Crimson Rain (32 page)

The two guards charged in to the swarm of eight Ilithids. They swung their weapons wildly, even managed to kill one. They were quickly overwhelmed, however. The beasts took hold of them and they couldn
’
t break free or defend themselves the way Zarfa had.

Right before his eyes, the two guards were devoured like food. In a matter of about ten seconds, they were chewed to bits by the seven remaining monsters. Zarfa began to tremble; he had no support, no help. Surge had to maintain the barrier. He had just killed seven of them, but he
’
d had someone watching his back.

Luckily, the guards had bought him a few moments of time for the tears to flush his eyes further. His eyesight was still hindered, but not too badly. He could at least defend himself.

I can
’
t let them reach Surge or else it is all over. Their volley of bullets will tear me to shreds if I let him die.

Zarfa was hurt, enraged, and desperate. He charged forward into the final seven with all of the strength he could muster. Two monsters were standing in front. He quickly dispatched them by running between them and cutting them in half from the
ir
waistline
s
.

He stood in the middle of the remaining five, tentacles and swords flying at him from every direction. He jumped into the air and split
-
kicked two of them in the head. The blow was enough to send the two monsters stumbling backward and falling onto the ground. As he came down, he felt a tentacle grasp his leg and pull him in for another bite.

Before the monster could take a bite of his flesh, he had severed its tentacle from its body. He landed on his back hard. It knocked the wind out of him, but this was no time to nurse injuries. Stunned and unable to breathe well, Zarfa leapt to his feet. He followed, severing the beast
’
s tentacle with taking its head in a scissor attack aimed at its neck.

As the squid
-
like head rolled across the ground, Zarfa felt the burn of plasma blade slash across his back. It hurt, but it wasn
’
t deep enough to kill. Zarfa dropped down and spun, performing a side kick to the monster
’
s ankle and dropping it to the ground. He shoved both blades between its eyes into its forehead and pulled apart, severing its head in half and revealing its brain.

Zarfa jumped to his feet and took a few steps away from the remaining three. The two he had kicked had recovered and he could tell they were sizing him up. The flesh on his back still smoldered. The three shot ink in his direction again. He quickly slashed at it with both of his blades, sending it up in a cloud of black vapor.

The three rushed him. He threw one sword at the beast on his right, one at the beast to his left. His swords sank deep in their chests as they ran toward him. They stumbled a few feet then fell dead. The Ilithid in the middle proceeded to charge, tentacles preparing to grab Zarfa.

He jumped into the air at the last second, plowing both of his knees into the Ilithid
’
s chest. He landed on top of the creature with a loud popping noise. He could feel the cartilage on its ribcage popping and crushing
‘
neath the force of the blow. The monster
’
s lungs and heart were being crushed, but it still flailed with strength and ferocity. The tendrils on its face grabbed hold of Zarfa
’
s chest and it proceeded to sink its beak into his pectoral muscle on his left.

The pain was
excruciating
and Zarfa couldn
’
t leap back if he wanted to. He was trapped by the tendrils as well as the bifurcated tentacles that the monster used as hands. Zarfa began pummeling the beast
’
s head with both of his fists as furiously as he could. He felt its soft skull caving from the force. In moments, the creature was limp and lifeless beneath his body.

The grip of the nightmare slowly released Zarfa. Injured, bleeding, and in more pain than anyone should ever experience, Zarfa stood triumphantly. All he could hear was Surge
’
s guitar. He was still holding the barrier, but the gunfire had slowed; it was coming to a halt. He stumbled back to where Surge was standing, covered in his own blood, as well as that of the Ilithids.

“
Good job. I guess it is you that is the real monster. Those creatures didn
’
t stand a chance.
”

“
Tell that to my body. I nearly went down the way your guards did.
”

“
Yeah… A grisly sight, wasn
’
t it?
”

“
Tell me about it.
”

“
So
,
what now?
”

“
We wait until they
’
re done firing. We have another thirty to kill after they run out of ammunition. Don
’
t
worry;
they appear to be
simple
human
s, not spliced up or anything fancy like that
.
”

“
I doubt it. Almost every member of the Faraza is spliced. Even their insignificant raiders. These guys must be important if they were escorting that company of beasts.
”

“
Well
,
you
’
ve had more dealings with them than I have so I will take your word on that one. Think you can do your share in taking some of them down with me?
”

“
Ha, I think you owe me
,
what? Twenty-nine?
”

“
Some of those kills were my men, ya know? I think I owe you more like twenty-five,
”
Surge said with a smile.

“
We can talk when I see you killing super
-
charged squid beasts. How
‘
bout that?
”

Surge
bellowed
laugh
ter
. He knew Zarfa was joking on some level. Even at a time like this, Zarfa was still sarcastic and calm. If the element of ice could manifest itself an avatar, Zarfa would be it. When he fought, however, he was a tempest of rage and fire. Surge knew he was a mere man, perhaps one spliced with a rare
DNA
, but a man nonetheless.

