Page 3 of Soliv Four
The prison compound occupied only a small portion of the continent. A much larger part was a tropical jungle. Part of it was sectioned off for the female competition, and a maze of dirt paths had been carved out by inmate laborers star orbits before Tomak’s arrival with his black ops team.
“Any to your liking?” Coraz asked.
“They are all attractive, but none I would claim.”
“I didn’t scent mine, either. But you are taking the hunt anyway?”
“The promoter says they get better ratings when I do when any of the squad does.”
“Bloodthirsty lechers. They like it when you kill somebody.”
“That is what we were trained and conditioned for. Some of them deserve to die for things they have done to land here, and some have injured the females.”
“Some of these thugs don’t care,” said Coraz. “Have we seen enough?”
“Yeah. It’s almost time for the drawings.” Tomak nodded.
More men had gathered at the fence to view the women. Tomak and Coraz had to push their way through the growing crowd. With fifteen women, sixty men could compete for them. Those men were chosen according to their ranking in the games.
Tomak and the squad usually ranked high and participated. Only a couple had taken females from the hunt by default. They killed the competition, and they were the only ones left to claim the female. They weren’t descended from the original Drapan colony as Tomak. They couldn’t scent a fated mate as he could. There was just something that would not allow his men to stand by and let another claim those females.
The next day, Tomak was in the first hunt with three humanoid aliens from a rival gang. He watched their faces as the female for their contest was introduced. She was a humanoid with copper skin, platinum hair, and large blue eyes that dominated her elfin features.
The event host brought her to stand a short distance away from the four males who would try to capture her. Tomak watched as she looked them over. Her gaze seemed to rest on one of the other three, with a hopeful expression. Her reaction to Tomak seemed neutral.
The male she favored was named Frellag. He was a humanoid covered in short, smooth hair in black and white stripes except for his black face. His black and white mane hair looked like a long Mohawk ending at the base of his neck.
It appeared to Tomak; the striped male and their female prey had made an unspoken connection. That told him how he would play his part in this hunt.
The males went back to sit in their assigned seats to down electrolyte laced beverages, while the female was led to the starting mark. Momentarily, a sound device produced a loud bang like a small explosive that signaled the start of the hunt.
She jumped at the sound then started running down the dirt path into the jungle while the men waited out the required quarter span lead. If Tomak wanted, he knew he could easily pick up her trail with his keen sense of smell and capture her. In fact, he was in his element in the jungle. He’d led his team through jungles on several planets to get to mission locations. They had gone through training maneuvers on Drapus many times.
Except for Frellag, the others had only ever been in this jungle on hunts. By the time the announcer called them, they had all finished their drinks. They lined up at the designated spot. When the start signal sounded, three sprinted down the trail while Tomak jogged casually behind them.
He was surprised at how far down the main trail she had gone before veering off on a side trail to the left. If she were smart, she would hide in the thick foliage off the path.
Sometime later, Tomak was sure he had found where she went off the trail into the jungle. He followed the scent, moving stealthily through the vegetation. He followed the trail until it broke through to another path. Circling the area, he sniffed the air until he caught her scent again.
Tomak had followed her trail through the jungle, down another path, and through more of the jungle. He didn’t hurry because it was a long time until the clock ran out. He knew he would catch up to her sooner or later. Then he heard a scream, and cries of “No… Stop… Let me go.”
That made him realize his mistake. Management dosed the females with a libido-enhancing drug to make them want sex with any male who accosts her. Maybe it didn’t work on her race.
Tomak paused to listen until he determined where she was. Soon as he did, he set off at a dead run. He found them just off a path in the jungle where the plants were tramped down to form a small clearing. The two goons from a rival gang had the female.
They had ripped off her clothes and held her naked between them. One held her under her arms with his big hands clutching at her breasts. The other stood between her parted thighs, trying to push his cock into her opening.
Running up behind the brute who had the female’s legs, Tomak pulled out his long hunting knife. He drove the blade between two vertebrae in the back of the male’s neck, severing his spine. The humanoid made a gagging sound and let go of the female and crumpled to the ground, breathing his last.
The other male, a Perarin name Rako roared at Tomak as he saw the other male succumb. He pushed the female aside and charged Tomak, who dodged at the last second. The would-be rapist lost his balance and caught himself by grabbing a tree trunk and keeping himself upright.
The same two inmates had killed a female in another hunt by being too rough fucking her. She hadn’t even fought them. That was all the reason Tomak needed to kill them. This one was going to put up a fight. That was okay; Tomak had time to kill. The female crawled away as the brute pulled out his long knife, a mate for the one Tomak carried.
They sparred a couple minutes while trying to stick their knives into each other. Rako moved in to stab him, and Tomak kicked him in the abdomen, but it hardly fazed him. It only slowed him down enough so Tomak could whirl out of striking distance.
Rako moved to strike again, catching Tomak in the side, dragging the tip across his left ribs in a shallow cut. Tomak plunged his knife into the other man’s side. The wound hardly slowed him down, as he tried to punch Tomak in the face before he could pull out the knife.
Tomak dodged and retreated, watching and waiting, to anticipate his next move. Rako lunged at him again with his knife. Tomak went low and thrust his knife under Rako’s sternum. That was the killing wound, but Rako had stuck the point of his knife into Tomak’s deltoid muscle. It hurt like hell, but it wasn’t deep, and no severe damage was done.
