Shark Bite (Cyborg Shifters Book 3) Page 19

  “Its skin looks hard, which means it’ll be more difficult to bring down.”

  “Yes,” he said.

  They made the necessary preparations to join the fray, double-checking their nano suits that shifted with their bodies and what weapons they had left on board.

  The crushing of cinderblock could be heard in the distance but it wasn't accompanied by screams. It gave him hope that the people along the beach had fled inland.

  “Let's get us another trophy,” Zeph laughed. “Maybe I can sell the heads and offset the cost of this trip. A man can dream.” He shrugged.

  Netto shook his head, only half listening to his partner. The creature rose up and the shape of it could be made out amongst the smoke.

  It looked like a starfish but with a long serpentine tail where the fifth point would have been. The skin was cracked and worn like rawhide and stone, a deep grey with a sheen of opalescence. There were ridges along its back—at least he thought was its back. On the bottom, it had thousands of fins not unlike an anemone without the tentacles. The water around the creature was brown with a swirl of green and red mixed together. Blood and toxins.

  It rounded on itself and reared up to strike like a snake, and its starfish-shaped head clapped down. He couldn't see its face but assumed it was as monstrous and sea-bearing as the rest of it.

  The heavy footsteps of their host came up behind them. Netto turned around to see stern determination on Montihan's face, and a roll of bullets that were meant for the turret it atop wrapped around his arm.

  “I won't go any closer. If you're going in, you have to leave from here,” Montihan said, his eyes glued to the beast before him.

  “Okay.”

  “We’ll help any way we can but I can't risk my daughter's...”

  “Don't risk them. Keep them safe, stay safe,” Netto urged, a hint of worry in his voice. It sounded strange to him. Any emotion coming from his lips sounded strange.

  He put his foot on the railing and prepared his body to shift. Zeph was at his side with the last of their weapons hooked over his shoulder.

  They watched the beast slap its head down in quick succession. It crushed the ground with each impact and as Netto surveyed the port around it, he noticed the piers of the marina were nothing more than floating debris in the sea.

  He didn’t see any more corpses but amongst the grey water and smoke, the currents threaded and split to reveal a bevy of creatures below the surface.

  Netto didn’t know how many could rise up like the elongated starfish; how many were large, dangerous, carnivores. It was easier to assume the worst.

  With one last lingering look at the watership, he dove into the ocean and shifted into his shark. Something was immediately off...

  The water was different here. He gulped it down as the fin on his back sprung out, powering him through the incoming wake of the monster and the myriad of creatures that swam around him.

  Phosphorus. There was an abundance of phosphate. Netto stopped swimming toward the shore, momentarily stunned by the influx of the substance coursing through his systems. It was natural in smaller dosages but what existed around him was anything but small. It was pollution.

  He shook it off and continued swimming, finding that the levels of the chemical remained the same closer to shore. Netto dipped down and inspected the ocean floor, finding nothing but petrified wood, an excess of algae, and partially decayed trash. It churned up and muddied the water and was unlike the rest of the beaches he had encountered thus far.

  Zeph swam past him, undeterred by the unusual makeup of the shore. Netto expected a moderate difference but not to this degree...

  This was on par with some of the tainted Earthian waterways. Unusual and unexpected from an environmentally-forward government and the EPED’s current standards. His fingers sank into the shifting sand. He watched as it flowed over his knuckles. When he brought his hand up to inspect the silt, it was covered in algae scum.

  A shadow cast over him and he peered up to see Zeph hovering above, his eyes narrowed and shielded from the frothy water.

  ‘‘Phosphates, simple inorganic phosphates, but they seem to be complexed to bio-uptake regulators,’ Netto transmitted to him.

  ‘Man-made or natural?’

  ‘Hell of a lot of it for it to be natural.’

  He released the remaining air in his lungs, loosing bubbles from the corners of his mouth. There were a half-dozen trails of blood Netto could follow but shucked down his need for it. His taste buds were tainted. He joined Zeph at the surface.

