The roar of metal hitting metal picked up again beyond the closed door. “Another monster?” Norah asked, staring at the vibrations over the barrier and wondered what type of creature could overpower the reinforced structure.
“A bitch-of-a-one.” He spoke back into the comm. “When?”
“Eh…several standard hours after you took off. Tried to reach you but couldn’t find thismanualyou said would be here. I’m alright by the way. Really hate the rations you got stockpiled in here.” A monstrous screech was picked up in the background.
“The manual is right under the fucking console! What the hell, Matt, I’m going to kill you myself.”
“Not if the Wieraptor gets to me first, which is seeming pretty likely.” Norah could hear the shrug in Matt’s response.
Stryker moved away from the panel and checked the guns he had strapped to his frame. She didn’t like the sound of the beast outside and, in comparison to what they had to defend themselves, she didn’t like their odds.
“What’re we going to do now?” she asked but had half a mind to go back into the EonMed ship and battle the enemy she knew. The shriekers couldn’t break down walls.
“I’m going to recapture it. You’re going to hide.”
Yes!Sounds good to me. I love hiding now. I can be very quiet.“I’m not leaving you,” she said instead. “Everything gets worse when we separate and I know how to shoot.” Norah stood her ground.
“Babe, it’s not about your ability to help. It’s about my ability to take this thing down. These guns won’t pierce its hide, you’d have to shoot it in the mouth or the eye for it to do damage.”
She could have sworn she felt the floor shake underneath her.
He turned to her, “Can you fly?”
“Yes. Not well, but I can at least enable autopilot.”
“I’m going to get you to the bridge. I want you to follow the coordinates to Ghost.”
“What about the other ship?”I can’t leave it.
“Leave it.” Her eyes narrowed but he turned from her and spoke into the console again before she could respond. “Matt, we’re coming. When you hear three knocks, release the security breaks and let us in.”
There was a moment before his response. “Not if you’re going to kill me.”
“What the fucking hell do I pay you for, you piece of shit? You’re going to open that goddamned door before I have to overridemysystems and break it down myself because if I have to do that, I’m placing you in a pod and jettisoning you into space to starve to death. And, Matt, you won’t have your flasks with you. You’ll have to die alone, going through withdrawal in a place not big enough for you to sit,” Stryker raged.
Norah gaped and held her breath.If I don’t breathe maybe he’ll forget I’m here.
“Who’s going to run your labs then, Cyborg?”
She bit down on her lip, adrenaline coursing through every vein in her body and waited for Stryker to...strike out. He slammed his hand into the wall, punching a hole through the metal.
“Oh my god, calm down. He’s baiting you.” Norah reached for him and took his arm. She felt the shift of metal under her palms. “Please.” She still couldn’t suck in air as she waited for him to react. When he did, he turned toward her and placed his brow against her forehead.
“Are you ready?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
Chapter Nineteen:
***
Stryker braced himself and sucked in a long breath filled with Norah’s fear, apprehension, and adrenaline.
He lifted the magnum to his temple and sent a prayer to hisLady Luck.His rage tempered as he threaded his way deep into his ship’s systems, seeking out the location of the beast.
It prowled back and forth between the bridge and the menagerie. He could sense the thick blood pumping through the Wieraptor’s body, its muscles tensed, and the vengeance it sought to bring down on him and his ship. It was trapped within the passage.
