Page 33 of Guardian's Heart

"When I say run, you run up into that spaceship. Don’t look back? Do you understand?" Zaarek snarled at me.

I had no idea what he was trying to pull off, but whatever it was, it would be better than lying here, faceplanted, waiting for the creature to tear its way through Zaarek's body to get to me. "Okay."

I agreed, but my heart was heavy. Pain shot through me from all angles at the thought of losing Zaarek despite how annoying he was.

To my utter disbelief, Zaarek planted both of his hands next to my head, groaning as he moved up into a plank position.

"Run!" he pressed out.

I scrambled out from underneath him, sending a glimpse at the creature on top of him. That thing had to weigh a good three fifty to four hundred pounds, how was Zaarek even able to push himself up?

"Nova, move!" he screamed, having noticed my hesitation. I leveled my blaster, worried I might hit Zaarek.

"For the love of all the gods in the universe, female, run!" he yelled again.

TheMorlockwas letting go of him and about to get up. Before I realized what was happening, theMorlockcame at me at an astonishing speed. I stood frozen, staring at its snarling, agape mouth and drooling teeth.

"Nova!" Zaarek sounded exasperated, but I couldn't move, even knowing that I stood in his way of getting a good shot at the monster.

This time, it was theMorlockwho was tackled by Zaarek. Staggering and bleeding, the thing went down as Zaarek brought his knife down on its neck.

Snarling to my left brought me back to life. I leveled my blaster and shot the two, too close for comfort,Morlocks,and was rewarded with a hail of gore. More followed, but not as many as before, as the other aliens at the spaceport were taking them out. No matter what though, they kept coming straight for me. I kept shooting the blaster even as Zaarek plucked me off the ground and threw me over his shoulder. It was an awkward angle, but I managed to take a few more out. The ground underneath us shook, and I realized Zaarek was taking us up the gangway. I pulled my finger off the trigger as the hatch closed behind us.

My feet hurt when Zaarek put me unceremoniously back on them. "For the love of the everlasting meteor belt, will you ever listen to me, female?" Zaarek yelled.

I tried to catch my breath, still reeling from the adrenaline rush and confused by the myriad of emotions going through me. My common sense wasn't at its best, so I yelled back, "When you give orders that make sense, I will. Had I listened to you, you would be dead. I shot theMorlocksthat came after us."

"You! They were after you," he shouted, voicing his utter frustration.

"Whatever, I saved your life," I pressed out. "You're welcome."

He threw his arms in the air and huffed in irritation instead of thanking me.

"So why do you think they were afterme?" I couldn't help my curiosity and ask.

"Because you would have been a damn tasty morsel, the first one smelled you and informed the others," Zaarek filled me in, still in a clipped voice.

"How? They wouldn't have had the time to communicate…" I questioned.

"Their brains, however little they are, are connected," the smaller alien, I think Zaarek called him Nock, explained. "So if you two are done fighting for now, I think we should get out of here before others come to the same conclusion and want payback for her." He jerked one of his four fingers, which might have been a thumb at me.

"Excellent idea." Without another word or a backward glance, Zaarek marched out of wherever we were.

I concluded it was a sort of hanger after looking around the space that might have been the size of a living room. Unexpectedly, benches rose from the ground, and I took the hint to sit down as exhaustion caught up with me. Exhaustion and another emotion, one I usually only felt when I successfully broke through a firewall.

I felt exhilarated, alive. Every cell inside my body tingled with the aftereffects of the fight. I hadn’t enjoyed fighting for my life, I had been scared shitless, or had I? A deep buried part inside me told me that, yeah, running and shooting had excited me. In the same way breaking into databanks was a thrill. If I analyzed this further, I thought it might have been the same emotion I had felt when Daddy came to pull me out of the alligator’s underwater cave. Was this some kind of suppressed PTSD? My way of handling my childhood trauma?

Killing others was wrong.They started it, a pouty voice defended my actions. Let’s be honest, those creatures were repulsive, but that wasn't a reason to kill them.No, the reasonwas that they tried to kill me, just like the alligator had.Well, fuck me, who would have thought aGI Janeslumbered inside me?

A small reverberation moved through the bench I sat on, turning my thoughts in other directions. Were we lifting off? My stomach plummeting as if I were on a rollercoaster confirmed my suspicion. Someone shrieked, and my eyes moved to the group I had beensoldwith. They were closely huddled together, spread over three benches, while the smaller alien sat on another, leaned against a wall, his head back and eyes closed. It looked as if he had fallen asleep.Well, good for him, I figured.

The huddled group shot a few glances directed at me, and hushed whispers reached my ears. A woman sneered in disgust and turned her head purposefully away from me. That’s when I caught a whiff of myself. I looked down on my body to find it covered head to toe in slime and gore. I made a circle with my thumb and pointer finger and moved it down my arm, taking some gore down with it. I shook my hand in disgust as the slush hit the ground with a subdued splash.

I didn’t think I had ever needed a shower as badly in my life as I did right then. Revulsion moved through me, and I pushed thoughts of body parts, alien blood, and gore from me, unwilling to deal with the fact that I was literally bathed in it. That wouldn't change my situation. What would change it was a shower, and the only person aboard this ship who could tell me where to find it was Zaarek. Unfortunately, I had no idea where that alien was.

Fine, I would have to find him.

I stood and walked past the huddled group to the wall where an invisible door had opened earlier to let Zaarek pass. Not truly believing it would work for me, I was surprised when the wall parted, allowing me access to the rest of the ship.

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