James Axler – Rat King

loosely, and with a snap of his wrist he jerked the scarf so that the metal

weights were propelled like a slingshot, catching Murphy on his right temple.

The sec man grunted and collapsed in a heap on the floor, his blaster falling

from his grip and clattering to the concrete. Ryan retrieved it, checked it and

had it in hand ready for use in one fluid motion. Without a closer check, Ryan

couldn’t tell if Murphy was still breathing. Certainly he was out cold, and for

some time. There was an indent in the side of his skull, a depression that was

already turning blue and weeping blood slowly.

That only left any possible danger from the two maintenance men. Jak took the

one nearer Doc, the one who had been cleaning the floor. The man had been

looking blankly at the action unfolding in front of him, and didn’t even notice

Jak until the wiry albino had his hands around the man’s throat. Then he slackly

turned his head, his dull eyes staring into the youth’s glowing red orbs with an

incomprehension of what was happening to him.

Jak twisted, snapping the man’s neck and watching the light in his eyes slowly

fade and extinguish. There was little change in his expression, as though he

hadn’t even taken in his own chilling.

The maintenance man who had been working on the sec-door control panel was more

of a problem. But not much. Just that bit detached from the action, being ten

feet in front of Mildred and J.B., he watched with an uncomprehending horror at

what was occurring.

Like the comp tech Murphy had tried to talk to earlier in the day, the

maintenance man was from a lower level in the colony, a level where mutie blood

and inbreeding had been more rife. Somewhere along the line, a stickie had

entered his family tree, as evinced by the suckered pads that spread out where

he should have had fingertips. It gave him a strong grip on the needle-thin

screwdriver he was holding, a piece of sharp, strong metal that would have no

problem penetrating bone, as well as flesh.

There was little intelligence in his brain, but a strong loyalty to the colony

that had been passed down since the earliest days of skydark. He was aware of

Murphy’s and Panner’s positions in the colony, and that he had to try to help

them.

With a wild yell he charged toward the group.

Mildred, like the others, had her attention focused on Murphy and Panner, aware

of the immediate danger from their blasters. She whirled, catching sight of the

maintenance man out of the corner of her eye as she began to turn. She threw her

balance back on one heel, and his wild, running thrust went past her.

Completely off balance, the maintenance man flailed wildly toward Dean, who

muttered an oath Krysty would have scolded him for using as he adopted a combat

stance.

He was ready for the man when he arrived. Moving under the tall mutie’s body,

which was bent forward at the waist by his momentum, Dean held his hand rigid

and drove his fingers into the man’s Adam’s apple.

A look of pain and shock crossed the mutie maintenance man’s face before his

mouth dribbled a pale pink mixture of blood and spittle over sharp teeth that

emphasized the stickie genes in him. It was followed a second later by a ribbon

of bright blood.

The suffocating man’s momentum pulled Dean down to the floor with him. The boy

cursed as he tried to get away from the flailing, gagging man.

“Come on, son,” Ryan said, pulling the man back by his hair so that Dean could

free himself.

“Go now, yes?” Jak asked.

“We should,” J.B. agreed, gesturing to a winking sec camera with his newly

acquired blaster. “They’ll be onto us soon enough. And they’ll be able to

follow.”

“Then shoot out sec cameras.”

Doc was on his feet, trying to brush himself off and avoid smearing Panner’s

blood on his clothes. He looked weary, as though the burst of activity had

drained him of energy. “Then, if I may make a suggestion of some use, it would