Page 4 of Fractured Souls

One of the women—a tall, willowy blonde—started to stray off the path. Alexis watched in horror as her guard produced a long, thin implement and prodded her in the back, eliciting a gasp of pain.

The Kordolian chuckled; a hollow, mirthless sound.

They marched on.

Alexis trembled as a strange emotion coursed through her—a mixture of anger and fear and horror and sympathy. Those poor women would barely be able to see in the darkness. To be forced to walk at that pace, prodded like cattle, with two monsters at their sides…

We have to do something. The clock was ticking. Backup would be here soon. By her count, they had about ten minutes until reinforcements arrived. Could the three of them take on these sinister looking creatures?

She glanced at Del, then at Thomas, making quick signals with her fingers. Thomas, you circle around from behind. I’ll distract them. Del, cover us.

Of the three of them, Del was by far the best shot.

Alexis’s adrenaline began to spike, turbocharging her heartbeat. Her palms were slick with sweat. Time slowed and her thoughts became crystalline as she planned her attack.

She would use the flashbang, hoping the brilliant UV flare would be enough to momentarily stun the Kordolians. Then she would go straight for a kill-shot. They couldn’t afford to try and take these creatures alive. Not when there were human lives at sta—

Thud. One of the dark shadows became a blur, and suddenly he was right over the top of them, crouching on top of the boulder.

How did he…?

Fast. She’d never seen a creature that could move so impossibly fast.

“What the fu—?”

Boom! Thomas raised his gun and fired, the bolt-blast hitting the alien square in the chest.

It had almost no effect, seemingly absorbed by the Kordolian’s pitch-black armor. A full-face helmet started to descend over the Kordolian’s head, emerging from the back of his armor-suit in hexagonal segments.

No! Without thinking, Alexis pulled out one of her flashbangs and threw it in the alien’s face.

She closed her eyes.

Click.

There was no boom, no explosion, just a grunt of pain from the alien as intense blue-purple light engulfed them, penetrating through the thin skin of Alexis’s eyelids and turning her world red for a fraction of a second.

She opened her eyes and found Del standing behind the alien, his arms locked around the Kordolian’s neck. The alien’s lower face was still uncovered, and the silver skin over his cheeks and jaw and lips had melted away, revealing burned flesh and vicious fangs.

The alien’s helmet was only halfway closed. For some reason, the mechanism had stopped.

“Q-quick,” Del gasped. “Fucking do it, Lex.”

Something was wrong. There was too much pain in Del’s voice.

The Kordolian flexed his arms, preparing to shake Del off, but Del grunted and held on, drawing inhuman strength from some deep place. The Kordolian began to wheeze—obviously the flashbang had done some serious damage.

Shoot him!

But Del was behind, and he would cop the blowback. A close-range blast from a bolt-gun could kill him.

“Do it!” he screamed.

Suddenly, his arms gave out, and Del slumped to the ground, clutching his belly. Blood glistened on his armor-gloves. He’d been stabbed.

Alexis raised her gun and fired, just as the alien’s helmet snapped shut, closing over seared flesh. She fired again, aiming for the creature’s head.

The Kordolian froze, grunting in pain. To her disappointment, he didn’t go down. Her shots merely had the effect of slowing his movements.

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