“Quickly,” said Rimmer. “If this thing’s healing ability is anything to go by, the gas won’t keep him out for long.”
Rimmer’s men readjusted their grip on the blanket-wrapped batling and hurried their pace towards the open crate.
“Just dump it in,” said Handler, still holding the lid open, and growing increasingly anxious.
The two men dumped the batling into the crate and stepped back, panting. The creature was obviously heavier than it looked and the two men looked exhausted.
Handler grinned, shoved the lid closed with a
bang
. “Job well done.”
“Finally!” said Dr Gorman. “I was beginning to doubt that you people could even-”
The crate’s lid sprung back open, smashing Handler in the sternum and sending him backwards. The man hit the floor, wheezing.
The hair on the back of Andy’s neck stood to alert.
Oh, Shit!
The batling shook off the blanket and leapt into the air, its wings flapping with renewed vitality.
“Damn it,” Andy shouted. “You let it escape.”
“Deal with this right now, Mr Rimmer,” Dr Gorman demanded.
Rimmer ignored them both. He was already busy shouting orders to his men.
“Aim and fire. Avoid all friendlies.”
Sun grabbed her husband and dragged him backwards, away from the danger. But he shook her away. Andy glared up at the batling, which glared right back at him.
“We will enjoy tearing you apart, Andrew,” it snarled. “Right after I make you watch as we violate your wife.”
Rimmer raised his pistol and took a shot that deafened them all. The bullet clipped the batling’s wing and spun it in the air. The wound was superficial and they all watched in horror as the bullet hole sealed over within seconds.
Dr Gorman began hopping up and down on her heels. “Shoot it again. Shoot it again right now.”
The batling snarled. It folded its wings around itself and dove down at Rimmer like a missile.
Rimmer leapt aside.
The batling continued its descent, adjusting its aim in order to hit the next closest target, which happened to be Handler. The man was kneeling on the floor, clutching his injured ribs.
The batling collided with Handler and sent him sliding across the concrete floor. The blow was so fierce that the man’s shoulder popped noticeably out of place and left his arm dangling limply.
Handler rolled around on the floor, bellowed in pain. The batling ascended back into the air.
Then dived again.
This time the batling pinned Handler to the ground with its hoven feet. It glanced back over its shoulder and cackled at everyone watching. “Your human flesh is sssooooo succulent, like rancid meat.”
Then the batling turned back to its prey and opened up Handler’s throat with a swipe of its talons. Handler gurgled as a jet of blood erupted from his neck. The batling opened its mouth and drank indulgently from the arcing torrent.
Rimmer’s men opened fire, hitting the batling with most rounds while missing with others which embedded themselves in the concrete.
The batling wrapped its wings around itself in a protective cocoon and tried to absorb the gunfire. But the assault rifles made short work of its attempts to defend itself. Within seconds the batling’s wings had been bitten and shredded into tatters.
The batling roared in anger.
“We will…release…Hell…on you.”
It leapt into the air. With its wings no longer working, the batling had no way to keep itself airborne, so it rose in an arc before succumbing to gravity and falling.
The batling landed on top of Sun and immediately slashed at her throat.
Rimmer strode forward, his pistol held in both hands and ready to fire.
Andy shot out an arm. “No! You’ll hit my wife.”
Rimmer squinted, let off a shot.
The bullet stuck the back of the batling’s head, ricocheting off its skull and leaving behind a massive gaping hole. Sun flung the batling off of her and then collapsed backwards.
Andy watched her hit the ground.
Rimmer took a run up and stamped on the batling. He then grabbed the creature by the bloody stump of one of his wings and then dragged it across the floor and over to the open cell. Once he had shoved the creature over the threshold he gave it another vicious boot.
“Enough, Sergeant,” said Gorman. “It’s dealt with.”
“Goddamnit all to shit!” Rimmer marched outside the cell and jabbed his finger against the control panel. The glass barrier slid back into place. He kicked at the wall furiously. “Motherfucker!”
Lucas stared down at his new roommate but said nothing. If anything he looked a little forlorn.
Andy leapt down to his knees beside his wife. “Sun! Please, no! Sun! It’s going to be alright, sweetheart. It’s going to be alright.”
