Colin’s eyes turned back up to Poltergeist, pointing down at Driscoll. “Who’s side are you on, Driscoll? The boss made a mistake. You’re not one of us. Traitor. A second gennie can never be one of us.”
Driscoll was levitated into the air and began to spin head over heels as he flew over Colin and Diane. Several feet away, he dropped to the floor. Colin had strength enough to get back to his knees. With Diane still embracing him, he turned to watch as Poltergeist’s telekinetic power dragged Driscoll across the floor. In the far distance, a bright red light appeared. Inferno had recovered from Kelly’s attack and was now heading this way, straight toward Driscoll’s direct path. A shrill fire alarm went off, and the ceiling the fire suppression system sent jets of blue gas down at Inferno as he advanced. The gas did nothing to diminish the intensity of his deadly aura. He kept moving toward Driscoll.
Despite his freezing ability, Driscoll seemed helpless. As he was being dragged away, he reached out his hand toward Colin and called out to him a final time. “Sarge! Poltergeist’s power isn’t what it seems! The cape–”
Driscoll screamed as he was dragged within the range of Inferno’s deadly glow, and his body burst into flames. Inferno stopped just six feet away from Driscoll and stood to watch him burn. From the ceiling, two jets of the blue fog from the fire suppression system shot down and engulfed Driscoll. His flames were extinguished, but being so close to Inferno’s heat, his body was still burning. After a few seconds, Driscoll fell silent, reduced to a large, blackened cinder.
Colin imagined that he and Diane would soon share the same fate, but apparently Poltergeist had other plans as he pointed his hand to the ceiling and silenced the fire alarm and stopped the fire suppression system from shooting its gas down at Inferno.
“Go take care of Corby and that kid,” Poltergeist shouted to Inferno. “Kill them all.”
Colin was relieved when he saw Inferno spreading his wings and flying off to the left to pursue Kelly. But then he became concerned about Kelly meeting the same fate as Driscoll. Looking toward the left, he also saw Shrapnel trying to shake off Vosh’s torso still impaled on the blades on his back. Shrapnel gave an angry grunt each time he jerked to the left and right, but the torso was stuck fast.
Diane released her hold on Colin. “Wait here,” she told him. Diane picked up a long metal pipe that was lying next to her and charged toward Shrapnel.
Shrapnel let out a loud growl when he saw Diane running toward him. Five feet away from reaching Shrapnel, Diane slipped on the strip of ice on the floor and fell onto her back. She struck the back of her head on the floor and was stunned. The pipe fell out of her hands.
Colin was dumfounded at witnessing this mishap. This can only happen to Diane, he told himself.
Shrapnel looked down at Diane lying helpless before him and began to laugh in a deep, raspy voice. His long blade covered tail thrashed to the left and right. Diane began to stir. She raised her head and looked up to see Shrapnel standing over her.
Shrapnel managed to spit out a few words in between his laughter. “I’ve got a surprise for you. Nowhere to run.”
Shrapnel was still laughing as blue arcs of energy flashed out from his body. His tail thrashed to the right, then to the left. That was when Diane moved quickly to grab the tail and shove the end of it into Shrapnel’s mouth as it was gaping open with his laughter. Shrapnel bit down on his own tail and its many long blades. His laughter was replaced by groans of pain as the blades on his tail stabbed into his mouth. Diane released his tail and backed away. Her hands were bleeding from several deep cuts after handling Shrapnel’s tail. Shrapnel began to claw at his tail but couldn’t free it from his mouth. The arcs of energy were still flashing from his body.
Diane ran back toward Colin and dove down to the floor. Colin dove behind a nearby crate and held his head down. A second later, the boom of a loud explosion shook the cargo bay. Colin lifted his head and turned to see the aftermath. Shrapnel couldn’t stop the explosion he’d initiated, even with his tail impaling the insides of his mouth. The sharp blades exploding from Shrapnel’s tail tore his head apart. White smoke rose from his headless body as it fell back to the floor.