  ‘Let’s get this over with.’

  ‘Let’s.’

  They swam through the waves and dodged the minor beasts. Many went after them, seeing fresh meat, but were dead before they could attack. Netto rammed his blunted head through the worst of them and tore those that swam in his way in two. He left his own thick wake of blood and gore behind him.

  His mouth filled with the putrid taste of toxic water and fish. It made his stomach knot around the parts he swallowed. The algae-laced ocean and phosphate were enough to turn his back on feasting on his fresh kills in the future.

  Netto clamped his sharp teeth together and glanced at the crocodile.

  Zeph appeared to have a similar disposition toward the meat and water.

  They were upon the beast before it was aware of them. Surprise! He roared glumly in his head, only half-focused on the eventual kill, his mind warring between Rylie’s safety and the state of the beach.

  Netto didn’t stop to think; he split his mouth wide open and attacked the ridged side of the serpentine starfish. Tough sinew and skin caught between his teeth as he muscled his jaw closed to tear it off. His eyes glazed over as he was thrown about, the speed and chaos fueling his need to kill.

  To obliterate and riot against the monster. An ear-splitting crackle filled his ears.

  He fused his legs together, his nanosuit opening up, and swam in tight circles, rushing, biting, swimming away, dodging its tail, only to bite again.

  Red filled his vision. The scent of copper rushed up his snout, and the sides of his thick neck opened up to form gills.

  He gave himself over to the shark. He barely registered Zeph yelling at him to attack the creature’s vitals. He didn’t care; he wanted to tear it apart into a million pieces. The control he had so carefully cultivated vanished under the haze.

  The stress of holding back from Rylie released with each mouthful of gore. Netto sank his teeth into the monster’s flesh, imagining it was her. The heady taste of it only made him hungry for more.

  His control was gone. And he didn’t care.

  “JANET! TAKE HIM,” RYLIE yelled over the thunder of gunfire and roars of the battle going on at the shore. Drones flew overhead, dousing chemicals over the nearby fires. That cleared up the smoke enough for her to see the pier and all of its destroyed beauty.

  “I've got them,” Janet breathed out as she locked her arms under the unconscious man's shoulders. He was the third one she had found amongst the nearby wrecks, and she knew there more people out there, stranded on ships that were on fire and sinking.

  For survivors, they could take chances on their boats and pray for rescue, or could jump overboard and pray that they weren’t attacked before they made it to shore. That's if they didn't drown first.

  Janet disappeared from view as she hauled the man onto the watership’s floor. She was covering first-aid while Rylie retrieved the survivors from the water. Da drove the boat as close as he could to each wreck, and helped those that were able to get on the ship from the surface.

  Rylie pulled herself up, her hands wrapping around the railing, and looked at the survivors they had saved. There was a dozen of them at least and those who weren't hurt helped her family in aiding others. Many had been stranded for half a day or more.

  She flinched and jerked, an explosion ringing in her ears, followed by the terrified screams of some of their passengers. The smell of burned chemicals wafted over her, and a heav
y wave of heat, before she had the chance to duck down. She peeled her fingers from the railing and looked back toward the pier as a giant wave hit the watership.

  Rylie was thrown back into the pod, a gasp escaping her lips. Netto?

  The monster attacking the beach had fallen limp. She blinked her eyes and braced as another giant wave hit them. The water sluiced over the glass shield. Her palms were sweaty on the dashboard.

  When the waves lessened in strength, she lifted herself back up and peered at the colony. Her throat burned from the smoke.

  “It’s down!” a passenger yelled.

  Her eyes found Netto’s blue form in the distance. Even from where she hovered, Rylie could make out the blunt, overly large, unusual shape of his head and the pointed tip of a nose; a thick dorsal fin speared out of his back. He looked her way.

  He sees me. She shivered with excitement. Rylie didn’t wait despite the drones in the air but closed her pod and dropped back into the ocean with an intense need to be back by Netto’s side. She drove the vehicle straight onto the sandy shore and he was outside her pod by the time she sprung open the hatch.

