Scar let the mangled body drop, drawing his twin swords as he leapt towards the human warriors surrounding them. He knew the water had knocked out his camouflage, but he didn't care; a wave of incendiary rage was sweeping through him. He wanted her enemies to see him and cower in abject terror before he destroyed them, "How dare they? How dare they lay hands on her?! I will rip their skin from their bodies! I will obliterate them all!"
Now his whole being was resonating to the siren call of bloodlust. He could see the humans raise their puny weapons in his direction but even those not handicapped by the plasma fire were too slow; easy prey for his hungry blades.
He carved the closest man's weapon in half with his first stroke, the glowing, sheared-off metal dropping away as the second sword spun round in a glinting arc to slice off the human's head. As the body folded up, he whirled and struck the next man, cutting him in half at the waist. Springing over the collapsing corpse, he seized another human, flinging him bodily into the gorge, his scream fading as he fell away. The next attacker managed to get off a couple of shots before Scar, eyes glittering under the mask, knocked his gun from his hand with the hilt of one sword and disembowelled him with the other.
Higher thought processes were sliding away from him now, as the all-consuming frenzy of battle took over. His instincts were running the show now as he skewered one human, snapping another's neck with one fist, slicing the next open with the sword's cruel edge. Now he was in a swirling mist of blood spray and screams and gunfire; a world where only he and his opponents existed and death was the only reality…
Ostrowski managed to throw himself backwards and away from Woods as the blinding light split the darkness. He saw it strike several of his team and he knew at once what it must be. When he smelled the stink of cauterised tissue and saw the massive shape materialise in the river, he knew his worst fear had become a reality.
"It's a hostile!" He heard Decard say in the commlink, as he stayed down low.
"It's not just a hostile, it's him." Ostrowski yelled, as he scrambled towards the cover of the treeline, "Her accomplice!"
"Oh shit!" Even through the earpiece he could hear the fear in Decard's voice. Everyone on the unit knew about this evil bastard – the one who had decimated their team and the whole Nevada on-base staff before he and Woods had reduced the facility to a burned-out shell. Ostrowski had faced hostiles before, but he knew a mad, rabid dog when he saw one and he had this bastard down as a vicious lunatic.
"We're under attack!" He barked into his radio to anyone who was still alive to hear him, "All units, switch to live rounds, I repeat live rounds, now! Put this fucker down!"
"Permission to use RPGs on him, sir!"
"Permission denied!"
"But sir – " Decard began to argue.
"That's an order soldier!" Ostrowski ground his teeth together, much as he wished they could just blow the mad bastard to kingdom come, "It's just too big a risk! You could bring this mountainside down with us on it!"
As he watched Wood's crazed accomplice cutting his people down like corn, Ostrowski's raised his own pulse rifle and fired.
Through his berserk delirium, Scar became dimly aware of a stinging sensation and swung round, little blooms of bright, green blood where a couple of the bullets struck him. His shoulder cannon swivelled and fired, the deadly, hot plasma carving through the man's arm and chest, knocking him to the ground.
He grinned evilly as he saw more humans running his way and heard panicked shouting. Before they could use their weapons, his shoulder cannon swivelled again, picking off multiple targets. One after the other they went down in a shower of sparks and burning fragments of charred flesh. With his heat vision, he could see the ones that were retreating towards the treeline, whilst others were wounded but still moving.
He stalked towards them, flicking his swords as he did so, streamers of red, human blood spattering across the rocks…
Ostrowski tried to drag himself backwards, not even able to feel the pain in his wounded legs yet because his body was going into shock. He could smell his own flesh cooking and hear it sizzle, but he shut his mind to the horror and dragged himself onwards.
"I got wounded in Nevada and managed to get out! I'm not going to let this fucker beat me!"
He could see his death approaching; the Mad Dog was striding towards him now, a bloody sword in each hand. Ostrowski was hypnotised by the swords. A little part of his brain that suddenly wanted to notice everything, remembered again those swords from the San Francisco CCTV; remembered seeing clearly the way they cut through metal and bone and flesh, deadly and unstoppable. Groaning, he tried to pull his gun from where it was trapped underneath his body.
Mad Dog stopped and paused for a moment, his mask staring down with blank, black eyes, lifting Ostrowski's chin with the flat of one blade.
"You hunt Lexsssss." He snarled, in English. "I… kill you."
Ostrowski finally managed to raise the gun, but his enemy brought one sword swinging round and sliced off his hand, both gun and flesh hitting the rocks with a wet thud.
Ostrowski was gasping for breath now, his whole body shaking, "Fuck you!" He managed, through gritted teeth "And fuck her!".
Mad Dog made a strange, rhythmic, purring sound and Ostrowski realised, he was laughing. "Not in this… lifetime!"
