Silverbird, p.45
Silverbird, page 45
Storm’s blood ran cold.
“Rex.”
“I’ll see you soon, Storm.”
And then the whole facility went dark.
28
Hrimfald, Svartisen, Meløy, Norway.
Storm’s blood thundered in her ears as she stood in the darkness, paralysed in fear and horror. Her chest tightened, her mind raced, and she held her spear tight.
Beth? What had happened to Beth? What was happening? What had the Rioteers done? Had Rex discovered what they had? Had he taken Raoul and the others hostage? Did he know? What had Rex done to Beth? If he had hurt her she would make sure he wouldn’t even be able to crawl away from ARCDA.
Out!
Get out!
We have to go!
“We need to move!” She whispered hoarsely, struggling to breathe against the panic attack that had taken hold of her. Forcing her wings out, she brushed them across the other Rogues, searching for their presence in the darkness. She counted five of them.
A dull blue glow began to shine down from the emergency lights, getting brighter but still making it difficult to see, however at least she could now make the distinction between shapes.
“What the fuck is this?” Amell breathed behind her. Storm turned.
The Rogues were glowing- no- fluorescing under the brightening indigo light. It was enough to snap her back into focus, away from the panic attack as she and the others all stared.
White feathers had become a gradient of bright white to flashy raspberry pink. The darker iridescent colours on Wilny’s wings were now violently neon yellow-green as he moved, whilst the lighter blues were almost white. The same effect occurred for Kat, the blues of her wings now blindingly neon, but revealing hidden red eyelets on the backs of her secondaries that were invisible under regular circumstances and turning the crimson feathers to a flaming orange. Even Nil and Zero with their white wings were fluorescing like lightbulbs and illuminating the area brightly.
Storm looked at her own feathers. Each quill of her flight feathers was a streak of light, the white undersides now a pale turquoise with subtle hues of lilac and rose, whilst the usually slate-grey feathers with their silver edging an unnatural violet-black that seemed to absorb all light disrupted only by glowing ice-white vignettes around each feather.
“Ultraviolet lights.” Wilny noted, the least surprised of them all at the vibrancy they were now experiencing. “We’re going to have a tough time staying hidden now.”
Their skin was also affected, giving it an eerie violet glow, with only Amell remaining shadowy in the dark-light. Nil and Zero cocked their heads at one another, scars along their bodies being lit up in a strange cyan-white light and hidden freckles becoming black.
Storm examined her hands. She was tiger striped, she realised, as faint bands of black streaked across her skin edged with the strange violet light, and like Nil and Zero, every scar she had ever gained was lit up in white.
She shifted uncomfortably as Kat stared at her. Hidden freckles now glowed golden-orange across Kat’s face, her darkened hair streaked with yellow and her eyes solidly black as they absorbed the light.
“We look like we’ve come from a party.” Kat tried to joke and smile, fangs luminously white. The edge of fear to her voice was undeniable. She had heard what Rex had said too. She was scared for Beth.
The panic returned.
Out!
Now!
Need to get out!
“We need to move.” Said Storm. Spreading her wings wide she ushered gently for Nil and Zero to keep close but to move, bobbing her head for Kat to lead the way as Amell took the rear.
They passed through the corridors quickly. The electrical hum of the generators kept on rising and falling, every time they faltered and failed to work. There were dim white lights that flickered on and off with the power, alternating their vision between ultraviolet and ordinary light. It was sickening really, their eyes struggled to adjust to the transitioning lights, but they weren’t the only ones struggling. The new light had awoken a lot of the detainees in their cells, and behind the now dulled out glass they could see faint neon glows of fluorescing Synths and hear the irritated snarls and growls as they tried to return to sleep. It was hard to not look at them.
“Oh fuck.” Amell stumbled, catching hold of Wilny’s shoulder to steady himself as he tried to keep up. “I can’t see shit. I’m getting a migraine.”
“The UV messes with your depth perception.”
“Why would they have this?” His feathers bristled, the violet sheen he had to them now a vivid raspberry colour under the ultraviolets.
