. She smiled slightly, I don’t know what for. The ground around her form was stained with her blood.

“Why?” I asked, tears coming to my eyes.

She looked at me a moment, her green eyes growing hazier every second.

She never answered. She faded, and closed her eyes.

I
couldn’t be shocked. I couldn’t be anything. I was dead to everything. I couldn’t believe that what had just occurred. Makara had saved me, countless times, and she had saved me one last time.

And I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t.

I stared at the ground, tears welling in my eyes, refusing to believe. But there she lay, on the ground, her brother’s hands still unable to stem the tide of red leaking out. My mentor, the one who taught me how to survive. My friend was dead.

Samuel was on his knees, tears in his eyes. He still held her wound, blood soaking through his hands. But no matter how much he held the wound, the blood wouldn’t stop. The pain wouldn’t stop.

I fell to the ground, and didn’t want to remember anything anymore. Anna was by my side. Tears were in her eyes, too. Julian watched, eyes glistening with tears, as if he too couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

It seemed impossible. We had all gone through so much together. And now this.

Something had finally gotten to us.

The ground shook, I didn’t know from what. I thought it was the crowd at first, somehow making a constant thumping noise. Then I realized it was more like a set of legs.

“Look out!” Julian shouted.

I turned to see what would be our final doom. A Behemoth, and there was no Recon to outrun it this time, no spaceship to drop from the sky and give us a ladder. Only four of us, once five, with our paltry weapons and a whole Empire against us.

The Giant wasn’t like the Behemoths we had seen in the Waste. This one was less humanoid, and more reptilian. It was at least ten feet tall, had stout, thick legs, and hard green scales that none of our weapons could pierce.

It would be our final battle.

I cried out. Fueled by grief and anger, I readied my gladius for a jab. The Behemoth lowered itself, opening its wide mouth to reveal its needle teeth. It gave a scream, its warm breath toxic and putrid. Still, I ran forward. The others joined me in my berserk attack. As the creature arched its neck to take me out, Anna swung in from my left.

Not you, too...

Thankfully, the creature ignored her, coming straight for me. That was fine. I didn’t want anyone else to die because of me....

The teeth snapped closed, right on my gladius and inches from my hand, rending the hilt in two. I had nothing but my bare hands now. Unthinking, I leaped on top of the monster’s head, straddling it with my legs. Annoyed, it shook itself, but it wasn’t going to be rid of me so easily. I took my right hand, and, making a fist, jabbed it in one of its two completely white eyes.

It roared in pain, and this time, the Behemoth successfully threw me off. I fell ten feet to the ground, rolling and landing sprawled on my stomach. I scrambled to get up, but every part of me hurt. Every damn part. I stood on unsteady legs, but fell again.

I rolled over, to see the Behemoth coming for me again. One of its eyes dripped purple blood. The purple stuff was all over my hands, stinging them. I wiped them in the dirt, grabbing a handful of the arena dust. The creature shot its face down again, mouth widening. I dodged to the side, throwing the dirt directly into its other eye at the same time.

It hissed. It gave me the moment I needed to kick it, right in that eye.

It pulled up again, screaming in agony, shaking its colossal head. It stepped forward uncertainly. I had completely blinded it.

Anna took up Makara’s spear, and with a primal yell, stabbed downward into the creature’s clawed foot.

The creature screamed again and again as we slashed and stabbed and pummeled its legs, forcing it to the ground. The crowd was on its feet, watching and screaming like crazy. Crying out, I slashed at the back of the Behemoth’s knees, so now it was completely grounded.

Like Anna had done with the crawler earlier, she hopped onto the Behemoth’s back, finding the sweet spot at the base of its skull. There, she stabbed her sword. The creature let out a horrible wail as she twisted the blade, grimacing with the effort. She rotated the blade one time completely before leaving it in. After giving its left leg a final twitch, the monster grew still. It was dead.

The crowd was up on its feet, cheering madly, but I was deaf to it all. I ran and went to kneel beside Makara, who was still on the ground.

