Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 11:22:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Gene McEnnis <corporeal09@yahoo.com>
Subject: Infected Heartstrings - Chapter 15

*Disclaimer:* If you are not permitted to read stories of this nature
please refrain from reading further.

No part of this story may be sold or replicated without express permission
of the author.

************************************************************************

Chapter 15

	Rubble lay strewn about at every conceivable angle and direction.
Large sections of the walls and most of the ceiling lay in heaps;
disjointed pieces of what they once were.  Similarly, Wade's mind tried to
piece together the chaotic events of only moments ago.
	Not two feet away was Charles' broken body, impaled on a large
spike several metres long, embedded deep inside his gut.  The jagged
metallic shards appeared to be pumping a black liquid into the gaping
wound.  Wade tried to move, tried to get to the other man, to help him
somehow, but the towering behemoth of flesh and metallic sinew got there
first.  Dragging him into the air, she regarded Charles with a look of pure
disgust and indignation.  With a face paled by shock and intense pain,
Charles gasped like a wounded fish desperate for water.
	"Foolish creature," her dual voice echoed, a mixture of humanity
and grating metal.  With the slightest movement, she flung him free of the
lances, as if discarding an insignificant bit of filth.  Charles' body went
hurtling into a nearby wall, which collapsed downwards on itself from the
impact.  What remained of Charles Jameson was soon buried and hidden from
view.
	Through the rubble of the collapsed wall, the distant rays of the
suns now streamed into the room, illuminating the billowing dust and the
crescent shapes of the creature's body as it turned back to face Wade,
hissing ominously.  The interplay of light and shadow would almost have
been hauntingly artistic in any other time or place.
	In a heartbeat, Wade had grasped Chuck's dropped firearm and was
vaulting backwards, away from the creature's rapidly slicing tendrils.
	But this time Wade was too late.
	One stray, metallic tendril sliced across his chest, ripping his
protective suit almost completely free, and leaving him exposed and
vulnerable.
	Wade landed in a small crouch, staggering as he clasped at his
chest tightly.  He could feel a warm wetness slowly spreading out from
between his fingers.  Looking down he could see the, all too familiar,
blush of red blood spattered over his hand and arm.
	"It seems we have become familiar with your ways, betrayers.."  the
creature smiled a sardonic and twisted smile that seemed to reach all the
way to her demonic yellowing eyes.
	Wade clenched his teeth tightly as ominous black lines spread
outwards, etching into his smooth, youthful skin from around the thin
wound.
	"Soon, you will be where you belong..." the creature's voice
trailed off, and her eyes suddenly grew wide as the black lines stopped
flowing.  One by one, each of the lines turned from black to a bronze
colour, before finally vanishing altogether. The wound itself had already
closed over in much the same manner.
	"Heh," Wade looked back with a smirk, "Not familiar enough."
	"Inconcievable!" the creature shrieked, lunging forward once more.
Her metallic blade-like projections glistening in the early morning light.
	This time, however, Wade was too quick for the monster, having
already launched himself safely out of harm's way, mere seconds before the
dagger like lances carved up the ground where he once stood.
	With a series of quick movements while in the air, Wade rigged his
weapon to unload its most powerful burst shot, as he landed high atop a
massive piece of concrete, covered in what looked like pieces of jagged
rebar.  It would deplete nearly all of the weapon's power, but it was worth
the risk, he decided.
	All or nothing.
	The image of Kylan's strong arms, as he showed the young man how to
rig the weapon to pull off this shot, shot through Wade's mind.  A small
twinge of uncertainty, and gut clenching terror, rippled through his body
as he remembered seeing the man's suit plummeting to the cold, hard ground
only moments ago.  A trail of smoke following him down.
	No time for that now, though...
