by Roxie Ray
Gallix laughed. “Good. Then say it back.”
“I did, didn’t I?”
“No. What I said was, I love you, and what you said was, of course I do!” Gallix raised his voice an octave like he was mimicking mine.
“Okay, I do not sound like that,” I pouted.
“Show me what you do sound like then, vringna.”
“I love you too, Gallix.” I smiled and pressed my cheek to his. Now I wasn’t just burning, I felt like I was glowing—like I’d swallowed up a little sun and it was shining through the pores of my skin, lighting our way through the night. “Of course I love you too.”
“Ah. Music to my ears.” Gallix trudged onward with a spring in his step. “Say…you reckon when those two say they’re in love, they mean it? The way we do?”
He nodded up ahead to Nurek and Marisa, who were walking hand in hand. Gallix had insisted that they walk in the middle of the group—so he could keep an eye on Nurek, and so Nurek didn’t lead us into any “sneaky Rutharian traps.”
“I’m not sure it’s…quite the same,” I said slowly. “Up until today, I sort of didn’t think that Marisa was capable of loving anyone but herself.”
“And I wouldn’t believe that Rutharians had hearts at all if I hadn’t spent most of my adult life slipping my sword into ‘em. Still not so sure about it, actually.”
“They seem happy together.” I placed a kiss on the tip of Gallix’s ear. “You should give Nurek a chance, at least. We’re stuck here with him just as much as he’s stuck here with us.”
“I just don’t trust him.” Gallix’s throat rumbled with disdain. “Don’t trust him one bit.”
When we got back to camp, we found Ronan limping toward the tree line with his sword in one hand and his blaster held clumsily in the other. He looked a little surprised to see us—and a little furious to see Nurek—but luckily, Gallix let Pax and Marisa do the explaining. To his credit, Nurek was smart enough to hang back from the rest of us until Ronan finally sheathed his sword and lowered his gun. Even when we rekindled the fire, Marisa and Nurek kept their distance. They sat up against Bessie’s hull as far from the flames as they could, almost in the shadows beyond the reach of the fire’s light.
“I don’t like it any more than you do, soldier.” Gallix clapped Ronan on the shoulder as he returned from the pond with some freshly speared fish. “But remember, he’s just as stuck here with us as we are with him.”
I smiled at Gallix as he repeated my words. He winked at me in return—a little joke, just between the two of us.
“If he so much as looks at me wrong, I will stick him with my sword, and we will be done with the matter.” Ronan slid a fish from Gallix’s spear and threw it on the pan heating over the fire for Ora, Marisa and me. “Just as you did these gill-beasts.”
We all sat and ate and laughed for a while. With Gallix’s arm wrapped around my shoulders and the warmth of the fire licking at the soles of my sore feet, I had to admit that it was a nice reprieve from everything else that had happened today. My head was still aching, probably from whatever sedative had been on that dart the Rutharians shot me with. My wrists and ankles were still raw from being bound.
I just hoped that all of this unwelcome excitement and whatever sedative was in that dart the Rutharians had stuck me with hadn’t hurt the baby. The more I thought about it, the more certain I was that there was life growing inside me. Life that I felt more protective of every time I remembered the tightness between my hips and the uneasiness in my gut.
“You should eat more, vringna.” Gallix pressed a piece of fruit into my hands. “If you’re eating for two now, you’ve hardly had enough.”
“I think it’s morning sickness,” I told him. “Some of the older women used to talk about it in the camp.”
“If there’s one thing I’m glad about in this whole debacle, it’s that we got you out of that camp for good.” Gallix stroked his chin. “Well. And that I got to meet you. And the baby.”
“Three things, then.” I giggled and nestled my cheek in the crook of Gallix’s neck.
“It’ll go away soon though, won’t it? I like the weight you’ve put on here. Looks good on you.” Gallix pinched my hip where, thanks to an ample diet of fish and fruit, the tiniest bit of cushion had finally started to form.
