by Cheree Alsop
“No!” Tariq yelled.
He barreled into the room, all sense of self-preservation gone at the sight of the slain child.
The Damaclan, his tribe tattoos clearly visible on his pale skin, tossed the body aside and grinned.
A shudder ran through Liora’s body. She knew that grin.
Tariq glanced to the right. The other body on the ground had been cut open from navel to neck. Her beautiful face was frozen in a rictus of pain, and her empty eyes stared beseechingly at him as though begging him to avenge her.
“Dannan!” he yelled.
The Damaclan met him halfway across the living room. Liora felt the deep stab of the warrior’s knife as he sunk it into Tariq’s stomach and pulled it to the right, a killing wound.
Tariq turned at the last minute, his knees buckling as he pulled himself from the blade. He swung at the Damaclan. The warrior blocked the weak swing and let the human fall to the floor.
“It is done,” the Damaclan said.
Tariq’s eyes closed and the memory vanished.
Liora staggered to her feet. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She told herself that perhaps it was just a dream. No one had ever pushed anything back at her. Maybe instead of a memory, she had just viewed whatever nightmare Tariq was caught in.
There was only one way to know for sure. It took every ounce of Liora’s willpower to kneel by the human once more. She reached for the zipper on his atmosphere suit. With shaking fingers, she pulled the zipper down.
Liora’s stomach tightened when the suit slipped away to reveal the white puckered scar across Tariq’s stomach. Liora touched the scar, remembering the way the Damaclan’s knife had buried into the flesh. The hilt had been black with the scaled head of the Tessari Dragon engraved into the burnished bone.
“Your fingers tickle, Dannan,” Tariq slurred. A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth.
His eyes opened. Liora watched the emotions change from pained humor to anger and loss when he remembered where he was. She stumbled back.
“Tariq, I—”
A rumbling sound filled the cave. The floor dipped, then fell away. Liora dove and caught Tariq’s hand.
A giant head reared out of the cavern where the ground had been. One white, blind eye sat at the top of a face a palm’s width above the gaping mouth made of a circle of fangs. The name worm fit in that the creature had no arms, and its head was merely an extension of its long body. Rough red, slimy skin covered it completely. The creature let out a rattling, guttural moan, revealing crooked, needle-like teeth that ran in rows down the inside of its throat.
Tariq pulled up toward Liora. The creature lunged for his body. She yanked him as high as she could, but he was heavier than she, and the blood on her hands made her grip slippery.
“Tariq!” she cried.
“Hold on,” he said, his eyes fever-bright.
The creature hit the side of the cave so hard the rocks around them vibrated. Liora’s footing slipped. She reached for a better handhold. The worm hit the side of the cave again. Liora slid down. Tariq’s free hand scrabbled against the rocks.
The creature lunged forward. Tariq’s foot disappeared into its mouth.
He let out a yell of pain.
It yanked his hand from Liora’s.
“Tariq!” she yelled again.
The worm pulled back with terrifying speed. Tariq disappeared from view.
Liora stared at the hole where he had been. Her heart hammered in her chest and her mind tried to deny what had happened. Tariq was gone.
The memory of what he had gone through surfaced in her mind. She again felt the devastating loss when he looked at Dannan’s slain body and saw his child thrown lifeless to the side. He had been wronged, so very wronged, by her people. The sheer mindless fury that had filled Tariq when he attacked the Damaclan surged through Liora’s veins.
Tariq was injured and caught in the jaws of a deadly creature. Liora would not let the worm win. Tariq’s rage multiplied with her own, creating a rush of wrath the likes of which she had never felt before. Fueled with fury and armed with the blade Branson had given her, Liora jumped into the hole.
Chapter 11
Tariq’s yells drove her on. She knew he would fight, but given the shape he was in and the number of teeth that held him captive, she knew his odds were slim to none. She ran through the tunnel, slipping a few times on the slimy path the creature had left. Strange vibrations filled the dirt, pulsing around her in palpable waves the closer she got.
