“I’m not, but I’m better than Tuloff and he’s about to find out what happens when I get pissed.”
* * *
THE SURGERY TOOK just over an hour and went flawlessly even though Taki wore a heavily shielded, cumbersome gown. He closed the incision and took Braz to the recovery room. Then he cleaned the neutron accelerator with a solvent. After inspecting it carefully, he handed it to a waiting technician in a similar contamination suit and gloves. The tech placed the device in a protective lined carrier and raced away with it to the travel bay.
Taki found the worried friends still waiting in the lounge when he told them the news. “Braz will recover shortly from the anesthesia.”
“No problems?” asked Rev standing.
“Amazingly, none whatsoever,” replied Taki. “The patient is strong and responding well to the surgery. Even better, we have all we need to build our own Stroustop portal.”
“Thank goodness,” said Willa much relieved. “How long until he recovers consciousness?”
“Soon. Maybe an hour at the most.”
“Can I be with him?” asked Willa.
“Sure,” said Taki. “He’s in the recovery room. Third door on your right.” He pointed down the hall.
Willa followed his directions and soon disappeared through the recovery room door. After Willa was gone, Rev gave Taki a look that indicated he knew there was more to the story.
“Well?”
“I’m concerned about whether there are any lasting effects associated with swallowing a neutron accelerator,” said Taki. “I saw some cauterization in his bowels where the energy might have burned him.”
“You think he might have radiation poisoning?” asked Rev.
“It’s possible,” said Taki. “Then again, he could heal normally and live a long and healthy life. Only time and a follow-up test will be conclusive.”
“Braz is a tough character, if anyone could survive a lethal dose of radiation, it’d be him.”
“Let’s hope so,” said Taki. “One more thing.”
“Yes?” said Rev.
“His partner’s name is Cassie?”
“Yes.”
“He was delirious from the sedative and talked about her. I couldn’t make out what he was saying but he started to come to in the surgery so I had to give another dose. Before he went under again he was trying to tell me something about not being able to save her. Does this mean more to you?”
“Her body was found mauled by the Beast and I took her back to Earth for her funeral.”
“I see,” said Taki. “I guess he feels guilty.”
Rev looked puzzled, something didn’t add up all the way. Rev came to a conclusion. “I suppose he tried to save her and failed.”
“You don’t sound so convinced of that,” said Taki. “What else could it mean?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that I can’t believe she’s gone. Call it intuition if you like.”
“You have her body? Why disbelieve your own eyes?”
“Oh we have a body. It was her all right, but it didn’t feel like her. I’m not making sense I know, but a lover always knows his mate and that body didn’t feel like her. If it did, I’d miss her more.”
“I don’t understand the physical attachment to another very well,” said Taki. “Even us Deviants haven’t had enough experience with love like you humans have.”
“You will. Give it time,” said Rev. “When you do, you might wish it never happened. Love can twist you up like a pretzel. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all in favor of love but it can be a pain in the butt.”
“You mean love can hurt your rear end?” asked Taki.
“In more ways than I can describe.”
Taki looked puzzled. “Don’t worry about it,” assured Rev slapping him on the back. “You did a great job. Now it’s time you get your people safely away from here and I’m going to keep Willa and Braz company if you don’t mind.”
“We only have a half hour before Tuloff and his goons arrive,” said Taki. “Stay as long as you need for Braz to recover, but as soon as Tuloff attacks you must get everyone left to the travel port or risk being left behind. I have to attend to the portal.”
“No problem doc,” said Rev as he watched Taki hurry away.
“We don’t have much time,” prompted Flint.
“Then we better be prepared. Are you fully recovered and able to defend yourself?”
“I’m one hundred percent thanks to one of Taki’s technicians,” said Flint. “He was able to reactivate my weapons system.”
“I wish I had my weapons,” said Rev. “This Tsunamian pistol sucks. The sights are bent and it couldn’t cut through body armor anymore than if it were a can opener.”
“Taki must have weapons stored somewhere,” said Flint. “I’ll bring you a better weapon.”
