Credit Rush OutPost Krone (13 page)

BOOK: Credit Rush OutPost Krone
5.77Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“He’s wasting ammo” thought Charlie as he placed a fresh magazine into his own weapon.

The lights above them in the ships corridor started to flash red; the distress call sounded up again.

"Come on, keep moving,” shouted Carter anxiously.

Huddled close together, they carried on through another corridor. They were losing their bearings as they turned many corners but then came to a stop at a pair of double doors.

"Hold it right there," said a guard firmly, his gun aimed at the both of them.

They had reached a dead end at the bottom of the corridor. A sign behind the guard read Main Engine Core Room—the guard was not going anywhere. He could easily have chosen to abandon his post with what was going on, but decided against it.

"Drop your weapons!" shouted the guard, holding his weapon with a firm grip.

"We don't want any trouble, we just need to take what we came for and get out of here,” said Charlie nervously.

“Too late for that now, we are past it”, thought Carter trying to access the situation.

"I am not going to play games. For the last time, drop… your… weapons!" ordered the guard.

He placed his finger over the trigger and aimed for the two of them then suddenly became distracted by the sound of approaching footsteps.

“Shit, they reached us” thought Charlie as he closed his eyes and awaited death.

Reaching for his belt and unclipping a stun grenade, Carter threw it over the guard; the guard did not even have time to flinch before a loud bang echoed all around the three of them. A blinding white flash filled the small open space and the guard held both hands to his face, screaming in pain. Carter wasted no time with the opportunity and released a small burst of fire. The shots ripped holes into the guard’s chest and he collapsed onto the floor.

"Jesus, Carter, that was close but thanks,” said Charlie reluctantly. Although hostile with each other, Charlie did have to give him credit.

"It's got to be here somewhere,” said Carter. Kneeling down next to the dead guard, he searched through his clothing and the man’s blood was pumping out all over.

"What a fucking mess,” said Carter.

The sound of footsteps stopped and voices could be heard down the other end of the corridor. It was Lorna and her crew; trying to catch them off guard, the sound of running was replaced with walking that would eventually reach their target.

"Got it, damn it," said Carter as he wiped the blood from the guard’s key card onto his trouser leg. "Hate other people’s blood, the precautions I take when disposing of Stout's prey is unbelievable.”

Looking away, Charlie turned his attention towards the approaching footsteps; he wanted to get the hell off this ship.

"Let's move and get out of here,” said Charlie.

"Well we are both fucking dead if we go back empty handed to Stout,” said Carter sliding the key card against the door slot.

The door quickly slid open. After they entered and it closed behind them, Carter left the key card in the slot then snapped it in half.

"Should buy us some time while I try to figure out our next move,” said Carter.

The room they had entered vibrated with a constant humming noise.

Large glass tanks covered each corner, and inside were glass tubes. Below the tanks were holes cut into the floor for each tube.

"Listen, don't be firing any kind of weapon in here; if one of those tubes or tanks catches a bullet we’re fucked,” said Carter.

"How do you mean?" Charlie asked; he was out of his depth on this one.

"How do I mean?" repeated Carter. "I’ve raided these types of ships before; any damage to those things and the ship starts to shut down and go into self-destruct mode."

Charlie rolled his eyes away from Carter and thought, “Shit”, we are so fucked.

He didn’t have time to ponder their dilemma; they were trapped and thinking too much would get them both killed.

A loud thud at the door caused the two of them to back away slightly. The thud was followed by the muffled voices of the guards.

"There is no point trying to run; you are cornered. Surrender your weapons and you can make it both out of there alive,” said the sergeant sending a blow to the door with the butt of his gun.

"He’s fucking lying; can't trust these guards,” whispered Carter.

He and Charlie made the decision to take cover where best they could. With the blue ultra violet light that shone from the tanks lighting up the area, there wasn’t any darkness to hide under within the room.

Lorna crouched down next to the sergeant as she tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge.

"They’ve snapped the key card; there’s no way in manually,” she said.

