Few Seconds Ago
The hand-gun yanked Eddy toward the electro-magnet, but he let go immediately. The pleading eyes of the living bomb closed for the last time, as Eddy turned to run toward the wall... "I'm so sorry..." he half-heard amidst the hail of gunfire.
Karl felt the "wet" on his neck and the back of his head. The contents of Artie's brain mostly.Then he felt the "wet" on his upper thigh, right below the butt. Bullet hit. Didn't matter to him at the moment, no time for wounds. Karl unloaded at the firing turret...
As did Dan from the tower, through gritted teeth, pumping lead like it was going out of style.
Next to him, Kate went from gun to toys, and tossed two grenades. Less fuss, more boom.
Now
Eddy was running in slow motion somehow, fast as hell, but he could sense that time, at least around him, had faltered. Or relaxed. It was impossible to tell. He saw peripherally, an arm float by him slowly through the air. Scraps of metal, flesh, stone, all floating around him like in a slow simmering soup. Surreal. That word again.
Then, Bam! He smashed against a wall in fast forward. Time had caught up. No, not smashed. Someone was watching over him. Just as he was about to splatter himself, a door opened in that exact spot in the wall. Standing there was what looked like another prison guard. Standing only for a moment. Eddy slammed into the figure, propelled by the bomb's force, sending both bodies sprawling along some dank, cold corridor. Eddy ended up on top. When he opened his eyes, the prison guard just lay there, a shard of metal sticking out from his eye-socket. Eddy was laying on top of the dead guard. He was somehow ok! Nothing hurt too bad. His head was another matter though. Hurt like hell. Felt a bit deaf too. Hopefully temporary.
Then Eddy heard distant barking. Not the happy-go-lucky kind of barking either.
Dan and Karl peppered the turrets, and for a moment they could see their success. The guns stopped firing. Then Kate unleashed the grenades, and two direct hits later, both miniguns exploded with considerable force.
Suddenly it got quiet.
Kate and Dan looked down and saw no sign of Eddy. No sign of exploding guy either. Blown to bits.
Karl they spotted below. He was along a wall, flat against it. His whole head was blood-red and slimed. He looked like he had been trying to make his way back up some poor women's birth canal, head-first. But he was ready. Eyes still darting, weapon aloft. Already saying something out loud, though they couldn't make out what.
Artie's corpse lay beside him. Minus head.
The Courtyard resembled some kind of gladiatorial arena on steroids. Blood, filth, gore, metal, and stone, everywhere. But quiet now at least.