Kitty Katt 11: Alien Separation (18 page)

B
ECAUSE WE ONLY
had nine bosthoon left, Hughes, Walker, and I were close enough that we could shout and hear each other. Plus the katyhoppers were helping with sound transference.

“We need to keep them moving,” I told the guys. “But the moment they see the snakipedes I'm pretty sure the bosthoon are going to panic.”

“Who the hell can blame them?” Walker said. “I can see them and I'd like to wet myself. And I'm not actually afraid of snakes.”

“I am. And if I'm not peeing my pants, you guys don't get to, either.”

Jeff and Christopher arrived with the last caravan wagon. “Get to the shelter,” Jeff shouted at us. “Leave the last ones and get to safety.”

“We will,” I totally lied. “But you two get going first, so we can cover you on the way back.”

Jeff shot me a look that said he didn't buy it for a New York Minute. But Christopher just nodded. “Jeff, she's right. Let's go.”

They disappeared and we moved closer to our five remaining bosthoon. The animals had picked up the scent or something about what was coming. I knew this because I could feel their panic and terror. But we had them in a tight formation, and they didn't break from it.

I could see our destination in the distance. The snakipedes were about as far away from us as the cavern. However, they were going much faster than we were.

The Big Birds arrived and took our last bosthoon in their claws, but they were all flying low and slow. They were going faster than the bosthoon could, but not nearly as fast as they'd been earlier. And not fast enough to beat the snakipedes.

Hughes, Walker, and I didn't talk—we just rose high up in the air to meet the snakipedes before they headed down and at least distract them from their targets.

Of course, one snakipede had been bad. And we were facing twenty of them. They were flying in an altered goose formation, with three in the front and the others behind them. Did another fast count. Oh, goody. We weren't facing twenty. We were facing twenty-one. Naturally.

Wanted to throw up, run away, or just plain scream. But I did none of those things, and neither did Hughes or Walker.

What we all did was start shooting.

We'd each taken one of the lead snakipedes and were firing at them. Wasn't sure if we were too far away for the bullets to hit or not, but as with superbeings, the guns definitely made you feel a little better and like maybe the fight was more even.

One clip emptied, I rummaged around in my purse for another, not that it appeared to be doing any good at this distance. “A machine gun, a machine gun, my kingdom for a machine gun.”

And proving that Algar had indeed decided that my purse was now a portable portal, lo and behold, my hand hit a large piece of metal. Pulled out a nice machine gun complete with a long belt of ammo already loaded and ready to go.

“Thank you so very much,” I said to my purse. Looked up. The snakipedes were far too close. Aimed and started firing in a broad back-and-forth pattern so I'd hit all three of the lead monsters. “Snakipedes, say hello to my leettle friend!”

If I hadn't been enhanced the recoil would have knocked me off Pinky. As it was, I could just barely stay on his back. On the other hand, the machine gun was doing what I needed it to—cutting through all three lead snakipedes.

Three Horror Heads exploded and three Horror Bods fell to the ground. Kept on firing in the same strafing pattern. Next line was down just like the first. This machine gun was a godsend. Or rather, an Algarsend.

As I started on the third line, registered that Hughes was shouting at me. Risked a look around. Hughes and Walker were okay, and both were indicating that it was time to get out of the air. Checked the ground and saw the last Big Bird fly inside the cavern.

Nodded to the guys. “Start down. Pinky and I will follow you and hold them off!”

All three katyhoppers started to fly toward the cavern's entrance, Saffron and Turkey going faster than Pinky. Unfortunately, the remaining snakipedes saw their prey moving and they broke formation. “Go, go, go!” I shouted, to Pinky and the guys.

We all sped up. I was still firing the machine gun, but it wasn't nearly so easy to shoot turned around on Pinky's back, and I wasn't hitting any one of the snakipedes enough to kill now. And, to make things just that much more exciting, as I tried to aim better and rapid fire at the same time, I lost hold of the gun. Which did not do me a solid and shoot the snakipedes as it was falling to the ground. It didn't shoot any of us, either, so chose to take that as, if not one for the win column, at least not a total failure.

I imagined that I could feel snakipede breath on my neck, but I didn't turn around. I was a sprinter and I'd learned a long time ago that sprinters who turned around while running were sprinters who lost their races. Sure, I wasn't running, but my shifting could affect Pinky, and he and I didn't need that.

