Chapter Fifteen: BATTLE!
The puppets wandered around the deck trying to find a way out and had become firm believers of alien existence at the same time when they saw the Earth shrink into the distance, passed Mars, the Asteroid Belt, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and finally Pluto and beyond. Then their Captain announced that they were going into warp speed and watched as the stars became streaks of light above their wooden heads.
By the time they finally came across a door they were attacked. . . . .
"THIS IS JUST LIKE STAR TREK!" Jester shouted as the ship took another hit and their make-shift ladder, which consisted of them standing on each other's shoulders to reach the door handle, fell again.
But Jester managed to hold onto the stainless steel elan doorknob handle this time.
"PULL DOWN THE HANDLE JESS!" shouted Blade.
"I'M TRYING!" Jester shouted back.
The ship took a hard hit and Jester fell, Pinhead catching him like a bride.
"Thanks, sorry guys. I'm just too light."
"There's got to be a way to open that door!" Blade said in frustration, leaning against Tunneler.
"Well there's not!" said Six Shooter and stumbled when they were hit again. "We've tried everything we could think of! My guns were melted into in their holsters, Tunneler's drill dulled out from the glass and stopped working altogether and your leg is too badly damaged for you to stand straight on your own!"
"Maybe we could try the ladder again except this time Pinhead will pull us down as a rope!" Jester suggested.
"It's worth a shot!" said Tunneler and fell on backside from another hit, pulling Blade down with him.
"Blade you're the top this time! Your hook should keep us from falling down again!" Jester said and braced against another impact.
"Alright, let's try this again!" Blade shouted and leaned against Jester for support. His leg was throbbing like no tomorrow and it was killing him. If he had sweat glands he'd be soaked.
Pinhead braced his back against the door and put his hands together to form the first step. Six Shooter climbed up and helped Tunneler up then Jester, then Blade.
Helping Blade up as the last person was kind of hard since he had no hands to grasp without injuring themselves, and the injury to his leg made this much more complicated for they couldn't do much without causing him further pain. But they managed to do it and he had barely grabbed hold of the door handle when the ship shook violently from a bombardment, knocking all but Blade back on their butts.
"You know there are times when we love that hook of yours!" shouted Six.
"This is one of them!" shouted Tunneler, Pinhead and Jester.
"Way to make me feel loved guys." Blade mumbled and jarred from another hit, his injured leg slamming against the door shooting intense pain throughout his body, but he held in his scream as he felt Jester's hands grab hold of his ankles.
"PULL!" shouted Jester and Blade felt the pain intensify and he let out a scream when the door finally opened and they fell once more.
Pinhead gathered everyone into a group hug and entered the domain, dropped everybody and then pushed the door closed and leaned against it in relief. They could still hear the battle going on but the room itself was surprisingly stable. Even when they took another hit, it sounded more like a rumble of thunder and the room didn't shake.
"Blade, how bad does it hurt?" Jester asked in a shaky voice. He was starting to remember the war's air raids from his human days which he did not like to reminisce at all.
"I'll be losing consciousness soon from all the pain." Blade said in a shaky voice as well and couldn't help the whimper escaping as he shifted from his stomach to his back.
"Hang on, boss, we've got you. Take it easy." Six said and helped Blade roll over. Upon doing so they all heard a slight hissing sound.
"What's that?" Tunneler asked.
Blade's breathing became labored as he tried to tune out the pain from his mind and the hissing sound was soon accompanied by a bubbling sound. Like a bubbling cauldron. Jester placed his ear on Blade's stomach and heard it loud and clear. "It's coming from him! I think it's the formula!" he said and listened more intently.
"Why would the formula be bubbling inside him like indigestion?" Six asked, truly bewildered by the phenomena.
"It's a fever." said Tunneler. "His injury is causing his body to increase in temperature to decrease the chances of an infection and with the amount of physical strain he just did his body is reacting more to the threat than ever."
"But he's made out of wood! How can a wooden body get a fever?" Six asked.
"It doesn't matter how! We need to find him a doctor and fast!" Jester cried, holding tightly onto Blade. "If the formula's bubbling inside him it could evaporate or worse . . . !" he whimpered.
Just then they were approached by a funny looking bird that immediately started cawing. Well, it sounded more like a bark than a caw, but it was replied to and two more funny looking birds showed up. They stood on two legs, had feathers, three fingered claws, were smaller than them, vicious looking and apparently traveled in packs because three more appeared. Followed by Torch.
"Torch?!"
"There you guys are! I've been looking all over for you! The kid wants you guys in the medical bay now!" he said and started to turn.
"Whoa, hold on there Torcher-man, who died and made you king?" Six asked.
Torch turned around and flared his fiery eyes. "You want to help Blade or not?" he growled.
"I'm with him. Come on Pin, help me carry Blade." Jester immediately replied. Pinhead came over and scooped Blade up in his arms.
The funny birds brought out two long metal rods and lowered them when a pink screen ran between them. One of the birds chirped at Pinhead and looked at the pink screen.
"Guys, this is a medical team and that's a stretcher. The kid sent them to find you guys and I was forced to go to act as a liaison, whatever the hell that means, because they can't speak people." Torch said.
"Works for me. Let's go." Jester said and had Pinhead lower Blade onto the stretcher.
"Wha-? You're just going to believe him like that?! He's not even the leader!" Six said not wanting to go anywhere with Torch. He was still smarting from the telling off the brother gave him about the guy. Then Jester rounded on him.
"Look Six, you can stay here if you want but Blade needs help, and when he's down I'M in charge and what I say goes and I SAY WE GET LET TORCH HELP US! YOU GOT THAT SORCERER?!" he screamed, shaking Six by the collar of his shirt.
"Alright, sheesh, lead the way then." Six said in a quiet sarcastic manner.
Torch explained a few things along the way, like the funny looking birds were called velociraptors and that they were entirely mechanical. They weren't alive like they were but their brains consisted of a series of chips with sophisticated programming that it made it seem like they were alive. With the Kid, Chug, as their alpha, they worked efficiently in the medical field.
When he led them to a large red scorpion-like creature, Jester halted for a moment, frightened by its sheer size. "W-w-w-what's that thing?" he asked.
"Uh, . . . I forget what it's called, but it's just for transportation." Torch answered and the velociraptors demonstrated by jumping inside before loading Blade and squawked at the others to hurry up. Six Shooter was hoisted in by the teeth of one of them and then the scorpion hovered down a hallway, its tail undulating, going up and down like a whale's tail to propel itself. It steered clear of traffic by flying close to the ceiling most of the time and maneuvered through the crew as if it were swimming through an obstacle of coral reefs.
It was frightening at first, but the smooth sailing and gentle maneuvers calmed them quickly enough and they began to relax, but not enough for them to forget where they were, what they were on, and where they were going in the first place.
Jester kept an eye on Blade who's breathing was getting shorter with each shuddering breath and he started to tremble. The tremors weren't visibly noticeable, but Jester could feel them. And then Blade coughed, and lack of air made the coughing worse.
"How much further to the hospital?" Jester asked.
A raptor came over to Blade's side when it heard the coughing and started to sniff at him, gave him a lick and then chirped at the others. One of the raptors chirped back and then screamed at the scorpion's head which increased its speed.
"So what are they saying, Great Animal Speaker?" Six asked, crossing his arms and a smirk on his face.
"Blade's condition worsened. It's nearly critical." Torch answered, and turned to face them. "He's burning up inside."
.
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