Then he drew back his sword, ready to deliver the killing blow…
There was a loud rush of air behind them. At the last second, the alien threw himself to one side as an explosion burst a few feet away, the cloud of orange fire licking up into the night sky and hot shrapnel raining down onto them both.
The whole of Ostrowski's vision was filled with thick, greasy smoke. He just had time to wonder who had gone against his orders not to deploy the RPGs. Then everything faded away from him.
Scar turned to see where the explosive projectile had come from. In his mask's display, he could see the glowing heat signatures of more humans ranged around them, hanging back, not wanting to get too close – but toting some pretty serious weaponry. He leapt aside as a row of steel slugs suddenly rang off the rocks at his feet and then further back as more bullets rained down, spraying up chips of stone with flesh-piercing force.
He identified the weapon that must be the source of the explosive and leapt towards it – some kind of rocket launcher - his mask gunsights already zeroing in on the human holding it and the others that stood near him and fired a barrage of plasma in their direction. He saw them hit the ground as they either threw themselves to the floor or were shot down. At the same time, he was already pulling a smart disc, touching the control to arm it, and as he got near enough threw it hard at the knot of soldiers. There were screams as it sliced its way through flesh and embedded itself in the weapon, then he leapt backwards as the explosion turned the night sky yellow for an instant and shook the mountainside, destroying the weapon and the humans around it.
More gunfire was hammering down around him, driving him back towards the gorge.
Even through the haze of endorphins and adrenalin, Scar experienced a momentary whisper of doubt: if the humans had powerful enough ballistic weapons, they could seriously wound him or maybe even kill both him and Lex without ever having to get close: "I could go after them and kill them all or try to hold them off with my own firearms from here," He thought, "But the latter would leave Lex exposed and as for the former: the plasma cannon does not have a long enough range."
At that moment, a barrage of blueish-white light ruptured the night, shrieking over his head and into the darkness of the treeline.
Paulsson and Hernandez were still standing in the snowbound clearing at the foot of Eyrie Gorge.
"You know this sucks, right?" Paulson said for the hundredth time "I'm the one who tracked her down. Woods ought to be my collar, not some military dickwads'!"
"That's some real sophisticated vocabulary you got there, partner."
"Shitheads, then!" She said bitterly "Ostrowski would still be jerking off over six year-old CCTV pictures if I hadn't – "
She stopped short as they both heard the rumble overhead, the sound of thunder without the feel of rain in the air.
"What the hell was that?" Paulson looked around, frowning.
Hernandez was staring at the top of the falls "Either those military dickwads decided to let off some fireworks or they're using explosives!"
"Don't be ridiculous, they wouldn't use – "
Both of their head jerked upwards in surprise as a white and blue flash lit up the night sky above them, followed by a much deeper boom.
She squinted into the sky "What is that? An electrical storm?"
She looked at Hernandez and could see the puzzlement on his face "There aren't any clouds in this sky!"
"Then what in the name of ever-living fuck is going on up there?!"
Scar heard cries of dismay and pain as the forest burst into flame, and he realised that had been a shot from the Chameleon. One of his sons must have fired the ships' cannons. As the roaring of the flames and screams of his enemies signalled a sudden ceasefire, he heard Selim's voice through his mask comms "Mei'Savir! You must get back onboard!" Even through the crackly comms channel, Scar could hear the anxiety in his son's voice "They are preparing to launch more explosives against you and there are more humans with automatic weapons and explosives in the trees!"
Realising Selim was right, Scar knew he must not delay any more "If I stay longer, I risk either myself or Lex being injured, I must reacquire her and make my escape!"
He turned and saw her there standing in the river, near the edge of the falls. He had not really looked at her until this moment and now he felt again that powerful attraction, drawing him back. Then he noticed another human, a male, clutching at her hand and trying to pull her away.
Under his mask, Scar's eyes narrowed...
Ambrose hurried over to where Lex stood, hands still cuffed, knee deep in the freezing water. As he watched, she made a movement with her shoulders, manipulating something behind her back. When she raised both her hands, the handcuffs fell from her wrists, the metal sliced clean through. Ambrose stared; "How on Earth can those knives be able to cut through metal?"
Meanwhile, she was staring at the scene of carnage unfolding before her as if hypnotised.
"You came back." She breathed, it was almost a sigh.
"Of course I did!" Ambrose said, putting his hands on her shoulders.
She blinked rapidly, as if confused, "Ambrose – what are you still doing here?!" She said, "I told you to get far away from me, it's dangerous for you here!"
"It's dangerous for you, too!" He took one of her hands in his own, taking care to avoid the knives. All around them, he could smell the smoke and hear the screams of pain and terror. At their feet, the Lacrimosa ran red with blood.
"Lex, come on!" He said urgently, dragging at her hand "We have to get out of here!"
"I can't go with you." Her voice seemed to be coming from far away.
