Chapter 23

I wasn’t even fully conscious of what was happening. A demented rage consumed me until all I could think about was making the evil men still their lying tongues and sating this gnawing hunger devouring me whole from the inside.

Had I been conscious enough to appreciate it, I would have balked at the might of the double and triple rune enhancement orbs. My charge saw me slamming my entire body against the door with reckless momentum. Though the steel bar barricading the door was at least two inches in diameter, it bent right down the middle like it was made of playdough. The door itself popped free of its hinges with barely a groan of protest, sending it careening against a far wall.

The look of abject terror on the faces of the men at the other side of the door jolted a recent memory involving another door that tinged the experience with uncomfortable familiarity. The men wore gray uniforms under black tactical vests and a series of harnesses with all manner of contraptions and weapons. I pounced upon the nearest man, a bulky Hispanic male with a bushy beard and terrified brown eyes. Forgotten between his nerveless hands lay a flat disk with the words, “Warning, explosive charge on this side!” printed across its top half. I snatched him off his feet with one hand around his neck and pulled him closer. Before I could stop myself, I closed my eyes and drew one deep breath.

Ah, yes. Rich in succulent fat and just enough spicy belligerence to make the meal more appetizing. The fear that oozed from his every pore only added to the decadent allure of his flesh. My hands drew him closer still and I parted my lips to reveal glittering teeth bared mere inches from the pulsing jugular in his neck when a golden locket spilled out from under his shirt. Incongruously, even lost within the blood rage as I was, my mind somehow managed to decipher the words engraved on its underside.

“Always come back to me, Papa!

Love, Esperanza.”

I couldn’t quite comprehend why this was important now that I was so close to finally sating this violent hunger that churned in my guts. But it was important and it made me freeze for just the single split second that gave the men around me the opening they needed.

“Shit, it’s got Martinez!”

“Blasters, now!”

Several high pitched zaps rang out with brilliant flashes of light. Numbing pain struck my body from all sides, carrying with it a jolt of electricity that set my limbs twitching uncontrollably. It was a testament to the efficacy of the enruned Resilience orb that even after being struck several times by the electrical discharges, I could still have shrugged them off and made my move. However, the jolt of electricity had shocked my brain into full wakefulness and I stared numbly at the grimy, sweat-soaked skin on the neck of Martinez, and had to wonder just what the hell I had been about to do with that disgusting patch of turd-brown skin. My mouth snapped shut with a clack and the hand holding Martinez up fell nervelessly by my side. That was when the second volley of blasters struck and I collapsed on my knees, feeling as though my every nerve had been lit on fire. Another volley and I fell sideways to the floor, twitching.

“It’s down. It’s working!”

“Keep firing your stun blasters! Walker, get Martinez out of here. Jackson, deploy the electrified net!”

My entire body spasmed violently as I found myself flopping up and down on the floor like a fish that had been slapped out of the water. The smell of charred flesh filled the air along with low moans of pain. They were the only sounds that could escape past the constriction in my throat.

“Net is ready.”

“Deploy on my go. Cease fire! Go go go!”

Mercifully, the barrage of scorching electricity finally stopped. An instant later, coils of cold metal netting draped over my prone form. Groaning weakly, I wheezed out a painful breath as the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I tried to lift a hand to my lips but no sooner had I begun the motion, when the entire mass of metal wiring came alive with live current that sent my entire body into renewed twitching fits.

“Not so fast, you damn monster. We got you.. Huh?”

“Wait a second. Stop the current. Shit, what the hell is this? Walker?”

“Fuck if I know. Damn, we really don’t need this right now. Uh.. Sir, you might want to take a look at this.”

“Later, Walker. I have to call this in. If it moves, just keep zapping it until it passes out. I don’t care if you fry its goddamn eyeballs out of its sockets.”

“Uh, that’s the thing. It’s not an it, sir. I think.. Shit, I think it’s a civilian.”

“What?”

I let out another moan of pain as a frenzied discussion broke out over my twitching carcass. I mean, shit, I might as well be dead for all the fight that was left in me at the moment.

“What do you mean, you think it’s a civilian?”

“Just take a look, sir. It’s an adult male, dark hair, pink skin, two arms, two legs. He doesn’t look like any monster I’ve seen, at least. Less body hair on his entire body than what you’d find on just one of Martinez’ balls, too.”

