“Got one,” Kyle said.
“Don’t get cocky,” his dad snapped.“That was fucking close to our guys.”
“Right.”
Conversation ceased as shot after shot rang out, the fight on the ground reaching a fever pitch.
“Fuck yeah, gett’em, babe,” Taz crowed.I risked a look at the shooters plastered to the roof.Hope and Taz laid side by side, their rifles tracking the sytos below as they took shots.Troy was nearly melded with his gun, utterly motionless except for the flicker of recoil he absorbed with every shot.
Kyle stood at the corner of the roof farthest from me, rifle tucked into his shoulder as he watched the fight.He moved his gun in a slow, smooth line and I spotted a blue form lifting a shock stick before Kyle shot.The syto fell backwards, body spasming.
I stared at the dying syto, the only part of the battle I could see from the middle of the roof.It was awful.After escaping with Jiith, meeting Gigi, I couldn’t just see an enemy.That was a person, so lost he'd marched all the way to a camp full of turochs at the word of an evil female who’d kill him for entertainment if she got bored.
Maybe he deserved it, but maybe he was like the other sytos who’d joined the turochs, just one decision away from ally.
But the middle of the battle wasn’t the place to be appealing to better natures.
The rusted metal railing attached to the side of the building shook and I heard that short popping percussion I’d come to recognize as the sytos weapons.There was a grunt from below and then a thud.
My fingers clenched around the black metal of the gun as I heard steps pounding closer.They were coming.
I knew I should call out and warn the others, but I stood frozen, one finger sliding over the tiny bump of the safety that Troy had shown me.I pressed it and a blue head rose above the edge of the roof.
Not Jiith, not Gigi, not Uriish.The world seemed to slow as big dark eyes scanned the roof, skipping over everyone else, their attention on the fight and not the stairs.The stairs I was supposed to be guarding.
The syto looked nearly identical to Gigi and Jiith, but he was dressed in a grey uniform, not a loincloth, and he clutched a stunner in his hands.His eyes locked onto me, and I felt my lungs spasm as my finger slid over the trigger.
He raised the stunner.
Breathe.I reminded myself.Squeeze.
I pulled the trigger.The gun kicked back into my shoulder and I staggered, my ears ringing at the shot.The syto stared back at me in shock, red blooming over the middle of his grey uniform as he dropped his weapon, wavered back a step and fell backwards down the stairs.
“Holy fucking shit!”Taz yelled, her voice muffled by the ringing in my ears.
I let the gun slide down my front, and it caught on Sal’s wrap.The baby percer honked in fear and tumbled off my chest, leaving a trickle of pee on my shirt as he bolted for the stairs.
The shock of what had just happened vanished as quickly as it came as I dropped the gun and ran after him.
“Jessa!”Someone called after me.I knew it was stupid, but I couldn’t risk Sal falling off the roof and hurting himself.I’d shot the syto, as long as I caught Sal on the steps, we’d be safe.
I grabbed the railing and swung onto the steps, coming face to face with another syto.His tentacles flared with surprise as I crashed into him, and we tumbled down the steps together.My body slammed into the ground and the air burst from my lungs.I gasped in pain, desperately trying to suck in a breath as blue hands descended on me and I was surrounded by sytos.
The one I’d shot lay in a boneless heap on the ground, blood pooling beneath him.A red body was sprawled under the stairs.Tine, the turoch who’d been guarding us.
My chest finally expanded and I inhaled, letting out a scream as two of the sytos grabbed me by my arms and started hauling me away from the building.
“Jessa!”I looked up and saw everyone watching in horror.Kyle lifted his gun and Troy grabbed the muzzle.
“Don’t shoot,” he ordered, “you might hit her.”
My heels dragged in the dirt as the sytos ran with me.I couldn’t see Sal anywhere and I hoped he hadn’t been hurt.But right now, I had to worry about myself.
