Gabatrix: The Silver Rain

"Come on, come on," Zalika said.

"He can't....." Bekra replied. "He knows it."

Chuang could see the issue. If he went into the elevator, the horde and Emphra would see it. They wouldn't stop, and they had the means to achieve their goal of getting around the ship. The moment that he would go in, the Emphra would devote all their resources to punching through, and Kole, Carlos, Zalika, and Bekra would be blockaded in their attempt to escape. How long it would take to modify the laser weapon might not be enough to mount a defense.

Chuang knew that he was doomed. He succeeded in his main goal and gave a fighting chance to Kole and the team. His life was forfeit, but he had to make sure that it would count.

"I am sorry, guys...." Chuang told them. "My journey ends on this ship."

"No....no...." Zalika replied.

"I can't come in......they will follow me to you guys."

Chuang looked at the access panel and pulled the lever hard. The elevator doors slammed shut hard as he began to back away from it. He could see the horde closing in. One of the crew members happened to be a familiar face. It was none other than Clarence himself. The captain was now just a possessed doll controlled by the Emphra. His eyes were the same solid silver as the rest of the husks.

"Moooore fooood," Clarence said, almost gesturing to the elevator door and the loud clashing closing door sound. The others seemed concentrated on Chuang like zombies.

"No!" Chuang said as he saw a piece of floating debris in the air. He debated about running to the blasted elevator beside him. His goal was to get away as far as possible. The further away from that elevator, the better, and there was only one way to go. He had to flee back to the aft section of the vessel.

The debris was little more than a busted metal like pipe as he began to smack the walls as hard as he could.

"Come and get it bitches!" Chuang yelled out. "Come and get some fresh meat here!"

Clarence's head turned away from the closed elevator door and towards Chuang. For the marine, he had hoped that it was good enough. The Emphra were relentless, but maybe.....just maybe, they had a one-track mind. There was no way of truly knowing it or not. For now, the Emphra were all focused on Chuang.

Chuang began to walk backward as he began to make a few shots at the horde of crewmembers. It was difficult to tell, but there had to be at least ten of them together. The remnants were those that attacked and survived the explosion of Karine's M19 launcher. He was trying to do his best as he let go of the metal pipe. He began to shoot at the heads of the husk bodies. A couple of the shots hit the mark as the silver mercury began to leak out. The dead bodies only spurred the Emphra to begin pooling out of the bodies that they could no longer control.

"Come on, come on!" Chuang yelled. "Come and get it! All you can eat right here!"

"Fooood....." the horde called out in unison. It was working. The horde and pooling mercury had moved past the closed elevator door. Chuang was using his equipment to the best of his abilities. The PDW-20c's optic lens would target the heads as he saw fit as he began to shoot the bodies. Bullets would enter and exit the skulls, blowing brains out as the mercury flew out to regather itself on the body. The dead bodies were frozen to the deck as the Emphra were exiting in greater and greater numbers.

One of the horde members had a pistol in his hand as he attempted to shoot at him. Several shots were fired as the bullets bounced off the armor.

There was one problem in his backward retreat. The right boot was not functioning correctly. The melted portion of the boot was having a more challenging time magnetizing to the deck plate. He would stumble as he kept shooting. The Emphra were gathering together as one was forming into a large pool of the substance. It was huge in size.

Chuang was breathing hard. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him alive. It was like looking at a wall of death. The Emphra was terrifying in its pure state. It crawled and moved on the deck faster and faster as it tried to overtake him.

Chuang was doing his best. The more ground he made, the better. Luring the Emphra away from Kole's team was imperative. Each step was doing just that.

"It's working...." Bekra said on his comms.

"I got the power core," Carlos said. "Thank you, Chuang."

"Sorry....that...." he couldn't complete his sentence as he began to turn and head aft of the ship.

He was running for his very life now. The thumping was loud as the boots slammed into the deck. The mercury was moving at around his speed. It had left the remaining bodies behind as it crawled on the deck and the walls. There was no way to run around it. Going to its direction simply meant death or becoming part of the Emphra.