Liora reached the end of the tunnel and slid to a stop.
Hundreds of the flesh-eating worms writhed in a huge chamber far beneath the surface of the red planet. Their moaning, guttural sounds echoed through the air. Small, glowing beetles lined the walls, lighting the room. Red, dangerous-looking stingers tipped the end of the worms’ long tails. The remains of bodies that they had devoured littered the ground. Liora saw several Revolutionary helmets beneath the thrashing creatures.
Tariq was nowhere to be seen. The voice in the back of Liora’s mind warned her that he might already be dead. She refused to listen. Reason warred with her anger. If he was in the stomach of one of the creatures, she would cut each of them open to see if there was a chance to save him.
“Tariq!” she yelled.
A hundred white eyes turned in her direction. Liora gripped her knife tight and leaped into the fray.
It took only a few dangerous moments to find out that the worms’ sightless white eyes weren’t for vision. They were the way the creatures sounded their vibrations, a sonar of sorts. When Liora stabbed the eye, it debilitated the worm. The creature would thrash around, spraying blood and white sludge everywhere. Liora could then slice the worm’s throat down to the belly, spilling the contents onto the ground.
She lost track of how many bites she defended and lunges she ducked. She stabbed half a dozen eyes at a time and sliced through their stomachs after they were incapacitated. Bodies from eaten rebels, strange planet creatures, and two members of Devren’s crew fell lifeless to the red sand, but Tariq was nowhere to be found.
When Liora had killed all of the worms in the cave, she took off up the closest tunnel, following the vibrations that mean a worm was ahead of her.
A muffled scream sounded as she neared the surface. Liora reached the worm and cut off the red stinger. The creature let out a thundering bellow and tried to back up. Liora only had one choice. She sliced the worm’s belly and dove to the side, letting the contents spill back down the tunnel.
After checking to make sure Tariq’s body wasn’t included in the disgusting mess, Liora cut her way up the body until she reached the worm’s head. With a backwards slice, she removed the neck completely and shoved the head out of her way.
“What on…Liora?”
Liora stared at the humans around her. Officer Shathryn was huddled against two other officers from the Kratos Liora didn’t know. Shathryn’s arm was bleeding in long tracks as though she had just been freed from the worm’s mouth.
“That worm got me and I thought I was ashes in the Macrocosm,” the purple-haired humanoid sobbed. “I was saying my prayers and everything, then the worm screamed and let me go. You saved my life! We tried to get to the others, but they’re trapped.”
“Where are they?” Liora demanded.
“The worms? They come from underground and—”
“The others,” Liora corrected her urgently. “Where is Captain Devren and the rest of the Kratos crew?”
Shathryn tried to explain, but tears flowed from her eyes and Liora couldn’t make out a word of what she said.
“They’re that way,” one of the other officers told her. He waved his arm. “They’re with the rebels. Devren radioed us and we were trying to reach them when the worms appeared.”
Liora was already running. Shathryn called her name, but she left them far behind.
Her sharp gaze made out the boulders and pits caused by the worms. She darted around them, her attention lo
cked on the sounds of commotion in the distance. Sporadic gunfire and yells filled the air. She ran down a wash and followed the sounds to a small valley between two dirt mountains.
Devren, Straham, and Sicily fought beside four rebels against a dozen worms. The creatures lunged then drew back. Sicily fired a few shots, but the others appeared to be out of ammunition. Devren and a rebel held knives they used to push back the worms. Blood streaked the ground, remnants of someone who had fallen to the creatures’ bloodlust. She counted seven slain worms, but others appeared as soon as the officers dropped their companions.
Liora ran around the hill, circling the worms. The light of the biggest sun showed on the horizon, lighting the valley below her in shades of red and gold. The creatures on the ground lunged and pulled back, their slimy trails catching in the dawn light.
