Valkeryn 2: The Dark Lands (15 page)

Atom slid past his leg, forgiving him for his previous sudden movement. He reached down and ran a hand along its back, and smiled. The cat looked up, its golden eyes half lidded, worldly-wise.

Singh nodded to it. ‘Yes, I know. I think we’re all going on a trip soon, my friend – whether we like it or not.’

Chapter 19

The Time of Change was Coming

Fen lay on his side with his eyes closed until he heard the hiss of the laboratory doors shutting.

Sitting up, he stretched, and then stood.  Standing on his hind legs was becoming easier; the genetic enhancements had lengthened and straightened his bones and ligaments, and even altered the curve of his pelvic structure. For all intents and purposes he was now a biped, and all his offspring would share in the trait.

He also had other new abilities, having lost none of his existing characteristics. He lifted his head and sniffed. He could sense the changes in the atmosphere, and the rising radiation count was as obvious to his extraordinary senses as the rumbling of distant thunder was to the humans.

He reached through the door bars and entered the security code in the electronic lock. His finger-like claws had become more dexterous as they had lengthened. The door opened outwards soundlessly and he walked down the sterile-white corridor, past other barred chambers, each holding more of the Guardians – the altered security animals – his kind, his… people. All of them sat watching him. They had been waiting for him. He turned and nodded to each, and they in turn stood as he walked by.

He spoke softly to them – they all understood, and all were ready.

Fen was the largest and first of the true Guardians. He was unique, the scientists first successful test subject for a genetically-modified animal designed for combat and deep solar system space missions of the future. Strong, intelligent, agile and confident, bioengineered with a human physiology and intelligence.

In some ways, he was superior to his creators, as he still carried his canine characteristics but they were complemented by the elements of mankind. He also now carried a genetic resilience to high radiation. This meant Fen and his Guardians were armor-plated against the gamma and x-rays from the huge gravity distortion affecting the rest of the State.

He continued down the long corridor, knowing he could unlock all the doors when the time came, and free his ‘people’. Reaching the end of the white tunnel he came to the sealed and fortified red chamber – Red Room 12, the experimental laboratory – where secondary biological life forms were tested for suitability. All had failed, their enhanced physiology and psychology proving too unstable or too dangerous for further test progress.

Standing high, Fen was able to bring his face close to the triangular glass panel in the red door and peer into the room. Beyond, there were further sealed chambers. They were quiet for now, but he knew there would be eyes in the dark, watching him.

Towards the back, larger cages stood, and within the first ranks, several sets of luminous green eyes hung in the darkness, staring for an instant or two, and then pacing away, only to return and glare again. They were like the slinking yellow-eyed ones, the cunning ones, but these were much larger and more ferocious.

He sighed, misting the glass. When the time came he would need to think about whether he would release these creatures. He was torn. He saw no good coming from their freedom, but he knew that in every creature there was a pure soul, and one day he might be able to unite them all under the creator’s great tree of life. He made eye contact with one of the creatures, holding the gaze for several seconds before it spun away. Perhaps he just needed
to work harder on these ones to reach them.

Fen lifted his head and peered down to the very rear of the darkened chamber. The largest cages of all were lined there; row upon row, all in shadow. Perhaps to keep the occupants comfortable or docile, or simply to hide the giant forms from the attending humans. Inside, the shape of the creatures loomed enormously. They already stood on hind legs, and as he watched, one stepped forward, its gaze on him. Three-inch long claws gently reached forward to grasp the cage bars. They tested their strength, the rods of iron bending outwards, but not enough to break. The stare returned. Fen felt a kinship in the gaze. Perhaps a balance could be struck with all the races after all.

Fen walked back along the corridor, stopping at one of the Guardian’s cages. The name on the door read ‘Erin’. He put his hand on the bars, looking in at her. She stood and came closer, her fingers wrapping around his. He nodded, and she squeezed his hand – he would lead, they would follow.

Back at his room, he pulled the door shut. He lifted his head again and sniffed – like a monstrous black storm that holds its breath for a second or two before unleashing a bone-jarring clap of thunder, he knew the ‘time’ of change was coming. He would be ready… they would be ready.

