TH - Book 2 - Chapter 44 - Closing in

Now that we didn’t have to rely upon the unreliable bridges, Skyler and I made excellent time moving between the different support pillars. The catwalks were rock solid, and lit well enough that we never had to worry about our footing as we ran back and forth. That wasn’t an issue.

The problem that we started running into was the longer we chased the antithesis, the harder it was for Skyler to find any trace of their passing. It seemed like every time they stepped on a new support they learned a little bit more about covering their tracks, which made things incredibly hard for Skyler.

“I lost them again!” Skyler hissed as we came up the twenty-third pillar. “If this keeps up we’re going to lose them entirely.”

I bit my lip, and glanced down at the bottom of the support pillar far below. “You’re absolutely sure they passed through here though, right?”

“Absolutely, I found another repeater on this pillar,” Skyler explained. “I left it alone, for now, but I’d say that’s pretty strong evidence that we’re going in the right direction.”

“Did you get rid of it?”

She shook her head, “No, I left it alone for now. I doubt it could see us all the way up here, and killing it would just confirm to the Seventeen that we’re still on its trail. I’ll leave a scout drone to keep an eye on it, then we can clean it up afterwards.”

“That’s sensible,” I mumbled. “So, how long do you think it’ll take you to pick up the trail again?”

“A couple minutes, but that’s not the issue,” Skyler grumbled. “I thought I could run and monitor at the same time, and I can to some extent, but I really need to focus to locate the really subtle traces. Which means stopping at every single pillar.”

“And that means giving the antithesis more time to get ahead,” I finished for her.

Skyler dropped into a crouch and nodded glumly. I crouched next to her, and threw my arms around her neck and pulled her face close.

“It’s not your fault. We’ll think of some way to deal with it, we always do” I whispered. 

She nodded, then closed her eyes to concentrate on the search while I continued to embrace her, thinking. Our current strategy was working, it was just slow, and unreliable at times. We just needed a way to make it more consistent.

“I found something,” Skyler announced after a minute, “three supports over.”

“Further east?” I asked.

“And a tiny bit north again,” she confirmed.

I nodded, considering for a second. “How many scout drones do you have in the area?”

“Ten, I had a dozen but I left two behind to check the wall for more tunnels, why?” Skyler asked.

“Because I think I have a way to optimize our search,” I replied, jumping to my feet. “Spread your drones out as wide as you can, one per support, and send them forward as fast as possible. With any luck you can catch some traces as the drones shoot by some supports, and you can readjust their position based on that, but our focus should be trying to catch up with the antithesis themselves.”

Skyler frowned. “But if I pay that much attention to the drones, then I won’t be able to keep up with you, I told you that earlier.”

“That’s fine, you won’t need to keep up, because I’ll just carry you!” I declared.

“Reina, be serious,” Skyler grumbled.

“I am being serious,” I insisted. “I’ve carried you around before.”

“Only a couple feet, maybe from the car to the bedroom when I was exhausted, not long over long distances at high speeds,” Skyler replied.

“You saw how fast I can move, when I really try, and that serum I took before we went in the water has been improving my muscles over the last few days, so I’m sure I can handle it. Don’t you trust me?” 

“Of course I do, but are you sure you can handle this? You’re not trying to push yourself harder than you should?” Skyler asked.

“I can do this,” I assured her. “And I won’t push myself any harder than I have to. Let’s just give it a try, what do we have to lose? If it doesn’t work, we’ll lose a couple minutes and have something to laugh about later.”

“Fine,” Skyler begrudgingly agreed. “How do you want to do this?”

“The quickest, and safest way would probably be piggyback style. Climb on my back,” I declared, taking off my bow and flipping it around so it hung off my front before crouching down.

“Reina…”

“Just trust me!” I insisted.

Skyler hesitantly threw her arms around my neck, and allowed me to grab her legs. Standing up straight was surprisingly easy, almost effortless. Skyler always had a bit of a slender build, but I was surprised how light she actually felt on my back.

“Ready?” 

“As I’ll ever be,” Skyler whispered.

“Then hold on!” I declared.

I took it easy at first, accelerating to a slow jog while I got used to having Skyler on my back, but before long I accelerated into a full run. The catwalks began to blur by as I made my way to the next waypoint as quickly as I possibly could. 

It couldn’t have taken more than a minute to cross the distance to the next support, and since I wasn’t the least bit winded, I just continued on to the next at the same speed.

“I believe you now, but I’m not sure I can concentrate on the drones while I’m hanging off you like this…” Skyler yelled over the rushing wind.

“Just lay your head on my shoulder, close your eyes, and trust me!” I yelled back.

She didn’t argue. I felt her rest her head lightly on my shoulder, and when I glanced back, her eyes were closed. I only looked for a moment, since I didn’t want to take my eyes off the catwalk for too long, not at this speed, and not when Skyler’s safety was at stake.

“More signs, two supports to the east,” Skyler mumbled in my ear without opening her eyes.

“Got it!” I whispered back without breaking my stride.

I’m sure the two of us would have looked odd if anyone saw us, but this technique turned out to be extremely effective. Even at my top speed I couldn’t keep up with Skyler’s drones, and now that she could concentrate entirely on the drones Skyler could pick out details way faster, so we didn’t need to stop to search anymore.

We continued like this for about half an hour, long enough that I was starting to feel tired, when Skyler finally opened her eyes. 

“I've got them,” she declared triumphantly.

“Where?” I panted. 

“One support to the North, one East. I don’t see the Seventeen yet, but some of the antithesis have already crossed to the other platform. It’s probably there,” Skyler reported.

“Do you have another scout drone nearby?” I asked.

“Of course, why?” 

“Because I think a little turnabout is fair play,” I grinned. “I think using your drone’s newest feature when most of the horde is crossing would both be a good way to announce our presence, and cut down on their numbers.”

Skyler grinned. “Not a bad idea, but I’ll wait until we’re closer. For now, I’ll see if I can identify the Seventeen.”

I nodded, and picked up the pace slightly, trying to close upon our foes. 

A few seconds later Skyler hissed. “I found it.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked.

“It also saw my drone, and I think it’s realized it can’t get away, because it stopped and the other antithesis are gathering around it. The Fours are headed up the supports,” Skyler muttered.

“Blow the bridges, all of them,” I said, glancing back at her. “That way we’ll keep it from running off. Once that’s done, call Grey and let her know where we are.”

 Skyler didn’t reply, but the sound of explosions in the distance told me she agreed with my suggestion. Putting my head down I made the last sprint towards our quarry.

It wasn’t hard to identify the support where it was trapped, I may have had trouble making out details at this height, but a writhing mass of antithesis? That was a lot more overt. 

I skidded to a halt at the top of the support, took a few deep breaths to steady my heart rate, then stared down at the antithesis while I waited for Skyler to finish her call. Considering how small a regular model Seventeen was, I thought we might have trouble identifying the SV-Seventeen. I was sorely mistaken.

In the mob below there was only one unique looking antithesis. It resembled a stag beetle, but was the size of a Model Twelve. Even at this distance I could see it rhythmically thump its abdomen on the ground, at least it did until it looked up and saw the two of us. Then it stopped.

“That’s right you son of a bitch,” I whispered, “We found you!”