An almost asthmatic snort, the Countess’ breaths sped up and she shook where she sat. But Seb still couldn’t see her face in the darkness of her hood. He stepped closer still, holding his breath. Tension turned the air thick, waiting for the spark.
So close he could smell the rotten stench coming from her, her breaths hot and heavy. His world in slow motion, Seb leaned forwards with a shaking hand, pinched the material on her hood, and threw it backwards to expose her face.
The sight forced him to stumble back a few steps, and although he opened and closed his mouth, he couldn’t get his words out.
He finally said, “Gurt?”
CHAPTER 59
The sound of an alarm rang out, the shrill tone of it snapping through Seb and forcing him to jump back another step. Yet he still remained transfixed on his dead friend. How had the Countess brought him back to life?
But then Gurt’s face changed, the illusion moving aside to show the true being beneath.
The creature, although about the same size and build as Gurt, had a much smaller head. Almost ape-like, it was vibrant green like a tree snake. It had bruises, cuts, and blood all over its face from where it had clearly been beaten. On the brink of death, it seemed to take a great effort for it to speak. “The Countess wanted to give you a message; she isn’t as stupid as you think.”
A fireball of an explosion went off inside the creature’s head, lighting up its eyes and mouth like a jack-o’-lantern. Seb covered his face with his hands. The backs of them got splattered with hot wet chunks. The heat from the fireball lifted sweat on his skin. When he looked at the others, he saw they were covered in blood and flesh too.
The bright white lights in the room then dimmed and turned red. They pulsed in time with the loud alarm.
SA, Seb said, you need to show the others what you can do. They won’t hear me over this noise.
No.
Come on, don’t be so selfish.
You don’t understand.
I understand you’re putting us at risk because you want to keep your gift to yourself. If you don’t tell them, I will.
Shut up, Seb.
The words stung and halted Seb momentarily. Accompanied by SA’s glare, it cut deep. But he had no time for his feelings, especially when a voice came over the tannoy system.
It took a few words for Seb to identify the deep boom as female. “You think we didn’t see you coming? I thought you were smarter than to walk straight into a trap.”
SA, we need you to help us.
SA didn’t even look at him this time.
We’ll die if you don’t.
Just focus on the fight.
Before Seb could say anything else, he saw that each of the four walls had double doors in them like the ones they’d entered through. Three of them opened. The ones they’d entered via remained closed. A stampede of Crimson soldiers poured into the room. They were all dressed in the crimson robes of their queen, their faces hidden in shadow.
The four Shadow Order members pulled together, their backs facing the still-closed doors as they readied themselves for the oncoming threat.
Sparks let rip first, sending a pulse of laser fire from her automatic blaster. She blew four guards away. More replaced them, jumping over their fallen comrades without breaking stride. It seemed like an impossible fight. There were more guards than the four of them could kill.
As one, the group moved closer to the doors Reyes had exited through. Sparks had locked them, so hopefully they’d stay locked. They needed to avoid being surrounded.
As Sparks continued to fire, Seb said, “Be careful, those guns overheat.”
At his call, Sparks let go of the trigger, the blasts dying for a second before she ripped off another line of shots. If she waited too long, they wouldn’t last past the first minute of the battle.
A stream of knives flew away from the group quicker than Spark’s automatic rifle could send out blasts. It slowed the soldiers down, but they were still making ground on them.
SA, they won’t be able to hear my instructions over the alarm. You have to show them what you can do.
They were now just a few metres away from the locked doors. Drag the soldiers with you over to the other side of the hangar away from us, SA said. Get to the far corner.
You want me to go over there on my own?
Yes. You’re the only one that can do it and avoid being shot.
As hard as he found it to trust her at that moment, Seb shouted at the other two, “Follow SA’s lead.” He shared a look with her before he made a break for it. The Crimson soldiers filled each of the doorways and fought from there. Those at the front knelt down so the ones behind could shoot over them. They sent two lines of blasts at Seb as he ran.
It took all Seb had to avoid the laser fire, the other three taking out the soldiers while they focused on him. What am I? Target practice or something?
Just get to the far corner. I’ll deal with everything else.
How will you do that if you won’t talk to them? I feel like you just want to get me away from them so you can keep your secret safe. You’re putting us all at risk here.
SA ignored him, and when he got to the farthest corner away from the others, he turned around to see the soldiers had moved from their positions and were closing in on him. Although the others took some down, the Crimson Soldiers’ lives were cheap. They could afford casualties.
What are you doing, SA? Seb said. You’re going to get me killed.
Shut up and hold your breath.
Is that a joke?
DO IT!
Seb held his breath and looked across the room at SA. She glared at him. He’d clearly crossed a line with her. She then slammed her hand against the control panel by the door behind her.
A second later, a frigid rush of air pulled on Seb’s back. It ripped him from his feet and dragged him out of the airlock behind him.
CHAPTER 60
As Seb flew backwards out of the open airlock, a pressure clamped his chest, threatening to crush the air from it. It dared him to breathe, but SA’s words rang through his mind. He pressed his lips tightly together. He had to trust her.
