G.I. Joe: Agent Blue Jaye and the Beasts of Lakeside

Chapter 32

Standing in front of the monitor, everyone in the room exchanged glances, each wondering if it was really over. Spirit walked to Flint and patted him on the shoulder. The two men then turned and looked at the smoldering mass of Raptor and the B.A.T. that Breaker had taken control of. Walking over, Spirit kicked some pieces of endoskeleton out of the way and his knife fell to the floor. Using his boot, Spirit moved his knife from the burning rubble to cool before walking toward the Sheriff and Jessie.

"Looks like you got your man." Spirit said to the Sheriff extending his hand. The Sheriff shook it and smiled.

"We did. Thank you again for all your help." The Sheriff replied, letting out a deep sigh of relief. As Spirit turned to Jessie, there was a sequence of electronic beeps that came from the monitor.

Everyone turned to the screen and saw that the countdown and image of the B.A.T.s was replaced with streaming lines of code. Suddenly the code stopped, and the screen flickered and went black. Then, a large red Cobra symbol faded onto the screen and was overlaid with a new countdown that displayed 10:00. The clock started to tick.

"Uh oh." Jessie said staring at the monitor. The last time she saw something like that, Flint and she were attacked by three B.A.T.s.

"That's our queue to leave." Spirit said picking up his knife and bow and ran toward the exit. "This whole place is going down in less than ten minutes. Let's move!" He shouted.

Flint, Jessie, and the Sheriff ran behind Spirit who led them through the series of doorways that Breaker had blasted through. When they got to the end of the tunnel, Jessie skidded to a stop. Remembering the lion cub, she looked down the hallway that led to the catwalk back where she and Flint had come.

"Wait!" She shouted as all three men stopped and turned around. "There is a baby lion cub back there. It doesn't have the B.A.T. headset implanted yet. We need to rescue it." She pleaded. The three men looked to each other.

"I'll go with her." Flint stated, breaking away from the other two and joining Jessie. "I know the way and if we run, we can make it. I will rendezvous with you at the abandoned railway station south of here, about three clicks." Flint said, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. With no time to argue, Spirit nodded at the two.

"Hurry." Spirit shouted, and he and the Sheriff turned and ran down the other hallway out of Curvy Mine.

Flint and Jessie ran back onto the catwalk at full pace. The loud crashes of their footsteps on the metal bridge echoed in the cavern. As they reached the halfway point, Jessie looked up and stumbled to a halt almost toppling over. Flint ran up and secured her from falling.

Looking up, the last mountain lion stood in front of them blocking their path. The lion's head was down, and it was panting deeply, curling its lips behind its jaws. Its pelt was matted and wet as it limped to advance. The tiny lights in the B.A.T. tech implanted in its head blinked on and off.

Flint positioned himself in front of Jessie. The lion lowered itself down on its stomach and then charged. Leaping across the bridge, the lion pounced with its claws raised high above its head. Flint brought his rifle down to his waist and fired.

Hitting the lion, the beast let out a scream and fell on Flint who tried his best to dodge out of the way. As Flint and the lion slammed against the side of the bridge, a section of railing broke off and tumbled down into the darkness. Flint rolled over on his back and the lion jumped on top of him, pinning him down with all fours. The beast lowered its jaws close to Flint's face and hissed.