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Chapter 15
Rubble lay strewn about at every conceivable angle and direction. Large sections of the walls and most of the ceiling lay in heaps; disjointed pieces of what they once were. Similarly, Wade's mind tried to piece together the chaotic events of only moments ago.
Not two feet away was Charles' broken body, impaled on a large spike several metres long, embedded deep inside his gut. The jagged metallic shards appeared to be pumping a black liquid into the gaping wound. Wade tried to move, tried to get to the other man, to help him somehow, but the towering behemoth of flesh and metallic sinew got there first. Dragging him into the air, she regarded Charles with a look of pure disgust and indignation. With a face paled by shock and intense pain, Charles gasped like a wounded fish desperate for water.
"Foolish creature," her dual voice echoed, a mixture of humanity and grating metal. With the slightest movement, she flung him free of the lances, as if discarding an insignificant bit of filth. Charles' body went hurtling into a nearby wall, which collapsed downwards on itself from the impact. What remained of Charles Jameson was soon buried and hidden from view.
Through the rubble of the collapsed wall, the distant rays of the suns now streamed into the room, illuminating the billowing dust and the crescent shapes of the creature's body as it turned back to face Wade, hissing ominously. The interplay of light and shadow would almost have been hauntingly artistic in any other time or place.
In a heartbeat, Wade had grasped Chuck's dropped firearm and was vaulting backwards, away from the creature's rapidly slicing tendrils.
But this time Wade was too late.
One stray, metallic tendril sliced across his chest, ripping his protective suit almost completely free, and leaving him exposed and vulnerable.
Wade landed in a small crouch, staggering as he clasped at his chest tightly. He could feel a warm wetness slowly spreading out from between his fingers. Looking down he could see the, all too familiar, blush of red blood spattered over his hand and arm.
"It seems we have become familiar with your ways, betrayers.." the creature smiled a sardonic and twisted smile that seemed to reach all the way to her demonic yellowing eyes.
Wade clenched his teeth tightly as ominous black lines spread outwards, etching into his smooth, youthful skin from around the thin wound.
"Soon, you will be where you belong..." the creature's voice trailed off, and her eyes suddenly grew wide as the black lines stopped flowing. One by one, each of the lines turned from black to a bronze colour, before finally vanishing altogether. The wound itself had already closed over in much the same manner.
"Heh," Wade looked back with a smirk, "Not familiar enough."
"Inconcievable!" the creature shrieked, lunging forward once more. Her metallic blade-like projections glistening in the early morning light.
This time, however, Wade was too quick for the monster, having already launched himself safely out of harm's way, mere seconds before the dagger like lances carved up the ground where he once stood.
With a series of quick movements while in the air, Wade rigged his weapon to unload its most powerful burst shot, as he landed high atop a massive piece of concrete, covered in what looked like pieces of jagged rebar. It would deplete nearly all of the weapon's power, but it was worth the risk, he decided.
All or nothing.
The image of Kylan's strong arms, as he showed the young man how to rig the weapon to pull off this shot, shot through Wade's mind. A small twinge of uncertainty, and gut clenching terror, rippled through his body as he remembered seeing the man's suit plummeting to the cold, hard ground only moments ago. A trail of smoke following him down.
No time for that now, though...
He took aim at the broken form of the naked woman imbedded into the twisted body, and fired without a second thought. The force from the shot nearly knocked him flat on his ass. When he had recovered his senses, Wade turned and looked back to where he had almost fallen. He could see that he had only been inches away from a pit full of shattered debris that almost seemed to be reaching up to claim him. He sighed with relief.
Soon, a soft, rhythmic laugh reached his ears, breaking the stillness and illusion of the moment.
There, in the middle of the strewn debris and refuse, was the monstrosity. It was crouched into itself, as the smoke cleared from the gun's wake. "Is that really your best?" she sneered at him, before gathering herself up to her full height, high above the young man. "Prepare yourselves!" All at once, the creature plummeted down at him, as he stood high atop the precipice, her claws outstretched in victory.
Just as the deadly metal shards grew near, and all looked at an end, two powerful shots rang out in the room, sending everything into a frenzy of dust and fire. Somehow, in the confusion, Wade managed to sling himself from the top of the concrete slab and slide down the other side, hopping to various foot holds, as he all but fell.
When he finally made it to the ground, coughing and sputtering from the choking dust in the air, the room was filled with the sound of a battle suit propulsion pack. He looked around quickly, not daring to hope for a familiar face. The blue halo from the suit's engine played strange shapes in the clouds of smoke and dust.
When the suit had finally settled down, Wade wondered forward, covering his mouth to block the worst of the choking dust. Suddenly a strong pair of arms grasped him tightly from behind. He panicked, struggling desperately, but the stronger arms held him tight.
"Relax," a deep, baritone voice whispered in his ear.
As soon as Kylan released him, Wade spun on his heels and grasped the other man tightly, "I... I..." was all that he could say.