"Always a way into anything,” replied the sergeant as he gestured to two guards beside him.

"Get that thing open quickly; we’re running out of time,” he said and stepped aside.

One of the guards opened a bag attached to him, pulled out a blowtorch and said, "They won't be able to hide for much longer."

An insertion was quickly made at the bottom of the doors and the guard began slowly working his way up as sparks began to fly.

"Start to make a few blows," said the guard when he had finished cutting into part of the door.

A second guard took a huge swing with his gun, pieces of metal broke away landing onto the floor.

"Shit, they’re breaking through," said Charlie from where he was hiding.

"Just take it easy and be careful; remember, one shot at those tanks and this ship will blow,” replied Carter. He was desperate for Charlie to understand the seriousness of the situation.

The sparks at the door had stopped and guards could be seen breaking through. They had been ordered to suppress fire because it was too risky. Carter was less than ten feet away to the left of Charlie and had run out of ideas; it was Charlie's turn to think of something.

Turning to face Carter, Charlie said, “There must be a way out of here!".

Carter just shook his head. He was unsure; there were no air vents for them to crawl into this time.

"Come on Carter, get the hell up. We have to find a way out,” said Charlie, grabbing Carter’s arm.

They started to run towards the other end of the long and narrow room. The guards were screaming at them to surrender, but they kept moving. As soon as they had moved a few paces, Carter’s belt caught and snagged onto the side of the wall and one of the pins shot out from his stun grenade. He quickly removed it and threw it in the direction of the guards.

"Get down,” he shouted and they took cover just as a loud bang and a blinding flash exploded.

A rookie guard ran through the battered door and in a blind panic started to shoot off some rounds. It was a costly mistake as the white light from the grenade blinded his vision.

"Stupid bastard!" screamed the sergeant as he kicked the rookie’s gun away from his hand. "You’re here to follow fucking orders!"

The blinding light started to slowly fade away, but bullet holes had already penetrated two of the tanks. The lights on the side of each tank flicked on one by one and the chain reaction had started as the cylinders slowly descended into the holes beneath them. "WARNING,WARNING, SHUTDOWN COMMENCING" sounded the ship's main computer.

Lorna was the first to regain her vision from the light; she could make out the figures of Carter and Charlie.

"Stay behind me," she said as she led the way with the sergeant right behind her.

The ship’s computer repeated the message once again causing some of the guards to start to fall back and leave the area.

"Abort this; we need to abandon ship. I can't risk my men,” the sergeant said turning to face Lorna.

"But, sir, they can't get away with it. We have…”

She was cut short when suddenly the sergeant’s head snapped backwards and blood hit Lorna in the face. Her body froze with shock as the sergeant’s body hit the ground, blood spurting out from the side of his skull while his body twitched.

"What the hell did you do?" said Charlie.

"Bingo! Always wanted to take out a rank," replied Carter with a sadistic laugh.

Charlie was left reeling inside as some guards started to make a run towards them.

Gunfire exploded next to Charlie’s ear; lucky it hit the steel beside him.

"Don't just stand there! Kill them,” said Carter as he ran past Charlie like a mad man firing in all directions.

One of the guards was hit in the face with bullets, spraying pieces of bone and flesh into the air. Another guard was also killed in the fight, leaving just Lorna and a remaining guard.

Another series of shots rang out and Charlie pressed himself against the wall for cover As soon as there was a pause in the attack, he slipped to one side and got a look at the shooter. The guard dropped an empty magazine and slammed a new one into the bottom of his assault rifle. By the time he had his gun loaded and ready, Charlie was sending one round after the next through his chest. The guard crumpled and fell, sprawling out over the floor.

“Carter!” he hissed, keeping an eye out for any more guards.

Charlie dove to where the man was hiding and grabbed him by the shoulder, only to have Carter’s body slump to one side and crash to the floor. Blood pooled from the man’s ear and Charlie’s chest suddenly felt tight. He pulled Carter onto his back and looked him in the eye. “Son of a bitch,” he moaned as Carter’s hollow eyes stared off into the ceiling.

