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Here's the next part. Shorter than normal, but, well, it's suppose to be. :^)
Enjoy!
Chapter 12
Harper expanded his still sore ribcage, filling his lungs with the life sustaining atmosphere that filled the cramped crawl space near command. The oxygen particles tickled his alveoli as they slowly infiltrated the blood that was rushing through the capillaries. Slowly he compressed his ribcage, expelling the air out over his sensitive tongue and back out into the cramped conduit.
He calmed his panicking mind as he concentrated on his deep breaths, readying himself for his final battle. The engineer was crouching next to a hatch that would open up to the corridor directly in front of command. Just a few more deaths and he wouldn't have to kill anymore...at least for a while.
Taking one last deep calming breath, he reached into his bag, grabbed the last bomb, placed it on the floor in front of him, grabbed the shriller that hung around his neck and placed it in-between his cracked bleeding lips. Forcing his sore ribs to hold steady and keep the stale air contained within his lungs stationary, he released the lock on the access hatch and cracked it open an inch. The second he heard the creak of the hatch, he commanded his aching muscles to contract his ribs, forcing the air out of his lungs and through the shriller. No sound came from the whistle between his lips but screams of pain roared from the corridor. They rushed though the crack of the hatch and reverberated though Harper's ears. Still exhaling, he pushed the round metallic bomb out of the cracked open hatch.
The bomb disappeared from his view as it dropped out of the conduit and onto the floor of the corridor. What little air was left in his lungs, he forced out through the shriller. When he could force no more, he quickly expanded his ribs once more filling his lungs with the sweet taste of oxygen, carbon dioxide and other trace elements. Once filled, he expelled the air slowly, again, forcing air through his weapon and listening to the screams he was causing.
*****
Fex was bored. Watch the empty corridor...guard the bridge...blah, blah, blah. He wanted chaos, he wanted violence, he wanted to do what that little runt was doing. Damn-it, he was promised that. "Fex, go on this mission and you'll get to destroy things." That's what they said to him, "destroy things." Not watch someone else destroy things while you play guard. Stupid idiot liars. If it wasn't for that damn Galaver waving that damn gun in his face every second, he'd be with that killing genius right now. Stupid Pythos.
Fex abandoned his rant and focused Dylan's eyes on the two guards. Two young stupid sub-betas. They could be fun to play with, Fex thought as images of pain danced through his mind. The right side of Dylan's mouth curled up into a cold harsh half smile as his eyes lit up with hope.
Real screams of pain suddenly shattered his dreams of screams of pain. The two Pythos were now hunched over, writhing in pain, covering their ears and screaming in agony. Besides their screeching, Fex/Dylan couldn't hear the sound that was the cause of their discomfort.
"W-W-What?" the confused Fex stuttered out in Dylan's surprised voice. How did his dreams become reality?
The only reply to his question was more screaming and a metal-on-metal clink. Dylan's eyes quickly searched for the cause of the clink. His eyes locked onto the culprit and widened as the realization of what the object was smacked into his mind. A bomb!!! That psycho kid WAS gonna kill all his friends!
"SHIT!" flew out of Dylan's mouth as he quickly sprinted for the nearby closed doors of command. Screw the writhing screaming Pythos, everyman for himself, he thought as he was diving in-between the automatically opening doors. He dived and rolled into command just as the thick impenetrable doors hissed closed behind him.
******
Quick breath in, long breath out, quick breath in..."SHIT!...hiss...hiss" the sounds rushed in through the still cracked open hatch. Harper recognized that voice...Dylan. A part of Harper sank deeper as he heard the all to familiar voice knowing that his friend was not the one in command of the yell. Neither less, that yell and hisses were his cue. Still breathing in and out through his shriller, Harper swiftly grabbed his trusty knife from his blood coated boot with his only functional arm. He kicked the hatch wide open, spotted his writhing targets and dived into the start of his hopefully last battle.