A deep growl came from up ahead. Kat froze, blades up and wings flaring wide, the vermillion red a bright and fiery warning in the semi-darkness. A scrape of scales on marble echoed through the hallway, as several wandering critters approached.
Under the UV Light, both the Febris and all of the smaller Amit were now illuminated. The original mottled colours were dark and dull and yet all of their bones, its skull, its ribs, were fluorescing turquoise beneath their skin, with rosettes of orange and green across the membrane of its wings with the dewlaps of the Amit a bright and eyewatering neon yellow. When the patrol lights flickered on, the neon colours vanished, and they were once again their natural colours.
They regarded the Avios with initial curiosity, then with a snort and a sniff in the air, long cobalt-coloured tongues flicking out at them. Seemingly satisfied, the huge crocodile-dragon Febris plodded on, leading the little butterfly-coloured Amit forward as they stayed beneath the protection of its huge wings as the Febris shoved its way through a security door with its snout.
“That’s why.” Said Wilny, swallowing nervously. “You can’t camouflage if you glow.”
“They’re out!” Amell hissed. He gripped hold of Wilny’s arm, shaking. “How are they out?”
“Someone must have disabled all the security locks.”
“Or whatever happened with the power has stopped them working.” Offered Storm as she approached the enclosure of a nearby critter and stared in to find the area where the airlock was. The door, although hidden amongst the foliage, was very clearly wide open and led straight through into the void of the backstage.
Kat frowned and strode over to a security door. With a gentle push it swung open with no resistance.
The doors were all open. The critters could get out.
“You say that Febris hunts sick or dead things? We should be just fine then, right?” Storm asked Amell, but Amell was pale faced and shaking.
“No. No, no, no, no. They can’t know the power’s off! They can’t be out!”
“Amell?”
“We need to go! They can’t be out!” He rasped, struggling to breathe as he held Wilny tight and let his wings beat in panic. “We need to go!”
Wilny was worried, he held Amell’s shoulders and with Storm’s help, lowered him onto the floor before his knees gave out from beneath him. They’d never seen Amell in such a state.
“Bro.” Wilny said softly, mantling his glossy wings about Amell. “Come on bro, slow breathing. Stay with us.”
Nil and Zero looked to one another as they watched Kat’s ears flick. She could feel them muse, the clear sensation of emotions and sentiments shared, their musing field wide and sensitive. Their body language changed, quick and alert as Kat arched her wings. Wilny perked up too, catching the thoughts.
“Get back! They say get back!” He ordered as the twins retreated with a raptorial hiss and flourish of their wings. Not needing to be told twice, Amell grabbed Wilny and pulled him back, arcing his wings around the Rogues and keeping a tight hold on them as he tried not to tremble.
The patrol lights flickered between white and indigo-violet, casting a shadow on the wall, further down along the hallway round the corner to another enclosure. Storm thought at first to be the shadow of a Raptor, but the sound it made set her hackles prickling. A horrifying and bloodcurdling noise, somewhere between a scream and a howl that echoed menacingly through the halls. It was absolutely not the sound of a Raptor.
Storm made a soft movement to peek around the corner, but she was dragged back by the twins. Their talons locked around her arms and wings, restraining her.
‘Why?’ She mused to them.
‘No. This one’s bad.’ They responded.
“Hello?”
A sharp fearful jolt ran up the length of Storm’s spine as Nil’s talons gripped her arm ever tighter. It sounded like a little girl, but there was something in the way it was said that sounded very, very, wrong.
“Hello?” The voice repeated. “Who is there?”
There was a firm tickle across the back of her skull as all three musers made them invisible to anyone who came close. It must have been a silent and quick decision as it happened so fast that Storm felt immediately unsettled and nauseous at the outnumbered sensation but also at the smell.
It was putrid. Faecal matter, urine, leathery rotten decay, and hot breath.
The shadow moved, a gentle leathery rustle followed by a sudden snort and the click of something hard tapping on the ground. The tingling sensation became almost unbearable as the twins tried even harder to increase their invisibility to all around them.
