Children of the Plague

Chapter Twenty Three: Something New

~Chapter Twenty Three: Something New~

The husks surrounding the old pickup climbed over each other to get to Diane. Two of them even made it into the bed. Diane jumped down from the roof to join them and easily tossed them back to their mates. If she could hold out until Jamie reached her, they would stand a chance. With most of the offspring drawn away by the ninja, how hard could it be?

The crowd quieted and cleared for a scuffle near the tailgate, leaving the boy-husk she had just faced and an adult husk in a widening circle. Lying face down in the street, the larger tried feebly to crawl away, dragging his limp legs on the pavement. The apple-sized hole in his lower back would probably kill him too quickly for his nanites to help.

Boy-husk stepped over him to reach the truck and vaulted into the bed. A similar-looking, even smaller one moved out of the crowd and dropped the tailgate, drawing an eager, hungry noise from the onlookers.

Diane couldn't look away from the older boy's face. He looked so sweet, but those cold, reptilian eyes froze her soul. He held her gaze until the younger reached his side. Blood and dirt mingled on his chest where she'd kicked him, but he paid the wound no heed. Without looking away from her, he gestured to the younger, waving a hand toward the back of the cab as he circled around the other way.

They are communicating. And using tactics. Are these the children of two husks? They can't be more than a year old!

Intellectually, she knew that these were monsters with children's faces. And that they wanted to kill her. Moreover, they seemed quite capable of it. She steeled herself to fight these little boys, knowing that the battle would haunt her for the rest of her potentially very brief life.

Bracing to attack, the older boy's face went blank, and he collapsed on the rusty truck bed, followed a second later by the younger. Jamie's freckled, youthful face looked old and tired as he stepped into view by the tailgate.

"Once more my hero," Diane said with a gracious smile. By his vague expression, she guessed he couldn't hear anything over the ringing in his ears. She offered him a hand and pulled him up beside her as waves of husks rolled up to replace the fallen.

She refused the offer of his machete and held his face toward hers so he could read her lips.

"Can you still block?" she asked.

A tired, but determined nod answered.

"We have to kill it. Fast!" she said, pointing at the creature she figured was the host. "Save your strength for blocks, and stay beside me. If it gets through your defenses, we're done. Yeah?"

He nodded again, took a deep breath, and jumped with her to the next car. His batons were a blur, knocking husks back with wounds few would survive. Together, they fought off enough of the enemy to jump one car closer to the host. A few blocks to their left, a rocket propelled grenade screamed down from the roof and detonated in the crowd.

Working together, Diane and Jamie cut a swath through the hoard. They made it within twenty yards of the host before it turned its attention to them. Diane danced through the crowd, using just enough energy to keep the husks at bay. Jamie did the same with his batons, using the time to recover some of his strength.

Diane could only imagine Jamie's struggle fending off the host's attacks. She didn't know what it was doing, but she sensed the relentless assault as wave after wave of nanite energy crashed against his blocks. It slowed him down to a walk and brought on the redoubled efforts of the husks.

They could no longer see what was happening with the ninja and the offspring, but amazingly, the press of berserk husks parted in a chasm of blood and shrieks as the deadly blur of man and weapon fought to their side.