“Lexa look, we need to…”
“You’re under the mistaken impression that you’re speaking with my host,” Khala interrupted. “You will refer to me as Khala until instructed otherwise.”
“By God! You’re the parasite!” he gasped.
“I am NOT a parasite and I’m only going to say this one more time. Get dressed or I’ll leave you here alone to fend for yourself!” she yelled gritting my teeth and planted my fists on my hips.
“Okay,” he said holding his hands up in defeat and turned to us grinning sheepishly. “I don’t suppose you know where my pants might have gone.”
Khala shook my head and pointed to the left side of the room. “On the other side of that counter there. Hurry, your friends’ lives are in jeopardy!”
“We should probably find some weapons, that is if the Qharr haven’t gotten to them first,” Strave said after slipping the shirt over his head.
“I have no need of weapons,” Khala answered back. “I am a weapon. It’s what the K’teth were made for.”
“Yeah, and a fat lot of good that did to your good pal the Overseer. No offense, but I’d much rather have a phase pistol in hand when we confront any of your friends.”
“Very well, locate your weapons cache then we shall take care of my friends,” she replied turning her back to Straffen and held my hand out indicating that he should lead the way.
‘You know, Khala, he might not be able to use a qharr tech, but we sure as hell can. That warrior was armed; maybe you should retrieve his weapon.’ I said, for once in complete agreement with Strave.
‘As I said I have no need of it. I am a weapon.’
“God, you’re like an entirely different person,” he mumbled as he stepped past us.
Khala narrowed my eyes and folded my arms across my chest. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am an entirely different person.”
Strave shook his head, shouldered past us and pushed the door open without waiting to see if Khala was going to follow.
‘There is something about that one that is very off-putting. Still, you do seem to be attracted to him, and human reproductive practices are very pleasurable. Perhaps, you should pursue a relationship with him,’ she thought at me as she followed Strave out the door.
I think if I had control of my body at that moment my jaw would have stopped dead in my tracks. ‘I am not going to have this conversation with you. Not now not ever! Get your priorities straight the compound has been invaded by Qharr hunters for Christ sakes!’
‘Of that I am well aware don’t worry over them. No, Qharr soldier is a match for the two of us.’
‘Just shut the hell up and keep your… my eyes peeled, would you?!’ I yelled and fought back the sudden urge to wrestle control away from the symbiote.
‘As you wish.’
“Are we going to move or are you just going to stand around like a wounded gark beast?” Khala asked tapping at Strave’s shoulder incessantly.
Strave moved aside and I felt bile rise in my throat as I looked down to find Felix’s bloodied corpse collapsed on the ground just outside the door. I’d become so accustomed to having someone tailing me all the time that I’d actually forgotten Felix had been guarding the door and had more than likely spent the entire night outside the kitchen.
Strave glanced at me then knelt down to feel Felix’s neck. “No pulse,” he said looking up at me. “The body is still warm. See the phase wound in his chest? That hunter must have gotten to him just before he attacked us in the kitchen.”
“This may sound callous, but we don’t have time to linger,” Khala said glancing around probably looking for signs of approaching threats.
Strave glared up at her then turned back down to look at Felix. Strave’s hand passed over Felix’s eyes and when it came away the dead man’s eyelids were closed. “Rest easy Felix, my friend. You fought bravely to the very end,” he whispered then turned back to look Khala in my eyes. “Now we leave.”
Without another word Strave turned away and started off down the corridor. When we got to the end he stopped to peek around the corner then slowly drew his head back. He turned to look back at Khala and me before pointing toward the bend and mouthing the words, “Gray skins.”
Khala nodded my head then brushed past our companion and took off running while rounding the corner. Phase blasts flew through the air, burned through the fabric of my clothes and splashed against my skin, but there wasn’t any pain as I felt a new influx of power flood through me each time we were hit. The hunters glanced at one another, and the foremost of the two, a pale-skinned giant, dropped his gun and drew a long knife from a sheath at his waist. Khala dodged to the side as blade came slicing down and planted my right fist into the side of his chest
“Gl’hed! No human has that kind of strength!” The hunter let out a long string of curses in Qharr and swung his fist at empty air as Khala dodged another attack.
