LEGACY OF THE BLAZERS - CHAPTER EIGHTEEN! (Patreon)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Lux tore through the twisting hallways, falling onto the walls, the ceiling, then back onto the floor as the ship tumbled through the air. Stuffed animals flew wildly around. Some dead, unfortunate enough to have been torn through or conked by some piece of debris. Some alive, desperate to find something to cling to.

She dodged them like bullets as the hissing snakes grew endlessly closer until the sputtering ship’s engine belched flames through floor in front of her, heating the metal so quickly she left the soles of her shoes behind as she fled into a room of supply boxes. She toppled them over, hoping to buy herself at least an extra second, before being thrown onto the ceiling, out the door, and down another corridor.

Kern was nowhere to be seen. Cy, either. She had hoped the damn bear would follow through on his promise, but knew it was more likely that he was already on an escape pod and flying far, far away.

Back on her feet, she peered into one, two, three rooms and yelled Cy’s name into each of them—no response. Just the frantic howls of stuffed animals as the ship flipped again, throwing her into the roof hard enough to knock the wind out of her. No time to rest, though, as the metal was trying to glue her skin to it. She jumped back and just barely avoided another explosion that would’ve turned her into a charred corpse.

“Too close. Too fucking close.”

If that almost killed her, what kind of hell was Cy, who was virtually powerless aside from his cunning wit, going through?

She didn’t want to imagine it. She couldn’t. If something happened to him…

“Keep moving,” she told herself. “I just have to keep moving.”

The only consolation was the thought that somewhere within the confines of this ridiculous ship, Blowhole was enduring misery as well. The idea of his body being launched recklessly around put a smile on her face.

That is, until he appeared in front of her.

Clutching Kern by the throat with one hand.

And Cy by the throat with the other.

He glared at her.

“You, girlie, have been a major pain in my rear end for too long now,” he said. “So now I’m going to show you what true suffering is.”

The snakes lingered behind her, blocking her in. One step back and they’d sink their venom into her, mid-air or not. But she knew Blowhole wasn’t going to let them do that. Not yet, at least. Bringing Kern and Cy here…well, he had a plan.

Unlike herself.

She couldn’t let that stop her, though! She’d rather die than let him hurt Cy!

Putting all her energy into one punch, she charged forward. “We’re done, Blowhole! Done!”

But Blowhole didn’t move. In fact, he didn’t even wince.

He just casually took a hit off his blunt, recalling his snakes, and when his panties started to glow, their heads began to push through ceiling after ceiling as they returned to that same enormous height they were when they rampaged through Blazer’s territory all that time ago. Soon she couldn’t anything but their tails, which curled around the entire room.

Seeing it again…

Feeling their strength…

It made the divide in power all too clear.

She had made so much progress. Had come so far. And yet he still dwarfed her like this…? She couldn’t fathom it. She didn’t want to fathom it! She wanted to charge forward, wallop straight through them, and attack that pile of blubber!

But it was hopeless.

Everything…

…was hopeless.

Blowhole chuckled as he tossed Kern to the side, focusing his attention on Cy, who’s throat he continued to squeeze. “So this is the lucky man, huh? The one you love so dearly? The one who’s kept your going through all the madness you’ve had to endure? How sweet of a reunion this must be for you two.”

He dropped Cy to the ground like a piece of meat. “Go on, girlie. Come forward, give him a kiss, tell him you love him. Oh, what is that, you can’t? How unfortunate.”

Blowhole leaned forward, pressing his tail against Cy’s stomach. When Lux heard the crunch of bone, she did rush forward, but the mere presence of the snakes was enough to throw her back. She tried again, not wanting to hear his screams of agony, but she was right—it was hopeless.

The tumbling ship threw them onto the wall, and when Lux regained her balance, she saw Cy was reaching out toward her. “Lux,” he said. “Run.”

Blowhole was on top of him immediately, his barnacle-speckled flippers seizing either side of Cy’s hair. “I don’t remember saying you could talk yet, boy.” Then, with a smirk that sent shivers down her spine, he raised his head and glared at her. “This is what happens when you punch above your weight-class, girlie.”

With that, he slammed Cy’s head into the metal.

Then he did it again.

And again.

Lux couldn’t do anything.

She just had to sit there and watch.

And watch.

And…

…Watch.

No…

I can’t let another person die…

Stop it…

Please…

Why does it have to be like this…?

Leave…him…

“…Alone!”

And just as an immense amount of energy welled through her, more than she had ever experienced before, the ship finally collided with the ground.

END OF CHAPTER EIGHTEEN