by S. J. Bryant
"We could try and run," Aart said.
Their blasts kept the scorpions at bay for the moment. It was almost as if the creatures knew they couldn't shoot for ever, as if they were biding their time.
Nova fired. "We wouldn't stand a chance of outrunning them down here."
"I know. Just throwing out suggestions."
"Dammit! Ten shots left."
"I'm thinking! I'm thinking!"
"There's got to be something." Nova's mind raced over everything she'd packed. She bit her lip, tasting blood, and glared at the oncoming swarm.
Her gun clicked.
"Shit."
She slammed her gun into the holster at her waist and with the same motion drew her knife.
"Watch my back," she said, bending her knees.
"What? Nova!" Aart's voice cracked.
"Just a little while."
"Please tell me you're not about to do what I think you're going to do," Aart said.
"Yep."
A scorpion scurried over the dead bodies and Nova leapt forward. She ignored the sudden burst of pain in her side and swung her arm down, slamming her knife into the thing's head. Her blade sunk through hard shell and plunged into the scorpion's brain.
"Nova, that's really impressive and everything but it's going to take us a really long time to get out of this if you're planning to stab every single one."
"I'm open to suggestions," Nova said, pulling her knife free and lining up for another kill.
"Upgrade our guns?"
"If we make it out of here, I'll be sure to do that."
Nova dived for another beast but as she lurched forward it darted sideways. Her arm fell wide, her dagger scraping on the hard sandstone floor. "Grishnak!"
The scorpion reared up and shot forward, its tail swinging through the air, tip shining.
Nova held her hands over her face and rolled as the tail swung down.
It slammed into the ground beside Nova's face with a noise like a cannon, leaving a white scratch in the stone. Poison dribbled from the tip and created a small puddle on the stone floor that glistened in the dim light. The tail reared up, looming above Nova's pale face. She gasped and scrounged for her gun.
Green light burst around the creature and it howled as flames consumed its face.
Nova clamped her hands over her ears.
Aart was right, they couldn't hold them. Her gun burned hot at her waist, useless. She'd faced some deadly situations before, but never had she considered death by scorpion. What a messy way to go.
"Get back you ugly bastards!" Aart yelled. A small light on his gun flashed red; it wouldn't hold out for much longer.
Nova scrambled to her feet, snatching her knife from the floor. She took a gasping breath and licked her lip, tasting blood and sweat.
A new sound entered the close-quartered battle. A bright yellow light flashed, followed by a howl.
In the sudden blaze of brilliance, Nova made out two faces in the tunnel, on the other side of the scorpion horde.
The strangers continued to fire. Yellow and orange bolts blasted into the fray, eliciting cries of pain from the scorpions.
Nova grabbed hold of Aart's shirt and pulled him back. With the scorpions momentarily distracted they could pause and let their guns cool down. A few seconds now saved whole minutes later if they let their guns overheat completely.
They stalled for as long as they dared, but it didn't take long for the scorpions to notice the lack of fire and scuttle their way. Their hard legs tapped against the stone floor as they bore down on the bounty hunters.
Nova slashed, her dagger plummeting into the nearest scorpion's head. Its shell cracked and coated Nova's hand in sticky fluid. She scurried back behind Aart as he fired two shots. The beast screeched and slashed its claws but missed, blinded by the charcoal holes that used to be its eyes.
Aart fired a final shot and the scorpion collapsed, dead.Two more scorpions lumbered towards them out of the darkness but a flurry of bright orange plasma blasts from the other side of the tunnel caught their heads and reduced them to screeching piles of blackened limbs.
As they fell silent, an eerie stillness permeated the stone catacombs. Burnt scorpion corpses littered the floor amid circular soot marks.
Aart glanced at Nova and turned back to the darkness, taking a deep breath. "Hello?"
A rasping voice replied."Hello."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Aart strode forward, his boots crushing shells under his weight. Orange and black chips scattered around his feet, leaving a trail through the sand.
