Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2007 13:27:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Gene McEnnis <corporeal09@yahoo.com>
Subject: Infected Heartstrings - Chapter 7

*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 7:

	Wade sat bolt upright.
	Allan's old shirt sailed clear across the room and landed in a heap
moments before the sounds of screams and explosions reached his ears.  It
took him several moments to realize that he was no longer dreaming and even
longer to find the door.
	As sirens continued to bleat incessantly, firelight marred the
night sky an ominous orange-red.  As Wade stumbled into the open expanse of
the compound the ground suddenly shook with the force of a nearby
explosion, sending him stumbling to his knees.
	This was no dream.
	This was real.
	A young soldier passed close to Wade, "What the hell is going on?"
he asked, grabbing the man's uniform tightly and shaking him as he spoke.
	The soldier blinked dazedly and tried in vain to respond.  A moment
before he spoke, the young man's eyes widened in horror and his whole body
started shaking with fear.  Wade could just make out the reflection of
something large and swaying in the boy's wide eyes.  With a look of sheer
terror, the young man writhed free of Wade's grip and bolted away into the
flowing crowd as fast as his legs could manage.
	He started after the boy but stopped as a horrendous screeching
sound filled the whole area.  Wade tried to turn around but in vain - he
was knocked sideways as the ground shook and gargantuan pieces of the
nearby roof rained down landed just inches from his face.  In the cold,
silver roof metal Wade could see his own tattered reflection and the
reflection of a large form looming high above.
	Wade rolled slowly onto his back, his breath caught as his throat
quickly constricted.  There, towering over the compound was a behemoth of
metal and slick black tendrils that shone bronze in the amber glow of the
nearby carnage.  Its body was a sick exaggeration of humanoid features
except for the twisted appendages and gnarled tendrils that marked its form
like fetid tree roots.  Its hide was a patchwork of bronze interlacing
metallic ligaments that were intricately designed and seemed to somehow
shift and flow with each vast movement of the creature's towering body as
though it was alive.  All around Wade, streams of people poured and
cascaded across the grounds like dirty water from a broken dam.
	Wade's eyes clouded over as he stood now, rooted in place as people
ran by.  It all seemed so unreal.  He looked to the old, familiar side
building, his thoughts were primal and fragmented but something eventually
fell into place.
	The receiving and examination rooms.
	"Allan," he whispered.  He started across the compound, fighting
desperately to get through the thronging crowd.
	Sudden movement high above alerted the raven-haired young man.
Turning to face the beast, Wade watched in horror as the monster reared
back and let out a hideous, unimaginable scream that overwhelmed the din
far below and stopped the human stampede in its tracks.  Trained soldiers,
civilians, everyone stopped, clutching their ears and frozen with fear.
Explosions rocked the earth as a formation of low altitude speeder vessels
flew overhead, lacing at the creature with a fury of pulse rounds.  Wade
stood transfixed as the ripple from the weapons distorted the night sky.
With surprising speed the creature's huge arm launched forward like liquid
toffee before it coalesced into a sharp blade, slicing through two of the
vessels in one arcing swipe.
	With its snout rippling and distorting as it howled victoriously,
the bronze behemoth cast about for its next target.  Wade covered his
ringing ears and ran quickly into the nearby building and down the old,
dingy corridor.  Light fixtures and frayed wires swayed limply from the
roof as he ran past.
	"Allan!" he screamed, cupping his hands to his face.  A steady flow
of terrified and broken people still passed by the lone man struggling
against the tide.  In the distance, he could see streamers of sparks that
cascaded from broken ceiling outlets like stunted firecrackers.  With the
far wall in ruins, Wade stumbled and slowly climbed his way through the
wreckage.  Barely recognisable bodies were strewn under the shadowed rubble
haphazardly.  Some people tried to move, to blindly call out, but Wade did
not hear them as he climbed.  In some recess of his mind, Wade was still
sleeping, unwilling - or unable - to wake up.  The stark reality of his
shattered life lay just beyond the grasping fingers of his numb
consciousness.
	Turning the corner he could see the night sky through wrecked
debris that once made up the spacious examination room.  Scanning the
wreckage, his eyes finally found what they were desperately searching for.
	"Allan!" he cried, "Oh god!"  He ran towards the prone form of his
lover, stumbling as he went.  Wade's heart nearly leaped free of his chest
when he saw Allan pinned under a fallen piece of concrete, blood and soot
marring the proud features.
	"Allan?" he called.  Placing one hand to the side of his lover's
face as if it would shatter at the slightest contact.  Wade's whole body
shook as he knelt in the debris.  He didn't know when the tears had started
to flow, but soon his eyes stung and his vision was blurry.  He tried to
choke back the grief but a small howl still managed to escape his lips.
	"Ugh..."
