didn’t see Brynner move; he was swinging the blade so fast the edges shone with a golden blur.
The co-org moved every bit as fast as he did. Maybe faster, dodging every blow. “You’re getting slow.”
Brynner sliced across it, severing a finger. Black smoke bled from it, swirling about the co-org like a whirlwind. It came at Brynner with the fury of a wounded beast. How he could react, how he could dodge or counter it, I couldn’t say.
One blow landed, sending Brynner into the mud. I leaped for the car, where my Deliverator sat on the seat. When I turned around, the co-org was on Brynner.
It reached down with hands that ended in bloody red fingernails. “You’re still wounded, lesser Carson. Back on the island, I believe I cut you right about—”
I fired from a kneeling position so the bullet wouldn’t pass through and hit Brynner. The co-org stumbled forward, then rolled to the side and spun. My next bullet went wide, or maybe I shot straight and it just moved faster than me.
Leaving Brynner, it started back toward me. “You can die first, translator. You should have hidden in the house and read the old man’s books. Now I’ll wear you around like a cheap suit.”
I’d been close to the co-orgs in our labs. Mindless machines, without direction or purpose. This one knew what I did, and who I was. I’d heard field team stories but not seen proof of Re-Animus intelligence. Until now.
The roar of a shotgun split the night, throwing the monster facedown into the mud. I added my own bullets, squeezing the trigger until long after the chamber clicked empty. Brynner rolled over, crawled on his knees to the co-org, and drove a blade though the co-org’s body.
It exploded, smoke gushing from its mouth until the corpse stiffened and went still.
“Did I get him?” Rory chambered another shell and blasted at point-blank range. The splatter of flesh and blood covered me, red blood staining the mud. He bent over and took me by the hand, hauling me up the porch, into the kitchen.
Lucy Hughes watched from the window with terror-filled eyes. “What was that? It spoke.”
“I don’t know.” I looked to Brynner as he came in the door.
He dripped into a chair. “That’s a Re-Animus.”
I tried to fit this into my view of the world, and failed. “Four of them?”
He laughed. “Just one. How many did you need?”
BRYNNER
Everyone did this. Those that lived long enough to encounter a Re-Animus did. They could talk about corpse organisms and categorize them by stage of decomposition and physiological changes. But meeting one that knew you by name blew the training courses out the window.
This one knew Grace.
And knew, if my memory was right, the contents of the innermost vaults.
I should have been more worried about the vaults.
Rory looked out the window at the easing storm. “I’m going to run the perimeter. Make sure there aren’t any more out there.” He started toward the door.
I shook my head. “There aren’t. The clouds of evil go to the nearest host. Those dispersed. If there’d been a host within half a mile, we could’ve followed them.”
The power flickered on, and Grace stood. “I need to make a call or two.”
“To field command?”
She nodded.
An image of the war room swarming with analysts working through the night flashed through my mind. I hadn’t even made it a day and I missed it. “Tell them Vault Zero is compromised. Tell them everything.”
She blinked, then frowned. “You aren’t going back? This is huge. Multiple witnesses confirming the Re-Animus intelligence. We’ve read reports, but only from one person at a time, and frankly, most field ops are . . . a little out-there. There won’t be any disputing this now.”
I knew what needed to happen. I had no problem doing it. “No. Congratulations. You and Dr. Egghead can discuss it at length.”
I looked over to Rory. “Thanks for the offer, but I think it would be best if I moved on. Those things show up everywhere I go. I’d rather not be responsible for someone else getting killed.”
Grace looked at me, a look of wild terror on her face for just a moment. The fear dissolved, replaced by determination like I’d seen in that briefing room back in Seattle. “You can’t just run away. You might want to read the sit-reps. Co-orgs are showing up everywhere, and that just happens to include your little hometown. If nothing else, stay and defend your aunt and uncle.”