As Driok and Dalox make their way into the hangar, I take the line which will take me along the side wall up to the exit which goes through to the neutral sector.
Whoever has taken my mate had better not have harmed a single atom of her being or they will not survive. I will ensure it, collar or no.
LYDIA
I take in a slow breath and let it out as I point the pulsar pistol at the Sarkarnii warrior in front of me. His shoulders heave up and down, his breath coming in ragged waves. He looks unwell in a way I’ve never seen a Sarkarnii look unwell.
Sarkarnii are always the very picture of health, but this one has greying scales and an unhealthy sheen of sweat all over him.
In a lightning flash, one I’ve had a million times in my dreams, I see another warrior. Not this one, but another Sarkarnii, twisting in a cage next to me, agony coming from him before my own consciousness is stolen by pain and fear.
This is what I saw. This is what has been tearing at me all this time. These memories, funneled into those from home, into the reason I was always running, never in one place, no friends, no family, nothing. Only a victim for those off world to take and use.
My heart turns to steel. I have been the mouse for the last time. I have Deus to look out for. I have my friends, my good friends who will always stand beside me.
“I need to know where the gas is coming from,” I say, forcefully. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Can’t. Hurt. Me,” he says through gritted teeth. “No pain.”
His eyes, as dull as his scales, are filled with the pain he says he doesn’t have.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
But I let my guard down, and he reaches out, lightning fast, grabbing for the ray gun. My instinct kicks in, and I jump back, out of his reach, but not before one of his claws catches the skin on my hand, ripping into it.
“Nothing is wrong,” he growls. “I am the Sarkarnii I was meant to be.”
In front of my eyes, he seems to morph in shape. Not in the same way as when the Sarkarnii turn into dragons. This is something far, far removed from the simple swirling of shapes to become something much, much larger. This looks as painful as it is possible to be, bones crunching within him as he grows larger, wider, with more teeth.
“Run, little female,” he says. “Before it is too late.”
“What?”
“I said…RUN,” he roars.
I don’t need another warning. I don’t need to see what else happens to him. I absolutely do not ever need telling twice when it comes to running from a male.
My feet slap on the bare metal of the neutral zone. I’m skidding around the corners of the maze-like structures, and yet he’s still gaining on me, still hunting me. My rabbit heart is beating out of my chest. My hand throbs at me, the blood wet and slippery down my hand and onto the floor, leaving scattered scarlet dots no matter where I go.
He will find me.
I have to get back to Deus and hope beyond hope he has not been left insensible by the gas which filled the hangar. The gas which must have been used to subdue him at the cabin originally.
The next corner spits me out into a much larger open area, near the clan hall if my recollection of this place is correct. On the other side, I see a group of warriors, but from the way they are standing, I instantly get a bad feeling about them.
Behind me, there is a long, low howl. All of the warriors’ heads snap round in my direction. Once again, even at a distance, I see how they are changing, becoming something other than Sarkarnii.
Even with my ray gun, I know it’ll only hold them off for a short time, and even then that’s on the basis I’m assuming I can actually hit them with it. I don’t hold out much hope that I’m a great shot. Which leaves me with few options, the main one being to get to the clan hall and somehow barricade myself inside until Deus comes for me.
And that’s presuming he hasn’t been affected by the gas. There are more screeches and roars as the warriors start to run across the open area, and I speed up, flying towards the clan hall entrance in the vain hope it is open and I can do what I want to do.
I hit the doors with some force, nearly winding myself.
“Please, let me in.” I scrabble at them, and in a stroke of luck I didn’t think I had left, one of the doors clicks, and I’m able to slip inside as the horrible noises get closer. I shove at the door, but it doesn’t want to budge.
“Close, damn you,” I growl, but it remains stubbornly open.
Through the opening, I can see flailing limbs, and I know there’s no point staying where I am. I fire a couple of ray gun shots through the door, but I doubt they do anything as I flee down the wide open passage, all subtle lighting and soft underfoot.
