Andrew Mackay - Pink Symphony

“Switch to personal headset. This is amaziant .”

The side of Tripp’s burnt ear lit up, transmitting Wool’s voice into his head as he fired shots at the oncoming beasts.

Jelly sprinted on all fours over to the H 2O unit with Tor and took cover from the battle.

“Hey, Jelly.”

She scowled and flipped him her middle infinity claw, “ Hating you .”

“Tor!” Tripp said, in between blasts, “Protect Jelly, or I’ll blast your head clean off your shoulders like Landaker.”

“What?”

“Protect Anderson.”

“Tripp?” Wool yelled into his head, “Personal comms, Tripp. Do you read me?”

“Yes, Wool. I read you. Can’t it wait?”

“No, it can’t…”

Tripp joined Bonnie and blasted a Shanta beast away from the ceiling. Its limbs exploded as the inertia of the bullet pushed it back into the others like a bowling ball against a fresh stack of pins.

Bonnie emptied her magazine into the gory crowd. “I’m out!” She flung her Rez-9 at the baying aliens and lifted her knee.

“Look at that,” Jaycee booted a creature in the face and blasted its mid-section apart. He pointed at the horizon. The black tree had fully regrown to its enormous size – and developed twelve limb-like branches, “Tripp, man. You seeing this?”

“I’m talking to Wool—” he stopped mid-sentence and clapped eyes on the three. “Oh, God, it’s moving!”

The ship jolted around, smacking the edge of Botanix against the sand. The hordes of Shanta crashed along the floor, spilling over one another and tumbling out of the ship.

A few dozen remained inside and continued to attack.

“We’re losing altitude. We’ve hit the ground,” Bonnie held her mechanical leg in her arm and fired a burst of bullets from her toes. She raised her left arm to her face, “Manuel, get us out of here!”

“Dr. Whitaker. I cannot engage the thrusters.”

“What?” Bonnie backed up to the wall and shot an approaching creature in its mouth-slit. It detonated, contributing to the already-gore-soaked floor with its pink blood and liquefied organs.

“Ugh, this is insane,” Bonnie looked at Tor, “You keep Jelly safe, you hear me?”

“Tripp?” Wool shouted over the deafening chaos, “Get Jelly out of there right now .”

A Shanta jumped from the top of the H 2O unit and made for Tripp.

“I can’t hear you, hold on,” Tripp removed the empty magazine from the K-SPARK grip and tossed it at the creature, “I’m out!’ He retrieved his Rez-9 from his belt and aimed it at the monstrosity, “Come and get it, beautiful.”

BLAM-BLAM-SCHPLATT!

Five of its limbs splattered in the haze of bullets, pushing what little remained of its body at Tor’s feet.

He yelped and stomped on its slit in utter terror, “Ugh, get it away from me!”

“Yes, Wool,” Tripp said. “What’s that? Oh, good.”

Jaycee turned to Tripp and raised his eyebrows, “What’s up?”

Tripp lowered his gun and turned to Jelly. The news he received was very important, “Are you sure?”

Jaycee hopped onto the back of the floor mounted K-SPARK and aimed it at an influx of Shanta creeping over the dead plants, “Bonnie, reload. Get behind me.”

“Thanks,” she dived behind him and released her dead magazine to the ground. She kicked it away and palmed a fresh magazine into the grip, “Reloading!”

“I understand, Wool.” Jelly’s cowering reflected in Tripp’s glazed eyes. “I’ll… God… I’ll send her back up.”

“Tripp, what’s going on?” Bonnie held her foot up and blasted three Shanta creatures to smithereens with her leg.

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-KA-SCHPLATT !

She took out three Shanta in a row with three shots, “Tripp, what’s—”

“—Hey, Tor!” Tripp barked at him. “Take Jelly back up to Medix right now.”

“What?”

“Do it,” Tripp blasted another creature out of the ship.

SCHTAAAMMM! SCHTAAAM !

The one-hundred-foot tree in the middle of the ocean thumped its first limb to the sand, followed by the second. The pink sky swirled around like milk pouring into a freshly-stirred cup of coffee.

“Get her out of here, numbnuts!” Tripp barked.

Tor offered Jelly his hand, more than happy to escape battle, “Come with me. Take my hand.”

“Hisssss,” she scowled at him and swiped her infinity claws at his face.

“Uh, Tripp?” Tor struggled, “I don’t think she likes me. She doesn’t want to go.”

“Jelly, bad girl,” Bonnie shouted at her, “Go with Tor. He’ll take you to Wool. It’s for your own safety.”

Jelly bushed her tail out in a fit of rage, disobeying a direct order. She bolted out of Botanix, refusing Tor’s offer to escort her.

“Damn it, Tor,” Bonnie screamed at him, “Go and make sure she gets to Medix.”

“Okay!”

He ran through the door and into the corridor after Jelly, “Come back, girl!”

Bonnie held her fists up as a Shanta approached her. She roared at it, forcing it toward her, “Ever heard of Jitsaku, you ugly critter?”

She punched it in the mouth with such force, its bone-like frame cracked in two and released a jellied substance – possibly its brain – to the ground, “That’s today’s training over with,” she said, butting her palms together.

The tree spider-climbed out of the ocean. The sheer size and weight of the monstrosity created a mini tidal wave, clearing some of the Shanta away in seemingly extreme slow motion.

“What did Wool say?” Bonnie asked Tripp.

Jaycee’s turret cleared enough of the approaching creatures to enable everyone to reload.

Tripp replaced his Rez-9 with a full magazine and aimed it at the hoard of approaching Shanta.

“Tripp? Answer me,” Bonnie took aim at the army of beasts with her K-12 Combat leg-firearm. The tree’s ungodly stomps cracked the ground. It creaked the top of its body and squealed into the sky.

Certain death was on the way.

“I only have one mag left,” Tripp said, avoiding the question. “Jaycee, you got any fresh?”

“Nah, I’m out. I got like two left, but they’re for the turret. It’s the only thing keeping these damn space invaders from smothering us.”

“Tripp!” Bonnie stomped her smoking, mechanical leg to the ground, catching his attention, “Are you gonna answer me?”

Space Opera Beta slammed to the ground. The thrusters died out. The vibrations in the ship came to a halt.

The trio were twenty seconds away from a stampede of Shanta and the unfathomably large God-like antagonist that stormed behind them, wanting to finish off the job once and for all.

“Tripp?”

The Shanta pummeled through the wall and flooded into Botanix in great quantity.

Tripp cocked his K-SPARK and aimed at the first of at least a thousand creatures.

“Get ready guys,” Jaycee punched the back of the floor-mounted K-SPARK turret, “It’s do or die time.”

BLAM-BLAM-BLAMM-MM!

The turret swung left and right, unleashing its final magazine at the swathes of approaching Shanta.

Tripp squeezed his trigger and blasted the first of the creatures to messy, pink pieces.

“What did Wool say?” Bonnie asked. “What’s up with Jelly?”

Tripp trained one eye on her and then immediately back to the approaching monsters. He hooked his finger around the trigger, prepared to take a shot at the next creature.

“She’s pregnant…”

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