ALL NOVEL Chapter 19: One by One – Part 3.
Vivienne blinked a couple of times as she watched the red digital counter count backward towards zero. Currently the number had landed on twenty-six seconds and was close to tripping to twenty-five when the ancient vampire expressed the same sentiment as her fellow blood drinker. “Fortune has dictated to me a situation that is similar to your own, Miss Miakoda.” The clock struck twenty-four. “This indeed does suck.”
Factoring in the bio-hazardous animals, the explosive cone and the amount of radioactive material that spread across the ring from the one claymore, Vivienne knew that she could easily survive the detonations, but the whole area would be doused in enough radioactive fallout that would kill anyone that came close to the farm. Her immediate thought went to Faye and Casey. “No, Casey couldn’t make it even with her enhancements. Faye, depending on her blood levels..” She hummed lightly to herself and delved deeper into the setup. She climbed between the small ring and gently lifted the timer to get a look at the wiring and sighed. “Faye, my love…” Vivienne watched the numbers keep dwindling. “...I have to agree with you on something. I am no comedian. However, it would appear that I am being told to learn more about electrical components. Circuits to be exact. I was perplexed by the box at the theater. Now I am looking at a tangle of black wire about to turn this area into a no-fly zone.”
Unable to discern the exact method of pulling the correct wire, Vivienne set the timing counter back where it was and began following the myriad of wires until they seemingly disappeared into the vegetation that littered the ring. “What in the..” She dug away the corn stalks and saw the wire as it double backed on itself and looped around the spikes that held the devices. “Another maze.” Vivienne gently tugged on the wire and found the first splice. “Lovely.” A slight snicker from Sylvie caused Vivienne to roll her eyes and keep to her investigation. Tracing the splice to its end, Vivienne uncovered another ring of mines that formed another loop, but contained eight mines. “Cascading explosions.”
While the numbers kept ticking towards zero, Vivienne pulled herself free of the spaghetti looking wires and ran through her only real options. She knew that while tossing the string of mines a safe distance from her was an option, three things made that a bad choice. First, by moving them she could set them off while in her hand. Second was the radioactive fallout and third was the effect the explosions would have on the fog that surrounded the farm. “Kino is the key.” Vivienne exclaimed and darted over to the lifeless body of her opponent.
Hovering over Angelie’s lifeless body, Vivienne glimpsed the soft and pleading way that Angelie’s green magical lifeless eyes looked up to the stars as well as the subtle way her mystical lips formed a slight sly smile as though a mystery lingered through death. -Detonator. Look for the detonator.- Vivienne quickly thought as her hands moved in a blur to check every pocket and hidden space on the dead woman. Every space that Vivienne inspected came up empty for a device. “It has to be here.” She mentally counted that she was dangerously close to the timer going off, when it occurred to Vivienne that she hadn’t completely rolled Kino’s body over, but only enough to check her rear pockets. Spotting the fact Captain Kino's opposite hand was hidden, Vivienne jerked hard on the corpse and watched the little device go flying into the air.
Moving fast enough to cause a loud pop where she shattered the sound barrier, Vivienne grabbed the falling detonator and in one fluid move flipped the switch to the ‘off’ position. She came to a stop just before reaching the edge of the green mist and squished her heavenly blue eyes closed as her internal clock for the timer passed zero. Waiting a few extra seconds to be sure, Vivienne felt a genuine rush of relief and heightened excitement that she’d not experienced in close to a century. “I feel alive.” Vivienne declared and made her way over to the clock. “With three seconds to spare.”
With the mines safely able to be handled, Vivienne clawed out a deep depression and began to disarm the claymore mines. “Nothing wrong with being prudent. Yes we can mark the area, mon amour.” Vivienne avowed as if reading Faye’s mind. She’d managed to bundle up the lengthy wire and stack the mines safely in the hole when she heard a loud crash of breaking glass southwest of her location. “Glass, Let’s assume that was the house so that puts the barn just a little southeast of me.” Vivienne nibbled on her lip and guessed at the distance. “Two hundred meters?” She closed her eyes and played the terrain in her head in relation to the barn.
About the time Vivienne had reconciled the fact she would have to brave the fog to reach Faye, She heard Sylvie start to panic and scream. Vivienne looked dead south then back to her southeastern target before making her decision. “I still feel you, my love…You wouldn’t want me to leave her in this to suffer.” Vivienne’s eyes sparkled with determination, “They can’t keep me from you forever…I will have you back in my arms.” Feeling her hand start to shake once more, the appendage stopped Vivienne in her tracks. -Not now.- Clenching her fist a few times, Vivienne commanded her hand to stop its twitch and she readied herself to brave the acid smog and save her new friend.
Wind from her take off blew Vivienne’s long black hair free so it flowed like gentle waves behind her as she plowed through the corn in the effort to save Sylvie. Moments after she was deep within the crackling stalks, she once more heard the all around voice of the person controlling the mist.
“Burn, baby blue eyes burn…” Raollet laughed maniacally.
Impending damage to her skin and armor were a given based on what Vivienne learned about the corrosive mist with the sword. Vivienne had prepared herself mentally and thought the use of speed would offset any major damage. Immediately after the proclamation from Raollet, Vivienne felt the air shift and the dank green turned into a thick soup. Acid started to form little puddles on her armor and she felt it slowly peeling away. Blended cotton and spandex burned and melted first as the vitriolic gas ate away at the fibers, exposing Vivienne’s extremities.
“My, my you are fast my little blue eyed girl.” Raollet echoed. “You’ve had it easy so far. Let’s add some strands to the web, my little fly.”
Tingles turned into pinpricks as Vivienne registered that the acid was starting to eat away at her skin, but it wasn’t anything she couldn’t reverse with a little blood. Blood. A precious resource that she’d found herself using in great quantity fending off these diversions without any real way to replenish her reserve. Vivienne heard the cackling from the man’s voice all around her just before the foul cloud that encased her changed again. Subtle little strands began to connect in the open sores where the acid had already eaten away her pale skin, delving deeper into her tissue and beginning to eat at the muscle. Vivienne found that the strands were easy enough to break and kept darting to her target.
“Vivienne?” Sylvie called out half panic stricken. “I…can’t see… burning…” Sylvie tried to desperately wipe the flesh eating liquid from her. “I…its everywhere.” Sylvie felt herself get heaved up and once more get thrown through the dense air like a toy. Until that moment, Sylvie never knew that her one hundred and twenty pound form could be thrown with such force that it made the droplets of acid fly off and provide a measure of relief. Breaking free of the foggy cornfield, Sylvie bounced twice and landed at the edge of a murky black pond.
“I am not finished with you Pocahontas.” Raollet laughed, “Let me finish with your hive queen and I will give you my full attention.”
Webbing that snapped easily in Vivienne’s rush, changed once more and it gained the consistency of sap slowly crawling down a tree. When the pollutant stuck firmly to Vivienne, she smelled the mixture of scents that were heating and burning as she made her way to the pond. Silky and smooth jet hair smoldered, metal from her chest plate heated up and smelled like white hot iron being struck by a hammer and the kevlar mesh withered and gave off a heavy plastic odor.