Star Cat Forever: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 6)

by Andrew Mackay

  “Brayn.”

  “What’s the situation with your ammo?”

  He held up his gun and tilted the grip at Meydo, who turned to Santiago with confusion.

  “Thirteen rounds, and two backups,” Brayn said.

  “Good. Stay on point with Sheck. Do not leave the Arena until further instructions.”

  Santiago covered his mouth and struggled to breathe through the smog and smoke.

  “Who’s this fool?” Meydo asked.

  Maar shoved Santiago forward, “His name is Sibald. He’s broadcasting right now.”

  “This is no place for making a movie, my friend,” Meydo said. “What’s your business here?”

  Santiago failed to arrive at a suitable answer.

  “Uh, I, er—”

  “—No, I insist he capture everything.” Maar spat.

  The mini drone fluttered around and blinked its lens at Meydo.

  “As you wish, sir.”

  Meydo turned to the remaining mercs and pointed at The Arena, “We have thirty stationed at the HQ. Reinforcements are on their way from R&D. I want each of you on point here at the dome. Shields on.”

  “Yes, sir,” they said.

  SCHWAPPP.

  Each mercenary’s left arm opened up and produced a thin, transparent material covering the lower two-thirds of their armor.

  WHOOOOOOOSH.

  Two fighter jets shot overhead, leaving a white streak of engine fuel behind hanging against the dark sky.

  Meydo and Maar looked up as the drift blew across their faces.

  “Sir, we have air units on over-watch. Metal Birds on standby.”

  Impressed, Maar looked around to see they were perfectly prepared to blast the enemy into the next dimension.

  “Good work, Meydo,” he said. “You want me at the Arena?”

  “Preferably inside it, sir.”

  Maar bopped Santiago on the back, “Hey, you.”

  “Y-Yes?”

  “You wanted an exclusive, right?”

  “Well, I—”

  “—Well,” Maar mocked him, evilly, and pointed at the entrance gates, “You got your wish, my friend. The cavalry’s here.”

  The headlights on the mack truck blazed across the closed gates a half mile in the distance.

  “Only a fool would run away and miss everything.”

  Santiago acknowledged the scent of genocide in the air and felt both knee bones turn to mush. He staggered forward and accidentally waved the mini-drone along with him.

  Maar burst out laughing and gripped the gun strap on his shoulder, “What’s the problem, Sibald? Starting to regret your involvement here?”

  The wheels on the three mega-vehicles crawled forward, producing an almighty crunching sound across the grounds.

  “No, no, I’m okay—”

  VROOOOOOM — KERRR-SMAAASSSHHHH.

  Meydo and his team ran towards The One Arena entrance and aimed their guns at the entrance gates.

  “Mr. Sheck, this is it. Get back.”

  Maar grabbed Santiago by the collar and pulled him to his face, “You capture everything, you understand me?”

  KRAAAA — BAAAAMMMMM.

  The mack truck slammed through the gates and darted across the landing strip.

  Both Maar and Santiago turned their heads to the action, and then back to each other’s faces.

  “Y-Yes, Maar,” Santiago stammered.

  “And you better make sure you get that bitch’s death on your live feed when I kill her.”

  “Y-Yes.”

  Maar rubbed the man’s hair like a little boy, “Good. Now, let’s go and watch the end of the world.”

  He pulled Santiago by the arm and pushed him over to The Arena building.

  ***

  Rana slammed on the truck’s horn as she pressed her foot to the pedal, “Hang on. Here we go.”

  Sierra held her right arm across Lydia’s chest and pushed the girl back.

  “Aggghhhhhh,” Lydia squealed as the metal railings of the compound gates raced towards the windshield.

  “Sweetie, hold the bars by your legs.”

  WHUP — WHUP.

  Lydia’s hands grasped the black bars. Her prolonged squeal turned to a choke as the truck nose-dived through the closed gates.

  Sierra pressed her left hand to the dashboard to steady herself.

  “Ohhh, shiiiiii—”

  KERRR-SMAAASSSHHHH.

  The gates burst apart.

  Jelly timed her jump perfectly. Sheets of sharp metal twirled horizontally and sliced through the truck roof as her boots lifted away just in time.

