All three of the others observed this with some surprise, but Charlie seemed to have other concerns.
“Mir, you seem to be having difficulties. Does Mr. Decker’s bio-field not agree with you?”
“He would if I allowed the integration to complete. But I cannot be sure that I could escape if I did, as I have said. I can draw enough energy to survive, barely, but to absorb more, I would have to get too far into this. And given the example of you and Terry, I fear being trapped much like you are.”
Charlie’s voice reeked of honest concern.
“How long can you survive like this?”
“Unknown. That is why we have to hurry! We—”
“Hold!”
At Charlie’s mental shout, the others froze, fearing Abshrd’s
zombies
had found them. They listened as a scraping noise echoed through the tunnel behind them. For long moments, the quartet waited, mentally preparing for whatever came next. The relief was palpable after Charlie extended his senses far enough to realize it was just a raccoon that had found its way into the tunnels. Its presence, though, illuminated their need for speed.
Finally, Decker spoke again. “Okay, look, we are gonna have to hurry! This Abshrd is gonna have everything he has out looking for us, and the longer he can’t find us, the nuttier he’s likely to get. If we are gonna find this chick, we best get to stepping.”
Before they left off again, though, Charlie told Terry to grab Decker’s hand. Concentrating, he forced energy from Terry’s bio-fields into Decker.
Terry could feel the flow, and Decker felt the receipt of that energy.
Mir felt it as well and greedily drank it in. Although not much of the energy made the transition, it was enough to boost Mir up to a point where he was able to function normally. For a time.
In a most-human tone, Charlie said,
“Better?”
“Much.”
Mir replied. Then, in an equally human tone, added,
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure. Come, we have to hurry. Any idea where we can find your host?”
The sigh that came through was real enough in any terms.
“I have nothing on that front. When I was in the conglomeration, I could not get enough energy to extend my senses. I was only able to escape because he was concentrating so hard on attacking you. I managed to siphon off enough energy to make the leap to Decker, but it was barely enough. When I was inside, he made sure not to give away anything. I have no idea where they are holding her.”
Once again, it was Decker’s turn to smile. “Well, maybe I’m not through with the contributions here. If they are gonna do these experiments or whatever on her, they probably need a lot of high-tech gear. The kind that uses a lot of power. And the only place here that was set up to deal with that kind of juice was the infirmary. It was designed to be self-sufficient for the most part. It had enough equipment to handle everything from twists and sprains to internal injuries. The gear was high end and high voltage. Just the kind that your boy needs. If he’s setting up to do God-knows-what to her, my guess is he’ll set it up there.”
Terry shrugged. “Good a place as any to start.”
Making their way to the infirmary was easy thanks to the network of hidden tunnels they had access to. Still, they had to freeze several times as they heard the sound of the
zombies
outside searching for them. Not knowing how far Abshrd had amplified his charges in terms of hearing as well as speed or strength, they took no chances on being overheard.
As a result, it took nearly an hour finally to reach their goal. Although, reach was not the correct word. The tunnel ended in a closet in the hall. Once they were in it, they waited for a couple of minutes as Charlie again scanned for any sign of their opponents.
Satisfied that there were none, the pair carrying the two aliens slipped out of the tunnel, pushed back the cartons that hid the panel carefully so as to not make any noise. In less than a minute, they had exited the tunnel and replaced all the cartons in front of it. It wouldn’t do for the zombies to find it by accident.
In the hall, Decker scanned the area as best he could while Charlie did his thing as well. Terry crouched low and looked over the barrel of his gun while letting Charlie amplify his senses to the limit. The trouble was that the constant enhancement of Terry was beginning to wear on him, and Charlie was beginning to worry.
In the mind speak, which Charlie managed to keep between the two of them, he asked,
“I do not know how much longer you can keep this up. The strain on your system is going to be worse as this goes on. So far, I can correct the damage, but you could begin failing at any time if your body’s energy supply runs out.”
