*
In city 72, Az took his small team and headed for the armouries. With him were Li, Ludmilla, Helene and Mathew. Helene was in front, on the right, being the fastest runner. Az also went to the right, Li covering his back. Ludmilla took left with Mathew covering her back. Scattered among the Terrans were 25 Cats. Most had come with Az. They were hard to see as they were fast and natural hunters, flitting from shadow to shadow. Az followed Helene’s lead hating women being in a fight. It felt so wrong. His eyes rapidly scanned ahead. Nervously, he looked up at the windows in the skyscrapers on his left. If Relogs got up there… He cursed the small range of the blowguns. They virtually wouldn’t shoot up more than ten feet. Useless. Suddenly he saw a Yakkidimux but before he could react he heard Li’s blowgun and saw it look puzzled and fall a few seconds later. He saw another Yakkidimux, then another behind it coming up behind Helene. He didn’t notice that they weren’t armed.
“Stay here!” he ordered Li and sprinted after Helene. He felt something zip past him and leapt into a doorway near Helene. Hearing something behind him, he whipped his cumbersome blowgun around as Li skidded in behind him. He glared at her. She smiled sweetly back. He checked for Helene and turned back to Li. Horrified, he saw her side was bleeding. But she was aiming and fired, just as Helene did. One Yakkidimux fell, hit twice as two Cats dealt to the other. They disembowelled it and left it screaming. Az finished it off. He turned back to Li. She was applying a field dressing, then indicated she was OK. He noticed her arm was injured too and she had dressed that as well. He tried to check her but she glared at him. Az looked past her to the street and saw several Relogs coming at a run. He had wondered what had hit Li.
Alien Alliance Page 52
