47

The floor had ended and I was falling in silent slow motion into an abyss, the light vanishing behind me like in a bad movie. That was when somebody punched the play button and things snapped back to reality's normal speed and the wind whipped into my face. It would have been one of those perfect "oh shit" moments if I only had the time to say the words.

My right arm snapped upward, jerking me sideways and slamming me into an invisible wall in the blackness that took the wind out of me. Pain as sharp as a white-hot MAC knife shot through my shoulder and a shower of lights sprayed in front of my eyes. When the light show cleared, my head was spinning with vertigo and I had the taste of blood in my mouth. I hung there, lost in the fog inside my head as I tried to remember what had just happened. Sudden pain and fire along my right side snapped me out of my daze.

My arm jerked again from above and molten metal poured into my arm socket, reminding me of what real pain was like. It was more than I could handle and my scream mixed with the ambient noises and came back as a laughing echo. I kicked out, trying to find traction on the wall, but it was smooth and I swung back again. More pain ripped through the shoulder and it felt like my arm was about to leave the socket. I would have yelled again, but the view of what was beneath me killed it in my throat. The blackness of the void below was so absolute that it seemed to go on forever.

In desperation, I lunged up and grabbed my right wrist with my left hand, but another jerk from above made it slip loose and I was dangling again. Whatever had hold of me nearly lost its grip also and claws dug into my arm. That was when the real pain started and something popped from deep in my shoulder. Fire spread across my chest and neck as the flesh threatened to rip away to bone and burning cinders fell into the socket. Clutching at the arm to hold it in place, I was completely helpless. I was about to die in a way I hadn't ever imagined possible and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

The jerking from above turned into steady heave and I made out K'rth's dreadlocks above me. I groped upward for the ledge and he grabbed my left wrist and crawled backwards, dragging me over the side and onto the cool floor where I went limp. The old Shaktar must have been right on my heels when I did the swan dive off that ledge, somehow managing to save me again.

The pounding pain was so strong that I could barely sit up, at least until K 'rth kneeled and gave me a shot of something directly into my shoulder. A cool feeling washed over that side of my chest and the fires slowly died into slow burning embers. There was no telling how badly I was hurt and I was scared.

"My arm," I started, gritting my teeth through the pain. "It's-"

K'rth nodded in understanding and carefully braced himself against my side as he took my arm. I tried to steel myself for what I thought he was about to do, but nearly passed out when he rotated it and gently pulled. Suddenly, he slammed it back into its socket and I saw another bright flash of light.

I blinked my eyes and looked up at K'rth staring down at me. I must have passed out and rubbed my eyes as I carefully sat back up. Oh yeah, that Kick Murder training definitely makes you immune to pain all right.

"How is the shoulder?" K'rth asked and I tested it. If he hadn't given me the KS, he wouldn't have had to ask. I would have been useless and he would have had to have gone on without me. Now the shoulder just felt stiff and hot and I tried to smile as he helped me to my feet.

"It think it's ok," I answered as I rotated it, testing it and trying to limber it up. He had to have given me more than simple Kickstart because the pain and swelling were almost gone. Kickstart Solo maybe? That would explain the rush I was getting.

That was when a realization came to me that made my stomach knot -I had been carrying my Blitzer when I went over the side. I slapped at my holster like that would help and just closed my eyes, letting out my breath in disgust. All the credits that I had paid for the customization had just been flushed down the toilet with a bone headed maneuver. If it wasn't for the drug rush, I would have broken down and started bawling right there.

"Son of a-" I started, but the smile on the Shaktar's face made me pause.

K'rth held out a Blitzer and I just stared. At first I thought he was offering me his, but the textured ebony grip and the L150 under slung painter proved it was mine. My eyes went from it and back at his face until he put it in my hand. There was no way in hell he could have gotten it, at least unless he could do magic.

"How did you-" I was about to ask, but he just laughed.

"It was the first thing I grabbed," he answered with a shrug. "I took it from you as I caught your wrist."

I shook my head and felt the pistols weight, turning it over in my hand and being very thankful that I hadn't squeezed off a round when I fell. Maybe that was why he snagged it first, but he still had to be damn fast to catch both the weapon and me. This had to make about the thousandth time he had save me and I was struggling to find the right words.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," he answered and the sadistic bastard happily slapped my right shoulder. "Provided you exercise more caution from now on."

