Star Cat: Exodus: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 5)

by Andrew Mackay

  “Christ’s sake,” she bolted through the door like a ghost and entered the deck.

  “Whoooaaa,” Manny gasped when she saw what had occurred at the flight deck.

  Jelly looked away from the floor and over at Manny, “You’re here.”

  Manny tried to process what she was seeing.

  “Yes, I—”

  “Mommy?” a little girl’s voice asked. “Who is it?”

  “It’s our home’s computer, honey.”

  The contours on Manny’s book image glowed bright pink in reverence for the half-human, half-cat girl holding her mother’s hand.

  She’d never seen Jelly as an infant, unlike the crew of Space Opera Beta. The same held true for Furie. An astonishing sight to behold for anyone who saw it for the first time.

  “We have to find you clothes that fit, honey,” Jelly said.

  Furie stood upright much like a normal child. She’d grown to four feet in height with only Alex’s USARIC-issue jacket protecting her modesty.

  Along with her venomous cat-like face, complete with a vibrant set of whiskers, Furie looked somewhat bad ass.

  “Uh, Jelly?” Manny tried.

  “What is it?”

  “No time to explain. We have to leave.”

  Furie ran towards Manny with her arms outstretched, “Mommy, I want the flying thing.”

  “No,” Jelly snapped. “Behave yourself, honey.”

  “But moooom—”

  Manny shifted back to the door, “Anderson, your friends out there have turned feral.”

  Jelly’s ears pricked up unexpectedly, “Feral?”

  “Yes, feral. They’re battering the airlock and trying to get in. They’re plenty pissed.”

  “Where’s Alex?”

  “Weapons & Armory,” Manny said. “We have about thirty seconds till this ship is crawling with vicious wolves out for blood.”

  Furie grabbed the front of the jacket and pulled the two ends over her bare chest, “Mommy?”

  Jelly sprinted over to the door and held out her hand, “No, honey. Grab mommy’s hand.”

  “But, but—”

  “—No buts, Furie,” Jelly snatched her daughter’s hand and pulled her along to the door, “They’re bad monsters. We need to hide.”

  SWISH.

  Manny flew into the walkway with Jelly and Furie close behind her.

  “What’s the state of Opera Charlie?” Jelly asked. “Are we fit to get home?”

  “No, Charlie’s done for, I’m afraid.”

  SCHTOMP — CLANG.

  A silhouette bled across the walkway wall by the staircase. Manny twisted around in the air and made for the control deck, “Oh, God, they’ve got in. Run.”

  “No,” the silhouette snapped. “It’s me.”

  Jelly widened her eyes and watched Alex step out from the shadows, armed to the teeth with weapons.

  “Alex?”

  “Yeah.”

  He unhooked a D-REZ from his shoulder and threw it at Jelly, “Be a good girl and catch.”

  SCHWUMP.

  She lifted her right hand and caught the grip in her palm, “Full clip?”

  “Locked and ready to go.”

  BAM-BAM-BAM — HER-SMAASSSSHHHH.

  The airlock hatch exploded. Fragments of the wall and door sneezed into the walkway, followed by an echo of angry howls and sneers.

  HEH-HEH-HEH…

  “Christ, they’re in,” Alex pulled one of the K-SPARKS off his shoulder and released the locking mechanism.

  “Quick, get back.”

  THRAAAAA-AT-ATCH.

  He held the body of the K-SPARK at chest height and allowed the tripod legs to spin out from under the barrel and staple themselves to the ground.

  “Arming now.”

  BREEEEEE.

  The turret mount locked into place and shifted the barrel left and right.

  “This’ll keep them off for a while. I dunno how many there are.”

  Manny floated towards the staircase, “We need to get out of harm’s way.”

  “Is the control deck sealed off?”

  “No,” Manny said. “I didn’t have time. I needed to get the girls out.”

  Three slobbering wolves trundled into the walkway and surveyed their new home.

  “Christ, this is not happening again,” Jelly whined as she lifted the safety catch down on her D-REZ, “Hey,” she hollered at the wolves and caught their attention.

  “Jelly, what are you doing?” Alex gasped.