“I don’t want to lose it either. You have no idea how much more comfortable sitting and lying down feels when I’m not just skin and bones. But…” I rubbed my stomach. It felt like the fish I’d just eaten was still swimming around in it. Yuck. “I’m not sure how long it will last for. Maybe the full first semester.”
“Trimester, you mean? Or do, ah… does pregnancy work differently on Earth?”
“How am I supposed to know?” I scrunched my face up and tried not to laugh as I swatted his arm. “They didn’t exactly teach us this stuff in the camp.”
“Guess we’ve both got a lot to learn.” Gallix leaned in and laid a big, wet kiss on my cheek. “But at least we’ll get to learn it to—” Gallix paused and snapped his head around to stare at the tree line. “You hear that?”
“Hear what?”
But my question was answered for me a second later.
From the jungle, loud and clear this time, I heard exactly what Gallix had been talking about.
A growl.
Then another.
Then an entire chorus of them, each more ferocious than the last.
“Up. Now.” Gallix was on his feet in an instant. When I failed to react as quickly as he wanted to, he picked me up himself and pulled me in the direction of our ship. “Get inside. Now. Any door you can shut, you shut it. You hear?”
Across the fire, Pax and Ora were on their feet as well. Ora ran to me, trembling like a leaf about to be blown from its tree.
“What’s happening?” Her eyes searched mine, frantic.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the ship. “We need to get inside. Now.”
Gallix, Pax and Ronan formed up in front of the ship, weapons drawn, as Ora and I rushed over to the place where Nurek was guarding Marisa. When Ora and I were close enough, Nurek moved his body to protect us as well.
“Please, baby. Come inside with us.” Marisa tugged hopelessly on Nurek’s arm, but he didn’t budge. “Please!”
“I am not a bay-bee. I am a warrior. I will stand and fight.” Nurek unwound Marisa’s fingers from his arm and placed her hand in my free one. “You. Take Mar-iz-ah and go inside.”
“You don’t have a weapon, you stupid…idiot…man!” Marisa strained to swat at Nurek as I pulled her away.
“I am not a man, either.” Nurek lowered his head, pointing his two long, curved horns toward the growling in the darkness. “I am a Rutharian. I need no weapon to fight.”
“Nurek!” Marisa strained against my grip on her hand, but I didn’t let her go.
“Come on, Marisa!” I tugged her inside the ship. “You can’t help him! We need to go.”
“You’ll only be a distraction out here.” Ora grabbed her Marisa’s other hand to help. Together, we were able to drag her down the hall toward the bedrooms. “Come on. I think I can pull the doors to this room closed.”
Ora led us into the room that she and Pax had been sneaking off to ever since we’d crashed. It smelled like smoke, but it was less burned than the rest of Bessie. When Ora and I curled our fingers around the doors, with a little effort we were able to pull each side shut.
“Do you think they’re all right?” Ora asked. She huddled close to me as Marisa threw herself down on the bed and hid her face in her hands.
“They’re warriors,” I said with confidence. “They’ll be okay.”
“They won’t be okay.” Marisa’s voice was muffled. She was speaking through her palms. She didn’t look up. “Did you hear how many beasts were out there? Did you see their eyes?”
“They’re soldiers,” I assured her. Ora and I moved to the bed and shared a look, then tentatively wrapped our arms around Marisa. “They’ll
fight. All four of them. Together.”
“Or they’ll sacrifice Nurek to save their own asses.” Marisa struggled to shake us off of her, but I held tight. Ora did too.
“They wouldn’t do that.” I knew Gallix didn’t trust Nurek. But I also knew that now, they had no choice but to fight on the same side.
“I hope you’re right,” Marisa whispered. Her lips were trembling. So were Ora’s.
If I was being honest, I knew I was shaking too.
It was impossible to tell what was happening outside. The sounds of growls, grunts, groans and blaster fire echoed through the thin, scorched walls of the ship, but whether Gallix and the others were winning or losing, I couldn’t tell.