Panic accelerated Seb’s pulse to see the fear surrounding him. Many of the soldiers being dragged from the airlock had had their hoods ripped back, revealing twisted faces. In a hopeless attempt to do something, he flailed his arms and legs as if he could swim against the force dragging him into oblivion. He couldn’t.
The cold of Seb’s surroundings ran through his extremities first, needles of pain threatening to destroy any feeling he had in his fingers and toes. Then he crashed—back first—into something hard and metal. He hadn’t seen it coming and it damn near winded him. But he fought against his desire to gasp and kept his breath held. The metal object continued forward, taking him back into the ship with it.
When Seb re-entered the ship, he looked across at SA, his vision blurred from where his eyes watered. She was stopping herself from being dragged outside by holding onto a handle near the double doors. She reached out to press a button next to the card reader. The same button she’d pressed to launch him out into oblivion.
After she’d crashed her hand against it, the airlock slammed shut, cutting a Crimson soldier in two. Seb stared at the red bloodstain as the throne room re-pressurised. Only when he had nothing left, Seb finally trusted he could breathe again. He gasped and fell forward, fighting to get his breath back, barking like a seal.
Unable to speak, Seb felt like his lungs had shrunk. But he shouldn’t panic. He’d get his breath back; he just needed to calm down. It took a great effort for him to crawl over to the closest wall and lean against it, his body still heaving with his need for air.
Seb watched the mech that had dragged him back in. She faced the crimson soldiers with her two fists stretched out in front of her. They then folded down, revealing two Gatling guns in her wrists. They protruded like they were bones running through her forearms.
Despite how many s
oldiers they’d flushed out up until that point, a flow of them still ran in through the three separate doors. The mech’s guns whirred as she cleared one of the doorways in seconds. She then turned to the next two and did the same, tearing the soldiers to shreds in a spray of blood and flesh. Being the main aggressor at that moment, she drew the soldiers’ fire. The red laser blasts bounced off her seemingly impenetrable shell.
The three doors didn’t stay cleared for long. The mech returned her focus to the first door and took out the next wave to burst from it.
Yes, you’re hearing me, SA said, but we don’t have time for questions.
It took for Seb to look at Bruke and Sparks, confusion on Sparks’ face, fear on Bruke’s, to realise SA had addressed everyone. See, he said, I knew you could do it. This is what we need.
A dark stare at Seb, SA then said, Sparks and Bruke, you stay here and fight with Reyes and me. She then threw a knife across the space into a Crimson soldier that looked like it had died. From the way it twitched at the killer shot, it had clearly been acting. Seb, I can see the Countess getting away.
A look to where SA pointed, Seb saw the tall figure in a crimson robe. Because they were surrounded by robes and he’d been dragged outside, he’d lost track of which one the Countess was. But now SA had pointed her out and she was running out of there through a separate, smaller door, it seemed so obvious.
Can you get to her if we hold the soldiers back?
You were talking to Reyes all along, weren’t you?
SA glared at Seb again. Can you get to the Countess?
Yes, I can. I’m sorry, SA; I should have trusted you.
SA looked at Seb like she wanted to knock him out. Just do your job, yeah?
As much as Seb wanted to talk to her, wanted to apologise for not trusting her again, now certainly wasn’t the time. He pulled another deep breath in as he got to his feet. Just about recovered, he ran in the direction of the Countess and said nothing more.
CHAPTER 61
The burden of SA’s scorn weighed heavy on Seb’s mind as he ran through the doorway the Countess and several of her guards had just disappeared through. He emerged into a tight corridor. It looked like the one they’d entered the throne room via but smaller; it was also made from gunmetal grey, exposed steel and almost as cold as the space he’d just been dragged out into. As he ran, his breath turned to condensation in front of his face.
Bright lights ran along the corridor’s ceiling like they did in most of the ship. The hard space amplified the stampeding footsteps of the escaping Countess and her crew.
Just before the Countess and her guards disappeared around the first bend, Seb counted seven of them in total.
Four guards and the Countess vanished while two guards turned their guns on him. They released a volley of red laser fire. The blasts came in slow motion, and although numerous, they would have been easier to avoid had they not crashed into the walls and floor around him. Every contact shattered the blast into a thousand sparks. It rendered them ineffective, but they hid the shots that came through behind them.
Seb dodged and weaved, zigzagging his way up the tight corridor to avoid the blasts until he came to the first guard. No point in returning fire, he arrived without being shot and saw the weak spot in its chest. He drove the hardest blow he could at it. His fist sank with a crack of sternum and ribs. The creature gasped, expelling rancid breath from its dark hood. The halitosis smell made Seb heave.
The next guard went down with a bone-crunching punch into the centre of its hood.
Despite the contempt he’d just received from her, it lifted Seb to hear SA’s voice as he ran. How are you doing?
I’ve taken down two of her six guards. They won’t be getting back up again.
Only when necessary, eh?
Exactly.
