Chapter Fifteen – “Into the Fire”

Rivulets of foamy mucus spewed from the cadaver’s mouth and dripped from its chin, splashing on the artificial turf of the miniature golf course. One crooked, outstretched arm reached out, mere inches from the blonde pigtails of the little girl. The other, an entangled mess of wires and broken circuitry hung loose at its side. Cornered with the water behind her and death in front of her, an ordinary little girl would follow her natural fight-or-flight instincts, but Lilly almost seemed amused at the dead thing before her. The innate fear that should be attributed to the walking dead was not there. Either Lilly did not recognize Haley’s former body as being dead, or she was just too young to understand what death was. Instead, she covered her mouth, trying to force her giggles back inside. She knew it was rude to laugh at someone’s appearance, but as a bubble of saliva formed between the corpse’s lifeless lips, she burst into laughter.

“Silly lady!” Lilly announced with childish glee.

Cold, varicose fingers wobbled in the air as the zombie seemed reluctant to approach the cherubic girl. The old adage that what you are afraid of is most likely more afraid of you definitely appeared to be true in this case. Met only with screams and fleeing humans in the past, the dead inventor’s body was surprised to find that such pleasant sounds could come from one of the strange beings that treated it as a monster. Curious to find out more about the miniature female, it gave Lilly’s pigtail an exploratory tug. Lilly responded with another giggle as the wretch stroked her yellow hair with unexpected gentleness.

“What’s your name?” She asked the creature.

Chapter Fourteen – “Flight”

Frost, Elise and Wolfie emerged from the recesses of the Amazons’ tunnel system showing the scars of their hard fought battle. Elise looked characteristically grouchy and with good cause. Fighting off the rodents of unusual size without the aid of their muscle proved to be quite the trying experience. Their skin was covered in scrapes and bite marks, and they were so physically exhausted that all three of them collapsed in the grassy field. Andrea immediately started to scratch at the lightning bolt on her t-shirt. It was stained with the blood of vermin, much like the clothes of her companions.

“When I get my hands on Jenette, I’m going to tear off her wings and shove them up her ass!” Elise stated angrily. “You don’t abandon your unit because you’re bored. What kind of person does that?”

“Demons,” Wolfie responded, inspecting her wounds. “They’re evil. What did you expect?”

“I don’t know; a little respect from my teammate I guess.” Elise sighed as she spoke. “I just wish I knew how much farther we had to go. I’ve been stuck on a raft surrounded by cannibals at every bank, left hopelessly dangling over the ridge of a glacier in the Arctic, been stranded with no water in the middle of a desert, but I’ve never wanted a mission to be over as much as I do now. We’re undermanned, outmatched and probably have intergalactic rabies.”

“Undermanned… that’s just begging for a pun.” Andrea said with a giggle.

Chapter Thirteen – “Nine-Tenths”

Humidity hung in the air of Anne’s dressing room. The dampness of the room’s atmosphere was so heavy that it felt tangible, as if it was a living, breathing being unto itself. Hours without air conditioning in the fervid heat of the jungle birthed the creature. The gyrations of sweat-coated bodies, locked in a lustful embrace became its life force, and the events that set this all in motion, were about to hit critical mass. Torn fragments of Anibelle’s dress littered the floor. During a particularly strong pheromone spike, it had been pulled off the demon with such force that it was rendered useless—not that the woman minded. Her chameleon-like ability to mimic other skin tones was faltering through her arousal, and her natural azure hue bled through her flesh. In the state she was in, it was nigh impossible to hide her otherworldly features. As her ankles entwined behind Robin’s back, her toes gave way to a pair of hooves. She reveled in the satisfaction that her choice of mates was proving to be as potent as she had hoped. From the caress of his hands and the exploration of his tongue alone, she was already feeling stronger. She imagined Robin as an untapped well, and all that stood between her and her ultimate prize was the thin fabric of his boxer shorts.

Robin had the fiendish girl pinned to the couch, admiring the glory of her naked frame. Pointed, puffy nipples rested between his knuckles as he treated Anibelle’s breasts like two lumps of dough, kneading them beneath his palms. Even with the alteration of his new lover’s body, Robin’s fervor did not diminish. The succubus’s long, slow seduction was bearing fruit.

Robin straddled the girl’s hips, but as he sat up straight, he caught a refreshing gust of chilled air blowing across his face. It was unclear how long it had been on, but the view of a vent about eye level on the opposite wall made it evident that the air conditioning was back on, which meant that all the power was back on. Robin stalled, scanning for more signs. The standby lights of the electronic devices in the room were now on. Light from the hallway nosily poked between the door and its frame. This was a moment to rejoice, but there was an impatient demon that would have disagreed.

Chapter Twelve – “Heavy Metal”

“Who are you?” The Professor’s voice creaked, on the brink of frustration.

Ilamaral cleaned his black horn-rimmed glasses and then peered through the periscope once more. His white knuckles strained as his fists tightened around the handles of the viewing device. The lustre of his short black hair diminished as nervous sweat caked strands of it to his forehead. He grunted, wishing he could hear the chatter of the three women approaching his compound. Through the viewfinder, he saw his assistant—make that former assistant, he thought—Sekkai canoodling with that blasted dryad again. Long were the days he thought about excising that woman from his library. She did nothing but fill the cat’s ears with rebellious nonsense. What is worse is that now they had a third woman with them, and a rather ugly one at that. He imagined this hag was here to help usurp his rule over the Ark and stop his research at its most critical phase.

With a groan, the Professor forced the periscope away from himself furiously. Tucking his head down, he yanked at his hair and began mumbling incoherently. His white lab coat hunched up on his shoulders, contrasting the all black outfit he wore beneath it.

