Chimera by David Wellington

Author:David Wellington [Wellington, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Speculative Fiction Suspense
ISBN: 9780062248770
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2013-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

STONE MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA: APRIL 13, T+36:12

There was no way Chapel could stop Malcolm, or even slow him down. The chimera was just too strong, and he outweighed Chapel by a good fifty pounds. So he didn’t try to stand his ground. There was no way he could move out of the way of Malcolm’s charge, either—he was just too fast.

So he twisted on the ball of one foot and let Malcolm hit him, but he rolled with the bull rush, twisting around to slide over the chimera’s back as he went past. Chapel landed on his feet, though not as firmly as he would have liked—the ground was too uneven to stick the landing.

Still, he was suddenly behind Malcolm where Malcolm couldn’t see him.

If he’d been fighting a human opponent, Chapel could have ended things then and there. He could have wrapped his good arm around his opponent’s neck and put him in a sleeper hold. Block the blood flow to the carotid artery, even for a few seconds, and a human body will simply shut down.

He knew it wouldn’t be that easy. But he was out of other ideas.

He brought his right knee up, hard, into the small of Malcolm’s back. The chimera didn’t even grunt in pain—maybe it felt like Chapel was tickling him—but he was ninety-nine percent human, which meant he had the same reflexes as a human being. He arched his back away from the blow, throwing his head back toward Chapel.

Chapel threw his artificial arm around Malcolm’s throat and squeezed.

The prosthetic arm was designed to respond to subconscious commands. Normally Chapel didn’t have to think about how the arm should move, it just acted like a real arm. He could override it, though. He could give it conscious commands and it would obey them, even in ways a real arm wouldn’t.

He told his arm to squeeze, and it acted like a metal noose around the chimera’s neck. It tightened like a vise and stayed locked shut. A living arm could get fatigued. Its muscles were elastic enough to give way as Malcolm bucked and tried to break loose. Chapel’s prosthetic arm didn’t have those weaknesses.

The chimera gasped and spat in rage as he tried to get free. He tried to reach around behind him, to grab Chapel and hurt him enough to make him let go. His fingers found the side of Chapel’s shirt and he tore through the fabric, maybe intending to gouge into the flesh beneath.

Chapel responded by using his good right arm to deliver punch after punch to the side of Malcolm’s head.

The chimera screamed in frustration and ducked forward, bending at the waist until he lifted Chapel right off the ground. With his arm locked around Malcolm’s throat Chapel had no option but to go along for the ride.

For a second he was airborne and flopping back and forth, like a rider holding on to a bucking horse. Malcolm twisted from side to side, trying to shake him free, but the only way that would happen was if Chapel’s prosthetic arm gave out.

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