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Chapter 9: The Coming Storm

"Last time I talked to you
You were lonely and out of place
You were looking down on me
Lost out in space."
~Our Lady Peace, Somewhere Out There

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I still can't believe thaey did it. They actually came to rescue me. I knew Stamm would try something, but Reina as well. I thought she didn't care. Well, none of that matters anymore. I'm going off to find them. I know that Reina has betrayed my trust twice, but as they say, "Third time's a charm.". I really hope she became the nice, caring individual that I know she is.

Slipping through the shadows is what this evil is doing. It is keeping its ugly face hidden, forcing me to root it out. But mark this. I will root it out until all of it is in the open. Then i will desttroy it and all that it stands for. I will destroy any that side with it. It will be purged from this world.

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Part 1: Unwanted visitors
(author's note: I have been calling Reina's gun a "Hand Cattle". It is more commonly called a "Street Sweeper".)

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I jump into the passenger seat of the van. I look to the back out of reflex and see Tom sitting back there with a sniper rifle. Gren strides toward the vehicle, smiling. He slowly gets into the driver's seat, putting the key in the ignition. He looks at me. "Don't worry about Tom, he's trustworthy and a good shot." Tom grins at me encouragingly and hefts the rifle.

I look away. "He's far to young. He has too much left to live for. I won't permit it."

"He's coming anyway." Gren says, turning to look me in the eyes, "You seem to think that this is only your battle. He has sullied my name as well. I will have him for it."

I nod slowly, indicating he trun the car on. He does so, backing out and heading from memory to the place of his former employer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I start towards the cave, wondering what kind of resistance I'll be facing there. I drive by the innocents on the way there. They know not what plagues their town. They know not what sullies their city's name. Poor, pitiful fools.

I head towards inevitablility with a smile on my face, I realize. Is this such a good idea? I'm throwing away my life for a cayse that does little to help me. I'm not gaining anything from it. No one knows of my blackened honor. It's a skeleton in a closet that will never be found. But somehow, I don't know why, I'm compelled to make my name clean. The only way to do that is to kill that which has given me this shame.

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I know I'm not crazy, I can hear the slithering of something that is very big coming. I turn towards Stamm, my face a mask of fear, and see that she has heard it too. I hold the Hand Cattle up, edging away from the wall, towards her. I bump into something, turning and aiming the gun, I see that it was only her. As we lower both of our guns, it hit me that we had the same response.

I hear the hiss just as she does. It's a lot bigger than the last ones that came by. In fact it sounds huge. Worriedly, i fidget with the gun some more. Then the prickles on my next stand up. I look around frantically, my night vision not helping me. It's that pitch black. I look over again, nervously to see her serching a pouch on her belt for something. I see her grab what looks like a stick of dynamite, and i dive towards the wall. See breaks off part of one end, it seems, and tosses it down the tunnel. Then I realize from the bright tip that it was only a flare. I stop my realizing, and start babbling when a see a trio of huge, snake-beasts. At leas that's what i think they are.

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'Damn that girl,' I think, 'Why doesn't she open fire, I need the hand cattle's firepower.' I start to pump shells at them, the buckshot pinging off hard carapace, a few hits getting through. I pull the trigger to a click after eight shots. I look up to see two bleeding from only a few wounds and all of them very pissed off.

"Now would be a good time to shoot!" I yell, tossing aside the shotgun and drawing two pistols. Looks like that self-defense and combat training classes finally paid off. I start to run to one side as the creatures slither towards me at top speed. Bouncing off the wall on my sohulder, I use it to make a small hop over the tail-sweep of one of the creatures, unloading the twin Jerichos into the back of its head. I really like these little pistols. They have all the punch and with a four inch barrel, amazing accuracy. I barrel into the next one, shouder-blocking it into the wall, waiting for the that loud bark of her weapon. Nothing.

"Shoot now! You effing bimbo!" I yell even louder, tossing the empty pistols aside and drawing a survival knife. Two of them advance on me. I look at their 'hands', seeing them tipped with huge claws. This is going to get interesting. I keep turning about them, keeping them in a line so that only one can attack at a time. Finally, one makes a daring swipe with all of its weight at me. Maybe it was counting on its close-quarter instincts, maybe on me not having this quick of reflexes. Either way, I dodged to one side, the sleeve of my shirt ripping. I ducked under its second swipe, sliding the knife neatly past its abdomen. It screamed, backing up and proving the validity of Newton's First Law. Its intestines wanted to stay at rest while it backpedaled. They spilled out, falling to a steamy pile at the base of its tail.

