"Maybe I should go with them," said Myth.
"You better stick with us. In case we need to know something our pathetic human noses and ears can't pick up."
Gunnar met his eyes. "You sure they can do the job, Dan? They might be super-powered but they're still just two kids with an alien dog or whatever the hell that thing is."
"That's three-to-one odds. All she has is a spear and poison spit. I don't see that 'chick chimp' having much of a chance. More than three and they might trip over or shoot each other."
"I hope you're right. If that Azrene makes it back we could have a whole army waiting for us."
"I realize that." Dan lowered his head, lips compressed in a half-grimace. "All right. Myth, go after them. But watch yourself. Make sure you're not in the line of fire."
"Yes, Dan. As Gary would say, 'no problemo.'"
"Now you're scaring me."
Myth smiled with her pretty girl-man-killer-fairy face. "I'll see you soon."
She sprinted off with the exaggerated spring of a professional gymnast.
"Let's pick up the pace," Gunnar grunted, his face set in grim determination as he dragged his bike to a slow run. "Wouldn't want to miss out on the fun."
Two miles ahead, Gary lost the Azrene's trail. Not so much lost it as it just plain stopped. The implications dawned, causing him to look up the nearest tree in time to see the figure in resplendent clothing falling on him, her spear thrusting for his head. He jumped to one side: a jump that catapulted him into the air for an uncomfortably long time – long enough to watch the oversized chimp spin and cast her spear at him. Only a violent twist of his body limited the raggedly shaped spearhead to a shallow slice along his ribs before sailing past him into the woods.
The instant Gary hit the ground he unleashed his spear. My turn! But the Azrene appeared almost bored as the spear flashed toward her, turning her right shoulder a little to let it pass.
Curly arrived – a silent, massive projectile of blue fur. The Azrene sprang out of his path, hissing out a line of spit which immediately caused the wolf-bear to hit the ground, rubbing his eyes furiously with his forelegs and mewling. Penny, racing up behind her pet, cried out and opened fire at the same time – but the Azrene was ducking back into the woods, scooping up Gary's spear as she went.
"Where is she?" Penny yelled, whirling her rifle around, popping off some rounds into the tall brush where the Azrene had disappeared.
A spear flew out of the brush and struck Penny squarely in the chest before Gary could even open his mouth to warn her. She dropped with a soft cry, clutching the spear.
The chimp-chick sprang from the brush toward Gary, projecting a pressure-washer spray of saliva. Gary leaped aside, but some of it struck his left forearm. It burned like a motherfucker, but he seemed okay. The Azrene puckered up to spit again, but this time projected little more than a few gobs of drool, which landed at Gary's feet.
"Looks like you done shot your wad, sister," he said.
The female Nazrene advanced, drawing a shiny, black stone knife.
"You call that a knife?" Gary grinned, slipping out his big Bowie. "Bring it on, bitch!"
"You dare wear the Robes of Belizor!" the Azrene screeched. "Abomination! I will cleanse them with blood!"
"Whatever," Gary sneered. "Right back at ya!"
They circled each other, Gary readying a replay of his decapitation-move with the male ape. One lunge and swing – and she'd be doing the funky headless chicken dance!
The Azrene danced in, stabbing at his chest. He grabbed for her wrist, but she dropped low, spinning around him, her knife slicing through the tendons on the back of his right knee. It happened so fast, and the knife was so sharp, that he felt no pain – just a buckling of his leg and he was listing badly to his right. She whirled in again, and he lunged blindly away off his good leg, but her knife plunged into his left leg as he jumped, filleting it from thigh to upper knee.
"FUUCCK!"
Gary sprawled on his side, crawling away from the whirling dervish as fast as he could, raising his knife defensively, losing sight of his attacker –
And then she was there, mounting him, pinning his right arm, her gleaming black knife raised high, teeth bared in a triumphant grin. Somehow, the grin hurt Gary the most. He was about to be sent into the next world by a fucking girl chimp. He hoped Jesus would be understanding.