	He took aim at the broken form of the naked woman imbedded into the
twisted body, and fired without a second thought.  The force from the shot
nearly knocked him flat on his ass.  When he had recovered his senses, Wade
turned and looked back to where he had almost fallen.  He could see that he
had only been inches away from a pit full of shattered debris that almost
seemed to be reaching up to claim him.  He sighed with relief.
	Soon, a soft, rhythmic laugh reached his ears, breaking the
stillness and illusion of the moment.
	There, in the middle of the strewn debris and refuse, was the
monstrosity.  It was crouched into itself, as the smoke cleared from the
gun's wake.  "Is that really your best?" she sneered at him, before
gathering herself up to her full height, high above the young man.
"Prepare yourselves!"  All at once, the creature plummeted down at him, as
he stood high atop the precipice, her claws outstretched in victory.
	Just as the deadly metal shards grew near, and all looked at an
end, two powerful shots rang out in the room, sending everything into a
frenzy of dust and fire.  Somehow, in the confusion, Wade managed to sling
himself from the top of the concrete slab and slide down the other side,
hopping to various foot holds, as he all but fell.
	When he finally made it to the ground, coughing and sputtering from
the choking dust in the air, the room was filled with the sound of a battle
suit propulsion pack.  He looked around quickly, not daring to hope for a
familiar face.  The blue halo from the suit's engine played strange shapes
in the clouds of smoke and dust.
	When the suit had finally settled down, Wade wondered forward,
covering his mouth to block the worst of the choking dust.  Suddenly a
strong pair of arms grasped him tightly from behind.  He panicked,
struggling desperately, but the stronger arms held him tight.
	"Relax," a deep, baritone voice whispered in his ear.
	As soon as Kylan released him, Wade spun on his heels and grasped
the other man tightly, "I... I..." was all that he could say.
	Kylan looked down at him, his jaw slightly agape, as if speechless.
	"I thought you'd left me behind."
	"Not this time," Kylan smiled, "Hopefully never again."
	"Where's the battle suit you flew in with?" Wade asked, stepping
back.
	Kylan drew his holstered weapon as the dust began to settle.
	"But why'd you get out?" he asked, "We need to finish this!  That
thing will recover soon and-" but Kylan was no longer listening.  Instead
he approached the creature, as it struggled to stand up again.
	The creature reared back, towering impressively above them, its
massive claws aching to tear apart flesh, and its eyes glistening with
hatred.  With a deafening scream, it launched herself forward.
	"Kylan!" Wade called, racing forward, his heart hammering away in
his chest.
	Kylan put one hand up to stop him, as the creature kept pressing
forward.  Soon it would be too late to stop.
	"Aleksandra."
	The creature recoiled as if struck.  It stepped back, like a kitten
scolded for playing with the wrong toy.  It looked down at the newcomer
with wide eyes.
	"...Richard?" it asked, quietly.  Its voice had lost most of the
grating metallic edge that it had once possessed.
	Kylan nodded, "Yeah Aleks."
	"Richard," its eyes brimmed with tears, "Oh Richard I can't find
Clayton."  It was sobbing now, Wade could see that most of the yellow in
what was left of the human female part's eyes were beginning to clear.
	"Aleks."
	"I...  I need to find him Richard," it cried, "He could be hurt
and-"
	"Aleks, listen to me now."
	The creature nodded slowly, looking back at him with tear filled
eyes.
	"Clayton's gone.  He passed away years ago, even before I left that
summer."
	Her voice caught in a soft cry, like a wounded animal finally
dying.  "No!"  It shook its head back and forth, "No... No it can't be."
	"I'm so sorry."
	"But...I saw him," it sobbed, "I saw my baby."
	"He's not in pain anymore, Aleks."
	As the woman embedded inside the creature cried, one by one the
tattered faces of the fake children imbedded in her body began to fade and
drop off, like a multitude of amputated limbs.  Each one faded into dust
before reaching the floor, illuminated into millions of sparkling particles
in the streamers of morning light.
	Wade turned around, just in time, to see the little boy he had just