I leap at the next one to take it by suprise, my mind completely forgetting the other one, or Reina. Two things hapened at that exact instant. I got swatted out of the air by the unaccouned-for creature. At the same time, Reina got her cahones back, pumping a shot into the ugly that I was about to kill. It exploded in a shower of orange ichor. I look at the surviving one blearily. That landing hurt. It seemed a bit unsure of its motives. Did it want to stay and risk getting exploded as well, or did it want to run away. I roll to one side, as the claw flying at my face showed its owner's decision. I quickly look over to see Reina lying on the ground. The kick of the hand cattle knocked her against the wall, knocking her out.

I continue to roll away until I can lever up. I put my weight on my right arm to get up. Wonderfully it collapses. I must've hit the creature, the wall, and the ground harder than I thought. I resume the roll as the 'salamander' as I call it, continues his attacks at my head. I use the other arm to pick myself up this time, rushing over to Reina's unconcious form. I pick up the hand cattle, aiming it at the salamander's head.

"This is gonna hurt me more than you." I say, levelling it against my right shoulder. I just can't lift it with the other arm. I pull the trigger, the kick knocking my shoulder back as the beast prettily decorates the walls again. I always liked the color orange.

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No! How could they defeat them! I worked so hard on getting the snake and mouse genes properly spliced. Those two will most definitely pay for costing my that many hours of work. I slip into my panic room, shutting and bolting the dor behind me.

"Computer, institute final defense mechanisms." I say into the terminal inside the room.

"Final mechanisms in place. Upsilon beasts in place. Shall I order the virus released?" I smile at the suggestion. I just made this virus to make all wounds it enter to have an extreme inflammatory resoponse. The victim couldn't stop bleeding since it also destroyed any platelettes it comes in contact with.

"Yes... Yes, that would be perfect."

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Part 2: Wait and Bleed

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We arrive at the cave, to see an entrance that has been collapsed many times.

"They must have gotten in, then that bat-bastard closed it behind him. I bet he closed both ends, just to kill them." I can feel the anger building up inside of me.

"Sounds like him, yes." Admits Gren, "I suggest we follow their course of action. There's plenty of C4 left. Your sister sure packs for the worst." he comments.

"Yeah, she does like Charlie-four." I say, reluctantly, "He's a girl's best friend, actually."

I watch him quickly make shot holes with his sword and place the C4 in it. "You might want to cover your ears. It'll be loud."

He was right. It is loud. I grimace. Even though my ears are covered, they're still ringing. I take a step intot he tunnel, and notice a distinct smell.

"Cordite. There's been some shooting." I mutter, stalking foward into the cave.

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Keith seems a bit out of equilibrium. I hope he knows what he's doing. I mean i've been throught here how many times? I grab his shoulder, hastily, "Let me lead. I know these tunnel like the back of my hand."

He nods, giving up the front to me, staying ahead of Tom. He stays in the back with a pair of infrared snoopers on, the sniper rifle pointed ahead. Keith's got a point. Such a skinny kid with such a big gun.You'd think the gun ways more than him.

I look to either side during the walk, seeing snakes and other creatures that were blown to pieces. Pity. It was a waste of ammo and energy. Maybe one of the snakes could present a threat, but most of them were just there for the scare factor. They succeded.

Then i walk upon one of the experiments, and parts of others. I see one of the Slamands who was eviscerated by a blade, and the other two were blown to pieces. It puzzles me, since it looks like an explosion killed them that was planted on them. I know that no one could do that, though, since they move so fast and so much.

"What did you have that could have done this, firearem-wise?" I ask.

"She did have a hand cattle... or a semi-auto shotgun." He explains.

"Ah, yes, either could do, except we found the shotgun a while back." I mention.

"Good point, shall we continue?"

"Yes, let us."

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I wake to see her brown face looking down on me again. It seems to me that that face is more angelic than Keith's, lately, even if Keith is the angel. "What happened?" I ask, slowly.

"The street sweeper took you for a ride." She says, a wicked grin crossing her face.

"On man, do I have a headache," I mumble, headachey, "Do you have any painkillers?"

She tosses me a couple of pills and a plastic bag, "Squish it around and then drink it. A couple of chemicals will mix and give you hot coffee."