Crack! The Azrene's grin went lopsided as blood and tissue burst from one side of her head. The stone knife dropped from her hand and she listed sideways. Myth strode up as Gary shoved the Azrene off his chest. He sat up and tried to rise, but his legs were reluctant to cooperate.
"Thanks," he said to the mutant alien.
Penny crawled to her feet, yanking the spear out of her upper chest with a loud groan. She dropped to her knees, swaying. Curly lay trembling in the grass, eyes closed, legs straightening and curling as if he was running on an invisible track – or dreaming he was.
"You okay?" Gary called to her.
"I doubt it."
"Me, too."
Gary eyed the dead Azrene lying a few feet away, wanting to feel satisfaction but not finding much. Fucking ninja chimp. The monkey would've killed all three of them if Myth hadn't shown up when she did.
"You're a Redskin," he called to the girl. "You'll be okay."
But Penny's skin didn't look so red at the moment, he thought. More the color of grey caulk. He wondered how he looked.
Dan and Gunnar jogged in, Gunnar huffing beside his bike.
"Jesus," said Gunnar, taking in the scene.
"Good thing I followed your advice and sent Myth ahead." Dan was smarting from his misjudgment. "Too bad I didn't do it sooner."
"Yeah, well, you know what they say about hindsight."
They both kneeled beside Penny after Gary waved them away. She was breathing okay, Dan thought, but her face was chalky. Was she going into shock?
"Too bad we don't have any more of that blue goop," said Gunnar. "I've got some basic first aid stuff – bandages, antiseptic, painkillers, that's about it. You?"
"Same thing, plus antibiotics, morphine, and surgical glue."
"I'm impressed. You really came prepared."
"My wife's a GP. It's from her medical bag."
Dan tentatively touched the edges of Penny's wound. The girl winced but didn't shy away.
"I guess throw some antibiotic in there and seal it up," he said. "Then I'll work on Gary."
"What about Curly?" Penny whimpered. "He was struck by her poison spit!"
Dan looked to Myth, who shrugged.
"I don't know," Myth said. "If it hit him in the eyes, I think it will kill him. I've never heard of any creature surviving that, but since the Zemzorik and Azrene come from different worlds..." She shrugged again. "It may not be fatal for him."
Dan broke out the medical supplies from his backpack and tried to pretend he knew what he was doing. He'd had some basic emergency training, just as Diana Mann had, but her fingers had been more nimble than he expected his to be. Penny gritted her teeth when he forced some bandage cloth into the wound. Ideally, he wanted to create some semi-dry portions of flesh for adhesion purposes. The wound was deep. His finger slid down until it touched bone. Penny made a gasping "eeehehhhh" sound.
"Doesn't seem to have punctured her lungs or any other internal organ," he said to Gunnar. "I think if we get her sealed up her Adderall powers should do the rest."
"Maybe so." The ex-Special Forces Sergeant sounded skeptical.
After dropping the contents of some amoxicillin capsules into the wound, Dan tried tugging the flesh together, starting a fraction of an inch in and working up. It was messy, slippery work, and he wasn't having much luck. He was able to draw some folds of skin together over most of the entrance wound, reminding him of sewing stuffing into a turkey – except Sonja had always done that part, and she used thread, not glue. With a small grunt of frustration, he taped two layers of bandage over the mess and called it a day. I better
be right about her powers of recuperation.
Gary hobbled over to inspect the last stages of his work.
"She gonna be all right?" he asked.
"I think so." Dan was at eyeball level with a gaping canyon of cut muscle and flesh running down the boy's left leg. From the way he was leaning on it, that was his good leg. "Turn around – let's see the back of your right leg."
He turned, and it wasn't a pretty sight. The Azrene's jagged-bladed stone knife had ripped a chainsaw trough of muscle and severed at least one tendon. Repairing that was lightyears beyond both his expertise and his supplies. The best thing Dan could think of was more antibiotics, trying to close the wound with surgical glue, wrapping his knee, and more prayers to the Adderall gods.
"How does it look, Doc?"
"I think I can get your left leg wound sealed up, Gary, but there's not a lot I can do for your right. When we get my wife free of the Nazrene, she may have some ideas. For now, I'm just going to patch you up a bit and hope for the best."
