Page 43 of Argurma Warrior (The Argurma Chronicles #1)

M eg frowned pensively at the lights as they flickered violently overhead. It was there earlier than usual. Kaylar had only been gone a few hours and since they hadn’t needed to salvage for scraps, he’d not even left around his usual time of day. Strange. She didn’t think that E302 even bothered Kaylar the entire time since the attacks began. It was like the creature was aware that there were two tasty, soft-bodied humans in the laboratory and was expending all effort in prying them out of the metal encasing rather than waste energy and risk injury with the Argurma.

Her hand tightened on the hilt of her knife. Though she also had the blaster that Kaylar gave her fastened around her waist, it was the solid, familiar presence of her blade that was what provided comfort. Not that she wanted to discover its effectiveness against E302. She was pretty sure she knew the answer to that already and there was not good news if the creature broke through the lab’s defenses.

Beverly drew closer to her side, catching Meg’s eye, as she too looked up at the lights in concern before darkness descended around them again, concealing the other woman completely from sight. The stretches of darkness were growing longer as the light came less frequently and appeared to be getting weaker. There was a rustle at her side, and a small screen lit up inches away from her as numbers began to track rapidly counting the passing seconds.

“Is that a watch?” Meg peered over at it, momentarily distracted. She’d seen watches before but none of them had worked. There hadn’t even been working watches in The City—only large, mounted clocks that ran off of the electricity.

The watch was held close enough that it partially illuminated Beverly’s face. She glanced over at Meg and nodded.

“I found it among my things. The power supply was dead, but I found backups in the supply closet that apparently had been skipped over while you two were busy salvaging.”

Meg nodded. “We didn’t take anything like that. Kaylar said it was useless on his ship.”

“Well, it’s about to be very useful to us,” Beverly observed and heaved a sigh of relief when the lights flickered back on, albeit dimly. “Thank goodness. For a moment there I was beginning to doubt it was going to come back on. Five minutes. Fuck, I hope that thing gives up soon. I don’t know how much more the system is going to take.”

As if on cue, the light suddenly died with a loud whine and a faint rapid clicking that was punctuated with the heavy silence that filled the air. There had always been some sort of faint background sound since they first arrived that the complete absence of it was eerie.

“What—?” she mumbled as she whipped her head around.

“Shit!” The hissed word was so close that Meg didn’t startle too much when a hand reached out and suddenly grabbed hold of her.

“What’s going on?”

“The system is down. Don’t you hear it?”

Meg clenched her jaw. “I don’t hear anything.” She squinted. “I think I see a light, though.”

“Exactly,” Beverly bit out, dragging her deeper into the darkness. “That loud sound just before the lights went out was power giving out entirely. And that other sound—the clicking—was every door opening. That light you see is from the door.” She groaned quietly, her fingers tightening on Meg’s arm. “I hope that the alarm triggered like it was supposed to when the power went out because, if not, that’s it—we are fucked.”

“Shut up, you’re not helping here. There’s a plan, remember? We need to get up to my room. Come on.” Meg paused, dread curling in the pit of her stomach as she realized just how disorienting the dark was when there wasn’t even the smallest bit of natural light illuminating it. “Which way to the emergency stairs?”

Beverly sucked in a breath and Meg heard the fabric of her clothes rustle as she moved in place. The watch lit up again, this time further away as Beverly stretched her arm out ahead of her.

“This way—I think.”

“Okay.” Meg swallowed back her nerves. “We are going to be fine. Let’s just head in that direction and we can—”

There was an abrupt metallic screech and she froze in place as her blood ran cold. With another loud screech the faint light around the corner brightened slightly and a rattling growl filled the air.

“Oh shit,” Beverly whispered.

“Move!” Meg snarled, shoving the other woman ahead of her.

They stumbled into each other and began to run. Meg felt like she was running through nothingness. There was no distance or space, no sense of direction or anything at all to focus on to provide a sense of place other than the frantically bobbing light of the watch. Their surroundings felt like nothing more than a singular darkness with the exception of that very faint light that provided the occasional glimpse of shadows of things that they passed. That was the only way she knew for sure that they were moving forward at all until that too went out.

Beverly stumbled at the sudden lack of light and Meg pushed her onward, refusing to allow her a moment to slow down at all.

“Keep moving!”

“But the light—”

Immediately, Beverly went to release her, but the moment Meg felt her fingers loosen, she grabbed ahold of the other woman’s wrist with her free hand and clamped onto her tightly. With a startled cry, Beverly twisted her hand violently in attempt to get away.”

“Let go, I need to turn it back on!”

“Not a fucking chance,” Meg snapped and then cursed as her shoulder collided hard with the edge of the wall, bring them to a jarring halt. Twisting, she tapped the back of Beverly’s hand with her fingers. “Give me your other hand—I’ll turn it back on.”

“You’ll slow us down—”

“And you will separate us and get us both killed,” Meg retorted. “I can’t see, and you won’t have a chance of getting into my room without me.”

“Shit! Okay, okay!”

A hand fell over hers and Meg immediately scrambled for it, her fingers rapidly feeling their way down the back of Beverly’s hand until she came into contact with the watch.

“It’s the large button on the top. Press it.”

Her finger slid over and she drew them back, pressing down firmly. The light snapped back on, the numbers on its screen once again lit up. Grabbing hold of each other more firmly so that they were now holding onto each other’s wrists, they began to run again, the endless dark halls blending one in another in a confusing mess. It felt wrong. They had been running too long. Where were the stairs?