I don’t believe it. She did it, Colin thought in amazement. Diane had managed to kill Shrapnel. But at what cost to herself? Colin could see several metal blades stabbing into Diane’s left leg and her back. He wondered if she was even alive as she lay still.
Colin looked up at the threat that still remained, Poltergeist, but Poltergeist was looking down at Shrapnel’s dead body, apparently just as stunned as he was at the feat that Diane had just pulled off. In defiance, Colin struggled to his feet. His legs were unsteady, and he felt woozy, but still he shouted, “You’re next!”
Poltergeist turned his attention to Colin and delivered a growl though his sharp, clenched teeth. Diane then sprang to her feet and retrieved the pipe that she had dropped. She flung the pipe up at Poltergeist, catching him by surprise. The spinning pipe made a loud clang when it struck Poltergeist on his hooded forehead. He let out a grunt and grabbed his head. He floated backwards, then vanished.
Moving with a limp, Diane made it back to Colin and grabbed his arm. “Let’s get the hell out of here.” He found a new burst of energy as he sprinted alongside her. They ran for several feet, then she pointed to the left wall. “There.” She tugged his arm and pulled him toward an oval-shaped hatch against the wall that was marked ‘Access 03.’ An emergency access ladder. It was a good idea, but his descent to the lower deck would be a challenge without the use of his hands.
Diane released Colin and stopped in front of the hatch. Moving fast, she gripped the handhold at the side and ripped off the entire hatch. She tossed it aside. “You first,” she said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said, holding up his bloodied stumps.
“There’s no time. That freak could be on us any second. Just go. I got you.”
Colin did not argue. He placed his right foot into the tube and onto the ladder. Diane grabbed the back of his shirt with her right hand and held on to support him as he placed his left foot onto the ladder and made his clumsy descent. She entered the tube and climbed down the ladder with one hand while maintaining her hold on him with the other. Their descent to the lower deck was slow.
Colin felt drops of moisture falling on his head and face. He looked up to see that it was blood dripping from Diane’s wounds. “You’re bleeding. Are you okay?” he asked. “How do you feel?”
“Not good,” she said. “Don’t worry about me. Just keep moving.”
Colin continued his climb down the ladder, at the same time feeling like a liability to Diane. If Poltergeist caught them in this tube, there would be no escape. But there was really no escape as long as a monster possessing telekinetic power could turn invisible was somewhere on the ship, intent on killing them. They had nowhere to run.
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Chapter 17
Kelly gasped for air as he ran next to Cyndi. He knew that they both had to keep running if they wanted to survive. He looked back at the bright red glow in the distance behind them. The glow was coming from Inferno, who was getting closer while Kelly was getting tired. They exited storage bay one and entered a short corridor, passing worker robot moving toward Inferno. Kelly hoped that the unsuspecting robot would slow Inferno down for at least a few seconds.
Running through the corridor, they approached a large black door labeled ‘Bay 2’ in large white letters. Kelly expected the door to open upon their approach, but nothing happened.
“It’s a dead end!” Cyndi groaned, gasping for breath.
Kelly looked back at the corridor and Inferno’s glow getting closer. There was indeed no place else for them to go except forward. “Stand back,” Kelly warned. They both stepped back a few feet. Kelly raised his hands and launched a large ball of fire that exploded on contact with the door. “Follow me.”
Kelly led the way through the opening that he had created. Storage ba
y two was also a larger area than the first one. They passed by long metal racks on the left and right, each ten feet high, holding ten long white missiles surrounded by a blue energy shield from top to bottom. Moving ahead, they passed two rows of longer racks that held even more missiles.
“This is a lot of firepower!” Kelly said.
“This is the ship’s main ordinance and weapons storage.”
Kelly felt uneasy being in the presence of so many explosives. “This is not the ideal place to engage in a fire fight.”
“Don’t worry. The security shields will protect the stock of missiles in case there’s an accident,” Cyndi assured him.
They passed by another worker robot as they ran through the rows of missile racks. They reached the other side of the storage bay and came upon a long row of large white crates standing against the wall and stacked three high. Two dead troopers lay on the floor. Cyndi shouted out Audrey’s name once again.
