The door opened. A muffled voice from the depths of the corridor called, "You..."

A roaring explosion interrupted him. Body parts and scraps of uniforms soared in the air in a cloud of black smoke. When the bloody haze settled on the floor, and the red mush stuck to the walls and ceiling, Andvari darted out.

"Run!" he ordered. "Pick up their weapons!"

He stopped for three seconds, his eyes scanning the floor. The smell of burned meat, melted fabric and half-digested meals clawed his throat and pinched his stomach. Among the chunks of flesh in all shades of red and tattered patches of clothing, he spotted the guard's hand with a smoky LiqWatch around its wrist. He picked the hand up. As he straightened up his back, a flickering swarm of colourful circles swirled in front of him. He grunted and blinked to get rid of the dizziness. Grabbing a rifle on the fly, he sprinted after his friends, jumping over puddles of gore and dismembered bodies.

No alarm? he wondered. Weird.

Hiding behind the wall at the end of the narrow corridor, Erilaz and Hefri looked out for the approaching guards. They managed to find three working weapons, and Hefri took a scratched helmet. Since there was no alarm, only the guards who heard the explosion nervously glanced around, speaking to their communicators.

Andvari joined them. His finger tapped rapidly at the LiqWatch like a hungry woodpecker.

"What's the holdup?" whispered Erilaz.

"I'm trying to keep your head," answered Andvari, knocking his temple. "Literally."

"They figured it out!" hissed Hefri, clenching the gun in her hands.

Andvari found an icon that deactivated the collars. He touched the fingerprint reader with the torn off hand. The icon glowed green and the collar around his neck clicked.

Hefri recoiled and she became flustered. "They're coming!"

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Andvari stripped the collar off his neck. He tapped the next two icons. As they turned green, he called, "Done!"

At that moment a blast of gunfire echoed in the corridor. Andvari narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth when the ear-piercing roar reached his ears. He lifted his gun, ready to fight back, when the diode on his collar began to blink.

"Oh, shit!" he yelled, opening his eyes wider. "Guys! The collars!"

He threw the collar as far as he could. He winced as the sharp pain ran through his hand. The ripped skin burned and stung him, but he only growled and clenched his fist. He grabbed his arm to slow down the blood that dripped lazily from the wounds.

Three fireballs shook the tunnels. The silence between the gunshots and the explosions sounded unusual to everyone who heard it. The guards expected a wailing alarm siren, flickering red lights or at least alerts on their LiqWatches. They had to depend on their skills and cleverness instead, hoping that the three greatest warriors on their planet will make a mistake.

Hefri poked up from behind the wall first, coughing and wiping her cheeks. Her stomach flinched as the smoke and vomit-inducing smells filled the air.

"Pretty clear. Come on," she said, waving her hand

The three Vardir moved in single file. Erilaz protected the back, and Hefri, as the best shooter, led the group. Andvari stayed in the middle, weakening slightly every passing minute. They depended on their hearing most of the time.

Whenever loud steps approached the corner, they threw a bomb or two. Their bullets didn't kill most of the guards. The guards wore bulletproof vests and helmets but they still preferred to stay beyond the firing line.

The alarm began to howl, and the red lights started flickering a few seconds later.

"What's the green triangle?" shouted Hefri, throwing a bomb. The explosion wiped out a group of guards but the gunshots still echoed behind her back. "An escape route?" She fired a few times to keep the guards at a distance. "Or a hiding spot?"

"I think..." gasped Andvari, "it's the rubbish chute." He took a few heavy breaths and added, "They're all around."

Hefri threw a bomb. "So where's the nearest one?"

"When we came here... I saw a few of them." He pointed forwards, gripping his wounded hand.

He put all his energy into masking his giddiness. All corridors looked the same in his eyes. Their surface began to curve or merge with the walls, and amorphous, black forms loomed in front of him. The flickering lights and roaring alarm only made it worse.

His sore eyes narrowed unwittingly, confining his visual field. The pulsating pain in his head let him focus only on two things: following his friends and occasionally attacking the guards. Every time his shoe touched the floor, the tiles under him felt liquid and heaving. Andvari pursed his lips and lowered his eyebrows. He speeded up, clenching his fists tighter. Blood loss couldn't slow down the greatest warrior on this planet.