“Calm down. This will only hurt for a second. The honour will far outweigh the pain,” chuckled the police chief.
Reuben watched Gerald struggle against the man that pinned him, but it seemed his hold was as strong as the handcuffs. What the hell was going on? Brothers, sisters, warriors; this world will be ours? The heads around the table grinned eagerly at the handcuffed man as he pleaded to be released.
Reuben remained silent and tried to make himself small and unnoticeable. He would make a getaway soon, fake going to the toilet or something. To hell with this creepy stuff, he wanted none of it.
“And now my friends, we will welcome some newcomers.” He smiled before nodding once to the cloaked woman and in one fluid movement she grasped the red blanket and yanked it from the table.
A rapturous gasp escaped the people around the table as Reuben struggled to believe what he was seeing.
Two bodies lay on their backs, pale faces starring at the ceiling with empty gazes. One of which was a fractured mess of broken flesh and blood, a green fist tattooed upon the cadaver’s head. Both Pinky’s and Kitch’s necks had been cut at the artery and their blood had been drained down channels that ran to the centre of the table, where it formed a large circular puddle. Insects crawled amongst the viscous fluid, bathing and feeding in a sickening frenzy.
Some of the hand-sized creatures had climbed onto the carcasses of his friends, nibbling at the skin and tearing away flesh with sharp mandibles. He had never seen such hideous things before, they appeared to be something between a praying mantis and a dung beetle.
Reuben turned his head and was violently sick onto the floor. The puke slapping down on the oak boards and splashing up the neatly pressed trousers of the Brigadier. He felt hot and clammy. White dots flashed at the corners of his vision, the room suddenly drifting out of focus.
Laughter and snorts of giddiness issued from those around him, pierced by the screams of a man. For a second, he thought it escaped from his own mouth but as his heart pumped him full of adrenaline he realised that it had been Gerald.
Fighting down the urge to throw up again, Reuben sat straight and shoved his hand beneath his jacket, grasping his gun. Sweat and tears from being sick clung to his eyes as he readied himself to shoot the first freak that came at him. But he paused as he realised that everyone’s attention was on Gerald who frantically wriggled against his restraints. His face a mask of panic, eyes wide and staring at a huge creature that scampered across the table towards him.
“Get that thing away from me,” Gerald squealed, now throwing his body to either side and trying to wrench his arm from the handcuffs, yet only succeeding in ripping the sleeve of his white shirt. Blood began to soak through from the damage he’d inflicted on himself.
The laughter around the table was aimed at the MI6 secretary, all eyes watching with glee.
Reuben kept still, fighting down bile that burned his throat. Maybe Silk didn’t intend to kill him. Butchering his friends may have been punishment enough. All he needed to do was get through this hell, pretend to be one of them and then get away at the first opportunity. He’d toast his fallen comrades when he was well clear of Silk.
Something suddenly caused the puddle of blood to ripple, the insect-like creatures paused and turned to face it, as did the people around the table. All laughter hushed, grins widening in anticipation.
The woman in the cloak inclined her covered head and Reuben thought he glanced a chin as the shadows shifted, revealing that her skin was dry and cracked to the point where it flaked like burnt pastry.
“The Spliceck has arrived,” she said, her voice matching the dryness of her skin.
Movement from the circle of blood brought Reuben’s gaze back as he watched, transfixed, as another insect-like creature emerged from the blackness.
Twice the size of the others, its shape was more like that of a scorpion with large claws and a needle-sharp stinger arching over its armoured back. It crawled from the blood, its fellow insects taking a step away, some raising claws of their own either in defence or to warn the bigger creature away. It paused to shake blood from its legs, its vicious mandibles working to loosen the congealed fluid that clung to them.
“Welcome brother,” Silk said, his hook nose creasing as he grinned. The new creature turned to face him and made the clicking sounds that sent shivers down Reuben’s spine - was he the only one not bloody clicking?
“What in damnation is this? I demand you release me at once.” Gerald’s voice attracted the scorpion’s attention and it began to crawl towards him, sharp legs tapping the table with every step.
The entire room followed its progress as it got level with its brother who had already taken an interest in the bound man. The smaller insect stepped in its path and raised its own claws. Formidable and deadly as they were they paled in comparison to that of the lobster-sized scorpion. Yet it seemed it had staked its claim and wouldn’t be frightened off by the spliceck.
Reuben gasped in surprise as the scorpion shot one of its huge claws out and pincered the praying mantis. It lifted it high above its own body and appeared as if it was going to fling it away until Silk spoke again.
“No, brother. That human is not the one intended. I’ve got better plans for you,” he said, and Reuben couldn’t help but get the feeling that the other plans involved himself. He needed to get out.
The scorpion opened its mandibles and made a high-pitched screech, snapping its claw shut and severing the mantis in half.
It had a temper.
“Calm yourself spliceck,” Silk chuckled. “I promise you a fresh body soon.” He made several clicks from his mouth and a second mantis crawled past the scorpion. Deep set black eyes followed its progress, Reuben sensed that it was less than pleased with the situation.
The mantis reached the edge of the table and leapt onto Gerald’s knee. Gerald frantically shook his leg, attempting to dislodge the creature but its prickly legs with tiny hooks on the end meant the shaking was futile.
“Get it off me,” Gerald screamed, but Reuben only saw excitement on the faces of those around the table. He wondered if the mantis was going to bite him, could it be poisonous? Did those sharp fangs contain venom?
He didn’t want to watch, he wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere a thousand miles away but his only chance was to appear to be one of these freaks and to not draw attention to himself.
Eager clicking came from the mantis as it crawled up the defenceless man’s arm and onto his bare neck.
Gerald had gone as white as a sheet, beads of sweat ran from his face and he shivered in the way a child does when waking from a nightmare. Then the mantis struck.
It bit into his neck, blood oozing around its small triangular head as it locked itself in place; like a leech taking its fill. Gerald let out a death curdling scream and arched his back, stretching painfully against the restraints, veins bulging to the extent that Reuben thought they might rupture.
Then the mantis dislodged from his neck, falling limp to the floor with a thud and Gerald began to convulse. Shaking violently, eyes rolling back in his head and he began to froth at the mouth.
Reuben gritted his teeth and forced himself to watch whilst fighting the urge to throw up again. By the time he regained control of his own body, Gerald had stopped convulsing and sat straighter in his chair. The man to his left released his arm and the policeman unlocked the cuffs.
“Welcome brother,” the copper said and slapped Gerald on the shoulder.
The blood stopped oozing from the bite mark as Gerald opened his eyes and surveyed the room. He turned his head left to right as if stretching his neck, the tendons showing clearly through the skin as they pulled taut. He opened his mouth and the terrible clicking noise came out. Tak...tak...tak.
Silk leaned forward placing his hands flat upon the table. “You will need to practice speaking in your body’s language. Read his mind and be the man who you’ve taken. Like all of us takwich around this table, you will only be valuable if you fit into the life of Gerald.”
The ‘not Gerald’ nodded. “Understood,” it said, sounding clumsy as if using an unfamiliar language.
“Good,” Silk said, as his eyes roamed over those around the table before settling on Reuben. “You,” he began, his voice full of disappointment. “Have failed me.”
Reuben squirmed in his chair under Silk’s glare. His bowels loosened as he began to tremble - this was bad.
