Arachna

Chapter 14: The Devil Is My...

Lance watched in horror as Kaela slumped to the ground, her head striking the concrete.

The chief stood in front of her body, her face covered in shock and her hand clenching her pistol. Smoke trailed from the barrel.

Rotoya coughed, and blood spilled onto the ground. Even more poured from her neck. Her pistol fell from her hand, and she crumpled to the concrete.

In the moment of blind panic, Derek took advantage of the distraction and turned on the guard behind him. He wrestled the rifle from him and smashed it through his visor. The officer went down, and Derek sprayed a hail of bullets into the crowd of guards.

Lance waited for the guard behind him to fire, but he didn't. Instead, his attention was directed at the fleeing Derek. Another rifle shot rang out from the rooftop, and the guard dropped like a brick.

"Lance, come on!" Derek yelled.

Lance eyed Kaela as he allowed that twisting feeling in his stomach to churn, that killing calm. Whatever beast writhed inside of him hissed and demanded he attack. Holding it back had taken all the strength he could muster. Now, looking at Kaela's still form, he decided that what happened next didn't matter. He allowed the beast full reign.

Eleven guards surrounded him, but most of their focus was on Derek popping shots at them from the alleyway. Kaela lay on the ground near one of them, surrounded by the bodies Derek had left.

She was still.

Lance closed his eyes and breathed. The scent of honey poisoned the air. He didn't think. He stepped back and let the voice within him take over as it whispered.

Survive.

His body moved without him. He grabbed the pistol on the ground behind him. One of the guards pointed his rifle at Lance. Lance wrenched the rifle aside and fired the pistol into the guard's helmet. He collapsed.

Rifle in hand, Lance fired at the rest of the guards. They scattered and dove behind police cars. The gun jolted Lance's arms with every pull of the trigger, and four of the guards weren't lucky enough to find cover, purple spraying from their bodies as they fell to the ground, limp. The empty casings clinked against the concrete as the remaining guards hid behind their armored vehicles. If only they knew Lance was out of ammo.

Six left.

Lance dove behind the nearest police car and slid across the rough concrete as gunfire rang out. Bullets sprayed against the car. Windows shattered, and sparks flew from the metal doors. Lance curled into a ball and waited for the bullet storm to subside.

"Smoke him!" one officer yelled.

Lance told his body to dash into the alley where Derek was, but when he tried to commit to the action, his body refused. Refused.

His own body told him no, so he lay there and waited as smoke grenades flew over the vehicles and landed near him. He stared at Derek, and as the smoke rose, he finally stared back. Lance nodded to him, a silent message that he could go. Go check on Rob. Derek nodded and disappeared from view as the smoke thickened and washed away anything that wasn't a few feet in front of him.

I hope you know what you're doing, Lance said to whatever was controlling his movements.

His response was a twisting in his stomach.

Lance stood in the smoke, his footsteps as silent as a jaguar's as he walked. He closed his eyes. Heavy footsteps drew closer, surrounding him. His body ignored the cold metal of the gun in his hand and the stuffy feeling of the smoke as he calmly breathed it in. The men closed in, and he took the magazine out of his gun.