And It Arose from the Deepest Black (John Black Book 2) (29 page)

Interlude

The burn does not cease.

Yet…

Where there was silence, there is noise. A new sound.

Something is wrong.

12

“Oh, well, welcome back, your highness,” Bobby wisecracked as the elevator door slowly slid open.

Slinking over to where he sat against the wall, I scanned the horizon, immediately noticing the swirl of activity around Alpha as she lumbered toward town.

“Ready?” I asked.

“I’m both as ready and as unprepared as I will ever be,” Bobby said. “You?”

“Same.” If I was going to do what I had in mind, I needed my fire. But could I control it? I searched inside myself for a scrap of anger, something to fuel my fight. And I found nothing. Did I need my anger to fight, or was I just grasping at straws, knowing that one way or the other, Alpha would be in front of me soon? “Bobby?”

“Yeah, Johnny?”

“I think we’ve got this. They’re two, but we’re two. I know Alpha is a giant creature, but other than being huge and strong, we have powers she doesn’t. And Jake, even though he has powers like ours, he seems new to them. Like he hasn’t had enough time to practice, you know?”

Bobby smiled. “Not unlike a couple of kids I know who used to hang out at the self-storage building.”

“Exactly.” It was almost time. We knew our powers had distance limits, so we were going to start out old school. By yelling our heads off.

I slipped on my mask and stoop up. Bobby did the same. Coming closer, Alpha and her entourage were a strange sight.

It reminded me of the diagram of an atom — a central hub surrounded by orbiting dots. Here, the nucleus was Alpha, and if I strained, I could see a speck on her shoulder that I assumed was Jake. Around them flew the first orbit of electrons — two gunmetal-black, heavily armed military helicopters. Circling farther out were the media, with their red, green, white, and other colorful choppers.

No one was really doing anything. They looked like they were escorting Alpha into town.

Below us, at street level, dull green jeeps zigzagged through the streets, blaring messages to evacuate. By now, these rolling evacuations had been well-covered by the press, with varying opinions on their success and usefulness. In the military’s defense, they had set up a 24-hour Gorgol tracker online, and pleaded for people located even remotely near Alpha to keep tabs on it.

But since Alpha had deviated from her original course, they were at a loss for how to pre-warn the populace. It appeared like they were scrambling to make up for it. I was pretty sure Carrie’s dentist would have been postponing appointments if there had been prior knowledge that Alpha was coming to town.

But
we
knew. Because we knew where she
had
to go. Toward Holly. “Just like we did it in rehearsal, right… Yellow Fury?”

“Sure thing, Black Sword. But I think I missed rehearsal.”

We started jumping and yelling. And it had almost zero effect. Until finally, a single news helicopter spotted us and broke from the pack. That must have been enough.

Jake or Alpha, or maybe both of them, saw us, and they turned.

“All right, Black Sword, now or never, right?” Bobby’s eyes twinkled, the sign of someone who is either 100-percent percent certain of victory or has completely lost his mind. I didn’t dwell on which.

Above, the helicopters rearranged to fit us within their orbits As Alpha neared, she let out another deafening roar, and all I could think was
Did Carrie make it out of here?
I hoped so.

The plan was simple. Bobby went first, flying off the rooftop to the ground below, making a feint toward Alpha’s lower left side while also reaching out to do whatever he could to mess with Jake’s mind.

Then I would follow, going high and to Alpha’s right. Aim for the soft tissues. End it quickly. Humanely, if that was possible. But definitively, no matter what. The Earth and the Gorgol just couldn’t coexist.

We didn’t have much in the way of a plan for Jake. We figured we’d deal with him after the fact. But Jake had another idea, I guess.

Alpha roared again, standing right in front of us, nearly blowing us backward with her foul-smelling wind.

Giving me a confident nod, Bobby was off. He jumped up and over the rooftop wall, making his feint, controlling his fall to the street below. Or trying to, until Jake decided turnabout was fair play and pushed hard at Bobby’s mind and body all at once.

According to our plan, Bobby was supposed to yell something to let me know when I should attack. He never told me exactly what, saying he’d figure it out on the spur of the moment. I expected it to be something clever like
Underpants Bok Choi!
or
Excelsior Flamethrower!
Instead, all I heard was a loud
Oof!
Not having more specific instructions, I assumed this was the cue.