“Thanks little buddy.”
“Be back soon.” Flint flew off as Rev entered the recovery room.
Willa huddled over Braz and stroked his hair. When she saw Rev she smiled. “He’s still asleep.”
“Do you mind if I just sit and wait with you?” asked Rev.
“Please do.”
“What will you do after all this?” He waved both arms in a grand gesture.
“You mean if we escape Tsunam?” she asked. He nodded. “I’d like to start a family.”
“Really? Are humans and Tsunams compatible?” Rev asked.
“I believe so. If not, we can adopt.”
“You could do that. There are plenty of unclaimed children still on Earth. I could see you and Braz with six or seven kids running around the house.”
“I’ve been thinking about two boys and two girls. Six might be hard to take care of,” she said.
“Nonsense,” said Rev. “After the first, they become easier to deal with. What’s a few more after you decided to be a parent? That’s what everyone tells me. Honest.” And he crossed his heart with his hand.
She started to look worried. “Maybe I’m just dreaming. I can’t take care of one child let alone six children. What if they get sick or hurt themselves playing? I wouldn’t know how to handle an emergency.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” said Rev. “Of course you’ll be a great mom.”
“Do you really think I could become a good mother?” she asked.
“Why not?”
“First of all I don’t have any experience being a mother.”
“I don’t think most of the moms on Earth do either, until they are moms,” said Rev smiling.
Chapter 21
REV FELT THE GRENADE EXPLOSION rumble through the floor and then the sound of it arrived. Immediately he rose and wondered where Flint was with that weapon.
“Time to go Willa,” said Rev.
“Braz isn’t awake yet.” She was clearly frightened but wouldn’t leave his side.
“Can’t be helped,” said Rev. “You two have to get a move on.” She just shook her head at the big man in helpless sadness.
Rev lifted Braz up from the gurney. “I’ll help you get him into the wheelchair and then you have to go to the transmat portal.”
“You too.”
“Oh, you can count on that,” he said pulling out the damaged las-pistol and releasing the safety. Rev opened the door of the recovery room and smelled the acrid odor of a grenade. Smoke drifted lazily along the ceiling as he watched panic stricken Deviants run down the hallway.
Rev watched and wondered at their expressions. Fearing for one’s life can cause many to overreact but each individual who ran past had a terrified expression.
Rev grabbed a woman and she screamed and wrenched her arm from him. “What is it?” Rev shouted but the woman kept running away. Rev watched others scrambling down the hall and he thought he saw a man being yanked back out of sight. More people panicked and tumbled in the hall as they fled. Then a man screamed. Crunching sounds of flesh being torn away from the bone came from just around the corner. A moment later something rolled down
the hall and stopped and stared at Rev. It was the severed head of a Mediterranean male with a riot helmet still strapped under its chin—one of Tuloff’s goons. Its eyes glared back lifeless with its mouth opened wide. A tongue lapped from the corner of the mouth.
“Sonuvabitch,” exclaimed Rev. He turned and grabbed Willa, pushing the wheelchair out of the room. “Time to really go.”
Willa made a gasping sound as she passed the severed head.
“Go,” commanded Rev as he lifted his weapon and shot at a dark massive form crouched in the shadows of the hallway.
More crunching sounds came, making Rev sick to his stomach as he watched blood spurt out along the floor, then puddle. The rest of the body of the trooper tumbled into the hallway with a leg missing.
Flint flew up carrying a weapon and a string of grenades. “We’re under attack!”
“No shit,” said Rev slipping in the blood. “I could tell. But by what?”
“That I can’t tell you,” said Flint. “Reports from the command center say the ground troopers blasted a hole in the outer wall. They’ve surrounded the complex but I didn’t hear that they’ve entered yet.”
“Some of them have,” said Rev pointing to the head. “Whatever is attacking is a lot bigger than a ground pounder,” said Rev taking the new pulse weapon and slinging the grenades over his shoulder. Rev pulled one of the grenades and pushed the actuator, rolling it down the hall towards the crunching noises. The grenade slid through the blood making its own little trail.
