RotL Round One Part Three

The room swam in front of Ellie's eyes as the scintillation of her magic faded away. She doubted she would have been able to make it onto the platform had Skip insisted he come along. She tried to ignore the dizziness and the roaring in her ears, instead setting about to the task she had been assigned. Scruffy sat huddled a few inches to her left. The girl shook, her mouth gaping. A flurry of black movement surrounded them. About ten feet away crouched Summer, trying to fend off her own set of shadehounds. Had Ellie not arrived when she did, the creatures surrounding Scruffy would have made short work of the girl.
One of the largest creatures, nearly as big as Ellie, made a sudden charge for the elephant. Ellie reared up, trumpeting as loudly as she could. Somehow despite its many eyes the thing misjudged the distance. Teeth snapped together just shy of her trunk. It crouched down, ready to pounce again, this time too close to miss. Unable to see the thing but knowing it was right below her, she brought her full weight down on top of it. The bones of the skull crunched. The thing squirmed beneath her, unaware that it was dead. As she pulled away, three more came at her with the same mindless ferocity of the first. They too leapt at her immediately, misjudging her speed based on her bulky build. This time, though, one of them managed to grab hold of one of her earrings.

Agony surged through her as the large membrane was dragged down and torn by the shadehound's teeth, forcing her to follow it down or lose her ear all together. It exposed her vulnerable sides, and the overwhelming hatred of being on her side, brought on by the instincts of the elephant body she was trapped in, surged through her. Pain and fear made her lash out without thinking, kicking and thrashing. Something caught hold of her hind leg. Another something took hold of her trunk. She screamed in pain and fear. It didn't end like this; it couldn't. Demons didn't die fighting stupid monsters in the wrong place and time. Demons, if they were worth anything, didn't die at all.

"Roll over!" she heard. If she rolled over, she'd impale herself on those
damned spikes the shadehounds had, she thought. It wouldn't make them let go, it would only harm her. She bellowed wordless denial, still trying to lash out
at her attackers while lying on her side.

"Be submissive, dammit! Ellie, roll over! They're like wolves!"

Ellie still ignored Scruffy's command. She didn't have to listen to anyone but Skip, and not if her life was in danger. It was certainly in danger now. Even with the option of disobedience, there was nothing more she could do.

Exhaustion limited her options. Teleporting would likely kill her just as much as these stupid monsters would. Trying to escape and leaving Scruffy to her own devices would be just as devastating. The only upside to that would be the Ennumi, released from the teenager's body, would destroy each and every shadehound on this godsforsaken ship, along with everything else it encountered.
The shadehound that had taken hold of her earring released its grip without warning. Pain left Ellie paralyzed, unable to take advantage of the situation. At the edge of her vision she made out the thing preparing to leap. She shut her eyes, trying to squeeze out the sight of her own impending death.

A shot rang out. The report hurt Ellie's ears nearly as much as the burning bites of the shadehounds. Another shot. A third.  The teeth of the shadehounds pulled away from her. She shuddered, unwilling to open her eyes to see what happened. Lying on her side, even without attacking shadehounds hanging off her, made it difficult to breathe. Instinct urged her to get to her feet. The rest of her wanted to play dead and hope everything else in the universe would leave her alone. She tried to give in to the latter urge. A soft touch and a loud jangling denied her even that.

"Ellie?" Scruffy whispered. To Ellie, it sounded like a roar.

"I think she's okay," said Summer. The woman didn't bother trying to be quiet, and her words thundered through Ellie's skull like a stampede of wildebeest.

"She's bleeding." Scruffy again, this time louder, much more shrill. She sounded like she was about to start panicking.

"I think she'll hea--AAH!"

Overloaded by the sudden screaming, Ellie's mind retreated into oblivion.

***

Finding the ladder Scruffy had used to get up to the platform hadn't taken long. Neither had leaping over the small gate. Skip's eyes were turned to the ground as he jumped over it, so he missed seeing Summer shoot the three shadehounds tearing at Ellie. The sound was enough to spur him into action. He ran towards the source of the sound. The two girls were hunched over the too-still form of the demon-possessed pachyderm.

Neither of them saw one final shadehound slip out from the piled carcasses littering the platform. The thing limped, leaving a shining green trail in its wake. Skip reached for the revolver as soon as he registered what was happening. Too soon the thing was behind Summer, making it impossible for him to get a clean shot at it. In an instant the powerful black jaws clamped over the cat-woman's left ankle. Her scream echoed through the cavernous room.
Skip didn't remember running, or arriving, gun in hand. He never could recall emptying all the chambers of the gun into the alien's body, or that it jerked with each impact. The only thing he ever recalled of the moment was arriving beside Summer, kicking the carcass away from her in disgust. Only once he was on the floor next to her did his wounded arm make its complaints known to him. He ignored the pain.

"Are--are you....?" he managed.

"It's broken." Summer's voice was flat. She paled as he watched, blanching to match the white walls throughout this strange place.

"It, uh, could have been worse. If it took off your fingers, you'd have to learn to write short...hand..." he said. Stupid puns flooded his mind, a mental buffer to fend off the horrible reality he was facing. Either he joked, or the overwhelming feelings of sickness and what he suspected would soon become unconsciousness would overtake him.

"Was that a joke?" Summer asked. Immediately after, her eyes rolled up into her head. She fell limp with a heavy sigh.

"She needs help," he muttered.

"So does Ellie!" snapped Scruffy. Guilt washed over him as he realized he hadn't even thought about the state of his other two companions for the past few seconds. He looked at the prone form of the little elephant.