For as long as I heard shooting, I knew at least one of the Lunarians was still standing, though. I felt bad for Marisa, who had no such reassurance.
And selfishly—so selfishly that it made my stomach turn with guilt— despite Ora’s attachment to Pax, I knew that if only one of the Lunarians was left when this was done…
I’d want it to be him.
A heavy thud sounded through the metal of the ship. It made us all jump. The growl that followed wasn’t human. It wasn’t Lunarian. It wasn’t even Rutharian.
“A beast,” Ora hissed. “It’s in the ship.”
I knew she was right, but I didn’t want her to be.
If one of the beasts was inside, it meant that Gallix, Ronan, Pax and Nurek had fallen. They all might even be dead.
Another growl sounded as the beast’s heavy paws clanged against the floor, getting closer and closer. I put a hand over my stomach and prayed, though I didn’t know to who or what.
I prayed that Gallix was alive.
I prayed that the little life growing in my womb wouldn’t be cut short. Not like this.
And as I rose, I prayed that the scorched, damaged pipe I wrenched from the wall would be a good enough weapon.
We were trapped, but no matter what, I wasn’t going down without a fight.
18
Gallix
My shoulders and arms were scratched to nine hells and back. There was blood on my face. Some mine, some not. I was completely focused. Ruthless and furious. As the battle raged on, my heart pounded in my ears, drowning out every snarling growl and snapping set of jaws.
At least, it did until I heard the scream.
I snapped the neck of the beast on top of me and threw it off me as soon as the sound hit my ears.
There was no way I could have known that it was Eve. Not really. But at the same time, the way that cry made my heart stop in my chest, made my blood boil over, made me want to kill anything that came in between me and its source until Eve was safe in my arms again…
Somehow, I knew.
It was her. She was in danger.
And I’d kill every beast on this forsaken planet just to never hear her scream like that again.
“Cover me!” I shouted to Pax and Ronan. They were fighting back to back, blasters and swords in hand as I rushed to the ship.
There were no beasts between Bessie and me. We hadn’t let a single one breach our perimeter—but then again, we were surrounded. It was hard to tell how one of the beasts had gotten inside, but if Eve was screaming, then I could be just about certain that one had.
As I skidded into Bessie’s hull, I spotted the problem right away. At the end of the hall to the bedrooms, in one of the places where the fire had burned the metal delicate and thin, one of the beasts had forced its way through.
Worse, it had brought friends.
The thundering echo of heavily muscled flesh slamming against metal sounded down the hall. The first beast, one of the orange-furred ones, gnashed its teeth as it threw itself at one of the bedroom doors. The metal caved in at the point of contact.
The orange beast shook its head as it bounced off the door. It skidded backward, but there were two more—a green one, and a red one—to take its place.
Then, I heard it. Something that froze my heart and made my breath catch in my chest.
“Come and get me, you filthy fur-bags!” Another scream pierced the air, muffled by the doors between us.
But this time, I recognized it for what it was.
Not a scream of terror.
A war cry.
Damn you, Eve! My lips pulled back in anger as I marched forward, blaster drawn.
She wasn’t just in danger.
She was egging her attackers on.
I took aim at the green beast, the closest to me, and fired a single shot. It struck true. A headshot. The green beast’s body slumped to the floor as its head was vaporized.
One down, two more to go.
“Gallix! Behind you!”
I was just about to march forward and finish off the other two, but Ronan’s voice made me turn my head.
Behind me, there were more beasts coming. Not just two or three, but nearly a dozen.
Blood. I wanted to be angry at Ronan and Pax—what part of watch my back hadn’t they understood? But there were so damned many of these things pouring in all around us from the jungle, there was no way they could have managed it.
We were outnumbered.
We were fucked.
I fired two shots behind me, just to buy me some time. Down the hall, the other beasts should have been charging at me as well, but Eve was making such a racket that she drew their attention.