‘We are not here. Don’t look. No smell. Nothing here.’ She could hear them all musing anxiously. Fear and scales and teeth and – ‘don’t look here, don’t look’ – boots stomping, doors swinging open - ‘I hear that, do you?’ – Lioness ears flicking and twitching - rough textures and sharp noises – ‘They can’t come this way!’ – ‘Look out!’
“Who’s there?” The voice said again, but an echo followed it, speaking in the same tone as the first. Closer this time. Just around the corner. The putrid smell got stronger.
The sound of feet pounding on the hallways came from the corridor opposite the shadow grew louder and louder. Several people, at least five by Kat’s counting, all out of breath with panic and confusion. The group of Rioteers skidded to a halt with a tumble of feet and gear.
At least the Rioteers hadn’t all left them in the facility, Storm thought at first, but then clenched her jaw as she realised that Rex could have very easily just abandoned them too.
Collateral damage.
“Who’s there?” The said the voice, but then it sounded like several different voices of several different people. “Who- who is- What is- there? Is it friendly?”
“Show yourself!” Called out one of the Rioteers. “Rouges, are you there? Come out!”
“Come out!”
It echoed the Rioteer’s voice perfectly.
“What is- What the fuck!”
“Shoot them!”
“Shoot!”
The creatures flashed past them in a blur of grey-brown, flashing turquoise under the ultraviolet light, letting out the shrieking howl they had heard before. A trio of quick and huge critters, large as Raptors with a streaming tail like a catfish’s fins, that was all Storm managed to glimpse of them. The Rioteers screeched as they charged.
The sound of a chase and a fight ensued. Snapping beaks and cracking bones, ripping through fabric and tossing heavy bodies into the ground as the Rioteers screamed and let fly several shots at the creatures. Chaotic and violent. It was all over in a matter of seconds, the shots fired hitting something leathery and the creatures shrieking off down the hallway in a mad flurry.
The silence that followed was sickening.
Nil released her shoulder and with a shuddering whine dropped to his knees.
“What…” Storm gulped, swallowing down a much-needed breath, “What the fuck was that?”
Every single one of them was stood petrified in shock, but Amell was the worst affected of them all. She looked slowly up to Amell, still protectively holding Wilny tight in his arms. His eyes were wide and unseeing. Tears of terror gleamed in the low light, and he struggled to keep his breath steady.
“Katari-Amaru.” He choked on the name. “They have a fucking Kata. Here.”
“Amell?”
He gave a fragile gesture to the habitat information board as they followed Storm’s shadow around the corner. The huge wrecked and messy enclosure stood empty and stinking of its previous occupants. Shed skin lay in clumps on the floor, eggshells the colour of rock were smashed open amongst the rot and bones, claw marks and scratches covered the thick viewing glass, and the huge twenty-foot-tall airlock door towards the back of the enclosure was wide open, where the Febris and its little flock of Amit surfaced to feast upon the decay. She turned to the glowing display board.
Carnigathia errovenatrix | Katari-Amaru
‘The Katari is a prototype-synthasaurid developed by Core and Atlas as a hypercarnivore, based upon the genome of the Galiana. It’s production was not authorised and thus the test population has been culled to this lone remaining individual. All engagement with the Katari are to be prior authorised by the governor due to unforeseen comprehension skills. Studies of its parthenogenesis and cognitive development have shown promising results for an improved version-’
She gave up reading the rest as her nose twitched at the scent of fresh blood over the smell of rotten meat. Slowly, she looked back to where the critters had charged.
The Rioteers hadn’t stood a chance. It was true carnage.
Storm felt her stomach bottom-out, forced to look away from the body parts and gore as blood pooled black under the ultraviolet lights.
Nil and Zero beat their wings, churring and signing to one another. They were scared. Hands tugging on Storm’s arms, they wanted to run.
And run the Rogues did. If the Katari were still on the level with them, they didn’t want to be caught and torn apart too. Kat and Wilny may have been armed but they weren’t equipped to fight monsters.