Seb caught up with the remaining four guards and the Countess. The two guards at the back looked around as if they considered stopping. But then he saw the Countess wave them forward and they all vanished around the next corner.
A few seconds later, Seb came to a room with a long bridge across it. It had a large generator beneath the bridge. It hung as a huge sphere, a globe larger than Reyes’ ship. It was suspended in a vast space that dropped so far he couldn’t see the bottom. The generator looked to be held in place with a magnetic force. He couldn’t see any other reason for it to hang in midair without wires or a structure of any sort.
To look down made Seb’s stomach lurch, so he stared across the bridge to the exit and ran for it.
About a quarter of the way along the skinny bridge, Seb saw the Countess and her guards reach the other side. If a shadowed hood could grin, the Countess grinned at him at that moment as she slapped her hand against a button on the wall by the doorway. She then ran off.
The slamming of the door behind Seb came down with an almighty boom. A guillotine of a drop, it cut off his retreat. The image of the soldier chopped in half in the airlock came back to him.
The bridge then started to withdraw in front of Seb. It pulled away from the doorway the Countess had just run through. Only a small gap at present, it was growing with every passing second.
Too far to run, the gap would be too large by the time Seb got to it. Not that he had any other choice but to try. While gritting his teeth, he sped up. A useless gesture, but what else could he do?
CHAPTER 62
The curse of slow motion showed Seb that no matter how fast he ran along the metal bridge, he wouldn’t make the jump across the ever-widening gap. He’d not even made it to the halfway point and the gap already looked too large for him to clear. Goodbye. And sorry I didn’t trust you.
WHAT?
I’m not going to make it out of here.
Where are you?
But before Seb could answer her, something tugged on his hands. The closer he got to the middle of the bridge, the harder the pull. He looked down at the chrome sphere below him. Of course! The force that held the globe in place had to be strong enough to tug on his fists.
No chance of making the jump, he had to try something else.
Seb leaped from the side of the bridge, diving towards the generator with his clenched fists stretched out in front of him. An impossible fall, but the generator’s tug seemed strong enough.
It was working, the generator’s magnetism dragging him in.
When Seb got close to the sphere, he pulled his hands behind his back to stop his fists sticking to it. It took some effort, his arms aching against the force, but he managed it. It lessened the pull so he fell down rather than at the large metal ball.
Although close enough to touch it, Seb didn’t get any closer. Mesmerised by the reflective surface as he rushed past the generator, he had to shake his head to snap out of it. Just before he cleared the bottom of the sphere, he raised his fists up. The magnetic tug worked against his fall and dragged him around the bottom of the large ball.
Seb flew beneath the huge globe, his legs swinging under him in a pendulous arc.
On the upswing, Seb did the same as he had on the way down; he pulled his hands as far away from the magnetic force as he could. He used his momentum to send him up towards the small doorway the Countess and her guards had disappeared through.
Just one chance to make it, Seb focused on the space. The magnetic tug pulled against him, but not hard enough to halt him.
When Seb reached out to catch the doorway, the pull of the generator dragged on his fists, ripping the top half of him backwards.
Seb’s feet swung out in front of him and over his head. The back of his heels now led the way. He closed his eyes, pulled his fists into his stomach, and gave himself over to fate.
The base of Seb’s back crashed into the wall above the door, his heels hitting the gunmetal grey farther up. A nauseating crack snapped through him. His momentum carried the top half of his body through the doorway, spinning him into the space beyond.
Seb collided, face first, with the metal wall in front of him,
hitting it so hard it sent a shockwave through his skeleton and dragged up the metallic taste of his own blood.
When he hit the hard ground in a heap, Seb panted and dared not move. What if he’d broken every bone in his body?
SA’s voice came through. It had been there all along, but he could only focus on it now. Seb? Are you okay?
Gentle movements, Seb stretched out his limbs and looked around. He’d made it. The sound of his own laugh ran away from him down the corridor. Yeah, I’m fine.
After standing up on shaking legs, Seb looked up the hallway. The Countess and her guards had gone. Not sure where to go now, at least he had a chance. I’ll let you know when I find her.
Woozy from the crash landing, Seb broke into a clumsy run up the tight corridor. After a few strides, he found his bearings, his adrenaline numbing what he could feel would become fierce pain.
CHAPTER 63
The world still in slow motion, Seb had the advantage when he burst into the room they were in because they clearly hadn’t expected him. He ran at the four guards and took them down in quick succession. He hit two of them in the face, one in the stomach, and one in the shins. None of them showed any signs of getting back up again.
By the time Seb had spun around to deal with the Countess, he found her pointing a blaster at his face. At least three feet taller than him, viewing her past the barrel of her gun made her seem even bigger.
They stared at one another for what felt like an age, Seb frozen as he peered into the darkness of the Countess’ hood.
A flash of laser fire came from the right. Seb watched the Countess release her grip on her blaster, a blacked hole now in the back of her hand. She screamed with a force that rattled through his skull and blew his hair back.
Fugitive: A Space Opera: Book Five of The Shadow Order Page 20
