Page 27 of Fated to the Hunter (Xarc’n Warriors #13)

I eyed the master bedroom door like I thought it would betray me and let the deadly creatures into my final sanctuary. It stood there, the last barrier between me and the chaos outside, and I didn’t trust it. Not one bit.

The mansion was crawling with scourge. Scuttlers, lungers, spitters, and even a freaking centicreep had taken over every hallway and every room.

The only reason I’d even made it to the master bedroom was thanks to that flyer I’d gunned down earlier.

It had blocked that hallway like a champ, giving me the perfect bottleneck to shoot down as many scuttlers as possible.

There was a literal barricade of scourge carcasses blocking the hallway.

Gross, but efficient.

But it wouldn’t stop the onslaught for long. And once those nasty critters got past their fallen comrades, that door was all that stood between me and becoming bug chow.

The main horde, however, wasn’t my current biggest worry.

That prize went to the centicreeps. One was already inside the house, but the other, the one I was worried about the most, was still encircling the mansion, crawling up and down the exterior of the mansion wall like it had suction cups on every foot. And it had a lot of feet. Hundreds.

If it saw me through the window, I was screwed. Those centipede-inspired mutant mega predators had a knack for breaking windows.

So why was I in here and not in the library, which was probably much easier to fortify?

Because the library didn’t have a balcony.

Its only window was that gorgeous stained glass masterpiece, which I’d taken several photos of just in case it didn’t survive this alien encounter.

And I needed a balcony, or at the very least, a large enough window for me to fit through when my knight in shining loincloth arrived in his sleek silver chariot to rescue my ass.

Hence, the master bedroom ended up as my final stand. Not the most ideal, but it had a heavy door with a lock, a substantial armoire I pushed in front of it, the aforementioned and desperately required balcony, and a well-built canopy bed I could hide in.

That centicreep had passed by once already and hadn’t noticed me, which I took as a good sign.

A scratching at the door had me tightening my grip on my final ace in the hole: the sonar repellent.

Crap! They’d gotten past the flyer. I could hear them just outside the door. Hundreds of little feet scratching against the floors and walls. The sound made my skin crawl, and my instincts screamed to run. But there was nowhere left to go.

They weren’t targeting the door yet, probably because the entire hallway smelled like me; they hadn’t pinpointed my location just yet, but it was only a matter of time.

I couldn’t use a repellent on these yet.

It was for emergency only, and to get the flyers off the ship on our final push out of the zone.

We used to be more trigger-happy with the repellent until some of the scourge started getting wise and learned to ignore it.

Or maybe they were getting more desperate.

“Hurry up!” I wrung my hands.

The last time I checked, my purple warrior had been forced to stop and land as the final drone, now expertly controlled by none other than our very own drone racing league legend, flew circles around it, trying to lure the flyers away.

Connie to the rescue! Here was her chance to shine.

One of the flyers with the Eye-Spy attached was currently chasing her drone as it wove in and out between the flyers, making them crash into each other. The flyers with short fuses attacked each other, thinking the crash had been intentional.

My phone vibrated.

Lenny: Bael’k’s almost there. You ready?

Me: Yeah. I’m still stuck in the master bedroom. But there’s a balcony. There’s also a creep out there.

Lenny: We’ll take care of it. Turn on the repellent before stepping out. On my signal.

Me: Gotcha.

I had no idea how they were going to get me into the shuttle. Was there even enough time to land? Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and stepped outside. I immediately balked at the sight of thousands of scuttlers pouring in. The combined weight of them had knocked over part of the fence.

The nest must think there was a lot more food in here than one measly little human. They were going to be sorely disappointed that they’d wasted all this effort for nothing.

My phone buzzed again, and I looked down to see Lenny’s capitalized NOW!

I turned on the repellent, then tucked both it and my phone into my jacket pocket and zipped them up. The repellent worked much better when the scourge wasn’t already accustomed to it. I saw a collective flinch from the scuttlers down below.

But instead of watching what they’d do next, I looked around for my ride. It would be cloaked, so I probably wouldn’t see it until it was right in front of my face.

Suddenly, something swung in front of me, making me gasp and step back. It took me a split second to realize it was a harness. I looked up. The harness was attached to a cable, which disappeared up into what I would assume was a cloaked shuttle.

Hands shaking with adrenaline, I did my best to strap myself in.

I just heard the last buckle snap shut when the centicreep turned the corner, wrapping around to the back of the house. The moment it saw me, it charged. It moved in that creepy, too-smooth-yet-jerky way that was straight out of a horror film.

I let out a scream. Bael’k was flying away now, dragging me behind him. I swung in the air, twisting and turning as I was lifted higher and higher.

But the centicreep wasn’t going to let its prize get away that easily.

It launched itself into the air after me just as I twisted away, unable to defend myself.

I screamed again. There was something latched onto me, weighing me down.

The cable slid, and I dropped several yards before I was yanked to a stop.

I howled in pain. It felt like something was tearing my shoulders out. My hand moved before my brain could process what was happening, unbuckling the sternum strap holding my pack onto my body. My bag fell away, and with it, the centicreep.

I was still breathing hard when Bael’k pulled me up and over through the shuttle door.

