But embraces never lasted.
“The spaceship is only an hour drive from the base.” Stryker didn’t hear her.
Because when it ended…
His record would remain perfect.
And Norah would leave.
There was a crack, a bellow, and he didn’t have time to move. The vehicle jerked, knocking them at a breakneck speed into the metal and glass door panel, his head snapped. His perfectly imperfect serene moment ended with a blast.
Chapter Seven:
***
Norah didn’t have it in her to scream, curled up as she was in the warm cocoon of her savior, the one being in all the universe she had ceded some of her power to. A man she was beginning to depend on.
She was about to ask why he wore his mask, why he didn’t take it off, and what was underneath the heavy metal piece when the vehicle collided with something large and horrible, sending both of their bodies into the side window.
They flew forward when the vehicle dropped back, a mess of flailing limbs.
Her eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lips. She would have cracked her skull if it wasn’t for the Cyborg that seat-belted her onto his lap.
“What the fuck!?” He roared through his mask.
Norah scrambled back into her seat and clicked her safety harness on.
The drop ship shot back into the air where it hovered, but the storm fought the craft for every inch of progress they made.
They were hit again, throwing the vehicle off course and into one of the giant jungle trees that was larger than the redwoods. Norah unclipped her gun, the caffeine coursing through her veins, and searched through the downpour for their assailant.
She was afraid she already knew what it was.
The window next to Stryker fractured, the sound was audible even over the tempest raging outside.
“Go up! You gotta get off the ground!” She screamed, seeing the shadow beast move like a bruise through the veil. “It’s a coiler!” Norah’s heart was in her throat.
“What is it?” He yelled back as he realigned the ship.
The craft shot up just as the shadow reappeared behind them. “It’s behind us,” she screamed.
“Babe,” Stryker gritted out, as the monster hit them again, shooting them forward and breaking the back window. “I’m already as high as the terra vehicle will go.”
Norah peered out with fear but couldn’t see the ground, only moving cloudy water. They picked up speed as a tail, barbed with stony spikes, uncurled and pummeled them again.
“We gotta get out of its territory!” She climbed out of the front seat and into the back and aimed her gun at the creature chasing them.
“Trying, babe,” the Cyborg growled. Norah swiped her hair off of her face just as the beast swam out of the rain. She caught it with three bullets before it hit them again. Another tail came out of the rain just before she lost sight of it. They drifted together through the dense forest.
“We’ve got another one on us now.” Norah checked her clip, seeing her last bullet in the chamber. “Give me one of your guns.” Rain fell through the back window, soaking her to the bone again. She grasped Stryker’s bag and tore it open when a wave of water came up through the shattered window, drenching her.
“Get down.” She was pressed down onto the packs when an arm went over her back and a series of bullets fired off over her head. Norah looked up to see Stryker shooting at the beasts that were following them, all while still driving the craft. “What are they?” he shouted between the gunfire.
“Coilers, we call them coilers. Think giant eels with legs,” she gulped. “And spikes.”
Her hands clenched the heavy material below her as another wave of water flooded them. Norah closed her eyes and took a deep breath, waiting for it to pass.
When the ship emerged from the water, she crawled back into the front and over Stryker’s lap. Norah grasped the wheel, her fingers slipping over the wet plastic.