“Something is there,” said Rev pointing to where the grenade stopped down the hallway. Rev pulled Flint into the recovery room and counted down with his fingers. Three. Two. One. The explosion rang in his ears and chunks of debris pounded the walls as the hallway collapsed.
A howl raged under the rubble of plaster and stone. Rev heard it clawing and pushing the stones to free itself.
“What is that?” asked Flint.
“If I’m not mistaken, it’s the Beast,” said Rev.
“And a grenade didn’t kill it?”
“It sounds like we pissed it off,” said Rev.
“I suggest we retreat to a safer location,” said Flint.
“I agree,” said Rev running as fast as he could with Flint trailing behind.
The sounds of the Beast echoed horribly as they heard a chunk of concrete being tossed at them. Rev never looked back as he slid around the further corner and heard a concrete boulder smash against a door shattering it to splinters.
“Sounds like he’s very upset,” said Flint.
“Wouldn’t you be upset if I blew up your dinner?”
“I don’t eat dinner. But I see your point,” said Flint as he accelerated past Rev.
Rev stopped at an intersection and snagged Flint before he raced off. “How many grenades would it take to pull this whole section down?” Panting and rubbing the archway supports, he gestured all around.
Flint flicked around and inspected the construction. He added an extra flyby to measure the arch’s beam. “Two. One on each support just under the joist.”
“That’s my guess too,” said Rev flipping a grenade to Flint.
The Beast had extracted himself from the rubble. The pair could hear the massive creature running down the hallway on four feet. Rev pulled a strip from the side of the grenade which exposed a sticky pad and smacked the grenade to the support just under the joist.
“You better hurry Flint,” urged Rev. “We’re going to have company.”
Flint did the same as Rev and affixed his grenade to another support.
“On the count of three set the actuator,” said Rev.
The Beast was still out of sight but its snorting grew louder as it ran to catch its victims.
“One.”
Flint extended a translucent finger to the button.
“Two.”
Flint saw a shadow loom against the wall.
“Three!”
Both Rev and Flint pushed the actuators with a beep.
The creature stopped and reared itself up in the hallway, sniffing the air. When it smelled Rev it roared and pounced into the wing that both Rev and Flint were in.
Rev saw the creature fully for the first time. It was huge with muscles that rippled with strength when it moved. It walked upright like a man yet ran on all fours. There was a vague hint of human features in that it had one head, two arms, a torso and two legs, but from that nothing else resembled human or Tsunamian. Its head had wide set eyes that glowed red at their centers and flaring nostrils. Its mouth hung open and Rev could see a double set of razor sharp teeth. It drooled blood. Rev spotted where shrapnel had wounded the creature, scarring its right flank. The blood it oozed was thick, almost black in the dim light.
Rev counted down. His observations only took a second . . . the grenades started blinking faster.
“Run!” screamed Rev and Flint sped away.
Rev hesitated and grinned. “You’re one ugly sonuvabitch, aren’t you?” He turned and ran for his life.
The creature roared and pursued Rev. When it reached the support beam, the grenades exploded simultaneously ripping the girders completely away in plumes of fire and shrapnel.
Rev was thrown forward and slid on his chest on the slick flooring. He skidded around and came to a stop looking back on the intersection as he saw the Beast laying in a heap with its flesh ripped and torn; parts of its back smoldering.
The last remaining support gave way and the floor above fell down in clouds of dust. Rev heard the bending of steel and crunch of stone as the rubble piled upon the body of the creature.
Rev watched an extended arm clawing at a metal beam which pinned the chest of the Beast down. A whimper of pain echoed in the dusty hall, then a huge chunk of concrete flooring above collapsed and struck it in the head. The bones of its skull cracked. The Beast spewed a stream of bright crimson blood from its mouth.
Rev could see its eyes still glowing feebly in the rubble. In amazement, Rev watch the creature absorb more weight as chunks of concrete continued to fall down on its body. The life faded from its eyes and then they closed forever.
