by Shadoe Masters
Burt stopped and scanned the area. "Tyler should be able to herd him this far," he said. "We'll wait." He nodded toward one of the room door alcoves. "We'll take cover in there. It won't see us until it's too late, then, give it all you've got."
Kylie nodded and stepped into the doorway's cover, waiting.
And waiting.
"You think Tyler's in trouble?" she finally asked.
Burt shook his head. "I just saw him at the end of that balcony. Shouldn't be long now."
Kylie heaved a sigh and knelt down. "Tell me when there's some action." She shifted, getting comfortable for the long wait, then lost her balance a moment, grabbing Burt's leg for support.
Burt rolled his eyes. That girl was always grabbing something. He gritted his teeth and waited for her to steady herself and let go.
But she didn't.
Soon, Burt looked down. She was back to rubbing his leg again. He tried to pull his leg away, but she held on.
"Kylie," he said at last. "Will you stop fondling my leg?"
Kylie looked at her hand wrapped around Burt's knee, then up to Burt's face. "'Fondling'?" she asked with a smirk. "Is that what you think I'm doing?"
"Yes," he replied grimly. "Now stop it."
"This isn't 'fondling', Burt. If I was 'fondling', I think my hand would be a bit higher." She paused to measure the distance from her hand to his crotch with her eyes. "Actually, a lot higher."
He jerked his leg away. "Whatever you want to call it, just stop it."
"I wasn't 'fondling' your leg, Burt." He could hear the giggle in her voice already. "I was 'fondling' the fabric."
He heard a distinct snicker. "Just... leave me alone."
She giggled. "I'm sorry. Don't start feeling all violated." He just glared at her. "Don't you ever want to touch something that feels good and you just can't resist?"
By sheer will, he forced his eyes to stay on her face. "I can control myself." If he concentrated, he could pretend he didn't even realize she was actually half naked and kneeling at his feet. "Unlike some people," he added.
"Self-control has never been a big point with me," she admitted with a grin. Her hand started to stray toward his leg again.
He took another step away. "You should work on that."
"And you should work on giving in."
"I don't think--"
Tyler appeared at the end of the hall and Burt immediately darted out of the alcove toward him. He had a feeling this would be one of those things she just wouldn't see sense in. "Where is it?" he asked when he reached the younger man.
Tyler shook his head. "I think it went down the stairwell, but I didn't see it in there."
Burt flipped out his scanner. "We don't want to lose it." He started toward the stairwell in a hurry, finally running to keep up with Kylie, who'd passed them in a sprint.
She flung open the door just as Burt shouted, "Wait!"
It was too late.
The GH filled the doorway as Kylie skidded to a halt. Both stared, wide-eyed, at the other for a split second before Kylie screamed - matched by the chittering howl of the creature.
Kylie slammed the door.
She fell back as Burt reached for the door, then stumbled into Tyler. The two of them went down in a heap, Kylie trying to simultaneously climb over Tyler and twist her gun toward the door before Burt could open it.
Burt flung open the door and aimed, firing a quick shot into the retreating back of the creature. It howled again and ran down the stairs.
Burt started to follow, but stopped. He looked to the floor, where a smiling Tyler held Kylie half in his lap, her leg nearly wrapped around his waist. His eyes narrowed and he took one step toward his partner, before taking control of himself. His eyebrows rose. "You going to let her go?" he demanded.
"Hey, she jumped me," Tyler said, but reluctantly dropped his arms away from her.
Burt grabbed Kylie's arm to pull her up, then shoved her through the door, keeping a suspicious eye on Tyler.
"What?" Tyler complained, getting to his feet.
"Try to keep your mind on the mission," Burt muttered, before hurrying off after Kylie's retreating footsteps.
They followed the creature down to the basement and into an open staging area just off the loading docks.
Burt paused at the open door and scanned the room, glancing at the indications on the scanner. Tyler and Kylie stood behind him, weapons at the ready. Crates and boxes were scattered haphazardly in the dim light. "He's in here somewhere," Burt said, watching the readout on his scanner. He looked across the room, toward the overhead doors, then pointed in that direction. Burt hit the switch next to the door and flooded the room with light. They heard the chittering growl from the direction Burt had indicated. When the creature didn't immediately strike, Burt stepped cautiously into the room, alert for any attack.
Tyler and Kylie followed him into the room, taking up stations on either side, aiming their weapons in opposite directions. Burt quickly secured the door behind them.
"We can trap him in here," Burt told them. "There's no escape." He scanned the room and came up with a plan. "You two circle around that way. Make some noise. That should herd him toward me. I'll flank him and cut off his escape."
Kylie and Tyler nodded and moved off to the right. Burt moved off to the left.
"You think this'll work?" Tyler asked, then kicked the nearest crate.
"Burt's plans always work," Kylie replied, kicking a crate on her side.
"That last one worked real well." Tyler kicked another crate.
