Andy Chambers Necromunda Survival Instinct (v1.5) (Undead)

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caught in the open with no way to advance or retreat.
The boat-thing looked even bigger when you got close up to it. Whatever
Relli s other shortcomings, he d obviously commanded plenty of credit at some
time. Not that he would have bought deeds to this place or anything, but being
able to occupy it meant having enough muscle and business sense to keep away
rivals.
Right now it looked virtually abandoned, only a few portholes showing any
light. It could probably house a hundred times as many people as were aboard
it right now, although doubtless a lot of space was given over to cargo
storage and defunct machinery.
An eternity of maybe ten minutes brought her beneath the curve of the prow.
Her theory, plus what she d observed from the ledge, seemed to hold true.
Those guards who were covering that massive area thought that the sump was
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impassable so they barely gave it a second glance.
Now came the real fun part.
Tendrils of wire weed were starting to quest at the skiffs low gunwales; she
didn t have much time. Donna unwound a hook and line, spun it three times and
looped it up to the deck high above. It caught fast first try. Only speed and
dumb luck would stop her being spotted now, but there was no other way on
board.
Donna was still shimmying up the line when a broad, ugly face sporting an
orange Mohican peered down at her over the rail and cursed. The wide bore of a
gun swiftly followed the ugly face.
Come a board girly, yo re expected, the Goliath guard called jovially. Jest
keep it nice an slow nah.
While hanging on the line there wasn t much Donna could do. It was just too
fine to grip one-handed and try shooting it out. She heard a disconsolate
plopping sound from below her as wire weed pulled the stolen skiff beneath the
surface of the sump. No way out there either.
Ok, ok, she said quickly, and rather shakily climbed the rest of the way up.
She heard the Goliath call other guards from further along the deck. Donna
couldn t fathom how she had so badly underestimated their alertness. While she
had been watching from the ledge, the guards had idly wandered about on
occasion but mostly stayed below decks. There was only one likely explanation,
and it was an ugly one.
One of the Escher had sold her out.
Just why had Tessera really been missing earlier? Surely not? Donna s stomach
flip-flopped at the thought.
The Goliath took a step back to let her get on the deck. Out of the corner of
Donna s eye she could see pit slaves and another Goliath heading towards them.
She was changing hands to grip the railing and vault over when her boot
slipped suddenly and sent her teetering backwards over the hideous drop into
the sump. The Goliath lunged forward with surprising speed for his muscled
bulk and grabbed at her arm to save her from a painful and corrosive demise.
He seemed genuinely shocked when Donna seized his nose ring and used it to
haul him over the railing. The Goliath made a piteous shriek before hitting
the sump, where he was reduced to hideous gobbling noises as toxic sludge
rushed into his open mouth. He was still trying to scream when the wire weed
pulled him under.
Donna snorted derisively and vaulted over the railing without a backward
glance. The other Goliath started spraying lead at her, the bullets striking
sparks and ricocheting wildly along the deck. Donna replied with plasma. She
was well past the point of screwing around any more.
The Goliath saw the white lightning gather about the Pig s muzzle and dived
aside but the pit slaves were not so lucky, their smoking cybernetics and
charred flesh hissing into the sump in a molten cascade, as a survivor fled
screaming. The Goliath pounced out of cover to catch Donna defenceless with
the Pig discharged and still smoking in her hand. She shot him in the eye with
the laspistol in her other hand.
Where s Relli?! she yelled. We have some business to discuss! No point in
being subtle now. She found herself laughing wildly.
It was an act of mad bravado. She could hear boot heels ringing on the decking
all about her. She jumped up and caught the railing to a higher deck tier,
intending to swing up to it and gain some height advantage. A hammer swung
down at her with piston-driven force she ducked aside and it crumpled the
heavy railing instead of her skull. The transferred shock alone was enough to
numb her hand and make her drop back down. There were people waiting for her.
Alive! she heard someone shout as they rushed her.
Donna grinned happily. That one got them killed every time. She disappeared
beneath a rush of sweaty bodies and grinding bionic limbs for a moment and
rolled clear a second later, leaving one dead and two injured behind her. She
darted off through an open hatchway while her attackers struggled to
disentangle themselves.
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Rusting corridor panels flashed past her as she ran along the narrow space
beyond the hatch. She came to a ladder and fired off two shots behind her to
discourage pursuit before sliding down it. At the bottom she found more narrow
corridor, with doors banging and sounds of pursuit all around and closing in.
Not enough time for choices and nowhere to hide, so Donna kept running blindly
through the guts of the boat.
Inside it was like a maze, a run-down labyrinth of peeling bulkheads and
stained floors. Shots splattered the corners as she ran; she was only a turn
or two ahead of her pursuers at best. She was fleet of foot but they knew
their ground better and kept corralling her into an ever-tighter area, drawing
their numbers in around her like a noose.
She ran into a corridor and saw a cluster of figures coming towards her from
the opposite direction. Shots started flying in both directions as the ones
behind caught up to her again. Donna was soon pinned down in the crossfire and
forced to duck into a hatchway for cover.
It was a trap. The room beyond was for storage and had a hatch in the roof as
the only other exit. The roof hatch started cranking open, its two halves
folding back to allow light to spill in from the deck above. It wasn t a
promising sight. Armed figures stood silhouetted in the lights and one of the
deck guns, a quad heavy stubber, was pointing menacingly into the hold. If
they let fly with that thing every square inch of it would be filled with
flying lead in an instant.
Well, well. Mad Donna. A familiar whisper floated down mockingly from above.
It was Shallej.
Donna leapt towards the hatchway through which she had entered, but it was
slammed shut in her face. Derisive laughter came from above.
Our guest at last.
Donna tried to see Shallej, but he was staying well hidden.
That s correct, Shallej, well done, very well done indeed. This was from a
new voice, one high and obsequious but full of faux culture and superiority.
Relli.
What the hell do you want, Relli? Donna shouted. You wanted my attention,
well you ve got it now! You ve got three seconds to explain before I blast my
way out of this tub of yours and send you all to the bottom of the sump.
Shallej snickered. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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