He got close enough that I got a good whiff of him as I dodged his attacks and I almost wished I hadn’t. Most qharr had a scent about them that was an almost woodsy citrus scent, but this fellow smelled as if someone had taken a lemon, wrapped it inside someone’s stinky socks and then let it sit out to rot in the sun for a month. God it was awful! I even felt my nose scrunch up, so Khala must have found it just as offensive or else it was just some automatic reflex.
“Look at her hair! She’s bonded with a K’teth!” the other hunter, a female with a long scar running down the left side of her chest, howled raising the butt of her phase rifle like a club.
“It can’t be!” Mr. Stinky answered back.
“How else would you explain it!?” the female yelled at her companion.
“That’s right,” Khala responded in Qharr before spinning around and yanking the weapon out of the female’s hands. “I’m a K’teth bonded with a human.”
“You would betray your masters?!” the pale giant asked his eyelids twitching in disbelief.
Khala twirled the gun around my hands then jabbed it into the giant’s chest. “Yes,” she said in Qharr.
“Why not?” She switched to English and squeeze my finger around the trigger blasting a hole in her opponent’s chest the size of my fist.
The female let out a loud roar and Khala kicked her across her kneecap then ducked as her opponent’s fist came flying at me. The symbiote jumped back to my feet then brought the rifle around, but before she could fire off another shot the female slammed her fist into my left breast. The blow hurt like hell and I think it caught Khala by surprise because the next thing I knew the phase gun slipped through my fingers and clattered to the ground at my feet.
The first blow was followed by a powerful backhand across my face the force of which was so great that it sent Khala and me flying to ground where we landed on my back. The female moved in to strike again, and probably would have been successful had it not been for Strave who came barreling down the corridor yelling like a madman. The female turned to glance at him and hesitated just long enough for Khala to roll back onto my feet.
Khala stood back and waited as Strave slammed into the alien woman. She let out a disgusted growl then threw him aside with the casual ease of a child flinging away a rag doll. Khala didn’t waste any time she pounced as soon as Strave was out of the way. She leapt atop her larger opponents’ back and threw my arms around her neck. The female spun around attempt to dislodge us, but her efforts were in vain.
Khala loosed my left arm while maintaining her hold with the right then drew my left arm back and pounded my clawed hand into the back of her neck. The blow connected and I felt my hand dig into her flesh just before my fingers wrapped around something hard. There was a sick snap and Khala withdrew my hand before jumping from the falling corpse’s back.
“Damn woman, what the hell did you do?” Strave asked sitting up with a wince as he ran a hand through his hair.
“I snapped her spine,” she said looking down at my hand which was cove
red in violet blood.
Khala glanced to the side matching Strave’s gaze. “This body is weak in comparison to a Qharr host and I’m not yet up to full power I need to absorb more energy before I will gain full access to all the abilities granted to this body. I must be more careful I would hate for Lexa to lose her life. ”
‘Yeah that’d be quite the tragedy, then you’d be out of a host, wouldn’t you?’
‘I doubt you would believe this, but I would be saddened if you died. I’ve grown to like you in the short time that we’ve been bonded.’
‘Yeah, sure whatever you say.’
“We must hurry. I recognize the team emblem,” she said pointing down at swirled symbol on the butt of one of the guns. “This indicates that those two soldiers I took out belong to Hr’enk team. They are a specialized group of inquisitors whose sole task is to hunt down dangerous criminals. They are very well trained and without my aid I doubt any of your friends will survive,” she said holding my hand out to Strave.
“Don’t be so quick to discount us,” Strave protested. “We may be a ragtag bunch but we know how to fight.”
I could feel my lips purse before Khala replied. “We shall see.”