There was one inevitable outcome in this situation. Chuang was making grounds as the Emphra was chasing him. As he ran, he could hear the footsteps and crawling of the other Emphra and its horde that was aft of the ship heading to him. He was nearing the centripetal ring module passageway where he got the power core. He knew that he was trapped.

He stopped and turned around as he took aim at the Emphra. The moving mercury was methodical and unstoppable as he took aim and fired a few rounds into the sludge itself. The bullets harmlessly splashed into it, doing nothing to the entity. It was getting closer and closer.

"Zalika.....Kole.....," Chuang gasped as he grabbed the disk grenade from his side. "Tell my brother Mizu what I did today."

Back in the power room near the ventral bridge, Zalika grabbed the final tool as she watched the feed from her visor. She could watch as Chuang held the disk grenade and pressed the button. He held it up to his head as the mercury was about to grab his feet and work its way up to his body.

"I will..." Zalika told him.

Chuang pressed the button one last time as the grenade went off. The explosion went directly into his visor as the feed went static. Zalika had a tear leave her eye as she gritted her teeth and pressed a button on her wrist computer. The channel closed out. She closed her eyes as she tried to get a hold of herself a little bit. Her realization of the seventeen marines was now down to four. The new marine fresh from boot camp was gone. The effort and energy of being with this individual were seemingly for nothing.

For Zalika, it hit her home perhaps more than it should. She remembered everything from the day before, like it was peace and quiet.

"I.....I found everything," Zalika quietly said on the comms.

"Good...." Kole said rather calmly and in a non-emotional manner. "Go ahead and get down here."

"Fucking good kid...." Zalika said. "God dammit.....god fucking dammit."

"I know," Kole consoled her. "Come on. We don't know if the Emphra is going to double back to here."

"We will mourn them all if we make it," Carlos added. "I went and got the core, but I need those tools so I can strip it apart."

"Alright, alright.....fucking hell," Zalika said as she began to walk out of the room.

The situation itself was rough enough as it was. Chuang's death was just another death to add to the pile of dead. It was gnawing at Zalika's thoughts that she had so little time to mourn. She reached out of the passageway and looked upon the open door that led to the elevator shaft. The ominous location was seemingly empty and devoid of life. She could hear the sounds of breathing that seemed to go into her soul. She staggered a little bit as she put her hand to her head.

"Are you alright?" Bekra asked.

"Yeah....., yeah, I am alright," Zalika replied. "Just......just."

"You always had trouble during these parts, haven't you?" a voice called out from behind her.

The deep male voice startled her. The sudden sound of a new voice seemingly filled her attention. Her eyes widened in surprise as she turned around.

Staring down the empty dead-end passageway was a dark figure. It was a man but sheathed in darkness. She could not figure it out and who it was. It seemed to slowly walk towards her and speak as if a man was talking to her.

"Who.....who are you?" Zalika replied as she readied herself.

"Who is who?" Bekra replied.

"The person that is in front of me? Who do you think it is?"

"Poor Zalika.....," the dark outline of the person said. "You always had these problems when the trouble got started. Kids these days.....so fresh and young. So innocent and perhaps even troublesome."

"No.....no you are not him," Zalika staggered in her voice as she began to back up.

"Zalika, there is nobody there," Kole said. "Come on.....get down here."

"I.....fuck you."

"Awww," the dark silhouette responded. "Zalika, you are one of my better thieves out there, you know? Perhaps me threatening to cut up your brother was motivation enough for you. Oshun made you a stronger woman than you think. The question is, why am I here?"

"I.....am just losing it," Zalika said as she turned around. The dark figure was there in front of her the moment she turned around.

"To know me is to know insanity," the silhouette continued. "To know the Emphra is to know hell itself. The Devourer knows all. It sees all. Your fear is understandable."

"Get out.....get out of my head."

"Zalika, come on. You are hallucinating," Kole said. "Get down here."

"T....trying," she said as she stepped forward. The silhouette began to vanish in front of her as she heard the voice come behind her.

"Of course....I understand your fear," the deep male voice said. "You are more than capable than you think. You served me so well in those streets. You helped out the Dragon's Eye Syndicate grow in its numbers. You find the way to escape with you and your brother....away from my sacred knife. I am still there, you know? I am waiting on that island.....such good people that deserve the knife.....to be preserved in my collection."

