Posted by Extranjero on May 18, 2007 at 13:09:59:
STORM SISTERS (Part 8)
As the moon came up that night, Leilani saw how hard they had been hit. The bodywork was like a sieve: the sleigh had taken massive punishment. Eerie light came streaming in through countless bullet holes. A web of pencil-beams enmeshed them both.
They’d stopped amid a stand of trees to rest and feed the horses. A spectral silence hung over the land. Leilani huddled up beneath a bearskin and her parka. The sleigh’s interior had a musky smell.
Danielle sat across from her. A shaft of moonlight tinged her impish smile. Other rays were glowing on her cleavage. Her nipples bulged with cold beneath her bra.
Leilani moistened her dry lips. “I guess we’re lost,” she said.
The blonde girl smirked and shook her head. “Oh, I know where we are. The edge of your Forbidden Zone. There’s one safe path that leads right into it.”
Leilani felt her stomach sink. “You must be crazy, girl.” The Zone was a mysterious void, and even the Command Guard dreaded it. She knew the outer fringes were a vicious killing ground. There were Black Recluses lurking there, as well as mines and lethal booby-traps.
“Those Cossacks won’t dare follow us,” the rebel answered calmly. “We’ll shake them off, and then pick up their trail. There’s some kind of secret complex on the far side of the ridge. The only haven in the Zone. I reckon they’ll head there.”
“And we attack it? Just the two of us?”
Danielle smiled slyly. “Don’t you want to get her back?”
“Yeah – or die with her,” Leilani murmured.
She clenched herself against a shiver. Danielle stretched inside her loose-draped cloak. She eyed Leilani knowingly. “You want to share some warmth?” her soft voice asked.
“I’ve told you that I’m spoken for. You told me she’s alive.” Even as she spoke, her gaze was focused on the blonde girl’s straining bra.
Danielle stuck her bosom out and reached behind herself. “I don’t want love, Leilani – just a fuck.”
Leilani breathed out through her mouth – then picked the MP5 up from beside her. She pointed it at Danielle’s chest. The girl regarded it with cool green eyes.
“What if I remembered just which bloody side I’m on?”
“The side of the angels,” Danielle cooed, and shrugged out of her bra. Leilani felt her throat constrict. The rebel had a gorgeous pair of tits. They nudged against each other as Danielle came creeping forward like a cat on hands and knees across the furs.
Leilani’s groin began to ache, but she kept the carbine levelled. The muzzle prodded Danielle’s chest. The rebel pouted back reproachfully. Kneeling up, she squeezed the metal tube between her breasts. Leilani felt her resolution melt.
She let the weapon slip aside and craned towards Danielle. Their full lips brushed like an electric spark. She felt her parka come unzipped, and then their breasts were touching. The thrill of contact almost made her sob.
The rebel’s hand was in her briefs and fingering her pussy. Leilani settled back and spread her thighs. The blonde girl’s body loomed above her, blotting out the moonlight. “You bitch, Danielle,” Leilani sighed. “You bitch ...”
* * *
The first glimmer of dawn revealed the dark shape of the sleigh, like a piece of wreckage washed up on a beach. The velvet curtains were still closed. The clearing lay in silence. No sign of life, except the breath that hung around the horses like a wreath.
The Cossacks had dismounted to approach the thing on foot. There were four of them. A prim girl called Victoria was in charge. She’d felt her heartbeat quicken as they crossed the rebels’ trail, and now a sick excitement filled her gut. Kayleigh had suggested that they call the others in, but Victoria reckoned they could handle this.
She tugged the woollen mitten off her leather-gloved right hand, and drew the cocking handle of her Schmeisser. The horses didn’t hear the click. She flexed her fingers round the sub-machine gun. The weapon looked unsuited to a small brunette with glasses, but Victoria had a vicious streak that matched the grinning skull on her fur hat.
Nikola would be impressed by her efficiency. And now that snooty Gail was dead, there’d be a vacancy for Captain’s Pet ...
The other girls were fanning out around the battered sleigh. The vehicle had been shot up. The pale light showed its scars. Stealthy boots crunched through the snow. One of the horses snorted. The tattered velvet curtains didn’t twitch.
Kayleigh and Jo were on her left, their sub-machine guns levelled. Anna eased round to the right. Her breath seeped out like smoke. Victoria’s muscles tensed as she took aim towards the sleigh. The girls inside would still be snuggled up.
The Schmeisser snarled into the dawn, and bullets raked the sleigh. The other girls joined in a moment later. Their muzzle flashes flickered in the watery half-light. The sombre hulk erupted with fresh holes.