  Jelly aimed her D-REZ at the wolves as they moved towards her, “That’s right you furry creeps. Keep moving.”

  GRRRRRR.

  “Mommy, I’m scared,” Furie whined.

  “Hush, honey. Let mommy kill the bad guys.”

  ROOAAARRRRR.

  Jelly trained her right eye down the sight of the D-REZ. The blurry image of the three wolves pulled into pin-sharp clarity.

  Her index finger slid wrapped around the trigger.

  “That’s right. That’s right.”

  The first wolf stopped and extended its tongue, ready to launch at the trio.

  Jelly bit her lip and braced herself for war, “Make the first move, you ugly mother—”

  BOLT.

  The first wolf bolted forwards and jumped into the air. Furie shrieked and dived behind Alex as Jelly squeezed the trigger.

  THRAAAA-AA-TAT-A-TAT-A-TAT.

  The bullets rocketed into the wolf’s face, sending its body twisting upright in a hail of smoke and blood. It’s shattered carcass tumbled back into the other two wolves in a shower of bullets which hit them in the chest and lungs.

  “Nice shooting, Jelly,” Alex knocked the turret. “Right, everyone down to the Motary. This will hold them off. Go, now.”

  Jelly lowered the D-REZ and grabbed Furie’s hand.

  “Come on honey, we have to go,” she said.

  Manny whisked herself away to the staircase with Jelly and Furie in hot pursuit.

  “Oh, Jesus,” Alex screamed. “There’s loads of them. They’re coming in.”

  Jelly looked over her shoulder as she ran. Alex slammed the turret and knocked it to life.

  WHIRRRRR.

  Hundreds of wolves raced into the ship via the opened airlock. They tumbled and jumped over one another in an effort to chase those who ran away.

  BLAM-BLAM-BLAM.

  The turret swung left and right, firing off one shell per second.

  One by one, the wolves gained ground. Several of them bust apart in the hail of bullets.

  BAM-SPATCH-SPATCH.

  “That’s two more,” Alex stared at the gun and walked backwards, “There’s too many. Run. Run.”

  “Alex,” Jelly yelled from the top of the staircase. “Don’t hang around. Come on.”

  SNARL — SNASH.

  The first wolf slid across the ground, narrowly avoiding a shredding from the torrent of bullets. His friends fared less well. Dozens of wolves clogged the walkway like a smoker’s artery and exploded as the bullets punctured through their bodies.

  The walkway quickly filled with blood as a result.

  GROWL.

  The first wolf ducked its head and made for the turret legs.

  “Run, run,” Jelly called after Alex as he reached the top of the stairs.

  “I’m here, come on. Let’s go,” he said as he gripped the staircase railings and jumped down the first flight of stairs.

  “Mommy, I can’t run.”

  “Yes, you can honey,” Jelly said. “Take my hand and jump with me.”

  WHOOSH.

  The pair launched into the air, hand in hand. Jelly grabbed her daughter’s legs in her arms and planted her own feet on the ground.

  “Easy, right?”

  “I’m tired,” Furie whined.

  “We’re all tired, honey.”

  Jelly sat her into the crook of her left elbow and lifted her D-REZ in her right hand, “Alex?”

  “Yeah?” he said, keeping his firearm pointed at the stai
rwell.

  “If those things try to kill us, you kill us first.”

  He spotted Manny floating down the second set of stairs, “Not gonna happen on my watch.”

  GROWL — BITE — CRUNCH.

  The turret mounted K-SPARK exploded in the wolf’s teeth. The ungainly beast buried its paws in the ground and tore the heavy duty mechanism apart.

  The top half wobbled around and slammed to the floor, expending the final few bullets in its magazine in the direction of the approaching wolves.

  BAM-BAM-BAM-SPA-AA-ATCH.

  Five wolves bust open and tossed into the air as the bullets punctured through their bodies and crashed into the wall behind him.

  The first wolf butted the turret and knocked the legs on its side. He turned to those left alive and snarled.

  HOWWWLLLL.

  The others barked and jeered in unison.

  The first wolf sniffed along the ground focused its pupils at the staircase at the far end of the walkway.

  AROOOOOOHHH.

  He bolted along the ground with the others chasing after him.

