Blood Vivicanti (9781941240113) by Becket Read Free Book Online

tear.
     
     
     
     
    Lowen’s army marched from
the Black Building.
    He was at the head. Nell
was beside him as always. They were the only two Blood Vivicanti
among the host. Following them were two hundred Devicanti. Twenty
thousand Sleeper Devils followed last of all, a great caboose of
men and woman and children that were not quite zombies.
    It was an army bred to
consume every soul on earth.
     
     
     
     
    The army marched along the
railway tracks that led straight to the Locomotive
Deadyards.
    Red and I were inside. We
were hiding in the tin roof’s rafters.
    He looked at me. His
expression was impassive for a moment, but then his mouth pouted in
sympathy. He reached out and touched the top of my hand.
    I turned my hand
over.
    We held hands. Our fingers
inter-locked.
     
     
     
     
    Lowen stopped his army just
outside the Labyrinth Fort.
    He in Theo’s body and Nell
in Wyn’s had great vision. They could see something that looked
almost identical to Red and me.
    It wasn’t us, of course.
The holo-imaging tech strapped to my arm was projecting our image.
They looked pretty lifelike, I thought.
    My mechanical man was
behind the holograms. I wondered if Lowen could see through the
illusion. Then I wondered if he knew that he was also looking at a
giant robot.
    My boy was powered down,
lying face down with this chest on the ground. His hands and arms
laid flat near his head. His chin was tilting up. His eye sockets
and grill mouth could only just be seen.
    So far Red’s plan was
working. Nevertheless I prayed that Lowen mistook my boy for just
another scrapheap in the Locomotive Deadyards.
     
     
     
     
    Nell leaned close to Lowen.
“It’s a trap,” she said.
    Lowen nodded. “She wants us
to attack those holograms,” he said, giving a little
chuckle.
    Nell’s new Blood Vivicanti
eyes searched around the Labyrinth Fort.
    “ I don’t see Mary Paige,”
she said. “I don’t see the Red Man either.”
    Lowen grinned maliciously.
“Why not,” he said. He was having conversation inside his head.
“Let’s do it.”
    He glared fiercely at
Nell.
    “ Get the Red Man,” he
ordered her. “Kill the Blood Vivicanti.”
     
     
     
     
    Thousands of Sleeper Devils
went charging in, running wildly with their fists raised and their
mouths open, screaming and shouting and grunting.
    Then thousands more
followed them.
    Lowen, Nell, and the
Devicanti stood still in their places like rocks amid rushing
water.
    The Sleeper Devils
clambered like a flood over the rows of old railcars.
    Lowen never told them that
they were hurrying toward two holograms, and they did not know this
either. They charged straight for the images and tried to seize
them, but instead they went tumbling through the illusion in a wild
confusion of bodies, all flailing about like ragdolls.
    The mass of Sleeper Devils
stopped when they realize that something strange was happening.
They look at one another with confused expressions. They listened
for Lowen through his spirit-link, but he wasn’t speaking with
them. He let them flounder alone.
    That was when I activated
my boy.
     
     
     
     
    Steam’s smokestacks billow
out like geysers. His heart began ticking and tocking like a great
and magical clockwork heart. His fingers spread wide. His hands
pressed up his torso. His head looked up and the fire behind his
mouth and eyes burned hot and bright.
    Some Sleeper Devils ran
away. Others stood stupidly still. A few crawled up him like ants.
They tried fruitlessly beating against his strong metal
plates.
    He cast a long shadow over
those on the ground. He balanced himself on one fist while raising
the other above his head. And right before he slammed it down on
top of several Sleeper Devils, I heard one whimper, “Oh, thank
God.”
     
     
     
     
    My mechanical man cracked
the floor with his powerful thrust. That’s my boy.
    He swept his arm across the
Labyrinth Fort, knocking over several old trains and sending
several more spiraling into the