“Yeah, fuck you too, Jackson. And why have you been staring at my balls, anyway?”

“I’m not, I just handle the team’s budgetary reports and they always ask what we need the landscapers for.”

“Jackass.”

“Silence, you apes. Damn, just what we needed. Jackson, take Muller and sweep that room. I want to know where the monster went. Martinez, get off your lazy ass and man the machine gun, you’re on overwatch duty. Walker, you keep your hand on that remote and zap this man if he makes any sudden movements.”

Moments later, I could feel a flashlight shining against my face. I winced at the piercing glare and shielded my eyes. Thankfully, Walker seemed to have steadier nerves than most men and didn’t zap the hell out of me for it. Was it strange that such a small gesture did wonders in regards to my disposition toward this stranger who had just blasted me with amplified taser guns and shocked the hell out of me just seconds ago?

“Who, who are you people?” I croaked.

“I’m the one asking the questions here. What’s your name?” said the leader.

“Ka-” I began, but then I broke off and pretended to cough. It wasn’t hard. My whole body was still twitching from the abuse it had suffered. More importantly, however, the solid peanut I have for a brain sputtered into overdrive and had at least one inspired thought. Every once in a long while, it manages to surprise me like that.

“Karl. Karl Sampson,” I said, pretending to be dazed and confused. Again, I didn’t have to try very hard. Feeling had not yet bled back into my limbs, but at least I could feel a tingling emanating from my chest and slowly spreading throughout my body. Frowning, I realized I had several new alerts blinking in my head.

Alert! You have been struck by a mild lightning element attack. Your Minor Magic Resistance orb provides an 18% bonus to resistance against elemental attacks.

Alert! You have been afflicted with a negative status condition. Your Minor Resilience orb provides a 24% bonus to your recovery rate.

Mild lightning my ass. I could still smell the smoke from my own charred skin stinging my nostrils. Shit, why had I just charged out the door like that? That was completely unlike me. I’d always been blessed with a very strong self-preservation instinct, nevermind what Allie called it behind my back.

That’s when I remembered and everything made sense again. These bastards had been bad-mouthing my Allie, spouting lies to confuse me. Though that didn’t really make sense, as I doubted they could be aware that I was listening in to their whispered conversation before they approached the door.

A stinging slap struck my cheek, bringing me back to reality.

“Hey, focus, Mr. Sampson. I need you to answer some questions before I can decide what to do with you.”

“Sir, why don’t we just truss him up and leave him for Control to deal with?”

“Because I don’t want to be the one to explain to Control that we nabbed the wrong target, and no matter how I look at him, he looks like a person, not a monster. Certainly, not the Dark Angel’s pet.”

“Looks a bit too harmless to be an unstoppable, flesh-eating, blood-thirsty killing machine, doesn’t he? He’s not even wearing any clothes, the poor guy.”

“That’s what concerns me. What’s a civilian doing all the way down here behind a magically warded door without a stitch of clothes on his back? The Angel of Death’s wards, no less. Also, what was it that blew that door open?”

“Damn near stopped my heart, I can tell you that much. At least we didn’t need to blow the ward apart since it was dispelled from the inside.”

“Hey, you listening to me? What are you doing here? Do you remember how you got here?”

“I- I don’t know,” I admitted, shielding my eyes against the insistent glare of their flashlights. “I can’t remember.”

“Of course, that would have been too damn easy. Jackson, you got anything in there?”

“Negative, sir. Room’s clear with no signs of hostiles. Whole room’s clean except for an empty stone box. The mana scanner is going nuts though. I can’t get any decent readings because all the values are off the scales.”

“And my day just keeps getting better and better,” the leader muttered, sighing heavily before turning to the man beside him. “Keep asking questions and see what you can find out while I call it in. Don’t approach him though, he might be dangerous.”

“Who? Him?” Martinez chimed in from the side, eyeing me like a malcontent goat sizing up its dinner. He did not look impressed. “Poor bastard’s buck naked, shivering like a newborn calf and looks severely malnourished to boot. Maybe he’s a beggar that somehow got trapped behind that ward.”