New louder agonizing screams came from the strong vocal cords of the Pythos as the source of their pain was now within inched of their ears. Seconds later the screams abruptly turned into gurgles as Harper cut their jugulars letting deep rich crimson blood gush out of their throats. The crimson liquid flowed onto the instrument of their demise as well as coating the hand that welded that instrument.
As the gurgles ceased and the corridor was once again silent, Harper let the metal whistle drop from his lips. Sick of the death he had been causing, the kludge didn't even linger to bask in the carnage filled scene he had just created. Instead, he focused his eyes on the ball shaped metal object that was glimmering in the lights in the corridor. His bomb. He quickly jumped off the bodies and ran over to his baby. He had no intention of using it on the three in the hall, it was too special to waste on them. It was his last bomb, the bomb that his whole plan centered on, it was his "Baby".
Crouching down on the ground next to Baby, he swung his bag around his body so he could access three of the smaller pockets. With his nimble right hand he retrieved the three substances he had taken from Med Deck in what seemed like a lifetime ago. Baby had three small compartments located on different sides of her. In turn, Harper opened up each compartment, poured one of the three substances into Baby and sealed up the compartment. Once done, he place the remaining chemicals back into their separate pockets in his Bag-O-Carnage. He looked down at Baby as she continued to shimmer in the light. Normally, he would have basked in her glow for a while, but now was no time for basking. Everyone on the other side of that door were expecting an explosion and would be getting suspicious if they didn't get one soon.
The beaten, exhausted, downcast human rushed to the door that everyone in his new adopted family was behind. His big sister, his big brother, his father-like uncle, and his best friend/cousin. He wanted to die when he thought of what he was going to have do to them. No time for pity, no time for emotions, not now. He shoved those feeling down into his cramped rusted box in his mind as his fingers flew over the control panel for the door. Within nano-seconds the door did as commanded and opened just wide enough to let Baby through. Harper expanded his ribs and took a deep haltingly shaky breath. At the apex of the breath, he rolled Baby into Command and quickly sealed up the door so that even his friend oxygen would not be able to leave. The breath escaped his lungs, passed through his dry aching throat, over his unusually motionless tongue and out past his cracked, bloody lips. He breathed again as he waited.
*******
Dylan/Fex dove and rolled his way into command. It was quite an entrance as the doors hissed closed behind him.
He found his voice soon enough and started yelling like a mad man. "The kid...the psycho...bomb...he's crazy!"
Galaver turned his attention to the raving lunatic. "What in Nietzsche's name are you yelling about and why the hell are you lying on my bridge floor and are not out guarding it?"
"The mudfoot...bomb...he IS gonna kill his friends...his IS a psycho!" Fex yelled in Dylan's voice. At this point, the real Dylan didn't know what to think. Was Harper really capable of killing them, his friends? Were we still even this mad man's friends? Who was this mad man?
Beka/Velac stepped forward towards the hysterical Dylan-Fex hybrid who was now standing and jumping around waving his arms madly trying to jester the idea of an explosion to the clueless crew on command. "Calm down idiot and tell us what happened." Her tone was harsh, steady and demanded attention.
Fex took a deep breath and calmed himself. "We were just standing guard when all of the sudden the others started screaming in pain and grabbing at their ears. Then this bomb just fell out of the wall! That human has totally lost it!!" The hysteria was slowly infiltrating his voice again.
"Are you sure it was a bomb? I mean, we haven't heard an explosion yet." Beka/Velac pointed out all too logically.
Dylan/Fex began ranting again. "Yes I'm sure it was a bomb! It was round, metal, smooth, small and....BOMB LOOKING!!! WHAT THE HELL ELSE....." Dylan/Fex stopped dead in his rant as he noticed the doors had opened a crack and the device that he had just described came rolling into command as if on cue. The doors then slammed shut and hissed as they were sealed tight. Air tight.
Baby kept rolling. With all the wide eyes locked onto her, she made her way to the very middle of command and slowly rolled to a stop. Every lung on command expanded collectively in one great giant gasp.
TBC....