All Chapters of THE CULLING TRIAL: Chapter 131
- Chapter 140
144 chapters
CHAPTER 131 — THE APEX OF RUIN
The sound of Katseye’s grief was a jagged thing, a low, guttural moan that seemed to vibrate through the very floorboards. She was slumped over Jace, her forehead pressed against his cold chest, her tears carving clean tracks through the grime and rot-smear on her cheeks. The air tasted of ozone and the stinging, chemical sharp of the clearing gas. "Jace... please," she whispered, the words catching in a throat raw from screaming. "Please wake up." But Jace did not make a sound, nor did he even twitch. Hiss. Squelch. Clang. The alarms transitioned from a rhythmic blare to a sustained, ear-splitting shriek. Behind the glass partition, the first of the pods hissed open. Blue nutrient fluid — thick and smelling like fermented sugar and old blood — spilled onto the floor. "Movement! We have movement in the tiers!" Yuyan shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos. She grabbed the collar of the unconscious, original Casimir. "Grab him and let's make a run, or we become part of
CHAPTER 132 — STUCK IN THE MIDDLE
The air in the maintenance tunnel was a thick, stagnant soup of mildew and old iron. Our boots swallowed the silence, splashing rhythmically through an inch of oily water. The sound echoed off the curved walls like a ticking clock — a countdown to a deadline we couldn't see. "This is it," Katseye whispered. Her voice cracked, a jagged sound in the dark. She pointed a trembling finger toward a rusted iron ladder bolted into the weeping concrete. "The last stop. This leads to the service alley behind the main sector. From there... it’s a straight shot to the gate." "Straight shots usually have a catch," I muttered, wiping grease from my forehead. One of Yuyan’s men, a grizzled soldier named Kaelen with a deep, puckered gash across his cheek, squinted up the dark shaft. "And if we’re followed? How do we alert the gate guards without bringing the whole hive down on us? We're a parade of targets down here." Yuyan checked the magazine of her rifle. The metallic click was final, punctua
CHAPTER 133 — THE IMPOSSIBLE BEAT
We frantically looked for where to hide, panic quickly rising. "There!" Jabari bellowed, his voice straining over the cacophony of shrieking mutants. He pointed toward what looked like the back of a Van but without the entire vehicle lying lopsided against a concrete pillar. Hopefully, it's strong enough to hold us. We scrambled inside the hollowed shell as the first wave of pale, twitching limbs arrived. Jabari and I slammed a heavy piece of scrap across the opening, bracing our boots against the floor. The entire place rocked violently as another wave of mutants slammed against the exterior, making the whole structure shift an inch to the left, as their shrieking echoed in our ears. "It's not going to hold," Vira said. Her voice, though tight and controlled, a hint of fear was underneath. She was right. The mutants were surrounding everywhere the transport, climbing over it, slamming their bodies against all corners. The sound was deafening which was a constant rhythm of impac
CHAPTER 134 — THE CALM BEFORE THE CALAMITY
The sterile, white light of the Military Medical Wing felt heavy after the grey gloom of the dead zone. We moved with a frantic energy, wheeling Casimir through the corridors. The doctors fell upon him immediately, their faces tight with a confusion they couldn't quite mask. He was stable, his vitals were a steady hum on the monitors, yet he remained locked in a deep, impenetrable slumber. "Do you know what happened to him?" asked one of the doctors. What are we going to say? He was used as an experiment? His entire body shutting down yet we have no clue of what they did to him. "We met him unconscious on a bed." Katseye quivered, the reality that she might lose her father again clawed her stomach. "Please, doctor. Save my father. He is all I got left." Since I got here, Katseye had been losing everyone and everything she holds dear. She lost Riko, lost her home, almost lost Jace and now, Casimir is on the line too. The confident girl I knew before slowly becomes the opposi
CHAPTER 135 — FRONT LINE
"How bad is the situation over there?" Jace's voice was too steady. The kind of calm that came from locking everything else down. His mother looked away. "Bad, really bad. Infact, It keeps getting worse every passing hour. The wave this time around seemed to be more organized and coordinated than the previous ones. And they are moving at alarming speed." She paused. "We don't know how much time we have before they get here and it's going to be a disaster if that's going to be the case." "Then I have to go." Jace turned toward the exit. Katseye grabbed his arm. "Jace, no. You just woke up. You're still recovering—" "I need to be sure my father is alright." He met her eyes. "He doesn't know I've been found. He's out there thinking I'm dead. I can't let him—" His voice cracked. "I'm scared of losing him, Kat." Her grip loosened. She nodded. "I understand, but we just brought you out, only for you to put yourself back into the same situation." "I promise, I'll take care of myse
