It was gone.
The pain in her shoulder and arm was immense, and it radiated out in burning waves that brought spots to her vision every time the wave peaked. I need to get this shoulder back in and finish this.
You know what to do, Meredith told her gently.
Nickie glanced at the monster, who was tearing up the rock around the crevice. They were firing to keep it back, but just like the suboptimal ammo she was carrying in her Jean Dukes, it had little to no effect.
Ready?
No, Nickie retorted. She clenched her teeth and looked for a useable protrusion in the rock. She settled on one and walked over. Count for me, Mere.
Of course. One… Two… Thr—
Nickie slammed her dislocated shoulder into the rock and her scream pierced the cavern, bringing the monster’s attention back to her. The cavern swam in her vision, fading almost to black and back again as her body fought the shock.
She screamed again, this time in rage as the monster swept around and charged her. She fished her drones out of her belt and flung them at the monster. They’ll work, right? They’ve got to be better than the ammo in my JD, no matter how fast it can fire a projectile.
We will see. The drones can be directed with precision. A bullet cannot change trajectory mid-flight, Meredith replied. What do you want from them?
We need to take it down. Go for the legs.
Meredith sent the drones at the monster. It batted at the tiny spheres but missed, and then missed again when they whipped around and shot through its lower leg.
The monster finally reacted. It collapsed with a roar and Nickie dropped to her knees too, finally overwhelmed by the pain from her injuries. She spotted her Jean Dukes on the cavern floor, and a fresh wave of pain wracked her as she reached for the weapon and picked it up.
The monster dragged itself to shaky feet and hobbled toward her, infuriated by Meredith’s constant bombardment with the drones but determined to end Nickie’s existence.
John crept from the safety of the rocks and ran at the monster with his weapons drawn.
What the hell does he think he’s going to do against it that I haven’t already?
Men are like that, Meredith replied. They get a little stupid when they fall for someone.
Nickie groaned and dragged herself to her feet once again. Not you, too. How about you all give me a break? This is not the time or place.
Her natural healing ability had knitted her ribs, and she could almost make a fist again. Almost. She holstered her JD Special, having a much better idea instead. Looks like I’m almost good to tag back in. Where are my drones?
Awaiting instruction.
Good. Seeing as my ammo isn’t good enough, I’m going to have to improvise. Concentrate the passes on its right arm. This fucker has annoyed me enough.
What’s the plan?
I’m going to tear its arm off and beat it to death with the soggy end.
That’s…creative.
Well, it was one of Aunt Bethany Anne’s favorite threats when I was a kid. I always wondered if it could be done.
Let’s find out then, shall we?
Nickie strode toward the beast on legs which threatened to betray her. John was having a battle all of his own. He dodged and jabbed at the monster with his sword.
Of course, he brought a sword. A fucking sword, Meredith!
I believe it is a ceremonial item. Look, he has his pistol as well.
Fat lot of good that’s going to do him. Small wonder no one comes back from this place. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “Get out of the way, dumbass! You’re blocking my drones.”
The distraction almost cost John his life.
The monster swung an arm while John’s attention was on Nickie and knocked him to the floor in a spray of teeth and blood which coated the inside of his faceplate.
“Fuck!” Nickie ran over to John’s side.
Meredith, the drones!
She knelt to remove John’s hood and check his pulse. It was still strong, so he was okay for now. She quickly wiped the blood away before she replaced his hood. The thought crossed her mind that he might not have made it, and an unwelcome twinge plucked at her insides. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she murmured as she quickly pulled his unconscious form into the cover of the rocks.
Meredith sent the drones zipping in formation at the monster’s arm. It screeched as they tore straight through its body and out of the other side. The arm flopped uselessly at the monster’s side as the drones separated it roughly at the shoulder joint.
Nickie smiled coldly as the monster flailed. Now she had a weak spot she could use to her advantage. She could say whatever she liked about her grandfather, but he had taught her well. Not that she was grateful or anything; she still hated him for every minute he’d taken from her in the name of training.
Nickie made her calculation and launched herself from John’s side, leaping at the monster. She latched on to the injured arm and twisted as she landed with her feet in the armpit. She dug in with her feet and pulled on the arm in a move worthy of her Aunt Tabitha at her most unthinking.
The arm came free with a dry pop and Nickie fell back with the arm on top of her. She scrambled to her feet and avoided the monster’s thrashing feet, using her dodge to wind up and swing for the monster’s head with her improvised club. She felt her almost-healed arm break again but she was beyond caring.
The monster didn’t know what had hit it. Its head snapped back and slammed against the wall, dazing it.
Nickie pushed through the burning in her muscles and the white-hot bolts of pain shooting up her rebroken arm and swung the monster’s arm again and again.
The arm shattered on the seventh blow, but by then she didn’t need to keep going anyway. The monster lay completely unmoving on the cavern floor, defeated. She bent over and rested her weight on her good arm while she got her breath and forced down the nausea from the pain as her arm knitted again.
John made his way out from behind the rocks and came to sit beside her. “My hero.”
