21 The attack (2/2)

An Ning held the fork she had been using tightly in her hand. When the creature was about several feet away, she made her move and attacked first, her empty hand catching the tongue in a strong grip at the same time savagely impaling it with the fork.

The creature uttered a horrible shriek, thrashing and twisting its body to get away.But An Ning continued to slash and stab, cut and wound mercilessly. In a surprise move, she pulled at the tongue and coiled it around her arm like a snake, continuously stabbing and cutting it again and again until it lay mangled and bleeding on the floor.

The creature continued to shriek and struggle, viciously slashing at An Ning with its wings. An Ning evaded the attack and with a last stab reached out and grabbed the carafe cooling on the coffee maker.When the creature lunged at her again, An Ning threw its contents on the creature's head with an expert twist of her hand.

The steaming liquid caught the creature by surprise.It was slow to avoid the onrushing flow, which caught it dead center between the eyes. There was a loud sizzle as the creature staggered backward, clawing at its face with an angry roar. An Ning expertly dealt the death blow by kicking the flailing creature hard on its middle. The creature teetered on its feet then fell backward with a loud rattle on the floor.

”Matt! Water, quickly!” An Ning shouted as she rushed towards the fallen creature.

An Ning clambered on top of it until she reached the head, which was thrashing and flailing helplessly. The bystanders gaping at her with a mixture of horror and fascination watched as she plunged both hands in the creature's eyes, pulling and plucking the eyeballs ruthlessly from their sockets. Blood spurted out and drenched An Ning's front as she threw the eyeballs inside the glass of water on the floor.

The eyeballs dropped with a loud plop in the water, followed by a hissing sound like a machine short-circuiting.

”Matt, hurry! Check for bugs and other devices. Don't look at me like that. Do it now!” An Ning's sharp voice resounded with unmistakable command.

Matt hastily dropped to his knees and did as he was told, his hands hastily checking the creature's convulsing body as fast as he can.He was looking at the chest area, jabbing it with his fingers when he felt a small bump on the surface of the skin.

”I think I found one,” he told An Ning, his fingers scraping the tiny rough spot.

”Take it out with a knife or something pointed then throw it in the water,” An Ning said.

Richard silently took out a small knife which he handed to Matt.

Frowning in puzzlement, Matt studied the bump. It was small and red and looked like a boil except it had wires attached to it.

”How did you know it's a robot?” he asked An Ning, who was crouched on her knees on the other side of the creature. Matt threw the thing in the water and watched it sink with a hiss.

”It's not a robot. It's a drone.”

”A what?” Richard's voice was incredulous.

”A drone,” An Ning repeated. ”Shut up and let me think. There should be a....aha!” An Ning shouted.

They watched as she flipped the body on its side and felt around the back of its head. With an angry hiss, An Ning took the knife from Matt's hand and hacked at the creature's hair. She peered down at the exposed skin and suddenly gave a whoop. She then jabbed the skin with the knife until a tiny scrap was made. She pulled at the piece of skin repeatedly until something black and shiny was revealed. An Ning pulled it out and held the object to the light.

”Fucking incredible. This is fucking high grade tech stuff,” she said admiringly, her eyes shining with delight.

”What is it?” Richard asked, crouching down beside her.

”A tracking device.”

”For what?”

”Controlling the drone.”

”I thought drones are controlled using remote controls or cellphones,” Matt said, sounding bewildered.

”Not necessarily.They've developed a new technology where you wear a special vest that directly connects you to the drone and you control it almost virtually.”

”But whoever controls it should have a range of only a few meters, right?” asked Richard.

”The average is seven kilometers. But this drone is 10 times bigger than average. I'm only assuming but I think it runs mostly on electricity instead of batteries. I mean, it literally consumes electricity. Look how it knocked off an entire block and caused a blackout.”

”But we didn't lose the lights here,” Du Lu interjected.

”The power from this block comes from a different grid,” Moira said. ”I know because I remember my electrician telling me about it when we were fixing the shop.”

”Whoever's controlling it planted bugs all over this creature,” An Ning said.”He was probably hoping he'll scare us enough not to notice that his monster is a machine.”

”But how did you know?” Sam asked. ”I mean, I didn't. None of us did. But you did.”

”A demon in this day and age?” An Ning scoffed. ”Whoever it is trying to scare us knows a lot about illusionary tactics. Everything can be explained if you look for the ordinary in the unusual. It's basically Reality vs Myth 101.”

”There's something unusual and unexplainable about this drone, however,” Richard interjected, his voice very strange. He was on his knee, studying the gigantic wing with a grim look on his face.

”What is it?” An Ning said, alerted by something in his tone.

”See this piece of skin? It's not decal or platinum. It's human skin.”

They all looked at him like he was spouting nonsense.

”A what again?” Sam finally found his voice and asked, bug-eyed.

”Human skin.”

They were all shocked speechless. Du Lu had a strange expression on his face. Moira looked pale and frightened. Sam and Matt looked speculatively at the dead creature on their feet, a glint of something burning in their eyes. An Ning was expressionless. She merely glanced at Richard who met her gaze with a terrible anxiety in his eyes.