Everflame 2 (FINISHED)

[KittKat chunky~]

Annie pushed her hair back and met Reggie's glance. "I'm fine. Just incredibly preoccupied..." She huffed a small sigh "So long as Tess says he is okay... Blaze always knew the dangers of the job." Now smiling and closing her eyes a moment as if in prayer, she sighed "All I want now is to be there for him, and for you too Reg." Her eyes opened again and she looked over her shoulder with a frown. For a moment the datapad showed the ceiling and then it fell.

The shouted loudhailer instructions crackled through the speaker of the datapad as it dropped to the floor with a clatter. At the other end, on the carrier, shouting and the sound of lashing vines where the only things that could be heard as the view skidded across the steel flooring, showing feet bustling and tendrils spreading.






Screams and blasts of high velocity flechette sounded throughout the corridors of the carrier. Security personnel ran back and forth, boots clattering and crashing over the steel floor as engineers and other civilians fled in the wake of the advancing tendrils and vines. Yuri ran, breath raking behind his gas-mask. Beside him another security guard brandished his shock-baton at a group of engineers and pointed down the corridor "Follow us, we're assembling outside the medical bay to rendezvous with security there!" Yuri did his best to help shepherd the men and women towards the medibay, drawing and charging his own baton as they reached the entrance doors.



"Lock down the entire ship! I'm declaring a Code Red infection." Vladiik reached for a gas-mask and slipped it on. The other crew members at the bridge followed suit, the finch doing so with shaking hands.

Suddenly, with a shriek of tearing metal, the doors of the bridge bulged inwards. With a shout the security personnel leaped forwards, only to be smashed back as the doors finally caved and a pressing mass of triffids spilled into the room. Vines and roots snaked out, searching for prey as the venemous stings in the flowering heads lashed out. Most broke across the gas-masks but one lashed through the thick material and a junior-officer fell to the ground with a yelp.

"Protect the Captain!" The shout rang out even as the triffids advanced with implacable strength. Only five security guards remained, surrounding Vladiik as they fired wildly at the approaching plants. The young finch lay dead where he had sat at his control panel in a pool of blood. Vladiik roared in defiance as the guards that sought to protect him, and finally he himsel, where dragged to the ground under a mass of hungry vines.






The doors opened far too slowly, hissing as they slid to either side. Karla shoved Blaze through the doorway as soon as the gap was wide enough for him to pass through, scraping some of the dark red paint off at one shoulder to reveal the gleaming metal beneath. Even as she pushed through herself Karla slapped the door control, sending them sliding closed again.

For one moment it seemed she would make it. Blaze leaned against a wall, loading his own pistol and taking in deep shuddering breaths that rattled through the suit filters. As he retched a high-pitched buzz rose into a shriek and one of the mechanical insects caught Karla's left leg as it passed over the threshold of the door. The small machine was far stronger than it appeared for, legs chattering and whirring, it dragged Karla down to the ground with a crash.

That small moment was enough. Other spiders had reached her, buzzing and whirring as they dragged her backwards into the bridge again. Karla drew her pistol and turned to fire, bullets rebounding off the metal hide of the closest insect as it tore through her leg with white-hot claws. Blaze rushed forward, even as the doors slid inexorably closer together. Finally Karla turned her head to look up to meet Blaze's eyes, and fired. The door panel exploded and the doors came crashing firmly together.

Blaze slumped, beating at the steel with his fists, shouting and yelling. Tears streamed down his cheeks as beyond the door screams and the sound of more shots being fired reverberated through the empty corridor.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Reggie looked up the corridor where people poured out, both sick and well. He turned back to the room for one last look.
"Tess, he's not here, where the hell is he?" A soldier jogged through, checking the rooms as he went. He tapped Reggie on the arm.
"Sir, madam, you've got to leave, everyone else is assembled outside." Reggie gave a frustrated bark then nodded to the soldier and turned to Tess.
"If he's going to be anywhere, he'll be there."



Tina held her door down, while Lantz stood among a pile of leaves and petals with Annie's gun in his hand. he now held it at his side as he kept the door to the kitchen shut. The sound of vines whipped and pulled at it. The creature dug at the joints trying to pry it off. Tiz took control of the ship. The carrier's control over them faltered and the ship lurched until it fell straight down. QUick thrust held them over the ground, burning triffids at the same time, while others reached their tendrils across to the hull. The doors in the ship twisted and bent, being pulled and dragged by the triffids behind them.
"How many guns have we got?" Lantz yelled over to Tina who gave a quick laugh.
"Beside the one you've got? One, and it's in my room." She gave a grin until one of the triffids slammed against the door she held shut.

