Clattering Bones (2)

--Gatix--

The back door exploded to reveal a single creature. A skeleton, headless, scanned the room before deciding I did not belong there.

BANG

A pull of Scythe's trigger blew the skeleton backward, where it did something I thought impossible: it got back up. “The hell is this thing?” Another blast blew the skeleton's right arm and head off, but the bones had barely landed before they started to wiggle.

“The Immortal!” Ms. Queen yelled behind me. A skeleton erupted from the ground close to where the first one lay. A blast blew it back down, but three other hands had already burst through the ground.

“Get out of here!”

Ms. Queen bolted for the door, shooting at two more holes in the floor.

“Gatix, let's g- AAH!”

I turned around just in time to see Ms. Queen's head disappearing through a newly formed hole in the floor.

“Lights!” I yelled as I dived into the hole and attempted to roll with the fall. It would have worked if a collision with Ms. Queen wasn't inevitable. A twist to my side avoided the impact but sent a pain through my shoulder when I crashed against the bottom.

“Get up.” Ms. Queen pulled her fist out of a skeleton's rib cage.

I shook Scythe to get rid of some dirt. “How do you kill these things?”

“You need to drain their magic.”

“We're in a magic-less zone.”

“And that means I can't drain them!”

“Shi-!” The swear was interrupted by a skeleton landing on top of me. My armor's smooth plates prevented it from grabbing hold, enabling me to press Scythe's barrel against it and squeeze the trigger. Looking up revealed two more skeletons dropping in, but step to the side and squeeze of the trigger solved those problems.

“We need to get out of here!” Ms. Queen yelled.

“Lead the way!” I blasted a halfway-reassembled skeleton before falling into step behind her.

“Stairs...” She threw open a door before abandoning it and racing to the next. “C'mon, stairs...”

“Nev!” I blew a skeleton through the wall. “Mind helping the lady?”

“Aaah!”

“Duck!” I spun around, disassembling the skeleton that blocked her path with a blast.

“Ms. Queen! Second door on the right, first door on the left.”

“Got it!” She took off with such speed, following her was difficult. The mass of charging skeletons required me to walk backward, firing shot after shot at the approaching horde. Each one who fell was replaced by two others within seconds. Inside the visor, I could see Scythe's temperature gauge already deep in the red. Mentally, I reminded myself to thank Dax for the upgrades if I survived.

“Found it!” Ms. Queen yelled somewhere behind me. Firing two last shots, I spun around and ran toward her, finding her already on the opposite side of the door. We didn't bother to barricade it: if the skeletons could claw through the floor, a piece of wood wouldn't stop them.

“You still got the jar?!” I yelled.

“Yeah!” I was impressed she wasn't short of breath.

“Nev, how's it looking?”

“I am detecting signatures throughout the tower converging on your position.”

“Will we make it to the bottom?”

“Doubtful.”

“Terrific.” Ms. Queen scowled.

“Let me take point.” I passed her when she dropped her pace. “Nev, how far to the bottom?”

“You are approximately seventy-two meters above the ground.”

“Shit.” Despite the suit's exoskeleton helping, the exertion of battle was starting to weigh in. At least the temperature gauge was dropping, so Scythe was good for a couple more shots.

“Agent, I am detecting a new signature.”

“More snakes?”

“Snakes?” I ignored Ms. Queen's question.

“No, this one is significantly bigger.”

“They just keeps on coming.” I landed with a grunt when I jumped around a corner. “C'mon, c'mon...” The clattering increased by the second, signaling their imminent arrival.

“How... how did you know the Seer was... a traitor?” Seems Ms. Queen's stamina was not as unlimited as I thought.

“I didn't like him!”

“Is that... the only reason?”

“I'll tell you if we survive!”

“Contact within three seconds.”

Nev barely finished speaking when a skeleton appeared around the corner. A squeeze of the trigger sent half of it raining down the stairs and the other half falling over. Unfortunately, the wall of bones behind it would prevent any further progress in that direction.

“This way!” Ms. Queen yelled as she disappeared into a side corridor and I followed after dealing with two more imminent threats.

“Nev! Are there any more stairs around here?”

“I am not detecting any more.” A shockwave rumbled throughout the building with a mighty crash as an unearthly shriek followed closely behind. The magic of modern stabilizers meant I could absorb the impact, but Ms. Queen was thrown against a wall.

“C'mon!” I held out a hand to the collapsed lady after deconstructing another skeleton. “Nev! I need an exit...”

“May I suggest a window?”

“Distance above ground?”

“Twenty-one meters.”

“Damn.”

“Look out!' Ms. Queen stepped around me to put a fist through the center of a skeleton.

“How long did it take the Seer to create all these things?!”

“He lives in a boneyard...”

“Dammit. Nev! Where's that window of yours?”

“Room at the end of the corridor.”

“Take the lead, Ms. Queen!” I fired thrice, but the amount of skeletons forced me to retreat with every shot.

“I hope you have a plan, Gatix!” I heard her throw open the door behind me, my attention focused on the advancing legion.

“None other than jumping through the wall!”

“I can't survive that!”

“Then I hope you don't mind a hug!” Firing a last shot, I spun around and started running, clipping Scythe to my back in the process.

“What are y-” Her words were cut off as I wrapped both arms around her and dove into the open sky.