On one hand, I was grateful to her for it.
On the other, how dare she put herself in harm’s way like this? After all the promises she’d made me. After she’d gone and made life in her womb for me—my life. My cub.
And now that I was surrounded here within the ship, I knew the choice I had to make.
It was either me or her—and that meant it wasn’t really a choice at all.
A beast leapt at me from outside the ship, teeth bared and ready to sink into my arm. I shot it in mid-air, catching it in the chest. A pained whimper and the smell of singed fur filled the air. But where that one fell, there were five other beasts bounding over it.
I shot at each of them, hitting as many as I could. But while I did it, I was moving down the hall.
I needed to get to Eve before the beasts trying to crash through the bedroom door got to her first.
When the orange and red beasts launched themselves at the doors between them and Eve again, something gave way. I fired at them both but was only able to hit them in their hind quarters. Both of their heads wedged their way through the doors.
Not good. Deeply, deeply not good.
Meanwhile, behind me so many of the beasts had tried to force through the hole in Bessie’s hull at once, they’d lodged themselves in place. Paws and claws strained towards me, though for the time being, none of them could move.
That was a blessing. If I could just get the two beasts closest to Eve out of the way, kill them and shut the doors on her again, I could deal with the rest.
Whatever happened to me after that, all I knew was that I’d use my dying breath to put the last of these creatures down. They could bite me, make me bleed, devour me whole.
But I couldn’t even risk dying until the rest of the beasts were dead too.
Until every last one of these baz-terds was bleeding out on the ground of this cursed planet, I knew Eve wouldn’t be safe.
I pulled the red beast out from the door by the scruff of its neck. One shot to the head and it was done. Through the door, I caught sight of Eve’s face for just a second—then, I saw her swing a pipe down across the orange beast’s muzzle.
It whimpered just for a moment, then went right back to straining its jaws toward her.
Not on my watch.
“Get back!” I shouted through the door.
As I grabbed the beast and pulled it out, it finally wised up enough to turn its attentions toward me. We rolled together on the floor, but every shot I tried to fire into it only seemed to make it angrier. Every time I stabbed it, it only wanted to tear my throat out all the more.
Worse, behind me, the beasts wedged in Bessie’s hull had finally pushed through. They were thundering toward me. The beast on top of me was straining against my arms, its teeth mere inches away from my neck.
“Gallix!” Eve cried out. Her fingers curled around the warped doors between us, trying desperately to pull them apart so she could get to me—but they were stuck in place.
Good. If Eve couldn’t get to me, then she was safe.
If I could just hold out for long enough to kill the rest of these things before they finished me off, Eve was safe.
This is how it ends, I thought as I slipped my knife up under the orange beast’s chin. I sunk it in deep and twisted it until blood trickled down onto me and finally, the beast’s muscles went heavy and limp over my chest. You had your fun, Gallix. You met the only female in all the universe worth calling your own. You put your seed in her belly and you gave everything you had to keep her alive. You’ll live on in her.
But would I still be alive myself when this battle was finally won?
No, I thought. I knew. No, probably not.
I shoved the orange beast off of me, forcing its body toward the oncoming horde. That bought me a few seconds as the other beasts were knocked back and struggled to climb over it.
I used those few seconds to catch a final glimpse of Eve through the doors. Her eyes were wide and full of fear. Her lips were open. Shocked. In awe.
“Don’t come out of here until they’re gone,” I ordered her.
“Gallix, no—please!”
“You’ve been the love of this life, vringna.” I gave her a wink to mask the tears in my eyes as I bent the doors closed once more. “I’ll see you in the next.”
I could hear Eve’s fists banging uselessly against the doors behind me as I turned to face the horde. I closed my eyes and took a breath as my heart matched up to those beats.
Then, I threw myself at my own damned death.
I could’ve run, I knew. Or, rather, I could’ve run about five minutes ago. Now, there was no way out but through.
