Alex looked at her for a moment then shrugged. ‘Sure. Just help me get Sam outside.’
‘Yeah, right,’ she scoffed. ‘And as soon as I step out there, you’ll push the door shut.’
Alex shook his head slowly. ‘Aimee—’
She cut him off. ‘I’ve seen what that thing can do, Alex. If you get killed, then we’ll all end up as more bones on its killing field.’ She looked briefly at Saqueo, then back into his eyes. ‘And if you shut me out, and you win, when you
Alex looked up at the roof and exhaled. ‘Aimee … Ahh, Jesus.’
He wiped one hand through his hair and looked down at Sam’s unconscious form. ‘Saqueo …’ He pointed to the doorway, then grabbed his HAWC by the shoulders and pulled the large man through the gap, the boy following him.
Aimee smiled and nodded her satisfaction … but only for a moment. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and she turned to peer at the black hole in the floor. No light, sound or movement came up from its depths, but something was leaking out nonetheless; she could feel it — and it was pure evil. There was something down there, waiting for them in the black depths.
‘Alex, please hurry,’ she whispered.
Alex heard Aimee’s plea and tried to work as quickly as possible. He removed one of his gauntlets, then ripped off Sam’s shirt sleeves; the material was tough to tear, but he needed the padding. When he re-entered the small room, he found her wide-eyed and pale, pressed as close to the doorway as was possible without actually being wedged in the gap. He knew what she felt: there was a darkness here that had nothing to do with lack of light.
He grasped her arm and pulled her to him. ‘We’ll be okay,’ he said.
‘We will now,’ she responded with a smile when she saw the weapon, the colour coming back into her face. ‘I’ll look after you.’
Alex wrapped one of Sam’s sleeves around her elbow and halfway down her forearm, then slid the gauntlet over the padding. He left her wrist free, and spent a few seconds adjusting the weapon so the sensors would pick up her brachioradial muscle movements for the triggering mechanism.
He pointed her arm towards the far wall. ‘Try it.’
Aimee nodded and drew her eyebrows together in concentration. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then a small stream of ice spikes hissed from the gun in a wild spray and her body fell back from the recoil. Alex grabbed her before she hit the ground.
‘You have to be ready for it. Short bursts, or you’ll either be blown off your feet or dislocate your arm.’
She nodded and lifted her trembling arm again. This time, she managed a two-second burst that hit the wall in a straight line. She lowered her arm and rubbed her shoulder. ‘Got it, and
Alex kneeled down, drew his longest blade and wrapped Sam’s other sleeve around it. He pulled a small canister from his belt and squirted some acrid liquid on the toughened material, then used the big man’s lighter to ignite it. He stood up and handed the torch to Aimee. ‘Let there be light.’
She took it and looked towards the black pit. ‘And let there be luck.’ The massive gauntlet covered most of her slim arm, its weight pulling the limb down to her side. Her eyes were wide behind the torch flames. ‘Let’s finish this, and go home.’
‘There are steps … about eight,’ Alex told her. ‘Aimee, if you get the chance for a shot, you take it. Do not wait for me to get out of the way. You shoot, and you shoot to kill. Understand?’ He waited a second, watching her. When she didn’t respond, he peered closer into her face. ‘You promise me that?’
‘Yes, yes. Don’t worry about me. Just remember who it was that saved
Alex smiled and shook his head. She was brave, but her lips were cold from fear. He drew his short blade and disappeared down into the impenetrable darkness.
FORTY
Aimee followed quickly, holding the burning torch and gauntlet before her. Even with the light from the flame, the room remained dark. It seemed to consume light. She felt a spongy mass under her feet, and could see the wall nearest her was stained a dark brown and pierced by hairy roots that looked like tentacles reaching for their prey. She shuddered at an old memory.
Alex was in the centre of the room, down on one knee, his head turning slowly. She saw that his eyes were half-closed — he was relying on a different type of vision.
‘I can’t …’ he said, turning to her and frowning. ‘It’s overwhelming.’
His face registered shock just before a howl tore through the small room. Aimee staggered at the sudden, overwhelming noise, and then everything went crazy.
The priest dropped from the roof like a giant spider, his mouth open in that terrible roar, and flung himself onto Alex, smothering him with his black robes. The creature’s sudden descent created a draught that made Aimee’s torch waver and dance; for one heart-stopping moment, she thought it was going out.
She raised her gauntlet, hesitating as the jumping light made the movements of the priest even more erratic. It was hard for her to tell where Alex was in the jumbled mass.
At exactly that moment, the tangle unfolded and the priest held Alex up in front of him, one arm round his throat, the other exposing his chest and abdomen to the spray of spikes that was already on its way.
Alex felt the penetrations run from his waist to shoulder. What was left of his suit was tough, but not designed for protection against that sort of assault. The pain was hot at first, then cold, as his body recognised the frozen water penetrating his flesh and attempted to deal with the trauma.
Alex ignored the pain; his vital organs were undamaged and he knew his body had the recuperative capability to deal with the injuries. It responded with a severe jolt to his system and a resulting flush of chemicals that burst through him. He jerked backwards and reached behind his head to grab the priest by the robe, then pulled with all his strength. The creature hung on, its claws digging into Alex’s flesh.
Alex grunted with a last herculean effort and slammed backwards. The thing on his back was enormously powerful, but, like Alex, was encased in a human body and bound by the same skeletal and muscular limitations. He tore it over his shoulder, ripping free the black robes and slamming it into the wall. Gonzalez stuck to the stones like an enormous dark growth, then grinned before dropping lightly to the floor. He straightened and opened his arms wide.
Alex heard Aimee gasp. The priest’s body was crisscrossed with weird veins and bulges, and his skin didn’t look right. It sagged in some places and was overly tight in others — as if a wrong-sized suit had been pulled too quickly over the frame.
Gonzalez’s hands curled into claws and he crouched, ready to spring. Alex saw some of the ropy tendrils slide around under his skin and tighten, as though they were the strings of a giant marionette.
‘Now!’ Alex yelled.
He hoped Aimee understood his intent as he raised his arm and fired a stream of projectiles at the thing. From behind him, another stream shot out, hitting Gonzalez in the neck and head before sliding up towards the roof and dying out.
Alex directed his spray at the priest’s shoulder, keeping it focused for as long as he could before Gonzalez spun away … long enough to nearly sever the arm. Gonzalez howled again and leapt towards the steps — and potential escape. He was fast, but he was also damaged, and had underestimated Alex.
Alex leapt too, colliding with the priest’s naked torso. He heard a satisfying crunch of cartilage as he slammed the body backwards onto the stone floor. When Gonzalez got to his feet again, his arm was hanging loosely by his side. He snarled.
‘Hurts, doesn’t it?’ Alex said, and charged again.
He cannoned into the man, hurling him backwards into the far wall. Before the body even hit, Alex had his
