Page 64 of Calico Descending

I crouch low and shuffle toward the first cage, watching my reflection in the silvery surface grow as I approach it.

Still no sign of the other soldiers having seen me, as I peer around the corner to see one tap the other soldier and flick his fingers. The tapped one reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cigarette, before the two of them put their backs to me. I scamper to the second cage, and at the sound of voices, the soldiers from the truck arriving to retrieve the next box, I edge myself around the corner, which puts me directly in view of the other two, if they didn’t happen to be facing away from me, smoking.

“Hate having to transport these fucking things,” one of the soldiers says from the other side of the cage at my back. “Bastards scare the shit out of me.”

“I heard they had to put them in these boxes to keep them from eating each other. Ate one of the guards who works in the lower level. Fucking scarfed down on his stomach, while the poor bastard was alive.”

“Do you think that’s helping? That’s not helping.”

The sound of retreating footsteps follow the squeal of the wheels, as they head back toward the truck, and I slip to the side of the last box in the row, and press the black button. On a blast of air, the panel pops out of a hole and opens to reveal a red switch. Exhaling a shaky breath, I glance toward where Valdys hides behind the crates, his eyes watching my every move. I flip the switch. A beeping sound begins the countdown to five seconds.

Beep. Beep. Beep. A woman’s robotic voice echoes through the room, and I flatten myself against the cage.

“Danger. Please step back. Please step back.” There’s a siren, and the steel door of the cage clicks forward, then slides to the side, hiding me behind its panel. “Danger. Please step back. Please step back.”

“What the fuck?” The voices of the soldiers come from behind.

I turn to see their reflection in the silver panel of the cage to my left, as they approach the box where I hide. They pause and step back, as something casts a shadow over top of me. At the sound of screeching, I clamp my eyes shut, inhaling and exhaling a breath, and when I open them, a large white object takes up the reflection beside me.

Screams echo through the loading dock. Gun fire. I crouch down and peer around the cage, where soldiers scramble around the mutation that stands bent over one of the soldiers. An object flies through the air and lands just feet away. A bloody, severed arm, covered in the black fabric of the soldier’s uniform.

The two on the truck hustle down the ramp, swinging their guns.

I make a run for it, waving back at Valdys.

If the other soldiers happen to see me scrambling up the ramp, they’re far too preoccupied to care.

More gunfire crackles through the building, while the guards dodge sweeping claws. Looking out from the back of the truck, I watch as Valdys carries Neela across the space, with Titus and Cadmus hobbling behind them. They scramble up the ramp, into the covered bed of the vehicle, and I take note of the soldiers fighting off the mutation, oblivious to us. The five of us tuck ourselves among the silver cages, strapped down in steel crates. Breathing heavily, I fall down beside Valdys, who sits with his back to the wall of the cab.

“So far, so good,” he says, stroking my hair. “I don’t know what I enjoyed more--watching you slip past the guards unnoticed, or watching you do it while wearing my shirt.”

Before I can so much as smile at that, the truck bounces, jostling us forward, and I twist around, peering through the crates, to see the mutation standing at the mouth of the vehicle. With its head tilted back, it looks to be sniffing the air, and my eyes fall on Neela.

Her estrus.

It must smell it on her. Divesting myself of the T-shirt, I wrap it around her, and pull her back, where Valdys is crouched, ready to lunge.

I shake my head, urging him to stay where he is. I don’t want to risk Legion finding us before we have a chance to escape.

Gunfire crackles through the air, and the mutation stiffens on one hellacious screech that has me clamping my hands over my ears. I catch sight of Cadmus, shaking his head, rocking back and forth where he kneels hidden behind crates, with Titus. As if he’s terrified of the sound. The creature falls to all fours and scrambles up the ramp toward us. A thin halo of wire slips around its neck and yanks it backward, severing the head from it’s body before its claw swipes out, just missing Neela’s exposed ankle.

I don’t dare peek around the corner to see how, or what, managed that feat. Instead, I focus on my breathing to keep from hyperventilating.

“How the fuck did it get out?” one of the soldiers asks, followed by the sounds of scuffling feet.

“I … I don’t know. We were careful, I swear.” What I presume to be one of the two soldiers who wheeled the boxes onto the truck answers him, panic still clinging to his voice.

Gunfire startles my muscles, chased by the thud of deadweight.

“Clean this shit up. I want Hawkins and Davenport on transport. I’ve had enough of this clumsy fucker’s antics.” This time, I do peek around the corner, in spite of Valdys tugging me back. Half hanging off the back of the truck lies the fallen mutation, and beside him, the dead body of a soldier.

“Load up the last of the cargo, and get this fucking truck on the road before anything else happens.”

The silver boxes rattle and shake with the rough bouncing of the terrain, as I sit back between Valdys’s legs. Ahead of me, Neela wraps her arms around her knees she’s pulled tight to her chest. Her attention hasn’t wavered from Cadmus once, since we drove off.

I’m guessing she thinks he was the reason behind all those days of tortuous pain she suffered. To a certain extent, he was, but much of the credit goes to Doctor Tims. I’m tempted to ask her if she recognizes her old friend from the yard, the one she tearfully watched get dragged off that day. I’m guessing that doing so will only taint the memory of him, though.

I lean forward and set my hand on her arm, a gesture that swings her attention back to me. “Are you okay?”

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