The creatures arrived.
As if aware they had their prey trapped, the creatures surrounded the plinth and seemed to be contemplating their best method of attack. As if to test their quarry, a small group climbed towards Babinski.
Sat astride a monster that was in the process of being decapitated by the sword held by an attacker that had two, strange, arrow-like objects protruding from a leg and a shoulder, Babinski shot the first creature, the second pull of the trigger alerted him that he had run out of bullets. As the dead creature dropped, he spun the rifle and smashed it on the nearest creature’s head. The remaining attackers split up and came at him from all sides. One clamped its sharp teeth on his shin; another leaped onto his arm and sunk its teeth in as he battered another to the ground. As he kicked one away he grabbed the one on his arm around its neck and squeezed until it snapped. The creature nibbling on his leg received a hard blow from the rifle and fell.
As if learning their prey’s weaknesses from the brief attack, the others surged forward en masse and the Russians depleted their final bullets by shooting as many as they could.
On hearing the gunshot, Lucy peered into the open door she had planned to pass and swept her flaming torch around the dark room. Where there were gunshots there were humans―perhaps a rescue team sent aboard the spaceship to find her? Though it had come from the room, it had sounded too far away to have come from inside. When more gunshots erupted, she crossed to where it was loudest. The floor creaked beneath her feet and dropped slightly. She cautiously kneeled and placed her face by the gap in the floor. Flashes of gunfire lit up the darkness far below and highlighted the hoard of creatures attacking a small group of men, whose uniforms indicated them as soldiers. If she could reach them and they survived the attack, she would be saved. She glanced at the pistol in her hand. She could help. She poked the pistol through the opening, but the gap was too small to see past her arm. If she fired blindly she might hit the men that could save her.
She tucked the pistol into her belt, grabbed the edge of the floor panel and pulled. It bent slightly, but not enough for her to get a good shot at the creatures. She pressed her back against the wall and kicked at it. It bent more with each blow. One more would do it. When her foot slammed against the panel, it broke from its mountings and spilled Lucy to the floor. The floor groaned and fell out from beneath her. She grabbed out but her fingers found nothing to halt her fall.
Cables drooping from the ceiling to the wall were directly beneath her. She grabbed at them and hooked an arm over one while watching the flaming torch fall to the floor. When the swaying stopped, she hooked her legs over and looked below. The firing had stopped. The soldiers fought off the creatures using rifles as clubs and some used knives. It wouldn’t be good enough against so many. She had to help.
She pulled a pistol from her belt, aimed it at the cable where it met the wall and fired. The light ball melted through the cable before exploding in a bright burst on the wall. Lucy dropped. She aimed the weapon at the creatures and clamped her finger on the trigger. Deadly balls of light shot from the weapon in rapid succession as she roamed it over the mass of small horrors. The lethal light balls grew to about two-feet in diameter by the time they reached the hoard and each one killed many of the creatures compressed together by their numbers.
The cable’s swing took Lucy around the side of the statue. She continued firing as she swung in a circle, killing creatures on all sides as the four men continued to fight and shoot surprised and shocked glances at her. When her momentum slowed, Lucy slid down the cable and dropped to the floor. She pulled the remaining weapon out and firing both, ran around the fountain picking off the vermin.
All the men had suffered wounds but they couldn’t relax as the creatures’ attack was relentless. They leaped, bit and scratched at them from all directions.
Lucy didn’t trust her aim to shoot the creatures too close to the men, so when she noticed one of them staring at her, she turned the dial on the weapon and tossed it to him. Brusilov stretched for the weapon and caught it. He nodded his surprised thanks and aimed it at the creature about to take a bite from his thigh. The small red ball of light passed through it and killed another climbing up. He quickly killed all those within his sight and then gazed around at his men. Sergei seemed to be having a hard time on the opposite side.
“Sergei,” Brusilov called out.
Sergei grabbed a creature from the air, slammed its face into the statue and glanced at the voice. Brusilov threw something at him, a strange pistol. He smiled as he caught it, slipped his finger over the trigger and started picking off the creatures.
Brusilov climbed down, kicking and stamping on any creature that wandered within range, and crossed to the woman who had magically appeared to save them.
Lucy shot two more creatures with the second pistol and glanced at the approaching man. “I’m worried about hitting someone. Can you kill the creatures near them?”
Brusilov nodded, took the offered weapon and aimed it at the creature that had just leaped at Nikolay. The creature’s head vaporized when the small red ball of light struck.
“Nice shot,” Lucy commented. “I’m Lucy, by the way.”
Brusilov fired three times before answering, “Captain Brusilov.”
“You’re Russian!” Lucy exclaimed, on recognizing the man’s accent.
Brusilov smiled. “My mother will be relieved.”
“Sorry, it’s just that I thought you were American.”
“Sorry to disappoint you.” Brusilov stepped to the side and shot two more. He noticed Babinski approach, sharing his gaze between the creatures and the pistol he held. “Babinski, take over for me.”
A big grin appeared on Babinski’s face when he took the weapon. “Yes, sir, Captain.” He started firing.
Nikolay noticed the surviving monsters had grown cautious and then, as if deciding they had lost the battle, turned and scampered away. He climbed down as Babinski fired a few shots after them.
“Oh, that’s not fair,” moaned Babinski. “I get hold of the alien gun and they run away.”
“Life’s a bitch,” said Sergei, spinning the alien pistol like a cowboy gunslinger on a finger. “I shot many.”
“Who’s the angel who swung down from the heavens to save us?” asked Babinski, running an appreciative eye over Lucy, who thirstily gulped water from the bottle Brusilov had given her.
Nikolay slapped him on the shoulder. “If only God had given us something to make sounds with so we could communicate with each other, we would be able to find out the answer.” He crossed to Sergei and examined the alien weapon as Babinski approached the woman.
Lucy held her hand out to Babinski as he approached. “I’ll take that pistol, but you can keep the other one.”
Babinski reluctantly relinquished the weapon.
Lucy stuffed it in her belt and took a bite of the Russian’s equivalent of a power bar. The sweet calorie-embedded snack was the best thing she had ever tasted.
Nikolay gazed up from the alien weapon. “This is amazing. It’s so light, more like a toy than a weapon. I wonder what the power source is.”
“There will be plenty of time to ponder that later, when we’re off this damn ship.” Brusilov turned to Lucy. “Thank you. We are all grateful for your timely entrance, but where did you come from and why are you here?”
Lucy swallowed the final piece of the power bar and briefly explained how she had come to be aboard the spaceship, the finding of the weapons, and her sudden arrival.
The soldiers were stunned.
“I can’t believe you survived so long on your own, unarmed, with all the alien monsters roaming about. We are trained men and had lots of firepower until our bullets ran out, but still most of us died,” said Babinski.