[Galaxy Of Fear] - 02(10)

“Kairn! Kairn, is that you?”

“Zak! Where are you?” Kairn’s voice came from out of the mist.

“Here! Here!” he called. “Where are you?”

“I’m over-aaagh!” Kairn’s shout was cut off with a strangled cry.

“Kairn!” Zak ran even faster, forgetting where he was and vaulting over headstones as he raced to where he thought his friend must be.

A figure materialized out of the fog. For a fraction of a second, Zak’s heart skipped a beat. Another zombie?

But the figure wasn’t moving. It was about Kairn’s size and shape, and it slumped against a large rounded headstone.

“Kairn, is that you?” Zak said as he slowed to a halt. The mist was so thick that he could hardly see the figure’s face. He peered closer. The eyes were wide with horror. The mouth was open, and something red dripped from one corner.

“Kairn!” Zak yelled.

“He’s dead,” a hard voice said. “And it looks like you’re next.”

Zak whirled around. There was the brutally scarred face he recognized from the hologram image Boba Fett had shown them: the face of Dr. Evazan.

Also known as Dr. Death.





CHAPTER 7


Half of Dr. Evazan’s face looked normal enough, but the other half was covered in scars and sores.

“I can’t believe my luck,” Evazan said, grinning from the undamaged side of his face. “It looks like I’ll have two patients to care for this evening. Come on, boy, let the doctor have a look at you.”

With lightning speed, one hand shot out and grabbed Zak by the hair.

“Ow!” Zak winced. “What did you do to Kairn?”

“The same thing I’ll do to you in just a moment,” said Dr. Evazan. Evazan’s voice was chillingly calm. “I need subjects to work on if I’m going to continue my experiments. Healthy young subjects like him. And you.”

Zak’s head was tilted backward so he couldn’t move it, forcing his mouth open. In his other hand, Dr. Evazan held some kind of blood-red berry. He crushed the berries in his hand so that the juice dripped out of his palm and into Zak’s mouth.

“That’s it,” Evazan cooed. “Swallow the berry juice and it will all be over.”

Zak tried not to swallow. The juice was bitter and made him gag. If he could only free himself!

“Evazan.”

The voice that spoke was as cold as deepest space. The voice of Boba Fett.

Another criminal might have turned to look. Not Dr. Evazan. The moment his name was spoken, the evil doctor released Zak and dove for cover behind a headstone. A blaster bolt shattered the writing on the face of the grave marker.

Free, Zak spat out the vile-tasting juice and wiped his mouth. He ran to where Boba Fett stood as still and calm as a statue.

“Th-thanks!” Zak cried. “He was going to-“

“Silence.” Fett didn’t even look at Zak. Fett scanned the terrain and then nodded to himself, as though seeing something Zak could not. “Remain here.”

“But we’ve got to get out of here! There are corpses coming out of the ground and…”

With one hand, Fett grabbed Zak by the shirt collar and pushed him gently but firmly to the ground until Zak’s ear was pressed against the moist dirt.

“Remain here,” Fett repeated. Holding his blaster at the ready, the armored killer strode silently off into the darkness.

Lying there without his borrowed cloak, afraid to move, Zak wondered if he was in shock. Kairn’s lifeless body lay a few feet away, the dead eyes staring right into Zak.

To make things worse, somewhere nearby, the dead were waking.

Zak felt something brush across his cheek. He wiped his hand across his face and felt something wet and squishy stick to his hand. When he looked, he saw a plump, wriggling white worm wrap itself around his hand. One end of the boneworm pressed itself against Zak’s skin, and he felt a sharp pain, as though something were gnawing at him. He gasped and flicked the boneworm away.

He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. If he moved, he was afraid Boba Fett would shoot him. If he didn’t move, one of the zombies might find him, or the boneworms might eat him alive.

Zak felt something else brush across his cheek, but when he reached for it, his hand touched the cold muzzle of a blaster.

Dr. Evazan had found him. “Get up!”

Without waiting for Zak to obey, Evazan hauled him up and pressed the blaster to his back. “You’re my little passport out of this mess. Fett’s a killer, but they say he’s choosy about who he sends into the void. You will do as you’re told, understand?”

Zak managed a nod.

Evazan held Zak before him like a shield as he stalked cautiously down the path. After only a moment, they saw Boba Fett’s bullet-shaped helmet rise up before them in the gloom.