Splinter (Whisper Walker Series) (13 page)

“Drake! Gah! You startled the crap out of me.” She leaned back into me affectionately for a second. Then she rammed her elbow into my stomach, forcing me to back off so I could bend over to recover.

“What was that for!” I gasped.

“You just cost me hours of work! The adhesive was about to set up! Dammit.” She looked really irritated. Maybe I should have listened to Rebecca.

I gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry. I couldn’t control myself.”

She shook her head. “Whatever. Anyway. Now I’m going to have to work late. Thanks a lot. Why are you here, anyway?”

I kept my sorry expression on. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right after yesterday.”

Her fierce expression softened a little. “That’s sweet of you. I just wish you wouldn’t have startled me. I’m doing all right. Trying to not think about it.”

“Sorry, again. Will you be all right if I make a trip into the woods to get some materials for Rebecca? I’ll bring you dinner later if you’re going to work late.”

She stopped scowling at me altogether. “Well, dinner would be a way to help your situation. Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Then she turned back to her work and started trying to fix whatever I had just screwed up.

I jogged home to grab my gear, including a small shovel and a bag for the root. She wanted enough of it that I couldn’t carry it in my pockets.

“Hi, there. I said to a different new female guard than the one I’d seen the other night. This one was a tall and powerfully built one. Kind of a little like a guy. About as friendly looking as a rabid dog.

“Good day. Present identification and fill out this form here for exit through the Gate.” She extended a clipboard towards me.

“
Good day?”
I scoffed. “Who says that?” I wasn’t trying to be a dick. I just wanted a fun response, maybe a smile or something if I got really lucky.

She stared at me, stone-faced. Not so much as a frown or a scowl. I shrugged and headed to the Gate, calling over my shoulder, “I don’t have to fill that out. I’m Drake Adair.”

“Halt. Everyone fills out the form. You won’t be let out the Gate without it.” She made a move to try and stop me.

I quickly palmed my keycard and slid it into the lock. The Gate clicked open, and I slipped out, smiling over my shoulder at the girl. She was distraught and didn’t know what to do. My guess is she was new enough that she’d never seen anyone with a keycard besides guards or the Magistrate.

“Back in a bit,” I wheedled with a small wave. It was kind of fun to mess with her.

When I got farther from the Gate, I glanced back and saw her talking to Mica, a guard my age I’d been friends with since we were born. The new girl became animated as Mica filled her in on me.

Having had my fun screwing with the uptight new girl, I headed to my “stash.” Though, it really wasn’t a stash so much as knowing where to dig.

I arrived at the location directly outside of the cave that led to the subterranean passages that would take me to where I harvested Sticky Root. It was on the edge of a cliff. The ground beneath my feet dropped straight down for fifty meters to the crashing water of the ocean. The cave’s entrance was most of the way down the cliff, only just above the water at mid tide. I’d never actually seen more than a few sloshing waves make it in, but I didn’t want to be there long enough to see more.

At first glance, it would seem far easier to use a boat to paddle to the location. I’d tried it once, nearly dying when my boat was smashed against the rocks and then sucked under with the dangerous rip current. I’d only just jumped clear in time and landed on the rocks below the cliff. I’d had to climb the whole way up the cliff without a rope or tools or anything. Now I just saved myself the trouble and tied a rope off at the top and climbed down.

My custom with something like this, where I was protecting a secret, was to do a search of the area to ensure no lurkers were around. Also to check if I’d been followed. It would really suck if someone cut my rope while I was using it. I didn’t expect anything, and that’s nearly what got me killed.

Coming around a thick set of trees above the cave, a large mutant cat lunged at me, almost knocking me to the ground. My quick reaction, so quick that it surprised me, is the only thing that saved me. The impact when I slammed into the base of a tree knocked loose my Walther P99, forty-caliber pistol. It thudded into the debris that covered most of the forest floor. The cat lunged at me again.

I rolled right, a whole lot faster than I knew myself to be capable of, snatched up my gun, lined it up between the cat’s eyes, and pulled the trigger.

