Chapter 15: Chapter 12

Gunpowder exploded, the blunderbuss jerking back as the recoil overpowered its wielder. Pellets slammed into the walls, the floor and ceiling, shooting up debris and sending it flying. 

Colin threw himself back a moment before they fired, tripping over himself and falling backwards. His momentum stopped abruptly, Caitlin’s hands braced against his back. “Th-” She cut him off, shoving him forward, throwing him out into the open, turning just in time to be greeted by a meaty fist to the face. 

Reeling back, he had only a moment to recover before another blow came his way, the blunderbuss discarded. He ducked, the grotesquely huge arm sweeping over his head. Rushing, he grappled his assailant, legs like tree trunks refusing to budge against his meager weight. Then he was flying through the air, a massive hand tossing him aside with ease. He crashed against a wall, back bruising on contact, the wind knocked from his lungs. 

Heaving, vision blurring, Colin struggled onto his elbows, heavy boots stomping his way. “Shit,” he grumbled, leaning against the wall and pushing himself to his feet. A piggish face poking from warped steel plates glared down at him, the Enforcer’s massive hands clasped over his head for another blow. 

Shouting bloody murder, Caitlin jumped on the Enforcer’s back, wiry arms wrapped around the other mutant’s thick neck. Though small, her enhanced strength jerked his head back, strangling them with an effort. 

The Enforcer twisted one way then the other, hands scrambling for Caitlin, their body too large and too unwieldly to reach. Their face began to turn blue when they backpedaled into another wall, smashing Caitlin between the concrete and his steel-plated armour. Losing her grip, she slid from his back, collapsing onto the ground. 

Turning around, the Enforcer heaving, he looked down at the half-breed, hesitating. His right foot rose from the ground before he put it back down, repeating this twice more before properly raising it over Caitlin’s head. 

Pulling himself together, Colin drew his revolver, and fired. It was a hurried shot, pinging off the bent plates covering the Enforcer’s hunched back. But it made him stumble, and drew his attention back to the detective, of whom he had far less qualms about killing. Colin was already jumping out of the way when the Enforcer crashed into the wall he’d been slumped against, pummeled cement sliding to the floor in a torrent of dust. 

Colin twisted around, firing off another short, this one piercing through the weaker plating of the Enforcer’s side armour. 

“Gah!” The Enforcer lunged, smacking Colin’s arm to the side as he fired again, the bullet going wide and pinging the floor. Roaring like a feral beast, the Enforcer shouldered Colin to the ground, gun skittering from his fingers. 

“Come on, I need that!” Colin shouted, rolling to avoid the Enforcer’s boot, the floor shaking from the force. Crawling away, fingers digging, he scrambled to his feet, stumbling away until he hit another wall. 

“Runnin’ now, are we?” The mutant laughed, loud and deep, stomping after the detective. 

Colin turned, pushing his back against the wall. “Uh, yeah. You took my gun from me, pig-face.” 

Sneering, the Enforcer cracked his neck, now only a few steps from Colin. “Too bad you couldn’t just keep your nose out of this one. Would’ve saved you some time before the Reckoning.” 

Squinting, Colin straightened his shoulders. “A reckoning? Now, now, that’s a big word for someone like you. Did you learn it from someone? Couldn’t have been Jackal. Your Mother, perhaps?” 

His eye twitched, the Enforcer pausing. “You... how do you know about the Blood Mother?” 

Colin adjusted his voice, letting some condescension slip through. “You didn’t think your initiation was your last test, did you?” 

The Enforcer growled, clenching his fists. “You... are you?” 

“Maybe I am. That’s your test now, isn’t it? To figure that out, and to use your discretion to decide whether to use force or to show mercy.” Colin was bullshitting, obviously. Using what little he knew to try and manipulate the situation, trying his best not to trip over his own words and slip up. 

Chewing on his lips, the mutant’s face scrunched up, deep in thought. “This... this doesn’t-” 

And then his knee caved in, Caitlin’s foot destroying the joint with a loud crack. His screams echoed down the hall, even as Caitlin grabbed the plates of armour covering his head, pulling him back and slamming him to the ground. Eyes wide and teeth bared, Caitlin screamed with rage, digging her face into the Enforcer’s neck, clamping fangs around his windpipe. His screams petered out, Caitlin bracing her half-webbed hands against his face and chest. 

With one terrible motion, she ripped his throat out, blood spurting from the open cavity, dripping from her pale lips. Stumbling back several steps, she spat the bundle of pinkish flesh and muscle from her mouth. Teeth stained, she turned to Colin, huffing and growling, the look in her eyes a crazed one. 

Colin swallowed hard, the pain in his back spreading as the adrenaline ran dry. “Hey, you uh... you okay?” 

Slowing down her breathing, she looked down at the dying Enforcer, hands gripped over his torn throat. Bringing a hand up to her mouth, she wiped away the blood, looking at the dark red now staining her fingers. Clamping her mouth shut, hiding her fangs, she looked back to Colin. “I... I think so, yeah.” 

Colin’s nod was shallow, truly taking in the girl’s features for the first time since her interrogation. Her ghostly complexion, her blood-red eyes, her shallow cheeks and leathery skin. Each of her teeth and each of her nails was sharp as a knife, able to puncture flesh with ease, her lean body able to knock grown men around. He remembered, especially now with her mouth covered in gore, that she was half monster, and he was terrified of her. 