[KittKat chunky~]

Tess looked around the room incredulously and ran a hand through her fringe. She glanced from the room to outside and then back again. "I don't know. He was here, right here..." Still staring at the empty bed Tess barely heard Reggie and the soldier talking, and it was only when Reggie addressed her directly that she looked up at him "Yeah, I guess so. Lets get going then." The Datapad Reggie still held had gone blank, a small flashing message in the center of the screen reading -Signal Lost-




Annie slammed her shoulder into place against the door Tina held, pushing back against it as the hinges creaked in protest. She gave a short laugh "Triffids! Well hasn't that just made my day."

She pushed desperately back as the Triffid in Tina's room thrashed and slammed against it again. "Lantz, give me my gun!" Still holding back against the door Annie held out a hand to him, head flicking to the door and back "I know how to kill these things. Just give me my gun and cover your eyes... We're going to have to open this door."




Blood pounded through Blaze's ears as he ran through the empty corridors of the station. His breath rattled through the air filter of the suit and the visor steamed up, despite assurances from the mechanicus armory that it wouldn't. Retracing the route the group had taken up to the bridge the corridors stretched endlessly before him.

Lungs burning Blaze stopped and leaned heavily against the steel wall. With a press of a button he flipped the visor open, taking in a gulps of air. He retched, clutching the wall for support as his stomach heaved again and he wiped away the blood that flecked his suit.

Moments later he started off at a run again, the fear in him renewed, for behind him the florescent lights had started to flicker and one by one went out.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Reggie and Tess headed out through the main doors to exit the medibay. A perimeter of guards had been erected with some milling about the crowd while sound of scratching and crackling met with gunshots echoed along the metal walls. Reggie headed to the crowd and tapped a rather young looking guard on the shoulder. Yuri turned and looked up at him with electric prod ready.
"Whoa, hey. I'm looking for a cat-fox kid with a fake arm? Name's Blaze, you seen anythin' like that?"




Lantz screwed his face and raised a brow at the gun request. "Give you a gun? Just tell me what to do and I'll bloody kill it. This is the only gun we have, remember?" He held the pistol to his chest while he pressed to the kitchen door as vines whipped and pulled against it. "Though first I need to deal with this one."

[KittKat chunky~]

Yuri pushed his gas-mask up grinning, despite the situation, as he recognized Reggie "Hey, your Miss Annie's guy. We met in your cell when I had to get you some clothes?" His grin widened and it was with sheer luck that he missed Reggie for a second time with the crackling end of his shock baton "Yeah, I'm a friend of Blaze... But no I havent seen him since all this craziness started." Yuri held the weapon sheepishly behind his back and frowned "Wasn't he with you in the medbay?"




An exasperated huff escaped Annie's lips as she pushed back against her and Tina's door. "Fine! Fine, you do that." She ran from one side to the other and slammed into the door beside Lantz with a grunt. Flicking her ponytail over her shoulder she nodded back into the cockpit "You, get over there... When I open the door Tina you need to cover your eyes. Lantz, aim for the flower at the top."

She paused to push back as the kitchen door creaked. "Triffids have a stinger in their bloom, that's the most dangerous thing at the moment." The hinges groaned and one popped out of its housing in the frame "Give it three or four shots to the flower, then aim the rest at the center. That pistol should have enough charge in its cell for a good fifty shots... Give or take."





Blaze hit the ramp of the mechanicus shuttle at a sprint. Behind him lights flickered and went out with dull thunks, plunging the hangar bay into darkness. Once in the shuttle he jabbed desperately at the ramp controls. With panting breath and wide eyes Blaze watched the rampway rise slowly, ever so slowly as darkness slid closer. Finally, and as the last lights went out in the hangar, the ramp closed with a hiss.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Reggie puffed with frustration and gave a grimace.
"No he's long gone, and I don't see him in this crowd neither." He scratched his head and pulled a little on his fur. "I don't have time for this, we gotta get going. Annie's waiting for us in the hangar bay." He craned his neck and looked over everyone's heads, catching glimpses of triffids down corridors. "You think the whole carrier's like this?"


