Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) (28 page)

Miles then he
ard a zipper being undone, followed shortly by the sound of Clem’s trousers falling to his feet in a heap. ‘NOW!’ Out of nowhere Miles shot his right foot backward like a bucking donkey with as much force as he could call upon. His shoe made crunching contact with something soft and he heard Clem howl in agony. Miles stood and span to see the pantsless man clutching his crotch in pain, tears streaming down his chubby cheeks.

“You sick son of a…” but before Clem could finish his sentence Miles ran toward him and ra
mmed his forehead into the bridge of Clem’s nose, knocking him onto his back, blood pouring from his nostrils. Clem coughed and spluttered, squirming helplessly on the ground as Miles gave him a number of heavy kicks to the ribs to ensure that he wouldn’t get up any time soon.

Miles lowered his hands and one by one, stepped his feet through the hoop caused by his bound wrists. Now that he could see the rope it didn’t take him long to scratch, pull and wriggle his way out of hi
s binds. Picking up Clem’s shotgun and retrieving his pistol - tucking it back into his trousers - Miles hopped in the truck and hit the gas, leaving Clem with a face full of dust as he lay there still writhing in agony.

‘Please be alive Lucy, please be alive. If they lay a single fucking finger on you I swear I’ll tear them limb from limb.’ Miles barrelled down the pitch black dirt road, cold sweat pouring down his face. The truck’s headlights illuminated the tyre tracks left by the station wagon only minutes before. His face was deadly serious and his hands held the steering wheel as though they were gripping the throats of the men who took Lucy. In the distance a light appeared. It flickered and danced on the horizon. ‘A fire…oh God!’ Miles pushed his foot down harder and the engine roared. ‘Please be okay Lucy, just please be okay…’ he whispered through his clenched teeth. The fire was bigger now, and closer. ‘I’d better slow down, I don’t want to raise their suspicion by speeding in, that’s a sure way to get myself killed,’ Miles thought and he raised his foot off the accelerator slightly, slowing the truck. Carl and Madison were expecting Clem to be driving with Miles safely secured. It would have seemed strange that Clem would arrive so soon, so as the small encampment came into view Miles veered left and drove toward a natural ridge that the three men had set their camp up underneath. Parking the vehicle at the base of the ridge, he killed the engine and quietly exited the vehicle. Making sure his pistol was still tucked into his trousers he started silently up the ridge toward the point where it hung over the bandits’ camp. After travelling a few steps he began to hear the faint sound of shouting.

“Please don’
t, please!” ‘Lucy! She’s alive!’

Miles picked up the pace while still trying to remain
quiet enough so as not to be detected. The shouting grew louder and louder as he approached the peak.

“Hold still you little bitch!” These words sent stabs of fear through Miles’ stomach, who dropped to his knees and began to crawl toward the overhang.

“Ow! She fuckin’ bit me!” said the high pitched voice of Madison who howled in pain. Miles now in the prone position pulled himself along the dusty ground like a caterpillar, he knew if he was spotted it was over for him and Lucy. He reached both hands forward and curled his fingers over the edge of the ridge, slowly dragging the rest of his body until his eyes peaked over and down into the encampment below.

He saw
Lucy, miraculously still in one piece and fully clothed, Miles breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She was strapped onto a large stone slab with leather restraints at her wrists, ankles and around her neck. She struggled and squirmed but the restraints would not budge. To her left stood Madison who leered hungrily at their soon to be dinner, while to her right Carl sharpened a heavy looking machete on a grind stone that he was operating by foot. Miles looked down to his waist and quickly pulled the pistol from his trousers, he was a pretty good shot by now and was confident that with a bit of luck he could take out both men before they knew what had hit them. He frantically checked his ammunition and raised himself up onto his knees ready to take aim but it was too late.

Lucy screamed in terror as Carl raised the machete
high above his head and began to bring it down with all his force toward Lucy’s left shoulder. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Miles raised the sights of his gun to his eye. But he knew that no matter how fast he took the shot, he would not make it in time. ‘No, please…’ The machete made contact with Lucy’s shoulder with an audible crunch, slicing her left arm clean off. Lucy screamed in pain as blood sprayed in all directions. Miles looked on feeling as though he had died there and then, his body went cold, drained of every ounce of strength. He covered his mouth, feeling as though he was going to be sick.

