Niko Read online

  Chapter 6

  Duc hovered over her protectively as Niko’s face hung inches from the layer of salt that kept the acid from eating holes into the concrete.

  She turned her face away and caught sight of Duc’s eyes. One of his black eyes had flickered blue.

  Something fell to the ground with a wet crunch.

  “What are you guys?” Niko whispered.

  Duc straightened, his grip on her arm pulling her up too. “We are what we are. And nothing can change that.”

  A Slither lay still on the sidewalk. The impact had caused half its body to splatter and Malik danced away from it, spitting violently.

  “Ill, I got some of it in my mouth!” He spat again. “Gods, it tastes horrible.”

  Ben stepped forward and in two strokes chopped off the thing’s head.

  “On second thought,” Ari noted. “You’ll stay outside Malik just in case any more Slithers decide to drop out of the sky.”

  Malik grunted as he yanked his arrow from the Slither’s chest. “Don’t get killed.”

  “You too.” She pointed to the crowd. “Okay people, if you don’t want to become bastard pie, GET BACK.”

  The crowd obeyed instantly and Ari went inside followed by the rest of the Rose Circle.

  Inside, the building was bright and eerily quiet, the only sound being the thump of their boots as they charged in.

  “Good,” Ari said as they looked about the deserted hallway. “It looks like everyone’s following Protocol and staying inside.”

  There were two sets of stairs leading up to the next floor and they split into two groups, ready to pin the Slithers down between them.

  Niko entered the stairwell behind Ari. Some of the lights hadn’t been charged, turning the tower of stairs into a den of shadows.

  They mounted the stairs, pausing at each junction as Ari aimed her crossbow up the next flight. Each level seemed as quiet as the last, and if it was not for the Slither falling out of the sky, Niko would have wondered if there was an attack at all.

  “Why did Ben cut off the Slither’s head? The thing was already dead.”

  Ari peered up to the third floor. “Our poor plebeian audience doesn’t know what a dead Slither looks like. Decapitation is usually impressive enough to ease their fears.”

  She pressed herself against the fourth floor door and tilted her chin toward the ceiling. “You hear that Niko?”

  Niko did. Dull thumps came from the floor above them along with faint screams and the quiet shush-shush of someone being dragged.

  “You ready?” Ari asked with a grin.

  Niko tightened her sweaty grip on Toothy Too and nodded, her heart a steady thump in her ears.

  The fifth floor stairwell was disconcertingly bright and seemed to make the noises coming from beyond the door that much louder. Blood the exact shade of her dress leaked out from beneath the door.

  Ari tracked through it, leaving messy footprints. She crouched low, pressing her hand against the door. “I’ll lead. And please, please don’t get in the way of my bow.”

  Niko didn’t need to be told twice.

  Ari slowly pushed the door open. “Don’t get killed.”

  If the stairwell was obscenely bright the hall was a place of shadows upon shadows. Wiring spilled out of the hole torn through the ceiling. They hung like the entrails of a disemboweled beast. Dim light came from the apartments that had been broken into. The empty doorways peppered the hall like a mouth full of missing teeth.

  Niko took a step forward, her boots sliding on the blood pooled beneath her feet. There was a dead body near her, ribs spread, heart missing. His blood painted the walls festively. She breathed through her mouth, trying to squash the image of Shawn rising up in her mind.

  There was another body up ahead and three Slithers tussled over it. Ari raised her crossbow and aimed. She shot one Slither in the chest and its black blood mixed with the red decorating the floor. From the other end of the hall Duc released his bolt. It narrowly missed the second Slither and lodged in the wall. The thing shrieked and dashed into an open apartment.

  Duc swore. “I hate when they run.”

  The third Slither, no longer obstructed by its fellow monsters quickly dragged the body away, the moonlight catching its glowing eyes.

  Niko gave chase. The Slither, catching sight of her began to drag its catch faster, leaving a long crooked smear of blood behind. It hissed at her, spitting through inhuman teeth. Niko bared her teeth back as she gripped her weapon in one hand. She planted a foot on the wall launching herself in the air, weapon raised.

