Free The Rift Rider by Mark Oliver

something hot and hard
struck him. The impact flung him onto his back.
    He was still on
his back when the grenade went off.
    The explosion
filled the corridor with blinding white light. The shock wave lifted Charlie a
foot off the floor, before slamming him back down again, smashing his head
against the solid turquoise.

Chapter 8

 
    When Charlie
came to, his ears rang and he had triple vision.
    In the haze, he
could just about make out Awani from the three blurry pink faces staring down
at him. They looked concerned. Their mouths opened and wiggled. But all Charlie
could hear was the ringing of a hundred alarm clocks.
    He shook his
head, and slowly the three faces became one, and the incessant ringing died
away.
    "Are you
okay?" Awani asked.
    "I think
so," Charlie said, pulling himself up into a seated position. The smell of
Friday night kebabs filled his nostrils.
    "What about
your arm?"
    Charlie looked
at her quizzically. "My what?"
    "Your
arm?"
    Charlie looked
at his right arm. Where the bicep should have been, there now smouldered a hole
large enough to put a hand through. Charlie stared, mesmerised, at the perfect
circle in his arm.
    It looked unreal.
He tried raising it. But it refused to move. He held it up with his left hand.
The hole went all the way through. Charlie peered through it, at the wall on
the other side.
      He laughed. It was a short, high pitch,
girl's laugh. For some reason, Charlie thought the hole in his arm was the
funniest thing he had ever seen. The giggles came so thick and fast he could
barely breath. He let go of his hand and the arm fell on his lap, as limp and
lifeless as a mannequin’s arm.
    When Bei
returned from checking on the Corporation soldiers, Charlie sat on the floor
laughing uncontrollably, tears in his eyes.
    "What the
hell's so funny?" Bei said. This made Charlie laugh even harder.
    "Look at
his arm," Awani said. "He's in shock. He'll be dead in minutes."
    "After
saving our lives? I don't think so." He reached inside his mouth, and
twisted. When he pulled out his fingers, they held a pristine molar. The top
section glittered with gold. Bei dug his nail into it and pulled it off.
    He crouched down
beside Charlie, and struck him with his open hand.
    The slap
startled Charlie, giving pause to the torrent of laughter flowing up from his
belly.
    Bei the tooth up
before him and said, "Open wide."
    Charlie looked
at the tooth floating before him, the laughter within him threatening to kick
off once more. But before it could, Bei gripped his mouth, and prised it open.
He tipped the tooth upside down and a shot of black syrup poured out.
      Charlie grimaced as the foul substance
landed on his tongue. He wanted to spit it out, but Bei held his mouth tightly
shut. All Charlie could do was close his eyes and swallow the bitter slime.
    It started
working straight away.
    Charlie's whole
being whooshed. The feeling of honey and summer days and soft duvets on a
Sunday morning enveloped him. He closed his eyes and smiled. Everything was
going to turn out all right. He knew it.
    "Feeling
better?" Bei said.
    Charlie opened
his eyes and grinned widely. "I feel more than better. I feel . . . fantastic."
    Awani rolled her
eyes, and said, "How much Theran water did you have in there?"
    "Enough to
last two more interrogations," Bei said, refitting the empty molar.
"It should last long enough to get out of here."
    "Come
on," she said, looking down at the grinning Charlie, "give me a hand
with him."
    They picked
Charlie up and leant him against the wall. Dreamily, he glanced around him.
Further down the corridor, bits and pieces of soldiers lay strewn all over the
place. Charlie smiled at the carved up limbs and torsos and said, "Cool.
We got them."
    "You got
them," Awani said. "That moves you up one level in my
estimations."
    Charlie gave the
girl his most charming smile. She was so hot. "Where am I now?"
      "Still a long way from getting what
you want."
    Beside them, Bei
had taken off his jacket.