  Huff-huff-huff… it slowed down on its approach to the staircase and sniffed the top step. Someone had definitely just been there.

  He reached out with his paw and felt around the top step.

  Critch-critch—clang.

  “Heh-heh,” the wolf snorted, kicked its hind legs away from the walkway and descended the stairs.

  The others scrambled down behind him as they reached the corner turning.

  CLANG-CLANG-CLANG.

  Alex looked up from the second level stairwell and yelled at the others, “They’re coming. They got past the gun.”

  Jelly wiggled her nose and breathed in, “It’s them.”

  “Of course it’s them,” Manny zoomed to the bottom of the stairs and twisted around to face them, “Come on, we have to go.”

  “Where?” Jelly shouted as she grabbed Furie in her arms and jumped down the final flight of stairs.

  WHOOOOSSH!

  A ball of fur whizzed down between the railings and landed on all four paws on the level three gantry.

  GROWL.

  “Mommy,” Furie pointed at the wolf and cried, “What is it?”

  “God damn furry little critter is what it is,” she said as she swung her D-REZ at it.

  For the briefest of moments, the wolf tilted its head and whined at the prospect of being blown to pieces.

  Jelly lowered her gun and snorted, “Don’t look at me like that.”

  THRAAA-AAATT-AT.

  Jelly blasted the wolf off its feet and up against the wall.

  “Any more of those little bastards?” she yelled at Alex above her on the second staircase.

  “Christ, there’s no end of them.”

  He fired several shots up the staircase and killed a few more of the chasing wolves.

  “I got ‘em, Jelly,” Alex yelled down at them. “Quick, get to the Motary, Follow Manny—Gahhh.”

  A wolf pounced onto Alex’s shoulder and ravaged his chest, its legs swung back and forth as Alex tried to push him off.

  “Go, go,” he roared from under the attack, “Save yourselves.”

  Jelly whined and squeezed her daughter’s hand, “Alex, no.”

  Manny clapped her covers together and caught the girls’ attention, “Stop standing there and run. The Motary, let’s go.”

  Manny swam through the air just fast enough so that Jelly and Furie could keep up the pace.

  “Open the damn door,” Jelly squealed as they barreled toward the Motary.

  SWIIISSHHH.

  The door to the Motary slid open like a hungry mouth begging for food.

  “Quick, get in,” Manny flew through the door and pointed at the K-BOLT.

  Jelly and Furie ran in after her and stopped to see if Alex had survived the mauling from the hounds of hell.

  “Christ, Alex.”

  Alex grabbed the sides of the wolf’s head in his hand and tried to wrench it away from his face. Its slobbering, hungry teeth gnashed away inches from his face.

  “Gaaaah,” Alex kicked the railing and slammed the wolf’s head against the wall. It whined in pain and winced.

  “Get the hell off me, you fat, stinking bastard—”

  GNASH-CLATCH.

  The wolf bit down on Alex’s arm and tore out a chunk of skin and flesh.

  “Gah—”

  ALex rammed the wolf’s head against the wall with his left hand and jammed the barrel of his D-REZ into its stomach.

  “Eat this—”

  THRAAA-TAT-A-TAT — SCHPLATT.

  The wolf’s stomach blew apart and released its innards down the front of Alex’s suit.

  The head separated from the body.

  “Christ,” he huffed and flung the carcass into the marauding horde of wolves scrambling down the steps. He kept its severed head in his hands and held it up to the baying mob.

  “Get back.”

  The wolves paused momentarily and looked down on the man as he held up the wolf’s severed, bleeding head.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Stay back.”

  GRRRRRRR.

  Alex was about to toss the head at the angry pack of hounds when he noticed a fleshy finger-like antenna creep out from the neck wound and curl up under the chin.

  “Gah, what’s that?”

  He chucked the head at the floor, took three steps back and aimed his gun at it.

  The fleshy finger hook up the severed wolf head and into its mouth. Five more finger-like stems enacted the same motion and moved into the mouth.

  “What the hell?”

  “Alex,” Jelly screamed from inside the Motary, “Stop messing around and get inside.”

  Before long, the wolves jumped away from the staircase and carefully made their way to the severed head. Alex couldn’t look away as the head vibrated.

