Page 5 of Xeda

It was then she caught a curious scent in the air. Like a freshly made pot of coffee.

A soldier cursed to one side of her. She looked over and saw a few others looking wide-eyed and sweating, on the verge of firing off their guns in a mad panic as if already threatened by something. They were all silent except for Hendrik who belted out orders.

The trip was slow, but when they finally made it into the training grounds, they slipped the cage off the carrier, setting the entrance against Tajia's old unit. While Ophilia had been taking care of the other pens, someone had altered the space, confining it with thick steel bars and a new titanium door. She heard the sounds like buzzing or hissing, the bars seeming to glow a soft blue. As she neared the door, she caught an insect flying near the bars. It got too close and was zapped, turned to dust.

Ophilia stood frozen, her body tensing. They had similar electric fields on the other units but nothing this extreme. And the new steel door told her the new fighter wasn’t like any of the others they had kept before.

A pair of men climbed on top of the cage, targeting their guns down on the space between the cage and the unit door. They latched the cage to the walls of the unit first, then, by Hendrik's signal, they slid open the door of the cage.

There was no movement. Hendrik moved quickly, his apprentices falling right behind. He barked at Ophilia to move her ass and so she placed herself to one side close to the doors. Her heart raced as she had a view of one vent hole that peeked into the dark. She stared in and then froze, a hiss of breath escaping through her teeth.

Were those...spikes?

She caught the end of a spiny tail whipping around. The alien was silently moving, as if assessing those around them. Hendrik called out again, and this time Tallah moved in, carrying a unique-looking gun that had whisps of steam drifting from the tip. She placed the end of the gun against the back of the cage and then fired.

A huge plume of icy cold air wafted into the cage, shooting out of the vents. There was a loud bang and an intense snarl, the cage practically jumping off its hinges. Hendrik took his stunner and let it off, jabbing it inside. His apprentices copied him on either side, electricity crackling and sparking against the icy smoke.

Ophilia's hand tightened on the stunner, but she couldn't bring herself to turn it on. She backed away. Within the strobes of light from the stunners, she saw the face of a demon, enraged and bent to kill.

She couldn't move, the breath caught in her lungs, blood draining from her face. She'd seen that face before.

A vrisha.

Ophilia heard her name being shouted like a curse.

"Get back over and stun him, you idiot girl," Hendrik barked as he jammed his stunner through yet again.

The cage moved a half foot to one side, knocking the men on top over. One of them caught the side of a vent, clinging to it, then screamed out in pain before falling to the ground.

"For fuck's sake, Hendrik," Tallah called from behind. "Just drug him already."

Cursing, Hendrik threw down his stunner and took out a unique tranquilizer she'd seen him keep on his left hip. He pointed it inside and fired. He reloaded and went again.

The cage shook a little less until eventually, it moved no more. They waited for the smoke to dissipate before Hendrik peered inside.

"Move him quick. He'll be up before we know it," he said. They unlatched the door, and a group of soldiers rushed in to drag the vrisha the rest of the way into the unit.

"You should have just done it before, damn it," Tallah hissed, her cat-eyes glaring at him as she shoved her gun into another man's arms.

Hendrik shook his head as he wiped the sweat from his face with his shirt. "He was already drugged up. Didn't want to risk the possibility of killing him." He cursed under his breath. "One thing about these guys is no one knows what's enough to really put them out and what's lethal. Or how it really affects them. But if he dies, that can be on your hands, not mine."

Tallah spat at him and moved away. Hendrik walked past Ophilia and then stopped. He gripped her shoulder in a near-breaking grip, making her wince in pain.

"Or maybe this should be on you, stupid girl." He shook her, and Ophilia tore his hand away.

"No." She threw the stunner in the sand. "There was no point in it anyway."

"Like hell there wasn't." He pointed a finger at her. "If you would have done your job, maybe—"

"Leave it, Hendrik," Tallah cut him off. She was crouching now beside the man who had fallen from the top of the cage. Another soldier had the man up in a sitting position. There was blood on the man's shirt, staining his uniform. His eyes were growing red and swollen, the veins in his neck bulging. He gasped like a fish, choking on the air, his lips turning blue.

"What's happening to him?" asked one of the other guardsmen.

Hendrik stepped up, shaking his head in disappointment. "Idiot got stabbed by the vrisha's tail."

"It's poisonous?"

"Yes, just the tip. But it's said they can control it. Looks like he wanted to make sure one of us suffered."

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