Page 21 of Haunted By the Alien
My breathing finally calms, but every sense remains on high alert. The hairs on my arms are standing straight up and my eyes continually dart around the dank room, seeking an avenue of escape, should I get lucky enough to free myself.
I dragged myself into a sitting position, all while the grud scrutinized me. He hasn’t taken his eyes off me once. Sure, I’m sitting up now, but I can’t reach the knife shoved deep in my back pocket.
Maybe if I lean left slightly, change the angle, I can?—
The grud approaches, yellow eyes narrowing as he flexes his claws.
“Please don’t hurt me,” I beg in Common as two fingers fish for the knife. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
He leans over me, the stench of decay suffocates me. I nearly vomit, but fight it, breathing through my mouth. I flash back to when I was a child and saw my first grud. Fear invaded my bones when I heard that man scream, the one the grud sliced with his claws.
My pulse races and I’m having trouble catching my breath. A panic attack. Shit.
I close my eyes and think of Kobrik and his confident grin.
You are stronger than you think, Kenzie.
His words comfort me, as much as anything can in my situation. I know, without a doubt, he’s looking for me. I have to keep my wits about me and stay alive until he finds me. Which means reaching that damn knife!
A sharp claw, two inches long, drags across the base of my throat. Tiny, serrated notches bite into my skin, not deep, but enough to make me stop breathing out of fear.
“Cease!” a male orders in Common as moonlight spills in from the door where a man with six arms stands.
Spider King. A.K.A. Nelson.
He must have followed us here. Hope soars through me. I’ll take any help, even from Nelson!
Nelson quickly shuts the door, shutting out the outside world. Slowly, the truth seeps into my fear-addled brain. He’s protecting thegrud.
“Bastard,” I spew. “You set me up. Why?”
“To lure your boyfriend,” he says without an ounce of remorse.
“I don’t have a—” I stop mid-sentence. Kobrik. “Why do you want him?”
“He’s causing problems for me.”
“Warrior come for female. Yeg kill,” the grud says in broken Common.
Anger quickly replaces fear. I won’t let them use me, especially to hurt Kobrik.
My thumb and finger finally snag the tip of the blade. Nelson’s eyes narrow. It’s the only part of him I can see through that damn mask. I stop pulling on the knife and avert my eyes, hoping he’ll ignore me.
“It won’t be that easy, Yeg. The warrior won’t be fooled so easily.”
The grud picks his teeth with a long claw. “Warrior not problem.”
“He can destroy everything. And you led him right to me!” Nelson’s anger comes off him in waves, so much that I slink back against the wall, putting as much distance between us as he yells at the grud.
“You will leave Earth. Now,” Nelson orders.
“Yeg finish mission.”
“You’ve drawn too much attention to everyone.”
While they’re locked in their alpha-male stand-off, I pull the knife free, sit on it to hold it steady, and start sawing the rope binding my hands against the blade. Strand by strand give way, but it’s slow going.
“Use female. Catch warrior. Kill both.”