Kylan looked down at him, his jaw slightly agape, as if speechless.
"I thought you'd left me behind."
"Not this time," Kylan smiled, "Hopefully never again."
"Where's the battle suit you flew in with?" Wade asked, stepping back.
Kylan drew his holstered weapon as the dust began to settle.
"But why'd you get out?" he asked, "We need to finish this! That thing will recover soon and-" but Kylan was no longer listening. Instead he approached the creature, as it struggled to stand up again.
The creature reared back, towering impressively above them, its massive claws aching to tear apart flesh, and its eyes glistening with hatred. With a deafening scream, it launched herself forward.
"Kylan!" Wade called, racing forward, his heart hammering away in his chest.
Kylan put one hand up to stop him, as the creature kept pressing forward. Soon it would be too late to stop.
"Aleksandra."
The creature recoiled as if struck. It stepped back, like a kitten scolded for playing with the wrong toy. It looked down at the newcomer with wide eyes.
"...Richard?" it asked, quietly. Its voice had lost most of the grating metallic edge that it had once possessed.
Kylan nodded, "Yeah Aleks."
"Richard," its eyes brimmed with tears, "Oh Richard I can't find Clayton." It was sobbing now, Wade could see that most of the yellow in what was left of the human female part's eyes were beginning to clear.
"Aleks."
"I... I need to find him Richard," it cried, "He could be hurt and-"
"Aleks, listen to me now."
The creature nodded slowly, looking back at him with tear filled eyes.
"Clayton's gone. He passed away years ago, even before I left that summer."
Her voice caught in a soft cry, like a wounded animal finally dying. "No!" It shook its head back and forth, "No... No it can't be."
"I'm so sorry."
"But...I saw him," it sobbed, "I saw my baby."
"He's not in pain anymore, Aleks."
As the woman embedded inside the creature cried, one by one the tattered faces of the fake children imbedded in her body began to fade and drop off, like a multitude of amputated limbs. Each one faded into dust before reaching the floor, illuminated into millions of sparkling particles in the streamers of morning light.
Wade turned around, just in time, to see the little boy he had just rescued stand up from behind a fallen slab of concrete. The boy waved to him with one tired arm and, just as Wade was about to return the gesture, the boy too dissolved into nothingness.
"Richard," the woman sobbed, wrapping her arms around her chest. "Richard... I'm all alone now. Mom...Blaine....Clayton...even you..."
"That's not true," Kylan raised the weapon, took aim and fired a single pulse at the creature. Aleksandra's chest burst open right over her heart, like a red flower coming into bloom. She staggered backwards, her eyes wide and disbelieving, before a thin smile played across her lips. "They're all waiting for you."
Aleksandra smiled down at him, as the sinews of the creature began to unravel. She looked over at the two men before her, and spoke to Kylan one last time, "I'm happy to see that you found him, again," she tried to smile before she too collapsed into the floor and dissolved into silvery dust.
"Kylan?" Wade asked, "How'd you know her anchor point?"
"Go to the heart of the matter," Kylan smiled sadly, as he looked around at the mess of rubble and destroyed machinery strewn about.
Wade looked at him expectantly.
"It's nothing," Kylan said finally, "Anyway, aren't you going to ask me about the whole 'Richard' thing?"
"It was the name you used when you first met me."
"What?" Kylan asked, stepping back in shock.
"Huh?" Wade blinked, "did I say something wrong?"
Kylan opened his mouth to speak, but a sound to the far side of the room caused both men to spin around and draw what weapons they had left.
"Oh git off yer high horses, you damned cavaliers," Hank's tired voice wheezed as the bulky man rounded the corner.
"Hank," Kylan smiled with relief, lowering his weapon.
"The right same," the man spat, "you two took so long that I figured I'd better come and rescue your hides, now hadn't I?"
Kylan and Wade exchanged looks.
"Uh, Hank. Kylan got back safely and Chuck just...died."
"What?" Kylan asked, spinning around, "What...? How the fuck...?"
Hank shook his head, "Nothing we can do for him now. He was a good man, but we can be happy to know that there aint enough of him left for those damn machines to use anyhow. I mean, they could use him fer spare parts and..."
"That's more than enough, thank you Hank," Kylan raised his hand to the larger man. "We can grieve our losses later, right now we need to rendezvous with the pickup units in low orbit. We don't have much time."
"Right," Wade replied, "How many suits do we have left anyway?"
"Uh...." Kylan stopped, blushing a healthy shade of pink.
"What's wrong?"
"What happened to your inner-suit Wade?"
"Huh...?" Wade looked down, realizing for the first time that he was left with very few clothes, save for tight fitting underwear that did not leave much to the imagination. "I...uh..."
"Were you hurt in the fight?" Kylan asked, stepping forward.
