A/N - A special shout out to PRicanManiak for their kind review. This chapter is for you.
As an additional treat I've included the alternative of summary I considered using to describe the story:
"For one hundred years humanity has endured on the poisoned Earth. The last embers of human society are scattered across the wild surface of the Earth threatened by savage mutants, twisted survivors who defy the new order and horrors lurking in the forgotten places of the world. It is time of endless strife, selfless heroism and blackest infamy."
The inspiration for this came from the very opening of Battlefleet Gothic Armada. It always gives me chills to listen to that combination of purple prose and choral music.
Chapter IX Forgotten Horrors
The prospect of facing Reapers was enough to chill the blood of even the most seasoned warrior but without her customary weapons and the advantage of picking her ground Clarke was left more than chilled. As far as she knew the Reapers had never been audacious enough to tackle a target as well defended as a major Trikru town. They had behaved more like opportunistic predators – preying on the weak or the isolated before moving on.
Lexa was off like a shot towards the thick of the fighting and Clarke was hard pressed to follow her through the winding chaos of the streets. As they ran towards the source of the cry flames began to shoot into the night sky as the buildings near the fight caught fire. Doubtless the Reapers were trying to create as much chaos as possible.
What could they possibly want? Clarke wondered, There has always been method to their madness in the past.
As they emerged from a nearby alley the melee came into view before them, cast in the blood red light of the nearby fires. There must have been over three dozen Reapers present making mincemeat out of the Trikru defenders. While the Trikru were fierce warriors they lacked tactical discipline without their leaders. Most of the defenders arrived at the melee alone or in small groups making them easy prey for already ensconced invaders. Clarke wasn't a master strategist by any means but even to her retreating and regrouping to bring the full weight of the Trikru's superior numbers to bear on the Reapers was the best strategy. Lexa was having none of that and drew her sword as she unleashed a fearsome battle cry.
As Clarke was about to yell at Lexa that they needed to retreat a loud thump echoed from behind her. As she turned to face the sound she was confronted with an approaching Reaper that had jumped out of the window of one of the burning buildings. His animalistic maw opened and snapped shut several times as he sized her up. A cursory glance around her indicated that there were no convenient weapons lying around so Clarke did the next best thing – she ran for the nearest burning building. It was a suicidal plan but the smoke and flame would give her an advantage over the Reaper pursuing her.
As she plunged through the open door the heat struck her like a physical wall followed swiftly by the smoke. The fire roared like a living thing as she hurried through the building. A loud smash and a guttural cry from behind her announced the arrival of her Reaper. She quickly found a set of stairs and ascended up onto the roof of the building.
The cool air of the roof was a welcome relief. Smoke poured from the cracks between the boards of the building but fortunately the thick walls we made from stone and Clarke was able to nimbly jump up onto one of the walls and scamper to the other side of the building from the stairwell. The Reaper burst out of the stairwell howling in pain and burning brightly like a living torch. Locking eyes with her he plunged towards her heedless of the flames engulfing him. Left with no alternative Clarke turned away from the blazing figure and leapt to the next nearest building – a stubby watchtower like structure that was below her.
She landed with a jarring thump against the hard-wooden boards of the watchtower. Clarke let out a groan as rose back to her feet. On the other building the reaper tumbled off the side of the building and hit the ground with a meaty splat. With one crisis averted Clarke set her sights on reacquiring Lexa. Surveying the melee below her she was hard pressed to tell the Reapers from the Trikru in the smoke and confusion. After a few moments of fruitless searching Clarke realized that the only way she was going to accomplish anything is if she found a weapon or several and waded into the melee to find Lexa. At the end of the day her survival hinged on either escaping or keeping Lexa alive.
Glancing around the watchtower she was pleased to find an unused short bow and a full quiver of arrows propped against the parapet. Clarke would characterize herself as competent with a bow on a good day – her accuracy in the middle of Reaper attack was anyone's guess. Accompanying the bow was a rusty machete of type generally favoured by the Trikru warriors of the region. Slinging the quiver across her back Clarke managed to wedge the blade into the binding in an improvised sheathe. Turning her attention back to the battle below her Clarke took aim at the nearest Reaper. If she couldn't find Lexa then the least she could do was thin the number of Reapers below her. Picking out her target she drew the bow taught, lined up her target and loosed her first arrow. Notching her next arrow she noticed, with a not inconsiderable amount of shock, that she had actually hit her target. The Reapers were not oblivious to her success either and a group of three of them broke off from the melee and sprinted towards the watchtower.
After loosing three more fruitless shots at the advancing Reapers Clarke realized that her first shot had been beginner's luck and slung the bow before surveying her options. With the Reapers storming in through the watch tower Clarke had no choice but to clamber over the parapet and mantle down the side of the building - no easy task in the middle of a battle. Midway down her footing slipped and she tumbled down to the hard earth below. Dusting herself off she couldn't help but notice the twinge her in left foot as she rose to her feet. She counted herself lucky to have survived the drop with only a sore foot and a couple of bruises.
