Page 32 of Akur

She stepped back, continuing to press the trigger on a gun that was quickly heating up with the extended fire. There was no use trying to aim, but she kept the muzzle pointed high. Underneath the shower of her retreat, each flash showed the alien getting to his feet. Of his blades being drawn. He looked haggard, badly beaten with little time to recover, but he was swinging still. And as the blaster stalled, the final shot being eaten by the darkness, as those creatures converged, she heard her name on the alien’s lips like a battle cry she didn’t know she needed to hear.

“Constance!”

Run. She needed to run.

Blindly, she spun, but something hit her from below the knee. She stumbled.

It was like falling off a precipice, losing her balance in that darkness. The world tilted, and the ground seemed at once close and far too far away at the same time. There was the sickening sensation of the creature that made her trip. The pain in her shoulder as teeth dug in. And her name.

“Constance!”

He was still fighting. And maybe, maybe, she needed to hear that. To hear him grunt. To hear the creatures screech as he fought to get to her.

Maybe it’s the reason she snapped out of the pain of the fall as her body slammed into flesh and stone. Maybe it’s why she found the strength to pull her arms back. To slam the butt of the weapon into the creature beneath her.

The creature shrieked, another high-pitched sound swallowed by the echoing darkness. Constance thrashed, her limbs flailing, driven by pure, unadulterated terror and a need to get out of this. The blaster, now a uselessly hot weight, slipped from her numb fingers and clattered against the unseen floor. She couldn’t see, couldn’t think, only feel—the sharp pain in her shoulder, the weight of the creature now pinning her down, the rough texture of the tunnel floor against her cheek.

“Constance!” He was still trying to get to her.

“Forget about me! Just kill them!”

Blindly, she bucked and writhed, her movements frantic and uncoordinated. She kicked out, her shoes connecting with something solid. Another shriek, closer this time, followed by a wet, gurgling sound. She didn’t know if she’d hurt it, or if it was just the sound of its breath, hot and rank against her ear.

But she could feel them. All around her now. Their bodies moving against hers.

Pure instinct took over. She swung her fist, a wild, desperate punch that connected with something soft and yielding. A wet, squelching sound. The creature fell back, disoriented, or at least she thought it did.

It could have been her imagination when the darkness moved, but reflex took over. She was a cornered animal, fighting for its life. She slammed her forehead forward, her head connecting with what must be one of the creatures’ snouts. Bone slammed against bone and hot pain shot through her skull. The creature screeched. Deafening. But the sound was punctuated by another sound, deeper, more guttural. “Human!”

His voice ignited something within her. A spark of defiance. She wasn’t going to die down here. Not like this.

She pulled her arms back, her elbows scraping against the rough stone, and slammed them into the flesh she felt moving at her sides. A grunt. A shift in weight. She used the momentary reprieve to wrench her shoulder free, a searing jolt of pain shooting up her arm. But she was free.

She rolled, blindly searching for a weapon, any weapon. Her fingers brushed against something smooth and hard. The blaster! It was cool again. No time to fire, she gripped it like it was a lifeline and swungit like a club, the hard carbon cracking against something solid.

More screeches filled the tunnel, the sound amplified by the stone walls until it felt like it was coming from inside her skull. When her finger found the trigger and pressed down, she caught glimpses of Akur through the darkness and blaster fire. For a moment, time stood still.

He was magnificent. A reaper. An ender. His blades were a blur of motion, cutting through the creatures with precise, deadly efficiency. But for every one he cut down, two more seemed to take its place.

Something warm ran down her arm as she fired the blaster again, and she grunted, pushing through the pain. The creature must have cut deeper than she thought, but there was no time to check how bad it was.

A particularly loud shriek made her spin toward the intersection she’d just left. More were coming. The scratching sound of their claws on stone grew louder, and in the next flash of blaster fire, she saw them pouring forward like a nightmare made flesh.

“Akur! More. More are coming!!” She could only hope that he wasn’t too wounded for them to make it out of this alive.

She felt rather than saw him shift his stance. He’d reached her side, adjusting himself to fight back-to-back with her. His flesh like burning coal against her spine.

“This position is not defensible,” he growled, voice rough with exertion. “We need to move.”

“Yeah?” she panted. “Got any bright ideas?” She fired at another creature, catching it in what passed for its chest. The thing barely slowed down.

“Keep moving. You lead. I follow.”

“Never thought I’d hear such words from the mouth of a warrior like you,” she panted.

“Survival requires…flexibility. And a certain…trust. I find I trust you, Constance, female of fire.”

Trust. He trusted her.

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