Grrrrr.
Jelly kept him pinned against the wall and licked her lips. The back of Jaycee’s busted head remained daggered into the wall. She pulled him forward a few inches. As his head slumped, the wires and bolts in the back of his head roped out from the wall and fell to the floor.
“Juh-juh—” he tried a final time.
“—Ngggggg,” Jelly struggled to speak. Her attempts to communicate came out as a series of grunts and growls, “I-I,” she whelped in anger, “K-Kill. Y-You k-kill—”
She gave up any attempt to explain her merciless actions and eyed Jaycee’s neck. If she sunk her fangs in, they’d take his head off and - hopefully - extract his battery, which would serve as a dessert.
GROOOOOOOWWWWLL.
She revealed her sharp tiger teeth.
***
Alex peered through the control deck door window and saw Jelly attacking the helpless, battered Jaycee.
“Jesus Christ,” he shouted. “She’s going to kill him.”
Furie and White ran out from under the flight deck and lifted their heads. They caught sight of Manny shuffling in the air and decided to attack her.
“Get those damn kittens away from me,” Manny tightened her book covers and darted up to the ceiling, “They’re a nuisance.”
“Manny,” Alex said. “This isn’t funny. Something has seriously got into Jelly. She’s—”
He turned around to see the holographic book hovering away from the two kittens. They leapt into the air and swiped at her.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked.
“They’re trying to attack me.”
“You’re a holograph, you idiot. They can’t even touch you.”
“Meow,” Furie jumped onto the second flight deck chair and poised to launch at the book floating several feet above her.
“Furie. No,” Alex shouted at the kitten. “Bad cat.”
“Hissssss.”
Furie climbed down and trundled over to the control deck door.
White followed behind her.
Manny’s book covers shuddered. Satisfied that the kittens had lost interest in her, she floated down to Alex’s head height, “There’s been an explosion outside. The airlock has suffered severe damage.”
“I can see that,” Alex turned to the window in the door and witnessed Jelly kicking Jaycee’s face into the wall, “My God. What on Earth has gotten into her?”
“I don’t think we can trust that stupid cat. I knew it all along, she’s nothing but a liability,” Manny offered.
“No, no,” Alex muttered as he watched on. “He must have done something. Anderson would never attack one of her crew or friends unless they did something real bad.”
“How can you be so sure, Hughes?” Manny folded her covers together in a huff and grew suspicious, “Are you an authority of Miss Anderson, all of a sudden?”
Alex swallowed and turned to Manny with a look of disdain. Deep down inside, he knew that Charlie’s autopilot had no idea who he really was.
“Well?” Manny asked.
“Don’t ask me that question.”
“I’m beginning to think you’re not a genuine member of USARIC, Hughes. Helping Beta escape from Oxade and Nutrene. All this emotional connection with Jelly Anderson. Don’t think I didn’t see the minutiae in your face muscles when you took it upon yourself to discharge Tripp via the console chair.”
“Shut up.”
“Who are you, Alex Hughes?”
He placed his palm in front of the panel on the wall and threatened to open the door, “I’m the one you should have queried harder, Manny.”
“And those people you connected with via the IMS? Who were they?”
Alex ignored the question and pressed the panel on the wall, “I need to go and pull them apart before they kill each other.”
“All this, and you’re now telling me you’d rather risk infection than give me a simple, straight answer to my question?”
Manny noticed a bead of sweat form across Alex’s brow. She wasn’t about to relent and let him off lightly.
“If it turns out you’re a traitor, Hughes, I shall have to revoke your license for this vessel. And report back to USARIC, forthwith.”
Alex thought about his response. He could tell her the truth, but Jaycee needed rescuing. Perhaps he could stop her from smashing him to pieces, at least.
The truth could wait.
“M-Manny?” Alex tried.
“I see your heart rate is climbing,” Manny said.
She spotted a single bead of sweat rolling down his cheek.
“Your body temperature is climbing, Alex. Are you feeling anxious? Like you’re about to faint?”
“Manny?”
