Chapter 7: Fight or Flight
How we got out of there is a wonder to even me, much less John and Jennifer. I looked around where we were and tried to gather my bearings as well as my breath. "John, you ok? "
"Yeah, that was some crazy fucking stunt you just pulled, JR."
"It worked though right? Stop complaining and help me out here." I pulled up the map from my RIG and tried to determine where we were. "So, if I'm reading this right, we're still far from the shipdocks."
"I know….which means we're going to have to find a faster mode of transportation. And after what you just pulled, looks like they're gonna be gunning for us."
"I'm aware of that." I looked over at Jennifer and sighed relief. She was ok physically, but as far as recent events were considered, she was more than a little shaken. "Hey, you ok?"
"Yeah." She smiled my smile and looked away quickly towards the corridor. "You heard that?"
"John, ready up." I pulled out my Plasma Cutter and aimed down the way. "Who's there?" My voice carrying.
"Put your Cutter down." A voice replied back.
"Fuck you." John said, his finger twitching on the Pulse Rifle's trigger.
The voice came into the light and saw that it belonged to a very stunning female. "I said, Put your Cutter down." Staring intently at me, she raised her weapon, a PFM-100 Hydrazine Torch Flamethrower, and lit the torch. "Unless, you want to be barbequed."
I lowered the Plasma Cutter, not fully holstering it in case it was necessary. "There, it's down now….calm down, alright?"
"You Earthgov?" she asked us.
"No, quite the opposite." I walked over closer to her and raised up the Flamethrower again.
"Away." She growled at me.
Just then, John ran up and wrestled it away from her and passed it over to me. "Really?" I looked at the fuel counter on the weapon and saw it was on empty.
"Had to put up a good show, you know? Didn't know who you guys were."
"We're trying to get off this rock", I said, handing her one of our extra Plasma Cutters, "If you wanna survive, we're your best chance."
She took the Cutter and inspected it. "I don't really take a lot of chances."
"Neither do we…" I reloaded my Cutter and Looked at the girl. "I'm JR."
"Amanda."
"Are you sure about this, JR?"
"Sure about what, John?" I said, slightly annoyed.
"About this girl….Something doesn't seem right about her or the way she just showed up."
"John, nothing seems right anymore….what do you think is going on? There are creatures with scythes for hands, a giant statue that looks like a DNA Double Helix, this black rock that talks to me, and I have some sort of freaky ESP powers because I'm part of a top secret project…..I think we've gone way off the reservation for normal." I brushed my hand through my hair. "She just wants to get away from this hell like we do. Is that wrong?"
"No, but we don't have the luxury of trusting a lot of people right now."
"I know….But let's make the best of it and keep moving." I looked in back of me and saw Jennifer and Amanda walking step in step with each other. "Hey, you ok?"
Jennifer looked over at me and smiled. "Yeah, you?"
"Fine….but, I'm gonna need something from you…"
"What's that?"
I walked over to her and held her close as I kissed her lips. "I love you, Jennifer."
"I love you too." She smiled my smile and held my hand as continued on our way towards the shipyards.
"John, Look left." I had the girls stay back while I and John checked out the area before the entrance to the yard.
"I see them….I told you they were gonna be gunning for you, JR…..So, how in the hell do you plan on getting through there?" I pointed John to a console on the wall opposite us.
"I can hack the system to see where exactly the ships are located and download the controls for the rest of the shipyard….in case we fall into any trouble….I just need you to watch my back….."
"Always…" John popped in a new cartridge into the Pulse Rifle and followed me over the console. "How long do you need?"
"I don't know, maybe 10 minutes…..why?"
"Because I seriously doubt we have 10 minutes…."
I looked behind me and saw the Necromorphs heading over towards the shipyard with a few of them heading towards us as well. "Leave me here, get to the girls, John."
"I'm not leaving you here, JR."
"I wasn't asking you….GET GOING NOW!" I saw him run past me and focused on the Necros. "Come on, you fucks…." I concentrated on the group and when the migraine came, used my power to take off their arms and legs, leaving them just as a torso on the floor. "Now to work…." I plugged my RIG into the console and started my work.
"John….You there?" I said into my RIGlink.
"I'm here, what happened?" his face came into view, surrounded by the girls.
"You guys have to go ahead for now….I can't download the controls to my RIG; I have to do everything manually from here."
"Fuck that…we're coming to get you, JR."
"No, John…focus on getting the girls to the ship and ill be following behind…I just have to set things up here, before I go."
"If you're not there, JR…."
"Just go, John….ill be there." I shut down the RIGlink and winced in pain as the gash on my side burned. 3 Med-Packs later and I was still bleeding out a constant flow. "I had to die of something, didn't I?" I said to myself laughing silently. "Might as well get something done then." I got to my feet and faced the console. "Let's create some chaos."
"Come on, Jennifer…lets go."
"John, we can't leave him out there!"
"He'll be right behind us, just trust me please." Trying to convince Jennifer was hard, considering I was trying do the same for myself at the same time. Amanda motioned us to duck down and I peeked over the crates to see Security Central.
"What are we waiting for?" Amanda asked.
"I don't know…I'm entirely sure…." No later than I had said that, 5 Gunships started their systems and began test-firing their cannons. Needless to say, it was a massacre.
"That answered my question." Amanda said, stupefied. "Wait, look." She called my attention to a series of flashing lights leading to a ready to go Gunship.
"JR….What are you doing?" I said, under my breath low enough, so the girls didn't hear me. "Come on…That way."
"Let's go, Jennifer." Amanda said, picking her up and leading her to the ship.
"I hope you don't do anything stupid, man…." I walked into the ship and shut the hatch doors and started the pre-flight sequence and readied the ship for takeoff.
