Vixen A.D. 2 | Chapter 9

He dropped the patch kit in his hands to the floor. This wasn’t good.

Mace stood in the junction room, grimly staring into the bodies and gore before him. He felt a sick knot in his belly. Terror crept up his spine.

Several dead technicians lined the wall. Dismembered limbs peppered the floor and entrails hung from the ceiling, intertwined in rafters, beams, and pipes. Cinder covered her mouth. “Fuck… something ripped them apart.”

“Where are the shamblers?” Faye asked.

Mace glanced around. “That’s a good question. I don’t like this. Let’s hurry it up,” he finished.

“Do you think it’s one of those stalker things?” Cinder said, her voice thin and weak.

Faye shook her head. “No, that thing chucked fire. I don’t see any char or signs of something burnt… they’re just…”

“Chewed up,” Mace said. “And ripped apart. Look,” he pointed at one of the bite marks.

“Holy fuck,” Faye gasped.

“No shambler or wraith makes a bite that big. That’s… almost like an animal of some kind,” Mace finished.

“Guys,” Cinder called. “Look,” she said, holding up what looked like a massive chunk of bone.

But it wasn’t. As Mace approached, it became clear to him what it was: a fucking tooth. A big one, maybe even the thickness of his wrist. He grabbed it from her carefully and held it up to the light. “That’s not from anything we’ve seen yet,” Faye commented.

“I thought I saw something huge before my UTV toppled. But this isn’t big enough,” he said.

“They get even bigger?” Cinder shuddered.

“Okay, I’m scared,” Faye muttered.

Mace dropped the oversized canine-fang and returned to the junction box. “Watch my back. I’m going to make this quick.”

He returned to the junction, undoing some of the bent housing, removing it, and adding new components. The inside was relatively pristine; the only thing he could find was the bent, aesthetically damaged metal on the outside and a blown fuse.

But why was it blown? These things were designed to take a huge burst of energy. Maybe the tram a hundred meters back or so had some connection…

Mace sighed. It wouldn’t be long. He could have it put together pretty quickly. Behind him, Faye and Cinder watched the perimeter and area.

As he did the routine maintenance and swapping of parts, he couldn’t help but think about both of them. Their smiles, the way they flirted with him, their beauty, tails, ears, and curves. Both were so hot. He could get lost in their embrace.

But that’s what he wanted. Mace didn’t mind spending a while in the bed with both of them naked. He even recalled the idea of a date while unscrewing two or three components from the circuitry of the junction.

Here, he had to be a little more careful. If the fuse was fucked up, it might mean the extreme voltage was still pouring through the junction. One mishap and he was toast.

Luckily, he didn’t see any signs of live power in the junction box and power cores. They were meant to handle huge power spikes and built with a lot of safety and redundancy in mind.

 “Almost,” Mace quietly mumbled.

“Perimeter is clear,” Cinder replied.

“Area is secure, too,” Faye said.

Mace wiped grime off his visor. What would cause the tram to stop and fucking roll like that? It had to be powerful. The amount of torque or force it would take to dislodge would be enough to get through a wall of steel and concrete.

Granted, the tram’s wheels weren’t as secure as the building’s walls, but it was secure enough. Mace scratched his head. The drones and turrets should find it once the junction was restored. All the defenses would power back on…

What would do that?

Mace tried to shake off the thought.

Something shook the floor. The walls rumbled. What the hell was that? Mace hurried. He finally put the new fuse in when part of a damaged wall ripped apart.

“Oh, FUCK!” Faye shouted.

Cinder tumbled backward. Mace caught her before hitting the ground, pulling them both away from whatever it was that careened past the wall. “What the fuck is that?!” Cinder screamed.

In its giant, wide mouth with tusks and sharp teeth of the same kind they found moments ago, was a human torso, crushed and shredded. Two arms hung freely, swaying in the air, followed by a half-deformed head, dangling and bleeding from a broken neck and crushed vertebrae.  

“Fire!” Mace yelled, aiming his weapon and unloading.

The creature, whatever it was, was massive compared to them. Its head touched the ceiling. Its ivory and metal talons—a bipedal set of clawed humanoid feet—lifted and thudded along the floor.

It was coming right for them.

Mace turned to face the creature and raised his weapon. God, I hope these weapons can take that thing down.

Everyone aimed and opened fire. The creature spun and charged for him again. Mace dodged it and readied the secondary fire on his weapon. A light flashed, revealed a triple-burst of high-speed rounds primed to fire.

He unloaded it, watched as it slammed into the creature’s head and finally, exploded its skull into a mist of gore. It waddled around for a few seconds and finally, collapsed to the ground and went still.

“I emptied my entire clip,” Cinder mumbled.

Fana raised her weapon. “Fuck, me too.”

Mace let out a sigh. “I’ve got a few more mags. Here,” he pulled the from his side pouch and handed them out. “Let’s get this shit fixed and back online so we don’t have to do this with our own weapons. I’d rather the defenses handle this shit.”

“Fair,” Fana said. “I don’t want to see that… thing again unless it’s dead.”

“What do we call it?” Cinder asked.

Mace shrugged. “Oh yeah, we’re naming these things. How about… I mean it had a giant set of teeth… tusks… maybe… Gorejaws.”

“Wonderful,” Fana laughed.

“I like it,” Cinder said.

He nodded. “Thanks. Let’s finish this up and get out of here.”

Together, they returned to the task. Mace resumed the final few unfinished jobs at the terminal and junction, then let out a sigh when it flickered to life. From there, the residual power was sent to other junctions and the systems underground defenses, along with some extra surface periphery.

“The good news is that this will start the base’s repair-AI. The wreck seems to have cut it off, so once that AI is on, it’s going to reroute and automatically repair what we can’t get it, all while keeping the system’s active,” Mace explained.

“Does Delta have a primary AI?”

Mace shrugged. “Probably. I’m still missing a few memories. I’ll have to go digging. You two ready to get back?”

Fana and Cinder nodded. “Please,” Fana said.

“Yeah,” Cinder agreed, lashing her tail.

He smiled. “We’ll find an elevator or call another TRAM. This will go quick now,” Mace said.

With that, they left the maintenance shafts and made their way back to Delta’s surface levels. Mace already was looking forward to another shower.