Subterranean (28 page)

Chapter 27

Escape

The shearing of torn metal and the sparks of damaged circuitry compelled him forward in his search for Rolan and Radovan. Fires crawling along the walls and floor lit his way as he scanned the room for his two friends, seeing no sign of them amongst the many corpses that littered the area. He cried out for them, his voice booming over the orchestral highs of the mother ship’s destruction, but heard no response after repeated attempts.

He stood in the center of a collapsing chamber, coughing and hacking from the burning smoke that invaded his lungs, wondering if he should continue without them and search for the hangar Radovan spoke of alone, but such thoughts quickly fled under the refusal to abandon a friend… and the groan of a wounded arm in the corner pushing a pile of debris off itself.

“Radovan!” Flynn dashed to his aid and heaved the great piece of metal off him. “Are you okay?”

“Nothing is broken,” he cautiously rotated his arms and legs around, “I think…”

“Here.” Flynn held out his arm and pulled Radovan to his feet. “Where is Rolan?”

“I do not know,” he studied the area burbling with chaotic eruptions, “he was struck by an explosion, I believe.”

“Rolan!” Flynn braved falling rubble, unsteady ground, and surviving Ravager soldiers to search for him. “Where are you?” In the mixed light, he found Rolan’s weapon and traced the floor in all directions for the alien himself, finally spotting him sitting against the far wall with his head hung low. “Rolan!” He knelt down next to him and shook his shoulder, but there was no response. “Damn it! Radovan, he’s unconscious!”

“I will carry him.” Radovan hoisted him up over his shoulder, struggling against the rocking ship to maintain his balance. “We must escape this ship now!”

“I couldn’t agree more!” Flynn clicked his rifle into place and rushed up to the door, leaning out into the hallway. “Which way do we go?”

“Left for fifty meters, and then turn right!”

Flynn raced out and down the hallway, following Radovan’s directions at every turn whilst secondary explosions rocked the ship, threatening to decompress the chambers they passed through at any moment. They encountered little resistance along the way, nothing Flynn couldn’t handle by himself, as most of the Ravagers on the ship were bewildered by the totally unexpected retaliation from the planet.

They were making good time and the possibility of survival seemed to grow as they neared the hangar… that was until a nearby wall was abruptly torn asunder by an immense force that emptied itself out in front of them, blocking their path with its mammoth size that clearly indicated its destructive capabilities. Its muscles pulsed with rage and blood, and the creature let out a frightening howl that stunned Flynn and sent him reeling.

“What the hell is that?!” He trembled and shouted, with his rifle aimed squarely at its chest.

The beast had the silhouette of a normal Ravager, but with significantly larger proportions to account for its dramatic increase in physical power. It was a terrible thing with which to be trapped in a narrow hallway.

“I do not know, but shoot it!” Radovan commanded, backpedaling while Rolan was still slumped over him.

Flynn fired off a lethal blast into the Ravager’s chest, striking it directly and causing it to stagger. “Let’s go!” They charged past it and sprinted down the hallway, hearing the heart-dropping sound of its recovery and pursuit as they rounded the corner. “Faster!” Flynn and Radovan gasped for air as they ran for their life, willing themselves with everything they had to gain distance from the hulking Ravager, but it kept closing in on them thanks to its greatly protracted strides.

“We cannot outrun this creature!” Radovan choked out the words over his strained respiratory system. “We must fight it!”

Flynn shook his head furiously at the notion. “What?! How?! That thing will tear us to shreds!”

“You must fight it, Flynn!”

“No!” Flynn denied profusely. “I don’t stand a chance!” When they rounded the last corner, they entered a small anteroom and a locked door, trapping them inside with a charging enemy at the other end of the hallway. “Damn it!”

“Destroy it, Flynn!” Radovan tore the control panel off the wall and began rerouting the wires. “Quickly!”

Flynn tensed himself and lined up his rifle with the impending danger, silencing his incessant trembling long enough to get a steady bead on the monster. With a squeeze of the trigger, he halted the threat in its tracks, forcing it to the ground mere feet away from him. He breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed all his muscles, even managing to muster a grin, but it was briskly washed away when the hulking creature jumped back up and charged forth, casting Flynn aside against the wall.

The impact knocked the weapon from his hands, disorienting him long enough for the hulk to latch on with its hideously large arms and launch him up into the ceiling. Upon coming back down, he was again caught in the monstrous clutches of the hulk and slammed repeatedly against the wall, with each subsequent blow crushing another bone inside of him. He gasped for assistance and, miraculously, he was released immediately, with the hulk thrashing about in stinging smoke and intense pain from a splash of deadly acid it had been doused in.

However, the reprieve didn’t last long, as Flynn was once again in the grasp of a beast that was now even angrier than before. It eyed him with animalistic rage, its face the picture of malevolence, and raised him up for one final blow that would end his life.

Flynn felt around in his pocket for the device Radovan gave him and seized it in his grasp… he determined this was the appropriate time to use it. With a click of a button, the sphere activated and began blinking at rapidly increasing intervals until it became a static light. He shoved it in the hulk’s face and turned away, seeing an argent white light flash through the thin layer of his eyelids and soon felt the quick release of his success.