I do as she says, ripping open the top and pouring it into a thermos top she hands me. I taste it. It's a bit strong, but it's not bad. I quickly take the pills and drink the las tof my coffee, feeling the sharp pain dull. "Thanks." I say, "I needed that. We ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

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We walk for many more meters, keeping our wits about us for any more of the creatures. Nothing happens though, until we walk up to the large steel doors. I approach them, running my hands over them, wondering what is their purpose.

"I think we've found the jackpot." I say with certainty.

"Where are you going to blow it up?" She asks. Smiling, I walk over and using the knife, dig a few holes on one side of it, carefully placing the last of our precious C4.

I walk back behind a bend, detonating it with a smile. When I turn the corner again, I see a group of small creatures. They are covered in scales with a short, compact frame. I doubt that they are very weak. The first one flies at me with a blinding speed. As soon as I see it move, I jump to one side, but I still feel a large lock of my hair get sheared off.

I turn and look at it. "I'll get this one, it seems to be the consummate leader. You take care of the rest."

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So, they finally met my little suprise. Those things were the perfect idea. Compact killing machines that are easy to create, cheap to make, fast, and deadly. Just what needed to go to market.

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Part 3: Reunion and Separation

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I'm walking calmly when all of a sudden, I hear a loud bark. I know it is the street sweeper. I start in a sprint towards the sound. Foward. Ever Foward. I can hear the other two behind me, following me, but I only hear them for a second. My preternatural speed that i never use has me flying along the pathway, straight into a scaly, ugly little creature. I draw my pistol, pistol-whipping it away from me and popping off a few rounds into its prone body.

I turn to see a look of relief on my sister's face.

"Keke..." She whispers. Suddenly, a pair of claws emerge from her shoulder. She turns, weilding her machine pistol in anger, and shooting off a long burst towards the throng of creatures. I see the one still stuck on her shoulder. Quickly, I pull out my small blade, tearing off its arms. It screams in pain and flops on the ground, twitching. I set a stony face, dropping into a fighting stance to eliminate the remaining pests.

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I come around the corner, barely winded to see nothing but chaos. There were little creatures everywhere. I draw my sword, runnig into the fray. The small creatures fall like wheat to a scythe to me. I can feel their claws nick at my skin and fur, but they are innefectual. Then it shows up. It is the big momma of all creatures. I drop back, pulling the sword in front of me in a defensive stance.

"Come on, beautiful. Come meet your fate."

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I've been swarmed. Everywhere I look there are these little claws. I'm shooting this gun wildly, clearing out masses of them at a time, hitting them with it when i can, and generally just running around. I'm not going to stop for anything, lest they get a hold on me.

Then something does make me stop. Instead of little, scaly bodies, there are little firy bodies. I drop the gun, screaming and run towards Stamm. Then I see Keith and Gren. He's got some kid with him that's lobbing molotov cocktails into the group of nasties. It seems to be working.

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When I hear the weasel say his few words, I look up as well. There it is. The big one. I decide that I'm going to finish this once and for all. It is busy fighting with that weasel. He seems to be beating it. All of its blows are being parried and it has multiple cuts in its carapace. It shows no sign of stopping, though and finally gets a lucky blow in. The smallest claw on its hand stabs him in the eye. The weasel cries out in pain, falling to the ground and dropping the sword as he clutches the popped eyeball, a greenish goo streaming down his face.

I look over to where Reina was desperately and see the street sweeper laying on the ground. Figuring this is the perfect time to finish it off, I run over and pick it up. I look back to see Keith has tackled it against a wall, buffeting it upside the face with his wings. I see them being shredded, blood pouring out of Keith's wounds. In a fury, I run, jumping off of a nearby small creature onto the big one's back. I scrabble up to the head, as it tries to swat at me like an insect, raking its filthy claws along my back. i cry out, but keep a hold on as three rivers of blood begin to pour out. I aim the gun down at the skull of the thing.

"Eat this!" I yell, pumping the last few rounds into its head. The gun flies out of my heand the last time due tot he kick, and the thing keels over, me with it. An eerie silence falls over the din. The only sounds are sobbing from the weasel and Reina. I join them, cradling my bruised, dislocated, and impaled right shoulder. 'This is gonna hurt,' I think, feeling the claws imbedded in my flesh.

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I shout at the screen, cussing loudly. I can't believe this happened. Well, I'm going to have to talk to Kedorai about this. Mabye ha can persuade 42 to give this up.