CHAPTER 136 — LAST TRUCK
The tip of the wall looked like black ink that was spreading faster as it flowed down towards us. The first mutant crash landed, hitting the pavement five feet from me with the force of a falling star. The concrete spiderwebbing under its pale, elongated limbs with Its unhinged jaw that looked like a mixture of a prey mantis with a swell underneath it's mandibles that are rough and long like a lizard. Honestly, it shouldn't have been able to open that wide and let out a roar that vibrated in my marrow. It took me a few seconds to regain myself and I didn't give in to another thought as I lunged straight at it. My blade finding the soft seal of its throat, twisting until the shriek died into a gurgle, but as I kicked the carcass away, my stomach dropped. This doesn't look like a scout. It was the vanguard, which means this horde had only fully grown mutants in its midst. "They're coming!" a voice wailed. Panic erupted like a burst dam. The organized evacuation turned into a fra
CHAPTER 137 — THE MUTANT PLANT
The mutants came at us in a wave. Dozens of them. Claws extended. Mandibles clicking. All hunger and rage. "We can't fight them all at once!" I shouted over their shrieking. "Then we don't!" Casimir veered left. "Split up! Cover more ground! Find the central blooms and destroy them!" "How many are there?" "Five! Big ones! You'll know them when you see them!" He was already moving away, cutting through mutants with brutal efficiency. "Meet at the center when you're done!" I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him splitting up was suicide. But he was right—together, we'd be overwhelmed. Separated, we could move faster. Strike harder. I went right. Three mutants blocked my path immediately. Second-wave specimens. Smaller than what we'd fought before but fast. Coordinated. I activated my Chimera dual. Both blades ignited with crackling energy. The first mutant lunged. I sidestepped and brought both blades down on its neck. The energy discharge burned through armor and flesh. Th
CHAPTER 138 — THE COLONY HEART
Chapter 7: The Colony's Heart I charged. The thirty mutants came at me like a living avalanche. Claws. Mandibles. Eyes that reflected nothing but hunger. The air filled with their shrieking—a sound that scraped against my skull and made my teeth ache. The first one reached me. I ducked under its swing and drove both Chimera blades up through its throat. Energy crackled. The smell of burning flesh hit me—acrid, nauseating, mixing with the chemical tang of the toxic atmosphere. The mutant gurgled and fell. Two more came from opposite sides. I spun left, parried one's claw with my blade, felt the impact shudder up my arm. My broken ribs screamed. I bit down on the pain, tasted blood in my mouth—my own blood, copper and warm. Used the momentum to pivot right, slashing across the second mutant's face. Its eye exploded in a spray of ichor. They kept coming. I moved through them like I was drowning. Every strike sent jolts of agony through my damaged body. Every breath felt like swallow
CHAPTER 139 — THE SOLDIER ANT
It is easily four times the size of the ones we'd been fighting. Its mandibles were like industrial shears. Its carapace looked thick enough to turn blades. It clicked once. The sound was like a gunshot. The smaller ant-mutants responded, moving into new formations around it. This was their commander. Their general. It looked at us with compound eyes that held unmistakable intelligence. Then it charged. "Split up!" Casimir dove left. I went right. The soldier ant crashed between us, its momentum carrying it past. It skidded to a stop, turned with surprising speed for something so large. Smaller ant-mutants swarmed toward Casimir. He fought them off, but they were keeping him busy. Keeping him away. The soldier ant wanted me alone. It lunged. I rolled under its strike, came up slashing at its legs. My blade scraped against its carapace, barely scratching it. Too thick. Too armored. It spun, faster than it should have been able to. Its mandible caught my shoulder, clo
CHAPTER 140 — TRAILING BEHIND
We kept following this ant for three hours. Or maybe three days until we arrived at a large body if water. By the time we realized it, the ant was no where to be found. "Come on," Urged Casimir. "Let's check it out." I dropped down, my feet feeling like it's being dragged through toxic fog that clung to the ground like oil. Each step sent jolts through my broken ribs, my dislocated shoulder, my chemically-burned skin. The toxicity inside my suit had spread everywhere now. I could feel it in my bloodstream. In my organs. Eating me from the inside. Casimir walked beside me, silent. His broken arm had swollen to twice its normal size. The skin was mottled purple and black. Every few minutes, his breathing would hitch—pain breaking through whatever mental barriers he'd erected. Neither of us spoke. Didn't have the energy. The landscape changed gradually. Rocky terrain gave way to something smoother. Harder. I looked down and realized we were walking on coral. Dead coral, bleached whi