Andy held Sun across his lap while he held his hand tightly against the ragged wound that opened up the side of her neck. Blood was everywhere.
Rimmer headed over to Handler and shook his head in disgust at the sight of his dead team member. He turned and punched the glass door of the batling’s cell and swore loudly.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Kane shouted like a drill sergeant as he marched towards them from the direction of the elevator. The look on his face made him look like a bomb ready to explode. As he surveyed the carnage in front of him, he asked one single question. “Who is responsible for this goddamn mess?”
Nobody answered.
“I take full responsibility,” said Rimmer, standing in Kane’s office up on level 2 alongside Dr Gorman. “It was my guys that lost custody of the prisoner. It was my operation.”
“I agree,” said Dr Gorman. “It was Rimmer’s fault.
Rimmer narrowed his eyes at his colleague but said nothing.
Kane laced his fingers together in front of him on the desk. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them they seemed tired, yet alert and ready. “Who did we lose?”
Rimmer answered quickly. “We lost Supervisor Handler from B team. Sun Dennison was also injured during the encounter. We also have to deal with the fact that Lucas can seemingly open up his cell at will.”
Kane shook his head and sighed. “But the faustling is once again secure, inside the designated cell no less?”
Rimmer nodded. “In that regard the mission was successful.”
“At least things weren’t a complete fiasco then. What concerns me most is incidents like this occurring in the future. I won’t allow gunfights in my corridors. Sergeant Rimmer, I’m disappointed in you. You are usually so faultless in your duties.”
“I…acted against my better judgement. I understood the risk but felt it was worth taking. I perhaps made a miscalculation.”
Gorman scoffed. “No
perhaps
about it. I, too, went along with this ill-prepared plan. I did so because the Dennisons insisted and it is my duty to oblige them while they are here. Is that not so?”
Kane gave Gorman an icy stare. “So, are you saying that the Dennison’s were reckless?”
“They insisted that Sergeant Rimmer lower his weapon. I believe their lack of caution reduced his readiness. If he’d kept his weapon ready, the batling may not have had time to attack poor Mr Handling.”
“Handler,” Rimmer corrected with a growl. “His name was Corporal Handler.”
“Of course,” said Gorman. “His death is a tragedy, not soon forgotten, but I believe it could have been prevented if you had been ready to fire sooner. You went about things far too casually.”
Rimmer went to respond, but Kane spoke first.
“Rimmer has already admitted liability. I don’t believe there is anything else to gain by further passing of judgement. What I want, going forward, is solutions, not finger pointing.”
Gorman folded her arms. “Of course, General. My sentiments exactly.”
Kane nodded. “Indeed. I think it is clear that a closer eye should be kept on the Dennison’s future activities. I’m starting to see Dr Gorman’s way of thinking; that outsiders spell trouble, but until they have finished their investigations, we are responsible for them. Let’s make sure that they have no more opportunities to wreak havoc.”
“Yessir,” said Rimmer.
“And most of all,” Kane said. “I don’t want to see any more dead bodies. Unless I ask for them.”
Rimmer’s men had fetched a gurney and taken Sun up to the Spiral’s infirmary on level 3. The floor also acted as a warehouse. Men in work overalls shared the corridors with doctors and nurses.
Andy sat outside the operating room that a pair of nurses had rushed Sun into. A doctor had quickly followed, but it had been over an hour since Andy had heard anything.
I can’t lose you, Sun. Nothing would make any sense without you. We’re supposed to have each other’s backs.
I let you down.
The sound of someone hurrying down the hall made Andy glance up from his thoughts. To his surprise he saw Jerry racing towards him with a panicked look on his face. The young historian, Nessie, was right beside him.
“We heard Mrs Dennison has been injured,” Jerry said. “Is she okay?”
“Who told you?”
“We were looking for you,” said Nessie. “We discovered something in the library that we wanted to show you—but that can wait. I asked one of Rimmer’s men where you were and he told us what happened. Is Sun going to be okay?”
“I don’t know. The doctor is in with her now. This is all my fault. I wanted to move the batling. I should have known better—hell, I did know better. I knew the risk I was taking.”
Jerry sat down on the bench beside Andy. “I’m sure she’ll be fine,” he said. “Italian chicks are really tough.”
