Page 60 of Meat

But there were other, even stronger instincts at play now.

Maternal instincts.

Her little ones were out there somewhere in all that madness. Ravnar had them, and she pitied the nith that tried to harm their children while Ravnar was around. Still, just one stray rifle shot and…

Alyx had to do something. She had to get out there and make sure her young ones were safe.

But first she needed a weapon.

Her eyes darted around the sparsely furnished tent and landed on the fire burnt low amid a circle of stones. One club-sized piece of wood was sticking out, smoldering on the end but mostly unburnt.

In a flash, Alyx took up the makeshift weapon and rushed out into the fray.

The camp was in chaos. Nith, black-skinned and black-garbed, flew past on hover-bikes with rifles blazing. Ukkur fought with slings and stone knives. There were flames where a downed nith vehicle had crashed into a tent. The air was thick with the scent of smoke and machine grease.

Alyx’s heart hammered. Adrenaline pulsed through her body.

Her flight response told her to retreat, get back in the tent as Krogg had told her. Her rational brain seconded this opinion. What good could a helpless little woman do in a fight like this?

But she had made up her mind already.

She would find and protect her children, at any cost.

Rifle blasts skewered the air mere inches from her face, so close she felt the heat of them. Nith attackers let out horrible chittering shrieks as they died at the hands of ukkur warriors. More heavy explosions shook the ground.

A nith mounted on a hover bike banked around the side of a tent and headed straight for Alyx.

Raw animal instinct took control of her limbs. She deftly sidestepped and swung her makeshift club. The burning end struck the monster directly on its scaly snout. The nith’s lanky body tumbling backward off the bike, which swerved away and crashed.

She had done it! She had gotten the bastard.

A surge of pride swept over her.

But Alyx immediately remembered her babies. One knocked-out nith was all well and good, but it didn’t make any difference if her little ones got hurt.

She had to find them.

Before she had a chance to move, however, the nith that she had walloped rose to its feet in front of her. It was dazed from the blow, and its rifle was nowhere in sight, but its tall crocodilian form was intimidating all the same.

Alyx swung again, aiming for the monster’s temple.

This time her attack did not land as planned. The nith’s reflexes were too sharp. A dark scaly hand shot upward, catching the club mid swing.

Shit.

The other hand shot out viper quick and seized Alyx by her throat, cutting off her air.

The nith glared at her. Except for her necklace, Alyx was completely naked. The creature’s beady, obsidian eyes dropped to her bare hip where her barcode tattoo showed. The nith made and ugly chittering sound that could have been mirthless laughter.

“Die, meat,”

Long, alligator jaws opened wide, yawning well past ninety degrees and flashing the interior of a mouth that was shockingly pink compared to the creature’s dark scales.

Alyx’s eyes winced shut as she awaited the fatal chomp. Her only thought was of her children. God, she hoped they were all right.

A sound. An agonized hiss.

Alyx’s eyes shot open again. Two great hands were holding the nith’s jaws open, keeping those rows of fangs from snapping down on her head.