I should get a theme song or something. anyway, here is part 2 of the inferno

“It was a distraction!” Alicia spat. “A diversion! They land their troops in the Inferno so that both armies attack our headquarters!”
“I know,” said Tom. “but there’s nothing we can do right now.”

Alicia looked at him in disbelief. “You’re giving up already?”

“No,” Tom replied. “But there’s nothing we can do. Look.” He led her over to the table. Dozens of snake-like Khadrein troop carriers hovered over the desert in front of the entrance to their headquarters. Hundreds of Khadrein and Olsgombi would be in there.

“They won’t stop,” said Tom. “Their planet is bigger than ours. They have more troops. And they have almost no morals. They will claw, bite, shoot-whatever they need to do to kill us, they will do.”

Alicia stared in despair at the security monitor as a Khadrei bit off the head of one of the newbies. “Then how do we survive? We’ll be ripped to bits.”

Tom went to the wall and entered a code into a keypad. The wall slid open, revealing a weapons rack. He took a Eberhad Blaster, inserted an energy cartridge, and shot out a window.

“I say we go to the very top of the tower and parachute off,” he said, tossing a blaster and a parachute to Alicia. He grinned. “You coming?”

She grinned back. “I’m all for it.”

“Great let’s g-“

Tom was cut off by Peter falling into the room. He looked terrible. Five huge gashes cut his chest and neck.

“Khad…coming…had to…warn..”

His eyes turned glassy and stared at the ceiling. Alicia and Tom stood there, stunned. Then shouts, snarls, and blaster fire sounded down the hallway. They glanced at each other, nodded, and headed for the elevator.

***

Tom and Alicia leapt over Peter’s body-there was nothing more they could do for him-and headed for the elevator. They rounded a corner, and came face to face with a Khadrein.

The Khadrein’s body was long and scaly. A hunched back slid down to a smooth tail that swished from side to side. It stood on two legs that ended in talons, and had two scabby arms, each with claws dripping with blood. Some Khadrein had wings, but this one only had little stubs. The hunched back led to a short reptilian neck that had a fierce-looking head with a long, wide mouth filled with teeth that were covered with gore. A long, black tongue snaked from it, swaying back and forth and dripping poisonous green saliva. But most haunting were it’s eyes, which were a mesmerizing, glowing orange.

They only had a second to take this all in before a soldier came from behind and started strangling it.

“Go!” he gasped. “I can….only…hold it…for a little while…longer!”

“Come on, Tom!” Alicia yelled. “Run!”

Tom turned and followed her reluctantly. Behind them came a long, drawn-out wail that meant that the Khadrein had broken free and the soldier had met a horrific end.

***

Tom and Alicia got to the elevator and upstairs without too much trouble. What was trouble was what was inside. When they came out of the elevator, the eight highest officials in the Government were sitting, having coffee around a table.

“What are you doing!” Tom shouted, always the diplomatic one. “The Khadrein are here and you’re having coffee! You need to run!”

Georg Klauer, chancellor of Schwarzland, the country that used to be called Germany, turned around in his chair.

“Please,” he said. His voice was heavily accented. “No shouting. Ve have more important sings to do. Come.”

They walked over to the table.

And leapt back in horror.

A Pox Beast-someone who had been infected by the Pox for so long that the virus lived in every pore of their body-was tied down to the table, struggling. It was about as big as a German Shepard, and the main mass of its’ body was squishy and amoebic. Its’ skin was a sickly shade of yellow, and yellow boils and hair stuck out of its’ body. It was flipped over, so they could see its’ wide mouth filled with jagged teeth, not unlike that of a shark’s. It had four wiry legs, each ending in three cruel, curving claws that were stained with the blood of past victims. The mouth opened and closed, emitting snarls and haunting moans.

“Ve have made vat ve sink is a better, faster cure for ze…Pox. Eeeeuuuuuchhhh!” Klauer spat on the floor. “In my country, ve called it ze umwandeln Krankheit. The transforming sickness.” He spat on the floor again. “Observe. Vaulder!”

A man with a crisp lab coat, glasses, and a long, white beard, holding a syringe, came through a door.

“Mein Herr. Das Heilmittel.”
“Oh, danke Vaulder. Verlassen uns.”
“Jah, mein Herr.”
Vaulder left. Klauer turned to Tom and Alicia. “Now, observe.” He plunged the syringe into the stomach of the Pox Beast and emptied it. The Beast struggled and howled. Klauer sat back with a look of satisfaction on his face.

“Now, if the medicine takes, ze patient shall be free of ze umwandeln Krankheit.”

“And if it doesn’t take?” asked Tom.

Klauer shrugged.

“Zen ze Beast vill be put out of it’s misery, and ve keep trying.”

The Beast continued to struggle. Another scientist looked at a screen.

“Heartbeat is going too fast!” she shouted. “It’s going to-“

The Beast suddenly stopped struggling.

“It’s heart gave out,” said the scientist. “We’ll have too-”

Then, without any warning, the elevator door burst open and a dozen Olsgomba burst into the room.