LEGACY OF THE BLAZERS - CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Lux poured all of her strength into her first punch, hoping to knock Blowhole’s jaw through the window behind him.

It sent ripples cascading through the room, shredding the metal floor to sharp splinters which sliced her skin. But, despite this display of strength, she wasn’t surprised when the whale’s putrid breath tickled her ears from behind: "Is that all you got?"

She whirled around, swinging her elbow and hoping to see stuffing flying out of his skull but she didn’t even see him until it was too late--he appeared above her and with a thunderous fury brought his fist down upon her head. Smashing teeth-first into the ground was the worst part.

She lifted her bloodied head to the sight of him patting his flippers together like this was a cakewalk, and that drove her back into action. She threw a few more punches, but he dodged them with ease, too. “You can’t move faster than that, can you? Or punch harder, I bet. You’re pathetic, but I guess kind of cute. If you surrender right now, maybe I’ll spare your life and just take a few limbs.”

“Fuck you!”

She retreated to the furthest corner of the room and sent the wolves dashing forward. They were immediately met by the snakes, who outclassed them in every regard, and crushed. She watched their smokey bodies flow freely through the air and toked her blunt to meld them back together.

The snakes were too strong, and so was Blowhole, but she couldn’t let that deter her. Despite what Kern said, she wasn’t here to buy time! She was here to kick his ass, find Cy, and get the fuck out of here!

The wolves were, once again, done away with easily.

Blowhole’s cackles filled the air as Lux took another lung-punishing hit off the blunt. It brought them back, but you didn’t have to be a genius to tell they were probably too weak at this point to be anything other than cannon fodder. Hell, even she was already feeling woozy, and the battle had just started.

It’s still a blunt, Lux, Jess had once told her. You can keep bringing our friends back, but you also keep gettin’ higher and higher, weaker and weaker.

She’d fought hundreds of battles, but she’d never had to take three hits and boy was she feeling it. The thrum of her brain was almost as big of an enemy as Blowhole.

Can’t let that slow me down.

Clapping her hands together, she charged up a blast that she was sure would reach Blowhole because, seconds before letting loose, she summoned a burst of speed she didn’t even know she possessed and appeared behind him. The fear plaguing his eyes as he realized what was about to happen was glorious.

“You’re nothing more than a two-bit bully!”

The blast shook the entire room, melting clean through the wall in front of her. She didn’t wait for him to emerge from the smoldering waste, though. If she gave him even a second he’d find a way to claw back to relevance and she couldn’t risk that. She charged straight toward him.

Even after all the lives you’ve stolen, you are still smiling and god I hate that!

But her fist still never met Blowhole’s body as, just when she saw the white of his stomach, it disappeared.

A spine-crunching chop came less than a second later, and when she hit the ground, her entire body was aflame. Every bone was screaming at her for allowing that to happen.

Thankfully she was able to puff her blunt once again and the wolves, acting as fast as they could in their disheveled state, seized her wrists and dragged her free before another blow could be landed.

She returned to her feet with a stumble, fighting to keep her gummy legs from collapsing underneath her. The weed was ruining her. Just the smell of it made her want to puke! The blurred vision didn’t help with that either. When four of the snakes charged at her, she didn’t know which one to punch, and when the wolves tried to defend her, they were sliced into mincemeat.

The snakes stopped just inches from her, hissing as they circled around her. If they wanted to, they could easily kill her.

Just one bite and I'd be gone.

What do I do...?

What CAN I do... ?

“You know, girlie, I’m proud of you. The history books won’t remember you as anything more than a smear across the body of my boot but you really did try, and I admire that.” Blowhole was floating overtop of her now, puffing his blunt again and again as if to assert every bit of dominance over her that he could. “I also think it’s fairly idiotic to not realize the difference in our powers beforehand and give up, but I’m sure you understand now, don’t you?”

She didn’t respond. She wanted to fire another goddamned blast at him! But she had tried being reckless and it had failed. Relying purely on instincts wasn’t going to be enough anymore. She. Needed. A. Plan.

But, when he raised his arm high above his head, she knew there wasn’t any time.

“Truthfully, I respect what you’ve done. Fighting for one’s family is an honorable thing. But being honorable is for suckers. The honorable die while those who cast away their morals strive. I mean, just look at me and look at you."

She dug her fingernails into the concrete, chipping them. “No,” she said. “It isn’t fair.”

“Life isn’t fair,” he said. “Unfortunately for you, it was particularly unfair. Now, enough miserable sobbing. You’re only embarrassing yourself.”

But before he could deliver the final blow, the ship was rocked by a vicious explosion which sent the spikes cluttering the room tumbling over, throwing decapitated stuffed animal heads every which way. Soon the floor began to tilt downward and Lux went sliding hard into one of the walls.

Even in her beaten-up and too-high-to-think-straight state, she knew what was going on. Kern had been successful in his mission--the goddamn ship, it was coming down.

She also knew that, if she wanted to save Cy, she had to leave, now, while Blowhole was distracted. The explosion wouldn’t buy her much time, but maybe just enough…

She took another hit off her blunt, clenching her eyes to bite away the thrumming migraine, and spawned her wolves once again. It was their turn to be the distraction as she kicked the door open and went falling down a hallway filled with flying supply boxes and Panty Mafia members.

Blowhole’s voice, cold but full of laughter, echoed behind her.

“You can run, girlie, but I’m going to find you, and when I do, you’ll end up just like that loser leader of yours!”

END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN