Kill Switch_Serial Escalation Read online

  “It doesn’t seem to want to work properly for me.” Layla said, “What have you got?”

  Thao scrolled over the map, seeing the blinking dots that represented Layla and him. There were other dots representing the other teams. Small tabs popped up beside the icons, telling Thao who each of them were.

  “I’ve seen this before.” Thao said.

  “So you’ve watched the show before, big deal, they show the map updates all the time.” Layla said.

  “No, I wouldn’t-, it’s not that.” Thao said, “I mean I think I know this map, but-, I don’t remember why.”

  “There’s a lot of things you claim you don’t remember, like those women the screen showed us? I haven’t forgotten.” Layla said, “What can you see about the other teams?”

  “Looks like these two surfaced nearest to us, Raptor Rawlins and Donna Pardee.” Thao said.

  “One’s a serial killer who used to skin his victims after hunting them for sport. The other’s a cannibal who drugged and ate pieces off a bunch of her work colleagues after inviting them around to her place for drinks.” Layla said, “Let’s try to avoid meeting them, shall we?”

  Layla went about cleaning and stripping her wet gun as best she could. The G36 seemed to have been modified to be more hardy and watertight. Thao’s screen flashed and a video appeared. The voices of the Slayerz commentators blared from both Thao and Layla’s sleeves.

  “It’s early days in this season’s contest and already two teams have gotten themselves eliminated!” One of the announcers said, “An unfortunate mechanical failure cost the pairing of Jacob Schmidt and Pedro de lar Mar the game, and their lives, when their doors failed to properly open before the room was flooded!”

  “They definitely weren’t living it up when they were going down, Fred.” The second man said.

  The vision on Thao’s screen showed both men struggling with the broken doors and then thrashing as water filled their lungs, dying almost simultaneously. Thao swallowed hard, relieved that it hadn’t happened to their elevator.

  “And the team of Q. Chrissie and Maurice Lester met a fishy end in this year’s Gauntlet, Rick!” The first commentator said, “We might need a bigger boat but what’s left of those guys is going to need a much smaller casket.”

  The screen switched to a close-up view from a shark’s head-mounted camera as it ripped through Lester’s groin and into his stomach. Thao saw Lester’s face contorted in agony before the amount of blood clouding the lens made it impossible to see. Thao moved the screen away and covered his mouth like he was going to be sick.

  “Oh, my God.” Thao said.

  “All our other contestants have made landfall now though, Fred.” The second commentator said, “So it’s time for the real game to begin and to see what other surprises Slayerz has in store!”

  “Let’s move, we’re too exposed here.” Layla said.

  “Wait, I mean-, do you actually know where we are?” Thao said.

  “Its New Detroit, old one burned down and the new one got destroyed by the Second Big One that hit the East Coast.” Layla said, having already taken in their surroundings, “Toxic spills created all the cloud cover and poisoned the air and water for a while, hopefully that’s all died down.”

  “New Detroit? How do you know?” Thao said.

  “Those are the Weyland Towers over there, I remember seeing pictures of them after the quake.” Layla said.

  Layla pointed across the lake. Over the other side of the arena were two large, brick-shaped buildings, dark against the twilit sky. They would have been unremarkable except one of the buildings had started to topple and fallen against the other, just barely propped up like a drunk with their arm slung around the shoulders of their slightly more sober friend. The two buildings looked as if a strong breeze could bring the both of them crashing down but Thao supposed they must have been like that for almost a full decade now, since the quake. Thao tried to think if he had any personal memory of New Detroit, and whether he might have recognised the map that way. Something stirred in the back of his mind but then it was gone.

  “Well, alright then, I’m just surprised we’re actually in America still.” Thao said.

  “I’m kind of relieved actually.” Layla said, “Did you see the promo talking about some kind of ‘Abomination Round’? I’m not sure what that was supposed to mean, but-, I mean, I doubted they could be so stupid as to try and actually trap one of those things. But even if they did, there’d be no way they’d get permission to transport an Abomination onto New U.S soil. This place might have been written off as a disaster zone but there’s just no way they’d be allowed to do that, right? Just, no way.”

