Genetic Purge (The Galactic Outlaws Book 2)

by Bradford Bates

  Making it to the last lab had been easier than I thought. If the humans had any additional security here, they hadn’t used it yet. The door hissed open at the swipe of my card, but this time I had to dodge to the side. A beaker slammed into the wall behind me, and the concrete started to bubble. Had someone just thrown acid at me? Did the people that worked here really know so little about my kind? Sure it would have hurt and I might have needed a lot of blood to recover, but it wouldn’t have killed me. Not unless they were working on something for just that purpose. I would have said drugs didn’t work on me either, but last time I took some, I ended up in a box.

  Clearing the doorway, I heard two more crashes behind me. At least these scientists were putting up a fight. It made me feel a little better than shooting them in the back while they ran away screaming. It didn’t change the outcome though. I started firing, filling the room with bodies. One of the women I shot dropped a vial of the acid on a man’s head as he ducked below her. His screams filled the air and panic overrode whatever sense they had left. It made my job easier as I mowed them down one shot at a time.

  The plasma from my weapons stopped flying just as the man finally finished screaming and collapsed to the floor. Half of his head had caved in. How he kept screaming for so long, I’ll never know. My guns found their way back into their holsters, and I looked around the room. Nothing stood out so I headed back towards the door dodging the puddles of acid that were still eating through the floor. That could have been nasty.

  Had I made my point or did I need to search this base for more people? I think the point was made and they would know that I was free. There was no way whoever was in charge would just accept these losses. Men in positions of power didn’t get there by letting people destroy what was theirs without some kind of payback. I didn’t delude myself into thinking he cared about the people that worked here. Only that something that was his had been damaged. This was going to put a target on my back. I knew people would be coming after me, and to survive that, I was going to need help. Drake and his crew seemed like the obvious choice. I’d be putting them in a lot of danger, but they seemed more than equipped to handle it.

  I had to search the memories in my head for a bit before I found out there was actually a stairwell. Being trapped in an elevator here seemed like a bad idea. The alarm was still blaring, but I hadn’t seen any more security personnel since my initial two encounters. Would they be waiting for me at the ground floor? The dark and hungry part of me hoped so, she wasn’t nearly satisfied with the amount of blood we had spilled so far.

  The door to the stairwell was sealed shut, and when I scanned my stolen card, it didn’t work. Maybe they had finally turned off dickless’s security clearance. I thought about going back and grabbing another badge, but it was just a waste of time. I kicked off the door handle and ripped apart the panel, but the door stayed locked. I was done with this shit, it was time to go. I slammed both of my hands into the metal.

  The first three strikes bent it, the fourth broke through the three-inch steel door. I wished that I could have just turned into fog or something like in the historical horror films, but that was just stupid. I grabbed the inside of the door and pulled. It moved but only an inch. Jumping up, I placed my feet on either side of the wall and anchored them using my vampiric energy. Once I was in place, I flexed my knees and pulled with my arms. The door came off in one tug. If I hadn’t been anchored to the wall, the move wouldn’t have been very graceful. Dropping back to the ground, I tossed the three hundred pound door down the hall and started to jog up the stairs. I hoped whatever was waiting for me at the top was more entertaining than what I had found down here.

  CHAPTER 22

  SAMANTHA RIPLEY

  Having enhanced speed is nice when you have somewhere you want to be. At the moment, that was anywhere but here. I’d done enough damage to make my point. Still I knew after this they would be coming after me with everything that they had. I mean you couldn’t just let a rogue science experiment travel around the verse. Something could happen and when it did, the inevitable shit-storm would lead right back to them.

  The stairs seemed to be flying under my feet, and I hadn’t even called on my energy to go faster. Something told me there might be a nasty surprise waiting for me at the top of the stairs, and I might need all the power that I had to get out of it. Still, I was taking the stairs four at a time and bouncing to the next set like I was just out for a leisurely walk. As much as I hated these men, I’d come to love the power my cybernetics provided.

  While the cybernetics played a part in what I was able to do, they didn’t mean as much as they used to. As I continued to age, I only grew in strength. My skin was more resistant to damage than it had been when I went under, and my ability to read people's thoughts had jumped to the next level. It felt as if I had only been asleep for a day, and yet my powers aged as if I had been awake the entire time.

  Could I even die now? I guess it was possible. The man in the white robe sure seemed to think that it was, and if Drake hadn’t been there he might have succeeded in killing me. Maybe it had been my own pride, my hubris that had almost done me in. I underestimated the threat. That wouldn’t happen again. The next man in white that tried to attack me was going to die quickly.

  The stairwell remained empty, but I could hear the whir of the cameras as they moved to track me. That meant whoever was waiting was going to be ready for me, or at least they thought they were. I kept the knife on my back sheathed, I had a different idea on how I’d enter the room.

  The last flight of stairs started, and I kicked it into vampire speed. It might have been a fraction of a second before I hit the solid door still moving at full speed. It was hard to tell just how fast I could actually move. I felt my shoulder snap against the reinforced steel, but the door gave. As it sailed into the room, I stayed behind it, using it as a shield. My shoulder had already healed by the time the door slammed into a group of five men. The three in the center instantly turned into some kind of paste, while the men on the sides each lost a limb.

