Chapter 9: Even Bad Dreams Can Come True
"George! Tony! Everybody! Get guns!" shouted Benny as he ran into the bar. "Assault teams! Headed this way!"
Women screamed. Weapons were dragged from hiding places.
The windows of the Last Resort began shattering as the assault teams' bullets began chewing up the front of the bar. A woman's head exploded. The man beside her whirled around and fell to the floor, his shoulder ripped open.
Benny crouched behind a thick wall, but he looked as if he'd been punched in the gut. "Oh my god," he gasped. "I can see it now. Richter's men will shoot their way in here and kill everyone, and if they can't, he'll pull them back, seal off this area, and suffocate everyone in Venusville. Checkmate!"
"No!" roared Quaid. "There's a back way out of here that leads to the mines. I can there and turn on the reactor! The reactor makes air!"
Benny looked up at him in realization. "Then go! Go!"
Quaid and Melina raced for the rear of the bar.
Benny rose and hurled a wave of fear through the door.
Outside, fear washed over Richter's men, fear like they'd never felt before. They hesitated. They began seeking shelter. One even turned and ran.
"Ignore that!" shouted Richter. "It's just a psychic illusion! Kuato's in there! Go get him!" Richter pulled a soldier from his hiding place and pushed him forward. A rebel bullet through the eye put the man down.
Another wave of fear came from the bar. Richter's men were cringing now. He could hear whimpering. A few soldiers were shooting into the bar, but not many. None were advancing.
Richter himself felt far more hatred than fear. That psychic asshole! Kuato merely had to think, and Richter's four highly-trained assault teams were suddenly useless.
Bullets were coming from the bar now.
Richter's commlink beeped. Cohaagen was calling. "What's going on?"
"We've spotted Hauser with the slut he liked. We gave chase, and now they're trapped in that bar in Venusville. But get this! Kuato's inside too! He's sending out psychic waves of fear. My men can't get in there to get at them."
Cohaagen nodded. "Then you know what to do."
"Are you sure you want to - ?"
"Dammit! Pull back! Seal off the area! And turn off their goddamn air! Kill 'em all!"
"Yes sir." Richter turned and shouted to his troops. "Pull back to the tunnels! Pull back to the tunnels!"
His fear-drenched men didn't need to be told twice. They ran for it. Nearby a klaxon began to blare. In the distance, more klaxons took up the warning. The tunnel's massive breach door began to lower.
Richter hissed a sigh of defeat. This wasn't the way he wanted it. He wanted to get into that bar and to blow Kauto's freakish brain to pieces. He strode into the tunnel, and the heavy metal door crashed shut behind him.