  SCHWIPP -SCHWIPP — KERAAANNNGGGG.

  Like the teeth of a can opener, the wire mesh on the gates lifted the roof up like a giant tongue lifting into the sky.

  TEAAARRRR.

  Jelly lowered her arms and somersaulted twenty feet in the air as the roof of the mack truck twisted away and slammed to the ground. The length of the roof formed a ramp from the outer grounds and up to the wall by the busted gates.

  WHAMMMM.

  Jelly crashed inside the back of the truck and elbowed the explosive crates.

  “Whoa,” she kicked herself back and held her left hand, hoping they wouldn’t explode, “Easy, easy.”

  Amelia slammed the gas in her vehicle and watched the back-end of the truck roll past the airstrip.

  “Whoa, would you look at that?”

  Amelia, Roman, and Remy watched Jelly tumble in the air and land inside the back of the roofless truck.

  “Wow,” Remy marveled at the event unfurling in front of his very eyes, “That’s amaziant.”

  Roman wrapped his free arm around the boy’s waist and pulled him to his feet.

  “Hang on.”

  The gray van bolted past the ramp-roof and through the clear, busted entrance created seconds ago by the mack truck.

  “Good work, Rana,” Amelia shouted into her mouthpiece.

  “Thanks, sweetie,” came the response.

  “How’s Anderson?”

  “I think she took a bit of a hammering,” Sierra interjected. “She landed in the truck. I think she’s okay—” she hurried, her voice diving into an intense high-pitch squeal, “Your nine o-clock. Nine o’clock.”

  Amelia, Roman, and Remy looked out of the left-hand window and saw three mega-vehicles and countless mercenaries march towards them.

  “Christ,” Amelia quipped with concern, “What’s the plan? Where do we go?”

  Sierra unfastened her safety belt as the truck bolted across the airstrip. Her eyes settled on the scaffolding in the distance, “What the hell is that?”

  “Whatever it is, I think it’s important to USARIC,” Rana said. “You want us to stop or keep going?”

  “They’ve got a goddamn army out there.”

  “Well, duh,” Rana spat with sarcasm, “They are the military, after all.”

  ROAAARRRRR.

  Rana glanced over her shoulder and heard Jelly’s disdain thunder through the truck, “Jelly?”

  Sierra looked through the side window and saw the USARIC HQ building whiz past them. The mercenaries got into position and opened fire on the left side of the truck.

  BLAM — BLAM — BLAM.

  “Christ, get down,” Sierra grabbed Lydia and pressed her head down to the seat. Bobbie went down with her and meowed.

  Sierra covered Lydia and Bobbie, “Stay down—”

  THRAAAA-AT — PANG — P-PANG — PANG.

  The bullets whizzed at the truck, busting a series of bullets holes into the chassis.

  GRUNT.

  Sierra lifted her head up and looked at the compartment behind the seat, “What the—?”

  SMAASSSHHH.

  A giant, Titanium covered fist blasted through the seats, narrowly avoiding Sierra’s head.

  “Jesus,”

  TWIZZZ — KLATCH.

  A huge infinity claw on the end of a furry index finger pointed dead ahead. Jelly’s impossibly low-pitched grunt funneled in
to the driver’s area.

  “Keep driving.”

  “Where, Jelly?”

  “There.”

  Rana tilted the steering wheel to the left and headed straight for Space Opera Delta.

  “What do you mean, girl? You mean the spacecraft?”

  “Yeah.”

  WHUPP.

  The giant, furry fist disappeared through the hole, “Do it.”

  WHUMP — SCREEEEEEEEECHHHHH-CCHHH.

  All eighteen truck tires locked and burned across the ground. The vehicle rolled to a stop one hundred meters away from the half-constructed spacecraft.

  Sierra booted the side door open and gripped Lydia’s shoulders, “Honey, look at me.”

  The girl nodded, utterly afraid for her life.

  “Stay here and hide in the foot well, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Bobbie clawed at the girl’s jacket and jumped onto the dashboard.

  “Meoowwwwww.”

  She shrieked as she lifted her right paw toward the Gulf behind Space Opera Delta.

  “It’s going to get loud and nasty outside. You’re safe in here. If it gets too much just cover your ears and close your eyes.”

