TH - Chapter 39 - Fourteen

“Run! Back to the APC!” Emily screamed.

Some part of me knew that I should be terrified right now, staring down one of the largest antithesis I’d ever seen, but I wasn’t. Instead of panicking, I whipped out my sword and removed the closest half dozen legs, before slipping between the closest stack of cargo containers. Did the reaction speed implant suppress my fears? I’d have to ask Artymis later.

Instead of bolting after the team, which was probably the smarter idea, I retreated further into the complex. The Seventeen was after me, not the team, so I needed to lead its pet monster away from the others if they were to have a prayer of surviving. 

I just stepped into the next aisle when the Fourteen burst into motion. It smashed through the container stack behind me, sending the tiny compact homes flying. 

[Artymis how will that thing track me? Sight? Smell? Can I avoid it?] I wrote frantically as I ducked between another set of containers.

Fourteens are tanks, and transports. There are typically other smaller models around performing the hunting.

[That’s good…]

Instead it’ll probably just thrash about, randomly knock down containers and try and kill you through the collateral damage. 

Just as Artymis said that the stack across from me collapsed as the Fourteen charged through. The massive containers neither slowed it down, nor hurt it when they fell, it just pushed through straight into the stack behind it.

[Not going to take long for it to completely wreck this place at this rate. Do I have access to anything that can even hurt that thing?]

Besides your sword? No. The enzymes work if the target is small enough, if the target’s dead, or you manage to inject it into their core, but anything larger than a Three will take an excessively long time to die to external exposure.

“Well, shit,” I muttered under my breath. I glanced around the edge of the nearest container and watched as the Fourteen reached the edge of the building. It had run directly through half a dozen stacks without slowing down, but now it seemed to be looking around, searching for a target. I bit my lip as I stared at the oversized centipede, if I didn’t get its attention soon it would probably go after Emily and the rest of the team. Or rush the APC and go after Skyler.

I grabbed the nearest container door, opened it then slammed it as hard as I could. I could hear the Fourteen turn, shedding containers as it did, but I was already booking it towards the next stack. As I darted around the corner, containers began to fly, as the Fourteen rampaged towards my previous location. 

I couldn’t keep this up forever, there weren’t that many stacks left. As it rushed past my hiding place I saw a flash, just for a moment, at the back of its neck. A nerve bundle. 

{Rei: I’m in trouble. Stuck in the residential stacks with a rampaging Fourteen. I don’t see a way out.}

{Sky: The fuck? What happened to the Seventeen?}

{Rei: It fucking booked it out the back and it’s puppet cut us off. The team is heading back to you, but the Fourteen seems dead set on crushing me. Can you blow through the roof? Land some rounds on it?}

{Sky: Not without bringing the entire place down, there’s like four floors above you. Get out of there!}

{Rei: I will, just as soon as the others are clear. If you can’t help me, keep an eye out for the Seventeen, we can’t let that fucking thing get away.}

{Sky: Reina, don’t be stupid! Get out of there!}

{Rei: Gotta go.} 

I cut the line and poked my head out to take a look at the Fourteen. The big bastard hadn’t gone all the way to the wall, but stopped after taking out the container I’d been banging on before. The way to the exit had been completely blocked by the collapsed containers, so I was probably going to have to climb them to get out. Probably not a smart idea to try it while the Fourteen was still running around.

When the behemoth shifted, causing a couple containers to slide off its back, I realized I made a mistake. It may not be an apex predator, but it still had eyes, and I’d exposed myself for far too long. The Fourteen charged again, this time directly towards my location. I briefly considered sprinting away, back down the aisle, but chances are if I did that I’d either get crushed by the Fourteen or the falling containers, so I did something stupid.

I moved towards the Fourteen and, at the last second, dodged to the side and sliced off another half dozen limbs before it could react. Unlike the previous strike, this one had serious consequences. The Fourteen’s head smashed to the floor, unable to support the weight but it kept moving forward, driven by both inertia and the remaining legs on the body. It slammed into the massive tower of containers behind me, and I had to sprint forward to avoid getting crushed. 

For a moment everything was quiet. I considered making a run for it but considering that half the creatures’ bulk was still buried in the stack in front of me, I hesitated. Then the Fourteen shifted, pushed forward. I had to throw myself to the side again as the back legs scrambled wildly, struggling to find purchase and push the damaged front forward. It took a minute, but it finally pushed past me. 

The creature made a wide left turn, which was probably the only turn it was capable of making with the front damaged, and made another pass at me. The thing probably would have been easy to dodge if it wasn’t pushing a massive wave of containers around as it thrashed. One of the containers slid off the pile and landed on my right, just barely missing me. Unfortunately it also cut me off from an easy escape, forcing me to dive to my left, closer to the Fourteen’s body. 

As the insectoid legs churned past me, I realized I was in trouble. I was caught between the front of the creature, which could only turn towards me, and the back. If I didn’t do something soon it would crush me sooner or later. 

As it trampled around me, doing its best to crush me I struck out with my sword, taking out legs and plunging my blade deep into the carapace where I could. It barely slowed the thing down. 

Just as the armored walls of the Fourteen closed in around me something happened. There was an explosion outside, which caused the Fourteen stop in place and spasm, like it was in pain.

{Sky: I got the Seventeen! It was trying to escape out the back, but I got it!}

{Arty: The neural link has been severed! If you’re going to do something, you need to act now before it recovers its facilities!}

As I turned, looking for a way out of my thrashing prison walls, I noticed the creature’s head not too far away. I didn’t hesitate, I sliced deeply into the head multiple times, causing it to split open and dump green blood and viscera on me.

That’s not going to be enough. The Fourteen’s body is too thick, you’re not getting deep enough to do real damage.

I stepped back, considered using my swords extension feature, but then I got another idea.

[Give me needlers, a lot of them, armed!]

I don’t…

[Now!]

The creature's seizures were slowing, it was regaining control of itself, so when the bandolier of grenades appeared at my feet I grabbed the entire thing and shoved it shoulder deep into the Fourteen’s head.

I didn’t hear them pop, but I saw the results. The inside of its head began to liquify, causing it to perform one last massive spasm, then lay still. 

You should have just used the extended blade!

[I considered it, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to hit the brain, or fully behead it, before it recovered.]

So you thrust your arm inside its head to deliver enzymes directly to the brain? 

[It worked,] I replied with a sigh.

{Sky: Rei? Why haven’t you replied to me yet? What’s going on?}

I flipped channels. 

{Rei: I’m fine, and the Fourteen is dead. It had some sort of seizure when the Seventeen died.} 

The Fourteen’s head had dissolved just enough for me to squeeze past, and navigate through the rest of its labyrinthian body. When I finally escaped its confines I was confronted by a mound of toppled containers. 

{Rei: It’ll take me a couple minutes to find my way through here, but I’m on my way out.}

{Sky: Once your back let’s head back. It’s been one hell of a night and I don’t think I have the energy to keep going like this.}

I stared at the dead Fourteen for a moment before replying. {Rei: I can’t say I disagree}