Stars Gods Wolves by Dan Kirshtein (best classic books .txt) 📕

his eyes remained in front of him. “What did I just say?!” he shouted back to her. He would have insisted further, but with the cargo bay ajar, his focus was needed in keeping the Atticus steady. He shook his head and tried not to distract himself further.

Josie stood up, wrapping a rope-like cord around her waist and then around a nearby bar. It was a short, sturdy leash, and she could walk to the edge of the platform and still feel secure. “Try not to enjoy it too much!” Boomer called out, referring to putting more holes in the Carrion, and the Company all grinned. She cocked her rifle, switched to live rounds, and looked out. The Atticus slowed over a small group of the abominations, who were tearing away at a nearby structure.

Gally stood in the doorway of the cockpit, inquisitively watching Josie stand as the gray snow whirled around her. She aimed very carefully and fired two shots. The Carrion barely noticed the gunfire. The first shot was a near miss, but the second pierced one of the beasts square in the head, dropping it. The other creatures barely noticed their fallen kin, pushing it aside while they continued eating.

Harper noticed a hailing message appear on his holo-board. A green wave appeared to flicker as it spoke, meaning the sender did not allow a video to transmit. “Rogue vessel, you are poaching in restricted airspace. Cease your actions immediately and withdraw from this area.”

The pilot’s eyes widened. He’d never been called a ‘rogue vessel’ before, and the voice had a way of making it sound like an insult. Harper’s mouth hung open as he pressed his own hailing button to respond; there must have been some confusion. “Uh, restricted?” He kept his thoughts to himself, but he was curious as to why anyone would hold domain over a literal wasteland. “Restricted by whom, exactly?”

Before the response came in, he heard Josie fire two more shots in the back. Harper leaned back and opened his coms to the crew again. “Guys, hold fire for just a second,” he asked. Just then, an explosion rocked the ship’s forward engine. Harper shouted in surprise as he was thrown back into his seat. The second explosion nearly penetrated the wing, and the third nearly hit the cockpit itself. The pilot was thrown away from the holo-board before he could reach the hailing button, but that didn’t stop him from shouting. “Wait! Wait! Wait!” Knowing the sound of an engine exploding, Harper leapt upon the controls instead.

When the first explosion hit, Gally was thrown from her spot in the doorway. While she stumbled, she attempted to grab on to something, anything, but everything was out of reach. When the second explosion came, she simply flew. Her eyes widened, realizing her complete lack of control as her feet were lifted off the ground and she was thrown directly toward the end of the bay doors. She wanted to scream, but couldn’t find the air to do so, so she just let out a small yelp as she glided past the others.

A skinny but muscular arm, housed in an environmental suit, reached out and caught her. The catch nearly knocked the wind out of her, but she was pulled back and held tightly around her waist. She looked down and to her left to see who she was pressed up against so tightly; it was Nitro. Her hands clung to his arm as the ship spun.

Josie was shouting something as she clung to the rope she’d tied. Gritting her teeth, she was forced against one of the walls. She watched one of the lab assistants fly past her, thrown from the ship.

After some time, Ox could no longer deal with the centripetal force. He was too heavy, and finally lost his grip on his seat. Unlike the others, he slid on the floor. Despite Josie reaching for him, he turned away from her. He knew he would break a Human; even one as fit as Josie would be ripped in half. Their eyes met, however, and his expression could just barely be read by her. His wide eyes seemed as calm as ever. His bottom lip jutted out slightly, as he was certain of what was about to happen. And then he was gone.

A more responsible pilot, one accustomed to passengers and the safety of others, would have been telling them to hang on or dictating safety protocols. Harper, however, was not used to having Human—or Waykind—passengers, and he seemed entirely focused on cursing the voice on the other end of the hail.

He also had to focus on not dying, which was proving quite difficult. He’d managed to float the spinning, sturdy, small vessel into what appeared to be chunks of a city. He was fairly certain he’d found a clearing, and he no longer had time to avoid the rocky terrain. While going straight down didn’t seem to be an option, they careened into the clearing with a splash of gray snow and chunks from the ship. Rocks below them rattled the landing; some pierced the hull. The right wing crashed into a nearby abandoned and half-eaten building, ending the spinning and tearing itself off in the process. The sudden stop to the spinning threw the passengers again. They thrashed once more, groaning.

Harper peeled his fingers from the controls, only to slam his fists into them, angrily. He cursed and cursed as he smashed the gauges, not thinking about his door being open. This job had suddenly taken him into the red. He wasn’t exactly finished punching, but his hands began to hurt, so he stood up. Rubbing the side of his fist with his palm, he approached the cargo bay to assess the damage.

While the other doctors were grumbling and complaining, Martin looked to his right to see Doctor Aldo’s lifeless body sitting next to him; his neck had snapped in the landing.

As Harper stumbled past them, he heard Gally grunting. “Off!”