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I took back my gun from off the floor near one of the dead soldiers, trying not to gag as I stared at bulging rib bones, cracked in half from the same animal that had tried to hold me down and rape me just moments before. I knew the gun was useless, but it made me feel better. I had to have something to protect myself. I lifted the gun, the sensor on it finding the nearest heat source and aiming automatically for me. My arms shook with fear and revulsion, trying to focus on anything but the massacre surrounding me.
I curled my finger around the trigger and froze.
The two alien beasts burst forward, tearing at each other in a fit of snarls. The sounds of their roars echoed, shaking me to the very core. Limbs slashed at each other. One would strike and the other would twist out of the way. A kick would land here and there and the power of it would set the creatures several steps back. Their fingers curled with fury and that’s when I noticed their claws, lengthening several inches as they fought each other. Wild and completely feral, yet still controlled as they sparred over the right to take me as their own.
My mouth fell open, almost in a sense of awe. They fought and tore at each other, but in a way that reminded me of a well-trained fighter and not a mindless animal. I shifted back and forth on my feet, trying to take in one breath and then another, my lungs filling painfully slowly as my heart pounded loudly in my ears.
The noise of the fight made it difficult to focus on anything else.
The frightening brawl continued and as the beasts jumped and tackled each other, the tile cracked beneath them. They threw each other into walls and the thick metal groaned inward. Their sounds of anger rumbled, and I swore the ground shook beneath them. My eyes slid from side to side and I began to move, needing to do something, anything to break free.
Instinct told me to run, but I tried to stay calm and think intelligently, to move silently toward the door while all attention was directed away from me. I carefully stepped over one mutilated body and then another, trying to ignore the rolling nausea in my belly, but still I continued onward. I focused on the possibility of escape rather than my fear.
I almost made it to the door before the one that had attacked me first noticed my movements. He lunged at me and the other grabbed his arm, flinging the beast back into the wall. The metal groaned and the sound of the beast’s head hitting the wall was sickening as it echoed around me. For a moment, the creature looked stunned.
The one who had appeared in the midst of my attack simply stared at me, roared, and met my eyes.
“Run!” he thundered. I hadn’t even known the alien beasts could speak.
I wanted to listen and get away, but my feet remained rooted to the spot beneath me.
“Run, human! Saleos will kill you. You’ll die if he ruts you. He’ll fucking tear you apart,” he roared, his fiery red eyes burning brighter than ever.
His eyes were glowing and shimmering with what looked like tendrils of flame. His forehead was slick with sweat, his upper lips curling up in a snarl that reminded me of a feral animal. His chest rose and fell, sculpted muscles tensing before me. Behind him, the one he’d referred to as Saleos rose up, almost as if he was in a daze. He blinked once, then twice, before surging back toward my unexpected rescuer.
The unnamed beast growled at me once more before turning back toward Saleos, grabbing him by the arm and slamming him back into the wall with a sickening crack. The tile behind his head shattered, revealing thick concrete beneath. Saleos slumped to the floor, oversized black pupils rolling back in his head, the red glow in his eyes dimming as they slid closed.
He lay on the floor then, peaceful and still. His skin, once blood red began to fade to a more normal tanned tone. I watched in wonder, the scientist within me wanting to know more.
The remaining alien stood up straight and that’s when I noticed that he was bleeding. Deep scratches across his chest oozed dark, almost black-colored blood. His breath was heavy, but still exceptionally strong.
He strode over to me and I wilted, rounding my back toward the wall. Fuck.
I should have listened and run, just like he said. What were the chances he was just going to repeat Saleos’ attack and rape me himself?
His breath tore in and out of his lips, the struggle to hold back clear on his features.
Saleos didn’t move.
“Do you have a name?” I whispered, unable to help myself.
For a long moment, he didn’t move, simply staring at me with fiery eyes. Judging me. Analyzing me. Standing naked before him in nothing but my boots, I was defenseless.
“Axel,” he answered, his voice strained and tight. He took a deep breath. “I have to get you out of here,” he stressed, looking back at the still body of his rival. He lunged for me and I had little time to react before he grabbed me around the waist and flung me over his shoulder, my nakedness pressing against his incredibly warm skin. I didn’t even think to fight as he sprinted out of the room, running at inhuman speeds through the hallways and back out into the wilderness. Maybe I was in shock after everything I’d seen.
The wind whipped my red hair around my face and I clung to him, not wanting to fall or even worse, have him toss me off a cliff or something even more horrible. His skin was blazing hot, almost feverish and I wondered if he was alright. His body moved like a gazelle, like it was made for running and in no time at all, the dome had faded away in the distance. I didn’t need my comm to realize that he had run miles away, deep into Echelon 67 territory and that I’d have a hard time finding my way out. The stars still flickered overhead, and the moon shone with just enough light to illuminate the trees around us. I noticed a free-flowing river beside us and whimpered as he ran through it, continuing up against the flow toward the mountains I knew rose up in the distance. He ran, jumping impossibly high
with me on his shoulder in order to avoid one boulder and then another. He held me firmly to him so that I didn’t bounce, and oddly enough, I felt just a tiny bit safe with him.
I could have kicked myself for even thinking that. I must be in shock because thoughts like those definitely meant I was insane.
Finally, he began to slow down, and I noticed the ground beneath us was a bit dryer here, rockier that before. Carefully, he chose his steps wisely, edging closer to a rock outcrop within a small clearing. Then the two of us descended into the entrance of a dark cave. He wound through one passage and then the next, before depositing me down on a thick mattress in a large cavern a short time later.
I blinked, my eyes struggling to get accustomed to the darkness and it took a solid few minutes for me to make out his form several feet away. I watched as he calmly stoked and lit a small fire, the smoke drifting up above into the night air and disappearing, likely collecting at the ceiling of the cave or slipping between the rocks up into the sky.
The smell of burning wood was calming in a way.
For several long minutes, I just sat on the mattress, curling my legs into my chest as I waited for him to do something to me. Only he didn’t. He didn’t even move toward me.
