The rich air stung Andy’s nostrils as he tried to calm himself. His head swam, inundated with excess power. The blood stuck to his throat, staining his thoughts with more primal urge, but he had nothing to wash the taste out. Now, more than ever, he needed a drink.
“You’re telling me,” Clara radioed. “The Honcho wants to arrest us.”
Another bulb exploded above his head. The darkness about him expanded like a storm cloud.
“No,” Andy radioed. “I mean, a problem.”
The radio crackled. He heard Clara breathing on the other end. “Ah, shit.”
“What?” the third voice said over the room’s intercom. “What does that mean?”
Andy ignored him. Like in a dream, he drifted towards the back of the armoury, through the doorway, into the military-grade section. Unslinging the rucksack which Clara had made him bring for salvage, Andy started filling his pockets with ammunition. The vault’s military-grade armoury was smaller than he had hoped, and much of its stock had already been pilfered by the vault dwellers-turned-revolutionaries. Andy could feel their eyes on him as he assessed the two remaining short-barrel assault rifles in the gun rack. They were pristine black, likely never used before. He’d soon change that.
About a dozen revolutionaries were crowded together in the small armoury, chatting to one another. Blue-cap tried to get Andy’s attention to ask him a question, but Andy ignored him. They weren’t important, so long as they didn’t get in his way. Hurriedly, Andy filled his rucksack with as many boxes of ammunition he could carry, then latched two straps to the assault rifles and slung one over each shoulder.
Looking up, Andy saw Blue-cap right in his face. “What do you say?”
“Huh?”
“You’re on our side, right? You’ve helped us get this far. Help us escape, and we’ll reward you however we can.”
“Yeah, erm.” Andy sniffed, loading each rifle with a magazine and chambering a round. “Sure.”
“Then we go straight to Admin,” Blue-cap announced to the room. “We take the stairs so that the Honcho cannot interfere with the elevators. We storm the office, seize his access card and open the vault door.”
The revolutionaries responded with a pitter-patter of “Yeah”’s. The light above the exit doorway flickered and went out.
“Today, we finally see sunlight again!”
“Yeah,” the room responded more excitedly. One woman near the exit started yelling and screaming. She must have been really excited, Andy thought. But as he turned to her, she collapsed, a bloody gash across her face. She dropped her rifle and started kicking at the air. Above her, a jagged shadow crawled over the dimly lit wall like a spider. One limb peeled free and rose to the low ceiling, sharpened like a spear, poised to strike.
Andy took a step backwards as the revolutionaries scurried away from the shadow like rats startled by a flood. The woman scrambled to her knees, but her foot was caught in something–the blackness stuck to her leg like muck. The spear above her jutted out of the wall like an insect’s mandible, piercing the air above her head, stabbing her in the skull.
The bone cracked as the black blade protruded out the other side, severing her jugular.
Chaos erupted in the armoury. Screams and gunshots. Andy slunk against the wall, cautious not to get caught in the crossfire. Shrapnell and ricochet pinged around him as he fiddled with his new weapons. It was a little difficult, weidling the rifles akimbo. He had to cram the stock of each under his armpit, using the tensile force of the straps to hold them in place while he used each free hand to work the chamber.
Someone crashed into the gun rack beside Andy, knocking it over with a clatter. A rifle shook in the old man’s hands as he clenched the trigger, but the rifle would not fire. The safety was on. Andy sidestepped the man, glancing up to check that there were still plenty of people between him and the shadow demon thing. Confident that he still had a few seconds to spare, he inspected his new weapons. Their handguards were a little plasticky for Andy’s liking, he preferred it rougher, but he could always wrap some tape around them when he got the chance. The iron sights had a small green dot in their centre, that was a nice touch, it made up for the cheap grip.
A splatter of blood dashed Andy’s cheek. A black lance jutted out of the old man’s chest, shooting up from the floor beneath him. The man’s mouth hung agape, eyes wide as he clutched at the wound. Andy opened fire. A hail of bullets penetrated the shadowy lance ricocheting off the metal floor behind it, but the shadow seemed unaffected. Andy frowned. That might be a problem.