"They'll need help. They can't walk."

"Transportation center, you wheat! Stop giving me the high hat. If we work together and do what we came here for, we can get them help," Scruffy said.

"You mean, get those activation codes in and get a monorail running?"

"You're a real genius. Either that or you're so dizzy over that dame that you can't think straight!" Still sitting, still shaking hard, Scruffy somehow managed to look intimidating. Some day the girl would cow a fellow into doing whatever she wanted, he knew. Eyes flashing and arms crossed, she waited for Skip to give some kind of response. He realized she must be jealous of the attention he had given Summer this whole time. She still thought she was in love with him, it seemed, and that any other girl was butting in on her territory. Why he hadn't picked up on this he couldn't fathom.

He took his time trying to figure out what to say. She seethed all the while.

"Scruffy, can you walk? You're okay?" he asked.

His concern in her seemed to take her by surprise. "I'm fine."

"Then here." He reached into his pocket, fishing out the strange small artifact one of the drones had given him at the beginning of this adventure. It measured two inches long, mostly a slightly tapered cylinder with several protrusions and pipes. On the end was a glittering dark crystal. This thing was his half of the activation codes. The computer console had explained the gem as a type of memory storage device, whatever that meant. He held out the tiny item. Scruffy held out her hand below his, palm open. He tipped it into her hand.

"You'll need to plug those in, then," he said.

"There's only one!" she said. "And why can't you do it? You'd be done and back faster than me!" Unshed tears glittered in her eyes.

He reached around Summer, still in his arms. A small bulge under the left glove, about halfway down her forearm, indicated the presence of a similar activation code key. He slid the thing out, tossing it to Scruffy without a word. He'd watched Summer hide it there before they were dropped off on the track. His fascination with the woman had proven useful for the moment.

"Look," he said, "I'm behind the grind with this whole computer thing. You'll have to plug that stuff in without me. The girls shouldn't be left alone."

"But what if there are more of those--"

"There are more, there have to be," he said, cutting her off while he still felt a little brave. "They're like space rats, you see one and twenty four are hiding somewhere. I'll stay here and fill them with sunlight if they come after any of us. You've got to go do this. You can't shoot, and I can't make those computer things work like you can."

"Skip--" she started again.

"Look, Ace Adams would have been there and back again by now. Just go, Scruffy. Get that monorail turned on so we can get out of here!"

Scruffy struggled to her feet without a word. She leaned heavily on the still-dead computer kiosk, the two halves of the activation codes clutched in her fist. For a split second she simply stood, looking unsure of what to do next. Maybe she'd forgotten how to walk in all the excitement. She recovered quickly though. She ran for the back of the station.

Skip reloaded the Smith and Wesson. He scanned the shadows, looking for any sign of movement and ready to shoot it without hesitation.

***

It didn't take long to find an active kiosk. Instead of sitting near the platform as the foreman's office did, this computer was in a small room near the back. There was some kind of complicated lock on the door. She guessed it was some kind of security device. The lack of power rendered it as useless as the single-tracked trains, and she pulled the door open without trouble. In fading letters across a small glass inset in the door were the words "Control Room."

This time, when she put her hand on the screen, it lit up with a happy series of musical notes totally incongruous with the situation Scruffy found herself in.  WELCOME it read.

From experience, the thing understood voice commands. She removed her hand from the terminal. "Computer, how do I enter an activation code?"

"Activation codes are stored in two separate capsules. They are designed to connect through pips. Once combined into a single component, the activation codes can be placed in this outlet." The screen lit up with images to illustrate exactly what she had to do. She followed the instructions easily. After all, there was only one way to connect the two little cylinders, and the outlet was unique enough that she found it with little difficulty.
The lights flickered as she placed the components into the correct slot. The computer seemed to glow brighter now.

"Activation codes accepted. Attention in the Transporation Center: Power up to be initiated immediately. All personnel, please stand clear. Monorail current restored in thirty seconds."

Scruffy breathed a sigh of relief. It worked! They'd made it, the trains would be running again, the aliens hadn't eaten them, and the Ennumi hadn't done more than raise her hackles.

"Powering up monorails blue, gold, red, purple. Opening checklists verified. Dispatch interval of five minutes," the computer continued. "Monorail current restored in fifteen seconds."

Even if there was no way this place was home, even if it was completely alien even to the funny books she enjoyed so much, it felt wonderful to be returning to where they had started. It was almost as good as going home.

"Monorail current restored. Monorail blue arriving." Outside she could hear the same words echoing through the cavernous room. An unfamiliar soft whine filled the air, a sort of gentle hissing buzz. She looked out the tiny window in the door. A sleek looking train was pulling into the station. It filled the station, the nose barely past the edge of the platform as it came to a halt.

In front of it, Skip waved to her.

She threw open the door to the Control Room and ran back, waving like an idiot all the while. It was over, and that was the most exciting thing she'd ever heard. She even helped Summer onto the train without a fuss, her shoulder under the taller woman's arm. She left Summer on a comfortable padded bench before heading back to the doorway to see how the other two were coming. She tried not to laugh as Skip tried to lift Ellie. Eventually he leaned down and whispered something to her. The elephant came to with a jerk, glaring at the skipper as she rolled onto her feet. The two were arguing as they came aboard, Ellie favoring her injured leg.

"Don't ever do that again!" the elephant said. "I'm going back to sleep. Don't tell me to wake up until we're at the other end!"

It was almost exactly like going home. The door slid shut with a chime, and the monorail sped off.