Slimer

shut about anything for more than ten seconds. But I was gonna give you a cut of the profits, Ro, I swear…’

She grimaced. ‘Yeah, I’ll bet. But I would have appreciated being told we were doing a heroin run as well as just grass. Do you realise what would have happened if we’d have been caught? We all knew the risks we were taking with the grass but.

‘Have you got any left?’ Chris interrupted impatiently. ‘If Mark doesn’t get a fix soon I don’t know what’s going to happen to him. I’m afraid he might even die… he’s never been very fit. I don’t think he has the constitution to stand going completely cold turkey without any medical help…’ Her eyes began to fill with tears and her voice broke.

Alex held up a hand. ‘Take it easy, Chris. Yeah, I still got my stash… see…’ He undid his pants belt and pulled out his shirt. Round his lower waist was a flat belt consisting of a series of small plastic pouches. ‘About ?100,000’s worth here, nice and dry. I took the precaution of getting this waterproof money belt.’

Chris stared at the belt and gave a sigh of relief. ‘Will you let him have some? He said he’ll pay you later…’

Alex gave another shrug. ‘Sure. Anything to help a buddy. You got a needle?’

‘What?’ Chris blinked at him in surprise. She hadn’t expected it to be so easy. It was totally unlike Alex to do a favour for anyone without being coerced into it, especially if it involved money. ‘Oh, yes, Mark picked up a couple of hypodermics from one of the labs this afternoon.’ She paused, then said, ‘Thanks Alex. I really appreciate this.’ ‘Hey, don’t act so surprised,’ he said, ‘you know you can always rely on ol’ Alex when the chips are down. Now come on, let’s go fix up Mark.’ He opened the door for her and, after nodding goodnight to Rochelle, Chris hurried out.

‘You go back to sleep, honey,’ Alex told Rochelle, ‘I’ll try not to wake you when I come back.’ He turned out the light and shut the door before she could say anything. In the darkness she lay back on the bunk. Her suspicions had been aroused by Alex’s uncharacteristic readiness to help someone out but right now she was too tired to give a damn. And within seconds she began to slide down into sleep…

To Chris’s surprise Alex pulled her hand away before she could open the door to her and Mark’s cabin and silently indicated that she should follow him. Puzzled, she followed him along the corridor and into an empty cabin about four doors along from where the others were.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asked as he closed the door and turned to face her with a smug grin, ‘Why are we in here?’

He didn’t say anything but just looked her up and down slowly. It was as if he was staring right through her clothes. With a sick feeling she realised what was on his mind.

‘Take your shirt off,’ he said suddenly. His voice sounded harsh.

She only hesitated for a short time but came quickly to the conclusion that there was no way out of this if she expected to get the heroin for Mark. She’d been stupid to think Alex would give it free of charge…

‘Nice tits,’ said Alex after she had taken off the shirt. ‘Not great but they’ll do.’ His smile got uglier. ‘Now everything else.’

When she was standing completely naked before him he said. ‘You any good at giving head?’

‘No,’ she said quickly.

‘Well, you will be after this,’ he said, and laughed.

‘Alex, please…’

‘Better hurry up before I change my mind about helping Mark out.’

She almost gave in to panic at that point but steeled herself and knelt down in front of him. Matter-of-factly she unzipped his fly and tugged his hard penis out of his pants. He was bigger than Mark, she saw, and she tried not to gag as she took it into her mouth. She was vaguely shocked to find he tasted like Mark. And then followed one of the worst experiences of her life as she sucked and tongued his erection for what seemed an eternity. The whole time he gave her a series of running instructions, telling her when to go fast, slow and when to caress or squeeze his scrotum with her fingertips. Finally, to her relief, she sensed that he was getting near to coming. He began to thrust deep into the back of her throat, practically choking her each time, but she didn’t care — so eager was she to get it over with…

She screwed her eyes shut and dug her nails into her hand to take away the sensation of him spurting into her mouth. She thought he was never going to stop but eventually he did and slowly withdrew. She opened her eyes, swallowed heavily then wiped her lips with the back of her hand. Shakily she got to her feet and faced him. ‘Okay, you sonofa-bitch, now you go and take care of Mark.’

He looked back at her with hooded eyes. There seemed to be a kind of film over them. Then, with a thick voice he said, ‘Not so fast. We’re not finished yet.’ He reached out and squeezed her left breast roughly. ‘That was just for starters. Get back on your knees and take it slower this time. When you’ve got me hard again I’ll show you a new kind of game I’ll bet you and that wimp have never thought of playing…’ Somehow she managed not to scream.

Paul and Linda moved together on their single bed, their slow sinuous love the focus of their being. Their bodies slid slickly on each other and their hands gen tly touched the flesh both knew so well. Paul was relaxed for the first time in days — he had no thoughts, only emotions. But then Linda suddenly stopped. ‘Listen, do you hear that?’ she whispered urgently.

‘Oh no, not again,’ he moaned. Earlier they had been distracted by the sound of the others moving up and down the corridor, opening and shutting doors. He had no idea what they were up to but he couldn’t care less.

‘It sounds like something big being dragged along the passageway,’ said Linda. ‘Some kind of sack…’

Paul sighed and cocked his head to listen. She was right. It did sound as if a heavy sack was being dragged along outside.

The noise stopped at their door and then, after a brief pause, it was replaced by a curious scratching sound, as if a small animal was pawing at the door.

‘What is that?’ asked Linda in a frightened whisper. ‘Probably Alex trying to be funny,’ said Paul. He rolled ofT her and got up as quietly as possible. As he approached the door he felt a prickle of unease travel up the bare skin along his spine. It occurred to him it might not be Alex after all but one of the missing laboratory animals.

‘Don’t open the door!’ cried Linda in a low, urgent voice.

‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to,’ he assured her as he warily pressed his ear against the wood.

At that precise moment there came a tremendous crash and he recoiled in shock as the whole door shuddered under some enormous impact from the other side.

Simultaneously there was a bellowing roar that sounded totally unlike anything Paul had ever heard before.

Then the door began to splinter inwards…

Five

Though partially stunned Paul reacted with speed. He made a dive for the M16 lying on the floor beside the bunk, snatched it up then spun round and aimed it at the door. There were now five long fissures in the top half of the door and even as he looked more began to appear. The terrible bellowing sound continued, almost drowning out Linda’s high-pitched scream.

He pulled the trigger. The weapon’s selector had obviously been left on ‘Auto’ as the entire magazine emptied itselfwithin seconds. The bullets passed through the door as if it wasn’t there and from the other side the angry bellowing immediately became a shriek of pain..

The door stopped shuddering and there was the sound of something very big and heavy rebounding off the opposite wall of the passageway. Then the shrieking began to fade as the animal, or whatever it was, began to move off down the corridor.

They followed its progress to the end of the corridor then heard it begin to go up the stairs leading to the level above. There were a few more distant crashes then silence.

Paul looked at Linda. She had retreated to the far end of the bunk and was pressed back into a corner, her knees drawn up in front of her. Her face was completely white. He had never seen anyone look so frightened before