"Don't sweat it, Dan," said the youth, patting him on the shoulder. "I heal fast. It will take more than some dipshit chimp with a stone knife to take me out."
WAITING, AS Diana had predicted, was the hardest thing. Aside from the questions and worried imaginings, there was the growing sense of achieving nothing, and guilt over that lack of achievement. Even busywork such as exploring the area and attempting closer observation of the Hub entailed too many risks to be justified. The best strategy, as tiresome and guilt-provoking as it was, involved staying under the radar and...waiting.
So it was with extraordinary relief that Diana spotted the line of individuals ascending toward them that could only be the much-awaited and longed-for reinforcements – could only be because of the chestnut-haired, broad-shouldered individual in the lead was unmistakably Dan Jensen. Back a way was a young man leaning heavily on a stick as he walked who appeared to be Gary Hanson. The rest of the group wasn't so recognizable: a very large longhaired, bearded man and a tall, winged being that she assumed – hoped – was Myth, pulling what appeared to be a bike-trailer containing a small person whose splash of blond hair suggested Penny. But why was she in a trailer, and what happened to Gary? They looked like soldiers returning from a battle.
Laurie ran down the hill ahead of Diana, sobbing with joy. Diana watched with a sharp tug of longing and envy as Laurie and her father wrapped each other up, both crying, neither showing any inclination to release the other. Dan held up a hand of greeting to Diana, echoed by Gary and Myth. Penny crawled out of her trailer and hobbled toward her with outstretched arms. Diana grew a bit misty-eyed herself seeing that her young friend was okay. Obviously, they'd had a run-in with something – no surprise there, could've been anything – but they were all alive and here. They were no substitute for her dead husband, but then nothing could be. In this world, they were her family – she thought suddenly of Zurzay – or a big part of it.
She hugged Penny, noting her less than usual bone-crushing strength, and shook hands with Dan when he pried himself loose from his daughter. She waved at Gary, who waved back with a chagrined smile as if embarrassed by his weakness. She and Myth exchanged a cordial nod.
"I've been wondering if we'd ever see you all again," said Diana.
"I've been wondering the same thing," said Dan. "By the way, meet Gunnar Thorenson, former Special Forces, the latest addition to our happy family."
Diana shook the big man's hand. "Special Forces? How did we get so lucky?"
"I've been asking myself the same question." Gunnar favored her with an appreciative smile. "Especially at this moment. I wasn't sure I'd ever see a live human being again, not to mention someone so..." His smile turned dry. "So clearly capable."
"You might want to reserve judgment on that. So far, my best capability is being lucky to have help when I need it. Penny could tell you something about that." She nodded to the girl, who blushed. "And a winged-wolf friend who isn't here."
"There's a lot of that capability going around," Dan chuckled. "Diana was the one who patched up my arm. You could say we're a mutual assistance society."
"As we should be," said Gunnar, his eyes remaining on Diana.
"Speaking of your arm," said Diana, averting her eyes from the big Scandinavian to Dan, "I see you're not wearing a cast."
"Speaking of luck, Myth found some miracle healing cream in the last landing ship." He raised his left arm and flexed his fingers. "Without X-rays, I can't know if the bones are fully healed, but I know that's how they feel."
"Ah. I'm happy you found that cream! I thought we took the last jar of the stuff from the landing craft. The one in the big meadow, right?"
"Right." Dan stared at her. "You're saying you have a jar of that cream?"
"Yep. Two of them. And it looks like some of you could use some."
"You're right." Dan grinned. "Damn, it's so good to finally join up with you – not to mention my lovely daughter here." He reached over and mussed Laurie's hair. She latched onto his side. "Thank you for your part in bringing her back to me. I know Gary carried her out of the Nazrene camp, but he mentioned you and your wolf risked your life earlier trying to save my family and made things unpleasant when they came after Laurie."
Diana bowed her head. "You're welcome."
They resumed walking up toward her and Laurie's camp.
"Where is your wolf, by the way?" Dan asked when they arrived.
"Probably somewhere in the neighborhood," said Diana. "I'd guess he's consorting with a female we spotted by the Hub."