  Before anyone could register what happened, I had changed directions. Moving to my left brought me to another group of five men. Dipping under their guns as they turned to follow the door, I pulled my knife free and brought it up into one man’s chest, piercing his heart. Spinning away from him, I hit the next man in the stomach, and as he doubled over, I delivered a punch to his face. I felt the bones cave in and then I was moving to the next two. One took my nails across his throat and the other a knife to the artery on his inner thigh. I pulled the last man in front of me as bullets from the men on the other side of the room finally started to fire.

  The body jerked as the heavy slugs slammed into it. Apparently, plasma was too good for me, or else they didn’t know how strong I actually was. My meat shield was all used up. I tossed his body aside and started to run faster again. It drained my strength quickly, but I was still making a point. Do not fuck with the vampire.

  I split the two groups of remaining men, and at least two from each side went down before they checked their fire. That left six more security personnel to deal with before I could try and find a way off this rock. Moving deeper into the building instead of towards the exit caught them off guard. Two men fell to quick thrust from my blade before I sent the third one flying towards the remaining three.

  They scattered, and the man I had thrown forward slammed into a wall with a sickening crunch. The man nearest to me managed to get his rifle back up and fired a shot. It hit me in the leg before I could move. Under the circumstances, it was a damn impressive bit of shooting, but I loved these pants, so he was going to pay. My fist slammed into his head so hard, the thing just exploded. I’d done something similar once by smashing two heads together but I’d never slammed my own fist into someone so hard they burst. It was messy and probably not something I’d want to do often.

  One of the remaining men turned to run, the other snapped off a quick burst of fire in my directio
n. It was easy enough to dodge out of the way before I slammed into him at full speed. This time, I threw the man up into the air, but not before taking a small grenade from his belt. He hit the roof and fell to the floor. I wasn’t sure if he was dead, but I knew he would be soon. Pulling the pin from the grenade, I tossed it behind me and started to run. There was no way that the last man was escaping.

  The blast from the grenade went off just as I made it to the front doors. Ok, so maybe it wasn’t as small of an explosive as I thought. The glass doors shattered outwards around me. My vampiric energy kept me tethered to the spot I was in so the blast wave didn’t send me tumbling forward. The man who tried to flee was down in the street and wasn’t so lucky. He flew through the air, and when he came to a stop he had a large shard of glass sticking in his leg. I needed to heal, and all that precious blood was just flowing out onto the ground. Such a waste.

  The man lifted his gun at the last second, but I batted it to the side. His armed snapped when I struck him and then I moved behind him and bit down. He had already lost a lot of blood, but he had enough to get me moving again. I snapped his neck and tossed his lifeless corpse back towards the building I had just exited. Now all I had to do was get my bearings and hustle to the space station. I wanted to be off this rock before they could land reinforcements to track me down.

  The sound of blaster fire seemed like it was coming from everywhere. The city sure looked nice enough, but had Drake really just dropped me off in the middle of some kind of war zone? An explosion shook the ground. That was close, but not close enough I had to worry yet. The real problem was that the sound of small arms fighting was getting closer, and it was coming from the direction of the closest space port. My pistols were empty, so running into a large group of armed soldiers didn’t sound like fun. If it came down to it I’d have to do something that I wasn’t good at, I would have to run away.

  Looking back into the building, I thought it was a shame that I didn’t think about taking one of the fallen security team’s weapons. It was too late for that now, the grenade I dropped had seen to that. Anything I took out of that building would be unreliable at best. At least the authorities were being kept busy by the fighting otherwise I might have already lingered here too long.

  I looked around one more time debating on if I should try and head to the secondary location. Acentua City had three major spaceports. All of them had scheduled trips off-world and private shuttles for hire. The closest one was towards the sound of fighting, the next on the list was over thirty miles away. I could get there, but there didn’t seem to be any autocars running. That meant I would have to hoof it all the way. I wouldn’t be able to use my speed for that long, which meant I was looking at least another day on this planet, maybe even two.

  Since there weren’t a lot of people out on the streets, a longer walk might draw more unwanted attention than I needed right now. It didn’t take long for me to make the decision. I’d try and skirt the battle and make my way towards the closest station. What could go wrong? My enhanced senses should give me enough of a warning to run if the fighting was drawing too close. A small burst of speed or a run up the side of a building should be enough to keep me out of the worst of it. I had no illusions about this being easy, but I had enough advantages I was confident in the outcome.

  If I jogged, I might be able to reach the station within the hour. A light jog made the distance seem to pass faster than I would have thought. Maybe it was just that I was still amped up from combat, and my first real chance for some payback. The first fifteen minutes went pretty smoothly. When the sound of the blasters got close I moved back a street or two all while pushing forward towards my destination. Then almost as if on cue I ran into a problem.

