*All
characters copyrighted to Poseidon Simons
Chapter 10
Sudden Death
Kia sniffed loudly and took away her plate,
"I'm...I'm done now." She left
the others, "I can't keep doing
this! It hurts too much..." So many of her friends were gone...so many had
been taken...it wasn't fair! Her son, Pik's mother...they were just the first! Now, with Alan bringing news of Ace's
kidnapping...Kia had a full view of everyone from the sink. Which one of them would be next? What about Maik's
band? She held back a tear and worked on
her dishes...a hand draped over her shoulder.
"It'll be alright...he said he'd find
them." It was Pik.
She sobbed and buried her head in his shoulder.
Pik held her, wishing he could be crying as
hard. His mother would need an operation
soon...if Babe didn't find her before long, she would die no matter what.
"Pik, you
gonna be alright?"
"I
don't know Josh...I don't know."
James hated this dreary mood. No one seemed to have any energy...everyone
was always ready to cry, too shocked to do anything, or too sorry for someone
else. He glanced at Don, who was getting
up to help Kia with some dishes...Johnny was the only anthro who seemed in some
sort of a cheerful mood, but that was because he was trying to keep his son
entertained. Kim was asking the others
how they were...what good that did. Nino
chirped and landed on Player's hand.
"You're
angry?"
"Not really...just annoyed. No one is trying to do anything...I'll bet that
if we all went and did something together we could feel great, but no one wants
to move with that new robot flying around."
James wished it could be so easy...
"It
hurts..." She couldn't do more
than whisper it...but no one was there to listen. She was close...she convulsed as another stab
of pain coursed through her. It was
strange...she felt like she could almost measure the exact amount of time she
had left...and it wasn't much.
She dimmly heard the sound
of a door being opened...someone picked her up...the robot no doubt...nothing
else could have hands that felt so cold.
She kept her eyes closed, not brave enough to witness her final hours.
Babe checked his meter again. He was close to full, and could easily last
the night. For some
reason though he felt like he was running dangerously short on time. He knew it was because of Pik's
mother, but it felt like something more...like Kain was planning something else
that Babe had no idea about yet. The
problem was...what? What was he going to
do?
Anna gave one last heave, rewarded by the sudden loss
of wieght she was pushing as the last table was set
back straight. She wiped her forehead
and checked up on Michelle. Michelle was
still pretty busy picking up smaller things...and this time none of it was
sharp enough to puncture her. Anna had
picked up all the seriously dangerous things and mopped up whatever spills
there had been...she and Michelle had worked on getting the doors back up. Now that all of the heavy work was done, she
could relax a little. Babe had helped
for a little in clearing away beams and such, so work had gone considerably
faster than it would have with just the two of them..."Michelle...are you
thirsty?"
Michelle dropped the pieces of plaster she held into
a nearby bucket, then wiped her own forehead, leaving
a faded white streak, "Yes please..."
Anna fixed up some juice and brought Michelle a glass,
"You've been taking this really well..."
"I--I am?"
Michelle looked at Anna surprised, "What do you mean?"
"Well, most kids your age would have been
complaining about all the work they had to do...not to mention wanting to go
home...don't you miss your family?"
"Yeah..."
Michelle took a drink, "But Uncle Babe wants me to stay here until
he's done getting rid of that bad robot...he said he'd take me home when this
was over..."
Maik sat in a cleared out space in Babe's old
home. They hadn't gotten around to
cleaning it yet...but they managed to climb over most of the rubble. One room was completely blocked off by a hill
of broken plaster, wood, and other materials.
He felt relieved to have found Babe's helmet without running into the
false protector, but everyone was still too nervous to leave for much longer
than an hour. They didn't want to be caught!..and they had managed to
stay hidden so far. Maybe their luck
would hold out...
Maybe...
"Aha! Here you are..." Kain held his captive a little more tightly
as he dropped into Babe's scanner range.
He smiled at Babe as he looked up, then shot away, keeping just enough
distance to keep Babe hopeful, "I'll
win yet. Another few minutes and this
woman will be too far gone."
Babe growled and shot ahead. He tried to catch up, but Kain still seemed
to keep the upper hand. What was he
going to do? If he couldn't get to Pik's mother in time...she wouldn't last the night if he
didn't get to her. He had to...He cut
off as many functions as he could to preserve energy...he channeled whatever he
could to his rockets in hopes of somehow going faster. It helped, but only a little...he could hit
Kain from this point...he could fire his arm cannon. If it hit, if Babe managed to aim it good
enough to slow Kain down, he could get Pik's mother
and fly her to a hospital...but if he missed, he ran the risk of hitting the
very person he was trying to save...Kain started to pull ahead...if Babe didn't
fire now, he probably wouldn't get another chance.
He clenched his teeth and fired. The shot sailed straight to the target. It was the perfect shot. Babe had done it!.."NO!"
The shot hit Pik's mother, throwing her out of
Kain's grasp.
Babe couldn't tell what damaged he'd done, but he was sure it was
severe. He dove to catch her...this time
with ease. Up close, he could see the
burns all over her body...but that was nothing compared to her leg. He blown flesh off...and the blast had been
so hot that her leg had been cauterized at the same time...and the inside of
her other leg was blackened. He gulped
nervously...if he'd killed her...When he looked back up,
Kain was nowhere to be seen. Babe forced
Kain from his mind and flew as fast as he could to a hospital.