"This is the last one. Modified." Kylie shot Tyler a grin before slamming the butt of her gun into a box beside her.
"Yeah, but I don't--"
Suddenly the GH loomed above them atop the crate Tyler was about to kick.
They backed away, then ran, darting through the maze of crates.
"Burt!" Kylie screamed.
Suddenly Tyler grabbed at Kylie's holster and pulled her back, ducking them both into an open-ended crate. It was wide enough for the both of them, and long enough that the GH couldn't reach them.
As long as it stayed outside the box.
It started beating angrily on the crate. Tyler pulled his jackknife out of his pocket and aimed it toward the opening.
"Burt!" Kylie screamed again, pulling her knife out as well.
The GH finally noticed the open end of the box and reached an arm toward them. Tyler and Kylie jabbed at it with their knives.
The creature screamed in pain and defiance, and beat on the crate some more.
Tyler aimed his gun at the GH's legs, but his shot missed when the creature jumped atop the box. "Dammit!" He growled. "Why the hell doesn't Burt sh--"
"Shoot him Burt!" Kylie screamed, finishing Tyler's thought. Shoot him!"
"I can't get a shot!" came Burt's shouted reply.
The creature ducked beside the crate just as Tyler and Kylie heard the unmistakable sound of the stun rifle.
Then they screamed when the creature gave a mighty heave and shoved the crate across the room.
When the creature reached their hiding place again, and stood before the opening, jumping up and down angrily, both Tyler and Kylie took aim and fired.
The darts only seemed to make him angrier, however, and they made use of their knives to hold him at bay until it gave up trying to get them. When both Tyler and Kylie struck simultaneously, it screamed and backed away, then jumped to the top of the crate.
They could see the wood was starting to give.
"That won't hold it long," Tyler said. "We're going to have to make a run for it."
Kylie nodded agreement and they readied themselves.
Then came the sound of the stun gun again, and the creature screamed. Tyler and Kylie shot out of the crate, took aim, and fired, twice each.
The GH slowed down for a moment, but its anger seemed to boil off the trank all too soon. Burt took out his own trank pistol and aimed, sure this would take it down, but suddenly, the overhead door motor came to life and the panel began to rise. The creature wasted no time escaping.
"Did you see that?" Tyler shouted. "The darts didn't do a thing."
"They made him mad!" Kylie corrected.
Burt nodded, stowing both the stun gun and the trank gun. "We'll have to use something a bit more lethal, then." He pulled out his Desert Eagle and started for the door.
"Hell yeah!" Tyler said, as he and Kylie hurried after him.
They chased the GH outside, past the loading docks and kitchens, then through the maze of lawn chairs by the pool and finally toward the front of the hotel. They got in range a couple of times, but people were in the way, so Burt couldn't fire.
But just as the creature reached the main entrance - curiously vacant - Burt saw his chance. Quickly, he took aim, and fired.
The creature still stood, stunned, when the first shot hit, then spun, as the second .50 caliber bullet hit a shoulder. It fell first to it's knees and the three waited, guns at the ready, as it tottered, then finally fell, face-down, into the pavement.
Burt, Tyler and Kylie hurried forward as two valets rushed out of the hotel. They stood over the body, horrified, but Tyler quickly moved them away.
Burt stopped and knelt at the body, but Kylie continued on, then stopped abruptly and turned back to Burt, arms crossed, fury written on her face.
"What is rule number five, Burt? 'Know your target and what is beyond'." She half-turned, pointing to her Range Rover. "Look what you did to my truck."
Burt glanced toward it, noted the damage, then shook his head. "I had no intention of letting that thing get away again," he said, and turned his attention to the creature, barely hearing her complaints.
Kylie took in the size of the hole above her front tire, noted the fluid dripping out, then returned to Burt, to stand towering over him. "You did it deliberately! You shot my truck," she accused. "I can't believe you shot my truck!"
Burt glared up at her. "Well what would you have done?"
She looked away, guiltily, then back at him. "I would have fired, of course, but I thought you were a little more careful than that."
Burt shook his head and returned to his examination of the creature. There wasn't much more he needed to know at this point, but since he had a clear view from here up Kylie's miniskirt, the creature was a preferable view. "It's got an exoskeleton," he said.
Kylie knelt down next to him. "Exoskeleton? Didn't you say this one was a gorilla/chimp thing. How could that make an exoskeleton?"
"It couldn't." Burt said. "The scientists lied to us." He looked toward her, anger in his eyes. "Could have gotten a lot of people here killed."
The three-truck convoy pulled into the lab's loading dock and workers there scrambled to unload the three cages they held. While Twitchell and Tyler supervised the operation, Burt headed for the lab's interior. Kylie followed.
"Where are you going?" she said, catching up to him.
He glanced down at her, but didn't slow. "I'm going to find out what else was Mixmastered into these creatures," he said grimly.
