Page 40 of Vicious
With jerky movements, I lifted my head to search the high titanium ceiling above the other crew members. All clear. And above mine? I reached up to the sharp point of the engine as if I could feel it tremble with something other than power, but with life clinging to ittoo.
A loud gasp came over the telecom. “Medicalemergency!”
Ellison.
No. I touched my hand to the engine, the rest of my body coiled to run to her. But the engine felt warm instead of cool. Fleshy. Notright.
“Where is this thing, damn it?” Mase shouted, moving toward thedoor.
“I need to get Randolph to the infirmary,” Ellison yelled over the telecom. “Now!”
Dread gathered at the nape of my neck, lifting my hair with a surge of goosebumps. I gazed up. My hand covered another hand, shaped exactly like mine. I slid my gaze up a slender bare arm to a shoulder, across the safety pin that held a metal-spiked corset together, up into a face I recognized with hair and chains cascading down either side. Two black eyes connected with mine before an unholy wail filled the engineroom.
It snatched my wrist and yanked me forward. The low, bright orange safety barrier surrounding the engine caught me at the knees. I plummeted ass over ankles in slowmotion.
A gunshot rang, drowning out Ellison’s next panicked plea for help over thetelecom.
The metal barrier dragged down my shins as I continued falling until it reached the curve of my feet. That seemed to slam me forward quicker. I took the brunt of the impact with my hands and forearms, then my chin, which crashed my molars together in a painful chatter. Engine oil spattered up into myface.
Another wail. Another gunshot. The door of the engine room crashed open, and something shaped like me skittered out at breakneckspeed.
I hauled in a breath. “Ellison!”
Mase leaped over the barrier, his cowboy boots splashing in the engine oil, and towed me to my feet. “We’re going. Comeon.”
Captain Glenn and Poh sprinted out the door toward it. Mase and I clung to their heels. Once the elevatordinged, we threw ourselvesinside.
“Give me a reading on it,” Captain Glenndemanded.
Poh aimed the Mind-I at the elevator doors. There, already on the second floor, a lone red dot flew toward the dining room. I jabbed at the second floor button even though someone had already hitit.
The doors slid open, and a steady crash from farther away rumbled the walls. Ellison’s screams over the telecom had stopped, somehow magnifying the crashes in a suffocating, horrific echo. I flung myself out of the elevator, ice pick at the ready though now I wished I had something more long range. The four of us turned the corner underneath the swinging light. It bounced shadows down the hallway, elongating the shape that stood in front of the dining room door, stretching it up toward the gratedceiling.
The thing didn’t look like me or Ellison. It looked like a monster from the bowels of hell. Two long, segmented legs bracketed a lean, gray body, most of which consisted of sharp black eyes and enormous horns that curved off either side its face. And all of it pointed directly at us. As did Poh’s gun it held in its taloned hands. It wailed and charged atus.
Mase fired off two shots. The thing dodged them both by leaping on the wall and ceiling while still barreling toward us. It aimed and shot Poh’s gun. A blue laser narrowly missed Poh and zinged into the Vicious roomdoor.
“Draw it away from them!” Captain Glenn shouted, then he turned around and zipped left down the hallway toward theinfirmary.
Poh yanked at my arm to follow while Mase stood his ground and fired off more rounds. All of them missed. The thing moved tooquickly.
The light swung shadows faster, slamming into the ceiling, throwing all of us into darkness for a split second before the two cords pendulumed in the otherdirection.
“Come on!” the captain yelled from down thehallway.
Mase fired again. Another wail, so close the light searched the rows of needle-sharp teeth in its mouth. It pulled the trigger of Poh’s gun. The shot wentwild.
“Mase!” I shouted from down thehallway.
He turned, and the three of us sprinted after the captain. Behind us, glass shattered. Night blanketed the ship, smothering the air in my lungs just as quick. I reached out blindly at both sides, my feet still pounding titanium at full speed, and snatched at emptyair.
A wail at my back scraped icy cold dread up my spine. I opened my mouth to scream, but I had nobreath.
Something slid against my left arm, a familiar touch. I grabbed for Mase’s hand. Something rough shackled around my right wrist. That sure better bePoh.
Farther down the hallway, a light inside a room snapped on. Captain Glenn held a door open for us. That promise of safety gave us an extra burst of speed. He ushered us through, slammed the door, then shoved a large metal container in front ofit.
A growl sounded from outside, but it soon faded back the way it had come. Toward Ellison. TowardRandolph.