  Layla didn’t look as certain as she sounded, her face becoming distant and a little worried. At the mention of the word Abomination, Thao’s gaze had gone to Layla’s mechanical arm and the scar tissue on her neck that worked its way out from under the collar of her uniform like brambles. It was easy to imagine how those scars must have covered most of her shoulder to the point where Layla’s arm had been wrenched off, and probably most of her side as well. Thao tried to imagine how anyone could get so close to one of those biological monstrosities and live. The soldier was right, there was no way the Slayerz producers could have actually captured one just for the sake of their game. More likely the Abomination Round had some other meaning.

  “Come on, let’s get moving.” Layla said.

  “Cacaw! Cacaw!” Someone yelled.

  There was a figure silhouetted on top of a small mountain of rubble nearby. They were tall and rangy with a wild shock of hair. Layla’s reaction was instantaneous, snapping her G36C to her shoulder, flicking the safety switch to full auto, and squeezing the trigger. Raptor Rawlins, the man who had cried out, dived behind the rubble. Bullets chewed through pieces of concrete and sparked off an upright girder.

  There was another burst of gunfire, deeper and throatier than Layla’s G36. While Raptor distracted them his partner, Donna Pardee, had circled around the pair. The office worker didn’t have military training or experience but she did have a very big, belt-fed machine gun. Pardee crouched around some wreckage closer to the shore with her machine gun howling. Layla turned and returned fire, drilling through the wreck of the car near Pardee’s head.

  “Move for the street! They’ve got us in a box!” Layla said.

  With Layla laying down some suppressing fire, Thao ran ahead. The street curved uphill, away from the rubble, to where the buildings were still in one piece. The two of them were cut off by a billowing burst from Pardee’s weapon. Rounds chewed through the street. Layla fell back, firing, but Pardee had retreated behind a car and had her machine gun’s barrel through a window frame. Layla was forced to take a knee and keep shooting while Thao ran on blindly, not even realising Layla wasn’t following anymore. Their camera drones split up, spinning through the air and capturing all of the action as it happened.

  “I’m going to chew on your face, bitch! I’m going to eat your heart and gain your powers!” Donna Pardee said.

  Pardee was undeterred at Layla’s more accurate fire. Layla’s bullets drilled right through the hollowed-out car Pardee was hidden behind but didn’t hit her.

  Meanwhile, Thao was still running when a taller and heavier man hit him from the side. The blow knocked him sprawling to the rubble-strewn road. Raptor Rawlins was a lean but well-muscled individual, his arms exposed at either side of a heavy Kevlar vest. He was deeply tanned and had a hawkish face, with a long, beaked nose and angular features. Like Thao, he hadn’t been given a gun. Instead he wore a bulky gauntlet which fit around the kill switch and bracelet screen on his right forearm. Standing over Thao, Raptor made a fist and two long, serrated blades shot out of the gauntlet, appearing over the tops of his knuckles. Each was at least a foot-and-a-half long and glowed in the greyish twilight. The blades were already stained with gore from a shark Raptor had killed while escaping the water.

  “It wasn’t just about the skins, you know
.” Raptor said, “Good hunter uses every part of the animal, but we’re tight on time so I think I’ll just take your head.”

  Thao scrabbled for the baton holster on his belt. He was forced to roll sideways though as Raptor swung. Raptor’s massive gauntlet-blades sparked off the asphalt as Thao kept rolling, pulling himself over rubble and stumbling to his feet. He pulled the extendable stun baton off his belt and opened it with a snap. A tiny fork of electricity sizzled on the tip. Thao had been afraid to touch it after that prolonged swim, his clothes and skin were still wet after all, but the weapon seemed to be fine. Raptor came at him again, swinging his blades wide, and Thao thrust back with his electrified baton. The two weapons clattered together and Raptor drew back. The staccato bursts of gunfire from their partners still sounding in the background. Raptor swaggered but kept clear of the little blue sparks of electricity coming from the end of Thao’s weapon.

  “I’m not impressed.” Raptor said.

  “Shut up!” Thao said.

  Thrusting the baton at Raptor, Thao overstepped his mark. He missed and Raptor came at him, swinging his wrist-blades. Thao managed to twist out of the way at the last second and Raptor’s blades notched Thao’s body armour, cutting two lines through his shirt and stabbing his coat. It tangled Raptor up for a second and Thao jabbed the prod awkwardly into Raptor’s arm. Electricity arced through Raptor, sending his body rigid, and after a few moments Raptor staggered backward.

