10K.

     Niki and Trevor stayed back to back.

     Their assailants surrounded them.

     "Low-high," Niki said.

     "Why you staying low?" Trevor asked. "You usually go high."

​     "I think I'll be better against the whips."

     They hit four of their assailants with their stun-lines.

     The four dropped unconscious immediately.

     Zizzing whips illuminated the air.

     Niki got her first, good look at those who attacked them.

     Oh.

     They weren't soldiers or anything like soldiers.

     They dressed in rags. They looked skeletal. Niki saw the faces of two women, but the rest of the faces, dirty and scarred, were men's.

     Niki dropped for the ground, and, as she did, she flicked on her own whip.

     Trevor flew up over everyone's heads. He let his stun-lines go, taking down more assailants. So many more showed up every second, though.

     And the damned ceiling was so low.

     A flurry of laser whips gleamed and crackled in every direction Niki looked. She stayed on the defensive, avoiding a half dozen different whips at all times as she made her way slowly, slowly for the exit.  

     Sooner or later, one of those whips was going to catch her, and then... 

     Trevor hit every skull he saw with a stun-line. That worked, but...

     I'm going to have to use this fucking laser whip, after all, Trevor thought. He wanted to draw attention away from Niki so that she, at least, could get the hell out of that warehouse. 

     "Come and get me, motherfuckers!" he bellowed.  

     Not the smartest thing in the world to do, really.

     For all he knew, some of them had guns, maybe even blasters. They could use him for target practice if they wanted.

     Still, Niki looked a little overwhelmed down there, so... 

     He whirled his whip below him like a lasso, and, yep, just like he figured, that damned whip flew all over the place like it had a mind of its own and, yep, in those first few moments, the whip flicked up and really did just about take Trevor's arm off.

     But it got the attention of the derelicts below. They didn't flick their whips at Niki so much anymore, but up in the air at Trevor, and, damn, they were good with those fucking things. Trevor had to really dodge and weave to avoid getting singed by any of them.

     Niki stayed an inch off the ground on her anti-gravs. She used her stun-lines to take down two more derelicts. A whip came at her from her left. Niki rose up over it, then used her own laser whip to take a swipe back at the guy.

     And then more assailants flooded through the open door, and they, too, had laser whips. 

​     Jeez, Niki thought. How many of these assholes are there?

CONTINUE