Lantz moved to the back wall and aimed at the door.
"Alright, I'm ready," he said. Tina growled as she pressed to her bedroom door.
"Hurry up you idiot. This bloody thing is breaking through." The door had buckled and bent, ready to burst.

[KittKat chunky~]

"Hangar? You cant go to any hangars, those things are everywhere." Yuri rubbed his neck and glanced back to where the lines of guards were readying riot shields and weaponry. He looked back to Tess, but the young vixen was bobbing on her feet, trying to see over the guards and chewing her lip. "Look, I have no idea what is going on. No one does!"

His voice rose in desperation as the first shouts rose from the line of guards "Its absolute craziness out there. You'd do good to stay here." The last part seemed to have been aimed at Tess more than Reggie. Yuri watched as she continued to ignore him, glancing around at the people in the crowd. "Tess!" He shouted and finally caught her attention "He's not here Tess, space knows where he is..."




Annie nodded and turned the handle, shouting as she hurled herself across the room to the door Tina held shut "Shoot it!" She hit the door hard and covered her head with her arms. With the force holding the door closed gone it exploded outwards, torn from its hinges to door smash into the opposite wall. As the plant lurched through the doorway its constant tick-tocking rose in ferocity and a return call from Tina's bedroom answered. Tendrils lashed out into the corridor, pulling the bulk of the Triffid with it out through the doorway as one thrashing mass of leaves and vines.




"Pilot!" Blaze shouted, his voice hoarse and his breathing strained. He stumbled through the shuttle to the door that separated the cockpit. It opened at a press of a button and Blaze stepped through, clutching the wall for support "Get us out of here-" He choked on his words as the stench of blood filled his nostrils. Every surface was covered in it, a thin red film that glistened in the florescent light. From among the mutilated remains  of the pilot a buzzing and whirring creature burst out amid a haze of blood. It leaped onto Blaze, limbs chattering, slashing and biting ferociously as it whined and screeched.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Reggie looked to his datapad, with the message failure message still staring back up at him.
"We don't have time for this." He moved past Yuri, heading to the guard perimeter. "Anything could happen while we're searching blindly. Let's get to Annie and figure out what to do from there." he looked back to Tess and gestured her to follow and he moved up to the guards as they faced out to the corridors. He looked around, searching for a good route out before he turned back to Yuri. "Hey kid, make sure we don't get stopped yeah?"




Lantz went wide eyed and held the pistol up firing into the flower in a burst of gold. Petals flew in an explosion of shreds, while a screech dragged out of the Triffid. More gunshots, now to the body, leaves and vines falling to the ground until a heap of green littered the corridor. The screams continued now from the other Triffid, loud and fierce as the bedroom door exploded outward, slamming Tina into the wall. Lantz turned and fired again while a stinging vine whipped out from the bloom and sliced toward Annie.

[KittKat chunky~]

Tess grabbed Yuri by the ear as he opened his mouth to argue "Do as he says, it wasn't a request kiddo."
The young lynx pulled out of her grip and shouted "No! What gives you the right?" He pointed a finger accusingly, glaring. "You always pushed me around, just because I'm the kid of the group! You any idea what that's like?"

Lip curling into a snarl Tess raised a fist as though to hit him, but instead the threat fell limp at her side. She sighed and pulled Yuri into a rough hug " 'Course I got no idea what that's like. Your a brother to me Yuri, and I should've apologized to you before now for all that." Yuri tensed and then his shoulders sagged as he hugged the girl back. Kissing him across the cheek Tess let him go and ruffled his hair, then jerked her head back towards Reggie and the line of security "I know I don't deserve it, but for Blaze and Annie maybe?"

Yuri glanced over at Reggie and then nodded "Fine. But if you see him again, you owe Blaze that very same apology too."





Annie hit the opposite wall hard, arms held over her head. The stinger lashed at her and drew blood in a raking line across her arm. She yelled in pain as Lantz's shots hit home with a series of shredding bursts that blew petals up in a violet hued cloud. The Triffid screeched and thrashed, sap oozing from it as it shuddered and recoiled. Arms still covering her eyes Annie crawled blindly away from the creature as vines whipped out in every direction.




Claws chattered and tore at flesh and Armour as Blaze wrestled with the metallic creature. It clung to his helmet and, inches from Blaze's eyes, inhuman jaws that whirred in concentric rings slathered blue-fire sparks. With a shout Blaze stumbled to one side and brought the thing into the wall with a crunch and tore it from his helmet.

