The Anomaly Project

CHAPTER TWELVE

TODD

The look on Autumn's face when she saw the Banniks almost made me crack up – literally laughing in the face of death.

You know, it might be a bit crazy, but I actually enjoy fighting these things. They were created by Desmond Forrester, the Big Kahuna himself, so when I kill one, it makes me feel as if I've killed him instead. Forrester did so many awful things to me, to my friends. It feels good to destroy the Banniks, something that belongs to him, in return.

Which is the reason why I throw myself at the first Bannik to come out of the forest, brandishing my sword. I slash and jab at it, aiming for the weak spots, parrying the strikes it sends at me, and finally stabbing my blade through its chest. It lets out a high-pitched squeal. I yank my sword out and it collapses to the ground.

By now, more Banniks have emerged from the trees. The others are holding their own against them – Masato is a whirlwind, taking on two of the creatures at the same time, swinging his machetes in both hands faster than my eyes can follow. Tessa is tossing her throwing knives like nobody's business. Brooke teleports around the battlefield, firing her pistol and hitting the mark every time.

Autumn, sparring with her own Bannik beside me, glances over and shouts, "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting this!"

"Really something, aren't they?" I grin at her and parry when the one I'm fighting slashes at me. Then something occurs to me. "Autumn!" I yell. "I need to tell you something!"

"Todd, this might not be the best time to—"

"Listen to me!" I howl. "Do you see the white fleshy areas on the ankles, wrists—"

She cuts me off. "What about them?"

"They're weak spots! Try to hit them!"

She slices her knife at a weak spot on her Bannik's wrist. Her blade goes through and the Bannik's hand falls to the ground.

"Try to get the ones on the head or the chest! That'll kill them!" I advise.

She nods and grabs the Bannik's shoulders, yanking its head down toward her, and then she drives her knife hard into the weak spot on the top of its head. The Bannik shrieks and tumbles to the ground. Autumn grins at me, and I can't help smiling back. But my smile fades immediately; there's a creature sprinting up behind her. "Duck!" I shout.

Without hesitation, she drops and rolls to one side. I stab into the Bannik's chest. It squeals and falls into the ground. Autumn springs back up onto her feet and says, "To the left!"

I leap to my left and she fires her crossbow. A Bannik screams behind me, and Autumn runs over, pulls the bolt out of its head. We grin at each other, and then she's drawn back into another battle.

Another glance around tells me that everyone is alive, fighting, and accounted for... except Noah, who is nowhere to be seen. I'm wondering where he got off to when the Bannik I'm fighting squeals and collapses, although I didn't kill it.

I snap my head from side to side, trying to see the source of its death, when I catch sight of Noah lying on his stomach on the roof of the med shed, his sniper rifle pointed in the direction of the fallen Bannik at my feet. He must have shot it. I give him a thumbs-up, and without taking his eye from the sight on his gun, he holds his hand up in a thumbs-up back at me.

The battle lasts no more than fifteen minutes. The Banniks that are still alive begin to retreat back into the forest, making that dreadful roar again. The tremor in the ground diminishes to a slight quaking, and then it stops. The trees go still.