“Yes, Alex Hughes?”
“Do me a favor and switch yourself off, you useless piece of crap.”
Alex palmed the panel and opened the door, forgetting that the kittens had been scratching at it.
BOLT.
“Meow,” Furie led the charge and barreled down the walkway towards her mother, “Meeeeoooowwww.”
White ran up beside her sister and shrieked.
Alex stormed after them and hollered down the walkway, “Jelly. Stop.”
Jelly lifted her head back and opened her mouth, showing Jaycee her fangs.
“Jelly, no. Don’t do it—”
“—Hughes?” Manny’s voice flew down the walkway from the opened control deck door, “Get back, now.”
“No,” Alex ran backwards and flipped Manny the bird, “Close the door, keep the kittens safe—”
“—No, no, it’s not that. There’s something trying to get on board.”
“Huh?” Alex spun around and continued running up the walkway.
The two kittens shot out in front of his legs and careened towards their mother.
Jelly’s mouth drooled with saliva as she prepared to take a bite out of Jaycee.
“Jelly, no,” Alex screamed again. “Don’t kill him—”
Jelly faced the walkway to discover Alex and her two daughters storming towards her, “Huh?”
She released her infinity claws and let go of Jaycee’s suit.
“What are you d-doing?” she grunted. “My babies.”
Alex waved his arms in haste, “Jelly, get away from the airlock, there’s—”
KERRR-RAAACCCCCKK…
Alex skidded on his heels as he watched the walls around the airlock burst into the walkway, “Oh, shi—”
KEERRASSSSSSHHHHHHH.
A giant, furry foot crunched through the walls and stepped into the walkway outside what was once a full-functioning airlock.
A whirlwind of pained howls swept inside as it made its way into the ship.
“Meow,” Furie extended her claws and skidded along the ground.
“Honey,” Jelly scooped Furie up in her arms, “Come to mommy.”
White continued to run and zoomed right past them, “Miew.”
SCHTOMP-SCHTOMP-SCHTAMMMM.
Alex’s chest heaved in and out. He couldn’t believe what he saw.
A ten foot wolf with huge paws crashed into the walkway. The top half of his body chewed through the ceiling and pulverized the walls.
“Muhhhh—shta—zeee—taaaaaaah,” it roared and thumped its front paws to the ground.
“Meow,” White couldn’t stop running. She slammed her paws into the ground to prevent herself from racing into the creature’s vicinity.
“Oh no. No, no no,” Jelly wailed as she watched her White zoom into Mastazita’s path.
BOP.
“Miew,” White slid onto her side and knocked Mastazita’s hind paw.
“My b-baby”, Jelly huffed.
Jaycee’s body toppled and hit the ground. Half-alive, half-disconnected, his limbs slapped around in a confusion of instructions.
“Grrrrrrr,” Mastazita felt the tiny ball of white fluff make a fuss at his feet.
“Miew,” White squealed as Mastazita’s shadow formed over her cute face.<
br />
“No, no, no,” Jelly widened her eyes, “Baby girl, run.”
White looked at her mother. Furie stretched her paws out from within Jelly’s arms and tried to reach for her sister.
It was no use.
GRUNT-SHIFF.
Mastazita crouched down and opened out his paw for White.
“Oh, God. No,” Alex backed up and felt around his belt, but remembered he had no firearms, “No, White. Don’t go near it. Run.”
Jelly clutched Furie against her chest and yelled at White, once again, “Honey, run. Run.”
White tilted her head up at Mastazita, scared out of her mind.
“Miew.”
“Heh,” he grunted, offering White onto his upturned palm. She didn’t want to climb on, which angered the beast to no end.
“Grrrrrrrr.”
“No, d-don’t,” Jelly screamed. “Hey, you. Leave my baby alone.”
Mastazita looked up at Jelly and let out a bizarre bark-cum-howl at her. The strength of the scream pushed the fur back against her face.
GUG-GUG-GUGGHUUG.
A horrid snore flew out from his throat as he lifted his paw above White’s head.