Whirring and screaming the machine hit a series of pipes with a loud clang. Blaze reached for his gun and drew it as the creature scuttled towards him, whirring and buzzing. He fired again and again, muzzle flashing and spewing energy until it glowed red hot. Plumes of sparks and light burst all over the creature as it leaped through the air. Metal carapace charred and twisted as the ear-splitting screech grew louder.

Blaze yelled in terror as the last shot punched its way through the machine and, with a final surge of strength, he brought his prosthetic arm up to smash the creature aside. It buzzed and whirred in a mangled heap, skittering across the steel floor. Blood running from the scratches across his face and arms Blaze stamped down with one armored boot and spat defiantly on the remains.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Reggie pulled Yuri to the front and thrust him to the guards who let him pass. He and Tess walked along behind as he held his smirk though his eyes darted across the corridors ahead. Gun fire and plant life whipped about. They headed forward accelerating into a jog while they ducked past soldiers running past with cracked armour and aging guns. Ahead was a sign to the hangar that pointed over to a twisted hunk of door, soldiers with weapons ablaze rattling through the ship, and corpses smeared. Reggie headed to it, and grabbed at one of the guns on the floor. He wrenched it from the guard whose cold hand gripped it tight.




The triffid tumbled into a heap on the floor while its broken shreds floated down after it. As they fell, so did the door from the wall. It dropped with a clang and Tina slid, crumpled behind it. Lantz slid the gun into his pocket then climbed through the ship and kneeled to her side. He placed his fingers to her neck, checked her pulse and sighed in relief, before checking the wounds. He then turned back to Annie.
"You okay?" he asked.

[KittKat chunky~]

Yuri pulled his own gun from across his back. He walked purposefully ahead of the two with his weapon primed and sweat beading across his forehead. "That's it there." He nodded to the hangar doors and slid the gasmask back down. His voice sounded muffled but audible behind the clear full-face visor of the mask "I can go first. You two try and find Annie as quick as you can."



Annie did not reply to Lantz, instead sucking at the cut on her forearm. She pulled her head away from the fresh wound and spat a mouthful of blood and inky venom across the floor. Shuddering she sucked again and spat away three more times before finally collapsing back against the wall behind her. "No, I'm not okay. That thing didn't get me in the eyes but it still stung me." She grimaced and tore away a strip of material from her jacket. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tightened the material around her upper arm. She spoke between gritted teeth as she worked "The venom works quick. I don't have long, and no anti-venom either."




Blaze stumbled to the pilot seat and collapsed into it, clutching the arms of the chair as he took in deep gulping breaths. He wiped away the blood from instruments and held back another urge to retch. It took a moment to find the correct switches, then light spilled out from under the wings of the shuttle across the steel floor of the hangar. Blaze flicked another switch and the ship hummed into life, engines growing to a deep throb. He gripped the controls and clenched his teeth, muttering as the ship lifted away from the floor "Its just like a mag-bike. Just like a mag-bike. Just a mag-bike..."

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

"Well then let's get going, come on." Reggie nudged him on and followed on behind until they reached the doors and peered beyond. Ahead, guards blasted away as petals, leaves and torn stems drifted to the ground among triffids that whipped their stingers that sprouted upon a long tendril, reaching from the golden flowers. Screams burned through the air at every slash and cut, and every person that crumpled to the floor. At the centre, a rickety little ship hovered and creaked above it all. A few plants had a grip on its hull and were pulling themselves up onto it.

Inside, Lantz grumbled to himself, then looked over at Annie.
"You think you can last a while. We can fix you up back at the planet."
"Hey, there's some people here. Two foxes dressed as civilians." Tiz yelled back out through the cockpit. Lantz got up from Tina's side and ran to the cockpit to look out over the hangar bay. He made a quick return and nudged Annie in the shoulder.
"You think you can get up to the cockpit and identify or do i have to carry you?" he asked.

[KittKat chunky~]

Annie spat out another mouthful of venom of venom and shrugged to Lantz "I've done what I can." She slumped against the wall and closed her eyes, grimacing. "The venom will be slowed, maybe even enough time..."

Her eyes flicked open again at Tiz's shout from the cockpit. She pushed herself up onto her elbows and grinned at Lantz's question "I'm still conscious aren't I?" With a grunt of pain Annie got to her feet and walked through to the cockpit, a great sigh of relief escaping as she clutched the pilot seat and waved at the figures below "Space, yes. Its them alright!"




