The Heirs of Earth by Daniel Arenson

Author:Daniel Arenson [Arenson, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B077J7X6H7
Publisher: Moonclipse
Published: 2017-11-20T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The shrieks filled the ductwork.

Rowan winced.

"Exterminators," she whispered. "And big ones."

Bay stiffened. "Muck." He reached for his belt and drew his pistol. "I hate those guys."

He had dealt with exterminators before. Most humans had. Bay had learned not to spend more than a few days at any one place. Sooner or later, somebody called the local exterminators to remove the pest. Some exterminators were woefully inadequate, guys who had never caught anything more dangerous than a cold. Others were seasoned mercenaries who wore human ears as trophies around their necks.

As another shriek filled the ducts, Bay had the sinking feeling they were dealing with the second type now.

The ducts shook. A mad clattering rose. Something was moving through the ducts. Fast.

"Hurry, we can make it to my starship!" Bay said, about to crawl back the way he had come.

"No!" Rowan said. "They're coming from there. I can tell. This way, hurry!"

They began to crawl through the duct. Rowan moved at incredible speed, scuttling forward like a badger. Her dragonfly flew above her, skimming the duct's ceiling.

"Hurry!" she said over her shoulder.

"I'm trying!" Bay said, dragging himself forward.

He managed to rise to hands and knees, but his head and shoulders kept banging against the ducts' steel walls. Every few meters, they passed over a vent, and he glimpsed the various seedy establishments below. A few patrons in brothels and bars raised their eyes, roused by the clatter, and grumbled about pests in the walls.

The ducts rattled. The shrieks drew closer. Clattering echoed like many pounding feet. A stench hit Bay's nostrils, a sickening mixture of burnt marrow and worms after rain.

"They're in the ducts and moving fast," Rowan said, crawling ahead. She kept having to pause and wait for Bay to catch him. "Come on, Bay, hurry!"

"Where are we going?" he said.

"I know another way to the hangar." She looked over her shoulder at him. "Hurry, they're—"

She screamed and pointed.

Bay looked behind him and felt the blood drain from his face.

By Ra.

A creature was racing toward them through the duct.

Nausea rose in Bay's stomach. Cold sweat washed him.

"They hired Ra damn bonecrawlers," he said. "I hate bonecrawlers."

The alien had a body like a python, thick enough to digest a man whole. Its skin was rubbery, pinkish, and marred with moles, liver spots, and thin hairs. That skin was sickeningly human. The ribs were clearly visible, hundreds of them stretching down the serpentine body, pushing against the skin. The alien moved by contracting and expanding those ribs like an accordion.

Its skull too was disturbingly human, draped with skin. There seemed to be no fat, no muscle, just skin and bone. The teeth were long and sharp, and while the tight skin revealed wide eye sockets, the eyes themselves were vestigial, mere splotches on the skin, almost certainly blind. The creature reached out arms tipped with claws like daggers, and it shrieked again, a cry that shook the ducts and nearly deafened Bay.

They use sonar, he realized. They're blind but—

Rowan grabbed him.

"Come on!"

He crawled after her, moving as fast as he could.

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