Heavy Metal Thunder (13 page)

Sybel runs down the hall and you rush to rejoin him.
Turn to section
416
.

The deconstructor leans back on long legs and your
spear
slams
into the ground; following through with
your own momentum, you catch the butt end of your weapon in your gut, losing
your breath. A tentacle from each of the monsters whirls about, then smack
heavily into either side of your head, jarring your skull. Dizzy, you swing
about in a whirlwind tantrum, striking metal against metal. You finally slam
into a wall and bounce backward. You grit against the pain,
then
see that one of the deconstructors has been smashed horribly. The other rises
from its brother’s body, shaken, and you fall on the monster, jamming the end
of your weapon into its top
until,
finally, you crack
the shell and smash the thing’s innards. You fall among the dead machines,
exhausted.

You lose
3 Blood
in the fight. If your Blood
has dropped to zero or less, then you pass out, dead, your blood mingling with
the coolant in the deconstructor’s veins.

If you have survived, turn to section
298
.

Red light flashes through a maze of hallways. You
can hear heavy doors slamming open and shut, over and over and at different
intervals like the drumbeat of some god of war. One seemingly calm hallway is filled
with fog that glows pink in time to the emergency lights. You hear buzzing,
flashes like thunder. An air conditioning duct thunders full of storm for one
moment, then clicks off again. Just before you step into the area, a heavy
cleaning machine rushes past you at breakneck speed, slams into a wall,
then
disappears around a corner.

You enter the area and are overwhelmed by the choice
of hallways. You find two that seem the least forbidding of them all.

One hallway to your right seems fairly innocuous.
You can take it by turning to section
499
.

The cleaning machine went down a hallway to your
left. Reasoning that it will be far ahead of you and probably in another
hallway by now, you can take this path by turning to section
315
.

You swing out over the side. Smoke rolls about in
front of you, casting deep shadows throughout the hellish red chamber. Two
horned heads rise into view. You fire at one, who jerks and slides along the
ground, dead, but the other gets off a shot before you can move. Your helm is
blasted sideways and pain rings throughout your skull as you crash into the
ground. As you reach up to adjust your helm you feel a great dent that presses
against your battered head. You struggle to rise once more, though your vision
shakes sickeningly.

You lose
4 Blood
, though you may subtract
your
Will
stat
from this amount. Be sure to
erase the amount of ammunition that you used.

If you die, then it turns out there are two large
dents in your helm - one where the bullet went in, and another where it came
out again. No amount of Will can overcome that. You may
Regenerate
by turning back to section
161
.

If you survive, then you hear the last guard blast
away at your cover as you crawl back onto your knees. You glance over at
Marcus. A pile of alien dead are scattered about the narrow doorway, the
stairwell, and beneath the stairs themselves. The walls run thick with blood as
Marcus reloads once more. Behind you, you see Commander Uther throw the last of
his alien guns away. Sybel hands him one of his handguns and a clip of
ammunition. When Sybel swings out of the doorway to fire at the oncoming stream
of reinforcements, he takes single, controlled shots.

Your head rings and the constant battering of
gunfire
is
maddening. You can feel your sanity
drifting away, drowning in a tide of brutality. There is not much time left,
and everyone is running low on ammunition. You must hold together and kill the
last guard quickly.

You must now compute a number that will determine
the accuracy of your third shot. This number is your
Dexterity
added to
your
Will
. If you are trained in
Weapon Proficiency: Ranged
, and
it is with the weapon you are using, add 3 to this number. If you are using a
Rifle
,
add 2. If you are using a
Shotgun
, add 1. For every
3 Handgun bullets
you fire, add 1. For every
2 Rifle bullets
you fire, add 1. For every
Shotgun
shell
you fire, add 1. Furthermore, if you have
Sixth
Sense
,
add 2 to this number.

If you are out of ammunition, or have so little that
you do not think you can make an accurate shot, turn to section
73
.

If the number is 8 or less, turn to section
185
.

If the number is between 9 and 14, turn to section
208
.

If the number is 15 or more, turn to section
484
.

Uther throws a small steel container into the
hallway, which emits some sort of thick black gas. “Go!” he says, running into
the hall and firing. Marcus tosses several grenades,
then
covers you and Sybel with a full clip from his massive rifle. Uther turns and
runs, screams, “Jetpacks!” and, to your amazement, takes off flying down the
narrow hallway. Sybel blasts off as well, joining him.

Your stomach churns, for you have never flown your
jetpack, designed for zero-G flight in wide-open space, in such narrow
quarters. A hail of alien gunfire erupts directly behind you,
then
Marcus blasts past you, skidding against the wall in a
shower of sparks and cursing loudly.

If you want to use your jetpack to blast out of the
area, turn to section
449
.

If you want to run as fast as you can, turn to
section
453
.

You wake up fully rested, but your body aches from
all of your many wounds. You take some time to clean and patch yourself up as
best you can, which is difficult because the idea of taking off your space suit
fills you with revulsion, even terror.
Did the Black Lance Legion program me
,
you wonder,
to never remove my suit unless I was on my own ship? Why does
the idea fill me with such fear?