Wings beating as they ran, they abandoned their stealth as they yelled and encouraged one another to keep going. Critters began to spill out into the hallways and emerge into the light and noise. Most darted away from them, others hissed and froze. With no Beth, they struggled to find their way in the maze of flashing lights and creatures. With no Beth, they didn’t know what was ahead.
“People!” Kat’s ears flicked back and forth alertly.
The Rogues skidded to a hesitant stop, awaiting Kat’s verdict as she took the lead, a knife drawn and ready. She pounced forward with a snarl. Rioteers shrieked and recoiled but did not shoot.
Never had Storm be more relieved to see Rioteers. Nil and Zero on the other hand, were less happy. Their feathers bristled and roused and the arched their wings and backs like angry cats at the Rioteers, sticking close to Storm’s side.
Beneath his mask, what was visible of Owen’s face was pale. Grey eyes wide with horror.
“Storm!” Owen rushed in quickly. “Storm! Storm what the fuck was that about? We didn’t even reach the server room. Is this a retreat? What’s happening?”
“Rex didn’t tell you?” Storm frowned. If the Rioteers ever needed to retreat, it would have been made clear, especially to Owen. He was one of Rex’s right-hand men.
“Did Rex just abandon us? What was that scream?”
“I don’t know, but we need to leave.”
“We tried our exit route already. The way was sealed off and Beth isn’t responding to open it. I haven’t heard from the Echo team.”
“They’re dead.” Kat said flatly. “Critters killed them.”
Owen remained still, shocked at the news. His team behind him tightened the grip of their weapons, nervous. With a beat of her wings, Storm started walking. They needed to move, they couldn’t just stand around waiting for the Katari to find them.
“Contact the Zeta team.” Owen ordered his team as he gestured for them all to follow Storm. “Tell them that we need an emergency evacuation from the antechamber. Get all remaining teams to reconvene there.”
“We can’t. We only had communications with our technicians.”
“You can’t radio the other teams?” Storm asked.
“No. The signal in here is terrible. The closer we get to the surface and open locations, the better it is.”
“Then we need to go.”
Keeping together, they navigated their way towards the stairs. If they could find the stairs, they could head up a level. Minutes felt like hours. Every little noise and scuttle of claws on the polished floor had them flinching and readying to fight. Musing to the Rogues and twins, Wilny was worried.
‘There’s been no response to all this. There should have been an army of Elites charging through by now.’
‘The place is huge, maybe they’re tackling another part first.’
‘Or maybe, they don’t want to send them in because they know what’s down here.’
Breaking out into the next zone, a familiar landmark got them hopeful. The display with the Inkari.
“We’re nearly there.” Kat breathed. She quickened her pace, recalling the path they had taken. The main antechamber would be on the other side of the dioramas of the Inkari and Quetzal. They would be out soon.
The Rogues and Rioteers started to run to keep up with Kat as she took the lead on their final approach. But then the critter swung its head round at them, and Kat screamed in surprise.
This critter was alive.
It moved away from the diorama it had been inspecting and swung its huge head about to face them, its yellow eyes bright under the ultraviolet lights that flashed and flickered. It approached. Long narrow jaws bared a mouthful of serrated teeth with a vivid blue forked tongue flicking forward to scent them, whilst a spined tail swung from side to side behind it.
Owen lifted his hand, a silent gesture for the Rioteers to ready their weapons.
“Don’t shoot.” Amell warned, wings flaring wide. A wave of calm washed across his face. He knew what to do. “Keep slow and together.”
The gigantic lizard-like critter rocked back onto its haunches, towering several meters over them and made a deep rumbling bellow as it fanned out a huge neck frill. It looked like a gaping maw of red, white, black, and yellow outside of the very real teeth that were bared at them.
“Kat. Storm. Hold your wings out. Wilny, check behind us for any other critters. Rioteers, keep behind our wings.” Amell kept his wings wide. Wilny looked startled.