The handlers had run out of ammo and were drawing their melee weapons. They were ready for some combat and were determined to not accept defeat. They began filing down the stairs toward the two of them. Surge changed rhythms again and was once again strumming chords. It sounded like a heavy metal ballad the way he was progressing the chords.

Zarfa could see the beam emanating again. This time, it was flowing out of the pickups and creating what looked like a wire stretched out in front of them. It was faint, hard to see. The wire was about fifteen feet ahead of them, floating in the air. It stretched out in an arch about forty feet long, making a half circle around Zarfa and Surge.

Surge began strumming faster and heavier. The tones were magnificent; if Zarfa weren
’
t in the middle of a battle
,
he would be inclined to head bang. The mystical wire began moving like a wave, but stayed fixed in its location. The soldiers were closing in on them rapidly. Zarfa once again took a fighting stance with his fists out in front of his body.

I wish I would have retrieved those blades. I really could have used them right about now… What the hell is Surge doing? I sure do wish he would explode a couple of them before they got to us!

Zarfa was getting nervous. Before he knew it, twenty-three of them had crossed over the wire. Zarfa assumed they didn
’
t see it. They must not have, or they didn
’
t think it could do anything. All that had run th
r
ough it blatantly were cut in half and fell apart mid-run. Blood and guts were everywhere in a sea of visceral remains.

Zarfa
’
s morale perked up at this sudden turn of events. The seven that hadn
’
t crossed over yet came to a screeching halt. One threw a sword at Surge. Surge quickly changed to a riff and directed the headstock at the sword. The plasma sword exploded into thousands of pieces. He then directed another beam at the one who had thrown it. He too boiled, bubbled,
and then
burst the same as the monster had.

Surge changed it to a solo; it was fast, wild, and screeching electric. Zarfa wasn
’
t sure if he could hear it because of the Psyker bots he had injected or not. He
only
knew when he heard Surge change things
up;
it meant death for who he was directing it at.

The last six began trembling and clutching their heads. Surge stepped toward them, pressing them with a sonic attack. He was now only five feet from the six seemingly paralyzed by whatever it was they heard. Surge leaned back and strummed out three more chords as hard and as fast as he could.

It sounded like the conclusion of an old flamenco song. Blood trickled out of the mouths of the six standing before him. And in the suffering sound of dead silence, they all fell on their faces dead before him. Surge turned and faced Zarfa.

“
That final one is called
‘
heart stopper.
’
I came up with it myself. So, it looks like I was able to handle those… I think you owe me five now.
”

“
Right,
”
huffed Zarfa with his hand on the wound on his chest. He was trying to stop the bleeding. He had lost a great deal of blood in the fight and was beginning to feel weak. He was glad that the combat was over for the time being. There were bodies strewn all over the train station. The wake of destruction was massive and the smell of death was rank in the air.

“
One last matter to attend to. Did I hear you call Crimson with warning before the battle?
”

Zarfa
’
s heart leapt to his throat. He knew Surge had heard; he knew it constituted him as an enemy of Synaptix now.

Why did he protect me? What is his game? Bastard.

“
Don
’
t forget, I can read your thoughts the same as Badger. Also, I informed Zax. It was a valiant attempt, but they will succeed in taking her down. She and that stupid little doctor are severely outnumbered. She is the only one who can fight, y
’
know.
”

Yeah, I know. I had to save that little guy from the gang the other night.

“
I guess since you won
’
t speak aloud, I will just have to talk to you this way.
”
Surge
’
s voice invaded his head.

“
So
,
what? Are you going to kill me now, or are you chicken? You are reading me for a reason. I assume you only kept me alive because you couldn
’
t deal with ranged and melee at the same time. Now that I
’
ve served your purpose, you plan to slaughter me like a sheep, right?
”

“
Precisely!
”
The voice screamed so loud in his head it echoed.

Surge began to strum; the wire appeared again. Zarfa charged ahead. At the last second, he leapt over the wire. Nothing happened; he was still intact. He came out of the air descending like a hawk on its prey. His foot stuck Surge
’
s guitar first.

It was knocked out of his hands and the strap broke. As the guitar clattered on the ground, Surge reached for it as quickly as he could. Zarfa snatched it from his grasp and held it out, kicking the neck as hard as he could. It snapped in half; wood and wiring scattered everywhere. It revealed something Zarfa was already aware of. This was no regular electric guitar.

Zarfa dropped the body of the guitar that had been in his right hand and kicked it as it was falling to the ground. The body split in half and went sliding across the floor, stopping on a mound of corpses.

Surge pulled a gauss pistol from his side holster underneath his robe. Zarfa, as quick as lightning, knocked it from his hand with the neck of the guitar. He heard a single shot fire. One that
,
had he been a second slower
,
would have surely ripped the life from his weakened mortal shell.

Before Surge could respond, Zarfa had grabbed him by the wrist with his right hand and had pulled him forward, giving Zarfa his back. Zarfa plunged his left elbow into his humerus. The loud snap told Zarfa the blow had done as he had intended. Surge let out a blood
-
curdling scream. He obviously wasn
’
t used to being hit in battle.