7.c.xiv.
Bear Market’s
body swelled like an overstuffed tick.
Supply’s head, and most of her upper arms, jutted above the trench
wall. Her body, still in the shaft
below, was squeezed unnaturally in the narrow corridor.
“Demand! You’ve got to help her! You have to increase. You have to grow!” Business Woman
shouted. Her hands gripped and gouged at
Bear Market’s lips. She yanked, trying
to unclench his teeth and jaws.
“Do it
Demand! Now or else–”
Bear Market
exploded.
A burst of blood
geysered from Supply’s neck. The initial
crimson shock wave hit The Crash, spilling it into the trench. The Crash dropped Franklin Buck as it tried
to grasp the trench wall, but its hands slipped, unable to grip for all the
blood.
Pieces of Bear
Market rained down onto the maze and into the labyrinth; fluttering flaps of
skin and chunks of matted hair-fur. His
jaw, still lodged in Supply’s neck, the source of a scarlet fountain. Supply writhed and twisted and slowly shrank
into the depths of the trench.
Business Woman
lay strewn across a wall, gasping for breath, clinging to the unexpected perch.
“Help Franklin
Buck,” Corporate Man shouted as he dropped down from above, necktie-cape
fluttering behind him, landing near Business Woman. He was coated with a fine spray of red mist
and a shrapneling of bear meat.
“I’ve got
you,” Corporate Man said, clutching her wrist.
“Can you stand?”
Business Woman
nodded and, with his help, she regained her feet. Across the maze Senior Executive helped
Franklin Buck find his footing. Then
both men lifted Commander Credit, supporting him on their shoulders.
“We’re making
for the exit,” Senior Executive called out.
“Where are Supply and Demand?”
Corporate Man
looked into the trench. Supply lay
there, deflated and still. Face down in
her own blood. He shook his head.
“What about
Demand? He could still be alive,” said
Business Woman.
“I doubt
it. You can’t have one without the
other. I could head down there and take
a–”
A roar shook
the arena and then everything started to quake.
The Crash rumbled through the trenches, swinging its huge arms, breaking
walls, toppling whole sections of the maze into the dark spaces of the
labyrinth.
“Run!”
Corporate Man yelled.
They dashed
across the maze, turning haphazardly at intersections, choosing a course that
took them away from The Crash’s rampage, but in the general direction of the
stage.
The labyrinth
was fast becoming a pile of rubble.
The pathway
veered twice and put them on an intersecting path with the destroyer below.
“We have to
turn back,” Corporate Man said.
“No. I think this well lead us out,” said Business
Woman.
“It’s gonna
lead us out of this life.”
“Trust
me. This is the way.”
The maze
banked again putting The Crash on their right instead of directly ahead.
“See. We’ll be alright,” said Business Woman.
The Crash swerved
toward them. Debris, papers, shattered
wall, and mangled body parts rose about the giant like a dust devil. It exploded through the maze wall that Corporate
Man and Business Woman were running along leaving an expansive gap in their
path.
“Hang on!”
Corporate Man called out as they reached the edge. He grabbed Business Woman
around the waist and jumped. His necktie
unfurled behind him and they dropped down onto the ledge on the far side of the
Crash created chasm. They raced down the
walkway, huge television monitors fell from the ceiling and shattered all
around them. Amidst a shower of broken
glass and ruined diodes they made it to the stage area.
Senior
Executive, Franklin Buck, and a very groggy Commander Credit awaited them.
“The
elevator’s this way,” said Senior Executive.
They ran to
the exit door and out into a hallway.
Behind them The Crash continued its ruinous assault on the stock market
floor.