“Mommy!” Audrey’s voice sounded very far away.
“I think she’s down there, to the left.” Cyndi ran in that direction and called out again, “Audrey!”
They ran for several more feet through the bay, following the stacks of crates at the right and passing by rows of metal shelves holding more plastic crates. They also passed by three more dead troopers lying on the floor.
“Audrey!” Cyndi called out again.
Audrey called back, leading them to a corner just a few feet away. They found her between a stack of crates and a tall metal shelf, hanging from the shelf six feet off the floor, suspended by a thick strand of a white sticky material. The strand was wrapped around her torso, binding her arms to her sides. Audrey began to cry at the sight of her mother.
Cyndi rushed forward and began to pull at the strand to free Audrey, but couldn’t seem to make any headway with it. Tears were now streaming down Audrey’s face. “Get me down, Mommy! Please!”
“What in the world is this stuff?” Cyndi yelled.
Kelly examined the strand. It was sticky to his touch. “It’s some kind of web material. Probably from Vosh, that big ugly seddrax freak.”
“We need to get her out of here,” said Cyndi, still pulling at the strand.
Kelly heard the sound of metal banging in the distance behind him. He looked, expecting to see Inferno’s glow still following them, but there was nothing. This made him more uneasy. He knew that the noise could either be from the robot that they passed or something that was far less pleasant. “Stay here,” he told Cyndi and ran back down the bay to investigate the noise. He passed by rows of shelves and missile racks, looking to see if anyone or anything was moving between them, but saw nothing. The robot came to mind, and he wondered if he could interact with it for some sort of assistance. Depending how the robot was programmed, the idea was worth a try.
Kelly’s nose caught the strong odor of burning plastic. Then he spotted black smoke rising between two rows of missile racks. Cautiously he moved in closer to investigate and peered between the rows to find the work robot with smoke pouring up from its scorched body. As Kelly backed away, Inferno emerged from behind the robot and crawled on top of its head, his two round blood-red eyes gazing down at Kelly. Kelly tried to remain brave in the face of his enemy, but the urge to panic nearly overwhelmed him as he kept backing up. Then he lost his footing and fell backward.
Inferno growled in a low tone and let out a long hiss, opening his mandibles. “Kelly!” he said in a deep voice. “Come to me!”
Kelly widened his eyes with renewed fear that was fast turning to panic after hearing this red-eyed monster issuing him an invitation to his own death. He scrambled back to his feet.
“Kelly! Kiss me and burn!” Inferno croaked out. “Burn!”
Inferno took on his deadly glow of extreme heat. Kelly turned and ran back toward the corner where Cyndi and Audrey were waiting. Then he stopped in his tracks when he realized that doing, and took off in the opposite direction so would put their lives in danger. He had to protect them and himself, if that were possible. But against a creature with Inferno’s power, it seemed hopeless. Kelly turned to stand his ground as Inferno crawled out from the rows of missile racks and faced him. “Burn!” Inferno said. “Kiss me and burn!
Kelly raised his hands and created a wide, thick wall of his red energy. Back on Retalas, Kelly had used his blue energy shield against Inferno to absorb attacks, but that strategy had failed against Inferno’s power. Now Kelly was hoping to gain a different result with his red shield that repelled energy.
Inferno continued to crawl forward until he reached Kelly’s shield, and then walked through it with no effort. After making contact with Kelly’s shield, Inferno’s glow began to burn brighter and hotter. Even from the distance between them, Kelly could feel Inferno’s increased heat. It was as if Inferno were absorbing his power and growing stronger.
Kelly changed tactics and went on the offensive. He let his shield wall fade out, then fired a red stream of energy at Inferno. The stream burst into small flames and sparks when it struck Inferno, and shoving him backward a few feet. But it caused no damage. Kelly fired another stream that again resulted only in pushing Inferno back.
Kelly heard footsteps coming from behind and glanced back to see Cyndi running toward him. “What’s happening?” she called out.