  Her arms flew around his shifted form and she buried her face into his chest, uncaring of the scum that clung to him.

  “I was worried.” She pressed her ear against his chest, needing to hear his heart. Her hands slid up his back as his muscles shifted under her fingers. They opened up before closing again into a seamless patch of skin.

  “Zeph got himself another head.” The smell of smoke and ash burned her nostrils; it watered her eyes. At least that was what she told herself as tears sprung up.

  Rylie laughed, finding one small sliver of humor in this disastrous situation. “Of course he did. For Janet?” she asked. A smile rose on her lips before it vanished.

  “Who knows?” He released her and she looked up at him. “There’s something wrong with the water.”

  She shivered and looked back out at the ocean and the burning ships in the distance, her watership moving between the debris. The shapes of more serpents threaded through the waves and she bit back a shiver. “There's a lot wrong with the water,” she responded, numbly. “We found a lot of survivors. They need medical attention as soon as possible. Real medical attention.”

  “We’ll do our best to save more.”

  Rylie nodded.

  Netto continued, “But that's not what I mean. The water is poisoned with phosphates, it's thick, so thick it makes me ill.”

  Her heart sped up. If it could make a Cyborg ill? “What does that mean?” she asked.

  “It means we need to find the source and stop it.” He turned from her and called for Zeph. The Cyborgs shared an unreadable look. “We’re going to follow its trail.”

  “Okay.” She straightened her back and headed for her pod. Netto placed a hand on the hatch and stopped her from opening the door.

  “You’re not coming.”

  “Yes, I am.” She pulled at the door again but it didn’t budge. “I promise I’ll follow your orders,” she conceded.

  His eyes flared again as he caged her against the hatch. For a moment the world vanished and it was only the two of them. She swallowed and wished it were true. She wished for another time where it could only be the two of them and no one else.

  “Every order.”

  “Yes,” she breathed, her nose filled with Netto’s mechanical heat and the saltwater that dripped down her pod. Her back was wet as her shirt soaked it up.

  “Every. One.”

  He leaned over her and pressed down, his lips hovering above hers. “Yes, yes.” It became hard to inhale just as Netto backed up and released her. The hatch slid open. Rylie shook herself and brought her thoughts back to the present and climbed in. Her heart and mind were in turmoil.

  “Follow us and stay close,” Netto ordered. The door closed and he pushed her vessel back into the water. Rylie took over as she submerged and he shifted outside her enclosure, his gaze remained on her.

  “I promise,” she voiced through the barrier, hoping he could read her lips.

  Chapter Eighteen

  They made their way through the shallows. Rylie followed close behind the Cyborgs. The algae thickened into sludge and her only hope of keeping up was the light from their eyes.

  Everything was green and red, chunky and wet; it plastered itself against the watershield and distorted her view. She felt unclean just being in its proximity. The factory they were headed for was only several miles up the shore but it took them forever to approach it and the closer they got, the thicker the water became.

  She could feel the pollution seeping into her very being, even through the walls of her pod. Rylie shuddered, feeling unclean.

  Rylie caught a glimpse of Netto’s tail. Her distorted view made him look like another one of the serpents that occasionally swam by. She bit back her fear each time one brushed against her pod. I’m safe.

  Safe. She repeated it like a prayer as she followed the Cyborg’s light.

  They turned toward the shore and her pod rose above the waves. The muck slid down the windows of her vessel as the late afternoon light appeared.

  Rylie chewed on the inside of her cheek at the factory emerged. She didn’t want to look at it but like a shipwreck, she couldn’t peel her eyes away.

  There were algae-coated leviathans everywhere. They flailed about and attacked each other as they climbed up the beach. This has to be it. It had to be. The attack on the colony and its pier were nothing compared to the surge of water-beasts pummeling the giant pipes that spewed waste into the ocean.