He hit the floor knowing he had only a few seconds to capitalize on the opportunity before he was in truly inescapable danger. Should he run yet again or should he somehow fight back, with no weapon, against something so much larger and more powerful than he was?

Sacrifice

“I did it!” Lisa jumped in excitement, beckoning Rasina to come see for herself. “I destroyed the mother ship!”

“Destroyed?” Rasina hurried over and studied the readings that scrolled beside the radar. “So does that mean Rolan and the others are…?”

Lisa frowned, narrowing her eyes to make sense of the confusing data. “I don’t know…”

From within the hangar, the sounds of battle slowly softened to a buzz until they ultimately relented to but a whisper. Rasina and Lisa noticed the sudden change in noise and peeked out the window to see the flood of Ravagers receding back into the city from where they came, frantically rushing to escape some great invisible force.

With their interest piqued, they descended the elevator and marveled at the sight up close… the Ravagers were indeed retreating, at last! They cheered amongst the broken charred ruins of the wall that once served as the passageway for their doom and praised the heavens for their victory.

“We did it!” Lisa cried through her laughter. “We defeated the Ravagers!”

Their celebrations were fleeting, however, as their attention hastily turned to the Subterranean ship and the lifeless body encased within. “Vale?” Rasina abruptly shifted from cheer to worry. “Are you okay?”

They climbed up to the cockpit and slid the roof open, gasping sharply at what they saw:

Vale sat with extensive burn wounds laced all over her body from an internal explosion that’d blown right next to her, the combustion no doubt caused by the overheating of the weapons. With speed, they dragged her out and onto the floor, where they examined her closely to check for vital signs.

“Is she still alive?” Lisa asked, watching Rasina press her fingers on a number of pulse points.

“I believe so,” she leaned back, “but she is badly injured.”

“We have to help her.” Lisa swiveled her head back and forth in search of the medical supplies. “Where are the syringes?”

“In the control room,” Rasina punctuated with a finger, “retrieve the bandages, too, she is still bleeding.”

Returning with the supplies, Lisa discarded them on the floor in a big pile and sifted through for the bandages, handing them to Rasina the moment she found them. “Will she be okay?”

“I do not know,” Rasina replied as she gently pressed the bandages against the wounds and stemmed the outflow of dark green fluids slowly draining from her faintly glowing arms, “but I hope so.”

Lisa cossetted Vale’s hand, still warm with clinging life, and whispered the words, “I hope so, too.”

She then turned her gaze to the ceiling, as if she could somehow see beyond the cavern walls, through the skies, and into the mother ship where she hoped Flynn would be safely ensuring his own escape from death unknown.

“I hope so, too.”

Chasing Doubt

The hulking diabolical construct of Ravager malevolence faltered upon its ungraceful legs, the blinding flash of light from Flynn’s device causing it great distress. It held one hand covering its overloaded eyes, while it smacked the other against its skin and the coat of simmering acid eating away at it.

Flynn crouched down, staring at the beast with pure terror suffocating his will to fight, and heard the echoes of his doubt calling out to him from a dark pit within his heart. It asked him if he should fight the beast, if he should continue pursuing his goal of escape, if he would ever get the opportunity to save his planet… if he even stood a chance.

Do I even stand a chance?

Over and over it asked him, until he nearly repeated the words himself aloud. He would have, had but one thing not held him back. Some inextricable force compelled him not to say the words, despite the imploring temptation to do so. He knew that if he said it now, if he questioned himself or his purpose once more, he would reset everything he had worked so hard to achieve… it would all be swept away in a terrible flood of fear and doubt. No, before he could mutter his own defeat and dismantle himself, he steeled his mind into an impermeable force of determination and lunged forward.

Flynn reached for the stick strapped to his back and snatched it up in his hands, wielding it like a great spear as he charged at the hulking Ravager with all his might. With a thrust of his imbued arms, he plunged the wooden stick into the charred chest of the beast, impaling it completely through its sinister black heart. The monster tensed at the attack, clutching at the protruding stick and howling in agony with a river of blood flowing from the wound.

Flynn braced himself for the impact of swinging arms as the beast wobbled to and fro, thrashing about in intense pain and crashing through the walls in a final rendition of its fury. When it seemed to be at its weakest, an energy blast zipped from the side and struck it in the face, taking its head clean off and dropping the dead remains to the ground.

From the doorway, Radovan stood pointing a finger at Rolan, who sat on the ground wielding a red-hot energy pistol in his hands. “My apologies, Flynn,” he lowered his weapon and smirked, “I cannot take credit for defeating such a worthy opponent unless I contribute somehow.”

Flynn touched his chin to his chest and sighed. “Yeah,” his voice trembled as he shook off the adrenaline of the situation, “couldn’t have done it without you.” They shared a friendly smile for a few seconds before Radovan interrupted them.

“I suggest we leave now,” he said just as a nearby explosion rocked the ship, “we have approximately three minutes to escape.”

“Let’s get out of here.” Flynn moved to join them, but froze suddenly. “But first…” He approached the body of the hulk Ravager and clamped onto the wooden stick, yanking it out with a great heave. “There, let’s go!”

“Very well.” Radovan pushed a button. “The hangar is through here.”