Free Major Karnage by Gord Zajac

Open the cage.”
    “But Riggs said—”
    Tiny buckled. Karnage hadn’t seen Sydney move, but her left
pinky finger was now pressed against Tiny’s knee. Tiny whimpered
and gasped. Sydney never broke eye contact with Karnage.
    “Sorry, Tiny. Didn’t quite catch that. Try again?”
    Tiny squeaked. Sydney poked a smidgeon harder. Tiny’s eyes
started watering. “I’m afraid you’ll have to speak up, Tiny,” she said.
“Funny thing. Y’see, I thought I heard you mention the name ‘Riggs’
to me. You wouldn’t do anything that stupid, would you, Tiny?”
    Tiny shook his head.
    “Good. Now be a good lad and open up the cage. Okay, Tiny?”
Sydney curled her finger away from Tiny’s knee. Tiny fell to the
floor, gasping.
    “Whenever you’re ready, mate,” Sydney said.
    Tiny caught his breath. He stood up and wiped the tears from
his eyes. Giving Sydney a wide berth, he placed his palm on the
biometric scanner. It beeped, and the mangled cell door swung
open. Sydney pulled a pistol on Karnage.
    “This here’s the real thing. None of that goober stuff. Spragmos
Industries Max Atom-17. Explosive-tipped bullets. Any funny stuff,
and I blow your head clean off. You get me?”
    “Any funny stuff and my head blows clean off,” Karnage said.
    “Glad to hear we understand each other. Cuff him, Chuckles.”
    Chuckles did. Karnage didn’t resist.
    “Guess you’re not so hard to handle after all,” Chuckles said.
    “Not under the right circumstances,” Karnage said.
    “You sucking up to me?” Sydney said.
    “Nope.”
    “Good. I hate suck-ups. Isn’t that right, Tiny?”
    Tiny jumped and whimpered. He favoured his right leg.
    “Right. What say we go for a little walkabout then?”
    “You’re in charge,” Karnage said.
    “That’s right. I am.” Sydney flicked a salute at Stumpton. “Cheers,
mate.”
    Bewildered, Stumpton watched as they effortlessly led Karnage
away.

CHAPTER THREE
    They took Karnage down through a series of corridors and several
flights of stairs. They stopped for a bit in a stairwell while Sydney
grabbed a heavy duffel bag from a utility closet.
    “What’s in the bag?“ Karnage said.
    “Emergency supplies,” Sydney said. “You know, just in case.”
    “In case of what?”
    “In case you get out of line.”
    “The gun ain’t enough?”
    “Not if I still want you alive.”
    They led Karnage down several more flights of stairs. Karnage noted every twist and turn, committing it all to memory. He’d be
able to find his way back blindfolded if need be. No matter what
happened, no matter how things went down, he’d do his damnedest
to make sure he got Stumpton out of there. He was one of his soldiers
now. The only way he’d leave him was under pain of death.
    And what about the others? Karnage twinged with a pang of guilt.
Velasquez. Cookie. Koch. Heckler. They all needed him, too. He’d
wasted too much time already. No telling what those aliens were
doing to them.
    Karnage had plenty of time to observe his captors as they led
him into the bowels of the building. Tiny and Chuckles were fools.
All brawn and no brains. Karnage suspected they’d made their
careers putting on the tough guy act without ever having to play the
part. They relied on their size to do all their work for them. It was
probably why Sydney was able to exert such exacting control over
them. Her existence defied their sense of logic. How could anything
that small be that strong? When the time came, they’d be no threat
to Karnage. They’d go down easy.
    Sydney was another matter. Her movements were incredibly
precise. Not a motion wasted. He’d have to be careful. If he hadn’t
been a single Sanity Level away from blowing his head off, he could
have used Chuckles and Tiny as a diversion to get clear of Sydney.
But for now he was helpless.
    Karnage fumed. How long did it take him to downgrade a Sanity
Level? He hadn’t a clue. He cursed himself for not paying closer