Strave sighed, climbed to his feet then dusted himself off. “Come on the weapons locker isn’t far now.”
‘For god sakes Khala! Would you pick up a damn weapon!’
Khala didn’t immediately acknowledge me, and when she started to follow Strave I figured she was going to keep on about this ‘I am a weapon’ nonsense. I was about to wrestle control away from her when she stopped, and gazed down at one of the phase rifles discarded by the Qharr. Strave certainly wouldn’t be able to use one of the things, but Khala had already shown that she and I could use Qharr tech. She walked over to the nearest rifle, the one she had used to kill the giant of a male, snatched it from the ground, and scurried after Strave as he continued down the corridor.
“Get back!” Khala howled pushing Strave to the ground then leapt into motion as an endless barrage of phase bolts splattered against my skin. “Oh, hell I really need a damn weapon!” Strave yelled crawling into the nearest doorway as the hunters continued their attack. We had happened upon the group of half a dozen hunters and they’d opened fire without even batting an eyelash.
“Death to the masters!” she called out in Qharr before raising her rifle and opening fire. She took out two of the bastards with the first two shots, but then the remaining soldiers rushed us and things got a bit sticky.
“What’s this? A human joined with a K’teth symbiote?” a short stocky warrior bellowing throwing his fist into my face.
Khala had just enough time to grab the fist out of the air and push it away as another soldier struck at my side. The blow brought ripples of pain and Khala gritted my teeth just before yelling, “Yes! A K’teth joined with a human! Is it really so surprising, you overgrown pl’k!?”
The first warrior howled lunging at me just as Khala slammed my fist into his windpipe. He fell to his knees, clutching at his throat as he gasped for air. Another Qharr, a slender warrior with charcoal-gray skin drew a knife and pounced at me, but Khala was ready. She dodged the attack then jumped up; kicking him across the chest then spun around to punch another of our attackers in the gut.
Abruptly, there was a loud bellow from behind and as Khala spun around to face whatever new threat had arisen there was a bright flash of light. She brought my left hand up to block my eyes against the bright flashes as a long succession of phase blasts pelted the group of Qharr hunters. When my vision finally cleared, all of the enemy soldiers were dead at my feet.
“You two alright?” Kaya said as she approached holding a cumbersome and beat-up looking old phase rifle.
“Shit,” Strave grumbled. “I’d probably be toast if it weren’t for Khala there.”
“Khala?” Kaya asked then suddenly raised her weapon pointing right at my chest. “That fucking parasite is in control?!”
“Yes, I am,” Khala replied staring back at Kaya.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t just blow Jellfree’s fucking brains out right now?! How do I know you weren’t responsible for bringing those gray-skinned bastards on us in the first place!?” She yelled.
“Lexa has been with me all night and she’s been under constant guard since she’s been here in the compound. There’s no way that thing inside of her could have made contact with the Qharr!” Strave protested.
Kaya blinked. “Lexa?”
Khala folded my arms across my chest then intoned’ “Lexa. Jellfree’s new female name.”
She bit her lip, lowered the gun, hesitated for a moment then raised her weapon again. “Let me talk to Jellfree… or Lexa or whatever the hell he or… she is calling herself now!”
“Oh, very well!” Khala proclaimed. She closed my eyes then suddenly I was back in control again. I opened my eyes and stumbled backward momentarily caught off balance from the sudden returned use of my limbs.
“Jellfree? God, it is you!” she proclaimed looking me in the eyes lowering the weapon again then looked me over thoughtfully. “Where’s Felix?”
I swallowed and shook my head. “Dead.”
“Shit,” Khala cursed. “Not Felix too.”
“Who else have we lost?” Strave asked.
“That I know of? Johan, Pyramus, Loona, Terreth and Bentley,” she replied clenching her jaw and gritting her teeth.
“Dammit!” Strave growled. “We can’t afford to lose anyone else! Our numbers were already too few!”