In the distance he could hear the sound of boots and shouting voices. Charlie took the extra ammunition off Carter’s belt then slipped the equipment and his bag up and around Carter’s limp head. He then squeezed the dead man’s arm and made a run from the area when he noticed that he had found an exit after all. There was no time to waste with Lorna fast approaching.

Charlie worked his way down a hall, digging the map out and checking his position. As luck would have it, the screen said he was right on top of a hanger bay. A quick scan showed several doors and Charlie tried one after another until he reached the third door.

As Charlie moved to the third door, hot metal pressed against the back of his head and he froze.

“You,” Lorna growled. “Of all the pieces of shit in the world, you had to be the one to survive? Drop your weapon,”

Charlie let his rifle slip from his hand and clatter to the floor. “Now turn around,” she ordered. “I want to see your face as the life seeps from your body,” Charlie turned slowly, hands raised to shoulder height. “I want to watch your eyes as…”

Charlie knew it was time to move or die. He slapped Lorna’s hand away and landed a punch across her cheek. His hand burned after crashing bone against bone, but he still snatched her by the wrist and drove his shoulder into her chest. Lorna grunted and fell, Charlie falling down on top of her. Her pistol fired once and she twisted to get the barrel pointed at Charlie’s head.

“No!” Charlie screamed. “You shoot and we both die.”

“You lie,” Lorna grunted before socking Charlie in the side of the head. She rolled clear and levelled her gun at him.

“The chip,” Charlie quickly explained, rising to his feet. “If you kill me it may detonate and we both die,” He could be bluffing but Charlie didn’t really know himself.

An announcement rang through the ship declaring that the vessel would self-destruct in thirty seconds.

We can run together, but you have to let me go now. Shoot me or wait and we both die.”

Lorna frowned and kept her gun trained on Charlie’s head. He saw no other choice though; Charlie spun and moved to the third door.

Locked.

Furious and running out of time, Charlie ordered Lorna to shoot out the lock.

“We are going to die if you don’t!” Charlie screamed.

The woman let out a roar, and blasted the lock away. Charlie kicked in the door and pressed himself inside the secured bay before he noticed something and screamed to Lorna, “Escape pods!”

She shook her head in frustration and turned off running to the far end of the bay. Charlie followed and the pair slipped into a pod as the ten-second countdown began.

“How can I trust you?” Lorna demanded.

“You can’t,” Charlie admitted. “You either choose to save us both, or you leave me here to die.”

Lorna looked long and hard at him, and then closed the hatch behind Charlie. “Buckle up,” she ordered.

Depressurization hissed and rushed as the hull cracked and the ship rocked and tilted as it came apart. Lorna began the starting sequence of the pod. “Come on,” Charlie called. “Come on!”

The countdown hit the three-second mark and Charlie closed his eyes. The craft detached as the explosion rang. Fire surrounded the craft as Lorna and Charlie screamed for their lives. The launch engine of the craft ignited as the ship detonated around them and they ejected out into the safety of space. They had escaped… but for how long?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

 

Simon Bond is a father to five children, three boys - two of which are twins and two girls. He lives in the United Kingdom with his wife and rock Katie. She has given him the confidence to start writing, something which he is enjoying.

Simon is a massive Star Wars fan, with the aim of hopefully making his children understand the ways of the force. He also loves sci-fi, horror, and comedy along with other interest’s.

 

Connect with Simon, and view more available titles on his website below.

 

Smashwords :
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/simonb007

 

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/writingstation7

 

Leaving a review is very important to me, good or bad it will help me with my next project. I thank you in advance for taking the time to do it.

 

BOOK: Credit Rush OutPost Krone
5.77Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

The Lightstep by John Dickinson
Buried Sins by Marta Perry
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Dreams of Max & Ronnie by Niall Griffiths
He Shall Thunder in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters
Wicca for Beginners by Thea Sabin
Whispering Death by Garry Disher