Surviving The Theseus (26 page)

One younger gentleman, maybe twenty, stepped
forward. "I'll help you," he said. Six others followed suit right
after.

"Thank you," Regina said. She pointed at two
bigger men, behind the first volunteer. "You two." The others fell
back.

The three men picked up the sentry gun
nearest them, the one that slaughtered the poor brunette woman, by
the tripod arms. They all seemed to be ignoring, as much as they
could, the blood bath surrounding them.

Regina walked over to the doorway, windowless
like the rest of the place, and waited for them. Had the planet
been more hospitable and not fraught with constant storms, there
probably would be windows, but, as it was, not having windows with
a constant barrage of bad weather was safer and gave the illusion
of calmness.

After the men slowly shuffled their way over
to Regina, she got them to place it down in front of the dark
mahogany double doors, the barrel of the gun facing the doorway, an
inch from it.

"Thank you, gentlemen," Regina said. "I
really appreciate this. Please go back to the others, because I
don't know what's going to happen when this door opens up."

They nodded. The first volunteer looked at
her for a bit, at her eyes. He looked sorrowful. And then he
reached around her and hugged her. She didn't hug back right away,
feeling awkward, and then she made the best attempt at a hug she
could, which was a weak embrace, barely bringing her arms around
him. "It's okay," she said. "Everything is going to be okay."

"How do you know that?" the volunteer
said.

She didn't answer. He waited for a couple of
seconds, nodded his head, and walked back to the group.

Regina knew from when she walked into the
place that the doors would not stay open by themselves. She shot
goo at each of the four door hinges. Wood was not a good conductor
of electricity so she couldn't risk it, and she needed all four to
go at the same time. She used up a clip of goo, drawing an x on the
door to connect all four hinges. She dropped the empty clip,
reached in her jacket, and then slammed in another one.

There was no sound coming from outside so
they must have either left, hopeful thinking and not realistic, or
they were surrounding the building to torch it. If they were smart
and they had enough men, there would be at least one person in
cover, watching the door. He would likely move at the explosion the
goo would cause, and then the sentry gun would take him out. And
then, she would have to run at them, as fast as she could, around
the building, and kill every last one of them. It was them or her
and the patrons, and in Regina's mind, it was them. Her mind had
played it out already, more than once, how it would happen, and
none of the killers lived.

Time to go. No time to waste. And she didn't.
There was no hesitation in her mind. It was as clear as things were
before Pyramid and she knew it would remain that way. Some people
just deserved to die. Some people offer nothing to society but
pain, misery, and suffering, and don't deserve the air they
breathe.

Regina backed up from the doorway, aimed her
weapon -- now set to an electric pin fire mode -- at the center of
the x, single shot only, and squeezed the trigger.

###

Thanks for purchasing and reading my book.
This novel gestated for quite awhile before I finally put my nose
to the grindstone. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I
enjoyed writing it. Thanks again.

Randy Noble

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