London Wild (94 page)

February jumped over the desk, somersaulting to the relative safety of a third desk
, her hairs standing on end as she sensed the weapon behind her being fired and missing by no more than a quarter of an inch.

Then, moving as fast as she could, knowing her life depended on her speed and that she might be joining the Goddess any instant, February jumped onto the desk and then launched herself at the woman.

For a moment she thought she saw an image of a Herbaht on a bed in what appeared to be some sort of cell behind the woman. Right in the middle of this image there was what looked like a doorway through which only a wooden chair could be seen. She couldn’t really afford to spend much time worrying about them now.

Khosi seemed to have been distracted by this sudden development so that when she fired the pen weapon at the jumping figure
, she again missed somehow. A large part of the computer monitor that had sat atop that desk—along with part of the desk itself—was reduced to ash, but the attack was far too wide. If February had been an inch lower than she had been then maybe a toe or two would have been torn off, but as it was February remained unscathed.

Now they were face to face and hand to hand. February pinned each of Khosi’s hands with her own
. Her main intention was to incapacitate the woman whilst making sure the weapon couldn’t be brought to bear on her again.

The woman was strong, stronger than February
, and she was able to free both her arms fairly easily. This was a shock to February, who was expecting this fight to be no harder than dozens of others she had fought against herd in the past.

Another thing that took February by surprise was
that the woman seemed to have left her weapon in February’s hand as she had freed herself, and February couldn’t help but think that she had done so on purpose.

February quickly reversed the pen weapon and fired. Nothing happen
ed. It wasn’t really a surprise to her, considering how easily she had gotten the weapon.

The failure of the weapon to end the fight also caused enough of a distraction to February that the woman was able to aim a couple of blows at her head before she even realized the fight was still on. February felt her nose go numb as one of the blows struck it, and she had the feeling that she was bleeding just below her eye. Fortunately she was able to bring her own arms in to block any more blows, but though she might block them she wasn’t able to get
in any punches of her own.

Arms weren’t the only weapons February had at her disposal
, and she launched a foot at the herd’s stomach with the intention of knocking the wind out of her. It was no good. The woman had anticipated such a move. She blocked the leg and then grabbed it, forcing February to hop on one foot. The woman then lifted the leg higher and higher to unbalance February, and then she used her own foot to sweep February’s remaining supporting leg out from under her. February landed flat on her back, helpless to whatever the woman might have up her sleeve next.

February wasn’t giving much for her chances of winning this fight when her thoughts reminded her of Kitty. Kitty had dived behind the same first desk as February had and was still there. Had February not moved about making herself the target for the woman’s pen weapon, Kitty would likely have long since been reduced to ash. She wasn’t likely to be much good against this herd, but she might be able to buy February a little bit of time.

‘Kitty, I could use some help.’ February felt that she sounded desperate, and she wasn’t sure that she wasn’t.

The woman moved slowly around February
, looking for an opening. Then she launched her foot straight down at her prone opponent, aiming for the neck and a possible killing blow. February got her hands in the way just in time and held the foot there, the pen weapon still in her hand.

Kitty remained crouched behind the first desk. The scent of fear was strong from her, maybe even as strong as when February had first met her. She yelled back to her friend, ‘
What did I say about curiosity?’

‘Kitty!’ February called again
. This time it was more urgent, maybe even frantic, and perhaps a little bit angry. ‘Do something, anything!’

There was no doubt that Kitty would have loved to
help her friend, but the smell of fear was getting stronger by the second, and it was the sort of fear that paralyzed the muscles, the sort of fear where yelling could do nothing to help the situation.

It was fortunate then that the next voice to be heard was both calm and soothing. A male, most likely the one February had seen in the image of the cell on the wall, spoke in a measured
, unhurried, and somehow charismatic voice. ‘Kitty, Kitty, is that really your name?’ There was a short pause as if he was expecting an answer. ‘Okay, listen to me carefully. Do what I say and everything will be all right.’

‘Okay,’ Kitty called back nervously.

As the conversation between Kitty and the male was carried out, February and the woman seemed to be stuck in a sort of stalemate. February had a tight hold on the foot so the woman was virtually unable to do anything else except try to free it; however, February was using all her strength just to hold on.

‘Okay, stay calm but move quickly. Firstly, perhaps you can let me out?’

‘How?’ Kitty called back frantically.

‘Stay calm. Nearby where the woman was standing when you first entered the laboratory is a glass door. Do you see it?’

‘I see it,’ Kitty called back. It couldn’t have been easy for Kitty; she still wasn’t able to cope with dead bodies, and there was one right by the door in question.

‘Good girl,’ replied the voice
. ‘Now that door is already unlocked. All you have to do is open the door and come through to the small corridor beyond. I will give you instructions on how to open the second door when you get there.’

‘Kitttteeeeee!’ February was getting quite insistent.

Then Khosi shouted something in a weird tongue. She pulled her leg free of February’s arms with a determined yank and moved towards the glass door, getting between it and the approaching Kitty.

February moved more by instinct than intent. The woman was obviously more than a match for her
, and yet February found herself rolling over and diving for the herd’s legs, unbalancing her opponent enough to buy Kitty the time she needed.

‘Kitty
, quickly!’ February hissed, ‘Move yourself.’

‘Yes, quickly now,’
the voice called anxiously, ‘get through that door, come into the antechamber beyond, and let me out of this cell, and in return I’ll help your friend.’

