Page 44 of Retribution

Ewww. I saw Sterling’s face reflect my thoughts before he spoke again, “We don’t have much time.” As if on cue, another contraction hit, and I clenched my fingers into his forearm, ignoring the coppery scent of blood that wafted up as my nails broke into his skin. “It appears parenthood is coming whether we like it to or not.”

All eyes fell to me like I was fragile and ready to break, but if there was anything in my life that would break me, it wouldn’t be Greta. I refused to let her be the reason I failed. I refused to let her hurt me past the cracks she’s already created.

“Well, go for the arteries,” I huffed out. “Split up, Sterling and Michelle with me, Rolland, Horo, and Maggie together.”

They nodded their agreement, and I was glad. I needed those closest to me for support, even if I wasn’t physically leaning on them. I needed to know they were there. I needed them at my back, at my sides, guarding my front. Anywhere close.

The beast whirled around in front of us, its eyes narrowing as it spotted me. Its giant feet were scraping at the ground seconds before it charged forward. We dodged to the side, slipping our way between his legs as his face collided with a wall. The momentum pushed his body forward, breaking through the drywall. It allowed us time to climb to reach its hind legs, each of us grabbing onto thick handfuls of fur as we pulled ourselves up.

The beast pulled himself free, thrashing his body about in various directions as he searched for us. The more he searched, the more frustrated he became. The fact that he could not locate us only enraged him more and was a testament to the strength of the order ingrained in him. His sole purpose was to kill me. His life was made to end mine.

I tightened my grip on the fur, climbing up next to Sterling as we worked our way up to the thigh. “Do not fall.”

He gave the order, and all I could do was smirk. “I’m not planning on it.”

His eyes screamed with worry, though, as if he didn’t trust my stability, but truthfully, not even another contraction could tear me away from my mission. If this monster were the difference between my family living or dying, I would go all in and do what I had to.

He held onto the fur with one hand while reaching for his ankle, pulling out a knife with the other. “When I say go, I want you to stab into the flesh, let the weight of your body pull the knife downward and slice it through his skin.”

Michelle cleared her throat and asked, “Are we sure this will work?”

“No,” Sterling answered, “But it’s all we’ve got.”

Not all we had, but a start. If we could kill this monster off, then maybe I could free Oak and Justice. Perhaps I could break the chains on Lenin. If my whole family was together, I knew without a doubt that nothing could stop us. Nothing at all.

“Are you ready?” No. I was in pain, but he didn’t have to know that.

“Yes.”

“Go!” he ordered as he plunged his knife into the beast’s thigh. I followed his lead, slamming the knife forward as it effortlessly sliced through the skin. I knew the point of all of us doing this was to draw as much blood as possible, weakening the beast and killing it while it was down. But I hadn’t predicted that my knife would be the wound that got the artery. The minute my body began to slide down, it was like a dam that burst free. Blood spurted from the wound, pouring down, and the more my weight carried the knife down its limb, the greater the flow became until it was gushing over me, covering my head and coating my body.

“I can’t hang on!” I shouted as my grip on the knife began to slip. The thick blood was making it nearly impossible to hang on to anything.

Sterling reached over, using one single arm to wrap around me while keeping his grip on his knife. His grip tightened right as mine failed, swinging our bodies together like a pendulum. “You don’t even know how to do the bare minimum, do you?”

“I wish I did.” I whimpered before burrowing into the crook of his neck as he worked our bodies down the beast.

He jumped the last ten feet, never letting me hit the ground before he carried me away. We made it just from under the beast when its whole body collapsed on the ground, the red of its eyes dimming, and its life force poured onto the floor around it. With the eyes black, the whole body shuttered, and it stilled.

Sterling turned. “That was too easy.”

That’s because it was. Behind him, the body morphed into a four-legged creature standing on its hind legs. Horns sprouted from its forehead as its flesh began to melt from its body, leaving it standing in lumps of its bone. Its head thrashed from side to side as a high-pitched whine escaped it, and behind its frame, Greta laughed.

“It’s never that simple.” A sinister laugh left her again, sending chills down my spine. “Never is.”

Then as the bones of the creature crashed to the floor, it searched for its enemy; it searched for us. Its head turned toward us, its hollow eye sockets oozing with worms that fell to the ground. The worms wiggled on the floor before their bodies began to pull toward us. The closer they got, the more apparent the razor teeth were.

Horo’s foot came down on a worm's body, squishing it. “Not so bad.” Greta cackled as Horo spoke before she began to pull the fire and smoke from the outside toward her, letting it build as a tornado over her head. “That, on the other hand, is terrifying.”

Horo went to lift his leg, but it was stuck to the floor. The guts from the worm acting as glue to hold him in place. I heard a growl, and I knew it was Justice. I knew that all of them were watching, anticipating, hating that they weren’t there to help us. “Do not step on the worms!” I screamed to anyone who would listen, warning them. “Take your shoes off!”

Horo looked at me questionably for a moment before it clicked. Those shoes were stuck indefinitely. He would have to go at it barefoot and just hope no worms chewed his feet off, if that was even possible. He slipped off his shoes, taking a wide jump over the worms to get to where I stood.

“What do you want us to do?”

That was the question of the hour. The one I wish I had an answer for. I looked around me, panic trying to take hold, grasping and scraping at my chest from the inside. Three of my men were disabled, but that doesn’t mean we were completely disabled. I still had Sterling. Michelle. Maggie. Horo. Rolland. My head searched around for more, seeing some stragglers remaining on the outside, waiting for us to take the lead. Then, there was Lacy. The sweet little girl, who was huddled as far away as possible, scrunched in a ball, trying to avoid the chaos around her like it didn’t exist.

“We follow your lead, Liberty,” Sterling said from my side as the wind from the tunnel Greta created made my hair whip against my face.

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