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Jelia held onto her weapon with every
ounce of strength she could muster. It was her last and only
hope at getting away from these things.
At some point another tentacle grabbed
her left ankle. It jerked her off her feet, until she was being
dragged along on her back. Fortunately her suit and helmet were
taking the brunt of the abuse. If there was an upside to being
towed in this manner, it was that the creature was now clearing
the way for her, reducing the amount of abuse she was having to
take.
She worried about her men. She hoped she
would find them wherever this thing was taking her. It was the
main reason why she didn’t fight to get herself free of its
clutches. Even if she managed to get away from it, where would
she go? It made more sense to bide her time and hope her hunch
paid off. She had no way of knowing if her men would be where
she’d end up, but she had to take that chance.
She was unprepared for the creature
suddenly stopping and releasing her. They were still in the
middle of the field. The tall, willowy stalks nudged both sides
of her body. Jelia started to get to her feet when she heard it.
A low purr, like the sound of an engine, coming from overhead,
above the plants.
The creature rose up, lifting its head
above the vegetation, and screeched at the approaching noise.
Its raucous voice grated through the helmet’s sensors, shredding
her already frazzled nerves. For the first time, she was able to
glimpse what the thing looked like from the front. The long,
thin head topped an equally prehensile neck, making it appear as
if the thing was nothing more than a series of tentacles
attached to a central body. A row of eyes ran the length of its
face, the mouth a mere slit in the underside of its chin.
The purring seemed to pause nearby. The
sound of it being overhead led her to believe it may be
hovering. The creature screamed again. Lifting two of its arms,
it tried to reach out to the object when some kind of weapon
swung around, slicing through one of the tentacles. Jelia gasped
as the severed part landed next to her head. Jerking away from
it, she got to her feet. With the creature’s attention on
whatever was above her, she ran forward, toward the undulating
body, her own weapon extended. Another shriek filled the air as
creature and its opponent clashed again. With its attention
diverted, she aimed her pistol at the thing and fired.
The entity let out a sound that nearly
burst her eardrums. Gritting her teeth, she continued to fire
into it as the creature’s body boiled under the barrage.
Reddish-black blood spewed from the separated limbs. Several
large drops splattered her helmet and visor, including her
safety suit.
The creature flailed its remaining arms,
but every time it raised one above the stalks, another piece was
hacked off. Jelia took advantage of its confusion and pain and
anger to increase her attack from ground level.
The thing finally shuddered, slumping
into a semi-liquefied mass. Jelia continued to stand over it,
keeping a close eye on it until she was certain it wouldn’t rise
again, when the purring sound got louder, and a shadow passed
overhead.
“Come!”
Looking upward, she saw what appeared to
be a man extending his hand toward her. He was lying face-down
aboard a hovering craft, but his face was obscured by some kind
of mask.
The man spread his fingers and waved his
arm. “Hurry! Before more of them arrive!”
“I need to find my squad!”
“Who may already be dead! If we don’t
leave now, we’ll be next. One Varnarian we can manage, but two
or more…” He left the rest to her imagination.
This was not the time to argue. He knew
more about these things than she did, which meant she had to
trust him.
Holstering her weapon, she stepped back
a couple of meters and took a running jump toward him. His hand
grabbed her by the wrist, leaving her dangling as he battled
with the machine to keep from tipping over.
“Hold on!”
Throwing her other arm upward, she was
able to snag his wrist as he lifted the vehicle until she was
clear of the plants. Slowly, the man turned them around, to head
back to wherever he’d come from.
Jelia glanced downward to see the
remains of the thing that had been dragging her. From this
perspective, she was able to get a clear view of the Varnarian,
and realized it was far larger than she’d first imagined. There
was no way she could have defeated it by herself. If this man
hadn’t come to her aid, she may have ended up dead within hours.
As they skimmed over the tops of the
stalks, her boots brushed against them. She tried to lift her
feet, but her actions threatened to negate the delicate balance
the man was struggling to maintain over the machine. She was
grateful that her glove was attached to her suit. Otherwise, she
could have slipped out of the man’s grasp, in spite of the firm
hold he had on her.
She caught a movement at the edge of her
visor. Another one of those vehicles was coming toward them.
Before it reached them, it swerved to fly parallel to them. Like
the guy holding onto her, that person lay belly-down on the wide
seat.
So
it’s meant to be ridden that way. Odd.
Wind whipped past her as he dragged
her along. She focused her attention on the thick wrist, more
specifically on the heavily-muscled arm. It was stained with the
creature’s gore. The air was quickly drying it on the dark skin,
including bits of flesh clinging to it. She watched as one piece
eventually broke off and was whipped away.
The engine’s purr changed tone. The
machine slowed, and she felt herself being lowered. A check over
her shoulder revealed a flat landscape rising up toward them.
Looking in the opposite direction, she got a better view of the
field she’d been engulfed in. From a distance, it was bigger and
more intimidating. There was no sign of the huge creature they’d
killed.
The vehicle came to a stop, but remained
hovering. The man gave his arm a little shake to get her
attention. “I’m setting you down. Watch your feet.”
As soon as she felt the ground, she let
go of his arm. He also released her, and she moved back a step
as he landed the machine. At the same time, two more of those
hovercrafts joined them, and parked a few meters away.
Tugging off her helmet, Jelia started to
thank the man for coming to her rescue, but his gaze was riveted
on his hand. The hand which had held onto her as he brought her
out of the plants. She was unable to tell why he was staring at
it, but his silence was starting to worry her as the other two
people hurried over to join them.
She cleared her throat. “Thank you.” She
started to say more, when he reached up and pulled off the mask
covering the upper half of his face. At the same time, his dark
eyes bore into hers as his expression went from shock to scowl.
“Who are you?” he gruffly demanded. “Who
are you?”
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