Niko Read online

  Chapter 7

  The crater was four feet wide. It was too large for the girls to traverse in one giant step and the edges of the hole were too unstable for them to risk jumping across.

  Ben stretched his arm over the expanse. “Grab my hand.”

  The crossbow dangling from a strap on her shoulder, Ari grabbed him with both hands which allowed him to pull her safely to the other side. Once on firm ground she immediately raised the crossbow, watching Ben’s back.

  Again he reached out, this time for Niko. “I need both hands. Toss Teeth over.”

  “It’s Toothy Too.” She corrected as she lobbed the weapon across. He caught it and set it down.

  He reached for her again just as a Slither emerged from one of the apartments on his side of the hole.

  It crouched low. “Fleeeeesh.” It whispered, its distorted teeth turning its desire into a sinister hiss.

  Ari shot it. “That’s the first time I ever heard one speak before.” She said once it was down.

  Ben glanced over his shoulder. “Maybe they’re evolving.”

  “Whoopee,” Ari said dryly.

  Ben turned back to Niko with a slight grin on his face. It disappeared instantly as he saw something behind her. “Grab my hand. Now!”

  Niko looked over her shoulder. The supposedly dead Slither by the door was not dead. It was alive and coming toward her fast.

  She wouldn’t be able to kill it, not with Toothy Too on the other side of a twelve foot drop. She didn’t even have enough time to remove the knife from under her corset, although it was only a table knife and would do far too little damage.

  Ben yanked her across as the Slither leaped into the air. She caught a brief flash of an arrow shooting up from below before crashing into Ben and bringing them both to the floor.

  Her ears rang but at least the ground beneath her was solid. Or rather the ground beneath Ben was. He’d wrapped both arms around her protectively. She lifted her head and he gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

  She gave him an equally quick punch in the gut and rolled off him, picking up Toothy Too along the way. She got to her feet.

  Ari stood at the edge of the crater. It had been expanded by half a foot. The Slither had fallen to the fifth level, downed by Duc’s arrow and dead once and for all.

  “I’m so sorry.” Ari said, hugging Niko once she was sure she was all right. “I should have shot the thing as soon as we walked passed it.”

  They carefully checked the other apartments but only found human bodies tossed carelessly about, soaking sheets and carpeting. The last apartment seemed empty; there was a smashed living room window where a Slither had taken flight. But as they got closer to the bedroom, a smell rose up to meet them, a smell of blood and putrefaction. It was a smell that clogged the nose and sat heavily on the back of the tongue, promising to never leave.

  The door opened with a creak under Ari’s gentle nudge.

  Three bodies lay on the bed, their intestines dangling in ropy grey cords. One had burst, accounting for the horrible smell. A Slither crouched in the middle of the carnage but it ignored the humans, lapping up the last bits of blood from its hand. Its long wet tongue slid between its claws.

  Niko pressed a hand to her mouth but that didn’t stop hot vomit from rushing up. Her cheeks bulged and she threw up.

  The creature didn’t move as Ben walked toward it. He raised his blade and swung once, twice, three times until the Slither fell down dead. Its sulfuric blood blended into the miasma of death around them.

  Niko had fallen to her knees, tears burning her eyes.

  “It’s okay,” Ben said as he wiped his blade clean on the bedspread. “It's dead now.”

  Niko said nothing. If circumstances had been slightly different, if she had gotten home earlier or had no experience killing Slithers, would her family have ended up like this one? Three disemboweled bodies with their hearts missing.

  Even so, despite her abilities, she still lost a brother and another was lost in the world.

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  Ben and Ari glanced at each other. Ari shrugged. “This floor's been scrubbed. We’re done here.”

  “What about the roof?” Ben asked.

  Ari smiled pointing at him then the ceiling. He groaned but headed out of the apartment going for the stairs that led to the roof.

  Ari patted Niko on the back. “I’m glad you’re staying with us.”

  Instead of taking the stairs down to the fifth floor she jumped through the hole, landing in a crouch beside Duc. Niko jumped after her, her red skirt billowing and she was glad Ben wasn’t there to appreciate the flash of panty.

  A few minutes later Ben came back down having only found bird skeletons and one dead Slither slowly being consumed by acid.

  They traipsed down to the lower levels checking each floor for wandering Slithers. Outside, the crowd had grown larger and before Malik laid three dead monsters. One of them must have taken flight out of an already broken window.

  “Clean house?” He asked pushing up his glasses.

  “Yep.” Ari held out her hand. Niko had no idea why but the rest seemed used to it, Malik slapped a can into her hand and she shook it up as she walked to a blank expanse of the building. A hiss erupted from the can as she began to spray paint a red rose. When she finished, she wrote something across the bottom in an elegant but incomprehensible left-to-right script.

  “For the Grey-men.” Ari explained when she saw Niko’s confused expression. She flipped open a pack embedded into the wall next to the wet rose and quickly pressed some numbers before slapping a red button.

  Bright, happy music tinkled out of hidden speakers and inside the building lights flashed on and off. The all-clear signal.

  Niko looked at the members of the Rose Circle as they gazed up at their handiwork. They stood clustered together until Malik noticed that she hadn’t joined their little group and extended his hand.

  He kept his arm around her shoulders as they walked away from the apartment. She remained silent as the rest of them began to regale him with a synopsis of what had gone on inside the apartment building while he was downing flying Slithers outside of it.

  She wondered about the people there. They had come – or perhaps their parents had come – to the city hoping to find a safe haven from the monsters outside the walls, only to find it wasn’t as secure as they had expected.

  “Malik,” Ben said grabbing both of their attention. “Catch.”

  Ben was walking backwards, facing them. He tossed a small black thing into the air and Malik caught it one-handed.

  It was a palm-sized container with a rose embossed on the front. It rattled.

  With a deft flick of his wrist Malik opened the container and poured its contents, a bunch of tiny pills, into his mouth. He closed it and tossed it to Duc who hesitated, glancing at Ben. “You sure these’ll work this time? ‘Cos the last time I took these I kept hearing things.”

  “Stop it.” Ari scolded, they were nearing the hotel. “You’re scaring the new girl.”

  Duc glanced up as he shook a single pill into his palm. “She doesn’t look afraid to me. Besides I heard fear could be a good thing. What do you think Niko?”

  She shrugged, Malik’s arm around her shoulder going up and down with the movement. “It depends.” She said and the corner of Duc’s mouth fluttered upward in a half smile before he tossed the pill into his mouth.