  Bobbie hopped out of the truck and hit the ground in a state of apoplexy.

  “Mwaaaaarrr—”

  “—Bobbie, no,” Lydia yelled after the cat as it bolted towards the Space Opera Delta’s base.

  “Christ. Just stay here and get down,” Sierra barked at Lydia, who immediately did as instructed.

  Sierra’s boots hit the tarmac.

  She gripped her gun and waved the oncoming gray van over to the side.

  Amelia hit the brakes and rolled to the side of the mack truck.

  “Sierra?” Rana’s voice came through the headgear, “What do you want me to do?”

  “Stay with Lydia and the truck until you hear otherwise. Do you still have your strap?”

  “Yeah. In the glove compartment.”

  “You may need to use it,” Sierra said as she watched Bobbie disappear behind the spacecraft.

  Amelia, Remy, and Roman hopped out of the gray van with their firearms.

  “Where is she?” Roman asked. “Those bastards are about to smother us.”

  The truck shuffled around.

  Everyone averted their eyes to the left side of the truck.

  CLING — CLANG — CLANG — CLANG.

  Four six-foot long infinity claws wrapped, one by one, over the sides.

  “Holy hell,” Roman gasped.

  WREEENNNCCCHHHH.

  Slowly, Jelly pushed herself up from behind the wall.

  Sierra, Remy, Roman, and Lydia’s heads tilted toward the sky as they absorbed Jelly Anderson’s incredible enormity.

  At least thirty-foot in height.

  GROOOAAANNNN.

  The floor of the truck whelped in a bizarre metallic voice as it bent towards the ground due to the cat’s weight.

  Sierra pointed at the ground, “Jelly, the tires.”

  “Oh. Yeah.”

  WHUMP — STOMP.

  She stepped out of the truck, much to the sheer relief of the rubber cylinders keeping the truck in action.

  “Sorry about that,” she grunted.

  Something disturbed the Star Cat, and it wasn’t the approaching USARIC mercenaries storming towards them from the other side of Space Opera Delta.

  She focused her eyes on the spacecraft and wiggled her nose with anger.

  ROOOOOOOAAAARRRRRR.

  “What’s wrong, girl?” Remy asked.

  He didn’t get an answer - at least, not a verbal one.

  STOMP — STOMP — STOMP.

  Jelly marched towards Space Opera Delta with great anger, inadvertently cracking the ground apart with every step she took.

  Remy, Roman, Sierra, Amelia raced behind Jelly as she clenched her left fist and raised it beside her helmet.

  Roman blinked hard as he saw the size of Jelly’s legs. The crew were head-height to her knees.

  A God-like monstrosity of rage and venom.

  He snapped out of his awe and held the others back, “No. Wait. It’s not safe.”

  GRUNT.

  Jelly sniffed around the cylinder.

  The word “DELTA” warbled across her visor, along with the white, ceramic surface it was written on.

  GRRRRRRR.

  Jelly’s tail whipped around as her left elbow shuffled back.

  “Oh no, she’s going to—” Sierra screamed. “—Get back, get back—”

  “Agggghhhhhhh—”

  WHUMP — THERRWAACCKKK.

  Jelly’s left fist punched through the side of the spacecraft.

  KERRACCCKK.

  She stabbed the end of her mini-gun on her right hand into vessel and used it to wrench her left fist out through the chasm.

  GRRRRRRRR.

  Jelly punched the spacecraft once again. Her fist darted into the hole, forcing more of her heavy armor through the crack, splitting the ceramic out and devastating the structure.

  The ship threatened to tilt forward and break free from the scaffolding.

  CLUTCH.

  She gripped something hard within the ship, forcing it back. She held it steady, shifted her right boot back and lifted her other boot up.

  WHUMP — WHUMP — THRAACCKKK.

  She kicked the side of the spacecraft three times.

  The first kick dented the name on the side.

  The second shattered the panel, revealing the mechanism inside.

  The third kick shattered the structure in all directions.

  “Aarrgghhhhhhhh,” Jelly squealed as her left, armored arm crunched up through the structure.

  KERRRRRAAANNNGGG.

  Despite being a third of Space Opera Delta’s height, she wrapped her arms around its diameter and wrestled it away from its scaffolding.

  “Ngggggg.”

