Author Topic: Late night noodles (Read 15563 times)

Tally · « **Reply #80 on:** July 31, 2012, 12:24:20 am »

Cyrus didn't have to encourage him. Temple saw him veer suddenly for one of the bikes and he didn't waste a second. He leaped on right behind Cyrus and grasped the front of his shirt in one hand.

"Can they catch us on this?"

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #81 on:** July 31, 2012, 03:45:46 pm »

"We'll see," Cyrus answered, and as soon as he felt Temple latch on, the motorcycle took off with a roar, tires screeching as he made a sharp turn and headed for the road.

It was lucky he had experience driving these things. Lucky that back when he'd been younger, he'd wanted to get into Motorail and had dicked around with his own cheap motorcycle--until he'd crashed the thing trying to perform a stupid stunt, and thus had ended his Motorail dreams. Well, there would be no stunts today, that was for sure.

He could no longer hear the insects over the engine and the rush of wind in his ears, and he didn't dare look back while driving. "How's it look back there?" he shouted over the noise, taking a turn and then pulling onto a straightaway.

They couldn't just run around aimlessly and they couldn't just head into the thick of Teinar, not with those things, and not with a fuel gauge just under half a tank. He had to plan this thing out, get them to the nearest hunter outfit. Making another sudden turn (damn he was out of practice) he headed off the road and onto a bumpy dirt one that shot into a tunnel lit by luminescent moss.

It was a shortcut, if he remembered right.

He hoped.

Tally · « **Reply #82 on:** July 31, 2012, 08:39:50 pm »

Where the hell were they going? This dirt road looked more like a cave, more like it was taking them away from civilization—such as it was in Teinar—than toward it. Cyrus had better know where they were going to end up.

He had to yell into Cyrus's ear over the roar of wind and bike. "They're falling back—"

Stalking movement above and to the sides caught his attention as they flew past. They were on the ledges to either side of them.

"We're being flanked. Give me a gun."

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #83 on:** August 08, 2012, 12:17:06 am »

Shit. Cyrus didn't dare look back, didn't dare take his eyes off the "road" to see where the things were. It would just be all kinds of lovely if they got this far, went through all that, only to die in a bloody motorcycle crash.

"You're gonna have to grab it, Princess," Cyrus shouted back. Without taking his eyes off the tunnel, he jerked his head toward where his gun was holstered at his hip. "Kinda busy here."

There was a light at the end of the tunnel--literally. As they turned a corner, Cyrus could see it, but couldn't tell what it opened out into. With any luck, he'd picked correctly. This had to be the way.

He only wished he had some means of radioing ahead. This was going to be messy...

Tally · « **Reply #84 on:** August 08, 2012, 09:01:59 pm »

Temple had the gun in hand before Cyrus finished the sentence. Amazing that even here and now, Cyrus still managed to find the wherewithal to call him disparaging names. He probably didn't even realize he'd done it.

Two bullets left. They had to count.

Ahead, a swarm of the bugs clustered on an overhang, in a perfect position to leap on them as they passed. A cluster of electrical wire ran above them.

Temple aimed and took his shot. The wires severed in a shower of sparks, and the insects writhed, missed their chance. The bike shot beneath the overhang and left them behind.

One bullet left.

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #85 on:** August 11, 2012, 02:48:06 pm »

He had to hand it to Violet--that was some excellent marksmanship.

Behind him, he heard the electric hiss and sizzle of the lines and prayed that would buy them enough time. But let Temple deal with that; his job right now was to keep them from crashing.

What felt like the world's longest tunnel in that moment finally came to an end, and they shot out of it and into an open cavern, one of the areas that wasn't part of the old lab and had rather been built into the earth itself. There were several large buildings about and a row of military vehicles, and Cyrus thanks the stars beyond that his hunch had been correct. They lay the hunter outfit; now they just had to see if anyone was home.

He drew the bike right up to the front door, screeched to a stop, and hopped down. "C'mon, Violet!" he snapped as he bounded for the steps, but it looked like the engine's roar had already attracted attention. The door swung open before he made it up two steps and a gray-haired woman who looked anything but frail, scarred and built as she was, stepped out to greet them.

"Cyrus, what on earth--what is he doing here?"

