Nanowrimo 2011 - Day 07

[KAT/LI/JAMES - SUPERNATURAL AID]

Kat looked from the half ruined body in the pilot’s seat to the two living passengers. They were clearly in shock from the ordeal of the crash and finding their crew member in this state. Something needed to be done and neither of them was showing the backbone enough to do the grisly task.

“We are trying to help here. Are you going to stand around, or help get your friend free?” Kat asked, “Cant you see the heat has melted him to the chair?”

The small, scared looking woman started to speak but the words didnt come. She stammered, bit her lip, closed her eyes and made a concerted effort to try again.

“He’s going to die, isnt he?”

“Yeah, unless you have a miracle working doctor around here.” Kat said, turning to face the other man. He looked no better than the small woman, his eyes wide, scanning the room like he’d never seen the inside of a starship before. It was possible. His clothing didnt exactly look up to starship travelling par. In fact … Kat looked closer, straining all her senses to catch the details. Yes, there it was, quieter, gentler, more subdued than in others. Could he be the one? Kat pushed her mother’s fairy tales from her mind to focus on the present.

The small woman had walked across the room, counting her steps as she went and as she returned. She walked again, from the pilots chair to a particular patch of the wall in measured precise steps, counting them on the way there and the way back.

“Escape capsules have emergency Cryo-sleep units built in, and have their own internal power supplies. Cut him free from the chair, and even if he dies there’s enough time to get him into Cryo before it’s too late. A hospital will have the facilities to resusitate him.” the small woman said. Her gaze lingered on the injured pilot, then back to Kat.

“But I cant do it.”

The man looked at Kat and the pilot, clearly used to being the “can do” man, “What do I need to do?”

Kat pointed, “Cut him free of the chair, and get him into the wall over there.”

The small woman walked over the the pilot’s chair and precisely counted out the steps needed to reach the wall, and pointed at what looked like smooth wall.

The man shook his head, “What?”

The woman looked at him, then at the wall, then back to him again, “You dont see, here?”

“No, I see nothing.”

The woman frowned, and touched blank wall. Immediately a doorway irised open with a hiss to reveal a cubby big enough that two people might be able to squeeze in. The escape capsule.

“Then you press here.” she said, indicating another section of blank wall.

The man wasnt getting it and that was it, the little woman burst into tears and fled.

He turned to Kat, “Do you know what that was all about?” he asked.

Kat laughed briefly, “We have no idea, but then, we have to ask you something - have you ever seen and heard, perhaps smelled or tasted something that no-one around you noticed? Ever been so sure of the sensation that you would live or die by it?”

From the way he reacted, she could see her words hitting the mark, “Well, Dhampir, we have a saga to share with you, but first we must be partners in this grisly business. Did you get a good look at the section of wall that she was showing? Could you press it and no other?”

The man nodded, “If we are to be partners in this crime, we should at least be on speaking terms.”

He held out his hand, offering a handshake, “The name’s James. And you are?”

Kat took his hand, shaking it in greeting, “How frightfully English of you good sir. People call us Kat. If we had any other name, we dont know of it. Now, on to the business in hand. I cut, we carry, you activate?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

James nodded and took a deep breath, “I’ve seen some things in my time on the force - and son of a butcher you know - but this come close to being the worst. Let’s get it over with and save this poor soul before the fire claims what’s left of his life.”

Kat nodded and pulled her trusty shovel out of her backpack where she’d stowed it, having cut away the hardened gel that the pilot had been encased in.

“On three…” she said.

Li left the cockpit area at a run, panic gripping her. How could they not see what was plainly before her face, the blinking lights of the escape capsule control pad, the large “Ready!” button waiting to be pressed that would activate it. It made no sense to her. In moments she was standing on chewed up earth outside the ship breathing the fresh, if somewhat fetid, swamp-like air of the planet. Thick cloud cover overhead stopped her from getting a sense of the exact time of day but there was enough light to see clearly by and it was warm enough that she would call it “daytime”. She sucked in air, breathing deeply, pushing aside the smoky air that had filled her. She used an old breathing exercise to get her panic under control. It took moments, one piece of good news among all the other crazy things that had been plaguing her. She turned and re-entered the ship through the hole in the hull she’d come through.

