CHAPTER 6

Lili awoke groggily, her neck feeling impossibly sore. She was disoriented and was blinking rapidly, drying to restore its eyesight to its proper abilities.

What happened..? She struggled to recall. We were walking somewhere… the GPC, I think. And then the creature… where is it? She wondered suddenly.

She finally cast a look around. The creature was nowhere to be seen, but her situation was still precarious. Right beneath her was a tray of dangerous looking instruments, none of which she thought the creature would know how to use. Still, if she was planning on escaping (which, of course, she was) she would have to be very careful not to land on them.

The room itself was fairly tiny and circular, focused around a control center in the middle of the room. A sliding door was accessible from the other side of the room. The chair she was sitting on was suspended high off the floor by chains and wires. Directly in front of her was a hovering holo-screen, blueprints etched into its glowing surface. Interested, Lili peered closer and saw the basic outline of the creature that had been hunting them this entire time. Various parts of its body seemed to be encased in bulky armor, but she couldn't make out much more than that.

Then she realized something: she wasn't bound to the chair in any way. Maybe the creature isn't smart enough to tie me down… or maybe Raz already mopped the floor with it, she thought. Wait a second, where is Raz?

She had been so intent on analyzing her situation that she hadn't realized his absence until now. "Well," she said to herself, "Either he's off safe somewhere, or… well, I'm not even going to consider anything else. Time to get out of this shithole."

She hung off the edge of a chair, grabbed one of the wires leading from its bottom to the tiled floor, and slid down. As soon as her feet touched ground, the door slid open, and the creature stepped into the room. It screeched angrily when it saw her standing free and launched itself towards her.

Whoever had built the room hadn't kept it very clean. Lili easily evaded the lunge by leaping to the right, and the creature sailed headfirst into a stack of books, files, and unsorted papers. She didn't stop to watch the thing get buried; instead she made a run for the door.

She emerged in a long, narrow hallway that was lit overhead by tiny artificial lights. Not even stopping to get her bearings, she ran down the hallway as fast as she could, but she knew it would be in vain. Already she could hear the creature's footsteps fast approaching behind her.

"Dammit, I don't want to get caught again!" she growled to herself. It was in this moment of defiance that an idea struck her.

She filled her forward momentum and spun around in one surprisingly coordinated movement, launching herself towards the creature. Shrieking with surprise, the beast halted in its charge and watched her slide between its legs. As she sprung up, she grabbed the creature with telekinesis and slammed into mercilessly into the metal walls of the passage.

Stunned with the impact, the creature slumped to the ground, and Lili continued to run. She reached the door and practically tumbled into the next room, which consisted of many levitating platforms, leading up to a hole in the ceiling.

Carefully, Lili prepared herself to jump. She made it to the first platform and slumped forward, grabbing the platform to keep from falling off. Another few leaps, and she was right on the second to last platform right beneath the exit. However, the next platform was even further away, and she knew she would have to give it everything she had if she didn't want to fall to the floor below. It was a long way down, and to make matters worse, she could hear the creature giving chase once more.

Closing her eyes, Lili leapt forward with all her might… and nearly fell short. With a scared gasp, she swung her left arm forwards and latched onto the edge of the platform, which gave a reluctant squeal. She had to pull herself up or fall and possibly die.

The creature entered the room and saw her instantly. It crouched low, swaying slightly, gathering its legs beneath it. Then, with one explosive leap, it launched itself forward. With a single leap it was only two platforms behind her.

Grunting, Lili pulled herself onto the final platform and leaped directly upwards, latching onto the edge of the port that would take her outside of the strange facility. At the same time, the creature stretched out one leg and merely stepped to the next platform.

Lili looked desperately for some way to buy herself time enough to pull herself up through the port. There, just a little distance off, was a power button a tiny bit smaller than her fist. Sweat beading on her forehead, she stretched one arm out, trying desperately to reach the button.

The creature crossed the final platform and was standing right beneath her now, about to reach up and clamp its claws around her ankle. With a triumphant cry, Lili smashed her fist into the button, and the results occurred instantly.

All the power was immediately cut off, and the platforms plunged to the ground below. The creature shrieked in terrible rage as it, too plummeted all the way down. Lili didn't pull herself up until she heard the heavy slam of it smashing into the ground below. Then, with a proud smirk, she pulled herself up through the hole.

And looking up, saw another creature standing right in front of her. This one seemed to be the thing she had seen in the blueprints, for although it was built exactly like her earlier attacker, most of its body was encased in bulky battle armor. It turned its helmeted face down towards her and helped her stand. She could feel its pupiless eyes watching her from behind its T-shaped visor.

"Well done," it said to her. "But come now, your friend is in danger."

Lili got over the fact that this thing was talking to her rather quickly. "Raz? Take me to him, now!"

The creature nodded, seeming unaffected by her terse tone. Slowly, a levitation ball began to form underneath each wing, and it lifted off into the night sky with Lili in tow.

"Where are we going?" she asked, not even sure why she was trusting it. "And who exactly are you?"

"We are going to the remote Advanced Medical Labs recently established by Ford Cruller and Sasha Nein," it replied. "My name is Kalb."

"What do you know about Ford Cruller and Sasha?" Lili demanded, surprised at hearing their names.

"In a way," Kalb said, his voice taking on a bitter tone, "They are me. Stop talking now, you must focus your efforts on saving your friend."