Just a Little Tickle

Posted on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 4:43pm by Commodore Loatha Targaryen & Captain Wilkan Targaryen
Edited on on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 4:52pm

2,401 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Genesis
Location: Undisclosed
Timeline: 2430-01-01, 04:00

Lying across his chest, Fleet Admiral Lynz studied the face of her husband while he slept beneath her. She smiled and began to run her fingers along the sides of his chest, gently surveying his scars and the new one that didn't fully heal from his last training exercise. She moved her fingers further, under his arms where she started to tickle him.

"What are you doing?" William Teagarden answered half asleep.

"It's called tickling. I'll have you begging for mercy in a second or two," she answered still trying to get him to laugh.

"I don't think I like this very much," William answered finally starting to squirm.

Lynz smirked as she continued, "You're not supposed to."

William fought back, trying not to laugh as his stern face gave way to a grin then finally laughter. She kept going, him finally grabbing her into a tight embrace and rolling on the bed as she started grinning back. They looked at each other, staring as the grins faded away.

"Come on. We have to get moving," she said pulling away from him.

William sighed, "I suppose we do." He reached for his shirt and slid it on over his chest as, in the distance, he heard the sound of a dog barking. Both of their eyes shot toward the door, fear taking hold of them both as William raced toward the door. He moved into a tactical position by the door, glancing out the window as the dogs continued to bark. What he saw in the distance brought a chill to him. A man, clad in black, was approaching the door. William signaled to his wife that they had to move out as fast as possible.

***

What seemed like seconds later the door shattered into millions of tiny pieces. From beyond the threshold the flare of a muzzle erupted like fire, bullets ripping through the air and into the bed. The man in black approached, grabbing the tattered remains of the blankets in his hands and tossing them aside like discarded tissue paper. The man in black turned his head, seeing another door ajar. He approached, knocking it open to fully see his way out. It was a small bathroom, barely large enough for a single person. The shower was closed with a shadow inside. He pushed the gun through the small opening, pulling the door open with the muzzle of his sinister weapon. It was empty too. A small window, barely wider than a person, had been pushed out. He went to lift himself through the opening when he heard the distinctive sound of an engine turning over.

He dropped to the ground, turning and closing the distance in an instant. Raising his weapon he brought it parallel to Admiral Lynz's face. He pulled at the trigger just as the truck slammed into him, knocking him back into the wall.

***

William slammed the gears into reverse, debating momentarily running the man over a second time. He knew it was futile though. He'd keep coming. Throwing it into Drive he pushed the truck forward, nearly taking out the dog from earlier as he pulled onto the road, almost hitting another car as he forced his way in. In the mirror the man was back on his feet with assault rifle in hand, running toward a motorcycle.

He pushed the vehicle as fast as it could go, turning onto the freeway and almost wrecking in the process. The traffic was light and that was his greatest fear. That meant they'd be easier for the man to track. In the distance he saw it: a small motorbike with a hulk of a person atop it. The single headlamp was growing larger and brighter as the distance between the two closed.

"Keep your head down," he ordered as the enemy closed.

Lynz would have none of it, "We need to fight back." She pulled her backpack up from the floor of the truck cab and opened it, revealing the makeshift grenades they'd brought with them.

He glanced toward them, reaching for one when the rear window erupted into thousands of shards of tiny glass. His arm instinctively pushed his wife down as another bullet missed his head by millimeters and blew out their windscreen. They were running low on options, he knew that they were going to die if they didn't do something soon. He turned the wheel to move them beside a large trailer truck, but the other moved to the opposite direction, keeping apace and nearly overtaking them.

"Trade places," he commanded as the bullets tore into the tailgate. As she moved into the driver's seat, he grabbed the explosives. Preparing one he slid out of the window, his tactical brain looking for an ideal spot, but he knew he had seconds before the enemy would get a lock on him. He threw the bomb.

***

Maneuvering the rifle, the man in black went to pull the trigger as his senses alerted him to an approaching explosive. Before he could react it exploded before the motorcycle, but did little damage aside from a small cloud of smoke. It would take more than that to stop him. He maneuvered the gun to fire, pulling the trigger and knocking the driver's side mirror into oblivion. Somehow he'd missed again.

It had given enough time for William to prepare another explosive and lob it toward him. This one was a little closer, but the man knew to create a defense by swerving beside another car. As the weapon erupted into flame, the car lost control and almost hit him on his bike. He was unperturbed. Adjusting his aim he pulled the trigger and knocked out the passenger side mirror, missing his target once more as a third bomb came toward him.

Resistance was futile. The bomb exploded and damaged the bike, sending road debris up and into the man's face. It burned at his flesh momentarily, but was not enough to stop him. The windscreen of the bike was cracked and the headlight destroyed, but he was still on course and closing. As William started another grenade, the man in black knew he had him. Firing his pistol, the bullet slammed into William's chest and knocked him back into the truck.

Running low on bullets, he discarded his empty rifle and moved alongside. The distraction had been enough to cause his real target to slow. He knew he could overtake her. Aiming the pistol he fired again, hitting the door frame. It rattled her further, she slammed her wheel to the left bringing the truck right in line with the bike. It knocked them both off course, the man struggled to keep hold as he was thrown from the motorcycle and into the air at over 100 mph. As he flew he looked back, noting that at least she had also lost control. The truck flipped, the steel frame ripping at the concrete as he himself impacted the ground and skidded along uncontrolled.