“As I recall, he had you by the throat before any of us could even lift our weapons, didn’t he? And how did a naked beggar get past that damn ward? Stick with what you’re good at Martinez, and follow your orders. I want you, Muller, and Jackson to set up a perimeter around this room with mana scanners sweeping the area in all directions, and I want it done 5 minutes ago.”

“But.. ah, damn. Yes, sir.”

The leader turned away with an unsightly scowl and walked a ways off while fiddling with the radio strapped to his shoulder. Meanwhile, Walker leaned back on his haunches while looking me over in obvious distaste.

“Hey, Karl or whatever your name is, can you remember anything at all?”

“I remember..” I had to pause as another inspired thought struck me and suddenly, I was wondering if my pea-sized brain had finally evolved into a full-fledged walnut. Wait until Allie hears this! And that pretty much put a damper on the whole thing. Damn. Enough, there would be time for bitching and moaning later. “Fire, blood, and screams.. So many dying..”

“What? Where? When?”

“Chinatown.. I was there with my girlfriend..”

“Fuck me, you’re a survivor too? Damn, no wonder you look so messed up. How did you end up here?”

“I don’t know. What happened in Chinatown? I thought it was just a nightmare..”

“Shit, don’t we all wish that were true. Alexia fucking Fox, the Angel of Death herself, descended upon Chinatown and leveled the entire city block. Killed almost everyone who was there while at it. I’m pretty sure you and I are the only survivors. Damn, almost makes me feel like we’re brothers or something.”

“Yeah, sure does,” I coughed out, then dove right back into what I really wanted to know. “Alexia Fox? Who is she?”

“What? What rock have you been hiding under? Wait, don’t answer. From the looks of you, you must have been one of those paranoid freaks who hid in their basement for the past few months while the rest of the world fell apart. That’s some real shitty luck if you just happened to venture out on the day of the Chinatown Massacre, let me tell ya.”

I clamped my mouth shut while gnashing my teeth. If only that were the extent of my problems.

“And Alexia Fox is..?” I prodded after I was sure I could keep the frustration in my voice under control.

“Alexia Fox is a powerful adept.. Err, terrorist that sprang practically out of nowhere three months ago. She’s been linked to dozens of incidents from massive spell.. Err, bombings at public facilities and government installations to necro.. uh, cultist rituals - the kind that get a lot of people killed. She’s on the most wanted list of practically every law enforcement agency in the country.”

“If she’s a terrorist, how do people know her name?” I asked, still unable to believe what I was hearing.

“She used to wear a mask at first, went anonymous until she picked the wrong target about two months ago. I hear she barged into a nondescript building that was the secret base of a whole squad of high level adept.. Err, special forces soldiers. Damn near leveled the entire building in the ensuing fight, but she somehow managed to escape with her life. Must have been wounded pretty bad though, because she and her crea.. Er, her friend, they lay low for the next few weeks. It was at that fight that an ade.. Ah, a sniper blew her mask off. That’s when the cameras got her and facial recognition software positively ID’d her and came up with a match.”

“Could.. Could it be a mistake?”

Walker snorted. “Not likely. Here, listen to this and you’ll get an idea of the kind of character this Alexia Fox is. You see, one sunny morning around three weeks after barely escaping with her life, she goes back to the same building, only even more adepts, err, black ops units are there now, all armed to the teeth - not that she gives a flying fuck. This time, she didn’t bother with no masks, nor with any introductions. I hear she just blasted the entire building to kingdom come before any of the poor bastards inside even knew what hit them. After that, she hunted every single one of the remaining survivors until there wasn’t a breathing soul left in the entire place. We’re talking 20, maybe 25 highly trained special ops veterans, each of them worth dozens, maybe hundreds of regular soldiers. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her face. She’s drop dead gorgeous, but she will literally drop you dead with a single look. That’s when she earned her moniker, the Angel of Death.”

Damn, as reluctant as I was to admit it, that did sound like something my Allie would do. She always had a bit of a temper problem.

“One person can’t possibly do all that. There’s got to be someone helping her,” I pointed out.

Walker shrugged. “You’re probably right, but the only ally she’s been spotted with is her.. Friend. And he’s not much of a talker, if you know what I mean. Hell, rumor has it that’s her ex-boyfriend, only she’s had him brainwashed and mindfucked until..”