Terry was not to be deterred. “
Charlie, they have Traci! And this Dr. Broche! And a plan that looks like something out of a fifties’ invasion flick! This fucker has gotta be stopped, and if I gotta go through a little pain to get it done—
”
Charlie cut him off.
“I am not talking about a little pain. This could lead to kidney failure, liver trouble or worse! If you keep it up too long, you could go into cardiac arrest. And if the damage is too great, I may not be able to help.”
“
I don’t care! This guy needs to be stopped, and I am not leaving here until he is!
”
Charlie knew this was the end of it. That Terry had made up his mind and the cost be damned. The worst part of it was he agreed with him that Abshrd had to be stopped. And he was willing to do whatever it took. Personally. He did not like the idea of Terry paying for a mistake of this magnitude from one of his people, but this was as Mr. Decker had said,
too big
.
So, both men strained their senses to their respective limits, but neither of them could detect anything. Pulling back into the closet, Decker leaned close to Terry and asked, “You get anything?”
“Nothing. Either we’re clear or he figured out a way to block them even on a normal level. Looks like we take a leap here.”
Decker nodded, stepping out into the hall, still swiveling and trying to catch sight of anything before it got a bead on them. He led the way and was about a foot from the door when all hell broke loose.
* * * *
Abshrd was fuming. Not only had he lost the chance to capture another Chrliti, but he also had lost one that he had considered a prize. The years they had spent following both Terry and Traci were about to bear fruit, and now, he had lost both the ones capable of answering any question that could arise about them.
He didn’t mind the loss so much as it was the fact that he had been out maneuvered. Worse still was the fact that given his familiarity with the subject and his intellect, there was no telling how much Mir had learned about his operation and his plans. And Tanoak, with his access to those incredibly powerful bio-fields of that human Bridger, was a formidable opponent in any arena. Even with the additional power he had pumped into their present host, he was no match for him in an open battle. And the female was fading even faster now. He had no doubt that their next encounter would do to him outright if they faced off again.
Still, he couldn’t kill Charlie’s host just yet. He needed to be sure they had the final analysis of his fields to see if there was any way to duplicate them. He was sure it was a matter of frequencies, and his cohorts agreed with him. The others in their conglomeration were simply glad to have enough energy to survive. They were glad to lend him their strength. He had been lucky to find enough to overpower the woman once he finally managed to find her.
He had had still more luck once he discovered she had lusted for revenge over the loss of her protégé. Once she had succumbed to the darker urges, she had been simple to control, even through suggestion. When he found the ones that matched her bio-fields well enough to cohabit with him, it was simply a matter of time before they were able to completely take control of her on a subconscious and then finally on a conscious level. Her access to medical records had made it easy for him to find the other ones that he needed, and given her retired military status and her field of expertise, she had been instrumental in his success.
Now, though, it seemed he had brought the devil home for dinner, as the saying went, in her mind. This Bridger and Tanoak were impressive. It would be a true victory if he could convert them, but he knew that would be too much.
No, it was clear to him that Bridger would have to die. The question was would it destroy Tanoak as well? It would be a shame, but in truth, there was nothing to be done about it.
* * * *
Terry heard the sound of metal striking cement. That was the only warning they got. It had been enough.
Decker spun to find himself face to face with what looked like two middle-aged women, each armed with the same type of machete that they had seen before. He backed up, ranging between the two. He had no desire to kill anyone. He never had. He would if need be, that was his nature. His problem here was that these people were being controlled. Their choices were not their own. And try as he might, he couldn’t make himself pull the trigger, even as they closed in on him.
Terry saw what was happening. He felt no better about it, but he had the added fire of his girl being in danger. And he would not allow anything to hurt her.
He set his jaw with a will of iron and, in mind speak, gave Charlie a single command.
“Charlie, boost me!”
