It has been another crazy week and winter finally decided to rear its head! Which is bad news for my poor orchid that got excited by the oddly warm weather and sent out a bunch of buds… oh well, next year I suppose! Here is Chapter Seventeen ? Please remember this is a rough draft, and as the author I own FULL copyright to it. This work may not be copied/shared in any manner other than a link to this blog. Thanks and Enjoy
Chapter Seventeen
Time seemed to slow as Ally watched Eoin slump, the humans holding him bracing his weight as they directed the bright red blood that gushed from the mouth of the spout into a double walled container designed specifically to hold Promethian blood. The absolute horror at witnessing her husband’s very life force pouring out of him into the hands of murderous thieves did it; the fear vanished, transmuted to an eerie calm.
I’ll have to kill them all.
With Eoin dying before her eyes, Ally knew had three minutes in which to do it. Kill them, or at the very least distract them enough to leave Eoin alone, so he could remove the spout.
If he still had the strength.
The moment of time it took for her to realise, then to take measure of the ten individuals and their weapons; stun guns, net guns, soft pellet guns, all weapons designed to immobilise, not kill, took actual seconds though for Ally it felt like the longest minute of her life. She took a breath slow and deep, tasting the air, tasting the scent of the unwashed human flesh, tasting the scent of the flesh that rejected the vicious adaptations forced upon it, and above all the smell of blood. Eoin’s blood.
Setting her gaze on the human that stood dead center, Ally reacted.
To the humans watching it seemed the violet eyed woman vanished, replaced with a blur of motion. Shouts rang out and the guns lifted. An explosion of sound ricocheted off the titanium alloy walls as the human who stood at the center braced himself, his leg adaptations shooting steel rods downward to hold himself in place as Ally launched herself through the air at him. Standing diagonally from the center man, the human holding the net gun fired at them both, willing to risk a comrade’s life in order to save his own.
Ally, quite capable of controlling her leap arched back in the air as the net flashed past, skimming over her body. The strong trajectory spun the net wide, slamming a human on the opposite side to the ground. Ally heard the crackle of electricity as the net reacted to the human’s struggles, the man beneath it pined to the ground shrieking in pain. A second later she hit the man with the leg adaptations high in the chest, sending his crackling stun gun flying. The weight of her landing forced the man’s body backward. An animalistic shriek of pain wrenched from the human’s lips as his spine snapped, the leg adaptations still holding strong in the ground. Slumped over backward like a broken toy, the man burbled and shuddered as blood flooded from his throat, eyes rolling back while his arms jerked spasmodically.
Ignoring the death throes, Ally snatched the stun gun and aimed at the man who’d stood at the front left of their attack formation, pulling her trigger a second before he pulled his.
The barbed missile slashed her upper arm making her snarl in pain but didn’t stick, hitting the ground with a crackle. The man she’d aimed at struggled to yank her shot from his chest, shrieking when it erupted. Not leaving anything to chance Ally rushed him, a hail of pellets following her as the last of the humans not guarding Eoin attempted to shoot her. She reached the human with the barb in his chest seconds later, snatching him by the jaw and shoulder, her arm across his collarbone and spun him around to provide cover. His body jolted with the heavy shots of the pellet gun. The human firing the gun screamed in anger at her, and kept firing.
Continuing to hold the human up as her shield, Ally could feel the pulse beneath his jaw hammering away with each body jarring slam. When the one shooting paused to reload, Ally reacted. Moving each arm in the opposite direction with a sharp twist she broke the neck of the human and let his body slump to the ground. The measured count in her head told Ally a minute had passed.
KEEP MOVING! MUST KEEP MOVING!
Leaping over the dead body at her feet, Ally bolted toward the man holding the pellet gun.
‘Rapere! Rapere! Abbiamo bisogno d’aiuto quaggiu!’
Eoin could just hear the human behind those holding him screaming for help. The roar in his head as his body desperately fought against the inevitable made sounds and sights seem to float in and out. He half felt as if he himself floated though at the same time his body felt heavier and heavier.
‘Portior! Portior la donna!’
