Morgan blinked. Her brain scrambled to see if she’d heard him wrong. Nope, that’s what he said.
“Oh, great and mighty High Chieftain—“ She gave a slight bow, watching him out of the corner of her eye. ”—I cannot fix if dead.” She straightened. “If the ship goes into the forbidden void, all Ozevroc will perish from foul foes.”
With a shrill cry, Welozz swung his staff and lashed out at the smaller guard next to him, making him fly across the room. The smaller alien landed with a clanking thud into a pile of discarded metals.
“You fix! Now!” Welozz pointed his glowing stick in her face, its hot tip mere inches from her eyes.
One of his guards gripped her from behind and trapped her in a tight hold.
With a cry of rage, Ari jumped in front of her, pushing Welozz’s stick away as he shoved the Ozevroc on his ass.
Pandemonium followed.
The other Ozevroc swarmed Ari, slamming him to the floor and pinning him under their crushing weight.
JR12 jumped on her shoulder and shouted at Ari, waving one of his front legs like a tiny fist. “Yo, Ari! If you’re aiming for an exit plan, might I suggestup? Cause getting flattened under all that rubble isn’t winning you any man-card awards!”
From the other side of the room, As’ni roared and barreled into the smaller aliens attacking Ari.
Furry bodies flew, most pinwheeling in the air with cries and hisses of pain and surprise.
“Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Nope, it’s As’ni launching fuzzballs into orbit!” JR12 whooped. “Woo-hoo… alien pinball!”
Instead of stopping JR12‘s asinine commentary, Morgan took advantage of the interruption to study her handheld again. She ran an anti-virus app, and it didn’t take long for her system to highlight the problem. A couple of clicks here and there. Almost got it…
“Come on, A-Man! I’ve seen you take down tougher piles than this!” JR12 switched his commentary back to Ari. “Staying buried under aliens isn’t a long-term plan, dude!”
There. The lights came back on. With a hard wave of her hand, she called up her ship’s computer screen. The clear monitor flashed on and displayed the system schematics she’d been working on. Just need to input a couple more…
Hard hands gripped her arm and yanked her away.
JR12 went flying.
She could only hope he had enough time to pull his wings out to keep himself from getting trampled in the melee.
“Hey!” She jerked her arm, but couldn’t free herself from the hard hold Grozzik had on her. He stopped, and she almost ran into him. “I’m not done yet!”
Grozzik jerked her close enough to his snout that his putrid breath made her eyes water.
“I don’t want you to fix it,human.“ His grip tightened and cut her circulation off.
Morgan’s eyes widened when he spoke in perfect English. She never imagined they could speak in any tongue but their own. “I don’t understand…”
He hauled her close enough to hear his insidious whisper. “I don’t care if you understand.” He tugged her back-and-forth. “The only thing I want you to do is die.”
He pulled his top paw back, holding the burning tip of his pole-weapon to drive it into her eyes.
With a gasp, she raised her hands and ducked.
Rage.
Unmitigated, blinding vehemence took over Ari.
His pulse thundered in his ears as the Ozevroc swarmed and covered him, their coarse fur scratching against his skin. Each one was powerful and relentless, pressing him down with their six arms, keeping him pinned to the cold metal floor. The acrid smell of burning circuits filled the air, mingled with the rancid scent of the aliens’ sweat. He could barely breathe under the weight of their bodies, and his ribs strained with every shallow gasp.
But the pain didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except Morgan, trapped by a brutal creature who aimed his glowing pole between her eyes. He had it pulled back as if ready to thrust the radiating sheen of his weapon into her. Her life hung by a thread, and there he was, powerless—a stark reminder of his own crushing failure. Buried beneath a relentless pile of smelly aliens who threatened to drown him in pain and blood as they punched and poked him with their sharp objects.
Thrashing beneath the pile, he strained to break free, but there were too many of them. Their hands—so many hands—grabbed at his arms, his legs, and his neck, dragging him down with inhuman strength. The suffocating press of bodies on top of him threatened to overtake him. In the chaos of the oppressive weight of the Ozevroc, Ari’s world narrowed to a singular, piercing sound: Morgan’s cry.
