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I rolled to lie next to her and pulled her close. I buried my face in her sunshine-colored hair, inhaling the scent of us together. It was the best thing ever. Dare I say, even better than her scent alone, and that was already perfection.
“If this is my reward, I will hunt centicreeps every day,” I said solemnly. That had Sam giggling, which was even better.
She cuddled into me and closed her eyes.
“How about a nap, my big, bad hunter?”
Anapsounded good. I never took naps before meeting her, and now they were the best kind of sleep, especially because of what usually happened before a nap. My seed was still dripping out of her, but that was fine. I’d clean us up later. And the sleeping nook had a cover that was easily removed and thrown into the decontaminator.
I couldn’t believe I’d been fighting this for so long. I could have had this with her for weeks already. No matter. We had an entire future together to make up for my stubbornness and stupidity.
I thought of the thousands and thousands of hunters still out in space, living the life the Xarc’n military had mapped out for us, following orders from machines that didn’t care one bit about us. Why obey a master like that? I was my own master now.
Hunters spoke of a giant mothership in the next life where hunters went when they died. It orbited a planet with endless scourge. We were promised endless combat. Endless glory. We’d never get tired, no matter how much we fought. And as long as we wanted to continue fighting, more scourge would arrive for us to cut down. We could hunt to our heart’s content, and revel in the glory of victory every day. It was meant to be what the humans called heaven.
Endless combat, and endless glory? That no longer called to me. I didn’t need heaven, I only needed Sam. And whatever this was that we had now.
Sam could be my forever and ever.
Chapter 23: Sam
The attack came at night, when we least expected it.
Fortunately the perimeter alarm alerted us early, giving us just enough time to spring out of bed and grab our weapons.
“Everyone to your positions!” Mo’s voice boomed across the hallway.
In the event of a surprise scourge attack, we all had our jobs. Unlike during a swarm, where we had weeks to prepare, the barriers intended to funnel the scourge to the battle arena were not set up. Neither were the traps. That meant we had to fight them right here.
I looked about, searching for Kat and finally catching a flash of her blond hair. She waved me over, and I joined her. Aanya, Kat, and I were tasked with setting out the bait since we were quick on the E-bikes; we could get in and get out before the scuttlers arrived. The point of the bait was to slow down the scourge, making it easier for those on the roof to pick them off one at a time.
She tossed me the package of leftovers from two days ago. I caught it, and the soft bag squished in my hands, feeling—ugh—particularly unpalatable. There was just enough meat in our meals to attract the scourge, which were only interested inanimal protein. I hoped the bag of half-rotten food stayed intact until we got into position and didn’t explode all over me and the bike. If it did, I was going to give whoever tied up this bag a stern talking to.
I tossed it into the basket on the side of the bike and started off after Kat, who was already speeding toward the scourge, not away. I wondered if Kan’n would have let me do this job if he’d known exactly what it was. He was currently on the roof, waiting with everyone else who had a blaster or a long range weapon. The rule was always to engage with the scourge from afar first, taking as many out as possible. Unless there were flyers and centicreeps involved, we avoided melee fights unless it was unavoidable.
According to the images captured by the cameras at the perimeter, there were no flyers, spitters, or centicreeps tonight. If there had been, Kat, Aanya, and I wouldn’t be out here with bait. It would have been far too dangerous.
Scuttlers and lungers were easier to deal with, especially in the dark. The presence of lungers tonight was strange. That particular type of scourge never showed up in these parts. The nest in this area didn’t make them, at least that we knew of.
Usually, lungers were seen only in mountainous regions. They were similar to scuttlers and even had the same toxin-covered blades. The only difference was a pair of oversized pneumatic hind legs, designed to aid in leaping over ledges and gaps. Normally, a nest either focused on producing spitters with their acidic spittle, or lungers with these specialized legs. Extra weapons, or mobility. Not both.
When the scuttlers came into view I braked hard and skidded to a halt, then flung my package of rotten goodies at them. Kat and Anya did the same. Then we sped back to our building.The camp was now illuminated with flood lights so bright I had to squint as my vision adjusted. We made it to the roof of the building just as the first group of scourge, the ones that hadn’t been distracted by our food, came into sight.
Normally, the scourge didn’t move after dark, unless they were stuck somewhere away from the nest and trying to get back. This group was attacking like they were ravenous and hadn’t eaten in days. Everything about this attack was very strange.
It soon became clear that we didn’t need to worry. With the way we’d set up our base, ready to deal with swarms when they occurred, dealing with large numbers of scuttlers and lungers was easy. Several of the lungers did make it up onto the roof since we were not used to dealing with them, but this only delighted the hunters and fighters up there. Those of us who couldn’t engage in hand-to-hand combat headed downstairs to the offices and let them have their fun.
I paused for a moment by the door watching Kan’n as he swung his axe at a lunger, the plasma edge of the weapon glowing whitish-blue. The way he moved as he fought was mesmerizing. Each movement flowed into the next so gracefully that it seemed more like a dance than a fight. A very lethal dance.
He turned after dispatching his current adversary and shot me a grin. Then he and Terrance tag-teamed against another bug who had it coming.
The act of stopping to admire my hunter’s perfect form had attracted the attention of a lunger. It sprang at me, but I quickly ducked back through the door and slammed it in the bug’s face.
Ha! Served it right.
I joined the others in the offices. Our next task was to clean up our home and burn the scourge bodies so that the fungus couldn’t spread. But we couldn’t do that job until the fighters finished theirs.
“This attack doesn’t make any sense,” Mo said.