"You can!" He pulled at her again, "I don't know what you were planning to do here, but whatever it was, it's not worth your life!"
"I can't go with you." She said again.
He jumped as a howl of blue and white light split the sky, slamming into the forest like the wrath of gods. Behind him, trees burst into yellow and orange flames. Her dark eyes seemed to burn with an unholy fire as they reflected the flames that were now roaring through the forest.
He felt her grip his hands tightly, "You need to get away from here, James!" She said, snapping back to the present again and staring into his face, "You need to go – get back down the path, right now!"
"I'm not going to leave you here!" He put a hand on either side of her face, having to shout as another barrage of lightning screamed across the sky above them, "Lex, whatever happened to your children, whatever else you may be running from, your life is still precious. I won't leave you here to die!"
"You don't understand." Her voice was strange, "I have to get away from here."
"Then we will!" He seized on her words like a lifeline, "Come with me Lex, and we'll get far away, I promise!"
She didn't answer, instead she looked up and past him, at something behind him. Ambrose turned instinctively to see the river creature towering over them, outlined against the burning forest. Surprising even himself, Ambrose spread his arms to bar its path, "No!" He cried, then yelled over his shoulder "Lex! Run!"
At his words the thing growled, the sound much deeper and somehow nastier than anything Ambrose had ever heard coming from an animal. It seized him by the throat, lifting him until his eyes were level with its own. Then it stepped to the cliff edge and extended its arm, holding him over the gorge with one hand. Ambrose gasped and choked as he felt thin air beneath him; the terrible sucking nothingness of the drop. Uselessly, he kicked his legs, unable to break away, both hands gripping the creature's wrist in a vain attempt to wrest back some semblance of control. Until this moment, he had never really known what it was to be mortally afraid. He stared into the glowering, masked face, wondering if it would be the last thing he'd ever see.
Through the blood pummelling in his ears, he heard Lex's voice.
"Don't hurt him, Scar." she said.
A little shock ran through Ambrose at her words, but if that was indeed the creature's name, it did not acknowledge what she had said. If anything, its growl intensified.
"He was helping me." She said, "Put him down. Right now!"
The growl died as the masked face turned towards her.
"Scar!"
Reluctantly, the creature yanked Ambrose back from the drop, onto solid ground, and set him on the rocks, not letting go of the clothes at his throat. It brought his face close to its own. The slaughterhouse smell of fresh blood clung to it and a burnt chemical smell too.
"Rrrrun away." It said, in a voice like the torture of metal.
Then it let him go and he stumbled backwards. Ignoring him, as if he were of no further consequence, the creature held out its hand, "Lex, come with me." It commanded.
Ambrose watched in astonishment as she sheathed her own blades and then… took a trance-like step towards the creature, her hand stretching out slowly. Desperately, Ambrose lunged and grasped her wrist, trying to pull her backwards "Lex, no! It killed all those people!"
She was already within arm's length of it now, as the gale intensified around them again, the heat and the noise almost unbearable.
"Lex!" The creature bellowed at her over the howling of the wind, "We must go, now!" It thrust its hand towards her again, clawed fingers flexing.
"Don't do this!" Ambrose hung onto her wrist "Lex, you don't have to go with him!"
Her black eyes turned back to him. Ambrose felt his heart sink at the expression in them.
"Yes, I do." She said, "He's got my children."
In that moment she pulled free of his grasp and stepped forward, placing her hand in the thing's outstretched claws. Instantly the taloned fingers closed around hers and the creature pulled her towards him, snatching her up jealously in his huge arms. Gunfire began to spatter the rocks around them as he turned and ran towards the sheer drop, crossing the distance to the edge in a few strides, bullets tearing up the ground where he had been standing seconds before. Ambrose watched, powerless, as the creature leapt off into oblivion with Lex still clutched against his chest. Her hair streamed upwards as they fell, disappearing down and further down, until they were swallowed up by the darkness.
Ambrose dived forward, throwing himself down at the edge of the precipice so he could look down into the ravine. Lex and the creature were gone. There was nothing but a long drop into shadow. As he lay there, the hurricane roar continued to get stronger and louder, flattening him against the rocks. The searing blast of the gale tore at him, scalding his face, almost too hot to bear. He got the sense of movement, something accelerating past him at a phenomenal speed, and then suddenly the heat faded and the frosted chill of winter flowed back in once more, the hysterical shriek of the wind dropping to a low moan.
Then he was suddenly alone on the clifftop, gazing down at the white water of the Lacrimosa as it poured itself away endlessly into the depths.
"It was real," He muttered to himself, "She isn't delusional, it was all real!"
I'm putting this chapter up a little bit later than usual, as it's been a busy weekend.
Lovydovy7 & lexia the beautiful wolf, I know it's been a long time coming, so I hope it's worth the wait!
Love n hugs,
ScifiTrash x