The horses whinnied and collapsed, blood spurting from their flanks. Jo – who’d once loved ponies – fired another burst at them. The other girls kept riddling the coachwork. The wood was being devoured before their eyes.
Then the thing exploded like an antiquated bomb. The clearing filled with flame and roiling smoke. A shock wave laced with splinters hurtled outward. A foot-long fragment drove through Anna’s chest.
The blonde girl gave an anguished grunt, wide-eyed with disbelief. She felt the splinter lacerate her heart. The shock wave smacked her in the mouth and sent her reeling backwards. She fired her gun one-handed as she fell.
As the others stumbled clear, two crouching shapes erupted from the snow. Leilani aimed her MP5 before the stunned attackers could react. She fired a burst into Jo’s stomach and the Cossack jack-knifed, a froth of scarlet flying from her mouth.
Kayleigh fired back wildly and dodged into the smoke. The acrid cloud hung thickly in the air. Leilani clambered to her feet and darted after her. Danielle unfolded like a cat, the whiteness sloughing off her velvet cloak.
Kayleigh fled between two trees. She didn’t see the tripwire. As she snagged it with her boot, an automatic shotgun opened up. The blast of pellets hit her chest and blew her coat wide open. Her tits bounced in her shredded bra, then blurted crimson from a dozen wounds.
The girl fell backwards, open-mouthed. Her startled face was almost comical. Leilani froze and hunkered down, eyes searching for the shotgun. It was mounted halfway up a tree, as pitiless as any Black Recluse.
She heard the thud of hoofbeats in the snow and looked around. The fourth Cossack had made it to her horse. Leilani glimpsed her spurring clear and heading for the forest. She glanced appealingly towards Danielle.
The blonde girl raised her hunting rifle calmly. The cross-hairs centred on the rider’s back. She waited till the fleeing girl was almost out of sight, then teased the trigger like a lover’s clit.
The bullet hit Victoria between the shoulder blades. She never even heard the fatal shot. Her chest erupted, splashing blood over her horse’s neck. She made a frantic gagging noise as sticky crimson spilled between her breasts.
She kept on bouncing in the saddle for a few more strides, then toppled sideways like a sack of oats. Spooked by blood, the horse went pounding onwards. Danielle just smiled and worked the rifle’s bolt.
The cloud of smoke was dissipating slowly. Leilani checked the other girls were dead. Danielle glanced at Kayleigh’s riddled breasts and licked her lips. “That’s what I call a booby trap,” she said.
Leilani huddled up inside her parka. “You think the rest were close enough to hear?”
Danielle shrugged, then went across to Anna’s supine body. The dead girl wore a radio headset underneath her hat. Danielle took it off and listened briefly to the earpiece. Then she spoke into the pickup, muffling her voice behind her glove.
“…Captain, that was us … we’ve got Leilani …”
Leilani heard and recognised the tinny voice that answered. “You’ve got a call sign, girl, so bloody use it. What’s your position?”
“Sorry, Miss … you’re breaking up,” Danielle responded, grinning. “We’ll take her to the base and meet you there.”
“Just make sure she stays alive,” was Nikola’s rejoinder. “I want to spend a little time with her.”
Leilani shuddered, glancing round. The hillside loomed above them. She looked at the disintegrated sleigh. Danielle had found a trip-mine which she’d used to rig the ambush. They hadn’t known about the shotgun trap.
“So what chance do you think we’ve got of reaching it?” she asked.
The rebel smiled. “Enough. I know the path.”
Leilani looked away again, unsettled by her gaze. Her body still remembered Danielle’s touch. “You ever been inside this place?” she murmured.
“No. I’ve only watched it from a distance,” said Danielle. “But this time we’ll be going all the way.”
* * *
It took them several hours to reach the ridgeline. The only movement that they saw was a watchful eagle cruising overhead. Danielle had brought one of the Cossack ponies, but the path was steep and slippery and she had to lead it upward by its rein.
They rested at the crest, then started down the other slope. Danielle picked her cautious way beneath the frozen canopy of trees. After a while she stopped, and stroked the muzzle of the horse. She let Leilani catch her up, then jerked her head towards the valley floor.
Leilani peered between the firs. She saw some kind of compound down below. A railway track came into it and forked in two directions. One branch led towards some sheds. The other disappeared into a tunnel.
The cliff above the entrance was a massive granite slab. There were windows set into its face. Leilani had a sense of hollowness. As if the tunnel led into a void beneath the mountain, where something terrible had been entombed.
The rebel’s lips quirked wryly. “I can see you feel it too. If radiation could be felt, then it would feel like that.”
Leilani hesitated. Fear was gnawing in her gut. But Lena must be down there, so she hadn’t any choice but to descend.
