Neen stood, frozen in place. An army of orcs, freshly raised from the dead, stood between her and escape. The stench of rotting flesh was bilious within the vast underground burial chamber. The cold chill of death enveloped her causing her extremities to go numb. Her breathing became laboured, rapid and shallow. It was as though the despair and torment from these twisted lost souls was sucking the life from her. She wanted to leap into the air and fly the hell out of there, but found her wings would not respond!
"Neen, we have to go!" whispered Sliver with urgency.
Suddenly off to one side of the chamber there was a howl of desperate glee as Agnor found his lost ring. The docile orcs were triggered into frenzy by the sound and those nearest to Agnor scrambled towards him. Agnor seemed unaffected by the overwhelming sensation of death and galloped towards the staircase that lead back to the city above. The squat dex used his four powerful limbs to move at incredible speed. Several undead orcs who had already lumbered into his path had their legs knocked out from under them as he ploughed through them like a bowling bowl knocking down ten pins.
The orcs closest to Neen and Sliver, also now frenetic, started to charge towards them in a tangled wall of raging horror. Sliver reacted immediately and unloaded several rounds from his guns into the chest of the nearest shambling orc. It lurched backwards from the impact, but did not stop its charge.
"Shit! Neen move!"
Neen was still petrified so Sliver wrapped an arm around her waist and dragged her, with enormous effort, into the air with him. They narrowly avoided the cold grasping claws of the orcs, but she was a dead weight in his arms. There was no way he would be able to stay airborne all the way across the chamber so he holstered his weapon and used his free hand to slap her hard across the cheek. Neen stared back at him blankly for a moment and then shook her head.
"I...I don't know what happened, it felt like I was dying. Like I was being drawn into the abyss, it was terrifying!"
"I felt it too, but you have to concentrate and put it to the back of your mind like any other fear."
Neen nodded and gritted her teeth. Burying her fear was something she had learned to do a long time ago. There were many times in her life where being emotionless was the only way to survive. With firm resolve she raised both her guns.
"I guess it's time to shoot our way out."
"You're wasting..." began Sliver, but Neen had already fired several rounds at the orcs below who were now piling on top of each other trying to reach them as they hovered several feet above the horde. The orcs she hit fell back, but once again rose to their feet.
"What the hell? Those were dark elixir rounds!"
"I already tried that. The only way we can stop them is to get back to the surface and seal the chamber."
The pair of them flew side by side above the howling mass of undead, right across the chamber to the stairway leading to the surface. However by the time they reached the stairs there were several orcs already blocking their path.
Neen reflexively pulled out both her pistols again as she flew for the stairwell and this time shot the nearest orc in the head. Her aim was to distract it enough so they could get past, but to her surprise it fell to the ground and stayed down. Neen glanced back at Sliver, he had seen it and already had his guns drawn and was firing at anything and everything he could hit.
"I always wanted an excuse to shoot my way through a crowd of orcs!" he yelled gleefully.
"There is no way you are going to be winning this body count!" said Neen as she felled two more orcs who were already moving up the stairwell then another who was also blocking her path.
When they finally made it into the actual staircase Neen had expended all her ammo and had left a path of fallen undead in her wake.
"I'm out!" she called to Sliver.
"Damn! I will be too in a second, there are just too many of them!"
"The staircase is clear we need to get to the top, so we can seal them in."
As they started to fly up the spiral staircase a low rumbling of stone grinding against stone echoed down towards them from the surface.
"Agnor, don't you dare!" yelled Sliver angrily.
"Your greed and foolishness unleashed this evil back into the world, it's fitting you die with it!"
"Quick, drop your envirocoat and do not stop!" yelled Sliver already half out of his. Neen followed suit, it was the only way they could hope to fly fast enough to reach the surface before the door sealed shut. If that was not incentive enough, below them they could hear the undead orcs ascending towards them.
Neen started out behind Sliver, but in the tight spiral of the narrow staircase she quickly surged ahead of him. As she reached the top of the stairs she could see the heavy stone door was almost closed. In a final burst of speed she dashed through the gap. Only then did she realise that Sliver had fallen behind. She looked back at the door and it was just inches away from sealing shut.
"Hurry Sliver, hurry!" she cried desperately.
Sliver shot between the gap in the door with moments to spare, having to tuck his wings back against his body in order to squeeze through. With his wings tucked in he had no control of his trajectory and went hurtling into Neen. They tumbled end over end until they rolled to a stop on the dusty floor of the disused factory.
The wall sealed shut with a deep boom and Neen found herself lying on top of Sliver staring down at him, her long black fringe drooping down and touching his face. In a moment of relief, elation and the adrenalin rush that one gets from surviving a near death situation she leant down even closer. She had a sudden urge to kiss him and perhaps more, but then she saw the look on his face and the moment quickly passed.
"That dex is dead!" he cursed as he rolled out from underneath her and stood up.
The intense burst of arousal and emotion had caught her by surprise. She had always been strangely drawn to Sliver because of the inherent danger that surrounded him, but she had never felt anything. His inability to notice when she had temporarily let her guard down made her feel like she had been rejected and she didn't like it one bit. As her anger rose she could not help herself, she picked up a fist full of dirt from the floor and flung it at him in frustration.
Sliver's reaction was immediate and fierce. He pounced on her and pushed her backwards until she was hard up against the stone wall. He forced his body hard yet provocatively against hers. Neen was so angry that she did not back down and pushed back against him as hard as she could. It was to no avail, he was just too strong. He kissed her hard on the mouth biting her bottom lip firmly and aggressively in the process. She found herself both terrified and electrified.
"That is what you wanted wasn't it?" he asked sarcastically and then let her go.
"Damn you Sliver, you ass hat!" she said as she shoved him away as hard as she could.
"Sorry, but unlike you I don't get horny when someone tries to kill me. I get angry and then I get even," he said menacingly. For a moment it looked like he was going to pounce on her again, but instead he clenched his fists tightly until his knuckles went white, then took a deep breath. Suddenly calm he smiled briefly, almost to himself, and gently brushed aside the long fringe of dark hair away from her eyes. "You think you know me, but even you don't understand what I am capable of. So...let's just keep our relationship simple. I keep trying to make you another notch on my belt and you keep saying no."
Neen shrugged away from his touch then turned her back on him
momentarily as the adrenaline rush subsided and she reined in her emotions. They were in a bad situation and she needed to be focused. It was certainly not the right time for them to be discussing the status of their dysfunctional relationship. If he wanted emotionless then that's exactly what he'd get. She turned back towards him and spoke firmly yet calmly.
"Screw getting revenge on Agnor. I want my money!"
"You're right, we need to keep our eye on the prize," conceded Sliver. "There is enough loot down there in that chamber to solve all our problems. All we need to do is come back with some serious hardware, eliminate the orcs and we both get paid."
"Kill off a few thousand undead orcs...and I was starting to think this job was going to get boring."