I covered the same stairway I had originally come up and decided to take advantage of the DN defenses. After carefully jamming the claymores, I moved them so that one was a few steps higher and the other a few lower than before. If any reinforcements knew the original placement, I hoped this might throw them off. I also placed a few handfuls of broken tiles next to me so that I might be able to trigger them by hand if they didn't hit the tripwires. It wasn't the kind of tactic K'rth would have approved of, so I didn't tell him about it.
As my head stopped swimming, my thoughts went back to the markings on the wall and what they meant. It occurred to me that I never did get to request the photos of the ones at St. Charles by the Shivers, but I'd ask about it later. Definitely would find out what the ones at this site were.
"Those markings. Gaelyn mentioned that they were like glyphs, but wrong. I wonder what she meant."
"Perhaps you should ask her. My people have always used runes for various purposes, but this is different. We should speak of this later. Something is coming."
With that, we went silent and I got ready. Something rasped below me on my stairwell, so I stood with a handful of debris in one hand and the Blitzer in the other.
"Got contact here. S'tdnt rktmk!" I said, adding the blessing at the end.
"S'tdnt rktmk", he seconded. It roughly translates to "perish well" and is as much of a good luck wish as a curse upon one's enemies. You pick up the damnedest things when you're partnered with a Shaktar.
I cradled the Blitzer across my arm and used the mirror to see what was coming. A half dozen men in full DN armor were sweeping the stairs like a trained fire team, angling through the corners. I cursed since these weren't newbie converts, but then I did ask for the opportunity to tangle with real Interceptors. That'll teach me, I thought as I pulled the revolver's hammer back. Sometimes, you get what you ask for.
As they mounted the stairs, I saw they were acting like they knew the original position of the traps. The leader stepped over the original location of the first wire, as did the man behind him without looking. I was sure that I'd have to trigger both manually when someone near the rear said something like "oh shit".
The explosion rocked the floor and a thick cloud of debris, dust, and water rushed into the hall and choked me. I dropped the mirror and aimed low around the corner to pick off any survivors. Under the sputtering lights, the leader saw me and yelled as he raised his SMG. I fired first, sending him reeling into the man behind him and throwing off his aim. His shot went wild and punched the fire door and I ducked back. A moment later I tossed my handful of tiles at the higher mine's tripwire and took cover as it went off. There was another rumble that left my ears ringing and water splashed in through the shattered walls and ceiling. Debris and a piece of a helmet skidded past me and I spat out a mouthful of dust.
I glanced over and K'rth gave me a thumbs up. He was taking fire too, but at least we hadn't been overrun. The two stairways were great chokepoints that would let us hold out as long as our ammo did as long as they didn't find another way in. I hoped the Shivers would get here soon and give them more targets to shoot.
I swung the fire door shut and crossed to the other side to wait, pulling my MAC knife in my off hand. I had no way to know how many were left in the stairwell, but expected at least four to six more. Then the lights went out, sputtered, and flickered back on. What in the hell just happened?
I scrambled to replace the spent round and had just closed the cylinder when the door banged open into the stairwell. No one came through, so I waited. After a few seconds, two men in DN flack suits rushed through in single file. I shot the first one near the jacket's armpit and the doorjamb behind him exploded. As he slumped, I skewered the right arm of the second man with my MAC and pushed the Blitzer into his ballistic mask before pulling the trigger. His weapon went off as I tore him off my blade and rounds sputtered across the wall and floor, shattering the cheap tile. There was another sound on the top landing and I dropped just in time to avoid a barrage that riddled the wall. Coming to a crouch, I waited but no more shots came through.
The lights along the entire hall flickered again and started to strobe on their own. I figured that a power conduit probably took a hit and wondered what kind of property damage they'd penalize us for. I really hoped that we didn't have to deal with Fire Shivers too.
"Wonderful," I said under my breath "They can send the bill to Cloak Div in care of the bald asshole."
Black. Green. Black.
The lights flickered like a cadence and my heart pounded in my ears. It was Showtime and the adrenaline had made me so taunt that I was trembling.
Green. Black. Green again.
The barrel of a weapon came around the corner and I fired twice through the wall. Its owner stumbled out of the stairway, and I placed a solid shot into his upper chest that sent him reeling backwards across the bodies.
Black. Green.
He clawed at a sidearm, so I swung the red dot to the underside of his chin and squeezed off another round. The helmet spun off with a spray of gore and bone, and I aimed at the door again. This end of the hall was slick and I felt like I was wading in gore.
Black. Green. Black again.
At Meny, they drill you to keep track of your ammo and I knew that I had either one or two rounds left. With no time to reload, I waited and aimed at the door and concentrated on making each shot count. Beyond the ringing in my ears, I could hear crying and moaning from the stairs but nothing else beyond my own breathing. Then there was a long low hiss, a gasp. Something moved quickly and hit the door.
Blackgreenblackgreen. The lights fluttered like a startled flock of doves.
A man burst through the doorway yelling and I slammed the knife into his thigh and blocked the rifle with the side of the Blitzer. The revolver went off and the slug caught him in the chest, sending him into the doorjamb. I ripped the knife free and sighted on his face.
Blackgreenblackgreen.
The Blitzer's hammer fell on a spent chamber with a click and his mask stretched into a grin. He raised the rifle in slow motion and I shifted forward. I was fighting underwater in a nightmare and my lungs tightened.