Trying to keep his eyes on Ally, Eoin’s vision shuddered and twisted as the men holding him released his arms, following the instructions of the one shouting behind him. Slumping to the ground, his heart beating erratically Eoin watched dreamily as the four men spread out around Ally, their stun grenades loaded. A part of his mind reminded him of his throat and he gurgled with effort while lifting his arm that felt miles away. It took several attempts, his hand hitting his nose first, then his chest, then his cheek before he managed to drag it down to his throat. The steel sticking out of his throat was sticky with smooth edges. The effort of folding his ice cold hand around the tubular spout felt near impossible. Blood trickled over his hand, running down his fingers as he gurgled, tugging and tugging, finally feeling his flesh pull away from it. His hand fell to the dirt beside him as he panted, trying to breathe through the clogging blood. Eyes unfocused he felt the itching sensations as his body, freed from the implement, working rapidly to heal the breach in his vein. Heart rate falling, Eoin’s vision began to narrow, blackening at the edges. Part of his mind knew this was bad, recognising how close to death he edged, but Eoin couldn’t muster the strength to panic. Instead he watched his beautiful wife.
Surrounded by the four men with their stun grenades extended, Ally looked calm and poised. The instant the men made the slightest movement she leapt straight up. Two of them shot each other by accident, the third and forth weren’t so stupid but still weren’t quick enough. Ally came down on the shoulders of one, swiped the vicious looking blade from his belt and slammed it through the back of his neck. If Eoin had had the strength to wince he would of. The human dropped dead and twitching to the ground. Face flushed with fury, the remaining human roared, charging Ally with outstretched arms. Standing so close she didn’t have a chance to step aside so she went with the motion and neatly tripped them, allowing the man to hurtle over her as she rolled back. Slamming him to the ground, she jammed the barrel of his grenade gun under his chin and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Stepping off the dying man’s body, she twisted, looking for him. Managing a messy smile, Eoin held his beautiful wife’s gaze, feeling an overwhelming sense of love. Or possibly floods of endorphins as his nano-virus swiftly rectified the damage to his throat. It couldn’t replace the lost fluids as quickly, and from where Eoin lay half soaked in a decent puddle of coagulating blood, he’d lost a lot. Ally took a step towards him, her smile tremulous before her expression snapped to one of alertness. She darted past him so fast he couldn’t follow the motion, only the sound; a single terrified scream then the snap of bones. Then silence punctuated by the crackle of a communicator.
‘Come on,’ Ally’s feet appeared near his head. Eoin struggled to roll over, watching his wife’s face crease with concern. ‘Still not good?’
She knelt and a moment later he felt the pressure of her fingers against his throat.
‘Looks like the wound has healed. Wonder how long the blood loss will take to replace.’
‘Hmmm,’ Eoin said, his voice swooning and singsong-like as he slurred in exhaustion. ‘A day..daayy?’
‘Don’t have a day,’ Ally said with a grunt as she lifted him bodily to his feet, an arm beneath his shoulder and across his back. ‘Let’s get you to the vehicle.’
The distance was hard to tell with his head so woozy, the rounded ribbed walls of the tunnel seemed to float. Then out of apparently nowhere a compact creation appeared.
‘Wooaahh,’ Eoin slurred as he felt stirrings of excitement despite his overwhelming exhaustion. ‘Is that it?’
‘Yes,’ Ally sounded relieved. She set him gently on the ground and he watched as she activated the door. The glass slid smoothly aside and Ally turned, scooping him up with a grunt. She only staggered slightly getting him in, and he congratulated her for it, quite impressed.
‘Love, shut-up. You sound beyond intoxicated.’ She shut the door behind her and pressed a button on the top of the seat he sat propped in. Twin straps flashed out, sealing him to the seat. With him strapped in, Ally did the same to her own seat then activated the dash.
‘Ooo,’ Eoin blinked slowly at the impressive display and for some reason that amused him. He giggled.
‘Bloody hell,’ Ally muttered to herself. ‘Can’t remember the last time I heard you giggle like that.’ She punched something on the screen then sat back. Two handles slid out. Seizing them, Ally began steering. It was then Eoin realised they were moving.
‘Let’s get the hell out of here,’ Ally growled, guiding the vehicle past the remains of the humans, and the lab he’d been forced to order into self-destruction when he first registered the raiders presence.
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