“Kiera!” He hauled me into his arms. “My Kiera.” He held me at arm’s length, and a look of horror filled his face.

I followed his eyes to his arm, which was smeared with blood. Where had that come from?

Oh. I was bleeding. I knew I’d fucked up my shoulder, probably dislocated the left one, but I hadn’t actually felt any cuts.

“Bael’k!” Lenny’s concerned voice came over the shuttle’s speakers. “You need to pilot!”

“Kiera’s hurt. She’s—”

“Pilot! Now! Or you’re going to crash.”

“Go,” I said, the adrenaline still numbing all the hurt in my body. “I’ll be fine.”

“Krux.” He ran to the navigational console.

I stumbled toward the sleeping nook, tripping over something on the floor.

Shit! A wave of exhaustion washed over me, and the shuttle began to spin. I recognized it as the effects of the centicreep’s toxin. Oooowee! This was going to be a doozy.

Then, realizing my error, I turned toward the decontamination unit instead, not wanting to ruin a perfectly comfortable bed. Decontamination first. Too dizzy to stand, I sank to the decontaminator stall floor and removed my jacket.

The cut on my arm was shallow, thanks to my leather jacket. It had bled a lot at first, but was already starting to slow to a seep; that was the coagulants in the toxins working. The scourge preferred their meat to remain juicy.

The arm was starting to feel heavy. The cut itself didn’t hurt because of the toxin, but the dislocated shoulder was killing me. I wasn’t sure what was worse.

I mentally urged the contaminator to run faster. We’d learned that a specially designed high dose of vitamin B 12, alpha lipoic acid, and thiamine did wonders if administered quickly after the injury. They acted as a nerve protectant. I just wasn’t sure how quickly they meant.

Should I have taken it before the decontaminator? Did Bael’k even have any of the shots on his shuttle?

I was suddenly feeling extremely tired. I closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, I was no longer in the stall.

I was cradled in Bael’k’s arms, and we were sitting on the shuttle floor just outside the decontaminator.

The first thing I felt, aside from the heat of his body, was the pain radiating from my dislocated shoulder.

I’d never actually experienced a dislocation before, but I was pretty damn sure that was what it was. And I never wanted to feel it again.

Someone pounded on the shuttle’s door, and he moved just enough to open it.

“Kiera!” Connie burst into the shuttle and almost tripped over Bael’k’s cross-legged form. I could practically feel her look of relief when she saw me. “Oh, thank God! I come bearing gifts of healing.”

She dropped to her knees in front of us. “Have you been in there already?”

“Yeah. Just came out… I think.” I actually had no idea how long we’d been sitting here.

“Great.” She produced and uncapped the autoinjector pen, then unceremoniously jabbed it into my arm.

“Oww! What the fuck!” I yelped. “You could at least warn me.”

She looked chagrined. “Oops. It hurts less when you don’t know it’s coming. But I didn’t know you fucked up your shoulder too.”

“I think it’s dislocated.”

“Gimme one moment.”

Connie stepped out of the shuttle, and another woman stepped in.

“I’m Sammie,” she said. “I’m a nurse for the Mountains group. I’m going to put your shoulder back.”

A quick introduction, a move over to the bed, and one extremely painful maneuver that had me yowling and Bael’k growling at the poor woman later, my shoulder was back in place.

“Thank you,” I said at the immediate relief.

“I know it doesn’t feel like it, but the cut’s a little more serious because of the toxins,” Sammie said. “So do two rounds on the medical device on the cut and one on the shoulder, and keep alternating until tomorrow morning.”

Bael’k was already there with his medical device.

“Hunter! You’re injured too. Your leg!” Sammie admonished. “Rest and get a device on that too.”

“I only have one.”

“We have an extra! I’ll go get it!” yelled Connie from outside the door.

Sammie handed me a small orange pill bottle. “Painkillers. The good stuff. Take it. This is exactly what we save them for.”

Seconds later, Connie was back inside the shuttle and shoving a handheld Xarc’n medical device at Bael’k. “You know what to do.”

She looked around the shuttle, and so did I for the first time. All of Bael’k’s belongings were scattered across the floor. No wonder I was tripping over things earlier. I’d known he was fighting with his shuttle, but what the hell happened here?

“If you’re missing anything else… or can’t find it in this mess.

Let us know. Jorg’k and I are going to visit the Colorado group for a few days while you two heal up and search the mountains to the north and finish your quest.” She turned back to me.

“I know some Tech Wizzes think you should go home and let Bael’k finish the quest, but I know you, Kiera.

You’d never be happy with that now that you’ve gotten this far.

” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper.

“So I’m going to tell them it’s just a teeny, tiny cut, and that Bael’k totally freaked out over nothing. ”

“Thank you,” I said, grateful. She was completely right. I wasn’t going to quit now. Hell no!

“That was some fancy drone work you did out there. Those flyers didn’t stand a chance.”

She beamed.

I thought of my own semi-successful attempt at distracting the flyers. If I hadn’t been so worried about Bael’k, it actually would’ve been kind of fun. “Interested in giving me a few lessons when we get back?”

“Sure thing!” She stood. “I’m going to let you two love birds at it then. And remember, we’re just a hop and a skip away if you need anything.”

And then she was gone, and it was just Bael’k and me.