Junkie

by Bryant, S. J.

  Lenovo looked between Nova and the slugs. His lips shook but he let the black parasites drop between his fingers. Soon all that was left in his palm was a mass of slime.

  The black creatures writhed on the floor. They untangled themselves from each other and inched towards Nova and the other Hunters. They didn't get far. As soon as the last slug hit the ground Nova fired her weapon.

  The blue blast engulfed the slugs. They sizzled as they heated to bursting and then the room filled with tiny pops like gunfire. Slug entrails burst about the floor. They kept burning until the flames went out, leaving nothing but charred remains.

  "My children," Lenovo said, staring down at them. His eyes brimmed with tears.

  "I'm sure you've got plenty more," Nova said. "Now tell me something else. If I kill you, will the rest die?"

  "Of course not, we're not primitive like my dear cousins," Lenovo spat at her.

  "Excellent, that's all I needed to know," Nova said, firing a shot into Lenovo's kneecap.

  He collapsed to the ground with a scream and clutched at his burning limb. Beneath the skin and muscle sprouted charred bones.

  "We've got fifteen minutes before this thing opens up," Tyra said from her position at the door. Gus and Orion stood in the hallway keeping watch while Aart retrieved his guns from the security guards.

  "Alright, let's get out of here," said Nova.

  "What about Cole and the others?" Aart said, looking up from looting the soldier's corpse.

  Nova sighed and laid a hand on his shoulder. "They're gone, Aart."

  Aart's face twisted, lip trembling.

  "She's right," Gus called from the hallway.

  "Fourteen minutes," Tyra chimed in.

  "I'm sorry," Nova said.

  "Sorry isn't enough for leaving them behind," he said.

  "No," Nova said, pulling a small device from her belt. "Sorry for this."

  She slammed the sedation device into Aart's chest. He stared at her with an open mouth and burst into giggles. He laughed hysterically and pointing at the dead bodies.

  "What the hell did you do to him?" Gus said, poking his head around the corner.

  "Just a minor sedation drug. He'll be okay," Nova said.

  "We've got to get moving. It looks like trouble is heading our way," Orion called from the hallway.

  Gus moved passed Tyra and put his arm around Aart's waist. He steered the other man for the doorway. "Alright, giggles, we've got to get out of here."

  Aart chuckled.

  Nova followed Aart and Gus into the corridor, tucking the sedater back into her belt. "I assume you guys know the way?"

  "Yeah, it's not far from here. When your communicator sent the alarm we heard a commotion, figured you couldn't be far," said Orion.

  "Thank you for coming," Nova said. "Otherwise I'd have a slug halfway to my brain by now."

  "Don't mention it," said Orion. "Seriously. I saw enough of those things when we were on Taive."

  "Agreed," Nova said.

  They hurried down the corridor, slowed by Aart's shambling, laughing pace. He pushed Gus from side to side and even the bigger man's weight wasn't enough to keep them on course. Aart's loud voice echoed around the corridor. If the Confederacy soldiers didn't know where they were before, they would now.

  They came to a door at the end of the corridor. The clean metal sign set into its centre pronounced it to be the end of the restricted zone. The five of them pushed out of the narrow corridor and into the main street.

  Nova's sigh of relief died in her throat as multiple guns thrust towards her face. "Crap."

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

  "Grishnak!" Gus said. He let go of Aart's waist and pushed the smaller man to the floor behind a pile of boxes. Aart lay on the ground laughing. He would be less helpful than a Hasard Camel in this fight.

  The door had opened up onto the main street but crates and vehicles lined the walkway and piled near the door. It made the wide space feel closed, and the Confederacy soldiers surrounded them.

  The Hunters dived for cover. Their practiced battle-senses didn't fail them and they were well-hidden behind boxes, crates, and transporters before the Confederacy soldiers fired a single shot.