  She counted at least a dozen pipes that extended from the factory, although most were crushed and destroyed. There could’ve been more, but Rylie wasn’t sure. Her stomach cramped up. A siren rang from the roof of the structure. It was loud enough to penetrate her pod and blare in her ears.

  She drove the vessel onto land a little ways away, following the cues of the Cyborgs. The water continuously grew thicker until she swore it was no longer water, but brown goop, bordering on paste. Her worry amplified for those who may still be trapped out on the ocean, and for the ocean itself.

  This was her planet and it was being harmed—her livelihood was being harmed, people had died, were dying, and others were missing. It made her heart ache; it made her angry.

  I hope Da and Janet are okay. She hoped they had gotten the survivors medical care.

  The hatch slipped open and she winced; her senses abruptly attacked by the chaos.

  Netto grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the vessel and further onto land. They ran through the brush and sand and away from the monsters crowded at the run-offs. The sound worsened the closer they got to the factory.

  “We have to find a way inside!” Zeph yelled over the noise. “It’s on lockdown.”

  Rylie panted, out-of-breath and stopped. Netto and Zeph were covered in slime and she shook off what had gotten on her arm.

  “Why?” she asked as she followed them to the main structure, doing her best to keep up.

  “There are people stuck inside,” Netto answered, his voice a low boom amongst the high-pitched wails. “Their hearts are fluttering like hummingbird wings.”

  People. She looked back at the shore and the toppling destruction. If the creatures broke through the brick and steel walls, there would be no place for them to go. Their only options would be to wait or fight.

  They picked up speed as they came upon the entrance, and there was already a team of vehicles and drones at the front, trying to break down the security door. Some were working at several holographic screens, codes running up and down them, codes that worked to override and break the system. Her settlement had them as well.

  “Damn it! We need to evacuate them now! If the fertilizer catches fire...”

  Zeph sped toward the group but the gravity wasn’t lost on her. Rylie choked back a wave of adrenaline that rode the waves of her fear. Netto turned to her and caught her arm.

  “Get them out of h
ere,” Netto said, as his eyes dulled into a cold grey, they bore through her, chilling with intensity. “Get them as far away as possible.”

  She wiped the back of her hand across her brow.

  “Okay,” Rylie didn’t ask for clarification; she trusted him.

  Netto took hold of her hand and squeezed as she turned away, but he pulled her back to him.

  “Stay safe. Don’t enter the facility, no matter what.” He kissed her and let her go. She missed the soft touch of his lips immediately. Rylie watched as Netto rushed to the doors and the drones working on the holograms before them.

  Rylie caught up to Zeph, who had begun ushering the bystanders to run. A tremor shook the ground, the rumble rang out above the sirens. People picked up their feet in its aftermath.

  She relieved Zeph and ran between the triage and helped the wounded that could run to their feet, and those that couldn’t, find an android or human who could carry them.

  The crunch of metal screeched through her ears. The sound set her last nerves on fire. She turned to find the front security door split down the middle and no sign of either Cyborg. The punctured metal told her well enough that they broke their way in, literally.

  People rushed out of the shredded crevasse. Rylie moved to help them through. The jagged metal cut and dug into those not careful enough to maneuver through it in their frenzy, and when they did she urged them to run down the road where the others had fled despite their gashed skin.

  Some asked her questions but she pressed them on for medical treatment. There was no time, no safety, and no medical nearby anymore. Haggard faces came continued to come through, eyes filled with fear.

  Men and women, and even advanced androids fled the building. The robots stayed behind with her unless they carried the wounded away. Their programming wouldn’t let them leave the scene if there were human lives at stake.

  Rylie waited for Netto to come back through but he didn’t. Time slowed to a crawl as her worry ratcheted. There’s so many.

  A burst of dust had her drawing back and coughing as a loud roar sailed through the air. It was followed by the shrill shriek of something else. It had to be the monsters on the other side breaking down the pipes and penetrating the walls.