A space had been dug into the wall of one of the tunnels in The Cellars large enough for a human body to fit.

     Tika brought Whisper there, then, again, looked full into Whisper's eyes.

     That's all it took.

     Tika would never have to do that again. For Whisper, it was like a close and personal friend had entered her mind, her thoughts, her soul, and this was a powerful friend, and this was a friend who would do anything to defend her, and all this friend asked in return was for Whisper to listen to her, not to listen to her words because Tika never used words, but to images, images that were Tika's but now were Whisper's as well. 

     Their minds, their souls, linked, and that's how they would remain until death parted them.

     At the moment, the image Whisper saw in her own mind was of herself climbing into the space in the wall of the tunnel...

     so that's what she did.

​     Tika dropped for the ground much faster than if she merely fell.

     A laser beam sliced where she'd been a moment before.

     Because of all the guards she'd already taken down, Tika now had weapons strapped all over her body. She pulled a pistol loose from her holster to take a guard down with a single shot. She reholstered the pistol and grabbed the rifles she had strapped to each of her shoulders because now guards came at her from the other side of the tunnel.

     She dodged. She weaved. She fired.

     Four minutes passed.

     After that, corpses clogged the tunnel.

     Tika hadn't been touched.

​     "They're coming," Whisper whispered.

CONTINUE