  The shots came hard and fast. Multi-coloured blasts of energy careened at them, making coloured lights in the air. Electricity crackled between them and explosions filled the air as the bolts collided with walls, buildings, and loose objects. The smell of smoke filled their nostrils and made Nova's eyes water.

  The Confederacy soldiers yelled at one another to move forward. There had to be ten of them at least.

  "Cut 'em down!" Gus bellowed.

  He stood up from behind his crate and fired into the smoke and commotion. His massive gun shot plasma bolts twice the size of an ordinary hand gun and they filled the air with deadly missiles. The first blast took down three Confederacy soldiers and had the others ducking for cover.

  Gus bobbed down to let his gun recharge and as soon as he was below cover, Nova stood up. She looked down the barrel of her handgun, pinning a Confederacy soldier in her sights. She squeezed the trigger and watched as a blue bolt blasted from her gun and into the chest of her enemy. The soldier screamed, grabbed his chest, and collapsed to the floor to join the other three bodies.

  Orion and Tyra managed to take down two more soldiers, leaving four. These seemed smarter than the other grunts. They stayed hidden behind cover and kept their breathing and voices quiet. Nova couldn't tell if they crouched directly in front of the Hunters or if they were inching their way around for a surprise attack.

  A piece of metal scraped across the ground to Nova's left. She darted out of her place of cover and fired without looking. Her shots streamed through smoky air before igniting a crouched soldier. The piece of broken piping he'd accidentally kicked lay like a broken promise on the floor.

  Bang.

  Nova dove through the air towards the soldier she'd just killed. The heat of a passing energy bolt singed the side of her face as she twisted and fell forward. She landed on top of the dead soldier, using the momentum of her dive to grab hold of the front of his shirt and pull him over on top of her.

  His heavy body convulsed as more energy blasts pounded into it. The heat from the shots went through his back and came out his stomach where it sizzled against Nova's clothing. The bolts burned through her shirt and bit into her chest, leaving smoking wounds that sent barbs of pain through her body. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her tongue to stop from crying out.

  As the shooting lulled she shoved the soldier off her injured chest and rolled behind a crate. Judging from the direction of the shots, the three remaining Confederacy soldiers were hiding behind an armoured transporter with thick wheels and blast-proof shielding. She peered at it through a crack in the crate, eyes narrowing. She was about to give up any hope of catching sight of them when a shadow moved in one of the windows.

  "They're inside the armoured transporter," Nova bellowed. "No external weapons."

  "We've got seven minutes," Tyra yelled back, a hint of panic in her voice.

  The pressure of the impending explosion pushed against the back of Nova's neck; she could almost hear the clock ticking down to the moment they would all be consumed in flames. Her heart fluttered faster.

  "Hold onto your hair, ladies," Gus called out.

  Nova didn't know what he meant but she ducked further behind her crate and put her hands over her head just the same.

  A few seconds of silence were followed by a ground-shaking explosion. A part of Nova thought that Tyra's time had been off and that the end of them, and the Confederacy, had come six minutes early. But the explosion wasn't big enough; they weren't being hurtled off into space.

  She risked a glance over the crate and saw the remains of the transporter. The blast-shields hadn't protected it against whatever bomb Gus had been carrying, leaving nothing but a hollowed out shell. The rubber tires gave off poisonous fumes as they burned.

  A fiery figur
e leapt away from the charred remnants of the transporter and ran in circles. He screamed as the very flesh fell off his body. He held his hands to his head as he collapsed to the ground, rolling across the floor. It was too late to put out the flames.

  The soldier cried and wept as the flames ate his skin, muscle, and bones. He screamed until the flames ate his very lungs away and then he was nothing but a charcoal corpse.

  Nova winced; it was a painful way to go.

  "Five minutes, we have to get moving now!" Tyra yelled, running out of her cover.

  Gus had Aart back under his arm and the five of them ran down the metal street. Their footsteps echoed along the empty path, flames crackling behind them as the fire took hold of pieces of debris.

  "Where is everyone?" Gus said. "We should be surrounded by people with guns by now."

