Free The Twisted Future (Teen Superheroes Book 4) by Darrell Pitt Page A

stench of putrefying flesh. I saw a mighty tree stretching from floor to ceiling.
    Something appeared from behind it. Something with a multitude of eyes...

Chapter Eighteen
     
    ‘It’s called the Hydra,’ Old Axel said.
    ‘How nice,’ Ebony gulped, her eyes like full moons in the purple light. ‘It has a name.’
    The Hydra was the size and shape of a small house, with blue-green scales covering most of its body. Supporting it were four stumpy legs that ended in clawed feet. It had a dozen tentacles about ten feet long. Suckers, similar to those of an octopus, covered every inch of them. Each sucker was ringed by spikes; a single swipe would cut a person in two.
    Scattered, seemingly at random across the length of the creature, were hundreds of red eyes, tinged with green. It the midst of this madness lay a mouth, a jagged rip that contained a double row of sharp teeth.
    But possibly the most disgusting thing about the creature was its lips. They were strangely human, almost delicate.
    I wondered how best to attack the monster. A burst of air would drive it back. Then maybe Ebony could create a steel blade—
    Old Axel raised his gun and pulled the trigger. A single laser beam cut through the Hydra. It shuddered, its eyes opening in shock—and died.
    What the—?
    ‘That’s it?’ I said. ‘It’s dead ?’
    ‘I said it was the final obstacle,’ Old Axel said. ‘I didn’t say it would be hard to kill.’
    Ebony laughed, but it was flavored with hysteria.
    Old Axel consulted the map as we crossed the swamp. Glancing back at the dead creature, I shivered as I remembered its eyes, tentacles, lips...
    ‘Oh no,’ I said. ‘That creature...don’t tell me it’s...’
    ‘Human? It was—once.’
    Ebony’s mouth dropped open. ‘It was a person? What the—’
    ‘Just be glad he’s dead,’ Old Axel advised. ‘For all our sakes.’
    Reaching a slime covered wall, he told me to make a hole. Seconds later we climbed into a pristine corridor, sucking in lungfuls of fresh air.
    ‘Ebony,’ Old Axel said. ‘Turn the floor of the biological chamber to oxygen.’
    That would cause the entire swamp, including the Hydra to drop to the floor below.
    ‘Won’t that crush—’
    ‘—anyone beneath it. Yes,’ Old Axel said, ‘that’s the idea.’
    Ebony looked like she wanted to argue, but Old Axel’s instructions had helped us to survive this long. Ebony knelt and reached for the floor.
    She stood. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m not doing it.’
    Old Axel looked furious. ‘This is—’
    ‘Let’s go,’ she said. ‘Let’s just get these temporal...thingies...and get out of here.’
    We continued down the corridor. The door at the end slid open and we entered a workshop with computer parts cramming the benches. Old Axel’s eyes scanned the room until he focused on a door set into the wall. I opened it by expanding the molecules of air in the lock. It swung free.
    ‘Bingo,’ Old Axel said. Pieces of equipment filled the shelves. He shook his head sadly. ‘Some of these weapons would give the resistance such an advantage...’ Checking two cases, he found the same devices we had seen on the time machine. ‘Still, if this works we’ll never have to worry about the Agency again.’
    He handed a bag to me before snatching a beehive-shaped device off the shelf.
    ‘This’ll come in handy,’ he said. ‘Let’s go.’
    I glanced at a computer terminal and saw it was still filled with static. The communications systems were still scrambled. Rounding a bend, we entered a room with a metal pad in the center of the floor. Three men worked at consoles. Old Axel started firing at them.
    ‘No!’ I yelled.
    But I was too late. Within seconds they were dead. I felt like grabbing my older self and shaking him, but there was no time. He read one of the consoles.
    ‘Good.’ He tapped a few keys. ‘This is going to work.’
    ‘What is?’ Ebony asked, looking sick.
    ‘These are transportation mats. They can be used