Page 30 of Guardian's Heart

"Nova!" Zaarek yelled, stabbing one of the things in the chest while two others pulled on his shoulders. He wasn't yelling for me to help; he was yelling at me to stop shooting.

"I don't think so.” I pulled the trigger again, unwilling to die or whatever the things had in mind for me. I’d rather put up with some gore.

“Frygg!” Zaarek cursed, moving his elbow and hitting one of the blue monsters holding him in the chin, breaking it off. I paused.What?

He kicked at another coming for him—they must not have thought me a threat despite the gun in my hand. Zaarek’s attacker flew back, hitting his head against a wall and cracking it open.What the ever-loving God?

I turned Zaarek’s weapon and hit it over another creature’s head. His skull broke open, exposing a gelatinous, green mass that made me gag and jump back right into another.

Its arms wrapped around me as it pulled me deeper into the alley. I put my heels down to make it harder for him, but he was surprisingly strong.Oh, I don’t want to. I already shuddered, even before I knocked my head back right into the thing's face. Something warm dripped down my hair, and with a disgusted shriek, I freed myself from its embrace as it loosened its hold. I kicked my foot out like I would have to a gator, hitting it in the face again and bringing it down to the ground.

Gagging, I pulled the trigger on another thing crawling out from underneath one of the egg houses. How many were there?

This time, Zaarek didn't complain; he must have accepted his fate of being showered in gore. With a grunt, he pulled his other weapon and, giving me a wry glare, began shooting. Not hesitantly one by one like me. No. His finger pushed the trigger several times as he leveled the gun. One, two, three, four, I shrieked again as the hail of gore turned seemingly never-ending.

Zaarek took my hand and pulled me down the alley. "Run!"

I focused only on my feet hitting the ground, trying not to think about anything dripping down my neck, skin, hair, and other parts we won't mention right now, maybe ever. I was panting for breath when he came to a standstill so suddenly that I bumped right into his back.

"A bit of a warning next time?" I complained.

His mouth opened and closed as he fought for a reply while he glared at me with his most murderous expression yet.

"It's not my fault. I didn't know," I tried to reason.

"You should have listened to me. Trusted me."

I rolled my eyes and shoulders,trust, shmust. After a lengthy internal debate, I allowed, "So I'm not the most trusting person in the wor—eh universe. Sue me."

I would have said his glare intensified, but that was probably just my imagination; I didn't think it would have been possible.

One more time, his lips moved as if he was about to say something, but he changed his mind and instead turned to the door of the egg-shaped building we had stopped in front of. It looked like the ones I had seen before, about as high as any four-story house on Earth and wide enough to have several rooms on each floor. The light green coloring peeled off in places, exposing a silvery metal underneath. A sign hung above an also egg-shaped door, but I couldn't read the strange symbols on it.

Zaarek held up his comm, and the door opened. We entered a large area that lit up the moment we stepped over the threshold.

Multiple tables stood arranged throughout the room, surrounded by, yes, also egg-shaped chairs. I questioned the comfort of them, but at least the seating surface seemed to be somewhat flat.

"We're leaving," Zaarek bellowed into the empty space. "Now!" he added when nothing happened.

"They're probably sleeping," I tried to insert some logic.

"They can sleep aboard the ship," he countered.

I shook my cloak with a meaningful look directed at him. "Maybe we should take a shower first?"

"Or maybe for once"—he held up a finger—"you should just listen to me and frygging trust."

"Maybe if you would explain to me—"

"What in the Netherworld is going on here?" The same alien who had been arguing with Zaarek before appeared at the top of the stairs.

ZAAREK

I was the mostmiserable I could remember being in a long time. Bathed in Mmuhr'Rhong gore was not even the worst of it. No, the worst of it was, of course, Nova again. I had the situation under control until she decided to start shootingmyblaster. Every newborn knew that you didn't blast Mmuhr'Rhongs, unless there was absolutely no other choice. Their bodies were fragile enough to take them out with a few hard blows. It was the reason why they normally didn't attack like this.

Not her. No. I couldn't fully fault her for that either. She was an alien to this world, which only reignited my irritation with her fornottrusting me.

If I were a betting male, I would have put credits down that it had been Nova's scent that had driven them mad like this—something Icouldunderstand. If that was the case, we needed to be gone from here as soon as possible. More had come out of their hiding spots when we started running, and they would alert their brethren. I wouldn't be surprised if a hundred or more weren't already converging on us.

---