Tally · « **Reply #86 on:** August 11, 2012, 04:07:47 pm »

Temple leaped off the bike and sighted for anything behind them. He could have gotten a shot off at one of them, but they had one bullet left, and killing just one of them would make no difference. Best to save it for a tactical advantage.

"This place gonna have the ordnance to keep them out?"

'Cause the doors didn't look sturdy enough to keep them out, not these things that could burrow through hard packed dirt.

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #87 on:** August 11, 2012, 10:08:28 pm »

"Keep what out--" the woman started to say, but that was when the first insects poured into the cavern.

Cyrus shoulder-checked her back inside the building and grabbed Temple's arm, yanking him inside after them. He slammed the door shut behind them and locked it, what little good that would do.

"It's got the weapons, if that's whatcha mean. And the people. Maybe," he said, and already the woman had rushed off to alert the others and get suited up. "The other local outfits'll be alerted. We'll get backup. We'll be good now. These people, we dealt with the first wave a week back."

He paused then. "I hate to ask this, but ya got any juice left?"

Probably not. He'd looked exhausted and his leg looked bad, but man, they sure could use the edge.

Tally · « **Reply #88 on:** August 11, 2012, 10:34:42 pm »

Juice? It took him a confused moment to figure out what Cyrus meant.

"Maybe." He was tired, exhausted really, but not drained down to nothing. He nodded. "Yeah. Some. What did you have in mind? I can't move anymore boulders, but if I had a vantage point, a good view, there might be something I can do."

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #89 on:** August 11, 2012, 11:01:16 pm »

"A window? The roof? What kinda vantage point we talkin'?" Cyrus said, right as a group of five hunters arrived, the woman with them.

One of them tossed a box of ammo Cyrus's way, and he caught it out of the air. The lot of them were sporting firearms; there weren't many down in Teinar, but the hunter outfits had first dibs on the ones that were salvaged. It was the only good way to deal with a horde; melee weapons would be a last defense here.

The woman passed a fresh pistol to Cyrus. Time to party.

"Here," Cyrus said, and held the ammo out to Temple, and just in time, too. Because that was when the insects arrived and the doors buckled, but didn't yet collapse. as the first one struck home.

Tally · « **Reply #90 on:** August 11, 2012, 11:29:21 pm »

Temple took the ammo. He would've expected Cyrus to kick him off into a corner and tell him to keep his hands off any weapons, now they were in a better position.

"I'm going up." He bounded up the steps. Second floor windows too narrow, the field of view to limited. Up higher, and the third floor was the same. That left the roof. Made him more vulnerable, standing out in the open like this, in clear view of the predators, but he could do the most good up here.

Even a cursory view of the battlefield revealed what he had to do. He slammed down a funnel of telekinesis, wide away from the stronghold and narrowing toward the door. He was going to guide the animals into scope range. The funnel would keep them from attacking multiple weak points—windows, cracks in the building, other doors—but their people would still be able to shoot over the low walls of telekinesis from any vantage point in the house, even the first floor. It wouldn't even put the doors at risk any more than they already were. Only two or three of the beasts could attack the door at one time.

Now they just had to hope they had the time and firepower to stop them and drive them away.

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #91 on:** August 12, 2012, 01:07:16 am »

Cyrus bounded up another floor and went out onto the balcony and set up in a position where he could defend the door. Another hunter joined him, and the others stayed behind to defend the place at ground level. There seemed to be so many of the things, even with their new numbers and replenished supplies, but they just had to hold out for now, just had to keep them at bay long enough for back-up to arrive.

Two insects clawed at the door and managed to tear a hole in it before Cyrus put them down, but other crawled over the bodies to replace them, filled only with the primal desire to attain the fresh meat inside. From below, he heard gunshots; someone else was defending the door from inside--which was good, because while he focused on the door, one of the creatures sprang, grabbed the railing of the balcony, and pulled itself up. It never got onto the balcony, though; his partner put a bullet through its gaping mandibles and sent it tumbling.

It was bad, though, and Cyrus wasn't sure which would happen first: being overwhelmed or running out of ammo.

And that's when he heard it.

The roar of engines echoed through the cavern, and he caught a glimpse of the first military jeeps rolling in.

Thank fuckin' gods.

