As the light flitted about, it illuminated other alien objects including myriad squidbugs.
“They’re doing it to us, and they’re doing it to themselves,” Sydney gasped. “But why?”
Karnage twitched with energy. “Maybe this is it,” he said. “Maybe this is what Cookie meant.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Our chance,” he turned to Sydney. “It’s our chance to stop ’em. Look at ’em up there! All lyin’ in them spheres. Sittin’ ducks. Maybe this is where I can stop ’em. Before they wake up. Before they get out!”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I’ve just gotta… I’ve just gotta use my head. Goddammit! What did Cookie mean?”
“What are you talking about? Who’s Cookie?”
“We need a weapon,” Karnage said. “Something big. Something massive. Something that’ll nuke these squidbugs to kingdom come!”
“Maybe we can find something in one of these rooms,” Sydney suggested. “They seem to have everything down here. Maybe we can find something from The War.”
The War!
Karnage’s eyes bugged out of his head. Explosions, bullets, and screams filled his ears.
The War!
He jerked his arms and his handcuffs broke with a loud snap. His mind clouded over with smoke and flames and death.
The War!
Karnage’s fist shot out and grabbed Sydney by the throat. He lifted her off the ground, his fingers squeezing her neck as her gasping face disappeared behind the haze of battle.
“Don’t… talk to me… about THE WAR!”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sydney strained for breath as Karnage’s tightening grip closed her windpipe. Stars danced before her eyes. “What are you…?” she gasped, but Karnage choked her off. A voice in the back of his neck cheerfully informed her that he had hit Coral Essence.
“You want to talk to me about The War?!” Spittle flew from his mouth and his eyes blazed. “I’ll tell you about—”
Sydney thrust a pinky forward and danced it across Karnage’s arm. Joint by joint, she numbed Karnage into submission: a pinky jeté to his wrist, a thumb glissade to the elbow, followed by an index finger piqué into his neck. Karnage went down like a rag doll. He craned his head toward Sydney. His eyes blazed. Veins popped in his neck as he screamed at the top of his lungs.
“North Uzhorod! 8-8-4-2-1! Uncle Stanley had us on the run!”
The voice in the back of Karnage’s neck hit Frosty Pink as his voice echoed through the cavernous room. The green glow above them became brighter. The bits of white retreated from the spheres, and the green chased after them. The lines of white shot down the walls with torrents of green streaking after them. The white light retreated beneath their feet, as if trying to hide itself. The green streaks fired through on all sides and obliterated the white completely. The floor went black, and the only light was the agitated green among the spheres, flickering across them like lightning. The green lights pulsed brighter, and the spheres started to lower. The dark shapes within moved in time with Karnage’s cries.
“Blood and brains flew in all directions! Those monkeyfuckin’ skerks used our own people for cover! Those merciless bastards!”
The voice at his neck hit Strawberry Shortcake.
“Major!” Sydney shouted. “You have to shut up!”
“Snipers to the right of us! Snipers to the left of us! Snipers all around us! DIE DIE DIE!”
“THAT’S IT!” Sydney performed a grand jetée into Karnage’s ear lobe and he dropped unconscious, his head drooping against his chest. She heard something shatter above her and tiny bits of sphere showered the floor.
She swung Karnage’s body over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The broken handcuff bracelet around Karnage’s wrist glinted in a quick flash of green. She ground her teeth. Fucking E-nium.
She turned to run back through the door. A lightning bolt of green flashed down the wall and hit the door. It spiralled shut instantly.
“NO!”
Something clattered to the ground behind her. She turned around. A squidbug was charging towards her, its skin flashing deep crimson. She drew her goober pistol and fired. The shot hit the squidbug in the chest, knocking it onto its back. Its limbs flailed futilely as the goober swelled, sticking it fast to the floor. Sydney heard another smash above her. She turned back to the door. It glowed with green light that flickered like flames around its frame. She found a small nodule of bulbs flashing green by the door. She hit them frantically with her fist. They flashed green, almost defiantly. Hearing a squiggling screech, she turned around and took down another charging squidbug with a ball of goober. More spheres burst above her. She turned back to the door nodules and gave them a hard kick.
“Goddammit! You picked a hell of a time to abandon us! You know that? You have to let me back through! You brought us all the way in here, now you’re just going to let us die? You can’t do this!”
A sliver of white light shot across the floor towards her. A flare of green shot out and shattered the white into nothing. Another squidbug dropped to the floor and charged, but was repelled by another ball of goober. Sydney checked her pistol. She only had five rounds left. She heard a giant crash, and a massive black shape crumpled to the floor.
It was a horned worm.
Sydney looked back up into the black.
“You have to get us out of here! Help us!”
An assault of tiny needle-like white lights rained down the walls on the glowing green door. The green lights lashed out in angry flaming tentacles, knocking away the light. The persistent rain of white whittled away at the green, knocking back its defences. The green and white roiled and boiled around the door until the white overtook the green just enough that the door slowly opened a few inches. As the glow slowly changed from dark green to paler and paler shades, the door spiralled open just enough for Sydney to push Karnage through the gap. She scrambled through after him before the door slammed shut behind her.
A tiny spot of white light appeared on the floor in front of her and lurched forward. She heaved Karnage back onto her shoulder and ran after it. A shot of green blasted across the floor and obliterated the white, leaving Sydney stranded in the darkness. Another sliver of white careened towards her from the distance. She started running toward it, but another blast of green obliterated it before she got there. Behind her, green lights were attacking the cracked door frame. The door’s spiral panels shook and shuddered as they tried to open. The worm on the other side was beating against the door, the cracks on its surface growing larger and larger.
White light coiled down the wall. Sydney followed it as fast as she could, Karnage’s limp bulk weighing her down. The light gathered around another door farther along, and it spiralled open. There was a loud crash behind her. Sydney turned around. Bits of door exploded into the room. An angry torrent of green light flowed up from the door and flared across the wall towards her.
She raced for the glowing white door ahead of her. She could practically feel the heat of the green light behind her as it collected and flared, making everything before her glow green. Her shadow on the floor grew longer and longer as the light flickered and flamed up. There was a loud smash and scattering of debris as a horned worm screeched behind her. Sydney didn’t look. She stayed focused on the door. Licks of green light shot ahead of her and attacked the white ring. The fingers of white slapped back at the green. The green lashes swooped down and seemed to devour the white. The light around the door grew dimmer. Sydney dove through the door just as the green light consumed it, and the door’s blades spiralled closed behind her.