Shit! Shit! Shit!
It had managed to crack the first layer of thick glass, but not break it. But I knew it wouldn’t give up that easily, and the glass wouldn’t hold it back for long. I scanned the restroom one more time, looking for something, anything. My eyes landed on the fire extinguisher behind the door. Great, I’d just foam it to death.
Nonetheless, I picked it off the wall. At least it was heavy.
Outside the door, the scuttlers were really riled up now. Except they weren’t scratching at the door anymore. Had they gotten the news to reach me through the window instead? I’d always wondered how these creatures communicated with each other.
But I didn’t have time to worry about what was happening outside the door because the centicreep bashed its hardened blades at the window again, and the first layer of glass shattered.
I braced, ready to smash it in the head with the heavy canister the moment it made it through the second sheet of glass. The fire extinguisher was starting to feel heavy even just holding it in my hands, but when I heard the sharp crack of the second layer of glass breaking, I suddenly found the strength to lift it over my head and bash it against the creature’s face.
With the superhuman strength gifted to me by the sheer amount of adrenaline coursing through my veins, I managed to smash in one half of its face. It thrashed wildly for a few seconds,moving in that eerie way as if it had come straight out of a horror film. I jumped away, opening several stall doors to use as shields. Most of its body and the toxin-tipped blades were still outside the window, but I couldn’t chance it. If just one of those blades cut deep enough into me, I was a goner.
Then, to my horror, it slowed and refocused on me. Apparently, it didn’t need both sides of its brain to survive, or even to hunt.
I tried to lift the canister again, but this time it felt like lead. My arms wouldn’t move, and for a moment I thought perhaps one of the blades had nicked me after all, and the toxin was already coursing through my system, paralyzing me.
Suddenly the door burst open, and a wall of purple muscles was between me and certain death.
Ror’k!
Holy crap, he’d come for me like a knight in shining loincloth.
He held off the centicreep with his staff, slicing off several legs with the plasma-bladed end that glowed a brilliant white-blue.
I recognized the relief in his eyes as he picked me up. Then I was smashed to his broad chest with one powerful arm and hauled out of the bathroom and into a hallway littered with scourge carcasses.
Realizing its prey was getting away, the creature in the bathroom screeched and lurched forward. I watched through the closing door as it collided with the row of urinals in a bone-rattling crash. I held onto Ror’k, burying my face into his chest, my whole body still shaking from adrenaline.
It wasn’t until fresh air hit my lungs that I realized I’d been breathing in the scourge’s stench all along. I gulped in a breath.
Ror’k was still moving, and he didn’t stop until we were inside his shuttle. The portal closed behind us, but I felt it all the way to my bones when the monster outside crashed into the door.
He ignored the creature trying to crack his shuttle like a nut and turned to me instead. “Dottie, are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. I think.” I righted the crooked glasses on my face. I had to give credit where it was due; they were still intact. Heavy plastic frames for the win.
Ror’k held me at arm’s length, frowning. “Krux. You’re covered.”
I looked down at my body, and sure enough, I was covered in centicreep brains.
Eww.
“We must get it off you before the fungus takes hold.”
He tore the offending garments off, throwing the fabric into the decontamination stall.
This wasn’t quite the way I’d imagined him ripping the clothes from my body, but I understood the necessity. His own equipment and armor went into the stall with the soiled clothing, and when we were both nude, he set the stall to start a cleaning cycle.
“It’s still on you,” he said, ushering me into the alcove at the back of the vessel.
Ror’k pressed his hand on the side of the wall and a door opened up, showing a neat row of rolled-up towels. He picked one up and started cleaning my face and hands with it. It was warm and damp, and I leaned into his tender touch.
One moment I was standing on my own, and the next I was wobbling as the adrenaline that had been keeping me going ranthe fuck out. The floor of the shuttle rushed up to meet me, but Ror’k caught me before I fell too far.
“I got you,” he said, sinking down to the floor cross-legged and settling me in his lap.
He got me, all right. And a good thing too, because I was ready to pass out.
