Page 87 of Enslak

We emerged from behind the rocks side by side.

The eight Ulkommenians had spread out, forming a loose perimeter around our ship. They spotted us immediately and raised their weapons in perfect synchronization. The Ulkommenians weren't warriors. They were scientists who'd spent their lives hunched over data terminals and specimen tanks. But I'd learned during my time in captivity that they were surprisingly competent with blasters.

Which meant this was going to hurt.

"Surrender," one of them called in their clicking language. "You cannot escape. The subject will be returned to the laboratory. The human will be terminated."

"No," I said simply.

Blaster fire erupted.

I positioned myself directly in front of Niki, my body a shield between her and the incoming barrage. The first volley struck—one bolt caught my shoulder, another seared across my ribs. The pain was white-hot, like being branded with molten metal, but I stood firm. The stun setting meant the bolts didn't penetrate deeply, but they still burned like hell.

"What are you—" she yelled.

"They can't aim for shit," I growled through gritted teeth. "Let me draw their fire. Use it."

The next volley came and I felt more bolts strike—one in my thigh, another punching into my already-wounded side. Each impact sent waves of pain through my body, but I stayed upright. Behind me, Niki fired her blaster with devastating precision. The first Ulkommenian went down.

Seven.

I charged forward, drawing their attention, forcing them to track me instead of her. My size, my speed, my obvious threat level—all of it pulled their focus. Two more tried to flank me, going for an angle on Niki. I moved to intercept, taking bolts meant for her. One caught me in the chest, driving the air from my lungs. Another hit my arm, making my muscles spasm. I roared through the pain. My claws found the first one. He crumpled, his throat torn open.

Six.

Niki fired twice more from behind me. Two more Ulkommenians fell, her aim perfect despite the chaos.

Four left.

Then—click.

"I'm out!" she called.

An Ulkommenian lunged at her, seeing his opening. She spun—actually spun, her entire body rotating with perfect balance—and her leg came up in an arc. Her foot connected with his head with a crack like a melon splitting. He flew backward and crashed to the ground.

He didn't get up.

Three left.

Two of them fired at me simultaneously. Both bolts hit—one in my shoulder, one in my arm. The pain was becoming harder to ignore, my body accumulating damage faster than I could process it. I roared through the agony and charged. They tried to scatter, but I was on the first one before he could move. My teeth found his throat. He collapsed, blood spraying.

Two.

The last two Ulkommenians tried to coordinate an attack against Niki. She moved between them like she'd choreographed it. Her strikes were precise and devastating. A palm strike to one's ribs that I heard crack from ten meters away. A knee to the other's face that shattered his jaw. She grabbed one's arm, twisted it in a move that made him scream, and used his momentum to send him flying into the second one.

Both went down in a tangle of limbs.

Neither got up.

Silence fell over the clearing.

I stood there, swaying, every cell in my body on fire. Bolts had caught me at least a dozen times. Blood ran down my chest, my legs, my arms. My right shoulder hung wrong—dislocated from the impacts. My left side was a mass of burns, the flesh charred and blistered. My vision blurred at the edges, darkness creeping in.

But Niki was untouched.

"Enslak!" She sprinted toward me, her face drained of color, her eyes moving fast over my body the way they did when she was cataloging damage and trying not to show how badly it frightened her. "You took so much fire—"

"Had to keep you safe," I managed through gritted teeth. Each word cost something. My lungs felt wrong, my breath coming in shallow pulls that didn't seem to fill anything.