Capital Run

Chapter Nineteen

Blade was beginning to think Grotto would never appear.

Hours had passed. Six more Leather Knights had joined the others already in the room. They took turns pounding the board against the side of the pit. Twice Blade had tried to initiate a conversation, but each time Terza had ordered him to shut his mouth. She became testier as the hours lengthened, pacing the lip of the pit, her hands entwined in the small of her back.

“Maybe Grotto ain’t gonna show,” Cardew said, voicing the thought most of the assembled Knights entertained.

“He’ll show!” Terza barked.

“He’s taken a long time before,” Erika interjected.

“Probably because he was far off in the sewers. But the damn thing has never taken this long.”

“He’ll show!” Terza repeated.

“What’s the big deal?” Erika demanded. “So what if we don’t feed this bastard to Grotto today? There’s always tomorrow.”

Terza ceased her nervous pacing and glared at Krika. “We’re not leaving this room until Grotto shows.”

“But why?” Erika insisted. “We’re getting hungry. Why don’t we call it quits for today?”

Terza’s hands drifted to her Comanches. “Are you questioning my judgment?”

Erika retreated a step. “Now you hold on—”

“Are you telling me what to do?” Terza asked in a menacing tone.

Erika paled. “No. No! Of course I ain’t! I didn’t mean nothin’ by it! Honest!”

Terza scanned the room. “Anybody else got anything they’d like to say?”

None of the Knights responded.

“Keep poundin’!” Terza shouted at the stud with the board, who had stopped while Erika and Terza were arguing.

“One big, happy family,” Blade said.

Terza turned and faced him. “Another word out of you, asshole, and I won’t wait for Grotto! I’ll do the job myself!”

“Big talk when you’re armed and I’m not,” Blade boldly replied.

Terza took a step toward the Warrior, the right Comanche easing upward.

A sibilant hissing filled the room, the same hissing sound they had heard earlier in the day.

“I hope the damn thing shows up this time,” Erika muttered.

The damn thing did.

Blade had seen many mutants over the years. Deformed and demented, they came in all shapes and sizes. Often they beggared description. There were the mutates themselves—former reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, transformed into ravenous, pus-covered horrors. There were the insects and their close kin, subject to rare strains of deviate giantism, thought to be a genetic imbalance caused by one of the chemical-warfare weapons employed during the Big Blast, or a combination of the chemicals and the massive radiation. There were numerous other… things… as well.

This was one of them.

A red snout appeared, visible in the subterranean entrance to the pit.

“Grotto!” Erika said, sounding relieved.

Blade tensed, enthralled and repulsed simultaneously.

The red snout was at least four feet wide and two feet high. Slowly, the creature creeped into the pit. Its eyes and head seemed to fill the entrance, its eyes a luminous brown, wide and unblinking, while its head was a grotesque, bloated caricature of a beast vaguely reptilian or amphibious by nature. More of the mutant emerged. Its skin was a bright red, crisscrossed with black stripes. The stocky legs were short in relation to the rest of the body, and its clawed feet were webbed. The body was bulky, bulging with raw power. Its thick tail was equally as long as the head and body combined. Tiny holes just behind the eyes served as ears, and its mouth was a thin slit from ear to ear. The monstrosity entered the pit and stopped, hissing, while a putrid stench hovered in the air.

Blade estimated the creature was close to ten feet in height and about seven feet wide. The mouth was large enough to swallow him in two bites.

Terza, Erika, Cardew, and some of the other Leather Knights were poised at the edge of the pit, admiring their “pet.” Every Knight in the room was gaping at it.

Blade was completely, momentarily, forgotten.

Blade saw his opening, and he took it. Warrior training encompassed years of intense instruction in the many facets of combat and war. One aspect was deliberately stressed by the Elders responsible for teaching the Warriors the tricks of their trade. As one Elder put it: “In a fight, in any life-or-death situation, victory is frequently predicted on recognizing the enemy’s weaknesses, on using your foes mistakes against them. All they have to do is lower their guard for a split-second, and their defeat is assured if you take advantage of their mistake. Always remember: if someone is trying to kill you or any other Family member, your primary responsibility is to your Family and yourself. Do whatever is necessary to win. You won’t get a second chance.”

So coordinated was Blade, so instantaneous his reflexes, that he was in motion even as he perceived his advantage. He took four steps and reached Terza and Erika. The two Knights, concentrating on the hideous Grotto, were unaware of his presence until a steely hand pounded each of them on the back and they were propelled over the edge of the pit, Erika screaming in terror.

