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Chapter Fifteen

Alliana

It might have been foolish to even entertain the idea, but I decided on an impulsive whim to turn around and hide behind a row of hendra bushes, even when the smell of kuxmu—a form of pollen—caused me to sneeze uncontrollably. Either way, I couldn’t in good faith leave Xaixek alone with the pirate predators.

I had run for a short distance, but I couldn’t go through with it. My heart forced my legs to turn back, carrying me to the man I had desperately fallen in love with.

I was tired of running. I had been running for years, and I wanted a definitive change. If I didn’t stay to help Xaixek, I might lose him forever.

I refused to see someone else I cared about murdered. If a dangerous shift occurred between Xaixek’s encounter with the pirates, I would do anything in my power to save Xaixek just as he had gallantly saved me. Xaixek might have had a rough and tumble exterior, but deep inside, he was selfless and loyal.

Xaixek bravely held off the three pirates that were encircling him. They narrowed their circle, brooding over him while planting on aggressive scowls. I knew in my heart these heinous creatures were Roult’s true killers.

Xaixek wielded nothing but a meager battle axe, but it didn’t seem to inhibit him much at all. He was intimidating by nature. He had a bark to him, and he was scrappy enough to fight to the death if it came down to it.

He began brutally swinging it at the pirates, lunging his body threateningly forward, attempting to slice or strike at any of the three alien pirates standing around him. There were more of them than of him—which is why I knew I had to stay behind for his sake. I’d do anything I possibly could to improve his survival odds.

Through my peripheral vision, my eyes landed on a strange-looking space orb—a smaller version of a spaceship.

There was no time to think. Xaixek desperately needed assistance. I finally found my purpose. I would be his saving grace no matter the cost.

I held my breath and crawled behind some hendra bushes once again. From off in the distance I spotted something shiny halfway buried in the light sand. It looked like a very, very large multi-barreled gun. It was just outside the space orb. The door to the orb was open, but I was more concerned with the weapon on the ground.

I ran over and plucked it out of the sand. Pluck was an overstatement. The thing was heavy. When I observed it’s makeup, I realized that it was ray gun.

With shaking hands, I clenched my jaw, squared my shoulders, and forced myself to muster up the self-control vitally necessary to get the job done. On Earth, my friends in the resistance group had shown me how to fire many weapons. Human weapons like machine guns and pistols, and even slingshots. Not advanced stuff like this. But I figured it worked the same. Find target. Aim. Fire.

I carefully aimed, giving myself whispers of encouragements along the way that I would be able to handle this weird laser gun. With my index finger clamped down on the trigger, I fired at the pirate who was closest to me. I waited until he wasn’t moving around to take the shot, and it immediately paid off.

As soon as the stream of green laser light hit the pirate’s chest, his body was blown to smithereens, killing him instantaneously. Body parts, blood and guts splattered across the forest bed and the adjacent trees, oozing ominously down the tree trunks.

I was so stunned by what had just happened, that I couldn’t move. Xaixek and the remaining two pirates halted their grueling battle—their arms extended in the air mid-swing. Xaixek’s jaw hung open with shock.

The last two pirates focused their brutality on me, running toward me with fury etched in their features. After all, I had the most deadliest weapon on the planet—it seemed that way. Time and motion slowed down. I couldn’t make sense of the speed the pirates were hurdling toward me, but I knew it had to be faster than my reaction time.

I jumped and screamed. My lungs filled with dusty air.

Xaixek grab one of the pirates. He drove his entire fist into the chestof the pirate. His muscles contorted and the veins in his neck bulged with intimidation. Xaixek repelled his hand that was now drenched in dark purplish blood that covered up to his wrist. My knees buckled and I fell, staring at him in utter shock.

The other pirate continued bridging the gap between me and him, too far for Xaixek to reach and simultaneously slaughter with his fist alone.

I rushed to action again. I zoned in on my target, aimed, and clicked the trigger a second time, but no laser cannoned out of the barrel.

I stumbled backward, at a loss for viable options. Out of nowhere, the pirate released a piercing cry like that of a wounded animal. It dropped to the ground face first only inches from me. When I looked down, there was an axe imbedded between the pirate’s shoulder blades. He squirmed in agony on the ground, wailing in pain.

Xaixek jogged up behind the pirate, covered in blood. He extracted the ax from the between the pirate’s back, then shoved him over onto his back. He then buried the axe into the alien’s palm. The pirate released a blood-curdling cry again, whimpering and twisting in fresh pain.

Xaixek took my hand and helped me to a standing position. He held me close to his naked chest, breathing hard. His heartbeat was like a hummingbird’s wings flapping at a million miles an hour.

“Are you okay?” Xaixek cradled my head in his hands. I nodded, swallowing hard. I was too traumatized to speak yet.

Once I acknowledged that I was safe, Xaixek feasted his sights back to the pirate who was now gasping for breath. He was badly injured, but it didn’t appear that he was dying—yet.

Xaixek glared down at him wrathfully. “Who are you? Why have you come here? State your mission or die.”

The immobilized pirate stammered, heaved, and tried to talk. It was all gibberish to me.I couldn’t understand. I glanced at Xaixek to see if he could comprehend, but his features were impenetrable.

“Fʼulǔ mayul lurtuǔng!”Xaixek exclaimed, then took his fist and knocked the pirate out cold with a single slam of his knuckles into the side of the alien’s temple. He then knelt at the pirate’s limp body and proceeded to hog tie him.