Malik had said, “there will be an attack after the storm.”
He was wrong; there were several.
This time the Slithers weren’t contained in two floors of a building, instead they’d manage to spread throughout the streets after overwhelming the East Gate.
The members of the Rose Circle were not fighting alone and Niko saw members of the Azure Circle peppering the streets and the members of two other groups she learned called themselves the Pale and Dark Circle respectively. Seeing the two groups made Niko realized how small their own Circle was, five members rattling around a big hotel. But she didn’t let it bother her. Size didn’t matter it was kicking ass that counted.
With a wet slorp and an arc of black blood she yanked Toothy Too out of the Slithers head. Niko scanned the streets. Distantly, she could hear the sound of gunfire and the occasional cut off scream of a guard that discovered too late that bullets did not work on Slithers.
At first, it was a bit surreal fighting in the daytime, she was used to the things attacking at night when they had shadows to cling to, but she quickly learned why some of the Slithers decided to brave exposure.
Surrounded by hisses and screams and the staccato of bullets most of the city’s inhabitants who’d ventured outside after the rain had quickly reinserted themselves into the safety of their homes. But as if oblivious to the chaos in the air around them the Grey-men continued to apply a layer of salt to the wet sidewalk. They didn’t even scream as the Slithers claws tore into their bodies.
“Looks like this block is clear.” A young woman stood beside her surveying the bodies that dotted the street. Up ahead a Grey-man tried to fix the salt disturbed by the fighting.
Niko looked around, besides the Grey-man she and the other woman were the only people on the block, somehow she’d strayed from the group.
The woman bent to reload her crossbow. She looked around twenty-five with pale shoulder length brown hair streaked with blonde. She glanced up and saw Niko staring at her. She flashed her a quick smile.
“I’m Jill,” she said hefting the crossbow. “Dark Cir--- Damn.” She quickly pivoted. A Slither was charging toward the Grey-man who continued applying salt even as the creature uttered an inhuman howl. Jill aimed and fired off a bolt.
The race began as the bolt sliced through the air its sole purpose being to get to the Slither before the thing managed to sink its teeth into the Grey-man. The Grey-man continued with his work oblivious to the fact that his life hung on the precipice.
The arrow blew past him and slammed into the Slithers chest flinging it backward a few feet.
Jill gave a grunt of satisfaction. They moved past the Grey-man who kept on dusting salt. The Slither was still alive. It thrashed about trying to tug the arrow out of its chest but succeeding only in slicing up the shaft with its claws. Its multicolored eyes were wild as it choked off the black blood. Niko raised her weapon and swiftly brought it down on the thing’s head.
“Nice,” said Jill as the Slither's blood soaked the sidewalk and touched the edges of her boots. She prodded the dead body. “Now, the block’s clear.”
Off in the distance they could hear a barrage of gunfire followed by screams and Jill sighed. “You’d think they’d learn by now.”
“Don’t get killed.” She advised before dashing off.
Niko glanced at the Grey-man who was still doing his job. She considered following him, as she’d probably encounter more Slithers that way but then Ari grabbed her arm.
“There you are.” She exclaimed before quickly leaning backward as Niko nearly clocked her on the head with Toothy Too.
“Whoa there, not a Slither.”
She led her to where the Slithers were being pushed back toward the East Gate. The area was littered with bodies and even as arrows were picking off their brethren there were still some Slithers ravenous enough to try to drag away a body. They were quickly downed.
She kept getting distracted by the bodies; her eyes darting over each one even the Grey-men as she hoped that her brother didn’t make it to the city only to lie among the carnage.
She dodged through the narrow streets plowing through Slithers when she had to. This part of the city was less maintained and she had to skirt potholes. Admittedly, they weren’t as deep as the ones Outside but they were just as deadly and that told how degraded the particular neighborhood had become.
Just as she yanked her weapon free from another Slither she caught sight of something hurtling toward her. Niko didn’t think just reacted.
She dived out of the way slamming into somebody and driving them both against the side of a house. Water that had pooled on the small awning shook free from the impact and cascaded around them in an acidic waterfall.
She looked up as water spattered against her boots and found herself staring at Ben. She didn’t move. Couldn’t really, not with the glittery curtain of rainwater falling inches behind her. She clutched his shirt in her fist waiting for his eyes to flicker and change like they had before but only wide brown eyes stared back.
