James Axler – Watersleep

The older man had stepped up to the door of the cell now and placed his ear against it. “Sounds like they’re inside with the girl,” he observed.

“Lucky them,” Fade retorted.

“Think they could hurt her?” Murphy asked.

“Naw. Not as long as she doesn’t turn her back on them,” Fade said. “Besides, what the hell difference does it make? Once the Admiral gives the order, we’re going to pull a fuck train on that little morsel that’ll cause her to be walking on her hands for months afterward.”

“Oh, yeah?” Murphy was interested now. He felt the telltale sensations of an erection starting to grow in his denims. “I didn’t know that. I haven’t gotten laid in months.”

“Hell, yeah! I heard that, bro. You know how Po­seidon feels about women. Thinks they carry disease. Said we could do as we wished as long as we wore protection,” Fade said with a chuckle. “Protection. She’s gonna need it! I’m gonna ride that bitch so hard, she’s liable to split in two. God damn, but I love the military!”

Fade stood up and walked over to Murphy. “Take a seat, Pops. Let me take a listen. If there are rats in there, I don’t want them touching that girl ‘fore I do.”

The two men switched positions. Murphy sat at the small industrial green desk and picked up the deck of well-worn playing cards that Fade had been shuffling earlier. The middle drawer of the desk was crammed full with old porn mags that were near rags, and var­ious other sedentary amusements to help pass the time when watching over a prisoner.

Meanwhile, Fade listened.

“Nothing,” he announced.

“No, no, you gotta bend down. The sound is coming down lower. You think rats would be standing six feet high or what?” Murphy said.

Fade shot his companion a glare, but went ahead and got down on his knees. He leaned into the door, and damned if the older guy wasn’t right. He did hear some scratching sounds.

Suddenly the sounds abruptly ceased. He pressed his ear closer and waited for them to start a second time.

By doing so, Fade never saw what was coming as the door crashed hard into his skull and shoulder from the terrific two-handed push delivered from the inside, a push of such force the steel frame came free along with the locked door, dripping bits of metal, plaster and wood. The end result was the temporary immo­bilization of the sec man on the floor, and a jagged hole where the cell door had been.

Standing there, framed in the ruin and still wearing the beatific smile, was Krysty.

“Knock, knock,” she said in an innocent whisper.

Her eyes shone with cold fire now, the pupils blaz­ing as she took in the scene. The two men reacted as quickly as they humanly could, which didn’t mean a thing to the voluptuous creature now in their midst. The parts of herself Krysty called human had been submerged, replaced with a red molten force. A lover of life and all it entailed, she was now the destroyer, no longer a creator, no longer a preserver.

In the killing state of mind Krysty had been forced to induce within herself, the sec men who had brought her here and locked her away were now moving in slow motion. Pathetic. The red mist of death swamped her mind. There would be no reasoning with her now.

No begging.

No mercy.

Fade was the first to die. He had managed to shift the broken door from his body and crawl away, scut­tling on his hands and knees to a point where he could spin and pump a full clip of hot ammo into this crazy witch.

Krysty idly watched him as she might have ob­served an insect seeking refuge from being stepped on. The thought made her body temperature glow even hotter.

With ferocious velocity, Krysty’s right boot shot out, catching Fade in the ear and jaw. Cartilage tore, and the eye socket of the man’s skull shattered like a dropped eggshell. The upper part of his jawbone broke and tore away from the connecting tissue and muscle.

The end result was shocking. To Fade, and to the watching Murphy, she’d moved so fast the kick had barely registered, until the lower half of the man’s face went from whole and solid to hanging like a wet burlap sack full of marbles. Unintelligible screams were coming from his throat and out of his ruined mouth and nose, a mix of snot and blood dripping from his nostrils.