  The sound of blaster fire was growing more intense, and even though I moved away from the noise it continued to get closer. The sound of men shouting out orders reached my ears which meant they were too damn close for comfort. Something must have happened in the battle forcing it in this direction which was just my luck. Couldn’t a girl catch a break every now and then? I had no idea who was winning or what they were even fighting for. What I did know was that I didn’t want to stick around to find out.

  When I turned to put even more distance between me and the approaching fight, I found myself facing six armed men. All of them were wearing the same black and red tactical gear, marking them as part of the Martian planetary defense organization. To them I must have looked like a rebel because before I could even speak, they opened fire.

  The only thing that saved me was a quick burst of speed and a diving roll forward. Soldiers should be better trained than to just open fire on civilians. What in the hell were these guys thinking? It took them a moment to realize I wasn’t where they were aiming anymore, and they turned quickly towards me. I held up my hands in submission.

  “Seriously guys, when did you adopt a shoot first, talk later policy?”

  One man lowered his rifle from my chest and looked me over. “The way you are dressed, you couldn’t be anything but a rebel. There is a curfew in place that you are currently violating. That gives us the right to shoot first and sort it out later.”

  “Listen guys, I’m not from around here, and what kind of curfew goes into effect during the day?”

  “The kind that keeps trustworthy citizens safe,” he growled.

  “So now it’s the people trying to kill me that I’m supposed to find trustworthy. I’m starting to see why you have a problem with rebels on this planet. But if you don’t mind, I’m not with these guys.” I pointed over my shoulder at the sounds of blaster fire. “I’m just trying to get off this world before things get any more intense.”

  “Ma’am,” he glared at me, “this isn’t some kind of joke. You’re breaking the law right now. I’m going to need to see some ID. Then we can decide what to do with you.”

  A few of the men behind him snickered as he approached. They must have been feeling pretty confident, six burly men against one helpless damsel. Instead of being chivalrous and doing something that might have earned them some respect, they seemed content to play the part of the assholes. I’d had about enough of that for one day. The man that had been speaking stopped in front of me and held out his hand, expecting me to place my ID in it.

  “Sorry boys, but I really have to jet. I wish I could say it’s been nice getting to know you, but we’d both know I’d be lying.”

  When I tried to step around him the man moved into my path. The rest of his men fanned out giving them a clear line of sight to me, and they still had their weapons raised. This was going to get ugly, I could just feel it.

  “Since you’re having problems following orders, I’m going to give you one more chance to earn your way out of this mess before I tell my boys it’s ok to get in a little target practice.”

  “Tell me more.” I deadpanned with a vapid expression. The idiot must have missed the sarcasm dripping from my voice because he continued to speak.

  “I think a kiss would be sufficient payment. Depending on where you plant those lips we might even be able to forget all about this little meeting.” His voice was thick with menace.

  Trying to intimidate me was something that didn’t work. It worked even less when you were an arrogant asshole in a position of power. Protect the people my ass. If these assholes wanted violence, I would give it to them, but I was going to have a little fun first.

  I moved towards him making sure to strut just enough that I had him begging out of my hand before I even placed it on his chest. I left my hand there and pushed my body even closer to his getting right up into his personal space. His eyes burned with lust. All I felt was sick. What was with these scumbags? They should have been out protecting people not trying to force their way into my pants.

  I let my hand trail slowly down his chest towards his waist. “You want a kiss from little old me?” I breathed the words against his neck. I could smell his anticipation now. A few of his men snickered again, one of them
laughed, and a third spoke.

  “Maybe I could get one of those kisses when you’re done with him.”

  I turned my eyes towards him and smiled. “Oh, there’s going to be plenty to go around.” He smirked back at me in return. What was with men? They were so damn gullible.

  The man in front of me moved my hand over his crotch. “Maybe we get back to what we started before you worry about the rest of my men.”

  “Of course.” I murmured against his neck. I grabbed his crotch, making him gasp and then twisted making him cry out in pain. Before he could call me a bitch and throw me to the ground, I pulled him in closer and bit down on his neck. I wasn’t going to drink from this waste of space, the last thing I needed was his memories bouncing around in my head. Instead, I ripped a huge chunk of his throat out and then tossed him away. I spat out the flesh and turned to the next man with blood dripping down my face. “Still want that kiss?”

  They were in shock, which gave me the edge. None of them expected to see their commander get his throat ripped out by a lady, let alone one that pretended to be intimidated and turned on by the rough and tumble soldiers. Their confusion gave me just the edge I needed to get things moving.

  My blade was back out and found its way into two soldiers’ chests before the first gunshot rang out. The plasma bolt missed, leaving a scorch mark on the ground. I danced around the edges of their fire, killing two more men before the last one dropped to his knees and started begging for his life. I walked towards him, slowly spinning my knife around in my hand. He watched my eyes wild with fear, prayers tumbling from his lips with a rapidity that was impressive.

  I smiled down at him, and his words stumbled and came to a stop. “Whatever god you’re praying to won’t save you from me.” I wiped the bloody blade on the chest of his uniform and then moved around him and snapped his neck. His fear had almost been a delicacy. It had been refined to the point where I could taste it. Now that he was dead, the emotions and the energy they had filled me with were gone.