She removed another Xeno hand a second later.
“I think we need to move now,” I said. “This little repair bug looks winded. It’s probably a big job for just one bug. We need to chance it.”
Three more pods rolled into the room. Nyna picked one up and walked it to the cell. The membrane was covered with sticky, green acid, I could no longer see inside.
“Everyone get ready,” I said. “I’m going to blast a hole in the ceiling. I want Reaver to go first. If there’s anything up there that wants to kill us, do what you have to do. Next will be Skrew. I’ll lift him up, and he can cover you. Then, Nyna and Beatrix. I’ll go last, but leave me some room. I’ll be in a hurry.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Reaver said. “Ready when you are.”
I got a quick nod from Beatrix, a worried look from Skrew, and a reserved smile from Nyna. It gave me a heaping helping of pleasure to know how pissed the Queen was going to be. We’d foiled her plan again. When it came to humans, angry opponents made bad decisions. I hoped it was the same for Xeno.
I took aim and fired. The ceiling exploded in a cloud of acrid-smelling, burned exoskeleton.
Reaver stood and kept her rifle aimed at the end of the hallway. In two rapid shots, she managed to remove two curious Xeno heads. I took her place and hit one in the center of its chest. Its falling body sent several of the oothecae rolling toward us. Those hit several others, and the process began to speed up. This was getting out of hand, Nyna would never manage to neutralize all of these.
“Move!” I ordered. “Fuck the plan and go! Everyone through the hole!”
Nobody hesitated. Beatrix ran to the center of the room and gasped when she saw the oothecae. She glanced at me with fear in her eyes—the first time I’d seen the expression on her beautiful face. Then, she grabbed Skrew, ripped his rifle from his hands, and tossed him through the hole, followed by his rifle.
Nyna was next. She went to pick up one of the Xeno organic grenades, but Beatrix grabbed her hand before she could touch it.
“No time,” Beatrix said, before she tossed the younger woman through the hole.
Then, she turned back to me.
“Go!” I ordered.
The enemy had already begun its charge. Beatrix sent one blast down the hallway she’d been guarding and leapt through the hole, clearing it easily.
The angle wasn’t right for me to do the same. The oothecae scattered around my feet prevented me from simply taking a few steps sideways and jumping up after her.
The enemy moved quickly, but I was ready for them. I moved my feet an inch at a time—first one, then the other. I winced as I saw the bug-grenades gently bounce off each other. If one of them wasn’t as sturdy as the others, it would burst. I could be injured in all kinds of ways, I could be blinded. But if it went that way, I’d take a few of them down with me.
With my pistol in my left hand pointed toward them and Ebon in my right, the battle began. I fired blindly down the hallway—making sure not to aim too low—jabbed my sword through the first bug’s thorax just below its neck, and fired again. My move held the bug on my sword and allowed me to use it as a meat-shield.
I glanced to my left. The hallway was filled with skittering Xeno warriors, so I fired three more times and hissed as the bug I was using as a shield stepped on an ootheca, popped it, and sprayed acid onto my right leg. Several more had burst, but they popped behind the bug, and its body had blocked their contents.
The pain was incredible. It felt like someone was playing the nerves in my right leg like a banjo. Lightning bolts of agony shot up my leg, ricocheted off my hip, and landed in my groin. I moved each foot another inch. I was close, but not close enough. I moved my feet again. I was tempted to run faster, but there wasn’t a single spot on the floor that wasn’t covered with the things, so I moved my feet just another inch.
The Xeno impaled on my sword wasn't dead. It made that fact clear when it grabbed my arm and raked its sharp claws across it. Compared to the pain in my leg, the slices in my arm were a minor inconvenience. I moved again, one tiny bit closer to my escape.
A bug tried to get past my meat shield. It was armed, and as it lowered its ootheca-launching barrel my direction, I fired two more shots down the opposite hallway and slammed the impaled Xeno against its armed companion, simultaneously yanking my sword back. Both Xeno clattered to the deck, popping a handful more acidic grenades. The pain in my leg increased, as did a thin line where acid had just splashed across my face.
My eyes slammed shut involuntarily. I winced, but pushed my way through it. I had to keep my eyes open so that I could see what I was doing. My face was on fire, but I was still alive, and as long as I lived, I’d kill bugs and keep moving. I moved again and realized I hadn’t checked the opposite passageway for too long.
I turned and groaned inwardly as I pulled the trigger. Three bugs came apart. They were too far away to splash me with their acidic blood, but it was close. I moved my feet again, even though the burn of acid on my face and leg screamed at my mind and pleaded with me to run.
I fired four more times in rapid succession, determined to keep the bugs at bay. I swung and slammed the flat of my sword against two others who tried to get through and watched in