rescued stand up from behind a fallen slab of concrete.  The boy waved to
him with one tired arm and, just as Wade was about to return the gesture,
the boy too dissolved into nothingness.
	"Richard," the woman sobbed, wrapping her arms around her
chest. "Richard...  I'm all alone now.  Mom...Blaine....Clayton...even
you..."
	"That's not true," Kylan raised the weapon, took aim and fired a
single pulse at the creature.  Aleksandra's chest burst open right over her
heart, like a red flower coming into bloom.  She staggered backwards, her
eyes wide and disbelieving, before a thin smile played across her lips.
"They're all waiting for you."
	Aleksandra smiled down at him, as the sinews of the creature began
to unravel.  She looked over at the two men before her, and spoke to Kylan
one last time, "I'm happy to see that you found him, again," she tried to
smile before she too collapsed into the floor and dissolved into silvery
dust.
	"Kylan?" Wade asked, "How'd you know her anchor point?"
	"Go to the heart of the matter," Kylan smiled sadly, as he looked
around at the mess of rubble and destroyed machinery strewn about.
	Wade looked at him expectantly.
	"It's nothing," Kylan said finally, "Anyway, aren't you going to
ask me about the whole 'Richard' thing?"
	"It was the name you used when you first met me."
	"What?" Kylan asked, stepping back in shock.
	"Huh?" Wade blinked, "did I say something wrong?"
	Kylan opened his mouth to speak, but a sound to the far side of the
room caused both men to spin around and draw what weapons they had left.
	"Oh git off yer high horses, you damned cavaliers," Hank's tired
voice wheezed as the bulky man rounded the corner.
	"Hank," Kylan smiled with relief, lowering his weapon.
	"The right same," the man spat, "you two took so long that I
figured I'd better come and rescue your hides, now hadn't I?"
	Kylan and Wade exchanged looks.
	"Uh, Hank.  Kylan got back safely and Chuck just...died."
	"What?" Kylan asked, spinning around, "What...? How the fuck...?"
	Hank shook his head, "Nothing we can do for him now.  He was a good
man, but we can be happy to know that there aint enough of him left for
those damn machines to use anyhow.  I mean, they could use him fer spare
parts and..."
	"That's more than enough, thank you Hank," Kylan raised his hand to
the larger man.  "We can grieve our losses later, right now we need to
rendezvous with the pickup units in low orbit.  We don't have much time."
	"Right," Wade replied, "How many suits do we have left anyway?"
	"Uh...." Kylan stopped, blushing a healthy shade of pink.
	"What's wrong?"
	"What happened to your inner-suit Wade?"
	"Huh...?" Wade looked down, realizing for the first time that he
was left with very few clothes, save for tight fitting underwear that did
not leave much to the imagination.  "I...uh..."
	"Were you hurt in the fight?" Kylan asked, stepping forward.
	"...No!" Wade said, a little too quickly, "Just got my suit torn is
all."  Wade's mind was already replaying the infected wound's miraculous
healing only moments ago.  He looked down at his torso and protectively
clasped one arm over the newly healed flesh as if it would turn black at
any second.
	"Holy shit! What was that scar on your shoulder from?" Kylan asked,
reaching out with questioning fingers.
	"Years ago," Wade stepped back and out of the way, still covering
the other healed wound tightly "Got it years ago and-"
	Hank snorted, "The kid here'll just have to go through extra
decontamination when we get back, is all.  He doesn't seem like a fuckin'
machine to me...  Anyway!  We're wasting time sitting here yammering!
Jones' suit is all fixed up and Chuck left his suit outside."
	Wade crossed his arms even more tightly over his naked chest
self-consciously, "So... ahh?"
	Hank pressed on, "I'll squeeze into Chuck's suit and the two of you
will have to share Jones's."
	This time it was Wade's turn to blush, "Will we fit?" he asked,
almost to himself.
	Hank was nonplused, "Sure, it'll be cosy but we're all men here,"
he grinned wholeheartedly, slapping Wade hard on the shoulder.
	"Sounds good," Kylan replied, grasping Wade by the other shoulder
and leading him off to one side.  "Contact us by intercom when you're good
to go Hank.  Chuck's suit was pretty close by, from the last reading I
took."
	"Gotcha, Jones!" The large man half saluted, as turned and limped