Blade whirled, his granite fist crashing into Cardew’s right cheek.

The stud tottered backward and collapsed.

Petrified shrieks were coming from the pit as Blade spun and attacked a nearby sister.

The other Leather Knights began to react. Initially stunned by the sight of Terza and Erika falling into the pit, they recovered and attacked the giant Warrior. One of the studs went to use his rifle, but rejected the idea when he saw how close his target was to several of his friends.

Blade slugged the sister in the abdomen, and kneed her in the face when she doubled over.

Spouting blood from her pulverized nose, the sister catapulted backward.

Blade was tackled by a stud. He felt arms encircle his legs, and he was borne to the ground by the impact. He desperately threw his body to the left to avoid being knocked into the pit, and he succeeded in digging his elbows and forearms into the very edge before arresting his momentum.

Hovering on the brink of the hole, he glanced down.

A pair of slim legs protruded from the corners of Grotto’s gaping maw, and rivulets of blood poured over its lower jaw.

Terza?

Blade couldn’t waste time speculating on the identity of the deceased.

The stud holding his legs was striving to push him over the edge. Blade glanced over his right shoulder, noting his opponent’s head was just below his buttocks, and he twisted, rolling to the left, throwing his entire weight into the movement.

The stud’s grip slipped, and he lunged for the Warrior’s waist.

Blade reached back and down with his right hand, his calloused fingers grasping the stud’s long black hair and yanking the Knight’s head upward.

The stud cried out as his neck was wrenched. He felt as if his neck were being torn from his shoulders. Cursing, he pummeled the iron arm clutching his hair, to no avail.

Blade heaved, drawing the stud higher until they were eye to eye.

The Knight attempted to punch Blade in the face.

Blade sneered as he rose to his knees. He placed his left hand under the stud’s chin, braced his coiled arms, and savagely snapped his hands to the right.

Several of the stud’s vertebrae fractured with an audible crack.

Two other Knights, both sisters, pounced on the Warrior, one from the left, the other from the right, clasping his wrists and trying to force him into the pit.

Blade flexed his arms and strained, throwing his arms forward and tossing the sisters over the lip of the pit. They screeched as they fell.

Pandemonium was rampant in the room. Some of the Leather Knights were converging on their prisoner. Others were bolting for the door. A few were perched on the rim of the pit, guns at the ready, watching Grotto. As Blade rose to his feet, the pandemonium was compounded by three developments. Grotto clawed at the pit, scrambling to climb to the top.

The mutant raised its bloated head and voiced a thunderous roar, shaking the walls and causing dirt to crumble from the sides of the pit. Three of the sisters reached the door and frantically threw it open. Almost immediately, a diminutive figure in black scooted into the room, a flashing sword in his hands, and with three glimmering strokes he dispatched the trio.

It was Rikki!

Blade started toward his fellow Warrior, but a stud came at him, a knife in the Knight’s right hand.

Grotto was in a frenzy, hissing and roaring as it attempted to reach the pit rim. Its rear legs dug into the side, spraying dirt in every direction. It gave a stupendous heave and its front legs obtained a purchase on the pit edge, not more than eight feet from the Warrior.

Blade, concentrating on his adversary with the knife, failed to see Grotto’s achievement. He dodged a wild swing of the knife and retreated a step, moving three feet nearer to the creature’s salivating jaws.

Near the door, a stud with a rifle sighted on the swordsman in black, but a redheaded woman burst into the room, her machine gun chattering, and the stud’s chest was stitched by a line of heavy slugs.

Lex had entered the fray.

Blade backed up another step as the stud with the knife lunged again.

Grotto’s head and shoulders were clear of the pit and his body was still rising.

Rikki spotted Blade’s danger, but before he could race to his friend’s aid he was confronted by two sisters, both with drawn revolvers.

One of the sisters fired.

Rikki grimaced as his right side was creased, the bullet tearing a furrow in his ribs. He doubled over, feigning acute anguish, and when the sisters closed in to finish him off, he suddenly straightened, slashing the katana from right to left, hacking off the first woman’s left arm, her gun arm, and cleaving open the second woman’s stomach. The first woman seemed petrified by the loss of her arm: her terrified eyes frozen on the sight of her blood pumping from the severed stump. She barely noticed when another slash of the katana split her forehead, and she was dead before her body struck the ground. The second woman dropped her revolver and spread her hands over her ruptured stomach, futilely endeavoring to prevent her intestines and other organs from spilling out.

