Fresh Blood

by Jessica Hicks

  Koale rushed over and sunk his dagger into the raider Trent had knocked over. The sudden action by his friend startled Felix out of his distraction. He raised his crossbow and aimed at the invaders surrounding Trent.

  The melee was a chaotic mess. Trent was swinging shield and club with abandon, the raiders pushed in and got their own swings in, inflicting gashes on the raging man. Through his sight he saw flashes of raider and Trent both. He couldn't keep a steady target and lowered his weapon. He couldn't risk shooting Trent.

  Koale apparently had no such qualms. A dart sprung from the exposed arm of a raider, and the limb fell limp. Trent seized on the opportunity and a long backhanded swing crashed into the raider, teeth first.

  Just two more surrounded Trent. Felix stuck the crossbow into his inventory and pulled out his knife. He charged the back of the nearest opponent. He plunged his weapon right behind the man's shoulder blades. Before he could retrieve his weapon, Trent slammed his shield into the wounded raider and sent them both crashing to the ground.

  The raider fell on top of Felix, pinning him to the ground. The raider faced away from him, but began to elbow him in the stomach. Felix reached for the knife, but it clattered out of reach.

  Felix shoved the man off him. He got a brief glance at Koale in a knife struggle with the remaining raider. Trent was missing.

  He couldn't spare any more attention to the matter. The raider had rolled towards the knife and now held it in his hand. Felix managed to catch a downward swing at his throat, but it took all he had to keep the blade from plunging down any further.

  Felix looked into the eyes of his attacker. A grime covered face looked down from under a leather cap. His mouth was fixed into a snarl and he leaned his body weight over top the knife.

  Felix's arms burned and shook. He wouldn't be able to hold much longer. And then the pressure lessened.

  It wasn't enough to allow Felix to break free, but the knife did stop edging closer to his throat. His attacker was moving oddly, but Felix couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blade long enough to see what it was.

  He was not expecting to see Liz’s head pop up over the man’s shoulder. She nipped the raider just above the collar bone. The raider grunted and his eyes narrowed at the small lizard, his blood staining her mouth. He reached back and grabbed her around her middle, and flung her away.

  Felix followed her with his eyes as she sailed through the air. He saw red. This bastard had hurt his girl.

  When he grabbed Liz, the raider had to take one hand off the knife. Felix used the distraction to push back against his attacker. It wasn't enough to unseat the raider, but it provided just enough time to pull an item out of the quickbar.

  A crossbow bolt materialized in his hand. It had a crude stone arrowhead, and quite frankly didn't fly terribly well. In this case, it didn't need to.

  Felix jammed the bolt into the eye of the raider.

  The raider screamed and clasped both hands to his eye, dropping the knife in the process.

  Felix pushed the man off him and snatched up his knife. The raider didn't even struggle as Felix cut his throat.

  Blood covered his hands, his arms. But he wasn't done yet. He looked over to where Liz had fallen. She was moving, and Felix let out a small sigh of relief.

  On the other side, Koale was already jogging toward him. He had a ragged cut on one arm, but otherwise looked intact. Behind him was the corpse of a raider, her face covered in burns.

  Koale offered Felix a hand with his good arm. Even as he was being pulled upright, Felix pointed at the corpse. "What did you do?"

  Koale looked back at the corpse and tapped one of the vials on his bandolier. It was now empty. "Concentrated slime acid. Troublesome to bottle, but clearly worth the effort."

  Felix looked at the red burns and looked away again. “Good job,” he said. He pulled out his crossbow and reloaded a bolt. Nobody has died. They would all respawn, just as healthy as could be.

  While he was pulling back the draw, Felix surveyed the battlefield.

  Renessa leaned back against the wall, hand pressed against her stomach. Blood oozed from behind her hand and from a gash in her leg. Trent was crouched overtop a prone raider, pummeling its face. No other hostiles were in sight.

  Weapon reloaded, Felix jogged over to Liz and scooped her up. He checked her over as he continued on to the wayward couple.