The boom of the gun made me wince as the shot echoed off the trees around me and traveled into the distance. So much for keeping a low profile. The mutated feline had fallen just to the side of me, a smoking hole the size of my fist in the center of its head. This one hadn’t been too far “gone.” It probably had just been bitten or eaten something contaminated only a few weeks before. It still had some of its fur, though clumps were missing. Both of the eyes were okay other than seepage around the lids. Much longer and the eyes would have likely been white or black. The skin on the torso had only recently started to bulge under the strain of the new muscles that were modifying and becoming grotesque and misshapen.

With a hapless shake of my head, I brushed myself off and did a thorough inspection for cuts or wounds that could’ve been caused by the cat. Finding none, I breathed a sigh of relief. Sometimes all it took was a cut from an infected. The smallest cut could spell the end for someone. Then, on the other hand, I’d had some pretty major chunks of flesh removed over the years and never gotten infected.

We had one herbalist in our Guild, and I didn’t get along with her at all. So if I’d gotten infected, I’m not sure she would’ve even helped me out. Therefore, I did everything I could to avoid going to her.

After finishing my search of the area, it was finally time to begin my descent to the cave entrance.

In my pack there was a thin but stout line that I used for a rope. It was nearly the same color as the rock that composed the cliff. I’d chosen it for that reason. If it blended in, it was less likely to give me away and harder for someone to find and cut.

After securing it to a tree, I wrapped the rope around one leg and clipped a contraption onto the rope that I held on to that allowed me to control my descent. With one last gear check, I stepped over the side of the cliff and smoothly slid down to the cave, occasionally pushing off from the dark grey rock on my way down.

Once I was safely inside the cave opening, which was just tall enough for me to stand up straight, I tied the rope off to a rock near the opening to keep it from swinging too far out. If the wind picked up, which was likely due to the cave’s proximity to the water, the last thing I wanted was to be stuck trying to get ahold of a rope blowing out into the wind far out of my reach.

Four meters in, the cave abruptly turned right and started angling down. I clicked on my light, watching the dust and sediment dancing in the light from the beam. Continuing on, I unsheathed a large knife and kept it in my right hand, light in the left. One never knew what they would run into down here. Because of its challenging location, I doubted there would be anything in here. But I’ve been surprised before.

After five minutes, I reached a point where the passage split. The right side shrunk down to a hole barely large enough for my shoulders. I’d never ventured down it for fear of getting trapped. The left passage got smaller, but was still navigable. Once, I’d pressed through it, trying to find if it would open up. After maybe ten minutes, I’d given up and come back out. Luckily, I didn’t have to go down either passage to get the Sticky Root.

I slung my pack around my shoulder so I could get my small folding shovel out. As I did, ice-cold fingers seemed to clamp on to my bicep. I yelped and jumped to the side, catching a flicker of paleness where I’d just been. But nothing else.

I shined my light around, but didn’t see anything. I felt it though: them. Eyes were definitely watching me. But I’d come there to get Sticky Root, and I was going to do my best to get it. Even if I was freaking out.

I grabbed my shovel and furiously started cutting into the wall of the passage. This part of the tunnel was a mix of dirt and rock, much easier to dig in than just rock.

As I came upon the Sticky Root, I hacked pieces off with the sharp side of the shovel. Normally I’d use my knife for a better cut. But I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could.

The hairs on the back of my neck went to full panic mode as I was bowled over to the floor. The shovel was knocked out of my hand, but I managed to keep ahold of the light. There was a high-pitched shrieking sound echoing inside the tunnel now. I scrambled to my feet, seeing shadows darting around. Snatching up the shovel, I hacked off one last large piece of root and stuffed it and the shovel into my bag. I made it about two steps before I was tackled from behind. This time, by two of whatever they were. One grabbed me around the knees, the other hit my shoulders. I went down hard.

My light was knocked clear from my hand, skittering off down the slippery rock floor of the passage that branched to the right, where I couldn’t retrieve it. It had to have been pointed the wrong direction because it was doing nothing to illuminate the attackers on top of me.

Chunks of cool, wet rock that’d been knocked off the wall with my shovel dug into my chest muscles as I thrashed. Icy hands closed around my neck, and I threw an elbow back in hopes of hitting the weird apparition on top of me. There was no noise as I hit it, but I felt it slack off for a moment. Long enough for me to scramble to my feet.

