The shadow of the Fractogast’s foot passed over her. Brighton shouted her name in frantic warning.
Simone slipped another knife from her boot and leveled it just as the platter-sized foot came crashing down.
The blade skewered its foot, shoving the butt of the knife into her chest.
One of her ribs cracked. The ’Gast reeled back and toppled over. It landed in a pile of discarded metal. Something snapped as loud as a tree branch breaking.
When she looked, she saw that the ’Gast was still. Dead or disabled. She really didn’t care so long as it wasn’t coming after her anymore.
Two more of the things surged forward.
Brighton yelled, “Stop!” at them, raising his hammer a few more inches in warning.
They stopped.
“You’re going to run, Simone. The boots will make you fast. Hide you. I’ll be right behind you.”
“I’m not leaving you behind again.”
“Just go. Now.”
She’d already left him once to get the kid out. She could have kept running then, but something in her—something she had thought long dead—forced her to turn around. There was still some life left in her. Some goodness. Some fight.
A whole lot of fight.
She pushed herself to her feet, swaying. Bloody hair fell into her eyes. She didn’t bother to wipe it away. Every bit of strength she had left she needed to kill these fuckers.
Safety net number two was still in the purse. “Boom incoming.”
“What are you doing?” asked Brighton. “Get out of here.”
“I’m improvising. Be ready to run.”
“I’m not leaving until this machine is disabled.”
“We’ll disable it after we leave.”
“Explosives?” he asked. “It might not work.”
“Explosives always work.” If she used enough of them.
“It took a magic hammer to build this thing. It may also take magic to destroy it.”
“I’m all out of magical C-4. Sorry. We’ll have to take our chances.”
“Not this time, Simone. I’m sorry.” With that apology hanging in the air, he slammed the hammer down onto the machine.
Both Fractogasts screeched in fury and lunged forward.
Simone ran toward Brighton as she flung one of her throwing knives at the ’Gast in front. The blade bounced off its skin, but its attention shifted to her.
Brighton swung the hammer again, only this time, the machine’s pitch rose as if it were speeding up. Flickering lights inside the oddly shaped ring began to glow brighter, turning the charging ’Gasts’ skin to rainbows.
The effect sent a wave of dizziness spinning in her skull. She grabbed the edge of the raised platform where Brighton stood to steady herself. He was nearly within her reach now, but he was also in reach of the ’Gasts.
“Behind you!” she yelled.
Brighton ducked just as a massive backswing came whooshing in. The blow knocked the hammer from his hand and sent it flying her way.
Simone jumped, going higher than she ever could have without the magical aid of the boots. The hammer hit her in the chest, causing a flicker of pain to light up her brain.
Something in there was definitely broken.
When she landed, the pain made her stumble, but she held on to the hot hammer.
The machine’s whir became a scream. The spinning lights spun faster.
Brighton rolled off the platform and grabbed her by the arm, hauling her to her feet and out of the way of the next swinging blow.
One ’Gast was at the machine, its big hands moving in a desperate attempt to fix the damage Brighton had done. The other was coming for them, too fast for them to get away.
They backed up to where the dead Fractogast was sprawled.
Brighton ripped the knives from its skin and handed them to her as they kept backing away. “Give me the hammer.”
“You’re not going back up there.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
They squeezed between the wall and a metal shipping container. The ’Gast tried to reach them, but even its long arms weren’t long enough.
Simone stepped forward and stabbed at its fingers, just to give it pause.
“I won’t let you kill yourself,” she told him.
“Better me than someone else.”
“I’ve got a brick of C-4 in my pouch, all rigged and ready to blow. Let that do the work while we run like hell.”
“If I was sure it would work, I’d be all for it.”
The ’Gast tried again to reach them, this time from the opposite side. Brighton pulled her out of the way just in time to stop it from grabbing her by the hair.
He pulled the C-4 from her purse. She was too busy fending off the ’Gast to stop him, and hadn’t bothered to use the purse’s magic to hide it from him.