Wraith

Chapter 11: Expanded Sanctuary

Chapter 11: Expanded Sanctuary

Turning ghost, I dodged left and vanished through a wall. Spinning around, I lunged back into the corridor, becoming solid long enough to deliver a punch to Clayton's jaw. My momentum carried me past him, and I exited the hallway by the opposite wall.

I repeatedly switched between solid and ghost forms, attacking and vanishing before Clayton could respond. To his credit, the mercenary leader didn't go down. Blood poured from his broken nose and split lip, but he stayed on his feet, eyes searching in vain to catch sight of me before the next assault.

The fight was taking too long. The more time it took to bring Clayton down, the greater the chance of casualties in the surface battle. I needed to end it. Gliding under the floor, I turned the deck and the ground beneath it to shadow. Clayton yelled as the support under his feet vanished and he dropped into the hole.

I released my grip, and the ground turned solid, imprisoning him from the waist down. I surfaced and stood in front of him outside of arms reach.

"What are you going to do?" Clayton asked between clenched teeth. "Are you going to leave me stuck here? I don't care how long it takes; I'll find you one of these days and kill you!"

"I believe you," I answered softly while walking around behind him. "I want you to know this isn't about retribution for what you've done. I simply can't take the risk of the continual threat you pose. I have to stop you."

Thrusting a hand forward, I phased my ghostly fingers through the back of his neck and made them solid again for a moment. With my task complete, I retracted my hand and came around where he could see me once more.

"What did you do?" Clayton asked, clearly confused as to why he was still alive.

"I severed the arteries along your spine," I explained, crouching down to be closer to eye level. "Your brain is being oxygen deprived as we speak. In moments, you'll pass out, and in a few minutes more, you'll be dead. It's far more merciful than what you had planned for me and the other test subjects. Goodbye, Clayton."

Rising, I turned my back on my former partner and walked away. I became ethereal and passed through the wall at the end of the corridor, leaving Clayton to his fate.

I stopped by the armory on my way to the surface and retrieved a number of throwing knives as I required them for negotiating with the surviving mercenaries.

***

The exterior of the base was in disarray. Soldiers lay sprawled across the ground or up against the building where they'd impacted, obviously the work of Ricochet. Mirror had also been busy as flames engulfed several trees, and one of the guard towers previously overlooking the main gate had been melted into a pool of useless slag.

I walked out of the base and stood in the middle of the open area of the compound. A few bullets were fired my way, but they passed harmlessly through me. When the mercenaries ceased their attack, I gave them an opportunity.

"Do I have your attention?" I called out loudly. "Clayton is dead; Dr. Powel is dead, and if you continue to fight, you shall join them. Your time on this island is done. If you want to leave, we shall let you go."

I held up one of my throwing knives.

"You may have noticed I'm impervious to your weapons," I said before hurling the knife. It became solid the moment it left my hand, imbedding deep into the trunk of a tree. "You, however, are not impervious to me. Decide."

The soldiers hesitated, clearly uncertain if the bargain would be honored. I waited for them to realize how easily I could dispatch them if I truly desired their deaths. If I wanted to kill them, I wouldn't have offered them an alternative, I simply would have finished them off. As soon as they understood the situation, they began coming out into the open, dropping their weapons on the ground.