All the flyboys and Chuckie were in the cavern mouth, and they were all firing. Ducked down as Pinky and I zoomed in. Flipped off his back and took a look. I hadn't imagined that snake breath on my neck.

The snakipede head exploded just outside of the cavern mouth. As it did so, all three katyhoppers sprayed stuff out of their butts. Realized that they'd covered most of the cavern's mouth already—presumably Turkey and Saffron had done so before Hughes and Walker had joined me—because I could recognize the way the solidified butt juice looked.

The snakipedes were fooled, at least somewhat. They were only trying to get in at the point where Hughes, Walker, and I had come in, not at any other part of the entrance.

Was going to contribute to the gunplay when I heard the sounds of trouble from inside the cavern. Ran back and deeper in to find Jeff holding back a couple of Lecanora. Minks, by the look of them.

“What's wrong?”

“One of their kids is missing,” Jeff said, sounding tense and upset. “I have no idea how. Or where. We didn't see anyone out when we were going back and forth.”

“Ginger, Wilbur!” The ocellar and chocho ran to me. “Are any animals missing? Any at all?” They ran off to do head counts. “Someone needs to search inside the caverns. Christopher, you'll do that fastest.”

He nodded and zipped off.

Wilbur bounded back and bark-honked quietly. “Okay, all chochos are accounted for, even puplets.”

“Puplets?” Jeff asked.

“Puppy piglets.”

“Why did I ask? Look, we have to do something and find their child.” He indicated the mink couple he was holding back. There were several kids of varying sizes standing behind them, all looking worried.

“Boy or girl?”

“Our youngest daughter,” the mother mink sobbed, as Ginger returned.

Ginger yowled softly. “Gotcha. So, your daughter likes the ocellars a lot and has a favorite kitten, doesn't she?”

The father mink nodded. “They don't belong to us, though. They are Nanda's.”

“Well, one of them is your daughter's now.” If I was able to find the two little ones, that was. “What's her name?”

“Patrina.”

Christopher returned. “Didn't find her. But there's what looks like a tunnel in here. She might have gone down it, but I doubt it. I ran a good ways and found no one.”

“Jeff and Christopher, stay here and keep all the others here. Start getting everyone organized and head them into the tunnel Christopher found. We're going to assume that the tunnel goes somewhere, and even if it doesn't, it'll be easier to fight off the snakipedes one by one.”

“The tunnel's narrow enough that we can't get the wagons in, so yeah, it'll limit what the snakipedes can do,” Christopher said.

“What are you going to be doing?” Jeff asked in a tone of voice that said he already knew and didn't approve.

“What I do best—improvising.” He started to argue and I put up my hand. “I can talk to the animals and you can't. I'm going to find them based on the ocellar kitten that's missing. I can go faster than the snakipedes. And you just said we had to help, and we do.”

With that I turned and ran for the cavern's opening, Ginger at my heels.

The guys were holding the snakipedes off and had even killed a couple. But all that meant was that we still had over a dozen alive and seriously pissed.

Grabbed Chuckie. “We have a kid and a kitten missing. I'm going after them. I'm assuming that the kitten got spooked and ran out and the kid ran after it and no one noticed in all the chaos, but I could be wrong. I need cover fire, then you guys need to be ready to run for the back. Christopher found a tunnel and it goes a long way. We're going to bet on it leading somewhere.”

“Jeff let you do this?” Chuckie sounded like he didn't believe it.

“Not really. But he's having to deal with the families.”

“And I left that to Christopher,” Jeff said from behind me. “I'm coming with you.”

Made eye contact with Chuckie and told him that Jeff wouldn't be able to protect me from these things and would slow me down. I none too gently suggested Chuckie do his Vulcan Nerve Pinch thing.

Proving that the mind reading was still working, Chuckie reached over, grabbed Jeff's shoulder right by his neck, did something, and then caught Jeff as he went down. “He's going to want to kill me when he wakes up, and if you don't come back safely I'll let him,” Chuckie said.

“Things to live for are always good. Ginger, you're staying here, too.” She didn't look happy. “Trust me, I'll find them. I promise.”

And with that, I ran through the small opening that didn't have katyhopper butt fluid over it yet. Right toward the gaping maw of a snakipede.

H
YPERSPEED WAS THE
best thing ever. Oh sure, faster healing and regeneration was nothing to complain about, but being faster than anything else around remained the best thing I'd gotten from my enhancement.

