Chapter Sixteen
Annika came face to face with azorphwhen she exited the building.
Or rather face to chest. He was head and shoulders taller than her.
She was shocked speechless, unable to do more than suck in a sharp breath.
He grabbed her by her upper arms and jerked her up till they were nose to nose. “You quiet, I no must kill bird man,” he growled.
If the encounter hadn’t been enough to throw her for a loop when she hadn’t thought there was any chance of meeting any of the people of the alien world, the speech, in broken English, certainly did the trick!
She didn’t know if it was the fact that he’d spoken English—however choppy—or the threat, but she couldn't find words to respond in either case. She could only gape at him wide-eyed as the shock slowly wore off and fear began to snake its way through her.
A sound she was barely conscious of and yet instantly recognized made her jerk her head toward it before she’d had time to consider the wisdom of reacting.
The faint flutter of wings beating the air followed by a soft thud instantly rang in her head as ‘Zhor’, though, and she didn’t know if she could’ve controlled her reaction even if she’d been in full possession of her faculties when the beast that had grabbed her had already threatened him.
Before she had the chance to call out a warning a secondzorphwielding a club about twice the circumference of a baseball bat appeared behind Zhor.
Her mind couldn’t process everything that was happening in ‘real’ time—part of it was a motion blur and part almost seemed to slow to a crawl. She’d already sucked in a breath to scream a warning when Zhor turned to meet the threat behind him and thezorphswung his club. The club made contact with Zhor’s chest or belly and then his forehead in quick succession, causing him to ‘ripple’ like a wave. The first impact doubled him forward in the middle and the second sent his feet in one direct and his head in the opposite.
Annika heard the sickening impacts—the meaty thud and then the ominous crack when the club made contact with his skull.
The warning she’d been trying to get out erupted as a scream that tore from her soul, instantly scouring her throat raw as if it had peeled the sensitive flesh away with the sound. “Zhor!”
Zhor went frighteningly limp and the bastard tossed him through a ragged opening into the pit of a basement she had just left. He looked as limp and lifeless as a rag doll as he fell backwards into the darkness.
Horror turned to rage as Annika whipped a look from Zhor to the bastard that had clubbed him—maybe killed him. “You fucking son-of-a-bitch,” she screamed, trying to launch herself toward him to attack.
She was prevented by the grip of thezorphthat had caught her.
But the other bastard wasn’t hampered by trying to hold her. He lurched forward and threw a punch at her with his fist. Thezorphholding her threw up an arm to block the punch but was only partially successful. The momentum might have been diminished by the attempt to block it, but pain still exploded in Annika’s head and darkness followed. She wondered as she sank toward oblivion if the bastard had killed her, too.
“Stupid fuck!” Tor snarled. “Wat you tink you do? Kill her, stupid fuck?”
“Dey say wan dead,” Puz responded sullenly.
“You tink I wan carry stinkin’ corpse hun mil(100 miles)?” Tor demanded. “Sides dey no pay ‘nough for kill. Dey can kill dey wanna!”
Thezorphholding her grasped her face in one hand, looked her over and then released her abruptly. She wasn’t conscious enough to catch herself, but she was still conscious enough for it to hurt when she hit the ground. It knocked the wind from her. While she was struggling to regain it, thezorphthat had dropped her stalked toward the other zorph. “Mess her face, stupid fuck! Tor beat fuck out you, stupid fuck bastard!”
There was a series of meaty thuds. In her semi-conscious state it took Annika longer to figure out what was making the noise than it might have otherwise.
The twozorphswere trying to pulverize each other with their fists.
Partly to escape the chance of being caught up in the middle of their epic battle and possibly stomped to death—partly because it crossed her mind that she needed to try to escape—and partly because she had a vague notion that she could find Zhor and help him, Annika started trying to crawl away.
Unfortunately, she was too dizzy and disoriented to manage more than a half-hearted escape attempt. Thezorphwho’d called himself Tor, she thought, finished beating the fuck out of his companion and returned for her.
His face was still contorted with fury when he pulled her around to face him and Annika threw up her arms in a defensive gesture.
Thezorphcaught her arms and pulled them away from her face. “No hurt, pretty. K? Kill dat bastard he touch agin.” He nodded at her.
And then caught her wrists and bound them together with a narrow strip of leather, further confusing her. When he’d finished, he lifted her to his back and looped her arms around his shoulders.
Annika thought it would have been a damned uncomfortable way to travel under any circumstances. All things considered, it was probably the most miserable ride she’d ever had.
Her mind kept replaying the horrific images of Zhor being clubbed unconscious if not to death.
