Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

helping much. The cloth limbs still moved with eerie suppleness, their lack of joints giving them the constant advantage of attacks from unexpected angles. There seemed no end to the dolls' energy. They had no muscles to grow tired.
    Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat fought to get back and help the humans, but other
    dolls held them at bay. The Bear and the Goat fought with animal ferocity, slowly tearing the dolls to pieces. They couldn't bear the thought of more humans dying on their world.
    Until finally Julian Skye threw aside his sword and fired up his mind. A doll's machete streaked for his throat, and then suddenly all the dolls were thrown backwards by a wave of pure psionic energy erupting out of the young esper. The psistorm swept the rag dolls away like straws in a hurricane, tearing them to pieces. The humans clung together, untouched. Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat clung to the ground as dolls went flying over their heads. Energy spit and crackled on the air, and the dolls were torn limb from limb, stitch from stitch, the pieces scattered widely across the grassy plain. In the end, only small twitching pieces were left lying around the silver railway tracks. The humans slowly lowered their swords and looked about them as Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat applauded wildly. Edwin was sounding his steam whistle over and over again, almost beside himself with relief and excitement. Giles turned to glare at Julian.
    "Why the hell didn't you do that sooner?"
    And then he stopped as the esper fell forward onto his knees. Blood leaked thickly from Julian's nose and ran down over his mouth. He coughed harshly, and blood from deep inside him sprayed out into the air. His face was bone white. He started to fall forward, and Giles grabbed him by the shoulders. The Deathstalker sat down and cradled the young esper in his arms. The rebels started to crowd around him, but Giles waved them back so the esper had plenty of air. The Bear and the Goat came quickly over to join them, eyes wide at the sight of so much sudden blood. Julian shook violently for a moment, and then slowly began to settle. His breathing grew stronger and steadier, and the flow
    of blood down his face slowed. He sat up, raised a hand to his mouth, and then grimaced when it came away bloody. Evangeline offered him a handkerchief. He nodded his thanks and mopped at his face.
    "Damn," he said thickly. "That was a bad one. I'll be all right in a minute.
    It's not as bad as it looks. I'm afraid ever since the mind techs had me, I've been a bit fragile. My esp isn't reliable anymore, or I'd have used it sooner."
    "Sorry about that, lad," said Giles. "I didn't know."
    "That's all right," said Julian. He started to get up, and Giles half helped and half lifted him back onto his feet. Julian took a deep breath, and his legs firmed. "That's better. I'll be all right now. It looks worse than it is. You'd better check that the dolls are finished. Some of those parts are still moving."
    "Sure," said Finlay. "We'll check it out. You stay here and get your breath back. Evangeline, stay with him."
    He gathered up the others with his eyes, and they moved over to examine the scattered doll parts. Most were only a foot or so in length, the cloth shredded to tatters, the stuffing trailing in long white streamers. There was an occasional limb or part of a torso here and there, still twitching and rolling back and forth in the grass. One torso had survived almost intact. Finlay knelt beside it, frowning at the bloody rents in the cloth gut. He eased his hand into one of the openings, and screwed up his face at the feel of what was inside. He took a firm hold and pulled back his hand. It came out soaked in blood, pulling a length of purple human intestine. Toby made a shocked noise, even as he gestured for Flynn to get a close-up. Finlay dropped the intestine, reached back into the cloth belly, and pulled out a handful of human guts.
    "They do that," said Bruin Bear, staring sadly at the bloody offal in Finlay's
    hand. "They want to be human, you see. So when they kill humans, they take the organs from inside the bodies, and stitch them into themselves. Guts in their bellies, hearts in their chests, brains in their heads. Of course, they don't do anything. Eventually they start to rot and decay, and then they have to be replaced. And the only way to do that…"
    "Is to kill more humans," said Giles.
    "Right," said the Sea Goat. "They're not very bright; but then, they're only