“Noooo—”
SWIPE.
Mastazita scooped White into his paw and lifted her up to his furry chest.
“Miew.”
His relatively huge nostrils lowered over her head and rumbled like two, ugly ventilation shafts.
“Heh,” he grunted and sniffed. A familiar stench that ground inside the pit of his stomach.
The stench of a killer - an unmistakable reminder of what someone or something had done to one of his own outside the ship.
Jelly had no choice but to watch the monster hold her daughter at arm’s length in his paw.
ROOOWAAAAAARRR.
The claws on his left paw wrapped around White’s body as he held her in front of his face.
Jelly’s eyes grew, “Grrrrrr.” Her heart raced a mile-a-minute, quickening her breathing.
Slowly, his right paw moved over White’s head.
“No, no,” Jelly whined. “Let go of her.”
Alex took a few steps back and held his breath, “Dear God, no.”
GRUNT.
White squealed and struggled to set herself free. The claw cages around her body were impossible to move. She kicked her legs and squealed at her mother.
Jelly screamed at the top of her lungs, “Let go of my daughter—”
White’s head twisted around one-hundred-and-eighty degrees.
CRICK-CLUTCH.
Her neck snapped, killing her instantly.
Mastazita lifted Jelly’s murdered daughter up in his left paw for all to see.
Jelly fell to her knees and felt her soul melt across the ground. Her back arched down, “Noo.”
WHUMP.
White’s body slapped to the floor, several feet in front of her mother, and right next to Mastazita’s hind leg.
GROOOWWWWWWLLL.
Alex froze on the spot, sure that one of the giants in front of him would turn around and attack.
“Oh, Jeeeeeeesus Christ, no.”
He stepped back to the opened control deck door and chose not to utter a single word.
Mastazita grunted and took a step back, crunching the ground as he moved.
Jelly inadvertently released Furie from her clutches. The kitten lifted her head and stared at the ugly behemoth.
She didn’t meow or express any anger, only sorrow and pity.
Alex cleared his throat and called out at Furie, “Hey, girl. Come here. Now.”
“Miew,” Furie tore her eyes away from Mastazita and stormed up the walkway.
“Get in, quick. You’re safe with me—”
GROOOOOOWWWWWWWL.
Mastazita took a final step back. His foot crashed through the remains of the airlock.
SCHLUMP.
He dug his hind paw into the muddied ground and decided enough was enough. Just as he was about to turn around and walk away, Jelly lifted her head.
Her chest ballooned in and out. She clenched her infinity claws as tight as she could and wailed from the pit of her stomach.
Tears flew from her eyes as she shook her head, trying to shake the anger away from the deepest, darkest recesses of her very being.
“AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH.”
She stood to her feet and held her arms out by her sides. Her infinity claws expanded in all directions. She took a deep intake of air and roared at Mastazita, the killer of her baby.
“I’M GOING TO TEAR YOUR HEART OUT, YOU SON OF A BITCH!”
Mastazita snorted and punched his paws together, “Heh.”
Biddum-biddum-biddum.
Jelly’s breathing quickened as fast as her heart. Her face pushed forward, along with her jawline and skull.
GROWL—SNARL.
Mastazita turned around and climbed over the shattered wall by Opera Charlie’s airlock and stormed across the rocky terrain.
“AARRRGGHH,” Jelly’s voice crumbled in her chest and turned into a fiery fit of tiger rage. She turned over her shoulder and made deathly eyes at Alex.
“Protect,” she lifted one of her claws at Furie. “Protect.”
Alex nodded, eager to keep hold of his life, “Sure, sure. Go get ‘em, girl.”
ROOOAAAAARRRRRR.
Jelly turned around and bolted through the airlock, and after Mastazita.
Alex lifted Furie into his arms, “Mommy’s really pissed.”
The kitten shivered in Alex’s arms as he walked along the bloodied, broken walkway. He looked at Jaycee’s body and toed his arm, expecting some sign of life, “You okay?”
Jaycee’s head twisted around and hit the ground, “Ugh, ugh, I’mma m-mess.”