I gritted my teeth and turned to walk along the narrow walkway that took us around the edge of the opening I had fallen into. It was a massive pit-like cavity at least a couple hundred feet across and I felt a chill when I looked down and still couldn't see the bottom. I wondered how I could have missed it, but in my defense, I couldn't have even seen the golden pyramid from the winding corridor. It had been stupid to run the way I did and I'd be more careful from now on. Since Ebons obviously don't seem to believe in handrails, God knows what other basic safety features they left out.

When I flexed my shoulder, there wasn't any real pain beyond smoking cinders in the tendons and some stiffness. The heavy shot of Kickstart seemed to have taken care of the pain, but I knew it could also be hiding something serious and made a mental note to get it checked out. I took my pistol in my other hand and circled my arm like a Shiver swatting flies, but took it back in my right hand as I followed K'rth on point.

He stopped suddenly at the second intersection when the claw marks ended and crouched to listen and study the scene. K'rth is far more observant than I am and I've always suspected that he probably has a few more senses than humans, so I waited until he told me what to do. After a few moments, his face told me that he had come up with a blank and was just about to ask for a suggestion when we heard the "crack" of a gunshot to the right.

"He went this way," he said with a smirk and I followed him carefully. The muffled sounds of laughter and voices gradually cleared as we came up to another threshold. I felt my gut tighten and the hair stand up on the back of my neck.

"Hoo-yah!" one voice yelled. "It ain't so tough after all."

Bang.

It was another gunshot and I shuddered, half-rising to go in. K'rth stopped me with a hand to my chest and I held back, knowing that he was thinking more clearly than I was. Beyond the threshold, the walls were marked with bullet holes, rips, and splatters of crimson. The floor was also bloody and wet, decorated with shell casings and what used to be the parts of a few Interceptors in DN body armor. One of them was right at my feet and I tapped it with my foot. There was no doubt that our Chagrin had come this way, but there wasn't any way to tell if he was still alive.

"Hey Mack, this one's begging! C'mon and beg for it bitch! BEG!"

I thought it was a second male voice, but couldn't be sure. It ended in laughter and the cock of a weapon. A moment later, there was sobbing and the sound of metal hitting flesh, followed by a yelp and more sobs. They were pistol-whipping someone and having a ball.

"Kill him," another male voice number answered, making at least three of them in the room. When in doubt, always estimate high.

"Don't we need one of them alive?" A female voice asked and I figured it was Price. That made at least four of them in there. What I wouldn't have given for a grenade right now.

There was another gunshot and I glared at K'rth. Frankly, I didn't care if DN shot every one of the ship's crew and passengers as long as Obie was okay. With my anger rising, I began to feel the ache of my shoulder even with the drug's influence.

"Mirror," K'rth whispered and I handed it to him, surprised as hell that he' d be willing to use it. It's okay for me to use, probably because I'm a human, but I had always gotten the impression that it went against his personal code of honor. He read my expression and just shrugged as he extended it around the corner to take in the room. When he handed it back, he held up six fingers and pointed out directions. One man inside the door to the left, three targets at the far wall, and two targets near the back. There were so many of these bastards up here that I wondered if we had actually boarded a DN ship by mistake.

"What I wouldn't give for a grenade right now," I whispered aloud and his eyes glinted in a weird way as he looked down at the torso at our feet. Leaning down, he plucked two grenades off the man's web belt and held them up in one hand like toys. His wide grin had that evil look that sometimes makes me uncomfortable and I wanted to remind him of one small item before he let them fly.

"Obie-" I started, but he just winked and gave me his pistol to hold.

K'rth can be a lot of things all at once- sarcastic, wise, and a joker, but he's never careless. It's a pretty complicated balancing act, but it's probably the secret of how he's managed to live this long and keep a decent outlook. This was just another instance of how adept he was at taking tactical advantage of an enemy and keeping a sense of humor at the same time. As he bobbed his head in a silent countdown I waited, feeling my body tense.

Three.

As he pulled his power disk in his off hand, he smiled and looked at the pins on the grenades and then back at me. I was worried about Obie, but remembered K'rth's voice reminding me that what has happened is already done.

Two.

For some reason, my mind shifted away from what we were about to do and I remembered him telling me "the pleasure of a successful ambush is even better than sex." I laughed to myself and quietly pulled the hammer back on my Blitzer. I HAD to have screwed up the translation on that one some how.

One.

With a hiss, he lobbed the two grenades into the room and all hell broke loose for our friends on the other side.

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