Leviathan(96)
As it knew it could.
Something it did not understand prompted it to do a Systems Damage Scan. It bent its massive, black-scaled head, searching for injury. It flexed its long forelegs, tensing the tendons, curling them inward to increase joint speed, to increase ligature strength.
Visually it examined its long, black claws; saw that none were chipped or broken. Then it curled its tail, studying the diamond-shaped wedge at the tip. There was no damage, no sign of compromised structural integrity. And instantly an instinctive electrical synapse began in the tip of its tail and moved upward, flashing through the outer armor epidermis to determine gaps in the scales. The synapse continued at the speed of light, leaping from one armored scale to the next to identify any compromised structural integrity and completed itself with a sudden, covering bolt of power at the top of its spine to strike the cerebellum with an electrical image of its armor status. And it was certain—its armor was fully intact. After the cold confirmation of armor status, it tensed the gel sacs in its neck, experimenting with a quick burst of flame that reached across the cavern, igniting the room for an amazing white moment before darkness fell again.
Perfect, yes.
You are perfect and you must kill them all.
It stared at the blood, the blood, to steal, to steal, to kill-KILL-KILL-KILL!
Smoldering fangs distended.
Yessssss ...
It was time to kill ...
It lowered itself to all fours and the dark, dark shadow of Leviathan fell across the dead. Then it moved slowly forward, following the heated human tracks through the red light, for there was the man, woman, and child.
Yes, had always been the man, the woman, and child ...
To kill, to kill, to kill ...
* * *
Behind them the tunnel trembled.
In a devil's wind, Leviathan's roar rushed over them and Connor spun, staring back. They had run almost a mile and there was nothing yet behind them. But Connor knew the beast would catch them quickly enough if he couldn't slow it down. Even at the thought he reached out, snatching Beth's arm. Frantically he handed Jordan to her.
“Go, Beth!” he whispered. “I've got to slow it down!”
She began to speak and Connor shouted, “Go, Beth! We don't have time for this! I'll meet you at the gorge!”
With a grimace she turned, following Chesterton. Then Connor was staring back down the tunnel and knew it was coming. Barley and Thor and the rest of the soldiers stood beside him. All of them were breathless from the frantic chase.
Glaring back down the tunnel, Thor was wild and gigantic with rage. In his breathless wrath he seemed truly mythic, titanic beyond belief. The Norseman's towering, colossal aspect even distracted Connor for a moment before he searched the walls surrounding them.
“That thing will be on top of us in less than sixty seconds,” he breathed, wiping cold sweat from his eyes. Then he saw a connecting tunnel, deciding quickly that it was large enough for Leviathan's continued pursuit. He turned toward Barley.
“How fast can you run?” he asked quickly.
“As fast as I have to!”
“Stay here, then. Hit that thing with a couple of LAWs when it comes down the tunnel. Hurt it! Slow it down! Then follow Thor and me as fast as you can! We're going down this tunnel to rig something up! Something that can put that thing in the dirt!”
Barley unslung a second LAW. “Go, Connor! We'll hit it and then we're coming after you! And you better be ready, son, ‘cause we'll be coming fast!”
Instantly the big lieutenant began shouting instructions to the soldiers to lay down a field of fire and Connor turned, running with Thor close behind him. They sprinted until they reached a junction of four corridors. Connor knew if they angled left they would go back toward Lucifer's Gorge.
He glared about the intersection and saw a major substation, housing at least 161,000 volts. But he didn't have the tools to access it and the power cylinder was far, far too dangerous to enter without protection. Then he looked up and saw a large breaker box centered ten feet above the tunnel door. It could contain as much as 50,000 volts. It wasn't as much as Connor wanted, but it'd have to do.
“That's it, Thor!” Connor gasped. “That's our chance!”
Far behind them Barley bellowed a command.
“It has come!” Thor shouted, whirling toward the chaos.
Trembling violently, Connor became frantic. “Oh, man! This isn't going to work! I don't have time to access the breaker box! We can't get a wire out to—”
Enraged, Thor roared and whirled, leaping at the wall to slam his huge fist straight into the breaker box. In the next second his fingers locked like hooks over the upper edge of thick steel plate to explosively rip it from place, scattering screws through the corridor. Without a word Thor cast the dented plate aside, turning to Connor.