Nova tightened her grip on her knife and placed her other hand on the gun at her waist. She kept the tunnel wall close to her left shoulder to avoid being surrounded and squinted into the inky blackness. She bit her lip, wanting to curse Aart for rushing forward into possible danger.
Aart's glowball lit up a layer of scorpion bodies. Some had been killed by Nova and Aart, others were dead by someone else's hand. The light fell onto two sets of boots and trailed up to two human faces. They had furrowed brows and looked at Aart and Nova with the same caution she felt.
"Aart Goldson," Aart said, holding out his hand.
The man and woman glanced at one another and then the woman grasped Aart's hand.
"Maya Sicel. This is Tommy," she said, her voice soft and her eyes hard.
"So what brings you fine folks to a place like this?" Aart said with a grin.
Maya jutted her chin up at the ceiling. "We're Hunters, same as you I assume. Caught by the sick bastard."
"What guild are you from?" Aart asked.
"A small one, you wouldn't have heard of it," Maya said, running narrowed eyes over Nova. Her brown hair was pulled away from her tanned face, revealing a jagged scar running along her jaw.
"Sometimes small is better. We're from The—"
"Hungry Hunters," Nova said, slamming her boot into Aart's shin.
He grunted and glared at her.
Maya frowned. "I don't think I've heard of that one……"
Nova waved her hand. "It's small too."
Maya nodded, her lips pursed. "I see."
Nova's face remained expressionless. "How'd you get onto this level?"
"What do you mean this level?" Maya said, frowning. "We haven't seen any stairs or anything."
Nova grunted. She and Aart had practically died to get up on this level; it seemed unfair that these two hadn't even seen another one. But this area hadn't been marked on the map she'd seen. Did that mean the maps were useless?
"Is this the only trouble you've run into?" Tommy said. His short brown hair jutted up in spikes above bright blue eyes. He had a handgun tucked into his belt alongside a small knife.
"We've had a few troubles," Aart said, thrusting his thumb over his shoulder at Nova. "She was nearly killed by a plant if you'd believe it."
Maya grunted. "That's one explanation for the blood."
Nova's shoulders tensed and her grip tightened.
Tommy ignored Maya's interruption. "I sure would believe it. We've seen a few things too. When we heard you yelling, we thought we'd best lend a hand."
"What kind of Hunter lends a hand to strangers in a place like this?" Nova narrowed her eyes. These were hard times and soft-hearts were hard to find.
"The good kind," Maya said, her tone terse. "Now Tommy, hush your mouth."
"You two knew each other," Aart said, "Before all this."
"Sure did," said Maya.
Aart held his hands wide. "Well, I don't know about you but I'd rather travel with four of us than two."
Nova glared at the back of his head. "Aart—"
"I'm not sure if it would—" Maya glanced again at Nova.
"Maya, we need all the help we can get," Tommy whispered.
"Aart, we have no way of knowing if they are who they say they are," Nova said, stepping up behind Aart and whispering into his ear.
"Same as they don't have any way of knowing if we're who we say we are."
> "Yes, but I know who I am."
Her skin itched at the thought of joining the strangers. It was bad enough to let people travel with you at the best of times, let alone in a hellhole like this. The hairs on the back of her neck lifted up as she stared at Maya's dark eyes.She hadn't lowered her gun yet either.
"Ladies, ladies," Aart said. "I'm sure we can work it out."
"Yeah, we don't know what else might come our way. I'd rather there be four of us when it does," said Tommy.
Aart nodded to Tommy. "See, the man speaks sense. Now if you two can just put your weapons away, we can talk like civilised people."
Nova glanced down at her weapon, which was still levelled just to the left of Maya's stomach, and then back at Maya. They stared into each other's eyes and as one they lowered their guns to their sides.
"Okay, now into the belts and we're practically friends," Aart said, the grin never leaving his face.
Nova lowered her knife, but only as quickly as Maya. Her knife dropped into place at the same time as Maya's gun and they lifted their hands away, palms up. The two women nodded at each other, so far so good.
