Page 17 of Hunter’s Harvest

Stupid, stupid clam-jamming bugs!

I could be enjoying myself right now, and instead, I was panic-assessing our situation. I didn’t even get to come down properly from my purple-induced high!

Ugh! I was going to bash these motherfuckers’ skulls in!

Var’n lifted the makeshift curtain, and I got a dose of reality. It was nighttime, and I couldn’t see shit. All I had was the lantern, and it only lit up the area around us, not letting me see into the trees where the sounds were coming from.

Still, I needed all the light I could get. I ran toward the other lantern I’d found in the floor compartment and turned it on too. Better, but not by much.

“Stay here.”

Before I could protest, Var’n was gone, the flap of the tarp curtain closing behind him. Those had been great for the semblance of privacy, and they’d helped me ignore the fact that we were in a downed shuttle, exposed to the elements. But now they were in my way. I couldn’t see what was outside, and I needed to know where the enemy was coming from.

I grabbed one of the tarps and started pulling it down. It was held on by strong magnets that came down easily once I put my back into it. The darkness of night and the Georgia pine forest greeted me beyond. The moon was bright in the sky tonight, and all the stars were out; my eyes soon adjusted to the shapes of the evergreens against the sky.

The sounds of the scuttlers were growing stronger now, coming from our right side. With my blaster at the ready, I angled my body that way. Var’n’s giant body was standing in front of me, outlined in the glow. It was all seven feet of him, with big broad shoulders, trim waist and muscular legs.

Somewhere in the rush, he’d thrown on his loincloth, though his harness was still on the shuttle floor. He held two twin blades, their plasma-enhanced edges glowing a brilliant white-blue.

He lunged into the darkness before the first scuttlers could appear. I squinted, but all I got was a mesmerizing dance of light from his blades and the occasional flash of purple skin. I looked away before I could get too distracted. I had to keep my wits about me.

I focused on the scuttling sounds instead, trying to follow them with my eyes. But I still saw nothing. I couldn’t possibly use the blaster now. Not when I couldn’t see what I was shooting at. I lowered the weapon, feeling useless, and almost missed the scuttler trying to sneak in from the left, its beady eyes locked on me.

It was hideous in the glow of the lantern, like its body couldn’t decide if it was an ant or a spider. It also had a set of toxin-edged scythe-like claws that reminded me of a praying mantis. It chittered its mandibles at me.

I raised the weapon again, backing away.

Okay. I could do this.

Safety, power, brace, and shoot.

I let the training take over, making sure that I was aiming away from the sounds of fighting. The scuttler splattered all over the inside of the shuttle wall, leaving a few of its legs behind.

Eww. Gross.

So much for staying with the shuttle tonight.

The stench was horrendous, and it was everything I could do not to puke. Breathing hard wasn’t helping, so I held my breath and aimed my weapon again at the scratching sounds coming from the darkness. Another scuttler appeared from out of the dark.

But this time, before I could shoot, there was a flash of white-blue, and the bug’s head fell clean off. I jumped back just in time for it not to splatter me.

Then Var’n was there, removing the blaster from my hand and checking me all over for injuries.

“Breathe.”

It wasn’t until he told me to breathe that I realized I was still holding my breath. The moment I inhaled the foul scent of the scourge, I retched.

“We cannot stay. Grab your things.”

He could say that again. I didn’t want to be here a second longer.

As I gathered my things, Var’n quickly threw his belongings back on and started cleaning his blades on the tarps. I guess the oranges were forfeit; they were all splattered by toxic, fungally infected bug guts. I grabbed the only tarp that remained unsoiled, and gathered up a single clean lantern, the lure, the repellent, and the extra medical unit and tied them all up.

It was only now that I saw the button translator clipped on Marisol’s harness straps. I gasped, reaching for it. We hadn’t needed translators for a while since everyone had an in-ear one. Usually they worked, but translating Xarc’n to English.

“Do you think we can get this to work the other way like Hess’n’s?” I asked, holding the tiny device up.

Var’n was in front of me now, frowning at the device.