James Somers - The rise of Lucin

Juli screamed up ahead, next to Kale. It was another grisly discovery. As he joined them where more clusters of emergency lighting pods made the visibility better, Emil could see that there was a great many more people slain in the area.

"It smells terrible in here," said Juli.

"Yeah, unfortunately we've smelled it before," said Emil.

Then they all heard screeching echoing down the corridors. It was hard to tell which direction the noise was coming from, but it was getting louder.

They were standing next to a large fountain with a base and a tabletop style edge. The water was no longer flowing due to the lack of power. Kale led Juli over to it and said, "Get down here under the edge."

"What's happening, Kale?!" asked Juli fearfully as she crawled down beneath the marble top and scooted in next to the base.

Kale squeezed her hand and said, "Trust me. I won't let anything harm you."

The screeching seemed to come from all directions and then the aerogores were in the chamber with them. Kale and Emil brought their backs together. "Keep safe, my brother," said Emil.

"And you don't take any chances," said Kale.

They each leapt away as chemical fire came down on their position. Juli screamed from beneath the fountain pedestal. She couldn't see what had happened to the boys when the flame came down where they had been standing.

An aerogore came down near the fountain and spotted her under the pedestal. It screeched and rushed for the girl. Kale came across over the fountain's bowl of water and swiped his ignited blade across the top of the aerogore's head. He landed behind the beast as its legs folded under its body and it skidded dead across the floor under its previous momentum. A quick glance at Juli reassured them both that the other was still alive.

There was more screeching and Emil sailed through the air behind him dispatching another one of the reptilian predators in flight. Kale leapt away again as the boys took the fight to the creatures. The two warriors were deftly moving back and forth across the room trying to disorient the attackers and disorganize their pack-like patterns of killing.

Kale landed on the ledge of the fountain and an aerogore surprised him. The beast snapped at him as he sliced across its face. It reflexively knocked him away with a heavy paw as it felt the sting from Kale's weapon across its mandible. The blow sent him flying back into the water. The aerogore jumped up on the ledge with its upper body and let go of a chemical spray that ignited in the air on its way toward Kale. His thoughts brought the majority of the fountain's water volume up to shield him from the fiery blast, and then he sent the water into the aerogore, carrying the predator away in the flood across the floor. Emil came down on the beast as it washed up near him.

Another one of the aerogores shot down at Emil from the sky. He seized it in flight with his mind and sent it reeling away through the glass wall of the service hall. As the creature recovered, Emil pulled up the glass shards and pieces of steel supports with his mind and sent them as deadly projectiles at the aerogore.

Kale's kemstick flew into another of the beasts heading for Emil and pierced its breast. When it fell to the ground dead, the boys realized they were alone in the area again.

Kale recovered his weapon and walked back through the aerogore bodies to retrieve Juli from her hiding spot. When he knelt down to where she was, he found her shaking uncontrollably with her hands over her ears to drown out the screeching of the aerogores. She jumped when he touched her, but she practically leapt out from under the fountain ledge to reach him when she opened her eyes and realized it was over.

Juli wrapped her arms around Kale and kissed his face, happy to see him. Tears were running down her cheeks-she was scared to death.

"Are they all dead?" she asked through trembling lips.

"At least the ones in here," said Emil.

Kale asked Juli, "Are you alright?"

She nodded, but the experience was traumatizing her.

"We had better get moving toward the med-lab," said Emil. "We've still got to get Ramah and your mother out of here."

Another quick glance at the damage they had done and the trio headed away through the adjoining corridor leading to the medical facility.

THEY had managed to set off the alarm system along the way to the med-lab, sending out an evacuation order throughout the entire base. Hopefully everyone was on their way to get out by now. Juli and Mirah were in the front office getting supplies together that might be needed. Fortunately, Ramah was the only bedridden patient in the facility. The others had already left under their own motility. The Hangar was very near, with an access corridor right off of the med-lab into the main departure area in case of medical emergencies that might be arriving.

"Kale, Juli, help me get these supplies to the Equinox," said Mirah as she heaped equipment and boxes into their arms and sent them toward the access corridor.

"I should check on the girl, don't you think, Dr. Soone?" asked Emil, glancing back down the darkened corridor toward the patient suites.

"Yes, Emil, that's a good idea. She should still be sleeping with the sedatives I've given her. We'll get these things loaded on the ship and come back to help get her ready for transport."

"Yes, ma'am."

Mirah headed off after Kale and Juli with her own load of supplies and several totes of medical equipment slung over her shoulders, as Emil headed back toward the patient suites.

THE drugs Dr. Soone had given Ramah were beginning to wear off. The catatonic fog was lifting and she could remember why she was in this bed. Ramah had passed out after the escaped the fields of the Agonotti. She was hurting still, but she was glad to be free.

Ramah opened her eyes slightly, viewing the room in the very low lighting coming from the hallway beyond her room. It was odd, but not enough to stir her consciousness out of the drug induced funk her doctor had her in. She blinked slowly, not really opening her eyes beyond a slit's width.

A shadow passed by in the hallway between the curtains over her rooms viewing window and the low lighting beyond. She supposed it must be Dr. Soone checking up on her again. She liked the doctor. She was kind and comforting to her, especially after the ordeal she had just been through as a slave to living nightmares. Now, she was safe with the rebels and the Barudii king.

The door began to creak open a little and someone was coming in. The light cast upon the figure for a second and Ramah managed to blink through the fog her mind and vision were under. She screamed as the dim light animated a nightmare pushing through the doorway. The fowl beast reared its head at her cry and returned a horrible loud screeching that terrified the girl even more.

The beast began to charge into the room in a bloodlust as Ramah grabbed for the rails of her bed but did not possess the strength to remove herself from it. She heard another scream-the scream of a man, like a battle cry, as the viewing window to her room shattered inward. A dark human figure pounced upon the creature's left shoulder area with an energy weapon of some kind in his hand, driving it home into the beast. It thrashed its powerful head at the blow, slinging the man away into a supply cabinet across the room.

The beast continued its thrashing, trying to remove the weapon lodged in its shoulder area. It smashed into Ramah's bed with enough force to push it back, bouncing her out as the bed slammed against the wall behind her. She was now on the ground between its thrashing head and her battered patient bed.

The man recovered almost as quickly as he landed against the supply cabinet, reaching out toward her, but too far away to grab her. The beast spotted Ramah on the floor and started to strike with terrible rows of teeth, but the bed behind her, seemingly moving by the movement of great invisible hands, rotated over top of her in a move that scooped her under and pushed her toward the wall with the bed landing on its side against her. She was protected temporarily as the creature's strike slammed into the under framing of the bed.