Peter was relieved. Explaining that Richie had turned down his invitation was one thing, telling him that Gee Tee wasn't going either was something he just didn't think he could cope with.
"Well, we all need to be there at 9am on Sunday."
"No problem," stated Tank. "I'll go and collect Gee Tee and make sure he gets there on time. That way I can make sure he's taken all of his medication, and looks as smart as possible."
Peter smiled at the thought of Tank hurrying Gee Tee along and trying to make him look respectable, almost believing he had the easier job of telling the king that Richie had turned his invitation down, rather than get Gee Tee anywhere on time.
Continuing to talk about their respective sports for another ten minutes or so, the two friends then decided it was getting late, and was time to head home. Peter grabbed their empty glasses and returned them to the deserted bar. Suddenly Janice appeared from beneath, having been stocking up some of the empty shelves.
"Thank you," she announced, in a high pitched, squeaky kind of voice, as Peter put the glasses down on the bar.
"You're welcome, he replied smiling. "Anyway, see you later," he said, about to turn and head towards the exit.
"Ummm... Peter?" giggled Janice, squeakily.
"Yes," he replied, turning back towards her.
Tank shook his head, not believing what he was seeing.
"I'll see you both later," he said, patting Peter on the back as he made his way out of the clubhouse.
Peter waved his friend off, bemused, before turning back and facing the bubbly blonde behind the bar, who was smiling radiantly at him.
"I... um... don't... suppose you would like to go to... go to the... cinema to catch a film some time, would you?" asked the gorgeous young bar worker, nervously.
'There's that feeling again,' he thought, as his stomach started putting on its own gymnastic display, while at the same time both his legs had decided to turn to jelly. 'How odd,' he contemplated, gazing straight into Janice's beautiful face.
"That would be great," he replied, more confidently than he felt.
"I'm not working this Friday," she announced sweetly. "How about then?"
"Sure," he answered, still concerned with what his body was doing, and more importantly, why.
"Shall I meet you outside of the cinema at say... 7pm?"
"That would be great. I'll see you then," he replied.
"It's a date," announced Janice, before scooping up the empty glasses and scuttling off behind the bar somewhere to wash them.
Turning and heading out into the car park, the freezing cold air hit him like a champion boxer's punch. Climbing into his car, his stomach continued its acrobatics routine all the way home, gradually fading sometime later. Falling into bed after having a shower, he drifted off thinking about his misbehaving body, his last thought reflecting on whether or not it was somehow faulty. Then the darkness claimed him, until morning anyhow.
* * *
Running as fast as he could through the snow as it crunched softly beneath his feet, Flash had no time to spare now. Quite literally he was on a timer. Having squeezed himself through a narrow gap in the rocky overhang, he was approaching Casey Station from a very different direction to the one where the damaged skidoo and the bodies of the nagas lay. Wearing the light blue matching coat and thermal trousers from one of the despicable nagas, alongside his own boots, he'd found a pair of reflective snow goggles attached to the damaged skidoo before he'd fled. Despite the fact that he was moving as fast as he could through the thick snow, he was being as careful as he possibly could because he wanted to try and approach the station without anyone spotting him, thinking he might be able to do just that, even though he stood out more than a little in his all blue outfit against the background of the bright, white surrounding snow. While he'd been on top of the rocky overhang earlier, waiting for anything unusual to happen, he'd noticed that the station itself appeared to have a bit of a blind spot off to one side. At the time he hadn't thought too much about it, but at the moment he was hoping that it would help get him back into the station unnoticed. If he was to take down the last remaining naga, surprise was going to have to play a big part, particularly with the way he was feeling right now. His back constantly caused him pain, and intermittently, a wave of additional, unexpected agony would hit like a steamroller, causing him to fall to his knees and cry. As every second passed these waves became stronger and more frequent. In trying different mantras he'd wasted more of his valuable magical energy reserves, but none seemed to have any effect on the debilitating wound.
About two hundred yards away from one of the outbuildings, right on the perimeter of the base, he wondered what he was going to do if he came across any of the station's staff. Certainly not wanting to kill or even harm any of them, as they'd only shown him kindness, his mission had now taken on much more urgency, with his priority being to get a message out to the dragons, ideally to the king himself, especially as there may be a traitor within the ranks of the council. Whatever was going on needed to be investigated urgently. A sudden wave of pain blossomed out from the centre of his back, like ripples in a pond dropping him like a stone. Concentrating on staying conscious, while flailing about in the fresh snow, after a minute or so the pain passed. Flash sat up and as his head spun out of control, wished he hadn't. For the first time, he realised he was sweating profusely and had a high fever. Whether it had been there all along and he'd overlooked it, or whether it had just come to the forefront of his body during the last painful attack, he had no idea. What he did know was that time was running out, and he had to deal with the remaining naga with a view to getting out of this frozen nightmare.
Pulling his goggles above the furry lining of his jacket, he took a handful of snow and covered his hot sweaty face with it, for once relishing the delight of the cold. Grabbing another handful of snow, he forced it into his mouth and down his throat, not before it had sent unbelievable spikes of pain surging along his front row of teeth. Breath freezing in the cold air, he cursed out loud. Beads of ice cold water streamed down his neck and chest beneath the layers of clothing that he wore, forcing him awake, making him carry on with his mission. Continuing to march through the snow, he made it to the back of the nearest building without any trouble. Carefully peeking around the corner, he found he had a clear view of the base. At the moment, no one was outside, but he still had to make it across a large area to reach the nearest entrance that would take him into the accommodation block that he'd been assigned to. In his room were a few other things packed away that might just help him. It was probably too much to hope for that the nagas hadn't searched all of his kit thoroughly, but they might just have missed what he was looking for. The downside in going back to his room was that the naga leader might well be watching the place, in case of such an event.
'Still,' he thought, patting the two outer pockets of his snow jacket, 'at least I've got the two pistols, as well as all the ammunition, and one of them has a silencer on it, which might prove more than a little handy the way things are going.'
Taking the second of the two phones out of his jacket, he checked the timer that was counting down. Seven minutes until the naga found out he was close by. Slipping the phone back into place, he decided that the best way to cross the open space was to just walk casually, as you would if you were a normal member of the Casey staff just going about your business. Setting off at not quite a walk, but not a run either, he was supposed to look like another person keen to come in from the relentless cold. Rubbing his gloved hands together, he made sure before he started that the combination of reflective goggles and fur lined hood concealed his identity fully. Reaching the entrance without incident, he passed through the thick door as quickly and quietly as he could. Once inside he stopped, leaning against the wall, catching his breath, letting his body be assaulted by the warm, circulating air, which felt so good against his exposed skin. It seemed like a lifetime since he'd been out of the cold. Without any warning, his back went into meltdown once again. All his gathered strength prevented him from crying out as he slid down the cream coloured wall and the tears started to fill up the reflective goggles. Silently he prayed that nobody would stumble across him while he was in this state, or the secret about him being back would be well and truly blown.