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His smirk broadened when he heard Smith mutter to himself before swinging toward the gunshots. “Fucking kid.”
He hurried up the ladder and across the double rope bridge to Bar’in’s tree.
“Do you have to take that thing so fast?” Bar’in eyed Fal’ran when he stepped onto the platform after running across the narrow cable.
“Every second counts.” Fal’ran dropped to a crouch beside Bar’in, who lay on his stomach with his rifle propped in front of him. He swung his pack off his shoulder, mindful of his gatlung, and pulled out their totem. “Take this.”
“Stick it in.” Bar’in pointed to the pack on his back and Fal’ran unzipped it and slipped the totem into the pocket closest to Bar’in’s body. “You and Smith going after them?”
“I don’t think so, but—”
Sazahk’s voice came from Bar’in’s radio in a hushed whisper. “I think Squad H just advanced on the Southern zone, too.”
“Confirmed. I have visuals from my angle,” Smith followed up, static-y gunshots coming through with his voice as they rang through the jungle. His grin was audible. “Yeah, all three of them are tearing--”
Sazahk cut him off. “Squad J is disengaging. They’re coming our way.”
Fal’ran pulled his pack back on. He tightened the straps as Smith appeared on the other side of the rope bridge. The human crossed it even faster than Fal’ran, and Bar’in grunted in half-disgust and half-fear.
“Get on the ground with me. Let’s go.” Smith grabbed Fal’ran’s wrist and pulled him to the rope coiled on the edge of the platform. “Bar’in, tell Tar to circle around behind them.”
Bar’in spoke into the radio as Smith kicked the rope over the edge and disappeared along with it before it finished un-spooling. Fal’ran’s stomach lurched, but he leaned over the edge to see Smith sliding rapidly but safely down to the jungle floor. As soon as Smith’s boots hit the ground, Fal’ran followed.
His stomach dropped out as he plunged down and a giddy, adrenaline-filled bubble expanded in its place. He heard more gunshots and panicked shouts rushing toward them.
“I told you we’d get another opportunity.” Smith grabbed Fal’ran before he released the rope and pulled him down behind a narrow Yelt trunk and the shrubby undergrowth. “They’re coming this way. We’re gonna play it simple.”
“Ambush?” Fal’ran pressed against the trunk and Smith’s body and didn’t fight the way Smith’s excited smell made the blood sing in his veins.
“That’s right. You stay here. When they get between us, pounce.” Smith ducked under Fal’ran’s arm and rolled to another tree. He pressed his back against the trunk and grinned at Fal’ran across the gap.
Fal’ran grinned back as they both unslung their gatlungs. Fal’ran shrugged his pack off and gripped the blade-tipped staff in both hands. The panicked shouts grew louder. Boots crashed through the underbrush. Fear floated on the breeze.
Fal’ran licked his lips and stared into Smith’s eyes, waiting, waiting, forcing himself not to peek around the tree and give away their position. The sounds of footsteps—two pairs—closed in. Closer, closer—
Smith moved so fast he blurred.
He swung his gatlung around the tree and caught a klah’eel across the gut. The man doubled over, wheezing too hard to speak, his eyes bulging.
His teammate skidded to a stop and pivoted to face Smith. “Hosti—”
Fal’ran hooked his gatlung over the second man’s throat, choked off his yell, and snarled in his ear, “Dead.”
Smith spun his gatlung and halted the blade a hairsbreadth from the first klah’eel’s brainstem. “Dead.”
“Fuck!” the man spat.
“Goddammit.” The second man let Fal’ran toss him against a trunk and rip his pack open. He dug out the heavy metal canister with Squad J scrawled across the bottom.
“Hell yeah.” Fal’ran brandished the canister at Smith and Smith switched his gatlung for the rifle over his shoulder with the biggest grin Fal’ran had seen on his face yet.
“Get it up into the trees. I’ve got you covered.” Smith aimed his rifle back the way the two men had come and strafed over to stand at Fal’ran’s back as Fal’ran climbed up a trunk. When he heard Smith’s voice again, he glanced down to see Smith pressing a radio to the trunk of a Yelt tree. “Eyes on any of the others?”
Tar replied first, “Negative.”
“There were three more in that squad, but I don’t see them now.” Sazahk’s voice faded out behind Fal’ran as Fal’ran scaled the tree.
He grabbed the first branch thick enough to hold his weight and mantled up. He swung his leg around to straddle it and readied his own rifle. “Smith, you. I’ve got you covered.”
