Sunblind Serpent: The Zodiac Without A House

The detainee noticed it too.

His expression changed.

The officer used the hesitation to push him away. ”Marek, move.”

Marek went back to the child.

The Taurus man looked at the officer’s Mark. ”You’re a Taurus.”

The officer kept both hands raised. ”Yes.”

”You didn’t say anything.”

”You didn’t ask.”

The detainee came forward again. The officer met him before he reached the others.

Their first exchange was ugly. Neither seemed comfortable with the amount of strength involved.

The detainee swung hard. The officer blocked, but the impact still pushed him backward. His boots scraped against the pavement.

The detainee tried to grab him again. This time, the officer moved to the side and struck him near the ribs. The Taurus man lost his balance for a moment, but he recovered quickly.

Marek stayed beside the lead vehicle with the child while Clara remained with the unconscious woman.

Henry had moved closer to Cooper.

The sound of the fight was different from ordinary punching. Each impact had enough force behind it to echo between the parked vehicles.

Marek could also hear the damaged engine in front of him.

A thin hiss came from beneath the hood.

Something smelled hot.

Not burning yet.

Coolant, maybe.

Henry heard it too. He looked toward the front of the vehicle. ”Something is leaking.”

”Can you check it without touching anything exposed?” Marek asked.

Henry moved carefully along the side. ”Yes.”

”Then check.”

Henry looked back. ”You could have just said yes.”

”I did.”

Henry went toward the front.

Marek kept watching the two Taurus bearers.

The officer was better trained.

That part was obvious.

He did not throw everything into each movement. He kept his feet under him and stayed close enough that the detainee could not build as much force into the larger swings.

The Taurus man adjusted after several exchanges.

He stopped reaching as far.

His punches became shorter.

Marek noticed.

The officer noticed too.

Neither of them had been Awakened for long, but they were already learning what worked.

The Taurus man swung again. The officer ducked, and the punch struck the side of the van instead. Part of the metal panel bent inward.

The detainee looked at the damage for half a second. The officer pushed him away.

A gunshot came from the pharmacy.

The officer turned toward the sound. That was enough for the Taurus man to strike him across the shoulder.

The officer hit the side of the van.

Marek handed the child to Clara.

She looked at him immediately. ”Where are you going?”

”He can’t watch the shooter and fight him at the same time.”

”And you can?”

”No.”

Clara stared at him, her gaze turning peculiar.

Marek moved before she could answer. He picked up part of the broken locking bar that had fallen near the rear doors. It was metal, heavy enough to hurt someone, and probably a terrible weapon against a man who had just bent part of a van.

It was still better than his hands.

The Taurus detainee saw him approach. ”Stay back.”

”I was planning to.”

The man moved toward the officer again.

Marek struck his forearm with the locking bar. The detainee pulled his arm back.

He looked more surprised than injured.

Marek stepped away. The man turned toward him.

That wasn’t exactly good.

The Taurus detainee came forward. Marek watched his shoulders. The officer had been doing the same thing.

The man’s right shoulder moved first.

Marek stepped aside.

The punch missed him.

He felt air move near his face.

The detainee turned and swung again.

Marek moved back too late. The fist struck his forearms. Pain crossed Marek’s face. He grabbed his forearm as he stumbled several steps before hitting the side of the lead vehicle. before hitting the side of the lead vehicle.

His hands went numb for a moment.

The detainee came toward him.

Marek moved away from the vehicle.

The next swing missed.

He was beginning to understand the problem. The man was stronger than him by an unreasonable amount.

He was not particularly fast.

Unfortunately, Marek only needed to make one mistake.

The detainee reached for his shirt. Marek struck his wrist with the locking bar again. The man caught the metal with his other hand.

Marek released it immediately.

That was probably the correct decision.

The detainee threw the bar aside.

Marek tried to move around him.

The man’s hand caught his forearm.

The pressure beneath Marek’s collarbone became intense.

[TRANSFER PATH STRENGTHENED.]

Marek stopped. The Taurus man’s grip hurt, but there was something else beneath it. Pressure entered his arm from the point where the man’s fingers touched him.

His muscles tightened.

Marek tried opening his hand.

His fingers curled inward instead.

The detainee looked down. His grip loosened slightly. However, the strange pressure remained.

Marek looked toward his Mark.

The dark-red scale holding Elia’s First Motion had become hot. One of the empty scales beside it reacted faintly.

Nothing filled it.

[TRANSFER PATH IDENTIFIED.]

[VESSEL COMPATIBILITY: CONFIRMED.]

[CASE BOUNDARY INCOMPLETE.]

The Taurus man released him.

Marek stepped away and held his arm.

The pressure weakened.

It did not disappear.

The officer came between them.

The detainee looked at Marek. ”What happened?”

”I don’t know yet.”

”You did something.”

Marek rubbed his forearm. ”I was busy trying not to get hit.”

The officer kept himself between them. His breathing was heavier now, and one sleeve of his uniform had torn near the shoulder.

The Taurus man was also breathing harder.

Neither seemed interested in immediately continuing.

Marek looked at the words again.