	Wade's breath caught for a moment, "Oh god Allan," he choked,
"I... I -"
	"Wade?" Allan croaked, wincing as his eyes blinked back the heavy
dust.
	"Can you move?"
	Somehow Allan managed a weak smile, "I could move a whole lot
better without this bastard sitting on me," he said, groaning.
	Wade breathed freely for the first time since waking from the
nightmare. "Hang in there," he said, bracing his legs on either side of the
weight that pinned his lover, Wade gripped the nearest metal bar that stuck
out of the concrete and tensed.  His eyes closed, the terror from his dream
flooded back in an instant.  In that instant the feeling in his mind
changed and formed into a nameless, faceless dread.  A dread of losing the
last thing, the last person he held dear.
	The last thing to hold.
	His eyes snapped open and his body responded with all of the
strength that he could muster, his adrenaline flowing.  Below him, he could
hear Allan grunt and strain as he too tried to move the dead weight.
Wade's core, his very bones, ached and screamed with the strain - screamed
at him to stop.
	"Arrgh!" Allan gasped as the broken slab of concrete was finally
lifted from his body.  "Ho boy," he breathed, free at last.
	"Oh god, that looks deep," Wade said quietly, looking down at
Allan's shoulder.  The fabric of the once crisp uniform was now blotched
with an earthy crimson.
	Allan just grunted in pain.
	The tears didn't stop. "Can you move?" Wade repeated between gulps
of breath.
	"...I don't think anything's broken," Allan said grasping his left
shoulder tightly.  "So much for our night to remember hey?" he said.
	Wade moved close to Allan and supported the larger man's
weight. "One way or other I'm sure we'll remember tonight," he said.
	"If we live through it," Allan coughed, wincing in pain.  A moment
later an explosion rocked the examination room nearly sending both men
sprawling.
	"Suck it up soldier and move your ass!" Wade smiled.  Allan's smile
reached his tired and bloodshot eyes.
	The two men got to their feet and slowly hobbled back the way Wade
had come through earlier.  The ground continued to shake intermittently
making their footing treacherous.
	Soon they passed back into the outside word, back into the surreal
compound once more.  Overhead a solitary speeder fell from the sky like a
macabre falling star, it's engine trail sparking in desperation as it fell.
As the shower of bright sparks cascaded over the pair like a brilliant and
mournful rain Allan muttered, "You were right you know."  In the distance,
the explosion from the fallen ship slammed hard into their backs.
	"It doesn't matter anymore love," Wade said finally after a pause.
"We just need to get clear."
	No sooner had he uttered those words than a guttural cry sounded
high in the glowing night sky.  The two men turned in time to watch the
mechanical abomination's body elongate high into the sky like a pressurized
fountain of molten bronze and for a moment time seemed to hang as the
creature reached the zenith of its jump.
	Tentacles of liquid metal tensed high in the air and seemed to
shimmer in the firelight.  Wade watched in horror as the tentacles became
fused into a giant, razor sharp blade that plummeted to the ground once
again.
	Gripped by terror, both men turned and stumbled as quickly as they
could towards the open fields just beyond the main compound.
	They didn't make it clear in time.
	Wade could feel the shockwave before it hit them, knocking the air
from their lungs and sending both men flying high into the air, sailing far
away from the monster and the remnants of their former little lives.
	As Wade stopped rolling and came to his senses he could see the
impact striations that now interlaced the ground below.  His heart pounded
and his eyes grew wide in realization.  Faster than he had ever moved
before, Wade was on his feet and trying desperately to get Allan moving
once more.  As they stumbled forward Wade looked back to see what was left
of the main compound slowly start to sink into an ominously growing pit.
As a nearby building sank, the other buildings that were left standing
began to sway.  One by one, each battered construction slowly toppled over
and finally sank to its final resting place.
	Below their feet, the lines of striations started to move and
shift.
	"Shit," Wade muttered.
	Wade urged both of them forward at a dangerous pace, careless of
the danger.  The bits of ground around them were shaking and starting to
sink.
	"L...leave me," Allan gasped, his eyes were slow and unfocused with
exertion and pain.  "Damnit Wade," he nearly cried, "I...  I love you."
	Wade wasn't listening by that time, he could feel Allan's weight
centre as he supported the larger man.  Using his last moment of solid
ground Wade twisted his hips and grabbed Allan's body firmly with both
hands.  He stepped to the side, his body screaming with strain, and using
Allan's weight and momentum he launched his lover high into the air.
	He waited for a moment to see Allan's body roll to a stop on solid
ground beyond the blast radius.
	That moment would cost him.
	As the ground shattered under his feet, Wade stumbled.  As he fell
his feet soon found a large hard piece of earth as both of them fell
backwards.  Bracing against it, Wade leaped forward, his hands grasped onto
a stray root as the rest of the large, uprooted tree hurtled dangerously
towards him.  Clasping the root he arched his spine so that he landed with