The vault dwellers fled to the back of the armoury, firing wildly at the looming apparition peeling away from the vault wall. Bullets pinged around the room. Andy slinked against the wall trying to track their trajectory with his Ricochete ability to make sure he didn’t get hit, but it was like a swarm of bees. Shrapnel pattered off his leather jacket, unable to pierce his stylish leather armour. A bullet shard cut his ear. He raised his rifle to protect his face, peering at the demon.
Where the shadow expanded, bulbs flashed and went out. The darkness coated the space before them in a veil of black which boggled the mind, making it impossible to tell the depth and distance of its form. It was as though an enormous black expanse had opened up before Andy, swallowing the armoury’s exit. It rippled, a bolt of blackness shot from it, piercing a revolutionary as he retreated. The man rolled onto his back and shot into the shadow. With his keen ballistic senses, Andy could see each bullet disappear into the blackness causing little more damage than a small ripple over its surface. However, with each shot, the rifle’s muzzle flash doused the shadow in hot white light, singing its surface. So that’s how you hurt it.
Andy strode forward, rifle in each hand, mouth awash with the metallic taste of his Augmentation’s powers. He opened fire, spraying the demon from point blank range. The shadow burned away as the flashes from his rifle’s muzzles tore holes in its form. Andy plunged one rifle deep into its black body, squeezing the trigger and ripping it apart from the inside. Once his fusillade was up, the space before him had become a patchwork of shadow, like disparate tyre-fire smoke. Andy drew Julie and fired a Vortex shot three times. The force dispelled the shadow like a gust of wind, each brilliant muzzle flash burning bright wounds in its midnight flesh. His power flowed freely through Julie, as though they were more entwined now than ever before.
The shadow demon dissipated, but its black residue clung to the walls like a stain. Reloading each rifle from the magazines held by two revolutions who had fallen, Andy strode towards the exit.
“What the fuck was that?” Blue-cap shouted. He stood in the centre of the room shaking, an empty pistol in his hand. Around him, the revolutionaries cowered, huddled together and crouching beneath tables. One man tried repeatedly to cock his rifle, though the mechanism was jammed. How he’d managed to jam such a fresh new firearm, Andy didn’t know.
“What was that thing?” Blue-cap repeat. The other revolutionaries had similar questions on their minds, screaming up a hysterical anthem. Andy didn’t have time for that. He left the armoury and ventured into the corridors beyond. He looked around, trying to get his bearings, then activated his radio. “Clara, you had any trouble with demons up there?”
“Andy, are you safe?”
“Yeah, just about.”
“What was that thing?” the new guy asked over their channel. It was the hacker. What was his name again? Something to do with honeysuckle.
“I don’t know,” Andy said. “Bullets didn’t work, but the muzzle flashes hurt it. It seems to be hurt by light. It keeps popping the bulbs. Honeyboy, can you do something about that?”
“Me?” the third voice asked.
“Yeah, who else?”
“My name’s Gabriel.”
“I don’t care,” Andy said. “Fix the lights. Clara, I’m coming up to you. Stay there.”
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Andy ran down the vault corridor, trying to follow the directions of signs set into the ceiling to find the main tunnel which would lead to the elevator.
“You’re going the wrong way,” Honeyboy buzzed over his radio.
Andy stopped. A sign to his right read ‘Waste Disposal.’ That wasn’t right. “Okay, help.”
“Turn back the way you just came and take the first left.”
Andy followed Honeyboy’s directions, running through a maze of corridors and small laboratory rooms. Each door opened for him before he arrived at it, another perk of having the techie on their side. The lights in this area were stable. It seemed that the shadow demon was concentrating its attacks elsewhere in the vault. Between Honeyboy’s instructions, Andy relayed what he knew about the shadow demon to Clara over the radio, and what he suspected.
“Have you heard of anything like that before?” Clara asked.
“No.”
“Is the vampire back?” Clara said.
“No, it’s not that.”
“But you said light hurts it.”
“It’s different,” Andy said. “Similar in ways. Dark energy, dislikes lights. But not just sunlight. Anything bright, I think.”
“Last door on the right,” Honeyboy chimed.