“Stay back!” he shouted, turning back to keep an eye on Inferno and figure out how to deal with him. Inferno continued to crawl toward Kelly, and Kelly continued to back away as he fired another stream of energy that ended up a wasted effort.
“Pathetic little second genie,” Inferno taunted. “I’m going to enjoy watching you burn. Then the woman and the girl. Kiss me and burn.”
Kelly replaced his fear with defiance. “You want a kiss? Kiss my ass, you ugly freak!” Kelly raised his hands again. Large blue streaks of energy flashed out from his body. Then an unseen burst of energy exploded out from him like a gale-force wind powerful enough to shove Inferno back several feet. Kelly fired a large beam of blue energy at Inferno that exploded when it hit the creature. Inferno let out a high pitched screech. Kelly fired a rapid succession of three more beams that caused larger explosions when they hit and quickly followed up by firing a larger beam at Inferno that sent him flying across the bay.
Kelly took a second to inspect his handiwork. Two of Inferno’s long insect legs were blown off and lying on the floor along with several glowing red fragments of his shell. Kelly ran forward. He could still feel heat radiating from Inferno’s fragments as he passed by and in the distance could still see Inferno’s red glow. He ran until he drew close enough to see that he had blasted Inferno into a missile rack standing against the wall. Inferno’s body had struck the rack with such force that it penetrated and disabled the rack’s security shields. His body was wedged between four missiles. But even with two of his legs gone and large tears along his shell, he still continued to glow with heat energy. His tail twitched and he moved an arm, trying to get loose from the missiles, but his efforts looked useless. He was still able to speak. “I can’t ... feel ... my legs!” he screamed. “I ... can’t move!”
Kelly heard a hissing noise and saw that the missiles in the rack near Inferno were scorched black and forming small bubbles across their metal hulls – an obvious reaction to Inferno’s intense heat. Inferno also noticed this reaction and shrieked, “Oh shit!”
Kelly turned and ran as fast as he could to escape the area. When he’d run halfway across the bay, he stopped and turned, raising his hands to erect the strongest blue energy wall he could manage. It reached from floor to ceiling, just in time to block him from the series of massive explosions as the missiles in the rack all detonated, taking Inferno with them.
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Chapter 18
Without the use of his hands, Colin had a difficult and uncomfortable climb down the access ladder to the ship’s lower deck. But once he reached the bottom, he was able to kick the hatch open so that he could exit the access tube, with Dia
ne following behind him. They both found themselves in part of the ship’s enormous landing bay. Rows of the large white plastic crates lined the walls on their left and right. Four long rows of wedge-shaped fighters stood in front of them. Past the fighters was a row of assault shuttles with twin laser guns and small missile launchers underneath.
Several troopers standing near the fighters turned and pointed when they saw Colin and Diane approach, wounded and bloodied. The huge emergency blast doors twenty feet away sealed off the landing bay from access to the rest of the ship.
Colin looked at Diane still walking with her limp and asked, “Are you okay?” Metal blades were still sticking from her leg and back, but the cuts on her hands seemed to be healed.
“You should talk,” Diane scolded. “Never mind me. Are you okay? Just look at you.”
“Yeah. Look at me,” replied Colin, shifting his eyes to his missing hands. “The bleeding has stopped, and most of the pain. Right now, I’m feeling tired.” Colin decided to take the time to kneel down and rest for a moment.
Two males and one female trooper ran over to Colin and Diane. “What happened to you two?” One of the men asked. He turned back to the other troopers still standing near the fighters. “We’ve got wounded here. Bring the medic.”
“What’s going on?” asked the female trooper. “Why is everything locked down? And there’s no word from the bridge.”
Diane took a minute to yank the two blades from her thigh, grunting in pain as she did so. Then she reached around and pulled the rest from her back, tossing the bloodied pieces to the floor. She then turned to the troopers and said in a tired tone, “The ship has been taken over by Vendetta agents. They’ve already killed several crew members.”
“What? No way!” one of the troopers said. “We saw the announcements from the commander telling us that there’s some kind of technical problems. He ordered everyone to stay put.”
Assassination Anxiety (The McKenzie Files) Page 21