Existential Threat: Chapter 13 Part 1 of 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 13:

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“Catch,” Per said as Ken walked through the office door. He caught the bar, Per tossing another to Dur.

She’d pushed all but one of the desks up against the walls under the windows facing the bays and outside. She’d kicked the chairs out of the way except for a few around the remaining desk, piled with bottles and snacks.

“Found a bathroom down on the second floor, runs off of a water bottle system, I found one of the massive water bottles in a closet down there.”

She tossed them a waterbottle each, leaning back in her chair, eating a bar and looking out of the exterior windows, putting her feet up on one of the desks, glasses beside her, her rifle across her legs.

For as long as he could remember he’d carefully watched how much he’d eaten, making sure that he didn’t go through it all. He ripped off the wrapper and bit into the bar, taking an indulgent bite, not cutting it up into little pieces and chewing them individually to make them last, a full bite.

It was stale-all the food was, but his stomach rejoiced as he drank from the water bottle.

“Saw you go the movers shifted,” Per said.

“Yeah,” Ken chewed, his mouth full, an odd sensation as he put his gun down and pulled out a gooper sleeve filled with gunk, handing it to Per.

He coughed, clearing his throat.

“Put this on your gun, I put mine down in a puddle of it, now it actually locks proper and Dur’s rifle doesn’t catch as much.”

Per shook the bottle a few times and held it over her gun, the gunk fell on it, spreading across her gun, moving into the crevasses. She dumped the rest into her ammunition pouch. Ken passed her some parts, she tossed them in as well, the goop would eat the metal, replenishing her spent ammunition.

Ken checked his pouch, four rounds had been reloaded, another five being worked on. Hopefully he’d have enough time for them to grow some new rounds.

He bit out of the bar again.

“Movers are pushed up against the bay door, we dropped the tires off the front so it’ll just drive into the ground if anyone can push it forward. Threw up some blocks over the doors, don’t go wandering down there, we hooked up the poppers on wire around the mover pit and in the part racks,” He slumped into a chair.

“Gonna use the bathroom,” Dur said. An explosion, nearby caught Ken’s attention. “Don’t get lost,” Ken said, tossing him a bag of treats.

“Do my best,” Dur chortled heading down the stairs.

Weapons fire echoed through the mine, some close, some distant. When did it get to be normal? A round impacted something, an Adraxi cannon by the noise. Just part of the background.

“Anything change much?”

“Fierce fighting over there at the fuel station,” Per pointed at a burnt out and smoking building, the bare stone around it blackened.

“Was wondering what that sound was.”

Something hit the pressurized tanks, Adraxi swarmed the place, then boom,” She opened her hands before resting them on her legs, grabbing a bag of salted treats and eating them slowly, her eyes moving over the ground.

Ken drank from a bottle, looking at the food on the desk. You only live once. He grabbed a bar and ate it, savoring the guilty joy so as to not let the dread sneak in.

“Shit what is that?” Per pushed out of her chair, looking up at the sky.

Ken grabbed a bag and ate from it, tasting faintly of clay, but it still had some crunch and filled his stomach.

The atmosphere boomed and cracked. Meteors slamming into the atmosphere above, tens separated into hundreds and thousands, more entering atmosphere every second.

“Shuttles?” Dur asked.

“You ever seen that many shuttles?” Per hissed.

Lines of light stabbed up into the sky, trails of white following them.

Shuttles broke apart, multiple pieces flaring and burning up. The white trails turned into burning light.

“Ah Kra!” Per hissed, snapping her head away and blinking.

Ken fought to clear the bright spots burnt into his eyes.

The white that competed with the sun itself, billowed out into greens, a mix of changing colours hanging in the sky, beautiful if not for being so terrifying.

Dozens of the rainbow sphere’s lit up the sky, hanging there.

“There was a shuttle that burned up one time, though those look like they’re supposed to fall apart,” Dur rubbed his chest.

Ken grabbed the glasses and looked up.

“There’s the ones that separate, then there’s larger ones and larger ones still. I think they have wings?”

“Ken!” Dur yelled, throwing him and Per to the ground. Rounds smashed through the stained glass.

“Per?”

“I’m fine!” She yelled, grabbing up her rifle, he glanced at Dur who shot him a grin.

Ken laughed, getting to a crouch and grabbing his gun from the desk.

Per fired, more rounds hitting the window.

“They’re circling around, coming for the way we came in,” She yelled, reloading her rifle. “Works a lot better.” She winked, breathed out twice and turned around the window, firing again, dropping to the ground, reloading and moving under the windows.

Ken checked his gun was loaded as something smashed into the door covered in blocks.

Ken punched the glass out of a window, aiming at the doorway.

The door, the wall and several part racks around it blew in, a cannon destroying it all.

He got back up from the blast, he didn’t have time to worry about facing the massive war-creature as Adraxi reached the first of his poppers, going off and killing three. He fired through the new opening, the round detonating among the Adraxi.

He dropped down, reloading, the round popping out without needing a shake or screw-driver, shoving in a new round, Dur shooting through the office door, on the attackers. Rounds threw dust and stone chips everywhere, Ken squinted and rose up, firing at the doorway, several Adraxi dead filled the area around the doorway.

Usually his rounds might kill a few, wound some others, but in the close quarters the detonation could actually kill more than just the one he was firing at.

Ken coughed, noticing the air turning purple, fear made his blood run cold as he snapped his gun open, he grabbed it and the other casings feeling the cool gunk and parts inside, shoving a round into his gun forcefully and moving position.

Dur rolled away from where he was shooting, rounds shredded to door and hit the ceiling. Ken shoved his gun through a window, breaking it and firing as the glass fell around him.

He dropped down, pulling out the spent round, pulling out the round exchanging it for a complete one from his pouch, by feel.

Dur let out a wet cough. Ken jumped around the door, grabbing him and pulling him, blood darkened his coveralls, his battered shirt underneath.

"Fuck, Dur replaced the strip on his rifle, missing twice. Ken pushed it into place.

“Thanks,” Dur heaved himself up on a table, resting his knee on a chair, aimed and fired.

Ken grabbed his shoulder, squeezing as he pressed his lips together, possibly the last time he’d get to touch his friend, pushing all of his care for him into that one squeeze. Ken crouch-scrabbled through glass, stone and dirt, his hands hardened by his labors as he checked his gun, rose up and fired on the Adraxi.

He reloaded, Per moving and firing out the rear window, she caught his eye.

We really pissed them off,” She grinned. “Got five crabs heading for us.” She laughed, rose up and fired, dropping back down and moving.

***