The thunder of her heart filled her ears against the sudden silence of the research ship.
He’s never going to trust me again.Norah realized she had a problem when it came to listening to Stryker’s directions. To her, it was about immediate safety, not the hope of being saved.
She caught her breath and spun around. She needed to help him but couldn’t think of what she could do. She wasn’t a monster hunter, she wasn’t even all that physically fit. Her gun training was subpar, she had barely hit the minimum qualification for an uncolonized world mission, and that was as a scientist. Hitting the back wall of the range instead of the sides was almost enough to pass.
Norah rushed back to the armory and looked around. Nothing but a scattered collection of guns, bullet boxes, and handheld weapons greeted her. She rummaged through the stockpile, through the rope, the flares, and the extra tech equipment but found nothing that could do more than provide a short diversion.
She slammed the radio down and screamed. Frustration strained her muscles as she spun in a circle, feeling every second tick away.
I’m a chemist, not a soldier.
I’m a chemist.Her breath hitched and she made a mad-dash to the storage lab and refrigeration unit.I’m a chemist!She collided with the laboratory door and typed in the lengthy code access to the unit, failing three times before she got it right; the panel released with a gust of freezing air.
Norah stopped short as she looked into the sealed lab, several frozen bodies were strewn across the floor in front of her, hands up and out as if they had tried to break down the door. Beyond was a dark trail of blood and entrails scattered about. Dr. Entin, the meteorology specialist, twitched and jerked in her direction.
Her throat closed up. Shivers wracked her frame. Hollow eyes followed her as she dodged the shells of her former friends and rushed to the refrigeration unit. A deadened wail rose up behind her, a hushed whisper of air that gained tenor with each second.
She slapped gloves over her hands and pulled out the drawer with her most recent research. The ones that had made it to the ship.
She grabbed hold of several closed bottles and turned toward the door. The skin on her body stiffened from the cold, her eyes drawn to the white flesh of her dead co-workers. Their eyes stared back at her from inhuman angles, too big, too freakish for their faces.
Their wails rising in pitch every second. She skirted around them, just outside their reach and shut the laboratory behind her.
Her hand went numb, clutching the bottles to her chest. Norah reeled over and emptied the contents of her stomach.
She ran back to the hatch, out of breath, her sides aching; she prayed that she wasn’t too late. If Stryker died it would be the last straw for her. She didn’t think that she could handle any more horror.
Please. Please. Please,her mind cried as the door opened and the Cyborg’s ship came back into view. Norah rushed to the railway to find Stryker’s form wrapped around the throat of the Wieraptor, his head hidden within the jaws of the beast.
Norah screamed at the creature. “Over here you fucker!” heckling it from above. It writhed and thrashed back and forth as it tried to dislodge the serpentine noose around its throat. She was ignored as the fight came down to who loosened their hold first.
She ran back down the stairs and threw herself against the monster’s side, only to be thrown away from it. Her boot kicked one of the guns on the floor, and placing both bottles in one hand she picked it up, aimed at the beast, and pulled the trigger. It whirled in her direction and Stryker’s head popped out from its toothy grip. His throat was torn down to the metal casing that held him together.
Their eyes met for a second. She ran forward as Stryker pulled his lips back. He sunk his teeth into the Wieraptor’s jaw as she aimed her samples at its opened mouth.
The first one missed and rolled across the floor. The second one landed within the gape of its mouth.
“Wrap its mouth shut,” she shouted.
Stryker tore his teeth out of the beast, sinew and flesh went with it, but it wasn’t enough for her to recoil. Norah watched as the Cyborg curled his entire body around the creature’s head and forced its jaw closed.
She ducked and sprinted up the stairs.Please work!If Stryker was right, the Wieraptor would be infected. She didn’t even want to think about the outcome, her only care was for her snake that fought for leverage.
The beast went berserk, shaking and humming through its shut mouth, thrashing around in a frenzy to throw off Stryker’s hold. Norah prayed. She prayed to any god that would hear her plea. The beast crashed into the wall. It clawed at the metal around its throat.
Her eyes remained on the Cyborg, his face half-covered in carnage, his gaze focused, distant, violent, and cold. For as much as the beast raged, Stryker remained motionless, immovable, and hard. But the viper in him kept striking out. His fangs penetrated the monster’s neck over and over until it oozed black and red.
An eternity went by before everything began to slow and the frenzy died down to a struggle. Norah gripped the metal beams of the rails until her hands went numb and her knuckles locked.
A horrible cry came up from the back of the creature’s throat. Its rough belly convulsed.
Time slowed down.
Stryker released his body from around the Wieraptor and slithered to the opposite side of her as it continued to cough. A guttural wail rose up. Familiar and terrifying, louder than before. Norah clasped her hands over her ears but it didn’t dull the pain that flooded her head.
When it stopped, she looked up to see the Cyborg crouched, human again, in the corner. His eyes bored holes into the beast. She reeled back as the monster began to vomit up blood.
It continued until fell down dead in a pool of its own gore.
