BLOODSHOT . . . piper mclean

12.

EDEN'S COMBAT BOOTS were probably too loud for this place, but Eden refused to take them off. They looked too good with her outfit.

"Can't you be quieter?" Leo hissed at her.

Eden loaded a gun, staring down at it and letting a smirk grace her face. "Never,"

Nothing looked different. Gray morning light filtered through the hole in the roof. A few lightbulbs flickered, but most of the factory floor was still lost in shadows. Eden could make out the catwalk above, the dim shapes of heavy machinery along the assembly line, but no movement. No sign of Perfect Jason and Pretty Girl. Leo came in behind her, and she put a hand on his mouth immediately.

Something smelled wrong — like burning motor oil and sour breath. It was gross. Eden wanted to spray perfume in here.

Something not human was inside the factory. Eden was certain. She hated this feeling.

Somewhere on the factory floor, Pretty Girl's voice cried out: "Leo, Eden, help!"

Eden held her tongue for once. How could Kaleidoscope have gotten offthe catwalk with her broken ankle? Wow, Eden was so smart. The biggest brain of all time.

They slipped inside and ducked behind a huge container. Slowly they worked their way toward the center of the room, hiding behind boxes and hollow truck things. Finally they reached the assembly line. They crouched behind the nearest piece of machinery — a crane with a robotic arm or something.

Pretty Girl's voice called out again: "Eden? Leo?" Less certain this time, but very close.

Eden peeked around the machinery. Hanging directly above the assembly line, suspended by a chain from a crane on the opposite side, was a massive truck engine — just dangling thirty feet up, as if it had been left there when the factory was abandoned. Below it on the conveyor belt sat a truck thing, and clustered around it were three big boi dark shapes. Nearby, dangling from chains on two other robotic arms, were two smaller shapes — maybe more engines, but one of them was twisting around as if it were alive. Maybe it was.

Then one of the big boi shapes rose, and Eden realized it was a humanoid of massive size. "Told you it was nothing," the thing rumbled. Its voice was too deep and feral to be human. She felt her blood run colder, and colder . . .

One of the other big boi lumps shifted, and called out in Pretty Girl's voice: "Leo, Eden, help me! Help—" Then the voice changed, becoming a masculine snarl. "Bah, there's nobody out there. No demigod could be that quiet, eh?"

Eden bit her tongue and immediately almost swore out loud. Who were they to think that she couldn't be quiet? To think that she couldn't exceed basic standards—

The first monster chuckled. "Probably ran away, if they know what's good for them. Or the girl was lying about a third and fourth demigod. Let's get cooking."

Snap. A bright orange light sizzled to life — an emergency flare — and Eden was temporarily blinded. She closed her eyes and hid until everything was just . . . gone. She felt incessant tapping on her shoulder and opened her eyes to see Leo looking out. She joined him.

The two smaller things dangling from crane arms weren't engines. They were Muscle Boy and Flailing Girl. Both hung upside down, tied by their ankles and cocooned with chains up to their necks. Flailing Girl was flailing around, hence the nickname, trying to free herself. Her mouth was gagged, but at least she was alive. Muscle Boy didn't look so good. He hung limply, his eyes rolled up in his head. A red welt the size of an apple had swollen over his left eyebrow. Stinks for him.

On the conveyor belt, the bed of the unfinished pickup truck was being used as a fire pit. The emergency flare had ignited a mixture of tires and wood, which, from the smell of it, had been doused in kerosene. A big metal pole was suspended over the flames — probably a cooking fire. Every single fire from monsters were cooking fires, goddamn it.