You heal
3
Blood
. However, if you are
trained in
First
Aid
, then you heal an additional
3 Blood.
Furthermore, if any of your stats have been temporarily lowered, then they are
now restored.

Turn to section
317
.

You fire your gun and note, with deep satisfaction, that
one of the monster’s teeth shatters. “Bet that hurt!” you scream as hundreds of
other teeth clamp down on your neck and torso, grinding through your suit, your
skin, your bones, your organs. Each layer hurts in its own special way.

Be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you
used. Then erase your character from existence. You have died in the belly of a
beast that serves the Invader.

THE END.

Regeneration:
You may return to section
179
and try again, if you
wish.

The door refuses to open. If you have a
Lounge
Key
Card
, you can use it to open the door. Otherwise, you must
fire either
1 Rifle
bullet
or
2 Handgun bullets
into the
control panel to open it.

If you manage to open the door by one of these methods,
turn to section
500
.

If you have none of these items, or do not have
enough bullets, or would rather just try doing things the hard way, turn to
section
409
.

As you fly toward the Invader, something slams into
your back. Two more Invaders fly by on either side of you; horrified, you
realize that they are carrying some sort of metallic net and have ensnared you.
The bushwhackers loop about you, entangling your limbs and weapons, while the
first Invader flies toward you more quickly than before, most likely licking
his chops in anticipation of an easy kill.

You must now compute a number that determines how
well you can fight while ensnared. This number is your
Dexterity
stat
added to your
Zero G Combat
stat. If you have the
Jetpack
Skill
,
add 5 to this number. If you are trained in
Weapon Proficiency: Hand-to-Hand
,
and it is with the weapon you are using, add 1 to this number. If you are
fighting with a
Blade
, add 2. If you are fighting with a
Spear
,
subtract 2. If, for whatever reason, you are
fighting
unarmed
,
subtract 5.

During the battle you lose
11 Blood
, though
you may subtract the number you calculated from this amount. You may also
subtract your
Defense
rating from this amount. However, if you lose 3 or
more Blood, then you also lose
1 SD.

If you die, then you may
Regenerate
by turning back to section
161
.

While the first Invader rains blows down on you,
numbing your body, you manage to swing about so wildly that the two net holders
fly into one another such that one’s jetpack sears the other’s helmet into slag
around his screaming skull. You crash into the first Invader and tear into him
upside down, crushing his knees in time to the bone-crushing music until his
suit flies apart. You look about, hollering defiantly, but the third Invader
has bailed on his comrades.

You gain
3 XP
for killing two Invaders. You
may take the enemy’s
Charged Mace (Mace, bulk 2)
if you want.

As you try to get your bearings, you realize that
you have drifted far from the main battle. A cloud of shattered armor and
frozen corpses surround the melee between the two large ships. Just before you
can rejoin the battle, you notice that someone else has drifted as well. The
infantryman’s jetpack sputters,
then
dies. He is far
away and your helm cannot properly identify him. You fly closer, thinking that
if he is a human then he needs help, and if he is an enemy then he will make an
easy kill.

When you come within range of the wounded unit, the
heavy metal music in your ears seems to grow dim, and your heart thunders
ominously, for your helm identifies the casualty as John Christian.

Turn to section
532
.

You hear bullets ricochet in the hallway as someone
fires on the deconstructor furthest from you. You aim your weapon downward at
the flank of the beast. Wind whips all around you, rushing into the void.

You must now compute an abstract number that signifies
the accuracy of your gunfire. If you are skilled in
Weapon Proficiency:
Ranged
, and it is with the type of gun you are using, add 3 to your total.
For every
2 Rifle bullets
that you choose to fire, add 1 to your total.
For every
4
Handgun
bullets you choose to fire, add 1 to your
total. Add your
Dexterity
to the total. You may only fire one type of
gun at the deconstructor, for the violence of the vacuum and the jerking of
your grappling rope prevent you from switching out weapons.

If the result is 9 or more, turn to section
411
.

If the result is 8 or less, turn to section
359
.

You level the gun at the lead dogs. “Sit!” you
shout. “Good boy!” You pull the trigger. One dog takes a shot in the face,
spins around yelping, and slides off into darkness. The other dog scrambles
sideways. You fire again, sending up bits of concrete, then fire again and
catch the dog in the side. It stubbornly clings to the beam,
then
slides into a group of dogs below. They bite and thrash wildly and two more
fall from the beam.

You have gained a good lead on them, but more are
crawling after you. Subtract
3 Handgun bullets
from your inventory. You
haul yourself onto the beam and begin your ascent.

Turn to section
510
.

You lunge at the man with your weapon. He shrieks
wildly, knocking it to the side with a wild swing from his rifle. He barrels
into you and you both slam into a wall. He bashes your nose with a punch. You
stagger to the side, blood spewing onto your mouth. He rushes at you. You raise
your weapon to wield him off and he runs into its end, huffing painfully. You
smack him in the face with your weapon, then in the knees, and as he falls you
are already on top of him, bashing in his torso with the weapon, shattering
bones and turning organs to mush.

You lose
2 Blood
in the fight. If your Blood
has dropped to zero or less, then you feel your face and realize he has pushed
your nose up into your brain, and you die with him.