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“It sure as hell isn’t yours.”

“You’ve got something we need.”

“Nothing here belongs to you. Pack up your band of ass wipes and leave. Or you all die.”

The two remaining Pecket smirked at each other.

“She’s alone,” the shorter Pecket said.

Eden returned his smirk. She may be alone, but she wasn’t helpless.

She punched a bullet into the Pecket on the right. The other one dodged out of sight before returning fire.

Damn, he was too fast for her to get off a clean shot.

She waited, crouched, seeing if he’d make a move.

Other than the bleats of stressed out animals, nothing stirred.

“You’d better run back to your ship, or they’ll leave you behind,” she said.

There was a grunt. She aimed her weapon at the noise.

“The animals are worth a thousand of you. They’ll leave you behind to face the music.”

The jerk finally made his move, wildly firing in her direction.

Eden flew back as a bullet grazed her. Fire flared up her arm as a hot slither of blood leaked down her skin. It wasn’t a bad injury, but no bullet wound felt good. It wasn’t like the movies. If you took a hit, you felt it.

The Pecket made the mistake of showing his ugly-assed face.

She fired, and he died.

“I heard something. This way.”

Crap! More thieving jerks were arriving to spoil her night. Eden ducked behind a pen containing a large, snarling panta.

Six Pecket entered the room, all armed. There were a few seconds of silence as they took in the scene.

“What the fuck?” one of them said.

“Lock down this room. See if there are any survivors. Then find whoever did this.” A tall Pecket with broad shoulders scowled as he swiped a hand down his long face.

Eden could do nothing but wait as the doors were shut, guards posted, and the dead dealt with.

She remained behind the pen but was running out of time. There was no way out of this. And she was no coward. She couldn’t hide any longer.

Eden took a moment to analyze each alien. The weakest link stood by the door. He was twitchy, his face sweaty. If she charged him, he may duck and run, giving her a way out.

It was a lousy option, but it was all she had left.

Eden checked her weapon and sucked in a deep breath, her heart racing in her throat. She crouched then flew out from behind the pen.

The Pecket by the door tensed as she screamed her fury at him. He dodged but held fast at the last second, preventing her from getting a clean run at her exit.

Her right shoulder slammed into him, and he was punched against the door.

Eden bounced away, ducked past him, and grabbed the handle. She fired off a shot over her shoulder.