  “Motherfucker!” Raptor said.

  Raptor clutched at the scorch mark where the prod had hit him. His arm looked limp and if they hadn’t been attached to him via the gauntlet, Thao thought Raptor probably would have dropped his twin blades. Still, he didn’t give it long before running at Thao again.

  Thao easily sidestepped Raptor’s badly aimed swing and stabbed the stun baton upward at Raptor’s face. It hit him in the cheek and Raptor let out a weird, strangled cry of pain, bending over backward as if the rest of his body was trying to outrun his face. The skin sizzled and Raptor spasmed for a few moments before throwing himself loose. He hit the ground on his back, shaking and swatting at the air with foam collecting on his lips.

  The gunfire had stopped for a moment. Thao looked around and picked up a chunk of concrete rubble that was roughly three times the size of his fist. Holding it in one hand, Thao stood over Raptor. Raptor was still spasming but recovering fast. Thao could hit him again with the stun baton to put him out of action and then bash his brains in with the rock.

  Pulse hammering in his throat, Thao found himself frozen. Both arms felt like lead weights and the piece of rubble might as well have weighed a thousand kilos. Raptor turned and glared at him, eyes full of hate, and the eye contact totally disarmed Thao. He felt weak and useless but couldn’t bring himself to kill the psychopath, even if the man would’ve finished him in a heartbeat. Weakened but sensing Thao’s inability to complete the job, Raptor scrabbled backward and picked himself up. He ran for the shadows of the alleyway where he’d originally appeared.

  “Thao? Thao, Goddamnit!” Layla said.

  Layla had been forced to retreat, reloading her assault rifle. She saw Thao standing in the middle of the street, baton and rock in hand.

  “What are you doing? I didn’t mean leave me there!” Layla said, “Come on, let’s go! Those two are crazy.”

  “What? I’m-, okay.” Thao said.

  Thao dropped the piece of rubble and guiltily wiped some of the concrete dust it had left on his hand onto his damp coat. The pair kept moving, away from the other team that had attacked them. Their two camera drones followed, powering along overhead. The permanent twilight filled the street, leaving no shadows. In some of the less damaged areas the streetlamps were on, some power left in the grid. The road was covered in rubble and trash.

  Thao was running when he felt something catch around his ankle. A thick cable was running across the road, half-hidden by garbage. As Thao stumbled the cable went loose and there was a hissing and series of snaps from one of the nearby office buildings. While Thao was still wondering what had just happened a dark shape moved over the lip of the building, as part of a mechanism triggered by the tripwire. Swinging on the end of several thick steel cables, a city bus dropped from the roof toward where Thao was standing. Most of its windows were broken and its tyres were shredded. Like a giant pendulum the bus swung into the street.

  “Watch out!” Layla yelled.

  Layla changed direction. Her mechanical arm slammed into Thao, picking him up off his feet, and Layla kept running. She threw them both inside the open entryway of a fast food restaurant left exposed to the elements. The falling bus crashed into the street with a noise like an explosion and then went scraping across the asphalt and sidewalks with an unholy screeching of metal. Pieces of the bus were ripped clean off and flung in all directions. It swept through the street and knocked more rubble out of the way where Thao had been standing. One of the steel cables broke free and the bus smashed into another building, coming to a stop. Layla straightened, picking herself off Thao.

  “That bus nearly wiped you out!” Layla said.

  “Are you sure it didn’t?” Thao groaned as he grabbed his chest.

  “Cacaw! Cacaw!” Raptor’s mocking cry came from the street as the dust settled.

  Seconds later, gunfire filled the air and the windows near Layla and Thao exploded. Donna Pardee was tucked into a space near where the bus had come down, firing freely. Brass cartridges rattled into her receiver, spraying, used, into the air and onto the sidewalk. Layla crouched by the door with her Heckler & Koch G36C. She squeezed off a short burst but Pardee was hidden too low.

  “Shit, they already caught up.” Layla said, “You’re going to have to draw them off, run and draw her fire!”

