death looming in his burning sockets.
ALIVE, JAEGER. I WILL NOT WARN YOU AGAIN.
The vampire threw me away. The snow broke my fall as I tumbled further down the hill. I slid on my back, almost like I was sledding, until I toppled over the edge of a small crevasse and landed in a pile of fluffy white. I was up in an instant, lifting my feet, and trying to move through the heavy substance. Jaeger was above me, still disoriented, but coming around as the painful fire died. I lifted Abomination and aimed at him. At some point in the struggle my holographic sight had been broken. I estimated instead and fired the 40mm grenade.
It impacted in the snow behind his feet. The concussion tore through him, sending him sprawling forward. I started to reload the grenade launcher when Abomination violently jerked from my hands. The Cursed One stood at the top of the hill, looking down. Just my luck, Lord Machado was telekinetic. He moved imperceptibly and my weapon was yanked away, the sling tearing into my neck, slicing into my skin, before ripping away and disappearing into the trees.
Jaeger was up and moving. I drew the STI, falling instinctively into my regular isosceles stance and opened fire. Jaeger leapt toward me, soaking up round after round. He knocked the gun into the snow, but I immediately drew the backup. 45 and shot him some more. I was struck in the head. My helmet was torn off and sent flipping into the trees. He hit me again, lightly, just trying to capture me. I felt the muscles inside my chest tear and I gasped in agony. I fell back into the snow, still firing. He swatted the pistol away, and my left wrist snapped. I screamed as pain like an electric current moved down my arm. I kicked him in the knee. I might as well have kicked a brick wall. He caught my foot, and twisted it casually to the side. I almost passed out as my ankle broke.
'I've obtained the sacrifice, my lord,' the vampire proclaimed loudly. Lying flat on my back, I brought my knee back to my chest, lifted my pant leg and pulled the. 357 from my ankle holster. Jaeger looked down at the little muzzle in wonderment.
'How many guns do you have?' he asked in exasperation.
'Lots.' CRACK.
I stroked the trigger, five times fast. He ignored the impacts, the wound channels were knitting closed before the bullets had even left his skull. He grabbed the little Smith and wrenched it from my hand. I cried out in pain as my trigger finger broke. He clapped his hands together and smashed the snubby into pieces.
I tried to move. The vampire kicked me. For him it was a light blow; for me, agony. He pummeled me, smashing me in the stomach, in the ribs, in the arms and legs, and finally in the face. His limbs moved in a blur. He pounded me down into the snow. I felt other bones break. Tendons tore, muscles ripped, blood vessels ruptured. I tried to defend myself, but he was too quick. He could hear my heart and my internal workings. The hammer blows continued to rain down. He knew exactly how much punishment he could dish out before I would die. He took me to that edge and left me there.
The beating finally stopped. Jaeger pulled back and smiled, satisfied that his work was done. His sacrifice was secure. I coughed up a gout of blood, rolled my head to the side, and watched the red spreading on white. I passed out.
'Owen? Owen? Can you hear me? Please don't die.'
Agony. The worst pain ever.
Julie was whispering. At least it sounded like Julie, but it was hard to tell over the ringing in my ear. The other ear did not seem to be working. I don't know if that was because it was clogged with a blood clot, or if the eardrum had ruptured. I lay on my side, facing away from her. I tried to move, but my body was too tired and broken to respond. I forced myself anyway.
It hurt so bad that I almost passed back out.
'Oh no. Owen.' Julie sounded horrified. I had to look like shit. 'Can you hear me?'
I grunted, blowing red frothy bubbles from my lips. 'I'm… fine…' I lied. The words hurt over my broken teeth and swollen tongue. I could not see her. My eyelids were matted closed with blood, and I could not force them open. I tried to reach a hand up to rub them, but my arms did not want to respond. All I could feel was horrible nerve-racking fire coming from my limbs.
'I'm so sorry,' she said.
'Can't move,' I replied. I wished that I could see her.
'No. Hold still. You're hurt bad.'
I figured that had to be pretty obvious.
'I would try to help you, but I'm tied up.' I heard the clanking of iron as she tugged on her bonds.
'How long?' I gasped.
'Hours. You've been out for hours. I don't know how long. My watch doesn't seem to work here. The moon has got to be nearing its zenith.' We were running out of time. And I was not in any shape to do anything about it.
'Others?'
'I don't know. Nobody else has come here.'
'Where?'
'We're still in the pocket dimension.'
'Bad guys?' I mumbled, and then coughed up blood. That was better. Breathing seemed a little easier.
'Oh, Owen… I wish I could help you. Bad guys, they're over there on the pyramid. They've been ignoring us.' She sounded distraught. I concentrated on her beautiful voice. I needed something pleasant to keep my mind on. 'I'm chained to some ruins. Um… Looks like there used to be some sort of ancient temple in this pocket, it almost looks Assyrian.'
'Did they… hurt you?'
'A little. Nothing like you.'
'How bad?'
She hesitated, before finally deciding to give me the truth. 'You look awful. I think he broke just about everything on you. There's so much blood. They didn't even bother to chain you. And your face…' I could tell that she was crying. 'I'm so sorry.'
'Not me.' I breathed in, trying to will myself to keep speaking. 'I was worried about you.'
'Oh, Owen,' she sobbed. 'I'm fine. By the time the paralysis wore off, he had me wrapped up good. Really, I'm okay.'
'Keep talking… I'll rest.' I was so very tired and confused.
'Okay. Uh… the Cursed One and that Nazi are a couple hundred yards away. They're preparing some sort of altar. They're at the top of a small pyramid, hard to tell what it looks like since it has so much snow on it. They have that little box. I don't know how this dimension thing works, but the sky above is our sky. I can see our stars, and that's our regular old moon rising. So I think that we're still in Alabama, in the cave, only in someplace that's not really in our world. Maybe just kind of outside of it, but still connected. It must have taken some serious magic to build this thing. I wonder who did it? It has got to be at least two thousand years old.' Her historical curiosity started to come out. 'Sorry, I'm rambling.'
'No… Your voice… is pretty.'
'Will you quit trying to be so nice? You're about to get sacrificed. We've got to think of a way out of here. We need to disrupt the ceremony, or escape, or something. If we can open the gate from this side, maybe the other Hunters are waiting to charge in. We have to think.' Julie was desperate. She did not give up easily.
'Hurts to think,' I answered. My body was wracked with so much pain that all I wanted to do was lay still and die. 'Sleep now.'
'Owen, stay with me. Just hang in there. I'll think of something.'
She kept talking, but I was fading fast. My body had simply taken too much punishment to stay awake for long. My thoughts began to drift. This was it. My befuddled brain could not see any way out of this. The journey was almost over. The Cursed One was going to win.
Julie tried her best to keep me engaged, to keep me focused; but I continued to drift. If only I could open my eyes to look at her one last time. I had never been the kind of man to fall for someone, but I had fallen hard for her. I loved her. I'm not by nature a romantic, nor am I very eloquent when it comes to things like feelings or emotion. A few months ago if someone had told me there was such a thing as true love at first sight, I would have laughed at them, and probably taken their lunch money. But if I ever knew anything, it was that Julie Shackleford was my soul mate. If only I could do something to save her…