Lucy slumped on the stone slab, passing out from the shock as Carl made his way around her bleeding body to remove the other arm.
Miles shakily lifted his pistol to his teary eye and aimed squarely at Carls head. ‘You’re going to die for what you’ve done you evil bastard.’ Miles trained his sights on Carl’s head as he raised the machete to strike again. He began to squeeze the trigger when suddenly Lucy began to glow. She was emitting a bright white light from her eyes, mouth, and even her skin it seemed, as the pitch black night suddenly became as bright as day. Carl backed away from Lucy, stumbling backward into a chair while Miles lowered his weapon again as he watched the inexplicable scene unfold before his eyes. A high pitched ringing sound began to emanate from Lucy. Carl and Madison held their ears, screaming in pain. Miles didn’t feel anything, apparently he was out of range of its effect. The two men’s blood curdling cries intensified until all at once tiny Madison exploded into a cloud of fine red mist, his clothes falling to the ground, empty and soaked with his blood and gore. Madison’s remains fanned out in a perfect circle of gristle and bone about ten metres in diameter, covering everything in its path in a coat of crimson mush. Carl shrieked in agony now covered in Madison’s entrails until he too burst from the inside out with a loud pop, spraying himself across the immediate environment. Miles’ jaw was sitting on the sandy ground, his face pale, almost translucent. He could not believe nor comprehend what he was witnessing.

Lucy began to return to her normal self, the glowing ceased and the ear piercing noise had disappeared. She simply laid there
on the stone slab, unconscious, her left arm sitting motionless on the ground a few meters away. Miles jumped to his feet and began running down the ridge as fast as his legs could carry him. He arrived at the grisly scene panting and puffing. Stepping through puddles of what used to be Madison and Carl, he made his way over to Lucy. Miles undid the restraints on her ankles and wrist, then as he began to remove the restraint around her neck she opened her eyes.

“Papa?”
she said in a heartbreakingly weak voice, “is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me Lucy,” said Miles, his voice warbling as he attempted to hold back his tears
, “you’re going to be okay Lucy, your papa is going to take you someplace safe now,” Miles said, smiling down at her as best he could.

“Okay papa,” said Lucy smiling back up at Miles, and she closed her eyes
, passing out again from pure exhaustion and pain.

Miles picked her up and propped
her over his shoulder, her limp body bounced slightly as he jogged back to the truck, he used his free hand to support her head. Miles looked back for a moment at the scene that he had watched unfold only minutes ago. The severed arm, the gore covered camp. ‘What the hell is going on here?’

Within a minute Miles had made it back to the truck
. Picking up Clem’s shotgun from the passenger’s seat and throwing it on the dusty ground, he gently laid Lucy on the soft upholstery and covered her with blankets. She was dipping in and out of consciousness and it was as Miles placed a makeshift pillow under her head that he caught a glimpse of Lucy’s wound. There was blood and muscle, and what looked like bone, but there were also wires, cables and other unidentifiable mechanical components poking out from where her arm used to be. ‘She’s…what the hell is she?!’ Miles wondered to himself as he stared down at the open wound in disbelief, afraid his brain would simply overload from the amount and nature of the information he had to process over the past fifteen minutes. Miles shook his head vigorously in order to snap himself out of his confounded day dream, and wrapped the wound tightly with a blanket, securing it with his belt to stop the bleeding.

“I’m sorry papa…I-I shouldn’t have wondered off on my own
,” whispered Lucy, her eyes still closed.

Miles felt a sharp pain in his heart, his eyes welling up with tears.

“Don’t be silly,” Miles whispered back croakily as a tear flowed down his cheek and into his moustache, “I’m the one who should be sorry. I’m going to take care of you now, I won’t let that happen again, I promise,” and he stroked her hair and held her tight for a moment.