“Tell me something I don’t know, Strave,” she muttered. “I wish we had time to stay and chat, but there are a lot more hunters lurking about and we need to get the fuck out of here.”
“Where exactly is there for us to go!?”
“Fuck if I should know, but Jaysen and Mara have got our ship waiting. They’re leaving in just under five minutes whether we’re aboard or not,” she said motioning for us to follow.
“Well hell, lead the way. I’m not gonna get stuck here. Not if I any say in the matter,” Strave replied.
“Come on then! Let’s hurry the fuck up!” Kaya yelled just before she took off running.
Strave and I exchanged glances then we both sprang into motion running after her.
Chapter Thirteen
“Holy fuck!” Kaya cursed coming to a sudden halt and dove to the ground as a hunter jumped out at her from a nearby doorway.
She raised her rifle, but he was too fast and had it out of her hands before she could fire off a shot. I reacted instinctively pounding my fist into the warrior’s side with all the energy-enhanced strength I could muster. The hunter dropped Kaya weapon and clutched his side howling in fury as he glared down at me. He brought his hand up and casually backhanded me sending me flying into the nearest wall.
‘Give me control!’ Khala called urgently.
I slumped to the ground, bit back the pain then rose to my feet. ‘No, I’m gonna get this bastard on my own.’
The symbiote didn’t say a thing, but I swore I could sense her dismissing me, almost as if she were giving me the mental equivalent to a shrug. I didn’t waste any time mulling it over because at that moment our Qhar friend looked like he was ready to pound on Kaya.
“Hey assface!” I yelled before he could make his move. Then as he turned toward me I jumped up and kicked him across the chest. The whole maneuver was a lot more impressive when you considered he was more than a meter taller than me.
He stumbled backward and I took the opportunity to retrieve my fallen phase rifle from the ground. My opponent let out a few curses that would have made even Duvak blush then charged me, but by then it was already too late; I’d pulled the trigger. The soldier let one final below and I had just enough time to leap out of the way as his corpse tumbled to the ground.
“Gl’f Vleck!” a voice called. As we all turned to look we found a group of about a dozen Qharr hunters running straight at us.
“Ho
ly hell! Run!” Strave called.
I took off and I didn’t have to look back to know that Strave and Kaya were right on my tail. I could hear their feet pounding against the floor tiles as they ran.
“Shit!” Kaya said suddenly. “God, I think that’s Duvak!”
I glanced back and sure enough, the all too familiar face of my old master glared back at me. A lot of humans had trouble distinguishing Qharr faces, but I knew Duvak’s face by heart. I should, I served the damned fucker for almost twenty-five years. I knew how he moved, I knew every line and crease on his face, and I knew those eyes. I fought down a sudden surge panic and just kept running.
The Qharr may have been better warriors than humans, but there was at least one physical advantage we had over them. We were smaller and thus quicker on our feet. Although, the gray-skins had greater physical endurance–greater than Kaya and Strave at least–so if we kept up our pace they’d catch us eventually.
We reached the launch bay before that could happen, but we ran into another problem, once we arrived. The door was locked. “Shit! Here take this!” Kaya yelled at Strave practically throwing her phase rifle at him. “I need to input the damned code. God, I hate auto-lock! Damned Mara and her ass fucking paranoid security system!”
“Duvak!” I yelled the cadre of pursuers drew closer. “I challenge you to the Rite of Gauhk!”
“Shit, Lexa what the hell are you doing?!” Strave protested.
I met his gaze, drew close then shared a passionate kiss with him and whispered into his ear. “Just in case,” before taking a few steps forward and gritted my teeth as I glared at a dumbstruck Duvak. He was wearing a strap and strip of cloth across his right shoulder which extended partway down his chest. I’d never seen such a contrivance, but I had a feeling it meant he’d been demoted since it cover part of his rank tattoo.
“Well?!” I yelled tapping my foot against the ground as I fought down the sudden urge to take off running. “Do you accept?”
Battle For Earth Page 14