  “What? Are you crazy?” Thao said.

  “Remember, it’s my life too.” Layla said, “Don’t get shot, run for that corner in a random zigzag pattern and take cover. We need to get these two lunatics off our tail before they draw more teams.”

  “Okay, alright then, just don’t let me get killed.” Thao said.

  “Again, it’s my life too, and that’s it, that’s all there is between us.” Layla said.

  Moving around Layla’s back, Thao peered into the street. Now there weren’t just other contestants to worry about but traps as well. He took a couple of deep breaths and then sprinted forward. Veering across the sidewalk and around a wrecked taxi, Thao kept running without even looking.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Pardee yelled, “Okay, run, rabbit, run!”

  “Cacaw!” Raptor screamed overhead.

  “This is nuts!” Thao said.

  Bullets sparked off the asphalt and concrete at Thao’s heels. A couple of rounds nipped through the hem of his black coat. Meanwhile, Layla darted out of the restaurant and headed in the other direction as Thao ran. Pardee was fixated on Thao as her machine gun roared. Rather than lay down any suppressing fire Layla headed down the sidewalk.

  Carrying the G36 in her right, Layla picked up a large chunk of rubble with her left hand. As Thao ran to the corner and dived behind cover Layla pitched the stone with her mechanical arm toward Donna Pardee’s position. It hit the wall behind Pardee and cracked in two with a noise almost as loud as a gunshot itself. The cannibal looked around in confusion and struggled to move with her heavy weapon.

  “Hey!” Layla shouted, “What’s this to you? A food fight?”

  Pardee looked up, tangled in the strap of her machine gun. Layla raised the G36 to her shoulder and fired just once, now that she had a clear shot. A neat, red hole appeared on Pardee’s forehead and the rear plate of her skull exploded. Brains leaking out of the back of her head, Pardee collapsed and the kill switch started to sing on her arm.

  “Cacaw!” Raptor yelled.

  With bullets still singing behind him, Thao didn’t even see Raptor leaping down from above as he rounded the corner. Raptor had been moving across the second story of the nearest ruined building. His boots
hit Thao in the shoulder and sent him sprawling sideways. Blades hacking downward, Raptor cut into Thao’s body armour without reaching the skin.

  “Go away! Leave me alone!” Thao yelled.

  Thao swept around with his stun baton, swinging it at Raptor’s legs. The man danced backward, having recovered from his earlier shocks. He swung at Thao’s face and Thao tried to block with the baton, sparks flying from the tip of the baton and arcing between Raptor’s wrist-blades like lightning. Pulling himself backward, Thao staggered to his feet. He jabbed, triggering the baton, and kept clear of Raptor’s reach. He could see scorch marks on Raptor’s tan body armour from their earlier fight.

  Suddenly the white orb on Raptor’s wrist squealed, his kill switch triggered. Thao felt relieved that Layla had succeeded but still he knew he should have killed Raptor when he had a chance. Raptor folded in on himself as the needles entered his skin, poisoning him. After a few moments, he started to scream like his blood had been set on fire. He snapped upright and clawed at his face, narrowly avoiding cutting himself with his own blades. Thao knew something wasn’t right, and this this wasn’t what he had been expecting. Raptor’s muscles were taut and he looked like he was about to explode.

  Thao rammed his electric baton into Raptor’s chest while the man was distracted. If he could disable the drugged-up psycho for a few seconds he should be able to run for it and gain enough distance to get away until the drugs overtook Raptor. The prod buzzed but it had no effect on Raptor. He withstood the shock and then slammed his left hand forward. The blow picked Thao up and dumped him on his back. The breath was knocked out of Thao’s body. Thao wriggled backward as Raptor lunged forward. Raptor’s twin blades drove into the asphalt which was crumbly enough that with his enormous strength Raptor penetrated several inches into the road’s surface.

  Raptor tried to yank the blades out of the ground, the wicked points getting stuck. Circling around behind him, Thao hit Raptor in the back of the neck with his weapon. His skin smoked but Raptor still didn’t seem to feel the stun baton. Wrenching out of the asphalt, Raptor swept around with the blades again. Thao threw himself and just barely avoided them, the man moving with incredible speed as well as strength.