Page 30 of Meat

Alyx needed to get out of here. Stick to the shadows of the woods and skirt the clearing.

Keeping low, Alyx crept backward, moving away from the forest’s edge. Before she could take her second step, however, warm metal tapped against the nape of her neck, and a menacing voice hissed and clicked in a language she recognized but did not understand.

A scream died in her throat.

“Kizkknekktuk. Kezk. Skkt kzt kezzzk…”

The gun barrel—for that’s what the metal was, Alyx could tell—prodded at her shoulder, signaling for her to turn around. Alyx did so very slowly and found herself staring at a fourth black-clad nith leering down at her.

The alien chuckled from low in its scaly throat, an ugly clucking sound.

Apparently sensing that a soft little human female presented no threat, the nith rested his rifle butt on his hip, pointing the muzzle skyward as his beady eyes roamed over Alyx’s naked and newly fleshy body. A disgustingly flexible pink tongue licked hungrily over the yellowed fangs and what passed for the nith’s lips.

It wasn’t a look of lust. It was hunger. Real hunger.

Alyx’s pulse quickened and her thoughts did too. Would she fight back, or let herself be taken meekly?

These nith would take her back to their facility where she would be slaughtered and butchered like livestock. Or worse yet, they might decide to feast on her right here and now.

Either way, she had no reason not to fight back.

The nith guard had not seen the stone knife in Alyx’s right hand. His eyes were too busy studying her breasts, belly, and thighs like a customer salivating over steaks at a butcher’s shop.

This would be her only chance.

Alyx struck.

The knapped-stone blade darted upward, stabbing into the nith’s exposed throat. The hide was tough and offered resistance to the crude blade, but Alyx put every fiber of her muscle into the blow. Her arms, her legs, every bit of her newly acquired weight was thrown behind that knife, forcing the point all the way into the nith’s brain stem.

Those cruel beady eyes went glassy with stunned surprise.

Alyx’s hands became gloved in the jet black blood that poured from the wound like old motor oil.

And just as he died, the nith bastard’s trigger finger squeezed, sending a loud shot straight up into the limbs overhead and scattering a flock of frightened birds.

Nith shouts came from the clearing behind.

A pop of rifle fire.

Nearby, a branch exploded into flames.

Alyx’s feet started to run before her mind even had a chance to keep up. There was a whump as the nith she had murdered finally collapsed to the ground behind her. She realized she had left the knife embedded in him, but there was no time to go back for it. More blaster rounds pelted through the surrounding trees, shredding foliage and splintering wood. Sparks exploded. Nith voices yowled.

Alyx’s heart slammed her ribs. Her lungs burned.

A volley of automatic fire streaked in front of her, creating a wall of flames that brought her up short. Alyx skidded, fell.

Before she could even get to her feet, the nith had her surrounded. A trio of gun muzzles aimed straight at her heart.

The nith chittered and clicked in their disturbing language. They hoisted Alyx to her feet and marched her back to the clearing, prodding her along with the guns to keep her moving. When they passed the one that Alyx had killed, they only stopped to gather his gun. Apparently they didn’t give two shits about their supposed comrade’s body.

In the clearing, Alyx was forced to stand beside hovering vehicle.

From the console, one of the nith retrieved a device that looked like a scanner gun from a supermarket checkout with a smartphone-sized screen attached to the back. He scanned the barcode on Alyx’s thigh and examined the readout on the screen as his companions peered over his shoulder.

The alien creatures began jibbering and clicking excitedly.

Not good.