  The metal bolts bulleted out from the ground.

  CHOMP — CHOMP.

  She opened her mouth and bit into its side, chewing through the structure.

  CRUNK — SCHTUNT.

  The top of the cone crunched onto itself, pushing its top half down through what little remained of its base.

  Sierra fell to her knees and failed to process the sight of a giant, bulletproof tiger destroying the spacecraft.

  “Oh my God.”

  Remy, Amelia, and Roman could barely believe their own eyes.

  An intense shaft of light lit up Jelly’s armored shoulders.

  The wind picked up across the ground, blowing Sierra’s hair across her face.

  WHUDDA — WHUDDA — WHUDDA.

  A USARIC helicopter drifted dangerously close to Jelly’s shoulders and aimed both its canons at the back of her head.

  She caught the Opera Delta’s cone in her mouth and turned her face into the path of the helicopter’s blinding lamps.

  “We will open fire on you,” the helicopter said. “Step back from the spacecraft and place your knees on the ground.”

  Jelly spat the cone in its direction, forcing it to bank to the left and avoid a collision.

  “This is your final warning,” the helicopter screamed. “Get on your knees and surrender.”

  Jelly’s unfathomably loud grunt whirled into the sky, “Never.”

  The helicopter tilted forward and spun its canons, “Open fire.”

  THRAAAATTTT-A-TAT.

  The canons lit up and sprayed a torrent of bullets up the back of Jelly’s armor. Each one sparked and exploded like a glorious firework display.

  Remy pulled Roman back, “Get away. Run.”

  “Get out of here.”

  Roman ran with the boy away from Jelly as the bullets pummeled her armor.

  Shell casings rained down on Amelia and Sierra as they backed up and held their hands over their brows.

  BANG — BANG — BANG.

  Bullets whizzed out from either side of Jelly’s legs.

  “They’re coming, they’re coming,” Sierra barked into h
er headgear, “Get back to the van.”

  Amelia raced at full speed in front of Sierra.

  “Come on,” she said as she raised her machine gun and returned fire at the approaching horde of USARIC mercenaries.

  “Eat lead, you bastards,” Amelia screamed as she fired at the dozens of armed mercenaries firing back at her.

  “Don’t stop, keep running,” Sierra said as she ran past Amelia.

  “No!”

  Roman swung his gun around and lifted the chain of bullets across his right arm.

  “Yaaarrrgghhhh—”

  BLAM-BLAM-BLAM.

  Roman unleashed thousands of bullets at the mercenaries. One by one, they dropped to their knees as the bullets pulverized their chests.

  “Die, die, die.”

  Roman pushed Remy behind him as he took several steps back and continued to spend his ammunition.

  Sierra joined Roman and shot at the bad guys, “Get to the van.”

  The helicopter drifted towards Jelly’s face and opened fire on her shoulders. The bullets spat in all directions, most of which bounced off her armor.

  GRRROOOOWWWWWLLLL.

  She looked down saw what looked like tiny ants funnel past her feet.

  GRUNT.

  She lifted her leg and stomped on as many as she could.

  SQUISH — SPLATT — CRUNCH.

  Chira, the mercenary stationed at the HQ Building, pushed through the crowd and tilted her head up at where Space Opera Delta once stood.

  A giant, enraged Jelly Anderson smacked the scaffolding away and continued to stomp on his team.

  THRAAAAAAA-TAT-A-TATAAA-TAT.

  The helicopter twirled around, unleashing a rope of beautiful orange streaks. Some of them rifled up Jelly’s armor, and some missed, blasting across the ground.

  Five mercenaries got caught in the crossfire and hit the ground, dead.

  “Jesus,” Chira clocked many of her colleagues splattered all over the ground, “Goddamn it,” she shrieked into her visor, “Everyone, get back.”

  Jelly’s giant boot lifted over the heads of three mercenaries shooting up at her.

  SCHTOMP — SPLATTT.

  “Get back.”

  A bloodied sea of dead mercenaries littered the grounds.

  Those who remained alive ran backwards, continuing to fire at the unholy monstrosity sweeping the bodies on the ground along with her boot.

  GROWL.

  She swung her right-handed mini-gun at the crowd of mercs and yanked on the trigger.