Triffids crawled everywhere, but clustered around the ramps of several shuttles which were attempting to take off. Yuri glanced around at the chaos and then stepped through the doors "You better hope she isn't aboard one of those shuttles, Triffids are crawling over them-" He stopped mid-sentence and grinned. "There she is, the small ship up there!"

Even as Yuri shouted triumphantly his grin slipped and turned to a look of dismay. Beyond the hangar entrance, stretching out as far as they could see to either side lay the thick-steel skin of the space-station, lights flickering and flashing across its surface. "Oh god. Tess, I have seen Blaze!" Tess rounded on him, oblivious to the Triffids that where lurching towards them and the screams and explosions.

"What? Yuri!" She grabbed him by the lapels, shaking him viciously "Where? Where have you seen him?" The young Lynx tore away from her and clutched his head with one hand. He swore repeatedly under his breath "Christ, I know where he is. The space station. All of the explorators went to the station in a shuttle."






Blaze jostled with the controls of the shuttle, dragging back as it juddered and shook. Cold sweat drenched his back. The carrier steadily grew larger as he hurtled towards it, away from the darkness and the terror. Behind him, in the confined space of the cockpit, something buzzed like a wounded wasp. In a spray of blood a long claw-like limb burst out through his chest, blood and pain obscuring his vision as he screamed, the buzzing growing until it was a shriek.

Despite the pain that filled every inch of his body he twisted around and drew the pistol from its holster. He fired again and again, shrieks and buzzing echoing as tears streamed from his eyes. Through the window of the cockpit the carrier grew rapidly larger and larger. The control display flashed warnings and Blaze fired one last time into the twitching remains of metal and sparks.

[Asia Kali Yusufzai]

Lantz couldn't help but smirk.
"Alright, Tiz get the ship over to them and open the doors when you're close enough." He turned to Annie and gestured to the co-pilot seat. "You sit yourself down and stay there. I'll sort anything that comes up." He moved back through the ship to where Tina lay unconscious with a drip of blood from her head.

The craft swayed and swerved under the weight of a triffid latched to the side. It dragged along the floor and reached its vines to the opening doors.
"Yuri cover us." Reggie grabbed Tess's arm and pulled her away toward the ship. He hoisted his gun up to aim with one hand, firing off little bursts that tore into Triffids, sending leaves and petals to fall among the rest that formed a green carpet, stained with red. Stingers sliced through the air, and among the roar of the engines came the screams of the wounded.

[KittKat chunky~]

The mechanicus shuttle plowed blindly through a fleeing civilian space-liner, impacting with a muffled whoosh of flames and flying debris. What little remained of the the ship burst out the other side of the silver hull and careened through the open hangar. As a bright comet of flames it smashed through triffids and ships, the floor rumbling and shuddering as the lights overhead all went out.

Sudden darkness followed, lit only by flickering flames and blue-flashing sparks. Tess yelled and screamed as she beat her free fist against Reggie and struggling to run towards the remains of the shuttle. Yuri, who had been firing controlled bursts into the surrounding Triffids, dropped his gun to his side and stared up at the mangled remains of the explorator shuttle with dreaded realisation.

Yuri was the quicker of the two to recover from the shock, running to catch up with Tess and Reggie and help drag the kicking and screaming girl towards the ship. Even as the doors to the ship grew closer and closer Triffids bore down on the three, vines lashing out at running feet and stingers slashing through the air. With a crack like a whip one vine caught Tess across the ankle, dragging her down to the ground with inhuman strength. Without a moments hesitation Yuri threw himself at the Triffid with all his strength, pumping his gun into the writhing mass, breaking the vines that held Tess down, shredding leaves and flowers. He shouted over his shoulder at the two, still firing into the mass of Triffids that encircled him "Get going!" Tess lost sight of him as Reggie dragged her to the open ramp, lifting her bodily into the ship.



Annie held her head in one hand, forcing back the urge to retch. She looked up through the cock-pit window and the chaos beyond. Darkness swathed everything, flames spread and sparks flashed; but in amongst it all a small droid sat atop the nose of the crashed shuttle. With mechanical persitance it pulled and dragged at something that was hard to discern at a distance, and it was only when it had pulled more than half of it through the smashed window that it was obviously a limp body clad in explorator armour.