Andy burst in on a room full of vault dwellers wearing pale yellow overalls fussing around a row of computer terminals. One man stood up and challenged him, but went deadly silent when he saw what Andy was packing. Another door slid open before him, and Andy passed the stunned vault dwellers into the wide main tunnel. Opposite him was the medical centre. Andy peeked through the windows as he walked by, though the blinds were drawn shut on many of the rooms, he couldn’t see any lights on inside.
“He techie,” Andy radioed. “How’s Med Bay looking?”
“I can’t tell, it’s too dark.”
“Compromised,” Andy said. “Keep the doors closed. Seal them if you can.”
“Affirmative. I’ll do what I can.”
Ahead, the group of vault dwellers from the armoury entered the tunnel. They ran in a disorganised panic towards the elevator shaft at the far end. Two men in white overalls took the rear, aiming their rifles down the tunnel at him. “Friendly,” Andy shouted, waving his akimbo assault rifles in the air.
“There is a disturbance upstairs,” Honeyboy said. “People are running everywhere. Oh, by the way, I’m sorry that the vault is occupied. I promise you, I did not know. And I didn’t know there was an evil creature down here too. I know it might seem like I laid this trap for you and sent you to your deaths, but that absolutely was not my intent.”
Andy walked past the rear guard and headed towards the elevator. None of the revolutionaries tried to stop him. They were arguing about what to do next, too absorbed in their own confusion and fear to pay him any attention.
“Don’t worry,” Clara radioed. “Stay focussed. You were talking about upstairs? Where is that? Hydroponics?”
“Habbitiation,” the techie said. “Just above Andy. You should be able to see them now.”
Just then, the elevator doors opened. About twenty people crammed inside burst into the tunnel. Many were injured, or carrying their bloody brethren. They ran past the group of armed revolutionaries at the head of the tunnel, heading for Medical Bay. Blue-cap was shouting and grabbing people, asking them questions like “What is up there?” and “What could do this?” Before Andy could reach the elevator, the doors closed, and it travelled upwards again.
“Is there a stairwell,” Andy radioed.
“Repeat that,” Clara said, her voice from the radio speaker barely audible over the pained moans and barks of panic around him. Letting one of his rifles hang on its sling, Andy held his radio to his mouth and repeated the question, then held the speaker to his ear.
“To the right of the shaft,” Honeyboy said.
People were streaming into the tunnel from a doorway beside the elevator, fleeing manically like zombies charging ahead of a horde. That must be the stairwell. Andy slung his rifles over his shoulders and waded through the crowd, going against the tide. The stairwell was a tight squeeze. A hail of footsteps stormed down the metal steps above. A tall man crashed into Andy, almost knocking him off his feet.
“Watch it,” Andy said. The vault dweller got to his feet then took off down the remaining steps, not turning to apologise or even acknowledge Andy. Whatever was up there was apparently more scary than Andy looked even with two rifles strapped to his back. He had to admit, he was a little bit wounded by that.
Andy glanced up the steps. Although it was only about five stories high, vault dwellers were likely packed at the stairs entrance, which would block him from going any further. A woman ran past him, carrying a screaming child. Two men followed her, terror in their eyes.
“What’s up there,” Andy asked over his radio.
“It’s hard to tell,” Honeyboy said. “Something’s killing them.”
Andy strolled back out of the stairwell and into the main tunnel of Life Support Sec. People were crowded around the doors of the Medical Bay, which ran down the stretch of the tunnel and adjoining corridors. Many fiddled with control panels, scanning their arm bands, trying to get the doors open.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Andy said, but they ignored him.
“Andy,” he heard his name being called. “Andy, help us.” It was Blue-cap again, with his ionic blue-rimmed military cap. “You’ve got experience. You killed the one in the armoury. What are they?”
Andy shrugged. “Shadows. I didn’t really kill it though.”
“Why won’t the doors open,” someone yelled behind him, banging on the windows to the hospital. Beside Andy, the elevator door opened again and a crush of people spilled out onto the floor, falling over one another to get free of the metal box. Andy was lifted off his feet. One of his rifles got caught between someone’s arms and was dragged away with the crowd. Clinging to the strap, Andy was pushed back twenty paces down the tunnel before he broke free, rescuing the rifle and slunk against the wall. All around him, the vault dwellers looked and smelled terrified, eyes bulging, slick with sweat. Blood soaked their pastel coloured overalls. A woman collapsed beside Andy, but nobody helped her. At the tunnel’s head, the elevator doors closed again. Andy cursed, he wouldn’t miss his next chance to ride it upwards.