“Don’t you have a way to keep this on?” she grumbled.

Beverly huffed. “It did but I broke it the day before I was sent out here. I had planned on sending for a replacement on the next supply run but you see how that worked out.”

“Of course,” Meg sighed as they stopped and she felt around for the back of Beverly’s hand again. She bit her lip and cursed quietly as her hand slipped off the sweaty band. The light snapped back on, and she craned her head to look at the deeply shadowed hallway. “Stop me if you think I’m crazy, but does it feel like we are going in circles to you?”

Beverly’s hand tightened on her wrist.

“I… I’m not sure.”

Meg squinted, picking out a hall to their left. “Let’s try this way.”

She tugged on Beverly and they turned toward the hall which led to another. The hallways seemed to twist and connect to other halls that were just as featureless that she would was uncertain if they were those they had already walked down or new ones. Her skin prickled as they walked and every so often she swore she heard the sound of movement but couldn’t be certain if it was the echo of their footsteps or something else in that darkness with them. It was worse every time they were plunged into complete darkness when the watch’s light gave out and they were forced to stop and turn it back on.

Meg shook her head with frustration. “This is all wrong. We have to be going in circles. I don’t recall the lobby having this many hallways.”

Beverly cleared her throat anxiously. “I think we may have taken a wrong turn. I think that these are the private offices of some of the project heads and there may be a meeting room somewhere around here. This entire wing was hidden behind a concealed door. When everything opened, it must have, too. This part is not on any schematic but rumor had it that it was a maze.”

“Fucking perfect, we’re lost in a maze,” Meg muttered. Coming to a stop, she looked around. “So, which way should we go?”

As if on cue, the light went out again and she cursed and fumbled for Beverly’s hand. A frown creased her brow when a gust of hot air hit her face with a sour scent that made her lip curl. She hated it when people breathed on her. Although she always found some way to keep her teeth and mouth as clean as possible, she had discovered early into her adulthood that not everyone was the same. She was about to ask Beverly to breathe in another direction when the other woman let out of muffle groan.

“Meg, what the hell did you eat today?”

She froze a chill settling deep within her. “That’s not me.”

A metallic growl rumbled and slowly Meg’s head lifted toward it, unable to quite believe it, and her mouth went dry. A pair of eyes opened and then another until all six glowing eyes were leveled at them. It hadn’t needed to see at all to find them. Her hair stood on end when that gaze shifted as it turned its head and let out another warning growl. It was met with a clicking sound and an answering rumble that was familiar enough to make Meg’s heart leap. That hope quickly died however when a hulking form stepped out from the deepest shadows, the faint lines of the Argurma’s implants barely giving off a significant amount of light compared to its eyes and then four long trails of lights that worked their way up long, thin limbs extending from behind him.

She choked back a cry, not wanting to draw the attention of either monster back to them, but she hadn’t managed to quite contain it enough. A tiny sound of dismay escaped her and E302’s numerous eyes snapped back to her. Its rattling growl picked up and it shrieked as it lunged for them, the sound mingling with Beverly’s scream as she violently yanked Meg out of its path. Meg’s heart leapt into her throat at the sensation of air brushing over skin from its barely evaded lunge. She’d successfully dodged its large head but she felt its attention turn away from her as the glow of its eyes moved with the turn of its head once more as it gave another shrill sound in response to the bellow of rage that descended upon them.

With E302’s attack, Meg had lost sight of the Argurma but witnessing him dropping down on them from the wall where he’d apparently effortlessly climbed, was enough to take a few years off her life, and apparently Beverly’s, too, as they both cried out in surprise. He dropped on E302 viciously, his limbs driving into the creature ruthlessly. Its body coiled in response, and there was a sharp sound of metallic teeth snapping viciously. Its body moved, colliding into the wall opposite of them in the process. The Argurma bellowed and hot blood sprayed as he dropped to the ground, giving E302 the room to make its escape. She immediately tried to put distance between them but the alien spun on them, his eyes glowing with an untampered wildness that made her heart pound with fear.

He crept closer, his vibrissae rattling around him as his mandibles widened, clicked and widened again. Meg backed up, a whimper of terror rising up her throat as she was suddenly aware that she was no longer holding Beverly’s hand. She was standing there completely alone and at his mercy. Training with Kaylar had taught her one important lesson about dealing with Argurma that she had little doubt also applied to this male regardless of modifications: with his gaze pinned on her, there was nothing she could do that he wouldn’t see coming a mile away.

The moment that realization clicked into place, however, Beverly’s watch suddenly lit up and the Argurma’s eyes snapped to it and narrowed with a hiss. Ignoring Meg, he reached for Beverly, his metallic limbs snapping down to curl around them both as he dragged her toward him. It was almost in afterthought that he turned to regard Meg with an icy, predatory stare as Meg aimed the blaster at him. He hissed angrily and she choked on a cry as it was knocked from her hand. His mandibles clicked and his vibrissae rattled around him as he drew closer, towering over her menacingly. As much as she prepared herself in that moment to meet her end, the air gaining a certain charge to it as everything seemed still all at once, what she wasn’t prepared for being snatched up as well. Her cry of surprise echoed and followed after them as he charged through the hall, carrying them like trophies.

Bouncing in his grip, Meg gritted her teeth. The weight of her knife pressed between his body, digging it into her thigh but she did not pull it—not yet. She would have only one opportunity to strike. She needed to make it count.

Kaylar wasn’t going to be happy with this turn of events. He wasn’t going to be happy at all.