Caged With The Alien Warrior

26.

Ronan

I stood there utterly dumbfounded. Why did Aanya press her lips against mine? Was this some Earth custom? And why did water come from her eyes and roll down her cheeks?

What did it all mean? I strongly disliked not knowing. I always knew what was going on– I prided myself in my research and knowing local customs on my missions. But Aanya was a mystery.

But I didn't have time to think about this. I had to get to the escape pod to protect Aanya and Lani.

I arranged the pillows under the sheet to look like Aanya's prone form.

"Help!" I banged on the bars of our cage. "The human female is ill!"

Two Szentists came running. I moved to stand in front of the open vent, hiding it from view.

"What happened?" one of them hissed.

"I don't know, I woke up and she wouldn't awake," I lied.

They turned to face each other. "It could be a bad reaction to RD-5290. Last time we tested it on a human it stopped her heart, but we restarted it. It could be a similar issue. We need to move quickly, we won't have long until Specimen 124 is unusable."

What? They gave Aanya a drug that stopped human hearts! It could have killed her! I carefully reigned in my anger, clenching my fists behind my back. Soon, I would snap their necks.

"Yes," the other Szenist hissed in reply. "We will take Specimen 124 to the lab."

They unlocked the door. "Stay back, Specimen 198."

I nodded, feigning nonchalance.

They hurried to the cot and pulled up the sheet, finding no body.

"What?" one hissed.

Taking advantage of their shock, I ripped the shock sticks off their belts and threw them away. The first one threw a punch, but I easily dodged and smashed my fist into his face with a satisfying crunch. Definitely broke his nose. He fell to the ground unconscious.

With a feral grin, I faced the other. He ran at me but I easily grabbed him and threw him into the wall. He fell to the ground like a rag doll.

It felt good to finally unleash my rage, my strength. Finally.

Red lights began blaring. They must've checked the cameras and seen me take out the two Szentists. Regardless, I ran out the door. I had to get to Aanya and Lani.

Another Szentist ran down the hall and I surged forward to stop him.

But, he held up his hands. "Wait! I can help you!"

I froze, muscles coiled tight. "Explain." I really didn't have time for this– I had to get to the escape pods.

"I helped the human woman already. She has the youngling and they're going to the pleasure cruiser you came here on. It's unattended in Bay 14." He motioned for me to follow him, but I stayed put.

"They jettisoned the escape pods after her last escape attempt," he added.

I cursed under my breath. It was so dangerous to have no escape pods– they must be desperate to keep Aanya.

I narrowed my gaze on him, sceptical. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't. But we don't have time– we need to fight our way to your ship." He held out a shock gun. A shock gun? I hadn't seen one my whole time here, just shock sticks. I didn't think the Szentists used them, but this one had two.

"I'll help you get there, but we need to move. Now." His red eyes met my gaze.

I nodded and took the gun. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

I side-eyed him. "You know how to use one of these?" The Szentists were generally focussed on scientific exploration– they didn't even have an army.

"Well enough." He held up the gun. "Point and shoot, right?"

"Right. Just keep that pointed away from me." I pushed the gun away from me.

"Yes. This way." He ran down the hallway and I followed.

We ran down the twisting hallways of the ship, so unlike the straightforward design of Rhodinian ships.

They all had shock sticks so it wasn't a fair fight, but I didn't care after what all these bastards did to Aanya.

I held back the small Szentist when I heard more coming from the other direction. I pulled him back and we waited on opposite sides of the hallway, hidden by the wall.

"On my count, got it?" I murmured to him. He nodded. We both held our guns ready, both set to stun.

I waited until the sound of their claws neared and counted down on my fingers. 3... 2... 1....

We stepped out and blasted the Szentists, running forward past their prone bodies.

One Szentist tried to wrestle the shock gun from the small Szentist, but I stepped in, quickly shooting the attacking Szentist and regaining the weapon.

We ploughed past the sea of Szentists and entered the hangar bay. Aanya ducked in from another entrance and ran ahead of us, Lani tied to her front. I stopped and turned to face the oncoming Szentists, providing cover for her to get to the ship. Ducking behind another cruiser, I shot the approaching Szentists, dropping them in quick succession.

Focussed on stopping the Szentists from getting to Aanya, I didn't notice the hulking Szentist come up beside me, wielding twin battle axes, blades dripping some greed substance.

At the last second, I caught him coming up to me in the corner of my eye and I was forced to drop my shock gun to sidestep his swing. Before I could move, the small Szentist shot him for me.

"Thank you, I owe you a debt," I told the small Szentist as I picked up my shock gun.

"Repay me by escaping." He yelled before shooting at more of the approaching Szentists. I joined him and we slowly made our way closer to the pleasure cruiser, one of us moving while the other covered.

While I was shooting, Aanya cried out, distracting me. I glanced over my shoulder at her. Fuck! A Szentist somehow got past us and used a shock stick on her back. I moved to shoot him, but a sudden sharp pain in my chest sent me careening down onto my back.

Pain radiated out from my chest. Lying there, I stared down at the battle axe sticking out of my chest, my wound oozing green from whatever covered the blade and squirting purple blood. Shit. Another lizardman had picked up the battle axe and threw it at me.

"Ronan!" Aanya screamed my name, the sound distant. It was far away, fuzzy. With one last thought of Aanya, everything went black. 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

SORRY NOT SORRY FOR THE CLIFFHANGER...  whaddya think is gonna happen? What would you do if you were Aanya? 

Y'all, I will say that action scenes aren't my forte but I tried my best hahaha. I'm better at another kind of ✨ action ✨ if you know what I mean 😂

Comments and votes are much appreciated.

Virtually yours,

Ro