Liora launched herself off the hill. She landed on top of three worms, stabbed their eyes, fell to the ground, and cut through the three necks with a short spin. She dodged a stinger and sliced, severing the appendage from another worm’s body. When it twisted to retaliate, she sunk her blade deep in its eye. Two other worms attacked at the same time. Liora ducked and they slammed into each other. She drove her knife up, sending it deep into the first worm’s throat before she tore the knife free and finished the second.
Liora heard yells as Devren and the other officers joined in. Worms fell left and right. Those who dove through the tunnels to enter the fray were cut down. Blood and carnage slicked the ground. Liora felt caked in death and devastation. All the while, the thought of Tariq injured and possibly dead haunted her mind, driving her to further destruction to ensure that none of the other Kratos members followed.
“Liora!”
She stood in the middle of the fallen worms facing the holes in the side of the hill. All around, slain worms twitched in the final throes of death.
“Liora,” Devren yelled.
Several vibrations hit her. More worms were coming.
“Get ready,” she called over her shoulder. “There’s more of them on the way.”
A hand touched her shoulder. She glanced to the right.
“It is you,” Devren said, his eyes wide and face streaked with blood. “I thought you were dead.”
“We got pinned down,” she replied, fighting to catch her breath. “They took Tariq.”
Devren’s jaw tightened. He wiped the blades of his knives on his atmosphere suit and turned to face the tunnels.
“They’ll pay,” he said with steel in his voice.
“We take them together.” Straham took up position on Liora’s other side.
The four rebels fanned out, their weapons ready and gazes on the tunnels. Liora looked from the Revolutionaries to the Coalition officers. All of them were covered in blood from the worms and their own wounds. Each had the same determined expression on their faces. They would avenge those who had fallen from the worms, or die trying.
“Hold your ground,” Devren told them. “We’re stronger together. Protect each other’s backs.”
The vibrations grew louder. The number of worms sounded like far more than they had already faced. It was a losing battle, but the rebels and officers faced it head on.
A dozen worms dove out of the holes with more forcing through behind them. The mass barreled down on the humans and humanoids.
The worms moved with a speed that was terrifying. Their bodies glistened in the rising sunlight and their blind white eyes glared ominously. The fanged holes that made up their mouths opened in anticipation. Liora braced herself.
An ear-splitting, shrieking cry tore through the air. A creature so big Liora couldn’t see its entire body landed on the worms. Huge claws tore into the thrashing bodies. The worms let out guttural protests as they were shredded by a huge multi-beaked face. Every worm that appeared from the tunnel was slain and eaten in a matter of seconds. Within moments, even the bodies of the creatures that had been killed were gone.
The beast turned its many-eyed face toward the humanoids. The five beaks opened and a rumbling roar sounded so loud the officers and rebels had to cover their ears. The creature glared at them, its lizard-like features covered in worm blood. It flapped its leathery wings. Scales and spikes covered the beast from its back to the tip of its three tails. Eyes blinked in every direction from the beaked face. It lowered its head, intent on finishing its meal.
Liora spun her knife so that she held it point down. Her goal was the eyes, though there were so many she doubted it would have the same effect it did for the worms. The creature could eat half of them in one swoop. Its huge mouths opened. Hot breath washed over the group.
Gunfire spattered into the beast’s chest and head. The sound of the Gull’s engines echoed against the hillside. The beast reared back and swiped at the spacecraft. Hyrin maneuvered the ship out of reach and the Gull spun, revealing the open hatch.
Liora’s breath caught in her throat.
Tariq stood on the loading bay with a rocket launcher on his shoulder.
“Get out of there!” he yelled.
The officers and rebels fell back. The beast lunged after them as if it couldn’t resist the chase. The rocket soared through the air. It slammed into the creature’s chest. The explosion knocked Liora off her feet. She rolled to her knees, her knife raised in case the beast attacked.
