Author’s note:
Hey everybody! Long time no see. Thanks to all of you who stopped by and said hi during my long absence, including DarcKnyt, Devin, Tyler, Mal, & coleslaw98Mo, as well as folks who left messages on posts other than chapter 57.
I hope this chapter makes sense. I didn’t even give it a proofread once I was done…
For those of you who have never 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. In fact, if you are new to the site, you probably want to start with the first novel, Oasis. If you want to know just as soon as I’ve posted something new, you can watch the RSS feed or follow me on Twitter.
58: Firefight
Two quick taps of the trigger. I felt the recoil but barely heard the noise of my pistol.
Most of the aliens snapped their attention back to me and returned fire.
I threw myself back behind cover.
Chunks of wood along with twisted metal parts scattered with each successive volley. Whatever they were shooting packed a punch on the surface but didn’t penetrate much. Still, it wouldn’t take long for that alien plasma to eat through and barbecue me.
I turned to peek around the corner again and saw open flame.
What was left of my crate was on fire.
I pulled up into a crouching position with my back to the attackers.
Their rate of fire slowed. Maybe they were squinting their giant eyes to better see whether they had tagged me or not.
None of the dozens of boxes around the room could provide me with any more cover. There was only one option that might provide me with better safety.
Gotta move quick.
I set my jaw and counted down to three in my head.
Without another glance back, I flung the lantern behind me and sprinted for the big pile of boulders in the center of the room.
A new wave of bright flashes lit the cavern to my right.
Sprinting is perhaps too speedy a word for what I was doing. Still, I shuffled my increasingly heavy feet as fast as I could. Each step shot a fresh stab of pain up my left side.
With the dancing shadows swallowing me and all the debris burning behind me, they would have had trouble hitting me even if they had been fantastic marksmen.
I stumbled my way around the pile of rocks and collapsed behind a big enough boulder. Every organ in my body screamed for air. My lungs felt like someone had stoked up some charcoal briquettes inside them. Colored dots flickered at the edge of my vision.
The little ER nurse in my head announced that unless I got the oxygen level in my blood up immediately, I’d be passing out or possibly going into circulatory shock.
I can’t have lost that much blood, can I?
I gasped and coughed until finally I controlled my shaking enough to function. My breathing slowed and deepened.
The alien gunfire slowed and stopped.
What are they doing now?
I twisted my neck around and took a peek.
The group of aliens hadn’t moved yet. They just pointed green fingers, discussed and planned.
What if they go for London first?
My gun was useless at this range except to remind them that I was here.
I craned my arm around the boulder and fired a few wild shots to do just that.
I need keep them focused on me.
The lighting made everything seem gray and fuzzy, but it was enough to let me I watch as my trembling fingers ejected and then jammed bullets into the empty magazine.
Every few seconds, I stuck my head above the rocks to see what was happening.
Within a few minutes the aliens fanned out and slowly moved my way.
In all the excitement, there was still nothing from London. Not another shotgun blast. Not a scream. No ranting. Nothing. That had to mean she was either seriously hurt or dead.
I had to admit I wasn’t much better off. After all, even though they probably hadn’t had a whole lot training hunting down fugitives, there weren’t that many places to hide. Sooner or later, they’d catch me.
I couldn’t help but feel like I was about to die. I had come close to death several times over the last little while. My time had to finally be up.
With that heavy thought hanging over my head, I questioned everything I had done that led me here. If I hadn’t brought that folder to Jex, he wouldn’t have released its secrets to the world, and the aliens wouldn’t have been forced to go public.
If they hadn’t have gone public, they also wouldn’t have attacked us the way they did. So, as far as I knew I was responsible for the deaths of maybe thousands… so far.
Not to mention the fact that I had instigated a jailbreak and acted as catalyst for one of the aliens’ deadly attacks.
And what if the fire I had built to destroy the cooler with the virus wasn’t enough? What if it burned out and left viable virus cells? I hadn’t stuck around long enough to make sure it was thoroughly reduced to ashes.
What the hell was I doing here, underground in a mine-turned-alien-factory-base? I wasn’t a Navy Seal or a Marine or anything. I was a nurse, trained to help in medical emergencies.
Medical emergencies. I sneered and allowed a humorless chuckle to escape. And now I’m causing them.
