Page 78

Crouching, I wait. Vasilisy jumps from his bike as it is still moving and slides to my side, yanking his axe from his back and holding it with both hands. He roars into the tunnel, daring them to come at us.

A horrible noise sounds from the darkness, a mix of laughter and choking. Gritting my teeth, I wait. I don’t have time for this shit.

“No playing with your food, I want to be back on the road in two minutes,” I warn Vasilisy. I see his grin stretch from the corner of my eye.

“Aye, little queen. How about a friendly competition then?”

I tilt my head in consideration, even as I hear something dragging through the dark, echoing around the tunnel. “What kind?”

“Most kills?” he replies, tightening his grip on his axe and I do the same, hearing them get closer, scuttling in the dark like the vermin they are.

“You got it,” I reply when the first one jumps into view, landing on all fours with its head tilted and its nose in the air.

The bike’s broken light shines a path and I can see that its eyes are white, fogged over, it’s obvious it is blind.

Makes sense if it lives down here, and when it sniffs again and lets out a coughing chuckle, I groan.

“It can smell you, I told you that you needed to shower,” I taunt Vasilisy.

“You little fo–” He cuts off as one of them flies from a pile of debris and straight at him.

I grin and decide I am bored of waiting, plus, Berserkers take this shit seriously.

Getting a running start, I leap into the air the same time the cannibal pushes off from the ground like an animal on all fours.

We meet each other mid-air and twist as we fall to the floor.

I roll and spin into a crouch to meet its teeth bearing down on me.

An evil smirk crosses my face and I see its eyes widen too late, as I aim my sword from the floor and its own momentum propels it until it’s skewered on my sword.

Using the movement, I turn with it and pull my sword from its gaping mouth, its eyes open and empty.

“One!” I shout and I hear Vasilisy curse.

Grinning, I turn when I hear movement behind me. A cannibal comes sprinting around the corner, but instead of mindlessly flinging itself at me, it darts in and stops, trying to figure out where I am. Good, at least this won’t be easy and I can work off some of my aggression.

I draw up my sword and stand silently, waiting. It stops moving and tilts its head to the side, crawling slowly around me in a circle. I don’t move to keep it in my eyesight, instead, I stay staring forward, my ears trained on the little huffs it keeps releasing. I block out Vasilisy and wait.

It lets out a high-pitched scream and it grates on my nerves.

When I don’t make a noise, it starts to get mad and scratches at the ground, its unseeing eyes flickering back and forth.

It stops in front of me, sniffing at the ground and I smile.

I tap my chest lightly and it growls before pouncing, but I’m not there anymore.

I slip behind it and using my whip, wrap it around its neck.

It starts thrashing, more horrible inhuman noises emitting from its blood encrusted mouth.

“One!” Vasilisy shouts and I grunt, tightening my grip on the cannibal.

Gritting my teeth, I yank, a scuffling behind me has me looking over my shoulder to see two more coming my way. “Motherfuck–” Twisting and yanking with everything in me I hear its neck snap, and I drop it quickly with my whip still wrapped around it and grab my other sword and wait.

“Two,” I yell breathlessly.

“Ya cheatin!” he hollers back, making me laugh even as a cannibal flies through the air. Ducking to the side, I spin so my back is facing the tunnel wall and they are both in my eye line.

“Come on, all you can eat buffet right here!” I yell, holding my arms out to my sides. Both cannibals turn to me and let out a scream.

“Yeah, yeah, come and get me. I taste better than that old bastard.” I crouch as I talk, grinning at the curses flying from Vasilisy’s mouth.

“I’ll gi you old bastard, ya little shite,” he yells back, grunting as he fights.

One flies at me and I grunt as it hits my chest, sending me back into the wall.

I manage to get one of my swords between its head and mine, but it is using the weight of its body to pin the other to my chest. I can see the other one circling and know if I don’t move soon, I could be cannibal fodder.

No thanks, I only like to be eaten for fun.

I have to turn my head away as its face gets closer, its rancid breath hitting me as it chomps on air trying to reach me.

When I spot Vasilisy’s fallen flamethrower next to me, I let out a breathless laugh.

Turning my head back, I blow a kiss at the cannibal before using the wall and pushing us.

It tumbles back, not expecting it, and while it’s on its two legs I kick out, hitting it in the chest until it flies back to the floor.

I drop my sword, a risky move, and turn and sprint to where I saw the flamethrower. I can almost feel their breath on my back and I jump, rolling over the hard cement and grabbing it as I go.

“Eat this, motherfucker!” I shout as I point the flamethrower. Pulling the trigger, I watch in rapt fascination as a column of flame shoots out and hits the cannibals mid-leap.

The noise they make burrows through my head and the smell has me sneezing, but I don’t let up until they have stopped writhing and are nothing more than charcoal curled up on the floor. Letting go of the flamethrower, I lean back on the floor.

“Four!” I shout.

“Ah, ya fuckin’ won,” Vasilisy says as he walks over, kicking through the bodies and making the ashes float away, he offers me his hand and I grab it, hauling myself to my feet. Looking around I spot the dead cannibals and our bikes.

“Time to go,” I say and he nods. I pass back the flamethrower and he cradles it like a baby, glaring at me. Backing away with my hands up, I laugh.

“You dropped it!” Turning, I right my bike and kick the gas to make sure it still works. When it roars to life, I jump on.

“Forget something?” Vasilisy asks, holding up my sword and whip, and I gape at him. He passes them over and it’s my turn to cradle my weapons like a baby before sheathing the blade and wrapping my whip back up.

He jumps on his bike and spins in a circle, showing off, and I roll my eyes before setting off through the empty tunnel, the smell of barbequed cannibal following us.

We get back on track, anxiety nudging me again and making me remember why we were rushing, although not nearly as bad as before. I think the fight helped me think clearer and I know hurrying and getting myself killed won’t change anything, even if I hate being patient.

I slow down to a pace that won’t kill us if we crash, not by much though, and we ride silently, both our minds locked on what we will find when we get there.

About twenty minutes later, we see the top of the building as The Ring comes into view.

I look back at Vasilisy before speeding up slightly.

We pull into the car park, and park at the very back, just in case.

Turning off my bike, I look around for any vehicles I might recognise.

Frowning, I smack my bike. I forgot how busy it was because of The Summit, any of them could be Berserker rides and I wouldn’t know. We are walking in blind and I hate it.

Taking a deep breath, I swing my leg off the bike and stand next to it.

“Ya ready, little queen?” Whenever Vasilisy’s emotions run high his accent gets more pronounced, to the point I can barely understand him, like right now.

“Let’s do it.” I nod and we walk side by side towards the closed gate of The Ring.