“Can you stand?”
Jaycee’s leg sprung up and slammed down to the ground. His knee joint bent at ninety degrees and shifted upright, taking Jaycee’s torso with it.
The action looked like a perverse possession.
SCHWIPP-SCHUNT.
Alex smiled as Jaycee’s torso twisted around and reconnected with its waist.
“What the hell happened to your face?”
“Huh?” Jaycee felt around his jaw and slid his palm underneath the mechanism, “Ngggg.”
CLOTCH.
“See that, girl?” Alex chuckled. “The Series Three Androgyne. It can put itself back together.”
“M-Meow,” Furie added, excitedly.
Jaycee’s head spun around and around and sunk into his neck holster, “Owww, my head.”
“Your jaw, too.”
“Atch-atch,” Jaycee extended his jaw and allowed it to shut into place, “Uhhhhhh.”
“Feel better?”
“Ugh.”
Jaycee caught his reflection in Alex’s suit. The skin had eroded completely. His face resembled a metallic vision of death.
“I’ll live.”
***
“Uh, uh, uh,” Jelly clutched her chest as she stormed across the rocks in pursuit of the monster that executed her daughter, “Die. Die.”
Her boots trampled over the rocks as she quickened her pace after the giant stomping his way into the horizon.
“Hey, hey,” she tried to scream among her grunts and growls. She wasn’t used to her chest and stomach grinding and gurgling.
She was barely used to her new body.
Her heart continued to race as she stepped over the rocks and past the fallen spaceship she’d discovered not long ago.
The wolves were no longer present. At least, the ones that had survived the carnage.
Scores of wolf carcasses littered the landscape. The smoke and stench of death made her sick to her stomach. She desperately wanted to puke, but needed to move - and quick.
Jelly clutched a rock and took in some air.
“Hey,” she hollered after Mastazita and caught her breath.
He didn’t stop to respond, and kept on stomping forwards. Eventually he disappeared from sight altogether.<
br />
“Nggggg,” Jelly hung her head and tried to fight the fatigue that had built up over the past few hours. Breathing became something of a commodity for her, “Ugghhh.”
Her exo-suit remained intact - just.
She considered removing the busted pieces of her suit in order to move faster, but decided that the extra protection might be useful to her.
Jelly jogged as fast as she could into the horizon.
Such a beautiful scene, lit up by Saturn and the fireball of Enceladus whizzing towards it.
Chapter 16
USARIC Research & Development Institute
Port D’Souza
Maar paced around the bunker, deep in contemplation.
It had been several hours since he broadcast his rebuke via Santiago Sibald, the nation’s most-watched journalist.
“Of course they’ll relent, of course they will,” he said, before chuckling maniacally. “Damn, I’m turning into Howard Hughes, here. The man better have some good news for me. Good news, good news, good news—”
SCHUNT.
The door to the bunker slammed against the wall, startling Maar out of his shoes.
Two men walked in and made their way to the table - Crain McDormand and Santiago himself.
“Jesus Christ, Crain. Does no one ever knock, anymore?”
“Sorry, Maar. We didn’t want to waste more time,” Crain turned to Santiago, “It took a while, but we found him.”
“Ah, Maar Sheck,” Santiago said.
Maar squinted at the guy’s silver hair, which looked even more gelled and fake in real life than it did during his broadcasts.
The two men shook hands and took their seats at the table.
“I noticed you talking to yourself when we walked in,” Santiago chuckled and removed his thumbnail. “That’s the first sign, you know.”
“The first sign?”
Santiago set his thumbnail on the table and pressed his finger onto it, “Yeah. Never mind.”
Crain cleared his throat, “Maar, before we get to the next phase, there’s something you need to see.”
“More good news?”
“Not really,” Crain turned to the thumbnail. “Okay. Replay, please.”
The image displayed aerial drone footage of the security kiosk. A van speeding along the grounds, refusing to slow down for the security guard.
“What’s this?”
Star Cat The Complete Series Page 90