Yes, the snakipede was close to me when I left, and yes, it struck as it saw and smelled me moving. But it missed.

Sadly, I heard a cracking sound, meaning that it had hit the katyhopper's shield. That wouldn't hold long, especially with more than one snakipede there. Hoped Chuckie would get the rest of them back with the caravan and through the tunnels, but I didn't have high hopes.

I went for the machine gun first, in part to get away from the mass of writhing snakipedes, and in other part to have an effective weapon with me. Managed to find it because it had fallen near a dead snakipede body and because I could run around really fast until I found it.

Weapon in hand, I ran around the area near to the cavern. So far, the snakipedes hadn't noticed that I was out, but that probably wasn't going to last too long. I had to find the two missing members of King Benny's flock quickly to have a hope of getting them and me back into safety. And I had to do it before we lost the light, and that, based on the long shadows everywhere, was going to be really soon.

Naturally they weren't close by, because that would have been too much like right. On the other hand, not being too close meant I had a hope of finding them before a snakipede did.

Found a boulder bigger than me and hid behind it. Not because I needed to rest—the adrenaline rush that fight or flight gave me was turned up well past eleven, since I wanted to both fight and flee very badly—but because I needed to concentrate.

Took my all-too-common deep breath and let it out slowly. Didn't want to, but I closed my eyes and sent my mind out.

Nothing.

However, I heard a small, Poofy sound. Looked into my purse to see Poofikins and a waterfruit. “Poofs are the best,” I whispered as I took the fruit and ate it quickly.

It was refreshing and helpful. As I ate I again sent my mind out, searching for terror. That was what Jeff had used to find me and the guys, after all, and he'd always said that terror was the sharpest and strongest of the emotions. And Chuckie thought that what we had going on, with me especially, was empathy of a sort.

I heard them, at the edge of my mind. Two minds, both crying for their mothers. But silently. And they were definitely together. And, of course, they were in the opposite direction from the cavern.

Headed toward them at hyperspeed. I could hear them in my mind, but I couldn't see them, and I wasn't an empath. Jeff would have been able to home in on them instantly, and the stupidity of my keeping the strongest empath in the galaxy from helping me loomed large. Only he'd said he could barely feel things in this part of the world, and it might not have occurred to me to give him a waterfruit and see what happened.

Self-recriminations over, forced myself to slow down to human speeds. I knew they were somewhere near me because the voices in my head were much louder. There were a couple of small trees near where I felt them, and I hid behind one while still looking around. If I wasn't careful, though, a snakipede could see me.

“Patrina,” I whispered. “Patrina, where are you and the kitten?”

Nothing.

“Patrina, sweetie, I know you're scared. But Shealla Kitty can't help you or the kitten if you don't let me know where you are.”

Felt rather than saw that a snakipede had broken off from the group. The mind was dull and hungry, but there were no revenge-type thoughts. The snakipedes weren't after us because we'd killed some of their number. They were after us because we represented a feast.

The katyhoppers were right—these creatures weren't high on the sentience scale. However, sharks weren't considered to be Rhodes Scholars and yet they were terrifyingly effective killers.

Focused on the cat. I'd have more affinity with the animal. “Come to Shealla Kitty. Shealla Kitty can't find you two and that means Shealla Kitty can't protect you two.” Nothing, other than fearful thoughts.

Tried to think like a little girl would. That the kitten had gotten spooked and run out of the cavern and that she'd followed it were givens. So, what would Jamie do, where would she hide, if she and Mous-Mous were lost with terrifying monsters close by? Looked around at the landscape. More to the point, where around here would actually look like someplace safe? To a baby mink and a baby cat?

Both of whom would have claws.

Looked up. The leaves of the trees I was near fit the rest of this area—brown, red, orange, yellow, ochre, and everything else from this particular color palette. But that made them excellent camouflage if you were a reddish fox-cat and a little kid who had dark fur.

I couldn't see them, meaning that the camouflage part was working. However, I was sure that the snakipedes would be able to smell them, and me, sooner as opposed to later.

The option to keep on being nice and soothing was there. But time was of the essence. And in times of stress, the best choice I could always make was to channel Mom.

“Patrina, you and the kitten get down to Shealla Kitty right now!” I said in the sternest soft tone I could manage. “I mean it young lady. This instant! Or you'll be giving me a good answer why.”

