Heavy Metal Thunder (32 page)

The light of hope glimmers in the man’s eyes.

“You stay right there,” growls the smiling
revolutionary. “We’ve got a job to do.”

“That’s right,” says the lawman. “You’re not going
anywhere. You’re under arrest.”

You can see that the man is struggling, torn between
your words of hope - and resignation to the wills of others.

If your
Charisma
is 4 or more, turn to
section
551
.

If your
Charisma
is 3 or less, turn to
section
374
.

You return to the dimly lit antechamber and push the
button that will depressurize it. As the air is sucked from the room, you take
in one gulp of air and seal your helm back in its place. While waiting for the
far door to open, you take a moment to steel your nerves and ponder the
dangerous path that you are on.

You consider the beating of your heart, the strength
in your veins.
Blood
is life. In the game that is your life,
Blood
is an abstract score that represents vitality and health. (If you have ever played
any sort of RPG, then Blood can be thought of as “hit points.”)

When you are wounded,
your
Blood score will drop. When you rest or take healing medicines,
your
Blood score will rise. You begin this game of survival
with a
Blood score of 10.
This is your
maximum
Blood
; your
Blood cannot rise above this amount. For example, if your Blood has dropped to
6, and you heal 7 Blood, then your Blood increases to 10. However, as you rise
in levels, your
maximum Blood score will increase.

If your Blood ever reaches zero, then you have died,
and the game of survival is lost. If this happens, put the book down, walk
away, think about your life and the weaknesses that betrayed you, and try the
game again when you’re ready.

The gravity shuts off and the far door opens.

Turn to section
248
.

The tentacles about your legs swing you in toward
the gaping mouth. Dozens of rows of teeth surround you, a massive tongue probes
toward you - then, you jam your weapon into the monster’s mouth. Hurt, or
perhaps just annoyed, the thing lumbers backward and you flare your jets,
straining against your bonds, and press right against the mouth. You swing and
attack the same spot as before; the fear is maddening this close to the teeth,
but you see a spurt of red, then something like a wet tomato splatters against
your helm. The tentacles gripping your legs relax for one moment and you blast
your jets, twist to the side, and free yourself from the beast.

You gain
1 XP
for surviving.

As you fly away from the head, you see scattered
around the bulk of the massive beast even more heads, more seas of tentacles.
They are alarmed at your fight against their brother, but cannot reach you. You
laugh wickedly, hungry to hurt this pet of the Invader. Wise to the monster’s
tricks, you look for weak points that you can investigate.

If you want to look at the hole you see in the
distance, turn to section
384
.

If you want to follow one of the blue channels that
runs
throughout the beast’s skin, turn to section
373
.

The deconstructor shatters into pieces as your
weapon smashes through its face. You swing about just as the other comes up
from behind. You dodge an arcing tentacle,
then
swing
your own weapon into the monster’s back. It stumbles, and you fall on it,
beating it mercilessly until its frame cracks inward, sending up sparks. The
thing falls under you, dead.

You have survived your first fight. Turn to section
298
.

Your crazy tactic works: the chair slams the
revolutionary in the head before he can get off a shot and by the time he gets
his bearings again, you slam into him. Both of you crash to the ground,
growling and spitting, and you wrap your fists around the shotgun to keep the
man from using it on you.

The other revolutionary paces back and forth and you
know that he is trying to get up the nerve to shoot you, point-blank, without
hitting his friend. Aware that you have to kill your opponent quickly, but
without any easy means to do it, you slam your head into his own. Both of you
reel in pain. You do it again, then again, over and over until your vision
grows dim and red. Then, just before you can pass out, you see the man’s eyes
roll up into his head. You quickly yank the shotgun away from him, point it at
his face, click - then, in a flash of light and blood, the man’s head explodes
with such force that you are deafened. Below you
churns
a primordial soup of brains, bone, and even a spinning jawbone. The worst part
is that the body is still jerking underneath you.

During your terrible battle, you lose a
bone-shattering
6 Blood.

If you have died, you may
Regenerate
by turning back to section
312
, or, if you want to go back further, turn
back to section
179
.

If you survive, then you turn and see the scared
revolutionary, eyes wide and white with shock. “Dinner is served,” you growl.
He gives vent to a mucus-curdling scream and dashes from the room.

You search the bodies of the dead and find the
following gear, which you may take with you.

Krieger-Colt Pump-Action Shotgun
(Shotgun, bulk 3)

3 Shotgun Shells (1 bulk)

Enforcer Automatic (Handgun, bulk 2)

5 Handgun Bullets (bulk 1)

Stellar Corp Law Enforcement Uniform
(bulk 2
, damaged and bloody)

Steel Baton (Mace, bulk 2)

When you are ready to hit the all-you-can-eat buffet
(and scoop up some XP), turn to section
260
.

You stand over the bodies of the fallen
deconstructors,
then
lean against a wall to catch your
breath. You have survived the fight: Gain
2 XP.
You rest for several
minutes,
then
continue on into the station.

You realize you are very near the center. You hear
gunfire and shouting ahead. You run towards the sound.

Turn to section
376
.