“Sekkai, you insolent little whelp! I made you what you are. I raised you from a mindless little tiger cub to the voluptuous creature you are today, and this is how you repay me? Betrayal?” Ilamaral ranted, though there was nobody else in the stark white room. Only a large, curved window framed by the Ark’s open blast shields kept him company. “I knew that allowing you to learn on your own was a mistake! Well, believe me, when I get my hands on you again, I will make sure that you are nothing but an obedient little slave girl!”

Chapter Eleven – “Cold Spots”

It was no bigger than a pea, but the glint that darted across Kacie’s closed eyelids made the girl stir. Her eyelashes parted timidly, not ready to greet the offending glimmer. Carefully, she tried to lift her limb, hoping to shield herself from the light. Coarse, scratchy fibers cut into her arm, meeting her motion with stubborn resistance. Another attempt was met with the same opposition, and the groggy realization that she could not move either her arms or her legs snapped her out of her stupor. The suffocating tackiness of a piece of duct tape muffled the brackish language that tried to escape her lips. Assured of her impediment, Kacie focused a baleful glare on her captors.

Her ire went unnoticed. The two women who were left to guard the choleric girl had more important things on their minds, namely a game of Uno. Worse than the fact that they completely disregarded her existence, however, was the knowledge of what her captors were. One blonde, one brunette, both dressed in a way that made Kacie cringe. The first thing she noticed was the steel-plated ninja headband one of them wore, which was tilted at an angle so that it covered one of her eyes. The headband, etched with a spiral shape in the middle, reflected the sun right into Kacie’s eyes. Even squinting, she saw a lot that she did not like, however. Their outfits consisted of striped pink and black leggings, hats with soulless black eyes and cute cat ears, pleated skirts, bandages wrapped around their forearms and beaded necklaces with a teardrop shaped pendant. It was like they piecemealed all the worst fashion trends of the 80s, Goth and emo culture. Only one type of person would be so oblivious to think that their hodgepodge outfits were actually fashionable. She was being held captive by anime fangirls.

Chapter Ten – “Wake the Dead”

Plip, plip. The first drops of rain splattered against Jason’s forehead. His tawny brown hair absorbed the next few. The cynical young man looked to the sky, eying the ominous darkness that loomed overhead. Yet, other than the darkness, all he saw was canopy. The absence of sun patches was all the indication he needed to know that storm clouds were above. A tiny smirk crossed his lips. Rain in a rainforest, what a novel idea, he mused. Not far away, the full force of the storm was evident. The rush of the downpour ahead pitter-pattered against the foliage. Thunder, louder than any Jason could remember, reverberated through the sky. Frankly, he was relieved. Storms usually brought a drop in temperature with them, and right now that was something he desperately wanted.

“Ooh, it’s raining.” Sekkai shouted excitedly, running around in circles, trying to catch the droplets in her agape mouth. “I’m going to bounce and trounce and flounce and pounce in all the puddles!”

“Aren’t cats supposed to hate water?” Jason asked, watching the wide-eyed cat girl dance around in the slowly increasing rainfall.

No More Schedule

Topic title says it all.  I’m dropping scheduled releases.  I suggest subscribing to the RSS feed if you want to know immediately when something is updated. 

That being said, I will still try my best to have at least one chapter up a week.  Probably on or around the same days that I update now.  As for the new chapter, expect it LATE LATE tonight or sometime tomorrow.  After that, I’ll finish plotting and get a head start on everything else.  I’m very close to having the entire story completely plotted out until the end.

Holidays

Due to the holiday weekend, there will be no new chapter this week. 

I’m going to take the extra time to make sure my ideas for the next chapter will be their best rather than forcing something out amongst the busy weekend.

Chapter Nine – “Grace”

Cumulus clouds gathered in heaps, like the whipped cream on top of a sundae, miles from the Triumph. The usually white, cotton lumps were stained with charcoal on their undersides, a portent of the forthcoming storm. Strong winds peppered the flat-topped roof and billowed Simon’s loose-fitting hoodie as he slumped against the rooftop exit. Looking forlorn, he watched as Haley waved to Damon Blake’s helicopter, which just a moment ago set Brute down on top the 34-story building.

The blonde inventor turned to look at her creation. Even after only a day in the wild, Brute had seen better days. Soot covered his normally lustrous metal hide and there were singe marks around the cavity where his head once was. Haley tried to wipe some of the grime away, lifting the bottom of her white tank top to use as a rag. The coating was too thick and set in, leaving her with nothing more than a stained shirt. Her shoulders slacked and then she sighed, shaking her head as she gazed at her formerly impressive invention.

“Okay, we need to secure Brute to the roof. He may weigh as much as a small truck, but with the way the wind is blowing up here, we can’t be too safe.” Haley announced, presumably to Simon, who was still sulking near the exit.

Chapter Eight – “Band of Sisters”

The ruby tips of Elise’s jet-black hair waved in the breeze as the helicopter’s rotor started up. The blades of the luxury copter cut through the air with a methodical thumping that sounded like the steady beat of a heart. She sighed as she looked upon the members of her rescue team. Three people, and they’re all female; I don’t know what Robin was thinking. Does he really think that we’re going to be able to rescue the men with this? Elise lamented. She stared at Simone and Jenette in particular. Just the night before, Robin brushed her off when she inquired as to the origin of these two, and now they were supposed to be members of her team with barely an explanation.

“You’re supposed to be a demon?” She spoke, staring Jenette directly in the eyes. “No offense, but you look a little soft.”

“And you look like another jealous flat girl. You’re not going to whine the whole time like the last one, are you?” Jenette retorted. “Because if you are, I could help Ani pick out her next meal instead. I can find plenty of stuff to amuse me without trekking off into the middle of the jungle.”