"You are not real....you are not real...." She said as she neared the elevator.

"No, I am not. I am just your mind going crazy. All that....childhood trauma and events just....does so much to the brain. After all this....you will need to seek help....that is...if 'they' don't get you first. Word of advice.....try to be fast. The Emphra certainly enjoy their dinner.....perhaps better than I ever did."

The voice ended as she didn't look back. She reached the elevator shaft as she could see the sentry turret. It was pointed up the shaft. She couldn't hesitate to stop anymore as the Emphra may be closing in. Chuang's sacrifice couldn't have come in vain.

*******

"It's alright," Carlos told her. "I know these events are taxing us. It is taxing for all of us."

Down in the ventral bridge, Carlos was busy stripping the power core apart. He had a laser cutting device that was cutting into the material of the cylindrical box device. He was quick as he was talking to her.

"I will.....get help after this," Zalika said as she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry about that right now," Kole said. "Your goal is to escape this ship and inform the Paul Jones and all of the UHN about the events that transpired here."

"Yes," Bekra added. "I need to warn my people about the Emphra. They still exist and need to be wiped out."

Carlos would toss the core pieces that he didn't need a way as it floated into the bridge, weightless environment. He then took his hand, reached into the cut portion, and pulled out a small blue device with circuits.

"Zalika, I need you to deglove your left hand," Carlos said. "Shift it into the laser arm so that I can make the modifications."

She didn't hesitate as she began to press a couple of buttons on her power suit. There was the sound of air moving around as her left glove broke free. Her left arm was exposed to the colder air. Her augmented arm looked as real as her other arm. It even had the same dark skin tone as the rest of her body. She flexed it a little bit as she tapped a hidden button on it.

The moment she pressed the button, the arm began to morph in front of her. The synthetic limb began to shift and alter its shape. A small glowing color was emitted from it as the hand-folded into the arm. The palm changed its shape to form a barrel. There was a short power cell that protruded near the elbow as the arm had completed its transformation. Her left hand was gone, and its place was a laser barrel. The glowing stopped, and she looked at her laser weapon with relative calm.

"When I make these modifications," Carlos explained as he took the blue power cell in his hand and placed near her elbow. "You won't be able to use your arm except as it is. You won't be able to shift it back to your normal hand."

"In other words, I am restricted to my right hand only."

"Yes. You will still be able to fire with the right-hand trigger of your M18 at the very least."

"Staff Sergeant," Zalika asked him. "I didn't understand what you said about the escape plan."

"The plan is for you, Bekra, and Carlos to make a break for the hatch," Kole explained. "I will be staying."

"What?" Zalika remarked as she watched Carlos grab a suturing laser tool and stuck it to the cell. "Why?"

"Somebody needs to stay to power up the computer core and command the hatch to open up. That person will be me."

"You are going to use your armor suit's power to bring the computer online and open the hatch?" Carlos asked.

"Yeah," Kole nodded. "I somebody needs to do it."

"It might be possible that...." Carlos paused as he melted the core's frame into Zalika's arm. "I can remove the power core of your suit and modify it into the computer. We can all try to escape."

"How much time will that take? Time is of the essence. The Emphra may return and block your access. They may already be heading to here. We don't have the time to make those modifications.....besides....I don't want to go out there, to begin with."

"What about powering up the computer right now and blow the hatch?" Zalika asked.

"No," Bekra replied. "The Emphra will hear the air being rushed out. They will head towards the disturbance and block our escape."

"Yes, she is right," Kole continued. "Someone will need to stay, and it should be fitting that I do it. Give you three some hope of escape."

"It will have to be timed correctly. Do it too soon, and the Emphra will come rushing towards us. Do it too late, and the Emphra will get us. The moment we open that elevator door and assuming that they aren't already there, they won't be that far behind. Chuang only got so far from them."

"But....he might have done it," Zalika said. "That rookie was smart. I fucking hope that it was enough."

"It is possible that you won't even have to use the weapon," Carlos said as he was making the final steps of the modifications. "I have the power core hooked into your laser arm. Bekra, help me out with the focusing lens here. I need an extra pair of arms."

