John Ridley: Those Who Walk in Darkness

The bloody mouth was her bull's-eye. Soledad clicked off two rounds. The first erupted from inside the monster, wrenched it with convolutions as the force of the blast punched it apart. The second bullet sent what was left of the mutant skittering back the way it had come… along with more of Vin's severed leg.

Soledad grabbed Vin, hauled him for Eddi and the sanctuary of the waiting room, the chore made more difficult by Vin's uncontrollable body motions that were response to his unimaginable agony. The lingering hurt of taking an engine full in the chest didn't help speed Soledad up any. She limped Vin closer to the door… closer…

From deep in the darkness of the hallway came the tickety-tick multiplied. Another batch of things, scampering, like they could sense they were losing their prey. Little killers afraid they'd have nothing to kill. They came pouring from the dark like banshees out to snatch up souls.

"Oh, shit!"

Soledad sucked a deep breath. Gripping hard, she heaved back Vin, cleaned and jerked him though the doorway as Eddi slammed the wood door shut and threw the lock. A second later came the sound of heavy, misshapen automotive parts thudding against the pine.

They wouldn't get in, the wood like holy water to the unhallowed.

Soledad ignored the things, focused on Vin.

Vin.

His freak-amputated leg, blood free-flowing from it, Vin repeated a disjointed phrase he'd locked into a continual loop: "Not too bad not too bad is it it's not too bad not too…"

Soledad pulled loose Vin's belt, tourniqueted it tight above the knee of his right leg. Of what remained of his right leg. It stopped the bleeding. Some.

She was suffocating. She felt like she was. Taking off her helmet, vest, Soledad peeled off her Nomex top, stripped down to her T-shirt. Still couldn't breathe right.

Fear.

She didn't dig the feeling.

Eddi wiped the sweat off Vin's face. Tried to. There was too much to get clean.

"Not too bad not too it's all right it's not too bad…"

"You're going to be good." Soledad tried to keep the authority in her voice while at the same time excising the blind hope."We're going to get you out of here, get you to a hosp—"

"Behind you," Eddi shouted.

Soledad juked to the side as a metal tendril honed to a razor's edge extended from the crack where door met floor and took a decapitating swipe at her head. The tendril paused at the far end of its arch, then snapped back in Soledad's direction. She flattened herself as the blade sliced just above her. She rolled back and away as its spike-point raised up and slammed down into the ground where she lay a second previous.

Eddi stepped up, her HK leveled and spitting bullets. Rage came spitting from her mouth: "Ahhhhhhh!"

The slugs tore at the metal but did no real damage.

"Hold it! Hold fire!"

Eddi came off her trigger, chest pumping with each hot breath.

"Bullets are no good, and punching holes in that wood isn't going to make things any better." Soledad went for Vin. She said: "Help me."

Eddi took hold. Together they pulled Vin deeper into the room, farther into relative safety.

The tendril swung at them, but the metal was stressed to its limit. Finally it retreated the way it had come, disappearing back through the little crack. Waiting just beyond the door.

Vin managed: "Messed up… messed up good, Solahhh…" He was barely intelligible, his words smothered under a blanket of delirium.

"Saved my life's what you did." Soledad fished a small pack from one of her pockets.

Eddi kept out a sharp eye for any more living metal and, never mind what she'd been told by Soledad, kept her HK ready.

From the pack, a first-aid kit, Soledad took out a morphine injector, cracked it open, exposing its single-use needle.

She said: "Gonna give you a little something. Cut back the pain, put you out."

"Don't wah… want to be out. Want tuh—to hel—"

"You've got to rest some. Might need you for backup." False hope she was giving him. But hope.

A swipe with an alcohol rub. The needle got jabbed into the sterile spot on Vin's arm.

Soledad followed that with: "We've got 'em good, Vin. Don't you worry about it."

"Don't let umm… while I'm ouu, don't lee the doctahhs take mahh leee…"

Gone. Half sedated, half passed out. And when he came around, Vin would know the truth. The doctors wouldn't take his leg. The freaks had beat them to it.

Soledad, to Eddi: "Go to Tac-1, radio for backup?"

Eddi shook her head."If you're coming off the game plan, don't do it for me. I'm not having any boys roll up and save my ass so they can give me shit about it later. Just us girls is fine."

Eddi was impressive. Soledad had to admit it. If she was scared, if she was at all broken up about Yarborough getting speared, or freaked about Vin getting chewed up, she did a good job of keeping it hidden behind a tough front. And Soledad also had to acknowledge, finally, that one day Eddi was going to make for a helluva MTac. All Soledad had to do was keep the girl alive long enough for the day to come. For the minute that meant keeping Eddi's bluster in check.

"Don't kid yourself. It's me they want."

"Looks like they're going to get two of us coming at them for their trouble."

"They're going to get one." Soledad checked her gun's digital counter. Twelve bullets. Not much firepower against animated car parts."You're staying with Vin."

"Soledad, gun or no: You go after both of those freaks alone, you're dead."

"We both go after them, we're both dead. We're split up, it'll be harder for the telepath to track the two of us at once. If I can take out one of them, it balances things in our favor. Give me ten minutes. I'll do what I can, then come back."

"And if you don't?"

Matter-of-fact, like she was giving the time of day: "Then I'm dead, and you're on your own."

Soledad didn't bother gearing back up with her helmet, her vest. She had her piece. That was the only thing that was going to get her—her, Vin and Eddi—through the dark ride that waited.

She sat, listened. Heard nothing.

She went to the door, pressed her ear to it.

Quiet.

Sure it was. If the freaks were going to lull her out, they weren't going to do it by having mutant engines baying at the door.

Soledad thought for a second. Outside the door was the long hall. All metal. That'd be the first part and the hard part. Like running a gauntlet. It was nothing but a canvas for the metal morpher to do with like it pleased. There was the room off to the side that was off limits, the one that stored all the automotive gear. There was another door at the end of the hall. Soledad couldn't remember if it was made of wood or metal; had no idea if the room beyond was safe or freak-friendly. But to even get that far, first there was that hallway.

"Shut this thing behind me. Tight." Soledad flicked back the lock. Her left hand clutched the knob of the door, her right her gun.

From behind: "Soledad…"

Soledad turned to Eddi.

"Kill one for me."

Soledad pulled open the door, went into the hall. Behind her she heard the door get slammed, the lock get thrown.

The hallway was fifty, maybe just more than sixty feet in length. The dark made it seem twice that. A blind run was the temptation but wasn't the smart choice. Moving fast would just keep Soledad from seeing what killed her. So Soledad eased forward. Going slow gave her time to look, to think, to listen. Adjust to whatever waited for her.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Something definitely waited.

Something would happen.

Nothing.

Maybe, she reconsidered, she should make a run. She'd already been there. She knew: Getting caught up in the hall was no good.

Nothing.

Maybe she should—