Chapter 27 #2
Another tried to grab my head, I reflexively grabbed its wrist and pulled it over my shoulder before spinning to its side, forcing it to hug itself as I stuck my barrel into its armpit and blasted its entire torso off.
With the disembodied arm in my hand, I turned on my heel and backhanded one coming up behind me, staggering it as its hardened exterior shattered into a spray of blackish blue chips.
I followed through with my turn and threw it like a bolas rope, connecting with the legs of another to bring it to its knees just before I slid into a crouch and stuck my gun under its chin, shooting its head out before sprinting deeper into the crowd as I reloaded.
Ripping and blasting through them was almost child’s play as I caught Gaines heading up to his office box in the corner of my eye, no doubt heading for a landline to call for help.
I needed to move faster.
But then a sudden disorientation accompanied more flashes of the strange dimension I kept seeing. Fuck. Fuck!
Now was not the time!
The bodies of the Mutables became superimposed with the forms of menacing silhouettes like the one I’d encountered before, their movements exactly matching my foes like puppeteers acting through proxies.
That vibration in my head returned, my willpower coming up against it like a titan holding up the sky.
They weren’t gonna get me. They weren’t going to get us!
The Mutables dogpiled onto me and pried my gauss cannon from my hands, forcing me to engage in raw grappling as I fought to stay above the sea of opponents.
They clawed, scratched and bit, frantically searching for a weakness. I was strong, very strong, but their collective efforts was like trying to wipe off an army of cockroaches.
They just. Kept. Coming.
And since none of these Mutables had the ability to actually hurt me, I could’t adapt quickly enough to overpower them.
We were basically stalemated.
And I was running out of them.
The sound of a diesel truck engine pulled my awareness back to present reality as I saw Cassie getting in the driver’s seat and putting it into the gear.
And then she hit the gas, barreling straight toward me.
“That’s my girl…” I said with a relieved smile.
No fucks given, she ran right over the crowd, slamming the truck directly into me and knocking me a full ten feet away, away from the crowd of Mutables and without a scratch to show for it.
The truck skid to a stop as its heavy wheels treaded right over a cluster of enemies, and then the back door burst open as Monica jumped out holding the canister of Ichor.
And then she poured it directly over her body.
Monica’s caramel complected skin suddenly took on a gilded glittery appearance like she’d been doused in body paint, and then she walked straight into the crowd toward my gauss cannon.
She grabbed it fast and threw it into the air over the horde, and I caught it by the barrel, flipping it right side up with a quick skin of my finger in the trigger well.
The Mutables in her path ran the other way, with some trying to swipe at her with their claws, only for their bodies to react violently and explode with whatever appendage they touched her with.
“Ah!” Monica shouted as a shard flew past her bare shoulder and cut it open, immediately filled in with the Ichor coating her body.
She gasped and fell to her knees as her hands started shaking with increasing intensity.
“Monica!” I called after her.
She unleashed a furious scream and flung her arms forward, causing all of the Ichor on her body to cascade off her body and fly into the crowd like a claymore mine, destroying every Mutable in front of her.
I blasted my way through what remained of the Muties, slaughtering my way over to Monica’s side as she collapsed with a winded breath.
Nothing but corpses and crusts were left behind.
I dropped down to pick Monica up and hold her against me, giving her a quick shake to rouse her awareness.
But the scratch on her shoulder had completely healed.
Not a trace of a wound remained.
“Baby, are you okay?” I asked, holding her low to the floor after checking her pulse, which was as strong as ever.
“Dizzy… sleepy… safe…” she uttered.
“I said stay in the truck, why would you do something that reckless?” I asked in a warm, endeared voice.
She reached up and touched my cheek, speaking weakly.
“Because… that’s what a real bitch does…”
And then she passed out with a contented smile.
Cassie rushed to our side along with Mimi.
“Momo? Momo are you okay?” Cassie blurted out with worry.
I checked her pulse again. “She’s alive. I think she’s… sleeping?”
Cassie exhaled in relief, and then looked up at the scene of dead bodies around us. The horror of it all plastered across her face before Mimi moved in the way, blocking her immediate sight of all the blood.
“I’ve got them, Jax,” Mimi said, unbothered by all the death as she caressed Cassie’s cheek to soothe her, maintaining her hypnotic gaze. “You go.”
“Thanks, Mimi,” I said with a quick nod, then gently set Monica down beside her and Cassie. “I owe you a kiss when I get back.”
She smiled in return, then nurtured the other two as I took off to catch up with Jenna and Gaines, who had run up the utility stairwell to get into the skybox office.
I barged with a kick to the door, met with the sight of Jenna aiming her gun at Gaines, who was standing behind his desk with his hand hovering over a conference phone, his finger mere millimeters away from a red security line.
“You’re done, Gaines,” Jenna hissed with her chest rapidly rising and falling. “Get your hand away from the phone.”
“You can’t arrest me,” he said with a condescending grin. “You can’t do anything.”
“And you’re not leaving,” I said as I entered the scene, aiming my gauss cannon at his face. “Give me what I want, and you might walk out of here alive.”
“I saw what that girl did. You think you’re the only freaks out there? No, no,” he shook his head with manic joy. “If you kill me, they’ll come after you.”
A gratified smile crept onto my face.
“Too late… I’m coming for them.”
His eyes left the barrel of Jenna’s gun to look at me. “You’re no hero. You’re just one man. You won’t stop them.”
“You’re right…” I quipped while walking toward his desk. “I’m not a hero, and I’m not gonna stop them. I’m going to kill them all.”
I came around to his side and slid open the drawer his other hand was hovering under, then took out the ivory plated pistol he had stashed and tossed it onto the desk.
“Go ahead,” Jenna taunted as I walked back and stood beside her. “Take your shot. And don’t miss...”
Gaines’ brow beaded with sweat as his eyes shifted between Jenna and I, his glances continuously falling onto my massive weapon.
“Oh, you’re worried about me?” I teased before sliding my gauss cannon into my chest holster and gave it a good pat before tucking my hands behind my back. “Here, I’ll make it easy for ya.”
And then I turned my back on him.
I stood shoulder to shoulder with Jenna, keeping my eyes on the door as Jenna kept her weapon trained ahead.
The sound of plinking followed as Gaines went for his weapon. A single bang of a .45 caliber. The splattering of viscera. A thunk of a body onto a desk and the clattering of the pistol falling from his hand.
I’d spun around lightning fast to draw my cannon and blast his fucking hand off, while Jenna had put one between his eyes.
I watched the smoke rising from Jenna’s barrel as she kept it aimed at Gaines’ dead body, her eyes welling with a red as intense as the hair on her head.
She’d gotten him right between the eyes, the blood pooling under his face with his form slumped over the front of his desk, his pistol lying askance beside his arm stump.
I tapped my fingers over the top of her barrel and pushed her gun down, then pulled her into a hug.
“It’s over, Jenna. You got him,” I soothed.
Jenna dropped her gun. She didn’t sob, at least not with any volume I could detect. Only a single shudder against my shoulder, and then she put her arms lightly around my waist and stood there in silence.
The job was done.
Her father had been avenged, a lot of bad people had just been fucked over, and as for us?
We were a hundred million dollars richer.