I put the gun down on a rock next to me and used both hands to push on my temples.
Has my mania for revenge made me blind and stupid? Do I even need to be here at all? Certainly eventually we as a nation would have fought back. Have I been swept up in a fury of bad decisions?
Why did I even keep trying? What with the lack of resources, the spreading virus, and the angry guards, I’d be dead before too long anyway.
My stomach churned and bile crept up the back of my throat. My limbs shook. Most of my body, but especially my wounded side ached. A tear or two rolled down my dirty face.
I closed my eyes, hit my head back against the boulder, and prayed for a quick death.
So, is this it then? Do I just give up? Am I done?
Somewhere on the other side of the rocks, green skinned aliens with guns crept ever closer.
I found it difficult to care. I was too busy marinating in the rotten air of self pity and pain.
Then, a funny thing happened.
A vision popped into my head of London lying on the floor in the fetal position clutching a broken leg. Deep down I knew the image was fake. I just made it up in my head.
Still, that one thought was all I needed to turn the corner away from dispair. I’d rather die than abandon her. If she’s alive, I’m getting her out of here.
I pushed all the other depressing thoughts from my mind to focus on how to get back to London. There’d be time enough for wallowing in guilt after we escaped.
I opened my eyes, snatched up the pistol, and crawled across and up the pile of boulders to get a better look.
From the higher vantage point, I got a better picture of what was going on in the room.
Behind me was the pile of rubble that had been the main entrance. Also there was a collapsed piece of massive equipment. It had a claw on one end, so it was probably what the aliens had been using to move the debris to the pile on which I now stood.
Just left of center ahead of me was the entrance the guards and I had used.
To my right and left were larger doorways. I had the impression the large hallway to me left had been the one we had used when we first entered the base.
Something was blocking the entrance to my right. Several somethings, actually. The more I squinted at them, the more they looked like avocados that had been cut in half.
If that hallway is guarded, it has to be the one I want, right?
I could see for or five of the guards making their way toward my position. The rest were lost to me behind the various piles of crates.
Three or four of the crates burned brightly now, lighting that side of the immense room quite well.
Behind the line of alien guards limped another alien. This one moved differently, in a bizarrely focused manner without looking around.
My eyes widened. If it moved like that, it could only mean one thing.
That alien is a zombie.
I made my way toward the base of the pile.
I was almost to the bottom when the first alien rounded a boulder to my right.
Where did that come from?
We stared at each other for what had to be five long seconds before my survival instinct kicked in and I brought the gun up.
The green bastard fired without aiming and the shot went wide to my left.
It was kind of dim to see the front sight, but I took the extra second or two to steady my hand and make it count.
Its second shot whizzed by, much closer than the first.
I pulled the trigger.
The back of its head exploded and its body crumpled to the ground.
The rest will be here any second.
I jumped from the rock pile, hoping to get on surer footing. I misjudged the landing and fell flat on my face. My pistol skittered somewhere out of sight.
I frantically scanned the ground for the gun. Back in the darkness I noticed a dim green light slightly bobbing and getting closer.
A wave of relief washed over me. London! She’s okay!
The approaching alien guards with their lanterns splashed light on larger and larger slices of the terrain where before had only been ominous shadows.
With the zombie alien behind them and both of us shooting from this side, we might be able to scatter them well enough to escape.
Still no sight of my gun. Time for the next best thing.
I scrambled up from all fours. “Keep me covered until I grab its rifle!”
A few random blasts scorched where the aliens were firing at shadows. Pretty soon, this side of the room would be ablaze, too.
I ran for the fallen guard’s rifle.
As I rounded the pile, two alien guards spilled into view.
Too close to stop now.
I jumped into a skid like I was sliding into home.
Hot plasma scorched the air where my chest has just been.
I clamped a hand onto what I believed was firing mechanism of the alien rifle.
It jumped in my hand and another white-hot flash of plasma lit the scene.
The two guards jumped even though the shot was nowhere near close.
I twisted my body, pushed up with my free hand, and pumped my legs on the ground.
In an instant I had rounded the corner enough to be out of the line of fire.
I looked up see London’s progress. A figure stepped from between two boxes into the brightening light.
My stomach tightened and a cold blast shivered up my spine.
I hadn’t seen London with her glow stick after all.
It was Rhett.
Keep reading! Chapter 59 is here.