***

William's eyes opened slowly as he regained consciousness. "Lynz," he called out as he realized they were upside down.

"I'm here," she said with blood streaming down the side of her face. "Can you walk?"

Teagarden nodded hesitantly, "I think so."

"Good," she said pulling him out of the cab. "Because we have to run."

Just as they escaped from the lifeless hulk of their truck, a large tractor trailer slammed into it and nearly took them out in the process. They pulled each other along as the truck turned in the distance back toward them, pulling alongside for them as they continued to be hunted by the man in black.

In the distance a broken chain-link fence stood as a barrier between the freeway and a technology park. William motioned for it, "We have to try."

Lynz looked over her shoulder, the behemoth of a truck back on the road and hunting them like an avenging angel. They struggled to support each other as it raced toward them, but, somehow, they managed to get through the opening just before the truck could reach them. It missed them by mere inches as they slipped through the hole and into the cars of the parking lot. It was nearly deserted, but it was giving them some momentary cover.

William started pulling on door handles, looking for one that was unlocked. The pain almost intolerable as he felt the bullet inside his abdominal wall. He struggled with the weight of Lynz's bag, almost falling and having to be saved by his wife.

"Mary Poppins are you sure you don't have something in this magic bag of yours to save us?" He teased as he slid to the ground against an old Ford.

"There should be one charge left," she reminded as she peered through the window of the car.

He looked in the bag and she was right. Two were left actually, but he wouldn't correct her. He'd been shot once tonight and didn't feel like doing it again. The man in black still hadn't come for them, but he could feel him in the distance. They knew he'd be coming.

"Look," Lynz pointed. "There's an alleyway. Over there. If we can get through it maybe we could find another way out of here or maybe an unlocked car we could borrow."

William struggled to look, "It's too far. If he come back..."

"He's always going to come back!" She answered a little louder than she meant to. "He's not going to stop. You taught me that."

"At least you were listening," he coughed up blood with his giggle.

Lynz grabbed him, "On your feet. We have to try. That's an order."

"Yes Sir," he relented as he struggled to regain his balance.

The duo pressed toward the alley as quickly as they could. The pain tore through William as they made their way and got closer and closer to the exit. In the guard shack a man watched an old science fiction program on the small television, not noticing them as they made their way toward the alley. They were almost there when they heard the sound of a shifting gear.

Out of no where the truck followed, tearing through the security gate and driving through the guard shack on a direct course for them. Suddenly, the truck's driver turned the wheel hard over to the right, jack-knifing the truck and causing it to flip in the air uncontrolled toward them. The man in black launched himself from the cab, landing into a crouching position as the truck bounced and skidded toward them.

William turned to fight, having found a metal pipe among the debris and cradling it in his good arm. "Run," he commanded to his wife as the man approached him. He could feel her still nearby. He turned his head and pushed her, "Run! Damn it run!"

As Lynz struggled to do so, William looked back toward their enemy. He'd taken too long. The man in black was now on top of him, there was no time to escape. He swung the pipe toward the haunting face of their enemy, connecting with his lower jaw. The man stepped back, momentarily stunned, but was undaunted. Reaching up he fixed his dislocated jaw with an audible pop then came at William. The Admiral tried, valiantly, to fight, but was outmatched. He swung again, but the enemy grabbed the pipe in midair and pulled it away. With his other hand he backhanded William, sending him flying away with incredible force.

With a thud William slammed to the broken asphalt and watched as his wife struggled to get away. She had been an accomplished runner at the Academy and had kept up with it, but it was no use. In the span of a second it seemed that the man in black had overtaken her and held her throat in his hand. William could feel the pain course through him, pull at him, when he fought to find the words.

"Computer," he struggled, "end program."

In the wink of an eye the environment around him changed. Instead of being on a darkened alley behind a technology park on old Earth, now they were in the middle of a futuristic holodeck. He looked up, hoping it wasn't too late, and was shocked by what he saw before him. Where the man in black had been holding his wife was now just his wife, standing where the man in black had once been.

"You ended it at the best part," she protested as she crossed her arms. "The Terminator finally won."

He still felt the pain in his body, but was dumbfounded by what he saw. "You? You were the Terminator?"

"I thought I'd switch things up for once," she answered as she walked toward him. "Knowing the storyline I figured I could make some needed changes to really give you a run for your money."

"You killed yourself?" He was still struggling with it.

She shook a disproving finger, "I killed Sarah Connor. Well almost. You shut down the program at the very last second."

"I thought. I thought he was going to kill you," Teagarden struggled with the words as the fog of battle still haunted him. He looked at her, "I thought you were going to kill her."

Lynz crossed her arms, "And I bet you disengaged the safeties again too." She pointed toward his chest, "That shot could have been fatal."

He looked down, "You shot me? You shot me!"

"I shot Kyle Reese," she corrected. "You just happened to be playing him. If you wouldn't have broken the rules again and left the safeties on you would never have known any different. Now we're going to have to go to sickbay and get Sherwin to discreetly heal you again without filing a report. Really must you drag people down with you?"

William sighed, "You really know how to kick me when I'm down don't you."

"I'm not kicking you," she answered as she helped him. "I'm just trying to get you to be prepared for what's coming. Whatever this thing is on Bajor it's bad news."

"So was this training program too," he answered as he walked along with his wife toward the door. "Whatever it is, whatever happens, just try not to shoot me again?"

Lynz smirked as they exited, "No promises."

RSS Feed