CHAPTER 31 POST 2
Eleanor's head was spinning inside her helmet as she was sent tumbling away. She had taken the brunt of the explosion- whoever had thrown the barrels had been aiming specifically for her in her Big Sister armor. As she tried to pull herself to her feet, three wracking coughs came from her mouth, sending blood splattering inside her helmet. It felt as if someone had grabbed her insides and thrown them into a gut-filled blender.
Eleanor didn't get a chance to recover as she felt a massive blow smash into her back, flipping her over with a loud thud. Waves of pain wracked her body as her assailant sending blow after blow into her front, the armor doing little to dull the pain. There was no light and her suit lights were broken- Eleanor couldn't see at all as she began lashing out in blind panic, trying despertately to stop the blows, to stop the pain-
Calm down! Use telekinesis!
Eleanor instantly complied at Father's sharp command ceasing her struggle. She ignored the painfully blows as she reached down into herself and pulled at her telekinesis.
"Get...OFF!" She screamed, throwing a powerful wave of telekinesis that sent everything around flying away.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jack gave a small groan of pain as he pulled the pieces of metal from his arms and back. His gene tonics had offered some protection from the deadly shrapnel, but did little beyond keeping him alive.
Beneath him Marie's face was red as she pulled herself out from under him. Shame flooded into her system- was she so weak that her father yet again had to become her human meatshield? "Damn it Dad!" She swore, as she began applying a medkit to stop Jack's bleeding. "Stop protecting me! I can take care of myself!"
"It's not that," Jack protested. He gave a hiss of pain as he tried to move- his legs felt like they were complete jelly. "Its because you have no gene tonics"
Marie knew that wasn't the truth. Even if Jack didn't have gene tonics and was as vulnerable as herself, he still would have thrown himself in front of her. She was just too weak to fend for herself.
Marie mouth snapped shut as she felt alarm bells finely tuned from sparing against Dad's wrench-lurker gene tonic go off in her head. In a flash her crossbow was in her hand. Marie swung the crossbow around, her finger on the trigger...
Only to see a massive fist swinging straight towards her. She barely managed to pull her crossbow up and use it as a crude shield before the blow made impact.
Crack!
The flimsy crossbow was snapped like a twig, sending wood shards flowing all over the place. The fist continued its momentum slamming into Marie's gut with a loud smack! throwing her off her feet.
It felt like she had been hit by a train. Vomit and blood spurted out of her mouth and for a moment Marie could only think of pain. Training took over though and she tucked her body and hit the ground in a roll, barely avoiding a second, equally devestating blow. Ignoring the pain, Marie jumped out of her roll, pulling out her revolver and aimed at-
Nothing. Her attacker had disappeared, taking cover in the shadows. Marie's eyes widen in confusion before they narrowed in concentration. Blood and vomit dripped out of her mouth as her pupils darted back and forth as a bead of sweat inched down her forehead. She scanned the darkness, trying to swallow her fear (and immediately whinced in disgust as she swallowed the remaining blood and vomit that was pooled in her mouth). Her non-spliced eyesight did little to pierce the shadows and only added to an increase heartbeat.
"Get...OFF!"
Marie instinctively glanced at the direction of Eleanor's shout. The motion saved her life as at that moment the splicer launched his attack from behind Marie. The Ryan daughter saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and dove out of the way...
CRACK!
Marie scream in pain as the fist missed her head but slammed into her right tricep. The bones in her arm folded to the mighty blow and her revolver fell from her now useless right hand. She fell on her back, cradling her right arm, unable to do anything but stare up at her attacker. At this close proximity she could make out the shape of her attacker. The splicer had an extremely thin body- it looked like a strong gust could snap it in half. This frail appearance was mared by the splicer's arms. They were MASSIVE- as large and far thicker than the creatures torso. The disproportion reminded Marie of gorillas, as the splicer walked on all fours, using its massive arms to support its small body.
As the splicer rose one of its massive fist to finish her off, Marie felt no fear: only disgust and rage. Disgust that she was about to die. Disgust that she was proving that ☺☺☺☺☺ Eleanor was right: she couldn't survive Rapture. Disgust that she had failed Dad: she knew he would blame himself when it was truly her fault. And most of all, rage that she was so damn weak and useless that all she could do was lay and back and watch herself die-
BZzzzzzt!
The splicer gave a yelp of pain as a bolt of electricty slammed into him. Confused, Marie turned her head to see Jack with his hand outstretched. Her father locked eyes with her and smiled. "Take him down Marie!" He shouted.
At those words Marie blocked out her pain and focused on her rage. With a scream, she surged to her feet and smashed her head into the splicer's face.
If Marie had been thinking straight, she would have picked up her fallen revolver and simply shot the splicer in the face. The result would have been the same, but far less messy. Instead, at the impact of Marie's rage-induced headbutt, the splicer's face simply collapsed. Muscle and skin crumbled as blood and brain matter splattered all over Marie's face and hair.
Marie blinked in confusion then did the only sensible thing in that situation. She barfed a mix of blood and puke, her world spinning.
"Marie! Marie!" Her father's face hovered into view, his eyes wide with concern as she shouted, "Are you alright?"
Marie face twitch weakly as the world seemed to spin. She struggled to keep her eyes open but she couldn't block pain any longer. And before Jack could say anything, she promptly passed out, one word echoing as darkness overcame her.
Too weak...
(A/N: It suddenly occurs to me that in my stories, its always the women who get their bones broken. I hope that doesn't make me sexist
Next part will be up soon!)