To reduce the stress on her wings, Taz remained angled downward. Kayla tensed. The rocks below were awfully close. Pull up, pull up! Tempted to close her eyes, Kayla didn’t. If they crashed, it would limit both their injuries if she dismounted before they hit. Kayla waited, hoping against hope she wouldn’t have to. When it became clear Taz was losing the battle, Kayla prepared to leap.
Taz, perceiving Kayla’s movement, gasped, “No, wait, I think I have it.”
Kayla hesitated, eager to feel the muscle movement lifting them away from danger. But it didn’t come. It was now or never. Kayla vaulted off Taz.
Touching down, Kayla found the ground rockier than she’d thought. She rolled, distributing the force of the impact. As sky and earth merged in a wild cartwheel of swirling color, her elbow crashed painfully into one rock, then her thigh and uninjured shoulder into another. Maybe rolling wasn’t the best approach. Kayla lifted her arms to protect her head. A passing rock punched her shoulder. Then the world went black.
Chapter Thirty-Four
An acrid smell had Kayla averting her head. She opened her eyes to find Atu bending over her. “How am I doing, Doc?”
“You’ll survive.”
Kayla eased up. Her shoulder still ached, but it no longer felt like someone stoked a fire in there. Glancing down, she found greenish goop covering the gaping hole. “Your handiwork?”
“Yes—you can thank me later. We need to move.”
Kayla accepted Atu’s hand as he helped her up. While she steadied herself, Atu signaled their gliders, and the pair charged down to collect them. When Taz dropped lower, Kayla saw the rough scrapes along Taz’s abdomen. But they weren’t deep or serious.
Aerial-connecting with Taz, Taz didn’t wait to say, “You bailed too soon!”
Kayla smiled. “And I suppose you would’ve still been able to lift with my weight had I stayed on?”
“Naturally.”
“Oh, so that’s why your belly looks like that gritty desert floor sandpapered it?”
“Fine, I confess! Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.” Taz sighed.
It was quite something for Taz to admit that. “No worries. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“You didn’t look it, all bloodied and unconscious on the desert floor,” Taz whispered. “I’m sorry I couldn’t lift us before you had to jump.”
Now Kayla felt bad. She hadn’t intended to make Taz feel guilty. Running her arms down and around Taz’s neck, she gave a gentle squeeze, hugging her glider. “Really, Taz, it’s not a problem. I’m alright. And so are you. And that’s all that matters.”
The air went out of Taz as she relaxed. Good. Kayla couldn’t have Taz niggling about that when they had foes to face.
The gliders accelerated toward the octagonally arranged cones while Kayla and Atu monitored the Gaptors pursuing them. Their unexpected collision had allowed their enemies to gain on them. Kayla’s heart sank. They wouldn’t evade the group for much longer. But she had to do what she could to give Jaden more time. How was his part of the mission was going? If only they lived through this. She had a few things she needed to say to him, whether or not he wanted to hear them. He better survive. She wouldn’t forgive him if he didn’t.
“Okay, so I know no one wants to admit this, but we’re in for a fight. Let’s figure out a strategy,” Kayla said.
Taz’s eyes glittered. “Way to not back down! We take the fight to them and, if losing is mandatory, we kill as many of them as we can.”
“That goes without saying.”
“Have I told you I like your competitive spirit? Yes, I like it very much! And I know how we can increase our chances.”
Kayla rubbed Taz’s neck. “Thanks. I like yours too.”
“How do we increase our chances?” Han interjected.
“See those cones coming up?” Taz asked. When her companions nodded, Taz said, “We’re going to find some allies.”
Han grinned. “The kangaroo rat?”
Atu, picking up on what they were thinking, added, “And the spider?”
“You bet,” Taz confirmed.
By the time they set the trap, their enemies were almost upon them. They hovered over the area, waiting for their foes to reach them.
Atu spoke. “If I don’t get to say this later, it’s been . . .”
“None of that,” Kayla snapped, cutting him off. “You only get to say those things when the battle’s over and we’re the victors.”