Nickie grinned. She undid her faceplate and gingerly explored the area around her busted eye with a fingertip. “You helped.”
They leaned back against the rock and breathed through the relief of surviving the battle. Adelaide and Keen emerged from their hiding place, followed by Grim, who bitched at Keen as they made their way over to Nickie and John. “You blocked my view the entire time, I didn’t see any of the fight!”
The three of them helped Nickie and John to their feet, and they headed into the next set of tunnels.
Grim paused by the rocky corpse and sighed. “No one ever saves any of the action for me.” He prodded the nose of the inert beast with a foot and hopped back half a step when the head shifted.
Grim took another step back when the monster’s eye opened and fixed him with an enraged stare. He backpedaled and ran after the others before they disappeared into the narrow tunnel without him.
Chapter 17
Nickie
Nickie and John supported each other as the group limped deeper into the tunnel system. The incline in this section was much sharper, leading them ever closer to the center of the volcano.
They lagged a little way behind Keen and Adelaide, and Grim was out in front of them all since he was embarrassed about haring past them when the monster woke up.
“I can’t believe what a beating that thing took and lived,” Nickie marveled. She rubbed her ribs, which were getting less sore by the minute. She was bone-tired, though, as her nanocytes worked at their usual capacity to heal her injuries.
“How’s the arm? Three breaks is a lot for one day.” John slurred a little as he spoke. He was in a slightly more difficult situation than Nickie since the blow he’d taken from the monster had cracked his cheekbone and he didn’t have nanocytes rapidly repairing him.
Nickie regarded the multicolored bruise gracing his face. “My arm will be fine in a few hours. What about your face? You
’re gonna need some Pod-doc time to get that looking pretty again.”
“You think I’m pretty?” John teased.
Nickie arched an eyebrow. “I think you were a total dumbass going after that rock beast with a fucking sword.”
“Hey, don’t mock the decades-old traditions of my ancestors.” John winced as he grinned at his joke without thinking. “Ow, that shit hurts. But you’re welcome.”
Nickie bumped him with her good shoulder. “I was getting to that part. Thank you for distracting it while I set my shoulder.”
John shook his head. “I still can’t believe you put it back in that way. That took guts.”
Nickie nodded. “I know it did. If I’d hit it wrong my shoulder would have been completely fucked. This is not my first rodeo, Prince P… John.”
That brought another wince from the prince. He bent over and clutched his ribs as he shook with laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Nickie demanded.
John waved his free hand. “Nothing. It’s just, that’s the first nice thing you’ve said to me since we met and you still almost insulted me.”
Nickie? Sorry to interrupt.
Then don’t.
Nice to see you’ve got your snark back. I’ve been taking seismic readings while you were off playing with rocks, and I have concluded that there will be an eruption within the next few hours.
That soon? We’d better get our asses in gear then before we get a nasty surprise.
Actually, I recommend that you turn back now. It’s not safe.
What? But we’re almost there! Aren’t we?
You’re not close enough to procure the plant and make it back to the foot of the volcano before it erupts. It would be wise to leave as soon as possible.
Hang on, I need to discuss this with the others.
She called a halt and gathered everyone in. “Meredith has told me that the volcano is going to erupt within the next few hours. She’s recommending that we turn back now while we have time to make it to the surface. I’m happy to go on, but I’m not making that decision for the rest of you.”
John straightened up. “I’m not going back. I have to get the plant to heal my father. I’ve come this far, and I’m not giving up when we’re so close.”
Keen’s face reddened. “Did you not hear what Nickie just said? We should turn back before we get caught in the eruption.”
John threw up his hands in frustration. “I won’t turn back. You can all leave without me if you want, but I won’t fail. It’s not far now. We’re near the center. I know it.”
Keen clenched his fists. “That’s the thing. You don’t know it. All we’ve had to guide us is rumor and fable, and we’ve pushed our luck far enough. It’s time to leave before it’s too late and we can’t leave.”
John started forward. “Leave if you want to, but why did you insist on coming if you were just going to back out at the last minute?”
Keen got in John’s face. “Maybe if I’d known what we were up against I would have thought twice about joining you.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you’re just not cut out for this kind of thing. Maybe you should have just stayed home. Then we’d be in there getting the plant to save my father instead of standing here arguing about it with you!”
Adelaide was almost in tears. “Please don’t argue! We need to stick together.”
Grim got between the two men and pushed them apart. “This isn’t the time to fall apart. We will decide the best course of action as a group.”
John stamped his foot and pointed down the tunnel. “It’s. Right. Down. There! How much simpler can it be? We’re wasting time, and we need to move.”
Nickie held up a finger. “One minute.” Meredith, how close are we to our goal?
John is almost correct. My scans indicate a large chamber at the end of this tunnel. It is likely the one that contains the plant you are searching for.
She turned her attention back to the others. “Meredith says there’s a chamber at the end of this tunnel. I think we should split up. John and I will retrieve the plant, you three make your way back to the ship.”
Grim interrupted, “You want us to leave without you? I don’t like that as a plan.”