“Hey,” Caitlin called, bringing Colin out of his thoughts. She motioned to the dead Enforcer, hands laid across his throat in a failed attempt to stop the bleeding. “So, what do we do with him?” 

* * *

They left the Enforcer’s body where it lay, leaving the building in a hurry, Colin taking only a moment to collect his revolver. Neither of them said a word until they were back in the buggy, and several blocks from the newest murder site. 

Stripping off his mask and handing it to Caitlin, Colin dug through his coat pockets until he found his cigs, the box half crumpled from their latest tussle. Putting it between his lips, he lit the tobacco with a single flick of his lighter, letting it calm his nerves. After taking a long drag, he spoke. 

“Okay, so, new information. One, we’re definitely on the right track. Two, the Enforcers can’t be trusted, as some or all of them may be compromised.” He took another drag, this one deeper than the last. “And third, I have no idea what to do from here. If the Enforcers are compromised, that means the scriptoriums aren’t safe, meaning we can’t access any of their records.” His eyelids felt heavy, and he snuffed the cig, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. 

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Caitlin sat and listened, nodding along. “Well,” she started. “We’re alive, at least. That’s always a good thing, in my experience.” 

Colin sighed, shaking his head. “That’s definitely an ongoing problem, if we’re being honest. They’ve sent one person after us, so it’s likely that there will be others. We need... we need to figure this out quickly, and stop whatever is going on. We could continue down the list we got, but it’s likely those are traps as well.” Jaw clenched, Colin gripped the buggy’s wheel tight enough that his knuckles turned white. “If we could find Jackal, or this Blood Mother, we might be able to figure out what to do next.” 

“Well, I don’t know about this Blood Mother, but... I think I know where we can get information on Jackal.” 

Colin took a moment to process her words, grip relaxing around the wheel. “You know someone?” 

She nodded, glancing his way, lips bloodied. “I do, yeah. He’s a bit... strange, but he’s a good person, and he knows about a lot of things. I’m sure he’s heard something, and at the very least he won’t try to kill us.” 

“That’s certainly a bonus at the moment,” Colin admitted. “Alright, fine. Where is this man of yours?” 

“He lives in the dead city. I believe you suits call it zone twenty-two.” 

“You know,” Colin said, “I’d almost rather take my chances with another gun to my face.” 

* * *

Zone 22. A dead spot in the web of factories and mines spreading throughout the slums, abandoned streets lined with derelict buildings and half-rotted factories. Underneath, the sewers are run by creatures mutated to the point of being monstrous, and humans whose minds have deteriorated into feral madness. 

Inhuman shrieks echo down its streets, while things unseen tear at each other for sustenance. Walled off from the rest of the slums, the only way in was through the sewers, often patrolled by whatever gang called it their territory, keeping monsters in and people out. 

Colin parked the buggy in an alley close to the district’s boundary. Looking up at the curving stones closing it in, he scowled, iron spikes and barbed wire wrapped around the top to keep anything from scaling the wall and escaping. It had clearly been crafted during the early years, before the mining operations and the factories blanketed the pit in toxins. 

Caitlin led him down several passages until they reached a manhole. She pried it open with her bare hands, fitting her fingers into pre-made indents. Grunting the whole time, she slid it aside, just enough that they could slip in down the ladder. 

“So, you’ve actually been through here before?” Colin went first. 

Caitlin shrugged, “Plenty of times. There’s good stuff to find, once you’re in. Paid for plenty of my meals.” Sliding down, she pulled the manhole cover back into place. “Besides, I’m fast enough to escape most anything stronger than me, so there’s not much threat to me.” 

“Well, let’s hope the same stays true with me.” Colin’s feet hit the stone walkway, the smell bleeding through his mask. Nothing for that, he decided, fighting through the musk of sewage. 

Caitlin landed next to him, hopping from several rungs up. “Alright, follow me. It’s been a few weeks, but I know a way that’s... usually safe.” 

“I don’t like that you hesitated.” Colin followed her regardless, their footsteps echoing down the wide tunnels, fighting alongside dripping water and busted pipes spewing steam. 

Another shrug, “Hey, it’s called the dead city for a reason. Just try not to make too much noise.” 

Colin fought back the snicker threatening to escape his lips, “That’s rich, coming from you.” Even from behind, the detective could tell she was rolling her eyes, moving her whole head with the motion. “So, who is this person that you know? And why does he live in a place like this?” 

She slowed down to peer around a corner, nodding to herself before continuing. “Like I said, he’s strange. Stranger than most, to the point that most wouldn’t even talk to him. Decided that he enjoyed life more down here. And even then, he-” She stopped suddenly, Colin almost bowling her over. 

“What is-” 

“Shhh!” She turned on him, finger against her lips. “Listen,” she whispered. 

And so he did. 

Thud. Clack. Thud. Clack. Thud. Clack. 

Boots against stone. Two pairs, out of sync. 

Then, down at the end of the tunnel, a light appeared. The faint halo edge of a lantern, shadows swaying in its cast. The two were talking, quietly, their words turning to mindless mumbling as they bounced around the stone tunnels. 

“We have to go.” Caitlin ducked down another passage, Colin forced to follow her. A slight detour, he was sure. 

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