(Originally written Friday, October 31, 2003)
Chapter XI:
(I should TOTALLY be working on my paper right now...)
Cream and Nougat uttered simultaneous screams as they dropped through the broken skylight. They fell for about twenty feet before nearing the top of some large machinery. Cream managed to land directly on top of it; Nougat clipped the edge. Continuing his descent, he made a desperate grab for Cream and ended up catching him in the ankle. Cream began to slide over the side...
"You bastard!" Cream yelled down, hanging by the tips of his fingers.
"Yes, I'm a bastard!" Nougat shouted back up, "don't let go!"
"No kidding! I let go, I die!"
"Who cares about that?!" Nougat said as he got a grasp on Cream's other leg. "You let go, I die!" The two of them groaned as they continued to dangle precariously over the side of a long drop to the main industrial floor. Cream fought to regain his delicate hold on the large machine.
"Just... climb up me, okay?" Nougat didn't respond, but Cream could feel the hands making their way up his legs. Cream was relieved as Nougat was making quick progress - his anxiety returned when Nougat slowed his climb at the higher man's rear. Cream sighed angrily. "I don't care! Grab it if you have to!" he shouted.
"I don't want to grab it!" Nougat protested.
"Then don't grab it! Just climb, damnit!" Cream grunted a touch more as Nougat pushed off his shoulders and got an arm on the top of the machine.
Gunfire began sparking the machine as Nougat swung himself over the top. Cream swore long and hard as he writhed in time with the pounding of the bullets. Nougat, finally with a steady footing, yanked Cream up and over effortlessly.
"Alright, we're not dead," Nougat said as they crouched themselves under the line of sight of the men below them, "how do we stay that way?" Cream looked around the machine.
"There's gotta be a ladder or something..." Sure enough, leading down to a catwalk was the desired utility path.
"I swear to God," Nougat said, "if I never see another ladder again for the rest of my life..."
The two of them, still under extreme fire, slid down the rails of the ladder and made haste across the open catwalk. Nougat sprayed the last of his final clip at the Pis in front of them as they ran towards the T-junction ahead - one man slowly started getting back up. Nougat threw the submachine gun at the wounded Pi to little effect - it bounced and fell to the ground level. Before the man could raise his gun, both Nougat and Cream shoulder-blocked the man into and over the opposite rail, sending him flailing to the first level.
"You know," Cream said between breaths as they ran, "I had extra clips..."
"Don't tell me these things now!" Nougat retorted just before ducking another whizzing sound.
Miraculously, the two made it relatively unscathed to the wall along the third floor - Cream pressing fire from his still-intact machine gun, Nougat blazing with a pistol in each hand.
"This is possibly the worst plan we've had all night!" Cream shouted as they passed door after door, running in no particular direction.
"Yeah, where the hell is 'Mel gonna be?!" Nougat wondered out loud.
"Better yet," Cream added, "what are we gonna do once we do find 'Mel? We can't exactly walk out the door now, can we?!"
"Oh man," Nougat digressed as he shot down another Pi, "we are so screwed!" Cream took down two more before having to reload.
"Yeah, I know huh?! Stickiest place I've ever found myself in!"
"Ah, this ain't so sticky!" Nougat commented.
"Really?!"
"Hell no! This is complete bulls-"
Nougat was cut short as a side door swung out from the wall and met his nose on unfriendly terms. From the other side of the door stepped a large man with a long scar along the side of his head. Behind him stepped two more Pis with machine guns. Cream knelt down to check on Nougat who was ever-so-slightly dazed. Half a second later five guns were trained on them - the rest of the facility had caught up. Cream put down his gun and raised his hands . . . Nougat did likewise...
Nougat looked up at the scarred man and cracked a grin as the blood from his nose outlined his teeth.
"Hey Cream," he said, "guess I didn't kill that guy on the dock that night after all..." Cream looked around at the mass of gang members surrounding them.
"Noug', that may or may not be the thing to worry about right now..."