*

Chuck Benson, the Fermilab animal facility guard called over his shoulder without taking his eyes of the screen. ‘Hey Porter, get a load of this will ya. Check out big Fen, he’s doing his thing again.’

Benson leaned back and turned the flat panel screen so his colleague could watch as the big animal sauntered down the corridor, stopping at each room to stare inside for a few moments before moving on to the next.

Porter blew air through his lips. ‘Even if I see it a thousand times, it’ll still freak me out when they stand up like that. They look way too human.’

‘There’s a reason for that. I heard the docs talking; they used a mix of human and canine DNA when they made them.’ Benson moved the camera down to the end of the corridor. ‘Ah, I can’t help liking them. Besides, it doesn’t freak me out as much as those other weird things they keep locked up in Red Room 12. You seen the way those freaks look at ya? Don’t tell me they’re not thinking about a hundred different ways they’d like to rip you to shreds.  Just be grateful there’s only a few dozen of them. Imagine if there were an army – now that would be a world I wouldn’t want to live in.’

Porter turned back to his own work. ‘Don’t sweat it. I hear the Doc is about to issue a termination order on our Red Room guests.’

‘Good.’ Benson pushed his chair back. ‘C’mon, let’s go down and change the codes again. Not sure what good it will do, as it only takes Fen about an hour to work out the new ones.’ He turned and shrugged.

‘At least it keeps him occupied.’

Chapter 20

I Come to You in Peace

Becky Matthews had never felt so sick and scared in her life. She and Edward had been tied together with loops of course rope around their necks and their wrists bound behind their backs. Already, she could feel the rubbing rawness at her collar, and her shoulders ached worse than the time she had slipped in gym class.

They had been forced to stand together while her captors made camp, a pair of exhibits at a gruesome funfair while the monsters, large and small, prodded and poked at them. It was worse now that night had fallen; in the dark their eyes shone like devils – some yellow, red, some green, and always unblinking.

She burbled her tears as she tried to talk to them. ‘My father is rich. He’ll give you anything you want if you send me back to him.’

One of the small hooded creatures came over to lift one end of the trailing rope in front of her. It looked up, its mouth hanging open in what could have been a grin – or nothing more than the way the black slit under its almost non-existent nose normally looked. It yanked on the rope, making her yelp, and seemed to relish the pain it inflicted.

Behind her she heard Edward gag at the sudden tug. She half turned, but quickly snapped her head back, not wanting to look up at the lumbering things that stood just behind them. The biggest stood around nine feet tall, orange and black, like something from a horror movie. The huge mouths of the brutes seemed to be continually hanging open, as their huge chests pulled in great lungfuls of air through teeth as long as her fingers. To Becky, they looked angry, fearsome, and were dressed in armor that was inches thick and ground and clanked as they moved.

She sobbed again, and tried to wipe her face, as her nose was streaming down onto her chin. It was impossible the way her hands were bound, and she could do little more than smear her face on her shoulder. She turned to one of the horrible little goblins beside her and burbled weakly again.

‘What do you want from us?’

It stared and grinned for a moment, before simply ignoring her and walking on, in its weird gliding movement.

‘Give it up Becky, they don’t understand us. Something tells me, it’s not a handful of daddy’s greenbacks that’ll set us free, that’s for sure.’

She ground her teeth and yelled over her shoulder. ‘Shut up Edward; why don’t you try and help, instead of making fun of me?’

The small creature in front of her yanked again, making a wheezing sound in his throat, and grinning at the angry interaction between her and Edward. Becky smiled down at it, as you would to a child. ‘Hi there little one, I’m your friend. I want to help.’

She held her smile, even though she loathed them with every fibre of her being. The ugly thing continued to stare, always staring and staring with those horrible little piss-yellow eyes.

‘I came from Earth, and I come to you in peace.’

Behind her Edward cleared his throat. ‘They also come from Earth, and...’

