Page 21 of Keeping Freya
“Pick it up,” he commands her. She picks it up, and he quickly grabs the gun, replacing his knife with the barrel. He yanks something from a pocket and hands it to her.
“Restrain him.”
Thoughts move through my mind at the speed of light. Fr’Ya carefully hobbles towards me. She is injured, which only fuels my determination to end this Krait. I move my hands before me, and with an indecisive look at our captor, she begins to pull the restraints around my wrists.
“It will be okay,” I whisper. “Take the knife from my chest, he cannot see you.”
Surprise and determination glimmer in her eyes as she fumbles a bit more with the restraints, leaning in to grab the knife. She expertly hides what she is doing with her body, and it is making the Krait restless. Good. Restless warriors make mistakes.
And mistakes he makes… because, with a growl, he steps closer. “Must I do everything myself?” He shoves Fr’Ya out of the way, making her stumble, but she does not fall. He lets go of the gun for one second, pushing it under his arm to secure the restraints.
I look at Fr’Ya. Now is our time. She does not disappoint. She throws herself at the Krait, the knife is gleaming in the harsh light, and the asshole is so focused on me, he does not notice her until it is too late. He turns, and it gives her the chance to plunge the knife down, straight into his eye.Howling, he falls to the ground, the gun slipping from his grasp. I lift my arms only to yank them down on my knee to break the restraints. The minute I look up, though, Fr’Ya already has the gun, with a battle cry, she opens fire, not stopping even when the Krait is long dead.
“Fr’Ya.” I put my hand on her arm. She turns around, giving me a bewildered look, almost shooting me in the process. “It is over. You can stop shooting, it is done.”
She blinks at me before the gun drops to the floor with a clatter. Weary blue eyes slowly focus on me, one heartbeat becomes two, before long, she slowly sighs.
“I was so scared.” Her voice breaks. Instinct takes over, and I pull her against me. I cradle the back of her head with the palm of my hand, mesmerized by how small and delicate she feels in my arms.
“I am here. You are safe.”
“I know,” she sniffs. “I don’t understand why I’m so shaken. I’m usually tougher than this. I do not cry.”
I give her a tight smile. “I know, but you can be tough again when we get back to our ship. I will forget these last five minutes.”
“Promise?” she asks me, but I can hear the slightest bit of mirth in her voice.
“Promise.”
She sniffs several times before gently releasing herself from my embrace.
“Are they all dead?” she asks.
“Very much so.”
“Good,” she says with a grim look. “Now let’s free CeLay and help the other captives.”
She walks over to the cages while I grab the keys from the body.
We quickly free her new friend, who is hurting pretty badly.
“Stay here, I will check the other cages.” Fr’Ya looks as if she is going to protest, but I shake my head. I do not want her to witness things she cannot get back from. She seems to understand, and with a curt nod, she starts fussing over CeLay.
I do a thorough sweep of the cages. I find three other females and two males. The males are in bad shape, but I brought nano-tech on the ship, so I should be able to help them. When I have them all huddled together, I beckon Fr’Ya over to me.
“Can you stay here while I get nano and healing injections for them?”
“Nano?” She looks puzzled.
“Yes, we have tech that can undo previous damage, like broken bones, and it speeds up the healing process.” I gently caress her swollen eye. “We can use it for your eye and ankle.”
She looks over her shoulder at the injured aliens. “Help them first, I will live.”
With a curt nod, I stride out of the Cargo Bay. The way to the ship is much easier to find when I can blast through barricades and rush to get the supplies needed. I do not think there are more Krait, but you never know what is coming.
Freya
I watchthe big warrior rush out of the Cargo Bay, and I let out a breath. He is all big, bad warrior, and I know he’s still covered in weird green blood, but this ordeal has made me lose all my snarkiness. I get back to CeLay and the others and see if there’s anything I can do.
