Two Wild

The only law in the Dead Zone is simple: eat or be eaten. And right now, Liu Wushi was on the wrong end of the food chain. The air in the abandoned loading bay tasted of sulfur and fifty-year-old dust. It was pitch black, save for the erratic, strobe-light flickering of Wushi’s dying flashlight, which sat rolling on the concrete floor where he had dropped it. CRASH. A tail made of segmented, oxidized copper slammed into the crate Wushi had been hiding behind. The impact was like a wrecking ball hitting a sheet of glass. Splinters of rotten wood and twisted metal exploded outward, peppering Wushi’s hazard suit like shrapnel. Wushi rolled, his boots sliding in the slick of mercury and oil that coated the floor. He came up into a crouch, his breath sawing in his throat, harsh and loud inside his helmet. "It is fast," Gu Yu’s voice cut through the chaos. The boy was standing on top of a stack of shipping containers twenty feet above, calm as a statue, his golden eyes glowing in the dark. "It is tracking your heat signature, Wushi. You are running too hot." "I am a little busy trying not to die!" Wushi roared, ducking as a massive, triangular head lunged out of the shadows. It was a Copper-Head Viper—a relic of the Chaos Wars, a twenty-foot-long biological weapon fused with industrial machinery. It did not hiss; it ground its gears. Its mouth opened, revealing not fangs, but a rotating array of diamond-tipped drills designed to bore through tank armor. It lunged again, snapping its jaws shut inches from Wushi’s chest. The sound of the drills spinning up was a high-pitched scream that vibrated in Wushi’s teeth. Let me out, the voice in Wushi’s chest whispered. The Heaven Devouring Cauldron. It was awake. It was vibrating against his ribs, a black hole of hunger that made the terrifying metal snake look like a mere appetizer. It is metal, the Cauldron promised, its voice sounding like oil slicking over gravel. It is energy. It is delicious. Stop running, little janitor. Feed me. Wushi scrambled backward, his hand closing around a heavy length of rusted rebar. He swung it with all his Tier One strength, aiming for the viper’s optical sensors. CLANG. The rebar bounced off the viper’s armored plating like a twig hitting a tank. The snake didn't even flinch. It reared back, its green ocular lenses narrowing, focusing on Wushi. It coiled its body, the copper segments grinding together, preparing for a strike that would turn Wushi into a red mist. Wushi was cornered. Behind him was a sealed blast door. In front of him was two tons of angry metal. He looked up at Gu Yu. The boy wasn't helping. He was watching. Judging. "The hierarchy says you die here," Gu Yu said softly, his voice carrying over the mechanical shrieking of the snake. "A Tier One Contractor cannot break a Tier Two bio-mech. That is the physics of the world. That is the Ceiling." The snake lunged. Time seemed to suspend in the thick, toxic air. Wushi saw the rotating drills. He saw the green light reflecting off the oil slicks. He saw his own death approaching at one hundred miles per hour. The Ceiling is a lie, Wushi thought. He dropped the rebar. He didn't dodge. He stepped forward.

Disclaimer: This show may contain expletives, strong language, and mature content for adult listeners, including sexually explicit content and themes of violence. This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to real persons, businesses, places or events is coincidental. This show is not intended to offend or defame any individual, entity, caste, community, race, religion or to denigrate any institution or person, living or dead. Listener's discretion is advised.Less