"The Hub. I'd like to see this mysterious building that's attracting all the zoo animals."
"It's right over the hill. But first, maybe you'd like to rest a bit and some of you partake of that miracle blue cream?"
Chapter 17
ON PENNY'S INSISTENCE, MYTH had sprinted back to Curly with the jar of alien healing cream after generous amounts had been applied to Gary and Penny's wounds. Myth returned shortly, saying the "Zemzorik" was still alive, if barely, and that she'd dabbed some of it into the creature's eyes. She'd held out little hope that the bear-dog would survive.
Yet the next morning, with Penny and Gary up and about – Gary recovering most of the mobility in his legs – Curly limped into camp, his gate stiff but his broad head held high. Penny had showered him with hugs and kisses, which the monster-dog accepted with stoic grace. Diana was happy for her but couldn't stop a part of her from wishing it was Zurzay instead.
They discussed strategy and decided since their rescue raid would have to occur at night that night vision scopes, binoculars, protective goggles, and even a few more weapons for the raid itself might be good ideas. The two men put their native Minnesotan heads together to guess where the nearest sporting goods store carrying those items might be, and settled on Merrifield Outfitters off a nearby highway likely no more than fifteen miles from them. Since Penny and Gary still weren't fully recovered, Myth was tapped once again as their speedy pickup and delivery person.
The battle between Gary, Penny, and Curly with one Azrene put everyone on notice, if not on edge, about the female simians' martial capabilities. Even Gary's usual smug air of invincibility withered at the mention of taking the female Nazrene on again. The first steps were to discover Sonja and Donny's location in the camp and who was guarding them at any point during the day and night. They all agreed that overpowering the guards and getting the Jensens out of camp was the easy part. The hard part was escaping the inevitable pursuers. A barrage of gunfire might or might not discourage them. It was more than possible that the males, camped nearby, might get involved.
There was only so much firepower four people could manage. They needed to move Sonja and Donny clear of the area fast enough to discourage or even eliminate the possibility of pursuit. Using Zurzay to transport them out occurred to Diana, but Zurzay wasn't around, and even if he was he couldn't rescue them on his own.
One critical limitation was speed. The Azrene/Nazrene could easily o
vertake the human adults, and neither hiding nor the night would protect them from the simian-creatures' noses. Gunnar suggested they set aside those "inconvenient facts" and focus on finding out where the Azrene were keeping them.
With that in mind, two days after the two groups had joined forces they ventured out with the new optics Myth had foraged without incident from Merrifield Outfitters, splitting up to observe the Azrene camp from two vantage points as close as the cover of forest would allow. Sadly, the camp was arranged in a series of semi-circles that blocked full views from any direction on the ground. After hours of watching the visible areas, they saw no sign of Sonja or Donny Jensen.
Another long walk home which included an encounter with a posse of killer-fairies – the Ekorake or "stinging death," according to Myth – which fortunately gave them a wide berth. Back at camp, more brainstorming followed to no clear conclusion. Even walking around the area threatened them with discovery, as any conflict which necessitated weapon-fire would alert the baboon-creatures to a human presence. The Nazrene abductors, at least, knew they'd been dogged by human pursuers and would be on guard if they heard gunshots. Surely, they could communicate that to others of their kind, including their females?
The best they could come up with that night, over a crackling fire and MRE meals Myth had pilfered from the store at Gunnar's suggestion, was sending Gary back on another reconnaissance mission – this time exclusively devoted to locating the tent or tents housing the two Jensens. With most of his athleticism returned, and more expected tomorrow after another dose of cream, he had the right build, height, and physical abilities – plus, they hoped, the right smell still clinging to his outfit – to skulk about the camp at night without provoking suspicious sniffs or looks.
THAT NIGHT, watching from the nearby woods, Gary was about to sneak into the Azrene camp when a strange procession of girl-chimps filed out from the tents, their torches casting eerie patches of light in the purple hues of twilight. The strangest part was the female in the center, dressed entirely in black, being escorted by two exceptionally large Azrene bearing curved-blade spears that looked to Gary like scythes.
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