In those last milliseconds of waiting, my fire returned. Something about Alpha being so near. Like it was uncontrollable in her presence. The switch had been flipped. Adrenaline mixed with whatever the hell was wrong inside of me, becoming a near-toxic stew of bloodlust. I wanted to kill Alpha.

With one motion, I pulled out my double belts and jumped.

And immediately saw that the plan had failed.

Alpha was glaring right at me, waiting.

Here’s the thing. I had an
oh shit
moment, sure. But I wasn’t afraid. If anything, I thought it was funny. My anger had come back, and I was completely smug, flying toward Alpha with a sword-spear in each hand like some weird downtown, building-leaping samurai. I was grinning ear to ear underneath my mask, laughing at myself for the botched plan but knowing I would win anyway.

Knowing I would kill Alpha.

Gritting my teeth, I doubled down, willing myself higher, past Alpha’s middle section, toward her shoulder.

That’s when I got a clear view of Jake. He held on to one side of the monster’s neck, using her big scales for grip.

I could tell right away that something was wrong. I mean, he was smiling at me, but that could have been because he had messed up Bobby’s feint and was pleased with himself. But, no. There was something
different
about him.

If you’ve ever had sunburn — not the mystical kind Holly was experiencing, but actual scorched-pink flesh — you’ve probably found your skin peeling off a day or two later. Jake looked like someone after several bad sunburns in a row. His face looked, I don’t know,
irregular
. But what had burned him? The Gorgol? Was being near the creature burning him up?

He’d been acting increasingly strange, almost schizophrenic. It was like the internal conflict within Jake was taking over his external body, too.

Unable to shake the idea that it was sunburn, I thought,
Dude, wear a hat next tim
e
.

Still I flew upward, toward Alpha’s face, and the giant beast leaning into my attack and bellowed, baring her massive teeth, giving me the perfect avenue — right into the soft tissue of her mouth.

Just like I had done to Omicron.

It was going to be too easy.

13

Up I flew, willing more energy into the swords, watching their points stretch like oversized, deadly needles in my hands.

Alpha roared on and on. For a moment, I wondered if she thought her breath alone was enough to dissuade me.

It almost was. Yes. It was that bad.

I was strong. At that moment, I felt like the most powerful creature alive, able to decimate any foe. I drove forward, two swords ready to slay the dragon.

Milliseconds from delivering a fatal blow. Until…

Everything blurred, a huge swath of motion.

And I found myself hurtling into the open air, looking at nothing but blue sky.

That was unexpected.

Johnny!
Bobby yelled into my mind.
Behind you!

What the hell was going on? Where did Alpha go?

I started to turn.

Johnny — Oh my God. The way she just moved! SHE HAS POWER, TOO!

What? What was Bobby yelling about?

Alpha’s tail hit me in mid air like the best slugger in baseball swinging for the fences.

I didn’t just hurt, I felt like every cell in my body would collapse, independently.
That’ll get the thorns out!
I thought, but the weak attempt at humor definitely didn’t make me feel any better.

The thorns.

If Alpha had power —
the
power — then she had the thorns in her cells, too. But I’d seen her attacking and being attacked many times. She was a giant beast and undeniably powerful, but
power
? I had never picked up on that before.

Alpha’s first blow sent me spinning wildly through the air. Her second was straight down, smashing me to the pavement, face first. Ever see someone face-plant off their bike or skateboard, or just flat out fall on their face? It looks painful. It
is
painful. Now think about your entire human body being swatted like a fly. I don’t recommend trying it at home.

I made a John Black-sized crater in the middle of the road, right in front of a dentist’s office. Was it Carrie’s dentist? I didn’t have time to ask at the front desk. Besides, it looked dark and deserted, assumedly because the people had evacuated.

Which seemed like a pretty good idea right about then.

I had to get up, even though at that moment any semi-intelligent third-party observer might have advised me to stay down. Throw in the towel.

The belts were just belts again, dribbled like dead snakes next to the flattened blobs that were my hands. My arms. My body. All squashed and lumpy, a bag full of marbles and broken sticks. And damn, everything
hur
t
.

