before the units arrived. Jack couldn’t wait.
He ran around the front and past the doors, glancing in through the office windows. He went to the rear of the bank and to a back entrance near a dumpster. He tugged at the doorknob and the door opened. He stepped inside.
The bank was quiet except for the hum of the air conditioner. Jack kept his weapon low as he navigated through a maze of offices and supply rooms and onto the main floor of the bank. He looked around the corner, keeping his body concealed. He could see the teller. She was standing in the exact same position, her countenance white as a ghost.
“You have been most helpful,” a voice said. It didn’t sound human. It sounded artificial, like it was coming through a computer that almost, but not quite, mimicked human voices.
Then Jack felt the vibration through the floor. He thought perhaps it was a tremor until he saw the thing step into view in front of the teller. It was massive. Far larger than the video he had seen could capture. Its metal suit gleamed under the soft lights of the bank and its muscles bulged like they were about to pop. It was also taller than he had thought, and its head almost hit the ceiling of the bank.
There was no way he could fight that thing by himself. He began to quietly back out when he heard the teller scream. He looked again to see her raised in the air by the throat, the thing laughing as she fought for her life.
“Let her go,” he shouted. The thing turned to him and Jack fired. He fired three rounds, two of them bouncing uselessly off his suit. The third entered his cheek and the thing dropped her and roared in pain.
Jack ran out and saw that three dreadlocked men carried canvas sacks of cash and gold into a hole that had been made in the floor of the bank. Two of them jumped into the hole and the third went for his weapon. Jack fired and hit the man in the chest as a round flew by his own face. The man fell, his weapon flying out of his hand, and Jack turned toward the thing.
Before he could react, it had sprinted the distance between them. It was fast. Too fast for him to do anything. The thing picked him up and his ribs felt like they were being crushed. As if he was in the middle of a head-on collision between two semi-trucks.
The thing threw him across the bank with such violence he crashed through the teller counter. His back snapped and the air rushed out of him. It was as if he had fallen off a skyscraper.
He managed to crawl, his mind a mess of agony and the raw instinct of survival. He heard a laugh above him and felt pain in his back as the thing lifted him into the air. Jack looked into its eyes; they were white with thin gray outlines of the pupils and irises.
“I am the next step in evolution,” the thing said. “Your species in now endangered.”
He smashed Jack into the ceiling and then slammed him into the floor. Jack felt nothing now, not even pain. A dull sensation droned in his legs as the thing walked over them, crushing them into a bloody pulp, before it jumped down the hole it had made, and was gone.
CHAPTER 14
Jack didn’t remember an ambulance ride, or the emergency surgery he had received because parts of his spine had thrust out of his back, breaking through the skin like white lumps of clay. He remembered only one incident in three days of sedation and surgery: his sister crying over him and asking him to please wake up. He thought he was awake.
He couldn’t keep track of the days or times and only knew when a doctor or nurse mumbled something about it. He had pleasant, warm feelings through most of his body except when the medication wore off, and then he would want to scream but found that he couldn’t. He didn’t understand any of this until one day an attending was explaining to a resident that this patient was, “in a coma,” and “unlikely to pull through.”
Jack wanted to yell. He could hear and feel everything that was going on around him but he
He ran around the front and past the doors, glancing in through the office windows. He went to the rear of the bank and to a back entrance near a dumpster. He tugged at the doorknob and the door opened. He stepped inside.
The bank was quiet except for the hum of the air conditioner. Jack kept his weapon low as he navigated through a maze of offices and supply rooms and onto the main floor of the bank. He looked around the corner, keeping his body concealed. He could see the teller. She was standing in the exact same position, her countenance white as a ghost.
“You have been most helpful,” a voice said. It didn’t sound human. It sounded artificial, like it was coming through a computer that almost, but not quite, mimicked human voices.
Then Jack felt the vibration through the floor. He thought perhaps it was a tremor until he saw the thing step into view in front of the teller. It was massive. Far larger than the video he had seen could capture. Its metal suit gleamed under the soft lights of the bank and its muscles bulged like they were about to pop. It was also taller than he had thought, and its head almost hit the ceiling of the bank.
There was no way he could fight that thing by himself. He began to quietly back out when he heard the teller scream. He looked again to see her raised in the air by the throat, the thing laughing as she fought for her life.
“Let her go,” he shouted. The thing turned to him and Jack fired. He fired three rounds, two of them bouncing uselessly off his suit. The third entered his cheek and the thing dropped her and roared in pain.
Jack ran out and saw that three dreadlocked men carried canvas sacks of cash and gold into a hole that had been made in the floor of the bank. Two of them jumped into the hole and the third went for his weapon. Jack fired and hit the man in the chest as a round flew by his own face. The man fell, his weapon flying out of his hand, and Jack turned toward the thing.
Before he could react, it had sprinted the distance between them. It was fast. Too fast for him to do anything. The thing picked him up and his ribs felt like they were being crushed. As if he was in the middle of a head-on collision between two semi-trucks.
The thing threw him across the bank with such violence he crashed through the teller counter. His back snapped and the air rushed out of him. It was as if he had fallen off a skyscraper.
He managed to crawl, his mind a mess of agony and the raw instinct of survival. He heard a laugh above him and felt pain in his back as the thing lifted him into the air. Jack looked into its eyes; they were white with thin gray outlines of the pupils and irises.
“I am the next step in evolution,” the thing said. “Your species in now endangered.”
He smashed Jack into the ceiling and then slammed him into the floor. Jack felt nothing now, not even pain. A dull sensation droned in his legs as the thing walked over them, crushing them into a bloody pulp, before it jumped down the hole it had made, and was gone.
CHAPTER 14
Jack didn’t remember an ambulance ride, or the emergency surgery he had received because parts of his spine had thrust out of his back, breaking through the skin like white lumps of clay. He remembered only one incident in three days of sedation and surgery: his sister crying over him and asking him to please wake up. He thought he was awake.
He couldn’t keep track of the days or times and only knew when a doctor or nurse mumbled something about it. He had pleasant, warm feelings through most of his body except when the medication wore off, and then he would want to scream but found that he couldn’t. He didn’t understand any of this until one day an attending was explaining to a resident that this patient was, “in a coma,” and “unlikely to pull through.”
Jack wanted to yell. He could hear and feel everything that was going on around him but he
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