Nova scrutinised every detail of the other woman; the way she'd holstered her gun, the way she held the weapon, the way her finger flexed on the trigger. Nova was sure she could beat the other woman to the draw if it came to it. She had of course faked clumsiness in her own display, best to throw her opponent off guard.
"Where did you folks come from?" Aart said.
"Back down the tunnel, same as you I'd say," Tommy said.
"Good. I don't know about you fine people, but if fighting scorpions does anything it makes me hungry. I'd be happy to share some nutribars with you."
"We've got our own," Maya said. "Thank you."
"But we'd be happy to stop and eat," Tommy put in, "It's been a long day."
Aart dropped to the floor. "It's settled then."
The blackened scorpion bodies lay just outside of their pool of light and the thought of them made Nova shiver.
Aart rested his back against the tunnel walls and pulled out a nutribar. He handed half to Nova.
She took the bar and nodded once at Aart before bending her knees and lowering herself against the wall next to him. Maya and Tommy did the same on the opposite wall so that the four Hunters stared at one another across the tunnel.
"Tell me what else you've seen down here," Aart said around a mouthful of food.
Tommy shivered. "There was a massive spider. Luckily it didn't have a shell like these things. Just horrible hairy skin; like leather."
"I'm glad you ran into that instead of us," Aart said, his eyes wide. "I hate spiders."
Tommy nodded. "There was fire in the ceiling."
"What?" Nova asked, staring at him.
"Yeah, some kind of trap I guess. I didn't take the time to check it out properly. Just got out of there as fast as I could."
"This place isn't right," Nova said, shaking her head and leaning back against the wall.
"No kidding," Maya said.
Nova glared at her and returned to sullen silence. They ate in quiet and the awkward lack of conversation grew inside Nova's stomach and made her want to squirm. She dug her fingernails into her leg and scowled up at the ceiling.
"Hello Hunters and welcome to day two," a booming voice echoed through the tunnel.
The four of them jumped as an image of the statue they'd been sent to find appeared projected into the air in front of them. The holographic image rotated around in slow circles and was then replaced by four grainy portraits.
"Unfortunately some of your friends didn't make it through. Little Don. Kaila Midden. Rob Laughlin. Their bodies are feeding my planet now."
"Who the hell are you?" Nova said, leaping to her feet and swiping her fist through the hologram. Her hand passed straight through and shot out the other side.
"Tsk, tsk, Nova. You should know better," the voice said. "I wanted to let you know that the rules have changed. It seems to me that some of you have decided to team up. Let me tell you, that's not how it works around here."
Nova glanced back at Aart and placed a hand on her gun. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Maya did the same.
"I'm not completely without sentiment, so here's the deal Hunters. I will let your team survive if you all come from the same Hunter guild. If you're a mixed team, you'll all be killed, one way or another. And don't think I can't do it," the voice said with a chuckle. "So, just remember, if someone isn't from the same guild as you, they're going to see you dead. You will never get out of here while you all survive, because there can only be one winner. Let's settle once and for all which is the best bounty hunter guild. And let me tell you, it will take much more than a good space-race to win this one, Nova Tabryn."
The voice clicked off and disappeared along with the image of the statue.
"Someone's a few planets short of a solar system," Aart said after the voice disappeared.
"You always hear about the crazies. You know, taking people and hiding them away. Never thought I'd be a victim though," Tommy said.
Nova caught Maya watching her with narrowed eyes. "Nova Tabryn."
Nova shrugged.
"From The Jagged Maw."
Tommy frowned. "Wasn't The Jagged Maw—"
"We weren't home when it happened," Nova said. "I don't want to talk about it."
Tommy shook his head. "I'm sorry…"
Maya looked less convinced but Nova didn't want her digging any deeper. "What do we do now?"
"The way you came in was blocked off?" Aart said, turning to Tommy.
"Yep."
Aart sighed. "We played right into his hands. With a reward that high of course Hunters were going to come running."
"Yes, we got suckered," Nova said. "The real question is, what are we going to do about it?"