Tally · « **Reply #92 on:** August 12, 2012, 10:59:24 pm »

Temple opened fire and didn't let up. He picked off strategic targets—the ones who circumvented his telekinesis funnel and attacked the windows, the ones just in front of the door, the ones trying to scale the walls. He had good sight of the entire field from here. By unintended fortune, the dead ones in front of the door piled enough to keep others from getting at it.

By the time the jeeps pulled within range, the creatures had lost much of their focus and had taken to milling about in confusion, like ants that got their pile kicked. Temple finished the magazine, then descended to check out how the rest of them had fared.

He found Cyrus. "How we doing?"

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #93 on:** August 22, 2012, 12:37:57 am »

"We're alright now." Cyrus let out a breath and wiped sweat from his brow, only now feeling the exhaustion--and the jitters. Funny how that worked, getting nervous after the danger was passed, but damn, that had been close. How many times had they nearly died in the last few hours?

"They're just pickin' off the survivors now. Haven't checked downstairs yet, but--ah."

He paused, motioned to Temple's leg with his gun. "How ya holdin' up, Violet?"

Tally · « **Reply #94 on:** August 22, 2012, 12:59:57 am »

Temple gave him a blank look, then followed the movement of the gun with his eyes. Blood poured down his calf, stained his shoe dark and dripped onto the floor. He hadn't remembered it until now.

"It's not significant." He shrugged. It hurt like hell, now he had the time to stop and feel it, but it was a superficial pain. They hadn't severed any major tendons and he could still walk. If there was a danger from this, it was infection, and even that wasn't his immediate worry.

More important was the loaded gun in his hand and the military officials about to bear down on them. He offered the grip to Cyrus. "Thanks."

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #95 on:** August 29, 2012, 01:21:08 am »

"Significant or not, you're still bleedin' all over. That's a bio-hazard, you know."

Cyrus took the gun and holstered it, eying Temple sidelong. He wouldn't say it, was having a hard enough time even thinking or admitting it, but Violet had earned some small measure of respect that day. He'd saved his life--their lives. And he hadn't fought like a total pussy after all. He was still girlish in Cyrus's eyes, still not trustworthy, and still not an equal--but now there was begrudging respect when before there had been none.

He shrugged uncomfortably and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, yeah. So you're not totally useless." He finally looked at Temple, eyes narrowed. "But don't you ever use your freaky fuckin' voodoo around me again, y'hear?"

Tally · « **Reply #96 on:** August 29, 2012, 02:12:13 am »

Temple gave a glance about at the hunters around them. No one there could be bothered to listen to the two of them, but he stepped closer just the same, and his smile was full of mischief. He hadn't read a single thought out of Cyrus's head since this whole thing began, and he still didn't have to guess at what was going through his mind.

"And what if I have to save your life again? Stop anymore boulders from falling on you?" Considering where they lived, it wasn't an outrageous possibility.

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #97 on:** August 29, 2012, 02:16:47 am »

Cyrus shot Temple a look, mouth set in a line. "There's exceptions, smartass."

Tally · « **Reply #98 on:** August 30, 2012, 09:25:05 pm »

"I'll be sure to only use my voodoo in last defense of your life." Temple couldn't help it. He felt smug, and looked it too. He'd given Cyrus more than one surprise, and even though they were square as far as saving each other's lives today, he'd never forget the look on Cyrus's face when he'd looked up and seen that slab of rock floating in midair.

The military team flowed into the building then, and a medical crew whisked Temple off to clean his leg up and stitch it closed. He lost track of Cyrus until they were done. Whoever was in charge must have pulled him into a corner for a debriefing.

Rhi-Rhi · « **Reply #99 on:** August 31, 2012, 12:56:12 am »

When the debriefing ended, Cyrus detached himself from the other soldiers so he could seek out Temple, who had been taken into the building's small medical office. It was nothing fancy; they just had the basic first aid equipment to deal with minor wounds anyone might gain out scouting. Anything bigger and they'd have to transfer them to the hospital--which Temple was already quite familiar with.

He stepped inside in time to find the doctor fussing over applying the final touches to the bandage dressing Temple's newly stitched leg.

"Well, Violet," he said as he stepped inside. "Needless to say, ya don't gotta worry about being late to check back in. We made the necessary calls so you're good."