  "There aren't that many Confederacy soldiers based here at headquarters," Nova puffed as she ran. "Mostly these are the important people; ministers, administration, not many soldiers."

  "But then we haven't really solved the problem at all," said Orion.

  "I think we have. I would bet that the Flumes have only infected the high command, the people here. They wouldn't want to send themselves out as grunts to get killed."

  "That's just wrong," said Orion.

  "Yep."

  "But there's no way to be sure?" Gus said.

  Nova bit her lip. "No."

  "Four minutes. There's no way we can get through the labyrinth in time," Tyra said, glancing down at the timer on her wrist.

  "We don't have to. Coming in is the hard part, going out is easy," Nova said.

  They reached the end of the street where the entrance to the labyrinth disappeared into a closed corridor. Nova ran to the wall next to the labyrinth and pushed her shoulder against a yellow square, just like Tanguin's blueprints had said. Something inside the wall creaked and the wall swung away.

  Nova led the way through into a metal box and the door swung shut behind them. They stood shoulder to shoulder, all panting for breath, except Aart who giggled against Gus's grip.

  Nova stomach dropped as the lift shot upwards, coming to a grinding halt after ten seconds of rapid ascent. The door sprung open and they found themselves back in the reception area. The opulent desk and other fixtures shimmered in bright contrast to their now dirt-stained and bloodied clothing.

  "Thank the stars for shortcuts," said Tyra. "Three minutes people."

  "What..? I'm going to have to ask you to wait here while I call security," Crystal said from behind her massive marble desk. The screen next to her blinked with the security insignia.

  "Crystal, we're out of here," said Orion.

  "I must insist that you wait here," Crystal said.

  "No, thank you," said Nova, striding towards the main exit.

  "Not on my watch," Crystal said.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  She slammed her fist down onto a big red button to the side of her computer screen. The open door began to slide shut. The weight of the monstrous thing scraped along the floor, screeching in protest at the sudden lock-down. A red light flashed in the ceiling and a wailing alarm sounded.

  "I am so sick of bloody alarms," Gus said.

  He pulled the over-sized gun over his shoulder, levelled the sights, and pulled the trigger. A bolt of energy careened across the room and slammed into the door's closing mechanism. The gears exploded into a shower of metal and the door came to a sudden halt, half-way open.

  A metal click echoed from the reception desk.

  Crystal slung a gun almost as big as Gus's over her shoulder and aimed it at the Hunters. "I said, not on my watch."

  Nova dived away from the door, back towards the desk and Crystal. "Get down!"

  The stream of energy seared through the air and heated the room ten degrees. A bright light flashed, sending the room into stark relief and the booming echo left Nova's ears ringing.

  Sweat sprung out over her skin and dribbled down her face as her wet palms slid on the metal floor.

  "Why is it always the handsome ones?" Crystal said, stepping around the side of the desk and pouting at Aart. "I should have known you were trouble."

  Aart giggled and held his hands up in mock surrender.

  Crystal frowned. "What's wrong with him?"

  Nova scrambled across the floor and tackled Crystal's legs, sending her crashing to the ground. The gun sprung out of her hands and clattered across the floor.

  Crystal wrenched her leg free and slammed it into Nova's face. "Bitch!"

  Stars danced across Nova's vision and the taste of blood filled her mouth. She snatched for Crystal's legs but the other woman was already crawling for the gun.

  "Should have given me your number," Orion said, firing his handgun across the room and blowing Crystal's face across the floor. Her body seized and lay still.

  Nova's stomach churned as she pushed to her feet and backed away from Crystal's body.

  "Two minutes," Tyra whispered.

  They sprinted into the landing bay where their ships waited for them, the engines already running.

  "Cal, can you hear me?" Nova yelled as she ran.

  "Loud and clear," Cal replied.

  "Tell Aart's ship and Tanguin to get out of here. He's in no condition to drive."

  "Got it," said Cal.