“Enough,” I growled, with more heat than I’d meant to. “I get it.”

“Jesus, relax, man. We’ll get you home to your girlfriend safe and sound. We’re not the bad guys here, you know?”

“Tell that to my charbroiled ass cheeks. I still haven't got feeling back in my left nut, you know?” I pointed out in what seemed like an admirably neutral tone considering the sensitive nature of the body part in question.

Walker coughed uncomfortably at that, one of his hands surreptitiously sliding down to hover protectively over his own family jewels with a wince. “Yeah, sorry about that, buddy. Thought you were the mon.. the terrorist we were sent to apprehend.”

“You don’t look like them typical government jarheads. Just who are you guys?”

“That’s classified, but let me tell ya, all the disappearances and freakish monsters popping out of nowhere of late? We’re the only people that really know what’s going on.”

“Monsters?”

“Damn, buddy. How long have you been hiding in that basement for? Rats the size of a damn bull, fire-breathing lizards, dead corpses walking, even rumors of long-eared, green-skinned shorties that sound suspiciously like goblins, they’ve been popping up all over the world almost non-stop. That’s why the military’s been freaking out, calling a state of emergency and all. And they still have no idea of what’s going on.” Walker shook his head, chuckling mirthlessly at that.

“Oh? And you guys do?”

Walker nodded to me with a smug grin on his lips. “Yeah, it’s part of why I joined this outfit in the first place. Everyone else is panicking like the whole house is on fire and all the fire extinguishers are filled with napalm, but we’re the only ones who are actively chasing after those responsible for this whole mess. Just between the two of us here, we’re probably saving the world.”

“He doesn’t look too happy to be here,” I pointed out, jerking my head toward Martinez, who did look like a particularly monstrous turd had been rammed down his throat and he was having trouble deciding whether he wanted to spit or swallow.

“Nah, don’t mind him. He’s just worried about his daughter. We all got bad news just recently, and he’s taking it particularly badly.”

“I see. Can you at least tell me where we are? I’m still lost here.”

“You poor bastard. Well, at least that’s not classified so I can help you with that.” Walker tapped his foot against the concrete floor below. “We’re fifty feet beneath the beating heart of Los Angeles City, at the old sewer sublevels running under the Fashion District of Downtown LA. As a matter of fact..”

“Walker, come here.”

“Sir?”

“Come here, I need to talk to you.”

Even without my newly enhanced vision, I would have known something was off about the team leader. Maybe it was the skittish smell emanating from him like a zesty aperitif. It could have been the peculiar hitch of his voice toward the end of his last sentence. I don’t know for sure, and I didn’t much care. Only a small part of this whole conversation had been about getting information, as I didn’t dare trust anything these men told me, even someone as disarmingly friendly as Walker. Some of it had been about buying myself time while my body recovered, which had ceased to be a problem as of a moment ago.

Instead, most of my precious time and focus had been devoted to deciding a matter of particular importance to Walker, Martinez, Muller, Jackson, and the nameless leader. And after this admittedly short exchange under false pretenses, I had finally reached my decision.

I was not going to kill them. Not unless I really had to, that is. I was still reserving my judgment on the mysterious organization behind them, but these men didn’t seem like the bad guys, notwithstanding the fact that they’d been hunting me down and had just zapped the living shit out of me.

I mean, nobody’s perfect, right?

My decision finally made, I smiled and nodded back when Walker bobbed his head reassuringly in my direction. He probably had no clue that his friends were all lined up behind him, spread out in the cover of darkness and nervously pointing their stun guns in my direction.

After all, Walker had been too distracted with his story to have heard the cantankerous voice of his leader as he reported through the radio that the premises were clear and only an unarmed and naked civilian had been found. It was even more impossible for Walker to hear the forceful reply from the other end of the radio, commanding him and his men to immediately capture the target at all costs and secure him for extraction, code fucking red.

Oblivious, Walker wheeled around and squinted into the darkness, probably wondering what the hell was going on.

That’s when I knew it was time.

You have activated the skill [Cloak of Shadows]

You have activated the skill [Dash]

You have activated the skill [Critical Strike - Melee]

Poor Walker never even had a prayer.