  The fur split apart like a cracked china cup and rumbled around on the spot.

  Alex felt his voice tremble, “What’s going on—”

  SCHPAAA-AAAT.

  The fingers yanked the chin away from the head. The skull popped out like a freshly cut orange and rolled to the side to reveal a fleshy, slobber-covered spider.

  “Jeeeeeeeeeesus H. Christ.”

  The half wolf head/half spider scurried in Alex’s direction, wanting his guts for garters.

  SCREEEEEEE!

  The wolf and the fleshy spider both went for Alex.

  BANG-BANG-BANG.

  Alex raced backwards, firing indiscriminately at the attacking wolves.

  “Alex, come on,” Jelly yelled at him. “Manny, hit the door.”

  “I’m ready.”

  Alex continued to shoot as he ran backwards. The small, fleshy spider scuttled around and tried to jump up at his feet.

  “Gah, gerrof me.”

  He accidentally kicked it with his heel, forcing it to skid inside the Motary.

  “Ughhh,” Furie ran over to the K-BOLT spacecraft to get away from the nasty little critter, “Mommy, what is that?”

  “Dead, honey.”

  The shadow of her boot slung across its “face” as it looked up at her.

  SCREEEEEEEE—

  Jelly stomped it on, squishing it to death.

  “Ewwwww,” Furie snarled.

  BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK.

  Alex ran out of bullets. He felt around for a fresh magazine, but quickly realized he hadn’t any left.

  He chucked the gun at the first bunch of wolves, turned around and made for the Motary door.

  “Wait for me!” he yelled as he raced towards the door.

  The wolves gained on him at double-speed.

  “Alex, jump,” Jelly yelled.

  He did as instructed and kicked himself into the air.

  WHOOOSH — SCHUNT-CRITCH.

  He flew through the opened the door, seconds before it slid across and slammed shut - taking the nose of the first wolf with it.

  WHINE.

  The w
olf’s severed nose slid down the wall in a stringy, bloodied heap.

  The beast’s whimpers were drowned out by the incessant thudding and ravaging of the door from the other side.

  Alex rolled onto his side and grabbed Jelly’s hand. She lifted him to his feet and looked him up and down. A nasty bite mark on his shoulder and arm seemed to wink at her, drooling with blood.

  “You okay, Hughes?”

  Alex caught his breath and nodded, unable to speak.

  “They got you pretty bad out there.”

  “I g-got them back, Jelly,” he stammered in pain. “Ugh, my arm.”

  “Want me to lick the wound for you?”

  “You?” Alex chuckled with half-disdain, “No, thanks. I’m not bleeding pink, yet. I never thought I’d be glad to see the sight of red blood.”

  BATTER-RAM-BAM-BAM.

  The wolves screeched and shunted against the door.

  Alex grabbed the pudgy mask on his face and tore it away from his head, “Ah, that’s better.”

  He blinked a couple of times and tried to reorient himself, “Manny?”

  “Yes, Alex?”

  “What do we do now?”

  “There’s only one course of action left for us.”

  “Oh yeah? And what’s that?”

  Manny moved away from Alex’s face to reveal the K-BOLT light spacecraft sitting in the distance.

  “K-BOLT?”

  Manny pressed her front and back covers together. She seemed depressed.

  “It’s your only shot of getting out of here alive.”

  “Our only shot, you mean?”

  Manny bent her front cover down and appeared to look at the floor, “No, I was right the first time. Yours. I can’t go with you.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not calibrated for K-BOLT. It’s an entirely different operating system. By my calculations, you and Jelly and Furie have two options available.”

  Jelly licked her paw and moved Furie in front of her, “I’m guessing this is a time-sensitive decision?”

  Manny shifted over to the K-BOLT and beeped, “One. You stay here and the wolves kill you.”

  “Nope,” Alex said. “Two?”

  “Two. You fight your way back to the control deck and let me patch myself permanently into my mainframe. I may be able to redistribute some of the available energy from Charlie’s battery. You’ll make orbit of this planet at best, but probably die in the process. If the heat shields are less than 100%, you’ll burn up in the atmosphere.”