  "Evasive manoeuvres in case the anti-air guns are still operational!"

  The smooth silver ship, Sylar, lifted into the air and shot out of the landing bay, into the waiting space beyond.

  "I'll take him for now," Gus grunted, shoving Aart through the waiting door of the blue ship. He jumped in behind and a moment later they shot up into the stars.

  Orion and Tyra reached their crafts and flew away. Nova got to Crusader last. She fell through the doorway and as soon as she was on-board Crusader lifted into the air. The door slid shut and then they were off. They only just cleared the landing bay when the explosion occurred.

  Nova struggled to her feet and ran into the pilot's pod. The main screen showed the view from the back of the ship. Flames licked at their retreating tail as the Confederacy headquarters were engulfed in the explosion. The metal sucked in, imploding on itself, and then burst outwards. Rolling waves of heat shot out into space followed by metal shrapnel. Pieces of the wreckage zoomed past Crusader and disappeared into the distance.

  "Shields holding," Cal said, hovering near Crusader's screen.

  "We made it," Nova breathed. "We made it."

  "A close one by the looks of it," Cal said.

  "You have no idea," Nova replied. "Make sure everyone does a full scan for Flumes."

  "Already done," Cal said. "As soon as you all got on board."

  Nova nodded and sighed with relief, they weren't infected.

  "Woohoo! That's what I call a success," Orion cheered, his image appearing on the front screen.

  "Nice wiring, Tyra," Nova said as the other woman's image appeared next to Orion's.

  "No problem," Tyra said.

  "Yes, it's all flowers and cake," said Gus, his face appearing below the other two. "But what the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

  Gus reached his hand out of view of the screen and when he brought it back he was clutching Aart's shirt. Aart smiled into the camera, a line of drool tracing down his chin. He was still chuckling.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  "This is the only footage they've put out," Tanguin said, leaning away from Delta. A deep hood hid most of her face.

  Nova looked up from studying the latest space-racers to watch the screen. A thin woman with neon blue eyes stood in front of a screen showing the exterior view of the Confederacy Headquarters as it exploded.

  "Sources confirm that mechanical failure is to blame for the recent loss of the Quadrant Two Confederacy building. As yet the number of casualties remains unknown, however Confederacy soldiers from neighbouring Quadrants are working continuously to clear the debris…"

  Nova raised an eyebrow. "Mechanical fai
lure?"

  Tanguin shrugged. "I guess they don't want to admit to sabotage; makes them look vulnerable."

  "At least our faces aren't plastered over the Cloud."

  Tanguin grimaced. "Not yet. According to private transmissions they've sent at least four scouting units to look for traces of The Jagged Maw."

  Nova's heart fluttered. "And?"

  "They haven't found anything yet and they seem to have given up for now. But it means they did suspect us."

  "Of course they do – they blow us up, so we return the favour..."

  Tanguin nodded and flicked off the repeating video feed.

  Nova settled back into the cushions of her room at The Jagged Maw and went back to reading. But a part of her mind cycled over the last few days. They were safe for now, but that wasn't going to last forever. The only way she was ever going to feel free was if she got past the border, and that wasn't going to come cheap.

  She sighed. A few well-paying missions without complications, that's all she needed… but when did that ever happen?

  Nova's Journey Continues…

  While the Hunters of The Jagged Maw pick themselves up and rebuild after the Confederacy's assault, Nova gets an anonymous invitation.

  With the promise of a special bounty and a lavish reward she accepts. But, the challenge isn't what it first appears and before long she's fighting tooth and nail for survival.

  As if fighting the Confederacy wasn't bad enough, she's about to learn that sometimes people can be even worse.

  Book Seven: Adventurer

  Find out more at:

  www.saffronbryant.com/books/adventurer

  http://www.saffronbryant.com/free-books

  Reviews Save Books…

  Choosing what to write can be tough, but the one thing that really helps is reviews.

  So if you like this series, make sure you leave a review so that I know to keep writing them!