The creature flapped haphazardly into the sky, its chest torn open and cries of rage sounding from its beaks. Its wings blocked out the rising sun for a moment. It gave another shriek and turned, soaring into the distance.
The Gull landed.
“There are more of them coming,” Tariq said. He leaned heavily against the rocket launcher. “Get in, quick!”
The rebels hung back. Devren waved his arm.
“Come on; we’ll drop you at your ship.”
The rebels looked at each other. Liora couldn’t blame them. Setting foot on an enemy ship after the battle for their lives must have felt like diving out of the frying pan into the fire.
Devren understood the same thing.
“I’m the captain of this crew. You have my word that you will be protected and delivered to your people safely. Do you really want to hang around here for another of those animals to attack?”
“The family might need us,” one of the men said quietly to his comrades.
“You’ve got to hurry up. I can see more demon birds on the horizon,” Hyrin called over his shoulder.
A rebel with blood-streaked long gray hair met Devren’s gaze. “We have your word?”
Devren held out a hand. “As captain.”
They shook. The rebels climbed cautiously into the Gull. Hyrin closed the loading bay and swung the ship southwest.
Liora took a seat across from Tariq. Other crew members from the Kratos who had been rescued sat and lay in the small ship’s hull. Everyone appeared to be in the same state of wounded but surviving. The crew barely blinked an eye at the appearance of the Revolutionaries. The rebels took the seats closest to the door. If they felt any anxiety when it closed, they didn’t show it.
Everything that had happened in the past few hours threatened to crash down on Liora. She sheathed her knife and crossed her arms over her chest in an effort to maintain a hold on her emotions. She had never set foot on a hostile planet, been shot at by Revolutionaries, watched one of her comrades die at her feet, and gone into a rage so deep she slaughtered an entire horde of flesh-eating creatures without a second thought. She was covered in the blood and carnage, a reminder of the beast she had become.
Her gaze met Tariq’s. He looked as beat up as she felt. The leg of his atmosphere suit had been shredded. Blood showed beneath the tattered cloth. He leaned awkwardly to one side, his arm resting in his lap.
“How are you doing?” she asked just loud enough for her voice to carry over the Gull’s engine hum.
“I’ll survive.”
His eyes traveled over her body. She suddenly felt the bite wounds and bruises beneath the sludge that covere
d her from head to toe.
“How about you?” he asked, his tone unreadable.
She wasn’t sure how to put into words what she felt.
Before she could answer, Hyrin called back, “Has anyone seen Shathryn or Veras? We lost radio contact with them.”
Liora rose and walked to the front of the Gull. Devren studied the ground from the co-pilot seat while Hyrin steered the ship over the hills and valleys of the red planet.
“They’re west of here,” Liora told them. “I ran into them and they told me where I could find you.”
“Perfect,” Hyrin replied. “Maybe we can get to them before more of those bird beaks show up.” He turned the ship to the west. A few minutes later, they made out the forms of Officer Shathryn and the two other crew members in the valley where Liora had left them.
Hyrin landed the Gull in a cloud of red dust.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Shathryn exclaimed when the loading door opened. “I was worried more of those worms would show up.”
“It’s not the worms you have to worry about,” Officer Straham told her, his worried gaze on the sky as though he feared one of the beaked beasts would drop on them without warning.
“Well, the worms were bad enough,” Shathryn said as the other officers helped her inside. She held her arm close. “If it wasn’t for Liora, we’d be underground right now.” She gave Liora a beaming smile when she was helped to the seats behind Devren.
The officer who limped up behind her nodded. “When that worm came up, we thought we were done for. We were out of ammo and Shathryn had already been attacked and was bleeding. The worm surfaced and Liora cut it open from inside the tunnel. Its head fell off, and there she was.”
“The most gruesome angel I’ve ever seen,” Shathryn said. “Blood everywhere and nothing but her knife against those monsters. It was amazing.” She dove into a moment by moment recounting of the attack as Hyrin maneuvered the Gull into the sky once more.