Mech

Chapter 17: Bad Blood

I saw the flash of another gunshot and watched the doorknob fly up and ricochet off the top of a bookshelf before disappearing down another isle. Esclave had shot another door open and cursed as she picked splinters out of her index finger and thumb. Just like the bunker Esclave brought us to after we had first met, the thin hall lead to a ladder that stretched uneasily upwards, hopefully to an exit.

"Come on, y'all!" Mitzi shouted, "We c'n get outa here!"

Water began to trickle in from under the library door and an enraged Cycho turned it to dust as it ripped the door from its brass hinges and gnawed it in half with the razor sharp woodchipper of a mouth it possessed in a display solely to establish dominance. I was terrified, but not ready to submit to this horror. Two of the four arms thrust the remaining door pieces towards us and we ducked behind the ends of the shelves. All four arms of the massive, murderous machine ripped books off the shelves and shredded them. All that beautiful knowledge was turned into scraps of nothing by that awful creature. If one of us got caught by that thing, we'd be dead in seconds. Ian wasn't going to stand for any of his friends, let alone himself, to be a victim of that fate. Stepping out into the isle, he aimed his shotgun at the beast.

"Ian, no! If you get too close he'll rip you apart!" Jason shouted.

"Don't worry," Ian said confidently.

He took several steps forward as the creature drew closer.

"Come on you four armed freak!" He shouted, "Come a little closer! I'm not fucking scared of you, I'll never be!"

Cycho stopped, posture rising until it was just taller than the bookshelves around it. Steam gushed out in quick bursts from the mouth of the monster and its head tilted down and slightly to one side, allowing the angle of the mask to appear as an unnerving, stretched smile. I couldn't believe it, and I never thought it could be possible, but this thing was actually laughing at him. This clearly wasn't just a bigger Cycoff, it was a whole new entity of evil that just added to the list of impossible enemies we now had.

Ian cocked the gun and fired. The blast hit the beast directly in the chest plate and sent it flying backwards. It busted through the doorway, taking out a chunk of the wall, and landed in the electrified flow of water. The shot itself did nothing to it, but it began spastically flailing around as the webs of light engulfed it, we realized it had been stunned by the electric blast. It's mouth slammed shut and opened back up as its seizure continued, sending an echo of metal clamping and high pitched whining swirling around the empty room with the rusty chandelier and back into the library. That bought us some time.

"Go, go, go people, let's move!" Esclave shouted and pushed Aaliyah towards the ladder.

Mitzi followed and Ian did, too. I was about to join my friends in the ascent, but I stopped abruptly, causing Max to run into me from behind. I turned around and pushed past him, back into the library.

"What'r'ya doin'? We gotta get outta here!" He shouted.

"We're leavin' someone behind! I gotta get 'er, you go!"

Max was confused by this as the rest of our group had already begun to climb the ladder, but he had no time to argue. Jason, who waited by the door to make sure we all made it, was equally as confused and didn't follow Max upwards.

"Micah, get back here now!" He shouted.

I threw the door to the workshop open and started to make low clicking noises with my tongue. Catt emerged from underneath a desk and I knelt down, scratching the soft fur and opening my bag.