Fox Trott (First Book of the Shadow Series)

Chapter 53: Born from the Fire

Ashlie's feet walked along the Venor floor involuntarily, her hands held behind her back as she walked by everyone she would have once considered strangers. She screamed in her head for help, but every single person that walked in her path seemed oblivious to the peril she was in. She willed every part of her body to turn around and go help Ang3l, but she didn't have control over a single finger.

When she screamed, there was a gentle voice that interrupted her, "Shhhhh." It was a soft, beguiling sound that echoed in her thoughts for a long time even after it had faded into silence. As if it put her in a trance, it enraptured her mind like a bell ringing in the distance.

What was happening?

She begged it to stop; it ordered her to be silent.

After begging and fighting for what seemed like an hour, she gave in to the being; feeling a strange sense of weariness. Even with her sensitive perception, she had never been more aware than when she relaxed and let the entity take over. The feeling was actually... addicting.

Every little sound and every minuscule movement was nailed into her mind as if it were being filed away under "could be important". It was as if every noise mapped out the walls and floors in her head, and every thought was focused on what was happening there and now. She became completely silent. It was like being rocked to sleep in a cradle in the middle of a tsunami.

A single thought from her filled her own mind. Whether it was her own or being made by the other being, she wasn't sure, "Why does it smell like smoke...?"

The entity seemed to notice it too, since its attention became acute to the smells that passed over its nose. Her nose.

Its head turned to the left, and the smell became stronger. It took in a large amount of air slowly, nitpicking at every single smell that it could.

Then there was the sound of running feet coming towards them.

There was a flash of alarm in the other thing's mind as they turned a corner, and it focused on the orange flames that had taken over the hall ahead of them.

Monsters. Gory, bloody, angry monsters charged towards them through the hallways.

There were screams of people burning alive as well as those who were caught in the creature's grasps piercing through the hungry flames and echoing inside of her head.

There was a flash of red, and they were in front of the Venor for the first time since Ashlie had walked inside a month ago.

Sir3n clenched the hilt of the knife in her hand. The metal was stained and hardened with Bexous's own blood, as well as the blood of every other beautiful thing he had created that now followed behind her. It was ironic how much she loved the knife that had taken so much strength from her, and had destroyed so many innocent lives.

Dagger and five other shadow dogs stuck to her heels, panting like hounds in anticipation of the next hunt.

She had had a full tank of gasoline in her other hand, but now it was quickly emptying as she tipped it just enough for a fire to be started by the creature right behind her.

47—Stag as she learned to called him—was a large buck with the ability to start fires under his hooves whenever he was intimidated. The fact that large black dogs were drooling and becoming more and more aroused at the sight of all the people running was enough to startle the sparks out of his hooves. The dogs had to eat after all, and when Sir3n allowed them to chase down a Seeker and eat them, they only became more excited for the next kill.

Nyx—creation 31 with a bad temper when annoyed and more than large enough to crush someone under its muscular double tails—held Gynesis's body on its back carefully. Apparently Sir3n wasn't the only one who was sad to see him go. After creation 77 got too tired to carry him, they fought to have him on their backs and to protect him with every breath.

Sir3n was infuriated with the loss of the man that had been a father to her for as long as she could remember. Not only did Bexous torture such beautiful things that would have easily fought till their last breath for Gynesis, but he had parasitically poisoned Gynesis into his slow and painful end.

Sir3n had fallen in love with two people considered terrible monsters, but Bexous was worse than any monster he had ever created. She wanted to destroy everything he loved; so she decided to take the Venor down with every step she took.

Seekers and mutants fled for the exit in a startled mass of fear, but many of them were taken down by hungry monsters starving for their first proper meal in god knows how many years.

She could feel the flames burning through the shirt on her back, but it didn't concern her one bit. She knew whatever skin got burnt off would heal, but the Venor was a different story. When she was through with it, it would only be a scab on the Earth. It would be just like her and every other creation Bexous had brought to life.

It would be the shell of an unholy abomination.

She estimated that it would take two or so hours for the fire to die, so it gave her time to take one final walk around what she used to consider her home. Not a walk of shame, but a walk of pure reprisal. Although revenge was best served cold, the heat felt so much better in reflecting the burning rage that took control of her mind.

The beauty of the burning walls was the most amazing thing she had seen in her entire life.

Then she saw the all too familiar form of Ashlie standing in front of her.

The Shadow Dogs began to growl, but before Sir3n could stop and speak, the figure had completely disappeared.

Ashlie watched as the flames began to raise around the Venor, the west wing already engulfed in ash and fire. She tried to call out to the people running away, but they didn't seem to hear her over the roaring of the flames and the horrified screams of the people and children trying to escape. She watched as Hunters and mutants alike all fled and watched their sanctuary burn up in flames. People were crying, but Ashlie was only able to think about Ang3l, who hadn't yet left the building. She watched as Jack, Alex, and even Hunter fled from the flames, covering their faces with their sleeves to protect their lungs from the smoke. Alex may have been fire resistant, but smoke was still dangerous. She urged the thing possessing her to go in and find Ang3l, but she only found herself standing still and staring at the place.

She heard the voice speaking frantically with her own mouth, "No... no no no what happened?!" she felt her breathing start to get faster nervously, and she began to pace.

"We need to find Ang3l! He's still in there!" she screamed as loud as she could in her head, but was silenced as she felt a tear fall down her cheek.

"Sir3n..." the voice growled deeply, rage filling her mind and every part of her body. The name was written in her head like a charred pencil on bloody paper.

But what was Sir3n...?