Atu nodded curtly. “I suppose we’d better win then.”
The lead Gaptor was within range. “It’s time,” Kayla declared.
Han and Taz dropped like weighted stones into the maze of cones. The first Gaptor, stunned by their swift movement, lunged after them. His companions followed suit. Consumed by their prey, they didn’t register their predicament until it was too late.
Han and Taz dodged the cone suddenly in front of them, adroitly skirting the obstacle. The lead Gaptor, too close and flying too fast, smacked right into it. He plummeted to the desert floor, wings shredded by the sharp stones peppering the cone all the way down. The second Gaptor avoided the same fate, but the third Gaptor went down in the same impressive fashion.
The lone escapee slewed awkwardly past the obstacle, only to stop between a pair of cones when he found his prey missing. His cohorts caught up, and the group hovered, unsure of their direction. As they hesitated, the relic stones flashed from between the two adjacent cones.
Kayla and Atu squinted against the bright light, almost impossibly intensified when it destroyed multiple targets. Their goggles protected their eyes to a degree while the special inserts in their hoods likewise cushioned their ears from the sonic boom. When the smoke cleared, no Gaptors remained.
“That takes care of the first group,” Kayla crowed, rubbing her hands together gleefully. When she noticed her shoulder no longer hurt, she was even more delighted. “Time for the next lot.”
Their gliders lifted above the cones and sped back to their starting spot. But the next group was already there. They were quicker than Kayla had bargained for. And now the gliders were squarely above the newcomers.
“Six,” Kayla bellowed, and the gliders split, Han and Atu soaring over the group while the girls ducked under them. Their DDs were already fully extended. Lifting her arm, Kayla sliced through the rigid, metallic cases protecting the monsters’ soft innards. Three Gaptors dropped before those behind them figured out where the threat was coming from. Screeching, they flapped upward, trying to put distance between themselves and the girls.
But Han and Atu were ready and waiting. It was like taking candy from gullible kids. Han weaved between the Gaptors who bobbed up, and Atu swung his DD with impunity, separating wings from bodies, heads from shoulders, and tails from abdomens. Thick black blood gushed from the wounds he inflicted, coating him and splashing down to Kayla and Taz.
Ugh, it stinks! Kayla tried keeping it off her to no avail.
Atu slashed left and right while Han’s talons sparked as they too exacted a toll on their enemies. Then the air cleared. Darting quick glances, Kayla and Atu readied for attack from any direction. But they’d smoked this group.
Kayla beamed. “Not bad.”
Atu chuckled, taking in her disheveled appearance. “Do I look as awful as you?”
Kayla glanced down. Slicked with the beasts’ black gore, it looked like someone had dipped her in a vat of crude oil. She imagined that, like Atu, only her teeth shone white against the blackness. She grinned. “You sure do!”
It wasn’t long before the next group arrived. Kayla swallowed. They would pose a problem. Where the previous two groups had numbered under ten, this group hit double digits. And if that wasn’t daunting enough, the group after, already visible and not too far off, was even more prolific. It was all Kayla could do not to groan aloud. Sucking down her apprehension, she waited. When the next group was within range, she said, “Time to use our unwitting ally.”
And into
the fray they went. Sinking between two Gaptors who were farther apart than the rest, they successfully split the group in half. As expected, one half chased after the boys, while the others followed the girls. This time, each choosing a different direction and trailing a line of Gaptors, Han and Taz raced past the cones used in their first attack. Leading the two groups to another cluster further away, they expertly dodging the many obstacles speckling the path to their goal. The precision required for negotiating the pitted landscape paid off, and they lost a few of their pursuers to cone collisions along the way. But at least nine monsters still chased them as they closed in on their target. Kayla hoped the spider was ready and waiting.
Evidently, he was. Kayla glimpsed him as Han and Taz converged on the narrow opening between two cones, flipping vertically to traverse the narrow gap. High-pitched shrieks sounded behind them when the first pair of Gaptors in each of the lines had neither the time nor space to implement the same evasive tactic. The closer Gaptor crashed into the cone where the spider lurked. The impact ricocheted him into his teammate, plunging both beasts down in a tangle of wings and tails.
