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of the stairs, tripping the photoelectric sensor in the process. Overhead, the
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on its side, and they scrambled through it before it was fully ajar.
They ran across the bare floor and empty spaces toward the metal staircase.
Kane, his eyes recovering from the glare, was aware of pale, graceful shapes
flashing swiftly out of the shadows, but he and his companions reached the
stairs and hauled themselves up them without being molested.
When they pounded onto the walkway, they saw why. The catwalk was blocked by a
clot of hybrids, making mewing, giggling sounds. Several of them swished
silver wands through the air, like fencers warming up for a duel.
Brigid took a step back, cast a glance over her shoulder and swore. "Hell
night!"
Clustered around the base of the stairway glittered dozens of eyes. From the
cluster rose a tittering murmur, abhorrent to the ear.
From the group blocking their forward progress, the hybrid Kane recognized
stepped forward, the metal rod rocking back and forth in his hand, like the
needle of a metronome. A smile creased his thin mouth.
He said, "It is our practice to subdue and contain intruders. Killing is
sometimes a necessity, but oftentimes useful tissues are damaged. Will you
accept the inevitable?"
Kane shared a brief look with Grant and Brigid. They gave quick nods, and he
turned to face the hybrid.
He slid the Sin Eater back into its holster. Grant followed suit.
Kane spread his arms wide, hands held at shoulder level. He approached the
group slowly. "We accept your terms."
An expression bordering on disappointment crossed the hybrid's smooth, angular
face. "A logical choice for an apeling."
Kane stopped a few feet away. "What are your orders?"
The deferential note in his voice inspired the hybrid to take a step forward,
an arrogant tilt to his head.
"First you will disarm, and then disrobe. You will be"
Kane swung his left arm in a vicious sweep. His forearm took the hybrid across
the throat with a crunching of bone and cartilage. He flailed backward, over
the rail. In falling, he dropped the wand and clutched at one of his comrades,
which cost the standing hybrid his balance. He stumbled and fell against those
behind him.
The Sin Eater slid into Kane's hand and he fired it into the group of hybrids.
Behind him, he heard the snapping of Brigid's Hamp;K and a drumming roar from
Grant's Copperhead.
The first trio of rounds from the Sin Eater reamed a path through the heart of
the group at head level.
Flame wreathed the stuttering muzzle of his blaster, and bodies reeled
backward in a surge of exploding flesh and bones. Then a giant's blow struck
his right arm, and he heard the wrist bone break. He caught
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of a vibrating silver wand before he went down on the catwalk. Agony lanced up
his arm into his shoulder as he tried to maintain pressure on the trigger. His
hand didn't seem to be there anymore.
His ears filled with hideous mewling sounds, and delicately fingered hands
clawed for him. Some of the fingers had sharp little nails that slashed bloody
furrows in his face.
Grant shouted, "Kane!"
Kane drove his right leg forward, and his boot sole collapsed and broke a
narrow face bobbing above him.
Rather than try to unlimber his Copperhead from his belt, he reached down and
withdrew his combat knife from its boot sheath. Gripping it in his left hand,
he swung the blade down again and again at the bodies remaining before him.
He thrust upward as a hybrid tried to bring a wand to bear. The blade parried
the humming rod, the knife vibrated violently, stung Kane's fingers and flew
from his hand, over the side. He drove his fist square between the big eyes
and dropped him, senseless and bleeding on top of him. He reached for the
wand, but a hybrid's foot kicked it away. He heaved the doll-like body up,
carrying it with him as he sprang to his feet. He flung the limp form into a
pair of hybrids, bowling them off their feet.
With a cold fury, Kane struck blow after blow with his fist and feet,
punching, kicking, stomping. Hybrids stampeded away from him, leaving the
bodies of their brethren lying with ribs and limbs broken, scalps split open
and leaking.
He fumbled with his Copperhead, bringing it to bear with his left hand. The
burst he fired toward the retreating hybrids was poorly aimed, but the storm
of slugs picked up several and hurled them forward, tumbling them limply head
over heels.
"See?" he roared hoarsely. " See ? You little parasites can die just as easily
as us apelings!"
The sounds from the hybrids were chaotic, mingled cries of outrage, fury and
terror. Kane turned to see
Brigid and Grant, pale bodies and arms hauling at them from all sides. Grant
was applying the butt of his
Copperhead, trying to fend them off. Brigid's blaster was out of ammo, and
hands gripped her ankles. She bent to beat them off with the barrel of her
Hamp;K, then other hands caught at her and brought her down.
More of the hybrids pulled themselves up on the walkway and leaped upon her.
Brigid managed to break free, but a long hand clawed for her face. She sank
her teeth into it, biting until she felt the delicate bones break. The hybrid
snatched his hand away, shrieking. Kane moved over to her, clearing a path by
kicking and stamping.
She managed to stagger erect, blood streaming from a dozen nail-inflicted
scratches on her arms. More hybrids slithered up onto the catwalk. Here and
there gleamed the wands.
Taking a firm grip on Brigid's arm, Kane raced along the walkway, followed in
close formation by Grant, firing the Copperhead ahead of him. The howling
hybrids in their path were driven to the rails, and they
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the thirty-foot drop to facing the crazed humans in the narrow confines of the
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catwalk. The floor plates were slippery with blood and viscera, and Kane
booted several corpses out of his way.
When they sprinted past the two-tiered generator, Kane briefly considered
planting the rest of his grens around it, but since he had no idea if the
explosive loads would have any effect or an apocalyptic one, he discounted the
notion.
A group of hybrids danced after them at a discreet distance, a hurried babble
of hate-filled words rising from their tongues. They heard a few faint hums,
and once the walkway under their feet vibrated strangely, but the range for
the ultrasound weapons was too great to have any meaningful effect.
When they reached the booth, Grant paused inside of it while Kane and Brigid
made their way out into the hallway. From his bag, he took a pair of flares,
shut his eyes and snapped the rods in half. A blinding violet-white light
splashed the room with an eerie luminescence. The blaze of light was so
intense that even through Grant's visor and closed eyelids, it registered.
He tossed them against the hanging decam coveralls, and the old material
ignited immediately. Before
Grant rushed through the opposite door, flame flashed throughout the booth. He
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