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The door hissed opened. Miya peeked hopefully around Therak’s bicep–
It was chaos outside. There was sand flying everywhere, making it hard to keep one’s eyes open. The storage building was indistinguishable despite the short distance to it. The once sunny square was cast in twilight as darkness was falling. And flying overhead was a huge shape emitting familiar chilling sounds.
Great. The megagull with its powerful wings clearly didn’t give a crap about the storm. If anything, the monster was enjoying its freedom from the confines of the underground. And when it heard the door of the station open, it decided to enjoy a juicy snack as well.
The creature dove toward them.
Miya prayed Therak would be able to close the door in time, his hand being closer than hers to the lock.
He didn’t close the door. He took the blaster off his shoulder and began firing instead.
Miya was frozen in place at the threshold, capable of only staring at how Therak was getting the beast full of plasma. Or trying to. Though every single shot hit the target, it was as if the megagull was plasma-proof. The shots just bounced off its thick skin, not doing any damage while enraging the predator further and further. At least Therak’s attack was keeping it at bay.
Miya began coming out of her stupor just as Therak changed tactics. Instead of focusing on the megagull’s belly and wings, he targeted the legs. The creature shrieked to high heavens.
“Yes! The legs are its weak spot!” Miya shouted over the wind. “It’s retreating!”
She was considering a short victory dance when Therak went down on one knee, blaster at the ready. “Shoot upward without stopping.”
Miya took the blaster off her shoulder, hands shaking. She could see nothing up there but even if she did, it wasn’t like she could hit a moving target. “What’s the plan?”
“I shoot to kill, you keep the little ones occupied.”
Miya sputtered. “Little ones?”
“Yes. It was full of them down in the numerous tunnels leading away from the well. The megagull was protecting them from me. That’s why it flew out despite the daylight, I think.”
And he told her thisnow? They should really work on his communication skills. Provided there was a later for them, that was.
As if on demand, dozens of dark winged shapes burst out of the mass of sand spinning over the square. They were flying dizzyingly fast and changing directions abruptly like bats while moving in perfect synchrony like birds.
Miya opened fire, not worried about aiming since the horrifying things were everywhere. They might as well be in the hundreds. If she failed in her task and they descended on her and Therak… Nope, she wasn’t going there.
Judging by the deafening screeches of the nightmarish black mass in the sky, she was doing something right. At the very least, she was giving Therak the time to aim so as not to waste a single shot. Every time he fired, a body fell to the ground with smoke coming out of it. The little freaks were not as hard to kill as the big freak.
When after what seemed like forever the minigulls decided to retreat, the ground was littered with corpses.
“How’s that for a ‘piss-poor of a shooter’, huh?” Miya shouted triumphantly, lowering her blaster with unsteady hands. They had told her at the pilot academy that she couldn’t hit a target if her life depended on it. Ha.
“Hurry, Miya, get on my back.”
The rush of adrenaline made her cackle as she pushed the blaster to her back and climbed aboard. “A piggyback ride in a sandstorm? Why not.”
“Hold on tight.”
With those words, Therak took off into a sprint across the square, both hands on the blaster. Miya held on for dear life because the moment they left the safety of the station’s threshold, the full force of the storm hit them.
She couldn’t see further than her nose through the flying sand. The hard grains were getting in her eyes, cutting at her exposed skin at the speed the wind was sending them her way. Thank the stars for the jumpsuit she had on. Poor naked Therak, though…
Then there was the force of the wind. She knew how fast Therak could run, and yet it seemed like they weren’t making any progress toward the storage building. Wherever it was.
At some point Therak began shooting, the semi-darkness lighting up around his plasma shots. Winged shadows of various sizes moved all around them. Looking for an opening to their prey.
She expected claws to dig into her back any second and snatch her away. The wind was trying to tear her arms off Therak as well.
They weren’t going to make it.
Galaxies, they were not going to make–