  She seemed fine, and chirped happily when Felix picked her up. It was a bit disturbing with the amount of blood and dirt she was coated with. Clearly Felix was not the only filthy one. He returned her to her perch on his shoulder and returned his attention to Trent.

  Trent was still whaling on the body. Corpse. Now that he was closer, it was clear the raider was no longer a threat to anyone. Renessa was trying to calm him down, but every time she successfully caught his attention, one look at her wounds would renew his vigor.

  Felix motioned to Koale, and pointed toward Renessa. Koale nodded and jogged over, pulling scraps of cloth from his inventory as he neared.

  Renessa taken care of, Felix made his way to Trent's side. Trent, the very large, very angry man who despises him and whom he had gotten killed once. Felix decided he needed to make better choices in his life, even as he squatted down next to Trent.

  The raider was an alien, and an aquatic race, if the gills on the neck were any indication. Beyond that, the damage Trent had inflicted made it difficult to discern any details.

  Felix watched Trent whale away at what once was the face. He didn’t look away, and he tried to keep his face from showing the turmoil his stomach was feeling. “I think,” he said after a while, “The threat is ended.”

  His voice cut through whatever haze was clouding Trent’s judgement. He stopped, fist still raised and glared at Felix. “What? You next then?”

  Cut through the haze, somewhat, at least.

  Felix held up placating hands. “Renessa needs you, man. I don’t know what you are feeling, or how to help you, but she needs your help more than she needs you beating on a dead man.”

  Trent stared at Felix, taking several deep breaths and scowling. Felix didn't dare look away, fearing he might trigger another buffet.Without a word, Trent jerkily got to his feet and went to his wife.

  Felix stayed seated, closing his eyes and staying still until the shakes had passed. He wasn't sure if it was from the fighting and adrenaline, the fear of Trent in this state, or a mix of the two.

  He had almost regained control of himself again when a howl went up outside the camp. It came from the direction of the burning, busted gate, but was soon echoed from all directions.

  It seemed the raiders weren't done yet.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  "And that's our cue to run," said Felix, hastily moving to his feet.

  Trent frowned even as he continued applying the last of the bandages to his wife. "The sound came from all around. We're going to have to fight regardless."

  Renessa shook her head. "We are, but there's no reason to fight them all at once, nor where they want us."

  Trent smiled the barest fraction of a smile. "I know you hate walking away from a fight, but there's no point this time. You're already hurt. We'll just let them kill us. We'll respawn at the ship and have done with it."

  "Won't work," said Felix as he gestured to their hut. "It's on fire, but the beds aren't actually destroyed at this point. You'll just wind up back here."

  Koale turned his own gaze towards their hut at the mention.

  Trent just shrugged. "Easy fix. We help the fire along."

  "Sorry hun," said Renessa. "We haven't been to the new site. We won't pop up there even still. We have to break out."

  Trent grimaced. "Shit."

  "Beacon," said Koale.

  Everyone looked at him.

  "The beacon is in our hut. We need to grab it before our company arrives," he explained, already at a half jog towards the hut in question.

  "Damnit Koale, not again." Felix turned to Renessa a
nd Trent. "You two, start making for the gate. We'll be with you in just a moment." He took off after Koale.

  Koale was halfway to the hut when Felix caught up with him. "Please don't do this again," Felix said. "This time let’s just run before things get worse."

  Koale shook his head. "We can't replace the beacon. If we don't have that, how will we be rescued?"

  There was a loud snarl behind them. Felix looked over his shoulder to see Trent and Renessa stopped short of the gate. They had their weapons drawn and readied. The couple blocked his view of their foe, but whatever it was, it certainly wasn't human. There was no action between the two groups yet, but that wasn't likely to last long.

  Felix grabbed Koale's arm and pulled him to a stop. "Look, I will get us off this planet. I don't know how just yet; we'll build our own spaceship if we have to. But, we are going to leave. Right now, however, we need to run."

  Koale looked back at the hut for a moment, and then nodded. "I'm going to hold you to it."