Black. Green. Black.
I smashed the rifle to the side and dropped the Blitzer to grab the weapon's receiver. To my surprise, he simply let go of it and started giggling. As he came forward, I backed up and tossed the rifle behind me and away into the darkness. I wondered what sort of drug cocktail he was on or if he was just insane.
Black. Green.
There was something wrong with him - something serious but I couldn't tell what it was immediately. His giggle came at me from the darkness and the hair stood up on the back of my neck. I tightened the grip on my knife and saw its edge flash in the strobing lights.
Black. White.
His hands were dark and scaly with nails that looked like claws. He tore a knife from a sheath with a wheeze.
Black. Green.
The Interceptor tossed off his helmet and mask and my blood ran cold. Grinning at my expression, he shambled forward in stop motion. He was giving me plenty of time to take in the details and I gathered myself.
Black. White. Green.
His face was bloated and misshapen like a waterlogged corpse and the skin was made of peeling gray wax. Slobber dribbled out of a mouth filled with rotted red teeth and the eyes were wide and staring.
Black. White.
The pupils were black holes and the whites were soiled to a deep maroon. I shuddered and backed up further, but couldn't shake the idea that I was fighting a corpse.
How do you kill something that's already dead? Can you?
Black. White.
He favored his right leg and I glanced down. My stomach knotted up and I felt cold ripples run up my spine.
Blackwhitegreen
The mine in the stairway had ripped off his foot about mid shin and he was shambling forward on the stump. A thick dark smear trailed him and he giggled as he saw the look on my face. He hobbled forward awkwardly, oblivious to the pain.
Blackgreenblackgreen.
I tossed the knife to my right hand and nearly dropped it. The damn lights had thrown off my coordination and balance to the point that I felt drunk. I squinted to clear my vision and tried to focus on target and range.
Black
I could barely remember my night fighting training and was fighting to hold onto my balance. My depth perception was shot and I overcompensated.
Green.
I slashed across his armor, slicing open the front panel and tearing his chest. He spat a wad of red mucous at me and kept coming forward. His mouth widened, large enough to swallow my face. I could smell death.
Black.
Green.
The cut I had just made was closed and the look on my face made him laugh again. DN didn't have Stormers – or did they? I didn't have my Blitzer and prayed that the knife was enough. God help me if he didn't have human weak spots…
Blackgreenblack.
I feinted right and slashed past at his head. His neck became a spray of blood, but he only growled and flailed at me with his blade.
Black.
I slipped past it and stumbled when the vertigo tried to spin my feet from under me. Pulling my breath in, I tried to sense him and circled where I thought he was. I slashed out with a backhand, the knife braced against my forearm. I connected and felt the blade bite something soft. Warmth splashed across my wrist and down my sleeve. Something shrieked.
Blackwhiteblack.
I circled again and struck twice, both times the blade bit and tore. The side and back of his neck splashed open and darkness glistened across the flack vest. He spun around flailing.
Blackwhiteblackgreen.
He was in my face, mouth twisted into a snarl. I could smell his breath.
Blackwhiteblackwhite.
He was at zero distance and I felt him reaching for me. The lights flickered on and off. They were about to die too.
Black.
I sidestepped again and chopped down hard across his wrist. The blade bit again and something hit the floor with a wet thump.
White.
He snarled and I sidestepped as he lunged forward.
Black.
I slashed once across his eyes and once more down the center of his skull, laying him open before the light came on again. He roared, the sound echoing in my ears.
Green.
He covered his face with his remaining hand and the stump. Liquid sprayed across his arms and I lunged in. Turning the knife in my hand, I slammed the blade upwards under his chin.
Black.
I felt the hilt meet bone and wrenched it to the side with a pop. He leaned forward and I tore it across and up. My clothes clung to my chest and something sticky and hot sprayed my face.
White.
Something heavy slumped to the floor. I stepped back listening for sound and heard the wet rasp of air leaving him. My ears roared with my own breathing like a subway tunnel.
Black.
I was in complete darkness and nothing moved in front of me. I fished out my flashlight and clicked it on, finding his body at my feet. The knife had nearly taken his head off and a pool of black slowly spread across the tiles. I stepped backwards away from it and K'rth appeared at my side, looking gaunt in the reflected light.
"Did he injure you?"
"No."
K'rth left me long enough to clear the stairwells and kneeled next to the body to gingerly fish through his pockets. I sheathed the MAC and pulled my snubber as I watched him.
"The cuts healed the moment I hit him, just like a Stormer. I-I've never seen anything like that-on a human."
He came up with a handful of small tubes filled with a thick gray-green liquid. They looked like loads for an air hypo and he turned them in his hand for a moment then let them drop as he stood.
"It's probably a variation of Shatter. That explains the hard to kill aspect and might cover the healing."
I nodded and rubbed my eyes. The pounding had returned, but at least the vertigo was fading. I could tell that K'rth was looking at me and I held up my hand.
"I'm ok, just a little rattled." I said. "I'm O-K."
He patted me on the shoulder and went past me towards the stairs. I wasn't sure why I had gotten so shaken, but figured those glyphs had something to do with it. There was no telling what effect they had on a human mind.
I retrieved the Blitzer and my mirror, and we stabilized the three survivors in the stairways before the Shivers arrived. I felt better, but the sensation of vertigo and the glyphs kept coming back into my mind.
I knew those images would haunt me in my sleep.
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