“What’s the plan, sis?” he radioed, checking his immediate surroundings for shadows. The tunnel was well lit, but the window at his back was dark. Andy could see beyond the blinds, there were no lights on inside Medical Bay.
“Make your way to Level 2, Hydroponics. It’s the least populated area. I can access it via a security lift nearby. Currently, I’m hunkered down in Admin, but I’ll be alright. I’ll meet you in the Workshop. Gabriel, you got that?”
“Copy,” Honeyboy said.
“Why don’t I just come to you?” Andy said.
“Because, this situation requires some finesse, and that’s not exactly your strong suit.”
“Ouch.”
“Give us both directions, Gabriel,” Clara said. “Do you have control over the elevators?”
“Yes.”
“Then operate them remotely. Make sure Andy gets where he needs to go. Keep the lights on. If you can help us get out of this alive, then we’ll consider your debt paid.”
“I hear you loud and clear,” the techie said. “You have my undivided attention.”
“This is so exciting-” came a quiet voice on the radio, before the feed cut it off.
“What was that?” Clara asked.
“Just a video in the background,” Gabriel said. “Andy, the elevator is coming back. You need to hurry.”
“I got it,” someone yelled nearby in the tunnel, and a doorway to Med Bay wooshed open. Vaulties started streaming into the dark hospital. Andy pointedly headed in the opposite direction. Squeezing past Blue-cap’s revolutionaries, he slunk into a corner beside the elevator doors and waited for them to open again. The armed mutineers stood around limply, waiting for Blue-cap to take charge. The older officer was arguing with two men in grey uniforms and red trim–the same as those who defended the armoury. They were exchanging spiteful words while carrying an unconscious woman wearing an eyepatch.
A blood-curdling scream cut through the throng like the wail of a fire alarm. Somebody fled the recently opened door to Medical Bay, tripping and banging their head against the wall. They lay unconscious as more vault dwellers poked their heads inside. Blue-cap’s revolutionaries bravely backed away from the cries, rifles raised into the crowd of civilians, pointed past the backs of their heads.
The elevator door pinged beside Andy, and a fresh batch of some twenty or so civilians streamed into the vault tunnel. Many were wounded and limping. They trampled past those backing away from the commotion in Medical Bay, and each group pressed together in a melee. Andy shimmied inside the elevator and activated his radio. “Can you take this thing up for me Honeyboy?”
“It’s Gabriel. Yes, I can.”
“Let’s go then.”
A light flashed on the elevator’s control panel, but the doors would not close while an object blocked the way. An old woman had collapsed in the doorway, her feet splayed on the ground. Andy nudged her shoe over the threshold, and the panel pinged pleasantly with a robotic affirmation. “Doors closing.”
But before the doors could seal shut, a hand grasped the opening, and activated the failsafe again. Blue-cap climbed into the elevator with him, followed by six of his remaining revolutionaries. “No good being down here,” he was saying. “Our mission remains the same. Secure Admin Sec and ensure that the vault doors open so that we can evacuate.”
“Shouldn’t we take the stairs,” another asked.
“Too crowded. We’ll risk it on the elevator.”
There was another scream from Medical Bay. Panic swept through the tunnel. The vault dwellers fled deeper into Life Support Sec, leaving their injured behind on the tunnel floor, or limping after them in the growing dark. The crowd dissipated into adjoining tunnels, likely seeking places to hide. Andy watched over their heads as the space cleared, and the lights in the tunnel went out one by one. Black shapes crawled over the walls, following their victims into the quiet recesses. Everybody down here was trapped, like mice under the floorboards.
“We can’t help them,” Blue-cap said. The elevator doors began to close, but something caught Andy’s eye in the open doorway of Medical Bay. A fat, muscular leg slapped against the floor, pulling the grotesque object through the door. At first, Andy thought it was a person, horribly obese to the point of deformation. Its flesh was swathed in an obsidian robe which seemed to consume the light around it. And besides, it couldn’t be human, because Andy counted six limbs, not four.