A soft whispering sound halfway between a hiss and whistle echoed from behind her. The sound tapered off into a series clicks. A couple of moments later the sound repeated itself too precisely to be a mere coincidence. Clarke turned to examine the alley that she had landed in. The sound had emanated from one smoke choked end of the alley but it was impossible to make out anything in the gloom. The sound came again only this time it was punctuated by the impact of a metallic footfall. The soft clink of metal on stone echoed up the alleyway to Clarke. The sounds were not like the rattling jingle of metal that typically accompanied the motley collections of metal and leather that the Trikru called armor but instead sounded precise and measured like a mixture of hydraulics and smoothly oiled interlocking plates.
Fear clawed its way up Clarke's throat. Whatever horror was lurking in the smoke was not a Reaper. She couldn't help the feeling that somewhere inside that fog some malign intelligence was watching her - toying with her. It was only a matter of time before it decided to emerge from the fog and no matter how curious Clarke was she had no desire to see what sort of thing combined armor, hydraulics, and a predatory drive. Clarke turned and sprinted down the alley the opposite direction as fast as her legs would take her. She could dimly hear the steady cadence of quick metallic footfalls over her own racing heartbeat.
Plunging out of the alley Clarke emerged back into the square that had been the site of the pitched battle between the Reapers and the Trikru. Glancing around Clarke quickly realized that the battle was now over and the only things still moving around on two legs were Reapers. Drawing her blade Clarke spared a glance over her shoulder and instantly regretted her decision. Deep within the fog a pair of round glowing green orbs regarded her. At that moment, Clarke's nerve shattered. The Reapers were ruthless, deadly and quite disgusting but at the end of the day they were still somewhat human. The thing in the fog was some unknown horror that defied rational explanations. Clarke plunged towards the Reapers in a desperate attempt to put as much distance between her and the creature in the fog. As she ran a small canister shot by her and landed with a dull pop. Pale smoke billowed out of the canister quickly beginning the process of shrouding the area in fog.
As Clarke continued to run towards the other end of the square she sighted the breach in the wall surrounding the town that the Reapers had been pouring through. Somewhere behind her there was a scream that ended in a wet gurgle. Her mind made up she ran towards the breach in the wall. As she scrabbled up the rubble she stumbled and fell face first into the rubble. Rolling over she took in the scene behind her. The smoke wafted around thickly but the size of the square did not make it as oppressively thick as it had been in the alley. Through it all she could make out a pair of Reapers casting about for their target in the haze. Suddenly one seemed to sprout a long black blade out of its back. Somewhere behind the twitching form of the Reaper something dark seemed to ooze out of the fog gradually becoming more and more corporeal. The green orbs emerged over the dying Reaper's shoulder and stared straight at Clarke once more. This time she could make out the armored face mask that made up the rest of the horror's face. The green orbs were set into an elongated mask similar to pictures she had seen of early radiation suits. The mask tapered off into a long tube that ran down into the horror's armor. The moment was shattered as the other Reaper let out a loud cry at the death of his fellow and swung his axe at the horror. The axe shattered on contact and rather than eliciting some sort of frenzy of activity the mask turned slowly, almost languorously, towards its new target. Clarke watched transfixed as a single hand rose up and seemed to wrap itself around the Reaper's face like some sort of bizarre sea creature. The horror seemed completely unmoved by the Reaper raining down a hail of blows on its armored hide as it lifted it into the air. After a few moments, the Reaper's struggles tapered off and it went limp in the horror's hand. With a casual gesture the dead body was dropped.
Clarke had seen all that she needed to and she picked herself up and sprinted over the rubble to the open woods. She stood a far better chance of losing the horror in the woods than in the town. Stumbling down the other side of the rubble pile Clarke almost ran straight into Lexa. The other woman was breathing hard as she stood over the corpse of a dead Reaper. Hearing Clarke coming down the rubble pile she spun to confront her.
"Clarke?"
"RUN!" Clarke practically screamed as she grabbed Lexa's arm and bodily dragged her towards the woods.
As they made the tree line Lexa wrenched her arm free of Clarke's grip. "Clarke, what in the name of the spirits are you doing?"
Clarke glanced back the way they had come the wisps of fog were slowly crawling up over the rubble pile seemingly in defiance of the laws of gravity and the prevailing winds. "Lexa there is something back there. Something … I don't know what."
Lexa's eyes narrowed. "Something? You aren't making sense."
"Sense?" Clarke snarled back at the other woman. "I've seen more than my fair share of horrors in the wastes. Probably more than you have."
"You should choose your next words carefully Clarke."
