Astronomicon: Behemoth

Chapter 24 - Blood

Aron snatched his throbbing leg into cover, crying out at the pain as he did so. The low light was not good for seeing what had happened, especially as he was now entirely within the shadow of the buggy, but there was a jagged hole in the right side of the leg of his E.V.A. suit, about ten centimetres above the ankle. Droplets of blood splashed around the edge of the hole in the multi-layered fabric was proof that his suit had been breached.

He silenced the depressurisation alarm and winced as the automatic repair system filled the torn hole with expanding, rubber foam. The sensation of the foam pressing against his calf was both weird and painful. He hoped the foam would help stop any bleeding without getting into the wound too much. After a few seconds of sore pressure, the foam ceased and the warning on his helmet's display turned from red to amber.

He suddenly remembered the impact to his helmet and raised his gloved hand to feel for damage. The thick, rubber fingertips were a poor tool for that kind of exploration but he could feel a dent or possible a gouge in the metal next to the visor. Craning his head around, he did his best to look at the damaged area from the inside. Thankfully there was no trace of damage visible from that angle. It seemed that all he had to worry about for now was the extent of the injury to his lower leg.

From where he was sitting, he could not see Ekono. He could, however, hear sporadic but neat burst of fire from Ekono's sidearm. Judging by events so far, it appeared that the creature's E.V.A. suit was mostly impervious to all their weapons.

Aron waited for the next break in the creature's firing then leant out as quickly as he could, which was not very quickly in his suit, to see if he could get a clear shot at it. To his great relief, the creature had turned its back on them and seemed to be hurrying away at a medium jog. Ekono fired again, accurately striking the back of the creature's helmet, jolting its head forwards but seeming to do no damage otherwise.

Aron raised his taser rifle and aimed between the creature's shoulders. He assumed they were shoulders but he had to admit to himself that his assessment of the creature's anatomy was mostly guesswork. He knew he was not accurate enough with the taser to precisely hit any particular part of the creature but he reasoned that aiming for the middle of its shoulders gave the greatest chance of a hit.

He gently pulled the trigger and watched with satisfaction as the taser dart zipped through the air directly towards the creature and struck a point just twenty-five centimetres below his target point, near the centre of what he assumed was his life-support pack. Initially, like his previous shots, it appeared to do nothing at all and the creature continued to jog away.

Seconds later, white smoke began to jet, under pressure, from the impact point and the creature stopped moving forwards. The life-support pack, if that was what it was, was built-into the E.V.A. suit and presented a smooth, mostly rectangular protrusion in whatever material the suit was constructed from.

Aron watched in fascination as the creature stopped moving and threw its hands towards its helmet. Ekono hit the helmet with three more bullets sending sparks flying but did not catch any of the creature's broad fingers. Aron considered taking another shot while he had the chance, but the creature doubled over and staggered forward, appearing to be in pain.

Ekono pushed a new clip into his gun and cautiously walked forwards a little before he opened fire again. With the creature stationary, he aimed carefully between each of four shots, each hitting the area near the source of the white smoke.

A split-second before he fired the fourth round, a brilliant, yellow glow erupted violently from the back of the creature's E.V.A. suit. Aron had to shield his eyes as the glow became painfully bright for a couple of seconds before high-pressure, yellow flames began to jet through the material, ripping a much larger hole and throwing the creature face-down onto the floor.