Chapter Fifteen: Recovery

Lanni climbed down into the elevator car and pried the doors open at sub-level two. Before she reached the loading bay, she heard muffled cries, the sounds of someone running, and a higher pitched growl, all fighting for attention.

She headed down one of the hallways that appeared after the safe zone vanished, towards the increasingly louder sounds. A man wearing a full length jacket, a gas mask, and light strapped to his forehead, crossed in front of her at a four way intersection. A metal canister, like a large fire extinguisher, was strapped to his back, and a cone-shape nozzle dangled from his belt, both bouncing and swinging wildly as he ran.

Behind him, a skinny, naked husk woman gave chase, and was closing the gap. Lanni stepped into her path and swung the butt of her spear into her belly. The woman was so light that Lanni’s blow lifted her from her feet and spun her in a mid-air somersault.

She hoped she hadn’t hurt the poor thing too badly. Most of the colonists no longer thought of them as human, but Lanni couldn’t let go of what they had once been. Not very long ago, this creature had been a typical woman, living a typical life.

The husk clutched its belly and coughed up blood, moaning between hacks. Before she could bend down to touch it and see if she could help, another bobbing headlight appeared from the direction these two had just come.

“What are you doing,” a voice with a strong jersey accent asked. She knew that accent. It was Leonard, the runner. As his light flashed across her, he skidded to a stop, putting his hands up like she was a cop, and started backing slowly away.

She almost laughed at his behavior, but she really couldn’t blame him for being startled or confused. He couldn’t possibly have expected to find a midget ninja with a spear waiting around that last corner.

White light filled the hallway from behind as the first runner came back to see what had happened to his pursuer. He walked cautiously towards her with the black nozzle held out before him.

“Careful,” Leonard said, still backing away. The husk growled in quick panted breaths. “Alright, now!”

“Just stay back, Leonard,” Lanni said. “I don’t think she’s as hurt as she looks. Just stunned, probably.”

Leonard stopped walking. He was about fifteen feet away, and his attention wasn’t on the husk. His frightened gaze was locked on Lanni. The whole scene felt wrong.

She didn’t need to look away from Leonard to know that the guy in the facemask was moving up behind her. He sounded like Darth Vader with a clogged vent, and his shoes scuffled across the floor with every step, like he was too tired to lift his feet.

“Uh… Leonard?” the guy asked. Even through the mask, she knew it was Mitch. He had been following Leonard around for a few weeks.

“Look, I’m not…” Lanni began. She intended to put them at ease before things got out of hand, but several small details came together in a big way.

Leonard wore his running clothes with a backpack slung over one shoulder. A police utility belt at his waist bore handcuffs, pepper spray, and a pistol, but he held a collapsible baton in his hand. An odd choice of weapons for someone forced to defend himself or a friend.

The husk cringed at Leonard’s voice, cowering on the floor like an abused dog. This wasn’t self-defense, or a random encounter with a husk that stumbled into their home. They were hunting down an escaped prisoner.

For half a heartbeat, the familiar pre-battle panic jolted through her. The reflexes, conditioning and training of her embedded martial persona took over. On the other side of that heartbeat, she had summed up her opponents, her advantages and disadvantages, and took the initiative.

Three opponents. Poor lighting. Tight quarters. They’d risk hitting each other with either Leonard’s pistol or Mitch’s spray canister. Leader 1st, then Mitch, then husk, if needed.

Her back was to Mitch, but his light cast her shadow on the opposite wall, giving her a basic idea of his position. Leonard was still staring at her masked face, too. Perfect.

His eyes darted behind her, and he signaled Mitch with a nod while dropping his pack. Already in combat mode, Lanni stepped back into her hallway; still in Mitch’s line of sight, but hidden from Leonard. As their cones of light followed closely behind, she dropped below them into a forward roll, leaving her spear leaning on the wall.

She came out of her roll and spun left, towards Leonard. Pushing off the wall for momentum, she tucked into another roll, cutting through his cone of light as his backpack hit the floor.

Compressed gas hissed behind her. That would be Mitch, hosing the intersection with his spray, but Lanni was already coming up from her roll behind Leonard. She grabbed his light’s elastic headband and yanked with all of her body weight, dropping to one knee.

The strap broke, launching his light to the floor, where it shattered to bits, but not before dragging his head backwards. Leonard flailed his arms in a vain attempt to catch himself on something, but Lanni took out his left ankle with a sweeping kick. Despite his flailing arms, he landed hard on his back, smacking his head on the floor. He’d be out for a while.

The husk was scurrying backwards towards the other hallway, but it coughed and went limp, falling face down in the intersection. Lanni kicked off the wall for momentum, and rolled back to her feet, closing half the distance to Mitch while his light was shining on the husk. There was no odor, but the air was definitely sharper as she approached.

Her nostrils burned, and her rapid-fire reflexes suddenly bogged down. It was her turn to move in slow motion. A convulsive cough wracked her chest. Oddly enough, the cough seemed to help clear her head, but a few seconds of mental fog were an eternity in combat.

Mitch was only a few feet away by the time she regained her focus. With his cone aimed at her, he looked at the unconscious husk and then back at his sprayer, like he was trying to figure out if his tank had gone empty.

Lanni held up a hand. “It’s okay, Mitch. I’m just trying to help.” She was surprised when he pulled the cone away and pointed it at the ground. She was even more surprised that she hadn’t noticed Leonard getting up and moving behind her.

She turned just in time to catch his baton on the side of her head. Dazed, suddenly face down on her hands and knees, his second blow hit the back of her head. The floor raced up to meet her, but she blacked out before her face hit.

#

Mitch’s uncovered face looked down at her, and quickly looked away.

Did he just wink?

She wasn’t sure. The husk woman was on top of her, and they were gently swaying back and forth. The hard plastic wheels made a clack-clack, clack-clack on grooves in the cement floor.

They had put her in a canvas laundry cart. She and the husk were stacked in it, Mitch pushed it from the back, and Leonard walked along side with his hand on the cloth covered rail.

“Can you keep your eyes ahead? I can’t see where I’m going when you look away,” Mitch said.

“Just push. I’ll steer.” Leonard replied. There was a tired patience in his tone, like Lanni’s physical science teacher explaining why ice floats for the fifth time to the same student. He did as Mitch asked, though.

Mitch glanced down at her again. He shook his head almost imperceptibly, and squeezed his eyes shut. His expression very clearly said that she should do the same. Leonard must have taken his light, because he no longer wore one.

Her head still ached where Leonard bashed her, but it could have been worse. She felt lucky to be waking up at all.

Waking up so I can go get killed by a host for these jackasses? I don’t have time for this.

She shifted slightly to get the husk’s bony elbow out of her armpit, eliciting a moan from her fellow passenger. The whole situation was starting to make her angry, but she pushed her anger back down into its pit. She needed to think her way out of this, not alert every host and any nearby exterminators by turning her bonds into dust.

“We’re almost there,” Mitch said. “They’ll be fine.”

“We don’t take stupid chances. That’s why we’re still alive.” Leonard produced two hypodermic needles, pulled a cap off with his teeth, and injected her. She barely saw him toss the syringe over his shoulder before she slipped into dream land.