Authors note:
For those of you who haven’t read any of the Journey Of St. Laurent before: You are now reading an online serial pulp novel. If you didn’t start at the beginning, you may want to do so. Chapter 1: Down By The Bay. This serial is the sequel to my first novel,Oasis.
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Chapter 44: Grudge Match
I probably should have left the syringe on the crate. If I had done that and just leaped into the fray empty handed, things might have ended up better. I’m not sure how, but it couldn’t have ended up much worse.
The alien’s bodysuit had stopped Rhett’s bullets from tearing through its body, but they had clearly done damage just the same. The alien wheezed and clutched its chest.
Rhett jumped to his knees near the alien’s head and drove the syringe downward. Even injured, the wiry alien was faster than I expected. Its hand snapped up and caught Rhett’s wrist. The two were instantly locked in a deadly contest of grappling prowess.
Apart from being fast, the alien was deceptively strong. It had already taken terrible punishment and yet it fought with staggering tenacity.
I dashed to the other side of the alien’s head and threw myself onto my knees, too.
That is to say, I attempted to dash to the other side of the alien’s head throw myself to my knees.
Before I even had time to hit the ground, the alien brought a knee to its chest then kicked it out. Its foot caught me square in the chest and then just kept pushing up.
The force of the invader’s kick hefted me off the ground and launched me backward.
I flailed my arms and tried to get my feet under me.
It was no use. My head slammed into one of the larger steel coils. The rest of me hit the dusty floor and whatever air the alien hadn’t already kicked out was forcefully evicted from my lungs.
The room had always been dark, but now it got fuzzy and made an attempt to spin around me. I squeezed my eyes closed for a moment and tried to will away the vertigo.
A nagging feeling in the back of my head whispered to me to just pass out.
I opened my eyes and gasped in a thin breath.
No way, I can’t faint now.
I dragged up to a sitting position.
Rhett still had the advantage and for the moment it looked like he might succeed. His syringe shook just inches above the green face.
The alien shouted what had to be a dirty extraterrestrial curse and jerked from left to right.
Rhett’s feet spread and danced about the floor in a desperate race to keep his balance and thus the upper hand.
I looked down at my hands. They were empty. Some where in the fall I had dropped my dose of virus.
Rhett thrust the syringe down in short violent bursts.
The alien bent its knees and put its feet on the floor.
I scanned the room for my lost needle and picked it out. Just right of halfway between me and the fight.
Rhett jerked his knee up and drove it into the alien’s ribs.
The alien let out a groan that turned into a screech. Then it bridged up with its back and heels, twisting its spindly limbs around and pushing away from the ground.
Rhett let out a surprised yelp and in a mad rush of motion the two switched places.
The alien belched out a mocking laugh.
I shook my head and struggled to keep my eyes from going totally unfocused. No time for that.
Rhett tried the same tactic the alien had used and shook his shoulders from right to left.
It was no use. With every second, Rhett appeared to be weakening and the alien appeared to be recovering.
I have to do something.
Every joint in my body complained as I climbed to my knees and then staggered back up to standing. I wobbled on unsteady legs, but I stayed up. Dizziness and pain clawed at my head every step of the way. Dark spots danced around the edge of my vision. I was hurting, but I just couldn’t let myself be taken out of the fight. There was too much at stake. Through sheer force of will I kept my balance and charged the wrestlers.
Intellectually, I know it was only a few feet. It still felt like a mile sprint before I was within range.
I drew my foot back and reached way down into my soul for every last bit of power I could muster. My shin met the alien bastard’s rib with what I swear was an audible crack. I couldn’t tell who’s body had produced the noise, but I knew I was sure in pain.
The kick was supposed to launch the alien across the room like its kick had done to me. No such luck. Instead, the alien groaned again and crumpled to the side about five inches. On my end, it felt a lot like getting hit in the shin with a baseball bat.
That five inches was all Rhett needed. He strained his massive shoulders and with a mighty heave he toppled the green giant. The two rolled across the puddle of blood left by the soldier and into the pile of crates. Their bodies met the crates with a dull whump sound.
Rhett had ended up on top again, but before he could really get his bearings, the alien switched hand positions and jerked him sideways onto the floor.
Rhett’s head bounced on the cement and his eyes fluttered. He was out cold.
The alien snatched up the syringe from Rhett’s limp hand and lifted it toward the light.
I stood in abject horror. Now it has the weapon. I spun around and scampered for the syringe I had dropped. Maybe I can still infect it.
My syringe was halfway across the room. I scampered to my hands and knees, grabbed it up, then turned to see what the aliens was going to do. My stomach dropped as I saw I hade made the wrong decision. I should have tried to disarm the alien, or at the least break the syringe it was holding.
As it was, I turned just in time to see the alien plunge the syringe into Rhett’s thigh.
Infected. Fire burned up from my soul. I was going to make that green thing pay. I looked down at the syringe in my own hand.
Bile crept up my throat when I saw what had happened to it. The fire of raw seething revenge that had just enveloped my heart died as fast as it had flared. This just can’t get any worse.
The body of the syringe in my hand was intact. The needle had bent way over to the side. Unusable. It wouldn’t have been to much of an issue if I just had a minute to unscrew what was left and replace it with another one from the pile of broken supplies. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a minute.
My mind raced to find some other option, some other way to deliver the virus.
The alien turned its obscenely large eyes toward me and laughed its icy laugh.
I carefully snapped off the needle and tossed it aside. I was only going to get one shot at this, and I didn’t have any sort of a plan.
The alien reached back for a crate to steady itself as it stood.
The alien was tall, fast and strong. I didn’t stand a chance.
Where did that knife thing go?
The alien kicked Rhett’s unconscious body, then stepped over.
My mind and my eyes raced. Where had the alien dropped it?
The alien took a slow step, and then another.
Maybe if I just smash the syringe in the alien’s face.
The alien balled up its fingers, extended them, then made them into fists again.
I’m screwed.
The alien looked me up and down with those hideous eyes. Its tiny mouth formed an “O” shape.
My chest seethed with anger for the green monster. That must be its version of a smirk. I crouched a bit and primed my shaking leg muscles.
In the shadows behind the alien I caught some movement. Movement attached to red hair.
I totally forg-
“Corbin, get down!”
I flung my self to the left.
London’s shotgun roared.
I hit the ground with my shoulder.
The alien stumbled forward.
There was a quick click-clack and the shotgun roared again.
The second shot made sure the alien couldn’t stay on its feet. It hurtled forward and fell face first onto one of the coils of steel cable.
Over the ringing of my ears I heard London cry. “Get him, Corbin!”
And then the answer came to me. I knew how to deliver the zombie virus. The same way it had been delivered to most of my hometown of Oasis.
I shot up to my feet, put the business end of needle-less syringe to my lips, and pressed in the plunger.
Keep Reading! Chapter 45 is here.