Instantly, Terry felt the surge of energy hit him, as adrenalin pumped through his veins and the rest of his body slammed into a higher gear. At the same time, Charlie realigned his temporal perception to the point that, to Terry, everything appeared to be moving in slow motion. It was dangerous pushing him to such levels for unknown periods of time, but as Terry had pointed out, there was no alternative.
The first woman swung the blade and stepped lithely to the side, giving her teammate room to mount her own attack. Against pretty much anyone, it looked like a winning move. The problem was that they had tried it against the only man on the planet who was ready for them.
Terry leaped around Decker, practically dancing on his toes, the woman on the left was swinging the blade, but to Terry, it looked like she was practicing Tai Chi. He simply reached in and grabbed her wrist and twisted. The blade dropped like a stone, but to Terry, it seemed to be floating down like a feather. He grabbed it, again noting the odd weight of it, and struck the second woman in the face with flat of the blade. The woman collapsed into a heap as he whipped the other woman’s arm into a windmill motion and drove his elbow into her face, effectively ending her day.
Suddenly, the hallway filled with a sound that Terry found both familiar and frightening at the same time. A sound he had hoped never to hear again. The staccato rap of an AK-47 firing on full auto.
To Decker’s credit, for a man his size, he was quick. He dropped to one knee and snapped off two rounds before he was even sure of the target. Terry popped off a clip to cover him, reloaded quickly and fired again, driving Abshrd's minions to cower behind the wall.
The shooter was an enormous woman, dressed in what looked like a flowered housecoat and flip-flops. She would have looked comical but for the assault rifle in her hands. Fortunately, the only reason she had the weapon was that her size made her able to steady the gun. Her skill with it was minimal at best, which saved both men as the bullets went over their heads as the gun rose of its own accord as she fired. Decker had scared her when he fired, and she withdrew around the corner.
Still hopped up, thanks to Charlie’s manipulations, Terry leaped toward the woman, curling into a ball and leaping at the last second, driving his foot into her ample midsection. Despite whatever Abshrd had done to her, she was not a prime specimen as she huffed out all the air in her lungs with one breath. The gun clattered to the floor, with her dropping beside it. She dragged in several ragged breaths then tried to get up. Terry was amazed by her resilience. He disdained hitting her again but was ready to when he heard Decker grunt behind him. Spinning around, he saw Decker holding his left shoulder.
“You hit man?” Terry was not fond of the idea of facing the rest of Abshrd’s minions alone. Plus, he liked Decker. But the big man waved him off.
“Think I caught some shrapnel or a ricochet or something. I’m okay.”
Charlie was at once trying to help, saying,
“Mir, can you help him?”
Terry could feel Mir’s conflict.
“I can’t without deepening our connection. If we work together, perhaps we can—”
Decker cut them off. “Fuck that! You already said that you might get stuck if you try and you need all you got just to survive. I’m fine! Hell, I hurt myself worse than this shaving drunk.” He ripped off his jacket and shirtsleeve and looked at the wound. A jagged gash went across his shoulder. Decker sneered at it. “Yeah, the bitch got lucky. Hey, watch out!”
Forgotten in the moment, the woman had managed to get almost to her feet. She looked like all the others, but Terry could see there was something wrong with her. Every movement seemed to trigger a tremor. Terry was almost ready to try to help her up out of instinct when another pair of zombies rounded the corner. These two were males carrying blades, moving in a shuffling run that looked like they were also experiencing some kind of difficulty. Every movement was fast but laborious, as if they were rushing but in pain at the same time.
Still, with Charlie boosting his metabolism, Terry was more than a match for them. Their physiques were all either so slight or so far out of shape that even with the augmentation they and most of the others under Abshrd’s control had received, they were little more than a match for Decker, or for Terry even without Charlie’s aid.
The thought of this suddenly made Terry ask mentally even as he prepared for the next onslaught,
“Hey, Charlie, these guys ain’t shit. What made that guy Cole so tough?”