Andy looked at Jerry and rolled his eyes. “What do you know? Nothing, that’s what!”
Jerry looked away, hurt.
“I’m sure Jerry is just trying to help,” said Nessie. “Nobody really knows what to say in these situations.”
Andy stood up and began pacing. “And what situation is this? My wife just got slashed by a goddamn monster kept in a hole the government forced me into. I’m tired of this shit. I never volunteered to fight evil. I’m not a goddamn monster hunter or a member of Deus Manus. Why couldn’t they deal with it themselves? Why did they have to bring Sun down here? If she dies, my life is ruined—and for what?”
“I don’t know,” said Jerry. “I assumed you were here because you wanted to be. They seem to respect you a lot around here. They came and got you by helicopter like some sort of VIP. I thought you kind of liked it.”
Andy frowned.
Was Jerry right? Had he stayed here instead of leaving all because of his ego?
They gave me a royal welcome and I bought it. I liked being the VIP, and Sun is the one who has suffered for it.
Andy sat back down and let his head drop. “If she dies…”
Jerry placed a hand on Andy’s back and made him flinch. He did not enjoy the contact, but he did not move away.
“Things will find a way of working themselves out, man. Mrs Dennison is really strong. She’ll be back and ready to kick arse in no time.”
Andy sighed. “Thanks. What is it you two wanted to show me, anyway?”
“Oh,” said Nessie. “It’s not important right now. It’ll keep.”
“Might as well tell me now,” said Andy. “I’m not doing anything else, am I?”
“Okay, well, Jerry and I were looking through the books and-”
The doctor came out of the operating theatre and Andy stood up again. “Is she…?”
The doctor waved a hand. “She’s fine. We stopped the bleeding and stitched up the wound. Luckily the damage was mostly across the collarbone. The major arteries were still intact. She’s a very lucky woman.”
“I want to see her.”
“Of course. The nurses are just making her comfortable in one of the suites. Head inside and take the door on your left.”
Andy hurried into the operating theatre and then took the door on the left. It led into a wide corridor with several rooms running off it. He saw through the room’s windows that Sun was inside one of them along with two nurses. He barged through the door and moved beside his wife’s bedside.
The two nurses left.
“Sun, I’m so sorry. I should have protected you, I should have-”
“I’m fine, Andy. Stop fussing.”
Andy stopped talking and gave her a hug. She winced as he no doubt aggravated her injuries, but she did not whimper and hugged him right back.
“We’re getting out of here,” he said. “Soon as you’ve rested. Let them deal with the batling. It’s not our problem.”
Sun eased him away stared at him with something approaching pity. “Andy, I’m fine. You don’t have to do anything rash.”
Andy saw how his wife’s usually olive skin was now pale; and examined the clean white bandage that covered the sickly brown of her stitched-up wound. She most certainly was not fine.
“Keeping you safe isn’t rash,” he said, not meaning to shout but doing so anyway. “It’s a promise I made. I can’t risk you getting hurt again.”
Sun shook her head, cleared mucus from her throat. She said, “I’ve never needed a man to protect me, Andrew. I didn’t marry you to look after me. I married you because of the man you are: a kind, courageous man. To run away is not who you are. It is not who I married.”
“I’d rather run if it means you’re safe.”
“You can’t run from this. Whatever that batling is doing here is linked to something much bigger. Whether you like it or not, we’re part of this. We can’t turn away.”
“But-”
There was a knock at the door.
Andy growled as Jerry poked his head through the door with an anxious look on his face.
“What is it, Jerry? Does this look like a time to interrupt?”
“Yeah, erm, I’m sorry. I’ve just come to tell you that Nessie will be in the library if you wanted to discuss that thing she found. She said to come by at your leisure.” Jerry put on a nervous smile. “I’m really glad you’re okay, Mrs Dennison. I was worried. Get well soon.”
“Thank you, Jerry.”
Andy sighed. “Jerry, wait. I’m sorry. Come on in; providing my wife doesn’t mind.”
“Of course not,” said Sun. “Take a seat, Jerry.” She motioned to a chair beside her bed.
Jerry took the seat and smiled at her. “Thank you,” he said. “So what happened in the cellblock? Did the batling do this?”