Chapter 21 #3
The Black Hart had skinned the entire skull, but instead of muscle and blood vessels, there was only bone, parts of it shattered from the bullets. He was cracking off chunks now, tossing them to the side, revealing something metal and shiny within.
“What the hell is that?” Rue dared to get a little closer. “A motor?”
Ryker patted the creature’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “This is real. But the head…Someone has covered a mechanical skeleton with organic materials. Or, wait. Not entirely. I can see part of a brain.”
“Fake flesh,” Rue reiterated, gagging.
It wasn’t unheard of. In this day and age, grown materials like flesh and organs were rather common.
For hospitals and scientists.
Not for…whatever the fuck this was.
Use of such materials outside of government sanctioned projects was highly illegal.
“How much of it is mechanical?” Rue regretted the question as soon as he asked it, squeezing his eyes shut when Ryker immediately moved to the thing’s bulbus middle.
More carving sounds filled the hall, and then a pop and burst of overflowing fluids and fleshy bits. He only dared a single glance, spotted organs and blood mixed with a black substance, and had to turn away again.
“Not much,” Ryker answered his question. “It looks like whoever did this, they mostly messed with their heads. This is just bone and regular guts. The fur didn’t come away as easily either. If I dig through the skull, maybe I can find a control chip or something.”
“Please don’t.” He couldn’t handle anymore gore for the next seventy-five billion years.
“All right.” The Black Hart rose and took a step back, frowning at his dirty hands that were sticky with blood and a gray fluid that smelled like burnt rubber.
The monsters in Ryker’s game were supernatural beings, but it looked like Rhys had hired someone to do the best they could with what they had available.
It was disgusting that they’d surgically fucked with bears.
The speaker system must have been imbedded inside its head somewhere as well, because that was the only place where black liquid was coming from.
Rue was about to tell Ryker to go wash off when Penn, who’d been moving closer to them, darted forward and snatched the blaster.
Ryker spun around but Penn had retreated to a safe distance, the weapon raised and aimed on him.
Penn moved so that he was standing on the side of the hallway that led to the stairs, cutting them off from escape. He was shaking, and when he lifted his other hand, the game manual was there.
Rue patted his back pocket and went pale. It must have fallen out either when Hollis jumped them or when he’d run from the creature. They’d been so distracted by it all, they hadn’t noticed Penn picking it up or flipping through it.
“It’s you,” Penn accused. “You’re doing this. You and your dad.”
“That’s not true,” Rue said, but Penn wasn’t listening.
“This whole damn retreat was a trap to clean house, wasn’t it?
” he sounded more and more flustered with each sentence.
“My dad heard from Eulalie that you Harts planned on restructuring the company now that you’re about to graduate.
She was the one who told him to come on this trip.
My dad thought he could use this weekend to rekindle their friendly bond or whatever. ”
“Penn, calm down.” Rue didn’t like the way he was pointing the gun at Ryker, or how badly his hand was starting to shake.
“If Rhys wanted to fire Izan, that’s news to me,” Ryker stated, not seeming even remotely concerned the way Rue was.
“I’d also like to point out, that neither of our fathers are here at the moment.
Rather convenient, don’t you agree? Come on.
Use your head. Rhys and Izan have been best friends since they were our age.
If my dad was going to pull something like this off, he’d need help. ”
Penn was shaking his head. “Your dad might hate you, but mine loves me. He never would have brought me here if he’d known any of this was going to happen. Or, at the very least, he would have taken me with him when they all left to go fishing.”
“Maybe it’s a test?” Ryker shrugged. “They’re both assholes. Can you really tell me this isn’t the sort of bullshit test they’d come up with? We’re about to enter the company.”
“It’s a business,” Penn sneered, “not a swamp! They don’t need to test us against monsters!”
Ryker rolled his eyes. “Frenzy bears live in densely forest areas, not swamps. And you can see it for yourself. Without all the fog helping it be mysterious, it’s clearly just an animal. It’s kind of sad too.”
“Are you seriously complaining about animal cruelty right now?” Penn sneered. “You said whatever was done to it had something to do with its brain. Brain surgery isn’t cheap.”
“Pretty sure the Augustine coffers are overflowing.”
Penn took a step closer, the gun held a little more firmly in his hand.
Something shifted from behind him, just a quick blur of motion.
Rue had only just processed it when something whistled through the air, metal glinting as it cut through the distance.
A knife.
Headed straight for Penn.