  "I know it."

  They set off in the direction of Renessa and Trent. The stalemate was broken by the time they covered half the distance. Trent leaned into his shield. Something hit with such force he staggered a half- step back. A large paw wrapped around the top of the shield, but missed Trent's head.

  Felix double- checked that his crossbow was loaded but didn't slow. He didn't have a shot at the creature. Even if he did, he wasn't confident in his ability to successfully shoot past Trent. Felix grinned despite himself at the thought of literally giving Trent more ammunition for his grudge.

  No sooner had he thought that, than something whizzed by his ear. There was a loud thunk as a bolt stuck to the inside of Trent's shield.

  Trent didn't even turn around, "Felix! Now is not the time to show your incompetence!"

  "It wasn't me," called Felix as he did turn around. Under the increasing blaze of the front gate was another group of attackers. One of which was busy reloading her crossbow.

  "More company behind us," said Felix. "We're going to need to hurry this up."

  Renessa lunged forward and was rewarded with a yelp. Her injuries caused her to stagger the recovery. Trent flung his shield arm out wide, exposing himself to cover Renessa. He intercepted an attempted strike at her, but claws raked the inside of his arm.

  "Take care of it," said Renessa, struggling back into a fighting stance.

  Felix turned fully around this time and brought up his weapon. The new group of raiders had three more armed with swords in addition to the one wielding a crossbow. Charging ahead of the group were two large, red feline creatures.

  They looked like a mix of puma and hyena, with long skinny legs and elongated snout on an otherwise feline body. The coat was a dark, brownish-red where it wasn't covered by a black leather harness.

  Felix aimed his crossbow at the nearest of the beasts. He took a deep breath to steady himself. He had always heard you have to keep your eye on the target and that wasn't a problem here. He couldn't look away from the animal racing toward him. He squeezed the trigger.

  The bolt struck home. It pieced the leather harness and buried itself up to the fletching in the chest of the creature. It slowed its charge, continuing on little more than momentum before it toppled to its side and lay still.

  Felix hurriedly set to reloading his crossbow. He knew he wouldn't get another shot in before the other was on top of them, but he knew he stood no chance with just his knife either. He hoped Koale had a plan, because he sure didn't.

  Felix caught a glimpse of the Lisnoir as he worked the draw back. Koale was holding his torch in one hand and a bomb with lit fuse in the other. He was reared back, ready to throw. It seemed overkill, but it'd certainly work for the other beast.

  Koale threw and the bomb went sailing. Right over the head of the red critter. Shit.

  The bomb landed at the feet of the raiders. It shattered on impact, but even still the blast was sufficient to knock the raiders off their feet. Several were bleeding, but though, Felix had no time to judge how badly their were wounded, as the remaining red cat was upon them.

  Whether by plan or happy accident, Koale's throw ended with his weight forward; another step forward carried the momentum into a wild swing with the torch into the face of the remaining red cat. With Koale's injury there wasn't as much force behind the blow as there might have been, but the torch knocked into the beast's head with an audible thunk. The fringes of it's fur began to smoulder.

  The red cat lurched backward. It pawed at its face and put out the beginnings of a fire. While it was distracted, Felix finished reloading. Before he could line up a shot, however, the red cat sprang onto Koale.

  It latched it's maw onto Koale's arm. It lashed its head side to side, ripping through Koale's hide. Koale screamed and clawed the red cat in the face, gouging deep rents. Felix finally got a clear shot and fired a bolt into the flank of the creature.

  The beast released Koale and sank to the ground. It was still moving, but it wasn't coming after them anytime soon.

  A few of the pirates were beginning to pick themselves back up by the time the last red cat was dispatched. Felix turned to Koale, "You okay to run still?"

  Koale hugged his mauled arm close to himself, but nodded.

  "Clear back here," called Felix. He turned back around to assist Renessa and Trent. One of their red cats was down, and the other was bleeding from several cuts.