They zig-zagged onward, down the slope. The light was fading as they reached the bottom. Still in the cover of the trees, they made their preparations. Leilani’s heart beat faster all the time.
She hiked her parka up and pushed a gun into her panties. It was a silenced Walther which she’d taken from the body of a Cossack. One dead woman’s pistol down the knickers of another. She felt its butt against her naked back.
Then she held her arms out for Danielle to bind her wrists. The rebel used a length of rope, and tied the free end to the pony’s saddle. She drew her hood back, spilling out her mane of golden hair, and put a shaggy fur hat on instead. The death’s head badge contrasted with the sweetness of her smile. Leilani felt a queasy twinge of doubt.
Danielle swung up astride the horse and nudged it to a walk. Her cloak was wrapped around her, with the hunting rifle slung across her back. She moved onto the narrow road beside the railway line. Leilani followed, stumbling, in her wake.
The compound was surrounded by a fence of razor wire. There were lights on it already, though the sun had barely set behind the hills. Leilani heard the clatter of a generator somewhere. There was a checkpoint up ahead. A pair of sentries waited by the gate.
She saw at once they’d left the realm of Field Brigades behind. These girls were dressed in black: they were Command Guard. Their legs were bare, despite the cold, but they both wore leather jackets. And shades against the flat glare of the snow.
They levelled M-16s as Danielle’s pony walked towards them. One inclined her head and muttered something to the pickup of her headset. Leilani’s bonds were loose, but she’d have no chance to undo them. “I’m with the Wolf Troop,” Danielle called. “I guess they told you that I’ve got a prisoner.”
“Yeah, we heard,” said one of them. She kept her weapon aimed. Her breath was cloudy on the air. Danielle came to the barrier and reined in.
“Your girlfriends haven’t got here yet,” the Guard said with disdain. Leilani understood just how she felt. “We’ll hold you here until your Captain comes to vouch for you.” She gestured curtly with her M-16.
Danielle dismounted easily. The sentry’s blank shades turned towards Leilani. “Pretty-looking thing,” she drawled. “She should have saved the last shot for herself.”
Leilani’s eyes flicked past her. There were two more gates to get through. Beyond, the tunnel opened like a mouth. The Guards wore the insignia of the Sentinel Division, entrusted with regime security.
Danielle untied the lead rope from her saddle. “Can we do this inside?” she asked. “It’s getting chilly now.”
The first girl shrugged and climbed the steps into the sentry post. Leilani felt a gust of warmth. She lurched as Danielle pushed her in the back. “You first, bitch,” the rebel said and followed her inside. The second sentry ambled after them.
As the door was closed, the first Guard turned without preamble and jabbed her gunbutt at Leilani’s midriff. Leilani doubled forward with a groan of agony. “I fucking hate the rebels,” said the girl.
“It’s mutual,” said Danielle. She raised the gun she’d drawn behind Leilani’s back. A Cossack Walther PPK with silencer attached. She shot the startled sentry through the forehead.
The bullet punched a tidy hole. Blood spattered on the wall. The girl stepped back uncertainly, then slumped. Danielle whirled and shot the other sentry through the breast. A muffled cough, a stifled grunt. The girl convulsed and slithered down the wall.
Leilani clambered up again, her bound wrists pressed against her aching belly. Danielle helped her get untied. The monitors kept blinking in the background. Leilani took her parka off and crouched down in her panties. The first Guard eyed her sightlessly. Blood ran like tears from underneath her shades.
Leilani stripped the jacket off and tried it on for size. It reached mid-thigh and had a warm fur collar. She lifted the dark glasses off the dead girl’s staring eyes, then drew the silenced gun from her own briefs.
Danielle put on the other jacket, heedless of the bullet hole in it. She draped her cloak over the corpse and leaned her rifle up against the wall. Then she did the jacket up to hide her lingerie, but the fur hat with the skull stayed on her head.
Leilani eased the door open and peered into the dusk. The layers of the compound seemed deserted. Then a horn began to bray, and her stomach swooped with horror. But even as her muscles froze, the gates across the railway track unlocked.
She watched them sliding open with mechanical precision. The horn kept up its steady warning beat. Red lights on a signal gantry pulsed in time with it. And then the inner gates began to move.
There wasn’t time to hesitate. She darted from the hut and Danielle followed. They crept onto the railway line, and no-one shot at them. The gates worked automatically. She wondered what had set the process off.
As they slipped into the base, Leilani looked behind her. The line receded into gloom, but three bright lights were shining in the distance. She heard the rails begin to hum, and felt her heartstrings tremble. Through the forest, through the dusk, a slow black train was coming.