Dark Vengeance (21 page)

A quick signal to Ian and we stalked out in the opposite direction. Just as we reached the ash-red section-B pressure wall in the last of the stateroom areas, R.J. called out. “It’s back up front looking for a way into the grand gallery again, guys. It must know there are people here.”

We stopped and looked at each other. There was no need now to maintain silence. “Are you ready to run, Ian?”

“It is not my best look, but it has its uses,” he replied.

We emerged into the main concourse. I looked back but did not see the Gaglion. Ian hopped through the open pressure door and into the B-section. I stepped through, turned, and yelled at the top of my lungs, “Hey! Over here, Sucker!”

R.J.’s voice cut in immediately. “That did it, Adrian! It’s coming your way! Get ready!”

Chapter 13

And so we ran. Precise navigation no longer mattered. Cutting left, we headed for the west side of the concourse this time, straight to the closest door. All of these sections were formerly staterooms. Inside, I tripped over an abandoned travel case and nearly fell into Ian. Farther along Ian bounced off the side of an adjoining door and spun himself sideways. We covered three completely empty room sections until finding an equipment room with cabinets and custodial equipment. Within cover, we listened intently but heard nothing.

“I’ve lost you,” said R.J. “But so has the creature. You’ve drawn it into the B-section but it’s searching the wrong side. It’s in a hunting frenzy again! Do not come out!”

For my money, waiting around was not an option. We needed to reach the C-section and from there make it into aft engineering. I stepped out from the stacks of equipment and found the next best exit to the south. With our blades in both hands ready, we cautiously entered the adjacent chamber. Ian and I had instinctively adopted the special ops style of one man crossing the open while the other covered him. We wove our way toward the back of the ship through three more rooms and took cover behind racks of computer equipment that had once been in a communications closet.

“It’s still in the B-section concourse and still looking for you. It’s floating from door to door on the east side.”

I crossed over to the next door. It led to what had been a storage area of plastic packing crates.

“I see you now,” said R.J. ‘You’re only three doors from the C-section pressure wall.

We moved into the next chamber hoping to reach the C-section pressure barrier and then make it to aft engineering.

As we crossed over to the next door, R.J.’s voice cut in, high pitched and fearful. “Wait, wait, wait! It’s heading back your way. It’s darting in and out of doors on your side! It must have picked up on something!”

We spun around to retreat back to the concealment of the storage room but never got the chance. Off to my left, the creature appeared in a concourse entrance and froze in surprise at having found us. Ian was still just outside the room. I lunged toward my nearest exit when something very new and very ugly happened. I was still six feet away from the thing when a tentacle shot out and wrapped itself around my left ankle. My feet went out from under me and I crashed to the floor, twisting sideways to keep the blade from touching me. As I turned to bring the weapon to bear, Ian grabbed the moment and charged in. He made just two steps when a second tentacle snapped out and captured him by the wrist. He struggled and fought for position. I sliced through the snake-like appendage holding me, got the shrill scream from the thing, and watched the amputated piece still wrapped on my leg squirm and dissolve into nothingness. An instant later, Ian cut through the tentacle around his wrist and tried to take a fighting stance only to be yanked down to the floor by a second tentacle wrapped around his right leg. The creature kept screaming in protest but refused to give up its prey.

I pushed up and charged, swinging wildly. It moved in little jumps left and right to avoid my cuts, still unwilling to release Ian. I began to learn the timing of it, swinging at the empty space where I though it might next be. Ian finally managed a slice upward through the tentacle holding him. Waving my blade left and right in front of it, I managed to screen Ian as he regained his feet.

The creature’s screaming was painful. It flailed around angrily but kept coming. It quickly backed us through the nearest door. We both knew it was time for a retreat, but there would be no outrunning this thing. As we withdrew, I noticed a narrow trail of blood being left behind by Ian. With a quick wide swing at the thing, I turned to run and was caught by a fresh tentacle wrapped around my left leg just below the knee. In desperation, rather than trying to pull free, I spun around and charged it head on and caught it off guard. I sliced down to the left of its body and just happened to guess correctly. It moved just enough into my swing and my blade cut down through a small portion of its left side leaving another piece of it flopping around on the floor.

Once again the creature went ballistic. It released me, drove all out into a wall and spun in place, shrieking so loudly I thought my ears would burst.

Again we ran.

I caught up to Ian taking cover within a small forest of plants left behind by a guest in a section of stateroom. I crouched down beside him and with our burning blades held low, we both watched, listened, and tried to gasp for air quietly. We could still hear it squealing some distance away. Ian shut down his weapon and clipped it to his belt. He unzipped the front of his suit and peeled it off to his waist.

The left wrist seemed to be his greatest concern. It was cut and bleeding in pulses. It took two of my med patches to clamped over the bloody wound. The patches grabbed and tightened, shutting down the hemorrhaging. Next he went for the right pants leg and pulled and folded it up. Another bad cut on the lower leg. Another patch sealed it off.

But there was still blood flowing out on the floor. Ian pointed at my leg and shook his head. I hadn’t felt a thing. I pulled up my own left pants leg up above the knee and found two similar cuts with red flowing out in sickening little surges. Ian patched both cuts and we pulled our bloodied apparel back in place.

The creature’s screaming continued in the distance. Ian gambled that it was in no condition to hear us. He spoke in a low tone. “Did you see what it did with the tentacles, my friend? It extended them. That is not such a good development, I think.”

“Ian, you’ve lost too much blood. You need to bail out of this.”

“No, no. It is three to two. I am winning. Besides, you cut it badly that time. We can finish it now, maybe. Do not try to rob me of my glory.”