The sword strike through her heart was anti-climatic.

Blade ducked yet another knife swipe, and caught the stud’s wrist in his powerful hands. He swept his right knee up into the stud’s elbow, and heard the pop as it cracked.

The stud grunted and tried to jerk free.

Blade floored him with a right cross. He saw Rikki heading his way and took a step toward him, but a strident roar stopped him in his tracks. He whirled.

Grotto was almost on top of the pit. Except for its pumping rear legs and tail, it was actually out of the pit, squatting on the rim.

Damn!

Blade broke into a run, making for Rikki.

Lex downed two of the Knights with a burst from the Commando. The sole Knight left in the room, a tall blonde sister, was cowering against one wall.

Rikki darted toward Blade, but he was still 12 feet away when Grotto surged over the rim of the pit and went after the giant Warrior.

Rikki grabbed the hilt of one of the Bowies. “Catch!” he shouted, and tossed the knife.

Blade deftly caught the Bowie on the fly with his right hand.

Rikki threw the other Bowie.

Blade stopped, his keen eyes following the knife’s trajectory, and his left hand plucked it from the air with deceptive ease. He spun, sensing the monster was right behind him.

He was right.

Grotto was six feet from the Warrior, its mouth wide open, displaying upper and lower rows of small but pointed teeth. The motion of its ungainly legs and tail caused the creature to weave from side to side as it advanced. The first, bite of its gruesome jaws closed on empty space.

Blade leaped to the right as the creature attacked, driving his left Bowie up and in, under the mutant’s jawbone, into the fleshy area fringing the thick neck.

Grotto recoiled, feeling the pain, jerking his head away from the Bowie.

Knowing he would be too exposed if he tried to flee, Blade opted for the unexpected. He aggressively charged forward, under Grotto’s neck, and buried both of his Bowies in the thing’s vulnerable underbelly.

Grotto roared and scrambled to the right, not far from the pit, hissing as it swiveled and snapped at the puny human.

Blade felt the creature’s foul breath on his face, like the rank stink of a decayed corpse, and flung himself backwards.

Grotto’s teeth crunched together mere inches from its prey.

Blade stumbled, landing on his left knee. He saw Grotto rushing him, and he extended the Bowies to meet the assault.

A streak of masterfully crafted steel sliced the mutant from its neck to its shoulder as Rikki came to Blade’s rescue. Green fluid sprayed from the wound, spattering the Warrior in black.

Grotto turned to face this new threat, enraged. Its jaw distended, it pounced.

Rikki rolled, avoiding the cavernous maw, and came up with the katana in a swirling motion, tearing open the side of Grotto’s face. He backpedaled, scurrying to Blade’s side.

“Glad you could make it,” Blade quipped.

“Wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” Rikki rejoined.

Further conversation was precluded by Grotto; the mutant bellowed and charged the two Warriors.

Blade dived to the right, toward the pit, while Rikki sprinted to the left.

Grotto hesitated for a moment, uncertain of which victim to pursue. It snarled and went after Rikki.

The Family’s consummate martial artist held his ground.

Grotto reached its quarry and hissed, spreading its jaws, its tongue flicking outward in spasmodic anticipation.

Rikki swung, slashing his katana up and around, the keen blade severing a third of the creature’s tongue from its mouth.

Grotto recoiled and uttered a rumbling, shrill cry. It lashed its head from side to side, in misery, tormented by the loss of its tongue.

Blade found himself standing behind the monster, not four feet from its tail. He saw Rikki take another swipe with his sword, and Grotto try to take Rikki’s head off. Rikki avoided the slavering jaws, but his left foot caught on the leg of a slain Leather Knight prone on the ground, and he lost his balance. He fell, landing on his left side.

Grotto roared and surged forward.

A desperate plan, a blaze of inspiration, pervaded Blade’s consciousness, and with the idea came action. He ran toward Grotto, and when just three feet from the creature’s tail he leaped, his coiled leg muscles carrying him over Grotto’s tail onto its back, at the junction of the tail and the spinal column. His knees clamped on the tail, as he sank his Bowies to the hilt in the genetic deviates back.

Grotto stiffened, then whipped its tail in an arc, striving to dislodge the man-thing.

Blade was clipped by the broad tail. He felt something hard strike his left shoulder, and he was knocked forward, the Bowies wrenching clear of the mutant’s rancid flesh. He rolled twice and came up on his knees, perched on Grotto’s squat neck.

Grotto snapped its head up and down, shaking its whole body, attempting to toss the man off.