This worked. Not a surprise. It had always worked when Mom had done it on me or any of my friends. The leaves above me rustled, and a little mink face looked down at me. “I'm scared,” she whispered.

“I know. I won't let the monsters hurt you. But I can't do that if you're not here with me. Come down, right now. Jump into my arms if you can, and be sure you're holding the kitten tightly, too.”

She nodded and I put the machine gun down. Just in time, as she jumped into my waiting arms. Managed not to say “oof” but only because I'd been prepared. She was clutching the ocellar kitten in both paws.

Shifted her to the hip opposite where my purse was, grabbed the machine gun, and took a look around. The snakipede was getting closer.

“What's your kitten's name?”

“Pretty Girl. Only she's not really mine,” Patrina said sadly.

“I promise that once we're back with everyone else, she's going to be yours, okay?”

“Okay. Pretty Girl and I are really scared.”

“Wisely. I want Pretty Girl to hold onto you, and you're going to hold tight to me, okay?”

“Okay.” She cuddled the ocellar into her chest and clutched me with her other paw. It was the best we were going to get.

I'd held Jeff's niece, Kimmy, like this when Doreen's crazy mother had attacked me during Operation Drug Addict. And I'd gotten used to holding Jamie this way, too, a lot, especially in times of danger. So precedent existed for me to be successful now. Held Patrina tightly, sent a prayer up to the various Powers That Be, Algar especially, and started running.

Just in time, because the lone snakipede had found us, and it struck as I moved. The tree Patrina and Pretty Girl had been in and I'd been hiding behind crashed down. I didn't stop to mourn its noble sacrifice.

I could outrun the snakipede, with no issue. The problem was that the rest of the snakipede herd was blocking the safe entrance back into the cavern. Which also meant that they were going to break through soon and be able to eat or kill everyone—the cavern was definitely big enough to hold them.

So, I had to save myself, Patrina, and Pretty Girl, and I also had to save everyone else. Well, that's why I had a machine gun, after all. Sure, it didn't have unlimited bullets, but it did have a half-f belt of ammo, due to my having lost my grip on it earlier. I loved it when a plan came together.

Ran us to the top of the boulder that was the cavern's roof. This put us very near to the snakipedes. And the lone one was coming for us, too. No time like the present.

“Hold on,” I said to everyone with me. This was important for Patrina and Pretty Girl, because they were gagging. But not barfing, thankfully. From experience, adrenaline highs tended to reduce the nausea hyperspeed caused. And maybe they could handle it just like the katyhoppers because they were Alpha Centauri beings.

Not that this mattered all that much, because I had to do something. So I did. I fired right down on top of the snakipede's heads.

I lucked out and killed one right away—figured that one had been close to dead anyway because of the guys shooting at it. And another couple were down already, again, probably due to the guys.

The rest, however, lost interest in the cavern and turned their entire focus onto me.

Rapid-fired into their nasty faces until I had no more bullets left. Kept a hold of the machine gun—I could use it as a club if I had to—turned, and ran toward the back of the cavern which, since I was on top of it, meant down a rocky slope toward the ground. But at human speeds.

Not for too long, of course. Just long enough for all the snakipedes to see and follow me. Reached the dirt, ran a little farther, turned to my right, saw them all massed there and coming for me, and let terror kick my hyperspeed into overdrive.

Ran a bit in this direction, turned right again, and headed back for the cavern. The lone snakipede was there. Clearly this one was a rebel and just didn't want to do what the others did.

Heard no gunshots, meaning that the guys were either out of ammo or everyone had run off down into the cavern and tunnel. Hoped it was the latter but figured on the former.

Stopped by its tail. Due to how things were, it was hovering at about head height. Swung the machine gun and hit the tail as hard as I could. Which was hard enough that I lost hold of the machine gun once again.

The snakipede spun faster than I'd seen them move yet and lunged at us. Only I'd expected the lunge, though not the speed, and we were already running under its body toward the small opening I could see. If it was really an opening, of course.

I could just be seeing what I wanted to, in which case I was going to either crash through or bounce off the katyhoppers' barrier.

However, Jeff was in what I was choosing to think of as a doorway, and I ran for him. Made sure I had both Patrina and Pretty Girl still with me, then flung all of us toward Jeff, as I felt the snakipede's breath on my back.