Vessel compatibility.

That was the part he understood.

When Elia had been dying, the same idea had appeared.

Something dangerous had been inside her.

Marek had told the strange thing connected to his Mark to use him.

The condition had entered. This time, nobody had asked.

Marek looked at the Taurus man. ”What did you feel when you grabbed me?”

The man frowned. ”Your arm.”

”Anything else?”

”I don’t know.”

”Think.”

The man looked irritated but eventually flexed his fingers. ”Something pulled.”

”Pulled what?”

”My hand.”

”Did you lose strength?”

”No.”

”Pain?”

”No.”

Marek looked toward the Taurus Mark. Whatever was happening had not removed the man’s ability.

The pressure inside Marek’s arm moved again. The empty scale beside the red one gave another faint reaction.

Marek lowered his eyes.

The Taurus man was the source. Physical contact had strengthened the transfer. That still did not explain exactly what the condition was.

Marek thought about the way the man had been fighting.

Every grab had carried more force than he intended.

Cooper had been thrown from a shoulder collision.

The side of the van had bent when the man’s fist missed the officer.

Even after the Taurus man loosened his grip on Marek, the pressure had remained inside Marek’s arm for several seconds.

It was not the man’s strength itself. The Taurus man was still strong. Something produced by that strength was trying to move.

Marek looked at the man. ”Grab me again.”

Clara immediately looked up from the injured woman. ”No.”

Marek turned toward her.

Clara stared back. ”You were just hit hard enough to be thrown into a vehicle.”

”I wasn’t thrown.”

”You hit the vehicle.”

”That is different.”

”Not enough.”

Henry came back from the front of the lead vehicle. ”I agree with her.”

Cooper remained against the side of the vehicle with his injured shoulder held close. ”So do I.”

Marek looked toward the officer.

The officer shook his head.

The Taurus detainee looked around at everyone. ”Why are you looking at me? I’m not doing it again.”

Marek sighed.

Fine.

He would have preferred another controlled example.

The pressure in his arm suddenly increased anyway. Marek looked toward the Taurus man. The detainee was no longer touching him. He had moved only a few steps away.

[TRANSFER ATTEMPT IN PROGRESS.]

Marek frowned.

The path had weakened after contact ended, but it had not completely closed. That meant the first transfer attempt had not required direct contact.

Contact simply made it easier.

The Taurus man noticed Marek staring again. ”What now?”

”It’s still happening.”

”What is?”

”Something from you is still trying to enter.”

The man immediately stepped farther away. The pressure weakened. Marek watched the change.

Distance mattered.

That helped.

Bang!

Another gunshot came from the pharmacy.

Everyone moved back into cover, while the officer fired toward the broken window.

The Taurus man stayed behind the van this time.

Marek crouched beside the lead vehicle. The boy had covered both ears. Clara remained beside his mother.

Marek looked toward the pharmacy.

He could not see the shooter.

The streetlight above the intersection flickered several times.

Broken glass covered part of the road. Smoke from one of the nearby buildings moved slowly across the street, carrying the smell of burned plastic.

The pressure in Marek’s arm remained.

The situation around him was making the interface useless.

Armed detainees.

Taurus.

Gemini.

Aries.

Two damaged vehicles.

Injured people.

Henry and Clara already carrying conditions inside their own Marks.

The interface had been correct earlier.

There were too many variables.

[CASE BOUNDARY INCOMPLETE.]

Marek looked at the words.

Boundary.

The Quiet Room had done something similar with Elia. It had separated what mattered from everything around it.

Marek could not make Route Eight disappear.

Because he did not need to. The transfer itself was smaller than the entire fight.

He looked toward the Taurus man again. The pressure came from him. The path had become strongest when they touched.

Marek was being treated as the vessel. Those parts were becoming clear.

The problem was the last part.

Why was his Mark accepting it?

[VESSEL COMPATIBILITY: CONFIRMED.]

Because he could hold it.

Marek stared at the sentence.

That was all it said.

Compatible.

Not necessary.

Not required.

The dark-red scale containing Elia’s First Motion pulsed again.

Marek remembered what he had said in the laboratory.

Use me.

He had chosen to take Elia’s condition.

Nobody had given him a choice this time because his Mark had already started opening the path on its own

Marek concentrated on the pressure inside his arm. It had come from the Taurus man. His own body was only where the condition was trying to go.

Marek had never agreed to receive it.

”I didn’t accept this.”

The empty black circle beneath his collarbone became colder.

The change was small enough that Marek almost missed it.

Then the pressure stopped moving.

New words appeared.

[SOURCE: EXTERNAL]

[TRANSFER PATH: PHYSICAL CONTACT/PROXIMAL INTERACTION]

[VESSEL COMPATIBILITY: CONFIRMED]

[VESSEL ACCEPTANCE: NOT ESTABLISHED]

Marek continued concentrating. The condition was outside him. The path had reached him.

That did not make it his.

The empty scale beside Elia’s remained dark.

[TRANSFER ATTEMPT HALTED.]

Marek slowly opened his hand.

His fingers moved normally again.