The Bounty Hunter: Into The Swarm (11 page)
Read The Bounty Hunter: Into The Swarm Online
Authors: Joseph Anderson
“Cass?”
Silence.
He grabbed the gun he kept hidden
under the command console and sprang to his feet. He turned to face the
consuming darkness of the ship and stepped toward it, leading with the barrel
of the gun. He felt naked and exposed without the protective layers of the
armor he wore outside of the ship. It had been years since he had been in a
fight without it and he was shocked by how vulnerable he felt. He pushed it
aside, concentrating on what he could hear as he stepped blindly forward.
The creaks of the ship were
magnified when there were no other sounds to mask them. The low humming of the
lights were gone. The ventilation systems, with their gentle roaring of air,
were dead. He felt hot without the air moving around him, as if his skin was
irritated. He heard someone’s footsteps in the darkness and whipped around,
firing two shots in their direction. He saw a person in the muzzle flashes of
the gun, with sprawling shadows behind them. He fired again in the direction
they had been running and saw nothing, only an empty corner of the ship.
He took another step and then heard
something again. He shot in its direction only to see one of his guns
clattering over the floor. It had been thrown across the room and he knew
immediately that he had been tricked. He spun around on his heels a moment too
late, turning to meet the fist that slammed across his face. He fired
instinctively, but he was too close to properly aim. He saw a flash of his
attacker’s face, their features lost in the shadows, before another punch
struck him.
He dropped the gun and lunged
forward, swinging his fists wildly into the dark. His attacks met only air and
he stumbled forward with the force he had committed into the swings. His
assailant seemed to suffer no loss of sight in the dark, dancing out of his
reach and grappling him from behind. He felt two more hits jolt into his back,
rattling against his kidneys and dropping him to his knees. He felt something
puncture his back then, two sharp prongs between his shoulder blades before a
stab of hot lightning surged through his body. His muscles spasmed
uncontrollably as the shock ran through him three more times. He felt paralyzed
but was conscious as he felt the hands around his legs, dragging him down
toward the jail cell of his own ship.
Also by Joseph Anderson:
Science Fiction
Bounty Hunter Series
The Bounty Hunter
Series One, Complete
Fantasy
Monster Slayer Series
Werewolf
Zombies