The spider, ire spiked by the rude intrusion, wasted no time on pleasantries. Raising his abdomen, he jetted a thin tendril of wire across the opening to the cone opposite his home. It landed and stuck with a thwack. The second pair of Gaptors in each line had already passed him, but the third set, oblivious, slammed into the wire. Heads separated from bodies, as though their armored outer shells were no more resilient than tissue paper. For an instant, the decapitated heads hung suspended before following their heftier body parts toward the desert floor, the bizarre headless anomalies sparking pandemonium amongst the others.
As they tracked the pair of Gaptors who had slipped past, the teens and gliders beheld the ensuing chaos from their elevated position. A few Gaptors tried forcing their way through the gap, now slung with even more wires and deadlier than ever. Their attempts were fatal. Others tried turning back, crashing into those who still followed, intertwining themselves and hurling the knotted groups to the canyon floor. And the spider lanced one when it passed too close, its demise a matter of time.
“Wow, that worked considerably better than I thought it would,” Kayla murmured.
“Now that’s what I call an effective attack!” Atu hooted. Pointing toward the lone survivors of the group who were winging their way toward them, he said, “We just have to deal with those two.”
“V split and hit them between the angle?” Kayla suggested.
Atu nodded, interpreting her intent. They held their position, watching the approaching Gaptors, who lifted their heads and raised their antennae.
“What’s that all about?” Kayla asked Atu.
“I don’t know. They did it back at the tower as well.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not very practical.”
“How so?”
“They reduce their visual range when they angle their heads like that. When I’m in a fight, I want to see as much as possible.”
Atu shrugged. “Probably why they look totally bamboozled every time they do it.”
The Gaptors reached the sweet spot on the imaginary line opposite the V, angling out from where Kayla and Atu waited. As soon as they did, Taz and Han sped outward along the imaginary V, the girls to the right and the boys to the left of the oncoming beasts.
The Gaptors immediately slowed, confused by the sudden offensive move. Meanwhile, the gliders continued forward, their flight tangent putting distance between them and their enemies but keeping them on the same plane. Then the Gaptors were lined up between them, and the teens lifted their arms in unison. The relic stones sparked. Thunderous sound and dazzling light affirmed their enemies’ demise.
“Ready for the next onslaught?” Kayla lifted her chin toward the fresh group of Gaptors, already far closer than she would’ve liked.
“Do we have a choice?” Atu retorted.
Kayla grinned. “Same again, you think?”
Atu looked down. The spider was drooling over his loot, running his spinnerets over his victims, both alive and dead, preserving them for future feasts. “I think our friend is too preoccupied to be of much help this time around.”
“Our original attack then?”
“It’s the only one we have. Unless we find another anomalous rat or snake.”
Kayla grimaced. “If only!”
In the brief time available to plan their attacks, they’d been unable to find either a rat or a snake in addition to the spider. More’s the pity, Kayla reflected, as they raced back to hover above their starting position. Abruptly, Kayla grasped the enormity of the advancing group. Their recent victories paled.
If only they had more time! They could’ve come up with another viable idea. But they were fresh out of luck on that front. Considering the group’s size, she doubted they’d make it through this skirmish unscathed. Ah well, only one way to find out.
And hopefully, whatever the outcome, they would at least give Jaden the time he needed. Her heart contracted at the thought of not seeing him again. No, that thinking will not do! There’s no place for it. They would succeed. She would see Jaden again. And when she did, he would find out how she truly felt.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Han and Taz spun them to face the Gaptors closing in on them. In an almost comical moment, the lead Gaptor slowed, as if unaccustomed to such blatant confrontation. Regrettably, his hesitation was only momentary. Baring his teeth, he sped forward and renewed his attack.