off toward the front of the building.
	"But...I..." Wade stammered as they ran quickly back to the parked
suit.
	"I'll get in first so I can operate the controls," Kylan said,
hopping into the suit with ease.
	Wade was still blushing.
	"You just need to be sure not to make any contact with the suit
itself so we don't have a repeat of the weirdness of the last time."
	"Weirdness?" Wade asked.
	"You know, when first your suit came apart, then Hank's suit
failed.  We can't risk another situation like that so we have to be
careful," he replied.  Kylan looked down at a flashing panel and flicked a
button, "Looks like Hank is good to go," he said.
	Hank's booming voice filled the immediate area, "Damn right I'm
good to go!  Now quit yer yapping and shack up!"
	"You heard the man," Kylan winked as he switched off the intercom.
"Wrap your arms around my neck and be careful not to touch any of the
sides."
	Wade nodded.  With a small flip and mid-air summersault, he ended
up suspended upside-down above Kylan with his palms braced against the
other man's shoulders.
	Kylan smirked as Wade slowly dropped his legs and torso down into
the suit, sliding tightly against the contours of the other man's body as
he went.
	"Oof," Wade grunted when he dropped into the suit only to be caught
by Kylan's strong arms.
	"Careful now," Kylan said, his breath warm against Wade's exposed
neck.  "I still need to secure the internal straps."  In a second, with a
flick of a button, Wade was strapped tightly to Kylan's chest, his arms
encircling the other man's neck, more for comfort than for support.
	Wade could feel himself becoming excited, and closed his eyes
tightly as if to will those thoughts from his mind.  'Not now!' he thought,
'Oh please, please, pleeeease not now!'
	Both men felt a rumbling tremor through the area as the protective
coating of the battle suit shifted into place, protecting them.  Kylan
brought up the panel communicator, and an image of Hank's face was
displayed on screen, along with several readouts from the local area.
	"They're coming for us, Jones!" Hank hollered, "It's now or never."
	With a flick of the wrist, Kylan sent the battle suit into the air
and through a new hole in the side of building, "We're coming out, Hank.
Give us cover!"
	From inside the suit, nestled against Kylan's warm body, Wade felt
like he was in another world.  His mind drifted back to his days on his
home planet, when he felt warm and secure in the arms of his lover.  As his
mind dreamed of that time, something else started to bubble up into his
mind, images and memories that didn't quite fit.  Somehow both alien and
familiar.  Yet, even as he dreamed of these images of yesterday, of lives
on far away planets, the steady heartbeat of the man with whom he was tied
compelled him forward.  Forward to the days they spent in training, to the
furtive glances, the missed signals, the pushed aside conversations.
	It wasn't long before they broke through the atmosphere.  Even
before weightlessness hit him fully, he felt the weight he had been
carrying around for years attempting to leave him.  Wade looked back at the
planet with clear, almost unnatural, shimmering blue eyes that seemed to
glow from within.  When Kylan looked down to ask if Wade was alright, his
warm lips parted in question, Wade reached up and drew the two together in
a tight embrace.
	Their eyes closed, lost in the moment, they could not see the
approach of the pickup ship, nor Hank' incessant hooting and hollering over
the intercom about a monumental escape.

****************************************************************** Author's
notes:

Sorry about the delay folks.  We're back on board and rapidly approaching
the end!

	What's up with Allan?  Will we ever find out what's been going on?
	Why did the infection change colour from gold to silver?
	What the hell is up with Wade anyway!?  How did he get that other scar?
	Is Blaine a rabid Chihuahua on his days off?
	What really happened to the safeties in the training pool?

All your questions, and more, will be revealed all too soon as we count
down the final five chapters (and one last one, for a decent conclusion).
Don't miss out!

Again a big thank you to Kane!

Cheers,

Gene

Corporeal09@yahoo.com if you have any miraculous insight into the story,
dirty jokes/limericks etc