Rikki closed in and delivered a deep slash to Grotto’s throat.

Blade, clinging to the pliant skin on Grotto’s neck with all of his strength, racked his brain for a means of destroying the creature. There had to be a way! But how? It had sustained several severe injuries, it was pumping a sickly green fluid from its body by the gallon, and yet still it fought on, endowed with a fearless nature and a ravenous appetite. The Bowies and the katana seemed unable to deliver a death blow. Where would it be most vulnerable? In the heart? Where would the heart be located in a creature of this size? All these thoughts passed through his mind in the twinkling of an instant.

And then it hit him.

There was a way!

Blade lunged forward, wrapping his legs around the mutant’s neck. He extended the Bowies as far as his arms could reach, one on each side of the creature’s face, one next to each eye.

“Do it!” he heard Lex scream.

Blade plunged the Bowies into Grotto’s brown orbs, all the way in, and twisted.

Grotto reacted as if electrified by a bolt of lightning, its huge form convulsing and contorting, hissing all the while, its head shaking from right to left and up and down.

Blade could scarcely retain his grip. He felt the creature moving from side to side, and he could see Rikki yelling something to him, but he couldn’t hear the words over Grotto’s hissing.

Grotto’s violent throes intensified.

“—pit! The pit!” Rikki yelled in alarm.

The pit?

The pit!

Blade jerked the Bowies free and rolled to the right, off of Grotto’s neck.

Something collided with his back, and he was sent flying, arms and legs flailing in the air, to crash onto the ground in a daze. He shook his head to clear his fuzzy mind, and rose to his hands and knees.

“Are you all right?” asked a concerned male voice.

Blade looked up.

Rikki smiled at him. “The Family will tell this tale for generations.”

Blade glanced around, confused, disoriented. “Where…”

“The pit,” Rikki answered before Blade could complete his question.

Blade stumbled to his feet. He tottered to the edge of the pit, his whole body aching like hell, and peered over the edge.

Grotto was lying in the center of the pit, on its side, its mouth open and slack, its eyes pools of green fluid, its legs curled up, its tail quivering.

Grotto was dead.

“I never saw anything like that!” Lex said as she joined them. “I wanted to shoot,” she added, holding up the Commando, “but I was afraid I’d hit one of you.”

Blade nodded absently, not yet fully recovered, staring at the creature on the pit floor.

“Are you all right?” Rikki repeated.

“Just a little dazed,” Blade responded.

“Its head hit you as you were rolling off,” Rikki disclosed.

Blade glanced at the black hole in the side of the pit, the hole providing access to the sewers. “Terza told me there are more of those things down there,” he commented in a low voice.

“Yeah,” Lex confirmed. “So?”

“So sooner or later those things are going to start coming out of the sewers to feed,” Blade predicted.

“A few have already done it,” Lex stated. “What’s the big deal?”

Blade stared at her, sweat beading his brow. “Population growth is going to force more and more of them to take to the streets,” he said wearily. “From what we’ve seen in our travels, many cities are like St. Louis. Living in them may become untenable.”

Lex gazed at Grotto, frowning. “So what? I don’t like living here anyway.”

Rikki touched Blade on the left elbow. “We should be leaving.”

Blade nodded. He realized he was still holding the Bowies, and he held them up. They were covered with the sticky green fluid. “Yuck,” he said, and walked to a fallen sister.

Rikki scanned the room. “We are the only ones here,” he observed.

Blade wiped his knives clean on the sister’s black-leather vest. “You can bet reinforcements are on the way.”

“You can have this,” Lex offered, extending the Commando. “I’ll take one of the rifles.”

Blade sheathed his Bowies and took the Commando. “Thanks.” He paused. “I appreciate all of the assistance you’ve rendered. And I know how you feel about living in St. Louis. How would you like to come and live with us?”

Lex grinned. “Rikki already made me the same offer.”

“And?”

“And the sooner we get to this Home of yours,” Lex said, “the better.”

Blade smiled. “Lead the way.”

Lex took a rifle from a dead stud, and found a handful of ammunition in his right front pocket. “Rikki told me you guys are called Warriors,” she mentioned as she straightened.

“There are fifteen Warriors,” Blade affirmed.

Lex swept the room with her right hand. “And you Warriors do this kind of thing all the time?”

“It does seem to happen a lot,” Blade admitted. “Why?”

“Oh, nothing,” Lex said. “But after seeing what you guys do for a living, I can’t help but wonder what you do for kicks.”