"...No!" Wade said, a little too quickly, "Just got my suit torn is all." Wade's mind was already replaying the infected wound's miraculous healing only moments ago. He looked down at his torso and protectively clasped one arm over the newly healed flesh as if it would turn black at any second.
"Holy shit! What was that scar on your shoulder from?" Kylan asked, reaching out with questioning fingers.
"Years ago," Wade stepped back and out of the way, still covering the other healed wound tightly "Got it years ago and-"
Hank snorted, "The kid here'll just have to go through extra decontamination when we get back, is all. He doesn't seem like a fuckin' machine to me... Anyway! We're wasting time sitting here yammering! Jones' suit is all fixed up and Chuck left his suit outside."
Wade crossed his arms even more tightly over his naked chest self-consciously, "So... ahh?"
Hank pressed on, "I'll squeeze into Chuck's suit and the two of you will have to share Jones's."
This time it was Wade's turn to blush, "Will we fit?" he asked, almost to himself.
Hank was nonplused, "Sure, it'll be cosy but we're all men here," he grinned wholeheartedly, slapping Wade hard on the shoulder.
"Sounds good," Kylan replied, grasping Wade by the other shoulder and leading him off to one side. "Contact us by intercom when you're good to go Hank. Chuck's suit was pretty close by, from the last reading I took."
"Gotcha, Jones!" The large man half saluted, as turned and limped off toward the front of the building.
"But...I..." Wade stammered as they ran quickly back to the parked suit.
"I'll get in first so I can operate the controls," Kylan said, hopping into the suit with ease.
Wade was still blushing.
"You just need to be sure not to make any contact with the suit itself so we don't have a repeat of the weirdness of the last time."
"Weirdness?" Wade asked.
"You know, when first your suit came apart, then Hank's suit failed. We can't risk another situation like that so we have to be careful," he replied. Kylan looked down at a flashing panel and flicked a button, "Looks like Hank is good to go," he said.
Hank's booming voice filled the immediate area, "Damn right I'm good to go! Now quit yer yapping and shack up!"
"You heard the man," Kylan winked as he switched off the intercom. "Wrap your arms around my neck and be careful not to touch any of the sides."
Wade nodded. With a small flip and mid-air summersault, he ended up suspended upside-down above Kylan with his palms braced against the other man's shoulders.
Kylan smirked as Wade slowly dropped his legs and torso down into the suit, sliding tightly against the contours of the other man's body as he went.
"Oof," Wade grunted when he dropped into the suit only to be caught by Kylan's strong arms.
"Careful now," Kylan said, his breath warm against Wade's exposed neck. "I still need to secure the internal straps." In a second, with a flick of a button, Wade was strapped tightly to Kylan's chest, his arms encircling the other man's neck, more for comfort than for support.
Wade could feel himself becoming excited, and closed his eyes tightly as if to will those thoughts from his mind. 'Not now!' he thought, 'Oh please, please, pleeeease not now!'
Both men felt a rumbling tremor through the area as the protective coating of the battle suit shifted into place, protecting them. Kylan brought up the panel communicator, and an image of Hank's face was displayed on screen, along with several readouts from the local area.
"They're coming for us, Jones!" Hank hollered, "It's now or never."
With a flick of the wrist, Kylan sent the battle suit into the air and through a new hole in the side of building, "We're coming out, Hank. Give us cover!"
From inside the suit, nestled against Kylan's warm body, Wade felt like he was in another world. His mind drifted back to his days on his home planet, when he felt warm and secure in the arms of his lover. As his mind dreamed of that time, something else started to bubble up into his mind, images and memories that didn't quite fit. Somehow both alien and familiar. Yet, even as he dreamed of these images of yesterday, of lives on far away planets, the steady heartbeat of the man with whom he was tied compelled him forward. Forward to the days they spent in training, to the furtive glances, the missed signals, the pushed aside conversations.
It wasn't long before they broke through the atmosphere. Even before weightlessness hit him fully, he felt the weight he had been carrying around for years attempting to leave him. Wade looked back at the planet with clear, almost unnatural, shimmering blue eyes that seemed to glow from within. When Kylan looked down to ask if Wade was alright, his warm lips parted in question, Wade reached up and drew the two together in a tight embrace.
Their eyes closed, lost in the moment, they could not see the approach of the pickup ship, nor Hank' incessant hooting and hollering over the intercom about a monumental escape.
****************************************************************** Author's notes:
Sorry about the delay folks. We're back on board and rapidly approaching the end!
What's up with Allan? Will we ever find out what's been going on?
Why did the infection change colour from gold to silver?
What the hell is up with Wade anyway!? How did he get that other scar?
Is Blaine a rabid Chihuahua on his days off?
What really happened to the safeties in the training pool?
All your questions, and more, will be revealed all too soon as we count down the final five chapters (and one last one, for a decent conclusion). Don't miss out!
Again a big thank you to Kane!
Cheers,
Gene
Corporeal09@yahoo.com if you have any miraculous insight into the story, dirty jokes/limericks etc