This time when the yank came Becky was pulled off her feet, making her shirt ride up off her waist and exposing the handgun. The Panterran’s hand whipped out like a striking snake and pulled it free. He sniffed at it, waved it around and felt its weight in his small hand. The gun looked oversized and lethal in the tiny taloned fingers. With the safety engaged, even a few presses on the trigger had no effect – which was unfortunate as a few trigger pulls came while a deep examination of the barrel with one eye was taking place.

The goblin thing spoke to one of the giant lumbering brutes behind them, who stepped forward and cut Becky’s bonds from behind her back, freeing her arms only. He then handed her the gun, and made motions to her and the weapon – the implication was clear, how does it work?

Becky took the gun, and held it out in front of herself. She had it pointed directly at the small creature’s face.

‘Don’t do it.’ Edward whispered from behind her.

Her thumb flicked off the safety and she continued to point it. ‘Untie my neck, you little piece of shit.’

‘Don’t… do… it. They can’t understand you.’ Edwards voice was rising behind her.

‘Untie me now, or so help me god, I’ll put a bullet in your flat ugly face.’

‘Becky, please, whatta you going to do, shoot them all? And then we’re going to try and run out of here tied together like the human caterpillar? Think for a minute, goddammit.’

‘Shut up Edward.’ She continued to point the gun, the strain on her arms making it shake in her hands. Behind her, Edward was talking softly and slowly again.

‘Just… calm… down, Rebecca. Remember, Arn survived here, so we can too. Just take it easy, eeeeaaasy.’

She gritted her teeth, her face sweating as indecision washed over her. She might never get another chance, and she had no idea where they were headed, or what was in store.

She screamed her anguish and moved the gun slightly to the side, firing off a round into a tree. The small creature in front of her hissed and dived to the ground, and immediately confusion exploded all around them.

The huge Lygons roared and lunged, pinning both her and Edward to the ground. The gun was pulled from her hand, and when she opened her eyes, she saw that the goblin was once again holding the gun in his hands.

He had the weapon pointed at her, his fingers properly placed and safety still off. He grinned and moved the muzzle around, pointing it at another of his kind. He pulled the trigger, and the bullet blew the small target off its feet, and ten feet back across the small clearing. The shooter’s mouth dropped open, and after a few moments he spoke quickly to the huge beast that had one enormous foot pressed into her back. Immediately multiple hands commenced a rough search of her and Edward, the examination ripping their clothing to shreds and leaving them naked in the dirt.

Flashlights, Edward’s gun, empty water bottles, and anything else they had managed to bring was piled at the small goblin-like creature’s feet.

‘And now they have guns. Great.’ Edward lowered his head.

‘Shut up Edward.’ Becky sobbed again, but at least with her hands free she could wipe her nose.

Chapter 21

A Man-Kind for a Brother?

Arn and Grimson spent the night sheltered in amongst a small outcrop of broken boulders, and the pair was already following the riverbank in the pre-dawn glow. The ever-present fish kept pace with them. Arn took it as a good sign that there were no larger predators lurking in the depths.

‘I feel like the Pied Piper.’ The orange-silver fish glided beside them, one lidless eye always fixed on Arn and Grimson, as though willing one of them to renter the water.

‘Who?’ Grimson threw stones out into the centre of the pond. Sometimes the fish would race away to investigate, but would soon reappear to tag along.

‘He was a piper who saved Hamlin from a plague of mice.’

‘Mice?’ Grimson sped up to walk beside Arn.

‘Tiny creatures that live in holes in the wall.’

‘And this Hamlin needed saving from them?’ Grimson frowned up at him.

‘Yep, because there were lots and lots of them.’

Grimson nodded. ‘I bet the piper ate them all.’

‘Speaking of which.’ Arn slowed. The fish slowed with him. The school glided just below the surface of the clear water. Arn lifted a branch he had sharpened into a spear and launched it at a rather large one – a direct hit.

He had to dance down quickly, reaching out to lift the spear without entering the water, and also gathering it up before other fish picked it clean. He had eaten the muddy tasting flesh with relish many times now, and even managed to get Grimson to swallow a few slices, even though the cold, fishy meat was not to his taste.

The young Wolfen marched beside him, and for a while had been watching Arn’s face.