(...continued from TML BUN577 msg#7007)
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THEY CAME FROM BEYOND
episode 2
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It looked human. And it acted human, at least until its cover
was blown and it was supposed to die. Then it became an enraged
shrieking monster. Now it was just standing there staring at
him, green ooze flowing down the front of its jumpsuit from the
many bullet wounds in its chest. Baraka tried to wipe the tears
out of his eyes so he could see.
It should have been dead. Baraka had unloaded an entire clip of
personnel-stoppers from his light but powerful ppz24 body pistol.
Those were special rounds designed to split into 4 pieces upon
impact, and to swivel off in 4 different directions when inside
the target, inflicting multiple internal injuries to the hapless
victim. They usually dropped your opponent, unless he was lucky
enough to be wearing body armor.
It should have been dead. It stepped forward toward Baraka,
whose back was pressed tightly up against the door. It left a
puddle of thick green fluid soaking into the carpet where it had
stood. Baraka's body surged with adrenaline, his heart pounding
so hard he thought it would burst. His head darted back and
forth, looking for an alternative to dying.
It should have been dead. Yet it spoke, it's raspy monotone
direct and to the point. "Baaraaaka." The voice had a very
strange but soothing quality to it. Yes, there was something
about that voice, something Baraka couldn't quite put his finger
on. Something about the way the tonal qualities blended, so
intriguing, so...
Baraka was distracted from his distraction by the pain in his
fingers. He noticed that he was gripping his weapon so hard his
knuckles were turning white. His arms were as tense as steel,
and he was pointing the empty body pistol in futility at the
approaching monster. "NO!" he yelled, standing still not an
instant longer, and dashed for the other end of the sofa.
"Baaraaaka", it toned again. It began to walk around the couch
toward him. Baraka could no longer think in words, his animal
instincts had taken over. He just wanted OUT! When the predator
was almost upon him, he ran along the backside of the couch,
making a mad dash for the control console. He flipped the master
door switch with his forefinger and pressed the door button with
his thumb in almost a single gesture, and turned to go for the
now opening exit.
The alien had already moved to intercept and was blocking the
way. There it was, death incarnate, standing in the middle of
his living room, with freedom in sight just beyond it but so
hopelessly far away. In that moment, Baraka's gut-wrenching fear
of the evil thing turned to intense hatred.
"HEEEEELP!" Baraka roared at the top of his lungs. A thin smile
came to his face as he watched the alien at an impasse. The
message was out. If it moved on him, he'd make a run for it. If
it just stood there, help would eventually arrive. Baraka felt
victorious.
The man who wasn't a man turned around, walked to the door, and
pressed down on the panel switch next to it. Lying not far away
on the floor, was the other alien, whisps of steam rising from
the bloody corpse. As the door began to close, Baraka held
down the button on the control console, and the door slid open
again. The living alien turned around, its blood the same color
as that from the body on the floor. Its face was contorted, its
mouth opened inhumanly wide, as if it were about to scream again.
The adrenalin surged again, and Baraka felt the urge to flee
consume him. His head darted wildly around. Baraka noticed his
bedroom door was still open. He shoved off of the control
console with all his might and rushed to his room. The alien
pursued, the apartment's front door closing behind it, and it
bellowed its soul-searing wail once again as it hunted Baraka
down. The human was trapped.
Baraka hit the inside door switch as he ran into the bedroom, and
the door slid closed just as the screaching monster slammed into
it. He whirled around to see that he was alone. He could hear
the dull thunking of his deadly pursuer pounding on the panel
switch outside. But it didn't matter. He had pressed "privacy."
Now the thing had to go to the flat's master control console
before it could get in. Shaking almost uncontrollably, Baraka
backed away from the door, and made his way to the wall vent
where he always kept his body pistol.
The pounding stopped, but he could still hear the screaching
outside, although somewhat muffled. It was already on its way to
the console. Baraka frantically reached into the already open
vent and around the duct's first corner, and pulled out an extra
clip of ammo for his weapon. It fell to the floor. He dropped
to his knees, releasing the catch on the pistol he still gripped,
which held the empty clip in place as he fell to the floor. He
scrambled in a panic to retrieve the loaded clip as the door
began to open and the mind scream became infinitely louder. He
could hear the thing thumping rapidly across the floor.
"Down to the wire! Down to the wire!" Baraka yelled, but with
much more ferocity than he ever did at the kluupa track, as he
struggled to coordinate his bony fingers well enough to get the
ammo into the damn gun! As the screaming terror flew into the
room, its furious blazing green gaze meeting his the instant it
turned the corner, Baraka finally slammed the clip into place,
and involuntarily screamed as he raised the gun into the face of
the demon descending down upon him and fired away as fast as he
could pull the trigger.
The trusty weapon silently punched several holes into the alien's
human face, and the wailing stopped.
Baraka just laid there for a moment with the dead heap on top of
him. A few moments later, as his heartbeat started to slow down,
he pushed the corspe partly off and yelled, "What the hell is
going on!" Where the hell did Big Eddy get thugs like these?!
He had met quite a few aliens over the years, but he had never
ever heard of anything like these before. He tried to push the
large man-like body off of himself, but he was so weakened by his
ordeal that he finally twisted over onto his hands and knees and
crawled out from under the thing. He smiled, but then went into
convulsive fits of crying. The tears streamed down his face. He
was alive, it was dead, and he could barely control his bodily
functions. It took him several minutes to get to his feet. He
finally rose, staggered to the fresher, and looked into the
mirror. He was all splattered in green. He started to wash his
face, and a few seconds later he felt noxious. He puked his guts
out until there was nothing left inside him.
After he had regained composure, Baraka sniffed loudly, and
finished washing his face. He returned to his bedroom and
noticed that the skin of the creature he had killed minutes
earlier had turned somewhat green and was starting to peal off of
its face. He nudged the corpse with his foot. It felt rather
mushy under the jump suit.
Baraka felt the urge to vomit again. He couldn't, so, with a
scowl on his face, he retrieved a fresh jumpsuit from his closet
and changed clothes. He gathered a few possessions, including a
combination filter/air compressor mask, a breifcase containing
Cr60,000, and of course, his ppz24. Then he left.
As he made for the front door, he passed the corpse in the living
room. The skin had completely dissolved away, and what was
beneath it was becoming a big puddle of green ooze. He slammed
the panel switch next to the door, and walked swiftly down the
hall toward the elevators. As he passed the flats of all the
neighbors he had never met, he screamed "Next time, to hell with
sound-proof apartments!"
To be continued...