"Keep moving," Maya said.
"I think we should rest first," Tommy said. "I don't know about you guys but I'm just about asleep already."
"It's only mid-afternoon," Nova said, even though her muscles ached and she couldn't imagine going another step.
Aart shrugged. "I don't think the nutcase cares when we sleep. Plus, after our fun today I'm ready for a rest."
Tommy nodded. "Yep. I'm beat."
Nova shrugged but didn't argue.
Maya's hand fell to her gun. "Fine. I'll take first watch."
Nova stared hard at Maya. "Oh no, I'll do it. I insist."
"Maybe we should both do it," Maya said, her eyes narrowing.
"That might be best."
"Fine by me," Aart said. "I will be sound asleep."
"Until I wake you up for your shift," Nova warned.
Aart winked at her and pulled a thin blanket from his pack. He used the bag as a pillow and lay with his back against the tunnel wall. Tommy did the same on the other side.
Nova and Maya sat on opposite sides of the tunnel, avoiding each other's eyes. With Aart and Tommy asleep, silence fell. The darkness pushed in on all sides along with the complete absence of sound. If there were monsters sneaking up on them through the darkness, they were keeping very quiet.
The two women glanced at one another, their eyes like hard pieces of flint that flashed in the semi-darkness. The light from their glowballs shone up from below and cast ominous shadows on their faces. Maya's shoulders hunched and Nova's fist clenched.
Two hours later, Nova's shoulders loosened and she let her legs relax. If Maya planned to attack her, she was taking her time about it.
Maya stretched her neck. "So… Tabryn huh?"
"Yep."
They spoke in hushed tones so as to not wake the other two. Nova wasn't one for light conversation and if she knew anything about reading people, neither was Maya. Then again, it would be better to know something about the people she was travelling with.
"Rough place," Maya said.
Nova shrugged. "No more than most. Where'd you run from?"
The corner of Maya's mouth t
witched. "I suppose we're all running from something, aren't we?"
"Why else would we be here?" Nova flicked her hand at the darkness surrounding them.
"I was on Vix," Maya said.
She watched Nova from below lowered lids.
Nova kept her face neutral. "Would rather Tabryn any day."
"Yeah, me too."
"How long have you been a Hunter?"
"Must be about seven years now, although I was doing mostly the same thing on Vix towards the end. Just didn't have a ship to get off that rock."
Nova grunted. "Mostly the same story here."
"What are you riding now?"
"A beat up Zephyr four hundred."
Maya raised an eyebrow. "Retro."
Nova shrugged. "Their engines are good. Better than they look from the outside anyway."
"Oh I don't doubt it. Certainly wouldn't question mechanics from the illustrious winner of the space-race."
"That wasn't so much mechanical skill or even quality of ship. That was more that I was the only one racing that day with my head screwed on right."
Maya snorted. "Oh I saw the race. I know that's true."
Nova nodded and glanced back at the other woman. They stared at one another for a few moments, taking stock, reassessing. Nova let the final knot in her stomach loosen and decided to trust the other woman, at least for now.
"Did you see anyone else arrive?" Nova asked.
"No," Maya said, glancing down at her lap. "There were a few ships when I arrived though."
"Yeah, me too."
"What were you hoping to do with the prize money?"
Nova shrugged. "You know, ship upgrades. Stuff."
Maya rolled her eyes. "Okay."
Nova clenched her teeth and kept quiet. If Maya didn't believe her then so be it. She didn't exactly want to parade around the fact that she planned to break free of the outer border.
Maya sighed. "If you're not going to tell me that then I can't trust you and we should go our own ways now."
Nova glared at the other woman. "Even if I wanted to share my secrets with you, we never know who else is listening."
Maya grunted. "Must be a big secret."
Nova shrugged. "Just personal. Why, what did you want the money for?"
Maya's face dropped. "I've got a brother still on Vix. He got sold into one of the houses, you know? Makes them a mint too. I want to get him off, buy him a ship, set him free I guess."