Almost afraid of the confirmation, of what I would feel if I did it, I placed my hand on her neck. I waited one. Two. Three seconds.

I thought I felt a thump.

I could scarcely believe it, so I kept my hand there.

Another pulse. It was unmistakable.

“She’s alive!” I said.

Everyone rushed around me. Samuel placed my shirt, which was on the ground, back on the wound to stop what blood was left in her from flowing out.

“She won’t last long,” Samuel said. “Not without help.”

He waved to the stands. Instantly, an outcry came from the stands. They wanted Makara to be saved, too.

Trumpets blared, and from one of the gates, out of nowhere, ran two men with a stretcher.

“About goddamn time!” I said. “Where were they before?”

“This was supposed to be an execution,” Julian said. “Only, we killed our executioners.”

“What does that mean?” I asked. “Will they save Makara?”

Julian didn’t say anything. He didn’t believe she could be saved.

God, if you are really there right now, then please save Makara...

I was willing to cling to anything at that moment, willing to reach out to anyone who might listen to me, God included. I watched as the men loaded Makara onto the stretcher and carried her away. We started to follow, but at that moment, guards filed out of the gates, rushing to keep us back.

“Hey!” I said. “You can’t just take her and not expect us to follow.”

Anna placed a hand on my arm. “We don’t have much choice. We can only hope they’re taking her to get treated somewhere.”

By the tunnel, they lowered the stretcher. One of the men carrying it retrieved a syringe from one of his pockets. He injected Makara with it, right in the chest.

“Oh my God...” I said.

I saw Makara’s eyes open, and saw her legs sprawl out. She really
was
alive.

Makara was then carried up the tunnel, out of sight.

We waited there a good two minutes before two columns of guards streamed out of the gate, wearing steel plated armor and purple capes. They wore leopard mantles as well, but these were different. They were completely white. From their steel helmets rose tall, purple plumes, and their spears gleamed silvery in the afternoon light. Their bodies were etched from stony muscle, their dark and tanned skin lined with jagged scars from the Empire's numerous wars.

The soldiers continued to file out, fanning out to encircle us. We remained still.

“The Praetorians,” Julian said.

"Who are they?" I asked.

“When I said the jaguar warriors were the best, I was wrong. The Praetorians are. They are the Emperor’s personal bodyguards.”

The Praetorians fanned out to encircle us, their steps resolute and unyielding. There were twenty four of them total.

“They have come to finish the job,” Julian said.

This was it, then. This was our last moment on Earth. But if they were here to kill us, then why bother to save Makara?

The Praetorians stopped in their tracks, facing in now that their circle was completed. The leader shouted out, his voice booming off the awed crowd. As one, they lowered their spears, the collective sound sending a shock throughout me.

No. There would be no surviving this.

I grabbed Anna's hand. “We're not going to make it.”

I saw her shake her head from the corner of my vision. “No.”

“Anna, I just wanted to let you know that...”

The trumpets blared again, their sonorous tones echoing off the stands. The crowd buzzed with excitement. Something had changed.

“I don’t believe it,” Julian said.

“What?” I asked.

Julian shook his head. “The Emperor is coming.”

“The Emperor?” Anna asked. “He’s coming
here
?”

“We will meet then, at last,” Samuel said.

Then, he came out, flanked by yet more Praetorians. Short and small of frame, Emperor Augustus still walked as if he were the biggest and most powerful man on Earth. Indeed, he probably was. There was nothing spectacular about him, other than his pure white toga with purple trim, with two eagles emblazoned in gold on his chest. His face carried a neutral expression, and had no distinguishing features. He was neither handsome, nor ugly. It was the eyes, however, that carried his entire personality – forceful, bold, and confident. There were wrinkles on his brow and on the edge of his eyes, the only sign of his age other than the few gray hairs intermixed with the dark brown of his head. He was probably in his late fifties. His skin was dark from exposure to the sun. This wasn’t a man who lay around, doing nothing. He was outside, commanding armies, constructing public works, touring his domain. Augustus was a man of action.