I looked around the small room we found ourselves in. Whoever had occupied it before was gone, but some of their blood remained. Either they hadn’t gone willingly, or something had kicked the door in and murdered them. Judging by the amount of blood, I thought it safe to assume the latter.
A single light—a desk lamp of sorts—sat on a shelf littered with scrolls, books, and fruit. The room was dim, but there was light enough for our purposes.
“Did you see that?” Nyna said as Beatrix began going through Nyna’s colorful bag. “I’ve never flown one of those things in my life, but I knew I could do it. It was just, you know, once I touched the controls… Did you see the way we busted through that ship? I don’t want to do it again, you know, but it was awesome!”
Skrew, meanwhile, was sitting quietly against a wall, looking at his hands. They were covered in blood, and more dripped from his forehead. He didn’t seem to be aware of what was going on around him.
“Found it,” Beatrix said as she held up the short rod Nyna had used for healing.
“Skrew first,” I told her.
She nodded and turned toward the vrak, but Nyna took the rod from her.
“I’ll do it,” Nyna said.
She crawled close to the vrak, lifted his chin, and touched the rod to the wound on his forehead. He hissed and tried to bat her hands away.
“Hold him!” Nyna ordered.
I took one pair of Skrew’s arms while Beatrix held the other. After a few seconds of unsuccessful thrashing, Skrew relaxed.
“Is supposed to make the ouch?” the vrak asked.
Nyna laughed. “I guess so. I’ve never treated anything this bad before, so I don’t really know. The bleeding has stopped, though. And it looks like most of the skin has stitched itself back together. Just a few more seconds.”
Next, Nyna touched the rod to her own neck, grunted, then sighed.
“Who’s next?” she asked.
As she began treating Beatrix, I quietly made my way back to the door. I felt bruised, especially in the center of my chest, but I needed to check outside to see if anyone was coming for us. I opened the door a little and waited. If there were any guards outside, I should be able to catch their movement as long as I stayed still.
Just as I was preparing to close the door again, I thought I saw something. It was no more than a shadow against a black sky.
I blinked to try to clear my vision and waited to see if the movement happened again. But after a few seconds, I gave up and closed the door. An uneasy feeling settled upon my shoulders as I turned back toward those in the room. Somehow, I could sense the creature, and not just its presence, but its feelings as well.
It was the same kind of sensation I’d experienced when I first encountered the Lakunae. I knew what they wanted me to know, not by speech, and not quite by thought either. We were being watched—hunted—by a predator who knew what it was doing. It felt patient, hungry, and feral.
An explosion outside knocked the heavy door off its hinges and forced me to catch it before it hit anyone else. For a split second, the light of our ship detonating highlighted a crouched figure on top of a tall building across the street. Though it appeared to have two arms and two legs, it was far from human. Its limbs were thin like those of a spider and were a lot longer than any species I’d seen before.
The explosion had caused the building to buckle on one side, which made returning the door to its frame difficult. It also meant that by wedging the door in place, it wouldn’t fall down and expose any of us to the enemy watching from across the street.
“Skrew is more pissed!” the vrak growled. “No can have the nice things! Slavers break! Xenoses break! Everything gets to broken!”
He crossed his arms and stuck out his thin bottom lip. I almost felt sorry for him.
“Not everything is broken,” I said to him as I grabbed a rifle from over my shoulder, one we’d taken from the Thaz’red armory.
He looked over at the weapon and sat quietly for a few seconds. “Skrew is going to find Xenoses buttholes, fit whole pew inside, and pull trigger.”
Nyna gasped, then laughed hard. We all joined in.
Skrew looked from face to face, then back to me, and grinned widely. I’d never seen him look so proud. Whether he had really intended it or not, it was funny. I hoped he had intended it.
“All right,” I said, “everyone calm down. We’re still in danger, and we’re still behind enemy lines. Here’s how this is going to work. I want Reaver to take point, then Skrew, Nyna, Beatrix, then me. For once I’m taking the rear.
“I’m pretty sure I saw something out there across the street. There’s a lot of fog, so it was hard to know for sure until the ship exploded. Then, I saw it across the street. It’s got four limbs but definitely isn’t human. Not even close.”
“I believe I sensed it,” Beatrix whispered. “I thought I was feeling fear, but I am not afraid. A dark shadow haunts us. I feel the weight of the beast. It is hungry, and it seems to come from all around us. It knows no fear. It has never felt pain. I do not know how I understand this to be, but I do.”
“It must be Void-touched, like us,” I said. “I didn’t see any weapons on the creature—it was so skinny, I don’t know where it could have hid any—but treat it like it’s armed. If anyone spots it and has the shot, take it out.”
When everyone was ready and lined up at the door, I kicked the door off its hinges.
