A beaten and bloody gangster runs into the room, falls to the floor and pants out a message,"they're here boss, must be an entire core world platoon, maybe warforms as well, I dun...," then he keels over, blood leaking from his abdomen. Kaydens face is a rictus of horror and fear. She thought we would be safe here and now it's just about as unsafe as it could be.
"Everybody follow me!" Kayden's mother yells and we all fall into step behind her sprinting down the halls towards the hiss-crack of needle-rifle fire. I yank my shock pistol from its holster and clutch it to my chest. This thing has seen me through more scrapes than I care to count. Today however, looks like it'll be different.
As we run down the halls I see thick red blood and gore splattered up the wall like some perverted piece of art. Looks like that gangster was right. Warforms have definitely been here. Only such a savage creature causes that much gore.
And at that precise moment one tears round the corner. Maybe the universe does have a sense of humor. With blood dripping from its talons and bullet wounds riddling its thick almost carapace like skin.
It cuts a terrifying image, silhouetted as it is against the flood lights in the corridor. Kaydens mother shoves us all back and shoots a control panel on the wall slamming a blast door shut in front of us. Kayden lets out a yelp of pain as the rapid motion of the thing shears the skin from the tip of her nose and she stumbles back away from it. Her mother begins firing at the abomination in the hallway, high powered SLAP rounds ripping away from her pistol and through the air. Even wounded as it is, the creature throws off the shots like it's swatting a fly and begins tearing down the hallway towards her.
"Selena!" Petrah throws herself against the glass, her voice cracking and her eyes filling with tears. Kayden's mother turns around and smiles sadly a split second before her blood splatters across the window.
"Noooo," Petrah's voice is quiet now and racked with sobs. She sinks to the floor and curls up into a tight knit ball of sorrow and fear. Kayden looks about ready to join her. It doesn't take much imagination to see how he's feeling. Losing my father destroyed me for years and I didn't have to watch it happen.
CATHUNK!
Massive dents appear in the blast door and shards of metal fly down the corridor, tearing open the entire left side of my face as the horror beyond slams into it. I shout in pain and my hand slams over my wounds. Kayden runs forward and grabs Petrah under the arms and hauls her to her feet. She's limp as a baby and four times as heavy. And we run. We run so fast that I'm convinced we'll arrive in another star system. If you've never had to run from a warform then you've never felt real terror. It's a horrible feeling. The sort of gut clenching fear that reduces everything down to one laser focused motor function. Escape.
*************
"Admiral, our advance spec-force team has been successful in neutralizing the petty crime lords on the planet's various dens. We also managed to capture an aid to the planetary governor in the central city den. He was obviously trying to make a deal with the local crime lord, evidently he was desperate after your strike on the defense platforms," my attendant's voice is crisp-sharp and he delivers his message efficiently.
"Very good. Dismissed," it is not polite for an admiral to show emotion.
As my attendant leaves I lean over slightly and push the intercom button,
"Did any survivors escape the crime dens we raided?"
"Three sir, all from the central city den. They were identified as two biological females and a biological male. Facial imagery was patchy at best but we identified one of the females as an escaped mining drone. She somehow threw off her nerve staples at 12 and has been on the run for nearly a decade. Should we send a squad to apprehend them?"
"No point. They'll burn just like the rest of them. Find the nearest COLOSSI class bombardment weapon and have it sent here. We'll make this planet into an example for the rest of the rebellion in this sector. Turn it to dust with thermobaric munitions and tox-missiles."
"Very good sir," I kill the link and I'm left alone with my thoughts.
*************
Every day they came with the pain. Men in masks with tools to poke and pry and rip. The cell door once again cracked open and a shadowy figure steps forward.
"Please no more, I'll tell you anything," I whimper, voice cracked from lack of sleep and water.
"Shh Gallifrayus," they say as a slender finger brushes over my lips," some of us are here to get you out."
*************
"Kill me," Petrah is still curled up in a ball with her eyes peeking over her knees and staring at me. Scarlet is huddled in a corner picking shrapnel out of her face and trying to staunch the bleeding.
"Take me up to the roof of this warehouse and push me off. Just end me," she says , not even hesitating for a moment as she asks me to kill her. I sit down beside her and put my arm around her, " I can't have any more death on my hands today. I've just watched my mother be torn apart by a warform. So no I won't kill you. Not unless our circumstances change drastically. I'm nothing if not endlessly practical," I say my voice taking on a joking tone.
She sniffles like a child and asks,"How are you so calm? She was your mother?"
"I'm anything but calm, however I don't see the point in wallowing in grief when I'm in danger. I'll let them all catch up to me when there's time," I reply simply.
"You know, my dad used to say that isn't a healthy way to deal with trauma," she says in a tone that might pass for jovial.
"It's how I've had to deal with it," I say and get up to leave.
YOU ARE READING
Vantura: Collosi
Science FictionA storm has come to the galaxy. As rebellion engulfs the outer colonies and the core world coalition scrambles to crush them an unlikely trio band together to escape the wrath of Admiral Janz Chester.
