ARC10

Chapter 26.2

Coodi waits next to me with rigid intensity, curiosity shining in her eyes. She doesn't say a word. Her coy grin speaks instead.

"He is my previously contracted partner's father, so I promised I'd watch out for the rusted turd." My confession escapes in one fast stream.

She raises a sharp eyebrow.

I've said too much. "Wipe that goddamn smirk off your face."

She does no such thing.

We ascend. With each new rung, a my gut clenches. I hope when I arrive at the top Warren is not hiding in this mysterious room but drunkenly stumbling around somewhere else. I hope I climb to the end of the line to find out he's already made it back to his pod, and this is merely a small waste of my time.

After a few minutes, I gaze below my boots at Coodi, who waits a few rungs below me. Beyond her is a panoramic landscape that rips the air from my chest.

The dinginess disappears into little gray blocks lining the perimeter of the room. From here, the marketplace resembles a piece of art. It's beautiful and it's depressing, but it's not as bad as it is when you're standing right in the middle of the dump.

At the top of the ladder, I meet a cracked-open steel hatch.

"Motherfucking damn it, you buck-toothed scumbag piece of bio-hazardous waste, Warren." I poke at the rough material and pull my hand back quickly.

The door is not made of metal.

It's made of what appears to be steel and is heavy as lead but has the consistency of rubber. When I push against it again, the substance recedes with the pressure—as if I had touched someone's skin.

I check my finger and relax as nothing fizzes, bleeds, cracks, decaying, or otherwise explodes. This should be safe. The door doesn't budge when I press my hand against it. I create a large indent that bounces back after my hand retreats. I lock my legs into the ladder to use my shoulders and back to push it open. Nothing happens. The rubbery, cold material presses against the bare skin on my neck. How the hell did Warren, with his old bones and heavy physique, manage to open it?

"Suggestions are welcome, Coodi." I grind the words out through clenched teeth.

"I've got nothing, Commander."

I punch the door out of frustration. Nothing displaces when my hand bounces back.

I spread my fingers and run it along the surface over the tiny opening that appears to be more of a slit.

My hand slips into the little opening wide enough to barely let my fingers pass. When it reaches the thickest part of my palm, I expect I'll no longer be able to shove the rest through.

I'm wrong. Pushing farther, the gelatinous material recedes to my arm all the way to my shoulder.

"Follow my lead," I whisper.

I take a deep breath and plunge forward, emerging on the other side.

In the middle of a gloppy hell, Warren stands, looking more tempestuous than I've ever seen him before. With blind defiance, he stares into the mouth of a flaring, rearing Xani. Seeing Warren's rage throws me into my own fit of fury.

"Warren, don't move!" I pull my hips through the opening and slip my legs out. "Coodi," I say over my shoulder as her head emerges. "Hold your position."

There's no response.

The Xani, rearing as tall as Warren, has its legs in the air. Its mouth hangs upside down, thrust far open in a silent scream. Orange ooze drips from its jaw to the floor.

The clicking is the same one from my nightmares, and it takes all the willpower of every single fiber in my body not to crumble into cowardly bits.

I hear a sharp intake of breath from behind me. Coodi's eyes are as wide as moons. "Holy Heap," she gasps.

"Look at me, VIPER," I command. I'm afraid she's going to panic and plummet backward to her death, right there in the marketplace. Yes, she is one of the deadliest weapons the URE has concocted, but she has yet to live through this nightmare. The Xani are an acquired taste. I most likely would have died if my first encounter with it was from eighty feet in the air, dangling off a ladder.

Her gaze latches onto mine.

"Do. Not. Move."

She nods.

"Warren?" I return to the bigger problem at hand. "Warren, I need you to look at me."

"Whudda fuck is this thing?" His words are loud, panicked, angry, and slurred.

"Warren, look at me."

He doesn't move. His eyes fixate on the gaping, dripping, orange goo-mouth of the Xani.

I clap my hands together to grab his attention. It works. Both Warren and the Xani face me.

"Warren, get behind me, and go back down the hatch. Warrant Officer Coodi will assist you."

His frown deepens, but he relents. He hobbles back toward the hatch where I'm hoping Coodi has already made room. I hear her hushed words through the comms.

Good. Call the rest. It's important for them to understand what kind of sizable fuck-ups can occur when we lose our heads for a sliver of a second.

The Xani stares at me with eyeless sockets. I suppress the shiver that rides over my body as it lowers itself to my level. Its head cocks from side to side. The sickening crackle of each twist makes my stomach churn.

This must be our greeting. Does it recognize me? I can sense the familiarity—the rattling and clanking of its limbs are ones that resonate on repeat in my nightmares. It will probably be a while before I sleep again.

It recedes, one mechanical vertebrae at a time, retracting into the original size. It scuttles to the corner of the room, never taking its attention from me. I release my anxiety in little gasps as I anticipate its departure.

My body itches to throw myself into the hatch and disappear, closing off this room for the rest of the voyage. I take a single step back when the Xani's neck shoots out, extending its face until its nose is mere centimeters from mine.

Grazing my skin, it peruses my features. I freeze, unsure what to do next.

Warren disappears from my peripherals. Nothing is left in this room except for me and the creature.