a small flip on the lower portion of the trunk, his body screaming in pain
from the aerial manoeuvre.  Once more he launched himself skyward with all
the strength he had left.  His fingers just brushed the edge of the chasm,
struggling to catch hold of solid ground once again, but he was too late;
his timing had been off and his legs were just not strong enough.
	With arms flailing in vain, Wade dropped into the darkness.
	In mid-fall, his one hand connected briefly with solid earth and in
desperation he pulled himself forward, hands digging deeply into the wall
as he fell.  Nails, fingers, skin; everything screamed in pain as he clung
to the side of the gaping hole, slowly coming to a halt.  He tried
desperately to call out, to call for help, but his lungs were burning with
panic and strain.
	Finally after agonizing moments of spasming pain his fingers gave
way and he felt himself falling backwards once more.  As his body yielded
to gravity's embrace, something rough grazed his cheek.  Reflexively his
arms responded, clutching madly forward.  It took his mind a few moments to
realize that he was grasping a long chord of frayed rope, his body swinging
out from the ragged cliff face.
	Hanging on the rope, he heard a familiar voice call down, "We're
pulling you clear Wade, hang on."
	Within seconds he had cleared the dusty side of the gaping chasm
and rolled onto solid ground, gasping desperately like a landed fish.  He
turned his head and looked up to find the face of a man he had once
resented, once hated.  "C... Corrigan," he said between gasps.
	The old man smiled down at him with a gap tooth grin and eyes that
shone like gold in the moonlight.  "Expecting someone else, boy?"  Wade
could see Allan a few feet off, breathing heavy and leaning against a light
transport unit.  Allan still clutched his shoulder tightly.
	Wade looked back at the devastation that he had once called home,
"Was that the device your men found...?" he asked finally.
	"We brought it back here," Corrigan said as he surveyed the
destruction.
	Before Wade had a chance to respond, Allan jumped in, "Damn thing
was playing us Wade," he said.
	"Fuckin' ploy," Corrigan spat on the ground, "Soon as our tech boys
got it back here to run some tests, the damn thing sprang up and all hell
broke loose."  Wade could see something ominous behind the old man's eyes
as his scruffy grey hair blew around in the evening air.
	"Why didn't we have safeguards or... or precautions in place?" Wade
asked, leaning against the transport vehicle.  The rumbling in the shadowy
crater grew louder.
	Corrigan was silent for a moment before replying. "Seems the powers
that be wanted the tech from this thing quickly and to hell with caution."
	"Where the hell were you when this all went down anyway, Corrigan?"
Wade asked, propping himself up to a sitting position.
	"Easy Wade.  He was still in the field," Allan winced.
	Corrigan nodded, his eyes still shone brightly, "We were on our way
to the other crash sites around the southern hemisphere."
	"You mean...?"
	The old man turned to fix Wade with a stern look, "I was talking
with the chief technical officer when the attack happened here.  I saw the
whole damn thing."  Corrigan's face tensed as he spoke, "Pulled back as
soon as attack happened but," he paused, his eyes drinking deeply in the
despairing depths of the expanding crater, "by the time I arrived it was
over."
	"What about the other crash sites?" Wade asked as he struggled to
his feet, still shaken.
	"We have multiple teams en route to greet our new friends," the
burly old man smirked.
	"They'd better bring some heavy fire power," Wade sighed, looking
at his fingers that were still bleeding from his ordeal.  Corrigan remained
silent.  He glanced over at his lover who was now propped up against the
small transport unit, "Are you alright Allan?" he asked.
	Nodding, Allan brushed small metal fragments from the deep gashes
on his exposed shoulder, "Just got some crap in this cut from that machine
when it came to life.  I'll live."
	Wade's stomach tightened for some reason as he watched his lover
pick the metal from his wound.  As the metal hit the ground he could swear
he saw it contract and move slightly from the impact.
	"What is it?" Corrigan asked gruffly.
	"Nothing," Wade quickly replied.  He looked back at the hole in the
earth, a dim glow still visible from the fires. "Well, what now?" he asked.
"Are they bringing in the big guns?"
	Corrigan sighed, "No," he said finally.  "They want to salvage as
much of these things as possible."
	"Typical," Wade spat, "What other good news do you have for us?"
	"Hmm," the old man smirked, "Better pack light boys because all too
soon we brave the abyss."  As he spoke, all three men looked into the
unfathomable darkness that was gathering far below.
	"Perfect."

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Author's note:
	Well, here's your second taste of what they're up against.  In the
upcoming chapters when we once again delve into Wade's past, it gets so
much more interesting ;) [at least to me it does haha]

I've been meaning to attach these for a while now...  The two pics are
slightly different variations on a character that we have yet to meet.
(I'm still not sure which one is better =/) I hope you like 'em.

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/2117/infectedheartsmoonlighteb8.jpg
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/4674/infectedheartsmoonlightuo3.jpg

Enjoy,

-Gene