  "Get ready," said Trent. He waited until the red cat lunged at Renessa and slammed into it with his shield. It went sprawling to the ground. He set off at a jog toward the back gates, Renessa at his heels. She stopped to jab the fallen foe with her spear as she passed.

  Koale followed behind Renessa, his hands empty. He cradled his wounded arm to his chest, and it bleed a distressing amount. There was no time to stop, and dress it, but Felix promised himself he'd keep an eye on him.

  Felix took up the rear. With the timely bomb from Koale earlier, nothing was after them yet, but they would be, he was sure. He put his crossbow back into his inventory and pulled out his knife. He didn't want to stop to reload just yet either, and it was cumbersome to run with.

  Rather than sticking to the shore as they normally did, they decided to duck into the tree line. The footing was worse, and being tired and wounded, they were stumbling through. Still, the hope was that it would be less obvious path of travel.

  In far too short of a space of time, they heard the howls behind them. The pursuit was on.

  They ran on, listening to the sounds of their hunters draw closer. Another fight was looking inevitable. Felix started scanning the terrain as they passed, looking for a place to fight, or better yet, ambush their pursuers.

  "Renessa, Trent," he said, huffing between the names. "You two go on. Koale and I will buy you some time. Take Liz with you." He reached out for his gal, still clinging onto his shoulders.

  Koale stilled his hand. "Not yet. Angle inland."

  "That's away from the ship," Felix said gently. He wondered if blood loss was clouding his friend's judgement.

  "I know. We'll use this." Koale let go of his wounded arm long enough to pull a clay sphere, complete with one of his bomb fuses.

  Felix accepted the bomb and the torch that followed. "A bomb is helpful, but no reason not to send them off ahead."

  "Stink bomb," said Koale. He'd gone back to holding his wounded arm. "Made of entrails, mushroom spores and anything else I thought might help."

  Felix waited until it sounded like the red cats would burst out of the foliage at any moment. He lit the fuse and chucked the bomb behind them as far as he could. It went off before even hitting the ground, and it was certainly effective. An overwhelming stench of rot followed after them.

  As soon as the smell hit, they angled back towards the second base. The plan seemed to have worked; the howls of the red cats fell further and further behind. They slowed and walked the rest of the way to the base. Renessa and Koale were not doing well, and their flight had exasperated
their wounds.

  Once they got to the base, they sat down the two more grievously wounded and patched them up; Trent reapplied dressing to Renessa, who had bled through her bandages, and Felix patching up Koale's arm.

  Koale smiled grimly as Felix pulled the bandage tight. "I suppose after that, I understand our warm welcome to your camp a bit better."

  Renessa grunted, but did not respond. She was looking quite pale, but Felix thought now that they were settled, she'd pull through.

  Felix finished tying the bandages and sat down. "So now what? We've got our research, and it's at least mostly recent. We lost the base, which is terrible, but we can rebuild."

  Koale nodded. "We can build here, or better yet, further inland. It'd be difficult for them to track us down in the jungle."

  Felix and Koale debated the pros and cons of various places they’d been inland while Felix moved to bandage Trent’s arm.

  "We should leave," said Renessa.

  Felix whipped his head to look at her. "No offense, but that sounds like a Koale or I idea."

  Trent inclined his head toward Felix, "He's got the right of it for a change."

  Renessa smiled at Trent. "I know, and that must have hurt to say, hun." She looked at them all in turn. "It's like this- we've been attacked before. You all know this. This time, they didn't even wait until Trent and I were beat to start looting. They are convinced we are hiding supplies."

  She gestured to the ship, "They aren't wrong. I don't think they are going to just leave. We can't exactly force them to, either. We had double the numbers they were expecting, and still barely made it out. They won't make that mistake again."

  If it had been Koale laying it out, Felix probably would have just gone with it. Hearing practical Renessa detailing such an extreme gamble seemed, well, desperate. "How about a compromise?" he said. "We'll need food anyway; that's why Koale and I were headed towards the base at all. Half of us can gather some food, and the other two can go scouting. If it looks like the pirates aren't going to leave without setting us back to the stone age, we can leave."