It may be a problem, Meredith agreed. The magma levels have begun to rise, and the zip line will not be there when you return.
Nickie relayed the information to the others. “So you don’t need to worry about making the crossing.”
Grim’s concern deepened. “But we will also need to find an alternative way out. It’s better if we stick together.”
“Fuck it all, you’re right.” Nickie looked at Adelaide and Keen. “What’s it going to be? Will you see this through?”
They exchanged a glance, and Adelaide squared her shoulders determinedly. “I’m in.”
Keen sighed wearily. “I suppose I am, too.”
Nickie turned to Grim. “What about you, Grim?”
Grim opened his arms wide and made a little bow. “I but follow wherever you lead.” He straightened and set off walking. “Just be sure to lead us out, okay?”
Nickie grinned. “Well, shit. Looks like we’re doing this.”
The tension increased incrementally with the temperature as they got ever closer to the center of the volcano. The tunnel was littered with fallen rocks, forcing them to walk single-file and work their way around the piles as they went.
Nickie hung back a little while she and Meredith plotted their route out. The others pressed on with the ever-present rumble of the impending eruption growing louder in their ears the farther along the tunnel they progressed.
John led them at a brisk pace, his desire to get to the chamber overwhelming the need for safety.
Grim and Adelaide picked their way along in his wake, chatting as they clambered over and around the rockfalls.
Grim caught Adelaide when she slipped on a patch of lichen. He helped her right herself and spotted the ashen cast to her face. “Hey, are you okay?”
Adelaide nodded and carried on down the tunnel. “Thanks, I’m fine. A little scared still, is all. I figure that the center is the most dangerous place to be, and we’re heading right for it.”
Grim nodded. “I get that. It can be difficult to face your fears, but sometimes we have to face the thing we fear the most to escape the prison we allowed it to create for us.”
Adelaide gazed at Grim in full awe. “How did you get so wise, Grim?”
Grim sniggered. “I don’t know about that. You just have to learn from your experiences.”
Adelaide looked thoughtful. “Then you must have had a lot of experiences.”
John called from up ahead. “I can see the end of the tunnel. We made it!”
They caught up with him, and they entered the chamber as a group. The tunnel opened up onto a wide, sloping plateau that ended in a drop-off at an aperture a short distance away. The chasm looked to stretch all the way around the chamber, although much of it was obscured from their position by huge rockpiles and odd-looking magma sculptures.
“We need to get to the other side,” John told them. He fished a pair of binoculars from his pack. “I’m going to look for a way across.”
“Good idea,” Nickie agreed. “We should all look. This place is huge, and time is short. Split up for now, but don’t go too far. Everyone meet back here in ten minutes.”
Keen and Adelaide went one way, Grim went another.
Nickie scanned the chamber around her but she didn’t see any plants, just solidified magma and steam rising up out of the ground everywhere she looked. “Looks like this place has seen some serious activity.” She walked over to where John stood peering over the edge of the precipice at the magma below through his binoculars.
He turned his head to look at Nickie, his face glistening with sweat in the dull glow of the magma. “It’s rising,” he informed her.
Nickie chose a spot on the opposite wall just above the lava-line and kept her eyes on it. A couple of minutes later
the spot was overtaken by the magma. “I can see that.” She strained her eyes to try and make out what was on the other side. The ground rose in hissing mounds where the pressure from below had forced it up in tiny versions of the mountain. The natural vents hissed continuously, superheating the air inside the chamber. “That looks like vegetation over there,” she told John, pointing out one of the dark patches. “Are any of those your plant?”
John trained his binoculars on the vents. “I think… Yes, I can see it! We just need to get over there.”
“Here, let me see.” Nickie held out her hand, and John passed her the binoculars. She used them to scan the edge of the aperture and saw Grim waving at her from his position on top of a jutting outcrop. She turned to John. “Go and get Adelaide and Keen. It looks like Grim’s found us a place to cross.”
Nickie made her way to Grim over the treacherous ground and looked across the aperture. The outcrop extended almost to the center of the chasm, where it broke off and then resumed from the other side. “It almost looks like a bridge.”
Grim tilted his head as he examined the narrow bridge. “I think it looks like two fingertips almost touching.”
Nickie grinned. “You romantic bastard. Come on, let’s get across.”
Nickie, that promontory will not hold Grim. It is extremely porous.
“Oh.” She grabbed Grim by the arm before he could take a step onto the crumbling bridge. “Meredith says it won’t hold your weight. Sorry, dude, you’re benched for this one.”
Grim huffed. “If I keep getting left out, then I don’t know if I’ll bother coming along on the next mission.”
Nickie shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll get some action, just not now.” She indicated the slowly creeping magma below. “Unless you really want a lava bath?”
Nickie was cut off when the background rumble suddenly increased to a roar, and the ground rippled beneath their feet and threw her off-balance. She pitched forward into the nearest rockpile. Without a thought, she put out the arm she’d broken earlier to save herself. It buckled, and she slammed into the rock face-first with a scream of agony as the bone in her arm parted yet again. “Fuck!”
Deuces Wild Boxed Set Page 58
