Here's the next chapter - I'll try to post when I can but I'm very busy at the moment
STORYSmoke was thick in the air, fires were burning and cries could be heard all around. Zaliphone opened his eyes. And closed them. The fire raging around him was too strong. He rolled onto his front and pushed himself to his hands and knees. He felt as though his body was broken, but somehow he could still move. He crawled forward, towards where the air seemed to be cooler, but was stopped in his tracks by a form. He felt around with his hands and felt something hard attached to something more palpable.
“If you touch my mask one more time, I will be forced to end you,” came a voice from behind the hard object.
“Ar- arjahn ?”
“The one and only, now get me out of this mess before we both burn,” replied the tall man. Another explosion rocked the area and Zaliphone was blown forwards onto Arjahn Mjakhim. The supine man let out a groan and pushed him away. Screams could be heard coming from far off to the right as a huge piece of metal snapped under the heat of the inferno. Zaliphone brought himself back onto his hands and knees and felt his way down Arjahn, looking for what could be trapping him. He tried to open his eyes several times but was instantly blinded by a wave of the blaze.
His hand touched metal. Carefully, he lifted the mass off of Mjakhim’s legs and threw it aside. The man groaned again and tried to bend his knees. Pain coursed up his right leg, like knives jabbing deep into his bones.
“You’re going to have to help me,” said Mjakhim, over the noise of the fire. Zaliphone, now on his feet, helped Mjakhim upright, and together, they started limping towards the cooler air. Zaliphone’s eyes were getting accustomed to the heat and he opened them up a crack. To his left, he saw the unconscious form of Alex Starfade and parts of the now shredded corpse of Georg.
“Forget him,” said Arjahn. “We can’t save everyone.” A blue light was now emanating from his mask, coupled with several strange sounds.
Zaliphone knew he was right, and it was with a heavy heart that they started limping away, leaving Alex Starfade to perish in the flames.
From nowhere, a whirring sound came from above them. They looked up to see a small form darting towards them from the heavens.
“Is it a bird?” asked Arjahn Mjakhim.
“Is it a plane?” echoed Zaliphone.
“IT’S ME, BITCHES” came the voice of Mary Cow. She had swooped in using her well-preened helibeard and latched herself onto Alex Starfade. The Moo then flew back off again, the limp form of Starfade hanging under her.
“Well I guess that’s that,” chuckled Zaliphone. “Now let’s get out of here for real.”
They stumbled on, through the carnage around them. All the crying voices had now gone quiet and the only sound to be heard was the crackling of the flames. The only survivors were apparently those that had been in the bomb-proof engine room. They picked their way through corpses, Mjakhim’s legs all but useless.
“Over here!” came the voice of Mary Cow, and they spotted her with Alex Starfade, a short way away, far from the flames. They went on to meet her. Upon arrival, Mjakhim slumped to the ground and observed his leg. Zaliphone went over to Starfade’s lifeless body.
“Dead?” he asked.
“Not yet,” replied Mary Moo. But we need to patch him up soon or he’ll be joining the dead back in the wreckage.
At that moment, a soft, maniacal laugh came from behind them.
The three looked around and spotted the barman, engulfed in flames, his skin already starting to peel back. He stumbled forwards, towards them, a platter of charred food in his hands.
“You made the ship crash,” he laughed, the sound chilling Zaliphone. “And I had made some crispy, crispy food for you.” He then threw the platter at Alex Starfade’s body and ran, half screaming in pain, half laughing in madness, the flames consuming him, fueling his newfound insanity…
Everyone's out safely from the wreckage, though Arjahn's right leg is injured and Alex Starfade is dying. They think they're safe but the barman, turned insane by the pain of being engulfed in flames, attacks them.
