Doctor Who_ Transit - Ben Aaronovitch [41]
Johny Ray stumbling over the dunes, guns in both hands, Greenies going down before him. A big spire of rock where the Martians have a pop-up cannon which is chopping up the patrol, Johny Ray saving his last breath to pull the cable on the backpack nuke he's wearing.
Blondie waited until he heard scrabbling sounds from the other side of the hatch and pulled the handle. There was an animal shriek over the roar of explosive bolts as the hatch was thrown outwards. It shot across the platform and rang like a teatray against the station wall. There was a distinct organic crunch underlying the impact of metal on ceramic.
Blondie had never liked Johny Ray much.
He went out of the hatchway, jumping as far as he could to avoid anybody on the roof. His feet skidded as he landed and the momentum drove him into the wall. He was already trying to turn and took the impact on his shoulder and back.
He could see three figures on the roof of the train. Humanoid, their armour was a glistening blue colour and decorated with random clumps of sharp spines. They'd been pulling up the roof plates with their bare hands but as Blondie watched their heads turned slowly in his direction.
The range was about four metres.
Blondie held the gun straight-armed, lining up the sight on the chest of the first figure. It had grey-green human eyes beneath the bony ridges of what Blondie realized was not a helmet at all but its head. The word 'exo-skull' popped into his mind at the same moment he pulled the trigger.
The kick of the Browning stunned the palm of his hand, the figure flipped backwards, a ragged hole in its chest. Blondie swung the aim round to the second figure. It jumped at him just as he fired and the bullet went low, ripping into the abdomen. But even as it fell brokenly towards the platform the third figure was in the air. It jumped like a cat, arms and legs outstretched. This one had claws on both.
Blondie shifted his aim and kept his finger on the trigger but nothing happened. The figure seemed to rapidly expand to fill up his vision. 'Semiautomatic,' said the one calm bit of mind Blondie had left, 'you have to pull the trigger for each shot.'
Big ragged holes opened up in the monster's chest. For one horrible moment Blondie could see right through to Fat Mama behind it and then it fell unmoving at his feet. Blondie jumped away quickly just in case. He ran up the platform until he was level with the cab. Fat Mama was still moving at walking pace towards the tunnel gateway.
'How's it going in there?' he called into the vacant hatchway. He could see bright flashes of light where Old Sam was carefully cutting through the spike.
'How many was that?' asked Old Sam.
One in the cab, three on the roof. Blondie looked down the platform. He could see feet and hands sticking out from both sides of the ejected hatch.
'Five,' he said.
'One left then,' said Old Sam and turned back to his work.
The Stop
Mariko lay face down on one of the trestle tables and picked idly at the remains of the catfish dip. Naran was nowhere to be seen, but she presumed he was off in a comer somewhere having deviant sex with a rep.
Most of the krewe were crashed out on the floor of the cavern. A lone speaker was crooning a French ballad in three part harmony with itself. She noticed an untouched bowl of walnuts on the table ahead of her, picked one out and cracked it between her thumb and forefinger. The meat was dry and sweet.
Since her transformation Mariko's thoughts had taken on an opaque nature as if she sat in the centre of a room lined with shoji - sliding paper doors. Figures moving outside the room could sometimes be discerned by the shadows cast upon the translucent screens. Mariko was made