Page 23 of Command

Upon exiting the blood passage Threxin had been so distracted by all the cogwheels he had to mind, that he did not see the blow coming until heat shot through the left side of his chest.

Threxin’s talons slashed at the human’s throat before he could even think. It hadn’t had time to make a sound as its trachea was crushed in his grip, draining the life from its eyes. Threxin keeled over once that was done, falling forwardbeside the twitching body of his attacker. He gripped the weapon inside him, clutching it against his chest to keep it stable in the wound. It was no use—the thing was but a bladeless hilt now, falling away from him. Blood gushed from his chest. Clots of it sprayed from his mouth and nose when he coughed. He would not make it anywhere like this.

Threxin smashed a palm to the wound and twisted his head up from the floor, grasping for a plan of action. The limiter was whirring in overdrive, fighting to keep him calm as he assessed.

There was but one cabin nearby whose occupant he was vaguely familiar with close enough to maybe make it, and the occupant was not one of his.

Shoq.

He had no choice.

It took far too many ticks to reach her door at a torturous half-crawl. A trail of red-black marked his passage. Outside, Threxin grasped for the wall in several attempts to reach for the gene sampler that would force it open. Finally slamming his spare hand to the thing, he waited an eternity for the sampler to do its work.

When the door slid open, he collapsed through it directly. The last thing he heard was a scream. The last thing he saw was a burst of color, followed by a white-rimmed pair of brown eyes gaping down at him. The last thing he spoke, an instruction he knew the human was more likely to ignore than follow: “Fetch my brother. Now.”

The last thing Threxin thought was,I am going to kill them all.

CHAPTER 12

ALINA

Threxin said something in Uhyreish before he passed out.

“Shit.”

Alina’s heart pounded up her throat and the rest of her was frozen.

A pool of blood spread underneath the uhyre on her floor, right on her green fluffy rug. Was that addictive like his exorin? Or maybe thatwashis exorin?

No… It’s only if you ingest it… Or theotherthing…

Alina jumped off the bed.

It took too long to drag the massive body into her cabin. Bit by bit, she inched him inside. He barely fit on her floor. Finally, the cabin door had space to shut. Alina braced her hands on her knees, catching her breath.

She glanced back at the alien. Threxin. He was still bleeding.

Shit.

What was she supposed to do now? Alina ran to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit there, but it was woefully underequipped for this amount of bleeding. She couldn’t even see the wound from here; it was beneath him somewhere, at hisfront. But she could imagine how severe it must be to bleed that much.

But if she didn’t try to reach it, the uhyre would die, of that she was certain. He’d die right there in her cabin, in front of her. Alina got one of her hands beneath Threxin’s bulk and lodged her shoulder under his arm for a brace. She growled through her teeth as she pushed him up. She didn’t know how, but it only took a few jerky attempts to flop the limp alien to his side. Adrenaline, maybe.

When Alina flopped him onto his back, the hole in his chest spit blood and rattled, bubbling. His creepy skin slits gaped in a way that looked almost relaxed, but the cyan fire within them was muted and that couldn’t be good.

Alina reached up to wipe the sweat from her face again but stopped short, remembering that her hands were dripping red with a possibly addictive substance… She rubbed them off on her trousers and opened the kit. The contents were laughable in the present predicament, but she extracted the roll of skinsilk bandage there. Wrapping it around the alien was out of the question—it would never abate the flow, even if she could get it under and around his body.

Clenching her jaw as she tried to ignore her squeamish stomach, Alina did the only thing she thought might work. She grabbed the roll and shoved it right into the hole in the uhyre’s heart. Watching the wound stretch tight around it made her gag. Blood seeped from the edges of the roll, but at least it helped ease the flow for now.

What was it he said? Something “k’riar thou.” He had used that word,k’riar, before, when he spoke to the other alien who was often near him. The red one. He must’ve wanted her to get him.

Alina scrambled to her feet and made for the door, but stopped short, looking down at herself. Her shirt and hands were steeped in blood. If anyone saw her like this, there’d be hell to pay. She tapped the wall near her hydrastation, riflingthrough the drawer that slid open to grab one of her long cardigans. She wrapped a black one around herself and wiped her hands on another. It didn’t get rid of all the red, but it was all she had time for now.

Outside her cabin, she stopped in her tracks again at the sight of a dark red trail leading from her door straight to a human body not twenty feet away. This thing that used to be alive and was now just… what? What was it now?

She glanced around. The hallway was oddly empty. Usually at least one armed uhyre was on constant patrol. There was no way anyone would miss this. Alina should probably do something to clean it up—at least use her graywater ration to wipe away the grotesque trail of evidence leading a right to her door.

But if she didn’t hurry and find this K’riar, the barely living body in her cabin would look just like the dead one over there. And how was she ever gonna live with herself after that?

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