He opened his mouth. “Niko ...”
Whatever he was about to say was cut off by the agonized scream just behind them.
Niko flinched and almost got doused with rainwater but Ben quickly pulled her back to his chest. She twisted her head Ben’s heartbeat in her ear.
While they were fortunate enough to avoid being drenched, beyond the glittery curtain of falling water someone was less so.
She recognized him from the Azure Circle but it was only from the blue of his clothes. His face was three holes and a mass of white blisters. The rainwater was consuming most of the right side of his body and he stumbled blindly about the street clutching his face and screaming. He tripped over a pothole splashing murky water onto his leg where it quickly began to burn.
The Slither, the thing that she’d dived away from, came to a halt as if it couldn’t quite believe its luck. It gave a delighted little shiver and pounced on the poor guy.
Niko screamed and Ben began to swear, but the Slither took no notice of them. It brought the guy down who flailed helplessly as the Slither began to slice bright ribbons of blood into his skin.
“Keep still,” was his only warning before Ben slid a hand between them. He carefully rummaged through his jacket trying not to jostle her into the water that no longer came down in a torrent but had slowed to a still deadly series of rapid drips.
He pulled three knives out from beneath his jacket and with a few quick flicks of his wrist he sank two into the thing's head. The third skittered across the pavement before plopping into a pothole.
The Slither collapsed on top of the guy, limbs twitching as it died.
Ben grabbed his collar and used that to pull his jacket over both their heads forming a makeshift umbrella.
Like partners in a strange dance they synchronized their steps until they were no longer behind the curtain of water then Niko broke away and ran toward the guy as Ben quickly shrugged off his jacket.
She kicked the Slither off him. Below was a mess of blood and pus. He groaned weakly and Niko discovered that despite it all the guy was still alive.
He needed water, fast.
Niko turned around in a short frantic circle before choosing a house at random. She kicked open the door not caring if she frightened the people inside. The house was empty. She dashed toward the sink and wrenched the knobs but they only gave a dry squeak and coughed out a small stream of rust.
She gripped the edge of the sink, a strangled scream squeezing past pinched lips. Of course she’d choose the only home in the city with no running water.
The front door banged open just as she spotted a large jug half filled with purified water. Ben stepped into the house dragging the screaming Circle member in by the shoulders. He set him down.
Unconsciously, he patted his chest, searching for pockets on a jacket that he no longer wore. He cursed. “We need salt,” he said before dashing out again.
/> Niko crouched down and poured clean water over his face and body rinsing away the acid as best she could. She tried not to look too closely at the damage the rainwater had done. He coughed wetly and blood stained his lips.
Ben came back with a basket of salt. “He’s still bleeding,” he said, shoving the basket into her arms.
She grabbed handfuls of salt pressing it against his ravaged face. She’d been so focused on the acid consuming him that she had momentarily forgotten about the damage the Slither had caused. It had shredded the left side of his chest and he was still bleeding heavily.
Ben muttered a string of obscenities as if it was a balm that would magically heal the guy. He ripped off his shirt and pressed it against the wound trying to staunch the blood.
But it was too late and he gurgled and gasped for breath as his lungs steadily filled with fluid. His ruined lips struggled to form words but before a syllable could pass the boy from the Azure Circle died.
There was a moment of stillness when neither of them said a word. Salt slipped through her fingers forming a small white mound between her feet. Ben still had his hands pressed to the guy’s chest. His blood had soaked through the shirt and was beginning to pool in the spacing between his fingers.
Ben sighed through his teeth, a long hiss that sounded exactly like a Slither’s. He jerked his hands away from the body, smearing blood on his cheek as he grasped the back of his neck.
He stared blankly at the body of the Azure boy but not as if he was mourning the loss of a fellow Slither killer. He stared at it as if the mangled array of flesh and bone that lay between them was no longer there; someone else's body had taken the boy's place. He looked pained.
She spoke up softly. "Ben?"
He gave a startled blink and whatever spell had been cast over him was broken.
They both glanced up as a shadow darkened the doorway. It was a Grey-man. He looked around the room for a brief second before shuffling past Ben, the body and the puddle of water on the floor. He stopped in front of Niko. He bent down, picked up the basket and slowly shuffled out again.