Srell.

I looked at Leena and knew what the look on her face meant.

She wasn’t about to leave these humans to the Xathi, and I guess, neither was I.

I had to admit though, the idea of fighting the Xathi excited me, even those wearing the power suits. If I was honest with myself, I had been itching for a fight since everything happened in Duvest.

I tensed up, ready to rush in, when Leena grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back. With her finger at her lips, she pointed off to the left. I looked back and saw three more Xathi coming, bringing more humans.

At least a dozen children, maybe more, were herded over to the other humans. Shouts of recognition and curses resounded from where the humans were held.

I shot a look of thanks at Leena. If I had rushed in…I’m just glad she had held me back.

There were ten Xathi there, too many for me to handle on my own at the same time. The original seven would have been difficult, but I’ve taken down that number before.

“We need a plan,” she whispered in my ear.

A small grunt of agreement was the only sound I made. I was trying to come up with exactly that.

I turned my head slightly, so she could hear my whisper.

“I’ll distract them, try to draw them away from the prisoners. You take them to that small clearing we saw a mile back. If I’m not there before dusk, then get them back to Duvest.”

“What about you? You can’t handle that many.”

There was actual concern in her voice. I liked hearing that concern, it gave me hope.

I summoned up some bravado and flashed her a “really?” look.

“And who says I can’t handle that many Xathi on my own?”

“I do. You might be some alien superman, but you’re not Superman. They’ll kill you before I can get those people away.”

“What in the name of the systems is Superman?”

Now it was her turn to flash me the look.

“Never mind. You can’t fight ten of those things alone. But I do have an idea, if you’re willing to listen.”

I raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue. I turned back to watch the Xathi, but kept an ear on what she had to say.

“We have the scent bombs and some smoke grenades. Why not use them?”

It was a good idea. The scent bombs had been made specifically for this occasion, and the smoke grenades would impede their sight. They would impair our sight as well, but it wasn’t a bad idea.

Before I could say anything, she reached into the pack I was carrying and brought out two of the scent bombs.

As I looked at her in shock, she smiled and threw. The two scent bombs flew, one landing between a cluster of six Xathi, the other one landing a few feet to the left.

With two consecutive “thwump” sounds, the bombs went off, spreading a pink haze into the air.

Shaking my head because I knew the pink was her decision, I watched and waited. An agonizing three seconds, which felt so much like thirty, went by before the Xathi began reacting.

Xathi soldiers are usually very disciplined thanks to their direct connection to either a queen or a sub-queen. They didn’t act on their own, they were basically an extension of a queen’s own body, that’s how tight and instantaneous their connection was. What I watched was a brand-new experience with these crystal bugs.

They went ballistic.

Each one started chittering and dancing around. They bumped into one another, tripped over their own legs or someone else’s, one even started biting at another, trying to snap off one of the arms.

I looked over at Leena, and she was smiling from ear to glorious ear. She was happy with herself.

I was, too. She had done well.

The sense of pride that my human female had succeeded was nearly overwhelming. Then she motioned towards them while giving me the “well?” look.

I gave her a toothy grin. Battle was to commence.

And then I charged in.

This was my element.

The closest of the Xathi turned towards me—I must have let out a growl or something as I charged—and brought its six arms up to defend itself, but it was disoriented, it actually hit itself in the face with three of the limbs.

As it staggered, I shot it twice in the face with my blaster, smirking as its head cracked open.

Nine left.

Two of them started attacking each other, one fell on the ground twitching, another started digging a hole, and one began marching on the humans, causing them to shriek and scream. I took aim and fired, hitting it square in the back. It turned towards me and lunged, screaming at me as it did.

I had never heard that kind of scream before, and it hurt my brain. I fell to one knee, dropping my blaster.

I needed my blaster, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t think straight.

I screamed in pain, my hands pressed so hard against my head, I thought I felt something crack.

It stood over me and stopped screaming. One of its legs kicked my blaster away as it reached down and picked me up.

Through the haze, I could see that its eyes were clouded. It shook its head, then opened its mouth, spreading its mandibles out wide. It leaned in and turned its head to the side.

I punched and kicked, but it ignored my blows. As the mandibles closed around my head and started to squeeze, there was a jolt and the Xathi’s body shook. It let me go and dropped me.

I was barely able to roll out of the way as the body fell. I looked up to see another of the Xathi holding the first one’s head, staring at it quizzically.

I didn’t wait to see what it would do next, I grabbed one of my other blasters and emptied the clip into the thing’s torso and head.

I threw my empty blaster aside, picked up my rifle—I must have dropped it when I got picked up—and started firing at anything crystal.

Seven left. No, make that six…one of them had stuck its own claw through its chest.

I emptied the clip on my rifle, reloaded, and emptied it again.

I didn’t see the humans anymore, Leena must have gotten them away.

Four left. But only five bodies. One of them was missing.

My rifle clicked. I reached for another clip and realized I was out. A quick search confirmed that I had dropped them when the Xathi had picked me up.

Damn.

The mist had also dissipated. The Xathi were beginning to return to their senses. I had to end this quickly before they could broadcast back to their queen, if they hadn’t already.

I unstrapped my hammer, smiled, and let out a roar as I charged. I only spent a few seconds pounding one in the back, breaking it in two.

Three.

I reached into my pouch, pulled a grenade, flipped the pin, and tossed it in the direction of one as I raced towards the other two. The “thwump” behind was all I heard.

Srell. Missed.

Not one of my better throws.

I blocked one of the Xathi’s blows with the haft of my hammer, ducked under the other, and broke two of the legs of the first as I rolled between them.

With two of its three right legs broken, it fell over onto its side. It was almost comical watching it try to regain its footing, but I didn’t have time to laugh. The second one came at me, with the third almost a hundred feet away.

The fight with the second one took too long. By the time I managed to get my hammer to connect with its neck, shattering it, it had already cut up my chest and cut me on the back.

Two more.

The third one, the only one still able to move capably, was wearing one of the suits…just like the one that hurt me with the scream. How in the name of all the systems had I missed that? I could see it hesitate as it seemed to take in everything.

Then it opened its mouth. Just as it started screaming, I dropped my hammer and covered my ears. It worked, barely.

Instead of debilitating pain that drove me to my knees, it was debilitating pain that caused me to stumble.

But there was something different with this scream. It wasn’t as loud, and it didn’t last as long. I only felt pain for a few seconds before the scream began to lose power.

Now I just squinted due to the volume level. Finally, I understood. This one was smaller than the one that had picked me up. It wasn’t a fully developed Xathi.

I smiled, showing my teeth, then charged the Xathi, grabbing my hammer as I did.

It wasn’t much of a fight.

The poor thing suddenly stopped moving and looked to the sky, like it was lost. Its head turned to me and let out a small whimper as my hammer connected, sending chunks of crystalline-shell flying into the air. I kept swinging for a bit, making sure it was dead and not getting back up.

Only one more to go. I let out a little growl, and smiled my most sinister smile.