  At the last second some sort of survival instinct kicked in and it dropped the body, raising its hands to defend itself. It was too slow. Toothy Too bit into its head with a wet crunch. She sailed over its body as the thing went down. Tumbling across the floor she ended up on her feet, weapon still in hand.

  Ben and Duc had gone after the second Slither and from the sound of things were making short work of it. Ari removed her arrow from the first Slither and re-notched it. She gave Niko a short approving nod.

  Then Niko happened to glance at the apartment she’d landed near. There was a woman squeezing herself into a corner. She had a hand pressed tightly over her child’s mouth and they both stared up with wide terrified eyes at the Slither looming over them. Its fingers twitched as it regarded them greedily, claws clacking softly.

  Niko knew she wouldn’t make it across the room in time. Not before it did serious and possibly irreparable damage to the woman and child. She didn’t think she could bear seeing another small body mauled by a Slither.

  The child’s frightened eyes met hers and it made a tiny muffled chirrup.

  The Slither stiffened and slowly twisted around turning toward the doorway. Towards Niko.

  She made her decision instantly. “Shoot it, Ari!” She screamed, tossing Toothy Too.

  The weapon skittered across the apartment floor as Ari charged toward her, crossbow raised. It tangled about the Slither’s feet tripping it up and bringing it crashing to the floor just as Ari skidded to a halt outside of the doorway. She aimed and fired.

  Its whole body spasmed as the arrow punched through it. It wasn’t dead though. The woman screamed as it dragged itself toward her, its sharp claws leaving deep furrows in the floor.

  With a muffled scream of rage Ari stomped into the apartment. She stood over the monster and shot it in the head. “You made me ruin a dress, bastard.”

  The child began to wail, dribbling snot onto his mother’s hand.

  “You’ll be safer in the bathroom.” Ari told them. “Get in and don’t come out until the all clear. If I have to save your butts twice then you deserve to die.”

  The woman nodded, whispering her thanks as she hurried into another room, her child’s legs dangling from her grip.

  Duc appeared in the doorway followed closely by Ben. “Looks like this floor is clear.” He raised a pierced brow at the pin-cushioned Slither dead between the two girls. “Looks like you guys had fun.”

  Ari shrugged yanking out her arrows and Niko frowned, Ben’s gaze was outlining her again. “Stop staring.”

  “Ben,” Ari warned. “You promised.”

  His eyes widened innocently. “I can’t help it! She looks cute covered in blood.”

  “I’m covered in blood.” Ari pointed out. Some of her hair had fallen into her face and she shoved it back, smearing blood on her cheek.

  “Yeah, but with those arrows you kind of scare me.”

  “He’s right,” Duc agreed. “The arrows kind of tip the scales from sexy to scary.”

  Ari flashed a rude gesture at both of them.

  The sound of glass shattering came from the story above them and outside the crowd gasped.

  “Dead birdie.” Ben noted, finally taking his eyes off her.

  “Sounds like there’s more upstairs.” Ari stepped over the dead Slither. “Duc you watch the hole, make sure no more of these things slip through.”

 
“Somehow I get the feeling that I’m being punished for siding with Ben.”

  Ari placed a hand on his shoulder with a smile. “Don’t worry, when I’m punishing, you trust me, you’ll know.”

  Ari and Niko took the stairs to the sixth floor while Ben did the same in the stairwell across the hall.

  They paused at the top. The small window embedded in the door had been shattered and a Slither had stuck its arm through it. It wasn’t moving but Niko and Ari still eyed the thing warily.

  Ari poked it with her crossbow. Nothing happened; it didn’t so much as twitch its claws. Carefully, Ari pushed the door open with her foot, grunting from the added weight of the Slither. When there was enough space they squeezed by onto the sixth floor.

  The sixth floor was peppered with makeshift skylights where the Slithers had torn in through the roof. Apparently, they were undeterred by acid covers.

  There was a large crater in the middle of the hallway, the Slither’s passage to the next floor.

  “Looks like they didn’t stay up here long,” Ari said, “The apartments on our side haven’t been broken into.”

  She was right; the sixth floor was eerily quiet. It put Niko on edge.

  “Didn’t the man say there were seven Slithers?” Niko whispered. By her count that meant two were missing and she didn’t think they had decided to go away for some tea.