The Nick Of Time
(and other Abrasions)
A Heart Full Of Dust
by
Al Bruno III
(Six)
Pale, bloated stars swam before Vagabond's vision. He stirred uneasily, splinters of glass protruded from his back, he was bleeding in a dozen places. The air was filled with a cacophony of whistles, squeals and gunfire. Somewhere a woman was screaming.
The Myrmex wounded loomed over him, its maimed proboscis dripping. Vagabond's hand latched onto a shard of glass. He swung it, digging deep and hard into what he hoped was his adversary's throat. He was rewarded with a high pitched squeal and fresh gouts of the thing's blood. The creature collapsed beside him.
Rolling over he saw tongues of flame licking out of the Quonset hut's windows. Gunfire and explosions reverberated off the metallic walls. Of the other invaders there was no sign, they had disappeared as suddenly as they had come. Vagabond stumbled to his feet and ran for the door. He pulled his sweater up over his lower face hoping to shield himself from the smoke and grabbed the handle.
Vagabond yelped and backed away shaking his hand.
Pulling the sweater from his face he used it to cover his hand and turn the knob. He flung the door open, the ensuing blast of heat made him giddy. The interior was in flames, and remembering how much junk they had packed in there he wasn't surprised.
“Vagabond!” Lily cried from somewhere inside.
“Hang on! I'm coming!”
He backed up and scanned his surroundings, there had to be another way in there. He ran back into the greenhouse and grabbed a coil of rope and a rake
“Vagabond!”
He tied the rope to the rake with a good strong knot. In their zeal to get inside some of the invaders had torn holes in the metal structure’s roof. He swung his improvised grappling hook and tried to snag it in an opening halfway up the side of the metal building.
First toss- nothing.
Second toss- almost.
“Vagabond!”
The third toss caught hold. It was always three wasn’t it? Vagabond gave it a good hard tug to make sure it was secure and then started to climb. It was harder going than he'd expected, heat radiated off the metallic walls, leaving him soaked with sweat in a matter of moments. His perspiration-slicked hands kept slipping, he had to half-run half climb to make any progress at all.
More gunfire erupted from within the Quonset hut, the walls reverberated with each ricochet.
What the Hell was going on in there?
He reached the rent in the roof. Wrapping the improvised rope around his left hand to keep his balance and peered down inside. A bullet cut through the air inches from his head panicking him, knocking him off balance. He swung sideways- slamming his wounded back onto the heated metal. The pain was so sudden and intense that it knocked the wind from him.
With a kick Vagabond propelled himself back to the hole and cautiously looked back down into the inferno. He cursed his stupidity. There was no gunfight going on, the flames had merely reached the stockpiled ammunition. He couldn't see Lily or her mother down there, just walls of fire. A foul, cloying stink filled his nostrils; his sneakers were melting from contact with the heated metal. Rivulets of rubber ran down the walls.
Shifting in place to keep from sticking, he searched for another breach. He found one a few yards away at the apex of the structure’s rounded roof. One of the creatures lay near the hole, sizzling ever so slightly.
“Vagabond!”
How the Hell was he going to get over there?
He tied the makeshift line around his ankle and then clumsily worked his way out of his sweater. He covered his hands with it and crawled to the pinnacle of the Quonset Hut. Sweat plastered his clothes to his body and his hair to his forehead. The stench of singed wool mingled with the odor of his burning sneakers. When he reached top he tugged his improvised grappling hook until it came loose and dragged it up behind him.
The wood of the rake was hot to the touch, parts of the rope were burning but it would have to do. It was hard to say which was bubbling more, his sneakers or the creature's flesh. Kneeling on the broiling corpse he peered inside.
There they were!
Lily and her mother were in a ring of fire. The older woman was unconscious, her daughter was cradling her, shaking her screen as if she could deny the situation they were in. The older woman's left arm- the gauntleted one- had been severed at the elbow. Lily had used her camisole as a tourniquet and blood had stained the brightly-colored fabric almost black. Left in her underwear, Lily's body was revealed to be navel-less and doll-like.
Moving quickly, he stood over the hole, one foot positioned firmly on either side, and called down to her, “Lily!”
She looked up at him, her digitized face full of joy and disbelief.
“Hang on.” he untied the chute from his ankle and wedged the short sword over the hole, “Can you climb?”
“Yes but mother is...”
He lowered his improvised rope down the hole, “Tie this around her waist and then climb up.”
“But-”
“There's no time just do it!”
She hastily tied the length of nylon about her mother's waist and then started to climb.
“Come on!” images of his improvised line breaking filled his mind “Hurry.”
When she was within reach he pulled her up, it was then he noticed she was barefoot, “Wait!”
“What?” she hung there, one hand in his, the other holding onto the rope.
“You almost burned your feet! Climb around onto my back.”
Instead she simply climbed out of the hole and stood beside him, “I can't feel anything. I’m not real remember?”
After an uncomfortable moment he turned his attention back to matters at hand “Help me pull your mother up Lily.”
They both grabbed onto the length of nylon and began to hoist her up. She was dead weight and the strain was considerable.
“I hope she appreciates this. Vagabond hissed.
“What?” none of the exertion showed on Lily's screen.
Part of the makeshift rope began to tear, they both pulled faster, “Never mind.”
Rhea was within grabbing distance, Vagabond braced himself and took the weight in both his hands as Lily bent to one knee, reached into the hole and hauled Rhea out. She stood, trying to cradle her mother and keep standing.
He unknotted the makeshift rope from the Rhea's waist and knotted it around her daughter's, “Do you think you can rappel down?”
“Wait!” she said, “There's something I needed to tell you!”
“Later!” he shouted, “Can you rappel down?”
She answered reluctantly, “Yes!”
“And keep hold of her?”
“Yes but-”
“Then go now.” he gently kissed her two-dimensional cheek, “Please.”
Holding the slack in her free hand she lowered herself down the hot wall. Vagabond watched after her, his heart in his throat. The makeshift rope got her two thirds of the way down the wall.
Seeing that there was no way to avoid it, Lily dropped her mother the rest of the way down. Then she undid the knot around her waist and tumbled down beside her. She bent over Rhea to see if she was all right and then lifted her up in her arms again. “Come on!” she called up to Vagabond, “Let's get out of here.”
And those were his thoughts exactly, he grabbed hold of the nylon rope and took one last look around, in the east he could see the stars being blotted out by an approaching storm.
More trouble? Why not?
He started to lower himself down, the bottoms of his sneakers were all but melted away. He could feel heat starting to sear through them.
“Vagabond!” Lily cried her voice full of panic.
He was jerked sharply forward and fell hard against the hot wall. He gasped with pain. The burnt creature was somehow on its feet again. It had the makeshift rope and was dragging him back up the wall. Vagabond was still too high up to risk jumping so he tried to lower himself down faster.
But the thing matched his pace and in moments Vagabond found himself halfway up the wall and quite literally at the end of his rope. The thing kept on, reeling him in.
“Shit.” Vagabond realized he was going to have to risk the drop.
Everything happened at once. The creature issued a harsh, pained whistle and dragged him further up the wall. Its proboscis quivered in anticipation. Vagabond took one last breath to muster his courage, visions of his legs shattering filled his mind. He let go of the improvised rope.
And the Quonset hut exploded.
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