"Now, Burt, you don't need--"
"Are you looking for someone?" A man in a lab coat appeared at a juncture, bringing the two up short.
"Dr. Kruzil," Burt said. "Just who I was looking for. What else was in those creatures?"
The doctor's eyes trained on the activity at the end of the hall, then back to Burt. "You caught them then? Excellent!"
"What else?" Burt demanded.
"I gave you a report..."
"Which left out the essential information about an exoskeleton."
Kylie noted Burt's eyebrow was rising. Not a good sign.
Dr. Kruzil's eyes widened. "Did that... cause a problem?"
"You might say that," Burt ground out.
"Well, there, uh, was a bit of pandinus imperator in the DNA mixture, but it shouldn't--"
A door further down the intersecting hallway opened, and an older scientist, also in a lab coat, walked out, but checked at the sight of Burt. "What are you doing here?"
"That's just what I want to know," Burt said, pushing past Dr. Kruzil. "Why didn't you tell us the GH's DNA included scorpion DNA, including an exoskeleton?"
"That was on a need to know basis," the man said, a flippant tone in his voice. "Your little band of rednecks didn't need to know."
Burt started toward him with a growl, and Kylie grabbed his arm to stop him.
To no effect. He simply shrugged her off and kept going. The doctor, she noticed, had disappeared back into whatever room he'd come from. "Burt!" She darted around him to get in his way, but he just swept her aside. "Come on, Burt!" She grabbed him around the waist and started pulling, but he just dragged her along, and eventually managed to dislodge her clinging hands. Finally, she jumped on his back and wrapped her legs around his waist. "You are not going to go in there."
Finally, he stopped. "Kylie, get off."
She didn't, but noted he was at least a bit calmer. She looked around at his face, from her perch on his back. "Promise you're not going to kill the guy?"
"Just get off," he said, his voice under tight control.
The two glared at each other, their faces an inch apart.
At that moment, Tyler rounded the corner, then skidded to a stop at the sight. He did a double take, then looked at David. "What the hell?" He turned back to Kylie and Burt. "I can't leave you two alone for one minute..."
Burt growled. It needed only this. He looked down to realize he had his hands gripped her legs. Legs that were wrapped a little too tightly around his waist. He dropped his hands to his side. "Will you get her off me?" he said to the younger man.
"Sure!" Tyler said with a smile. He stepped toward them, hands outstretched.
Kylie glared at him. "Don't even think about it." She unwrapped her legs and dropped off Burt's back. "I think he was gonna kill that guy!"
"What guy?" Tyler turned to Burt.
"Dr. Stratten," David supplied.
Tyler shrugged. "No big loss."
Later, after some tricky verbal footwork on the part of Tyler and Kylie, they'd managed to drag Burt back to the hotel for a dinner and a couple drinks - all paid for by Gibson Biotechnology. They were enjoying a beer at the bar when Twitchell arrived with a certificate from the convention people.
"BEST LARP" Kylie read. "What's a 'larp'?" she asked, looking across Burt to Tyler.
He shrugged.
They turned to Twitchell, who also shrugged. "Whatever thing that convention guy said you guys were in while you were shooting up the hotel. Some kind of game, I guess."
Burt, sprawled on one of the barstools with Tyler and Kylie to either side, reached back for his beer. "Hardly a game when it threatens people's lives. Those were some dangerous creatures."
"Which Burt saved us from," Tyler added.
"Don't you just love this guy?" Kylie said, and before he could see it coming, she went up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
Burt's face turned seven shades of red. He tried to pull away from her, but she kept one arm around his shoulders.
"I think I'm going to kiss you too," Tyler said. He made to lean forward, but Burt avoided him.
"Don't you dare."
Tyler laughed.
"Ha-ha," Kylie taunted in a sing-song voice. "You don't get a kiss!" Kylie stood triumphantly next to Burt, her hand on his shoulder, leaning into him. Then she stuck her tongue out at Tyler.
Twitchell cleared his throat. "I'm not kissing nobody!" He signaled the bartender to bring him a drink and sat down on Tyler's far side.
Tyler and Kylie laughed, but Burt just readjusted his hat and looked uncomfortable, secretly enjoying Kylie's attention.
"Hey!" came a familiar voice from the end of the bar. "I didn't know you guys were here!" Larry Norvel, Perfection's resident sci-fi fanatic, hurried toward them like he'd found long-lost friends. "Now we can hang out. Hey, did you hear there was this cool live action roleplay game earlier today," he babbled in his usual too-eager style. "I was in a Yu-Gi-Oh duel-to-the-death in the roleplay tournament and missed it, but I hear they had cool costumes, chases all over the hotel - fake guns, though - I know you probably wouldn't be impressed, with the real thing and all, but..."
"Told ya this was Larry's crowd," Tyler said, finishing up his beer while he waited for Larry to wind down.
He didn't.
"Time to go," Burt announced, and launched himself away from the bar.