“Two … One …” she heard the countdown, then several grunts of effort as the blade of the shovel was brought to bear. More noises that brought vomit back to her mouth and then hurried footsteps. Silence. She wiped her mouth clean of strings of sick and saliva with the ruined sleeve of her kimono and drawing herself up into the best semblance of having things together she rejoined James and the stranger.

They were stood in front of the escape capsule. A faint blue glow indicated that the cryo-field was present and preserving its occupant but she couldnt see Eric. She stepped closer, James stepped away and the full horror was revealed in an instant. Amputation by shovel was going to be the least of his worries.

The stranger looked at Li, “We are called Kat, in case you were wondering.”

Li looked, “I am Li. And you did that to him?” she pointed.

“We only took what the roasting had already destroyed, leaving behind that which was melted to the seat, and inflicting as little damage to him as we could.” Kat said in defense of the mutilated form in the escape capsule.

Amputation by shovel accounted for the legs missing below mid-thigh. His right shoulder was … Li made the mistake of glancing at the pilot’s chair to complete the inventory … His right shoulder was still fused to the chair and the arm cooked beyond recognition. Much of the ribcage was missing and the deflated look suggested the lung was unsalvageable. The escape capsule readouts, painted across the wall to the right of the opening, indicated that Eric was alive and at the present rate of slowed metabolism would continue to live another hundred years. Plenty of time to find a hospital with the skill to cure him, and graft the latest in modern prosthetics into place.

As the women had been talking James had let his mind wander away from the grisly task they had just completed. The place smelled terrible. Scorched and burning materials, smoke in the air, roasted human flesh … and something else. His eyes went wide and instinctively he shouted a warning.

“Watch out!”

It was too late, a figure moving at speeds that were a blur to human eyes had raced in and now held Li by the throat.

James looked helplessly on. He knew that smell of death. It was worse, more pungent than even the worst of what was around him. Fear rose in him at what would follow. He glanced at Kat, who was gone. On his own. Something snapped inside and he threw himself forward.

Kat smelled them coming, two juveniles by the added layers of testosterone and blood that hung around them. The aroma of Vampires was distinctive and spelled out violence to come. She smiled, relishing it, the shovel ready in hand. As they moved in, she slipped into shadow both a blur to baseline human vision. The Vampire gloated as hi held Li by the throat. He was toying with James, taunting him. Kat waited a few moments - a teaching tool - before moving at top speed to close the gap between them, swinging the shovel as she went. Her first blow severed his arm, freeing Li who promptly collapsed in a heap on the floor. Kat whirled, the shovel a blur of motion, slicing him across the back of his legs. She was blocked from delivering a deathblow by James moving in to take hold of the fallen vampire by the head. He twisted, snapping its neck. The body fell to the floor.

“We need to finish. Please.” Kat said to him.

James looked at his hands, surprised at what he’s just done. He stepped back as the shovel came down severing head from neck. Kat kicked the head back into a heap of debris, as if the idea that the two parts in proximity might somehow reform back into a walking creature again.

James reached down, and picked up the limp form of Li. They needed to get out and she was in no state to walk.

Kat lead the way, wary, on the lookout for the second vampire. The first had been easy, surprise being on her side, but the second would be on guard and alert to her presence now. As much as she could smell them, they could also detect her too. With James following behind she stepped out into the corridor following it outside the crashed ship. The smell was gone. The other vampire had fled. She lead James back into the forest to her camp. She needed time to think. Time to process these new circumstances. She needed to talk to James, so much to tell, so much she wanted to know about him.

At the camp they were able to lay Li on a bedroll and cover her. Sleep would be the best bet for her now. Kat lit a fire and James sat, staring at the fire, lost in memories. They all needed to eat so Kat started something cooking.