Kain didn't care.
The woman would be dead by the time Babe got her to some sort of
help. Babe's shot had finished off what
hope the woman had left. Oh well...now
would be the time for his next little idea...
RING!!!!!!!!
"Huh...what?"
RING!!!!!!!!
Pik rushed to answer the phone, "Yeah? Who is it?"
"Pik, you'r mother's
at the hospital. Go to her."
"Babe?.." Pik held the phone...but just barely.
"Hurry up, Pik.
I don't know if she'll pull through.
Go see her now, while she's still awake."
"Th...thank you..."
Pik numbly hung up the phone.
"Pik, what
are you waiting for?! C'mon, let's
go!"
Pik snapped out of his trance and shouted a goodbye
to everyone. He was out the door and
running in seconds.
"Hehe...well well. This
shouldn't be hard at all." He
thought. Pik was running down the street
in plain sight. Almost no one was
around...and he couldn't have asked for a more perfect shot. Looks like he'd be getting paid a bit sooner
than he'd thought! He steadied the rifle
in his hands and slowed his breathing...every now and then, when the shot
couldn't miss, he squeezed the trigger a little more. Then...
He felt the familiar jolt of the gun as it was blown
back by the force of the bullet leaving.
The silencer had worked well again.
Lowering the gun, he scanned the area with his binoculars...where was
he..."Aha!" Pik was motionless
on the ground. With a laugh, he set off
to take care of the amphibian's son.
Kia suddenly had this dreading feeling. At that moment, she wanted Pik by her
side...more so than usual. Something was
seriously wrong...she glanced out the window, hoping
Pik was still in si--"PIK!" She screamed and burst through the door. Pik was on the ground! She hadn't seen much of him, just his head..."Oh please don't be hurt...PLEASE don't
be hurt..." But that hope was
becoming less and less likely. She
already had her phone out, dialing the hospital. Pik had been shot..."Hello,
hospital? Get me an ambulance! Pik's been
shot!"
"Ms. Grey?"
"Damn it, yes!
Hurry up! I need one over here
NOW!" She proceeded to tell them
where to go, each time emphasizing to hurry.
Once done, she called Pik's old home...Don
answered. She told him where she was
going.
"What?
Why? What happened?"
"Pik was shot!
I'll call back as soon as they've stabilized him."
"Okay...you sure you don't want someone to come
with you?"
"I just want to get Pik to the hospital..."
"Okay, but be careful...whoever shot him might
be aiming at you too."
Griffy wiped away a
tear. This was too much...he couldn't
keep going like this! There wasn't any
food left in the apartment! Now he had
to dig through...through garbage...pretty soon, he wouldn't be able to go home
to sleep. He'd heard the messages on the
machine...if there wasn't some money in the manager's hands soon, he was going to
open the apartment up for rent again...and kick them out. Griffy shuddered as
he bit into the remains of someone else's dinner. He was so hungry...this almost tasted
good. Where was mom? What had happened to Ace? He STILL wasn't home! Griffy had watched
the razor Ace kept for a pet start raiding the shelves for food!..he'd almost tried breaking a window to get at it
himself...
"Huh? Hey
kid, what are you doing?"
Griffy looked up,
startled. A man was watching him,
waiting for an answer, "I...I..."
Griffy turned and ran away, afraid he'd get in
trouble. He didn't hear the man chasing
him...fought when he was caught.
The man held firm, "Calm down kid...I won't hurt
you...OW! That hurt..." The man let go of one arm to rub where he'd
been kicked, "You've got quite a foot there..." He grimaced and kept talking, "Are you
still hungry? I've got better food
inside."
Griffy stopped
struggling. Better food? NOT stuff from the garbage? He almost said yes.
When the man saw him hesitate, he added, "I have
a son of my own. Would you like to meet
him?"
A friend too? Griffy could make a
friend?..it was too
much. Griffy
shoved his face in the man's shirt, crying.
The man slowly rubbed Griffy's
back, "There there...it's alright. C'mon.
Lance'll want to meet you."
Mary held herself in a ball, shivering. This place was so cold...how did any of the
others stand it?..how was Griffy doing?
Someone opened the door to her cell.
She looked up, fearful.
"C'mon lady. The boss wants to talk to you."
A gun was pointed at her...she got up, hoping that,
wherever she was being taken, it would be warmer there. She passed the cell where Ace was being
kept. He saw her, and rushed to the
window, calling out her name. She felt a
tear coming and reached out for him, but the guard taking her away prodded her
with his gun and told her to keep moving.
Bill watched as a guard passed by his cell. He was taking an attractive woman with him
somewhere...but now what? What was Kain
going to do?..
Sarah was thinking along the same lines. She and the rest were all wondering why there
hadn't been as much activity here. Of
course, Mrs. Cleave still kept busy with Ralph...Ace was always moping. What was happening? She scratched another mark on the wall by
Bill's figures. She'd been counting the
days they'd been in there. She hoped the
number wouldn't get much bigger.