Clarke was about to open her mouth to respond when Lexa's expression froze and the blood slowly drained from her face. Clarke turned back once again only to be confronted by the horror broodingly crouched on the rubble pile. It was the first clear look Clarke had gotten at the creature. The creature was clad in a midnight black armored shell composed of layers of lamellar plates. The plates themselves seemed to shift like they had a mind of their own giving the armor the appearance of constantly being in motion. The horror seemed more concerned with examining one of its armored hands as a set of long black blades extended from the tips and then slowly withdrew. Clarke couldn't make up her mind if the creature reminded her more of cat cleaning its claws or of soldier breaking down his weapon to clean it after combat. Regardless of the analogy the horror completed its cleaning routine and then rose from its brooding position to stand full erect before surveying the area.
"Homarippa." Lexa breathed.
"What?" Clarke whispered.
"An undying spirit from the old world." Lexa explained quietly never taking her eyes of the horror. "They are implacable hunters. To be hunted by one is a death sentence."
"What are we going to do?"
Lexa didn't answer her but merely grabbed her hand and gave it a quick squeeze before pulling her after her deeper into the treeline.
As Clarke did her best to follow Lexa's lead she was amazed at how adroit the other woman was at navigating the pitch black woods. While Clarke was no slouch at woodcraft she couldn't hold a candle to the other woman. Despite Lexa's impressive skills every time they stopped the telltale whispering clicks of the Homarippa would manifest themselves moments after they stopped moving.
As the night wore on Clarke could feel herself rapidly fading and could see that Lexa was in similarly bad shape. Both of them had been embroiled in combat after a long day of travelling and the only thing that had seen them through that had been pure adrenaline. Now even the adrenaline had left their systems the only thing propelling them forward was the fear of what was behind them.
Lexa drew Clarke to a halt once more in a small glade illuminated by moonlight. While on any other night it would have been pretty verging on romantic the only thing Clarke could think about was when the ordeal was going to end.
"Do you think we've lost it?" Clarke panted.
Lexa took a deep breath before responding. "No. It's been toying with us this whole time. Driving us towards something."
"Oh great!" Clarke moaned. "So it's been herding us to whatever is home for it so that it doesn't have the hassle of carrying our corpses with it?"
"A reasonable assumption."
"And how are you so calm in the face of certain death?" Clarke snapped in irritation.
"Death is inevitable. Railing against it is pointless."
"Yeah well, forgive me for not being quite ready to die yet."
Lexa gave Clarke a soft smile. "You remind me of someone that I once knew."
"Oh no, we're not going all mushy in the face of certain death."
Lexa never got the chance to respond as a crimson flare came shooting out of the underbrush casting the entire glade in blood red light. With a sudden thud the Homarippa dropped down between them, clearly having been lurking in the trees above them. With a single backhanded swipe, it sent Lexa reeling backwards clutching her nose before turning its full attention on Clarke. For a moment Clarke thought she could see her own terrified face reflected back at her in the mirrorlike black depths of the horror's armour. With a casual ease it seized her by the throat and lifted her off the ground before she even had a chance to go for her weapon.
As the Horror slowly closed off her airways a distant part of Clarke's mind not concerned with frantically scrabbling at the armoured digits wrapped around her throat noted the great finesse that the horror was exerting not to simply crush her airways or simply decapitate her. As black spots danced across her vision Clarke noticed a faint flash of movement in her peripheral vision before her entire vision went red.
A moment later she hit the ground with a bone jarring thump as she desperately tried to suck in some much-needed oxygen. Glancing dimly upwards she caught a glimpse of Lexa ducking under a blind swing from the Horror as it tried to clean the burning remains of the flare off its faceplate. A moment latter Lexa's arms were around Clarke hauling her to her feet and shoving her forward. A keening scream of rage shot through the woods as they stumbled away from the enraged Horror behind them.
They almost missed the shear drop that yawned up in front of them as the fled the glade. One moment they were on solid ground and the next Clarke's boot was sliding off into nothingness. Lexa yanked her back at the last moment. From behind them there was a loud crash as the Horror drove through the underbrush – all pretext of stealth gone.
Lexa gave Clarke a last sad look before drawing her sword to confront the oncoming horror. It emerged from the underbrush and with a swipe of its hand sent Lexa's sword spinning off into the night. In the same motion, it rammed its arm into Lexa's midriff sending her flying back straight into Clarke.
For one moment Clarke had the nauseating feeling of the ground disappearing beneath her before she was falling backwards. The only sound she could hear was her laboured heartbeat and the howl of the wind. After what felt like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds she felt a solid stringy object cut across her back before snapping under the force of her descent. That impact was followed by another and then several more until she came to an abrupt halt – tangled up in some sort of web-like mass of tendrils. As she blinked groggily she looked up to see a black shape blotting out the sky above her. Her bleary eyes focused on the long cluster of braids that seemed to whip out behind the falling figure before she realized that Lexa was following almost the same trajectory.
Oh shit.