The woman regained her balance quickly and again made for the door
, but Kitty was there first. She tried to pull open the door with all her strength, perhaps in the hope that she’d hit the herd with it. But it was a push door and no amount of pulling could convince it to open.

The herd grabbed ahold of Kitty about her neck and started to squeeze, trying to choke the life out of the professor’s pet. But February was far from finished. She grabbed the woman from behind and pulled her off her friend, falling over backwards with the woman on top of her.

Kitty felt round her neck as if trying to loosen her collar. Then she pushed her way through the glass door into the antechamber beyond.

February thought for a moment that she had finally found a way to stop her opponent, so long as she held on tight. But the woman was very strong
and she was struggling hard, using her feet to try and dislodge February’s hold, using what she could of her hands to try and pry herself loose. It wouldn’t take long for the woman to break free, and then February would probably be at her mercy again. She hoped Kitty didn’t take too long to release the prisoner.

‘Do you seriously think I can’t handle all three of you?’ the woman screamed at her. ‘You haven’t had
but a taste of my skill yet.’  But she was going nowhere as long as February held her the way she did. Nevertheless, it was no small relief when the glass door opened again and Kitty reemerged with the male by her side. February’s heart sank as she saw him. It was a male Herbaht, but he was wearing the clothes of a pet. What good was he going to be against this herd?

‘His name is Myajes,’ Kitty commented.

The name was somehow familiar to February, but she couldn’t put her finger on why.

Myajes, on the other hand, didn’t wait for the rest of the introduction. Instead he launched himself at Khosi, taking full advantage of the fact that she was held and virtually unable to defend herself against his attack.

One thing that February hadn’t been able to stop, though, was the woman’s legs, and one of these was aimed painfully at Myajes’ groin when he got in range.

Myajes staggered back a little
. She had caught him where it hurt, but he seemed more surprised than actually in pain from the attack.

February concentrated on keeping
the woman’s arms from flailing about, and this allowed Myajes to restrain her legs. It wasn’t an easy task, and he got kicked twice as he pinned them, so he took no care to be gentle with her.

‘Now what
?’ February said. It was clear they couldn’t stay there all day; for one thing, she very was strong. It was taking both of them just to keep her still, and February was still stuck under the woman and couldn’t move out for fear that she might lose her grip on her opponent. Indeed, should either of them try to move the woman might easily be able to break free of the other.

‘Kitty,’ Myajes called,
looking unsure as he spoke as if unbelieving that that could really be her name. ‘Look around the lab. Can you see if you can find some rope, or indeed anything we might tie her with?’ Then, turning his attention back to February, he asked, ‘Is her name really Kitty?’

‘It is,’ February replied
, grunting with effort. ‘Kitty, hurry.’

Kitty was hurrying
. She was searching through every desk in the place, although she did seem to be steering clear of those with dead bodies right beside them. Perhaps she intended to leave those until last if she had no joy elsewhere. Somehow February doubted she would have any luck in her search at all, but they had to do something; they couldn’t lie there like this all day.

By contrast Khosi seemed to be a little more subdued than she had been
. She had stopped struggling for the moment; perhaps she was merely hoping the others would relax their grip enough for her to make a concerted effort to break free. But for a moment it seemed as if she was resigned to the fact that she wasn’t going anywhere while both of them were holding her down. And then she spoke, her words seeming very strange to both the Herbaht holding her. ‘I flatten my ears at you.’

‘You do what now?’ commented Myajes.

‘Now you die,’ Khosi hissed back.

A moment later Khosi seemed to be possessed of renewed strength
; indeed, she seemed to possess the strength of many. She was on her feet in less than a second as if she hadn’t been held at all, and both February and Myajes were thrown across the room like a couple of rag dolls. The pen weapon flew out of February’s hand. It bounced off a wall and landed not too far from where Khosi had been.

The speed at which Khosi was moving was hard to follow as she rushed towards Kitty. Kitty was the nearest of the three and the one
who had brought Myajes into the fight, tipping the balance against her.

Kitty whimpered; a wet patch appeared down the leg of
her jeans, the same leg as held her tail. She turned her back on the woman, closing her eyes, and by the look of it she was praying. Kitty obviously expected to die in the next few seconds and did not want to see it happen.

February had landed at an awkward angle
. She could move, but the angle meant she could do so only slowly, and though she tried desperately to right herself, she didn’t seem to be able to get a proper purchase. There was no way she would be able to climb back to her feet before Khosi reached her friend.

It took Khosi less than a second to get to her feet and cover the gap between her and Kitty. She reached out with her hands in an obvious attempt to break the unresisting neck before her. Before she did
, though, the woman suddenly collapsed to the floor and lay there unmoving.

Myajes was the first to get back to his feet. He moved slowly, approaching Khosi carefully, no doubt aware that it would be only too easy for her to be pulling some sort of trick even though she had clearly had the advantage over them anyway. He checked her over quickly, checking for a pulse,
checking to see if she was breathing. Then he turned towards February, commenting, ‘She’s dead!’

‘Dead, but how?’ February responded
. She too was finally able to get to her feet herself, and she approached him, looking a little unsteady. It was as much a surprise that she was still alive as that the only real damage she had suffered was to her makeup; even her nose had recovered, and what she had thought was blood from her eye was but a small scratch just below it that had long since stopped bleeding.

‘I’m not sure,’ Myajes told her simply
; ‘I’m not really a doctor. I‘d say it looks like a heart attack, but I can’t begin to guess.’