Bekra reached with her four fingers toward the makeshift laser weapon on Zalika's hand and arm. Carlos handed a tool as she helped him out on it.

"The...." Carlos explained as he paused. "Your arm will fire a concentrated gamma-ray burst laser. The laser weapon is normally not set to do such a thing, and it requires a lot of power to do it. Once you fire this, you will have about four to five seconds of a shot, and that is it."

"Four-second burst?" Zalika asked.

"Yep. Assuming it will work at all. Make sure you only use this if you know you have a clear and precise shot."

"What about the shuttle?" Bekra asked.

"We will be ejected into open space," Carlos said. "Make sure that our helmets are on and that we are breathing from our suits, and we will be fine. We will send a radio signal to the shuttle and tell them to come pick us up. One thing at a time."

Bekra nodded as she made the last adjustment to the barrel. Carlos stood back as he gave the nod to the Itrean woman. "It's done," he said. "Let's go."

Zalika looked at the jerry-rigged arm. The power core modification made her arm bigger, but only so much. She lost the ability to use her left hand, but it would have to do. She could only think of escape.

Bekra, Carlos, and Zalika looked over to Kole. The staff sergeant seemed content as he walked over to the command console. He took a deep breath as if he was accepting his own fate.

"Staff Sergeant, maybe there is another way," Bekra almost pleaded to him.

"It's alright....just make sure that Minerva receives those thruster packs," Kole replied. "Any time we take right now, maybe precious seconds lost. Stay on the comms with me, and don't worry about leaving that door open. It won't matter once you guys escape."

"Understood," Bekra said as she began to leave the bridge in a hurry.

"I am leaving the sentry turret in the shaft. Once we leave, it will target and shoot anything that comes down on sight. I still have a grenade available. I can give it to..." Carlos said as he tapped a few buttons.

"No....that won't be necessary."

Carlos nodded. "In that case....Staff Sergeant, it has been an honor."

"As to you, Carlos," Kole replied. "Say hello to your wife for me."

Carlos nodded as he went and joined up with Bekra. This left him and Zalika on the bridge.

"Zalika, before you go, I have something for you," Kole explained as he rushed to undo the straps of his helmet. It took a couple of seconds as it came off. He grabbed hold of his helmet and held it to the side. His short black hair could be easily seen as his free hand went to his collar and neck. "There is something that I need you to do if you escape."

"What is it?" she asked.

Kole found it as he fished out a coin that was wrapped around his neck like a pendant. It was close and snug to his head as he used one quick pull to snap the chain off of him. He took a quick look at the coin before looking at Zalika.

"Do me a favor and look up the history of Zoe Aalieyah of Liberia on former Earth around the beginning of the 21^st century."

"Why?"

"Because you are her descendant," he said with a smile as he tossed the coin to her. "Always know that not all of us are as bad as you think......now go!"

"I....alright," Zalika said as she grabbed the coin in the air. She took the coin without looking at it and jammed it into her arm to prevent it from getting lost.

Zalika gave the nod to him as she went and joined the other two. She knew she was never going to see him again. He chose the fate for himself. Kole turned around as he put his helmet back on as the interface reactivated. He went and began to tap a few buttons on his armor as he heard the three start their climb to the emergency access to the elevator above. He unhooked his M18 and detached the ammunition belt from himself. He let the gun float freely into the air as he unfastened the left glove from his suit next.

It didn't take long as the glove came off. He tossed it to let it float freely in the air. He then looked down at his left hand and tapped the wrist. He knew the augmented hand that he possessed had something vital in it. A blue glow came from one of the fingers as the artificial thumb moved in its place. The finger then opened up to hold a small pill that he grabbed and held firmly in his other hand.

*******

Zalika, Bekra, and Carlos stood in the elevator. Carlos looked over to Zalika as she got ready. Bekra unclasped her rifle as she got ready herself. Her clawed feet tapped the deck lightly.

With his free hand, Carlos then reached over and began to pump the lever to open the elevator door as fast as humanly possible. Time might be the essence, and the Emphra could be waiting.

"As soon as the door opens, we head to the port and starboard hatchways," Carlos said. "Use our thrusters and move like hell."

"Yes," Zalika said as she took a deep breath. "Bekra, are you ready?"