“I’m here.” Simon swung his arm across the leg of the corpse. Bone broke anddead flesh shredded. He pulled the Spike Bolter into line with the head. A target reticule ghosted onto the HUD screen. As soon as he had target lock, he squeezed the trigger.
Palladium spikes erupted from the pistol barrel and chewed into the Grotesque.
“On our way.” Nathan slammed his shoulder into the door and ripped it off itshinges. For a moment the Templar sprawled off-balance, then finally went forward into a roll and came up on one knee with a Blaze pistol in his fist. “Duck andcover, mate.”
Simon wrapped his free arm around his head to add further shielding.
The whumph of Nathan’s pistol flared into the room for just a moment.The arrowlike projectile thudded into the Grotesque. As it was designed to do, the shaft fragmented and sank into the demon’s undead flesh in a wider area thanthe impact shaft would have done. An instant later, the shaft head and the fragments ignited. Greek Fire chewed into thedemon and chased the darkness from the room.
Affected by the fire as well as the detonation and the damage Simon had done with the palladium spikes, the Grotesque started to go to pieces. Body parts fell away from the center mass and the floor became covered in arms and legs as well as a few heads. They all continued to act independently but they were without any real control. The sight was horrid but the pieces couldn’t act inconcert. They were largely ineffectual.
However, the Grotesque’s attacks weren’t merely physical damage dealt out byvarious limbs. It gaped open its maw, that center of itself it maintained no matter how large it got, and spat out fistfuls of flesh-eating parasites.
Normally these parasites, known as death maggots, were no longer than a finger’s length and feasted on the Grotesque’s victims. In extreme cases, likewhen the creature thought it might be beaten and was fighting for its unlife, the Grotesque used them as weapons.
The death maggots plopped wetly against Simon’s armor and stuck. In the nextmoment, the creatures swelled nearly ten times their original size and exploded. If not for Simon’s armor, the acidic goop hurled by the maggots would haveseared his flesh and poisoned him. Civilians in the streets died almost instantly from exposures to the small demons. Those who didn’t were horriblyscarred for life.
Simon opened fire again and tracked the bulbous head as it sought to evade him. The palladium spikes opened great bloodless wounds in the undead flesh but didn’t even slow the Grotesque. The demon swung Simon up against the ceiling. Hestruck in a bone-jarring crash that the armor wasn’t quite able to mute. Hissenses spun for a moment and the air left his lungs.
Then more of the Templar were in the room. Upside down now, Simon braced his boots against the ceiling and said, “Fire boot anchors.”
In response, the suit’s AI fired palladium anchors into the ceiling. They bitdeeply into the rock and held Simon’s boots to the ceiling.
All a Templar needs is solid footing. Thomas Cross had told his son that nearly every day of practice. Simon had become a believer early on. His father had also taught him how to fight from many different angles. Upside down was just one of them.
Simon put the Spike Bolter away and drew his sword in both hands. The Grotesque was fighting against the damage that had been dealt it. Although that effort was a losing one, the demon still remained dangerous.
From his new vantage point, Simon swung the sword with all the strength. The sharp blade cleaved into the undead flesh. Arms and legs were lopped off in the single swipe. He managed five more attempts before he split the head that he deemed to be the one controlling the rest of the huge body.
The head fell away from the Grotesque. In response, the creature fell apart.
“Fire in the hole,” Nathan warned. He pulled the sleek Scorcher pistolfrom its holster and fired into the squirming mass of flesh on the floor.
The flame erupted from the end of the weapon with a flash that Simon’s HUDbarely blocked. Bright lights stabbed painfully into his eyes. When he looked back, the pieces of the Grotesque were all on fire.
“God, I hate those things,” Danielle said fervently. Even in her armor shebrushed at herself as if something foul had clung to her. “I’m definitely goingto need a bath after this.”
“Retract spikes,” Simon ordered.
When the spikes retracted, he dropped to the ground. He spun in mid-air and landed on his feet. He kept the sword in hand as he walked to the fiery bits of undead flesh.
“Just be glad the suit filters out all the noxious fumes,” Nathan said.“There’s nothing worse than throwing up inside the armor. I mean, you can onlyget so much of it out.”
“Be grateful you’ve got biohazard scrubbers built into the suit,” anotherTemplar said.
“Yeah, but that takes bloody hours to get done properly.” Nathan kicked aflaming leg out of his way. “And the stench you have to put up with till thattakes place is stomach-churning, I tell you. I’ll pass on that little treat.”
“At least now we know why the door was locked,” Leah said.
“You got that right,” Nathan grumbled. “Somebody wanted to keep that bloodything in here. If we could have given it another few weeks, it probably would have digested itself trying to keep those maggots perky.”
“Oh, and now it isn’t that a fine image.” Danielle snorted in disgust. “Maybeyou can just keep those all thoughts to yourself.”
“One thing’s for certain: if that thing was in here chances are good that noone found the stairway down to the lower levels.” Simon peered around at thefloor.
“The floor seems to be intact,” Leah said. She walked over to the northeastcorner of the room. The directions were clearly indicated on Simon’s HUD. “Ifthe blueprints are correct, this is where the stairway should be.”
“All right then,”