I pinwheeled off down the dark passage, stumbling occasionally in my haste and the darkness. To say I was terrified was an understatement.

I heard strange noises behind me and tried to speed up. There, light ahead, indicating the cave’s entrance. I had no clue what I would do when I got out to my rope and was left unprotected while climbing a sheer cliff.

Something grabbed hold of the pack on my back, yanking me off my feet. I went down swinging, doing my best to keep my head while reaching for a knife. As I went down, I put the hand not holding the knife down to help put my downward momentum to good use in flipping me over.

Finally, I came face to face with my attacker in the light from the cave’s opening. Which should’ve made me feel better since I wasn’t fighting blind anymore. And it would have, providing I knew what it was.

It was pale and looked somewhat human, but wasn’t anymore. It wasn’t a mutant like anything I’d ever seen. The strangest part was that it barely seemed corporeal. As it swung at me, its eyes flashed, and the whole body flickered invisible for a split second.

Caught off guard, I rolled and stood back up and immediately swiped at it with my knife while it was off balance from swinging at me.

My razor-sharp blade sliced straight through the torso of my attacker with absolutely no resistance and no noticeable effect. The pale “skin” simply parted to let the knife through and resealed upon its removal as if I’d swiped through smoke.

When I start to panic, I always feel better by talking loudly to whatever it is that’s freaking me out. It helps me keep my head, sometimes quite literally.

“Hey, that’s not very nice! What are you, by the way?”

All I got in return was a growl. Which was a start. I mean, I had no idea if whatever it was would be able to talk or at least make noises.

“What are you?” I paused in mid-question to dart to the side as it flew at me in defiance of gravity. It had its hand thrust straight for my chest in a half fist, more like it was reaching for something then striking at me. I moved so fast that I slammed into the cave wall, momentarily stunning myself. I’d never moved that fast in my life.

My surprise was enough for the creature to slam its fist into my chest. Instantly I felt icy cold from head to toe. My heart went numb, and it spread from there.

“Your father is the reason I’m dead, the reason I’m stuck here in this hole forever. He killed me, and now…I’m going to kill you.” My attacker’s voice was raspy and thin, like it hadn’t been used in a long time.

A blurred figure slammed into the human-like creature with its hand in my chest, knocking it away. The hand was ripped from my chest, and I drew in a gasping breath as the numbness left me staggering. I leaned against the cave wall for balance. Whatever it was that had saved me was grappling with my attacker. My rescuer had long, dark hair, though, leading me to believe it was a woman.

She turned to look at me for an instant, her dark eyes flashing. “Drake, get out of here!” she yelled as she was sucked back into the fight.

Not pausing to find out how she knew my name, or what she was, for that matter, I sheathed my knife and hurriedly untied my rope from the rock.

I grabbed onto the rope and swung out over the water. Belatedly, I realized that I’d forgotten to hook my climbing grips to the rope to make it easier to climb up. Too late now, I just sucked it up and bit back a grimace as the rope bit sharply into my hands as I started my ascent.

When I finally crawled up on top of the cliff, I breathed a large sigh of relief. Then I proceeded to check myself for any head trauma that would explain what I’d just witnessed. Finding nothing, and left with only minor bruises, scrapes, ripped clothing, and a residual icy sensation in my chest, I decided this would be one of the few secrets I kept from Kelsie.

Next, I checked my bag to ensure I hadn’t lost any of my precious cargo because I was definitely
not
going back down there for a long time. At least not until I figured out what on earth those things were. They were most definitely not natural. But they didn’t seem to be mutants either. I shuddered remembering the hand inside my chest, like it’d been gripping my heart.

Unconsciously, my right hand rubbed where the arm had gone in, like that would make the uncomfortable sensation go away. It didn’t work.

I waited a few minutes just in case whatever it was that had saved me needed my rope to get out. Then, shrugging, I coiled it up and stowed it in my pack, heading off on a different route from how I’d come. I didn’t want to go in the same Gate I’d come out.