CHAPTER TWO
Puffie
stepped into the elevator, Heart up to his throat, and felt the elevator clank,
screech, and slowly lower itself. He
hated this elevator. No hiding spots in
case of an ambush. Nodding to Peter,
they both ready their blasters, aiming at the grate that was a door.
The
elevator clangs to a stop, and Puffie scanned the corridor beyond with the
flashlight on his blaster. They step out
into what looks like a locker room, long abandoned before Minerva even became a
major outpost. The area was covered in
red dust, except:
"Peter;
Notice that if no one was here except for us, the whole area would be covered
with dust- But a trail going through the room?" Peter examined the light coating of dust on
the trail, shrugged, and radioed the group.
"Scouts to Terminators,” he said, addressing the rest of the group
by their call sign, “Main corridor is clear.
Proceeding to tunnels"
Trudging
past the main door, Puffie shined his flashlight ahead and saw the rough rock
of the tunnel, with the blackness of dark covering the tunnel 20 feet
ahead. For what seemed like hours, they
scooted down tunnels, scanned the intersections for traps, and marked trails.
Then
at one intersection, they came up to a fork, and stopped. Planting their backs against the walls, they
prepared to lunge and scan the tunnels.
Just as they did, a blaster bolt flew past Peter's ear. "We got a nest of ‘em!!"
Peter yelled as he fired off his blaster and dived for cover. Puffie and Peter dove for cover and began
firing shots at the rebels as energy bolts and bullets zipped their way past
the two scouts. Puffie reached to one of the grenades on his belt, but decided
against it. An explosion could cause a cave in, and potentially block their path
Puffie
covered the area with blaster fire.
Amber beams of light sizzled their way to the chest of a rebel, who
clutched the wound as he fell to the ground.
Puffie turned his sights to another, but noticed that he was lifting up
a weapon that looked like a chunk of pipe.
Puffie and Peter both knew what it was, and dived aside as a rocket
slammed into the rock tunnel.
The
mine shook violently as the rocket exploded in a fiery ball. The two ran down the tunnel, “So much for us
not using explosives down here!” Peter yelled to Puffie as he slammed another
energy pack home, as another rocket surged past them. Puffie had noticed a side tunnel when he
heard Peter yelp and turned his head around to look. Peter was holding a hand on the side of his torso. Peter used his other hand to wave Puffie on;
Puffie slowed to help escort Peter, firing his blaster at the oncoming rebels.
When Puffie finally saw Peter run into the side tunnel, Puffie runs to the
tunnel, taking his blaster and fired a running pot shot before diving into the
side tunnel.
Peter
applied a bandage to the burns from the blaster, and Puffie provided cover.
Peter finished his first aid, and joined the shoot-out. As Puffie was shooting at the rebel with the
rocket launcher, he noticed one setting a block on a wall before yelling to
retreat.
Puffie
held back Peter before he could charge after the fleeing group. "Hold it!" Puffie said.
"That's a trap they just set there. I don't want you or me to go home in a
lunch-box." Peter nodded, kicking
at a pebble disappointedly. The two
walked up to the box, seeing that it was a laser trip mine. Taking a screwdriver, Puffie carefully pried
the top cover off and removed the batteries. After prying the unit off the
wall, Puffie grinned at Peter as he gently placed the explosives in a
pack. "I think we have a surprise
package for them if they show up again” He said to Peter, grinning.
After
reporting the engagement, Puffie went up the tunnel. The mine was silent again, except for the
slow dripping of water somewhere up ahead.
Suddenly, the mine wall ended, and Darkness enveloped the pair of
rabbits. Puffie could not help but feel
very alone in this area, even with Peter beside him.
Puffie's light winked out, a
sign that the battery pack was flat. He
continued walking in a straight line, and as he fumbled for another battery
pack, he slammed into something hard. A
dull clang silently echoed in the walls and Puffie partially fell back, Scared
that he would see the flash of a light, and the illumination of a blaster
pointed directly at him.