“Greetings, eternal friend!” you call out to him. “I
suppose you are in dire need of healing supplies. By the way, how’d that battle
with the deconstructors go?”

The guard whirls about, screams, “SHUT UP, COWARD!
YOU GIMME THAT SUIT - OR I’M GONNA POUR YOU OUT OF IT IN PIECES!” He kicks off
and flies toward you, holding his lead pipe like a batter at plate wanting to
make a home-run with your skull.

If you have a gun and at least one bullet, you can
fire at him by turning to section
486
.

If you wish to draw a hand-to-hand weapon and beat
his ass silly, turn to section
107
.

Otherwise, you can take him down with your bare
hands by turning to section
23
.

You tap your jets slightly and move over the grey
landscape. Fields of tentacles wave slowly on either side of you. As you draw
near the silent mound it quivers, uncoils, and rises. You jerk back in alarm.
The thing before you is a thick stalk about ten feet long, its base attached to
the ground, and its end is topped by a large head, featureless save for a
gaping mouth lined with fangs made of the same hard stuff as its body. The
thing snaps its heavy jaw open and shut, too distant to reach you.
Several tentacles at its base rise and quiver in anticipation.

Just as you back away further to leave the freakish
head alone, something slams into your leg and clamps shut like a vice. Cursing
like mad, you look and see that a tentacle far longer than the others has
wrapped around you. The thing lifts you into the air like a rag doll, there is
a sickening blur of motion that kicks in your guts -
then
,
before you, the hungry head of the beast opens its fanged mouth to accept you
as sacrifice.

If you have a gun and at least one bullet, and want
to blast the head, turn to section
454
.

If you have a hand-to-hand weapon and want to go
toe-to-toe with the head of the beast, turn to section
155
.

If you have a
High-Power Implosion Grenade
,
you can use it by turning to section
584
.

If you want to try to wiggle free from the tentacle
and fly away from the monster, turn to section
467
.

You pull the trigger. The light of the shotgun blast
blinds you for an instant,
then
something like a
hammer slams into your left arm. As you fall backwards, slowly, you see the
smiling revolutionary spinning on his feet, blood dribbling from his chest in a
long line. He drops to the ground. His scared comrade nearly drops his own gun,
juggles it in the air for a moment,
then
stares at
you, eyes wide and white with shock.

You lose
7 Blood
to the terrible assault.
Furthermore, part of your suit has been shredded. If you have any
Sticky
Fix
, you must use one dose now to fix your suit; otherwise, make a note
that
your suit has been damaged.
Lastly, because of your wounds you
temporarily lose
1 Strength
and
1 Dexterity.
Be sure to erase the amount of ammunition that you used.

If you have died in a hail of gunfire, you may
Regenerate
by turning back to section
312
, or, if you want to go back further, turn back to
section
179
.

If you survive, then as you slowly rise to your feet
the other revolutionary gives vent to a mucus-curdling scream and dashes from
the room. “Looks like I’m the last man standing,” you mutter, leaning against a
wall, bloody and exhausted. “Too bad survival hurts so
bad
.”

You search the bodies of the dead and find the
following gear, which you may take with you.

Krieger-Colt Pump-Action Shotgun
(Shotgun, bulk 3)

4 Shotgun Shells (bulk 1)

Enforcer Automatic (Handgun, bulk 2)

5 Handgun Bullets (bulk 1)

Stellar Corp Law Enforcement Uniform
(bulk 2
, damaged and bloody)

Steel Baton (Mace, bulk 2)

When you are ready to hit the all-you-can-eat buffet
(and scoop up some XP), turn to section
260
.

Your knees tremble and black goblin-spots dance
around in your eyes. You realize that the lights and the sound are part of a
psy
-op weapon designed to disorient the human nervous system.
Your stomach kicks and a meal that you don’t remember eating rockets out from
you and sprays onto the floor: Lose
1 Blood.
You stumble backwards on
loose spaghetti-legs, leave the chamber, and shut the door behind you.

Turn to section
239
.

The first day of looking at the photo, you sharpen
your wits by making jokes about the group of friends. “Hey there fatty!” you
say. “Good job putting on weight. And you, Little Miss Lady, I bet you work as
hard as any man - but probably get paid somewhat less!
Ha
ha
!”
By the next day you consider the people in the
photo to be your closest friends. Tears line your face as you fantasize about
their various struggles in life. Days disappear as you visualize working with
these people, helping and hurting these people, even making love to these
people.

Then one day you fantasize about staging a bank
heist with your friends. Things go wrong, real wrong. The cops surround you and
blast the bank, and as each of your friends
get
wasted
you tear them from the photo and cast them into the void. Soon they are all
dead... and you wake, alone, in the cage of your suit. “Doomed to survive,” you
groan. “Goodbye, my friends.”

You teeter on the brink of full-on insanity. Only
distraction and numbness can help you now.

If you have any
Rest-A-Spell
pills, turn to
section
445
.

If you do not have this drug, turn to section
213
.

You hide the bomb on the floor inside the entrance and,
with an evil giggle, leave the room and continue down the hall to the dock
command station.

Be sure to remove the item from your inventory,
then
turn to section
399
.