Blackjack Villain (The Blackjack Series) by Bequer Ben

Author:Bequer, Ben [Bequer, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-03-28T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

I saw flashes wrapped in darkness and there was no way to tell what was real and what wasn’t. I felt nothing as I drifted along with the wind, like a feather floating in the breeze.

Cool Hand spoke to me, but his lips weren’t in sync with his voice, which was otherwise unintelligible. I faded while he was talking. Then something touched my face and struck it several times, but instead of waking me, the blows ushered me deeper into the dark. Despite how far I fell, I could still feel movement around me and I danced on the breeze like a butterfly, surrounded by strange creatures, viscous and purple, powdery and blue, fluid and orange.

Nothing made sense.

Eyes were on me, literally on me, while others gazed from afar. They surrounded me, their curiosity like a wave of oppression that was both accusing and forgiving.

I was gone again, then back. I saw Apogee, whether she was real or a vision I couldn’t tell. Her face had a bloody smudge, and her hair framed it. She had the same problem with her mouth as Cool Hand, though she made for a lovelier view and she was far above me, rising farther and farther. Before I knew it, she was gone, replaced by the grimacing Dr. Zundergrub.

The doctor didn’t speak, but his eyes told me all I needed to know. They were wrapped in murder and tendrils of night. Perhaps he was affecting me like he had Apogee.

I faded again, but his eyes lingered.

* * *

It was Zundergrub I saw first, still hovering over me, with something next to him I couldn’t identify. It was transparent, round, and bulbous, and despite looking at it intently, I had no idea what it was. Two eyes glowed inside the body and followed my every move. A host of tentacles whirled beneath the creature as it hovered above the ground.

“He is waking,” Zundergrub said, shouting for some reason. His companion spoke as well, but it was a gurgling, popping sound, accompanied by a flying trail of bubbles. As they popped in the air, the bubbles added to the original sounds, this time with a high pitched whistle, with the tonal variety of a Mozart piano concerto.

“That’s cool,” I said, but speaking was a big mistake. It irritated my throat and stomach and it took all my concentration and strength to keep from vomiting.

Trying to get up was also a stupid thing to do as the alien streamed a flow of angry bubbles into my chest. The sounds from the popping bubbles pinned me like a strong arm across my body, laying me flat across a mound of reddish dirt that smelled like sulfur and ozone. I could throw a car across a lake, and defeat the leader of the manta-ray people in single combat, but this alien’s means of communicating bypassed all my defenses.

“I would stay down if I were you,” Zundergrub said, then spoke to the creature softly in either Hindi or Persian.

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