Han and Taz held their positions. At the exact moment the lead Gaptor came within striking range, they dropped under him and curved down toward the cones sticking up from the desert floor like tall buoys offering safe harbor amidst a rocky sea. Reducing their speed so they managed to only just stay ahead of their pursuers, their gliders aimed for the spires used so successfully before. Except, this time, when Kayla glanced back, she was dismayed to find not all the Gaptors had dropped behind them. A small group remained overhead.
“Stay below the deck,” Kayla shouted to Atu. “Some are still above us.”
Atu glanced up, noted the danger, and nodded. Sparing no words, he concentrated on what they had to accomplish. Once more, the gliders slid through the treacherous landscape with agility while their clumsy opponents lost several of their own attempting the same feat.
Nearing the twin cones they’d hidden behind the last time, Han and Taz accelerated, putting distance between them and their pursuers. They dodged a single cone in the center of a group, then disappeared behind the adjacent pair behind it. Pulling up on the other side of the cones, they waited for their assailants to catch up.
Kayla checked on the group overhead. They were still too far back to have noticed their ploy. When the first Gaptor hit the single cone, it jolted her attention back. Almost without delay, a second pursuer crashed into it too. Then came the agitated shrieks. Kayla signaled Atu, and he raised his arm.
The Gaptors dribbled into the long, narrow space between the adjacent cones, slowed by the preceding obstacles. Kayla and Atu waited for as long as they could. By the time they had to act or lose their advantage, they had five Gaptors lined up. They released the power of the relic stones.
This time, the sound was so overpowering, even their auditory inserts were useless. Kayla slapped her hands over her ears, stunned by the volume. Raising her head to check on the Gaptors that had been overhead, she suddenly understood the reason for the racket.
“Han. Move!” Kayla screamed.
But he didn’t hear. Atu didn’t acknowledge her either. Desperate, Kayla pressed her legs into Taz’s sides. Taz turned, her gaze quizzical, but Kayla saw her question only as a mouthed response. Their hearing was definitely affected. When Taz’s eyes suddenly widened as she saw what was happening over Kayla’s shoulder—where the boys hovered—Kayla knew explanations weren’t necessary.
Surging forward, Taz annihilated the scant distance between them and the boys, brazenly bumping into Han bef
ore streaking away. He turned to glare at her, the slight movement giving him full view of the imminent danger. Without hesitation, he pitched forward using huge, powerful thrusts of his wings.
Atu grabbed on. He turned his head to find the girls. And finally, he saw it too.
Repeated blows sustained during their last foray must’ve weakened the cone the boys had been hiding behind. Either the massive sound wave or an errant Gaptor sent off course by the blast had crashed into it and cracked the top. It was now tumbling off the base in colossal chunks and careening downward. Han’s efforts to skirt the falling pieces of rock were not swift enough. A large, jagged chunk clipped one of his hind legs. He yelped, tucking his injured leg under his body and lurching away from the rest of the debris.
When they caught up to the girls, Kayla eyed him. “How’s the leg?”
“A nick—no broken bones. Thanks for the assist.”
“Sorry it wasn’t sooner,” Kayla murmured, digging a finger in her ear and shaking it. “We need a comm system in these suits!”
They watched as the rest of the cone came down, exultant when its destructive descent eliminated two more foes. With an almighty crash, the rocks hit the ground, and an enormous dust cloud fluffed over them. Zero visibility.
“Five!” Kayla cried.
Digging in, Kayla leaned the right way to counter Taz’s movements. Grateful her goggles protected her eyes from the dust, she was nonetheless disappointed she still couldn’t see a thing. So this is how it feels to fly blind. Her play demanded that the boys go lower, which meant they were moving further into the dust cloud rather than away from it. She would have to let them know when to lift so they could help her and Taz. And she would have to pray they heard her. A second later, she yelled, “Now!”
Kayla breathed when the boys shot up, popping above the cloud just in time to catch sight of the three Gaptors trailing the girls. They were almost in the perfect position for lining up the relic stones. Taz adjusted their course, putting them right on target. Kayla lifted her arm, as did Atu, and the Gaptors disintegrated.
Destiny Series Boxed Set Page 51