Rev picked himself up, dusted himself off, and ran on down the hallway to the transmat portal with Flint by his side.
* * *
TAKI WAS ORGANIZING the evacuation as lines of Deviants crammed into the portal tubes. There were three tubes large enough to carry four individuals at once. As soon as four squeezed in, Taki and his assistants would launch the Stroustop anomaly switches. The bodies folded up and winked out of normal space. Then more jammed into the tubes and the process started over again.
Rev and Flint pushed through the lines of individuals and ran up to Taki. “We killed the Beast,” said Flint.
“You mean you killed a beast,” said Taki. “We have reports that there are many loose in the complex. I’ve lost over a hundred individuals so far and stopped counting. Laser weapons can’t kill those things.”
“How many are there?” asked Rev.
“Twenty, maybe more,” answered Taki.
“Grenades didn’t seem to stop it so we crushed the one that was after us with the floor above,” said Rev.
“So that’s what I felt awhile ago,” said Taki. “It’s too bad we don’t have enough building to defeat the rest of them.”
“Do you have enough time to teleport the rest of your people?” asked Flint.
“What you see here is all that’s left,” said Taki. “I was waiting for you before I left.”
“Have you sent Willa and Braz yet?”
“No,” said Taki. “They haven’t shown up yet.”
“Dammit,” said Rev. “I sent them along before we took on one of those creatures. Slowing it down was all I was concerned with at the time. Now we need to organize a rescue party.”
“I can’t spare anyone to help,” said Taki. “You’ll have to find them on your own.”
“They could be trapped in one of the wings,” offered Flint. “We passed many b
ranches on our way here.”
“Could Willa be lost?” asked Rev.
“It’s a big building,” said Taki. “She might’ve got turned around in all this confusion.”
The building foundation shook to the sound of heavy artillery exploding. Walls swayed and creaked in the transmat portal bay.
“They’ve started to mop up,” said Rev.
“We won’t stand a chance against heavy munitions,” said Taki. “We must leave now before the whole building is reduced to rubble.”
“I’m not leaving until I find Willa and Braz,” said Rev.
“The same goes for me,” said Flint hovering with his weapon extended.
“All right. You find them and I’ll get the rest to safety. But I’m setting the auto-destruct on the computers in five minutes to cover our escape coordinates.”
“Agreed,” said Rev. “How long after you set them will the computers go off?”
“How long do you want?”
Rev thought a moment and seemed to vacillate, then he came to a decision. “Give us fifteen minutes,” said Rev. “If Flint and I can’t locate them by then, there’s probably not enough time to make a difference.”
Another explosion rocked the foundation hard enough that the windows shattered; glass rained down on their heads.
“That was close.” Taki was now so covered in debris his long braid look grey. “You better find them quickly or there might not be a building left in five minutes.”
Rev nodded and raced back down the hallway with Flint whizzing as fast as he could behind him. Soon Rev found a junction and veered down the one that he knew they hadn’t traveled. He was rewarded by hearing a woman scream.
“Willa?” called Flint.
“She’s in trouble whoever it is,” said Rev.
Rev ran at top speed and found himself in another machine bay. He noted Willa dragging Braz to safety and out of sight behind some heavy lathing equipment. Near the middle of the bay, a pack of five beasts circled a group of Deviants who were surrounded by a squad of militia troopers.
Willa looked up and saw Rev, waved and continued lugging Braz, now towards Rev.
It was a bloodbath as five creatures clawed at the squad of troopers who unloaded their weapons. They made a valiant effort but the creatures were too big and strong for the small-yield pistols. The more they fired on the creatures, the more angry they became. One of the beasts jumped into the center of the group, ripping an arm off a soldier. Then the beast used the arm as a weapon and slung it around striking the remaining troopers. Other monsters joined in and bodies were being torn to shreds. The screams ended and only hungry growls from the beasts were left.
The Beast of Tsunam (Rev Smalley: Galactic P.I. Book 1) Page 17