“You are a stubborn man.”

“Yes, as you have said, we are two of a kind. These cuts burn badly and it feels like something is moving beneath the skin. It must be damage to nerves.”

“Maybe we ought to try for aft engineering while it’s still screaming and licking its wounds.”

“I agree. We have also left a blood trail to this very spot. It would be best if we were not here when the creature begins hunting us again.”

Ian pushed himself up to his feet, swayed a moment and straightened up. He unclipped his weapon and switched on the blade. I rose wearily alongside him, went to the first door, and listened to get a bearing on the creature’s screaming. Heading aft seemed to be the opposite direction. I waved to Ian to point the way, but he began swaying again as though he might fall. One step in his direction with my free hand out and he stiffened and pushed past me. He crossed the room with a half-stagger and leaned with his back against the wall just inside the next door. We managed two more crossings exactly that way and finally got some good news.

“I’ve got you in sight again, Adrian!” R.J.’s voice sounded relieved. “You are just one room away from the C-section pressure wall. The creature is drifting in and out of the main concourse near the front of your section. It looks like it’s hurt pretty bad. It just keeps touching its wounds and screeching. Do not step into the concourse until I tell you. Just hold your position. I’ll let you know when it’s clear.”

Ian tapped me on the arm and made a motion like he wanted to go for it anyway. Move out while the enemy was distracted. I winced with doubt. He was dragging his right leg noticeably. He staggered over by the concourse door and leaned around to look out. I caught him by the shoulder and held him back. He looked annoyed but complied.

“The creature has moved into the rooms on your side of the concourse. Go ahead and try for the C-section pressure door from as close as you can get to it.”

We crouched and crossed through the next doorway. The red C-section pressure wall filled the south side. At the exit, I dared a look into the concourse. The coast was still clear. The screeching had turned to a whine. There was a new foul stench in the air like burning flesh.

“I see you, Adrian. It’s still clear. It still seems distracted by its injuries.”

Ian struggled up to the opposite side of the door, his blade held low. I gave him a quick, questioning look. He nodded his approval. But, as I took that first step out into the open, R.J.’s voice practically screamed at us.

“Wait! Stop! It’s back out in the concourse!”

The thing’s indignant screeching suddenly stopped. I pulled back inside the door knowing the move was too late.

“It saw you, Adrian. It’s heading your way at light speed.”

We straggled back to the previous room. I winced at seeing Ian drag the leg even worse than before, then realized I was favoring my own nearly as badly. We looked like two old men trying to outdo each other. We tried to reach the storage area with its stacks of plastic crates but that was too much to hope for. We leaned back against the wall on either side of the entrance we had just come through, hoping the creature would choose that way in. I prayed it would come charging after us, but apparently wounds previously inflicted had instilled even greater caution.

Ian and I waited in silence, blades raised and ready. The room had no cover at all, just four walls with a tile floor. This would be the first confrontation where surprise was not in play. I motioned to Ian to beware of the wall. He nodded and edged further forward. Suddenly the rancid smell was strong again. We tightened up. At that moment, a long, squirming tentacle suddenly protruded through the wall alongside Ian’s face. He dipped carefully down and away. It fished around for anything biological and quickly withdrew. The foul-smelling stillness in the air returned.

Ian drew an arc with his free hand, signaling he intended to exit into the concourse, hoping to come around and catch the thing from a different direction. It was a plan I disagreed with but was in no position to prevent. I watched him ease out the concourse door and disappear to the left.

But the thing must have had the same idea. There was a new series of shrieking, this time cries of delight. The shrieks made me jump and charge into the concourse, blade leading.

They had met just outside. Ian was not doing well. He was on the floor, one tentacle around his upper left arm, and another around his left lower leg. The creature was three feet above, trying to maneuver into position to capture his head. Ian was struggling to cut the grasping tentacles but unable to get the angle. As I charged into the melee, blade high over my left shoulder for the first cut, I happen to catch a glimpse of Ian’s face. It was one of those frozen moments in time rarely seen by another human being. A warrior battling insurmountable odds, moments away from certain death, still totally engaged. It is an instant in time in which you would expect to see the face of terror, but in the presence of a true master no such fear exists. Ian’s expression was one of peaceful resolve. There was no despair, no panic, each movement a logical progression from the last, as quick as lightning. His superhuman reaction time was the only reason he was still alive. He was holding the thing’s body back while attacking its grasp.

I arrived at the exchange with a tentacle wrapped around my good leg. The creature was in full combat mode, no longer daring to savor the moment. I managed to drag one step with it attached to give me just enough position to slice down through the tentacle wrapped around Ian’s arm. In the upward motion that followed the down swing, I cut my leg free and the monster and I had to reposition to face off.

Then something happened that I had never before seen in life and death combat. Behind the creature, Ian was still on the floor bloody and now clearly unconscious. But, somehow his subconscious will was still holding his blade pointed up at us. The creature shot out a tentacle intended for my throat but I was still in swing from the last cut and by chance my blade came up in time to catch it. At the same time the screaming creature jerked back and away, bolting directly into Ian’s blade. The tip entered on the lower left side, went completely though and protruded out the left front.

The screeching and screams of disapproval rang out continuously again. It shot across the concourse dragging Ian’s blade with it, banging the hilt against the concourse walls as it flailed around.

I grabbed Ian by the collar with my free hand and stumbled into the nearest room, dragging him along in desperate lunges. Fatigue was not an issue. There was enough adrenaline pumping to carry us both. It became necessary to stop along the way and turn off my weapon because the chance of accidentally cutting Ian or me had become too great.