Kal Jerico: Sinner's Bounty (Necromunda) by Josh Reynolds

Author:Josh Reynolds [Reynolds, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2020-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

SHAFT-HAUNTERS

‘Scabbs!’ Kal snarled, as the thing crashed down onto his partner and bore him to the ground. It was larger than a man, but not by much. Bat-like, with a flattened, spear-blade nose and great, scalloped ears. It had no eyes – only nests of twitching filaments that writhed madly. Its wings were heavy flaps of leather and bone, and its body was a hairy sack. Clawed feet pinned Scabbs down as needle-filled jaws snapped at him.

On the creature’s back, crouched in a crude saddle, sat a mutie wearing a leather flight-mask and goggles. The mutie gave a wild yell and fired an autopistol as his mount tried to devour its struggling prey. Kal threw himself behind a fallen girder as shots pinged off his surroundings.

‘Yolanda,’ he called out.

‘On it,’ Yolanda snarled. She revved her chainblade and lunged at the shaft-haunter with a wildcat screech. The monster jerked back with a scream of its own as the blade gashed its snout. Its rider swung his weapon towards this new threat, but before he could fire, Amanute was on him. Her knife plunged into his heart and he stiffened. The shaft-haunter went wild, bucking and flapping. For a moment, it seemed to fill the narrow space. Its screams were deafening and were echoed from above. Despite the din, Kal could hear more of the beasts approaching, crawling down through the circulation shafts.

Wotan snarled, and Kal turned. Muties were loping down the tunnel, their rags blackened with oil and grease so that they all but blended in with their surroundings.

‘Smart,’ he muttered. ‘I hate it when they’re smart.’

He stood and let loose with both laspistols, filling the passage with whining las-bolts. A mutie dropped and the others scattered, seeking shelter amid the rubble. He turned.

‘Finish that thing off quick. We have to get out of here.’

‘Right,’ Yolanda said, lifting her chainsword.

‘Wait!’ Amanute shoved the body of the rider from the saddle and leaned over the shaft-haunter’s head, singing softly. She dug her fingers into its filthy fur and the beast’s thrashings slowed. It released Scabbs, and Yolanda hauled him to his feet.

‘Still in one piece?’ Kal called out.

Scabbs nodded, wheezing. ‘Barely.’

‘Good enough. We need to go.’ He looked at Amanute. ‘What are you planning to do with that thing? We don’t need any more pets.’

Amanute slid from the saddle and whispered something into the creature’s ear. It grunted and leapt upwards, clambering into a circulation shaft and out of sight.

‘It no more wished to be here than we wished to see it. The muties are worse even than uphivers.’

Screeches echoed down from the other shafts. The pipes jangled with warnings.

‘More on the way,’ Yolanda said, as she let off a burst from her autopistol down the passage. She was keeping the muties there pinned, but the stand-off wouldn’t last long. ‘What’s the play, Jerico? Stand and fight?’

‘Nope!’ Kal holstered his weapons and went to the edge of the passage. ‘The only way out of here is down and into the water. Last one in is mutie-bait.

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