Tunnels 06 - Terminal

screamed.
    Chester finally reacted. Bringing the shotgun to bear on the Armagi, he squeezed the trigger. But as he’d swung the weapon round, Chester had fired prematurely, letting off the second barrel before it was lined up on its target.
    The shot didn’t hit the Armagi in the thorax as Chester had intended, but clipped what approximated its shoulder. Myriad glittering pieces of it scattered into the air, like wind-borne ice.
    Despite the force of the blast, it remained upright, one clawed foot gripping the ground, the other poised in the air. Then the Armagi swivelled towards Chester.
    ‘Ohmigod,’ he said. ‘I’m toast.’ He threw a glance over at Stephanie. ‘Bloody run!’ he yelled. ‘I’ll keep it busy.’
    There was no question that this time the Armagi was coming for him.
    He chucked the shotgun at it, but it fended the weapon away with a deft flick of its undamaged limb. It may have been injured, but the creature was still just as much of a threat.
    Chester didn’t bother to run.
    He closed his eyes, sinking to his knees, waiting.
    In that brief moment he thought of his parents. ‘I’ll be with you soon, Mum and Dad,’ he whispered, trying to control his fear. But he couldn’t, and, at the top of his lungs, he screamed, ‘Help me!’
    There was a swishing sound.
    He opened his eyes.
    Parry was still there, his arm around Stephanie.
    The Armagi had folded to the ground, something protruding from the nape of its neck.
    Chester turned to look behind him.
    ‘Martha! I don’t bloody believe it!’
    She’d stepped out from the gorse bushes and was standing there, her red hair as bedraggled as it always had been, her voluminous clothes just as filthy.
    ‘Hello, dearie,’ she said, walking over to him and stroking his cheek.
    Chester couldn’t get his words out. ‘Where … How the … How …?’
    ‘My wonderful boy, you only had to ask for help,’ she said, looking at him adoringly, as she brushed his fringe from his forehead. ‘You knew I’d always come, didn’t you?’
    Chester looked from the crossbow in her hand to the motionless Armagi. ‘Did you kill it?’
    He did a double take as he saw what was there now.
    Instead of the creature, stretched out and face down, was a naked Styx.
    ‘No, it’s not dead … it’s only stunned,’ Martha replied. ‘There’s one place behind the head where if you can get a bolt into its spine, a single shot will do the job. Skill and luck,’ she added, obviously very pleased with herself.
    Still not believing his eyes, Chester ventured a step closer and peered down at the Styx. ‘But … but … it’s changed …’ he stuttered. ‘How did it do that?’
    Martha also moved over to the prostrate Styx and cast her eyes over him. ‘It’s the only way I’ll ever get a naked man to throw himself at my feet,’ she said wistfully. Then she took Chester’s arm and began to pull him away. ‘Careful – not too close.’
    ‘But he has to be dead?’ Chester asked. ‘He certainly looks it.’
    Martha shook her head. ‘Not dead, not with these things. Only way to be sure is to burn every last bit of them, toe clippings ’n’ all.’
    ‘Yes, they regenerate,’ Parry said taking a step forward.
    As if Chester had completely forgotten where he was, he now looked up at Parry, taking a moment to focus on him. ‘No, you don’t! You just stay away from me!’ Chester growled.
    ‘Lad, you have to underst—’ Parry started saying, but never finished as Stephanie shrieked again, pointing over at the trees of a nearby copse.
    A second Armagi alighted on the ground some twenty feet away. It appeared to be looking for the other creature.
    ‘Your crossbow?’ Chester said to Martha, remembering she’d just fired it.
    ‘Nothing doing,’ Martha replied. ‘Can’t reload in a hurry.Only got one good hand after the Bright caught me.’
    The Armagi was moving towards her and Chester, but she seemed perfectly calm.
    ‘Martha … what do we do?’ Chester asked frantically. He’d believed they were out of danger, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.
    ‘I might have lost a hand to the Bright, but …’ Martha interrupted herself to whistle.
    Chester thought something was wrong with his vision. From all sides, white objects converged on the Armagi. As they swooped in, they were every bit as fast as the creature. They may have been slightly smaller than the Armagi, but it didn’t stand a chance. As if caught in the middle of a tornado, the