Lucy’s mouth curled into a weak smile and Miles star
ted the truck. There was no time for sleep tonight, he had to get Lucy to Humber Dam and find her a doctor, or a mechanic, or something!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1
9

The first light of dawn was spreading across the dune filled landscape as Miles sped along the dirt road heading north toward Humber Dam. Every so often he would glance over to Lucy who was still lying unconscious in the passenger’s seat. She was breathing, but barely. The slight, irregular movements of her chest were the only sign that she was still alive at all. Miles gasped and sat up in his seat as what looked like a town came into view. He squinted hard in order to confirm that it was in fact Humber Dam, and not his sleep deprived mind playing tricks on him. A sign post was up ahead. A large silver sheet of corrugated iron was nailed to a steel pole. In garish green letters it read Humber Dam – 2KM. Miles put pedal to the metal and sped toward his destination.

Miles came to a sudden halt outside the Humber Dam gates, creating a large red dust cloud. He hopped out of the vehicle and shouted up at the old man sleeping in the small shack at the top of the gate.

“Hey, open up I have an injured child! She needs a doctor!” The
man who must have been in his seventies was utterly discombobulated by the commotion having been suddenly jolted from what looked like a very peaceful sleep.

“Y-yes sir, right away!”
he said rubbing his eye with one hand while using the other to pull the lever, opening the gate. Miles hopped back in the truck and sped into the town. He drove swiftly through the, much more civilised looking, streets of Humber Dam, his eyes darting about desperately searching for The Pit Stop that Guppy had mentioned. The buildings of Humber Dam were not like The Dustbowl, instead of Talos shuttles these houses were made from brick and wood. The road was made of bitumen, there were paved sidewalks and gardens with brightly coloured flowers, it was the first grass Miles had seen since stepping foot on Gyaros. Apparently the dust storms were not nearly as bad here as these old, but beautiful wooden structures would simply not survive the intensity of a Dustbowl storm.

Suddenly he spotted it; The Pit Stop. The motel was two stories tall and made of red brick with a white roof. There looked to be about twenty rooms plus a dining area, reception, laundry and
a garage in which sat two cars propped up on jacks undergoing repairs. Out front was a parking lot and of course the big neon sign stating the name of the business and the fact that there were vacancies. Miles pulled into an empty parking space with a screech, and taking Lucy in his arms he ran to the reception area.

“Hello? Adara? Anyone? This is an emergency, someone please help!” Miles shouted urgently and within a minute an attractive young lady in
her early to mid-twenties appeared from behind the counter, her messy blond hair betraying the fact that she had been fast asleep only a minute ago. She rushed to the door of the reception as she tied up her dark blue dressing gown, a look of confusion and concern in her eyes. She fumbled with the lock and finally opened the door.

“What’s going on? What happened to her?”
asked the woman.

“She’s lost an arm, she needs a doctor, now,” panted Miles relieved to be speaking to another human being after spending so long alone on the road with only
the injured Lucy and his terrified mind for company.

“Dr. Galand!”
said the lady, her eyes widening, “he can help, he stays in room twelve, I’ll take you there, follow me.” Miles followed the young lady up a set of steel steps to the second floor of the motel. ‘Hang in there Lucy, I won’t let you go now, you’re going to be okay, just stay with me,’ thought Miles to himself as they passed door after door before stopping at number twelve. The lady banged hard on the door.

“Doctor Galand, there is an injured girl here, she’s lost an arm. She needs your help!” There was silence for a moment and the
n the sound of frantic activity from the other side, seconds later the door flew open and an eccentric looking bespectacled, white haired man in beige pants and a brown jumper stood there beckoning them inside.

“Come, come, place her on the table,” said Doctor Galand in a thin, reedy voice and he pushed all of his belongings off the wooden
table in the centre of the room, sending them clattering to floor in order to make space for Lucy. Miles placed Lucy softly onto the table and removed the blankets that she was being carried in. Galand was busy washing his hands and getting his tools ready while Miles stroked Lucy’s cold cheek and held her hand comforting her as best he could. Lucy opened her eyes a little and smiled for a moment before grimacing in pain.