I had to get up.

There was an earth-shaking thud that reverberated through my aching skull, but I could see the form returning to my left hand, and slowly I tightened the grip on that belt.

Get up.

The other hand started to form and tighten as a second thud hit the ground. She was coming. She roared.

Somewhere, glass was breaking. An alarm was blaring. Above, helicopter blades chopped circles in the air.

Get up, John,
I told mysel
f
.

Get up, Johnny
, Bobby echoed.

Working on it.

Listen, Johnny, I’m trying to get to you first, but it’s gonna be close. And then…

I raised my head and could finally look around a bit. A large monster foot stomped toward me from not that far away, and another thud shook the ground.
And then what, Bobby?

I think we need to bug the heck ou
t
.

My legs tightened and I pulled them beneath me, trying to centralize my energies.
You know, I like that plan better than our last one.

You came up with the last one
, Bobby said.

Are you trying to make me feel bad, Bobby?
I pushed up, trying to stand but swaying on legs that quivered like spaghetti noodles.

“If you feel half as bad as you look, there’s nothing I can say to make you feel worse,” Bobby said, sliding to a stop in front of me. “Can you run?”

“I can barely stand.”

“Okay, well, that’s a little less than ideal.” He looked over his shoulder as Alpha stomped toward us. “We’ve got, oh, I’d say a negative amount of minutes, but that wouldn’t help things much, would it? Could you run in, say, 60 seconds?”

“I can try.”

“All right, that’s a start.
One… Two…
”

I held up a hand. “Were you thinking of counting off all 60 seconds?”

“Definitely not. We’ll be embedded in this street in half that time.”

“Then let’s go now.” I turned and my amoeba-like form over-corrected. But still, it was a bit like starting up on a bike. The wobble was just part of the deal. Work with it, let it work with you. I did. And with every passing second, every step forward, my body solidified. I was even able to push my will into the belts and turn them back into swords, little by little.

“Faster, please,” Bobby urged as the ground shook again.

We hurried around a corner — well, Bobby hurried, I sort of shambled. Problem solved, right? Out of sight, out of mind.

Nope. Alpha smashed through the edge of the building at the corner, sending bricks and dust and who-knew-what-else flying.

Bobby put a hand on my shoulder, guiding me left, trying to use the maze of buildings at least as cover if not exactly a permanent solution.

I saw a blur on the periphery of my vision and Alpha’s tail circled us, cutting off every avenue. She sluiced and swirled, impossible physical movements. Movements that required power.
Our
power.

There was nowhere to go. Well, one way to go. Back to Alpha.

Bobby and I slammed ourselves into a back-to-back stance, and I raised my sword-spears.

The sun was behind Alpha’s head as she leaned forward, a giant-creature eclipse. Her shoulders hunched and she bent toward us.

The earth shuddered twice as her hands touched the ground. And like a bear sniffing its prey, Alpha lowered her massive, toothy face, so close.

Bobby and I tensed, breathing heavily, turning to see the face of our doom.

Slowed to a stop just inches away, I saw one of Gorgol Alpha’s huge teeth, taller than me. Her entire mouth looked like a small apartment. Central heating, sleeps four, possibly forever. Slight odor problem.

She snorted, and my hair tossed in the breeze of her breath. I was going to need a shower. If I lived.

“Ready, Bobby?”

“For what? To become dinner? Not really.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. “If this is it, then this is it, right? If we’re going to die here, would you rather die running or die fighting? You know, with your boots on, and all.” I gave him my best
Let’s go get this!
look.

“Is
not dying
an option?”

I laughed. In the face of death or whatever we were facing, a creature more than 20 times our size, with the same powers we had, Bobby, my friend, made me laugh.

“I don’t know. But let’s find out.” Instinctively, we tensed. Pulling inward, we prepared to jump, even though Alpha was only inches away.

And then Jake stepped forward. “
In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity
.” His voice shifted as he spoke, modulating and changing, word to word.

“Huh?” Bobby replied, cleverly.

Jake looked us over, his face covered in bumps and strange ridges. His weird sunburn, peeling. “Which do you prefer, boys? Chaos or opportunity?”